The Skin I’m In

Okay, so I wanted to call this blog post “My Fair Skin” but my last post was “My Fair Lashes” and I didn’t want to look totally unoriginal. But seriously…my FAIR skin!

I’ve always had sensitive, combination skin. Sometimes it looks like you could fry an egg on my forehead and other times I need a gallon of moisturizer to stop my skin from flaking off.

Kind of conflicting and confusing for my skincare regimen right?

All the way through my teenage to adult years, I’ve used products for oily/combination skin using targeted moisturizers on dry areas. Overall, the oily skin (which was sometimes prone to acne) beat out the dry skin, so I figured this skincare approach made the most sense.

Before my wedding (isn’t that the motivation for everything?!), I started visiting Sugarmoon Salon, on the Danforth in Toronto for regular facials. I made an effort to go once every month and a half.  After my first visit, which included a Dermalogica Skin Mapping Analysis,  I was SHOCKED to learn that my skin isn’t actually oily, it’s incredibly dry! What the what?

 

So why do I need to blot my t-zone every hour? Well…the products I was using (intended for oily skin) were drying me out SO much, that my skin was producing excess oil to compensate for the drying products. What a revelation! The esthetician walked me through the products I should be using instead and even gave me samples to try out at home before purchasing full-size products.

I had been for facials before and as soon as I would mention that oil was a concern for me, they would use the products for oily skin and never dig any deeper. At Sugarmoon, they looked at my skin under a magnifying light, gently stretched and tapped the apples of my cheeks and within mere moments, they diagnosed me with dry skin. My skin felt amazing after the facial – much less tight and no flakes in sight. Trying out the products at home would be the true test though. Over the next week, I used a new cleanser, toner and moisturizer and once during that week, I used a mask sample too.

Well, I was in love with Dermalogica and back to buy the full size products the following week! I was blotting less, my blemishes were clearing up, my overall skin tone appeared more consistent and I wasn’t flaking anymore. I started out with the following products (and they’re still my staples):

• Special Cleansing Gel (for normal skin)
• Multi-Active Toner (for normal skin)
• Skin Smoothing Cream (for normal-dry skin)

After a year of consistent facials, my skin has changed dramatically, my makeup routine is much easier and I was glowing on my wedding day! The wedding might have been the catalyst, but I’ve always been self-conscious about my skin and blemishes, so finally having consistency in that department gave me so much more confidence! While I don’t go for facials at the spa as consistently now, I still maintain the skincare regimen at home and fell in love with a few more products along the way:

• PreCleanse (the professionals deep cleansing weapon!)
• Multivitamin Power Firm (best eye cream EVER…smells like fruit)
• Multivitamin Power Recovery Masque (like a tall drink of water for your skin – very plumping)
• Daily Microfoliant (this is a game-changer and a must have – I’ m obsessed!)

Check out my stash now!

Have you tried any life-changing skincare products?