Foundation, concealer, and cleanser, oh my!

Today I'm going to talk about something that I'm far from an expert on, but that I learned by necessity. You are probably aware that I have PCOS; although it does not define me, it is a part of my life that I have to acknowledge exists in more ways than I want. I love eye makeup, but I started wearing foundation and concealer because of my hyper-pigmentation left from acne breakouts. Also for another post, will be the comments that I get sometimes just walking around without makeup. My first concealer was Kat Von D concealer and I loved it! It didn't take me long to realize that it was causing breakouts, and I found out later that it is not the best for those who are prone to acne or have picky skin like me. Always google the customer reviews of things you're not sure about if you have sensitive skin. 

Fast forward to about a year ago, my friend (who is a makeup artist) suggested I try NARS foundation. Y'all, I'm not even gonna lie, $50 is expensive to this thrift store shoppin' and yard sale lovin' girl...SO I bought their concealer and found a cheap foundation elsewhere. The concealer is good, but it's not gonna work all by itself if you're trying to cover up some hard core marks like I was! I wanted to put concealer on the more recent marks, and then cover the fading ones all over with a good foundation.

Without makeup

A few months ago I went back and had one of Sephora's special skin match tests done. These things are so embarrassing for me, because I feel like they can't get a proper reading with the dark marks! I was brought two possible matches for the "full-coverage" that I had requested. One was NARS. I slathered each side of my face with a different brand, asked a few random passersby for their opinions, and settled on the NARS foundation. I can't even describe how much I love it and find it worthy of my hard-earned money! It is unique in that the instructions tell you to rub it between your hands and apply-WITH YOUR HANDS-but it does go on very nicely. I like that it isn't weird colored, you know all the shades and undertones that become even more obvious with black girl skin and brown foundations! I wanted one that had more gold undertones instead of the pink or sometimes greyish look makeup gives me. It is very light feeling and almost watery in comparison to some, but that makes layering an option if you're extra funny about every any flaws being invisible. I find that one layer works and I can wear it all day without worrying about needing to reapply.

The only problem I ran into was getting it off. It seemed like the usual cleansers weren't working, so at Sally's one day, I asked a sales associate what she had that would help. She picked up a tub of Queen Helene cleansing creme and said "This will get anything off, and it's what I use."

Dear Sally's associate, thank you for saving my skin. I love you.

Sincerely,

Elisabeth

With a quick application of my new foundation just to run out the house.

Does that describe well enough how I feel about it? Little tip: it leaves your skin soft and supple, but I think you should consider washing it off before you jump your butt into bed...Also sometimes I don't if I'm feeling lazy, and it hasn't caused any breakouts. So that's my makeup story. I hope that it has helped you some! If you have any tips for blush or (more) eyeshadow that you love, tell me about it in the comments! 

Ladies meetings, self defense, and flying carpets

Saturday I attended a ladies meeting with some friends at People's Baptist Church of Mcdonough; it was a phenomenal experience. I'm sure you ladies that attend events like this can agree that not every ladies meeting is really good through and through, but I look forward to attending this one every year! This year the theme was A Whole New World, and-like the last few years-it was a theme based on a Disney princess. As it turned out, Princess Jasmine had many things to teach us! 

The main speaker was a lady named Tam Bowman. Each of the sessions she taught had real-world applications, but my favorite was when she spoke on Ruth and reminded us not to settle for anything but God's complete will for our lives. For the very last session she taught, she spoke on hormone imbalances. This is a topic close to my heart (obviously) because I was diagnosed with it (Poly Cystic Ovarian Syndrome). I remember how suddenly I was reading everything I could get my hands on, and seeing that several friends likely had it but didn't know. As women, we're so used putting our own health problems/bodies after everyone elses, but that's so not cool. Mrs. Bowman told her story, listed symptoms, and suggested those that had these symptoms get their hormones checked. The whole thing was done in such a caring and sweet way that no one felt uncomfortable at all. 

One of the highlights of the meeting, was when the rest of the Bowman family (her husband and two sons) gave tips on self-defense and even gave a few demonstrations! While the whole family practices Krav Maga, a fighting style originating in Israel, her oldest son is the youngest instructor in the world and gave us some quick tips. My favorite tips were: if someone is in your comfort zone you will feel it in two places, your neck and your stomach, and "listen to your gut" telling you when something is off. Mr. Bowman gave us some scary statistics on abductions before the demo, but instead of rehashing everything he said, I would LOVE for you and your kids to watch these videos below. Try your best to ignore my comments, I really do narrate whenever I'm interested in something lol. 

This first video, he intro'd by saying that women fear having their hair pulled, and that while it's a rational fear, you need to be able to strike back when it happens.

This is one starts out talking about a child abduction and then ends out with good tips for ladies. 

So...I think you'll agree that it was a day well-spent! I wonder if I can send my request in early for next year's princess: Mulan!

Lizzi

It takes a church--to get me thinking.

Right now it is a quarter 'til midnight, and I am watching a show I recorded called "It takes a church". Honestly, I think I'm gonna be addicted, but shhhhhh don't tell anyone; a single girl watching a matchmaking show is so cliche. The girl that's being match made, matched(?) just said, "I was diagnosed with a very unattractive disease, and that really affected my self esteem!" Ironically, my first thought was "Me too!" even though PCOS isn't a disease-it's a disorder-I still completely understand that feeling. My second thought was, "That doesn't make you any less cute! Some guy is gonna be lucky to have you!" because her whole church was only saying positive things about her, and she really is a pretty girl. 

Here's the question: Why is it easy to encourage others, and see the truth of who they are, but not the same for ourselves? 

Or wait, maybe I'm the only one. Am I? 

When I was diagnosed with pcos the doctor made me feel like I was about to die if I didn't follow her exact instructions. That was horrible, but on the other hand I was glad to know that things I was struggling with (especially my acne) were not incurable as they'd seemed so far. The response from the guy I was in a relationship with at the time only affirmed my feelings regarding my appearance by reminding me that he had told me I needed to eat better and exercise more (which he had.) Men often take their cues from us though, and I know my low opinion of my appearance told him that I needed instructions, and my silence told him that I welcomed his opinions. 

When I became single again, I had to really stop and consider what I thought about myself without anyone else's input. I came to the conclusion that I am made unique. I don't (and won't) always feel beautiful, but most importantly I decided that if I'm beautiful on the inside everything else will fall into place with a little effort.

You got all that out of watching "It Takes A Church"? 

Why yes, yes I did.

PCOS -my acne journey

It is very difficult for me to put myself out there in this way. In person (specifically one-on-one), I'm very outgoing and can talk about PCOS, my acne, weight loss and gain etc...but really, my acne has always been a very embarrassing thing for me. There have been times I've brought it up just because I felt like it was an elephant in the room, and some of those times (as I supposed) the person was dying to give me "advice" on what to do for my skin. "Wash it every day!" they'd say. Better yet, they'd suggest I put toothpaste on it because the one time they had a pimple it dried it right up. Apparently, if you don't have acne and never have had it, you are the ultimate authority on problem skin, but I digress.

Check out beside my nose, to the right of my mouth, on my chin, and underneath my chin. This is a horrid pic someone tried to take of me that I must have forgotten to delete from my camera.

I was somewhat relieved when I found out PCOS aka hormone imbalance was the cause of mine. It gave me a seen enemy to fight. I didn't know yet how to fight it, or how long the road would be, but it was a starting point. I was ready to arm myself with info. Of course the first thing I did was ask my doctor. She told me to take birth control for the hormones to balance, eat-at most- two desserts a week and drink only water (part of PCOS is insulin resistance hence the "no sweets".) She said that if that didn't work she had some more drugs to throw my way. I asked if there were something natural I could do, and she said no. She told me that the birth control were gonna be something I did for the rest of my life, because there is no cure for PCOS. I was not happy with this, but decided to see what happened with the birth control. I took it for a few months, but I wasn't okay with the havoc it wreaked on my body and stopped.
I began to research and am now on two supplements, and have changed the way I eat as well as the way I care for my face. My breakouts have diminished, but not completely stopped; at least now it's only about once a month that I get a breakout. Years of acne have resulted in hyper-pigmentation that is so hard to get rid of. I would like to help others who struggle with this. It's not fun. It can really mess up your self-esteem. If you don't think you have someone in your corner cheering you on, think again; I would be happy to. Here are pictures of me now. I took close-up pictures with good lighting to show the dark marks on my face.

Haha, I was so busy making sure I got clear selfies without moving that I forgot to look pleasant. My eyes look completely glazed over. 

There is no way I can completely go over all of this in one post, so some of it will have to be saved for later. Feel free to contact me if you just want to talk about PCOS and acne, or if you have questions. 

Oh and I almost forgot...I started this conversation in a previous blog post. Find it here.

Changes and motivation

This may seem like a random post, but I assure you it is not. I still feel a bit uncomfortable talking about this to just anybody--especially explaining what it's all about. Feel free to look it up online, you will find a wealth of information. It has taken some adjusting just for me to get where I'm at now (writing a blog post about it,) and strangely, the more I find out about it, the LESS I want to say about it. It's easy to tell women that they're not weird, and they're not alone, but it's a little more difficult when the woman is you.

I was diagnosed with PCOS around the beginning of this year. I didn't really understand what that meant, but I knew that I had to start exercising and change some of my eating habits. I started attending a twice-a-week workout class, and what I started out kinda disliking (if I'm really honest) ended up being something I actually enjoy. Now I work with a personal trainer, and am thinking it's time to up the ante and start really exercising by myself too.

I'm not a self motivated person, so it will be hard, but sometimes hard is good.

I changed the way I eat, and that too is about to change some more. I found that I like cabbage and spinach more than I knew. I learned that chocolate is not necessary more than a couple times a month really, and that I can skip the sweet tea and just drink water. I trade those pleasures for the worthwhile pleasure of feeling good. I'm still working on a little excess weight, but what fun is having nothing to work on? 

Sometimes it's hard not to pout about how many people can eat what they want, but don't have to deal with adverse reactions, while here I am with allergies and health problems that inhibit that freedom.

Then I remember something I read from a girl that had acne about being thankful for acne (or insert other minor ailments) because:

It’s your body’s way of telling you something isn’t right. Most of us are experiencing ill health due to poor nutrition and unhealthy lifestyles. Some people are “unlucky” enough to not show symptoms, riding some “genetic inheritance” that keeps their skin perfectly clear. Be thankful that your body is sending you a message to change.” 

So, although I have down days, I brush myself off and try to remember that. On my mountaintop days I know that it's true. 

Elisabeth Arona