#ShapeMeetAndTweet Event: Skin Smart Edition

If you follow my Instagram, then you may recall that last month I attended the Shape Meet & Tweet event in Santa Monica. It was held at the beautiful Annenberg Community Beach House! The event was awesome & I just knew that it would be since I had attended a similar event two years ago. There was SO much content & fabulousness happening in the 2015 event that I have to break down my recap into sections. This first one will be about skincare because this mama is in my early 40’s & it’s all about preserving what I have & also erasing the sun damage that I inflicted on my face after years of suntanning as a teenager. Yep, I was tanorexic in my younger days, with baby oil in tow & now I have sun spots to show for it. Boo… I only wonder what “Tan Mom” will look like in her later years. But I digress… Back to the Skin Smart panel!

The panel was moderated by Cheryl Kramer Kaye, Shape Magazine’s Executive Beauty Director.

The skin experts were (in order from left to right): Dr. Katie Rodan, Dermatologist & Founder of Rodan + Fields; Sonya Dakar, Founder of Sonya Dakar Skin Clinic & Skincare; and Mimi Dakar, VP of Sonya Dakar Skin Clinic.

You may have heard of Dr. Katie Rodan’s product that she developed (separate from Rodan + Fields skincare brand). That product, if you have a teenager suffering from acne or have seen any of the TV infomercials is called….Proactiv! Sonya Dakar has a fab skincare clinic in Beverly Hills & you may have read about how she has treated Gwyneth Paltrow’s skin for many years. Having seen GP up close at the recent Pearl xChange event, I must say that Gwyneth does have lovely skin! I was tempted to ask her about her skin care routine but that would have been a wee bit inappropriate at a self-empowerment conference.

Now if you’ve ever met Sonya or heard her in an interview on TV, she is a firecracker! Dr. Katie Rodan gave really great advice as well. Also quick disclaimer, I have several friends from high school who work for her company as R+F Independent Consultants, yep I’m talking about you Alisa! Another thing that I’d like to point out & this is just my opinion, but dermatologists & estheticians approach skin care from different viewpoints. I should know having gone to several of each type as a teenager & even up until now.  My view is that much like a therapist can treat your emotional symptoms, sometimes one might need a physician/psychiatrist to treat the medical condition. That is my analogy, not Shape Magazine or the panelists, but that’s how I see it. Personally if I can get help from a derm like Dr. Rodan & an esthetician like Sonya to treat my entire face/neck in an organic, holistic AND medical way, then I’m all for it! Wouldn’t you?

Dr. Rodan made it a point to say that “Only 20% of how well we age is related to our genetics & 80% is how we live our life.” So lifestyle makes a huge, HUGE difference! That makes perfect sense to me because if you look at some of my Asian friends who “shun the sun” & wear hats constantly whenever they are in the sun & slather on sunscreen like they are going to be on a boat for hours when we are merely walking in the park. Contrast that image with my dad who grew up in Hawaii & barely used sunscreen. I look at his skin & see sunspots, much like my grandmother’s skin & it’s the same exact spots that I have on my face. (hashtag sigh)

There is hope though! You can get your skin into great shape if you do certain things &/or use certain products. Sonya Dakar has a tough love approach with her clients. She advises them to never sleep with makeup on & make sure to exfoliate your skin every day. She also mentioned that there is a lot of “skin confusion” out there & that less is definitely more. There are so many skincare routines out there & several of her clients can afford the very best, yet some of those treatments are so over the top! Basically you need to be consistent with your skincare routine.

I was fortunate to be able to ask the skincare experts a question. Naturally I asked them about my brown skin spots & whether I should treat it with microdermabrasion or even a chemical peel. I was nervous that I almost dropped the mic (and not in that great, trendy rapper way!). Dr. Katie Rodan was given the mic & answered with “the right topical program can make a difference” with my brown spots & sun damage. Thanks goodness because I’ve read about chemical peels & it frightens me.

All of the ladies, including Mimi Dakar who is in her early 40’s like me, gave great advice! They also gave products in our Shape Meet & Tweet swag bag! Thanks so much & I look forward to trying it out. Speaking of the R&F product shown in the photo below, you may remember that I blogged about it a while back. Take note that I was given a very small sample to try out, so I only had two trials (two sets to use for both my mouth & eye lines). I’m fairly confident that since I have a complete sample kit to use that the results will be more noticeable. Am I going to document that journey like I did last November? Ummmm…NO! If anything I’ll update my original blog post, but I don’t want to relive the horror experience of taking selfies in the bathroom with poor lighting & no make-up or Instagram filters to hide my “facial sins.” I think you can understand…

Thanks Shape Magazine for hosting a great event & for the panel of experts for sharing your skincare knowledge!

Disclosure: No monetary compensation was received for this post. I attended the Shape Meet & Tweet event as a member of the media. All images & opinions are 100% my own.