The Best Beauty Advice I Have Ever Received

The best advice I have ever received, and, therefore, the best advice I pass on is pretty simple. Never go to sleep with makeup on (and make sure your face is really clean), use eye cream, exfoliate, use sunblock, drink plenty of water and get enough sleep. I fall down on the sleep one, but the rest I am pretty diligent about following.

I can count on one hand (with fingers to spare) the times I have slept without removing makeup. Many cleansers say they remove makeup, and, I would use cleanser, then toner. But years ago an exotic dancer gave me one of the best tips. At the time, I sold flowers in nightclubs in a southern city. One of the accounts was a gentlemen's club and I would frequently use the ladies room attached to the dancer's dressing room when there. Many times I would basically take a break there and sit in the dressing room a while, chatting with the girls, (they liked to scope out my basket of flowers and gifts and pick what they wanted and then later get one of their customers to buy it for them). One day, one of the dancers, who had incredible skin, was sitting at the dressing table removing her makeup with cold cream. Now, this interested me as one, we used the same foundation - I was in and out of clubs all night and needed makeup with staying power. This was about the time that the long lasting stuff was first hitting the market and I had recently switched from a stage foundation to Revlon's Color Stay (not bad, I had to buy two and mix them to get my perfect color, but, it really did last!). I noticed though that she also had the same cleanser I was then using (and while I remember the cold cream, I can't recall what cleanser it was). After tissuing off the cold cream. She then used the cleanser and washed it off at the sink. I commented that I used that cleanser as well, and it did take off makeup. She shook her head and said "not the kind we wear." I asked her what she meant and she said that the heavier makeup really didn't come off in one washing, and if you didn't remove the makeup, one wasn't cleansing one's skin, one was cleansing the makeup. Hmmm, I thought, maybe she is on to something. She had the most gorgeous complexion and I knew from previous conversations that we were the same age. I had fairly okay skin at the time, I did have regular small breakouts which were a pain. I used a lot of concealor and really didn't have skin that looked nice and even and all without makeup. Later that evening, I stopped at an all night drugstore and bought a jar of Pond's Cold Cream. And when I got home I did what she did. As I mentioned, I was then using toner and when I used it after removing my makeup and cleansing, I was amazed that the first ball of cotton soaked in toner came away clean! That never happened. Anyway, made the separate makeup removal part of my routine and within a couple weeks, I noticed an astounding difference in my complexion. I pretty much stopped having any kind of breakouts or blackheads and my overall skin just looked better. One thing that helped is the double massage I was getting - with the cold cream, and with the cleanser. Massage is one thing that really helps. But getting all the crud off my face is the main thing.

Now I use the Purity Made Simple Cleanser by Philosophy. I love this and it will take off makeup - but, if I have anything more than light tinted moisturizer on my face, I use it twice. Once for makeup, once to cleanse. A couple months back, I started using a different mascara, and realized that while the Purity Made Simple did take off my old mascara and most makeup, I was really having to work to get it to get off the new mascara. It isn't good to have to really rub and all. I do like this mascara (Hard Candy) and I have never cared for the liquid clear eye makeup removers. Even the ones that say non oily seem oily to me, or they just feel like they make my eyes blurry. So I bought a jar of good old Pond's Cold Cream, and I use it to remove eye makeup and then I use a bit to remove the rest of my makeup. On a normal day, I use tinted moisturizer, a dab or two of concealer, blush and maybe some loose powder. It all adds up. Then I cleanse with the Purity. My skin was already looking good, but, it started looking even better.