Monday, July 27, 2009

Project beautiful skin: favorite new skincare

With all my heart I'm joining Vicky's (Peachykeen Cheeks) 'Project beautiful skin', which main idea is to look after your skin from both outside and inside. Today's post is going to focus on new favorite skincare products that I'm hoping will help me to achieve the ultimate goal: flawless, glowing skin.

I must confess that my skin probably has every possible flaw that exists in nature; I suffer from blemishes, scarring, redness, blackheads, freckles and bluish veining in the eye area. It used to be much worse some 2 years ago and since then has been improving gradually, but it's still far from perfect!

The most important part of the project would probably be... consistency. My biggest skin sins include drying out the skin and touching my face too much and trying to pick the spots or bumps. But, starting today, this shall be no more!

Here are the steps I'll religiously follow and products I summoned from drugstores' shelves to help me:

1. Cleansing and toning: Vichy Calming Cleansing Solution and Vichy Thermal Water
The Cleansing Solution gently removes make-up while soothing the skin. It contains a rose extract called Phytophenol, but the best thing is that it has a very delicate rose scent to it! I use it after washing my face with J&J baby wash. After removing every last speck of dirt I spray my face with some thermal water to refresh it. It contains 15 mineral salts and trace elements and claims to reinforce the skin's protective functions. You can also use it during the day to calm the skin.


2. Moisturizing and healing: Barwa 'Sulphur Power' (yes yes!) Antibacterial Mattifying Cream and Benzoyl Peroxide cream as topical treatment


The 'Sulphur Power' range produced by a Polish cosmetics brand Barwa is an absolute HG on 'Polish Make-up Alley', http://www.wizaz.pl/. Tempted by the recommendations and really low price (about 3 pounds), I got it last week and so far I really like it. In case of my super oily skin, it mattifies for about 3 hours, which is already a success, but is also jam-packed with natural active ingredients, including sulphur, zinc oxyde, multifruit extract, olive oil derivates, alantoin and shea butter. It helps to get rid of acne without dehydrating the skin.

3. Exfoliating: St.Ives Anti-Acne Apricot Scrub and The Body Shop muslin clothes
I guess this is pretty much self-explanatory :) I'll be alternating between the scrub and muslin clothes, as the scrub itself is a bit too abrasive to use it more than twice a week, and I feel my skin needs some exfoliation at least 3 times a week.

4. Masks: Pink clay mask and honey mask
I've been using some random brand clay mask for more than a year now and I think it helps to improve oily skin's condition. Sometimes I also put it on the spots overnight to stimulate healing. As for honey mask, just check out Bubblegarm's post here for the details, she explained everything beautifully!

I'll soon blog about some 'inside' treatments I'll incorporate into my diet to help clear the skin, and then update you in a couple of weeks on how it worked. Fingers crossed!

11 comments:

  1. Oh, what a coincidence! I've also decided to update my skin care regime because it did become something of a routine and does not do me any favours. I used to use Vichy A LOT and really like their Normaderm range. I used face wash and cream, but applied cream on problem areas only.
    Be careful with the scrabs, honey. If you have any irritation, scrab can make it worse. I just ordered one by Elemis. It is like a cream that you apply withour rubbing and it dissolves all the impurities and removes dead cells. I'll test it and if I like results I'll let you know. There are also similar ones made by YSL and Guinot. A bit expensive but you only need a little bit and sometimes it's worth spending a bit more as it's your skin.

    I've also wrote a post on my nutrition blog about good skin diet some time ago.

    Have a look here... http://nutrigirlstories.blogspot.com/2009/02/nutrition-for-good-skin.html

    ...and also check labels "skin treatments" and "natural beauty". Hope you'll find something useful.

    xxx

    ReplyDelete
  2. I'm looking forward to your 'inside' treatments ;) best of luck!!

    ReplyDelete
  3. I like this post! I feel like since I started wearing make up, my skin has become considerably worse - it's like a vicious circle as I only started wearing it improve my face, and now I have to wear it all the time :-(
    So, perhaps a change to the skin care routine might remedy this, so this is interesting to read. Do keep us posted. I've never tried any Vichy products.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Thanks for sharing your routine and products... i love vichy products but i always use the deoderants.. I never tried the face stuff for very long time. Now i deffinately will!!
    Good luck! xx

    ReplyDelete
  5. great idea! I'm trying to simplify my own skincare too -- am trying out Cetaphil

    Vichy is really good. Good luck!

    ReplyDelete
  6. btw, i forgot to mention that i tagged you ;)

    ReplyDelete
  7. @LittleRus: Thanks for the info, cherie! I know you have to be careful with the scrubs, for example right now I'm planning to avoid it for a couple of days until all my little surprises heal a little. I've also tried some enzymatic exfoliating creams that are supposed to chemically get rid of the dead skin cells, but the one I had did nothing for me and might have even broken me out! Defo let me know how your exfoliator works!

    Thanks for the links, I'll certainly check them out! Good to have a nutrition specialist among us :) Take care xxx

    ReplyDelete
  8. @Suka and Spice: Will try to post this week! xxx

    ReplyDelete
  9. @Ondine: Hmm, in my case I don't think make-up aggreviated any of the problems I had, and actually mineral foundation is probably one of the best things I've ever put on my face. Since using it, I dread any foundation in liquid form! Last week I decided to test some Clarins tinted moisturizer I had a sample of, dabbed a little on my cheeks and after 5 minutes felt that I need to remove it! Not that something happened, I just felt wrong having it on my face; silly, I know... xxx

    @Tali: Thermal Water is really great for summer! I also spritz on my decollete, it's so cooling... :)x

    @Michelle: I wish we had Cetaphil in Poland! I've heard lots of good things about it... plus it's cheap! x

    @Suka and Spice: Thanks a lot, hunni, I'll check it out in a second! x

    ReplyDelete
  10. We could always do a swap someday and I can send you some of the Canadian goodies too!

    ReplyDelete
  11. @Michelle: Great idea! I'm just doing a swap with lipgloss86, but maybe some time in the future? Cheers, hun! xxx

    ReplyDelete