How to Reduce Pores

Video Transcript

"Hi, I'm Kim with Simply Beautiful in Austin, Texas. Let's talk a little bit about how to reduce pore size so the appearance of your skin is smoother and you can apply your makeup where it's flawless. The key to reducing pore size is to get your skin really, really clean. So you want to get in the habit of a really good skin care regime. So that means cleansing with the right cleanser, toning with an alcohol-free toner, exfoliating once or twice a week and masking with a good mud mask. I'm going to demonstrate to you how we're going to do the exfoliation and mask. Here's the toner. We're going to get our skin damp after we wash it, toner to get rid of the dirt and exfoliation from the surface. You want to keep the dead skin off because it tends to block up your pores and that gives you an appearance of large pore size. So tone, and then take a quarter-size of your exfoliator on your fingertips. Blend it onto your skin in round, circular motions. Don't push too hard - lightly with the tips of your fingers. If you have any breakouts, be especially gentle. You're going to do that until maybe three minutes. A minute and a half to three minutes. Rinse that off with warm water. Don't use hot water because that tends to, like, really open the pores more. So then we're going to use a mud mask because the mud mask is going to go on your skin and it's going to draw out the dirt and impurities that are stuck under the skin surface, making your pores appear larger. So we'll take the mud mask - and we want to put it on a little bit thicker than we usually ordinarily would. We want about a quarter of an inch. You don't want to be able to see your skin through it. Now, the mud mask is going to settle into your pores and as it dries, it's going to draw out the oil and the dirt and the impurities. It's also going to tighten and firm your skin while it's at it. So while it stays on there, it's being really active and it should give you a really smooth, flawless look. Leave the mud mask on for about ten minutes. I caution you that most people think that mud masks should be left to dry. This is not something I recommend. You don't want to dry off the surface of your skin and if it pulls out too much oil, that's what you'll be doing, effectively creating a different problem altogether. So leave it on for about ten minutes, then rinse it off with warm water. When you're finished with that, use cool water. Splash your face with cool water. Go back with your toner and get any of the last bits of dirt and oil that are left on your skin."