Shattering Toxic Beauty Standards with Liz Claire

Hi beauty skincare lovers, I am Elizabeth but a lot of people call me Liz for short. For the past few years, I’ve been on a mission to shatter toxic beauty standards to help women on their acne journey to feel comfortable and confident in their own skin while healing holistically.  On my socials as well as my day to day life offline, you’ll find me passionately sharing my knowledge and personal experience with my cystic acne journey and partnering with honest brands to inspire skin positivity and self acceptance.  From a young age especially in my teens, I had falsely believed that my worth was measured by people’s validation of me, especially how boys perceived me. Was I pretty enough? Was my skin clear enough? Was I good enough? This ongoing pressure and toxic trait of comparing myself to others led me to irresponsibly rely on quick fixes that did more damage than good. Rounds of antibiotics and years of hormonal birth control severely damaged my overall health and of course turned my mild pimples into a fully fledge cystic breakout that was painful and sore.  [gallery link="file" size="medium" ids="11020,11019,11018"]

Changing my mindset and habits

It took me years to realise that my acne inflammation is literally my body’s way of asking for help. It was a visible symptom of internal imbalances. So,  I finally built up the courage to make real changes that would deliver long term benefits to my overall mental wellbeing and physical health. When we invest in ourselves, it becomes a beautiful form of self love. I took a holistic approach to heal from changing my diet, to bettering my sleeping patterns, to looking into herbal medicine to support my body, to de-stressing, to stopping hormonal birth control pills, to balancing my hormones naturally, to using the right skincare routine. Everything counts. At first it could be overwhelming to change your habits but eventually it’d become second nature. Out of everything I do daily, these will always be in my wellness ritual to nurture of my skin and self love.

Removing inflammatory foods and replacing them with nutritious alternatives

I used to feed my body loads of processed foods, refined sugar and unhealthy drinks. Oh my goodness and fast food. All of these had put a heavy toll on my liver, and digestive system (all of which caused irregular bowel movements and as a result impacted my skin). Once I removed these I was giving my body a chance to heal. I ate more nutrient dense meals, probiotic rich foods, focused on having enough fibre, had lots of leafy greens etc you name it. Not only did my skin heal faster but also my mind was a lot clearer. I had more energy to enjoy life and it’s made a world of a difference. [gallery ids="11026,11025,11023"]  

Double Cleansing

I love my skincare routine, but if I don’t cleanse properly all the products that follow will not work their best! We don’t want to apply product on top of clogged layers! This is why I love my FOREO LUNA 3. It helps me remove all my SPF, makeup and dead skin cells thoroughly but gently enough for my acne prone skin. My skin feels so much better and I love using the back of LUNA 3 to massage my face. So soothing and helps me increase blood circulation. It’s basically an ultra-soft hygienic silicone facial cleansing device with 16 intensities and variety of firming massages for customisable cleansing experience!! I’ve got the blue one for combination skin and I’ve absolutely fallen in love. Perfect for my skin especially when I have indented acne scarring where makeup and dirt residue is hard to get to! [caption id="attachment_11027" align="alignnone" width="1024"] LUNA 3 allows for thorough, but gentle cleansing[/caption]  

Stopping mindless strolling before bed and sleeping before 11pm

This one is a huge one. In this day and age we are so attached to our devices that it becomes second nature to scroll mindlessly on IG or TikTok just before bed. Try to cut this out. It’s a rule I tell myself to follow, so much that it’s become a habit that I don’t even though about.  Limit your time on your phones and allow your body to rest properly. Your skin heals best at night and having quality sleep will improve your overall health.    The more time and effort you put in yourself, the more self love you’re fostering. My acne journey has taught me so much and I will always thank it for giving me strength. I hope you find your self love ritual that helps you celebrate and embrace your uniqueness! Keep thriving, keep evolving.   Lots of love,  Your gal Liz  ~ Hear more from Liz via her Instagram channel @prettyprogress23.