Wow, first of all, my apologies for just going AWOL on you after my last post last week. I usually have a note explaining if I disappear coz it’s just polite. Those who have been with me on Twitter (and who might have unfollowed me since LOL!) will know I didn’t drop off the face of the earth. Twitter has never been more engaging, nor more interesting. But I do realise I’ve let slide Instagram and Facebook in this time.
The reason, as many of you may have understood by now, is due to the very shocking results of Malaysia’s 14th General Elections. It was an election I’d been waiting for for years and a campaign I took particular fervent interest in. (I have always had a keen interest in politics and current affairs that I tend to keep to just Twitter because everyone needs an outlet, and that’s mine.) The result, against an Everest of odds stacked in favour of the ruling government, quite simply, rocked the world.
It isn’t as much the fact that our new Prime Minister is 92 years old (and still sharp as a tack! Watch his post-election press conferences for that trademark sarcasm and wit) but more of a peaceful uprising of the people, going out to vote in droves. Each, hoping against hope to overturn a kleptocratic regime and change its governing party for the very first time since Independence. Which, of course, happened. Peacefully, without unrest, violence or bloodshed and with many happy tears.
But I’m not here to deal with the politics (you can go and talk to me on Twitter if you like 😉 ). I’m here to tell you that it’s been 4 days of non-stop, nail-biting events that have has had me on the edge of my seat, scanning the news till late into the night.
As a consequence, my skin suffered. Most of you who’ve ever had to pull long, stressful days and nights will have experienced this at one time or another. Your body aches. Your skin dulls and feels dry. Dark circles are more pronounced. When I noticed this happening, I put a few things in place that helped.
Up your Vitamin C intake
When you’re very tired, you may find yourself susceptible to falling sick. What I did almost immediately, was to up my intake of Vitamin C supplements. I find this helps when you anticipate having intense, stressful and long days and nights. Or even when travelling.
Like for skin, Vitamin C is a powerful antioxidant, that helps the body repair and regenerate tissues and strengthens your immune system. After the first night, when I was up till about 4am, waiting for the results to be announced, I woke up the next morning, fairly early, feeling tired and having a cold come on. Fortunately, I warded it off. So, upping your Vitamin C intake helps during this time.
Sheet mask for hydration
Yes, I have said a sheet mask is like fast food. But truth be told, I’ve been so tired these past few days, I haven’t been doing a full skincare routine. Most nights, I just slap on some facial oil and crawl into bed with Twitter LOL! Bad habit. Don’t do it! The result of course, is drier, duller skin. I’ve started using sheet masks almost daily again. This helps boost the hydration in the skin, and I’m starting to see and feel the dry patches go away.
Exfoliate
While I don’t use physical scrubs very much anymore, I found that a scrub helps at times like this. It has also been unreasonably warm the past few days, and coupled with being cooped indoors for most of the day, my skin felt grimy and greasy. A good, but gentle scrub helps to get rid of this grime. This is especially helpful when you use fairly gentle cream cleansers as I do.
Eye drops to hydrate dry eyes
If there’s one thing I’ve been doing too much of, is staring too much at my phone screen. If I spent a lot of time before, the past 4 days has me practically glued to it. Go away for an hour, and a major event would have happened. It was tense at times. And I’m not even physically involved! LOL! So, eye drops are now my friend.
Of course, in addition to all that, now that life should go back to normal (or a semblance of if) I look forward to more early nights and less screen time. Seriously, it is not called “beauty sleep” for nothing! 😀
It has been a momentous occasion that I am proud to be a part of. But now, after a 4 day break, the wheels of the new administration will begin to turn, we all return to work, with perhaps a little optimism and spring in our step, and I’ll enjoy watching some heads roll 😛
What do you do to repair your skin after long, stressful days and late nights?
I find that this happens to me too when there’s a stressful time at work. And now that I’m older, it takes longer for me and my skin to bounce back. I have no idea how a 92 year old man does it, but heck, he’s just raised the bar for us all LOL! 😀
Paris B
My skin was relatively well behaved except for a bout of bumpy red skin due to a rosacea flare up. The night of the elections was so stressful! The redness has subsided but can still feel some small bumps here and there. I continued with my new hydrating skincare routine and am seeing some slight improvements. Mild exfoliation and masking has definitely helped. I’ve been using a sleeping mask because it’s easier to just slap something on and leave it overnight to do its job.
Hope it’s cleared up now. Nice that it’s not been so hot lately too. My skin has just about cleared up now so I’ve lost the bumpy feeling I had before. I totally upped the hydration and oils and it’s helped!
Aaarrrggghhh!!! Why didn’t I think of the sheet masks in my fridge??? Would have been heaven sent especially in this godforsaken heat.
I had a week off on a beach holiday just prior to GE14 and came back just 2 days before to vote (whew!). After that was occupied with the developments of GE14 having sleepless nights and way too much screen staring. Last night finally went back to applying my Mad Hippie Vit A serum and slather on the moisturiser. Skin feels so much happier this morning!
I swear whenever I feel like slacking off these days, I just have to think of TDM and be galvanised!
Haha you know, it took me about a week to get back to a proper routine. My days and nights were shot to hell and I felt jetlagged LOL! It was crazy. But I’ve also got back to a proper routine and for me the big game changer has been facial oils. I got so lazy at one time, I stopped using them but now I realise my skin can’t do without 😛 And we have no more excuse to retire eh? 😛
I tried to stay up till the wee hours in the morning but my tired body couldn’t take it. I was so afraid the result changed while I was asleep. Thankful indeed for the holiday. Gave my skin a break from treatment/vitamin serum and focused on hydration only.
I didn’t feel sleepy at all that night! It was so intense, we were just staring at the tv, and logged into various computers and websites at the same time. Most certainly nail-biting and happy at the result! I’ve gone back to hydration, oil and exfolation and it’s all finally coming back together now. Whew!
As I read about the election, I kept wondering how you were feeling. I hope the Prime Minister will not disappoint (and live healthy to at least the end of his term!).
That’s amazing about social media: you care about what people you’ve never met think, grieve about strangers’ grandmothers and get excited about kittens on another continent. 🙂
Haha I absolutely feel you Maja! I love being able to connect with people globally here online. And I was very very caught up with the election pre and now post. It’s a crazy time, but I keep it restricted to Twitter. At least that gives me an outlet and keeps my blog and Instagram clean and politics-free LOL! 😀 I too pray that our new-old PM will be healthy and have enough time to do what he wants to do to put us back on the right track 🙂
All of these sound lovely, such sweet packaging too! Aw it definitely sets the bar, it’s so inspiring to see someone be that good at 92 😀 loving your blog! xx
elizabeth
Thanks for visiting!
Aw Paris, so excited to hear about the political leadership improving in your country. I can’t pretend to know any of the intricacies of it. But when things are bleak in other places, it’s nice to know there’s a patch of the world where things are on the up, a little ray of hope and a reminder that things can always change for the better <3
Thank you EG! It is very exciting times, and also exciting to know how we are now proving to be a case study for peaceful elections and the power of the ballot box everywhere. Finally we are known for something good, and not being derided for having really crappy leaders haha!