Natural spot treatments, natural acne treatment: Raw Honey

SEE UPDATE BELOW

Aaaah, as of late my mind has been all over the place. I have no idea whether my recent crazy breakout is due to the raw honey I've been using on my face lately, or stress. Because for a good 3 weeks my skin loved it. Pores shrank and my face felt awesome. Scares were fading and it seemed like I'd finally found that holy grail all in one cleanser and moisturiser. But for the past few days, my skin has gone NUTS. Whitehead nuts. I'm used to getting one of two whiteheads occasionally, but now I have 5/6 active whiteheads on my face and I'm afraid it may be from the honey! Grrrr! I've looked up that there is a possibility that people could have a sensitivity to raw honey, but really?! 3 weeks in?! For some people it has been a MIRACLE worker, and has worked wonders for very severe acne. Now I have new whiteheads emerging all over my face and they aren't even the small ones, they're big and ANGRY. Oh, and for good measure I've got some nice blackheads too.

I'm wondering if the actual breakout could be caused by stress? I have been very stressed these past few days, and it's not like I have a normal sleeping pattern any more...but while this seems more likely the reason why my skin is like this, I've lived like this before, without these kinds of results. Sigh...

Well, for now I think I may have to lay off the honey. I've been trying and trying with the natural skincare regime and it looks like I might have to start using oatmeal, the MILDEST thing ever, to clean my skin. Perhaps I'll use grapeseed oil to moisturise? Return to the OCM and try that again? It's so frustrating that I can't pinpoint exactly the cause of the acne. The only thing I can do is wait it out and try new things that I couldn't possibly breakout to!

Sorry for the ragey post guys, see you next time :D

*UPDATE* 30/09/2013: Sorry for the long gap guys, I'm currently in the USA and I've been studying like nuts. I've recently tried a few acne products from CVS and whichever one it is (the cleanser, toner or the two moisturisers I bought, or the other cleanser or the serum or the - the list just increases in length, and my bank account is quietly shrinking Dx ) has made my face so much worse! (Intense chin acne with white heads and blackheads invading areas that I didn't know could break out anyone?I think it's due to overuse and trying out too many different things at once! Darn my impatience!) I recently returned to honey, and within 2 days my skin is getting better, along with the help of a peel off mask I recently purchased. I think at the time when my skin broke out when previously using honey, my stress and health in general weren't in check, and therefore, the breakout. Raw honey seems to be saving me right now, the only regret is that I decided to experiment with a whole host of new products that pretty much ruined my skin! Ah well, I'll keep going with the honey, and hopefully the guilt of spending so much on products that don't work will eventually fade Dx Cheers guys!

*FINAL UPDATE* 11/10/2013: Sorry for the long gap once again guys - unfortunately the honey cleansing didn't work. I kept breaking out with the honey and the honey gave me a few cysts as well! Lots of scarring here, but I am glad I tried the honey, even though it worked then stopped working, it's not entire loss since I can just eat the honey :) I might try it again in the future, but for now I'm laying off it :)

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Natural skincare products, natural acne treatment - Coconut Oil? Lemon juice? Oatmeal? Baking soda? The Oil Cleansing method?

Through out the majority of my life my skin was fine - until puberty struck! Now, my skin, by any standard is actually very good in comparison to people with actual acne. I'm so lucky in that respect. No dermatologist visits or acne treatments or anything for me, but I do have a annoying consistent condition on my face. Red/ pink cheeks, large pores (on cheeks mainly, where the redness lies), oily skin,blemishes all over and permanent (until I gouge them out with a extractor at least) blackhead armies on my nose and chin. Honestly, I am sure some of those black heads have been there for years, and when I squeeze my nose, the amount of tiny white dots that appear just makes me roll my eyes in defeat.

Constant clogged pores now seem a permanent part of my face, which I know isn't meant to be the case! Not to mention the occasional white head. These things are huuuuge, and when they arrive they leave marks and those take months to fade as well. Despite this graphic description, my skin on the outside really doesn't look that bad, it is very far from causing me real upset and I could probably cover it up with make up  easily if I could be bothered. I have a definite feeling that my skin problems are underneath the surface, and I need something that can really penetrate my skin and murder the cause.

I'm under the slight suspicion that I MIGHT have a very mild form of acne, but I've yet to see a doctor or dermatologist, and in reality I don't really want to. I understand that if I do have mild acne, I might have to take various medications or creams despite it not being that bad, and that is terrifying considering I have no idea what may lie in those products, and I'm only relying on some else's word. I need to take time to analyse and break down what's good and bad for my skin, and understand my body better.

So, I've been looking at natural remedies, and I've come under the impression that they all have some common attributes with each other.

• They're cheap
• Edible
• Generally found in kitchens or easily bought at super markets
• Come in large quantities so you hardly need to stock up

I mean, there's nothing to lose with all of these treatments. If they don't work as cleansers and exfoliators I can at least bloody eat them so I don't waste anything.

So, from what I've gathered, here are the ones I'm interested in the most that I'm going to try in the coming months:

Organic Extra Virgin Coconut oil - there's a lot of information and blogs relating to this one. For some, it's a MIRACLE product. It's destroyed acne, cleared skin, some people have even stopped using cleansers, moisturisers and toners and use coconut as a replacement for EVERYTHING. People cook with it instead of using other oils, they eat it on toast, they take a tablespoon  day, they shave with it, use it as lubricant (?!?!?!?!) and they steam it off with facial steamers or hot towels. Oh, and it makes a great hair mask apparently. 

BUT! The side effects vary. For some, they say it clogs their faces like nobody's business and makes them even worse and it takes months to clear out the clogged pores. But there are those who strongly advocate that these breakouts after using coconut oil are necessary  as the oil brings out impurities to the surface and after a week or two, it clears up. After all, it is anti bacterial, and anti fungal. By the way, make sure it's an organic extra virgin coconut oil brand - other types will definitely clog you up. 

Summary on coconut oil:

- Coconut oil can be used for acne, some swear by it, some stay away after use. People are different, so the only way I can know is if I try.

- No matter what happens, I will try it for at least a week, and if I do have a break out I will keep using it until the week is over. If it's a no go, then I'll just eat the stuff or use it on my hair or legs or whatever.

- It can be mixed with other oils for the OCM method (oil cleansing method, whereby you mix oils in varying amounts and use it on your face - there's science behind this one, but to sum it up, oil beats oil.)    

Lemon juice - An old favourite. Never cleared blackheads out for me, I would use it as a after cleaning toner and sleep with it on. You can certainly feel it working (stings like heck) and some say that it's too harsh to use like a toner, and that you should wash it off when you've let it set a little. I never found that my skin went insane after I used it, if I put on too much it would go red certainly but then I would just wash it off. It certainly faded scars for me, not so much on the miracle blackhead cure though. I need to go back and use this stuff some more. Bottled juice is fine by the way, I can't use real lemons all the time at university so I just have a bottle of the stuff in my room. I wrote a post dedicated to lemon juice HERE.

Summary on lemon juice: 

- It's not bad stuff, but if you have really sensitive skin you can use a few tablespoons in a mask or scrub and it should be fine. Not a miracle cure for me, but the blackheads I have are the deep rooted kind, so I was hoping for a little too much maybe?

Oatmeal - I've talked about this in a previous post, and I'm still using the stuff on my body and face as per usual. It still cleanses, and is a nice mild exfoliant. However, I want to say that it DOES NOT PREVENT spots/blemishes/e.t.c  for me but merely CLEANSES without agitating the face. If you have great skin, you'll love this stuff, and with the amounts it comes in a bag will last you for ages. It's a nice cleanser, I'm thinking if I combine all of these natural treatments into one routine oatmeal would only be for the shower since it's messy. Oatmeal helps with redness too, and you really do end up with a smooth face. I wrote a post dedicated to it HERE.

However, after a bit more research on the internet, some people have said that oatmeal has helped their acne a lot, which I think is mainly due to the calming properties of oatmeal on the skin. It's not "fighting" the acne aggressively per say, but the cleaning certainly aids in calming the face. Oatmeal mixed with yoghurt and other natural ingredients seem very popular as masks, so do try.   

Summary on oatmeal: 

 A good cheap cleanser, gently exfoliates, can be used all over the body and calms redness and could possibly help out with angry red acne. I would recommend this for anyone who has a low tolerance to harsh chemicals, it's really nourishing. 

Baking soda - Now this one is one I really need to try. My current exfoliator claims to have the maximum concentration of Salicylic Acid, and while it certainly ex foliates  it really hasn't made a noticeable difference. Oatmeal doesn't ex foliate my skin enough, and my recent try with ex foliating gloves on my face was a no go - waaay too harsh and despite my skin feeling smooth afterwards it did not look good. All of my blemishes felt raised and my cheeks looked redder. Whether I had finally removed a necessary amount of skin so my spots could  breath or whether I went overboard I'll never know. Either way, looking red ain't a great look. 

There are a few points to note about baking soda. For some it's a miracle worker, and for others it was too harsh or it burnt or it dried up skin like nothing else. This won't stop me from trying it, it does have 4.1 out of 5 on Make Up Alley, but I think I'll be wary in that I will only use it for a short amount of time, not leave on the scrub to let the ingredients sink in! Also, I think the general consensus is that you use a TINY amount in GENTLE motions and for a short amount of time, and only ONCE A WEEK since it's pretty abrasive.  

Summary on baking soda:

- A small amount, mixed with a tiny bit of water and in gentle motions, once a week. The stuff is darn cheap, and if you really need that little of an amount it should last you a long time. This can also be mixed with oils to combine a exfoliant with a moisturising oil (like coconut). If you have very very sensitive skin you must be cautious, test a bit of this stuff on a small patch of skin before going the whole way - you may be one of the people who can't do with baking soda. No worries there, you can always revert to oatmeal for something milder.  

The Oil Cleansing Method  (OCM) - Another one I'm very interested in! This one links back to coconut, but rather then using one oil on its own, the OCM mixes two oils and you apply it on the skin. After you rub it in like you would any cleanser, you remove the oil. A better post on it would be found HERE. I can't say I know too much about this one, but the idea remains simple in that oil beats oil. Also, there are different ratios of oil for different skin types, e.g. an oilier skinned person could use more of one oil than another in comparison to a dry skinned person. *UPDATE* click links below about the OCM method, it goes into specifics about the method on what to use and what not to use! 

Summary on The Oil Cleansing Method:  

- Really interesting, and potentially less risky than coconut oil since coconut oil can be too heavy for some. However, like coconut oil the routine established with OCM will take a a week or two to adjust to. But I'm definitely interested in this one and I'm definitely going to research some more.

*UPDATE* Link here for my review of the OCM!
http://thesilverpocketwatch.blogspot.co.uk/2013/06/natural-spot-treatments-natural-acne.html

LINKS (No copyright intended!It's a really great blog to follow, highly recommended):

http://www.crunchybetty.com/nitty-gritty-on-the-oil-cleansing-method
http://www.crunchybetty.com/trying-and-troubleshooting-the-oil-cleansing-method-tips-for-flawless-oil-cleansed-skin
http://www.crunchybetty.com/when-your-extra-virgin-olive-oil-isnt-so-wholesome

Please note, there are SO many websites talking about the OCM method, many conflicting with each other on different types of oils and in reality the only way to trust the method is to experiment and research yourself, everyone has different skin so there's no foolproof method regardless of what you try - some things are more reliable than others, but you may find yourself in a minority when it comes to certain products and methods.

ALL IMAGES TAKEN FROM GOOGLE - NO COPYRIGHT INTENDED

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DIY brush guards! Make your own brush guards! Cheap Brush guard tutorial! (Big brushes, tiny brushes and a angled eye liner brush!)

Brush guards are great - after washing your brushes you can really get the water out of them by placing your brushes upside down while keeping the shape intact. They're also great for travel too, so your brushes don't get squished in transit. I'm too cheap to buy brush guards, particularly with the amount of brushes I have, so I DIY them. You can buy the mesh on Ebay for extremely cheap, I think I ordered 1m from China for 99p, so it took a month but hey, it arrived.

I don't think I'm the first to do this - if someone else has done it then by all means go for it. A quickie post on how I did it and that's all from me folks!

You'll need thread, a needle, scissors and the brushes you wanna make guards for. If you only want to use guards for big brushes, then you won't need anything but scissors and you can slide your brushes through straight away.

I've used the mesh on a variety of brush sizes, the DIY will cover how I made a guard for a tiny tiny eco tools eye brush, and a zoeva angled liner brush.

The angled eye liner brush, due to to it's shape, will be cut differently and won't be as tight as other brush guards, further explanation below.

1.  Cut enough mesh to cover the head of the brush.

2. Cut the mesh at an angle, so the largest part will be the part covering the brush head.

3. Get sewing! Doesn't have to be nice or neat, just poke the needles through the mesh holes and bind the mesh together firmly so the mesh doesn't come apart and can take a brush being pushed through.

 4. You end up with a thing that looks like this.

5. Slide the brush into the mesh starting from the bottom of the brush, and there you have it. The angled brush shouldn't be squished up and should be able to be placed upside down for drying without the brush falling through. If it does fall through, it means you need to sew it tighter. Better tighter than looser when sewing these - if it's too tight then you can just stretch the mesh a little.

6. Leftover mesh? 

7. Make a tiny brush guard!

8. See how thin it is in comparison to the brush? (Travel sized tiny brush by the way.)

9. But it fits perfectly cause of the stretchy - ness! With normal brushes you can just make the guards as tight as possible - the angled brush is an exception because it's flat, so you don't want to squish up the sizes and deform the brush! That's why I made the guard flatter and a little bit looser than my other guards. 

10. Ta da! Perfect for putting your brushes in to dry after washing!

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Using art/paint brushes for makeup? My attempt at using Boldmere art brushes.

I recently bought 4 thin art brushes for 99p from the Works, and I wanted to try them out for eye liner. I've got an angled eyeliner brush, but I recently discovered that the eyeliner brush is a fake from a fake set of ecotools brushes I bought off Ebay. Disappointing, but I think I might prefer thin art like brushes rather than the angled brush anyhow. 

The brushes come in 4 different hair lengths, and I chose two for my experiment. 

BRAND: Boldmere

 5/0 Boldmere (The longer haired one)

10/0 Boldmere (The shorter haired one)

Since the brushes were cheap, I expected a few odd sticking out hairs which I cut off.

RESULTS:

Pretty darn good for what they are. Bear in mind that my eyeliner wasn't the newest product, (The Maybelline Eye Studio Lasting Drama Gel Liner) and I think had I warmed up the product everything would have been smoother! These brushes work. I would recommend using the 10/0 Boldmere brush, since it is smaller, but the longer brush is only a tiny bit harder to use with a tiny bit less control.

FINAL THOUGHTS:

If you want a nice cheap eye liner brush, try looking in art shops now and then. These can do the job pretty well. They aren't really comparable to real eye liner brushes in the sense that they are pointed and have an odd hair sticking out, but they definitely do a decent job! (Until you save up for a nicer eye liner brush at least! )  

Sorry for the lack of actual pictures everyone! I stupidly wiped off the eyeliner before realising I should do a blog post! XP

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The risky business of cutting make up brushes (Royal Lip Brush)

I recently heard that having a square ended lip brush brings more precision to applying lipstick. As a lover of straight lines and a person who can't work in a room with wonky paintings, I decided getting a square ended brush would be great. Alas, being a cheap asian person, I decided to DIY my own cheap lip brush into a square ended one.

The Royal Lip Brush (the actual name, not a strange nickname I gifted it lol)

Originally a pointed lip brush that worked well, I've transformed it into this:

I did it purely by eye, around 5am. Not too bad right? I'll have to test it out later, but I'm pretty pleased. The point lip brush worked well, but I think a square ended brush will suit me better. If you do want to do this, I highly recommend wetting the brush first with water then gently fanning out the brush and cutting slowly. Nick off tiny bits at a time, and try to measure the brush against something straight.

*UPDATE*

I recently tried using this brush for lipstick - I got pretty good results!  

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DIY - How to make lace edged/trimmed cropped leggings/shorts

Hey guys, I was scouring Ebay for some lace trimmed shorts, when I realised that I could easily do it myself! I happened to have some 3/4 leggings sitting in my drawer and after a short trip to get some lace, I ended making some pretty decent leggings. Leggings nowadays can be pretty cheap, and a metre of lace isn't expensive either. Both of these together are much cheaper than the £7+ leggings on Ebay.

What you need:

• Leggings
• Pins
• Sewing machine (or you could hand sew) with appropriate thread colour matching the leggings
• Lace (1m or more, my leggings are  a size small, so it may be safer toe go with 2m)
• Ruler/measuring tape
• Pen/chalk to mark your clothing
• Scissors

Spread out the leggings so there are no folds or overlaps.

Take your pen/chalk and mark a straight line across both legs where you want your leggings to be cut. 

(Bear in mind that these will be folded up and sewn later on, so you may want to make it 3/4cm longer.) 

Taking your pins, pin across the line of each leg.

Make sure to pin through both layers of each leg.

Take your scissors and cut along the line ( don't worry if you cut a cm or two under)

Your leggings should look like this once both cut.

Remove the pins

Make sure the ends are straight, if you've cut a bit wonky you can straighten them up with scissors here.

Now turn the leggings inside out.

Take your pen again, and measure 2/3cm above the edge. Then draw a straight line of that height above the cut across the leg. Do this to both legs.

Using the lines you have drawn as a guideline, fold up each hem of each leg and pin the edges down.(Only pin through one layer, and pin all the way around each leg.)

To make sure that both legs are even, fold the leggings like this - if they match it means they are even. If they aren't even, you can adjusts the folds of each leg.

Take your leggings and sew up the hems you've just made with a sewing machine or by hand. Remove pins as you go along.

You should end up with legs that look like this.

Both hems sewn up.

 Check to make sure both legs are even.

Taking your lace (or even ribbon, whichever you prefer to attach)

 Pin the edge of the lace to the edge of the leggings. (You don't need to measure the lace, you can just sew until the lace meets where you started sewing.)

When using the sewing maching press the foot down to clamp the lace and the legging.

Do this step quite slowly, making sure the edge of the lace is sewn to the edge of the hem throughout.

 When the lace meets where you started, you can sew both lace edges together.

After sewing both legs, the hems should look similar like this.

Turn your leggings inside out, and you're done.

Many thanks for reading guys!

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REVIEW: SKINOLOGY TEA TREE FACE WASH

You know you sometimes find really cheap, wonderful things?

Well, for me, I think I've found a new face wash that actually makes my spots smaller and skin smooth.

And I bought 2 bottles of it for £1.50, compared to the other name brand washes that cost about £3+

SKINOLOGY TEA TREE FACE WASH from...Wilkinson's.

REVIEW:

I've got combo skin - oily and dry in different places, and after one use of this (just after a bath) my skin felt smooth and didn't feel oily. Big white heads on my nose that had been buried for months were visibly smaller too! While I was using it to wash my face I could feel a slight tingly/minty sensation and you can actually smell the Tea Tree!  Smooth, non oily skin with visible spot shrinkage is probably the best anyone could want :D

I definitely think the person who wrote the description on the packaging deserves merit, here's a quote:

"If you scrub, your spots will bring their friends and ruin your life."

Refreshingly honest right? Like the angry teenager in all of us.

NOTE: I'm describing the effects on MY skin, it may be different for you if you use this! But in general, Tea tree and Peppermint are looked at favorably when it comes to skin.

***UPDATE*** : 17/10/12 - I've been using this face wash for a while now - since I'm in university I've been a little stressed so my skin hasn't been great. The wash isn't strong enough to cure my breakouts, so this wash won't be curing anyone's intense spot problem since my breakouts are probably quite mild. Also note that if you leave the wash on your face (say if you were to try leaving some on problem areas on your face before washing it off) your skin will DRY OUT. I tried this method and found that the patches I covered were a good deal dryer, so I don't recommend doing this unless you really wanna dry out an oily patch.

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