Beauty with my Guest

Hey y'all! I have a fabulous guest blogger for you from Beautology (definitely a blog to follow). She is the sweetest and has the best beauty and skin care advice! Hope y'all enjoy!

Pore-fection and Gorgeous Glowing Skin..

I'm so very excited to be a guest writer for my beautiful friend, Carol! My name is Andrea and I have been studying skin care and skin care products for about six years now. In middle school and high school I struggled with unruly, oily skin until I sought the help of a dermatologist. She gave me a crash course in skin care and from then on I've been fascinated with beautifying skin. I have learned so much from testing a multitude of different products and treatments that I decided I'd start blogging about it so that others can benefit as well! I blog about products that I have personally tested so that I can give the best well-rounded description of its potency and effects. So here is my crash course for you to get perfect pores and glowing skin! 

Prep your skin by exfoliating with a fine exfoliating scrub. 

Needless to say, this is going to buff off the dead skin cells that build up on your skin causing pores to be clogged which leads to stubborn acne. Using a scrub that has fine exfoliates ensures a deep cleaning and refining of your skins pores. I love using Giovanni's Purifying Facial Scrub because it contains volcanic ash, purifying charcoal and antioxidants to detoxify your face while boosting your skins health and radiance with antioxidants. This scrub is all natural and organic and 5% of all retail sales goes to The National Breast Cancer Foundation Inc,. If you need a quick fix, the best homemade scrub I've ever used is simply 3 parts baking soda and one part water to make a semi-thick paste. Although this homemade scrub does not have the antioxidant benefits that Giovanni has, it does still clean out dirt and oil from the skin.

Apply Dr. Jart's Pores No More Vacuum Cleaner Blackhead Extractor

If the name doesn't say it all, we don't know what will. As intense as it sounds is as intense as it works. I was skeptical about something with a title like that, but I applied it onto my trouble areas and waited the directed 10 minutes before rinsing it off. Upon close inspection of my pores they were definitely blurred and much less defined; any traces of blackheads I had were no longer there! I think this product has been the most shockingly useful product that I've used in the past 5 months!     

Use a Hydrating Cleanser to Replenish Your Skins Natural Moisture Barrier

Yep. This is an important step and often over-looked beauty secret. Those with oily skin wouldn't think twice about adding moisture to their skin because they don't feel they need it. However, not all moisture is created equal, or something to that effect. I highly recommend using CeraVe hydrating cleanser because it contains hyaluroic acid which is a strong moisturizer that penetrates down to the skins natural moisture barrier and replenishes it. Hyaluronic acid has incredible anti-aging properties because as we age our skins barrier looses its ability to hold and store moisture, using this particular acid helps boost and add to moisture depleted barriers. 

Use a Multi-purpose Moisturizer, SPF, and Anti-aging Face Cream

You could use all these things separately of course if you have them but the point here is that your applying a non-oil based moisturizer, sunscreen of at least SPF 30 and an anti-aging serum. They make face creams that have all those things already in them which makes morning routines all the better. I use and recommend Neutrogena Ageless-Intensives Tone Correcting Daily Moisturizer, because not only does it contain moisturizer, SPF and retinol but it boost skins natural radiance with vitamin C which over time corrects and evens skin tone. Definitely one of my favorite, go-to creams.

Apply Makeup to Enhance Your Natural Beauty, NOT to Overpower it. 

I'm a big advocate for natural, bare beauty but I also wildly love to use make-up. It's just fun! There is a time and place for dramatic makeup but other than that keep it simple and use it to highlight and add to your already beautiful face. Since you've exfoliated and cleared your skin, makeup will actually look its best and go on nice and smooth! My current makeup routine consists of Garnier BB Cream (I'm literally obsessed with BB's- as you can easily tell from a previous post- "BB Cream Revolutionizes Your Skin") followed by Maybelline New York's Dream Matte Mousse. I adore how flawless this makes my skin and it's perfect for those with oily skin because the formula keeps shine at bay (even on high-humidity days, I can attest that I don't blot my skin more than once maybe twice in the 12 hours I'm awake, so it does work.) If you have dry skin, Maybelline has a Dream Smooth Mousse that keeps your skin hydrated for up to 14 hours.

 I always add Dream Bouncy blush and Revlon's Photoready Mascara too get a good "awake" look (especially helpful for those very early mornings) but if I happen to have more time I layer a bit of bronzer, blush and highlighter to give myself a fresh-from vacation glow (I wrote a post you can view under July detailing how to achieve this look, named "Sun-Kiss Me"). Add your favorite lip balm, gloss or stick to finish your look! 

Try this out and let me know how it worked for you! I often help people tailor skin care routines based on their specific skin type and goals and what that they want to achieve, so feel free to contact me at my blog www.annmariebeautology.com, via email at AnnMarie.Beautology@gmail.com or by liking my Facebook page and or following me on Twitter, @Beautologyblog. The bonus of doing any one or all of those things is you can get easy, free updates on new posts that get published. Don't worry, I don't spam- it's annoying, I know. 

Of course feel free to sub in your favorite makeup products, I totally understand how wonderful it is to find the right "fit" in cosmetics. Thanks for reading and remember that pretty is what you are, beauty is what you do with it! 

xoxo

Ann