Hello everyone, I have been dealing with skin picking OCD for well over 5 years now. Quitting skin picking immediately is extremely hard if not just impossible without the right support and right system. For the first few years of skin picking my routine was to wash my face, pick, put whatever ointment on if I had any, then sleep at night time. Wakeup, cleanse, and put concealer/foundation on. It covered it all up very well, but I didn't know that the way I was doing my makeup was making my skin worse, causing more acne, causing infection, and prolonging the healing process for my broken skin.
After years of research, practice, and self-testing, I have finally found a way to help conceal(natural looking), heal, and prevent skin picking and acne. Heres the steps that I take to do it. Since doing so, my skin has never looked so clear with a natural glow until now. It's not completely clear, I still have some hyper pigmentation, but I no longer have acne, and dry sensitive skin spots (I am naturally overly oily). No acne, means no more skin picking! Prevent, not fix later!
What I use and what you need:
Cleanser -
After years of trying out a gazillion products, I finally found a good cleanser that doesn't irritate my skin or leaves it completely dry. Cleansing in the morning gets rid of all that dirt and sweat built up during your sleep, as cleansing at night gets rid of all the debris built up from your busy day out!
What I use: Artistry Balancing Skin Care System Cleanser
Toner -
Toner is a MUST. There is no point in cleansing if you do not tone your skin. It evens out your skin tone and most importantly calms down your pores after a deep cleanse and helps tighten your pores. It also removes the excess dirt that your cleanser missed! After adding toner into my routine I have noticed that I no longer have black heads/whiteheads on my nose, so I never pick there anymore. Yay!
What I use: Artistry Balancing Skin Care System Toner
Moisturizer -
You NEED to moisturize. I cannot empathize enough on how important it is to moisturize, especially in the winter when your skin is the least hydrated!
What I use: Artistry Balancing Skin System Lotion
Sunscreen -
Facial sunscreen with SPF with a higher SPF 15 UV/UVA is a must for hyper pigmentation on the skin, acne prone skin, and broken skin. It moisturizes your skin, provides the good nutriants directly onto your skin, prevents sun damage, prevents your scars from getting darker, and helps whiten scars.
What I use: Ingrid Millet Facial SPF 50 UV/UVA sunscreen
For those who wear makeup like I do everyday, this is what I use:
Face Primer -
A lot of people cheap out and think face primer is some useless over priced product that doesn't do anything for your skin. WRONG. It evens out your skin layer/pores and helps protect your skin from having makeup sink into your skin in which would cause them to be clogged, inflamed, and possibly infected. It also makes a great base for your makeup application.
What I use: Too faced Pore less face primer and SmashBox.
The makeup products I use:
Cover FX concealer -
I have been using this concealer since I was 15. It does wonders! It is water proof, easy to carry, blend, and apply. It also does not irritate my acne, clog my pores, irritate my skin, anything! It just does it's job and conceals everything I have, naturally-looking.
Dior Airflash foundation -
The day I found this foundation was the first day I felt like I had my old clear skin back. It is lightweight, VERY light weight. It goes on like airbrush makeup from a can, but it does WONDERS. It leaves my skin moisturized, flawless, dewy, and heavily concealed without the over the top cakey look. You can layer the foundation and it will not look over done at all. Just simply amazing.
Makeup Forever HD Micro Finishing Powder -
There is absolutely no point in wearing anything if you don't plan on setting it. Using any type of setting powder keeps your makeup in place, sets it, and helps the staying power. I have found that using a foundation setting powder on top of everything els makes my makeup look too over done, so I have finally found the most amazing powder ever! Its translucent, you only need a tiny bit, and it leaves this natural glow on your skin, and of course, sets your makeup. I am able to use translucent powder now because my skin has gotten so much better that I don't need that extra foundation powder coverage.
It took me 5 years to find the right makeup combination that would conceal all of my hyperpigmentation and scarring without irritating my skin, causing acne, but looks NATURAL. I found that the base for your makeup and the way you put your makeup on really affects everything, so its very important to take time to learn about your own skin and what works best for you. And if you're going to wear makeup, make sure its quality make up. You don't want to put makeup or anything on your skin that will irritate your skin and cause more problems!
MY NUMBER 1 RULE FOR WEARING MAKEUP: NEVER SLEEP WITH MAKEUP ON. PERIOD. If you're gonna wear makeup, wear it right and do it right. Take care of your skin before concealing it.
On to my Routine:
In the morning -
Step 1: I cleanse, tone, and moisturize. I have oily skin so I use lotion instead of cream moisturizer.
Step 2: Apply sunscreen then primer.
Step 3: Apply concealer, foundation, and setting powder.
*Optional: I like to look bright and pretty everyday LOL so I also use bronzer to contour a little, a bit of blush on my cheekbones, fill in my brows a bit, eyeliner and mascara. This may sound like a lot, but its not about how much makeup you wear, its HOW you wear it. Don't cake it on, use the right makeup tools, and put it on right and you're good to go!
At night time -
Step 1: I cleanse, tone, cleanse again(only because I wear concealer/foundation everyday, cleansing twice removes all of it for me), tone, and moisturize.
Step 2: I wash my makeup brushes EVERY NIGHT. It prevents bacteria build up which can cause acne on your skin and irritate it.
*Optional but highly recommended -> Coffee Enema. Yes, I said it. Coffee Enema. Coffee enema detoxes your body internally, promoting many things including healthier lungs. Healthier lungs help your skin. I will explain further when I post another thread about coffee enema. Ever since I have done coffee enema with my everyday routine, I have noticed no more acne and and skin is healthier. Thats just my skin. I lost a good amount of healthy weight, I feel more energized, just over all I look and feel very... Glowy (if thats even a word lol). If you want to learn more about the proper way to do coffee enema, the healing affects of it (internally and externally), shoot me a message! Anyways, so I do coffee enema 3-4 times a week at night before I sleep!
Facials:
I usually always do my facials before I sleep! The facial products I use is the Artistry Pore Cleansing Mask following the Moisture Intense Mask right after. I do this once or twice a week, depending on how my skin is feeling.
For the times when I need to heal my skin from a bad blemish, I use a home made egg white mask. All you need is an egg white, a little bit of lemon juice, mix it up together in a bowl with a fork until its a little foamy, then apply on cleansed skin. Leave it on for 10-15 minutes, rinse, do skin care routine and sleep! 100 percent of the time my blemishes get 90 percent better or simply disappear. Your skin will feel tighter, lifted, and your pores will be noticeably smaller.
So this concludes everything I use on my skin and how its working for me wonderfully. I have no more acne to pick at so I don't pick at all anymore! This regime has helped me stop my skin picking OCD, whiten my scars significantly, and I hope it'll help you. It takes time and patience, so take it one step at a time! I am so happy now, my makeup rubs off and I don't freak out anymore! At times my boyfriend thinks I go to bed with makeup on when I have absolutely none! I can finally be my true self around my boyfriend, which is something I have been so afraid of. I am finally happy to be in my own skin for once and it feels pretty amazing!
If you have any questions feel free to post here or message me! Time for bed.. That reminds me. A good nights rest is mandatory if you want to have nice skin! Try to get a good amount of rest everyday!! Unless its exam week!
Good Luck ~
