Challenge Day 23: Loss of Willpower and Cheating

I’ve started to cheat on my 30 day challenge. First it was the deodorant that wasn’t cutting it. Fear of offending my coworkers and husband made me pick up the Secret Clinical Strength again. Then there was the meeting in which I blew my nose and my boss told me I should go home if I’m sick because “you look terrible.” I wasn’t sick. Skipping eyeliner and trying to use power for under eye concealer wasn’t cutting it either. Adding eyeliner and liquid concealer back in to the mix proved to be a slippery slope. The very next day I added brow gel and blush back in too.

Admitting my lack of willpower to Meghan, she said:

Leave it to me baby: Just like the South Beach Diet, you start with an initial “purge” and cleanse where you restrict your face (diet) to only the most pure and essential elements. After completion of Phase 1, you can gradually re-introduce other aspects of your beauty routine, paying close attention to those that may cause a reaction. Finally, you will arrive at Phase 3, where your face will be returned to a happy equilibrium and you’ve managed to throw out one or two bad products.

And I have to agree with her. I honestly wasn’t ever to give up makeup – I just love it too darn much. The real point was to clear up my skin and switching my cleanser and moisturizer did that in the first few days. Now I’m just going to keep an eye on whether or not the products I added back in cause a reaction. I’m most worried about the blusher directly on my skin causing a breakout. But I definitely feel more confident now. Just because I’m a mom who is regularly short on sleep and a bit frazzled at the end of the day, doesn’t mean I need to look like it.

The initial purge really did help clear out a lot of the unecessary products and take stock of what I really like and want to use. That fancy mascara that is sold out in all the stores, but I scored a sample from a PR rep? It felt fancy to get it, but I don’t use it, so why keep it? I started packing for my long weekend in Mexico today to see if there was anything I needed to buy and realized that I’ve parred down my beauty routine enough that I can go full carry-on. Just a few 3oz liquids and the rest of my makeup and toiletries fit in a TSA friendly ziplock bag. I’ve literally shed some baggage!