Oily skin comes with the benefit of smoother, less wrinkled skin. However, if you are “blessed” with oily skin you’ll definitely understand all of the cons that come with the pro.

Other than looking incredibly shiny halfway through the day (blotting papers for the win!) oily skin often comes with the bonus of having GIGANTIC PORES. Huge, visible pores that cover the nose, cheeks and sometimes the chin.

I’ve tried toners and refining lotions to no avail. They all claim to make our pores less visible but I didn’t experience real results unless I used a mud mask or exfoliated the top layers completely off my face! But even then my large pores faithfully returned the next day.

One day, when I was still living at home with my parents, I noticed my mum had bought a bar of black soap. Black soap?! What is this black soap bar for? A mud soap bar? I’d heard of mud masks but mud soap?

Here’s a link to what I’m talking about: http://www.seacretspa.com/mud-soap

Seacret Mud Soap

So I gave it a go. Washing my face with the mud soap almost daily left it feeling clean and fresh. I followed it with my usual cheap moisturiser and went about my day.

By the time I’d almost finished the mud soap (and it takes a loooooooong time to get through a soap bar when it’s only being used twice a day, if that) I noticed my pores were gone. Not just for a day, but gone. Makeup free confidence here I come!

Just as an aside here, I don’t wear makeup daily to work as I find it clogs my pores and can lead to breakouts. But there’s a bigger reason that I don’t wear makeup to work and it has everything to do with the psychology of being okay with my natural appearance.

Once my mud soap was finished I remained pore-free for a few months. That’s right, MONTHS. Going makeup free has never been easier. My morning routine is just a cleanse with any old cleaner then slap on some moisturiser with SPF.

Now I’ve noticed my pores are becoming visible in my oily visage again so I’ve ordered another soap bar for myself. It sits in the shower waiting for me and I am waiting for it.

Here’s to (relatively) flawless skin!

Fill us in about your winning beauty buys in the comments!