Image: Lee and her face in happier times…
This week, my face has have lived through the most harrowing experience of its young life, all thanks to a little sachet of free skincare product.
I have always been quite lucky in the facial-skin department: little to no acne, a pretty even tone, a slightly oily t-zone but nothing to complain about. That was until I tried one of the free eye mask samples I had received a week or so ago. I had some free pamper time so I decided to try the patches out.
I followed all the instructions: wash face, dry face, peel open sachet, apply carefully around the eyes. I was a little weirded out by the patches themselves: large wet cloth circles with holes cut out of the middle for you to see through, that you stick onto your face. But Google told me all the celebrities use these and love them, so I kept going. As I said, I have never had troublesome skin, so didn’t worry about spot testing: what could go wrong?
“I popped a pimple. Then a staph infection ate my face.”
For the first ten minutes they were on my face, I felt great. ‘Goodbye wrinkles! Goodbye swelling! Goodbye under-eye bags!’ the packet promised. I was so excited! In the second ten minutes, things got tingly in the eye region. But I dismissed it, thinking that if you can feel something it means something is happening, right?
After peeling those little devils from my eyes and washing my face, I went about my day.
After a few hours, my whole face started to feel itchy. Mozzies, I thought. Sunburn maybe. No big deal. A few more hours, the itch got worse and started to sting. I braved a look in the mirror: large, red swollen rings around my eyes.
I called my mum - because who else do you call when you feel ugly and swollen? - and she told me to take some allergy pills and go to bed. I had to work and had no way of leaving, so I just had to sit and wait while my face swelled like a balloon.