Yep, it’s that time of the year again- and no, I’m not talking about the Winter break. It’s exam season!
Between all the studying, coffee breaks and sleepless nights, you might start noticing a change in your complexion. You know the signs: breakouts, dark circles, under eye bags, dry skin, or a seemingly permanent flush.
It’s bad enough that we have to spend our days cooped up in the library in front of a computer screen, or our nights with our eyes glued to a page that we’ve read 10 times over and is in size 8 font. On top of all that, the last thing you would want to be worried about is your appearance!
Unfortunately, its easy to become a little self conscious about our appearance during this time of year – after all, holiday parties come directly after exams. If it’s any consolation, we’re all pretty much walking around like zombies along with you! With that being said, if you are feeling a bit self conscious, here are some tips and tricks to help you get through finals without wanting to put a paper bag over your head:
For Under Eye Bags and Dark Circles:
(What can I say, exams bring out my inner gollum – that, and I love these memes)
Usually, dark circles and eye bags develop when you haven’t had enough sleep – totally understandable for November and half of December. Other than trying to get more sleep, take a spoon and put it into your fridge for about 10 minutes. When it’s nice and cold, take it out. While you study, you can lightly press the spoon against your under eye bags. The coldness can help the puffiness go down.
To tackle those dark circles, I have one word for you: concealer! Ill show you how I conceal my own dark circles in a pictorial later on ;)
For Dry/Oily Skin
If your skin feels drier than usual, make sure you’re moisturizing your face twice a day: once after you wash your face in the morning and then later when you wash your face before bed. If you want something heavy duty for the long hours of recycled air studying in Robarts, try looking into calming creams. I really like the Eucerin Skin Calming Daily Moisturizing cream. I got a couple testers from a Beauty Boutique at Shoppers Drug Mart once and fell in love instantly! Another thing you can do is to look into some cleansing/hydrating masks. The Balea brand that you can find at Shoppers has a hydrating mud mask, and a hydrating sheet mask can be a quick fix to boost both moisture and softness in your complexion.
If your skin is a bit oilier than usual, make sure you’re cleansing your face twice a day: after you get out of bed, and before you get back into bed. This helps get rid of the excess oil and dirt that may clog up your pores and result in breakouts. Balea also has a Oil removing face mask and a detoxifying face masks which, from personal experience, work wonders. One thing to remember when your face is getting a bit oilier is not to live off of Big Mac’s, Spring Rolls, or French Fries (aka: study food). Junk food isn’t good for your energy levels in the long run, and it certainly isn’t good for your skin.
Foods that are both good for your brain and your complexion include: Walnuts, avocados, whole grains, oranges and apples.
There’s been a lot of talk about beauty serum’s lately. In a nutshell, serums are supposed to be a more concentrated version of a moisturizer, with more active ingredients and vitamins. They can help refine pores, even out your skin tone, all while acting as a skin illuminator and even a primer. In the beginning, I didn’t really buy into this beauty serum stuff – BUT I’ve got to say that I’m a pretty big fan of the Vichy Idealia life serum. If you’re willing to spend a little bit more on this product, it claims that it maintains your skin quality while you go through the stresses that come along with life, such as lack of sleep or an unhealthy diet. It also helps fight signs of aging which can come from stress, doubling as a kind of intro to anti aging for the stressed out collegiette. You may think you’re too young for wrinkle reduction products, but you can never be too young for prevention.
In addition to Vichy, I have also heard good things about Lancome’s serums! There are a variety of serums that concentrate on specific probblems, skintypes, and lifestyles so you’ll be sure to find one that best suits your needs.
For Breakouts:
When you’ve reached the breakout stage, you’ve probably already passed the excess oil/unusually dry skin stage. While cleansing and moisturizing might help the battle against dreaded breakouts, once you’ve got them, you have to tackle them (white)head on. I recommend using an acne spot treatment. The Clean and Clear Advantage Acne Spot Treatment has really great reviews and uses a concentration of saylic acid to dry pimples out. This particular spot treatment is clear so all you have to do is dab a bit on before makeup and let the saylic acid do its thing.
For Redness:
When you’ve reached a “freaking out” on the exam season stress level, your may experience uneven skintones or increased redness. To counteract this, I don’t really have a beauty solution, but you might want to switch over from coffee to tea, and take a few minutes to lay down, have a nap, and relax. Do something calming – stepping away from your studies to do some yoga, cook, hang out with friends or even get a facial.
Now that I’ve given you some tips to help you deal with complexion issues brought on by exam season, here’s a short pictorial on how to cover under eye bags for a low maintenance make up look during finals. I know a lot of you might not even want to bother with make up, but if you feel like you want to or might need it, this look will help you look more fresh faced, and awake.
Low Maintenance Makeup during Finals
1) For this look, you’re going to need concealer and a concealer brush. Right now, I’m trying out the cream concealer from Cover FX. It’s a pretty thick consistency and blends really well. To start off, apply some product onto the back of your hand – your hand is going to act like your palette while you conceal your eye bags.
2) The second step is to start fresh faced, that means after you’ve cleansed and moisturized! FYI: I’m a little eyebrow crazy- as in, I pretty much don’t go anywhere without filling in my brows. If filling them in isn’t a necessity to you, you can just skip that! Once you’ve taken some concealer off of your hand, use the brush to draw a triangle underneath your eye, covering the area which make up your under eye bag. Fill in the triangle and start to blend it out a little. As you can see in the picture on the far right, I’ve also concealed some of the dark and uneven areas of my face, along with some dot blemishes!
3) After putting concealer on the areas you want, you’ve got to blend blend blend! Make sure there are no fine lines. This is what I looked like after I finished blending everything.
4) Next, I used some powder foundation. I really like Clinique’s Stay Matte Pressed Powder, but any kind of powder foundation will do. Use this, and a foundation brush (or sponge) to set the concealer and to correct the tone of your complexion. Brush the powder all over your face until the concealer isn’t as visibly noticeable. Another great thing about using powder foundation is that it’ll soak up alot of the excess oil you have on your face. It’s a win-win!
5) Since we’re keeping this look simple, I decided not to use eyeliner but mascara. Once you’ve curled your lashes and applied some mascara, you’ll notice that your eyes look bigger, and wider- also meaning that you look more awake! And don’t forget your bottom lashes, they need love too. You’re also going to need a white eyeliner pencil, which will reduce the look of redness in your eyes and make them pop.
6) After curling your lashes and applying mascara, take the white eyeliner and highlight the inner corners of your eye. For a little extra umph, you can also line your water line.
7) Once you’ve finished with the white eye pencil, you’ll be done! Here’s my before and after picture. I’ve got to say, I even shocked myself.
Left: After, Right: Before
Exam season is filled with enough stress and pressure without it manifesting on our faces too. In some ways, being stressed is a good thing. It indicates that you are concerned about your marks and the effects that it will have on the bright future you envision for yourself. A little stress is good – just be sure you know how to manage it! I hope my tips will help you power through everything and look like a champ while you’re at it.
Photo Sources:
http://mybeautyfulladventure.blogspot.ca/2014/07/review-balea-oil-removi…
http://www.collegemediamatters.com/2012/12/07/college-memes-final-exams-…
http://www.exquisitelychic.com/2014/05/balea-hydrating-facial-sheet-mask…
http://www.amazon.com/Eucerin-Calming-Daily-Moisturizing-Creme/dp/B001FB…
http://www.lancasterskincenter.com/blog/post/acne-part-vi-spot-treatment…
http://www.cosmopolitan.com/style-beauty/beauty/advice/a6288/spoon-beaut…
http://www1.bloomingdales.com/shop/product/lancome-genifique-youth-activ…
http://www.chemistdirect.co.uk/vichy-idealia-life-serum-30ml/prd-12lr
http://spareviewmag.com/2014/08/diy-facial-tips-from-ildi-pekar-miranda-…
http://www.washingtonindependentreviewofbooks.com/features/has-gollums-l…