Wednesday, November 12, 2008

Today's Special: Cream Puffs

Here's a Dandy for you......and I'm a little ashamed to admit it.....but.....I've got a ZIT! Yup, over forty and still battling the occasional breakout. Clear skin was supposed to be one of the few perks of reaching that fabulous milestone, so what gives? And it's not like the little bastard is easy to get to. No, this is one of those zits that appears on your face in the form of a small mountain with no visible escape for it's poison. Top that off with it's strategic placement, (on my forehead and just at the hair line) and I am screwed but good. We, in the (beauty business), describe those eruptions (the technical term -no kidding) as the ones that come from the "depths of your soul", so herein lies a major problem. If I can't get to it by picking or popping without making it ten times worse than it already is, how am I going to eradicate it from my face? (one should never pick or pop blemishes-it increases the chance of scarring the skin but go ahead and try using that logic when a big whopper arrives for a visit)

Lucky for me I am a professional who possesses the knowledge and the expertise to utilize the resources available to help combat the tiny intruder and move it forward towards extinction. And like any other unwelcome guest on my face, I must be diligent about it's prevention through a process somewhat like natural selection. With assistance of time and experience, I have amassed a small war chest with all the necessary weapons available in my arsenal to assess my readiness for war.

As for the aforementioned "depths of your soul" zit, the arch nemesis of any individual that follows a daily regimen of facial hygiene, I consider this product the Patriot Missile. (For men, diagnosing this one can get tricky because it feels and looks similar to an ingrown hair as a result daily shaving. For diagnostic purposes, consider the placement of the blemish on the face. If ingrown hairs are you issue, try this fab product.)



By far the most superior product to help battle any cystic acne eruption with a simple application a few times daily. Another great thing about this stuff is that it is totally portable. Throw it in your purse, backpack or briefcase and you can apply it easily to fight acne at any time during the day. Just shake and go and it's cheap too! (Also makes a great stocking stuffer for the teens)


For the plain old regular zit, (and excuse me if this is a bit graphic), you know the one that appears with a small white-head at the top, I return to good old Mario for help because he never lets me down.

Mario Badescu Drying Lotion:

This was the #1 selling product in the store where I worked. Great for those eruptions you are dying to squeeze the life out of. The difference with this spot treatment and the one above it are that this product was designed be applied at night, before bed.

It has a pink sediment at the bottom of the bottle and at first glance your natural instinct is to shake the bottle to combine the ingredients. But it doesn't work that way, you don't shake it. Instead you insert a Q-tip into the bottle, touch the pink sediment and remove it, then apply it to the affected area. It leaves an extremely effective pink spot on your face (it even tingles so you know it's working) which resembles the calamine lotion your mom put on your bug bites and chicken pox when you were a kid. (Actually, calamine or camphor is one of it's active ingredients) This stuff is the Holy Grail of acne spot treatments. Cheap and effective, it doesn't get any easier than this. Zits will disappear within days of it's use.

I'll leave it at that for now, as these are the Navy Seals of acne battle. There are so may more great treatments and if you are interested in more information on those pesky little zits, feel free to ask a question or recommend a great product you know of, in the comment section of this post. If your shy and want to ask in private-shoot me an email and I promise to do my best.

This was great and all but it still doesn't change the fact that I am walking around today with Mt. Rushmore on my forehead.

13 comments:

LegalMist said...

Glad to know I'm not the only one still battling the occasional "eruption" at age 40-plus. It hardly seems fair, does it, to be battling acne and wrinkles all at once? Seems like there ought to be at least a mandatory 10 year stretch between the two...

LegalMist said...

... oh! and thanks for the battle tips!

Anonymous said...

I usually just squeeze them into submission. Die, pimple!

Of course I'm out of the age range where I get them any more really, except on my arse.

We're keeping it real, right?

Piece o' Coconut Cake said...

I love me some Mario Badescu. I've been using their products for years. As for the clear skin, at a certain age *ahem* the hormones kick in ALL OVER AGAIN and wreach havoc on you. Thank you, perimenopause!

Dr Zibbs said...

I think a bag over the head is much easier. A nice bag though.

Verdant Earl said...

My mother used to say about zits "That's the evil in you coming out."

Mom had a way.

LYDIA said...

I love when you talk beauty to me.

Candy's daily Dandy said...

legal-no problem. Staples to help us gals keep that school girl charm.

peebs-that's real alright.

Coco-NO! not the dreaded P-WORD, please, no!

Zibbs and Lids-HAHAHAHAH! Good ones!

Earlsie-That tells me alot about you dude! Really.

MJenks said...

You could also soak your face in a vat of sulfuric acid. That'll clear the acne right up.

Just sayin'...

~E said...

I was told once (by my mom, incidentally) that Asian women (of which I am one) are supposed to have clear skin. While this worked for my mother who apparently never got a single zit in all her 50 years, sadly it has not worked for me.

The key is prevention. And for me prevention = Bare Escentuals Mineral Makeup.

And when the occasional super zit decides to rear its ugly head (get it? head?) I turn to Clinique Emergency Lotion...dries that sucker right up!

Gwen said...

I go the Poobomber route and then put on astringent. Yes, I am horrible to my skin.

Scope said...

I thought you were supposed to take the "U" end of a bobby pin, place it on one side of the bugger, press and pull. KRAKATOA!

Also, is rubbing alcohol bad for your skin? That's what we used to use around the lab to cleanse with until there was an unfortunate incident with the open flame from a bunsen burner. Melvin got a little flambé action, but the doctors say he will recover.

Eventually.

Slyde said...

you chicks are waaaay to wacky with your fear of blemishes...

my wife goes into a tizzy every time she gets one...