September 7, 2018

New Baby, New Products & New Skin Problems

New Baby, New Products & New Skin Problems

After having a baby in April my body has massively changed. I put on 15 pounds, my butt is bigger, hips are curvier, my stomach still isn’t completely flat but I have been embracing all of it. Well almost all of it. I like the extra weight and bigger bum but I want to tone my thighs and tummy. I just want to turn that little bit of flab to fab. My skin however is a totally different story. I have been getting freckles like crazy! I’ve always had freckles, but since my body made a baby, freckles are coming on my face every day. I barely go in the sun and always wear sunscreen, yet I’m still getting them. The freckles aren’t my favorite but I can deal with them.

Skin texture on my face has been the worst. I’ve always had good skin, no acne or acne scars, not too dry not too oily, just normal skin. My skin was something I was very proud of and loved to show off both with and without makeup. But ever since the baby I just have these bumps, they aren’t pimples, they aren’t really red, its just a lot of texture on my cheeks and forehead. When I’m not wearing makeup I don’t notice it too much, but recently all my makeup looks terrible! My cheeks are the worst; they are so dry and flakey, it looks like a cakey mess. And I don’t know how many people have had this problem but after having a baby I’ve been sweating like crazy, and I never used to sweat. Outside in the heat sweat has been pooling by my upper lip and has making my makeup in that area look really bad as well. The sweat problem can easily be fixed by patting the skin with a beauty blender, the texture issue is a whole different ball game.

Since my son has been born I have been using the same skin care routine I’ve always used. When I started noticing this texture that wouldn’t go away I bought a small sized Tatcha Water Cream & The Deep Cleanse. I loved the cream I ran out of it already, the texture was awesome, it made my skin feel nice and moisturized. The cleanser is also really nice. It has little beads in it that exfoliate the skin, but gentle enough to use everyday. The products themselves are beautiful, if my skin was the way it used to be I probably wouldn’t try anything else. But the texture is still there and neither the cleanser or cream on their own has reduced its appearance. Quite frankly that is what I need right now. Tatcha is a wonderful option to try if you are happy with your skin, but if your hoping to get rid of texture or acne I would seek a different product.

I took some close up pictures last night (September 5th). I started trying some new products and in just 1 day I noticed a bit of a difference. Actually today my makeup looks way better. Still not 100% but better. I also just ordered Tati’s Halo Beauty Kiwi Seed Booster and I want to see how that works and if it will improve the condition of my skin. So over the next couple of weeks I’m going to be doing skin check-ins and show you if my skin is improving and what products I’m using. But let’s look at the difference a few products made after 2 uses.

When you take a look at the full face at a little but of a distance (on the left) it doesn’t look too bad. This was at the end of the night and I had taken my lip product off. My eyes got a little messed up, but the skin was looking like this from the moment I finished my makeup. This hasn’t happened with just one foundation either, I’ve tried several and several of my ride-or-dies including Diorskin Forever (my absolute favorite), Rainforest of the Sea, Laura Mercier, IT CC Cream, Maybeline FITME, there are more. As you can see the list is a bit of a mix both dewy & Matte, I’ve done both. I’ve tried with the Cover FX Loose Powder on top, patted in with a beauty blender and without any powder. I’ve tried all different blushes and bronzers. Different primers, no primers. Setting spray after setting spray. Nothing has helped my makeup look better on my cheek area. Even my undereye area has been looking really weird lately with my favorite Tarte Shape Tape. If you are have had a similar issue with your makeup cracking and looking really bad over texture or creasing in the under-eye area and have found a solution please let me know!

So after trying all this makeup and purchasing some drug store concealers to see if that has made a difference; I had enough. I was just following my basic skincare routine that I’ve been using for the past year (other than Tatcha which started in May), but clearly that was no longer going to cut it. I decided to take Tati’s approach “skin from within,” good skincare, eating healthier (which I’ve always done) and giving the skin all the nourishment it needs to look fabulous. I have my top 5 beauty Guru’s and those are the ones I watch and go to for suggestions. I really like Tati’s Youtube Channel, I watch her often, and her skin is great so that’s why I decided to try her new product. Maybe that will work for me. But until that comes in the mail I took a trip to Whole Foods.

Since I’ve been on my hiatus Whole Foods partnered with Amazon. Amazing! I love getting the prime discount I just had to mention that. That’s what drew me to this product, they were on sale and I get an additional 10% off yellow tags. Andalou Naturals launched this new “Cannacell” line, which contains hemp stem cells, organic hemp seed oil and plant essential oils. I’ve tried tons of rose, argan, clay so I said I haven’t tried Cannabis, lets see what this will do.

The scrub is quite different from most scrubs I’ve used. It is a green jelly consistency with white beads for exfoliation. It smells like a citrus and a leafy plant mixed together, what I would describe as “very earthy.” From the moment I put it on my skin I just loved the way it felt and loved what it was doing. My skin really felt like it was getting clean and tons of dead cells were being scrubbed away. After using it and rinsing I had a rim of foundation residue around my nose, something both my makeup remover and cleanser wipes didn’t pick up. I thought I was scrubbing a clean face but this pulled leftover makeup out of my pores, no wonder the are looking unusually large lately.

So after the scrub I tried this Pumpkin Honey Glycolic Mask. Now I would probably have never picked this up but I was looking at the Probiotic + C Renewal Cream, and I came across this set that gave you a slightly smaller size and the full sized mask for $1 more. Why not? The mask is very weird but I kind of like it. It looks like I pureed carrots for baby food and put it all over my face. It does smell like pumpkin but it isn’t an overpowering smell. When I put it on I actually felt my face tingling for a few seconds, but a lot of face masks do that so I wasn’t alarmed. Fruit Stem Cells, vitamin C, Glycolic AHA, Manuka honey, organic pumpkin rich in beta carotene gently dissolve and sweep away dull, dry surface cells, exfoliating and resurfacing for an even-tone, smooth texture and luminous complexion. The claims that it resurfaces and exfoliates for a smooth texture, that is exactly what I need right now! It really did dissolve into my skin because after 15 minutes (recommended time is 10-20) the mask wasn’t super orangey anymore, it was lighter in color and it seemed like a lot of product really soaked into my skin. It washed off easily and I was left with such a fresh face and beautiful skin. Then I topped that off with the Probiotic + C Renewal Cream which is supposed to help brighten the skin. Usually I would use a cream like that during the day, but since I had used the mask I figured I would just use it before bed.

I liked the results. My skin was moisturized and I had already noticed the texture was a bit smoother than usual. It wasn’t erased overnight but it was better. I washed my face with good ol’ Purity this morning, and then I tried this last product I bought. The Andalou Naturals CannaCell Happy Day Cream. The cream has the same earthy citrus scent as the scrub. It is not greasy but you can feel there are some oils in here, definitely not an “oil-free” product. Once it soaks into the skin, it makes your face feel silky and hydrated, it really gave me a nice base to do my makeup.

I only switched one thing up from my makeup today from yesterday. I have been using the Maybelline Face Studio Master Prime Primer. I always really loved this primer and got good results. However I’ve had a new box of the Smashbox Photo Finish Foundation Primer laying in my drawer and since I haven’t used that in a long time I wanted to see if it made a difference in today’s makeup. I guess it did because my Diorskin Forever Foundation went on perfectly smooth and blended beautifully as it should. But the foundation part always works its the powders is where everything seems to go wrong. I added my Cover FX Perfect setting powder the way Jaclyn Hill does hers, I dip a wet beauty blender into a cap full of powder, tap off the excess, then press the powder into my skin just to get a nice light coat of powder over my face to help with blending my blush and bronzer. And baking under the eyes of course. I added bronzer, blush, used my Jaclyn Hill X Morphe Palette on the eyes, and ended with the Sephora Illuminate Palette. At first I wasn’t crazy about the illuminate palette and was planning to return it. I just loved the silky, smooth texture of the Becca highlighters, and the way they applied with a fan brush that I wasn’t impressed with the Illuminate palette. But then when I dipped my beauty blender into it and dabbed my highlight into my skin that way, it looked beautiful. Now I’m super happy I have it, and it was a great deal, 6 shades for $28, hard to go wrong! Since my makeup looked so awful yesterday I decided not to use my Tatcha Luminous Dewy Skin Mist, but I tried the Boscia White Charcoal Mattifying Makeup Setting Spray instead. I have been staying away from this since it is “mattyfing” and I’ve been wanting to look more dewy, but I love this setting spray! And not a lot of people know about it or have tried it. So if you are a matte kinda gal, it comes in a trial size, this is one I would give a shot! Finally my makeup was complete. LOL it really didn’t take that long, I have a 4.5 month old baby remember? He was playing on his jungle play mat on my bed while I was doing this.

If you look at the quality of my makeup and skin (and this is after my makeup was on for 6 hours) it looks so much better. I doubt only the primer made that much of a difference. I really think the Andalou Mask and Scrub I used last night was what did it. Having such clean skin and clean pores, using a product that minimizes texture and smoothes the skin made a world of a difference. I cannot wait to continue using these products and seeing the potential of how beautiful my skin can look.

One of my upcoming posts will be a life and baby update. I definitely want to share with my fellow new mamas & soon-to-be moms my favorite baby items, what has worked for me, what hasn’t worked for me, where to spend your money, and where not to spend your money. I will definitely be adding a baby section since that has become such a huge part of my life, and it is my blog, I want to write about it!

As always thanks for reading, no more hiatuses for me I HAVE TOO MANY PRODUCTS TO WRITE ABOUT!!!

 

xoxo,

Serena

 

 

Products Mentioned

Maybelline Face Studio Master Prime Primer – $5.29

Smashbox Photo Finish Foundation Primer – $36

Diorskin Forever Perfect Foundation – $52

Cover FX Perfect Setting Powder – $35

Sephora Illuminate Palette – $28

Boscia White Charcoal Mattifying Makeup Setting Spray -$38

Tatcha Water Cream – $68

Tatcha The Deep Cleanse – $38 (If you want to try both Tatcha products before getting the full size Sephora has a trial size of both for $25)

Andalou Naturals Probiotic + C Renewal Cream – $18.84

Andalou Naturals Pumpkin Honey Glycolic Mask – $10.77

Andalou Naturals Cannacell Happy Day Cream – $19.99

Andalou Naturals Cannacell Xfoliate Scrub – $14.99

 

Note* Some of the above links are affiliate links. If you purchase that item after clicking on one of them I do make a commission, which I really do appreciate.

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