This weekend Mellie, Hil, and I went to visit my Aunt Diana for makeovers. Di runs the Lancome counter at the fancy schmancy mall in Nashville. I was ill prepared for what followed. Firstly, my girl "cleaned" my face. There was a milky cleanser, an eye makeup remover (despite my assurances that I had not put a single stitch of makeup on my face...just for her), a toner, two or three kinds of serums, and a moisturizer. Oh, and a neck cream. Neck Cream. Like I have a waddle or something. (I do not have a waddle.) So, it took the woman about 12 minutes to clean my face. I have never in my life taken 12 minutes to clean my face. Well, I hadn't until Saturday night, but I digress...
So that was the cleaning. When my girl and I spoke, I explained to her that I have very sensitive skin. Almost everything makes my face itch uncontrollably. It makes me all red and miserable. Then I told her that I've had problems finding makeup that didn't aggravate the dickens out of my skin and that I'd been having trouble with mascara apparently clogging some pores or ducts recently...
Then we proceeded to the making up.
If they'd made me look like this, I would've give them all the money in my bank account.
Concealer around the eyes. Waterproof base on the eyelids. Foundation. Blush. Bronzer.
We're good so far. She asked about my eyes. What do I normally wear? How do I do my eyes? I explained that I am a very neutral sort of girl. I just basically want to look natural and a little put together. When I need to punch it up or add color, I do it with lipstick. She said, "Great. We'll just do a really neutral eye."
"Perfect," I said.
Eyeshadow pallet? Taupe Crazy. Okay. Then, she brought out "a little accent." Purple Smoke. Then purple gel eyeliner. Then oscillating mascara. I think she honestly spent ten minutes on each of my eyes. If I've never spent 12 minutes washing my face, you can bet your bottom dollar that I've never spent 20 minutes doing my eye makeup. Never. Not ever. Not even on my wedding day.
Then we did my lips. Liner, lipstick, and gloss.
Then we topped me off with some powder.
When she was all finished, Mel and Hil went on and on about my eyes. I hadn't seen them yet, so I was curious despite the fact that my eyelids felt bizarrely heavy and my eyelashes kept sticking together whenever I blinked. My Aunt Diana handed me a mirror, and I almost fell over. My skin and my lips looked great. Truly. But this lady thought she gave me a neutral eye? Huh? I spent the rest of the day feeling a little clownish. It took five eye makeup remover soaked cotton pads to scour the eye makeup off that night. That just seemed excessive to me, but maybe it's normal.
So that was the makeup story. Now for the informal poll. While she was cleaning my face she asked me what I normally clean my face with. Cetaphil. I exfoliate once or twice a week. I use Oil of Olay Complete Sensitive Cream in the winter and lotion in the summer. She was, as I would've expected, a little put out by my $12 skin care routine. I suppose when you're selling $100 serums, a $9 pot of skin cream is like telling a French pastry chef that you had a Croiss'anwich for breakfast. She then proceeded to tell me about how every single product she was putting on my face to cleanse it was rigorously, scientifically created to mimic the skin's natural this-or-that. All I kept thinking was, "if this is supposed to mimic what my skin naturally does on its own, why on Earth would I pay you hundreds of dollars for it? Shouldn't I just try not to strip all the essential stuff from my skin that you're now having to replace?"
I've read all about various skin care regiments that have you wiping your face with lemons and slathering them with oils and whatnot. I've known old women with lovely skin that have sworn by Dove soap and Oil of Olay. I suppose skin care is different for everyone, but I'm curious. How much time do you spend on cleansing your face? What products are you using? Why have you chosen those products? Do you think I need neck cream? Please, discuss.
12 comments:
I'll start off so that way every single commenter after me can feel extremely proud and self-righteous that at LEAST they do more than that first a-hole.
I wash my face with some $5 Neutrogena face wash when I shower, which is only about 2-3 times a week in the winter. Then I put on lotion - sometimes Cetaphil, sometimes whatever scented stuff is hanging about.
Then if I've put on makeup at some point, I use those face wipes that look like baby wipes to take it off.
No creams, no wrinkle prevention, no serums, etc.
I wash my face daily with the generic Clearasil. After my shower, I put on Clinic's skin lotion. That sums up my skin regimine.. Sounds sad when you type it out, but I don't have excessively oily skin or blemishes. AND to further out myself via the internets, I often go to bed with makeup still on..gasp..
-Ginger
Neutrogena unscented face bar soap, oil of olay regenerist serum or Eucerin Sensitive skin lotion. Exfoliate with oil of olay heated mask 3x a week. No fancy schmancy here.
-L
I'm also a cetaphil girl. I religiously use Eucerin face lotion with spf 30. That's it. If I use makeup, it's a little bit of powder and maybe some lipstick. I'm with you. I'm never going to spend 12 minutes on one eye.
Here is my girly-girl response...I wash my face in the morning with Biore foaming face cleaner, then use Starting Over by Origins. At night I use Plantscriptions by Origins (forehead lines), and the apply Youthtopia by Origins on my face and neck.
I have only been using these products for about a year, but I love, love, love them. The feel and smell wonderful. I think for me it all comes down to, if I can do these little things to make my face look better years down the road I am all in!
I use the classic neutrogena bar to cleanse and also their lotion to moisturize - morning and night (w/SPF 30). I heard once that it's never too early to start moisturizing the neck - to prevent the waddle - so I do this too. My skin is VERY oily, so I exfoliate with St. Ives apricot scrub every other day and use clinique's oily skin toner after washing my face. It's amazing how much dirt is left behind even after cleansing. Finally I use clinique's acne medicine when necessary. Maybe this seems a bit excessive, but I have always had trouble skin and I am religious about keeping it clean.
I use St. Ives apricot scrub every day. Yes - I know you're not supposed to use it every day but I've been doing it for about 15 years and I still have skin. The to moisturize I use either Neutrogena Oil-Free SPF 15 or Cetaphil SPF 30 face cream (whichever I could find for less money). I don't wear make-up most days. Sometimes I use tinted lip balm and grey/khaki eye liner. I'd be very unhappy if this regimen took more than 5 minutes total.
But, that being said, I'm sure you looked lovely. LOVELY!
The only washing my face receives is whatever water/shampoo/soap combo runs across my face in the shower. Maybe that is gross, but it works for me. In the summer I may use a little body wash or bar soap if I've had a hot and sweaty day.
After every shower I use Neutrogena Healthy Skin moisturizer.
And now after reading these comments I think I'm going to start moisturizing my neck too! Hadn't really paid it much attention before.
Two or three times a week I wash my face with Neutragena's natural pore scrub (no fake ingredients, so no itching. I put on clean and clear lotion after that. I pluck my eyebrows if they need it. I put a bit of concealer over the trouble spots (rarely though). Then, I put on blush. If I go out on eyes I wear some basic eyeshadow and clear mascara. I rarely wear any sort of lipstick or lip gloss, for some reason I just don't like it. I know you looked fabu, sis, positively fabu.
PB
I use Kiss My Face Olive Oil face cleansing bar and Avalon Organics SPF 15 moisturizer. I only wash my face with soap at night to get makeup off; I use water in the morning. I also use toner at night because I read it actually helps moisturize before you put on night cream. Yes, I use a night cream: Jason's Vitamin E something-or-other. I ALWAYS put it on my neck because I've noticed that even with women whose faces look good, the neck tends to betray because they didn't pay attention to it. I try to use organic products with not a lot of chemicals because I figure it's my *face*, so I try to keep it simple. But I searched--I won't pay crazy money just to be organic.
I just started using Bare Escentuals makeup as per my SIL's suggestion. She can't stand makeup, doesn't wear it unless she has to, looks terrific. So I figured I'd give it a try...I LOVE it. I got the starter kit and didn't bother with all the other crap they suggested (the base, the moisturizer, the primer, etc.), and I can still look polished in under 10 minutes.
I bought this a while back from The Body Shop (on sale, of course), and I like it (when I remember to use it). Sometimes I exfoliate with the a Blue Corn scrub I got from them, too. And I have an spf 15 moisturizer I use in the summer. I like their products, and I like their business practices so I pretty much get my skin stuff from them. Calling anything I do a "routine" would be a stretch, though, since it may be a couple of times a week or a couple of times a month. -Jess
Actually, my daily routine is very similar to your Lancome counter experience. This is not normal?
By the way, where is the pic?
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