Current Skincare Routine

I love skincare. I really really do. As much as I believe in my amazing Estee Lauder foundation to make my face flawless.. the REAL secret to any gorgeous makeup look is a great base. i.e. - your skin. 

All my life I had pretty great skin. In high school while my friends were loading up on concealer to hide all their blemishes, I didn't have a spot in site. I took it for granted I tell you.. because fast forward to 2013, the year I had my daughter and my skin decided to suddenly pretend I was a 14 year old with some serious SERIOUS acne. We are talking cystic acne here. Painful, deep cysts that no matter what I did would.not.go.away. It was horrible, painful and so so annoying. I went to dermatologists, bought ridiculously expensive skincare products, drank apple cider vinegar every day (SICK!) 

Basically what I'm trying to say is.. I've tried it all.. and THIS is what finally worked for me. I don't have perfect skin.. but with this regimen I have found relief from my cystic acne, and finally have clear glowing skin again. (Now.. next on my skin care to do list is to get rid of these wrinkles and lines that are popping up everywhere.. I'm too young for this ;) !!) 

My Skintype: 

Combination, with a tendency to be Oily. O so very Oily. 

Before this year I would have never said I was combination, I am a grease factory over here, with my makeup sweating off within hours of application (thank heavens for Urban Decay All Nighter Spray!) My face is always shiny and oily, BUT around Christmas this year I started noticing some dry patches around my under eye/mouth/smile lines/ and nose. So.. I do get dry patches, especially because I am trying to use anti oil/very drying skin care products to help with my shiny shiny forehead. So- I'm not quite 100% oily like I used to be. 

Also - very pale. If I get a blemish, you can see it for weeks, even after its gone, the redness/spot never seem to go away. 

Now for the good stuff: 

1. A Good Consistent Skincare Routine. 

I use Rodan & Fields Unblemish Regimen - I LOVE this stuff.  

Morning Routine: I use the Rodan + Fields "Acne Treatment Sulfur Wash", the Oil Control Toner (not pictured), the Oil Control Lotion (not pictured)  or if I am feeling particularly dry in the morning I will mix in a little bit of a more moisturizing lotion like "Clinique Dramatically Different Moisturizer" (but I can't use that alone or I am a grease monkey within the hour) 

Night Routine: I will use the Rodan + Fields  "Acne Treatment Sulfur Wash", the Oil Control Toner, or if I am having a particularly stubborn break out I will use this "Mario Badescu Special Cleansing Lotion 'C'" toner, its really really intense, I can't use it every day but it gets the job done when I need a little extra help with my Acne. Then I follow up with Rodan + Fields "Unblemish Dual Intensive Acne Treatment" at night I use a really good moisturizer (fight oil with oil as they say!) I use Rodan + Fields Redefine Overnight Restorative Cream.  I love it. I really do believe that if your skin is really oily, its because it feels like you aren't giving it enough moisture, so it has to produce more on its own. If you take away all moisture, it will keep being oily. My skin is happiest when I am dousing it in moisture.. I just can't do that during the day or my makeup won't stay on.. so I load up during the night!
If you want to get your hands on some Rodan + Fields hit up my girl Alexis! She is so knowledgeable and helped me to pick out exactly what I needed for my skin type, click HERE to contact her! 

2. Masks

I Love Masks. It is one of my favorite things to do- slap on a mask and read a book for 45 minutes. My skin comes out fresh, and happy. I love THESE Sephora sheet masks, especially the pink/pearl, even though they make you feel like someone out of a horror film, they WORK. And the mask pictured above "Aztec Secret Indian Healing Clay" is unreal. Click on that link and read the reviews. I love that stuff.. mix it with apple cider vinegar and your pores//blackheads are GONE! Highly recommended, especially for the price! 

3. Tools

There are so many great tools out there for your face. I have a Clarisonic that I love an lots of other fun tools that I use.. but the PMD is by far the most effective//worth your $$. Its pretty expensive BUT you can almost always find it on sale (I got mine for 1/2 off) 

The PMD stands for Personal MicroDerm. I LOVE this thing. I use it once a week, every sunday, and on monday I thank my lucky stars that I own it.. it makes your face so smooth.. they say it has skin tightening benefits, it cleans your pores, and causes your skin to resurface revealing new fresh baby skin.... its pretty great and I HIGHLY recommend getting one for yourself! You can customize the different disks you use, so you can have anywhere from very sensitive to very intense/coarse disks. Don't be afraid!! Save up, buy one, thank me later. 

I hope this helps you, especially if you are struggling with acne, you are not alone sister!! Eat healthy, drink lots of water, and try some of these products. After using these things for just a couple weeks, people finally started telling me "You have such great skin" again... I just smile and say "thanks!" when really I want to grab them and say "O thank you!! if you only knew how HARD I work to get it this way!! Let me tell you step by step what I do!!" and I want to overshare about all the products I use, and send them running, reminding themselves to never mention makeup/skincare to me again... instead of doing that.. I thought I'd share this blog post.. much more appropriate.