Products mentioned:
Re-10 Wash (sodium sulfacetamide 10%)
Eucerin Everyday Protection Face Lotion SPF 30
Duac Topical Gel (clindamycin 1% & benzoyl peroxide 5%)
Estee Lauder Advanced Night Repair
Lioele Active Therapy Ampoule
Olay Regenerist Night Recovery Cream
Vanicream Moisturizing Skin Cream
StriVectin-SD Eye Cream
Differin Gel (adapalene gel .3%)
Sadly, no cute squirrel shots this time, just my 'ole mug. Apparently people think my skin is pretty nice although I pretty much always have one or two breakouts at any given time. Despite my being baffled at this contradiction, my excuse is that I have fairly good skin texture. This comes from a combination of good hydration, sunscreen, and proper exfoliation which could be either from a physical scrub or something like the Clarisonic, or it could be from a chemical like a retinoid (like Differin) which is what I use.
I really believe there's no magic to achieving your ideal skin, but it is really important to exfoliate, moisturize, and protect your skin. As I mentioned in the video, everyone needs moisturizer. Some people may say that they don't but I promise you, every single lady I've applied makeup on (even teens and women in their early 20's) who don't wear moisturizer, I can tell. Your skin may not feel dry but there will be wrinkles appearing on the forehead and around the eyes. Those wrinkles form through a combination of inadequate hydration and sun damage.
Thankfully, there are really inexpensive products that work well like my HG Eucerin Everyday Protection which is oil-free so it won't break me out. It also already contains spf 30 so it protects against the evils of wrinkles and hyperpigmentation.
Post-acne dark spots or what some people call "scars" are actually exacerbated by exposure to the sun so if you are someone who has battled hyperpigmentation and wonders why it takes so long to go away, consider that you may be able to avoid it getting as dark in the first place with this 1 small step! I won't completely prevent the spots but they do seem to not get as dark and they fade faster as well.
Sometimes it's really the simple things that work the best: products that don't have too much extra junk in them, sticking with a consistent routine, and living a healthy life in general. It's hard to see if something really works for you if you use it less than a month or on and off, and also hard if you aren't getting enough sleep or water.
Enough of my little rant, here is my daily regimen:
Morning
- Wash face with Re-10
- Moisturize with Eucerin Everyday Protection
- Apply Duac (pea-sized) in trouble areas
Evening
- Wash face with Re-10
- Maybe apply a serum (Estee Lauder Advanced Night Repair or Lioele Active Therapy Ampoule)
- Apply StriVectin Eye Cream if I feel like being awesome
- Moisturize with Vanicream
- Apply Differin all over (half-pea sized, dotted on face then spread in)
I do want to mention (since I know I will be asked) that I am also taking Tri-Sprintec birth control which may be helping to keep my skin in order. It's generic for Ortho Tri-cyclen.
As a disclaimer, I want to make it clear that I am not a doctor and cannot recommend any type of prescription medications to anyone and can only tell you my own experiences with the medications that I have personally used. It's absolutely not that I don't want to answer those questions, it's just that I really can't! I am completely not qualified to. I hope you guys understand and please feel free to ask questions about the products I do use which I haven't answered in past skincare posts. ^.^
Alrighty, time to do my own morning routine. Hope this vid and post are helpful!
Posts
45 comments: