Finding The Right Skin-Care Regimen For You - And Sticking With It.

The basic condition of your skin has a lot to do with your genes, but it's you who is responsible for it's general upkeep, so don't slack. Not to state the obvious but everyone has different skin. We even have different skin depending on where on the face it is. Likely, you have combination skin, some dry and some oily (like me!) but this can change from day to day, week to week, depending on the weather, what's happening in your life, your hormones or many other factors. So, finding just one products that's going to answer all of your problems can be difficult, as much as skin-care companies would like us to believe that it's easy to classify and categorise all of us. If you've ever gone to see a facialist and watched her prescribe products you'll know how varied the array can be. Unless she has her own product line, each item will likely be from a different source and if you think about it, they'll be for different types of skin. To find your ideal mix, start doing your research.. ask a dermatologist, facialist you come into contact with, use the Internet as the library of info it is. (Make sure it's reliable though) I've learnt so much information online from forums, and blogs such as Zoella. 

What you will hear from people you should listen to is that you must give a new regimen time to work. The path to clear skin is not an overnight hike. It's a journey. Our skin works in cycles: every few weeks the skin cells regenerate (which is partially why it can take a spot so long to fade), so you should plan to give your skin at least one cycle, possibly two, to adjust to a new set of products and begin to react favourably. Think of it like a healthy diet and exercise plan.. it can take a couple weeks for your body to acknowledge that it's time to kick into gear, at which point it begins to show improvement. The other thing to keep in mind: if a product sounds too good to be true, it probably is. 

What Do You Do About Your Skin? Do You See Anyone?

Once you find a product combination that works, stick with it! It's a common misconception that once you've 'cured' your acne, rosacea or eczema, it's gone for good. Not so! You must continue to maintain your routine if you'd like to maintain your results. Don't backslide after you've put in so much hard work!

Even if you're diligent about your skin-care routine and diet, between makeup and pollutants in the air, toxins will inevitably find their way into your skin and will need to be extracted. That's why I firmly believe that everyone should have a good facialist, who can provide the occasional deep cleansing and guidance on product choice. It doesn't have to happen every month or even every other month - a couple of times a year is enough depending on the condition of your skin. 

Skin Care.

When I was growing up, the television was littered with adverts for face-washes. They had all types of claims, the thing I always noticed though, was that the models and actresses using them didn't seem to need these products. They weren't covered in spots, blackheads, they weren't oily and definitely didn't have dry skin.  So why were these girls using them?? I knew what the companies were doing, they were tricking people into believing that these products would make your skin flawless like these girls. I did fall for it though, I started using it before I needed too, and due to good genes, or maybe even luck, I didn't develop acne. Ever. So I told everyone was because I used this everyday. I never suffered with acne but I did have other skin issues. I suffered with Psoriasis (like severe dandruff in your scalp, eyebrows and hairline) and eczema. So if there isn't a spot appearing before a big night out or date I'm trying to get rid of, there is always something else. My full fringe normally hinds any stray Psoriasis and slapping on medicated moisturiser on eczema normally cures it. The point of this post is, that most of us have problem skin, so it is important to learn the difference between things that are out of our hands and things we can prevent.

Hormones and other mysterious skin reactions are often beyond our control, there is one damage-including factor that you can combat; the sun. Where I grew up, in South-West England, the sun wasn't always about. But when it was I thought it was good for me. I spent all my summer holidays laid in the garden, trying to tan, without sun screen! I had no idea what damage I was doing to my skin! When we're young, our skin is particularly prone to to long-lasting damage. 

Nowadays I don't leave the house without applying a healthy dollop of sun cream. And while I love spending an afternoon riding my horse, I tend to pick days where it is a little bit cloudy or go later on in the evening when it's cooler. Even with these precautions, I'll never be out of the woods. Take it from me: wear your sun cream, don't try and change skin tone by three shades, and hopefully you'll never have to go to a dermatologist's to have moles scalpelled off of your skin. Besides, there's really no need.. fake tanning these days are excellent.

Do You Have Any Skin Issues? If So, Let Me Know.

Famous Icons.

You get to own your own look, unless you have an identical twin that is, that doesn't mean that it isn't really good to use women you think look incredible as an inspiration while you're learning how to look incredible yourself. If you want to pick someone, it's helpful to pick someone who has things in common with you. Unless you share things such as facial shape, features, skin colour or hair texture, it won't be as effective to try channelling someone who shares none of this. If you just want to know tricks such as how Pixie Lott styles her hair or how Anne Hathaway gets that glow, then get pictures from online and magazines. I tend to like various beauties such as Abigail Spencer, Millie Mackintosh, Lucinda Davis, Ingrid Rogers, Mila Kunnis and Nora Kirkpatrick.

The high-definition television was quickly followed by HD-friendly make up. That, guys, is because that perfection that you see on news crews and actresses on tv's, movies, adverts and mags are not what they look like to the naked eye.. even though you will catch a glimpse of that in newspapers when those paps are out and about. We get things thrown at us every day how to tackle acne, odd features, dark circles, bags, wrinkles, scars or all those other things we complain about. Tv shows us celebrity make up artists and hair dressers on adverts showing how to perfect your lip shape or the perfect curls or even how to look skinnier.. but don't believe it, before it gets aired a technician will go behind and airbrush all of this to make it perfection, perfection that we'll never ever achieve. Photo shop has become a models best friend in modern times, if you've ever seen before and after shoots of someone like Britney Spears, you'll understand! 

Summing this blog post up here, what I'm saying is that we're surrounded by fakery and edited photographs and images everyday, everywhere we look. Nobody is perfect. 

A Little Bit About Me

As a child I was always a 'tomboy'. I ran around in dungarees, Doctor Marten boots, rolled in the mud, ate worms.. all that malarkey. I was never into fashion or beauty, make-up was a no go and my hair just did whatever it wanted too until I was about 15.. and even then it wasn't perfect. I've only just started perfecting my look at 17, nearly 18. 

Dungarees

  I was born blonde, blue eyes, as many babies, I stayed this way for a good few years, as i started first school I started going a mousey brown, and by the time I was in middle school I was a brunette. I'm now, finishing my last year at college, a dark chocolate brown (thanks to a few boxes of dye!)

Unhappy In A Dress

   
My eyes slowly changed into my special 'mutation' colour, central heterochromia as it's also known. This means I have all three colours in my eyes. 
  
 Muma always used to dress me in kooky clothes from a young age.. here I am, maybe about a year, two years old. This is a wicked pink dungaree set, with a pastel coloured shirt and red trainers. I was happier in these then the dress I wore to my aunties wedding a year later.. look at that angry face! I obviously wasn't happy with the matching hat and sandals.. let alone sandals and socks. 

Clowning Around

  
 I got older and started 'clowning' around with clothes, when I hit 12 all my friends were starting to try little bits and pieces of make up and I would rather go into my dressing up drawer and become a clown, a farmer, a police officer, a witch!

Going Overboard

   When I was around fifteen or sixteen I really did start to experiment with make up. I'd buy things behind my muma's back because she wasn't keen on the idea. I hated going into college for all the girls to look magazine perfect (to me they did anyway) and I would be sat there, patchy skin, shiny nose, little eyes, out of control eyebrows. I felt horrible, and would get teased for it too. 


   I started to use palettes from 'Claire's Accessories', cheap mascara from Tesco, pinch my muma's powder and try and look like the girls at school. This picture to the right is of me aged fifteen on Christmas day, Look at the hair, the overboard black eyeshadow, the glasses that didn't suit my face shape, the lip gloss, the over accessorising.. not cool Devon. 

   I suddenly got a weekend job, cash in hand, and realised I could spend my money on decent products and slowly worked up the the shoebox of make up I own today! And all the skills that come with it :)

   I started work at a prestigious wedding venue local to my home, and I felt I had to look the part on a five star wedding day. I got my hair cut, and coloured. Instead of the brown 'tint' I had that was making me ginger, I went to a more 'chocolate truffle' permanent state, I had a fringe cut it which would later become my 'Jessie J' blunt fridge you'll come to know and love on me today. To this day, I'm glad I got that little hit, because I am so grateful I look how I do now. My hair was horribly damaged from the over tinting, trying to achieve my goal and the sun and heat, I had used without any serums or heat protection. 

   Growing up, I was taught what beauty is by everyone else around us such as friends older sisters and models on tv. I found this quite hard as I was so pale and had dark hair, and everyone else was blonde and beautifully tanned. It was terrifying walking into my first year at sixth form looking so different, I'd accidentally lost weight, but i was still as pale and dark as before. 

   All of my friends beauty days are similar to mine, with horrible hair (dye colour, volume, length), bad make-up choices like lip liner, bad bronzing and roll on body glitter on our arms and all that over straightening, crimping, gel and hideous hair accessories. It's all part of growing up and finding your own style though isn't it? We can all say 'I won't let it happen to my daughter' but I will, because then she'll find herself. 

New Fringe

   When I left 'Wild Roses' which was my local salon back in May 2012, i looked so much better, and felt it too. I had had my damaged ends cut off, my hair was the colour I always wanted and had a beautiful side fringe. It was the

Christmas 2012

first time I had gone to a proper hairdressers. My mum used to have one of her friends Teresa come to ours but she was only practising on us. It was always lopsided and horrible. Sarah, my hair dresser at the time knew what colour suited me, the cut. I ended up looking like what I felt inside I should look like. I could now start to shape my look to what made me happy, I finally took makeup seriously and learnt what worked for me rather then against me. 

   Even though I stick to my basic look, I still sometimes switch it up for days out, and meetings for coffee, I still experiment and try my own variations of trends because there's always room for improvement (like my new LOVE for falsies!) But in general i stick with my main look and vary them slightly. 

   This blog is written with the help of lots of knowledge, books, blogs and videos, so if you see something a little similar than don't panic, I'm not copying, I'm just sharing the knowledge. For example, I might read a blog on how to apply mascaras, I might do one too but it'll be my version. Credits mainly to Lauren Conrad, Zoella280390 and YouTube. 

   Enjoy my blogs!

Devon x