Thursday 23 August 2012

Tips & Tricks For Combination/Oily Skin Types...

Illustration by Meme Infashionlove...


These are the tricks I picked up over the years... Having the same skin type, learning how to keep your foundation in place and how to make your eyeshadow look vivid and last long, along with many other things was groundbreaking...

1. The most significant point to start off with is that you have to understand that your skin type is more likely to be sensitive towards certain products, or specifically certain ingredients that will unfortunately make your skin go psycho bitch and give you a rather nasty break-out... This all is super frustrating... So my first advice is stop changing your skin care products all the time, don't try too many new facial creams, serums, face masks, what not... Try to simplify your skin care routine... And keep it for a good month and see how it goes... Very often you are likely to drop using a product after you have a break out, then you go and splurge on yet another over-priced skin care product in hope it will help... But it can make things worse because you keep throwing products on your face dis-balancing it more and more... You skin starts over producing oil, blocking pores, and it just goes down hill from here...

The thing is, when you break out not necessarily is it from the product you are using, sometimes it could be stress, diet, or hormones related... So instead of jumping from one product to another try to keep using one and see if your skin will calm down, sometimes it can start working... You need to monitor how your skin is reacting over a period of time... Also usually for a skincare product to start working you have to use it for a good few weeks, your skin needs to adjust and get used to the ingredients... So don't give up too fast on something, unless you are 100% sure it's bad for your skin... Vitamins A, C, D, and E are particularly important for skin... Things like Avocado, Cranberries, Kale, Oranges and Strawberries are great detoxifiers and help keeping your skin looking healthy... And of course drink plenty of water...

2. Exfoliation - to keep oily skin as clear as possible and have the break-out situation under control you need to exfoliate frequently... Having said that, make sure the exfoliators are gentle! Because if they are not, they will only make your skin over produce oil and we are right back to square one... The two exfoliators I use in rotation is Liz Earle Hot Cloth Cleanser and bareMinerals Exfoliating Treatment Cleanser... If it's that time of the month, or I get stressed and things go a little crazy on my face I start religiously using these two for a few days, one night I use Hot Cloth Cleanser, next Exfoliating Treatment Cleanser [I have done a review on it], then Hot Cloth Cleanser and so on until my skin clears out, usually takes 3-4 days for me... 

Also with this skin type as soon as you get a clear looking skin you can't get lazy with your routine and drop out of it for too long as your pores will start getting blocked again... Of course once in a while you will still get a blemish, but once you find the right skincare products for your skin you will be in control and those nasty undesired break-outs won't reappear... And those couple of spots will quickly clear up... You'll see a big and super pleasant change to your skin... 

3. Moisturising - now this is the toughest one I find... It's really difficult to find a moisturiser that is not to greasy yet will work for oily skin... Also because you exfoliate a lot, naturally you need to moisturise otherwise skin starts to feel a little tight, and usually over night it over produces oil, and you wake up looking rather greasy... So what I do is, after I use the Liz Earle Hot Cloth Cleanser I spay the Liz Earle Instant Boost Skin Tonic Spritzer couple of times over my face and neck... It feel very soothing and refreshing, and I love the scent of both products, very herbal and natural... Then before going to bed I apply Avene Cleanance Lotion, which is an anti-shine regulating, just on my oily bits: forehead, nose, cheeks, and chin - that keeps me from feeling dry, personally accept for my eye area I don't need any full-on moisturisers, my skin develops enough oil as it is... During the day I use Avene Cleanace Cream-gel, which is both exfoliating and hydrating... It's a great primer, and while you are wearing make-up it does its job! But during the winter I sometimes can get dry patches, in which case I like to use the Liz Earle Skin Repair Light Moisturiser, it's specifically for combination/oily skin, it's very light and gentle and sinks in to your skin without leaving a greasy filter...

4. Treatment - I'm cleansing my face in the morning and evening... In the morning I usually use Vichy Normaderm Deep Cleansing Purifying Gel and then I use Vichy Normaderm Purifying Pore-Tightening Lotion... This I find really keeps things under control... Also when you have a blemish that is clearing up it will make it peel away... But it's a good thing, you need your old skin cells to be replaced to have a new revitalised clear looking skin... If I have a blemish coming or happening I will use Avene TriAcneal Skin Care, just on the blemish... Or the area that is affected by a few blemishes if they are all close together having a party... In the morning I would cleanse my face with Avene Cleanance Gel Soapless Cleanser, which helps to reduce excess oil...

5. And last but not least, to keep your make up looking good for longer here are a few tips and tricks! First of all when it comes to eye make-up I literally don't remember last time I haven't used some sort of primer on my eyelids... I used to be so frustrated with so many eyeshadows because they just looked so washed out on me and hardly had any pigmentation, and would crease after two hours, and wouldn't last much longer after that... A primer takes care of all these dilemmas, and transforms your eye make-up into sultry, intense, beautifully smooth make-up artist creation... The ones that I constantly use are MAC Paint Pots... They are cream eyeshadows and are fantastic as primers too... I love them because when you are in a hurry you can just leave it as it is... The Paint Pots I use the most are in Nubile and Groundwork...

Secondly, choose the right foundation... Some slide right of your skin no matter how you try to keep in in place... Stay away from luminizing foundations, as they tend to be those that will make you look like a greaseball... As well as be careful where you put highlighters, and shimmery bronzers, they will emphasise uneven skin and make your pores look huge... 

Finally, another revelation to me was the mineralised foundation! Two that I really love and would recommend for oily skin is Laura Mercier Mineral Powder SPF 15, and bareMinerals SPF 15 Foundation... Those lucky ones with perfect skin can use it on its own... But for us it's a fantastic way to create an air-brushed flawless finish and set the liquid foundation in place, I feel naked without it! And if you need to touch up your oily zone during the day I suggest something like YSL Matt and Radiant Pressed Powder, or bareMinerals Original Mineral Veil... They are weightless so you can use them trough out the day without ending up looking too powdery...

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These are all the products I use consistently, most of them for over a year now... I highly recommend them for combination/oily skin types... And I hope some of my tips will help you combat bad skin and make you look even more beautiful!


LOVE

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