Beauty Talk: Hyperpigmentation lets talk about it

Not my usual kind of beauty blog post today, but I’m in one of those reflective moods, you know those moods where you just have way too many thoughts going on in your head, so I thought why not do one of the best things possible and lay those thoughts to paper or internet in this case…

I strongly advice you grab a cup of tea and settle in for the read :-)

Unless you have been living under a rock recently, I’m sure most of you have heard about the pop singer Dencia and her infamous new cream called whitenecious! This was followed by the beautiful speech Lupita did at the Essence Black Women in Hollywood Awards ceremony, which completely brought me to tears and more recently followed up with the cringe worthy interview Dencia did on Channel Four!

But just in case you have missed it, here is the image and both videos that have sparked off the world to discuss issues surrounding shadism, bleaching, body confidence and which prompted my reflections for this post

Product Review: SkinCeuticals Sheer Mineral UV Defense SPF 50

Hey LPM Lovelies,

Those of you that have been following me for a while will know that in regards to my skin, one of my biggest issues is with scarring from previous acne breakouts. A big part of my fight against my scarring is with sunscreen. I cannot stress the importance of it enough, in that I find that using it helps to prevent further darkening of the scarring I have, by protecting my face from the suns rays. 

Needless to say I am on the hunt to find the perfect sunscreen and will be testing a few out until I do. So moving onto my first sunscreen review, I present you with SkinCeuticals Sheer Mineral UV Defense SPF 50

What they say

“Sheer Mineral UV Defense SPF 50 offers breakthrough formulation technology in mineral sunscreens: a first-to-market transparent, mattifying, paraben-free SPF 50 fluid. Employing all-mineral broad-spectrum filters, SkinCeuticals fills a void in the sunscreen market by providing high UVA and UVB protection in a lightweight, ultra-sheer texture for all skin types, even very sensitive. The photoprotection of trusted broad-spectrum mineral filters is enhanced by Artemia Salina, a plankton extract that increases the skin’s defenses to heat and UV stress. This silky sheer fluid spreads evenly and dries quickly, leaving skin bare and soothed.”

The good

I have been using this daily for the last 3 months and I think it has been fantastic for protecting my face from the sun and stopping my scars from getting any darker. It's very light and sits nicely with my moisturiser without that heavy sticky feeling you can sometimes get when you layer products in the summer. 

The bad

Sadly it’s just not transparent on my dark skin! which goes against the product blurb!! It leaves a white cast on face that unfortunately results in me looking like an extra from the twilight cast! – see a swatch of my hand below. It definitely improves when I put my makeup on, but I think the mix with my foundation gives me a slight grey tinge that is only wearable when I blend like mad..

My other problem (although this is an issue with my skin rather than the product) is that if you have any sort of dry skin on your face it seems to accentuate the dry skin making it more obvious. Like I said clearly an issue I need to solve - but still it's quite annoying as by the time you put your sunscreen on you are hardly likely to run back into the bathroom to have a scrubbing session.

All in all though I think it's a great sun protector and it seems to last for quite a while, I just wish it was actually transparent.The sunscreen retails for £31.00 and is available from a number of UK stockists, see the page for details http://www.skinceuticals.co.uk/stockists.php

#77 Face/Body Mapping Part 2

Second up on the face map/body theory is taken from Dr Gillian McKeiths book called “You are what you eat”.

Now this is a book that was given to me a few years ago by a friend but somehow I have always found it hard to read. I think I was put off by her obsession with peoples toilet activities as seen on the TV show, and every time I look at the list of foods to eat, it always sends me running to the ice cream section at Waitrose! Definitely counterproductive!!

Anyway all in the name of research I picked up the book and discovered the section on pimples. According to Dr Gillian, pimples refer to congestion or imbalances and by looking at the part of the body that is affected you can tell which organ needs some TLC.

Here are the lists of body parts and the organs that are affected

Forehead – Intestinal Area
Cheeks – Lung & Breast Area
Nose – Heart Area
Jaw – Kidney Area
Shoulder – Digestive Area
Chest – Lung & Heart Area
Upper Back – Lung Area
Around the Mouth – Reproductive Area

So according to her list, the breakouts on my jaw area are caused by my kidneys. She then provides a solution to each body part that is affected. For the jaw area she suggests eating quinoa, drinking dandelion tea and taking a magnesium and B complex.

Now while her mapping theories might be spot on, the problem I have with this list is that she doesn’t really provide an explanation of how or why this organ in your body is affected and this leaves me feeling like they could have been plucked out of thin air.
On browsing through the book and looking at the index, I don’t find that much to expand on the theories so I still feel none the wiser. Does anyone else have the book? Have you read it or tried anything from it? How did it work for you? Please feel free to share

I have one more section to look at and after that I will be looking at how to resolve my breakouts.