The Illusion of Perfect Skin - Aspirin Mask Part 1

My skin was flawless in high school until my habit of picking at my skin emerged. Picking at your skin is a big no-no. Not only does it damage your skin, it also scars it. Bacteria and dirt are stuffed into your skin and creating more problems. Avoid picking, popping, scratching and rubbing it. If there is something stuck in there, such as a whitehead or a blackhead, steam your face first to open up your pore and gently massage it out.

Now with the wrong choice of foundation, stress and a poor diet my skin went nuts on me. Steps had to be taken to bring things back to control.

Masks:



My personal favorite is doing an aspirin mask with Queen Helene's Mint Julip mask. Both are super cheap and super effective. Aspirin around $4 and the mask also around $4 for a big bottle. Both can be found in your local drugstore.

With the aspirin, I prefer using uncoated but you can use coated too, however you'll need to grind the hell out of it and I don't have the patience for this at all and you'll need a mortar to grind. Unless you plant your own herbs, you don't need it. Aspirin is great since it contains BHA and is awesome in clearing your skin and exfoliating dead skin. The mint julep mask is that classic green mask you are so used to seeing since you were child. Its great for evening the skin tone and cleaning out pores.

Materials:

• 6-8 aspirins
• Queen Helene Mint Julep Mask
• 1 tsp of water

Directions:

1. Place the aspirin in the palm of your hand. I put it on my left hand since I'm a righthanded.
2. Add the 1 tsp of water (just eye it, you don't need a spoon really) and let the aspirin dissolve.
3. Once it dissolves (after about 10 seconds or so), add a quarter to 1/2 dollar size amount of the mask to the aspirin and mix it with your finger.
4. When it becomes evenly coated, apply it to your face and neck, making sure every part is evenly coated. I prefer a thin coat since it does the job especially when I'm going out later (like tonight!)
5. Let the mask dry on your face. The great thing about adding the mint julep mask is the mask makes your skin feels refreshed and holds onto the aspirin since you don't want it getting into your nose (I did and my nose was runny for two days. Not fun I tell you.)
6. Gently, splash some water onto your face and wet your fingers. Gently massage your face with your fingers as the aspirin provides great scrubbing to your face. Scrub it till you feel it good enough to stop scrubbing and wash off the mixture.
7. Stare at yourself in the mirror and preen. Take a towel to gently dry your skin and moisturize. You can use your moisturizer, do OCM (Oil Cleansing Method, I'll post this in the future) or add a moisturizing mask.
8. Voila! You are good to go now!

Note: Please don't do this more than twice a week as it could dry out your skin. Experiment to see what other combinations work for you. I'll be posting a future DIY list of materials you can use and what benefits they provide.

The Illusion of Perfect Skin - prologue

A childhood friend of mine left me a question on facebook, asking what was my secret to nice skin. My skin isn't all that great, it was better just a few years ago but I have a unconscious urge to pick at things which isn't all that great. Now there are some big pores from all that abuse. However with the right techniques, you can hide all that.

Sure, Ricebunny has some great tutorials on her xanga and youtube but her skin is pretty much flawless to begin with, with years of skin care at a young age. What about those has the subconcious need to pick like me or at even at least a bit abusive to their skin or genetically unlucky with acne'd skin?

This leads to an even wider and broader group of the population. What exactly are they supposed to do. I'll be providing tutorials for this area in the next few days including foundation application (mineral though, I stopped using any other foundation since then.)