Rain blogs: Skincare edition
Feb. 13th, 2021 11:58 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rainwatersparkSo! Writing updates aside (of which I have nothing to say right now since I'm waiting on my edit letter from my agent), I've decided a new topic I can blog about is...skincare.
First, disclaimer: I hate skincare.
No, really.
I have an incredibly hard time changing my routines, which means I'm really, really bad at sticking to skincare routines. I'm the "wake up, roll out of bed, and head to work" type of person, so long skincare routines in the morning are a big no-no for me. I'm the kind of person who's like "who cares about makeup/skincare when I can have ten more minutes of sleep?" As for nighttime skincare, see, I sleep on my face, so anything that requires an overnight facial mask just won't work for me—it'll just rub off on my pillow.
I first started thinking about skincare, though, in 2019, when I moved out of my parents' house and began to feel embarrassed about my bad skin when I showed up to work at my new job. I have chronic acne (...cystic acne? See, I'm so bad at this stuff that I don't even know what the proper name is) and, to my constant annoyance, it seems to get worse as I get older. I also have the really bad habit of picking at my acne, and by now, I have lots of spots on my face from acne scarring (or whatever—I'm honestly not sure where some of these spots have come from).
So I figured I should probably start investing in skincare.
Another reason I hate skincare and have taken so long to do it: I hate the fact that finding what works for you apparently involves buying tons of products to experiment, while running the risk that you might have a bad reaction to something that works fine for other people. Reading 1-star reviews of products just makes me terrified to try anything.
I hit the pause button on trying skincare products in 2020, due both to the pandemic and to a host of new health issues that have come up (namely eye and teeth issues) and that seemed a bit more important at the time. Now, though, since I'm having dreams of doing author events if I get a book deal, I've started thinking about skincare again.
So, I thought I'd write down some of the products I've tried so far and how they've worked, just so I don't have to rely on my (at times very questionable) memory.
Lush
Everyone's heard about the Lush hype. I mean, even before I started thinking about skincare, I'd heard about the Lush hype. I was a little more cautious, though, in terms of trying products because of the price tag and my skepticism at some of their ingredients (all natural or not).
Fresh Farmacy: This was the first product of theirs I'd tried, though I tried it after they apparently changed their formula. I still have like two bars of this, and I don't feel like it really works.
Full of Grace moisturizer: I feel like this is pricy but, to be fair, it's lasted me quite a while (probably because I don't apply it every day). It leaves an oily residue on my skin so I don't put this on at night, and I try to avoid the eye area since I think I got milia when I did that. Mostly, I feel like this does help heal my acne when I've picked at it, but otherwise I haven't noticed much effect.
Burt's Bees: Natural Acne Scrub
I'm wary of most scrubs, though I trust this one since it uses jojoba beads rather than sea salt or nut shells or anything like that. I use this more as a spot treatment for my acne rather than a regular exfoliator; I should probably try using this more regularly and see what happens. I think it helps, though I don't think it's a miracle product or anything.
Paula's Choice
Pore-Normalizing Cleanser: I've used this as a spot treatment instead of a regular cleanser, and I definitely felt like it helped my acne. Not dramatically (I'm so confused by people who post reviews of skincare products calling them "magical"), but it did help.
Lip balm
You're probably looking at this and thinking, "Huh?" Well, believe it or not, after years of picking at my acne, I found that swiping lip balm over my picked acne spots actually helped them heal. It sounds so simple, I can't believe I never discovered this before. Best of all, I always need lip balm anyway, so I don't have to go out of my way to buy a different product!
Next products on my to-try list: Trader Joe's moisturizer, PC BHA exfoliant, PC moisturizer
First, disclaimer: I hate skincare.
No, really.
I have an incredibly hard time changing my routines, which means I'm really, really bad at sticking to skincare routines. I'm the "wake up, roll out of bed, and head to work" type of person, so long skincare routines in the morning are a big no-no for me. I'm the kind of person who's like "who cares about makeup/skincare when I can have ten more minutes of sleep?" As for nighttime skincare, see, I sleep on my face, so anything that requires an overnight facial mask just won't work for me—it'll just rub off on my pillow.
I first started thinking about skincare, though, in 2019, when I moved out of my parents' house and began to feel embarrassed about my bad skin when I showed up to work at my new job. I have chronic acne (...cystic acne? See, I'm so bad at this stuff that I don't even know what the proper name is) and, to my constant annoyance, it seems to get worse as I get older. I also have the really bad habit of picking at my acne, and by now, I have lots of spots on my face from acne scarring (or whatever—I'm honestly not sure where some of these spots have come from).
So I figured I should probably start investing in skincare.
Another reason I hate skincare and have taken so long to do it: I hate the fact that finding what works for you apparently involves buying tons of products to experiment, while running the risk that you might have a bad reaction to something that works fine for other people. Reading 1-star reviews of products just makes me terrified to try anything.
I hit the pause button on trying skincare products in 2020, due both to the pandemic and to a host of new health issues that have come up (namely eye and teeth issues) and that seemed a bit more important at the time. Now, though, since I'm having dreams of doing author events if I get a book deal, I've started thinking about skincare again.
So, I thought I'd write down some of the products I've tried so far and how they've worked, just so I don't have to rely on my (at times very questionable) memory.
Lush
Everyone's heard about the Lush hype. I mean, even before I started thinking about skincare, I'd heard about the Lush hype. I was a little more cautious, though, in terms of trying products because of the price tag and my skepticism at some of their ingredients (all natural or not).
Fresh Farmacy: This was the first product of theirs I'd tried, though I tried it after they apparently changed their formula. I still have like two bars of this, and I don't feel like it really works.
Full of Grace moisturizer: I feel like this is pricy but, to be fair, it's lasted me quite a while (probably because I don't apply it every day). It leaves an oily residue on my skin so I don't put this on at night, and I try to avoid the eye area since I think I got milia when I did that. Mostly, I feel like this does help heal my acne when I've picked at it, but otherwise I haven't noticed much effect.
Burt's Bees: Natural Acne Scrub
I'm wary of most scrubs, though I trust this one since it uses jojoba beads rather than sea salt or nut shells or anything like that. I use this more as a spot treatment for my acne rather than a regular exfoliator; I should probably try using this more regularly and see what happens. I think it helps, though I don't think it's a miracle product or anything.
Paula's Choice
Pore-Normalizing Cleanser: I've used this as a spot treatment instead of a regular cleanser, and I definitely felt like it helped my acne. Not dramatically (I'm so confused by people who post reviews of skincare products calling them "magical"), but it did help.
Lip balm
You're probably looking at this and thinking, "Huh?" Well, believe it or not, after years of picking at my acne, I found that swiping lip balm over my picked acne spots actually helped them heal. It sounds so simple, I can't believe I never discovered this before. Best of all, I always need lip balm anyway, so I don't have to go out of my way to buy a different product!
Next products on my to-try list: Trader Joe's moisturizer, PC BHA exfoliant, PC moisturizer
