Prepping and priming the skin for a special event or the weekend festivities is always an important step in the getting ready process.  I personally prefer to begin preparations about a week before any event.  This gives me time to pamper my skin and allows a few days for my skin to absorb and react to treatments.  Today’s post will illustrate a few tips and tricks I use to achieve a healthy and glowing complexion for every event.

Blemish Control – No one wants to walk around with a large blemish on any day, let alone during an important event.  To reduce the size of blemishes and prevent breakouts, try incorporating an acne fighting cleanser with salicylic acid in it.  This acid is known to fight blemishes and prevent future breakouts.

Note:  Did you know that the chemical makeup of aspirin is similar to salicylic acid?  Using an aspirin mask by crush a few uncoated aspirin pills and add water to make a paste (Tylenol, Advil and Aleve will not work for this),  can work just as well to help prevent blemishes by exfoliating and softening the skin.  To reduce the redness often accompanied by blemishes, try using a few drops of redness reducing eye drops.

Masks – I find it’s always helpful to use a hydrating face mask the week before a big event.  Hydrating masks plump up your skin, resulting in healthy, youthful skin by reducing the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles.

Exfoliate – As I discussed in my 5 Basic Principles of Skin Care post, exfoliating is one of the most important steps in anyone’s skin care regimen.  Exfoliating is the process of gently sloughing off dead skin cells from the surface of the skin, via manual or chemical exfoliants, in order to reveal brighter, younger looking skin.  I would recommend exfoliating 2-3 days before an event if using a … or the evening before if using a gentle exfoliant.  For an inexpensive at home exfoliant, try using baking soda for glowing results!

Eye cream – To keep those dark circles and fine lines at bay, utilize a moisture rich eye cream to help brighten the under eye area while diminishing the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles.

Hair – Particularly, anything hair removal related.  Brows, legs, underarms, should be done a 1-2 days before an event.  This gives your skin a some time to heal in case you experience any redness, bumps or irritation of any kind.