Me Without Makeup | Confessional: I Have Acne

This weekend, I went a whole three days without wearing makeup. Now, for some of you this may seem like no big deal, for others, you may be wondering if the stress of finals has finally pushed me to the breaking point. But, I assure you that this choice was made in the healthiest of mindsets.

It all started on Thursday when I was watching missglamorazzi’s new video, Me Without Makeup.  In the video, Ingrid did a whole lot of talking about how important it is to feel good about yourself, with or without makeup. As I watched her, I realized how much I didn’t feel good about myself without makeup, and how sad that made me feel.

Since I was in sixth grade, I have suffered from acne. There have been times that I have had clear skin, but mostly it’s been an endless battle. Now that I am 20 years old, I have been suffering with acne for about eight or nine years.

To be honest, dealing with acne is a pretty traumatic experience. For those of you who are blessed to have clear skin, I know that you might not be able to totally relate, but dealing with acne can be the most frustrating thing in the world. It makes you feel powerless when you don’t have control about what happens on your body.

Courtesy of Shaping Up With Melissa

As a perfectionist, I have always been ashamed of my acne. I never talked about it with my friends. I didn’t even like to say the word acne out loud. It just stood for everything that I hated about my appearance, and I have carried that hatred until…well…three days ago.

After watching Ingrid’s video, something just snapped in my head. I realized that it was time that I confront my acne for what it was. I have acne, and it’s a part of me, and that’s okay.

Walking out the door without concealer for the first time in eight years felt like an anxiety attack waiting to happen, but I did it. It was terrifying and awful, but I walked out the front door and kept my head up high. I hated every second of it, but I did it.

When I got back to my room later that day, I realized that I had to keep going, and I decided that I would go the whole weekend without one spec of makeup on my face, hair product in my hair, nail polish on my nails, or contacts in my eyes. I was just me, no barriers.

I’m not going to say by any means that this was an enjoyable experience because it wasn’t. I felt uncomfortable and self conscious, but now that I have reached the end of my little experiment, I am so glad that I did it.

I feel like in a way, I have come out the “acne closet”. I walked around for three days and no one made fun of my skin or told me how ugly I was. Things went on as normal. The person that was holding me back was me all along.

If any of you feel like your beauty is dependent on the makeup you put on your face, I urge you to go a day without it. Your beauty is not dependent upon what you put on your skin, but how you feel about yourself.

I can’t tell you how much these three days without makeup have changed my perception of myself. I am going to continue to push myself to be out of my comfort zone, starting with not wearing concealer anymore when I go to the gym.

Self acceptance starts in your head, and this experience has turned out to be a huge kick start towards accepting myself.

Products I’ve Used Up | Empties March – May

Just like the end of the semester is rapidly approaching, these beauty products have reached their end over the past couple of weeks. It was a bit weird holding on to the empty bottles as I waiting to post this, but now I can share all my thoughts on the products I have used up over the past few months.

I bought this Soap & Glory: The Righteous Butter Body Butter in a sample size from Sephora for $5.  This smelled super nice, and was very moisturizing. Since it was a small sized container, I used it sparingly. If it weren’t so pricey, I would definitely buy this again in a larger size. For now though, I would definitely repurchase another sample size.

This Pink Sugarplum Shower Gel came from a Christmas gift someone gave me from Bath and Body Works. I started using in April, and it lasted until now. It was a mini bottle, and I am so sad that it has run out. This had a nice sweet scent. I would definitely repurchase it if it weren’t a limited edition holiday scent.

Cetaphil and I go way back. This is the Daily Facial Moisturizer, and I actually used this product for almost a year before I switched to Neutrogena’s equivalent last month after I ran out of my second bottle of the Cetaphil. I have to say that in comparison, I like the Neutrogena (review to come) a lot better. The Cetaphil leaves a bit of a greasy sheen and can burn a bit if you sensitive skin.  Overall, I don’t think this is a bad product, but Neutrogena works better for me.

You may have seen Maybelline’s Great Lash Washable Mascara from my Tale of Three Mascara Review last week. I picked this up at Walmart for $4.44. It lasted me quite a long time since I used it most days for three months. It’s a solid washable mascara. In fact, I’ve never been disappointed by a Maybelline mascara (knock on wood).

We’ve talked about my new best friend  Liz Earle’s Cleanse & Polish Hot Cloth Cleanser in a review last month. I bought this from the Liz Earle website for $21.50. This lasted me three months using it night and day for the first two months and switching to only night time for the last month. This is a really awesome cleanser. I talked about it great deal in my review, so check it out if you are interested.

So, that’s all of my empties. I’m starting to pack up my dorm room, and by that I mean I sold back my books and will pack everything at the last minute, so all these bottles can go in the recycling bin.

What products have you used up lately? Have you used any of the products mentioned? Any weekend plans?

Sam Goes Horseback Riding + Vlog

If you follow me on Facebook or Twitter, you know that last Friday my roommate, Becky and I went horseback riding. We had both been talking about it last semester, and for my birthday (in Decemeber) she bought a Groupon so that we could both go.  Our appointment was at 10 a.m., and the place was an hour away, so we both had to be up before 8 a.m. (on a Friday no less).

I was a tiny bit nervous considering the last time I rode a horse I was probably ten years old, and it was a old pony.  When we got to the stables there were quite a few horses hanging out in the barn.  Since my school is in Baltimore, it was a bit weird to be out in the “country” with farm animals running around everywhere.

Our guide, Mandy got the horses tacked up, and we were ready to go. The horses we rode were named Marco and Polo.  They were trained to follow Mandy’s horse, so we didn’t have to any real riding other than making sure we didn’t fall off or smack into trees. I vlogged along the way:

We rode for about forty minutes, and I was surprised at how relaxing it was.  I occasionally run on trails, but sometimes you forget how peaceful it can be to be in nature without your headphones blaring in your ear.  We rode through the woods and a couple of fields. It was very picturesque. 

After we made it through the course, we got off the horses, and Becky brought an apple to feed them. They slobbered all over her hand, and one of the horses swallowed almost the entire apple in one bite. Yikes.

When we got back to school, it was only 11:30 a.m., so we hit up the dining hall.  Afterwards, we did some homework before crashing at about 2:00 p.m. and taking a nap. What can I say, all that sitting on the horse can wear a person out!

That night, I had a team dinner with my school’s running club.  All 14 of us squeezed into a long table at Olive Garden and demolished about eight baskets of bread-sticks and seven salads.  I mean, with a table filled of 20-something runners who run 20+ miles a week, a good majority of which were boys, you know Olive Garden was going to be losing quite a few bread-sticks.

Yesterday was my last day of classes! Today is study day, so I’ve got to hit the books before my exams start. I found a place to live for the summer, and I start my summer internship in a few weeks. I am so excited for this semester to be over so that I can get some sleep, read a book for fun, and blog and vlog to my heart’s content.

Have you ever been horseback riding? How do you deal with exam stress?  If you could only pick one, would you go for soup, salad, or bread-sticks?

*WordPress is giving me a bit of trouble today, sorry about the double post!