Since I could remember, I wore foundation and powdered my nose because shine on my face was the enemy. Although dewiness is a sign of hydration and skin health, the make-up trends saw it as not fashionable.  Then guess what?  Now it is in vogue. Shiny and smooth skin is all the rage in South Korea and Asia where the goal there is to amplify the natural dewy smooth shine of young skin to unnatural proportions. It actually requires little to no make-up to pull off, but it is unnatural in this way:  How do adult women get a new born baby’s smooth and soft skin, and a shiny glow on our face?!  Basically impossible for anybody above the age of 2.  And even more impossible in our day and age of working hard, sleeping late, drinking, smoking, thinking, smiling, crying, and just about any thing that is required to live a normal adult life.  So how do we do this “blessed by nature”, “don’t need make-up to cover-up” look?

I myself am getting along in the years, and even though I take care of my skin, the years of wearing make-up has left me insecure about skipping it.  I go through at least 5 skin care steps every night, and exfoliate and use clay masks on a weekly basis.  I stay out of the sun and use SPF whenever I can. All this care so that I can cover it up with make-up for confidence. But our faces in their natural state can be pretty too.  I recently figured out a few things to boost my skin’s shine on days I wanna rock that sans make-up shine:

Moisturize.  Wrinkles are formed when skin is stretched too much and has tiny cracks in them that then heal, but leaves behind a tiny bit of scarring formed in a slight bump.   Moisturizing increases the elasticity of our skin, and minimizes the chance of making the cracks that then would need healing on our face.  And when we age, less natural moisture is produced by our face.  So I always use a slightly heavier moisturizer than I need, and my face thanks me.  Cocoa butter has been known to improve skin elasticity, and I also use this regularly.

Exfoliate.  I exfoliate about once a week now.  Before I barely had to.  But as we age, our skin stops expelling dead skin as often and can be dull and dry because the dead layer of rough skin on top.  I exfoliate with ground walnut shells, sugar, honey and olive oil mixed together and then rubbed gently on a wet face, in circular motions. Rinse off with water, then soap and water.  My skin feels so soft after exfoliation…I can’t believe it. Follow with a clay mask.

Detox by toning and masks.  I can’t stress this enough.  After a night of partying, late hours at work, all day of wearing lots of make-up.  Your skin needs to detox.  Whatever crap you ate or drank in the night, also makes it into your skin and is expelled to the surface.  If you don’t wipe it off, it will stay there like a dull film on your face.  When I have drinks at night, in the morning, my skin is usually lifeless, puffy, and saggy.  I rejuvenate it with a rosewater and vinegar toner.  It removes impurities, and re balances the ph of my skin so that it is happy again, smooth and ready to shine. A weekly facial mask with clay also draws out impurities.  I like to use a mask after exfoliation, so that the clay is on new skin and can pull out impurities more easily.  Always follow with moisturizing after toning or detoxing with a mask!

Use an anti-oxidant.  We are not perfect.  We hurt our skin often.  We offend it on a daily basis, without even knowing.  The damage is there, don’t wait for it to be visible.  And we need to heal it.  For that I use an anti oxidant.  I like Vitamin E, but you can also use Moroccan oil, anything that has an anti oxidant effect.  Why?  It prevents damaged skin from healing with scar tissue.  That’s right.  If you have damaged your skin unknowingly, which you have…vitamin E can make it heal with minimum scarring.  So use it in your daily moisturization routine, like I do.  🙂

Drink tons of water.  Water keeps your skin hydrated from the inside, and will help you have skin that is firm and not saggy.

And here is the piece de resistance.  Am I confident enough to post a pic of myself without make-up, bb cream, concealer and all those cover ups?  Yes I am.  Take care of your skin and be confident to wear it the way it looks sans make-up any day.