Your beauty wish: "Flawless, blemish-free skin." , Your Top 10 Natural Beauty Wishes -- Granted

Health & beauty

Your Top 10 Natural Beauty Wishes -- Granted

From de-frizzing to de-fuzzing here we share answers to your natural beauty dreams (well, sort of) by offering up expert fixes, tips and tricks

September 9, 2010 | by Molly Roemer | 30 COMMENTS

Your beauty wish: "Flawless, blemish-free skin."

Beauty wish granted: Based on the skin care prowess of Annet King, Director of Training and Development for The International Dermal Institute, and our annoyingly flawless friends who weighed in on the 7 habits of perfect-skinned women story, reducing stress via workouts like yoga, or hiking, running, or power walking outdoors is a major piece in the blemish-free skin care puzzle.

Why's that? King says stress causes our adrenal glands to increase the production of androgen hormones, which amplifies the creation of oil, yielding acne. So, all the benzoyl peroxide in the world won't clear your skin unless you get to the root of the problem --keeping your stress hormones on mute. And of course eating healthy, staying hydrated, getting enough sleep, not smoking, yada yada yada all contribute to better skin.

And King explains that skin care is like working out -- eventually you reach a plateau if you don't switch it up from time to time. Here are some of her suggestions for your skin care regimen, namely for those with acne-prone skin:

Step 1: Use a cleanser with salicylic acid morning and night. Look for one with tea tree, which will help fight inflammation. Try Dermalogica mediBac Clearing Skin Wash, $33.

Step 2: Use a liquid or cream exfoliating mask with hydroxy acids or enzymes, or even salicylic acid, two to three times a week. Try Zia Pumpkin Exfoliating Mask, $19.02.

Step 3: Look for a formula with five percent benzoyl peroxide, or sulfur or zinc oxide like DDF Benzoyl Peroxide Gel 5 Percent with Tea Tree Oil, $24. And if you must pick your face -- King shows us how to pop a zit the right way in this video.

Step 4: King recommends using two moisturizers:

First, for acne-prone areas of your face, use a light moisturizer that is also a mattifier and/or contains salicylic acid, green tea, niaminicide or zinc. For day, try Paula's Choice Skin Balancing Daily Mattifying Lotion SPF 15, $20.95 and for night try Clinique Acne Solutions Clearing Moisturizer Oil Free, $16.50.

Second, for the rest of your face, use a moisturizer that's right for your skin type. For example, you may need an oil-based moisturizer if your skin is dry.

SEE NEXT PAGE: Your beauty wish: "NO UNWANTED HAIR!!!!"