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How I entomb my oily face.
Hellooo WordPress!
First of all let me start off with some good news, because of these migraines all week i’ve been put on medication for the first time.
All should be better soon. ^_^
Then!
Because I seem to’ve been a walking oil-machine ever since I turned 13, and there wasn’t any decent interwebs around at that time to just google solutions: i’d like to now share what i’ve found works for me!
Maybe it’ll work for others as well.
Even when I clean my skin perfectly, when I wear no make up I will have slippery skin some 5 hours after I get up.
However here’s how I keep that in check as much as I can:
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Clean your skin
Obviously you’ll want to get the dirt off every day to keep it in good condition. Especially if you live in the city like me.
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But not too much!
As with your hair, sebum will turn up on your skin as much as your skin THINKS it needs it.
So cleaning your skin with a harsh cleanser, or cleaning it too much, will only make you produce more of it.
Make sure your skin feels smooth after showering, pull weird faces to check this if needed!
It shouldn’t feel tight, a toner does that, it should feel elastic and smooth but dirtless.
I actually like using cleansing milk for sensitive skin even during the colder months.
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Tone & moisturize
You don’t have to use toner, but it is nice to close up the pores. It’ll make sure you have less blackspots by not letting any oxygen reach the sebum!
Then as for moisturizer, don’t be afraid to moisturize good during the night after your shower.
In the morning you can use something really light, just to give your skin a boost.
But the fact that you have oily skin doesn’t mean your skin can’t be nourished during the night!
Give it a richer night cream, and wash your skin in the morning to get rid of any excess.
I like using a toner to clean my skin in the morning, before my moisturizer.
That way it won’t be deprived of nutrients/moisture and won’t overcompensate, like I said with the cleanser.
I get a LOT of blackspots when my skin is malnourished!
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Scrub
When your skin is really thick, which happens with oily-skinned people, it sometimes needs help getting rid of the dirt and dead skin cells.
Get rid of that top layer of skin once a week by scrubbing, I even dare use a light scrub 2-3 times a week, depends on how scruffy my skin feels.
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Mask
If I really can’t do anything with my skin, as in blackspots, but also uneven and flaky skin, I use a green clay mask.
Clay masks are your best friend with oily skin, to draw out all that’s obsolete once a week!
When I really feel like a couch potato, I like to clear my face (and mind) with a hot shower, scrub, and then a green clay mask.
Smooth like a peach!
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Water based vs oil based moisturizer
For daytime wear, you’ll want to keep your skin clear of oils as long as possible right?
You don’t need any more..
The best way i’ve found to do that is to use a lightwear moisturizer that’s based on water, with as little oil in it as possible.
Check the ingredients list for this, and remember what’s first on the list is the main ingredient, the last one is the tinest amount.
Or just feel the substance if you can’t make out the ingredients. If it feels thick, instead of lightweight, it’s probably not water based based.
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Water based vs oil based foundation
Then the same goes for foundation, oil based foundations are your nemesis.
Especially if you’re putting an foundation with water on top of a moisturizer with oil, or vice versa.
Those two clash and they’ll slip ‘n’ slide!
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Powder down
Even the stars do it!
I do think that’s face powder at least.. hehe.
Get some powder onto your t-zone to absorb oil wanting to get through, and take some with you on the way if you like.
There’s special blotting papers and powders that don’t cake, however the Kryolan anti-shine works all day long for me!!
That’s it! ^_^
Let me know if there’s anything I forgot!
Reversing skin damage
It feels as if there’s a fog eating up my bain today! That picture’s doing a pretty good job at representing it. I really have trouble getting back into the swing of things sometimes.
Especially when I return from a place with a totaly different living pace. From a foresty village to a city, it can still be a hassle!
As I have no idea what to post, but do want to keep my blog updated, I figured why not post something that i’m currently working on every day myself. Which is clearing up skin damage that’s been piling up over the past couple of months.
Acne marks are basically what you’re left with for about a week after you’ve had a pretty serious blemish on your skin. Only multiplied by a ton. The inflamattion is pretty much gone, the bacteria are gone, however your skin still needs to heal from the damage that has been done.
Acne scarring is even more stubborn, this happens when the damage was so severe that it leaves a scar, or even a dent in the skin.
This second one I didn’t encounter thankfully, however i’ll add some tips for that in this post as well. Feel free to scroll through this next section, i’ll just sketch a brief history of what’s been going on with my body!
History lesson in session!
Up until 6 months ago I didn’t have any skin trouble whatsoever, but then.
*TUM TUM TUUUMMM*
My skin went ballistic on me!
Not just my face in fact, my neck and cleavage as well. Up to the point where I only felt comfortable wearing high-cut neck shirts. Just not a good situation.
What happened was:
I’d been taking birth control for 7 years , so I kind of just drifted over the teenage skin problems with ease, didn’t really have any.
However with the migraines and all that, I wanted to give my body a break from the hormones to have a blood test done, and to see if it would bring relief.
When I told my doctor about that decision he did warn me that the body goes through a detox phase for 3 months or longer, so I would likely be seeing my body respond to it.
Now I have heard of ladies trying to get pregnant, that had to wait up to a year before the hormones were all gone and they could try for a baby again.
However half a year later my skin was still complete not at ease. It kept getting worse even, just really horrific.
I really felt like a mess!
Good thing you can cover things up with make up I guess, however I really wanted to feel good about myself without all that covering up again.
Aaand so I went on my journey to find a solution, what I came across then was a type of hormone-simulator.
This has been working for me so far, and my skin has settled down!
However i’m pamering my skin more than usual these days, because the marks could easily take up to a year to vanish without the care.
School’s done!
What I want to sum up here is, how I help my skin shed those damaged layers faster. This also works for a one-time-blemish, i’m just using it on a big scale here!
- Exfoliate
If your skin can’t handle an every day scrub, try once a week even. There’s no need to make your skin angry, but it can use some help getting rid of the dead skin cells that it’s working its ass off to pry loose for you!
You can look into microdermabrasion as well, a lot of people benefit from that.
It’s expensive, however you have DIY kits for it as well these days that are okay in price!
- Tretinoin
Natural form of vitamin A, it’s known to relieve skin issues of all sorts. This stuff can be found in aloe vera, green tea, tomatoes, glycerin, etc.
You can always try slapping that salad onto your face instead of in your mouth, or find a moisturiser with these ingredients.
- Vitamin E
Ingest it as a supplement or via food, but if you want skin to heal fast as lighning you can also apply it on the spots themselves. Vitamin E is a great antioxidant.
- Mask
I really didn’t use to be interested in face masks, however i’ve come to praise them.
A standard issue clay mask once a week helps me draw all the crap to the surface even faster. Right after washing it off, the marks will be extremely red because they’re pissed off, but they come to appreciate it the next morning.
- Sunscreen
Sun can be harsh on your skin.
Applying sunscreen forms a barrier between the damaged areas and the sun, so that the healing process can go full throttle instead of your skin taking some damage from the sun and trying to heal at the same time.
- Stop, no – psst! Don’t pick at your skin!
Scrubbing is good, fiddling your skin isn’t. Give it time to work at its layers by itself.
This gets especially annoying when the damaged area starts healing at a rapid pace, then it itches!
- Water!!
Drink lots of water, for the skin to stay clear it needs good blood circulation. Think of it as a still lake with algae vs a streaming river.
It’s also incredibly vital in keeping the lymphatic system working at a good pace. Which is needed to promote rapid healing.
YES okay, this is something I preach but have trouble practicing. I have my ups and downs however it’s so important, I had to add it out of principle!
- Lymph supplement
While we’re on the subject of the lymphatic system, you can find loads of supplements out there that include vitamin a, c, e, zinc, iron, selenium, etc. to help you get that natural defense system in tip top shape.
Keeping your lymphatic system intact is so crucial to overall health.. it’s one of the things I really try to pay attention to.
It’s so important not only for the immune system and production of blood, but also for collecting excess fluids, and guiding toxins toward the exit and all that good stuff. It deserves some respect!
- Arnica
A really potent herb that promotes rapid wound healing off various kinds.
- Comfrey
This herb multitasks, it restrains inflammation as well as stimulating cell-growth and repair, it’s amazing for the skin.
- Lemon
Lemon has an awesome lightening effect on marks and pigmentation spots.
I use my own scrub once a week, which has fresh lemon in it. The way I really let that lemon get to work is: I scrub first in the shower, and then just let the mixture sit for a bit while I take care of other business.
As for scarring, especially the vitamin E, A, work good, however a dermatologist can do a ton of things for you as well.
These are all of the things I can think of at the moment, that i’ve used at least a couple of times to treat a spot mark / my acne marks.
However not everyone lives in a concrete “paradise” like me, without kids and just a hamster to care about, so of course these can be selected according to convenience!!
Let me know if there’s anything else I forgot!
Montagne jeunesse chocolate mask
Quick post before I go out for dinner and drinks with Hippo! We’ve been together for 4 years now, so time to pop a bottle! 
The day before my interview I decided to slap on a mask, it really felt like I needed one. Little bumps everywhere, flaky nose and forehead, blackheads all over. Very weird, you’d say my skin went on a little party tour.
I would’ve gone for the fruit smoothie mask, however they didn’t have that one in stock so I went for the deep cleansing chocolate mask instead. My intention was to get something that would give me a bit of a cleanse, but at the same time give a serious nourishing boost!
Purpose
The choclate mask is supposed to be a creamy delight, with crushed Cocoa and ultra-moisturising Shea to leave skin silky soft. The Mediterranean Clay makes sure your skin gets cleansed and the sea salt gives it a nice glow.
Packaging
Same as the other Montagne Jeunesse masks. There’s a good amount of product in the sachet, and it’s very hygienic, but still annoying! It was even worse with this one though.
Well, no it wasn’t, it was exactly the same. Only this time there was brown creamy stuff slathered all over my hands and the sachet. Which made it 10 times worse in my head.
Smell
Ick, didn’t care for it at all. Artificial sweetness, not really chocolaty.. not fresh either. Just off!
Texture
Same as the fruit smoothie mask. Creamy, easy to apply!
Formulation
A clay mask again, so it hardens out to seal your skin off from air temporarily which makes the nutrients penetrate the skin better. It doesn’t harden out as much as the previous ones though i’d say. It stayed fairly creamy.
Besides that, no noticable effects once it was on my skin!
Effect
With the dead sea mud pac, I could really feel my skin prickling, that mask was really drawing everything out that shouldn’t be there! However when feeling no active ingredients in this one I kind of predicted it wouldn’t cleanse much, and as expected it didn’t. It did remove superficial dirt though, some of the blackheads were gone. But a real cleanser, definitely not.
After washing it off, my skin did feel pretty nourished again, which was goood since I brought a light, water-based foundation to wear the next day. A pretty watery foundation, so I couldn’t have any of it getting stuck behind the skin flakes! (Mmh, tasty.)
The verdict
It’s not a horrible mask, but if you want your skin to be nourished, there are tons of other Montagne Jeunesse options out there! And for a cleansing one that nourishes as well, i’d still rather go for the fruit smoothie.
Generally I don’t feel like this mask did much for my skin, it was an okay pick-me-up with the shea butter in there, and the sea salt did make my skin look fresh.
But there really are much better options out there!
A 20 gram mask runs for £1.09 on their website. As a customer, you’re able to select masks according to skintype, ingredients, etc. as well as see which ones are vegetarian, and vegan.
Face mapping, find your way back to the roots
It’s painting time again, and studying Lush products in between so busy busy days! However I came across a post on facebook this week that I shared, it was about face mapping.
But I really wanted to go into it a bit deeper!
The fascination with Chinese medicine was passed down to me through my genes so to speak, and i’ve always been a great believer of energy-flow being the base of a healthy organism, and therefore also everything in the body being connected and having an influence on each other.
It’s because of this reasoning that I can see how our general organs can have an influence on the biggest organ we have, our skin!
Face mapping is about mapping the areas where you have problems with your skin, with the intention of developing better insight into what’s causing them.
I truly believe that in a lot of cases it’s the key to not only improving the skin, but also our health overall.
If there’s a blockage going on inside our body, we can’t expect everything to look silky smooth on the outside right!!
I’ll cover a few common ones that I pay attention to below.
- Forehead
Congestion here can mean you need to get a detox in. Toxins aren’t finding a clear exit out of your body, so they’re going for the skin. You could try drinking more water, and light exercising, or simply going on a detox-session for a while!
Less meat, proteins, and alcohol can help with this as well. Although if you’re actually reading my blog, there’s a chance don’t eat meat anyway!
For flakiness in this area, try lubricating your digestive tract. In general that means more fibers and less processed foods.
Another cause for issues in this area is stress though. Maybe a better sleeping-cycle and doing relaxing-exercises will help.
(Easier to say than do, I know I know!)
Hats or greasy hair can cause problems in this area as well.
- Temples
Try eating less greasy foods.
- Between your brows
Flakiness between your brows, possibly indicates your liver having a hard time. Ingesting things that are hard on your liver like fatty foods, alcohol, chocolate or smoking can be a reason for this.
- Mouth
I used to have continuous problems with this, our mouth-area (even our lips!) mirror our intestine, and the bowel.
What’s really helped me relieve this issue is taking my daily dose of fibers via a supplement with a glass of water in the morning.
Gone oiliness and congestion!
- Nose
This is a hard one, blackheads don’t necessarily count as they just loooove them some nose. But flakiness for example, could be solved by getting yourself more vitamin B or eating less meat.
- Cheeks
In case you’re experiencing a rash on your cheeks, try looking up some breathing exercises to pump more oxygen into your system, it might clear the unevenness!
Some believe there’s a difference between the left and right cheek as well, the left cheek acts up when you’re stressing out, or having liver-issues.
The right one can indicate your body asking for less sugar.
In general, both cheeks can also be a sign of your body asking for less sugar, meat or dairy, or even you having an allergy to something.
I tend to get bumps on my cheeks, right next to my nose, when i’m around cats a lot.
- Chin
The biggest problem-area for me, this one is directly connected to the kidneys and/or hormonal imbalances. It’s extremely rare for me to get this area to be completely clear.
You can’t always rule out hormone fluctuations, they happen throughout the month. One week your chin can be a beautiful piece of artificial-looking chin, next week the grand canyon.
Stress is also a cause for this area to act up, it helps cause adrenal fatique, so maybe you’re under a lot of stress?
- General
For all of these areas though, try using a face-wash and moisturizer, no joke! In case any males are reading this, you too! You can have a secret cabinet with your own face-product!
With all of the crap that’s in the air these days, water sometimes isn’t enough.
Another general cause for skin-issues is hair products transferring to your face (wax, hairspray or grease etc.) or dirty bed covers. So keep it awaaay from the face!
Two easy things to try out!
Of course we can’t generalize skin issues, flaky cheeks don’t necessarily mean you need more oxygen, or don’t wash your sheets. You may just need to see a dermatologist.
But I think they’re definitely worth looking into though, as it costs nothing and my mouth-area has personally cleared up by paying some attention to my digestion.
Maybe my post will sound a little bell in your head, whenever that spot pops up in the same freaking area AGAIN!
Getting to the roots with Montagne Jeunesse!
It’s 4 am and I can’t sleep because I feel like i’m suffering from a HEAT STROKE, so watching a movie with the boyfriend and a face mask it is! I couldn’t make any pictures though, words will have to do. ^_^
This week the dead sea mud pac is up!
Another clay / mud mask! Just because they’re amazing!
Purpose
This mask is supposed to penetrate deep into the pores, drawing out impurities. It’s nutrient rich with Seaweed & Kelp to help restore skins vitality leaving you cleansed to the core and totally relaxed.
Packaging
Again with the inconvenient packaging, but I do still prefer it over a jar for the hygene.
The 5 gram sample size packaging was a bit too small for this one though, I don’t know where the difference lies, maybe because this one is a little thicker than the fruit smoothie mask. But I couldn’t put a nice layer on my entire face, I really had to choose my areas of attack!
Smell
Fresh, gah it reminded me of the time I went floating in the blue lagoon. Amazing! This mud pac has salt, lavender and seaweed in it, just try and imagine it. Kay, now a million times better!
Texture
Exactly the same as my fruit smoothie mask!
Formulation
It’s another clay mask, so again it hardens out after a few minutes. By hardening up, it seals your skin off from air temporarily which makes the nutrients penetrate the skin.
This one felt a whole lot tighter than the smoothie mask, it really pulled at my skin. Besides that it prickled quite a bit as well, especially in the areas where I needed a little help. Heavy pore-sweeping alert!
Effect
My skin felt nice and tight afterwards, with a fresh look to it.
This cleansed my pores so nicely, and believe me, I was in need of a purge! I’d say 80% of the blackheads on my nose and cheeks were gone after using it.
The remaining ones were drawn to the surface, which may sound bad because you see them more, but it’s so much better. It makes it a ton easier for them to dissapear now.
Go swimming, sunbathing, working in the garden, even showering, and those blackheads are very likely to dissapear along with the others because they’re not stuck anymore.
I can definitely see myself using this mask every week just to relax and clear up my skin.
With the warm weather, my oily skin has really been living up to it’s expectations, so I needed a cleansing more than a moisturizer.
If you have dry or sensitive skin however, this mask will probably be too harsh and drying for you. In that case, the fruit smoothie mask would be awesome! It gives you a nice cleansing (not harsh enough for oily skin prone to blackheads in my opinion) and still is nourishing.
All in all, if any combination / oily skinned people are reading this, try this mask out in the summer! It feels great!
The verdict
This is Sujata’s favorite I heard, and I agree with her completely! I’d even put this above the smoothie mask, but it all depends on the time really.
At the moment I was in need of a really good cleanser so I went with this one. It gave me bright, refreshed skin.
Had I been in need of a hydrating mask, this one would’ve probably done more bad than good!
A 20 gram mask runs for £1.09 on their website. As a customer, you’re able to select masks according to skintype, ingredients, etc. as well as see which ones are vegetarian, and vegan.
