St. Ives Blemish Control Apricot Scrub

The secret to having “no pores” skin:

I’ve been using this for 10 years. I first came across this product when I lived in Manila to review for my board exam. Ever since then, people have been praising my skin… strangers, friends, friends’ mothers.

Some of my most amusing encounters:

– A colleague gets into an elevator full of people with me. She stares at my face for a while till she finally gasps: “You have no pores!!”

– My flatmates’ mom comes over for a vacation. While I do the dishes in the kitchen, she suddenly tells me: “Kahamis sa imong kutis, pwera buyag!” (“Your skin is so smooth” followed by a superstitious expression uttered to prevent engkantos or fairies or non-humans from getting jealous and turning my praised trait bad. It’s a Filipino thing.)

– I’m lying in my friend’s bed during a sleepover at her place. I open my eyes to find her staring at my face with a strange expression. “What are you doing?” I asked her in befuddlement. “I know you’re heartbroken but I hope it doesn’t mean you’ve turned lesbian.” We laughed, and she explained herself: “Your skin, it’s so tight! I want to have skin like that.”

Of course, I also have my genes to thank for this. I realized it recently when I met my mom’s cousin during our family trip and she told me: “Your skin is so smooth! Just like your mother’s and grandmother’s were when they were young.”

My genes have given me so many bad things – I’m too fat, my nose is too flat, my hair is too big, etc, etc, but at least I’ve got this one good trait! 🙂

St. Ives helps to make it better, though. I use it daily, even though scrubs are usually recommended only thrice a week or so. I slather it across my skin, rub in circular motions, scrub harder on pimple scars (if any), and then I leave it on while I soap up the rest of my body before rinsing everything off. I believe it having it on my skin longer makes it more effective. And I guess it works because I’ve never had a blackhead. White heads, though, is another issue entirely.

Exfoliation gets rid of old skin cells, making your skin look like new. I get the occasional zit every now and then and I usually can’t help but pop it, leading to a scar, but they all fade after some time, thanks to skin renewal. Some people achieve this by using peeling agents, but I don’t like those because I don’t like the look of peeling skin and what if you use too much and your skin gets burned, and when you use those you’re supposed to avoid the sun, etc.  So I stick to my scrub because it’s safe, non-constricting, and never makes me look like I just had a bad sunburn.

I change beauty products all the time except for this. This is my one true constant and I will stay loyal to it forever and ever so I hope they never stop making this.

How about you, what’s your most favorite beauty product that you swear by?