3 Months & 1 Week Results! Clear Skin. 🥰

I haven’t been able to make any updates lately. There’s too much going on. But, this is what’s going on so far…

I’m on a short break. 😮‍💨

It’s been 3 months and 1 week, but who’s counting anymore, lol. I’m still on a basic skincare routine that consists of a face wash, acne treatment, and sunscreen.

What I’m using…

Neutrogena Hydro Boost Hydrating Cleansing Gel with Hyaluronic Acid Fragrance-Free, benzoyl peroxide, and whatever sunscreen I choose for the day. I use whatever I have. I haven’t found my HG sunscreen yet. I haven’t spent on any new sunscreen lately. I have a bunch that I need to get rid of first. So, the face wash is OK. I’m on my second bottle. I’m thinking about using something that has benzoyl peroxide in it once I’m done with my current face wash. As for benzoyl peroxide, it seems like my skin loves benzoyl peroxide, haha. It’s been helping a ton. My skin is basically clear as long as I keep using it. Right now, my skin is freaking clear. Maybe with 1-2 unnoticeable pimples that will eventually disappear soon. I stopped using everything else on my face and just stuck to benzoyl peroxide. Voila! Clear skin. I’m very happy with my skin results so far. Goal achieved. Hopefully, it stays this way.

Remember CeraVe Hydrating Mineral Face Sheer Tint? I was suffering from breakouts on my forehead, mouth area, and chin when I was using it. My skin was oily and just gross looking. I stopped using it a while ago, and my acne lessened throughout that time. Who knew that this sunscreen product was destroying my skin? My skin looked so bad while using it, but I thought it was doing my skin good. I’m glad I removed it. I’m trying to use it up on my body. I won’t purchase it ever again.

Here are the sunscreens I’ve been experimenting with. Because that’s the only product I’ve been swapping weekly and just testing what my skin likes.

Trader Joe’s Daily Facial Sunscreen Broad Spectrum SPF 40:

I still do really love the texture of this sunscreen. But, this sunscreen is a no-go for me. I just finished one bottle and opened another (the last one). It’s silky, smooth, and works well as a makeup primer. It smooths out my skin and makes it appear so soft. It fills in any lines. Too bad that I can’t use it often. I thought I could make this sunscreen my official everyday sunscreen, but I noticed clogged pores due to my skin being extremely oily. The sunscreen makes me break out by trapping oil and causing breakouts. Ugh! I think this is a good sunscreen if you don’t have acne. I can use it once in a while, but I can’t make it into a daily thing.

Neutrogena Visibly Even Daily Moisturizer SPF 30:

I’m almost done with this sunscreen. Just a few applications left then I can toss it out. It’s a discontinued product. I’ve been using it for so many years, and it never caused breakouts (from what I remember). I feel that it’s too moisturizing on my skin, so I’ve been using other sunscreens. Still need to finish it before it expires.

Canmake Mermaid Skin Gel UV SPF 50+ PA++++:

I started using Canmake again once my skin started to get oily. I was having issues with some sunscreens making my face look like an oily mess. Any sunscreen will do. I remember Canmake helping with some skin oiliness and drying out my skin. I tried it again and no issues as of yet. I’ve only used it today, so I’ll make another update on it, haha. Hopefully, it works because I want a sunscreen that’s lightweight, non-greasy, and contains over SPF 50. Gotta use what I have left, which is several bottles, LOL.

I’ve been off of LRP for some time now. I still have their mineral sunscreen (SPF 50) and SPF 100. The mineral sunscreen makes my face white and dries it out too much. I can’t believe I went through bottles of this crap. I’m going to finish my last one and throw it out. As for the SPF 100, it’s not too bad. I’ve been leaning towards lightweight sunscreens due to oily skin. Also, I’m rarely outdoors, so I don’t need anything heavy-duty. Maybe when summer hits. ☀️

That’s my update since last time. hehe. Have a nice day everyone! 👌

Catch up on my experience!

Restarting Tret & My First Week Experience

My Week 2 Results With Tret. Changes I’ve Made.

My Week 3 BP Results!

1 MONTH Results with BP!

1 Month + 1 Week Using BP & Some Changes I Made This Week!

1 Month + 2 Weeks Experience!

1 Month + 3 Weeks Experience!

2 Months Experience!

2 Months & 1 Week Results!

My Week 2 Results With Tret. Changes I’ve Made.

I stopped using tret, lol. After last week’s results, I wasn’t happy with any of it. Using tret directly on my skin yielded better results, but it tore my skin up. The lower strengths of tret, from my experience, don’t have any positive affects on my acne. I tried buffering to lessen the side effects, such as dryness, redness, and any other skin irritations. My results buffering was so poor. My skin ended up so clogged. But It might’ve been the Cosrx Advanced Snail 96 Mucin Power Essence clogging my pores. Or, Vanicream Daily Facial Moisturizer for Sensitive Skin?? I get mixed results with this moisturizer. So I stopped using Cosrx Snail Mucin Essence and kept using Vanicream Daily Facial Moisturizer. It’s the only moisturizer that I have. I still can’t find another moisturizer that works without ruining my skin. Vanicream it is for now. Just for now, haha. That’s until I find a better moisturizer for my skin type. Just using the Vanicream moisturizer and leaving out the Snail Mucin Essence, my skin looked better and less clogged. But, my skin didn’t look that good. I could tell that I still had acne issues. It could’ve been better. I can just tell if my skin is improving or not. It just seemed stagnant. Since I stopped using tret, I started using a different retinoid instead. It’s time to switch things up again for another time. This time, it’s tazorac. This retinoid isn’t anything new to me. I’ve used tazorac with amazing results before. It actually cleared my acne up once before like tret. Let’s give it another try. I also started using benzoyl peroxide more frequently than I expected this week too. Here’s my experience and results for week #2!

My Experience with Taz & Benzoyl Peroxide this week!

I used taz 3 times this week. And I used taz 3 times in a row, back-to-back. That was a bad decision. It worked to help clear up some clogged pores, but my skin started to feel dry and started to sting. After using it 3 times in a row, I took a day off. After a day of not using anything but a moisturizer (which stung my skin), I decided to increase my application of benzoyl peroxide. My skin just looked so clogged even when using taz. After 2 days of using benzoyl peroxide, I noticed a dramatic change in my complexion pretty quick. My breakouts diminished. My skin looked cleaner and less clogged. It killed active acne blemishes on the spot. It helped to decrease sebum on the surface of my skin. I also noticed some skin peeling all over my face. Wow, this thing called benzoyl peroxide is amazing. It seems like I’m stuck using it for the rest of my life. It’s the only acne treatment that makes any changes in my skin in a short period of time. Since my skin looks pretty good right now after increasing my use of benzoyl peroxide, I decided to use benzoyl peroxide more often than taz. Taz helps, but I think benzoyl peroxide is where it’s at when it comes to clearing my skin. Every time I use benzoyl peroxide, my skin gets better. I have less closed comedones, less blackheads, less chances of pimples developing. I’ll figure something out in the upcoming weeks, but my skin looks clear at the moment because of benzoyl peroxide. So, by the end of the week, I took a break from actives and just moisturized my skin. I’ll restart when my skin is ready. It’s looking very crusty and dry. It itches too from the dryness, haha. I have no new pimples though!

Update on Sunscreens! 🧴

Altruist Sunscreen SPF 50:

How much I love the high UVB and UVA in this sunscreen. I simply cannot use on my face. I noticed clogged pores and whiteheads/blackheads on my nose, forehead, and chin area. The formula of this product is just not working for my skin. I wished it did. I stopped using it after noticing an increase in clogged pores. I guess I could use the rest of what I have on my body. This sucks because I really wanted it to work.

CeraVe Hydrating Mineral Face Sheer Tint:

I’ve been using this sunscreen as my main sunscreen. I like it, but there are some things that I don’t like about it. First off, the tint of this sunscreen makes my face look super orange. Repplying the sunscreen makes my face look even more orange than before, lol. Other reasons I don’t like about this sunscreen includes it being only SPF 30, the fact that it feels a little heavy on my oily skin, and it stings my face when I’m using acne products that peel the skin. My skin literally burns with this sunscreen. But, yes, I’m still using it anyways, lmao. I’ll be on the look out for another sunscreen. That’s if I can find another one that works just as well as this one while being afforable.

Trader Joe’s Daily Facial Sunscreen Broad Spectrum SPF 40:

I picked up two new bottles of Trader Joe’s Daily Facial Sunscreen Broad Spectrum SPF 40. I missed it, so I purchased more. It’s also effective, has SPF 40, has a nice texture to it (silky, smooth, moisturizing, doesn’t burn my skin), is broad spectrum, and is very affordable. It costs less than the CeraVe Hydrating Mineral Face Sheer Tint. Trader Joe’s SPF 40 is a chemical sunscreen though. I do prefer mineral sunscreens over chemical sunscreens. But, this chemical sunscreen makes my skin feel super elegant and nice. I’m loving it using so far after using it again.

That’s my 2 week update! Stay tuned for next week!

Check out my first week experience here!

Restarting Tret & My First Week Experience

My Acne Journey: 6 MONTHS!!! 🎉

It’s been 6 MONTHS on this acne journey! Even though I’ve been on this acne journey for 6 months, I’m going to be counting the days when I started to use tret daily (at least try to). I’m nearing 3 weeks soon! Today marks 19 DAYS!! I’ve decreased from the highest dose to the lowest so I can use it daily. I would stick to the highest dose, but I got tired of my skin peeling constantly. Peeling skin isn’t a bad thing, but while my skin was peeling, it didn’t help much with acne. There could be many possibilities why it didn’t work during that time. Maybe it’s because I was using that pore-clogging moisturizer (Vanicream Daily Moisturizer for Sensitive Skin). That’s one of the products that ruined my progress plus other skin care products that I don’t use anymore. It’s just cleanse, treat, and sunscreen for me. I think what else ruined my acne progress was my past vegan diet (here’s a new update!). My skin had a difficult time healing. Now, my skin heals quickly if there’s a wound. Thanks to the high quality protein from meat. 🍖 It was a combination of things in my life. Why not just use the high dose without a moisturizer now?? I honestly don’t feel like switching right now. I’m already using what works. Low dose of tret is definitely working. I can see visible results. It took time to get there, but it’s finally working. Patience is key at this point.

The Purge & Results.

My skin purged and peeled twice this week. I was pretty ecstatic about it because that’s a sign that tret is working for my acne. I could feel a thick layer of dead skin sitting on my face. It felt so gross, but it was extremely satisfying to remove by the end of the day, lol. Once the dead skin came off, I noticed breakouts. 😒 It sucks, but it’s bound to happen. Cell turnover and new skin cells. I’m not happy with the new breakouts but at least I know it’s doing something. So far, I’ve experienced 3 cysts that randomly popped up out of nowhere. They healed much faster instead of lingering on for weeks. I’ve also had smaller pimples. The pimples that have been living underneath my skin for several months end! I’ve been trying to zap them with other acne treatments like salicylic acid and benzoyl peroxide to no avail. Now, they are finally out! I noticed some blackheads too. I made a mistake of extracting some of the blackheads and that pressure created red marks in my skin. Technically, I ripped my skin off. 😓 Note to self, don’t ever do this again even if it’s tempting. I thought the blackheads were from my sunscreen. It’s actually from the tret purge. The rest of the blackheads loosened up and fell out of my pores the next day (woohoo! but yuck?). Those red marks faded away at the end of the week too. Thankfully.

Most of the breakouts I experienced this week have healed on its own, except for one cyst, but it’s shrinking quickly. I noticed that cyst just a day ago, so that’s why it’s still hanging out on my face. Overall, my skin looks softer and smoother. It looks way better now (3 weeks) compared to when I started. It also looks better compared to when I was on the highest dose. I went through a short phase of irritation (burning, red/pink skin, some dryness). Now those signs of irritation have lessened quite a bit. There’s some irritation, but I can get by without problems arising. My skin is just peeling and unclogging pores now with every day use. I was applying my bb cream and was super impressed that my bb cream just glides over my skin smoothly. It looked sooo smooth! Like what my skin used to look like when it was fully clear! I’m very ecstatic with the results so far! Can’t wait to see further improvements within the next few weeks! By the way, I stopped using bha since I don’t need it right now. I’ll use it whenever my skin needs it. I don’t want to dry my skin out when I’m not using a moisturizer. All of a sudden I had the urge to look for one, but I haven’t found one that I think would suit my skin. 🤷🏻‍♀️ I’m still moisturizer-free.

Some products I love this week…

Blue Lizard Sunscreen Stick Sensitive:

This wasn’t the type of sunscreen for the summer, but it’s working for me in the winter. I’m not using it on my face. It contains shea butter, coconut oil, candelilla wax, sunflower seed oil, sunflower seed wax, castor oil, jojoba seed oil, and even cocoa butter. This sunscreen is a haven for clogged pores. So! I used it around my eyes, neck, and ears. It’s too heavy and oily for me for the back of the hands. I love using this product on my neck. It helps to moisturize and protect that part of my skin from harmful UV rays. Works great during the cooler, colder months!

CeraVe Hydrating Mineral Face Sheer Tint:

I have so many good things to say about this sunscreen. I’m on my second tube, and I’m almost running low! Thank goodness I stocked up on this sunscreen. I can’t run out. I won’t. As long as it’s available. This sunscreen is tinted and makes it very easy to apply mineral sunscreen (usually leaves a white cast behind). This sunscreen just blends into the skin well, leaves the skin moisturized (hasn’t clogged my pores yet!), and makes my skin look super soft and dewy. It helps to brighten my skin too with niacinamide. The only thing I would change about this sunscreen so far would be the SPF. I still wish it was SPF 50+!!

Just finished up 6 months! 🥳

My full acne journey from the beginning ’til now! 👇🏻

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 Acne Journey: 2 MONTHS!! 

My Acne Journey: 2 Months + 1 Week Results!

My Acne Journey: 2 Months + 2 Weeks!

My Acne Journey: 2 Months + 3 Weeks Results!

My Acne Journey: 3 MONTHS!! 😃

My Acne Journey: 3 Months + 1 Week Results

My Acne Journey: 3 Months + 2 Weeks Results

My Acne Journey: 3 Months + 3 Week Results

My Acne Journey: 4 MONTHS!!

My Acne Journey: 4 Months + 1 Week Results.

My Acne Journey: 4.5 Months + Clear Skin!!

My Acne Journey: 4 Months + 3 Weeks! What I’m Doing to Maintain My Clear Skin. 🙂

My Acne Journey: 5 MONTHS!!

My Acne Journey: 5 Months + 1 Week Results

My Acne Journey: 5.5 Months Results!

My Acne Journey: 5 Months + 3 Weeks

My Acne Journey: 5.5 Months Results!

My results for 5.5 Months is here! Wow, I’m moving on to 6 months soon. 😲

I tried my best to use tret every day this week. I skipped 2 days to rest because I ran out of my hydrating tinted mineral sunscreen. I didn’t realize this product was doing all of the heavy lifting when it comes to moisturizing my skin. I ran out of the product and noticed that my skin was more dull and more dry. Who knew. Gotta make sure I never run out of it! Especially when I don’t have a nighttime moisturizer. I still can’t find one. Lol, I’m not even trying to find one anymore. I don’t want to spend my money on something that I don’t need or won’t work out. It might ruin my skin again. So what else happened this week? I started using bha again. I noticed my blackheads coming back. Also, sebaceous filaments were getting worse. Once I added bha back into my routine, I noticed a purge. Geez, not this again. But, I’m going to keep using bha. Trying to stick to 1-2 times a week and see what happens. Hopefully my skin doesn’t dry out from it.

My current facial cleanser is Olay Regenerist Hyaluronic + Peptide 24 Revitalizing Facial Cleanser. It worked well when I was using a moisturizer. Since I don’t have a moisturizer anymore, it’s drying out my skin a little bit. It could be the change in weather plus this facial cleanser. All I know is that it’s not as moisturizing anymore. It is gentle on the skin, but it feels like it’s stripping my skin. Not as bad as many other cleansers I have tried. I think I need new facial cleanser after finishing this one. I think I need a new one anyways since I don’t want to pay for a face wash monthly, lol. So what cleanser should I try next?? This is a difficult decision…

When I ran out of my CeraVe Hydrating Mineral Face Sheer Tint, I found Skinfood Mushroom Multi Care BB Cream SPF 20 PA+ in my product bag. I needed a product to replace CeraVe for a short period of time (2 days) before getting my hands on a new bottle of CeraVe. Fortunately, this bb cream has not expired. It doesn’t expire until next year (later on the year next year). So I used it. My experience with this bb cream again was horrid. At first I sort of liked it. The bb cream felt soft and was super concentrated. I loved using it around my eyes for some reason because it’s so soothing and blends into the skin around the eyes nicely. I liked the way it felt on my skin. But, the bb cream was drying and made my skin look like plastic. It was wax-like. It felt heavy on the skin. I didn’t like the way it felt on my skin at all. It was kind of gross. Even though it has arbutin in it, it didn’t do anything to brighten my complexion. It made my skin appear duller. Haha, the sun protection is laughable too. It’s only SPF 20 PA+. I wonder why I even liked this bb cream in the past. It used to be good, I guess. This bb cream does have fragrance. It’s nauseating. I’m glad I didn’t have to use this product for more than 2 days. After I picked up another bottle of CeraVe, I stopped using it on my face. I’ll finish the rest up as a concealer to use it up. Every drop cannot go to waste!

That’s my 5.5 Months update! 🙂

Catch up on my acne journey right here:

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 Acne Journey: 2 MONTHS!! 

My Acne Journey: 2 Months + 1 Week Results!

My Acne Journey: 2 Months + 2 Weeks!

My Acne Journey: 2 Months + 3 Weeks Results!

My Acne Journey: 3 MONTHS!! 😃

My Acne Journey: 3 Months + 1 Week Results

My Acne Journey: 3 Months + 2 Weeks Results

My Acne Journey: 3 Months + 3 Week Results

My Acne Journey: 4 MONTHS!!

My Acne Journey: 4 Months + 1 Week Results.

My Acne Journey: 4.5 Months + Clear Skin!!

My Acne Journey: 4 Months + 3 Weeks! What I’m Doing to Maintain My Clear Skin. 🙂

My Acne Journey: 5 MONTHS!!

My Acne Journey: 5 Months + 1 Week Results

My Acne Journey: 5 MONTHS!!

My 5 months experience! 🙂

Some thoughts that crossed my mind ~

Should I stop using moisturizer? Is Vanicream Daily Moisturizer for Sensitive Skin clogging my pores? Should I take a break from benzoyl peroxide?? Hmmm! So many questions!

So! I didn’t stop using a moisturizer this week. But, I’m going to try to stop using a moisturizer (Vanicream) next week. Why? I feel like it’s slowing down my progress. Possibly clogging my pores. I noticed some sections of my face that keeps on getting re-clogged even after using tret, benzoyl peroxide, and bha. Vanicream feels a little bit sticky and heavy on the skin too. I love the ingredients in the moisturizer and how it helps to heal and protect my skin, but it could be setting me back when it comes to acne. I never used a moisturizer before in the past. It’s not because I don’t like them. It’s because all of them (the ones I have tried, tons!!) ended up breaking me out. I think Vanicream may be one of them. As for benzoyl peroxide, I don’t want to use something as drying as benzoyl peroxide in my routine right now while my skin is without a moisturizer. I’ll have to wait until my skin adjusts to this new routine first before adding it back in. That’s if I need to. I’m still using tret and bha. Both of these products are drying enough for my skin. I’m also going to use both of them without a moisturizer. Let’s see what happens!

I tried some old or previous products too, haha! Oops.

I tried The Ordinary Resveratrol 3% Ferulic Acid 3%, The Ordinary Ascorbic Acid 8% + Alpha Arbutin 2%, and The Ordinary Caffeine Solution 5% + EGCG again. The Resveratrol & Ferulic Acid serum and Ascrobic Acid & Arbutin serum was a mistake, lol. I haven’t used any The Ordinary serums on my face for a while. I was in for a surprise. Well, kinda. I should’ve known. Both of these serums felt extremely greasy on the face. It didn’t sink in my skin at all and left my skin feeling and looking sticky, heavy, and greasy. I woke up the next morning with red, irritated skin and clogged pores. It messed up my skin so quick. Lesson learned once again. I thought I would try it out again and this happens. Now I know once again that these serums simply do not work on my face. Another product I tried again from The Ordinary is the Caffeine Solution & EGCG. This one worked better. I kind of missed it, so I started using it again, lol. I’m only using it at night since it has a drying, tightening effect on the skin around the eyes. Also, it takes time for the serum to absorb into the skin. So far, nothing bad has happened.

My thoughts on some of my sunscreens…

Vanicream Mineral Facial Moisturizer Broad Spectrum SPF 30:

I’m almost done with this sunscreen. It’s a thicker and heavier sunscreen, and it does has the tendency to sit on top of my skin. Ahhh, I love the ceramides in this product. It helps to moisturize, heal, and protect my skin. I haven’t noticed any breakouts from using it daily either or from reapplying. I can reapply this sunscreen without the product pilling. It works great as a moisturizer and contains ingredients that I like. I use it when I’m indoors or when I need my skin to heal from exfoliants or actives. I think it’s much more moisturizing compared to Vanicream Daily Moisturizer for Sensitive Skin too. The Vanicream Mineral SPF 30 is making me have second thoughts about Vanicream Daily Moisturizer for Sensitive Skin. Hmmmm! So I’m still on the fence about this product. It just feels a bit too rich for my skin type. But it could work. I’ll finish the rest of the product and think about it.

Canmake Mermaid Skin Gel UV SPF 50+ PA++++ (Clear):

I tried to use this sunscreen up on my face. I really tried. It’s just too drying on the skin, and I couldn’t stand the dryness any longer. It ruined the moisture levels in my skin. My skin looked cracked, felt super tight, and painful. I tried using it with a heavier product underneath too, and it still didn’t work. I guess I could just use it on my body. I won’t repurchase again. I know I’ve said this many times, but I hate this product. 👎🏻

CeraVe Hydrating Mineral Face Sheer Tint:

A product I grew to love this week is the CeraVe Hydrating Mineral Face Sheer Tint! It’s a tinted mineral sunscreen (SPF 30) that contains niacinamide. I was really shocked and am still shocked that it brightened my skin. I noticed a clearer and brighter complexion after rinsing it off for the day. I’m really, really liking this product. I’m using it as my face makeup product (foundation) too. It doesn’t provide any coverage, but it’s best for my skin to not have anything thick and heavy on it. Also, too many products just causes more acne issues. My skin just looks better after rinsing it off at the end of the day. I’m really enjoying applying this product to my face too. It blends into the skin without leaving a white cast behind. Perfect for sunscreen reapplication.

5 months in and now on to a new week!!

My whole acne journey is right here! Enjoy! 🙂

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 Acne Journey: 2 MONTHS!! 

My Acne Journey: 2 Months + 1 Week Results!

My Acne Journey: 2 Months + 2 Weeks!

My Acne Journey: 2 Months + 3 Weeks Results!

My Acne Journey: 3 MONTHS!! 😃

My Acne Journey: 3 Months + 1 Week Results

My Acne Journey: 3 Months + 2 Weeks Results

My Acne Journey: 3 Months + 3 Week Results

My Acne Journey: 4 MONTHS!!

My Acne Journey: 4 Months + 1 Week Results.

My Acne Journey: 4.5 Months + Clear Skin!!

My Acne Journey: 4 Months + 3 Weeks! What I’m Doing to Maintain My Clear Skin. 🙂