My complexion is on a diet, too.

About four weeks ago, I got this monster zit on my temple, and freaked out. Partly because this kind of thing doesn't happen to me all that often--it didn't even when I was a teenager, and it sure as hell doesn't happen now. And partly because I couldn't figure out why it had happened.

Was it the workouts? Or was it the products I was using? Was my new hair heat-styling lotion to blame? I had been testing various sample-sized serums and cremes--could it have been one of them?

I decided to pare things down to the absolute minimum. Instead of switching products around, I decided on the bare minimum to keep my skin moist, protected, treated, and clear. I decided for a month, I would only use one foundation, so I settled on a Beauty Balm for  moisturizing, SPF, coverage, and treatment during the day. At night, I was going to use some kind of acid to keep my pores from getting clogged.

Results are in, and my skin has been perfectly happy for the past month.
 This is what I've been using:

Pre-gym, or first thing in the morning

All I do before I head to the gym is cleanse with an Olay wet face wipe.

Post-gym

After my post-workout shower, I apply a silicone-based anti-aging serum as a primer. I'm not trying to do any heavy-duty moisturizing at this point. After I work out, I don't really feel that I need to, what with my circulation being all full of youthful vim and vigor and all. The idea is to get my skin ready for foundation--and if the silicone-based primer also contains wrinkle-fighting ingredients, so much the better.

I'm currently using Boots No 7 Restore and Renew serum, but Boots has apparently discontinued it. I'm sure Olay's Regenerist Regenerating Serum or Boots's Protect & Perfect Intense serum would work as substitutes.

I let the serum sink in for a minute, then apply Dr. Jart's Beauty Balm. Beauty Balm replaces moisturizer, sun screen, and foundation. For it to work, though, you can't apply it too lightly. I use a blob about the size of an almond.

Evening

If bare-faced (and this happens more frequently than you'd believe, considering how much makeup I own) I cleanse with Cetaphil alone.

If wearing a full face of spackle, I double cleanse. First I remove my makeup with DHC Mild Touch Cleansing Oil

Then I wash with some kind of sudsing cleanser--Clearasil, Chanel, or Cetaphil--and Clarisonic Mia.

Then I apply Garnier Skin Renew Dark Spot Overnight Peel.

This is a glycolic acid peel which claims to

• Fade dark spots 
• Even skin tone 
• Brighten skin 
• Smooth texture

I can't say that I've noticed any fading of my dark spots. On the other hand, my skin isn't clogged or breaking out from the Dr. Jart's Beauty Balm. I believe I have my cleansing routine and the glycolic acid in the overnight peel to thank.

Extras

Now that it's getting colder out, the heat is on. My skin feels much dryer, so I'm adding eye cream

and moisturizer.

But that's it.

Pretty sad that I feel like I'm being this amazing minimalist--and I'm still using about 10 products on my face!

Confessions of a Product Whore, or, these Boots are made for shopping

My love for the combination of my Clarisonic Mia and Cetaphil cleanser continues. It's keeping my skin clean, clear, and soft.  My other skin products are making me happy, too.

But no matter how happy I am with my current regimen, I can't resist the lure of new beauty products. This is particularly true when I travel and see stuff I can't find in the States. Which explains the £200 I spent at Boots when I was in England last August.

That's the equivalent of $350. What can I say? Product junkies are like sharks. We must keep moving forward or we die.

So anyway, here's some of the additions I made to my batterie de toilette. Heh. To start off, I got a pot of German Nivea.


I have no idea why German Nivea is supposed to be so much better than the Nivea you get in America, which is made in Mexico. But it has become kind of cult-y. Bloggers and reviewers on Makeup Alley and Amazon are claiming it's as effective as Crème de la Mer, which costs $165/oz. All I know is that my grandmother used Nivea Skin Oil and had beautiful skin, so into the basket it went. And I love it. It's much fluffier than Eucerin, but just as wonderful for soothing super dry skin.

I also bought a bottle of Therapist's Secret Facial Oil, from the Sanctuary Spa line carried at Boots. It's a mixture of many different pure oils: sunflower seed, rosehip, wheat germ, and jojoba seed, with some essential oils of rose and frankincense, which leaves it smelling like midnight mass on Christmas Eve.

It's meant to be used a drop at a time, alone or as a first layer under your regular moisturizer. It's fantastic, especially considering how dry my skin is getting now that the weather is getting chilly.

I also bought a pot of The Secret is Out Lift Lift & Repair Night Cream by Dr. Nick Lowe:

I picked it out because I was pretty sure I couldn't get it in the States. Also, it has Sodium Hyaluronate, Hexapeptide-9, various anti-oxidant fruit ingredients--but no retinols or acids. Because I wanted a nice moisturizing cream that didn't make me peel. More on that later.

Oh, and in my States side wanderings, I picked up a bottle of DHC Mild Touch Cleansing Oil at a local branch of Mitsuwa, a big Japanese grocery store chain.

When I'm wearing RuPaul levels of spackle, I like to double cleanse--one step to dissolve the makeup and another go to get clean. This oil is great at dissolving and rinsing away makeup as a first step before I use the Clarisonic with Cetaphil.

Mindless extravagance or canny shopping? You be the judge in my next post, when I reveal my plans for these products.

The Clarisonic Mia and Cetaphil: a match made in heaven

A few months ago, I volunteered to test-drive the Clarisonic Mia for a BlogHer Style post. I'd heard a lot of great things about the Mia, and I figured this would be a great excuse to buy one and see whether it lived up to the hype. But BlogHer didn't want me to review just the Mia, because reviewing a single item would seem like an endorsement. Instead, they wanted me to review three different face brushes, and talk about their pros and cons.

That killed the idea for me. I like to shop, but buying three spinning face brushes is excessive, even for me. But I bought a Mia, anyway, figuring I could review it here.

Let me start by saying that I've used a Sonicare toothbrush for years, and the technology of the Mia is very similar. The bristles move, but the secret is the sound waves. These things basically hum the dirt off.

Having used a Sonicare, I predicted that

1. initially the Mia's noise would bother me; 
2. I would get used to the noise very quickly, and
3. rapidly reach the point where if I didn't use the Mia, my face wouldn't feel clean.

I'm happy to say that all of my predictions came true.

The first time I used the Mia, I was bothered by the buzzing sensation that I felt when I did the sides of my nose and the area over my sinuses. I can only describe the sensation as WHOA that feels weird. But by the third time I used the Mia, I was used to it.

When I rinsed, I definitely felt cleaner, but my skin wasn't stripped. After a few days, my skin started to look rosier and had a healthier glow.

With that little extra bit of exfoliation, my various moisturizers seemed to sink in faster, and my vitamin C serum felt ... extra tart. My makeup applied better, too.

I have fine, dry, freckly, burns-but-doesn't-tan skin, so the size of my pores hasn't really been an issue. Still, I was delighted to notice that after about a month of using the Clarisonic, my pores had dropped a dress size.

The best part? A few milia that had been troubling me completely cleared up. Within six weeks of starting to use the Mia, they were all gone.

One thing I wasn't crazy about was the cleanser that came with it. The Mia came with a sample-sized tube of a Clarisonic cleanser with green tea extract. It certainly left my skin feeling clean.

But after about a week, I noticed a slightly crinklier appearance to the skin under my eyes. It reminded me of my mother's face, and not in a good way.  Since I was running out of the little sample-sized tube, I thought I'd try something milder.

Now, Cetaphil is about the mildest cleanser around. It's one of those legendary products whose popularity mystifies me. It's always getting recommended by famous dermatologists and Paula Begoun, the Cosmetics Cop. Cetaphil makes the Top Beauty Products lists in InStyle and Allure. It's inexpensive, widely available, unscented, and inoffensive.

I was OK with Cetaphil's bland, boring, goody-goody image, but I never felt that it got my face clean. It's so mild that it feels like I'm rubbing hand lotion or ladies' shaving cream on my face.

But I figured the cleansing power of the Cetaphil would be increased by the high tech whizziness of the Sonicare Mia. And I was right! While Cetaphil alone leaves me feeling vaguely coated (not quite slimed a la Ghostbusters, but something akin to it) the combination of very gentle Cetaphil and a high-tech Clarisonic is complexion perfection. I get clean but my skin feels soft and moisturized.

Also, on days when I'm wearing a lot of spackle, I double cleanse. Not by using a fancy Japanese oil like the cool kids, but by using Cetaphil twice. I massage in some Cetaphil, then tissue it off. Then I use more Cetaphil, this time with the Mia.

Double cleansing with only one product? And a cheap one, at that? #Winning!

OK, why am I bringing this up now, when the Mia has been around forever?

Two reasons. First of all, do not expect the trendiest of the trendy from me, for I am now and have always been the last by whom the new is tried.

Second, you have the opportunity to score a Mia for a pretty good price right now. There are some really cute colors available at the Nordstrom Anniversary sale--coral! Fuschia! Zebra print!

The Nordstrom models cost $149, but come with two brush heads, and since a replacement brush retails for $25, this is a pretty good deal.

And since Nordstrom is offering the latest and greatest in cute Mia designs, other retailers are offering the older colors for a better price. Check Amazon and you'll see Mias being offered by several retailers. You can also get replacement brush heads there.

(BTW, Ulta is offering their 20 percent off everything in the store. Watch your mailboxes for the coupon. I don't know whether this will work for a Mia, but at least it will work for the Cetaphil.)