The Skin Nerd: Glass skin- a trend or unattainable fantasy?

In a world of filters and blurring foundations, seeing anything akin to real skin is a rarity.

I love my makeup as much as the next woman, but there is a very real effect from this newfound obsession for skin that is simply not attainable for the vast majority of us.

Take for instance the glass skin trend, which, like all great beauty trends, hails from Korea.

Just one little hashtag takes you to a fantasy land where pores don’t exist, where skin gleams like a brand new car and where the only lines that exist are the ones outside department stores.

Glass skin should really be called “good lighting, good filter, good makeup and probably some good skincare”.

Please do not mistake my scepticism as sour grapes. As someone who has worked in skin for just over a decade, I know all of the tricks of the trade and have had the pleasure of working with machines and contraptions that can get you looking like Barbie herself. My issue with this quest for dream skin is that it leads people to have expectations that aren’t realistic when it comes to their own skin.

Constantly seeing human faces that are perfectly matte in the right places and yet amazingly glowy along the cheekbones leads one to believe that perhaps not every skin is pumping out sebum and becoming congested from time to time.

The reality of it is is that the majority of us, if not all of us, will see a few blackheads or a spot when we’re on our period, and after a particularly blustery day in the winter, some parts of us will look dry and perhaps grey.

The skin is an organ, our most outward one at that, and in this, it is susceptible to not being the exact same every day.

Perfect-looking skin and perfectly healthy skin are not mutually exclusive. My goal with The Skin Nerd® has always been the health of the skin over everything else, but when you bring up your skin’s health, it’s always going to look better.

Healthy skin will be plump, usually hydrated, and radiant all over with a more normal level of oil production.

Healthy skin will not always look poreless, be one hundred percent spot free or be line free, and in a respect, it can be irresponsible to pretend otherwise.

When someone’s working towards better, healthier skin, realism should be coming into play. Rome was not built in a day, and undoing years worth of damage is harder than it seems. There are no quick fixes.

At the end of the day, for real skin results, you’re not only looking at specific skincare products, you’re also looking at a lifestyle change: no more smoking, cutting down on the caffeine, eating nutrient-rich foods all the blimming time, exercising regularly, no lazy nights of sleeping with your makeup on… The list goes on.

It’s not tough going, not by a long shot, but it does require a want for healthy skin to motivate you.

My point would be that the next time you see a clickbait style Instagram post that says “Get skin like this in just 3 weeks”, don’t believe it, and don’t give yourself a stern-talking to when your skin doesn’t look like that, especially if you are working towards having healthier skin.

And if you really do want glass skin, just get yourself a good highlighter. That seems to be the best glass skin secret.

THE NERDIE PICK

Even in saying what I have said, there is one product that I believe can actually give you a more realistic version of that sheened, perfect glow in an instant, and that product is the IMAGE Iluma Intense Brightening Serum (€52, available on store.theskinnerd.com or in selected salons nationwide).

It isn’t just a pretty face, either. It contains tyrosinase inhibitors in the form of botanical lighteners and vitamin C. Tyrosinase inhibitors are ingredients that prohibit an enzyme (tyrosinase) that helps to create pigment in the skin, so long term, this serum will help to keep your skin tone even along with your SPF.

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