When your skin is really sensitive I think quite often the best thing that you can do for it is to keep things simple. I have really sensitive skin and as soon as I try to get too fancy with fragrances, use anything really harsh or overload my face with products it doesn’t go well. Rosacea is quite bit harder to handle than your run of the mill sensitive skin because there’s a lot more that sets it off than the wrong skincare (spicy food, sun exposure, fluctuation in emotions, etc.). Additionally one of the symptoms that can come with rosacea is acne. Trying to deal with the acne, without causing further irritation can be a major challenge. Salicylic acid is often recommended because it exfoliates and sooths inflammation concurrently. But if you’re finding your skin to be stubborn I would really recommend going to a dermatologist. I was prescribed Retin-A and topical antibiotics when I went. As for sensitive/rosacea prone skin without the complication of acne, this is what I would recommend:
I’m going to interrupt my skincare series with something that burningly needs to be addressed. No it’s not chlamydia. It’s my love for Nuxe Huile Prodigieuse – a multi-purpose dry oil for the body, hair and face that most of you have probably already heard loads about. My god this oil deserves my heart. As Edward Cullen once said to Bella Swan “it’s like you’re my own personal brand of heroine.” What a lol. But seriously, it’s amazing. First of all the texture is beautiful. A moisturizing oil that sinks into the skin immediately and leaves no greasy residue? Don’t mind if I do.
Okay guys, I'm going to apologize in advance for the size of this post, but if anything here
helps anyone at all it would make me tremendously happy. Acne and breakouts are something that have taken a huge tole on my self esteem over the years and I know that it's the same case for many others. Please keep in mind that when it comes to skincare there is no one routine that works for everyone. It's about knowing your options and getting to know your skin's needs through trail and error.
I have the type of skin that just gives the middle finger to me on all fronts. It’s oily, it breaks out, it’s extremely sensitive and it gets dehydrated from acne treatments. So finding suitable skincare has become somewhat of an obsession for me. Along the way I have tried a fair few products and it’s given me an opportunity to share a little about them with you. I decided to do a three part skincare series with skincare for 1) acne prone/congested skin, 2) rosacea prone/sensitive skin and 3) dry/dehydrated skin. Starting with the last on the list today – dry/dehydrated skin.
Before I get into the details of this massacre I wanted to give a quick apology to anyone who has been checking here and wondering what the heck is going on lately. I’ve been remodeling the blog a bit (it’s still not done) so if you’ve seen it in some wacky mid-point where it looked bizarre... sorry. Hopefully I’ll be done soon.
Onto the brutality. Ever since I first got one of the Sleek Matte Me’s I’ve been a little bit obsessed with matte liquid lipsticks. You can’t beat the longevity that they bring to the table. So next came Bourjois’ Rouge Edition Matte Velvet (thanks to Anna from Viviannadoesmakeup) and finally Sephora’s Cream Lipstain (thanks to Amelia Liana... and Lily Pebbles... and Anna again). I figured I’d take you through a little rundown of each of them.
Alrighty. Face mask on and ready to write. Let’s begin. I love The Body Shop. It’s something that our family has always used. The satsuma scent instantly takes me back to my childhood. So every once in a while I indulge in a nice body butter or shower gel from them, but I’d never actually given their makeup a go. It was time my friends.
I’ve been seeing Jouer pop up on blogs everywhere these days and I wanted a piece of the assction. Heh. I really like the feel of the brand. It kind of reminds me of a mash up between Laura Mercier and Josie Maran as their products are meant to achieve a natural, timeless look. The no makeup makeup thing is right up my alleyway. I couldn’t decide at first what to get from the range because although I really wanted to try their Matte Moisture Tint I hate the idea of guessing my shade online (there aren’t any stores that carry Jouer in Canada). Eventually I landed on one of their cream blushes – because who doesn’t like cream blush? – and a cream highlighter because I feel like a jerk for mentioning my discontinued Jemma Kidd highlighter all the time.
I was having a bit of a romance session with skincare a few weeks ago and I went a little nuts on Escentual. They were doing that 1/3 off French pharmacy thing and I have no back bone. Besides, who doesn’t like French pharmacy skincare? I mean come on. It certainly tickles my pickle and I bet it tickles yours too. So let’s enjoy tickling our pickles together shall we? God you’re filthy. I didn’t mean it like that. I’m not really going to go into any detail about the products because I haven’t even had a chance to use all of them yet, but I just wanted to run you through each of them.
Big lips are flippin’ attractive. Whenever I see Tanya Burr or Sammi pop a lipstick on their full lips it just looks gewd. I don’t have thin lips myself, but they’re not totally plump like those girls’ lips either. If I do feel like ramping up the sexxayyy, which happens about once every ten years (what can I say, I’m a frumpy jumper kind of a gal), I use a few tricks to help chub up the pout. What sorcery is this you ask? I reckon that there are two basic methods to exaggerate the size of your lips.
I think there are two things that people generally want out of their makeup come the hot and shvetty months of the year: for it to feel lightweight and for it to stay in place. With that in mind I’ve picked out a few things that help to keep things fresh.
Revlon’s Colorstay Moisture Stains recently arrived in Canada and, well, I was drawn to the pretty packaging like a moth to a flame. A filthy, consumer whore moth. I really liked a lot of the colours they brought out, but I decided on Barcelona Nights as I didn’t have anything like it already and I thought “hey, let’s get something fun for ourself big guy.” I can’t say I stand behind my colour choice in retrospect. I was expecting it to be deeper and richer. That’s one thing about these Moisture Stains is that for some reason they all look darker in the packaging to me. The formula feels nice on the lips. It’s a bit more balmy and less gel like than it’s L’oreal counterpart (Colour Caresse Wet Shine Stains) and it doesn’t smell of anything much. It’s not drying, despite being a stain. Unfortunately that’s probably because it doesn’t actually stain my lips. Maybe it would if it was a darker colour, but that excludes most of the range. If what you expect from this is a slightly longer wearing gloss with a nice shade range to pick from and beautiful packaging then you’re in luck. If you’re hoping for a stain, however, you will be not so much in luck.
I wasn’t quite sure what products to pick this month to be honest. I haven’t actually been wearing a ton of makeup lately and I’ve simplified my skincare for now. But when I thought about it, these guys had to be the real standouts. They are the heroes Gotham deserves. Oh, wait, I’m getting confused.
If I have to do anything on top of the stove, the English in me comes out in the worst way. Somehow everything I make turns to mush. Luckily I seem to be okay when it comes to putting things in the oven. I like having granola for breakie and it’s not something you can easily get a good quality version of for a reasonable price. So every once in a while I whip out the old apron and get mixing!
To be honest, when I first designed my blog and put it up I thought “yeah it looks pretty good, I think it’ll do alright.” How naive past Holly was. Future Holly scoffs throatily at past Holly (you may also scoff at me for referring to myself in the third person like a nob). When I started to poke around on twitter and bloglovin I realized there’s an absolutely mental amount of blogs with stunning layouts, gorgeous photography and sharp writing. It was actually quite overwhelming to see. It’s been an awakening as to how much I need to step it up, but it's also been a major source of inspiration. So today I want to talk a bit about some of the blogs I enjoy. I’m mostly going to stick to blogs that I know quite well for now (and those tend to be fairly established blogs), so my apologies for not mentioning too many newer blogs. I will do so in the future.
