I spent the longest time avoiding the dermatologist because I thought insurance would not cover it and out of pocket medical costs are extreme. I wasted so much time and money on OTC products; I was better off going straight to the dermatologist. What I think a lot of people fail to remember is that acne is a skin disease. Just because it happens to be common doesn’t make it any less of a disease. You’d go seek medical help for other diseases so why not acne? Trust me, insurance would not cover acne treatments if it wasn’t a disease! Everyone knows how cheap those bastards get. If you have health coverage, go see a doctor. They will be able to give you personal professional advice and try to figure out what can help cure your acne. Like with other medical treatments, they may not get it right the first time but it at least beats trying on your own. Sometimes it takes additional tests and trials.

So this will be my last post on acne since I don’t have it anymore. If you have any questions that weren’t covered in my acne posts, I really can’t help you any further because I’ve explained all that I can. Beyond that, I can’t give any further advice other than to go see a professional. If you don’t have health coverage, I’m sorry. I’m for health care reform. There are different types of acne and causes for them. In my case, my acne was hormonal so I really couldn’t cure it on my own without medical aid.

Original post
Acne Update #1

Here are some things that I purchased within the past few months. Surprisingly, no MAC. The new items MAC has released in their collections haven’t impressed me much. Many new products are looking like items I already have.

SEPHORA.COM:

Cargo Blush in Catalina – Pigmented, easy to blend clean pink.
Too Faced Candlelight Powder – Similar to NARS’ Albatross but I like it better because it has small glitter and I love glitter!
Urban Decay Primer Potion Set – The eyelash primer was a dud for me, UDPP is okay but I prefer Too Faced Shadow Insurance, the lip primer I can’t even use because it will make my lips ooze puss (ew!), and the two face primers are “eh” to me. I don’t hate ‘em but I don’t love ‘em either. I’ll probably return this eventually.
Urban Decay Lipstick Naked – Super awesome packaging! Clear cap with purple filigree, purple metal tube, and a dagger on the bottom. It’s sort of pointy though lol. Since I’ll probably only have one Urban Decay lipstick ($20 for one, ouch!) I wanted to pick the most versatile shade, and I concluded that to be Naked, a nude pink.

So after the Sephora.com haul, I told myself that I wouldn’t be buying anymore blushes and lipglosses for a while. My favorite blushes are from Cargo and thankfully they have limited selection. I’m also over frosty/shimmer blushes with the exception of Cargo’s Blu Ray since it has a matte base with tiny glitter. I have all the matte blushes that I like from Cargo. As for lipglosses, I’m not into the extreme glass like lip look anymore. Has anyone noticed I’ve been skipping lipgloss lately? The only glosses I’m into now are NARS glosses since they have a modest shine, and MAC dazzleglasses. I’m still and always will be a sucker for glitter! I have the shades I like from NARS and I have so many dazzleglasses already. That’s not to say I won’t be wearing any frosty blushes and lipglasses that I currently have, I just won’t be buying any new products.

SEPHORA STORE:

Stila Smudgepot in Purple Pumps - Such a gorgeous bright purple shade with GLITTER! Yay! I really hate that it’s not pigmented though. I’ve only tried applying this to one eye and I’ve made a huge dent already. I had to layer on the liner a couple times to get the intensity in the pot. It’s a lot different than the other smudgepots. Smudgepots are usually more thick and intense. I’m actually leaving this smudgepot out to dry for a little while so that it will hopefully get more thick. If it doesn’t work out, I think I’m going to take it back It’s amazing as a cream eyeshadow, but I want an eyeliner, not a shadow.
Stila Smudgepot in Little Black Dress – THE MOST AMAZING EYELINER EVERR!!1! It’s like a gel liner shade of Beauty Marked or Young Punk from MAC! (Loved Young Punk but I found it wasn’t pigmented enough) Black base with fuchsia glitter! mmmm. I’m really really hoping that they will make this permanent because it’s the prettiest eyeliner I own. It’s hotter than the Urban Decay liquid liners I have too and those are pretty sexy… If there’s demand, Stila WILL make this perm as they have with previous LE items so go get this!!
Shiseido Lasting Lift Mascara – It’s the return of Shiseido Lasting Lift! I’ve tried some mascaras afterwards but my love is still the Lasting Lift. I get the best results for what I’m looking for and all with only one coat. I don’t want to spend five minutes layering on mascara. After about 3 months though, it doesn’t perform all that well.

I’ve never been this impressed by Stila products before since I find them to be in general, boring. The whole fresh faced, modest makeup, frolicking through the meadow image just isn’t my thing. I must say that the Barbie loves Stila collection really impressed me. Judging by the out of stock items at Ulta and the low stock at the nearby Sephora, others must be impressed as well! I hope they release more fun shades in the future.

SKINCARE:

After making my skincare routine video, I reevaluated my routine and got some products to maybe add to it.

Biotherm SOS Flash Recharge Mask – (Forgot to mention this in my video) This is the I guess “female” version? They have a Homme version of the flash recharge mask as well so be aware of that. This is a moisturizing mask for fatigued skin. I wanted a mask and it was between this and Yes to Cucumbers, a “drugstore” mask. I decided on this since the cost per once was only about a dollar more. I’ve only used this once so I don’t have a strong opinion of it yet but it hasn’t done any damage so far so that’s good. I do like the smell, it’s like mandarine oranges or something. I got this off the website, with free shipping thanks to retailmenot.com. Biotherm is only available on the website for the US. Bummer it’s not at counters anymore.

Merlot Night Cream – My skin has gotten super dry and flakey as of late even though I’ve drastically reduced my usage of Retin-A (okay, more like too lazy to use Retin-A). The random moisturizers just weren’t cutting it so I figured I’d get a night time moisturizer. They are generally more moisturizing than day creams. I chose Merlot since it’s inexpensive and I use their daytime moisturizer. Been using it for about 2 weeks and I’m liking it so far. It’s also very fast absorbing despite being a lotion.

HARD CANDY @ WAL-MART:

Hard Candy is now at Wal-Mart! Don’t worry, the prices are Wal-Mart prices too! Nothing over $10 with the majority of items priced at $6. It’s the most interesting drugstore line out there. Why can’t other DS brands be this fun? The packaging and image is far different from what Hard Candy used to be. Hard Candy used to have cutesy pastel coloured packaging. Now, It has black and white filigree and swallows. You can view the display here. The brand looks better AND it’s cheaper too! Yay! There are tons of fun looking products to look at. Body glitter, eye glitter, eyeliners, lipglosses, mascaras, eyeshadows, baked eyeshadows, baked brozners, baked blushes, lipsticks, liquid eyeliners, etc! I didn’t find the eyeshadow sets very interesting because the shades were very muted. The baked duo shadows were more bold but still nothing that I really wanted right now. The lipstick packaging look cute and each shade has it’s own design on the tube. I wanted this red lipstick with cherries and swallows on the design but the packaging was so cheap! Reminded me of the little plastic lipsticks I had as toys. Not very durable and I felt like it would fall apart in no time. I didn’t think it was worth the $6. I did buy the liquid eyeliner in Flip Side, a deep blue colour. It has very tiny shimmer and on the skin, it looks nonexistent. I’m afraid the eyeliner might be too long lasting because the swatch on my hand would not come off after numerous hand washings with soap, a shower, and cleansing oil! It finally came all off when I scrubbed my hand with a bilayered eye makeup remover. I’ll see what happens when I try using it on my eyelids

I also have just a few items that I’ve bought but kept hidden. Showing you know would be a dead giveaway of what my next look will be!

They were also having a BOGO free on the Ulta line of 3-1 bath gels. They normally cost $14.99. I needed to buy body wash since I had run out and had to use a nasty bar soap for emergency. I bought the Buttercream Cupcake scent. it smells just like the Philosophy Vanilla Birthday Cake but is much cheaper after sales and coupons.

THEN, right after that sale, Ulta had another sale where the TIGI bedhead 750 ml shampoos and conditioners (they call them “tween” ) were $9.99 each! THESE ARE STILL ON SALE SO GET TO IT YA’LL! They do this promo like… oh two, three, four times a year? I want to say two, but don’t quote me on that. I haven’t been keeping track of the time these days. Normally they cost about $23-$26! I still have bottles stored from when I stocked up on A TON from Ulta two years ago, but I bought more! I bought them on Tuesday and got them for about $8 each! The first Tuesday of every month, college students get a 20% discount on EVERYTHING in the store off the total purchase. I buy only conditioners because I have to use medicated shampoo for my psoriasis. Plus the conditioners are normally $23ish while the shampoos are $18ish so the savings are greater with conditioners. I normally use the Catwalk for colour treated hair (smells like blueberries or something like that) and Moisture Maniac (smells like Mandarin oranges!). This time I tried buying the Brunette one. I don’t see it doing anything for my hair but my goodness, it smells so good! Like a musky caramel scent. I also bought the Oatmeal and Honey. I hated it when I bought it a long time ago, but I like the smell now because of special reasons

PS. I would stay far away from the TIGI Control Freak conditioner (lime green bottle). That one is just plain weird. It suds up like a shampoo and tangled my hair. I actually thought that I accidentally used shampoo instead of conditioner! Also the TIGI Superstar (pink bottle) smells like Pepto Bismol after you store it for a while.

AAAAND here’s a coupon for $3.50 off $10 (it’ll work for 9.99 too) good until July 25 09. It says one time use only but that’s a bunch of BS. And here’s a 20% off coupon too good until July 18 09. Obviously you can only use one coupon per purchase. Here’s a tip for you guys: Every time you plan on going to Ulta, Google “Ulta coupon” or “Ulta printable coupon” and you’ll get hits for Ulta’s current coupons. That’s what I always do!

Creme de Vin is made of natural red grape seeds polyphenols. It offers sensational antioxidant properties thereby helping to inhibit the aging process.
* Natures most powerful antioxidant
* Anti-Aging
* SPF 15

* Fragrance Free
* Non-Oily

Size: 4 oz.
Price: ~ $15
Where to buy: Walgreens or Merlotskincare.com

I’ve been using this moisturizer for a little over a month now and I love it! This is a very lightweight moisturizer that’s great for combination to oily skin types. I apply this on my face and it takes only about 30 seconds or less for my skin to absorb the moisturizer. It feels like I have nothing on. I love that it has an SPF of 15 while being absolutely non-greasy, thick, or sticky. The SPF of 15 means that you are protected from approximately 93.3% of the sun’s UVB rays (Herschenfeld). I’ll be completely honest. I don’t always wear sunscreen unless it’s obviously bright and hot outside due to the fact that I don’t like the way sunscreens feel. Now a moisturizer that has SPF in it is great because it’s better than nothing. It comes in a tub, which I wish it didn’t. This product would have been much better if it were packaged in a pump bottle or tube. However, it does come sealed which is very important and gives you assurance that the product has not been tampered with.

The product claims that it’s fragrance free. Perhaps what they meant was that no artificial fragrances were added because there is definitely a fragrance to this product. I personally am not particularly keen on the fragrance but it’s not unbearable.

Now there is one important thing that I dislike about this product. I find the production of this product to be rather inconsistent. The first tub I purchased did not have any sun protection. It was in the exact same packaging, minus the fact that the front did not say “SPF 15″. I purchased it anyway because it was the last tub there. I later found out that Walgreens started carrying the moisturizer with SPF, so I exchanged it. The “old SPF-less” version of the moisturizer and the “new SPF” version have the exact same ingredients in the exact same quantity except for one ingredient, zinc oxide, which is responsible for providing physical sun protection. So please be aware that if you have a tub that does not contain zinc oxide, you are not getting any sun protection from the product.

However, the second tub I got had an odd consistency. It was very runny and opaque in colour. The moisturizer is actually gel like in consistency and slightly translucent. I believe it was a bad run or something. I noticed that the one that was off had a small trial size tub included that had sharp corners. The label on the trial tub was improperly labeled 1 oz. but it’s actually only about .5 oz. in product. The Walgreens receipt marked the product as 4.5 oz, which is what lead me to question so. The tub is tiny and was only filled half way. Another thing to note was that the seal on the tub was difficult to open on both the travel sized tub and the full sized tub. It would not come off in one piece. So, I exchanged for another tub yet again. This time, the trial size tub was larger (truly 1 oz.), had rounded corners, and filled to the top. The consistency of the product was also different, gel like, not runny, and translucent which I think is how it’s supposed to be or at least prefer. If you search for photos of this product online, you might notice the differences in consistency from review to review.

Overall, I do really like this product minus a few minor kinks here and there. I think the biggest downside is Walgreens carrying old stock. I probably will repurchase this product unless I find another moisturizer that has the same benefits of this product but with better packaging or a higher SPF.

Makeup Alley Reviews

BUT WAIT! That means you will have to be on BC for the rest of your life? Yeah so? My copay is only $10 for a three month supply so it’s affordable. I don’t smoke, nor plan to, and have a fairly healthy diet and lifestyle so the benefits outweigh the risks. I never plan to have rugrats and my boobs are bigger. What’s not to love? I’m pretty much set with the whole hormones deal until I reach menopause…

Okay, now that that’s taken care of, I have to make a relevant rant. First of all, this is my experience skin care experience. My skin is not your skin, so it doesn’t mean that a BC is going to fix your acne problem like it did with mine. Also, because BC did not work for you, does not mean that it will not work for someone else. I knew without a doubt that my acne was caused from hormonal imbalance. What’s great about actually seeking professional medical assistance is that a doctor will look at exactly what specific type of acne YOU have and talk about what may be the causes of that. My annoyance stems from a comment on my original acne post advising me to stop taking contraceptive medication and look into other over the counter alternatives. I was taking them before, I need it. The reason why I stopped was because the physician I had at the time was a jerk by prescribing me name brand medication with no override so it cost me $90 for a three month supply! I only pay $10 now.

NO ONE has should have the power to advise someone to stop taking their MEDICATION unless you happen to be a licensed doctor, physician’s assistant, or nurse in some other countries (I actually don’t believe nurses should be able diagnose and prescribe but hey, that’s a matter of opinion I guess), more specifically, the original doctor who actually prescribed the medication to the patient. Unless the doctor is involved in malpractice, but come on, obviously. Common sense here. I am so sick and tired of people who are out there trying to discredit medical science, and science in general. Medical professionals and scientists do not work their asses off and stay in school longer than others to learn voodoo.

The moon landing never happened, scientists are out to get us, … bla bla bla.

I started taking Yasmin for a while but couldn’t keep up with the $120 for a 3 month supply (with insurance). After going off Yasmin for a generic BC, which only cost a mere $10 for a 3 month supply, my skin has gone absolutely mad! But I considered it bad back then. After I stopped taking the generic BC, my skin has become even worse and has gradually become worse and worse as time passes. I expected my skin to eventually calm down, but this is just too much and too long. If I have to jump back on the BC train, specifically the costly “brand name” BC train, then I guess that’s what I’m going to do.

I’ve tried zinc supplements, Flax seed oil supplements, and seriously ODed on Salicylic Acid and Benzoyle Peroxide topical treatments, all in vain. And no, don’t try to blame it all on my makeup. I’ve gone weeks without makeup only to see no subtle improvement. I’ve been trying to do everything I can to fix the problem before going to a dermatologist because I don’t know if my insurance will cover it. With how shitty my skin looks, insurance or not, it has to be done. I don’t want to see myself having indented acne scars that can only be “fixed” with silicone injections, which aren’t even permanent… I could just have a refill on Yasmin and save myself the copay, but I want to get the professional medical analysis and confirmation that my acne has in fact, formed due to a disruption in hormonal balance. I’m leaning towards this cause, but for now, it’s only a theory.

Documented on 9-12-08
Okay, so just got back from seeing the dermatologist. I love her! I basically described what I’ve written and she said I was completely right. She prescribed me a BC again. What I love about this doctor is that she’s totally sympathetic with patients financially. I told her I used Yasmin but could not afford it and asked if she could prescribe me cheaper generics instead. She took the effort to find out which products would be cheaper for my insurance and in the end, she just prescribed me Yasmin and did an override. Meaning, I’d be getting a name brand prescription with a generic price! I had no idea doctors had the power of “override”. That means I payed $120 once for a 3 month supply of Yasmin when I could have payed only $10 if the doctor I had was nice enough! When I told her how much I paid before, she asked me, “Your doctor didn’t override that for you?”. She told me, “I wouldn’t want you to pay that much for medicine, because then seems like, What’s the point of insurance?”. *clap clap* Finally I have a doctor who isn’t money hungry with the pharmaceutical companies. She’s a keeper! She even made the extra effort to inform me verbally and on my visit summary that if the corrected price does not show up in the pharmacy, to have them call her.

So, I ended up getting a 3 month supply of Yasmin, and two topical treatments which include: Two tubes of 1% clindamycin phosphate gel (antibiotic), and one tube Retin-A. ALL for only $30! I should have done this earlier. I told her I don’t like topical treatments, but she told me that it would take about 3 months for the Yasmin to kick in, so I agreed to use the topical treatments to help the acne until then.

Oh yeah, and I’ve finally been diagnosed with (scalp) Psoriasis. She just told me to try Neutrogena T-Gel and get a humidifier, and if it doesn’t help, to come back. I might have arthritis (something that compliments a few people who have Psoriasis) too We’re going to pay more attention during the winter months. I’m all sorts of unhealthy aren’t I? 2008 has definitely been the year of diagnoses for me. I’ve accumulated like… what four, five so far? Two emergency room visits, countless hospital visits. Life is AWESOME…

I laugh when I read comments and messages asking for me to do skin care/routine videos. I have so much shit going on with my skin, are you sure?! HAHA.

Here are photos of my skin without foundation. There you go. Flawless? HELL NO! See, I am not being modest or fishing for compliments when I say that I do not have healthy skin. I’m just being completely honest.

Hopefully it improves when 3 months passes. Will keep you updated.

Left side:

Middle:

Right:

EDIT: Sorry, I have not yet adapted to this whole internet thing. You encounter people that you normally wouldn’t in your daily life. When you’re mostly surrounded by educated people, you forget that there exists those who can not handle even mildly mature topics.