Wednesday, November 26, 2014
8 Makeup Tips for Fair Skin
Friday, November 7, 2014
Keira Knightley Poses Nude, Unphotoshopped.
Keira Knightley has posed toppless under the caveat that they don't Photoshop her breasts to be the same size or bigger. She said, "I've had my body manipulated so many different times for so many different reasons, whether it's paparazzi photographers or for film posters."
I love her message to embrace who you are, because we are all perfectly imperfect!
Tuesday, November 4, 2014
5 Favorite Fall Sweaters for Fair Skin with Warm Undertones
Here are some of my favorite picks if you have pale skin and warm undertones (if you're not sure, find out here):
Monday, November 3, 2014
5 Favorite Fall Sweaters for Fair Skin with Cool Undertones
If you have pale skin and cool undertones (if you're not sure, find out here), you're going to love cozying up in these sweaters.
Thursday, October 30, 2014
Portrait of a Porcelain: I Was Diagnosed with Skin Cancer at 16
Like many little pale girls, when I was young, many well meaning family members pushed me outside in the sun because I needed "just a little color." I burned every time. They'd push me back out in the sun, sunburn and all, telling me that if I did it enough, I'd start tanning.
I never tanned.
I do, however, have pretty severe sun damage on my decolletage. I scour my body, especially that area, for any sign of strange moles, new textures on existing moles, and anything else that looks amiss. I've rushed to my dermatologists with concerns as minor as "I think one of my moles may itch slightly," and they humor me every time. Luckily, I'm yet to be diagnosed with skin cancer, but that fear is always in the back of my mind.
I recently had the honor of meeting Hannah through the Rock Your Porcelain Instagram account. Hannah, a citizen of Germany, told me how she had been diagnosed with Basal Cell Carcinoma at the young age of 16, and I knew immediately that I wanted to hear her story.
According to SkinCancer.org Basal Cell Carcinomas (BCCs) are "abnormal, uncontrolled growths or lesions that arise in the skin’s basal cells, which line the deepest layer of the epidermis (the outermost layer of the skin). BCCs often look like open sores, red patches, pink growths, shiny bumps, or scars. Usually caused by a combination of cumulative UV exposure and intense, occasional UV exposure, BCC can be highly disfiguring if allowed to grow, but almost never spreads (metastasizes) beyond the original tumor site. Only in exceedingly rare cases can BCC spread to other parts of the body and become life-threatening."
And if you're thinking, "No big deal, it rarely becomes life threatening," go back to the part where it says it can be "highly disfiguring." I googled this, to spare you the gross pictures, and let me tell you: they really mean it can be highly disfiguring. If you have a strong stomach, here you go. (WARNING: very disturbing pictures)
Hannah took the time to answer some of my questions about her experience with being diagnosed with BCC, and at such a young age:
RYP: How old were you when you were diagnosed with skin cancer, and what was the exact diagnosis?
Hannah: I was 14 when it appeared and at 16 I went the doctor to cut away the "wart" underneath my eye. A week later he called me and told me that the thing was not a "wart," that it was a "basaliom" (note: "basaliom" is the German word for Basal Cell Carcinoma). So that I had white skin cancer. And that he has to cut more tissue away otherwise it will grow back. Later I informed myself on the Internet and found out that I could not die from it, but that it destroys the tissue of my skin.
RYP: When did you first notice that something was wrong?
Hannah: Because it had not disappeared in two years, I thought it was a "wart," but my dad noticed that it had grown and he wanted a doctor to cut it away.
RYP: You were diagnosed with skin cancer at such a young age, was the possibility of getting skin cancer ever even a thought in your mind prior to the diagnosis?
Hannah: I did not ever know that white skin cancer existed, but I knew how dangerous black skin cancer could be because my mother had it and survived it. So I thought I could get black skin cancer, too. But not at that age.
RYP: I'm so glad that everything turned out OK for you, but it must have been such a scary diagnosis to receive; what was going through your mind when the doctor first brought up skin cancer?
Hannah: I was so shocked by the word "cancer" and directly started to cry. My family was around me, helped me, and we started to google it. The pictures of other basalioms looked definitely more shocking than mine. That I could not die from it should have calmed me down, but the fact that mainly people around 60 get this shocked me even more. And that it just appears in the face area and destroys the skin tissue made me cry again.
RYP: How has having gone through this impacted your life? Do you do anything different now?
Hannah: Of couse it has! Now I just love my skin colour. I never would want to be tanned, and I think that everybody should love their natural skin colour. I think that a beauty ideal is unnecessary, and that Sun Studios (tanning salons) should be removed. Another thing I started to do was to protect my skin every day with a spf of 50.
RYP: What would be your advice to fellow fair-skinned girls out there who may feel similar to you prior to developing skin cancer?
Hannah: Fair-skinned girls should accept and love their own skin because it's beautiful. And most importantly protect it on an everyday basis because they have a higher risk to get white and black skin cancer. I would suggest to wear at least a spf of 30 in their daily moisturizer.
Love your skin and protect it, we couldn't agree more. THANK YOU Hannah, for sharing your story with us.
Hannah today, skin cancer free |
Wednesday, October 29, 2014
Bronzers for Fair Skin/Blogger Love for A Little Bit etc.
I go through bronzers regularly. Mostly because I'm fickle with makeup in general and love trying new products.
A great bronzer makes me feel alive on my worst day. A bad one makes me feel like a little girl who was playing with Mommy's makeup and didn't know what she was doing.
I love the A Little Bit etc. blog because Maree Sye lives and breathes beauty. Her background is in makeup and skincare, and her love of what she does shines through on her blog.
Check out her awesome blog post on bronzers for pale skin. And while you're there, look around a little bit. This woman knows makeup!
Tuesday, October 21, 2014
Does Ben Nye Banana Powder Work on Pale and Fair Skin?
Seems like when her and her makeup artist revealed that the secret to her glow was Ben Nye Banana Powder, the beauty world went on a Banana Powder frenzy, and I saw tons of reviewers rave about how it works on virtually any skin type to achieve that Kardashian glow.
But us porcelains know "virtually any skin type" usually precludes ours.
Which begs the question: can pale girls where the Ben Nye Banana Powder?
I saw a few review videos that claimed they could, so I decided to investigate for myself. I went online to Makeup Mania, which has the BEST sample program. You can get three generous samples of any of their makeup for just a couple of bucks. I got 9 samples for under $10.
I went online to find a tutorial on how to use it.
I must caveat: I am by NO means a makeup artist. Just a pale girl who likes to play with makeup.
I liked this one a lot:
So I did my thing:
Monday, October 20, 2014
Pale Male Monday: Alexander SkarsgÄrd
Saturday, October 18, 2014
A Pale Girl's Review of Accutane
Why specifically a pale girl's review?
Because I can tell you from the perspective of a pale girl an onslaught of huge red pimples screaming across your face feels disfiguring.
I'm not in any way trying to diminish non-pale people with severe cystic acne, but there was a part of me that envied them. The big red zits seemed less angry when set on the background of a face that wasn't paper white. Add to that the difficulty any pale girl has finding concealer and foundation, and you end up with a difficult task when making vain attempts to cover the mountains erupting on your face.
I tried everything before I resorted to Accutane. Diets, like the ones recommended in all of those Perricone books, supplements, antibiotics (one of which resulted in fluid accumulating on my brain), masks, cleansers, Proactive, you name it.
My acne was stubborn, persistent, and leaving me humiliated and depressed. Severe cystic acne hampers so many aspects of your life. I hated people looking at me in sunlight, especially if I was driving in the car and my passenger would turn to talk to me. I feel like things somehow look more severe in your car during the day. I'd picture them seeing my bright white skin, with a smattering of huge red bumps.
On top of that, acne is incredibly painful. The huge bumps are painful to the touch, yet you somehow touch them throughout the day, as if you can't believe these ugly, painful intruders are actually violating your face.
I finally went to my dermatologist, frustrated and in tears, and they decided to try Accutane. Let me be clear, Accutane is a nasty drug with a slew of side effects that are terrifying.
It was also one of the best decisions I have ever made in my life.
Accutane works by essentially killing your oil glands. According to Acne.org, it reduces the size of the skin's oil glands, as well as reduces how much oil they produce. Since there is now less oil on the skin, which is what skin bacteria tends to live off of, it also greatly reduces acne-causing bacteria, as well as slows the production of skin cells inside the pore, which can cause the pores to become clogged. And it has anti-inflammatory properties. This drug does it all.
But I remind you, it does come at a cost. Here are just a few of the side effects that can come with Accutane:
Nosebleeds
Lip inflammation
Dry skin/hair
Hair loss
Yellow deposits on your eyelids
Sensitivity to the sun (great for us pale people)
Oozing and bleeding skin bumps
Elevated liver enzymes
Pancreatitis
Breathing difficulty
Birth defects
Muscle pain/joint pain
Bone overgrowth
Arthritis
Rapid breakdown of muscle tissue
Headaches
Vision impairment
Low white blood cell count
Anal fissures/rectal bleeding
Oh yeah, and suicide.
What? Yes. Suicide. It's rare, but has happened.
Did I read about these crazy side effects before I took it? Yup. And I still wanted to do it? You betcha.
Call me vain, but it went beyond that. Severe cystic acne destroyed my self-confidence and I was tired of it.
To take Accutane, if you're a woman, you have to declare two forms of birth control and take a pregnancy test before each month's prescription is given to you. They really don't want you pregnant on Accutane. In fact, this is the little illustration you see on each pill bubble before you pop out a pill:
Friday, October 10, 2014
Jergens BB Body Perfecting Skin Cream Review for Fair Skin
Body BB cream is exciting because it offered the possibility that maybe I could even out my skin tone in that problem area. Putting regular foundation or tinted moisturizer on it always felt odd and I was worried it would rub off on my clothing. Jergens BB Body Perfecting Skin Cream does two things: it both smooths out imperfections immediately, but also improves the skin over time. What I found interesting about it is that it delivers different results for light and dark skin tones. For light skin tones, it specifically focuses on evening out red tones, and blurs skin imperfections. Here's the swatch for light skin: