acne prone skin

The Missing Piece To My Skincare Puzzle

Written by Twist.It.Tea

I have finally found a product I cannot live without. The product that will forever have a home in my cabinet.  Lapis Balancing Facial Oil-  thank you and I love you. You do things for my skin that I didn’t even know was possible.  You are exceeding all my expectations for a facial oil, and I thought you had tough competition against my former flame, Prickly Pear.  All I wanted in “good facial oil” was, pore reducing, skin brightening, and firming, along with healing some damaged skin.  I didn’t consider seeing results in less than a week but I was soon convinced Lapis could be the missing piece to my skincare puzzle. 

This product was presented to me at an important time in my life as I’ve been struggling for a year and a half with my skin drastically changing.  And not only drastically changing but leaving behind evidence that turned into scarring and hyper pigmentation. I’ve never experienced skin issues in the past so these changes were very scary to me and I wasn’t very confident in reaching a solution.  On top of the visible markings left behind from painful acne, the redness never seemed to subside and the discoloration was becoming harder to cover up.  I changed my makeup routine and moved away from certain products and applicators.  That seemed to help for sure but the problem was still very much there and it wasn’t leaving anytime soon.  I was incredibly stressed out during this time, so my lifestyle wasn’t aiding in my skin’s rehabilitation but more so making it worse.  I was trapped in a vicious cycle and I decided to finally start listening to my skin and understand what triggers the breakouts and what I can do to avoid those.  One of the biggest triggers for me was dairy so I made the decision to eliminate it as much as I could from my diet.   for I admit I am still a work in progress because I love pizza and cheese boards obviously but the whole dairy ice cream thing had to go (coconut water based ice cream is so delicious ya’ll).

 

After finding the perfect “ingredients” for healing my skin, it was only about 2-3 months ago that I started noticing a big difference in appearance. I found hope in the Murad Vitamin C Kit.  The Essential C Cleanser and the Rapid Age Spot and Pigment Lightening Serum made serious improvements on my targeted areas while eliminating my break outs all together.  I was warned about the serum because of its contents and possibilities of it effecting my liver if over used, but I was so ready to see some improvement I put my morals to the side.  Well luckily, at some point my skin had reached a plateau and improvements came to a halt. Luckily my skin wasn’t getting worse, it just wasn’t getting any better.  Then Lapis came into my life, with its 100% natural, pure plant oils and vegan manufacturing.  Not only did it cover all the basics I mentioned before but my skin turned into silk, my pores are nowhere to be found, the redness has dissolved and the hyper pigmentation that the (now evil) Murad Skin Lightening Serum didn't clear up, is almost nonexistent.

I’m extremely impressed with how well healed my scars are and the balancing of my natural oils.  A little goes a long way with this product (the cost is justified), so I use 4-5 drops at night and 2-3 before my makeup application in the morning.  It smells lovely and natural, it's my favorite pat of the process.  It replaces my moisturizer but takes 10-15 minutes to fully soak into my skin.   I love using it at night with my Dr. Jart’s Tiger Grass Cream to really combat the scarring and tiny imperfections.  Lapis Balancing Facial Oil helps reduce the amount of sebum your skin creates, so my combination/greasy skin has reacted great in terms of balancing the oils in my T zone.  I don’t wake up with a greasy face and my makeup application stays in place and perfect through out the whole day with little, to no greasy feeling.  I am so happy with Lapis, my skin texture has never been softer, brighter or firmer – I am finally able to wear no makeup without being severely embarrassed by my skin’s current state.  It feels so good to have control over my skin again, by using natural products with longevity that I truly believe in as opposed to a hazardous and chemical ridden ‘quick-fix’. 

 

This Website Could Help Protect Your Skin From Another Breakout

You'll never have to wonder if a product is going to make your skin have a freak out again!

Shop Smart Saturday is back and ready to save your skin from a breakout. If you've got acne prone skin, this post is for you! 

Shop Smart Saturday is all about being an informed consumer. You read reviews. You track trends. And you don't buy any product without researching down a rabbit hole that makes you want to have a paleo-diet for a few weeks! It's the worst when you experience buyer's remorse on account of you not having known what you now know, ya know?

Skincare is trial and error. But there is a way to significantly reduce the 'error' part. Sure, you can go to a dermatologist and have a skin analysis to learn what ingredients put at risk of a breakout so you'll, therefore -avoid them. But we found the millennial approach -a website that does all the guesswork for you!

CosDNA is a website that analyzes a product's ingredient list. It individually ranks the harshness of an ingredient on a scale from 1-9; 9 being the worst on your skin for long-term use. 

"About Comedogenic (Acne), Irritation and Safety
The value of Comedogenic and Irritation from zero to five, the lower the better (the less chance it will happen).
Safety index from 1~9, the lower number means this ingredient is low hazard. Unlike comedogenic and irritation, Safety is a comprehensive index focus on safety on long term usage, according to harmful report from CIR, RTECS, FDA and other related information. The purpose of the index is more inclined to assess whether long-term injury of skin, cells or the human body." - CosDNA

The website is basic and looks outdated but it isn't. It's also super easy to use. There are two ways to search for problematic skincare that I find the most effective. 

The first is by using the 'Product Search' tab. I searched the Peter Thomas RothTherapeutic Sulfur Masque Acne Treatment Masque. It was in their database. Seldom do I find that the product I am looking for is not with in CosDNA's database. 

The ingredients in the product are individually listed and ranked for safety. It's that easy! Now that you know the risk, you are in control of whether or not you can manage a skin breakout this week!

The second approach is by using the 'Analyze Cosmetics' tab. This is helpful if you tried the 'Product Search' tab and weren't successful in your quest. 

This method takes a little more effort on your part. That said, it's still very easy. It's as simple as finding the ingredients list on a product page. Just copy & paste then click 'analysis.'

I copied the ingredients for the Fresh Umbrian Clay Purifying Mask from it's Sephora webpage. 

CosDNA gave a rank of the ingredients. It even found the name of the of the product I was looking up! It's a tool everyone can use!

Your skin will thank you!

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