Hydrating Versus Moisturizing in Skincare

The skincare industry has managed to start getting people on the moisturizer bandwagon, even the stubborn people with oily skin who blanched at the idea of somehow adding moisture to their skin (yes hello, talking about me). But now, another nebulous and frankly nearly identical sounding word has cropped up: hydrating. They seem to mean the same thing, and often moisturizers are described as hydrating. But there is a difference in hydrating vs moisturizing in skincare.

And it’s actually kind of a big difference.



Read More

Skincare Tips for Acne Prone Skin

Acne prone skin can be very difficult to deal with, particularly when so much information seems conflicting about how to handle it. Between doing your makeup, then your skincare routine, there are a lot of opportunities to make breakouts worse, not better. I’ve already pointed out some makeup tips for acne prone skin, but what about with skincare? Preventing breakouts is the best option, but often we’re stuck with breakouts that we may be irritating further. Come check out these skincare tips for acne prone skin.

Pacifica, Glossier

Don’t over-exfoliate (and try to avoid physical exfoliants).

When you’re dealing with breakouts, your skin is already stressed and prone to further breakouts or damage. While exfoliation can help lift the top layer of dead skin cells and allow treatments to penetrate, your skin needs time to recover. Not giving your skin that recovery period, about a week depending on what you use, can do more harm than good.

Also, consider not using physical exfoliants during particularly bad breakouts or with broken skin. These can cause microtears in the skin, which allows for the spread of bacteria, and cause further breakouts.

Minimize your routine.

If you have more than just a cleanser, toner/treatment, and a moisturizer, there’s a chance that you’re overwhelming your skin. When you throw so much at your skin, possibly with ingredients that counteract each other, the benefits can be lost. If you’re having an intense breakout, try and limit what goes on your skin to prevent irritation or congestion. Especially if you use multiple serums or several chemical treatments.

It can be very tempting to throw everything you have at your skin. But once it hits max capacity, it won’t be able to take on everything you put on it effectively. Using numerous, possibly contradictory, steps can make it difficult to know what may be agitating your skin, as well.

Moisturizers are your best friend.

Oily skin and acne often go hand in hand, and there’s a general concern of using moisturizers on already oily skin. However, using a moisturizer if you’re acne prone can actually help your skin heal more efficiently, and potentially limit breakouts in the future.

Providing your skin with the moisture it “knows” it isn’t getting can, over time, help reduce sebum production. Lower sebum production means less oil in pores and ultimately fewer breakouts. It’s also important as breakouts can become very dry and irritated, and the added moisture allows for the skin to heal better and absorb treatments more easily.

So is sun protection.

It’s hard to avoid the sun if you leave your home at all, and as UV rays can damage the skin, it can also irritate breakouts. That means that your skin isn’t just trying to heal from acne, but also from UV damage. Using a sunscreen will help limit that damage and allow your skin to heal better.

Going with the previous tip, finding a moisturizer and sunscreen combo is an effective option to limit two steps into one.

Avoid alcohol (the ethyl kind).

if you ever go into the drugstore and check the ingredient list on acne focused skincare, you’re probably going to find some form of alcohol higher on the list. Remember, the higher something is on the ingredient list, the higher concentration.

Alcohol dries the skin horribly, and for those with breakouts that does nothing but irritate them further. It can lead to flaking, irritation, and possibly scabbing should the breakout pop as they often do naturally. Look for gentler skincare products, without alcohol, to treat acne prone skin.

Be aware of broken skin.

I mentioned this earlier, but broken skin is any skin that has somehow lost its protective layer. You see this a lot when acne pops, generally when someone pops it themselves, or in the healing of cystic acne. The skin will scab as the body tries to repair the damage done by the bacteria.

Broken skin is the most vulnerable skin, as its a direct line from the outside of the body to the inside. Things can go septic, infections can start, there’s just a whole mess of things that can happen at this point. It’s also one way your skin develops acne scars. It’s critical that should you find any broken skin, that you focus on treating it first and foremost.

Skip the harsh treatments, don’t exfoliate, and focus on soothing and hydrating. If you continue to stress those broken areas, it will take them double the time to heal and it will not heal in the best way possible. Worse, if you continue to break the skin, bacteria will spread further.

Oils are not the enemy.

In a similar vein to moisturizers, oils seem to be one of those things that people with oily skin avoid, when it’s something they should consider using in their routine. Moisturizers are wonderful as they retain moisture for the skin, but oils are a little more high powered, and can deliver more moisturization coupled with effective soothing treatments

An excellent oil to consider is one with blue tansy, as it is very soothing and helps calm redness and irritation. The vitamins found in certain oils promote overall skin health and healing, and can be very beneficial in treating acne and excess oil production. I tend to recommend using an oil at night, as it gives the skin time to absorb it when your skin is doing most of its healing. It could be the boost your moisturizing step needs.

What are some ways you help your skin when you’re having breakouts?

September 2018 Beauty Favorites

This is the first time all year that I’ve really been consistent in using skincare and makeup. It’s definitely been that kind of year, gotta love it. And honestly, it’s been so fun really kind of pampering myself. It’s also given me the chance to break out some oldies but goodies, and try out some new things that I’d been sitting on. In the process, I’ve definitely (re)discovered a few favorites along the way.

It’s been a long month, for a lot of people. There’ve been a lot of high energy astrological events, the Brett Kavanaugh hearings, and personally I had a lot going on. Work was very tough this last week, and I’m grateful that I had this past weekend to relax a bit- and sleep in until 1 on Saturday. I’m also grateful, and proud, that I’ve been more consistent with content, even if only mostly on Instagram. Without further ado, let’s get into my beauty favorites for September.

Tarte, tartelette palette, wet n wild, NYX, NYX cosmetics, tarabusi creek, bite beauty, soul Sunday, essential oils, essential oil rollerball, bite beauty

Read More

Pixi Beauty Peel & Polish Review

It’s taken me way too long to try Pixi Beauty products. I am way behind, I know. But! I bought the Peel & Polish a while ago, since this year I’m working more on incorporating chemical exfoliants. There are so many different options, but I’ve heard amazing things about Pixi and I wanted to try something I hadn’t heard about from them. (Don’t worry, the famous Glow Tonic is still on my list to try.)

For the past two weeks I’ve been testing this out, so that I gave it enough time to work and give you the best try that I could. Want to see the final verdict? Let’s go.

Pixi beauty peel & polish

Read More

The Month of Masks

After a few months off blogging, I wanted to jump back in with a challenge for myself. I’m off classes until late August, and there are a few things I’m trying to work on during this summer break. Skincare being a big one. I’m also a bit of a mask hoarder. So for the month of July, I decided to challenge myself to use a face mask a day , and blog about it. Could be great, could be a disaster. Let’s get into the details of the Month of Masks!

Pacifica sheet mask

Read More

My Current Favorite Face Masks

Everyone has those products that they just have a bunch of, sometimes it’s stationery (guilty), books (also guilty), or skincare (again, guilty). But something I’ve really been learning to appreciate are face masks. They give my skincare routine an extra boost of cleansing, resurfacing, and treatment. My skin can be problematic, so having a mask that can sit on my skin and get to work can really make all the difference.

Want to know my current favorites face masks for my combination skin? Let’s get into it.

favorite face masks, best face masks, freeman beauty, muddy body, alba botanica, mizon, mario badescu

Read More

My Evening Skincare Routine

Disclaimer: this came out waaaaaaay more involved than I intended, but I may have underestimated how extensive my evening skincare routine is. If you make it all the way to the end, you’re my favorite person.

When someone hears “skincare routine”, especially evening skincare routine,  there’s probably some ire or excitement. You either love having a routine, or it’s a chore. Or you’ve probably heard off the infamous 10 step skincare popularized by K-Beauty and your head starts spinning. I used to be in the camp of feeling that it’s a chore, and that the idea of a routine that’s longer than three steps made me nauseated.

Evening skincare routine

 

Read More

Instagram Made Me Buy It

Ok here’s the thing, I spend a lot of time on social media. Like more than I would care to admit. So part of that is I get exposed to a lot of advertising, both directly from companies and from influencers. This is both good and bad, because there’s some disingenuous advertising, but sometimes you find really cool stuff. Instagram is where I spend most of my browsing time, so I see a bunch of interesting products. And sometimes, I decide to give things a try. Here’s what I bought after seeing an Instagram ad.

Read More

Glossier Haul | Phase 1 and Phase 2

If you’re at all involved in the beauty and skincare communities on social media, you will see Glossier mentioned at some point. Their IG feed is gorgeous and their Milk Jelly cleanser is quickly approaching cult status. After hearing about them nonstop, you get a little curious about their products. At least, I did, and after waffling for a while I bit the bullet. I was simply too curious about all the great things I’ve seen.

glossier phase 1 glossier phase 2

Read More

Going Cruelty Free

Something I’ve been hearing about for a couple years now was the cruelty free movement. Like a lot of people, I naively believed that animal testing was some far off issue reserved for China, or only the most diabolical super villains, or for 1960s psychological tests. But unfortunately, it’s still a widespread practice that is poorly regulated by government agencies. But as I did my own research on the matter, I came to the realization that it is very real, and very present.

 

cruelty free

Read More

1 | 2 |