Hello and welcome to another Mailbag Friday! My name is Dr. Ryan Shelton and today I will be answering two questions from customers just like you! Today we have a special theme that’s a bit different than usual, and that theme is Makeup!
My First question about makeup comes from Sarah in Buffalo, NY.
Q: Hi Dr. Ryan! Every time I wear makeup my pores look so huge and you can see them from a mile away. How can I make them smaller?
A: Hi Sarah! This is a great question that so many people ask me. I have good news and bad news. The bad news is you can’t technically shrink your pore size. The good news…
There are things you can do to help them stay tight and make them less visible!
Your pores naturally change size throughout the day depending on a lot of things. For example, warm temperatures tend to make them open up and cold temperatures tend to make them tighten.
Another thing that makes them open up and look enlarged is dirt and bacteria which clogs them, so to keep them as tight as possible, you really do need to stay on top of your cleansing routine.
By rinsing off dirt and bacteria twice a day with an antibacterial cleanser you’re helping to make your pores smaller and less visible.
My Lavender Oil cleanser has some great ingredients, like Peppermint Oil, that work to help tighten pores naturally and make them stay that way throughout the day, so this would be a great product to add to your routine!
Another thing you can do is try a makeup primer that is specifically meant to blur your pores.
There are many on the market right now, but just make sure that if you do use them, you’re doing as much as you can to wash it all off at the end of the day.
Going to bed with makeup or dirt sitting in your pores is only going to make them appear even bigger, so don’t let yourself fall victim to that!
As long as you keep up with your twice-daily facial cleanse, you’ll be keeping your skin healthy and your pores as tight as they’ll go.
Thanks for writing to me Sarah, I hope you got something useful out of this answer!
My next question comes from Catherine in Baltimore, MD…
Q: Hi Dr. Ryan! I have a lot of dark patches that show up through my makeup and I want to hide them better. How can I do that?
A: Hi Catherine! Dark patches can be tricky to deal with because they stand out so much and can make you feel insecure, so I understand why you’d want to cover them up. To do that, there are two major things you need to do.
First, invest in a colour-correcting makeup product to cancel out the dark patches. Depending on your skin tone, you should be using anything from a light salmon to a darker orange or even brown.
This colour will help cancel out the dark patches so that when you put foundation over them, you’ll hardly notice they’re there!
Colour correctors can make a huge difference, but they can be difficult to get right and they take up a lot of time…
This is why the second thing you should do is work on treating your dark patches.
Making these patches appear lighter may take time, but it will eventually end up saving you the time and money that you spend on your makeup.
Not only that, but it’ll make you feel more confident to go without makeup and help you fall in love with your skin again!
My professional recommendation is to use a product that is going to lighten and prevent new Dark patches, like my Dark Spot Corrector.
I’m particularly proud of this product because it has some powerful ingredients that are backed by science to help solve the problem you’re experiencing.
If you use a product like this in your routine, you can help lighten those dark patches and create a clearer and more even complexion.
It does take time, but in my opinion, getting rid of the problem entirely is way better than having to cover it up!
Hopefully this gives you an idea of what your options are, Catherine. Thanks for asking this great question!