Prom dress: Check.

Picture location: Check.

Transportation: Check.

Dinner reservation: Check.

Hair/make-up plans: Check.

Skin care: ???

Students spend countless hours before prom anticipating all the details, but they rarely spend necessary time leading up to the day preparing their biggest asset: their skin. Set a foundation now for self and skin care to ensure prom success.

Everyone’s skin type differs, so make sure to know which regimen fits your skin type the most . Also, knowledge on allergic reactions will prove useful.

The Week Of Prom…
Keep up with a regularly used skincare regimen. Remember: cleanse, tone and moisturize twice daily, and exfoliate two to three times a week. To maintain healthy and beautiful skin boils down  to just a few simple steps. Do a full body exfoliation for extra glowing skin; you can even DIY a scrub using almond oil and brown sugar. Thread, tweeze, or wax any unwanted body hair at least two days before prom night. This gives the skin time to let any redness and swelling subside. Perfect your complexion with facial masks. Face masks cleanses, exfoliates, and nourishes the skin for a clearer-looking complexion, and when short on time leading before prom, opting for a good quality facial mask twice-weekly can do the trick. To purify the skin and help minimize the appearance of large pores, try using a clay masks. Their formulas gently draw out oil, dirt, and toxins that may lead to enlarged pores and dull-looking skin.

The Night Before Prom…
Spot treat any blemishes. On the day of prom, however, keep those areas well moisturized so makeup does not sink into dry spots or highlight blemishes. Opt for pore strips or pore masks to draw out any remaining oil, dirt, or toxins and reduce the appearance of large pores. Exfoliate again, especially the night before, for super soft, glowing skin.
Before bedtime stands as the best time to shave, which allows the skin to recuperate properly. Make sure to moisturize by massaging the cream well into the skin to restore all hydration post-exfoliation. Upon awakening on prom day, the cream will soak into the skin, making it silky and smooth. Dry, chapped lips makes no business for joining you on your prom day. Make sure to gently exfoliate the lips to help remove those pesky dead skin cells. Look for a lip scrub that exfoliates, moisturizes, and conditions the lips. Then, slather on a thick lip balm—well-moisturized lips play a key role to smooth lipstick and gloss applications. Finally, make sure you acquire your beauty sleep. Aurora wasn’t called Sleeping Beauty for nothing.

… And it’s Prom Day!
Remember to drink plenty of water. Hydrated skin correlates with happy skin. Use a lightweight eye cream and moisturize well. Stick with your favorite daily moisturizer on the day of prom. Blemishes and skin discoloration look less noticeable with a gold-flecked lotion, which deflects light away from any blemishes and gives skin a pleasant sheen. Use the lotion on bare skin, then wait ten minutes before stepping into your dress. Use cold green tea bags to decrease puffiness under the eyes. Prom can cause stress, so understand that trouble sleeping the night before can happen. Applying a cold, caffeine-based product, like two cold green-tea bags, under the eyes for five or six minutes can quickly de-puff the skin. Finish and refresh the skin with a spritz or two of rosewater facial spray.

After Prom… 
Do not forget to wash your face extremely well—make sure to take off all the makeup without leaving any residue. Your skin needs to repair and rest. Make sure to rest afterwards, especially after all the dancing and fun from prom night.