How to Prep Your Skin for a Special Event

     In light of the fact that I'm doing a wedding on Saturday, I thought I'd write a post on how to get your skin ready for a special event/big interview/wedding/photo shoot/whatever. Whether you'll have a professional applying your makeup or you're going to be doing it yourself, getting your skin sorted out will cause the makeup to look a heck of lot better. So here's my list of how to get it done:

• DO NOT USE ANY NEW PRODUCTS FOR AT LEAST 2 WEEKS PRIOR TO THE EVENT!!!!! The last thing you need to deal with is an allergy or sensitivity to a new product the week of your big day. Don't use anything you haven't used a few times before in combination with all your regular products. Now is not the time to try something new. If you're two weeks out, only use tried and true products, no matter what anybody recommends. It's not worth it!
• Do not pick at any spots or blemishes for at LEAST 2 weeks before hand. Honestly, we shouldn't ever pick at our skin, but come on. It happens. But now it's time to stop. If you pick, it will scab and that crap is hard to cover with concealer. It's much easier to conceal a giant red swollen lump than to cover a small scab. Trust me on this. If it's a giant painful cyst, you can make an emergency visit to a dermatologist to have zap it with something, but otherwise just let it alone. Take some ibuprofen and ice it if it hurts, but please don't pick at it.
• Your diet should be on point. If it's your wedding, you've probably been working on getting your body as healthy as it can be, but it bears repeating for everyone else: your skin reflects your insides. If you're eating junk, quit. If you're not getting enough sleep, cut out the non-essentials and get to bed an hour earlier. If you're drinking sodas and juice and sweet tea, stop that and start chugging 2 liters of water a day. Ideally we should all be living this way, but that's not real life. This works best if you can start 4-6 weeks before your event, but if you're already in the last week or two before the finish line, go ahead and start the clean-up.
• If makeup tends to clog your pores or mess your skin up in any way, try to go makeup-less (or at least very minimal) the last couple days before your event. Skip foundation and primers if at possible. Maybe reach for a tinted moisturizer or BB cream instead of foundation if you need to wear something. It's almost like letting your skin take a break and relax before the big day.
• The night before give yourself an at home facial. AGAIN, DO NOT USE PRODUCTS YOU'VE NEVER USED BEFORE!!!!! Since I usually have events on Saturdays, my Friday night routine is to give myself a mini facial at home just to get my skin ready for the weekend. It goes something like this:
• Wash my face with a cleansing balm per usual
• Massage my face with more cleansing balm or oil for 5-10 minutes
• Wash off with a wet washcloth
• Exfoliate with an enzyme treatment (you could also do an AHA mask)
• Wash off
• Layer on my usual products: Good Genes, 2% BHA, Eye Cream, ANRII, Retinol Cream, Hydrating Oil
• Make sure to finish up with a heavy moisturizer. Something like the PC Hydrating Treatment Mask is perfect. Before you go to bed, check and see if all the moisturizer has sunk in, If it has, go on and layer some more.
• The morning of the event, use a very gentle detergent-free cleanser (which you should be doing anyways) and follow up with some kind of physical exfoliant. I use either a faux microdermabrasion scrub that contains alumina crystals or my Clarisonic with a gentle scrub (something that does NOT contain broken up shells/pits/nuts). This is to make sure that you get rid of any dry flaky bits of skin that will be hard to cover with foundation. Follow up with your normal morning skincare routine. 

     You should be all set for your big day! Taking care of your skin will make a difference in how the texture of your skin looks under all the makeup. This doesn't mean that if you have bad skin your artist is going to be helpless to make you look fantastic. Your artist is comfortable working with all skin types and textures and they will make you flawless. However, taking the time to prep your face will ultimately require less makeup to cover up issues and that's always a good thing. The less base makeup you have to wear, the more comfortable you'll be, the less touch-ups you'll have to make, and the more skin-like and natural you're skin will look. Hope this was helpful. Per usual, leave me questions and comments below!