My Daily Makeup Products for Eczema / Dry Skin.

Me and makeup have such a love hate relationship. I love love love makeup, but I find it really difficult to wear when my skin is bad. I have spent a long time scouring the internet for advice on what kind of makeup works well with eczema, but struggled to find things. I'm not going to lie, essentially wearing a tonne of makeup when you suffer with dry skin or eczema is never going to help your skin, but there are products out there that dont do as much damage. Over the years I have tried and tested so many products ranging from high street to high end so I thought I would share the products that have stuck with me. I find that surprisingly the majority of the products I use are high street.

Face

 

My absolute go to 'foundation' is Bare minerals SPF15 Powder foundation. Because this is a powder, it barely (hah get it) feels like you have anything on which is a dream for me. I cant stand to wear a liquid foundation because I feel like it dries my skin out and makes my face feel tight and uncomfortable. With this, I just dust a light layer over my face in the morning and it tends to last for the entire day then. Its definitely top of my list!
   

This sleek palette revolutionized my face. I'm not even joking. Prior to this I never really delved into the world of contouring much. Every now and then I would try a bit of bronzer under my cheekbones but this....this is amazing. I don't apply much really, just a lighter shade in a triangle under my eyes and then the darker along my cheekbone but it works so much better than power contouring!  It really helps brighten your face and was very inexpensive at £10. I feel like its a very build-able product, you can put a little on and its still effective which is fab because it means it doesn't feel heavy or thick on the skin. It doesnt really dry out the skin either as its a really creamy consistency.



Ok so this is the Bare Minerals 'Stroke of Light' under eye brightener. I think they bigged this product up a lot, and to be honest I find that it doesn't give much more of a brighter look than any other concealer. Saying this I do use it every day (probably because it cost me so much!) and it definitely makes a difference.

 

Firstly apologies for the grubbieness of this but I swear I've re-bought this many times and after like a week all the writing rubs off. this is the Collection 2000 concealer. I'm really lucky in that I don't get many spots, but when I do they are whoppers. Think like growing another face on my face kind of big. This stuff I swear by for covering them up! I don't really like this product for highlighting I find its quite a stubborn concealer (great for spots) that doesn't apply great over large areas.

Eyes

   

Now. Eye shadow is possibly my favourite part of doing my makeup just because I feel like I can go to town on it. I've had expensive palettes such as the Urban Decay Naked 2. I loved that up until I used it all. I wasn't ready to invest that amount of money into it again, so I went on the hunt for dupes. These two palettes are from Revolution. I have never tried this brand before but I think they're such good quality for the price. The one on the left has more shimmer colours, whereas the right is matte. A lot of the colours are rose gold/pink based and you can get some really pretty looks using these.

 

This mascara is amazing! I have pretty curly eyelashes and they're a decent length so I find that really, most mascara's do the job, but this one really makes them look thicker and longer. I wills say that it dries out really quickly which is a bit of a bummer but because its high street brand Maybeline it is relatively cheap. A lot of the time they have offers on too which is handy! It's also really easy to remove, meaning I don't have to scrub my eyes with harsh makeup wipes that irritate my skin.


So there we have it, My daily makeup products that don't aggravate my skin or make me feel like I've just applied three layers of show makeup. Of course for events such as nights out I do wear a little more, but ALWAYS take it off before bed, no matter how drunk. The worst thing for my skin is sleeping in makeup, I learnt that the hard way!

More About Light Therapy.

Light Therapy. The more you think about it, the more peculiar it sounds. At least, that's what I though as I sat in hospital for days, left wondering what on earth it actually involved. I'm probably not going to do a very good job at attempting to explain what it is and how it works and whatnot, seen as my understanding of medical jargon is limited. But hey, I'll give it a go.


So, according to good old trusty Wikipedia, Light therapy

'consists of exposure to daylight or to specific wavelengths of light using polychromatic polarised light, lasers, light-emitting diodes, fluorescent lamps, dichroic lamps or very bright, full-spectrum light. The light is administered for a prescribed amount of time and, in some cases, at a specific time of day.' 

My personal definition is 'It's basically a sunbed' Because really, it is. It looks like a vertical sunbed to me! Or the thing that Captain America is put inside to be turned macho. Luckily that hasn't happened to me yet! I am currently being treated with UVB light, or Narrowband Ultraviolet B. This is the most benefiting part of natural sunlight for skin diseases such as eczema or psorisis. You know it's common knowledge that people who suffer with eczema find that magically it clears up when they go abroad due to rise in exposure to sunlight. Well living in Wales, there isn't exactly a lot of that mysterious light emitting yellow thing in the sky. So UBV basically is artificially created sunlight. 


You start by doing a exposure test to determine how long you will be in the cabinet for. This is done by placing a thing that looks like a hair styling device against your skin (mine was on my hip). This thingy has little gradient squares on it to help the nurse figure out how long you need to be in the cabinet for to begin with. You start with a time then each time you visit you go in for longer and longer as your skin gets used to the light. Because I am so fair skinned (the lightest option) I started off with 8 seconds. I have now been going for around a month three times a week and I've got up to one minute five seconds. In the grand scheme of sunbeds, its really not a long time at all but so far it seems to be doing the job!I have only had one slight issue. One of my recent treatments went a bit wrong, I'm not sure if I stood differently or something, but I ended up with a sun burnt face and bum! Not so pleasant haha!  All in all you have 36 treatments in a session. This takes around three months although with me it might take a little longer as obviously whilst I'm having a blast in sunny Magaluf I wont be able to pop to the hospital three times a week! 
I am amazed at how my skin has gone from being red raw, clearing up and revealing my natural so-white-I-look-blue colour to now gradually getting a bit of dare i say it, a tan. I never thought I'd see the day! I feel like honestly I've never actually seen the colour of my face not being red or at least pink. So many people comment on how 'You actually look a normal colour now'. I will mention that I have noticed a change in the texture of my skin. I would say the wrinklyness is diminishing slightly, but I am noticing that the places I suffer with the worst, like my arms and neck have gained these weird little bumps. I mentioned this to the nurse and they said if it wasn't sore or itchy just to keep an eye on it, so I'll keep you updated. 
So for now, LT seems to be doing the job for me. I attempted to research people with Eczema who are going through, or have experienced LT. From what I can tell, reading the little info from Eczema sufferers and the vast amount of opinions and experience from Psorisis sufferers, It does the job whilst you are still going three times a week, but soon after you stop the symptoms come back again. I am very intrigued to see how my skin reacts to the end of treatment. Overall you are allowed 500 treatments on the NHS once you are in the system, but have to have at least six months break between each set of 36. 
I'm 89% sure that in about an hours time, I will remember a lot of things I didn't mention here, which I will  undoubtedly edit in. But for now this is all I can think of, and currently how I'm treating my Eczema, alongside creams of course! 



LT does also take a lot of commitment in terms of traveling three times a week to the hospital. If like me, You start off at 8 second treatments, and live a 20 minute drive from the hospital (Minus the 30 minutes it takes to try and find a parking space) then you have to be willing to dedicate the time. Luckily my employers are very understanding, and as long as you go on Monday Wednesday and Friday, you can attend at any time throughout the day, so fitting it around work isn't an issue for me. 

The Top 8 Most Annoying Things About Living With Eczema

1. Skin - Well duh... Eczema is all about your skin. I don't mean the skin still attached to your body. When you have eczema you leave tiny little skin flakes everywhere you go. Think 'Hansel and Gretel' but with skin....Gross right!  (little tip, if you do notice this hanging out with someone who suffers with eczema, pleeeease don't point it out! It's cringe-worthy enough as it is!) And you spend your entire life hoovering. The joys.


2. Medicines - Your top drawer/bathroom cabinet looks like this...

And that's not even including creams....

You will get used to finding tubes and tubs and pumps of the stuff everywhere, and having to carry a miniature version of one of these round with you EVERYWHERE is vital. (god help the world if you forget it. 'We need to go to boots NOW!')

3. Makeup - The eternal struggle. Do I put makeup on to cover the eczema on my face knowing it will make the eczema on my face worse? or do I not bother and accept the fact people will stare or ask 'Whats wrong with your face?!'
liquid foundation is a biiiiiig no no. It drys out your skin in approx. 10.3 seconds and feels like you have one of those hardening clay face masks on. It is a glorious, joyous day when you find a makeup product that doesn't irritate your skin or make it feel like Frozone from the Incredibles just ice-blasted you in the face.

4. Perfume - Everything irritates eczema, honestly. Even perfumes and deodorant's. You've got no chance in hell of waking up and spritzing one of those gorgeous fruity smelling perfumes over your neck and wrists before you leave the house. Nope. You get bog standard Sanex anti-irritant. How alluring.

5. What Tan?! - If you can tan and have eczema pleaseeeee share your secret! I've come to accept that its almost impossible. The sun is great for eczema, all those vitamin-y rays do wonders, but of course, its not that easy. I've named myself 'The Shade Hopper' due to the fact I cannot bear to lay in the sun for more than a minute without feeling my skin sizzling. 'Oh just go get a spray tan!' I hear you say....hahaha no. Remember point number 1 up there? it literally just shed's off in patches. That does not look cute trust me.

6. The Scratch Cycle - Don't itch. Don't itch. Don't Itch. Don't do it. Think of something else. It will make it worse. These are things that make every eczema sufferer want to punch you in the face for saying. Wow thank you, telling me not to itch has made the situation SOOOOO much better. I wish! Eczema itches more the more you scratch it and the more you scratch it the sorer it becomes and the itchier it gets. Its a never ending cycle that is so hard to break, so please for the love of god do not tell me to simply 'stop scratching'.

7. Sleep - This is one of the most infuriating factors for me. You spend allllll day making a conscious effort to ignore your itches, then BAM as soon as you peacefully drift off to sleep all hell breaks loose. despite your best efforts of sleeping with the window open and a fan pointing at your face in the depths of winter, and slathering yourself in cream meaning every inch of bed sheet will stick to you, you scratch. Oh boy do you scratch. My parents often have to come into my room at night and wake me because my scratching is keeping them awake. Then comes the morning where you wake up and look in the mirror to find you've itched your face until you've bled and it looks like you just got out of a cat fight. You're then left to deal with the struggles of point #3.

8. Obnoxious People - Now this may sound harsh but it's so tedious having to deal with people like this. 'Oh have you tried this lotion, I heard its supposed to work miracles for dry hands, you can get it in Boots!' Yep. Tried it. No I promise I have tried it. I have tried every damn cream under the sun Thank You. 'oooooh does it itch?!' No no, not at all, just ignore my constant scratching, I'm doing it for fun! 'I used to have eczema but it went away!' How absolutely marvelous for you. Congratulations on having wonderful lovely smooth nourished skin, reminding me of how useless my own is. 'Is it contagious?!' hmmm. How about you find out.


 There are honestly so many every day struggles and adjustments people who suffer with Eczema have to deal with, so please, please if you see one of us attempting to put cream on subtly in public so no one notices, or relieve that one itch that has been pestering us for hours, just ignore it and act like its not even happening. We would appreciate it more than you would know!

My Story...

Hello and welcome! Congratulations on making it to my new blog, Fighting the Itch! My intention here is to create a place to document my journey literally fighting the itch. I suffer with severe eczema. Now I know what you're thinking. 'Oh yeah! I have eczema, in the creases of my elbows, or the backs of my knees!'. When it comes to me, yes, I do have it in the creases of my elbows and the backs of my knees....and my hands and face and legs and arms and back and stomach and feet and neck and well pretty much everywhere. In combination with this eczema I also have the worlds driest skin. Literally, I do not understand how  I am not a little pile of dust its that dry. But yeah, I want to document my progress as a way of seeing how well I'm doing (hopefully!) and also as a way of helping the people around me understand what its like to live with. As with many illnesses, it can affect me physically but also mentally, and its not always so easy to see or explain to people that although yes, I act fine and I seem fine, a lot of the time underneath my clothes I'm sore, Itchy and in pain. I think people forget that in fact the skin is an organ, that we need to live, and let me tell you that it sucks when it doesn't do its job properly.

Recently, with the start of my new treatments, I turned to the internet as most do to find out some more information. I really enjoy finding peoples blogs to read about their experiences as a sort of personal way of gaining information, rather than just the medical side of things. I found when I tried to do this, there was very little, if not zero information on the new treatments, and this bothered me. I couldn't stop thinking about all the other people who have probably done the same thing as me and have been left disappointed. So I figured why not start one myself so I can be that person to all of my fellow sufferers, and people going through the same thing as me.


I should do as most people do and start at the very beginning (Its a very good place to start....sorry I couldn't resist). So I've had eczema for as long as I can remember. My mum says its since I was six weeks old, and she would know! So really its been all I've ever known, 'normal' if you will. My brother also suffers, although not at the same severity as me, and so does my Auntie. So again, I think I always just thought of it as 'normal'. As a baby (bless my poor parents for having to do all of this) I was wrapped up In bandages to sleep and slathered in this cream and that cream on a daily basis. When I was younger It was that severe that even simple things like putting shoes on became painful, as my feet would split open during the winter. I always remember having to wear my slippers to school on occasions as I couldn't bear to put my school shoes on.
Over the years my skin improved at a very slow rate. Another memory I have, was being told by the doctors that eczema is known to clear up every seven years as that's how long it takes for every cell in your body to renew (I don't actually know if this is true!) But I remember anxiously waiting for my seventh birthday, and waking up to find that nope, my skin was still exactly the same. The disappointment was real. This didn't stop me slightly hoping when my 14th birthday came around that it could happen to me. Again no such luck. Now I'm 21, I've accepted that its just in my genes, and it always will be. I'm stuck with dry, pink, wrinkly skin!

Left- During a flare up, Right- 24 hours
after starting steroid tablets

So anyway, back to it. I got up to the age of about 15 managing with GP care, and with moisturizers and the occasional use of steroid creams. It was here that I saw a deterioration in my condition and got referred to a specialist. I visited the specialist once every two weeks for about half a year until my skin improved. Once again I got back on track, managing with the same level of care as previously.
This brings us up until the beginning of this year. After Christmas I saw vast deterioration with my skin, suffering from flare ups daily. This really began to take its toll, and after numerous visits back and forth the GP he admitted he did not know how to advise me any more, so said he would refer me to the specialists again. Whilst waiting for this referral I was put on a heavy dosage of steroid tablets to control the flare ups. Obviously this wasn't the best for my body or a long term solution so I had to wean off them, finding my skin went back to the exact same condition as before.

Left- During a flare up, Right- 24 hours 
after starting steroid tablets

Meanwhile my mum called up the specialist only to find it would be a four MONTH wait, something I just couldn't do, so we weighted up our options and decided to go private. This was the BEST THING we could have done. (If you are ever lucky enough to be able to do this, I would absolutely say go for it, we paid for one consultation and the rest of my treatment was then through the NHS, so free!)  I was given a consultation within weeks, and offered all kinds of new treatments we didn't even know about previously. I was admitted to hospital the day after the consultation for a week in order to get my skin under control. Luckily my skin responded well to the constant treatment of creams, lack of stress, and rest, and I was able to leave after five days (thankfully, as there was no WiFi?!).



On my last day in hospital I started light therapy (UBV). I'm not going to go into explaining this in depth here, that's another post but here's a link if you want to know more
Light therapy is known more commonly for treating psoriasis, but has been known to improve eczema, but takes longer to show results. So far I have had five treatments, and a combination of the LT and the new moisturizer and steroid creams, I have not had one flare up since leaving hospital (touch wood!)

So yeah, that's where I'm up to now. I visit the hospital three times a week for the therapy for three months, with the entire treatment lasting 36 visits. It is a treatment that requires commitment and effort to travel to the hospital that regularly, but honestly I am so willing to do it if it keeps my skin at the condition its in now.

I hope this post helps people understand a little more what its like to have had eczema my whole life, albeit it is rather brief, other posts will go into more factors in depth.

Keep fighting the itch,

Soph x