Making my skin pretty

With the wedding just around the corner I am trying to do everything in my power to get beautiful, even, glowing skin. I am lucky enough that I don't have terrible skin to begin with. I do get pimples but usually only one or two a month, around that time if you know what I mean... Always on my chin or forehead between my eye brows. A nice third eyeball as I like to call it. Mr. Castle and I call pimples volcanoes, so I think from here on out I will to refer to them as such. I have the terrible habit of popping and messing with my volcanoes, which leaves them red and in some cases leaves a nice reminder scar.

I've never really had a face regiment. I honestly only washed my face if I wore makeup that day. Which I rarely ever do. Yep, I don't usually wear makeup. I just find it takes to much time. Basically, I don't wear makeup because I'm lazy... I guess I also never took the time to wash my face because I'm lazy about that as well. But not anymore! I do not want to worry about a volcano making an appearance on the big day so I've been trying out different things to get clear beautiful skin.

Personal Photo of all the skin care products I have tried. Clearly I have a problem with finding the right skin care....

My go-to face wash for the last couple years has been the Bliss fabulous foaming face wash. I also got their triple oxygen line as a gift one year. I really like it for a general face wash. I especially like using the face wash and the oxygen mask together. It makes me skin feel bubbly and bright. It does a good job removing makeup and cleaning my skin but it didn't do anything in the way of preventing volcanoes.

Images via Sephora.com

I used to use some Clean and Clear or Neutrogena spot treatment for volcanoes, but I didn't feel like it was really helping much. I would have huge red marks on my face for about a week. After reading Miss Macaroons Skincare Saviors Post and seeing what she uses for break outs, I decided to try some Mario Badescu products. I invested in the buffering lotion, drying lotion, and the healing cream. The buffering lotion doesn't do much for me, but the drying lotion and healing cream were a great purchase. The drying lotion really does shrink unsightly volcanoes overnight and the healing cream reduces redness and helps prevent scarring. It has even helped fade some previous acne scars.

Images via mariobadescu.com

Then I read Miss Doe's post about using the Clinique acne three step system. So I thought I'd try that as well! (Seriously I think I have a skin care addiction) It works pretty well, but it really dries out my skin. I was only using it every other day, but now I've cut it down to about twice a week. I'm not sure it's doing much good with that infrequent of use. I did think my skin looked noticeably clearer after using it for a while. But using it combined with the cold dry New York City air it was making my face so dry it was flaking.

Image via Sephora.com

Which brings me to moisturizer. I have never before had problems with dry skin. I guess getting older and living in a cold environment has changed my skin a bit. I am a huge fan of Aveeno's positively radiant moisturizer. I've been using it for years, but unfortunately it just wasn't cutting it for the dry skin. I did some research online about what works best for dry skin and I read this article saying that coconut oil can be used as a moisturizer to prevent dry skin. Well, thanks to a Heath food giveaway I won on onewed, I have a huge jar of pure organic coconut oil in my kitchen. I decided why not give it a try?! I put some on my face before bed and the next morning no more dry flaky skin! I'm going to continue using this as my night time moisturizer and use the Aveeno during the day. So far it's working out great.

Image via aveeno.com/ kaboodle.com

My last new addition comes from another post I read on by Mrs. Seashell. I decided to try this face wash in replacement of my usual bliss product. For one it's way cheaper than the bliss stuff, it's all natural, and so far I'm liking it much better. My face feels like its getting a much deeper clean, and its not drying out my skin.

Image via amazon.com

So there you have it! Yeah it's kind of a lot of different products, but like with anything else you have to experiment and see what's right for you. I don't know how my skin will look in a month from now, but I'm hoping with my new "regiment" in place it will be looking bright and beautiful.

Do you have a skin regiment? Are you changing it up to prepare for the big day?