Week from Hell

Hey guys! Happy Halloween😊🎃 I hope you're all enjoying it responsibly and not wearing inappropriate face makeup that could irratate your skin!

I've left it a few days since my last post, for this I apologise. The last week has somewhat been a week from hell. I was planning to do a halloween make-up tutorial and suggest good types of face paint with no perfume in it, etc but other things kinda got in the way...

In my last post you may remember I was saying about the skin around my eyes. So the next day, I woke up and my skin was a lot worse - twice as swollen and the skin around my lips decided to flare up as well.

After this, I decided to call NHS Direct and through this I luckily managed to get an out of hours appointment as it was a Saturday and I was away from home. 

I went to see the doctor and she was useless. She blamed the flare on the different detergent that could have been used on the sheets and gave me a strong anti-histamine. I didn't stand for this at all. I have travelled to loads of places and never, ever has my skin reacted like that.  

When I got home and saw my doctor for a second opinion he didn't know why it flared up either - (so annoying). I guess as eczema sufferers we should just be used to it flaring up whenever it wants without an explanation. 

Just to make sure it wasn't due to an allergic reaction to something, I want to get another allergy test done soon. Hopefully this happens!

So after I got home on Sunday, I decided to feel very sick. Long story short, I ended up in A&E for the night. This had nothing to do with my skin - just a sick bug. This has put me out for the past week as I've still felt really ill at points.

I had a dermatology appointment on Monday afternoon. I really wanted to go to it to help sort my skin out as the anti-histamine tablets weren't working and I needed to find out what creams to use to settle it down. 

So I arrived at the hospital, after coming straight from A&E, having no sleep and a car breaking down on the way to be told my appointment had been CANCELLED!!! And no one had the decency to call me and tell me that it had been cancelled!

I spoke to the Supervisor of the booking department and she lied blatantly to me, saying they have tried to call me every day and sent a letter on Friday 'and even put a stamp on it to make sure it got to me on time'. Lies. The receptionist printed out letter to show me it was sent that morning. Great. A letter sent to me on the morning of my appointment saying it had been cancelled, only to be received at my address two days later. 

I was NOT happy and made sure I kicked up a massive storm, which worked because I was able to see someone else. Yes, it wasn't an in depth appointment but at least I got what I needed.

I've said it once and I'll say it again - never stand for people messing you about. Only you knows what is best for your skin and you should fight for it! (how cheesy) Things will never get better unless you complain about it and do something. 

Until the next time,

Naomi

XXX

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Red and swollen eyes :(

Heya guys! 

This is an update about how my skin is doing. I'm currently spending the weekend with my boyfriend, so of course my skin around my eyes has to decided to flare up. 

Before I went to sleep on Thursday night I cleansed my skin and went to sleep feeling happy about how good it was looking - clear and glowing. Then when I woke up on Friday morning, my eyes felt heavy and sore. I then looked in the mirror and saw that the skin around my eyes were incredibly red, looking as if I had used a ton of red eyeshadow, and were incredibly swollen. Two days later and still no progress. 

I called my doctor surgery, spoke to a random doctor and she told me to get hydrocortisone cream - one of the cheapest and most skin thinning creams there is. Anyway I went to the counter to get it and I was refused sale as apparently 'it's not to be used on the face'. Why prescribe me a cream that's not meant to be used on the area?! I really don't understand it.

I'm feeling so frustrated. All I wanted was to look pretty this weekend for him and instead my face is a flaking, swollen, hot mess. 

The thing that's kept me going though is I know that there'll be other weekends and my skin won't be like this for much longer (hopefully). I'm seeing my dermatologist on Monday so I'll just have to be patient in the meantime and put up with it.

The reason for it happening? I have no idea. I have been prescribed Nizoral recently for my skin and according to the internet (so definitely taking this with a pinch of salt), less than 1% of people who use it can experience eye swelling, redness, irritation and dry skin. But who knows? I'll keep you updated.

Until the next time,

Naomi 

XXX

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Moisturiser and Getting Specialist Advice

Hey guys, I hope you're all well :) So today I was watching the film 'New Year's Eve' (what a cracker of a film) and it struck me as I was watching the scene in Times Square with everyone wearing hats with 'NIVEA' written on them, that all moisturisers don't necessarily do their job of 'moisturising'.

It of course depends on your skin and what suits you, but personally Nivea has never worked for me. I think it's perfumed product so it's no surprise that it irritates my skin immensely whenever I use it. 

Honestly, the best moisturiser for you is the one that has been specifically prescribed to you from your GP or your dermatologist. For me, it's Cetraben and Clinque Moisture Surge, as discussed in the previous blog post. So if you're not sure what moisturiser is best for your skin and where you should use it, make sure you ask a specialist. 

Us eczema sufferers should know exactly what is wrong with our skin and where it's bothering us, but sometimes we need some help with what creams to use. When I was doing my A-Levels I lost track of what creams I should use and I could feel my skin getting worse on my hand, a major sign that it was about to flare up all over my body again. The Doctor I had at the time was a massive pain in the arse. She refused to refer me back to the hospital where I was first seen as she said my skin was 'fine and didn't seem that bad', so unfortunately I had to go private in order to be referred again on the NHS.

However I was right to do this. My skin was getting worse and I did need some specialist advice. I've dealt with countless Doctors who either refuse to help me, make me feel stupid or just prescribe me the cheapest cream hoping I'll go away, but I didn't stand for it and if you're being treated like this, you shouldn't have to either. If you feel like you're not getting the help you need, do some research. If your GP practice has multiple doctors, find out who deals with dermatology there as they should be able to help you. If that doesn't help, insist to get referred. I'm not sure how other systems work outside the UK but everyone who suffers with eczema deserves the right to have their skin looked after.

Everyone is different as some people are lucky and don't need much help at all whereas some need a lot. But whoever you are, you deserve to feel happy and confident about the skin you live in.

Make sure YOU feel happy with how you're looking after your skin. Don't just use a cream or a moisturiser because someone tells you to. Only you know what makes your skin feel and look better.

Until the next time,

Naomi

XXX

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My Daily Make-up Routine

Hey guys! Today I thought I'd go through my daily make-up routine. I admit, this would have been a lot easier and probably more thorough if I'd have filmed this but I wanted to at least give you a snippet of the make-up I use and how I take care of my skin cosmetically and how you can too.

So let's get cracking!

This is the make-up I use on a day-to-day basis:

• Clinque Moisture Surge
• Clinque Superprimer
• The Body Shop BB Cream in number 02
• Collection Illuminating Touch Brightening Concealer in number 3 Glow
• Rimmel Stay Matte Powder
• Clinique Airbrush Concealer in Natural Fair
• Clinque Up-lighting Liquid Illuminator Bronzer
• Collection Work The Colour Eyebrow Kit
• Bourjous Khol and Contour Eyeliner Pencil in number 72
• Benefit They're Real! Mascara
• Clinique Chubby Stick in colour 12 Oversized Orange
• Mac Lipstick in Matte Viva Glam

As you can see, I've got a few Clinque products. Clinque is one of the main reasons why my skin changed for the better. I know it's pricer than other high street products but it is worth the money. The reason I love Clinque is that a lot of their products are super moisturising and they don't have any nasty ingredients such as perfume or other additives that cause your skin to be drier. Also, they have specific foundations to suit each type of skin, such as their tinted moisture surge foundation which I love. I first found out about them when I was referred to my first dermatology clinic. Before then, I was using Maybelline Dream Matte Mousse and trust me when say I used to cake it on, which not only dried out my skin but made it a lot worse. To be honest I don't think piling on make-up is a good idea for any type of skin! If you want to check out their prices or what to see where their nearest counter is, check them out here: https://www.clinique.co.uk/

If you can't afford it, no worries,  most high-street products are getting better than what they used to in terms of them being kinder to your skin, but please please PLEASE make sure you check what ingredients they have in them before you buy it! The last thing we want is for your skin to get more dry due to the perfume and other nasty cosmetics a lot of high street make-up brands have in their products. 

It is really a process of trial and error with make-up. If you're feeling confident, ask the make-up assistants that sometimes loiter around at Superdrug or Boots. If not, pick up a bottle, swatch it on the back of your wrist to make sure it matches your skin tone, check the ingredients and if you're happy with it, try it out for a while and see how it suits you and your skin.

If some days your skin needs a bit more moisture, you can always add a bit of your moisturiser to your foundation but from experience, when my eczema is starting to flare up on my face the best thing to do is just leave it. I feel like such a hypocrite saying this but if you should learn from my mistakes, my advice is just to make sure you're using all the creams you're supposed to and just let your skin breath. There's nothing worse than piling on mountains of foundation (like I used to) when you've got an eczema flare up.

With my make-up, I try to keep it light.

So before putting on my make-up, I wait until all my creams that I've put on  (I shall do a blog about this at some point) have soaked in and then I apply my Clinque Moisture surge, just to make sure that my skin is really moisturised and happy. 

On top of this I then apply my Clinque primer. Clinque has different types of primers for different types of skin, so this one helps calm down my redness which eczema so kindly brings to my face. The thing I love about this primer is that it doesn't only make my skin feel incredibly smooth after but it's also a brilliant base to put my make-up on.

At the moment I'm not using a Clinque foundation as I came across The Body Shop BB cream a few months ago and fell in love with it. It's incredibly lightweight and once I've got it on it looks like I'm wearing hardly any make-up - so very natural looking. 

To conceal some of my problem areas which I have, like the redness around my nose, some red areas on my cheeks and black rings under my eyes I use the Collection concealer, creating several small dots and then patting until blended with my ring finger. If I'm honest, I was a little disappointed with the Clinque concealer, as I find that the Collection one works ten times better and is a quarter of the price. So once I've concealed,  I then brush on the Stay Matte powder just so that everything underneath is longer lasting and put a bit of the Clinque concealer on my black rings as I personally think it brightens more than conceals, perfect for brightening under my eyes.

To finish off the skin I then dab on small amounts of the Clinque bronzer to under my hair line, just above my cheek bones and on my jaw line so it's all even around my face and then rub it in.

So now my skin is done, I'm now going to do my eyebrows using this kit. I know Collection's products probably aren't best for the skin, but personally my skin has never had any complaints using their concealer or their powders.

As you can see (I do apoligise for the state of this compact, it does need a bit of a clean!) there are three powders, ranging from dark to a lighter colour. What I do is I use the brightest powder just at the start of my eyebrow with the flat side of the brush that's provided and then gradually get darker using the other slanted side of the brush, using the browner colour and ending with the darkest powder at the end of my eyebrows.

Now the eyes - some people don't know this but the skin around your eyes is incredibly sensitive, especially for those who have eczema. As I've said in my second blog post, the skin around my eyes at the moment is quite dry and red so the last thing I want to do is put loads of eye make-up on top of it. So simply all I'm using is the Bourjous eyeliner on my upper waterline and a tiny bit in the corner of my lower water line, completing it with a few coats of Benefit mascara on my lashes.

To finish this all off, I put some of the Clinique Chubby Stick to give my lips some moisture before adding some MAC lipstick on top. I love MAC lipsticks, they smell so good! As they do include perfume, it is a wise decision to make sure you have a put on a moisturising lip balm beforehand to keep your lips looking nice and kissable.

Before

                                         

After!

So there you have it, my daily make-up routine!

If you've got this far, I really hope this was useful to you. But just remember, a little bit can go a long way. And if you have got the right make-up, it really can do your skin wonders and improve it rather than make it worse.

Until the next time,

Naomi

XXX

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Patience is key

Good evening my lovelies! I hope wherever you are you're happy and well.

I'm definitely feeling a lot happier than I was yesterday. I just have to get on with my creams now and keep on being patient. Unfortunately I'm not in a situation like I was with the wet wraps when I was a baby and results happened overnight, it's now a tricky process of trying to stay in control of my own skin.

I was reading a few things about eczema last night and it reminded me that although we all have the same condition, it's different for every person who has it but although it's unique for everyone it's mostly dealt with the same way - creams, consistency and care.

Although I'm here to give advice to those who are reading, I want to remind you that I am in no way an expert - just someone who has dealt with it in depth and wants to help those who need a bit of support.

So the next blog post I will definitely get on with that!

Until the next time,

Naomi

XXX

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I'm not feeling so confident today...

Heya! Me again. I'd hoped for my second blog post I'd start going over what make up I normally wear when my skin is more sensitive/dry than normal but if I'm honest, I'm feeling a bit down today about my skin and I wanted to share what's going on.

I went to the doctor who I used to see when I was a baby, and probably haven't seen much of since but I knew he specialised in dermatology and wanted to ask him some questions before I see the dermatologist I normally see at the hospital in a few weeks.

My main purpose going there was to get some more creams as I thought I'd take advantage of my new NHS card (which by the way, how great are they?!) and to ask about my skin above my mouth and on my eyes as they've been dry for ages, despite the copious amounts of cetraben moisturiser and daktacort ointment I'd been throwing at it and it had been driving me crazy. 

So I asked him and he revealed that I actually have another skin condition in some areas on my face called Seborrhoeic Dermatitis, which is pretty much eczema but needs other creams to treat it.

To be honest, I'm really annoyed that it hasn't been picked up before. I really felt happy with how it was being looked after by this dermatologist and now I'm concerned they'll only treat what's obvious or what I point out. 

Does anyone know anything about this condition? I'm refraining looking too much into it on the internet because I've learnt over the years to take what you read with a pinch of salt with what you find on google.

To make things worse, my skin has been driving me CRAZY. I'm itching my wrists and my legs which is really worrying me because my wrists haven't been a problem at all since I was younger. 

The problem is, as many of you know one of the things eczema is activated by is stress so by getting stressed I'm then itching, which is then making me more stressed because the eczema is there and it's a vicious cycle. 

I'm just glad that I went because I might not have ever found out. Better late than never, right? At least now I'm using all the right creams! You always have to look at the positive :)

Until next time,

Naomi

XXX

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First Post - A little bit of my story and why I'm here.

Hi there! This is a little nerve wracking.. If I'm honest, I never imagined I would start a blog, let alone plastering the issues I've had with my skin and my life etc all over the internet!

So why did I decide to start? 

I've grown up watching YouTube beauty videos, as I'm sure many others have and never seemed to come across any discussing eczema in depth. Of course I've seen people discuss other skin issues such as acne and talk about sensitive skin but famous beauty youtubers discussing eczema? Never. I might be completely wrong and I know there are some things out there but I was never exposed to it. Also, I'm an only child so I never had a big sister to help me with make-up and show me the ropes. I had my Mum, but her being a mother she didn't like me wearing much make-up, resulting in me making disastrous mistakes, making my skin ten times worse.

So I've decided to start with a blog as I didn't want to dive straight into YouTube, in order to help some of those who are feeling fed-up with their sensitive skin and want a few tips in order to feel more confident. I know people say this but I really, really do know how it feels to feel so lost with it all.

I've had eczema since I was born. I had to wear the wet wraps a lot of the time when I was younger. For those who don't know what wet wraps are, they're basically bandages covered in cream. I loved them. I loved how you would put it on, leave it on overnight and once you took them off in the morning it was gone. Like magic! What I realise now is that of course they probably include a hard steroid cream in order to make it disappear like that, which those who are treated with eczema know it's not great to use as it can really thin out the skin.

I don't remember having many problems with my eczema when I was a kid, the wet wraps were only used until I was about three. This was until I had just turned 14, the age where like probably most other teens, was my most self-conscious and always wanted to look my best. So typically, my skin was likely to get it's worse then as I find skin always wants to look it's worst when you want to look your best!

The first sign I saw that my skin had worsened was when I was looking in the mirror and seeing dry skin all over my face. Initially, my first reaction was to get some exfoliator, probably heavy in perfume and other additives and scrub at my face. Obviously, my very sensitive skin hated this.

The thing was, what made me so self-concious was the fact my skin hadn't just worsened on my face - it was all over my body. It actually makes me quite emotional thinking about it because it had got so bad I cut holes out of my school jumpers to put my thumbs through, just so that my red, flaky hands and arms were never revealed.

The summer before I turned 15 was no better.. I went on holiday and wore leggings the entire time. No exaggeration. I wore leggings when I went to the beach, when I went swimming, everywhere. Just so that I never had to show my skin.

I could go on.

But it got better... A few months after my birthday I went to Queen Mary's Hospital in Paddington to get an allergy test, for those who've never had one you have swatches of different things put on your skin and whatever your skin reacts to means you have an allergy. I wish I could say that they found that I was allergic to something which was causing all of this and to this day I've never had a problem again but unfortunately I can't.

However, what I CAN say is that the women, who I wish I knew because she literally changed my life, told me to go upstairs to the Dermatology clinic. This is where I met a team of Doctors, who told me that my GP was prescribing me the wrong things and that I need to go on a 'tropical skin treatment', meaning from then on I would use creams everyday to help control my skin. And OH MY GOD did it?! My skin cleared up in a couple of weeks and I started to feel a lot more like myself. I remember the first time I put on a t-shirt again. It sounds so silly but being able to do that and not have to worry about my skin or what I looked like made me feel so... free.

Now, I'm 20. It's definitely been an up and down road since then with my skin and I probably have lost control at some points with it, but it's still a hell of a lot better than it was.

In addition to this, I KNOW HOW TO TREAT MY SKIN & WHAT MAKE-UP TO WEAR. I put this is capitals because I NEVER knew what to do with it when it was at my worst and how I wish I did! It would of made my life and my skin so much better and easier to deal with!

So after a verrry long explanation and this story (for this I apoligise) this is why I've starting writing. I now know the mistakes I made and wish I could go back in time to 14-year-old Naomi and yell 'DON'T WEAR THAT MAYBELLINE FOUNDATION YOU'RE CAKING ON!! It's one of the reasons your skin is so bad!'

So if you've got this far, thank you. And if you're struggling, don't worry. Eczema is one of those demons that has bad phases but if you know how to deal with it, you'll be able to cope with it a lot better. If you keep on following my blog and this page, I promise I'll tell you everything you know and maybe, just maybe the next time you feel it getting worse you might be able to handle it better with some of the tips and tricks I'll start revealing soon.

Until the next time,

Naomi

XXX

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