My elven skincare "remedies"

Most people were not born with easy-to-handle-never-breaking-out skin and sometimes even I wish there was a thing like real-life-Photoshop, with which you could nonchalantly erase skin irritation or nasty acne-break outs with just a click.
Makeup may be a good hotfix for during a convention or else (last HobbitCon I was actually "blessed" with a pretty severe breakout due to stress and several other factors), but for me it is not really  solution for my everyday life; I just don't really do makeup - at all.

Home-made masks are super nourishing! And there are so many recipies on the internet

What I do a lot however is skincare - with natural, homemade products mostly and at least for me it works a lot better than everything that can be bought in a store. This things I do buy however are almost without exception from Japan or Korea. Call it personal preference, but after I had to use asian products only when I went to China for a month and had forgotten my nifty toilettery-bag at home, my skin turned from what I though was my post-puberty-average into almost flawless. Magic. (They also have the best nonsticky sunscreens I daresay!)


First things first, there are a few things everyone can do, no matter what their skintype is:

• Eating healthy  - the more raw fruits and vegetables I eat, the more thankful is my skin.
• Drinking a lot (works best with tea or water, nothing sugary or alcoholic!) - this is especially important if you have dry skin like me; believe it or not, the more water you drink, the more hydrated your skin is going to be, and as a lovely sideeffect, it clears your acne like poof *magical handgestures* Green tea is great for those suffering from acne. Be aware that it will take a few weeks until you can see improvements!
• Washing your face at least once in a day (just usuing a makeup-wipe doesn't count!) - and while we are on this topic, never forget to take off your makeup and properly wash your face afterwards, no matter how tired you are. 
• Take good care of your "warzone" - use sanetizing, anti-inflammatory products on your acne directly and and don't neglect the healing patches.
• Moisturize - with something fir for your skintype 

"You have to drink more" used to really annoy me when I was younger but oh it is so very true!

Out of all these guidelines of mine, I would almost say, that drinking enough is most important - I can wash my face two times daily and I will still see hardly any improvements if I am not hydrated. Now I am drinking between 2 and 3 liters of water plus tea daily again and my body is loving it.
If you have troubles drinking water, try making your own icetea overnight or make infused water by adding some fruit, herbs or cucumber to your waterbottle and let the water become falvoured!

On to the remedy-part - bear in mind, that I have dry and sensitive, allergy-prone skin AND I suffer from Dermatitis, so maybe some of these well-used mixtures of mine will not work for you as good as they do for me.

1. Anti-inflammatory potion (to be dabbed onto those nasty acne areas): Teetreeoil, Panthenol, Licoriche Root Exctract and Lichen Extract
2. Shea Butter: a little goes a long way! It doesn't clogg your pores so don't be afraid of more breakouts ^~^
3. Oils of your choice: only a few drops are enough for your whole face plus neck and you can tailor this after your own liking! I like to use coconutoil as a base, since it has anti inflammatory purposes and calms my skin down a little. I like to infuse it with Rose Hip seed Oil (very good if you have Dermatitis too), some organic essential oils for scent, Neem Oil and a wee bit of Olive oil.
4. Rosewater: I use this instead of toner (if you have super oily skin or some breakouts at the moment, try green tea)
5. Any rich cream with propolis: works great on healing acne spots

 I also really didn't like Shea Butter as a wee Elfling because it didn't absorb quickly. Err...I might have used waaay too much of it!

I also use the Cure Aqual Gel Peeling, which scared me a wee bit because it works chemically (I gave it a try however because my skin gets super super irritated by anything with beads in it) but I can only say that it works absolutely fatnastic for me! No redness or irritation or itchiness whatsoever, it is super-gentle.

 

It also lasts pretty much for ever.

Do you have any secrets or holy grails to keep your skin healthy?*~