You Could Be Ruining Your Skin!

A proper skincare routine during the Autumn/Winter months is almost always a priority for me. I might slack off during the summer months as I tend to wear very little makeup (for fear of sweating it all off on the tube) but in the winter months I personally believe that skincare is even more important as how I treat my skin now is reflected in the summer.

I do understand that skincare mistakes happen but once you know what you slip up on or even identify what you are doing that isn’t doing your skin any favours, its easier to make small changes so I’m going to put down what I feel are the BIGGEST and WORST skincare mistakes I’ve come across

Not Taking Off Your Makeup at Night

I think this is probably the most obvious and well known skincare mistake in the beauty world and funnily enough the one I struggle and slip up on the most (see, even the informed make mistakes).

Our skin is covered with pores and pores release a special lubricant designed not only to moisturize and protect our skin at night but to help remove dead skin cells and other irritants from the pores. Leftover

makeup gets into your pores, clogging them up and prevents the lubricant from doing its job, so it just builds up under the makeup and leaves you with a massive pimple.

If you sleep with your makeup on, can you imagine that over the 8 hours you sleep how clogged up your skin becomes?

I take off my makeup every night with cream cleansers, cleansers and toners but sometimes if I’m coming in from a late night out and can’t function very well (for obvious reason) I still wipe my face with a few of my Johnson’s Refreshing Facial Cleansing Wipes.

Oh and of course do wash and cleanse your face in the mornings because you’ve been asleep for 8 hours. Your skin needs it.

Not Moisturizing Your Skin

Personally this is the biggest no, no for me. Coming from an African culture moisturizing your skin was drummed into my head from a very early stage so when I come across people who don’t regularly moisturize, I’m baffled.

I know the guilty parties normally have oily skin, so think that they can skip this step but please, please, please do NOT mistake oily skin for being hydrated skin. If you have oily skin, the biggest mistake you can make is not moisturizing your skin as your body detects the lack of hydration in your skin and your oil glands go into hyper-activity trying to compensate this problem. Not using a moisturizer on oily skin WILL lead to all that excess oil clogging up your skin and can you say, Blackheads, Whiteheads or an acne breakout. If you want to moisturize you skin without add to the shine, get an oil control moisturize like MAC Oil Control Lotion.

Picking at your blemishes

I don’t know where some girls picked up the belief that pop your spots or picking at your blemishes are a good idea but NO, keep your hands at your sides and away from that spot! Picking at your spots or blemishes doesn’t help your skin in the long run, in-fact it makes it worse. Picking at it actually allows the bacteria to spread and you will find that your one spot has gone and invited it’s family to visit.

Using Dirty Makeup Brushes

*faints at the thought*

Personally this is the biggest no, no for me. I’m not a violent person but I will slap someone who tried to use a dirty makeup brush on me because it’s exactly that . . . DIRTY! Dirty makeup brushes are a bacterial breeding ground which carry any and everything from old makeup, dirt, dead skin cells, germs, oils and bacteria, and every time you use a dirty makeup brush, you are applying all that nastiness to your skin.

If you have problem skin, highly sensitive skin or acne and use your brushes daily, then I would up this and tell you to wash your brushes daily. If you use MAC Brush Cleaner as part of your daily routine trust me when I say that those extra few moments to do this will make your skin thank you.

 I think the minimum you should wash your makeup brushes with shampoo (don’t care what type) is once a week while regularly cleaning it with a brush cleaner. Ok, maybe I’m a bit of a germaphobe using the brush cleaner during the week but please wash your brushes weekly.

Not Exfoliating

Exfoliating should be a part of your skincare routine. I’m not saying that you should use an exfoliator every day as this would just strip your skin but using an exfoliating scrub at least twice a week aids your skin’s ability to remove dead skin cells and dirt from your face. I’ve been using Neutrogena’s Visibly Clear Pink Grapefruit Daily Scrub for as long as I can remember and while I don’t use it daily it’s not harsh and leaves my skin feeling refreshed at night.

I think these are my biggest skincare peeves or the biggest problems I feel people make with their skincare routine. I hope I didn’t come off like a know-it-all,,I’m really not. I just feel that these are the basis for any successful skincare regime. Let me know any other points you think I should add to it and Oh, what do you slip up on Skincare-wise?