As this month comes to an end, so does this year and this challenge. To say I finished triumphantly would be a lie. This past week I have been depressed about a number of things, mainly this blessed holiday season. With that depression and added stress, I have broken out horrendously and I have been picking a lot. I couldn’t help myself as Saturday morning arrived and I realized that I was having my first Christmas away from my parents and my plans for it were to go out drinking with friends. I ended up doing a thirty minute spree of popping everything and anything leaving my skin blotchy, bleeding and incredibly tender. I did make the best of that night, and on Sunday spent time with other ex-patriots commiserating about how much we wish were home and how much it sucked that we would be working on Monday. Also, in South Korea Christmas is considered as a couple’s holiday, so trying to find a restaurant to go to is incredibly difficult. It makes you feel extra alone and missing the ones you do love. Read More »

Good old Aunt Flow has come to town, so I have a wonderful display of acne. This acne however is not on my face, I had some small break outs but nothing like the usual  volcano-like zits and white heads. I have had an increasing number of breakouts on my back, legs and chest these past few days, which is something I am not unfamiliar with, but is just as uncomfortable. Because really, who wants to have a zit on their boob? Or a bunch of black heads on their butt? Or a white head sticking out and rubbing against their bra strap all day? Really, this is just getting ridiculous and not being able to pop these suckers, ones no one will see of course, it shouldn’t matter? No, I with held and didn’t pop one, except accidentally the zit that was rubbed open by my bra strap, but that doesn’t count.

This week has gone a bit more smoothly and not nearly as bumpy as I expected it to have been. I worked very hard at not touching my skin and trying to get more sleep in then I was previously. I did though start reading The Hunger Games and that kept me up late for the past couple nights until I finished all of them. Even with lack of sleep I feel that my skin is becoming softer and smoother. Even though I do have a number of black heads around my hair line due to working out and having a head band, the number of zits is not as much as I would usually experience during my period.  I am hoping that not popping and not touching my face helped out a lot with keeping my break outs down to a minimum. Read More »

Clear Skin. Perfectly smooth, no bumps, uneven color or blemishes to been seen. This is one thing I don’t think I’ve had since I was possibly 9. I can remember my first zit when I was 10 and my mother used that little contraption that is meant to pop zits with out having you physically touch them. It hurt like a bitch and didn’t really do anything. The next day, the zit was still there and it was bigger. My mother had told me not to pop the zit with my fingers but the thing was throbbing. I looked in the mirror and there it was, glaring back at me with a giant head of puss on the edge of my nose. At the age of 10 I knew I was being mocked and I swear now I could hear it saying “Nanner, nanner, nanner, you can’t get me!” (Okay, it really wasn’t, but it was my first zit) I tried to use the thing my mom had used before but I couldn’t figure out which side to use so I used my fingers. I gently pushed on either side of the zit and then pop! I felt a sudden sense of relief from the pressure the puss had been exerting on my skin. Read More »

Let’s talk about skin care. Go into any beauty retailer, find a sales person and ask them to recommend a skin care regimen. Then duck, because you are about to get hit with an avalanche of products your skin “needs.” They’re going to try to sell you a makeup remover, a cleanser, a scrub, a toner, a serum, a moisturizer, a spot treatment, an eye cream and a sunscreen. A really ambitious sales person will try to sell you two of each, a different one for day and night.

Now in a perfect world an elaborate skin care regimen can be very good for your skin, but let’s get real. When you’re coming back to the dorm at 4am and crashing, your makeup smearing off on the pillow is the closet thing you get to skin care.

It is a good idea to have a solid skin care system, especially if you have an issue like acne or dry patches that need treatment. But with so many steps, it’s all or nothing and you need a back up plan that you’ll actually use and that actually works!

So when time is tight or you are feeling lazy there are three very important steps to hit.

1. Remove makeup

2. Cleanse

3. Moisturize

Here are some products that can kill two (or three) birds with one stone. Read More »