#74 Back to Black

I’m ashamed of myself. It’s been weeks and weeks. I have a valid excuse, I promise. Well, almost. Glasto was one of the best experiences of my life – despite a spate of malodorous moments that will continue to haunt me until the end of my days – and taught me some extremely important beauty lessons.
Namely, that...

- no matter what you put on, through or over your hair, if you have no access to water, you’re buggered.
- that you can still remain relatively sweet-smelling without washing if you’re eating well (vegan and veggie food galore!!), not getting pissed (yep, I sorta forgot to drink a single drop for four whole days and nights…?!) and are stashing a massive bounty of baby wipes. Really. I got home, stripped off and had a good ol’ sniff and it wasn’t half bad. Apologies if that’s the most disturbing thing you’ve ever read, but, well, it is true…

The other thing I learned is that if you are going to spend over 12 hours a day out of doors (I’m a city girl, I’ve never done that in my life!) that permanent rain and an entirely grey sky will not protect you. You still need a hell of a lot of sunscreen. My skin, which in ten years has not left home without an SPF15 veil, really really suffered. The worst thing? My hands. I’ve got a massive spray of dark spots – or funky freckles, as my husband kindly described them – across the back of my right hand and they’ve yet to fade. It’s rather upsetting to know that just four days in the great outdoors might have resulted in mottled hands that last a lifetime. I’m using Clarins best-selling Hand and Nail Treatment Cream, which claims to reduce discolouration – we shall see. I promise to report back. The other problem I encountered – alongside sleeping for 3 days straight on my return – was with my complexion. Despite tons of fresh air, lots of water, walking and healthy food, I seriously broke out – simply because I could not adequately clean my skin. I packed Olay’s Daily Facials – for combination skin – which contain Beta Hydroxy Acids. I’d packed high sunscreen too, so didn’t think it’d be a problem (acid exfoliation + sun = AGEING ALERT!), but had to eventually accept that I had been wrong. Basically, my skin burnt – even under regular SPF40 applications – and I never ever burn. I woke up with a slightly pink nose and hairline – hardly devastating damage, but still damage nonetheless – which caused me to ditch the wipes from day two onwards. On returning, my skin was bumpy and uneven in colour – spots had developed beneath the surface on my forehead, around the hairline and across my nose and chin. Luckily I had 5 days before I needed to be back at work, so I took it easy and focused on exfoliating to get my skin back to smooth, even normality – I’m currently loving Agera’s Microderma Crystal C Activator, which is one of the best exfoliants that I have ever used in my life – and the gentle, calming products from Omorovicza, which I’m remaining loyal to until further notice. I also packed Dermalogica’s Hydrating Mask on for three days in a row and my skin drank it up like Amy W on the vodka (that’s not me being bitchy – I was there and saw her…) So now, spots cleared up, skin evened out, dry patches disappeared and I’m almost back to my old self. Almost…