Self esteem

I'm not sure what to do about my situation

I've had acne for almost 5 years, from borderline severe to moderate to mild, all of it. Now I have a few actives and a bunch of red marks all over my cheeks, which I cover up with makeup everyday at school... From the stress of school and family problems and acne last year, I lost a lot of weight.

I'm teased everyday about this, from girls (falsely) accusing me of being anorexic, to guys picking on me for being nearly flat chested. My weight issue, acne, and having recently broken up with my boyfriend (and now hearing him mention all the hot girls at his college) are all taking an even bigger toll on my self esteem...

Sometimes I'm afraid to leave my house, and when I do, I feel like everyone is staring at the fact that I have bad skin, or the fact that I have the figure of a skinny 12 year old boy (as a 17 year old girl). My physical appearance is turning into my life, and I cannot stop obsessing and feeling inadequate next to other girls with pretty faces, clear skin, and curvy figures.

When my brothers' friends come over, and I don't feel like putting on makeup, I literally don't step out of my room (even if the guests are over for the whole day). When I take pictures of myself, I take nearly a hundred because each is so disgusting, before I reluctantly pick out one. I constantly get remarks from guys in my school like, "Why would I look at you when I can look at someone hot?" or "You're seriously ugly" or "Why don't you have any boobs, doesn't it make you insecure?"

I hate it, and my self esteem is at -1000000. I usually feel like such a failure I've talked to my mom about this so many times, but she says it's all in my head and that I need to stop being petty and get over it. Then later, she adds to it by telling me I have no curves, or bad skin, or that I've stayed out in the sun too long and tanned too much, and asks me why I'm not as pretty as other girls.

What can I do if I can't go to a therapist? Please help!

Makeup application techniques...

Ok, school starts tomorrow for me (Yikes) and I'm going to be a senior I really want to keep my makeup light, as I live in Saudi Arabia and I don't want to melt my face off when I walk through the sauna-like weather between classes! The years before, I have just been doing foundation + concealer, but I feel like I wore too much, or wore it the wrong way - because my face would be shinyyy in 20 minutes (no joke).

This year, I have a primer (Smashbox Photofinish Light), Estee Lauder Double Wear, Studio Finish Concealer in NC35, and Blot Powder.

I want to wear just a super light layer of foundation over the primer and use a tiny bit of the concealer to more or less cover up the majority of my red marks. Then set with with a little powder.

My question is, what kind of application gives lightest/natural coverage? Fingers? Sponge? Damp sponge? And how shall I apply to achieve this? Stippling? Gliding on? Dotting on face and blending?

Any help welcome

So I got some threading done...

So I have some extra hair on the "sideburn area"/jawline and I got it threaded off yesterday. My sideburn area and jawline are clear, and the red marks from my acne are concentrated on my cheeks (so no area with red marks was threaded - I don't have active acne at the moment).

For the past few weeks, my red marks have been fading, and sometimes my skin looks almost clear and mark free. It was going great.

But today (the day after the threading), after I washed my face, I noticed that all my marks were a fiery RED. There were marks in places I didn't even know I had any. I was so shocked. They were honestly BRIGHT RED. That hasn't happened since what, 2 years? Anyhoo, I went to my mom, panicked, and she told me that it was because my skin was irritated? She said that as the lady was threading my jawline/sideburn area, her thread was rubbing up and down against my cheeks (red mark area) vigorously. She was also touching my cheek area with her hands as she threaded. My mom said it would calm down in a few hours, so I waited.

The redness went down a tad bit in a few hours, but the marks were still MUCH more prominent than before. However, after I washed and dried my face again when I got oily, I saw that the marks were RED. Just as red as before.

Why is this happening?! Did her thread rubbing against my cheek perform some kind of super harsh exfoliation that's ruined my skin?

How can I get rid of this? My marks were fading, and I thought I wouldn't even have to wear makeup at school after 3 years! - it was going that great! Please help

Ways to exfoliate?

I really need to get rid of my flaky skin, there's a special event coming up in 5 days and I need to be able to put on makeup!

So my question is, what can I do? Preferably something I can find around the house.

I heard sugar + water works? What else? Thank you so much!

Super Duper Crazy Dry Skin!!!

I use Dalacin + Differin in the evening and Isotrexin at night. Anyhoo, I don't moisturize (I think that's bad ) but it's because my skin has always been super duper oily and it just felt soft and clean without the moisturizer.


But lately, dear God, it has been crazyyy! Ugh, if I scratch my face it makes this dry crackling sound! You can't *see* flakes, but if I scratch even a little, they're all over the place.

So I switched my Acne-Aid soap to the Cetaphil Gentle Cleanser. I've been doing this for two days, and moisturizing with Olay Complete, but I don't see much of a difference...

I have a super special event coming up in 5 days, and I really can't put makeup on reptile skin

Any suggestions?