did you know that every 5 to 7 years, your body goes through a major (hormonal) change?
well, this is my year....and i found out through my skin. one day, it decided to freak the fuck out and decided that freaking out was the best way to call attention to it so hasn't stopped freaking out for months. it's actually being a real pain in the ass (and in my wallet - boohoo!).
it also didn't help that i put expired yeast infection primer on my skin that just made everything worse and these days, my skin is so fucking sensitive it drives me bananas. this means i can't use the majority if my skin and makeup products without my skin reacting (read: red, sensitive inflamed welts) which really sucks because that's just tons of money wasted and everyone knows i spare no expense when it comes to skin care and makeup.
after my skin recovered from that crazy primer mishap, my most recent struggle is with super dry, tight, flakey skin. now, i've always had dry skin but thanks to my fantastic research skills resulting in an army of fabulous skin care products, i was able to keep my skin supple and smooth - despite my weeping wallet - until recently. after weeks of trying to figure out what could possibly be causing my skin to look and feel like 100 years old, going through a slow and painful process of product elimination, i finally discovered the culprit: sunscreen - only the second most important skin product you need. the one product that protects me from the harmful rays of the sun is one product causing me grief.
my two most (previously) cherised brands for sunscreen are clarins and shiseido. in all the years i've used them, they have never failed me. i thought maybe my clarins had expired so i tossed that out (despite the fact that the expiry date was december 2012), shelled out $55 for a new shiseido and again - tight, dry painful skin. i thought i may not be wearing enough moisturizer so i slathered that on, applied a skin barrier protector on top and then applied the sunscreen... only to be greeted mid-day with those awesome welts again. i went one day without sunscreen and welts remained at bay, skin remained supple and hydrated.
that's when i realized it was my sunscreen. fuck! what's a girl, who is deathly afriad of wrinkles and skin cancer, to do?! i need to wear sunscreen but my skin hates it!
realizing it must be all those chemicals that's making my skin react, after much research i decided to try all-natural sunscreens. i landed on these two - both organic, both all-natural, chemical-free sunscreens and both had rave reviews all over the internet. i was very skeptical at first because they're not specifically formulated for the face and they're only $15 per tube which even increased my skepticism more since i have never applied any skin product under $50 on my face. while i know that price doesn't determine the quality of a product, i'm so used to dishing out top dollar for high-end brand names that it's brain-washed me to equate price with quality.
while i'm happy that these products are all-natural and 100% certified organic, i'm not thrilled about how greasy they are. it sort of felt like i was applying olive oil on my face and i couldn't apply my makeup right away; i had to wait for at least 10 minutes. i had to use more setting powder to avoid looking like an oil slick and it made my powder brush gross and sticky but if it means that i have to add more time to my morning routine and wash my brushes after every use in order to have protected, non-painful skin, then so be it.
at 9am yesterday - which was normally the time when my skin started to react from the sunscreen - my skin didn't feel tight. smiles from me.
at 12pm - which is about the time when my skin is super tight and hurting - i looked in the mirror and didn't see any red welts nor did my skin feel irritated. getting excited/getting my hopes up.
at 2pm - which is about the time when my skin is at def-con 5 and the only thing that will calm it down is by washing everything off - my skin felt great, felt normal and i wasn't an oil slick (i didn't even have to apply more powder). ecstatic!
i'm so happy that i found a product that works - and for more than half the price i paid for any of those other products. my next step is to find all-natural replacements for my makeup and skin products; i've already found an all-natural vitamin E + sugar exfoliator from one of my fav beauty blogs, ellesees.
what all-natural skin or makeup products to you use?
