Taking care of sensitive skin

 

In a perfect world, we would all sleep ‘till 10 am, the work day would start in bed with the laptop on our legs, and our schedule would end at 6 pm, leaving us with time for extra chilling until the next day. And in an even more perfect world, we would probably take out completely the “work day” chapter favoring a neverending vacation with long, eternal summer days. That’s what I wish for…

I have a hunch though that for most of us things are a little bit completely different.

If in college I had no problem getting 10-12 hours of sleep, and afterward, at my first job at least 8 hours, nowadays I’m happy if I can get at least 4-5 hours of sleep a night (and don’t get me wrong, it’s good I’m busy). Just last week, before leaving for Electric Castle, the day started with only one hour of sleep. I had spent the night editing videos for YouTube, and my daytime activity involved a full workday at the office. Five in the morning, pack on fast forwards. 6 am, you’re on the road. Seven hours Bucharest – Cluj, boom!

There were longer trips though (16-hour flights) or long periods of time with very little sleep at night. Add stress, pollution, juggling 2 jobs and constantly testing out new products to that and you have the perfect recipe for a sensitized skin without even noticing. And not that I’m complaining about that last bit…it’s fun. For me at least. My skin begs to differ. 🙂

Parenthesis: remember what happened when I tested 68 matte lipsticks in a day? Well, something like that. Just that it doesn’t limit to the lip area, similar things have happened to my face as well.

I have an oily T-zone, the rest of the face is normal or dry (during the winter). I struggle with enlarged pores and an occasional breakout here and there. My face dries and peels during long flights and in extremely cold temperatures, I get red. Excessive hydration is not an option and those of you who follow me know how much I try to stay away from shiny skin. And speaking of the constant testing I mentioned above, it’s implied that a stable skin care routine is out of the question for me.

However, there are a few staples in my routine that I’ve talked about in favorites videos on YouTube. Not once have I mentioned the La Roche-Posay cleansing gel as being my favorite (I’m at my fourth bottle) or the SPF lotions, the thermal water or the unifying cream. All of them are excellent and I recommend wholeheartedly to anyone battling with oily skin issues (and not only). I’ve recently included in my skincare “kit” another product from this range, this time catering to sensitive skin:  La Roche-Posay Toleriane Sensitive.

Why I like it:

• It hydrates the skin for 48 hours (no, I haven’t been watching the clock, but I can compare with other products) without leaving an oily film. It absorbs quickly into the skin which leads us to the next point:
• Light texture, creamy but not watery. Feels nice to the touch, contains 0% alcohol and 0% perfume
• Contains 83% active ingredients (ceramides, glycerin, La Roche-Posay thermal water and vitamin B3)
• Instantly calms and reduces irritation – tested after a much to harsh exfoliant mask (even for my skin that is used to mechanical exfoliants aka corn flour)
• Repairs and protects the skin’s barrier thanks to the prebiotics it contains (according to some very smart people, every square inch of skin hosts no less than a billion bacteria. The more diverse the bacteria, the healthier our skin. Well, these prebiotics stimulate the growth of the friendly bacteria)
• A little goes a long way. I usually use 2 dollops, enough to cover my entire face
• And very important, I haven’t had any side effects from it – meaning breakouts, stinging or irritation (been there, done that with some moisturizers about 6 times more expensive than this one)

I usually use it in the morning, right after breakfast and cleansing. The foundation sits normally on the skin (I haven’t come across any issues), it works very well as a makeup base from my experience.

Now, I would like to know if those croissants are still warm…