Connecting the Dots

I've always been lucky when it comes to my skin. I say "lucky." What I really mean is that my parents wouldn't let me wear make up until I was 14 and then only blush and lip gloss. I don't think I wore base make up until I was probably a junior in high school. Even then, it wasn't because I needed it so much as that it was 1983 and I needed to look like this:




I've never worn "drugstore" base make up. I'm a make-up snob that way. I think I started with Clinique base for a couple of years, which I guess wasn't too bad on my skin (theoretically). Then when I was 19 I moved to a city with a department store that carried Lancome, which I thought was spun from pure gold and was probably the actual make up worn by Jesus Christ for his photo shoots. I wore the Dual Finish make up that was heavy with a very powdery finish, which made it perfect for the time.


People used to say to me, "Oh! You have such great skin!" and I would say, "No, I have great make up." But I was never someone that wore just tons and tons of make up. Yes, what we wore in the 80s was a lot compared to now, but just like today, there were people who gobbed it on and people who used a lighter hand. I fell somewhere in the middle. OK, middle-to-heavy. But I remember watching my friend put on make up one time and I actually said to her, "You use as much make up on your forehead as I use on my whole face." I was full of tact in the 80s.

I was awful about washing my face and removing my make up. I used to go to bed with all of it on. I got to be friends in high school with this girl who used Vaseline to take off her eye make up at night, so I did that for a while. We'd smear it over all that bright eye liner and layers and layers of mascara and eye shadow in at least four different shades of brown and purple, then wipe it off with a tissue and go to bed. The rest of the face was totally ignored until it got washed in the shower the next morning. Still, my face treated me right. I had great skin. Nary a blemish.

Somewhere around the age of 20 my face started having some patchy dryness issues and I was introduced to the blissful delight of exfoliation. Masks, scrubs, buff-puffs. I was almost certainly too harsh on my skin back then, but what with all the make up I was piling on I probably needed an SOS pad to remove it all.

I don't think I started washing my face at night on a regular basis until I was about 25. I've been pretty good about it since then. I still like my St. Ives face scrub, too, I don't care what the facial lady says.

Now that I'm 41, I should legitimately be worried about wrinkles and crows feet and laugh lines and frown lines and What Can Botox Do For Me? Instead? I'M DEALING WITH BREAK OUTS.

*Sigh* My skin has no freakin' idea how old it is.

I've been searching for every possible cause because I just can't bear to have a doctor tell me that I've got adult-onset acne, or that as I age my pores are getting smaller so it's harder for the oil to wash out, or they're getting larger so more bacteria gets in or, god forbid, that it's hormonal.

• I always wash my foundation brush with soap after I use it and let it air dry, but I bought some anti-bacterial hand soap to wash it in just in case that might have something to do with it.
• I've cleaned all my phones at work and at home with Clorax wipes to make sure it's not from that.
• Although I have changed some of my make up products, I can't really tie it in with that because the blemishes seem to have preceded any make up alterations I've made.

Meanwhile, I'm using My Teenager's Stridex pads and hoping my skin will even itself out soon. If not, I guess I'll get myself to the dermatologist so he can clear up my breakouts in time for the wrinkles to set in.