Is makeup doing our skin more harm than we think?

Hi everyone,

If you read my posts throughout December you may have seen that I had to have surgery on my cheek. This was to remove an abscess which had started life as a spot but became infected and got bigger and bigger. For the first few weeks after the surgery I was unable to wear makeup or use many skincare products at all. I would simply splash my face with a little water and go over the areas I could with a Simple face wipe followed by the Sephora Triple Action Cleansing Water.

During this time, I noticed that my skin became so much clearer and just looked healthier overall which got me to thinking..... We use all these skincare products as they promise to improve our skins condition and keep us looking youthful. On top of that we then pile our face with makeup to get a flawless look and for me, to help me feel more put together and ready to face the world. But what if we are doing more damage than good?

I always make sure that I remove my makeup thoroughly in the evening and if I can take a day off wearing it to let my skin breath a little, then I do. Therefore, I know it's not through a lack of trying to take care of my skin that has caused me problems. Having said that, when I do wear makeup it's always the products with the most coverage that I am drawn to such as Estee Lauder Double Wear foundation and concealer. I have oily combination skin but recently it has been more oily and I have found that only these sorts of products will last throughout a long day at work. I'm sure layering all of this on top of my skin all day can't be doing it a great deal of good but I didn't think it would do much harm either.

Now I'm not saying that skincare products and makeup are the sole cause of all my issues with my skin and I wouldn't give up wearing makeup for the world. I love it far too much, experimenting with different looks and trying out new products in a never ending search for the next best thing. It's more that I have noticed what not wearing makeup or overloading my skin with a long winded skincare regime has done for me. Therefore, I am going to try and think a bit more about what exactly it is that I am piling onto my skin and whether or not it is all really necessary. 

To start with, I am going to cut back on the skincare products that I use as I do think that I am overloading my skin with all the cleansers, toners, exfoliators, moisturisers, serums, anti-aging products, night creams, day creams, the list goes on and on. Also I am going to try and reach for makeup that is a bit more lightweight for every day wear such as the BareMinerals BarePro foundation which I have enjoyed using a lot more recently. Sure for nights out and special occasions I will definitely be reaching for the Double Wear but I have come to realise that my skin could maybe do with a break from such heavy products every now and then.

I know this post is a little different from my usual musings but it's something that I have been thinking about recently and I wondered what you guys thoughts on it were? Do you think a long skincare regime has worked wonders for your skin or do you think there is a risk of makeup and skincare overload? Maybe I'm just using the wrong products! I'd love to know your thoughts :)

Thanks for reading,

Hannah xx