Take Off Your Makeup (Tonight)

After a night out, I often find myself deciding whether or not to take off my makeup before going to bed. If I choose yes, I have to wash my face and apply moisturizer. If not, I can fall into bed and wake up to deal with the consequences.

Glamorous: smudged eyeliner and mussed hair.

Not Glamorous: flaking foundation, lipstick on my chin, bits of mascara trapped in my eyeball.

I'm often tempted to use the "glamorous" side-effects to outweigh the negative, not-glamorous ones. But actually, smudged eyeliner and messy hair are both things that I can create later, after I wake up. It take much more work to remove stubborn makeup, deal with newly-formed acne, and risk an eye infection in the process.

Quick morning-after damage control:

• Leave your eye makeup alone for now.
• Wash base makeup off as soon as possible.
• Wash again, to be sure all the residue and sweat is gone.
• Find a gentle, moisturizing lotion, without scent. Use it all over the face.
• Use a tiny dab of the same lotion, on the tip of your finger, to wipe away eye makeup selectively. Leave some subtle traces of eyeshadow, eyeliner and mascara, but tone it down.
• Put on some lip balm.
• Take care of the rest of your body. Drink water and eat something.

But when in doubt, just take it all off.

And consider one more thing: washing off makeup can be a soothing process instead of a hassle. Just like a hot cup of herbal tea, washing one's face at night can be the perfect relaxing routine before bed. Maybe you'll even fall asleep faster. And then, in the morning, we can all wake up to a clean slate.

Pimple Peace

We tend to be our own worst critics:

We see our flaws, we want to fix them, and we worry.

A blemish grows, and the anxiety of having a pimple leads our fingers to poke it and squeeze it, until the pimple finally ruptures and gets goop all over your face. It also leaves you with an ugly red wound, and, probably, a physical scar.

• Damage Control: Acne flare-ups can be covered by makeup and treated with natural remedies, like a paste made of honey and cinnamon, or scientifically proven ingredients like salicylic acid, which is present in many skincare products made to combat acne. If all else fails, find a good local dermatologist for ongoing skin problems, or schedule a facial with an esthetician to take care of a breakout.

But who wants to go through all that trouble every day? Not me. That's why I keep trying to leave my face alone, and stop touching it all the time. I stop smudging all the bacteria from my hands onto my face, by keeping my hands off of it entirely, I can reduce the number of breakouts I have. Then, I'll stop stressing about my breakouts. Then, because professionals always say that stress causes breakouts, my lower stress levels will help me avoid more breakouts.

By making peace and embracing the flaws we see in the mirror, we can create positive change in ourselves both physically and mentally. That's the sort of change I want to see.