Let's Clear This Up...

With all the changes and updates I've been doing with my skincare since earlier this year, my skin has been quite good and happy. I've been really taking care of it and paying attention to what it needs. That being said, I have learned that sometimes you need to alternate between different products depending on what your skin is telling you on a particular day. Some days you're dehydrated, sometimes you have redness or maybe other days you're breaking out. Now, I don't have extremely problematic skin, but I do find that as soon as I get an ounce of stress in my life, I get a blemish to prove the point. As if I needed a reminder, right?! I also get blemishes during my time of month. Again, thanks for the reminder. It's really annoying and frustrating. It's not a constant thing, but during those times when my skin is feeling congested and stressed, I switch it up and add a few different things into my normal skincare routine to target the issue. Depending on how bad it is, I'll alternate between my normal routine and this or I'll just use this for a few days to clear up my skin. These products I'm going to talk about are my go to products for those times when I want to clear up my skin, calm it down and not dry it out. Let's get started...


First and foremost comes a good cleanser. I love my Clinique Cleansing Balm, but it is a very basic cleanser. It's great for everyday, but when I'm feeling a blemish coming up, I automatically go to my REN Clearcalm 3 Clarifying Clay Cleanser. This is my first ever REN skincare product and I'm really pleased. It's a clay based cleanser (as the name implies, duh!). This is perfect for decongesting the skin. Drawing out impurities and being really gentle on the skin. It goes on like a creamy clay consistency and you just massage it onto your face and rinse off to finish. Your skin will feel clean and I can tell it takes out some of the redness in my skin, soothes any irritation from blemishes and helps keep them at bay. This sort of keeps blemishes from getting enlarged and yucky. My favorite part is that I don't feel it dry out my skin. Usually anything targeted for acne prone skin will just suck all the oils and moisture from your skin and leaves you feeling tight. I hate that feeling. I don't want to feel like a desert! This is just so perfect to use everyday or just on days when you're feeling like you need to clarify your skin. Note that it won't remove your makeup so you'll be best to do that step using a makeup remover or something before using this. I feel like it's quite a big bottle and would last anyone a good amount of time. The bottle is clear so you can see exactly how much you've used which is always nice. It is also "clean skincare" so it is formulated without parabens and other icky things you wouldn't want to slather on your face. Major points for that as well! Would definitely repurchase this.

Now, once or twice a week I like to use a mask. I've gone through about three already of the GlamGlow Supermud Clearing Treatment Mask (the one in the white jar). It's amazing! It is a charcoal mud mask that you use all over your face. It will dry to touch and you'll see it actually turn darker in areas where you have blemishes or enlarged pores as it is working to draw out any deep rooted dirt and impurities in those areas. It is great to help get rid of blackheads and excellent to help keep blemishes at bay. It does give a slight tingle, but nothing super uncomfortable at all. At least not for me. I always feel like this is the one mask that makes me feel like it's gone deep into my skin and just cleaned it all out. I always feel refreshed after this mask. I highly suggest this. You really only need a small amount so the little jar gets me through quite a few uses. You can also use it to spot treat overnight if you need. It's just really really good! And it's another non paraben product. Woohoo!

Lastly, I wanted to talk about HealGel Intensive. I love it. It is sort of a serum/moisturizer product that absorbs into the skin quickly and keeps it feeling hydrated, but not oily or tacky. It's OK to use all over the face and it feels great beneath makeup as it gives your skin a nice smooth surface. HealGel is aimed to help a lot of things which is why I think I find it so helpful during these skin emergencies. It calms redness and inflammation and there is salicylic acid in it which is an ingredient used in a lot of blemish control products. What I love about this is that it doesn't feel drying, but it will calm the blemish and if you use it early enough, it will just make it go away instead of being one of those products that pulls it to the surface faster and then you have a huge red spot on your face which sucks! This won't do that. It will slowly make it disappear so long as you start applying it soon enough. But, this is also great for healing, so, if you end up not being able to get it early enough, HealGel will be able to heal it quicker than anything else I've used. It's a great all around product for scars, burns, redness, etc., etc. So this is just one of the many uses I find for this product. I'm really happy I found this stuff!

As you can see, the general theme of what I like in a product is that it calms the skin and helps eliminate  and prevent breakouts without drying out the skin or causing irritation.

You can purchase REN products from RenSkincare.com, Nordstrom.com, Sephora.com and others. I find GlamGlow at Sephora.com and HealGel Intensive from CultBeauty.com. What are your go to products when you're skin is being problematic that doesn't dry you out or irritate your skin?

Talk soon. Kisses, J