[Note: You can choose not to read this if you are an anti-blotters person. The content below is merely my opinion/s. Oh, by the way, I may not be a professional, but I do have a diploma in Beauty Aesthetics.]

Blotters – Good or Bad?

I am a lover of blotters. Well, maybe only just the Gatsby Black powder Paper blotters.

You know, you hear many people telling you that blotting is not good for your skin and that it will dehydrate your skin, causing it to produce more oil. It is only true to an extent. Blotting is fine, but not EXCESSIVELY. I get very irritated by people who keep telling & nagging at me not to blot my face. It’s kinda sickening cos I know what I am doing, and even if I use it excessively, it’s my business that I am causing my own face to be dehydrated right?

If you don’t blot and walk around with disgusting oil-soaked-looking face, it is disgusting.

The reason that I love blotting with Gatsby powder paper is because:

1. I have very oily skin since I was young. (So this means that it’s not because of using blotters so much that it got oily)
2. I dislike the face looking overly-shining with sebum. If you look close enough, you can see beads of oil seeping through my big pores!
3. The sebum produced get soaked up partially by the fringe & I ended up looking like I didn’t shower/wash my hair.
4. If I’m wearing specs, it would be sliding off my nose aided by the sebum. Powdered blotter helps my specs(and makeup) to stay.
5. Powder paper gives a matte, smooth & fresh feeling as compared to the usual film sheets. (I hate film sheets cos after absorbing the oil, face still feels sticky)
6. I generally feel better.

I know my face is dehydrated. I get a lil impatient when beauticians preach to me. Honestly speaking, which beautician’s skin is perfect? I was a beautician too. I know what to do to help, but it doesn’t mean I can perfect my own skin in a short period of time. Or maybe it wouldn’t ever be perfect in my entire lifetime! Neither may yours be!

So STOP PREACHING to me! Sometimes, I wanna laugh when the beautician is so unknowledgeable & yet still try to act clever. Ugh.

What most people say about blotting (some are facts, but some may not be):

• It clogs the pores! (Like how? If makeup can clog the pores but with proper cleansing/removal, it is fine, then what’s wrong with blotting??)

• It dehydrates the skin, hence, when the skin is dehydrated, it produces more sebum to lubricate it. (This is true. But which sane person will blot even though the skin is not oily? There is always the routine of moisturize intensively/treat with suitable products. As much as oil-control products can help the skin in the long-run, I think blotting is still neccessary if the excessive sebum production is making you extremely uncomfortable & looking too “bright” on photos!)

• Just blot with tissue, don’t blot! Tissue won’t dry out the skin or clog pores! (Are you serious tissue’s absorbent power is as good as my powder blotter? I do “blot” with tissue at times if I feel that my face is not too oily. If we “blot” with tissue, we pat & dab just like blotters, isn’t it? If pressing the blotter down on the skin will “pack” the sebum & dirt back into the pores, then do you mean tissue will NOT??)

If you have any enquiries on skincare & beauty, do drop me a comment!