A look at my skin care routine!

Skincare can be a complicated subject. Every person has different needs, and I think each person has products that work best for them. This is a review of what works best for me. I have oily skin which is acne prone and I have tremendously large pores.

This is the Olay Professional Pro X Clear kit. It's a 3 step system (cleanser, skin clearing treatment, and a moisturizing lotion) that I use daily. It's the only thing I've found that really helps control both my pimples and my pores. The lotion (step 3) is a great moisturizer too, which is important with oily skin.

I follow the Olay Pro X Clear kit with Physicians Formula Intensive Wrinkle Corrector Eye Cream. I'm only 25 and hopefully I'm not even close to having wrinkles yet, but it's certainly time to work on preventing them. My mom has amazing skin and she's always advised me to take care of it before it ages. It's much easier to prevent wrinkles and sagging skin than it is to undo it. While I'm on the subject of prevention, I neither smoke nor get sun damage. I always use sun protection and I'm lucky enough to have avoided picking up a cigarette habit.

I use two different masks. I use the Olay Pro X Clear Intensive Refining Sulfur mask twice a week. It works wonders for my oily skin. When I wash it off, my face feels hydrated and I swear it doesn't turn into an oil spill for a day or two. It can be a little drying, so if you have dry patches avoid it. I love this mask for spot treating. The Boscia Luminizing Black Mask I use once a week. It's a peel off mask and it feels amazing. My skin is radiant after I use it. I think Luminizing is a great name for it!
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I use the Dickinson's Witch Hazel Pore Perfecting Toner in the middle of the day as a touch up. If I get sweaty or dirty but don't have the time or motivation to wash my face, I just swipe this toner over my face and it's an instant improvement. It helps clean sweat, dirt, and makeup, and like I said it's a great midday touch up to get your face feeling clean again.

I'm a huge fan of Biore pore strips! They are so great my fiance's started using them with me. Just stick them on for ten to fifteen minutes, peel them off, and check out what's no longer in your pores! Between the Olay system and the Biore Pore Strips, my large pores are actually looking better. There are no quick fixes, but with time I've seen so much improvement.

The final product I use is Burt's Bees Doctor Burt's Herbal Blemish Stick. This is a roller ball filled with an herbal treatment. Spot treat any blemishes and they will disappear overnight. The Burt's Bees is the only product I've found that actually does shrink zits overnight. That's great because it keeps me from picking at them.

It may be a complicated routine I have, but the results speak for themselves.

And here's a video review.

Sally Hansen Salon Effects!

I'm a member of Influenster and last month I received the Spring Beauty VoxBox! VoxBoxes are filled with free goodies to try and talk about and one of the amazing products in this box was Sally Hansen Salon Effects Real Nail Polish Strips. Here's a summary of my thoughts:

• Pros: professional results, easy to use, long lasting (Sally Hansen says up to 10 days, I got 12 days before the first chip)
• Con: the only negative is the price. It's worth it for special occasions, but probably not for everyday use
• Tips: a top coat might extend the life even longer, with the Frock Star design I was able to use the leftover strips to seemlessly patch spots I missed

I want to stress that this product is real nail polish! They aren't nail stickers which means you will get amazing salon quality results! I got to try Frock Star which is an awesome glittery design that would be perfect for parties and festive occasions. I'm looking forward to trying Hear Me Roar, Wishful Pinking, and Fly With Me soon but they have 40 gorgeous styles and eventually I'd love to try them all.

The strips are so easy to use. The first two fingers didn't look that great but I don't have a very steady hand but I was able to use part of an extra strip to patch it up! It probably won't work too well with some of the patterns, but with Frock Star being a random glitter design, even I couldn't tell the difference, so that's something to keep in mind if you end up with any bare spots on the edge of the nail.

The directions are very easy to follow and the package even includes a cuticle pusher and nail file/buffer! The only thing you will need is nail polish remover. I also recommend using a top coat to prolong the manicure, but that's entirely optional and mine didn't chip at all for 12 days (the info says it lasts up to 10 days)

And now for the results:

Visit Sally Hansen's website to learn more about Salon Effects Nail Polish Strips and all the other amazing products they offer and look for them in Walgreen's, RiteAid, Target, and other stores.