Cleanse, Girl, Cleanse || Fresh Friday || Champagne + Linen

The absolute biggest pain in my ass is my skin.  My over sensitive, over reactive, emotional and unstable skin.  I have dry skin, acne-prone skin, oily skin, and reactive to everything-under-the-sun skin.  It all depends on time of the year or straight up time of day.  I break out in cystic acne if I even look at my face wrong.  It blows.  So, the ultimate question now is, what do I use to clean my skin?  Oh boy, the ultimate end all, be all question.  For realz.  I’ve been through the drug store brands, the nicer brands, the all natural DIY stuff, and I feel like I’ve finally found a combo that MOSTLY works for me.

So, let’s talk about cleansers || I had picture perfect American Girl Doll status skin until the day I turned 20.  Literally.  I had a few zits here and there, but it was basically flawless for the first two decades of my life.  You could have called me Kit Kittredge. Then I went through a reaallyyy nasty breakup, put some BareMinerals on my skin (remember I talked about BareMinerals being the devil in an earlier blog?)  and I figured out I was gay all in one year.  So, year 20 was clearly smooth sailing for this girl.  I used to use Mary Kay’s Velocity line, which was the shiiiittttt and I used it from the time I was 12 until they discontinued it, can you guess, right around the year I turned 20.  Jesus.  So then I had to figure out what to do after that.  I tried some other lines from MK, which just didn’t do it for me, and I went back and forth with some drug store stuff.  I tried Philosophy’s Purity Cleanser, which all of my friends raved about and it smelled like freakin pound cake, so you can imagine how devastating it was for me when it made me break out.  I tried Clinique, which my skin also hated and I threw in the trash two days after buying it.  

A year or so a friend gave me a bottle of Proactiv Skin Smoothing Exfoliator, which was the best thing to happen to my skin in years.  I only used the first step, I didn’t use the full system.  Historically my skin HATES skin care systems, so I stuck with just the wash.  My really gross, dry, painful acne cleared up pretty quickly, and I had the least amount of breakouts in years.  But, the flip side is that I hate putting a ton of excess chemicals on my skin. Proactiv is full of these, obvi (and also runs $30 a bottle which only lasts me about three months).  So this past fall I went on a mission to find an alternative that my skin would equally enjoy, that was more on the all natural side of things.  I do, however, use this every once in awhile if my skin is suffering a particularly crippling and disabling breakout.

Body Merry’s Glycolic Acid Face Wash

What am I using now? || Through hours of researching and review reading on Amazon, I found Body Merry’s Glycolic Acid Face Wash.  It’s only $15 on Amazon, it’s all natural, and my skin likes it.  Winning!  Also, let’s talk about the benefits of Glycolic Acid and using it on your skin.  It’s a natural exfoliator, so it gets rid of a ton of dead skin when you use it, and it has a butt load of anti-aging properties to it, while also helping with skin discolorations.  This particular cleanser also uses tea tree oil and olive oil in it, which are both natural anti-bacterials.  AKA this cleans the shit out of your skin, but it also doesn’t leave you feeling like you were left out to dry in the Sahara Desert due to the olive oil. I’ve been using this for around 4 months, and so far so good.  

​What else am I using now? ||  A few years back, I had a friend who was using a freakin washcloth to cleanse her face, and that was it.  Seriously? A wash cloth?  What about the soap and the toner and the whole routine?!  Fast forward to last summer when my mother in-law introduced me to Norwex Cloths, and my life changed.  Norwex cloths are microfiber washcloths that have micro silver agents within the fiber.  Silver is a natural antimicrobial, so you literally just have to wash your face with this bad boy and your skin is magically clear the next day.  I first use a makeup remover wipe (I use the standard Neutrogena wipes), and then cleanse from there.  I also use these magical carpet ride cloth’s for my back-ne, and my butt-ne.  You heard me.  I even get acne on my ass cheeks.  This clears it right up, hollaaaaaaa.  TBH, I ONLY use this every other day or every few days...it’s a great exfoliator too, so if you use it too often it can be a little rough on your delicate flower facial skin.  To clean your Norwex cloth, just boil it for around 15 minutes once a week so the microfibers can release the debris and bacteria.  The best part is that it’s only $20 for a three pack, and you can use each one for up to a year.  So it’s the cheapest skin care you will find!

This is NOT my entire skin-care routine, but I can’t divulge all of my secrets in one post!  Stay tuned for more skin care products that I’m using that I love, and I’m ALWAYS trying out new products, so if you have any suggestions or if you have skin like mine and have found your Holy Grail cleanser, drop us a line!

Ciao, Bella!
Ariel