How to treat your skin....repost!

Hello all! Welcome to my new addition! I am working to get my make-up site up, so I am re-posting a few tips from my other blog to work out all the kinks. A little bit of my story....I worked as a make-up artist at M.A.C. cosmetics for 2 years and fell in love with the industry. I have currently been doing freelance work at weddings, photo shoots, and special events. I thought I might take my knowledge and help any of you that had questions or wanted to learn a little bit more about make-up application and your face! Since I haven't been able to get any questions from you all, I'm going to start with my first post and hopefully the inquiries will follow!

The topic of today is skin! Before you ever place make-up on your face, whether it is a heavy application or just getting ready for a day at the beach, you have to prep the skin. The skin is composed of 3 layers. The visible layer is the epidermis, which does not have a blood supply. This means it relies on the next sub-layer called the dermis. The dermis contains collagen, nerve endings, blood vessels, and oil and sweat glands. The collagen in the dermis gives structure to the skin, and provides the infrastructure for elastin and hyaluronic acid to be retained. Elastin is responsible for the skin's elasticity and the hyaluronic acid retains moisture. More collagen in the dermis enables more elastin and hyaluronic acid to be present. The subcutaneous layer is made up mostly of fat which provides warmth and absorbs shock.

It is very important to take care of your skin. Use the proper steps to cleanse, moisturize, and protect your skin, on your body, and especially on your face! Always use and SPF before your make-up. A lot of the time, the SPF in your foundation isn't enough.

This is a picture of a young girl who wanted to see her sun damage. When you're younger, the effects of the sun aren't visible to the naked eye. Add an ultraviolet light and the image on the right is what you see. All the freckle-like spots are the sun damage that is irreversible. You must protect your face!

A few products that I am very fond of are:
This is a very affordable scrub that comes in a variety of, what I like to call, flavors. There are different levels of scrubs based on your need. You should not exfoliate every day with an intense scrub. If it is a fine-granule scrub, you can use it every other day. If it is more coarse, you can exfoliate every two or three days.
This is a very light-weight moisturizer from Neutrogena with an SPF of 20. For those of you worried about wrinkles, it is an anti-wrinkle cream. It contains retinol and antioxidants, making it an affordable preventative and repairing moisturizer.

Things you want to stay away from:

- "cleansing" sets. If you are struggling with acne or breakouts, a set is great, because your face is out of balance. Use something like Proactive. But if your skin is pretty blemish-free, stick with a cleanser and a moisturizer. Having to use a toner, means your cleanser isn't pH balanced and when you use it, it messes with the pH balance of your skin. The toner is used to bring your skin back to a pH that is in an equilibrium state.

- cleansers that suds! I know that getting a good suds makes you feel like you're getting a good cleanin', but that means it has a detergent in the cleanser and it is drying your face out and doing some not so happy things to your skin!

Last but not least, my official tip of the day! Use a primer after you cleanse and moisturize your face, and before you apply any make-up. My favorite primer is M.A.C.'s Prep and Prime Skin, without SPF.

This product is silicon base with caffeine and green tea extracts. Its purpose is to be a barrier between your face and your make-up. Prep and Prime holds your moisturizer in your face and prevents excess moisture-loss. The silicon allows for a smooth feel that fills in fine lines and wrinkles so your make-up won't settle in those little crevasses. The silicon also helps with make-up removal, because it doesn't allow your face to absorb the make-up. Prep and Prime gives you a longer day wear in your make-up and allows you to use less product!! The neatest thing is the caffeine and green tea extracts fight redness in the skin. Another reason you don't have to use as much product, because you are not fighting to even out and cover up unwanted discoloration on the face.

This product can be worn with or without make-up over it. I love how it makes the skin feel and how it evens out the skin tone. If you want to try a little, hop over to your nearest MAC counter and ask for a sample.

And there you have it... I hope you find this information helpful and please let me know what you think! I need more topics to write on, so let me know what you need help with....please!!!!

Have a great week....only 4 more days until the weekend! God Bless!