Author Archives: Kelley Maddison

A Good Night’s Rest Means More Than You Know

Prepping our skin for the day is something that most people view as a key component in achieving healthy, fresh, and overall glowing skin. However, not many people understand the importance of completing night time skincare and keeping a steady routine for it. Depending on how you handle your skin, sleep can either improve your skin or damage it, let’s look into how we can use sleep to our skin’s advantage!

Sleep Schedule- Judith Hellman, MD, a board-certified dermatologist says “As far as the skin is concerned, lack of sleep causes the stress hormone cortisol to be released, which in turn encourages inflammation in the skin, causing flare-ups in conditions like acne, psoriasis, and even eczema.” The National Sleep Foundation recommends seven to nine hours of sleep per night for adults. Sleeping less than that can play a big role in the development of wrinkles, sagging skin, and dark circles under the eyes. This happens because throughout sleep your body delivers fluids to organs and tissues that need replenishing, while removing excess fluids from other areas. Cutting the sleep process short can also increase levels of inflammation and stress hormones, which can destabilize your immune system, ultimately aggravating skin problems such as acne, psoriasis, and eczema.

Nightly Skincare- A lot of people excuse themselves from accomplishing their nighttime skincare regime due to being exhausted. I have undoubtedly been a culprit of this myself; nonetheless it is critical to avoid this lazy excuse at all costs. Allowing your skin to breathe while you sleep is a vital part of achieving a healthy, youthful looking glow. Removing your makeup at night is not optional because pore-clogging cosmetic products will seep into your skin throughout the night and cause or exacerbate an array of skin problems. Take five minutes out of your time to remove any makeup, cleanse your skin, hydrate, and moisturize before bed. And yes, even PRIIA’s acne-safe makeup needs to be removed before you go to bed! We recommend our best-selling acne-safe makeup remover to make taking off your makeup a breeze!

How To Sleep- When is the last time you washed your sheets? Probably a lot longer than two weeks, which is the longest recommended amount of time you should go without washing them (sheets include your comforter and any other blankets you may sleep with). It is also highly important to wash your pillowcase weekly, if not every three days or so in order to remove any residue left on it. Something most people overlook is the type of pillowcase they’re using and the effects which it will have on their skin. Simply choose a silk case over a cotton one. Natural silk pillow cases, like BLISSY, are less absorbent. Your skin and hair will stay moisturized because the pillowcase isn’t absorbing all of the natural oils from your skin. Silk also naturally contains amino acids that are easily absorbed into the skin. Not only is silk a good choice for skin purposes, but hair benefits as well. Sleeping on silk prevents less irritation, drying, friction, and any overall damage from affecting the skin or hair.

Turn bedtime into your skin’s radiation rejuvenation time!

Sources: https://www.sleep.org/how-sleep-improves-your-skin/

All About Our Lovely Lumilitez Highlighters!

Here at PRIIA we offer two different versions of our LumiLitez Highlighters: creme and powder. Our creme LumiLitez come in the shades Aura and Luna, while our powder LumiLitez come in Moonglow, Starlight, and Sunburst. We offer different versions of our highlighters to allow our
customers to achieve varied results if they so wish.

Creme: When it comes to our creme highlighter, application is key. Whether you opt to use a makeup tool or your hands it is important to apply this product gently. Just dot it on the areas you want to highlight and then stipple it lightly with your clean finger or a stippling brush. Do not rub it on or across your face as this will effectively smudge your makeup.

Powder: When using powder it is equally easy to apply with a highlighting brush or your hands. Regardless of your application technique, dispense some product into the lid of your jar and then dip into the powder with a clean finger or brush. Next, just lightly swipe across whatever area you’re intending to highlight.

Where To: Highlighting the correct parts of your face is crucial to achieving a lit from within glow look, also known as strobing. On the face you should highlight along the cheekbones, bridge of the nose, tip of the nose, brow bone, cupid’s bow, & inner corners of the eye. If you’re looking for an all
over shine also lightly highlight your collarbones and shoulders.

Tools To Try: Use our unique Chubby Blender Brush for blush, bronzer, highlighter, contour and even precision foundation application.
Get Your Glow On!♡

Hello PRIIA fam! My name is Lauren Maddison, I’m Kelley Maddison’s (PRIIA’s CEO) daughter. This is my introduction to all the blogging I will be doing from now on here at PRIIA, so I feel it’s important that I share a bit about myself.

While attending the University of Tampa last semester I was pursuing a business degree, however I became gradually unsatisfied with the copious amounts of meaningless work I was being forced to complete. I soon found myself in an incredibly disconcerting place, wondering if I was wasting my time, energy, and worst of all my creativity. After realizing that I was on my way down a rabbit hole of discontent only to become dispassionate, I decided to alter my career path. Because of PRIIA I am finally able to utilize all of the things I felt I was previously draining myself of. Throughout the articles I post I will be covering topics including but not limited to: all things acne, makeup application, general beauty tips, etc.

I’m deeply grateful to have the opportunity to work with such a beautiful company and community of customers. Thank you for your time!

Your Foundation Needs a “Check Up”

It’s officially Spring! You’re most likely headed outdoors more often. It’s time for your foundation to undergo a “check up”. What does this mean? Simply put, your fall/winter skin tone is usually a little lighter than it is in the spring/summer and therefore you need to make sure that your current foundation shade is still a good match.

If you find that your foundation is a little too light now, you can simply go ‘down’ one shade level OR you can apply some Vacation In a Jar Bronzer on top of your foundation. You can also mix the bronzer directly into your loose foundation to deepen the tone.  We offer inexpensive sample sizes of our products, including foundations, for you to test out before committing to full-size products.

If you’re unsure if your current foundation is the right color, please see our in-depth Foundation Matching tutorials. 

How to Knock Out a Zit

Ah the joys of being almost 46 and STILL being acne-prone. Yes, I’m nearly middle-aged and I can still manage to get a zit. Most of the time this happens when I don’t pay attention to what I’m eating (i.e. acne-triggering foods) and/or or when I’m testing out competitors’ products. I can truly be my own worst enemy at times.

Lately I’ve been craving peanut butter. Specifically peanut butter spread on a banana. I have no idea why (no, I am NOT pregnant). I really try to stay away from peanut products because peanuts are high in androgenic hormones which can cause acne flareups. The proof is in the pictures in this article. As a result of my peanut butter and banana debacle, a big ‘ol zit reared its ugly head right on my chin. I played and therefore, I paid.

This zit hurt- it was raised, very inflamed but there was no ‘head’ on it so I wasn’t able to try and extract anything.  For the record, I do NOT advise anyone to try and ‘pop’ their own zits. I’m a licensed esthetician and a certified acne specialist of over 12 years. I know exactly what to do and how to extract pimples properly so as not to cause scarring or further infection. I also know when NOT to try and extract a zit.  In this case, I had to use a great spot treatment ASAP otherwise this zit was going to get big enough to have its own zip code. Yikes!

How I Knocked Out This Zit

First, I removed my makeup and washed my face with PRIIA’s acne-safe makeup remover. I LOVE this stuff. My skin is left feeling clean and soft- not tight and stripped. After I cleansed, I used PRIIA’s Hydrating Skin Spritz as my toner. Both our makeup remover and Hydrating Skin Spritz are pH balanced. Yay! Then I applied ice to the zit for about a minute. (keep that ice cube moving so as not to cause any ‘ice burns’ on the skin).

Next, I sprayed one pump of Hydrating Skin Spritz into the palm of my hand. I then sprinkled some of PRIIA’s Calm Down Anti-Blemish Powder into my palm and I made a thin paste. I applied this paste to my zit and went to bed. I only slept about 5.5 hours (my cats woke me up waaaay too early) this night but you can see in the picture how the inflammation was significantly reduced. The zit was no longer raised. It no longer hurt. It had basically just turned into a small flat light red spot. I did the same treatment the following night before bed and by the next morning it had faded away almost completely.  I’m thrilled with the results. A bonus was that the skin surrounding the zit did NOT get dry, flaky or irritated from the Calm Down Powder paste. Winning!!!!

I highly suggest giving this blemish spot treatment a try!

*Medical Disclaimer: The contents on this site are for informational purposes only, and should never be a used as a substitute for seeking the advice of a medical professional.  No content or products on this site is intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease or condition.  PRIIA® Cosmetics assumes no liability for any claims arising out of the misuse, allergic reactions, or any injury suffered with the consenting use of the products offered/suggested on this site.

 

The Right Way to Apply PRIIA’s Best-Selling Loose Mineral Foundation

Applying loose mineral foundation?  Well all you need to do is ‘swirl, tap, buff’, right?  WRONG.  PRIIA’s loose mineral foundation is applied differently. It’s a better application process that is more kind & gentle to your skin (especially if you’re acne-prone) AND gives you better results!

PRIIA’s loose mineral foundation is already formulated to adhere really well to the skin so there’s absolutely no need to do any crazy swirling and buffing. All you need to do is our easy-to-learn 3-step ‘Stamp & Blend’ technique!

  1. Dispense a few sprinkles of foundation into the lid of your jar OR into your Minerals Mate Tray.
  2. Dip the head of our synthetic Flat Top Brush into the dispensed minerals making sure to really press the brush head into them. You want the minerals to be loaded well into the brush head.
  3. Starting at the outside edges of your face, gently ‘stamp’ the brush head onto your skin and then go back and blend downward in one direction. Go back and repeat this process working toward the inside of your face until you reach your desired coverage. PS- blending  downward also helps to lay fine facial hair flat giving the skin an overall better appearance!

That’s it!  It’s so easy!  Here’s a few extra tips to help with you this application method:

  • Before applying your loose mineral foundation make sure that any skin care products you’ve put on your skin have had a chance to fully absorb. If not, your minerals will adhere to spots making the end result look patchy and splotchy.
  • Apply our Acne-Safe Foundation Primer BEFORE loose mineral foundation application to increase the longevity of your foundation.  All you need is a pea-sized or less amount of primer to get the job done.
  • Got large pores? Make sure to really press the foundation into the areas of your face that have enlarged pores (generally this is in your T-Zone). Basically, you’re “filling in the holes”. Don’t worry- our products will NOT clog your pores so press away!

Five Minutes to a FLAWLESS Face!

When you’re short on time but need to look flawless, here’s a super easy and fast way to get the job done in five minutes or less!

After cleansing and toning, apply our Acne-Safe Tinted SPF40 + Primer all over your face. This product serves as a substitute for a light foundation, SPF and primer all-in-one!
Tip: Be sure to wash your hands right after you apply this product as it may stain some fabrics.

Next, apply concealer to any areas that need some extra attention such as under the eyes and blemishes. You can use PRIIA’s creme concealer right out of the tube and blend with your fingers or you can use our loose mineral foundation with our Wet/Dry Concealer Brush.

Third, apply a light dusting of our Behave Finishing Powder in Tinted or Untinted all over the face.  If you’re prone to excess oiliness during the day, use our HydraPrime Oil-Control Powder instead.

Fourth, apply a little bit of our Vacation In a Jar Loose Mineral Bronzer to areas where the sun would naturally “kiss” your face. Or use the bronzer just on the apples of your cheeks in place of your regular blush.

Next, apply our Lip Treatment Balm in Tinted or Untinted to keep your lips protected and feeling baby soft all day.

Lastly, apply one to two coats of your favorite mascara.

Voila! You’re done in five minutes or less!

How To Make A Custom Finishing Powder

At PRIIA, we have our BEHAVE Finishing Powder. It’s a wonderful product for setting your makeup look and mattifying your overall look. It’s perfect for balancing combination skin types. BEHAVE Finishing Powder is currently available in 6 shades. However, five of these six shades are being discontinued. The only shade we will continue manufacturing is the one called UNTINTED. It’s actually our best-selling “un-shade” finishing powder because it’s semi-translucent and won’t change the color of your foundation.

But, we know there are die-hard PRIIA fans who are going to miss our tinted finishing powder options.  Don’t fret!  If you really want a tinted finishing powder, it’s so easy to make a customized one.  All you need are a few things:

  1. BEHAVE Untinted Finishing Powder.
  2. Your perfect PRIIA minerale-derm Loose Mineral Foundation.
  3. A tray for mixing such as our Minerals Mate Tray.
  4. Our Deluxe Powder Buffer Brush.

Simply take a little BEHAVE Untinted Finishing Powder and put it into one of the mixing wells in the Minerals Mate Tray. Sprinkle a few crumbs of your PRIIA minerale-derm Loose Mineral Foundation on top of the BEHAVE Untinted Finishing Powder. Gently stir the two powders together with a cosmetic spatula or even a Q-tip. Lastly, dip your Deluxe Powder Buffer Brush into your mixture and apply. Voila!  It’s that easy! You can make your creation as dark or as light as you want by simply adjusting how much PRIIA Loose Mineral Foundation you sprinkle into the BEHAVE Untinted Finishing Powder.

If you have leftovers of your customized finishing powder creation, simply cover it with one of the Minerals Mate Tray lids. BAM! You’ve got finishing powder for the next day!

Breaking Out During Seasonal Changes

*Article posted with permission from Blooming Skin Care & Acne Clinic in Bloomington, Indiana.

Autumn Means Acne Flairs for the Blemish Prone
Acne flares seem more common in many of my clients during late September and October. Research surrounding seasonal changes done by French Endocrinologist Alain Reinberg supports that the lessoning length of daylight can trigger hormone fluctuations that contribute to acne flares. My theory, a little too much fun this summer has resulted in a delayed flare.
How could that be? It takes as little as 14 days or up to 90 days for a clogged pore to turn into a pimple. Realistically the stuff you’ve been doing or NOT doing for the last few months, (like you are using your customized home care) are probably contributing.

Think back to all the things you were doing just a few weeks ago.
Summer sun burns and tanning of all kinds can result in acne. They usually pop up several weeks later after those sundried dead skin cells have become trapped, yet again, in the pores.
Summer Heat & Humidity causes the stratum corneum to swell. This puts pressure on the fragile follicle walls.

A high carbohydrate diet – basically, processed foods like bread and refined grains that are quickly broken down into sugar – can have a terrible effect on skin. The theory is that refined carbs cause your insulin levels to spike, which in turn leads to increased sebum production and clogged pores.

Noncompliance! Skipping home care, even if it’s just a few times at camp or at a sleep over, allows cellular debris to start piling up in the pores once again. You may not notice breakout immediately but in the weeks and months to come.

Stress, the BIG one! Doesn’t matter if it’s good or bad stress. Moving, starting a new job, going away to college… all rank right up there as some of the top acne contributors.

1. Swimming Pools-chemicals used to clean pools contain ingredients that aggravate the follicle.
2. Summer Foods-Vacations and BBQ’s are full of acne causing foods. Although certain foods do not cause acne they are a major factor on your acne occurrence and severity.
3. Summer Heat-Bacteria loves a nice warm environment and the heat of summer is like heaven to P.Acnes Bacteria. Your clogged pores have had all summer to “grow” bacteria and now they are manifesting into acne lesions. This is why we tell you to ICE!
4. Sleep Overs/Camps-It’s really hard to stay on track with your home care routines with all this fun stuff going on. Inconsistent product usage WILL catch up with you!

If you find yourself breaking out and would like some guidance, schedule a consultation to start with Christy at Blooming Skin Care & Acne Clinic in Bloomington, Indiana or with your local esthetician.

How to Stop Makeup Slide

Every so often we have a customer contact us to say that no matter what they do their PRIIA makeup seems to ‘slide’ off within a few hours. The first questions we ask them are: “What skin care products are you using?” “What is your skin care routine?” “Which PRIIA minerale-derm products are you using?” We ask these questions because PRIIA’s formulas are made to adhere to the skin.  We have thousands and thousands of customers who successfully use our products without incidence so we know that 9 times out of 10, makeup slide is due to ‘user error’.

More than 99% of the time we find out that customers are using inappropriate products for their skin type and/or they’re layering one product after the other and not letting those skin care products absorb properly.  When you’re using skin care products that are too ‘heavy’ for your skin type or you haven’t given the correct products a chance to fully absorb, your makeup can’t adhere properly.  This goes for ANY makeup- not just PRIIA.

Here’s how to correct the situation…

  1. Make sure you’re using skin type appropriate products. Heavy, oily-based skin care products don’t absorb properly and tend to just sit on the surface of the skin. Likewise, skin care products that are too harsh can adversely affect the skin barrier causing an over-production of sebum throughout the day. When using appropriate skin care products don’t use too much. Use only the recommended amount. Too much of a good thing isn’t good. You’re simply wasting product AND money.
  2. Before applying primer and/or foundation, wait AT LEAST 10-15 minutes for your moisturizer/SPF to fully absorb. Your skin should NOT feel wet or overly tacky. It should feel soft and mostly dry to the touch.  While you’re waiting for your products to absorb go brush your teeth, get dressed, have breakfast, etc.
  3. Once your skin care products have absorbed properly apply your makeup in light layers. Remember that you can always go back and add more but you can’t take away if you’ve applied too much to begin with.
  4. When using our acne-safe primer only use a pea-sized amount (about a half pump’s worth) for the entire face and use less around areas of the face with a lot of creasing (i.e. the sides of the nose). We’ve had customers tells us that their using a couple pump’s worth at one time! WOAH…don’t do that! Again, too much of a good thing isn’t good.
  5. If you’re an oily-skin gal, consider using our HydraPrime oil-control powder to ‘set’ your makeup and to help absorb oily breakthrough during the day. If you have combination skin, our BEHAVE Finishing Powder is a great product to help balance your complexion and complete your look.
  6. Give your complexion a refreshing hydrating boost during the day with our Hydrating Skin Spritz! It instantly delivers moisture while helping to lock down makeup.

If you’ve tried the above suggestions and you’re still experiencing problems, consider making an appointment with a licensed skin care professional. They can examine your skin properly and assist you in choosing the correct products for your skin type and skin condition.