My Acne Journey: 2 MONTHS!! 🤭

It’s been 2 MONTHS on this acne journey…

This is what happened! 👇🏻👇🏻👇🏻

The plan for this week was to use tret 1-2 times only but that changed immediately as I noticed my skin could tolerate using it more often. I bumped it up to 2-3 times a week at first. Hoping to use it every other day. Next thing ya know it, I’m using it every day (almost every day, I take breaks when necessary). I didn’t expect this to happen but it happened. I’ve experienced some irritation like dry skin and peeling skin. Peeling skin doesn’t bother me much. It just means that tret is working on my skin. I really do enjoy removing the dead skin off of my face at the end of the day. 😂 After removing the dead skin, my skin feels smoother and sometimes breakouts reveal themselves (if there’s any, more on this soon). I’m not fond of the breakouts, but I know it’s working. My skin wasn’t too dry at first until the end of the week. That’s what bothered me the most. It was the type of scaly dryness. It felt kind of painful too. I knew that I needed to add a heavier moisturizer to my routine ASAP! Gel moisturizers weren’t doing it. That’s what I ended up doing. I couldn’t take it anymore. I noticed bumps on my forehead from the dryness. My skin had a harder time healing from the peeling too.

Moisturizing my skin again 💦

So I started using GUERISSON 9 Complex Cream again. Yay! This product arrived this week! I’ve been waiting for it and so excited for it! I missed it so much! The creaminess of the product and texture is just so amazing. I actually purchased it again to use as an eye cream. I’m removing a bunch of eye creams that I use and decided to replace them with this cream. It’s just taking forever for me to finish the eye creams that I have. There’s too many of them. But one day at a time! 👌🏻 lol. The GUERISSON 9 Complex Cream works just as well as any moisturizing eye cream that I have without having to pay more for a tiny little bottle of eye cream that’s more expensive. 💵 I have two rich, moisturizing facial creams. The other one is Eucerin Q10 Anti-Wrinkle Face Cream. I love the GUERISSON 9 Complex Cream so much more compared to Eucerin Q10 Anti-Wrinkle Face Cream. That’s why I brought it back. 🙂

Sadly, both of these creams break me out when used too often on the face. Recently it was the Eucerin cream that I stopped using on my face. I didn’t like the texture of it. It made my skin feel heavy and feels like it’s clogging my pores. It felt like it just sat on my skin. I only use it as an eye cream and neck cream now. I used GUERISSON 9 Complex Cream at the beginning of this year. I stopped because it broke me out at some point. All I know is that it gave me pimples. So that was when I was using a ton of skin care products. Since my skin care routine has dialed down a lot, I’m going to give it another chance. I really, really need something that is very moisturizing to heal my skin. I’m going to go for it. With that in mind, I’ll start it off slow and see how my skin takes this cream, but I’m avoiding it in the morning. I think it’s too moisturizing for the AM.

After a night of using this cream, my skin felt so much better. It helped to alleviate dry skin the next morning. I still had flaky skin and some dry patches, but my skin didn’t feel overwhelmingly, intensely dry anymore. I developed some bumps on my forehead too from dry skin. This cream did a wonderful job at moisturizing my skin and helped to remove dead skin much easier and effortlessly. My skin looks more glowy, dewy, and pretty afterwards. In other words, healthy-looking and not torn up, especially on a drying acne treatment! I know it’s not perfect skin, but my skin doesn’t look raw and dry anymore. After adding a richer, more moisturizing moisturizer back into my routine, it looks like my skin can benefit from it. It’s just that it’s very difficult to find a moisturizer that works well on my skin without causing breakouts in the long run. 😟 Let’s see if this one works because I really do love it.

My results after 2 MONTHS!!

Last week my skin was clear. This week it took a turn due to the increase use of tret. I developed some acne in places where I’m prone to breakouts after being clear. 😭😭😭 It looks like the initial breakout or purging hasn’t ended yet or I’ve postponed from using tret on and off. Who knows. I’m just glad to know that it’s working on my skin. I’ve been peeling a lot more even though I’m using it every day. I tried using it every day before, and my skin just went dry without any peeling. This time, it’s different. This time, there’s a lot of peeling. Along with that comes with dry skin. The reason why I had to add a moisturizer that actually moisturizes and heals the skin while peeling. Mid-week results consisted of new breakouts coming out from underneath the surface. I didn’t know they even existed until they popped up out of nowhere. By the end of the week, my skin is almost clear again. The pimples just appeared then disappeared quickly. Breaking out is an on and off thing right now.

For the breakouts, I tried using benzoyl peroxide to kill off the pimples, but it seems to leave red marks on my face. I ended up using an antibiotic cream instead of benzoyl peroxide on my pimples. I’ll try benzoyl peroxide again some other time. I think my skin is just too dry for it right now. The red marks that it leaves behind are really annoying. Benzoyl peroxide does work though. It helps to shrink pimples quick! I always wake up the next morning with less swollen pimples when using benzoyl peroxide. Too bad it leaves noticeable red marks on my face afterwards. Overall, my skin looks pretty good after this week besides the breakouts, haha. I’m still surprised that my skin was able to take tret every day so far. I think I’m going to try my best to push it through this time. I’m seeing results and my overall complexion looks so much smoother. Let’s do this! hahahah! 🙌🏻

What else this week???

*No Makeup*

I gave up on makeup for a month! I’ve been focusing more on protecting my skin from UV damage. I’ve been reapplying my sunscreen more often. It’s been really effective! My skin looks softer and smoother. Not wearing makeup has helped me become more comfortable in my own skin too. While on this acne journey, my skin looks so much better without makeup. If it doesn’t, I don’t even care. haha. Maybe makeup just makes my skin more oily and just worse? Also, wearing makeup makes it more difficult to reapply sunscreen. And reapplying sunscreen is obviously more important considering the state of my skin. My makeup contains SPF too, but it’s not as effective compared to my sunscreen lotion that I reapply often and liberally throughout the day. No wonder why I developed freckles over the years! I didn’t reapply enough! But we’ll see if they’ll disappear or fade after sticking to this routine.

The sunscreen I’m using is La Roche-Posay Anthelios Body & Face Mineral Sunscreen Gentle Lotion SPF 50. I finished a whole bottle within 3 weeks. I used it on my face and upper body. I reapplied often and liberally. I was pretty much on it to prevent my skin from sun damage, since my skin feels a little bit thinner and more sensitive to the sun. My skin does look better after using sunscreen throughout the day. The difference in softness and texture is amazing, and this is just from reapplying sunscreen consistently. BUT! I gotta say. It gets really annoying having to reapply. I’m trying to get into the habit of reapplying. To the point that it doesn’t feel exhausting. I can feel the burnout, but at the same time, my skin looks so good! 🙂🙂🙂 I might have to find other ways to reapply if I ever start wearing makeup again. Going no makeup makes me miss wearing makeup sometimes. hehe.

*New Cleanser/Makeup Remover*

I started using The Ordinary Squalane Cleanser to aid in my sunscreen/makeup removal process. Even if it’s squalane-based, I haven’t had any breakouts from it, but it’s not left on my skin long enough to clog my pores. I always follow up with another facial cleanser afterwards to make sure my skin is clean and free with any sticky residue. I think it has helped to boost my cleansing routine but do I really need it?? No. At the moment, I’m enjoying it while it lasts. Don’t forget to check out my full thoughts on The Ordinary Squalane Cleanser right here!

That’s my 2 month update! Now let’s move on to the THIRD MONTH!! 😊

If you missed out on my acne journey, here it is!!

My Acne Journey: 1 Week In…

My Acne Journey: 2 WEEKS!! 

My Acne Journey: 3 Weeks Results!

My Acne Journey: 4 Weeks Results!

My Acne Journey: 5 WEEKS IN!

My Acne Journey: 6 Weeks Results…

My Acne Journey: 7 Weeks Results

My Thoughts on SOME BY MI Niacin 30 Days Miracle Brightening Sleeping Mask After Finishing My First Jar!

I finished a whole jar of SOME BY MI Niacin 30 Days Miracle Brightening Sleeping Mask! It took a little over 2 months to finish a whole jar. I used it in the morning and at night to help moisturize my skin a little more. I didn’t have any issues with it compared to another SOME BY MI product that I tried — SOME BY MI Yuja Niacin Brightening Moisture Gel Cream (read!!). After 2 months of using this sleeping mask, here are my thoughts on it!

This is a nice watery-gel moisturizer. It’s supposed to be used only at night, but since I didn’t have any issues with it (breakouts, redness, other skin irritations), I used it twice a day. I just take a dab of the moisturizer and gently pat it into my skin. This moisturizer soaks into the skin very nicely. It just absorbs into the skin and feels calming, cooling, and soothing on the skin. It feels very refreshing! I always look forward to using it. I just love the way it feels on my skin. As for moisture, it’s not the most moisturizing skin care product, but it gives my skin some moisture. I do have oily skin and have trouble handling heavier, richer moisturizers, so this gel moisturizer works perfectly fine on my skin. It doesn’t leave my skin looking shiny, greasy, or oily. As I said before, it just sinks into the skin while leaving the skin feeling somewhat hydrated.

With this product, it’s just not only the hydration that I’m after (even if it’s just some hydration). I love the ingredients in it too. I think I mentioned this before in another post that I wrote about SOME BY MI Niacin 30 Days Miracle Brightening Sleeping Mask. The ingredients in it are very nice. It contains citrus junos fruit extract (70.5%), niacinamide (5%), panthenol, and jojoba seed oil, hippophae rhamnoides fruit extract, arbutin, glutathione, ascorbic acid, and biotin. And it looks like the ingredients/formula of this product is compatible with my skin type. I have experienced NO clogged pores while using it. YAY! As for results, I noticed my skin looking brighter every time I use it. I’ve tried a bunch of other skin care products that contain niacinamide and none of them worked to improve my complexion. This one worked on my skin! It helps to brighten my skin and hopefully helps to fade acne marks and dark spots along the way.

So it’s only been 2ish months of using the moisturizer, but I’m very excited what results it may bring in the next couple of months. I’m ready to pop open a new jar! Cheers!! 🥂

Here’s my empty jar of the product and a new, freshly opened product! I’m so excited! 😃

If you missed out on my previous posts on SOME BY MI Niacin 30 Days Miracle Brightening Sleeping Mask, don’t worry, it’s all here!! 👇🏻👇🏻👇🏻

My Thoughts on SOME BY MI Niacin 30 Days Miracle Brightening Sleeping Mask

1 Month Results SOME BY MI Niacin 30 Days Miracle Brightening Sleeping Mask!!

Trying out SOME BY MI Yuja Niacin Brightening Moisture Gel Cream…

2 Months on Tret. My results. :)

Hello everyone! Welcome to my 2 month update on tret! Last month was…um…it was ok. I was hoping for more, but at least I’ve settled with a skin care routine with products that work on my skin for the rest of the journey. Well, I hope so. ha! So, I stopped using tret during the first week of the month. I guess I delayed the process again. But I really needed to give my skin a break and restart. *sigh* My skin was getting really dry and crusty. I didn’t like the way it looked with makeup. It was just so embarrassing, so I had to do what I thought was best for my skin. And that is, give it a break from the dryness and irritation. I want skin that looks good. Not with a damaged barrier and flaking off like crazy. Flaky skin in front of people is one of the worst things that can happen while on tret. It’s so embarrassing, lol. After that break, I jumped right back into using tret. Here’s my 2 month experience and results on tret! Keep on reading…

Products I Stopped Using

At the beginning of the month, I tried to add some moisture back into my skin. I used Timeless Matrixyl 3000 Serum. I loved how hydrating this serum is, but it didn’t work after a day. It just felt too moisturizing, and I ended up with whiteheads and random blemishes all over my face. I tried rosehip oil again too. I noticed a clogged pore by the end of the night. I stopped using it. But that’s from using it in the morning. I haven’t tried using it at night yet. Maybe it’ll work better at night since I don’t wear sunscreen at night. The sunscreen I used feels very occlusive (read more on sunscreens here) on the skin. I think that might’ve been the trigger for that single clogged pore. Yeah, I know. One clog pore. It scared me though. lol.

Another oil I tried again is squalane oil. It didn’t work out either. I noticed closed comedones by the second day. I used rosehip oil and squalane oil on separate days, not together. It’s better to test each separately to see how my skin reacts to each oil. I also tried shea butter. That lasted 2 days. It helped to protect my skin from drying out, but I noticed pimples throbbing underneath the shea butter. I gave that up pretty quick after noticing whiteheads.

I spot treated with benzoyl peroxide. It worked. It worked so much better than Cosrx Centella Blemish Cream, but it left me with red marks on my face. My skin is definitely much more sensitive now from tret. I didn’t continue on with benzoyl peroxide for that reason. Maybe when my skin is less sensitive I’ll be able to use benzoyl peroxide again. In my opinion, benzoyl peroxide is one of the most effective acne treatments out there. Well, I know it’s been the one and only acne treatment that works on my skin for many years when I suffered from acne breakouts.

I stopped using Timeless Coenzyme Q10 Serum. This product didn’t do much for my skin. Shockingly, my skin looked better without it. I was taken aback, lol. I’ve been using this serum for so long thinking it was doing good for my skin. Nope! Those little acne bumps shrunk after I discontinued this serum. Wow, my skin is so picky. Another serum that didn’t work…

Another product I stopped using is Yeouth Vitamin C Serum. It wasn’t doing anything for my skin but drying it out. It made my skin appear even more crusty. It might’ve contributed to the dry, crusty skin I was experiencing. The reason why I had to take a break from tret. With this serum, I didn’t see any brightening or fading of acne scars. It did absolutely nothing for my skin. I thought I was just wasting my money on a product that didn’t give me results. I think tret is doing a better job at brightening my skin and fading acne marks than this serum ever did. I think leaving my skin alone would do a better job too, lol. And it’s priceless.

But I did start a new (kind of new) skin care product during the second week of treatment!

It is…

Garnier Clearly Brighter Dark Spot Corrector! I used it for a few days then stopped, haha! Turns out it gave me blackheads in my acne-prone areas. But it did brighten my skin! I was very excited about that, but I couldn’t deal with the blackheads any longer. Darn! I really wanted this product to work. By the way, I didn’t purchase mine off of Amazon. I bought it somewhere else. This time, the product was full. Not half empty. I don’t recommend purchasing it off of Amazon at all from my own personal experience.

By the end of the month, I stopped using Neutrogena Hydro Boost Exfoliating Cleanser and decided to stick to PanOxyl Acne Wash. The chemical exfoliants (glycolic acid, lactic acid) in Neutrogena’s face wash is too much for my skin to handle even though it does leave the skin feeling hydrated. My skin’s too sensitive for other chemical exfoliants right now. PanOxyl seems to work better and feels more gentle on my skin.

Lastly, I stopped using Purito Cica Clearing BB Cream (full review here). The color started to bother me again, lol. It leaves my skin looking dull and grey. My skin looked dead. And the bb cream felt so thick on my skin. I just didn’t like the way it felt on my skin. Like thick paint. It makes my skin feel so made up. Feels like gunk on my skin that I don’t need. I think it contributed to clogged pores too due to how thick it felt on my skin. I’m not trying to clog my pores and cause more breakouts over time (when I’m trying to get rid of them). It looks like this bb cream isn’t for me. At least it was pretty cheap. Under 10 bucks. I still have a lot of product left, but I can use it on other parts of my body to get rid of it. With makeup, I want a a product that feels more lightweight on the skin. More skin-like. I’m on the search for a better foundation right now. But most days of the week, I don’t wear makeup. I don’t want to bother my skin. You know, leave it alone and let it be. I want my skin to heal.

My Skin Care Routine

My skin care routine (face products only) consists of a face wash, tret, moisturizer, and sunscreen. So how did it get to this? Well, I’ve learned the hard way that my skin does better with very few products. That means, less is more. It seems to work better this way for me, and I’ve tried a ton of products. It wasn’t worth it. It’s very expensive and led to undesirable results. With my current skin care routine, it’s basic and simple. It works to keep my skin issues at bay. But instead of relying on skincare, I do put more emphasis on my diet, which has helped my skin tremendously. Also, getting enough sleep, exercising, and drinking water to keep my skin hydrated. If you’re feeling dehydrated or have dry skin, it’s important to drink enough water. Being without a very moisturizing moisturizer didn’t really matter much. My skin didn’t feel too dry because I’m drinking just enough water throughout the day to hydrate myself from the inside out! I think people seem to forget about this part of having nice skin. It’s not just about putting skin care products on the face. Diet and a healthy lifestyle is very important too. Too much stress can lead to bad skin too. My skin gets more oily when I’m stressed out. And that leads to breakouts.

So here’s my skin care routine, it’s not extravagant or fancy. It’s possibly one of the most boring skin care routines out there…but whatever. It works for me, and my skin is getting better. I really don’t know why I started to use so many products. It was just money wasted. All in all, do what works for you! This works for me.

Face Wash: I use PanOxyl Acne Creamy Wash (4%). I dropped PanOxyl Acne Foaming Wash (10%) and Neutrogena Hydro Boost Exfoliating Cleanser. I didn’t think I needed the 10%. It’s a lot more drying compared to the 4%. Funny how skin changes within a month. haha. The 4% seems to be working well on my skin. If not, I can always go back to the 10%. Also, Neutrogena contains glycolic acid and lactic acid, which is too much for my skin right now. I need something that’s more gentle on the skin and doesn’t exfoliate. I’m not using any other chemical exfoliants at the moment. My skin gets too sensitive while on tret.

Moisturizer: I’m using rosehip oil. I tried it with my HG sunscreen. No breakouts. So I’m able to use it in the morning and at night. Hopefully it works and doesn’t cause any breakouts any time soon.

Sunscreen: My main sunscreen is Neutrogena Visibly Even Daily Moisturizer SPF 30. Turns out Canmake Mermaid Skin Gel UV SPF 50+ PA++++ is too occlusive on my skin. It gives my skin this dewy texture and makes my makeup look better, but I just couldn’t make it work. It contributed to breakouts too. I stopped using it on my face for that reason. Love that it contains SPF 50+ PA++++, but it’s not worth it if it clogs my pores. I’m back to my HG sunscreen. It feels more lightweight and comfortable on my skin. Haven’t noticed any breakouts from using sunscreen since.

It took some trial and error to see what works on my skin. This seems to be it! It’s working for me, except for the moisturizer part. I don’t know if rosehip oil is going to work or not yet. I’ll have to wait and see. There ya go! My extremely boring skin care routine.

My Results

I spent half of the second month using 0.05. Honestly, the results weren’t that good. I still had bumps underneath my skin that wouldn’t budge. I thought, maybe the 0.05 wasn’t strong enough. But, I also thought, maybe I was still using products that clogged my pores (that I wasn’t aware of) and preventing my skin from clearing up. After discontinuing a bunch of skin care products and finally the last serum in my routine (Timeless Coenzyme Q10 Serum), my skin is doing so much better. It’s unbelievable how my skin looks so much clearer without using so many products on my skin. Just look at my skin care routine! It’s pretty minimal.

So! For the rest of the second month, my skin has definitely improved eliminating almost all of my face products. I noticed results the day after using tret. My skin didn’t feel too dry. It was a little reddish. My skin peeled! It was peeling all over. But at the same time, I can feel closed comedones coming out of my pores! It’s finally working! So I’m trying to use it every day as much as possible. If that ever happens. Overall, it looks like I’m finally purging when I decreased how many products I use in my routine. I know for sure it’s not because of tret alone. The results looked pretty drastic. Like night and day. I’m so shocked. Speechless.

If you’re breaking out and haven’t noticed improvements on tret or any other acne treatment, look at what you’re using. It could be damaging the health of your skin. Some people can do a 10 or 20-step skin care routine, but my skin doesn’t seem to like it. My skin is thriving on this boring skin care routine, and I’m loving every minute of it! My wallet is pretty happy about this too! It doesn’t take me that long to do my skin care routine either. Honestly, I can’t wait to see next month’s results! I’m finally going somewhere.

Did rosehip oil work? Or did I have to find a new moisturizer?? Find out next month!

⭐ If you missed out on my earlier tret posts…

My experience with tret the first week…

After 1 Month on Tret + Skin Care Routine. Here are My Results.