Breathe

I posted a picture of myself a few days ago on my story of my face with no makeup or filter. Honestly, I posted it to show off my lashes but I got so many questions and remarks about how confident I was regarding my skin. 

I have oily, acne prone and sensitive skin. 

I wasn’t always confident with my own skin. We can blame it on a lot of things racism, colorism or just acne. A pimple popping out of nowhere that I attacked with foundation or pigmentation scars I felt the need to hide. I didn’t hate my skin or how I looked, I just wasn’t comfortable. I always had it on my mind, I would avoid getting too close to people so they wouldn’t look too hard. I’m not new to this social distancing thing. 

In college I tried a bunch of different types of skincare products I could afford from CVS or Target. I bought the products my friends said work for them or whatever an influencer used on Instagram. I was everything but patient, I wanted my acne to go asap. 

By the way, I’m a Fit Me by Maybelline girl. I don’t care how much money I make in this life, I will always own their Matte+Poreless powder in their darkest shade. I always had it close by so I could apply it whenever I had the chance.

One day I woke up and just said F it. I’m done, done with the covering up and hiding. I just needed to breathe and honestly so did my face. The first few days were rough, I avoided mirrors and people too. The latter is basically impossible when you live on campus because you see everyone everyday and my friends and I really lacked bouandries now that I think of it. 

This all happened around my senior year and to be honest my face was the least of my worries at the time. I had bigger problems while I prepped for graduation. 

A few months later though, post graduation, I made it a top priority for me to fix my skin. This was when quarantine hit so time literally slowed down for me, so I focused on skincare. I also made money so you know *adds to cart.

Before I started anything I needed to accept that I didn't need to fix my skin because it wasn't broken. Read that again.

I then started doing research. What type of skin do I have? What should I avoid? What do I need?

The nerd in me literally had me pulling out a notebook to make a step by step plan. 

1. Treat the acne

2. Work on the dark spots to get an even skin tone 

3. Fight dull skin and get that glow the gworlz on TikTok had

I treated each of my issues individually and slowly started getting results. I started seeing, no strike that, feeling a difference. Not only physically but also mentally. I was proud of my consistency and dedication to change something that made me feel uncomfortable. This gave me so much confidence, confidence I didn’t know even know I lacked. I accepted my skin type and the complications I had to face because of it. I’m not promoting any skin care brand but if I had to, gun to my head it would be Paula’s Choice. Paula if you see this, please send a PR package my way.  Also, I highly reccomend seeing a dermatologist if it seems serious, honestly even if it doesn’t its just good to go get your skin checked out. 

So when people ask me why and how I am so confident, I respond "I just accept myself for who I am".

Hmm no I lied, I’ve never said that to anyone. I just smile awkwardly because y’all know I’m not a talker. 

But I’m a writer so I’m saying it now. 

I’ve said this many times, in different ways for different occasions, of course but if your foundation is strong then you can control the way you perceive the world and the way the world sees you.

NARS foundation is the best out there after self love of course. Haha that was corny but seriously the NARS Light Reflecting Advanced Skincare Foundation is to die for. And of course we all have insecurities but remember if we could see ourselves the way God saw us we would would never live a single day in doubt or insecurity. 

Skincare is a form of self love. The brain and skin are interconnected. Overtime when stress builds up you may start breaking out as intensified sebum is produced. Skincare is a time of the day I look forward to, a time to unwind and to focus on myself. Be kind to yourself to allow your skin to be kind to you. Sleep quantity and quality along with a poor diet can take a significant toll on your skin health. They also say the lack of exercise can have affect your skin health but let’s just ignore that part. Gym? I don’t know her. 

One of the many things I’ve learned about life is that everything is connected. It doesn’t matter where you start on your self care journey, everything will eventually fall in place. 

But what do I know? I’m just a girl sharing her maniere de vivre…