I’ll admit it – I have difficult skin. It’s sensitive, oily, prone to break outs and flakiness. Ugh. I’ll also admit that I’ve spent much more than I should on countless products that promised to make it all better, but never really did. I have tons of half used bottles of lotions, tonics and potions (it almost sounds like I’ve been visiting a snake oil salesman…) that never fulfilled the promise of peaches and cream.
Then I tried this.

from my friends at dermalogica
It never occurred to me in my teens that I needed to take care of my face. Sun spots from the sun? Yes. But for the most part, I was relatively acne free and I didn’t exactly have dry or oily skin. Fast forward to now when all I think about when I look in the mirror is how badly I wish I could reverse all the years of lying in the sun without SPF 80 or wishing I wasn’t a “popper.” Ha.
Since our wedding is less than 7 months away, I’ve really been trying to pay attention to my skin. After all, I’m going to be photographed in all kinds of angles, different lighting, etc., and I don’t want to feel self-conscious on our big day. In addition, we want to go some place warm/tropical for our honeymoon, and I don’t want to wear foundation/cover-up while I’m on the beach. It’s not a good look.
I’d show you my face sans make-up, but it’s not cute. And I’m shy and I’m afraid you’ll make fun. But, maybe this visual will help: think of super pale skin. Add some redness and dryness around the cheekbones. Throw in some whopping under-skin blemishes and some scars from 10 years of picking at my face…. and that’s me.

I’ve spent so many weeks (and months) preparing everything for the wedding that this weekend was finally some time to prep myself. I spent my Saturday getting a much needed facial and my hair done. With only 4 weeks to go, I figured that a facial would be good at this point so my skin will be nice and clear for the wedding day.
To demonstrate my reasoning, here’s a pic of what I look like now, after having a deep cleansing facial (with extractions):
As we get closer and closer to the wedding I seem to have more skin issues. Like Miss Cupcake, I too managed to burn myself on a kitchen appliance. While her accident involved a toaster oven, I burned my upper arm making tea. While reaching for something else, I managed to get my arm in the direct line of the steam coming from the tea kettle. This resulted in a quarter size burn that blistered, peeled and is still healing.

I won a free skin analysis a month ago and even though I am only 25, I can say I was scared of what I saw - an image of me at 50 and it wasn’t pretty. I didn’t used to wash my fash regularly but because of that and the great help of the specialist, I am proud to say that I wash, tonic and cream my face every day, plus I exfoliate once a week. I have seen a remarkable difference, and it’s true - once you get the hang of it, you don’t want to stop.
Though I rarely have breakouts, in the last 3 days I’ve had 3 pimples. I blame the wedding for that!
What are your best miracle pimple zappers? Have you gotten some pimple appearances because of wedding stress?
Well, the actual title of this post should be “How Not to be a Sweaty Beast on Your Wedding Day.” But that might have been too frightening! Here is where I divulge my big embarrassing confession: My name is Miss Canary and I am a sweat-er.
I think it runs in the family. Papa Canary starts eating a bowl of noodles… and pow… he starts to drip like he’s been hanging out in the Amazon! Come summer and NYC humidity, I start sweating big time. And of course, smarty Miss Canary decides to get married in sweltering July… one of the hottest and most humid months in the city.

{Image from here}
This post is a little more TMI then I normally like to put on here, but I think it’s important to bring up because I know I’m not the only girl who has this problem. I’ve fought on and off with acne my entire life. Right when things start to clear up in one area, they pop up in another. Right around dress fitting time, this area happened to be my back.
I used to have this problem when I played tennis all the time and sweat up a storm, but never just because. While I would love to get “back-cials,” or facials for your back, it’s just not in my budget. When perusing the skincare section of my local Walmart (I refuse to spend tons on beauty products, except for shampoo and some makeup) I came across Neutrogena’s Body Clear Body Wash.
Read more…
Mr. Candy Corn and I have been engaged since September of 2004, so needless to say we’ve had some time on our hands to plan things. Even though I knew we’d be getting married eventually, it always seemed like a childish fantasy that would never really play out. Now that we’re actually signing contracts and making appointments to consult with vendors, it’s making my stomach dance around, Beck-style.
There is one thing that I can’t control that sort of terrifies me. The big day is getting closer and closer, and I know I’m going to be a shy spazz when I walk down the aisle with my pops and when I say my vows. The main problem on my plate is that my face turns completely red (I mean Sally Jessy Raphael glasses red) when people pay an ounce of attention to me. I don’t really know what to do about it, other than wear 8 layers of foundation (and I SO don’t do foundation). People have said that I might have rosacea, but my face doesn’t get blotchy like this:
I had my airbrush tan appointment last Wednesday, and I was waiting to give a review until after my cousin’s wedding (which was wonderful) to let you know exactly how it went. I was skeptical at first, but in the end I think it was worth it!
It’s definitely not something for the overly modest, although you can decide how much you want to expose. The spa I went to provided paper undergarments which in and of themselves were quite entertaining. I stood in a shower stall and was sprayed down…the worst part for me was holding my arms out and away from my body for so long. My arms were killing me! The actual spraying took about 15 minutes but then you have to stand around and let yourself dry properly before you can get dressed. Aside from my arms and the fact that the spray itself was cold, it was pretty painless.
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Sunday was my FFIL’s birthday, so Mr. H and I spent the day at his parents’ house. While Mr. H worked on his car, FFIL H and my FBILs worked on a playground for Mr. H’s nieces. I took over and played with Heidi, Mr. H’s oldest niece (who is two), outside all day so that her mom could get some things done around the house.We rode around on the wagon, rode around on her bike, chased each other in the yard and had a really fun time, just the two of us. While I wore a long sleeved light jacket so I wouldn’t get tan lines for my bridal portraits, I completely ignored my face. Not a good thing.
I now look somewhat like this:
(Image from here)