5 Reasons To Stop Using Soap On Your Face!

If your skin care regimen includes soap, KEEP READING! Soap is used to clean a lot of things - I use it to wash my hands (which I still follow up with a moisturizing lotion), I use it to wash my car, but never - never my face! But why? What's the big deal?

Here are 5 reasons to stop using soap as part of your skin care regimen:

1. It strips the skin of it's acid mantle. Yes, even the "moisturizing" kinds. Our skin keeps the good stuff in and the bad stuff out by protecting itself with a hydro-lipidic barrier, or "acid mantle". This is what prevents moisture loss in the skin and assists in keeping bacteria out. If you strip this layer away everyday by using harsh soaps instead of a gentle Facial Cleanser you are leaving your skin in a constant state of inflammation, increasing your risk for dehydration and irritation such as rashes, eczema and dermatitis.

2. It's too alkaline. Our skin's pH is naturally about a 5.5 (slightly acidic). In order to maintain a healthy pH, our products should be a similar pH to our skin - but soap is about a 9 on the pH scale - way too alkaline to safely cleanse the skin without disrupting it's natural balance. Disrupting that balance can cause a number of issues resulting in temporary or even permanent damage to the underlying tissues.

3. Because even the soaps that claim to be "for senstive skin" likely have artificial fragrances, colouring, detergent-like foaming agents, chemical preservatives and a whole lotta fillers! Not much room for skin loving ingredients in there! Proper facial cleansers can add nourishment, hydrate and calm the skin while they cleanse making them part of your daily skin treatment program.

4. Those of you with oily skin who tend to like that "squeaky clean" feeling are actually doing more harm than good. Remember that acid mantle we talked about? Well every time you strip that, you're stripping away ALL the oils in your skin. Our skin needs a certain amount of oil to maintain healthy skin and keep moisture in. So what does our body do when we take something away that it needs? It goes into repair mode and it makes more! So you are actually contributing to your oil problem by constantly stripping it away. It's a viscous cycle!

5. It changes the texture of your skin - it feels rough and flaky, and if you wear makeup does not create a smooth canvas to work on due to it's constantly dehydrated state. So your makeup will never look flawless no matter what you use! Pores will become more obvious, hyper-pigmentation will look darker and skin will have an overall dull appearance instead of looking bright and luminous! Check out this experiment that a fellow Esthetician performed:

 I think the image speaks for itself....

Bonus reason: Bar soaps harbour mass amounts of dirt and bacteria and are icky!

For recommendations regarding an appropriate facial cleanser for your skin come chat with me - you're friendly neighbourhood Esthetician and Skin Care Specialist! :)

xo Meaghan

5 Ways To Keep Lipstick Looking Fresh All Day

Are you tired of touching up your lipstick 20 times a day? Ever wondered how some women seem to have perfect lips all day long? Here are 5 tips to keep your lipstick looking fresh all day - no touch ups required!

1. First of all, you need to start with the right formula. Choose a lipstick that comes with long wear claims. You may need to test out a few to see which ones live up to their claims as there are several on the market. I recommend Mirabella's Colour Vinyl Lipsticks. They last up to 10 hours and won't dry out your lips like some other brands. 

2. Lip liner is coming back in a big way - and there's a reason for it! Gone are the days when we would choose a shade darker than our lipstick, rim our lips and top off with a little lip colour. Today's lip liners are being used in a different way. Lip liners can actually be used to alter a shade of lipstick, either making it deeper and richer, brighter or even to change the undertone of the shade. When applying your lip liner be sure to start by outlining the lip, but then don't forget to fill in the entire lip with your pencil as well! This will give a more consistent colour and will help your lipstick stay put all day!
**Tip: Clear lip liners like Mirabella's Perfecting Lip Definer can give you the long wear benefits of a lip liner, without altering the shade of lipstick you are wearing so you can use one universal lip liner with all your lipsticks!

3. Another trick to make lipstick last longer is to layer. By this I mean, apply lipstick, blot with a tissue, and apply again. You can repeat this process a few times if you want to really press the colour into the lips.

4. If you use a primer, applying a little bit of primer to the lips will help create the perfect base for lipstick and will fill in any fine lines on and around the lips. If you don't use primer, try a little bit of concealer. This will give the lip colour something to stick to, but will also help to intensify the colour. 

5. If you don't mind a more mattified look you can finish your application by layering a finishing powder over your lipstick to set it in place. You can either blot the powder directly over top, or what I like to do is take a single ply of tissue and place it over the lips, and then you can dust finishing powder over the lips with a powder brush. I like Mirabella's Perfecting Powder for this because it has a more luminous finish. 

Thanks for reading - I hope you learned a few helpful tips! For more makeup tips and tricks join me on Thursday, November 27th for One Enchanted Evening - a night of beauty, food and friends! Call or e-mail me for more info!
(519) 766-0003
info@skinstudiospa.com