Skin, skin, skin…

Hellooooo!

Hope you’re all good. I’m currently writing this sitting looking out my window (I’m not as sad as I sound, promise) and it’s absolutely chucking it down. The typical English weather is BACK! I wondered how long the sun would last… It actually exceeded my expectation to be honest haha!

Anyway, back to this. I thought I’d write a blog today on the rather broad subject ‘Skin’. Something I still don’t really understand fully (secretly I pretend I know it all, but in reality it still baffles me), I mean it is the largest organ in the body after all. But don’t worry I’m not going to talk about the skin on the bottoms of your feet, elbows etc. (Although please don’t abandon those completely). I’m going to talk about faces. Some of us are blessed with perfect complexions, some of us are not. But if we all had perfect complexions, I wouldn’t be writing this, so every cloud eh!

I have touched on this briefly in my introduction but I thought I’d explain in more detail… I have had acne/spots/blemishes (whatever you want to call them), on and off for about 8 years. I have had them bad, then they disappear and then they’re like now, sporadic, but there’s always one lurking. Quite frankly, they are a pain! However like I have said above, I wouldn’t have anything to write about if they had never shown their little faces. At this moment in time, my skin is definitely not at it‘s worst but it could be better (this may or may not be down to the sheer volume of chocolate I have consumed over easter… me and chocolate have a love/hate relationship when it comes down to subjects like this, but it is what it is).

Talking about chocolate, brings me onto a subject which will be a whole other post- Dairy! I won’t go into too much detail now (otherwise I’ll run out of things to talk about, maybe), but this I know is still a very controversial subject when it comes down to it. I personally believe it does have an impact on skin, but some people don’t think the same. Like anything, it’s a matter of opinion. Here is probably an appropriate time to point out that I’m not a strict vegan/vegetarian/pescatarian etc. (apologies to anyone who is), I try to go by the title of ‘Flexitarian’. Chocolate, Chicken and cheese are too good (not together don’t worry), but I do try to not eat too much meat, dairy etc. I have tried and tested the ‘dairy free’ lifestyle on and off for a little while now and I am slowly starting to swear by it. But I wont go into detail now.

Then we have the other factor, which can either make or break blemished skin. Any ideas what I’m talking about? You guessed it… SKINCARE! When you find the right product combination it can feel like you’ve won the lottery, I can’t be the only one to feel like this am I? It’s just being able to crack it that’s the main challenge. At the moment I feel I have a trusty (slightly lengthy) skincare routine, but it seems to do the job. I will of course share this in another post (apologies if this all just sounds like links to other posts in the making, I’ll get there eventually!). One thing I do know and I’m sure lots of you out there will agree- ‘Less is more’ sometimes. Now I know this goes against what I have said above, but what I’m meaning is please don’t ever try 101 new products at once, for many reasons: 1. You’ll have absolutely no idea which one works 2. Your skin will be screaming at you and 3. You’ll end up spending loads of money at once. So please learn from my mistakes and do it slowly. You can thank me later!

Whilst on the subject of ‘Skincare’… what products should and shouldn’t you use? If there was a direct answer beauty companies wouldn’t exist and it would be simple, but it’s not (unfortunately). So all I will say is that (and you’ve no doubt heard this before)- cleanse, tone and moisturise! By all means don’t do this, but I can’t tell you how much I recommend it, or – Cleanse, serum/treatment and moisturise. It doesn’t have to be complicated, but your skin will thank you for it. ‘Toning’ in my opinion is like marmite, you either love or you hate it. I personally am not a fan as I feel like it’s slightly pointless. However, if you are a fan then great! If you don’t do any of this, then it’s never too late to start or you don’t have to do it at all! Just always remember – Skin is for life, not just for Christmas (may have pinched that from the dogs trust slogan, oops). Brands like ‘The ordinary’ or ‘The Inkey list’ are great affordable ones if you are looking. Just shop around and look at reviews, if you can be bothered! Or don’t do anything… it’s up to you haha.

Then there is the other thing… MAKEUP. First of all can I start by saying that please don’t let anyone say to you ‘Makeup will only make your skin worse’ (or words to that affect), yes in ways it can block your pores if you don’t choose the right products and cleanse once, ideally twice a day. But your mental health is sometimes more important. Putting on makeup can make you go from feeling a 1/10 to a 10/10 in a matter of minutes, even if you’re like me and only really wear fairly natural makeup as a base which consists of: Concealer, powder, bronzer and occasional highlight. It helps enormous amounts! Also can I point out here, what are the chances that the person telling you this has always had spotless skin? (No offence to anyone there). However, please do give yourself a day off makeup occasionally and if you don’t wear makeup then perfect. Do what’s best for you. I know I’m contradicting myself, but it has been proven that your skin does heal quicker if there are no barriers, but please only do this if you want to. If not forget it, put your damn makeup on, simple. (please just give yourself a good deep cleanse at the end of every day and slap on your favourite serum and moisturiser).

I feel like I’m waffling on a bit in this post, but hopefully you can see where I’m coming from. If you have perfect skin, please please please make the most of it, don’t neglect it. If you have imperfections, please please please make the most of it too, and don’t neglect it either. Either way there is a solution, you’re you at the end of the day. Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise. In my coming posts I can hopefully share a few tips, but for now please (I’ll stop saying please in a minute, promise) just look after your skin, you have it for the rest of your life so you just have to work with it. Plus, a little birdie once told me – If you have oily, blemished skin, you’ll age slower! So there really is a positive note to everything.

So there we have it, I hope that made a little bit of sense haha!

Take care & stay positive!

Lots of love, Ella x