Recently I had a pizza-faced-style breakout.  What felt like atleast 50 blemishes* erupted simultaneously volcanic like on my generally fairly zit-free (bar the odd hormone induced pimple) skin.  As you can imagine, I was underwhelmed by this development and immediately sensibly investigated full faced ski masks.

Unfortunately this didn’t work out for me because a) Sydney spring this year has been unseasonably warm – I nearly passed out from overheating, and b) I just couldn’t style up an outfit worthy of bank-robberesque chic that the mask demanded.

Next I resolved to look at my diet – I’m generally pretty healthy but probably maintaining a certain level of chocolate consumption shouldn’t be a daily goal.  I hit google and narrowed it down to upping my intake of blueberries and salmon. According to the net both are skin super foods. Let’s dub this the ‘Bear Diet’ as apparently bears (yes that’s right the large, growly, furry variety) generally love salmon and berries.  Their fur looks pretty glossy – so I was willing to try it out.

Finally I looked into to how to actually fix the problem skin side out.  I stumbled upon dermalogica’s Sebum Clearing Masque.

Tell your boyfriend/husband/anyone you want to remain attractive to, you are washing your hair/arranging fridge magnets/otherwise suitably employed prior to applying this mask.   Once on, it looks like you’ve completely missed with the toothpaste. It’s Visibly (no that capital V is not a typo) white.   Which, despite the social implications, I actually liked.  Because it meant I could see any sections that I’d missed and address them. It also means that if you want to apply it to only a specific section (like your t-zone) you can.

It feels lovely and cool on the skin.  And that ten minutes of mask leave-on passed in a flash (of hiding in my bathroom so I didn’t scare my husband).

Verdict?

The Mask: Total face saver  – I’m pizza-face free.  To avoid potential future breakouts I’m going to use it once a week on my t-zone. Just. In. Case.

The Bear Diet: The jury (of one, not a huge sample size admittedly) is out on whether this made a difference but they’re both delicious so I’m going to keep them in my diet.

*Maybe a slight exaggeration. Technically it was approximately 4 – but they were ENORMOUS. I felt like the living embodiment of ‘a pox on your (my) house (face)’.