the fountain of youth

you can probably find the fountain of youth at a VERY GOOD plastic surgeon's office. one that spouts out all kinds of solutions and botox to keep your face wrinkle free and will also give you small ninja cuts to the face with tiny scalpels to immortalize your visage. but if you are anything like me, you probably just want to age well right? look younger than you are? make it hard for people to guess your real age? maybe even get carded for alcohol FOR REALS rather than as a consequence of a company's policy...yeah, i'm talking about YOU, trader joe's.

i love how this picture looks like the next victoria secret campaign. ha!

being that july is my birthday month coupled with spotting a few more wrinkles and hyperpigmentations to remind me of my advancing age *sob* i started researching skincare products that could help preserve my skin short of embalming it. this task is doubly hard due to my prone-to-break-outs-combination-skin. ugh. let's just say, i always had bad skin as a teen and never became interested in skincare because it seemed futile...and now it shows and i'm hoping it's not TOOOOOOOOO late. *sniffle*

i tried a slew of products for the past few months and will blog about them shortly (aka don't hold your breath. blogging takes so long! i wish i had the time to be a professional blogger and not just a blogger enthusiast) and i've finally discovered a routine and some products that works for me *high-five*

1. cleanse and tone
find a good cleanser to rid your face of all the dirt, makeup, and sunblock. then use a good toner to take off any remnants of dirt that somehow escaped your cleanser and also to prep your skin for serums/moisturizers.

2. exfoliate
exfoliate your skin regularly to rid yourself of dead skin cells. the right method/products will reveal smoother skin...dare i say, as soft as a baby's butt but not as stinky?

3. corrective serums and creams
there are tons of eye creams and serums that claim to correct some damage to your skin. some are more effective than others. the whole point of course is to CORRECT something wrong with your face right? (man that sounded mean). hyperpigmentations? fine lines? wrinkles? puffiness around the eyes? huge pores? etc....don't tell me you want that on your face cuz i sure don't.

4. moisturize
depending on the climate, the season, your genetics, we can all use some form of moisturizer though it may vary by brand or thickness. the bottom line is that dry skin makes your face look like beef jerky...look at clint eastwood for instance. doesn't he look like he's crying out for a tub of le mer or vasaline or something to moisturize his mug? dry skin really accentuates wrinkles so if you don't want to look like a prune, then i suggest regular usage of some type of moisturizing product.

5. preventative serums
these are different from the corrective serums because they "PREVENT" THAT ANNOYING THING THAT HAPPENS WITH AGE from happening too early. i'll talk a little more about this on a future post.

6. PROTECT!!
use sunblock religiously to insure that you're doing your best to slow down sun damage and all the consequences of it. i was never a regular user of sunblock which totally explains why i now have to deal with all the stuff that's not so dandy about my skin.

so after spending about 3 hrs in the bathroom doing all that stuff to your skin to insure that you don't look a day older than yesterday, then you can finally crawl into bed or head off to work. so that's that. i'll share a few products that works for me in future posts. but overall, my skin has gotten a lot smoother and my pores are diminished after i implemented this routine. in my book, that is like totally rad and definitely a keeper. ahhh, the things we do to look young.....

good night.