since the first time i started playing around with make-ups, for some reason, i'm more of a sucker about skin care than the make up itself. yes, i do like playing around with the color palettes every now and then. i had my moments of picking up any cute and colorful shade of a lipstick, gloss, blush, eyeshadows, etc. then i got bored. especially when i started having pimples all over my face. then i got more worried about my skin instead of the make up. i got rid many of my unused make-ups when i moved back to jakarta from the US. since then, i prefer to look for the best skin care instead.
i always believe that any make up will look good if the medium is at its best quality. meaning, if you have a good skin care, any kind of make ups will look better on you. so, religiously, i spend more time taking care of my skin than applying the make-ups.
i stumbled upon different kinds of beauty tips for skin care on the web and i thought i'd share it. see if i have, at least, followed half of the tips listed. so here are the "
Top Ten Skin Care Tips" :
1. Do not get carried away with flashy cosmetic labelsit is better to understand your skin type before trying products and recipes. you should select a skin care that is suitable for you. sometimes, you do not need any expensive or branded skin care because most of the time, you can probably get away with the drug-store items. for example, i chose
garnier products for my exfoliator rather than
clinique brand. i find that both has similar results and i can save money with just getting the cheaper version.
2. Follow the goodness of "water therapy".what this means is that you should drink a lot of water as it naturally helps to get rid your body of toxins. i admit, i'm not one who would drink a lot of water. but i tried to be. in fact, i have an individual water dispenser next to my desk at work. the dispenser gives out an exact amount of 8 glasses of water. so that means, i have to finish the water in the dispenser every morning! well, yeah, i sometimes fail to do this. i change the water every other day. but to my defense, i do drink 4-5 glasses when i'm not at my desk (ie. lunch or dinner time). so i think it should be enough.
3. Cleansing is very important and should be done on a regular basis.often dirt and grime tends to accumulate due to the harsh environmental factors on the skin, making it dull and lifeless in the course of time. dirt and sweat also causes acnes and blackheads which make our skin look ugly.
i had a fair bit of experience from this when i first moved back to jakarta after spending a long while in the US. the air in jakarta is very polluted, lots of dirt and due to humidity, i sweat a lot too. so when i found that my face starts to have small acnes (almost) all over the face, i started to worry and went to my favorite dermatologist. she, then, told me about the importance of cleaning my face. and since i live in a place with more pollution than before, i should change my facial cleansing ritual by spending more time to "dig" the dirt out of my face and not just "soaping" it. the laziness, i also have to kill. and the ritual must be performed everyday, no matter what. soon after, my face clears up (of course with the help of intense therapy of facial treatment) and the pimples never came back again. yay!
4. Do not scrub or exfoliate too hard.you should be gentle with your skin and it will smile with health. :) i believe that no good would come from overly doing anything. so do it with care and just as its needed.
5. Moisturizewhether you stay outdoors in the sun or indoors in air-conditioned rooms, your skin is prone to getting dry, so hydrate your skin from time to time by applying moisture. if you have oily skin, it does not mean you have to avoid moisturizer, however, you should consider of applying it mildly. i have a combination skin. oily in the t-zone and pretty much normal to dry on the rest of the face. so applying moisturizer for me is quite tricky. but i always apply them because i know i spend most of my time inside the air-conditioned rooms. so i apply it mildly around the t-zone and a bit more on my cheek and especially, my neck! gotta make sure those wrinkles wouldn't form too soon ;)
6. Use sunscreen protectionsame with moisturizer, you always need to put on your sunscreen, no matter what. sunscreen protection will guard you from the damaging UV radiations when you venture out in the sun. however, don't think that they won't get you if you're inside the room. the UV radiations may come and find you from through the windows, so put the sunscreen on even if you're inside the house. so always put it on and also make it a ritual to reapply. oh wear sunglasses too, to protect your eyes when you're outside.
7. Excessive smoking and drinking can be very harmful for the skin.well anything excessive, as i said, is never be good. but for this case, i think it's much better if it's none at all. i suggest you quit smoking and cut down on drinking. i don't smoke and i also don't drink. but i used to be around people who do. definitely not good for my health or my skin.
another thing to avoid .. coffee! should try herbal tea instead. well, this is quite hard, even for me! although i'm not a heavy coffee drinker (i only drink 1 cup a day, sometimes two), but i still do prefer coffee than tea. but as long as i don't excessively drinking it, i think i should be fine.
8. Physical exercise is vital for having a great skin.it's having the sweats out and leave your face glowing with good blood circulation from the workout. i gotta admit, i don't do this often too. but i try my best. especially that i need to start my training for my first marathon at the end of the year.
9. Too much stress is bad for your skin.so make sure you get adequate rest. yoga is a great way to relax and delays the aging process. remember to eat healthy too.
well, with a baby girl around who's still breastfeeding, it's quite hard to get a good resting time. but i do try my best. and i definitely eat healthy cuz i need to pass on the good stuff to my baby.
10. Treat your skin to a facial to rejuvenate it.the facial must include a massage to improve blood circulation and promote the growth of new cells. and THIS is the only one that i haven't done for a very loongg time! if i were to live in indonesia, i bet i do this regularly. but here? i chose to ignore it and use the money for something else cuz it's so expensive to have a facial here. but i must not compare the prices to those in indonesia. and yes, it's long-due but i really do start having facial treatment on a regular basis.
simple, eh? on top of the 10 tips, there's one more thing that i do religiously now.
applying my eye cream, day and night!! it's so very important for me, especially that it's a luxury for me to have my beauty sleep. having a dark circle seems to be a default look on my face. so i really start taking care of my eyes and put different kinds of eye cream to reduce and slow the wrinkle process as well as to brighten up my undereye. i'm on borderline obsessed to eye creams now. i've tried so many of them, maybe i should start writing a review for it :)
pic from: www.gettyimages.comLabels: 2009, beauty, me
