Before my esthetician and makeup artist days (in other words, when I was virtually clueless about skin care and makeup), I purchased cosmetics and skin care products primarily based on fancy packaging (like many people do). If it looked fun and glamorous on the exterior, surely what was inside the jar or tube was just as good as the outside, right? If I was drawn to a particular shade of lipstick or eye shadow, I bought it without considering the fact that maybe (just maybe) it wouldn’t look right against my skin tone. Sadly, nine times out of ten, it didn't and I never understood why. Go ahead and chuckle—I look back in retrospect and laugh too (and let’s not even get into my fashion choices back then).

First, I didn’t even know what my skin type was, which was probably part of the reason I didn’t choose my skin care products accordingly. How was I supposed to know which specific ingredients my skin needed if I was unaware of my skin type? Or rather, how was I supposed to know which specific ingredients to avoid? They say ignorance is bliss, but certainly not in this case! My skin suffered the skin sin consequence by breaking out in tiny bumps.

What did I do to fix my skin? I once again used the wrong products and made things worse. Unfortunately I didn’t know about Mario Badescu Skin Care back then, and if I could rewind time, I would have hooked myself up with some Drying Lotion, Drying Cream, Healing Cream and the Anti-Acne Serum (ok, maybe the whole nine). Bear in mind, I’m the same girl who wrote the blog post on how I used to over-do it with skin care products and discovered that less is more.

Anyway, now that I know better (much, much better),my skin has vastly improved. This often happens to estheticians after training, and for good reason: we finally understand the importance of picking out the right products for our skin type!

The moral of my story is: know your skin type and use the right products accordingly to avoid a potential skin disaster!