Mad About: The Pursuit of Glowing Skin

I remember numerous occasions throughout my teen and young adult years when my mother advised me with great wisdom to start taking care of my skin at an early age. She urged me to use certain cleansers, creams, sunscreens, and serums to delay and minimize the inevitable decline that time sucks out of our youthful, supple skin. The decline that makes women start to look like deflated balloons and somehow makes men appear more sexy and refined (thanks a lot Eve. You just had to taste that damn apple).

I unfortunately never absorbed my mother’s valuable guidance, which was usually met with a dramatic eye roll and the assertion that my skin was just fine, whatever mom. I carelessly enjoyed many days letting the Charleston sun bronze (hyperpigment) and freckle (add permanent spots) my face thinking I had plenty of time to worry about getting old. This is why the first person I called once I spotted that first fine “laugh line” this past year was my dear ole Ma.

I always thought I would be a woman un-phased by what age would do to my looks, comfortable and confident that I would do it all with grace. Well it turns out I might be a little vain. Already faced with the havoc that pregnancy hormones had wreaked on my skin, the appearance of my first wrinkle sent me into full blown chick mode. When I called Mom with this crisis, I could feel her holding back a chuckle and knew that she was trying her very best to not blurt out the gratifying “I told you so” that was aching to force its way out. Instead she calmly helped me come up with a game plan to find a system that would work for me. She gifted me with one of my new cosmetic loves, the bareMinerals Naturally Luminous Moisturizing Trio.

These three products, from the naturally wonderful bareMinerals line, contain their proprietary ActiveSoil Complex which provides skin with gentle cleansing and deep moisturizing, resulting in faster cell turnover and softening of fine lines to give skin a natural glow. Coming from someone who has never really had a natural glow, this stuff really produces results.

My other new obsession was a product recommended to me after my very first facial recently at the lovely Urban Sanctuary Spa here in Athens. It is a gentle foaming scrub and cleanser made by Suki. It contains a simple combination of natural sugar, rice flower, and lemongrass to gently exfoliate skin cells and resurface skin for a more even tone. It smells delicious and skin feels clean and super soft after each use.

After using these products for only a month, I am noticing drastic differences in the evenness of my skin tone and a change from a dull complexion to, dare I say it, a little bit of glowiness! I know everyone reacts differently to various products, but these 2 gems are so gentle and derived from natural ingredients, that I believe they would have an effect on a variety of skin types. And they also won’t break the bank. So while I may never reach my goal of never having to wear makeup to feel purty, this stuff has definitely cut down my makeup application time from 3 minutes to 1.5 minutes. That’s winning in my book.

I urge all young women to listen to their mothers when told to take care of their skin early on because once it is damaged, there is no turning back. So even though my stubborn teenage self didn’t listen, I thank you for trying Mommy Dearest,