the Beautiful Skin Regime... for spotty skin & spot-pickers

Although I'm ashamed to admit it, I'm a picker (& I'm not talking about my nose). If I get a spot (or even a non-spot that is the same colour as my complexion and looks like it could maybe possibly become a spot), I can't ever seem to keep my hands away from my face - always, always, making my visage's situation worse. However, after years of: pimples & blackheads, trying to make them go away, and then having to follow-up with damage control when I make the situation worse, I have come up with a near full-proof procedure which I follow when one of those unsightly bumps strikes (& I proceed to pick)... *this is also a great preventative treatment:).

Night-time treatment for a blotchy face (aka the Beautiful Skin Regime)
1) Wash your face good & clean - I like using Rocky Mountain's natural soap with grapefruit because it is mildly astringent and makes my face feel squeaky clean.
2) Follow up with a moisturizing oil that doesn't clog your pores (if you're looking to buy one, Rocky Mountain has one with rosehip oil which is ah-mazing. Alternatively you can use pure sweet almond oil, apricot oil, or grapeseed oil, among others... do some research for what sounds best to you!) In my experience even if I feel like I've put on too much & that my face is 'oily', by the time I wake my face is happy as a clam (and soft as a... not-clam?)
3) Spot treat with pure tea tree or lavender essential oil - dab it on & it will moisturize as it kills bad pimple causing bacteria. Pure steam-distilled essential oils are the greenest & cleanest - don't waste your money on ones diluted in alcohol or other weird ingredients that don't need to be on your face.

Stay away from drying facial cleansers with sulphates (synthetic de-greasers) & other yucky ingredients which strip your skin of its natural oils (throwing off your face's natural oil balance) and can result in spottier skin. Fact: your face produces oil to moisturize itself, so when you strip those natural oils you cause it to go into overdrive to reproduce the oils your washing off = opportunity for newly produced oils to get trapped & give you a spotty complexion! Alternatively, using a cleansing oil (there are certain types of oils which will not clog your pores) to wash your face, and/or a facial oil to moisturize brings your skins natural moisturization system into harmony. It does this by mimicking your face's natural moisturizer (sebum), while dissolving the grime that has accumulated on your face over the course of the day. This means your skin can focus on healing and looking great instead of occupying itself attempting to meet its moisturization-happiness quota... and because your skin will have time to do things other than hyper-moisturize a natural-oils-stripped-by-facewash face (since your new oil-based regime will keep your skin's moisturizers in place), those spots disappear a whole heck of a lot faster!

A couple mornings / week, scrub off the dull, dead, surface skin cells of your face with a gentle facial exfoliator to promote healthy turnover of skin cells, + a healthy glow :).

DIY cleansing oil/moisturizer: last week I made my own moisturizing facial oil, and to my delight I seem to be preventing spots from appearing at all! Result: instead of treating them, they aren't there to begin with, so I don't even have the opportunity to pick & make my situation worse! Hallelujah!
Here's what I mixed in a small glass jar: 50mL sweet almond oil, the vitamin E from 3 Vitamin E capsules (natural preservative, good for your skin, & will help minimize appearance of scars over time), ~10 drops of tea tree or lavender essential oil (I add both!). Try to find a jar which has a pour-top so you don't have to dunk your fingers in (which can contaminate it).
I also use this moisturizer on my neck & decolletage, and if I pour out too much I'll use it on hands, arms, legs, wherever. It's great, inexpensive, and gives ya beautiful skin all over.

Yahoo for naturally beautiful skin :).

PS please tell me you are not following up your natural Beautiful Skin Regime by slathering on chemical-laden makeup products... What chemicals in my makeup? you say... maybe I will lecture you on that later! In the meantime check out my fave website, The Cosmetic Database (& search the ingredients in your current moisturizer or foundation).