#breakouts

VKTMS, Breakouts, Red Rockers at Mabuhay Gardens, San Francisco August 1981.

haiiiiiiii Gin, have a sequel to this for @dadrunkwriting

screenshot yoinked from this video, which is a delightful animated banter compilation

Trusting you was a mistake.

Anders’ parting shot and rage in his voice would've broken Nate's resolve if Loghain hadn't grabbed his elbow.  This contingency plan had been his wretched idea, brought up last night while they'd listened to his frantic pacing one room over.  Anders had said getting Karl out was the goal, that he'd burn the city down to see him free, so Nate had agreed to it as a last resort.

A last resort.  Not a bargaining chip to be tossed out at the merest hint of disagreement.  He barely heard, barely cared about Loghain and the Knight Captain's conversation as they walked through the same gate Anders had been dragged through moments before.  

So today's post is something a bit different than my usual. If I'm not reading and exploring astrology, I'm wrapped up in my robe doing my skincare. I've had a tough year with many breakouts, even though I've never had problems before. After many trials and errors I've come to make the routine that has helped my skin tremendously! I still do battle some hormonal breakouts and dark spots, but they are fading away as we speak. So today I'm sharing some tips and tricks, holy grails and routines that helped my skin flourish!

❕I want to add a disclaimer that I am by no means a cosmetologist nor dermatologist. If you can, I highly advise you to visit a dermatologist to help out in the skin department.

With that being said I'll firstly talk about a routine called SKIN CYCLING before we get into the products.

🤍Skin cycling is a process where you literally "cycle" products so you don't breakout. This is also an amazing tactic if you're adding a new product to your routine. My skin is highly reactive and sensitive, so by just putting something with a new ingredient on my face everyday, it will cause severe purging or even breakouts. I've had this happend when using salicylic acid. I would read how it's good to purge and waited a month and the breakouts kept coming. It was painful and ugly. So I decided to skin cycle and I've never had a problem with salicylic acid ever again.

My cycle consists of 4 days:

1. Normal skincare

2. Normal skincare

3. Exfoliation night

4. Recovery night

You go back and forth with your exfoliation and recovery nights and normal skincare. I find that by doing this my skin is never dry, patchy or iritated. For each of these days I have different moisturizers.

I would firstly recommend if you're starting off to just find an amazing cleanser, moisturizer and spf cream. Later you can add on, experiment with serums, retinols etc... If you have a damaged skin barrier be sure to stick to soothing cleansers and moisturizers. Don't beat your face, it will not be forgiving...trust me.

🤍Some of my tips&tricks I've learned over the years:

▫️Do your night routine atleast an hour before going to bed, so the products doesn't just end up on your sheets.

▫️Change your bed sheets every 5-7 days, I change every 5 days, but a week is totally fine.

▫️Stop touching your face after touching your hair. Your hair has many natural oils and putting it on your face afterwards can cause a breakout.

▫️Double cleansing is a must in the nighttime routine, especially if you wear makeup or work in a dusty environment.

▫️Really learn about your skin before getting into skincare, you have to know  what you're dealing with. This is the biggest tip I have. The more you know your skin, the better products you'll find for your it.

▫️I know this is a classic one, but diet is really important. Even though I'm not that sensitive to this, I know many are. Dairy, fatty foods, fast food, snacks, soda, sugar and alcohol can have a huge impact how your skin treats you. By all means this DOESN'T mean you can't eat anything. Cut one out and bring it back to see if there's any change. For me I eat sugar only on special events and I watch out with my alcohol intake.

▫️Put different moisturisers on different parts of your face. In my nighttime routine I have two moisturizers one that I put on my oily parts and the other that I put on my really sensitive and reactive parts. This one is a personal tip and it helped me a lot. Since my cheeks are so dry I can't use the same moisturiser on my cheeks and my chin ,my chin is very oily, has whiteheads  and is prone to a lot of breakouts. My chin can take stronger ingredients and even fragrance, but my cheek area is strictly for soothing creams with no perfume whatsoever.

🤍HOLY GRAILS

So I'll put the products into 4 sections, because I use them separately.

1. Morning Holy Grails

🤍 The Holika Holika Aloe Cleansing Foam

This product is the one I repurchase every month or two. If I had to choose the product that saved my skin, ding ding she gets the reward. It takes off makeup, cleanses your skin without it feeling stripped away, it leaves such a glow afterwards. I'm obsessed with this cleanser. It's also suitable for me in the summer and winter!

🤍 Cerave Hydrating cream-foam Cleanser

This one is a classic in the skincare community, because it does what it needs to do! I used this cleanser for 2 years until buying the Holika one. Cerave is the best big store brand for me. It never caused any damage to my skin, it's dermalogically tested and all their products are fragrance free. Simple, inexpensive and good. A good starter cleanser in my opinion.

🤍 Skin 79's Calming Aloe Vera Gel

You can see a pattern, aloe vera is the ingrediant for me! This gel has been a staple in my routine for atleast 3 years. It's an amazing layering moisturizer in the winter and daily moisturizer in the summer. It's fresh and light on the skin. Helps with dark spots and makes skin appear so bouncy!

🤍 Cerave Daily Moisturising Cream

Also another classic one, but I haven't found my perfect morning cream to date. This one is also fast and simple. It's lightweight, has hyaluronic acid and is really easy to use. It keeps the face nicely moisturized threw the day! This one is more of a summer moisturizer or if I'm staying in. The one labeled dry to extra dry I get in the winter!

2. Nighttime Holy Grails

🤍 CORSX Snail 96 Mucin

It's a little bit on the pricer side so I only use it before sleeping! It's amazing for repairing a damaged skin barrier and just the glow you get afterwords! Also amazing for recovery days.

🤍 The Effaclar Duo(+) from La Roche Posay

This is the star of the show! If I had to pick a favorite cream it goes to this one! This cream absolutely changed how I looked in a matter of 2 weeks. It exfoliates dead skin cells, reduces the look of dark spots and is very gentle! Highly recommend this even though it's also on the pricer side, but it's worth it.

🤍 La Roche Posay Lipikar Baume

Another La Roche product, because they are so good in my eyes. This moisturizer was introduced by my brother who has eczema and dermatitis. I used it on my cheeks one time and feel in love. It is a winter cream since it's very inriched. It's not heavy on the face and I use it if I've been out the whole day and the wind ate up my skin. It does wonders for my hands and knuckles since they are prone to being extra dry aswell. It's also good for recovery days!

3. Exfoliation Holy Grails

🤍 Cerave SA Soothing Cleanser

This cleanser is really rough on skin if I use it everyday, but every 4th day it does the job! I can tell it helps clear out my whiteheads and blackheads. I use it on my T zone area every 4 days and on my cheeks every 8th day, since they are so sensitive. Once I learned how to properly use this cleanser my skin has been doing amazing.

🤍 Aztec Clay Mask

A very popular product and I get why! This clay mask is better for me in the summer since it is so intense. I mix it with water and leave it on 5-7 minutes.

🤍 Inninisfree Pore Cleaning Clay Mask

I found out about this clay mask last summer and I can't describe how much I adore it. It's a more gentle clay mask where you don't feel any pulling sensation. I use this one in the winter more since it is so gentle. Highly recommend this aswell!

4. Recovery Day Holy Grails

🤍 La Roche Posay Lipikar cleanser

This cleanser is very rich and soft, I stay away from it on a daily basis because it's too heavy for everyday use. This cleanser is for very iritated and dry skin. I use this after my exfoliation night to bring back some moisture to my skin. It's extremely soothing and good for people with dry, itching and sensitive skin.

🤍 La Rosay Posay Cicaplast Baume B5+

This is a skin savior! Also it's a little pricey, but since I don't use it very often it's worth the price. This cream is amazing in recovery, to repair the skin barrier and for any anomalies. For example for the past week I've been down with the flu, after wiping your nose 1001 times the nose area can become quite inflamed, red and iritated. After using this two days in a row you can't even tell I had a runny nose, it's that amazing.

- just to be clear I have combination skin that is very dry mostly so a lot of these products are not for acne prone skin. The only products I would recommend to oily and acne prone people are the aloe vera, snail mucin and the effalcar duo!

🤍Hope you enjoyed and if ypu have any questions, I'll anwser them all in the comments!

My breakouts are largely under control due to the contraceptive pill, but that doesn’t mean I’m completely immune to some during that time of the month. While I don’t get the typical painful and deep breakouts that I used to get, when my skin decides to play up I usually suffer from small whiteheads or little red bumps instead. Here are the products I’m currently reaching out for when I need to give my skin some extra special care✨

1. A niacinamide toner

Niacinamide is probably my favourite skincare ingredient of all time, as it gently reduces inflammation and excess oil on the skin without causing irritation. I’m currently using a niacinamide toner by Q+A, which thoroughly hydrates your skin while calming down your pimple party. I prefer to use it once a day at night-time simply because it’s slightly too heavy for the day, but if you have drier skin than me then twice a day would be great for you!

2. A zinc serum 

Zinc is another fab ingredient for breakouts, as it tackles bacteria on the skin while also reducing oil. My current zinc product-of-choice is the zinc serum by Q+A, which sinks into the skin so quickly and has a lovely, light texture. I like using this in the morning when my skin needs just a little bit of extra nourishment before my moisturiser, without feeling too heavy or tacky on the skin. 

3. A salicylic-based spot treatment 

Now, I’m not a massive fan of salicylic acid in general  for all-over use as my skin tends to react pretty badly to it, but using a targeted spot treatment always seems to do the trick at banishing breakouts in a jiffy. My all-time favourite spot treatment is the Advantage Spot Control Treatment Gel by Clean & Clear which uses 2% salicylic acid, and it starts to soothe any swelling in record time. 

4. Aloe vera gel 

When my skin is having a bit of a moment, I can’t bear the thought of using creamy, occlusive creams in the daytime as it feels like I’m smothering my skin. So in these moments of need, I turn to aloe vera gel. The one I’m using right now is by Atlantia, which I bought in Spain last year but any pure aloe vera gel will do. It has a super light texture, absorbs pretty quickly and keeps my skin looking dewy without being greasy, and any good aloe vera gel product should do the same for you too! 

Thank you so much!! Also I get really bad acne too, so I understand how hard it can be xox

Leo

So you don’t normally wear makeup around Leo

but tonight as he comes through your window you’re hurriedly slopping on as much foundation as you can

“what are you doing?”

“nothing, just don’t- don’t look at me yet I’m not ready!”

he kind of chuckles a little and walks over to gently take your hand and stop you

“so ok, I know I don’t look my best but it’ll go away when my period is over I swear!”

he looks at your face and smiles, leaning in to kiss around your chin where most of the acne is forming

“don’t be silly and take that makeup off. You look just fine, doll”

he makes a point to spend the rest of the night kissing you all over your face and telling you that he wouldn’t change you for the world

Raph

Ok so you get to the lair in makeup, just the full beat

which is unusual for you after a long week

but Raph just compliments how good you look and how well you’ve done your makeup and forgets about it

that is until you go to bed and you won’t take it off

“yer gonna get foundation all over my sheets. Take that shit off!”

you say you can’t because you’re having a breakout at the moment 

he gives you a fed up look and tilts his head to the side as if you say “really?! like you think I care”

“If you don’t take it off, I’m getting the hose and spraying you down...”

so you finally do and kind of cover your face as you leave the bathroom telling him not to look at you

but he rips your hands away from your face and stares down at you

“damn, you made it sound like it would be bad. It’s a few pimple, so what?”

he’s just so unfazed by it that it calms you down quite a lot

he just tells you to get your ass in bed and stop being so dramatic

Mikey

So you get tot he lair with your hood up and the draw strings of your hoodie pulled close so that pretty much just your nose and eyes can be seen

“this a new look? Are people doing this now? It looks weird”

you tell him “no, I’m having a pre period breakout and I look terrible”

he sees this as a challenge and is immediately on you pulling the hood away as you scream at him not to

he smiles when he sees you 

“there’s that pretty face!”

“Mikey, shut it. I look like a pizza”

he tells you that he loves pizza and loves your face!

“hey, I’m green and scaly and you still love me. A few pimples isn’t gonna stop me loving you. You still look beautiful”

he really means it, with those big puppy eyes looking into your soul

so you just smile, thank him and try and feel a little better about yourself

Donnie

Donnie gets to your place and you keep the light slow and don’t really look at him so he knows something is up

finally he just straight up asks “what is going on?”

you tell him you feel embarrassed because you have this pre period acne that you can’t get rid of

he laughs a little and tells you he used to get acne as a teen so it’s nothing he hasn’t seen before

“come here, let me look at you!”

he takes your face in his hands and kisses your forehead before looking down at you

“it’s nothing to be insecure about, loads of people get it and beside it doesn’t take away from how gorgeous you are, darling”

he does give you a little advice tho

to cut out dairy before you’re gonna be on your period and to wash your face in the morning and before bed to help stop it getting quite as bad

“that’s what I had to do and it made it easier”

Skin with acne requires a special type of attention, whether your acne is caused by hormones, diet, genetics, makeup (or wearing a mask!) acne can be a stubborn skin concern. Cleansing is an essential step to help reduce acne, but it's not as simple as washing your face with a cleanser and some water. From scrubs to acids, and the double cleansing method; when it comes to acne, cleansing the skin is important.

PHOTO COURTESY HONEST BEAUTY

Skip Scrubs

Scrubs which exfoliate and remove dead skin cells can seem like a good thing for those with acne and blemish prone skin, but they can often do more harm than good. If you have prominent acne on your skin, it’s best to avoid cleansers containing scrub ingredients (such as beads, coffee granules or other coarse ingredients).These ingredients can irritate & disturb acne, causing bacteria to spread over the skin and become pushed deep into the pores. Instead, opt for a chemical based exfoliant containing enzymes and acids such as AHA (alpha hydroxy acids) and BHA (beta hydroxy acids).