Skin Deep

Let me take you on a journey of my skin and skincare and how it led to a complete turnaround in what I not only put in my body but also on my skin. It's taken me years to make the connection between the two. Yes, I am a bit slow on the uptake!

Apart from babyhood and early childhood, I've always had shitty skin. The minute I hit pre-puberty I started breaking out. Enlarged pores, nasty inflamed pimples under the skin and blackheads. I was really self-conscious about it, even though my Granny, who had the most beautiful soft, unwrinkled skin (she used nothing but soap and water and Ponds Cold Cream), tried to convince me that her skin too, was like mine as a young person and I would end up being thankful I had oily skin when I was older because I would be less lined for it. Hmmmmm.

As a teen, I used to read Seventeen magazine, which didn't help the lack of confidence I had, short, shy, glasses and bad skin, plus I was a nerd! Anyway, Seventeen magazine was full of advertising, naturally, an ad that stood at to me was Ten O Six Lotion. Does anyone remember it? I saved my pocket money and bought a bottle. It didn't give me the beautiful clear glowing skin that all the teen models had. I used it diligently and if anything it probably inflamed the already inflamed skin! Goodness knows what was in that stuff!

My Mum then took me to our GP, his fix was to have me wash my face using oatmeal soap and a Buff Puff. If you don't know what a Puff Buff is, it's an oval circle thingy with scratchy sides, sort of like a pot scrubber, very abrasive! What a bastard! Another thing he did suggest was steaming, which was to clear the pores and then splash with icy cold water to close them again. I had to do this for 5 minutes every night. My skin didn't clear up if anything it was probably worse, raw from the Buff Puff! During this teen time, a friend and I used to have beauty days where we would give ourselves manicures and pedicures and facemasks with beaten egg whites. I swear to this day an egg white facemask is the bee's knees for rejuvenating and tightening skin!

Next on my journey, was Blackmores Skincare. My Mum gave me a travel pouch of it for Christmas. From memory, it had a cleanser, scrub, toner and moisturiser. It was actually really nice stuff and did clear up my skin somewhat. I remember doing this makeup/beauty course to improve my self-confidence and the lady running in told me I had good skin. Wow! Thanks, Blackmores.

Moving into my early twenties came Shiseido, introduced to me by a friend. Just a cleanser, toner and moisturiser and a facial brush. It felt very glamorous as the range came in beautiful glass bottles with soft green tops. It also smelt divine. I used Shiseido for many years and during this time my skin was under control with the exception of the usual monthly hormonal breakouts and ongoing breakouts on my chin and cheeks.

In my late 30's I stopped using Shisdeo and moved onto Clinique, the Number 3 range for oily/combination skin. Clinique did me well for a fair few years and then it stopped 'working'. Truth be told, I stopped working on being healthy, too much caffeine, too much wine, erratic eating habits, too much stress, not enough water, no exercise, see the picture I am painting here? On top of that my hormones were completely out of whack due to severe endometriosis, so it wouldn't have mattered what range of skincare I was using, good skin is more than skin-deep!

I also became a single parent at the time, so when I ran out of Clinique and it was no longer an affordable skincare option for me I used supermarket brands that were on special, nothing wrong with that BTW or stuff I was given. My skin wasn't great but not hideously bad either so long as I consistently stuck with my skincare routine morning and evening and looked after myself reasonably well.

Three years ago, my skin really turned to crap so I bought a range of Olay skincare after doing their online skincare profile thingy and got back on top of my skin condition. Not long after this, I signed up to be a product reviewer (anyone can) for beautyreview.co.nz. Since then I have received and reviewed numerous skincare products and ranges, all of which, with exception of a La Roche Posey cleanser and moisturiser, have been L'Oreal Paris. My skin gets really antsy each time I try a new product and I will typically have minor breakouts around my chin of little whiteheads and inflamed underskin bumps which settle down after a week.

With the exception of a couple of products I have since bought, I have continued to use the full-sized trial products until they are empty and because I diligently look after my skin, overall my skin condition has been good, soft and smooth despite the same problematic breakouts. I also have small underskin bumps on my jawline that I have had for a few years. I don't know what they are but want them gone! I think I need to go to a dermatologist or the Caci Clinic or somewhere like. After I have finished funding my dentists overseas trip haha.

At the beginning of this year, I had a complete lifestyle overhaul after visiting my brother and sister-in-law in Cairns and came home with a diet and exercise programme. I have lost a lot of weight, I have so much more energy and I just feel great. I strength train and do a little cardio and pretty much just clean eat, try to drink a lot of water and avoid processed foods.  My skin has also been so nice, in fact, the best it has ever been, aside from that babyhood and early childhood period I mentioned at the beginning of this novella!

I'm now super conscious about what I put into my body and have had a huge shift in thinking about what I use on the outside, and that it should be clean as well. When I started my shop last year it was with the idea of being a one-stop shop for women and part of that was having a skincare line. It has taken a while to find a product that I would personally like and use from a company that I felt good about working with.

I went to the NZ Gift Fairs in March this year, with the sole purpose of sourcing an organic skincare range. It was serendipity really, the first skincare stall I came across was run by a delightful woman who I immediately connected with, she was in my age bracket and had fabulous skin!!! Anyway, she is the distributor for an organic, cruelty-free and vegan range called La Mav® Organic Skin Science.

She sent me away armed with samples and information to digest. Since then I have spent a lot of time, trialling the products, researching the brand and reading reviews online, seriously, the reviews are outstanding. La Mav® Organic Skin Science really is a phenomenal range of skincare that is the world’s first certified organic skincare infused with proven Bio-Actives. It is also certified as vegan and cruelty-free. I love everything about this brand and the company,

I'm super excited to finally have the La Mav® Organic Skin Science, Certified Organic Anti-Ageing Range in stock online at www.roseroomnz.com. I'm also super excited to start using this range myself, so not only will I be clean on the inside but also on the outside!

As stated by Dr TARJ MAVI, founder of LA MAV,

“No woman should have to sacrifice her health for beauty.”

Phew! If you made it to the bottom of this looooong post, well done you!

Thanks for stopping by and reading,
xoRachael