Product endorsement: Seaweed Mattifying Day Cream

I have oily skin. It's time I came right out and admitted it, and I mean admitted it to myself. I tend to deny basic facts about my body, for who knows what reasons. I used to pretend that I had dry face skin, so I would buy heavy-duty moisturizers. What did that do? Just kept me oily all day long and give me more breakouts. One mental breakthrough came a few months ago, when I went to buy a new bottle of Clinique yellow lotion, and the salesperson suggested I try the then-new yellow gel, instead. I love it, and I use it every night after washing my face. I still produce oil, but the gel doesn't add any extra, which is nice. So that was a big moment in my beauty routine.

However, my face still gets very oily throughout the day, so much so that if I use those oil-blotting papers at any given time, I have to use at least two or three to make my face shine-free. In the process of being oily all day, my makeup just falls off my face, so by the end of the day, I look completely makeup-less (except for my eyes, because of an awesome eyeshadow base I discovered a few months ago and now use religiously). Not good. Especially not when thinking about keeping my wedding makeup on all day next May.

However, a few weeks ago I started looking into mattifying products that would keep me oil-free throughout the day, and I found a great one. It's the Body Shop's seaweed mattifying day cream, and it's great! I wash my face in the morning, then apply the cream, and let it dry (which happens very quickly). I then go ahead and put on my trusty Oil of Olay moisturizer with SPF 15 (SPF is a must, throughout the year, and I like this one because it doesn't smell too much like sunscreen).
(The Body Shop has an SPF version of the mattifying cream, but I figured I would try things this way first, since I had a brand new bottle of the Oil of Olay lotion anyway, and so far I'm satisfied with how things are turning out.)

Then I put on my makeup, Bare Escentuals' i.d. Bare Minerals, as usual. At the end of the day, I now look pretty much the same as I did when I walked out the door that morning! The seaweed cream somehow keeps you from producing as much oil, or else it soaks it up if you do produce it, or something like that. On days that are quite sweaty, like when I have to walk a few blocks to catch the bus, I do still get a little oily, but one oil blotting paper takes care of that and my makeup still stays on.

Overall, I'm very happy with this seaweed stuff, and it is definitely going to be in my beauty arsenal on the day of the wedding!