Aloe Vera for my FACE!

So, this weird thing happened with my face…not really sure what it is that is causing my skin to be inflamed, but I absolutely hate it! I pride myself on not having to wear make up, so I take care of my skin at all times. I looked up some things, but I’m not one to run to a dermatologist to get facial creams or medicine for my face, without first trying natural products or changing up my regimen. I don’t know if it’s dermatitis (atopic), psoriasis, or just a bad reaction to something. However, I feel like a hormonal change may also be a culprit too though…hmmm. My skin on the left side of my face started feeling dry, flaky, and then I had reddish bumps ..and then I started seeing it on the right side of my face, which I didn’t experience that before, so of course I’m a little freaked out and want to get on top of it right away!

I’ll have pictures below of what my bare face looks like with the inflammation on both sides before, and I’ll come back on here to post an after picture of what my face looks like as well. I used aloe vera juice on my face a few years ago as an overnight mask and remember that it made my face feel good, but I just did it to try something new. This time, I am using it as a form of healing and recovery for my facial skin; and rejuvenation. Aloe Vera has some great benefits; being an antioxidant, reducing redness, and superficial acne or pimple; not cystic acne or deep rooted acne, and acts as an inflammatory agent. I went ahead and cut open my aloe vera leaf and scraped out as much of the gel that I could in a bowl, my next step is try a aloe vera/honey mask, but for now I just applied the aloe vera juice on my face and let it sit overnight. I used my hands to apply the aloe vera juice on my face; a GOOD amount and then I stored the bowl in the fridge covered with saran wrap. I would recommend if you’re going to store in a fridge, that you store it up to 10-12 days. I am also going to go back to my old faithful (haha) “Shea Moisture Oil Cleanser” I actually have a blog below on that item, I’m going to use that to cleanse my face before applying the aloe vera juice on my face. I would highly recommend washing your face before applying the aloe vera juice, and wash your face with a cleanser that is non-comedogenic ! Examples of those are brands like: Olay, Neutrogena, or Cetaphil; but again oil cleansers are fine too. Hopefully, my face will snap back in a few days!

Like..why…?

Looks weird I know lol, I have this in a clear, textured bowl

Clinique!!!....Girlaaaaaaa!

What's UP!!? 

So....I think I've found my staple product facial moisturizer! If you don't know, I have oily skin; very oily skin smh. I've tried several different kinds of drugstore facial moisturizers and even natural oils/products that don't really work well for me. I don't wear make up everyday nor do I even feel like applying makeup everyday so it's important for me to take care of my skin and protect my skin even when I'm out in public.

I have applied some "oil-free" products on my face and have walked out the door and in a matter of 1-2 hours have had to dab my face with my hands (I know thats a NO-NO, lol), or with a tissue. I went to Sephora while on a mini vacay to Houston, TX last week and purchased the new NARS foundation, I'll blog about that a little later by the way. I received a few samples of products in my bag after I checked out. One of the samples was CLINIQUE DRAMATICALLY DIFFERENT MOISTURIZING GEL for combination to oily skin, I decided to try the gel on my last day in Texas; that morning after I washed my face I applied the gel to my face and put my glasses on and packed up and heading back to NC. 

I wanted to see if this oil-free gel was actually going to work for me! Girlaaaa! it did!!! I actually was in disbelief and shocked at how well the product worked, I touched my face after a couple hours expecting to wipe off oil spots on my face and there were NONE! I literally said to myself, "As soon as I get back, I'm purchasing the full size version of this!" Sure enough, I headed to Ulta (by the way, I have my own personal thoughts about Ulta as of recently, I'll keep them to myself for now), and purchased the 1.7 oz tube of the oil-free gel and I have been using it for the past 3 days now and I freaking LOVE IT!!!

If you have oily skin like me, I would highly recommend that you try this out for yourself and see if you have the same results if not better!

Getting rid of my smile lines...or attempting to

Soooo....I never really paid that much attention to my smile lines until real recently. I don't always notice them either though, but when I took a picture of myself without smiling I noticed them clearly in my picture. I feel like my smile lines make my cheeks look bigger haha, so I am hoping that I can minimize the appearance of them by doing these simple steps in my night time routine. 

So here's what I do:

1. I wash my face with my soapless face wash "Shea Moisture Oil Cleanser, use witch hazel as my toner.
2. Then I dip my fingers in my coconut oil; only using very minimal amount and apply it directly on my smile lines and massage upwards towards my eyeballs about 15 times.

Now, after I massage my face, I usually get a pink/reddish mark where I finger massaged my face, but no worries that goes away :-) 

I decided to take a BEFORE picture just so I can see if this routine makes a difference after about a month, I'll post an AFTER picture and blog about this when its been a month!