AskBronny Blog

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Ok so now we're clean. Super clean, down past makeup and daily dirt. Remember, even if you don't wear makeup, your skin is like a sieve. It catches dirt, dust, sweat, pollution, the dirt on your hands when you touch your face or push your hair back… all the environmental factors that hit your face every day. So we still need to clean.

Now it's time for water.

Part one: exfoliate: only once a week. I will go into this next time.

Part two: water: every day.

Water. The essence of life. Our skin needs water and as we know, the best way to add water is to drink it. 8 litres a day, to be sure. I can never manage to achieve this. But I can water my skin.

So. After cleansing (see previous post) we are instructed, through years of programming, to tone.

Do not tone.

Do not use a "toner". Toner is an astringent that contains a lot of alcohol that is designed to make you feel invigorated, fresh and clean. It does this by stripping your skin and making it feel "squeaky" clean. Smell it. Smells like a stiff drink? Sour and harsh? You're going to put that on your face? No. You know what makes skin (and hair) squeak? Lack of moisture. Like runners on a polished wood floor. Moisture is so important. Never strip it away. Toner is like a shot of vodka on your skin. Alcohol evaporates. Quickly. And it takes moisture with it (just like in our bodies after a heavy night of drinking - hence the dry terrors in the middle of the night). To counter alcohol we need water. So skip the alcoholic surge on your skin and instead, just feed it water. Or more precisely, water designed for topical absorption, ie from the surface down.

Far better than a toner is a face mist. A soothing, calming rosewater, camomile or lavender spray will balance your skin and soothe it after your thorough cleanse. It won't strip it. Remember in part one, I told you to pay attention when you get a facial? Do you recall having an alcholic astringent wiped across your face? No… they spray a fine mist from above and it floats down and lands gently on your face. Gently. The therapist doesn't even touch you. Replicate this.

The best thing you can do is make your own. This is one of my best tips.

Make your own facial spray.

I learned this when I looked in my cabinet and found dribs and drabs of not-quite-finished sprays, spritzers and tonics. I thought, what the hell, I like all of these products, let's mix them together. So I did. I've been making my own blends ever since.

So here's what you do. Start with an empty spray bottle. I use a Jurlique rosewater spray bottle cos it looks nice and I love Jurlique. Fill it 1/3 with rosewater. You can get it from most delis - especially Turkish or Greek places. You can also make your own by boiling down rose petals in a little water until they go transparent. Discard the petals and you have rosewater. It smells amazing - pure rose - natural essential oils, sweet and clear.

Then add 1/3 quality mineral water. I keep a bottle of San Pellegrino in the fridge for this purpose. One little bottle has been in my fridge for 6 months and it's still half full.

Then add any spray you have floating around. But first, smell it. Smells like a cocktail? Don't use it. Chuck it. Smells soft and natural? Go for it. Typically, brands like L'Oreal and Revlon are not good (those brands have their place, but not here). Natio, Nutrogena, Ponds, Redken… unfussy brands are good.

Look for essential oils in the ingredient list. If the ingredients mention oxy, benzo, propo, poly, ethyl, tetro, chloro, they're not good. These are derived from petrol and oil based chemicals that don't have common names that we understand. They are also cheap fillers. In small quantities they have their place, but they should not be at the top of the list.

Look for plant based ingredients - they will always have their common names in brackets afterwards, eg "Helianthus Annuus (Sunflower Seed) oil." Good words to spot are aqua, glycerin, sorbitol, lanolin, parrafin, lecithin, vitamin E.

So! Got some aloe vera growing somewhere? Use it. Rosehip oil? Lavender oil? Even a drop (just a drop) of Eucalyptus oil? Use it. Here's what I use:

• Rosewater 35%
• Mineral water 35%
• The other 30% :

• Rosehip oil (organic, mine is from Endota Spa)
• Emu Oil (see elsewhere on this site for info on this wonder product)
• L'Occitance Essential Water - left over from a travel pack I had and loved - softening, gentle, slightly oily spray (don't be scared of oil, see below)
• Dermalogica Soothing Protection Spray - as above
• L'Occitane Elixir - a few pumps from this specialist $100/bottle facial oil that lasts me a year
• Julique AHC lemon/lime - a few drops of this longstanding miracle product favourite of mine
• Juice of one long aloe vera leaf from my garden

Put it all in a bottle and give it a good shake. Spray liberally on damp skin (ie freshly cleansed and lightly patted to semi-dry - don't rub it - leave it damp) from about 30cm away. Wait a second, then gently press the surface of the skin. Imagine you're pressing the layer of spray from the surface into the deeper layers of your skin. It's called a Press and Release motion. Don't rub it - gently, caringly, press it in.

Cup your hands over your face and breathe in deeply. Do this again. Absorb these wonderful ingredients into your respiratory system; it will work well in conjunction with your actions on the surface.

A note on oil: if it's a quality product, the oil is good. If it's a cheap or too-perfumed oil, it's no good. Be aware of Mineral Oils in the ingredient list; they give you milia - those little white pimple-likespots around your eyes that you can't remove. Cut out mineral oil and they will go away. Baby Oil is the worst for this problem. Olive oil is great. Synthetic vs natural? Natural always wins.

Last but not least: rub the excess spray onto your hands. Spray some extra onto your palms and rub onto the backs of your hands. Hands are precious. Treat them well. More on that later.

Now your skin is not only clean, but smoothed, calmed, and watered. Now we're going to feed it… next post.

Until then… keep it clean

Welcome to The Beauty Spot - your spot for advice, tips and techniques for all things from the neck up. I will take you through various steps about what I consider to be the most important things you should know about caring for your skin, making it look great, and making yourself feel fabulous. It's not about what's hot and what's not (although I will profile good products from time to time) - it's about getting back to basics of what you really need to know. Good practice, logic and common sense. Skincare and makeup are like art. There's colour, trend, technique and style. And a canvas. So let's start with the canvas, and the most important step: Getting Clean. Cleansing your skin properly is the most fundamental step in your regime. The regime doesn't have to be complicated - it only has to be thorough. If your skin is not properly clean, you can use a $500 La Prairie product and it will be useless. It's like using a dirty bbq plate, or putting a shiny topcoat on an crusty manicure. Are you going to cook on that mess? Think your nails look good? No - you have to clean before you nurture, or nothing will penetrate to do its job. So how to do it best? 1. Secret: you don't have to spend a lot of money. It's not so much what you use, but how you use it. The first step is to use the right product for your skin type. I won't cover that topic here - skin type is extremely individual - so do a little research. Get yourself a facial and ask the therapist to tell you why she's using a certain product on you and why it's good for you. Ask about ingredients and benefits. Go for botanical components and pay attention to essential oils. If it's too synthetic, it's too unnatural. Remember, if it smells good to you, it's probably the right ingredient for you. I don't like lavendar and chamomile but I love citrus scents. So that tells me my skin enjoys invigoration as opposed to calming qualities. And then… pay attention. I make mental notes about what they're doing and I try to repeat their technique at home. 2. Use a good cloth. Don't use a facewasher. They are like kitchen sponges. They get festy fast, and are usually too rough. One of my favourites used to be a Jurlique cleansing cloth, until I realised it was simply muslin - like medical gauze and often used in cooking to make a teabag or to strain a thick sauce. It's $1.50 a metre. I use a square about the size of the computer screen you're looking at. Wash it thoroughly after use - it rinses easily due to its thinness - and throw it out after 2 weeks. Use it gently and it acts as a gentle daily exfoliant. 3. Be thorough. You are kidding yourself if you think a quick whisk with a cheap foam and a few splashes of water will do the trick. Your skin is a delicate and sensitive organ, and your face is exposed all day long. It is also full of pores that act like burrows to gather and trap particles all day. Leave them there and your skin will deteriorate. You'll get more anti-ageing benefit from regular, proper care than you will from a million dollar marvel. 4. Cleanse twice. One of the benefits toted by facialists is a "double cleanse". This strikes me as odd. You should double cleanse every day. Sound excessive? It's not. Don't strip it bare - just cleanse it. You can do it fast, as long as you do it. Think about it: your face has had moisturiser, sunscreen (if you're smart), foundation, concealers, then makeups like bronzers, blushers, shadows, colours and mascara. Bake this over an 8 hour period with sweat, oil, dirt, dust and general environmental factors and you have a nice thick layer of pollution on your face. Think of it like a frying pan after cooking a carbonara. Are you going to give it a quick whisk with a sponge and put it away? Or take off the gunk, then actually clean it? Same with your skin. First cleanse: Remove the dirt. The first round takes off oil, dirt and makeup. Use an inexpensive cleanser to do this - I like Johnson & Johnson Facial Wipes and I choose the one with aloe (aloe is one of nature's most wonderful ingredients). If you don't wear much makeup, a baby wipe will do just fine. Keep going until nothing more comes off. Sorbolene is also good. Nutrogena, Nivea, Olay are all fine. Avoid foaming cleansers as they trick you with the foam - that's just sodium sulphate foaming up and making you think mmm, foamy clean. It's not actually doing much. Do NOT use soap. Ever. Not even Dove. Not even olive oil soaps, essential oil soaps or pretty parcel soaps from somewhere lovely. Do not use a tub that you dip your fingers into. Gross. Use a pump or a tube. Or a wipe. Do not rinse off. Remove product with a cloth and THEN rinse. After your first cleanse, the majority of dirt is gone. Now it's time to actually clean your skin. Second cleanse: Clean your actual skin. This is where you use a quality cleanser. The good news is, most of the work is done with the first round, so you should not need to use a lot. By quality I mean something around the $50 mark for a 100ml bottle. It should last months. Choose a gel or cream based product (even for oily skins - your technique is the secret here) and only use 2-3 pumps or 2 inches of product. Dermalogica has an excellent range and I also like Dr LeWinn's at the moment, but I'm about to try Endota's own brand. Buy on ebay from a high scoring seller with a good rep (read their feedback thoroughly and watch out for fakes from Asia) or keep an eye on specials at the salon or chemist. Chop and change as often as you like - it's good to switch regularly. 5. Massage, massage, massage. Half the benefit of a facial is the massage, because it stimulates your circulation and allows the product to penetrate into your now-half-decently cleansed skin. Get into the hollows of your cheekbones, do circles on your forehead, long strokes under your neck, stripes along the sides of your nose. Use your fingertips, not your fingers. Count 10 slow circles in each area. Close your eyes and take just 30 seconds to enjoy this step; a full minute if you can. If you don't, you're wasting the benefits of this good product purchase. 6. Remove, rinse, repeat. Wet the muslin, fold it twice, and remove the product in long, gentle sweeps. Think back to that facial. Under, over, across, around. Then bend over and splash, rinse cloth, splash, wipe again with the cloth, splash. Straighten up and take a deep breath. Drink a glass of water at room temp. Now take a good look at your nice white cloth. It won't be white anymore. THAT'S what you've been leaving on your skin every night. 7. Nurture. Your skin is now ready for food, moisture and care. I'll cover those steps next time. Suffice to say you don't need to spend a fortune here either, if you've done the above steps properly. The first time you DO do this process you might need to go a third round. This is ok, just be gentle. And remember the massage. I do a super cleanse at the end of the week, to combat the week's build-up. And let's face it, sometimes you just can't do the double. Too tired, too lazy, whatever. That's why I like the facial wipes because you can always do at least that first critical step - taking off the dirt - which is the most important. The ones with aloe offer that little bit of extra care for just such an occasion. Which leads me to my last point: never, ever, EVER go to bed with your makeup on. The effects of this on a microscopic level are horrific. You can at least whisk a wipe over. The only excuse is that you've literally passed out, so when you wake up, straight to the bathroom it is for steps 1 through 6 and try not to think about how deeply into your skin all those molecules of filth have just penetrated. If this sounds like you, keep a packet of wipes in your top bedside drawer! So start paying attention to your skin. Don't hide under layers of makeup - give your skin an overhaul, keep it happy, and let it out. Everything else you do will look better if you get this part right, and you will just love the compliments. Good skin radiates health and vitality, and it's in everyone's power to improve it. It does take some effort to keep it in top shape, but then, that's why it's called a complexion. Until next time… keep it clean.