E3 Wrap Up + At-home Facial Tutorial

Aaaand I'm back! I apologize for being MIA for the past 3 days - the E3 Expo was held in Downtown LA, and as a part of the videogaming industry, it was my duty to go...and after 8-hours on your feet walking hallways after hallways, by the time you get home, all you want to do is recouperate. And I was there for 3-days straight!

people waiting for the opening of e3

The E3 Expo was once one of the largest electornic (aka: nerd) conventions (up there with CES and Comicon), after a few years of major FAILs, this year was hyped up to be its comeback. I must say, it was pretty darn cool seeing what developers, publishers, and consoles had in store for the upcoming years. This is my first year, so it was pretty incredible to see the depth of videogames.

Some cool pictures:

sony booth

Here's a quick wrap-up - there was a billion things there, but it was sensory overload:
_Microsoft debuted their proof of concept technology of an incredible new motion-sensored camera, making it unnecessary for an actual controller. They also have this incredible AI named Milo that can read and recognize faces, voices, and emotions...but is kinda creepy, but has a British accent so I still find him charming.

_A lot of sequels, including Assassins Creed II, God of War III, Halo ODST, Mafia II, BioShock II, Rock Band Beatles edition, Guitar Hero Van Halen

_Tony Hawk has a new skating game, Ride, that comes with a wireless "skateboard" peripheral, so that you're actually simulating skating
_DJ Hero is like Guitar Hero, but with a DJ turntable and totally looks wicked cool
_The new Batman game also looks awesome

Some more pictures:

who ya gonna call?
playing with the new psp go

Our Senior Editor, EB, and I went around taking pictures with videogame characters, and it reminded me of when you're a kid going to Disneyland, taking pictures with Mickey

i'm such a lady's man - wait, that's not right.

is it bad that i'm not sure where this character is from?

rayman raving rabbids - you gotta mimic the face!

NERD ALERT! I'm a big fan of Marvel Comics, specifically, X-Men, and guess who was there? None other than the man himself:
I could kick myself for not getting in line to get his autograph, but the line went around the block and I had a meeting I had to go to. =(

And I'm not sure what this guy was doing there, but that's SNL star Jason Sudeikis - he plays Joe Biden and is one-half of the 2 A-Holes skit. Super nice guy!

Here's the thing about conventions - what do you wear?! On one hand, you don't want to look like a slob, but on the other, you definitely cannot wear heels when you're on your feet for 8-hours walking around. Since the convention was more casual, I wore gladiator sandals with jeans. That's a good medium, right?

--
On a separate note, I read in Vogue how to cut costs by doing your own quick facial, and decided to do my own tutorial! I do this about once a week (when I remember):

• I tend to have problematic skin - I break out, but my skin is dry AND also really oily. How lucky am I? [sarcasm] Since my skin is far from perfect, I use a lot of anti-acne meds, which can dry up my skin, which in turn forces my skin to produce oil. It's a constant balancing act.
• I use a lot of Patricia Wexler's line (found at Bath & Body Works), because I found that it duels as anti-aging and anti-acne, I also like Murad for my day moisturizer and deep cleansing mask
• Since my skin can dry up easily, I skip on the anti-acne meds the night I use a mask, and just apply moisturizer
  

The products:
_patricia wexler exfoliating facial cleanser with acnostat (also has 2% salicylic acid)
_patricia wexler overnight acne repair lotion
_neutrogena alcohol-free toner
_cvs brand eye make-remover (oil free)
_cornelia moisturizer
_patricia wexler 3-in-1 eye cream
_murad clarifying mask

Step 1: remove eye make-up

Step 2: wash yo face! since i have an exfoliating wash, i don't use an additional exfoliant, but if your wash doesn't also exfoliant, i would recommend you lightly exfoliating after cleansing

step 3: dampen & heat up a wash cloth - i put mine in the microwave at 15-second intervals to make sure it didn't scald my face. leave warm towel on for 5-minutes

ew, don't mind my gross microwave! how embarrassing

step 4: mask! i found that less is more in this case; apply evenly over your face and neck, leave on for 5 - 8 minutes, until completely dry

i forgot to do my neck, haha.

step 5: rinse off mask & apply toner (i took a shower, hence the towel on my head)

step 6: gently tap eye cream around your eyes with your ring finger (the weakest)

step 7: i would normally put my anti-acne lotions & meds here, but since my skin would completely dry out, i skipped it and applied a moisturizer instead

This is a great way to keep up with your skincare on a smaller budget...it's all about knowing your skin, and understanding that if it's oily, it could be because it's in fact dry and over-producing oil to compensate. If your skin is truly dry, use a moisturizing mask instead, just make sure to tone afterwards to clear and close up your pores.

I learned that the #1 rule for most skin types is to moisturize at night - I used to NEVER moisturize at night (figuring my skin was too oily), but ironically, since I've been moisturizing, my skin has been a lot less oily. Weird.

What are your daily/weekly/monthly rituals to keep up good skin?