I have an admission which as a woman is something I’m rather ashamed of. I’m in my early (almost mid!) thirties and don’t have a clue about makeup. In fact, skincare generally leaves me cold so I do a very good impression of an ostrich. If I don’t do anything I can’t be doing that much wrong can I?!
Unfortunately, I’ve realised that although I still see myself in my (late) 20s, my skin has moved on, and I recently saw LINES. Not just little faint creases, but whapping great big wrinkles. Laughter-lines? Yes I’m enjoying life but nothing’s been that bloody funny to ‘mark me’ for the remainder of my life. So I have decided to swallow my pride and learn what I can do to fill these cracks.
But here’s the thing, I don’t want to waste a fortune on products, or hours of my life applying layers of the stuff, only to look like Miss Havisham. Nor do I want to go to some teenage ‘expert’ who is going to make me feel stupid and compelled to spend my hard-earned pennies in penance for my skin sin. What I do want is to be able to look in the mirror and recognise the person I see, be proud of how I look and confident that when I want to wear makeup, I know what I’m doing, have the right tools and products for me, and look darned sassy to boot.
So, I decided to bite the bullet and ask the head buyer here at Bath & Unwind, who is also a facialist and skincare consultant, what she thought I needed to do about my makeup phobia. I was rather taken aback when she countered my enquiry with a question about my ‘cleansing routine’. Even though I know, like and respect her, my response resembled that of a naughty child (remember please that I’m now firmly in my 30s!): why!?
My succinct response should have been:
Digging a little deeper, I confessed to horror of horrors, having suffered from acne on my face, chest and back (the sort which means you can’t lean back on a chair for pain), which I’ve recently figured out is entirely hormonal. Funny since I was on the pill to help control it!
Since figuring this out and coming off it, I reckon my skin would now be classed as combination, (it’s sometimes dry, sometimes oily and sometimes completely breaks out), and generally has a mind of its own. I used to be very blonde (but not much time in the sun recently sees this as a figment of my imagination!), and I have fair skin which burns quite easily. I also reckon I have sensitive skin, but I’ve recently read that so do 58% of us ladies, so who knows on that score.
Emily very gently and considerately suggested that she could help me develop a personal cleansing routine to develop a good base for any makeup we discuss at a later date. I guess this means my thoughts that doing nothing wasn’t doing much harm was slightly off! But, whilst I will admit to being clueless about makeup and now skincare, I do want to do something about this.
I don’t want to keep discovering crevices on my face – I’d much rather look in the mirror and be proud of what I see, whether I’m wearing makeup or not. So, I’m about to start on an adventure of discovery. Who knows what will happen, but I reckon the state of my bathroom cabinet will never be the same again, and quite frankly I find this highly exciting!
Step 1 – facial with Emily to discover the truth about my skin and what a cleansing routine should look like… wish me luck!
