Beauty Pick: Napoleon Perdis Auto Pilot

For most of my adult life (not that I consider myself an adult but lets just say from 21 until recently) I never had much of a face cleansing routine. The reason being; throughout my teens I tried a number of different products but my skin was just too sensitive and would break out, so from about 21 and up until about a year ago my skin care routine involved makeup removal wipes and a bit of soap in the shower. Disastrous I know but in this time I had minimal zits, so I figured it worked for me.

Rewind to the beginning of my skin story. When I was twelve years old I began the awkward puberty stage and along with it I began to get clusters of break outs on my forehead and around my mouth. My Mum took me to the dermatologist and just like my brother, sister and a few of my cousins before me, I started on Roaccutane; an oral pharmaceutical drug. Roaccutane is a very strong drug and has a number of possible side effects such as dry skin, increased sensitivity to the sun, depression and much more. It's not a drug anyone should rush into taking, I suggest carefully considering the effects and if it's right for you and of course you must consult a doctor and dermatologist first; as test must be run before starting a course. Since I started on it quite young, my course was shorter; only 6 months and  the way it works is it makes your skin get worse before it clears right up. I am extremely happy I went on Roaccutane at a young age, as my skin does not have any acne scars and has been mostly smooth and clear since.

In saying that from the age of 13 up until around 21 I did have phases where I did get breakouts again, mostly due to hormones and well as much as I'd like to, I just can't control those. I tried a number of products to keep my skin clean and hopefully clear the break outs but I found everything I tried just made my skin flare up even more and leave me feeling even more self conscious. And this where my fear of skin care products and a good skin care routine began.

Fast forward to about a year ago when I was in the makeup chair at Napoleon Perdis, having my makeup done for an event. The makeup artist was asking me questions about what I do and what I use to take care of my skin and I hesitantly and embarrassing said nothing really. He went on to ask me to feel the texture of the skin on my nose, feeling a little down about it I went ahead and felt the skin on my nose. He told me it had a sandpaper like texture but he of course had a product that could fix it right up.

I know these makeup artist's job is to try to up sell me on as many products as they can but the Auto Pilot Hydrating Milk Cleanser is by far the best skin product I have ever used! It cleaned my skin like no product has been able to do before.

Why?! How?!

I've started using a face wash in the shower every morning and night and while this helps clean the top layer of my skin from makeup, dirt and grime, it does not give it a thorough cleanse. I tend to use the Auto Pilot Hydrating Milk Cleanser twice a week, after washing my face in the shower I apply the milk cleanser to a dry face with a clean face brush and let it sit for approximately a minute or so. Then with a cotton face swab I wipe the milk cleanser off and you can see on the face swab just how much makeup and dirt remains on your face, even after washing it. And of course, the milk cleanser fixed my sandpaper skin texture problem immediately.

The only problem I have now is; I'm almost all out of this magical gem so I'm going to be needing to stock up on my next visit to Australia!