Why I Switched to Bare Minerals Makeup, and Why it was the Best Decision Ever

I have literally spent fifteen years searching for foundation that didn't make my acne worse.  *This is NOT a promoted post!* I just love it enough that I want to tell everyone on earth about its awesomeness. No one should have to struggle for YEARS with acne like this:

This is one week after I started the Bare Minerals foundation, which tells you how bad it was before that. This is actually AFTER some progress had been made. After two weeks, that was completely cleared up and GONE. 

This picture was taken the very same day as the above pic, with the Bare Minerals on. Not only does it improve my skin every single day, but it COMPLETELY covers any trace of acne still existing. (It's also the closest color match I have ever found for my extremely fair skin.) 

When I say it has improved my skin, I mean my face has been completely REBORN. If you have any doubts about mineral makeup (and I don't mean the drug store stuff), TRY IT (link). Invest $30 and I swear you won't regret it.

(I have heard there are many other brands of mineral makeup, some that are even better, but I haven't tried them so I don't feel like I can promote them yet.)

WHAT'S YOUR FAVORITE SKIN CARE/MAKEUP PRODUCT? 

Dealing with Acne

There are MANY types of acne out there, but for now I just want to talk about the way I deal with MINE, because, well that's all I know. Maybe it will help you. I have oily/combination skin, which means I am either overrun by oil, or I have oily skin in some places and dry skin in others. Let's not talk about how frustrating that is, especially now that I'm turning thirty this year and STILL have to deal with it. We'll just jump into what works to keep it manageable. 

8 Steps to Keep Acne Under Control:

1.   Wash your face. I can't tell you what cleanser will be best, that's just far too personal. That's like me picking your husband for you. But I've read that you should rotate through a couple of different cleansers every few weeks, as your body can build up resistance if you use just one all the time. Some people recommend washing your face in the morning with an exfoliant and washing with a cream or gel cleanser at night. Whatever works for you, just be sure you do it EVERY DAY. If you don't have time to wash your face at night, at least use an astringent or a cleansing pad really quickly before bed.

2.   Change your pillow case, like, all the time. It's not just me, this article from Huffington Post says so (and many others). It's collecting all the bacteria from your face, your hair, whatever else, and you're just rubbing your face on it all night long every night. Wash that thing every couple of days. Ew

3.   Benzoyl Peroxide.

No, it does NOT need to be name brand! Look at the ingredient list. They are all identical. The only difference you will see is in the percentage, and my rule of thumb is buy the strongest one I can find. (10% is the highest I've seen in drug stores.) 

I have occasionally even found this at the dollar store. If you happen to see it there, pick up as many as you can manage, because this will save you $5-8 per tube! You would find it with the medicines and topical treatments. 

Tip: Keep a tube of this in each of your bathrooms, in your makeup bag, and next to your bed at night. If it's all over the house you will not forget to use it. Whenever you notice a zit coming on (assuming you haven't put your makeup on yet), put some on. (If you have sensitive skin, don't do this very often.) 

If you have found that Benzoyl Peroxide isn't doing the trick, it might be that Salicylic Acid is better for your skin. Try them both at separate times (like for a week at a time) so you know which one works best for you. I find that Benzoyl Peroxide works better for me, but when my acne is really bad, I will combine the two by using Oxy pads (yeah, like a teenager). The two different creams have different purposes, which you can read about here, and that's why you can use them together if you need to. Just be aware, if you have trouble with dry skin, you will not want to use both. It will dry out your face in no time (which is what I need, but you may not).

4.   Drink tons of water. I'm not even kidding, every time you are sitting still, there should be a glass of water in front of you. Bottled water, warm water, cold water, lemon water... whatEVER it takes for you to drink it, drink it. Drink as much as you can. If you're not needing to pee every fifteen minutes, you aren't drinking enough for your skin to stay healthy. I am terrible at this, but I know it's true, so I will try harder to practice what I preach. There are even apps you can get that will send a notification to your phone each time you should be drinking a glass of water throughout the day.

5.   I know you don't want to hear this. Neither do I. But I have to say it. It's your diet. When I eat food that's bad for me, especially greasy or sugary food, it shows up on my face no more than two days later. It is literally written all over my face that I have been cheating on my "diet" (by diet I mean eating healthy, not cutting calories).  Try it. Go without grease and sugar for a couple of weeks, and watch your skin clear up. Then eat a pizza and a milkshake. I dare you. 

Daily Makeup Routine on a Single Mom Budget

Just so we're clear, I feel absolutely ridiculous taking pictures of myself and acting like I'm some sort of expert. I learned all these tricks from articles in magazines, things I've found online, Pinterest pins, and YouTube videos over the years. I have no formal training (although I will someday) in makeup artistry, and I have done a LOT of trial and error up to this point. Over time my makeup habits change, so a few months from now I will probably look back at this and laugh at it.

The only reason I made this video is because I have had so many people ask me to show them how I do my makeup. I will never get a chance to actually sit down with these people and show them, so I am settling for this video. I wasn't brave enough this time to make actual video of myself, so it's just a bunch of pictures with captions to give you the general idea. Maybe some day I will get the guts to do the whole thing on video. I'm brand new at this YouTube stuff!

Enough explaining! For whatever it's worth, here it is. Hope you pick up a few things you didn't know before! And, as always, please leave a comment so I know who's actually looking at this nonsense, and share if you feel so inclined. :)




Loves!
Aubrey Anne

Faking a Clear Complexion & Contour

My skin hasn't been clear since the third grade. (Dear teenagers, anyone who tells you that you will grow out of your acne is probably lying.) 

I'm fighting a constant, losing battle against the acne invasion. People love to tell me it's probably caused by the fact that I wear makeup. I beg to differ. (This is your TMI warning. Don't say I didn't warn you.)

My acne is most certainly hormonal, as it follows a perfect cycle. I can predict, almost to the day, when I will wake up looking like I have small pox, and it definitely coincides with my period. I made this post on the up-swing, when my skin was especially clear. Still, I had a lot to cover. 

In addition to the acne, I have to cover acne scars, wrinkles, and serious dark circles under my eyes. These are my personal struggles with my face, along with the battle against unwanted facial hair (which we can discuss later), and my incredibly pale skin. I'm not saying I'm a hideous person, but I'm certainly not perfect. We've talked about contouring before, so I'm not going to go into serious detail about it today. (You can find the original post about contour on the old blog here.) 

Today's post is mostly about coverage. I love you so much, I even included two pictures of my face with absolutely no makeup whatsoever. This is the bravest thing I have ever done. 

Step 1 is always PRIMER. I can't say this enough: use primer! The finished product will be significantly different if you skip this step. 

I use femme couture mineral effects face primer, $9.99 at Sally Beauty Supply. (Try to excuse the pictures of my dirty makeup,lol)

Step 2: Circles under your eyes have a blue-green tint to them, so you counteract this with yellow. I use Palladio brand, also from Sally. It's about $5.99 and lasts absolutely forever. If you don't have under-eye circles, don't do this, as it will leave you looking jaundiced. Trust me on this one.

Tip: I have been using my homemade lip balm underneath the yellow, because it hydrates so well. With the vitamin E and almond oil in it, it keeps the wrinkles under control and lets the concealer glide on easier as well.

Step 3: Concealer. I am still searching for the perfect concealer, but this is my favorite for now. It's femme couture "get covered", applied with the eyeslipsface Concealer Brush.

I love this concealer because it's in a pot (thicker formula), and it provides a good, thick layer of coverage. I'm not in the market for a translucent concealer; I want to cover everything. 

Tip: I buy the second-lightest shade, which is lighter than my skin, so it also serves as a highlight. As you can see, it goes almost everywhere on my face, only excluding the places I put my bronzer. 

Blend this with your fingers or a beauty blender, I use this one from Target, $4.99. I refuse to believe that anyone needs a $40 beauty blender, no matter what anyone says.

As you can see, I'm starting to look like a human. 

But there is more war paint to come.

Step 4: Bronzer. I would normally never buy this, as it's a lot of money, but it came in my May ipsy Glam Bag, and I love it. When it runs out I'll be going back to my cheap bronzer, but until then, I prefer this Chocolate Soleil by Too Faced. 

(It's made with cocoa powder. I have yet to try this, but I saw a pin on Pinterest about making your own bronzer out of cocoa powder. Someone should try it and let me know what they think!)

I'll be posting about ipsy, but for now I'll just say I ADORE IT! It's only $10/month for 5 high-end products/month. You should sign up to get it too, with this link. :) 

(I get free makeup when 5 people sign up through my link.)

I use my blush brush and my Eyeshadow "C" Brush, both by eyeslipsface, for bronzer. The blush brush applies around my hair line and creates "cheekbones" on my cheeks. The eyeshadow brush is used to create the contour on my nose. 

So far all that's on my face is the concealer and bronzer, so the lines are harsh. That's done on purpose; the next step evens it all out.

Not gonna lie, that rogue eyebrow hair is driving me crazy.

Step 5: Foundation

I use Bare Minerals Matte foundation, and because I'm poor, I mix it with High Definition loose powder by eyeslipsface, to make it last longer. I apply this mixture with the angled blush brush from eyeslipsface.

Tip: If I'm going out at night, I will do foundation before bronzer, so my contour lines are a bit more pronounced. Day makeup calls for a smoother look, so foundation is further down the list. 

I need very little foundation after my concealer and bronzer have done all the leg work, so my foundation lasts several months.

These pictures aren't the best, but as you can see, I've eliminated the look of the current acne and the acne scars. The dark circles under my eyes still exist (they are basically just an unsurmountable force), but much better than they started out. 

That's it for the face. After I did this, I applied eye makeup, eyebrows, and lipstick You can find the tutorial for that here. But just so we're clear, I recommend doing your eye makeup before your face, in case you have excess eyeshadow land on your cheeks. 

Have fun experimenting, and leave me a comment pretty please!