What’s On Your Face?: babe’s social media editor on anxiety and skincare

Name: Syra Aburto

Age: 22

Occupation: Social media editor at babe

Skin type: Combination / Dry

Favorite brands: Clinique, St.Ives and Aztec Secret

I used to have a really nasty, anxiety-induced habit of picking my skin, which left my beautiful bronze canvas riddled with scabs and scars. I never really had acne per se, just a face that had been abused by my nerves. The first thing I needed to do to take care of my face was take care of my nerves, and my anxiety just had to go, so I got help lol.

But the actual skin care routine goes a little something like this:

Wash with a mild cleanser

My favorite cleanser is obviously Cerave or Cetaphil, and when my skin is feeling extra dirty I opt for the classic, Noxzema. I WASH MY HANDS FIRST, then wash my face using my hands after I've created a lather with the face wash. I like these because they don’t give your skin that tight, fit-to-split feeling I get from harsher cleansers.

Exfoliate

I do this every other day, at night only. And I only started doing this after my skin didn’t have any more scabs. I have really been loving the St.Ives Citrus scrub because of how fine the exfoliant particles are.

Time for a little healing

My favorite mask is the Aztec Indian Healing Clay. I know, how basic of me, but this shit works!! I mix mine with warm apple cider vinegar that I heat up in the microwave for 15 seconds. It gets rid of all the bullshit that’s deep in my pores and helps any blemishes heal faster.

Only leave it on for 10 minutes though because it will get as hard as a rock. Thoroughly wet it before you try and remove it.

Add some moisture

After all of that, I apply my favorite Korean eye cream, Forencos, to my eye area, and moisturize the rest of my face with Clinique Dramatically Different moisturizing lotion.

For around my nose and forehead, a thicker moisturizer.

Clinique's Moisture Surge, has been a life saver. This helps with my more sensitive skin, specifically around the nose and forehead. I even re-apply throughout the day.

For discoloration

For any discolored spots I apply Mederma at night to them to lighten their appearance.

Then I finish the whole process with a generous application of lip balm and a heavy spray of Mario Badescu facial spray, in rosewater.

Get with the winning team, hoe!

@carolinephinney