I’ve always had this dilemma about good skin. Growing up, I never had good skin at all. It seemed like puberty did not want to leave me, despite the fact that I had turned 20 and beyond. Technically speaking, anyone who’s lived for two decades is no longer a teen and so I was plagued with what we call adult acne on top of an oily, sensitive complexion. My initial companion for heading outdoors used to be M.A.C.’s Studio Fix compact foundation; I loved the coverage and matte finish it gave but hated how it seemed to clog my pores. Thus the question came to whether I wanted good skin naturally (without makeup) or fake it with high coverage cosmetics.
To be honest, I’d really prefer having flawless skin naturally. I’ve always wanted to look great even without makeup on. I wanted to look at least normal if someone ever took a random, candid photograph of me when I least expected it. If I was on holiday with friends and someone started snapping away right after we got out of bed, that would be an instance of a random, candid photo. I hated the way my skin looked and felt every time I took my makeup off in the evenings. Flawless and smooth with makeup on versus red, patchy and with visible pores with makeup off. In other words, I wanted my skin to look as if it had foundation on it when it did not.
Sure, concealor does amazing things to one’s face. If you’re not convinced, you really should check out Dermablend. Whatever it is, when I go to bed with the boyfriend, I’d like to be confident being bare faced. When I wake up in the mornings, I’d like to look refreshed instead of as if I’d just fought a war against 100 kitty cats under the unrelenting summer heat.
I don’t want to hide behind a curtain all day long, year in, year out. This is why I have recently started focusing much more on skincare than makeup. I have never used a concealor in my life because somehow, I feel like that would be lying to myself and everyone else (I admit, it’s also partly because I’m pretty lazy). To a certain extent, covering up flaws is kind of like being in denial. I would very much rather get to the root of the problem and tackle it from there than try to shove it under the carpet, so to speak. If I’ve got a pimple, I’d go all out to understand why it popped out. If I’ve got a rash, I’d make sure I get some medication pronto. If I’ve got eye bags, I’d make sure I get myself more sleep instead of faking brighter undereye areas with concealer. Because, the thing is, even if my eyes look OK with makeup on, my body knows it’s not really OK at all. I suppose this is why I get really worked up when I have an outbreak: Because everyone else is going to know. Besides, it’s not as if I’m a celebrity going for some red carpet event every other day that I have to look 100% put-together all the time.
Another reason I prefer having a flawless complexion naturally is that I absolutely dislike the feeling of gunk on my face at the end of the day. Especially in a warm and humid climate like Singapore’s, just moisturiser alone gives me an oily sheen by midday. Add in air pollution (city living) and you’ve got a perfect bacteria breeding zone. Plus, I’d have to exfoliate more often! It’s not as if I don’t use makeup at all. I do but it’s really simple, fuss-free makeup that takes no more than 15 minutes each day. My routine? Just some light dusting of foundation, blush and eyebrow powder.
As they say, if you have it, flaunt it. This is my mantra, sort of. This is kind of why I’d like to have a great complexion so that I can show it off. To me, good makeup application is easier than skincare efforts that pay off. I mean, it took me more than 8 years to understand the skin that I have today as compared to just 2 – 3 years of finding out what (and how) makeup works for me. Getting perfect skin for real is much more satisfying than layering on tons of concealor every day. I feel a greater sense of achievement whenever I manage to accomplish something challenging, difficult and tedious, and this is no exception with beauty.
What about you? Tell me in the comments section how you feel about flawless skin!
TODAY’S RANDOM
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Image credits: Shiffadubai, Waxing Beautiful