Aaaahhhhh acne............. Whoever said that it goes away as you become an adult was entirely wrong! I feel as though I am dealing with it on a whole new level. I had it pretty bad as a teenager, but the hormonal acne (that usually gathers around your lower half of your face) has stuck around throughout my entire twenties. It has always been a battle with me. They are dormant volcanoes that just sit under my skin, waiting for my hormones to flare up each month so they can erupt and explode out of my skin and become a pimple. Also, the older I get, the more scars I am getting with the acne and they are turning into dark spots that take a long time to fade, but don't go away. I have a treatment for that, that I will talk about in another post. Lately, I have had a bit of cystic acne, and that requires a different device that I will share at the end of the post. Being able to work in cosmetics at a Department Store is great for being able to try a myriad of products to see which ones do and don't make the cut. Some would work, but only at first. Some wouldn't work at all, and would just make the problem worse. The brand that I worked with focuses mainly on skincare, so that is one thing I am incredibly passionate about. When Estee Lauder came out with their new acne clearing line "Clear Difference" involving a blemish serum and a targeted spot treatment. There is also a BB cream in the line that I have not tried. I was incredibly skeptical about it. I made myself a sample to take home and try. I was so impressed with the results that it gave after day 1. I made all of my other co-worker friends try it, and they all said the same thing. It worked! I ended up buying the duo products.The first product is called the "Advanced Blemish Serum" with a 0.50% salicylic acid treatment, and the second is the "Targeted Blemish Treatment" with a 1.00% salicylic acid content. Using the serum on it's own yields GOOD results, but using the two together yields FANTASTIC results! The serum is much like a very light lotion and I use that first. A little goes a long way! The more you put on doesn't mean the more the zit will go away! Only a thin layer is needed, or you might choke out the zit and make it worse. I only stick the serum on the areas that are likely to break out, or that have already reared their ugly heads. The serum comes out in a convenient pump. The targeted treatment comes in a tube with a roller ball at the end to evenly distribute the product. You have to push up the silver portion to feed product to the ball. Same as the serum, a little goes a long way! This particular product has a few annoying features though. The silver tube inside actually is not attached and will come out into a separate piece. (When I travel, I have to stick it in a plastic bag so that the two don't separate). The other annoying thing is that you have to be really careful about how hard to push the silver portion up to feed the ball. I tend to push it too hard and too much product comes out. Besides the design flaws, this product works. I don't feel as though it dries out the skin too much. If I feel dry, I will stick a very thin layer of moisturizer on before I do this process. I will also use these items twice a day if it's really bad. So far, I have been using these two products for about 2 months now, and they still work just as good as the first time using them. I always recommend going and getting samples of the product to try to see how it will work for you. I have also included links at the bottom to purchase these products. If I am having a really bad time with pimples or they are going cystic, I use a light therapy device called Claro.It zaps heat and light on the pimple and shortens the life of the zit. It also makes it less painful I use it twice a day on the pimple right before I do any skincare after I cleanse. It has sensors sensing that you are in contact with the skin and the device will beep to tell you it's ready to go. You push the button and it zaps and heats up 10 times. You take it off the skin, and repeat the same cycle on the same pimple. It takes a minute to recharge to do it again on a different pimple if needed. Depending on where the pimple is located, the heat can hurt a little. This device is pretty pricey at $195, but there is another device that uses the same type of therapy that is much less at $79 that you can purchase or research HERE. Click on link below to purchase: Estee Lauder Clear Difference Advanced Blemish Serum 1 oz. $54 1.7 oz. $82 with Free Shipping Estee lauder Clear Difference Targeted Blemish Treatment $35 with Free Shipping Claro Light Treatment Acne Therapy Device $195 Tanda Zap Power Light Treatment Acne Therapy Device $79 with Free Shipping *** The opinions in this post are just that. Opinions. I do not get paid to endorse or promote any company, product or brand***
1 Comment
Eye cream should be as important as brushing your teeth at night. Eyes are where wrinkles like to congregate and will make you look younger or older depending on how many wrinkles you have. Why are so many people oblivious to using an eye cream? I worked for Nordstrom for a year in makeup and skincare. I was the typical "You can just use makeup to cover bad skin" kind of girl not giving any thoughts about skincare. I educated myself in skincare, since I knew I would be selling it and I wanted to be able to answer every question. I tested it out and tried all sorts of regimens. I had people from my previous job see me at work and tell me that I looked so different and that maybe it was my skin? I realized then and there that skincare made a difference in the way I looked. I had never even used an exfoliant before. I didn't realize how dull and lifeless my skin was. It's amazing what radiant skin can do to a person's appearance. I would get so many questions about skincare, and if I didn't know, I would find out. I went home at night and studied studied studied and tested tested tested until I knew I could confidently answer every single question. I learned so much about ingredients, chemical compounds, techniques, etc..... Now, back to eye cream. I had always used just a basic moisturizer once-in-awhile when my face felt dry. I figured I could just use that same moisturizer around my eyes. I researched a lot of eye creams and the Shiseido Bio-Performance Super Corrective Eye Cream kept coming up in the list of best eye creams. I purchased it and love it so much! It is the perfect amount of moisture. Not too much and not too little. It smooths across the delicate skin under the eye so well without pulling the skin. Over a little period of time, I noticed that the lines starting to form around my eyes (I am almost 30) were minimized into almost nothing. I don't use this on my lid, because I have very sensitive eyes. Less then half a pump covers both of my eyes and the bottle has lasted months and months. I recommended this to my sister who had some pretty serious lines for only being in her mid-thirties, and 7 months later, the lines are minimized into almost nothing just like mine had. You can tell a difference almost immediately, but the long-term effects are what I was after. This eye cream has won several awards since it has come out, with the 2013 SELF Magazine Healthy Beauty Award for Best Eye Cream being the latest.I just love Shiseido products because they are one of the oldest skincare companies in the world. They started in the late 1800's and have been perfecting skin technologies ever since. It is no wonder they are such a powerhouse in the cosmetics industry; owning NARS, Cle De Peau and Bare Minerals (I learned this in my research). They have also found a new potent age-fighting ingredient called Mukarossi Extract (comes from a nut). Anything with the Camellia flower on the top of the lid has this ingredient (which this eye cream does How to properly apply eye cream:
Pump cream onto ring finger With other ring finger, rub the cream in a circular motion to warm it up With one finger, dab the underneath of one eye from the inside to the outside gently Repeat with other finger on other eye Take both fingers and lightly keep dabbing (not rubbing as this can cause more wrinkles) from inside to outside until cream has spread and can absorb Don't forget the contour of the eye up to the outside corner of your eyebrow Where To Purchase: Shiseido Bio-Performance Super Corrective Eye Cream 0.5oz with Free Shipping ***I am not endorsed, nor get paid by Shiseido or any affiliates. The opinions expressed are my own*** It's been awhile since I have posted, but with good reason. Since I am in the beauty industry, and have access to a lot of product, I have been gaining knowledge on great and not-so-great products, and now I have more information to share about what is working for me and my skin. Whoever said you lose the acne phase in your early adult years is a liar. I have had a serious bout with it for the last little bit. Probably because all of the makeup I wear to go to work is clogging my pores, and not to mention a few out of whack hormones. I try a lot of things to help clear this up, but it always seems zits are like weeds. You try taking care of one, and another will magically pop up. Shiseido is a leader in skincare, and has been since the 1890's, so I decided to give it a go with their products. I wash my face with Shiseido cleanser, take a super-soft cotton square (Shiseido also sells these), shake the bottle to my Shiseido Pureness Refreshing Lotion toner medicated with salicylic acid (0.5%) and pour some of it onto the middle of my cotton square and wipe it all over my face. I follow that up with the Shiseido Pureness Blemish Clearing Gel on a cotton swab for spot treatment (also 0.5% salicylic acid) on a zit. I usually do this twice a day, in the morning before I put makeup on, and at night after I take it off. I always use a moisturizer afterwards since salicylic acid can be very drying to the skin. I have been doing this routine for two weeks now, and I can say with confidence that I have not gotten a new blemish since I have been doing this, and that is a rarity since one or two always pop up every day. The toner fortunately prevents new ones from popping up. Not to say that I will never get a blemish again, and I am sure one will show its ugly face sometime, but the amount of clearing and healing of my face is immense, and I feel that my skin is under control. Shiseido products never cease to amaze me. There is a reason that the company has been around for so long. Their products really do work miracles, and they have a product for every type of skin and every problem. I highly highly recommend this face wash!!! It is the holy grail of face wash for me right now! The perks of working for cosmetic and skincare lines is that you get a lot of sample sized items to be able to try product so that you can let the customer know how it worked for you. I am not going to be able to post everyday anymore. I will post throughout the week when I have a chance. I am currently working my full-time position at Shiseido Nordstrom, and my part-time at Pottery Barn. This week is a 60-hour workweek, so postings will be random. I gotta be honest, and let you know that I had never tried anything Shiseido before I started working for the brand. I let the interviewer know that, and she said it was refreshing to be so honest about it. Me, along with the rest of Americans only believed that Shiseido was a brand only for Asians. I am finding out that it is not at all! Asians love it because of the super skincare benefits, and Shiseido is a leader in skincare. Their makeup is AMAZING too!!! Anyways.... back to the face wash, and why it is so great! (I wouldn't say something is great just because it is the brand I work for, unless it is really great!). I took the fairly large sample size home to test it. The formula says it's a foam, probably because it works up quite the lather! It comes in a nice squeeze tube, and the formula is a thick cream with exfoliating/moisture beads in it. Shiseido has a perfume called Zen, and the face wash smells exactly like the perfume, but doesn't irritate my skin. I have really sensitive skin, and my skin reacts to a lot of things. It works great for my skin. A little tiny bit goes a long way, and when I spread it all over my face, the formula seems to get thicker and has a really rich lather to it. The beads in it are exfoliating at first, and then disintegrate into the formula. It takes the eye-makeup off really great too. It seems like it would take a lot to rinse off, since it is such a rich lather, but rinses off so easily! After it's rinsed off, your face literally is squeaky clean, because it squeaks after you wash it. It feels so clean!!! I took one of my Pond's face wipes and wiped my face after. Even with my previous face wash, I still had makeup residue on the wipe after I had washed my face, but with the Shiseido face wash, there was literally nothing on the wipe! It won the 2012 Nordstrom Beauty Award. The facewash, and other members of the Shiseido Benefiance line contains Mukurossi Extract, an ingredient that inhibits the wrinkle-triggering enzyme, and helps with your current wrinkles. It seems to work for my acne as well. I have battled with acne around my mouth and chin for a long time now. I always have a zit or two there, and it literally started healing the first time I washed my face with this face wash. My co-workers asked me why my face looked different, like brighter, the next day, and I am going to contribute that to washing my face with a really great face wash. I have used the face wash about 4 or 5 times now, and I don't have one zit on my chin (Just lots of acne scars). I am IN LOVE with this product, and I am going to buy it when my sample runs out. Shiseido Benefiance Extra Creamy Cleansing Foam 4.2 oz $35. Come visit me at the Shiseido/Dior counter at Nordstrom City Creek Center to purchase it, or purchase it online HERE
|
|