Selfies and Skin

Hi There!

Long time no talk, eh? It's been a rather busy and snowy week here, so I haven't had much time to check in. I have a couple of cool things to share with you all in the post. Beware: There are make-up less selfies among the images below. Leave now if this scares you.



Thanks to good genes (Mom and Dad- muchas gracias!), I fortunately never had to endure acne or breakouts during my adolescence. Not to toot my own horn, but I had beautiful skin. It was one of the features that I was complemented on quite often as I was growing up. Until later in life, I didn't realize how lucky I was not to have to take acne medications, suffer painful or embarrassing breakouts, or feel the need to spackle my face with makeup to hide the blemishes and unevenness below. On a side note, I did choose to wear way too much make up as a teen, but that was purely a choice.



Throughout the end off high school and for most of my college years, I kind of resembled tan mom. I can assure you that I wasn't alone in this as tanning was definitely the norm among my peers. Perhaps that's why I thought it was normal to look like I just returned from the islands in mid February? For anyone who went to Quinnipiac University like I did, did you charge your tanning visits to your Qcard? Wasn't that awesome? Now that I look back on it, clearly I'm appalled. Hey, hindsight is 20/20, right?
After college, something weird happened. My skin changed, and I found that I was frequently breaking out. When my blemishes would finally heal, they would leave behind dark spots! For the first time in my life, I needed to wear foundation daily and spend time spot touching (aka spackling!) the holes in my face! Yes, I am a picker people. That's another thing, if I get a blemish, I cannot leave it alone. Well, I guess I could, but somehow I think picking at it will make it go away? Insanity, I know. As someone who was accustomed to purchasing whichever face wash was on sale at the pharmacy, I didn't know what to do. I tried every face wash, toner and acne treatment that I could find at CVS. No dice.



Then, one glorious day two years ago- the heavens opened and the angels sang- and I was introduced to Unblemish. Unblemish is made by Rodan and Fields who are the same doctors that created Proactiv. I never used Proactiv, but I remember it being quite popular among my college girlfriends. Unblemish seriously changed my skin. BTW, I don't sell this product and noone is asking me to promote it on my little blog, so this testimonial comes purely from the heart. I have been using this line almost exclusively for the past two years, and I have never been happier with my skin. There was a period of time where I tried to switch back to a pharmacy face wash since the Unblemish regimen is a little expensive, but I quickly realized that my skin is worth the investment. The whole line costs $160 and lasts about 3 months.With that said, I save money on the makeup that I'm not buying! I very rarely wear makeup these days aside from filling in my eyebrows a little bit because they are non existent. Dude, I wish I learned this earlier, but having nice eyebrows can totally change your face!

I'm not good at selfies, but this is my mug sans makeup in the am.

A little eyebrow pencil does wonders :)

My eyes look kind of weird in this photo- I think I curled one lash and not the other... haha. Anyways, this is how I look for a normal day. I put a little oil of olay CC cream on which acts as a moisturizer and sunscreen. I curl the lashes (or at least one of them!),fill in the brows, and I'm ready to go. Now,don't get me wrong, I love makeup. I do occasionally enjoy painting myself up like Kim Kardashian and strutting my stuff around town. It's fun!

From this....

To this....So fun!

Ok, enough selfies. The point of all this is to show you that I feel great wearing little to no makeup. I have gotten to the point that I kind of like how I look without it better. I notice that when I don't spend time primping, I spend equally as little time staring in the mirror throughout the day to make sure everything is still in place. I will say that when I first stopped wearing make up, people did often tell me that I looked tired. Womp, Womp.  However, once I started to have confidence in rocking the 'au natural' look, I think it started to look normal to everyone else, too.

Just so you all know, Rodan and Fields has a ton of great products aside from Unblemish. In fact, now that I have been using Unblemish consistenly for quite some time, I have decided to try the Reverse regime. Reverse aims to treat brown spots, dullness, and sun damage. I will keep you guys posted on how I like these products.

I have some yummy recipes to share with you, but they will have to wait until manana! Adios!

Something to think about:

xo

Sarah