Acne: My Relapse

After that allergic reaction I had earlier in the month, I noticed my skin is not returning back to the state pre-reaction. It's quite upsetting because I thought I had already dealt with pretty bad acne (in high school), and struggled to maintain somewhat low key of a status with it. I am probably going to have to see my dermatologist in the coming weeks to see what we can do.

I'm not gonna lie: my skin was never at any point in time perfect, but this is getting too far from being where I want it to be.

Here's some pictures where you can really see my skin erupting:

I have never seen my forehead this bad in years...no joke

That big one is actually quite normal right be fore my time of the month, but lately they have been springing up regularly.

These small bumps all over are also quite not normal.

Well...I have been trying to use some new products like Mario Badescu Drying Cream, St. Ive's Green Tea Scrub, Biore Detoxifying Cleanser, and a cream by Clearasil. I am trying to find that balance of products but results can't come any slower if you ask me.

If you have a favorite acne treatment/product, share!!!

REVIEW: Bliss Steep Clean Mattifying Moisturizer

Let me start off with saying that my skin is OILY (you can read about that here)! I wish there was a type oilier than oily because that would be me. PLUS I have bad acne, and the oil on my skin does not mix well with that problem. This moisturizer is supposed to be good for oily skin, and Bliss actually has a whole line dedicated to oily skin, but I usually use drugstore acne products to was and treat, but I never found a really good moisturizer there, so I've been trying out higher end ones lately.

Ok, so my first experience with this product was actually a sample because I wanted to try out another moisturizer, but the person that got it for me said that this one was good too. So I took both home and tried them out. The person at Sephora only gave me a little of this one so whatever I did use was pretty good...I thought.

I ended up purchasing it maybe a week or two later because I had the VIB gift card from Sephora, so I was able to get I believe $20 off of my purchase. I started using it, and I feel like it didn't perform as well as I thought it did when I had the sample. Now, I'm not saying this is a really bad product, it's just not as mattifying as I thought it was going to be. I've used many moisturizers (Murad Oil-Control Mattifier, MAC Oil Control Lotion, etc), and this is in that same field, but way more expensive. It's a little heavier/thicker than other moisturizers for oily skin, but the experience is the same. It has a nice scent, and feels nice going on.

I would only recommend to those wit mildly oily skin, if you have a more extreme case, maybe you wanna stick with something cheaper.

My Skin Story, Part 2: Acne

I didn't hyperlink any products mentioned yet...will do so soon. But fyi: I got the names of the products pretty good I think, so you can copy/paste into google, and I'm pretty sure you'll be able to find it!

So, to continue my journey with my crap skin, I shall talk about something else that has really put a road block in my way: ACNE

Four letters, a ton of power that word has. Let me just tell you that my acne has been a part of my life for at least a good 11-12 years right now. There are some things in life you were headed for, and acne was not gonna let me hide it.
Bachi...or some say Karma

Growing up with two older brothers that boss you around, make fun of you, and get you in trouble, I was bound to take full advantage of them entering puberty. So when the oldest of us got his first pimple, that opened all doors for the pimple/crater face comments, laughing and pointing. There was a lot more laughing and pointing after he started seeing a dermatologist. My mom warned me of the concept of bachi (or karma, to the non-Japanese population), which I often confused with hibachi...two totally different things, but they sound alike when you're 7 years old! Anyway, the teasing continued on to my next brother who was fortunate enough not to have that bad of a case, and by this time my oldest brother was phasing out of his run as crater face.

When I turned 10, my mom and I noticed that my skin was starting to change, and that it was getting weird. It wasn't really acne yet, but I was starting to get sensitive to different things, especially fruit juices, like when I ate mangoes or watermelons and the juices got on my face. But this all faded away, and then...it hit me! From then on, I have not seen a clear face in the mirror. It is quite sad, here I am a 22 year old with acne from elementary school. I've had to deal with this skin for way longer than what my two brothers dealt with...probably put together. However, my skin has gotten substantially better since then, and my dermatologist has finally said that I'm on my own now...I still struggle with this disease...and to me that's really what it is! I actually do regret making fun of my brothers when I was younger, but really...who would I be today? haha...anyway, I think this is a great example of that saying: KARMA'S A BITCH!

Products?

As you can imagine, I've used a ton of products, over the counter and prescription, to help me balance my skin. Here's a slight breakdown of some of the over the counter stuff I've tried:

Cleansers/Scrubs:

Clean & Clear Morning Burst Shine Control

Neutrogena Clear Pore Cleanser/Mask

Neutrogena Acne Stress Control Power-Cream Wash

Neutrogena Acne Stress Control Power-Clear Scrub

Garnier Nutritioniste Skin Renew Resurfacing 3-Way Cleanser

Philosophy Purity Made Simple

Ole Henriksen Aloe Vera Deep Cleanser

Ole Henriksen Walnut Complexion Scrub

St Ive's Apricot Scrub (regular & acne prone skin formulas)

St Ive's Green Tea

Boscia Purifying Cleansing Gel

Toners:

Clinique Clarifying Lotions 2, 3, and 4*

Clean & Clear

Ole Henriksen Grease Relief Tonic

Boscia Balancing Facial Tonic

And you guys know about my battle with moisturizers.

*So for the Clinique Clarifying Lotions, I recently seen an ad in a magazine that leads me to believe that they changed the formula on these, which makes me want to try them again.

Overall, I have never found that perfect skin care regimen, if you can't tell by the long list of stuff that I have tried. I

As I have mentioned, I've been seeing a dermatologist for quite some time. He has precribed me pretty much everything in the book as far as topical go, and even antibiotics. At the end of last year, he had told me that I won't need to come back for my regular appointments and that unless I have a major breakout I won't have to see him again. Now, that doesn't really say much, I am still breaking out, and I have pimples on my face, but it's like a million times better than what it used to be.

So to sum it all up: my skin is horribly oily, and I've battled my way through acne, but in the end, my skin is far from perfect, and hopefully I will end up looking oober young when I'm sol to make up for this monstrosity of a skin history I've been having for years.

My Skin Story, Part 1: Oily Skin & Moisturizers and Primers

So in my last post, I talked a bit about how gross my skin can get, but I though I'd share a more in depth look at my struggles with my skin.

So let's start with oiliness. As far as skin care is considered, I've tried so many "oil-control" products, it's pretty ridiculous.

I've tried Murad Oil Control Mattifier SPF 15, which worked ok, it was one of the first ventures into this world of oil-control. I thought it was a pretty good product, but my face was still very oily by the end of the day.

Another moisturizer I've tried is the Bare Escentuals bareVitamins Skin Rev-er Upper. That stuff was not as great as the Murad stuff, but I liked it enough not to return it, it helped make my face feel matte, but still produced the oils.

When I made a trip to the MAC store quite some time ago (for the Viva Glam Gaga lipglass), I was coerced into trying their Oil Control Lotion and their Pro Longwear SPF 10 Foundation (NC30). Now, when the makeup artist demoed the products on my face, she also used the Prep + Prime Skin as well, but I didn't purchase it. I am curious if I use that plus the other MAC stuff if it will make a big difference? Anyway: when I tried it, it felt nice, it felt like I wasn't wearing anything AND it also felt matte. What I wanted to tell her was that I wanted to stay for another couple of hours so that she could see how crappy my skin is and the oil slick that would have formed...but all in all it worked ok (like the Murad stuff).

The next thing I heard about was the Shiseido Pureness Mattifying Moisturizer Oil Free. I went to Sephora, and for the life of me I couldn't find the Shiseido stuff, so I asked someone, and then I found it, and asked for a sample (the reason why I never got samples of other stuff was because I didn't even know they did that :/), and so the person who helped me also pointed out that Bliss also makes a pretty good oil control moisturizer, so I got a sample of the Bliss Steep Clean Mattifying Lotion. I tried both, and decided since Sephora gave me a $30 gift card, I'll give the Bliss one a try because it seemed to work better, but I didn't really get a good trial because the person at Sephora didn't really give me a whole lot. So I bought myself a full size bottle, too bad I didn't know it was $48!!! At least I had the gift card...right?? Anyway, I have been using that, switching between that and the MAC one, I think the MAC one may be better. I use the Bliss one mostly at night now.

A couple of other noteable mentions in the moisturizer department is the Boscia Oil-Free Daily Hydration SPF 15. I've tried it as a sample size (the ones that come in those sets that Boscia makes a lot), and when it was time for my skincare challenge reward at Sephora, it looked like the only thing my skin would come close to liking. Out of all the products I already mentioned, I really LOVE the packaging on this one. It's in a tube type of thing, but it has a pump, so I can store it anywhere, and would be good for travel too, but there's the convenience of the pump. The actual product isn't that great, I think it made me more oily than some other stuff I've tried, but it was eh... for me. Another moisturizer that wasn't horrible, but not great was the Clean & Clear Finishes Pore Perfecting Moisturizer SPF 15. I didn't really notice any pore minimization, but it was ok, and has SPF 15, so it wasn't bad for my skin.

To talk about makeup primers now. I've tried many. Here's the ones that I have tried that left me quite oily: Smashbox's Photo Finish (original) and Photo Finish Light, MAKE UP FOR EVER's HD Primer (not exactly sure what it was called, but I think it's discontinued now, there's other primers, but I don't think any of them are the one I tried from a 100 point perk), Bare Escentuals bareVitamins Prime Time (I tried it before the oil-control one came out), Urban Decay De-Slick in a Tube Mattifying Gel, MAC Matte, and MAC Skin Refine Zone Treatment. But the stand out one for me was actually the Bare Escentuals bareVitamins Prime Time Foundation Primer Oil Control. I liked it, but I was still oily, so it sat on my conter for a while, and I think this is the reason why when I tried to start using it again, it made my skin peel A LOT! I am pretty sure it didn't do that when I used it the first time. It's on my list of stuff to buy when I have money. However, I found that I think when I mix those two MAC products and put it all over my face, that kind of helps...a little.

Will talk foundation later...my fingers are tired!

Skindinavia No More Shine

Yay!!! I had been eyeing this stuff out for thee longest time, and I finally decided to buy it. It's called No More Shine, and what it is, is a spray that is supposed to set your makeup and give you a matte finish all day. Now I think that I may just be the biggest skeptic about this thing because I have SUPER oily skin.

So I've been using it for a few days, and I must say that I am quite disappointed with its performance. But on the other hand: it has made a slight difference in how my skin does throughout the day. Although it is not the perfect product for me, it still does work. I noticed that my face still gets its early morning shine about a couple hours after I put it on, but after blotting, I notice that it doesn't get as oily throughout the day. My biggest issue is maintenance, I don't blot throughout the day, or touch-up with powder simply because of two things: I don't think it's quite economical (I pay a lot of money for these products, why can't they last all day?), and I am LAZY!!! So I think that will be my next quest in my oily skin solution search I will try...we'll see how it goes.

If my opinion changes, I'll add a bit more to this entry, but for now...if you have extremely oily skin: this may not be the solution you were searching for.