How to | Deal with oily/spot prone skin on a daily basis

Having suffered from oily and blemished skin since the age of eleven, I know exactly how frustrating it can be to wake up in the morning with a face full of spots, having to cover it up with make up in order to make yourself feel more confident about it and then getting to midday only to realise that, because of the oil your skin produces, said makeup has become practically non-existent. I can't count the amount of times I have googled how to get rid of spots quickly, or ways to keep your makeup on for longer. And from these searches I've gathered a myriad of hints and tips regarding how to deal with skin like this on a daily basis, so I've decided to put it all into one neat little blog post in order to help anybody out who has the same problems as me.

Morning and/or evening skincare routine:
In the morning I wash my face with warm water in order to open up pours, and then use Clearasil Ultra Rapid Action Scrub to cleanse my face and rid it of any oil/impurities that accumulated overnight. After rinsing my face of the scrub, I apply Witch Stick to any particularly nasty blemishes/spots that needed reducing quickly (if you're after a home-remedy kind of cure, I find both vinegar and perfume work well in drying out spots quickly), before using a cotton pad and the Garnier Spot Purifying Toner all over my face (excluding the eyes and mouth). After this has dried, I soothe my skin with the Garnier Spot Fighting 24hr Moisturiser, which helps in providing a base for my makeup.
My evening skincare routine is exactly the same as my morning one, except I used the Garnier 2in1 Makeup Remover Purifying Gel.

Top three foundations for oily skin:
1) Maybelline Superstay 24hr Foundation - Slightly more expensive than what I would usually buy, but I think it's worth the extra couple of pounds, and the coverage is fantastic. As long as I keep on top of my powder, this foundation doesn't budge all day.
2) Revlon Colorstay Foundation - Less expensive than the Maybellline foundation, but still great at controlling oil. The coverage is light, so not as good for covering blemishes but if you don't have a lot of spots and simply need to reduce shine then this is the best.
3) Clinique Anti-Blemish Solutions Foundation - number three because it is way out of my price range, but those of you who are able to afford this type of coverage - all the reviews say it's the best one out there. And it's the least expensive of all the more expensive foundations.

The best shine reducing powder:
Rimmel Stay Matte Powder - I use this every single day that I wear makeup, it's honestly the best product for finishing off your look, setting your foundation and making sure you don't look too oily. I carry mine around with me in my bag in case I find myself getting too shiny during the day.

Food and drink:
Water - water is the best thing you could do for your skin. It keeps you hydrated, flushes out toxins from your body and, if your skin is as sensitive as mine, contains absolutely nothing (such as sugar etc) for it to react to.
Dark berries - they're full of anti-oxidants and really great for staving off growls of hunger, which will stop you from eating unhealthy foods in order to fill yourself up again.
Sweet potato - helps to release sugar quickly and lower stress levels, and considering sugar and stress are two of the main causes of skin breakouts, this vegetable is a skin clearing superhero.

Preventing/getting rid of shine when you're out-and-about:
Something you should never do in order to reduce the risk of producing lots of oil during the day, is touching your face an unnecessary amount. This includes sitting with your head in your hands during class (tempting, I know, especially if all you want to do is go back to bed) and wiping away shine with your hands, as this just puts more bacteria on your face which means it will produce more shine in order to combat this and also result in more breakouts.

Instead of using your hands to rid your face of oil and stop yourself looking so shiny, you can used blotting paper (for example the ones of £8.50 from Bobbi Brown) or if you're on a bit of a tight budget, just use a tissue or toilet roll and then reapply your powder. This will help in ridding your face/pours of bacteria before it has chance to settle without removing your makeup.

I hope this helps you all with your oily/blemished skin troubles, and that if you chose to take my advice you stick with it in order to see the best kind of results! If you find that none of this has helped, I'd recommend making an appointment with your doctor as I am in no way trained in giving advice about any of the products mentioned in this post. If you find nothing helps, not even going to see a medical professional, just keep in mind that it may be your hormones playing up as your body is changing! Not all hope is lost, your skin won't be shiny forever.

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