My Acne Journey: 4 MONTHS!!
I’m 4 months into my acne journey! Here are my results! 😀😀😀😀😀
4 Months…
I stopped using salicylic acid and started using benzoyl peroxide instead. After a single night of using benzoyl peroxide, my skin looked clearer. Benzoyl peroxide helped to treat blackheads, sebaceous filaments, cysts, and all of the other acne issues I was having very quickly. Much better and more quickly compared to salicylic acid. I’m not sure if I’m going to use salicylic acid or not. Maybe later on? But right now, I’m going to stick to benzoyl peroxide. Maybe I’ll add salicylic acid when my skin adjusts to benzoyl peroxide first. I don’t want to be using too many products all at once. I want to see if benzoyl peroxide actually is working first. This is one of the benefits when it comes to having a minimal skin care routine. I know what’s working and what’s not. 👍🏻 So it was pretty exciting just seeing results the next day after using benzoyl peroxide for the first time in months (perhaps it’s been over a year?). My skin peeled so much after using benzoyl peroxide and purged. I was shedding for a few days, which was pretty awesome. My skin always looks better after a peel. After all of that shedding, my skin looked clearer, softer, and smoother. My acne is more tamed. It’s working so much better compared to tret too, which I’m still using on other days of the week when I’m not using benzoyl peroxide. It’s working… 😌👌🏻
A Recap on Skin Care Products I Stopped Using!
For the last week or so, I’ve been removing a lot of skin care products from my life. It was actually more than I thought. Here’s the list with some of my thoughts on each one after I stopped using them.
- Benton Fermentation Essence: It took me a while to remove this essence because it’s a lightweight product that sinks into the skin quickly. I didn’t think it was giving my skin any issues. But since I’ve been without it, I honestly can tell now that it didn’t do anything for my skin. It made zero difference. This essence is like applying water to the skin. Expensive water, lol.
- The Ordinary Matrixyl 10% + HA: I wanted this matrixyl product to work, but the texture of the product is not something I really miss. It absorbs into the skin well, but what comes to mind whenever I look back at this product is how plasticky the serum is. It kind of reminded me of The Ordinary Niacinamide 10% + Zinc 1%, which gave me one of the worse acne of my life (tons of closed comedones along the jawline that took ages to go away). It’s one of the reasons why I started to use so many skin care products to fix my skin. 😫
- Melano CC Vitamin C Essence: I’m currently using the rest of this essence on my body. So it does leave a weird residue behind on the skin? 🤔 My skin felt a little dirty with this essence on my skin. I’m not impressed anymore.
- Purito Centella Green Level Buffet Serum: I shouldn’t have stocked up on this serum, lol. I really thought it was a really good serum. Well, not anymore. I haven’t noticed a difference in my skin after I stopped using it. I’m currently using it on my body to get rid of it. It’s going to take forever, haha. I can’t believe I lasted this long on this serum. I don’t miss it at all.
- The Ordinary Resveratrol 3% Ferulic Acid 3%: This is one of the serums I actually do miss. I just wish that it wasn’t so heavy, oily, greasy feeling (like a bunch of The Ordinary products that I’ve used). Ugh! What a disappointment.
- The Ordinary Caffeine Solution 5% + EGCG: I’m glad I removed this caffeine solution. My under eyes are officially restored and hydrated. This solution dried the living hell out of my under eyes even with tons of moisturizers and eye creams on top. It just didn’t work after 2 darn years.
- Cosrx Advanced Snail 96 Mucin Power Essence: I’m officially over this essence. It didn’t do anything to help with hydration.
- Canmake Mermaid Skin Gel UV SPF 50+ PA++++ (Clear): Recently removed this sunscreen from my routine and my skin feels so much better. I mean, less dry. I was wondering why my skin feels so dry all the time. Look no further, it was this sunscreen all along. Also, I can’t let go of the fact that it burned and made me freckle badly. Can’t use it in the summer, can’t use it in the winter. Out it goes! Finally.
- GUERISSON 9 Complex Cream: That silicone feel that this cream has really bothers me. It just sits on top of my skin. It also has fragrance. Sometimes I can use products with fragrance, sometimes I can’t. It depends on the product. But heavily scented/fragranced skin care products gets to me after a while. I think it’s finally getting to me. Another cream that I don’t care for anymore.
9 products down. 👀 Woohoo! And I’m back on my boring, simple, plain, whatever you want to call it skin care routine. Wow, my skin sure does look better. 😊 I’m glad I removed these products. It feels like a sense of relief! 😌
Here goes my Acne Journey if you missed out on them!!
My Acne Journey: 3 Weeks Results!
My Acne Journey: 4 Weeks Results!
My Acne Journey: 6 Weeks Results…
My Acne Journey: 7 Weeks Results
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 + 1 Week Results
My Acne Journey: 3 Months + 2 Weeks Results
My Acne Journey: 3 Months + 3 Week Results
4 Months, 4 Months Results, Acne, Acne Journey, Acne Marks, Acne Prone Skin, Acne Scars, Acne Serum, Acne Skin, Acne Skin Care, Anti Aging, Anti Wrinkle, Beauty, Benzoyl Peroxide, BP, Experience, Life, Lifestyle, My Acne Journey, Paula’s Choice, PIH, Results, Review, Skin Care, Skin Care Products, Skin Care Routine, Skincare, Tret, Tret Journey, Tretinoin, Wrinkle
My Acne Journey: 3 Months + 3 Weeks Results
It’s a new week! 🙂 My results!!
1 Week Update on Paula’s Choice 2% BHA Liquid
It’s been 1 week using Paula’s Choice 2% BHA Liquid. I started off using it in the morning only. Since I noticed a difference in my skin after a day of use, I started using it twice a day. Fortunately, without any issues. My skin didn’t dry out or become irritated. So after a single day of using the BHA, clogged pores were unclogging. Blemishes I didn’t know existed moved up to the surface. I had clogged pores this whole time? Who knew! Also, sebaceous filaments decreased, especially on my nose. That was my main problematic area for sebaceous filaments. By the end of the week, my skin looked clearer and smoother. I was incredibly shocked because I’ve been battling closed comedones, blackheads, and acne in general for so long. Adding the BHA Liquid was a good move. And it worked! But too bad Paula’s Choice 2% BHA Liquid is pretty costly. It used to be affordable and just plain amazing (price and size), so I’m not sure if I’m going to stick to it if the price is this high. I might have to find another BHA product to use. But we’ll see what happens. My skin is looking pretty clear after adding BHA to my routine. I’m happy with the results so far!
Note: I’m only using this product a few times a week now. 🙂
Trying AHA & Niacinamide…
I tried using an AHA product this week. It’s the Alpha Skin Care Intensive Renewal Serum. It’s been a while since I’ve used this serum or an AHA skin care product. With this serum, I only used it at night. Only once this week. This is a glycolic acid serum (14%). It contains Glycerin, Chamomilla Recutita (Matricaria) Flower Extract, Green Tea Extract, Aloe Barbadensis Leaf Juice, and a few other ingredients. My experience using this serum didn’t go well the first time I tried it again. It didn’t really do anything for my skin. It’s a 14% glycolic acid product, but my skin doesn’t seem to care for it at all. I didn’t see any changes in my skin. Even though I used it only once this week, I remembered why I stopped using it in the first place. It feels like I’m applying water to my skin, and I never noticed any results using this serum in the past. It could just be this AHA product that doesn’t work on my skin. I’m not going to bother finding another one any time soon. I’ll stick to the BHA for now. It seems to be working so much better.
I also tried a product that contains niacinamide. It’s the SOME BY MI Niacin 30 Days Miracle Brightening Sleeping Mask. This product contains 5% niacinamide. I’m not big on niacinamide, but my skin has been very oily lately. It’s been a while since I’ve revisited this product, lol. The last time I used this sleeping mask it helped to control oil on my face (a little too drying from what I remember) and helped to brighten my complexion. The sleeping mask contains Niacinamide (as mentioned), Citrus Junos Fruit Extract (70.5%), Panthenol, Arbutin, and it even has Ascorbic Acid, ha! After a single day of using the sleeping mask, I noticed a brighter, more glowy complexion. But, after the third day, my skin started to get really dry. I mean so dry that my whole faced looked chapped. My face was cracking. I immediately stopped using it since I didn’t have a good moisturizer to use. I stopped using Vanicream around this time too thinking that SOME BY MI would be moisturizing. 😂 I was so wrong. It’s extremely drying!!! Like it was before, haha. I wouldn’t recommend this sleeping mask if you have naturally dry skin. For me to continue to use this product, I would have to pair it with a good moisturizer to make it work.
What happened this week?
I’m still trying to figure out what works for my skin. I’ve removed a bunch of products too. I’m glad I did. I didn’t need that many products. I started to look back at the times when my skin was at its best. It was when I had a minimal skin care routine. Removing these skin care products was just a test to see how my skin would react. So far, it’s been going well. I really think it’s just a skin care addiction. LOL. For a few days I felt like I was missing something in my routine. Now, I know that I don’t actually need it, hahaha. So if you missed out on the skin care products I removed from my routine recently, check them out below!
Eucerin Q10 Anti-Wrinkle Face Cream
The Ordinary Resveratrol 3% + Ferulic Acid 3%
The Ordinary Matrixyl 10% + HA
Purito Centella Green Level Buffet Serum – I started using this serum again but stopped using it again this week. It’s a nice serum that soothes the skin, but it provides absolutely no long-lasting moisture. The product that was moisturizing my skin the whole time was Vanicream. I tried using the Purito Centella Green Level Buffet Serum as a lightweight hydrator/moisturizing product, but it just didn’t work. My skin became so dry after I applied it to my skin. I think this serum is only effective when paired with a moisturizer that actually moisturizes.
Cosrx Advanced Snail 96 Mucin Power Essence – I stopped using Cosrx Snail Essence for the same reason as Purito. It didn’t provide my skin that much hydration as I thought it did. It didn’t help protect or strengthen my skin either. My skin still felt dry while using it. Maybe I’ll add it back in the future. But I think I’m done with it for now. Hopefully this time, lol.
What I’m doing now. 🧴
My face skin care routine has been simplified. I’m only using a cleanser (looking for a more moisturizing one for the winter), acne products (tret, bha), moisturizer, and sunscreen. That’s basically it. I’m thinking about adding benzoyl peroxide too since I had good results with it before. I’ve been using it as a spot treatment, but I’m thinking about an all-over treatment again. What I used to do. It worked too. My skin looks really good without an excess amount of products. Hopefully a minimal routine like this works because I am so sick and tired of getting breakouts. Let’s hope for the best and move on to another new week! Hello 4 MONTHS!! 😲😮💨
My Acne Journey is right here if you missed out!
My Acne Journey: 3 Weeks Results!
My Acne Journey: 4 Weeks Results!
My Acne Journey: 6 Weeks Results…
My Acne Journey: 7 Weeks Results
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 + 1 Week Results
My Acne Journey: 3 Months + 2 Weeks Results
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