Acne

Acne: Story So Far..

08:23

Having suffered with acne for about three years now, my skin is never something I like talking about, let alone writing about it on the internet and including a picture of myself with no makeup on, but like they say there's a first time for everything. 

Before I hit the age of sixteen I had lovely clear skin, not a blackhead, scar or spot in site. However that summer my skin had a bit of a meltdown and decided now was the time for me to get acne (couldn't think of a worse time in my life if I tried). For a while I didn't really treat my acne, all I did was buy every face wash and scrub available on the high street that was geared towards spot prone skin, but none of those were helping, if anything they made matters worse. 

I then went to my local GP and got put on antibiotics, which I took for about a year and a half I think, but those didn't really do the trick either; it wasn't getting any better, and by this point my acne had spread to my cheek and chin area, were as before it was just confined to my T-Zone. 

Unfortunately I don't have any bare faced pictures of myself from when my acne was at its worst because as you can imagine, makeup was my best friend and the camera... was not! What I can offer you however is a picture of myself now. 

                                                                        An unedited, bare-faced, HD picture of myself taken straight after my workout! 


After having taken Trimethoprim (Click here to read my in depth blog post all about it) for 10 months, this is how my skin looks now. 

While on Trimethoprim my skin was beautiful, it was spot and blackhead free; my facialist was extremely impressed! But I couldn't be on medication for the rest of my life, so in June, my dermatologist and I decided that it was time for me to come off it. My skin stayed clear for a few weeks once I had finished my course, but while in Mallorca I noticed I was starting to get a few spots here and there, it was a bit disheartening, but I knew this would happen anyway. 

As you can see from the picture above I don't have any big red nasty spots on my face; the only red spots that you can see are actually scars, and I get those whether I pop a spot or not. Besides the scars all I have are a few little bumps on my forehead and on the side of my nose, and considering I haven't been on medication for three months now, thats actually pretty good going.

I would highly recommend Trimethoprim to anyone with acne who is a bit afraid to try Accutane. You may still get a few spots when you come off it, but the same can be said for Accutane, and the possible side effects of Accutane just did not seem worth the risk to me. 

Now I'm on the hunt for really good skin care that will keep my skin in the condition it's in now or better yet, clear it up even more. It's going to take time and a lot of trial and error, but its important to me that I only use whats best for my skin. 

To any of you suffering with acne all I'll say is, keep your head up and don't let it knock your confidence too much. The people that mean the most to you and are true friends, really won't care that you have a few spots on your face, and those who do aren't worth your time. Have patience, do your research and enjoy your life! 

Lara x 

Acne Prone Skin

Out With The Old In With The New..

10:38

New blog layout and a new everyday makeup routine!

 I was looking at my blog today, and was just not loving the layout, so i decided to give it a little pick-me-up. I also, filmed, edited and uploaded a new video today which is about my everyday makeup routine (Click here to see my YouTube Channel and watch the new video)

 Hope you like the new layout and video!

 Lara x




Products I used:
- Murad Shine Control and Acne Prone Primer
- Nars Radiant Creamy Concealer in 'Caramel' 
- Rimmel Scandaleyes Mascara
- Nars eyeshadow in 'Bali' 

- Nars blush in 'Gilda' 


Acne

My New Holy Grail?!

13:13

<a href="http://www.bloglovin.com/blog/4065911/?claim=krr48ddf822">Follow my blog with Bloglovin</a>

 I finally did it, i finally brought the famous NARS Sheer Glow Foundation!











































After having been on holiday for just under a week my Bobbi Brown foundation had become way too light for me, so i decided i would take the opportunity and buy The NARS Sheer Glow foundation. Now unless you've been living under a rock you will know that this has been one of the most talked about products in the beauty world; because i had watched countless videos and read numerous blogs on it, i felt pretty confident in my purchase. 

The words 'sheer' and 'glow' are not words you want to be associated with a product your about to buy if you have acne/combination skin, however i was pleasantly surprised! I got matched to the colour 'Syracuse' and its perfect, it neutralises my overall skin tone and takes away any redness in my skin without making it look cakey. I would say it is a medium coverage and could very easily be built up to a fuller coverage for a night out etc. 

So far i have been using this product nearly every day and have pretty much fallen in love, and i now completely understand why it gets so much love and is considered by many to be a holy grail. 

















Me before (Top) and After (Below) applying the NARS Sheer Glow Foundation

Lara x

Acne

Everyday Makeup Routine

14:39

This is a blog post that i have been wanting to put up for a while, but i just haven't had the guts to as it requires me to plaster pictures of myself without makeup on, on the internet; and having suffered with acne, the thought of doing that scares me a bit, but here i am. This is basically just going to be a step by step look at how i do my makeup everyday. This look is what i wear to go to class, shopping, lunch with friends etc. Its incredible simple and natural, which i personally think is what an everyday should be. *Be warned, this will be a picture heavy post*


Here is are the before and after pictures. As you can see in the top picture my acne scaring is quite prominent and i look like i haven't slept in days and in the botom picture, i like to think that you would agree with me in saying that there is a vast improvement. Keep reading to find out how i achieved the end result. 


After moisturising using the CVS moisturising lotion for all skin types i apply my Bare Minerals Foundation (Full Bare Minerals makeup review here) I apply this using the Bare Minerals Full Flawless brush, in the buffing action that they tell you to use. I apply this until i have a medium coverage. My acne scaring is never fully covered, but i feel that if i put anymore on i would just look like a cakey mess.


Once i've applied my foundation i move onto my eyes. I always without fail curl my eyelashes, it helps to open up your eyes and make you look more awake, and if you've had a late night, you're going to need all the help you can get; the curlers i use are by tweezerman. I then apply two coats of mascara; i personally like using two different mascaras to get my desired result. I use the YSL Shocking mascara first, which adds volume like no other, and then i use the Clinique High Length mascara, to lengthen and separate my lashes. 


Now its time for the eyebrows. I naturally have quite thick and dark eyebrows, but i like to use i bit of eyeshadow to help in the areas where my eyebrows are slightly more sparse (I tried to find out the name of the eyeshadow i use, but was unable to, i can however tell you it is a MAC eyeshadow that's a kind of coffee colour... not that thats much help). I apply the eyeshadow using the Real Techniques brow brush and comb it through using a spooly from MAC. 


Next up is what i consider to be the most important step in my routine after applying my foundation... under eye concealer! I use Benefit's Erase Paste in number 3. A little goes a long way with this product, i think i've have mine for something like a year and a half and its still going strong. My first impression with this product was not a good one; when i first started using it, it would look really cakey and crease like nobody's business  but having watched many YouTube videos in which this product was i used i realised that i was just putting way too much on. This concealer can help you hide a multitude of sins, no one will ever tell that you had a late night once you put a bit of this on!


Unlike a lot of people, now is the point where i apply my translucent powder, don't ask me why, because, well, i don't have an answer for you, this is just what makes sense to me, but you can apply it at the very end if you wish, i honestly don't think it makes a difference. I use the Laura Mercier Translucent Powder with my Topshop Powder brush. Being translucent  it doesn't add any colour or take away colour to/from my face, it simply helps my makeup last longer and stops me from getting shiny; and since im living in Spain, this will be my best friend in a few weeks as the weather will start to warm up.


Bronzer time! This is a step that i will miss out once i get a tan, but in the winter months i like to put a light dust of NARS Laguna bronzer on my cheeks, neck and then blend a bit into my hair line. I don't put a lot on because i'm not really a fan of the tangoed look; sometimes you can't tell that i've even put any on. I apply the bronzer with the Bare Minerals Flawless Face brush.


Now its time to put some colour back into my cheeks. I've been using MAC PeachyKeen since i started wearing makeup, and i haven't really tried anything else. Its the perfect colour for both summer and winter; in summer it enhances my tan, and in winter i just put a little dusk of this on and it just brightens my face up. Now this is a shimmery blush, so if you go crazy with it, you won't look to great, however it does mean just you can get away with not putting a highlighter on.


After i've done all this, i will then go ahead a choose my lip colour for the day, it will normally be a natural lipgloss or lip balm. Below are side profile pictures of me with and without makeup, as you are able to see how the acne scarring on my cheeks is covered up. 





I hope this was interesting and helpful to some of you. My next post will most likely be a review, so keep your eyes peeled for that 

Lara x 


Acne

Bedtime Makeup?

13:41

See, did i or did i not tell you i would be writing more posts? Today's post is about The Bare Minerals Pure Transformation Night Treatment, as you may have noticed that Bare Minerals is somewhat of a recurring theme on my blog, but fear you not, i will spice things up a bit!

 Priced at £45/ $60 The Bare Minerals Night Treatment, is quite a bizarre concept, as you are going to bed with coverage, now i'm the type of person that likes to go to sleep with a squeaky clean face, so the thought of putting makeup on and then sleeping in it, kind of freaked me out, but i'm happy to report i was pleasantly surprised. The active ingredient in this product is called ActiveSoil complex, the main factor that this ingredient helps with is your cell turnover, this basically means that it helps shred dead skin faster so that the new healthier skin can replace it, as well as delivering a faster cell turn over, the night treatment also helps reduce your pores, and increase luminosity. Seen as the product does provide some sort of coverage, it is available in 4 colours; clear, light, medium and tan, now the sales assistant told me that the clear one isn't exactly clear, therefore is you have a olive/dark skin tone, it will give you a kind of white mask affect, for that reason its recommend that people with these skin tones, go for one of the other shades that best suites there skin tone (i own it in the colour medium).




I'll start off by telling you weather or not this product actually lives up to the expectations; and im happy to report that it does. I've found that when the time comes and i have one of those horrid spots that just sits there under your skin, this really help to diminish it slightly, along with another product that i put on in the evening (Clinique anti-blemish solutions, spot treatment gel). I found that the brush does have a tendency to put too much product on the face, however this does not affect the longevity of the product, as a little goes a long way with this stuff; i have had my one for abut 4 months and it is still going strong, the only thing i would say is that when you are coming to the end it is hard to get enough product on the brush, i normally sit there shaking it like a mad woman until something comes out! 
Now you may be concerned that if you get a colour that matches your skin tone that it will transfer onto your bed sheets but don't worry, if you don't cake your face with it then you will be safe. I have white pillows both at home and at uni, and for the most part the colour doesn't transfer  but like i said if i put too much on then there will be faint orange patches on my pillow, and to be honest thats the only down fall, but then again its something that can easily be avoided. 

 If you have any problems with acne/blemishes/scarring then i would really recommend this product, not only for the results that it brings but because it has some form of coverage, if you live in a comunal area, like a university halls of residence or you've moved into a flat with people you aren't 100% confortable with, then this will that little bit of confidence to just go downstairs in the mornings and face anyone who's there, as you can count on most of your imperfections being covered, it certainly works for me at least.

 (Sorry for the bad picture quality, using my IPhone until i can get a good camera, forgive me?)

Lara x



Acne

Bare is Best.

10:11

So todays post, is going to be about Bare Minerals makeup. For those of you who haven't heard of Bare Minerals, it is part of a brand called Bare Escentuals, and as the names suggests all their makeup products are made using a blend of finely ground minerals, they promise that their makeup will give you long lasting and great coverage and that the minerals have a 'creamy blendability'.
Now the reason i started using Bare Minerals makeup was because i had been told by a lot of people that it was the best makeup for people with problem skin as it doesn't clog up your pores like a liquid foundation would. I thought it would be a good idea to do a post and my experiance with the makeup as far, and that maybe if you have the same issues as me, you can get some useful information out of this post. Before i get into this post, i'll just quickly mention that i have acne prone/combination/sensitive skin, therefore some of you may need to take what i say with a pinch of salt, because one product will never work the same for two people. 




Primer

Now i didn't purchase all these products separately  the lovely girl in the shop suggested that i get one of their kits, in which you got three makeup brushes, a ful size foundation and then the warmth and mineral veil. If you purchase the starter kit like i did, then you will get a sample size of the Bare Minerals foundation primer. They say that the primer will help a multitude of things including dryness, enlarged pores and an uneven complexion. Now this is probably the nicest thing to put on you're face, it has such a silky texture and feel incredibly when you put it on your skin, and then it sinks leaving your skin lovely and smooth! However it doesn't make my foundation last all day like i would like it too. 


Foundation


The foundation kind of scared me a bit when i was researching it, and then when i went into the shop, because although i had watched videos and read blogs claiming that they got a really good coverage without it looking cakey, all i kept thinking was that i have acne scaring which is hard enough to cover up with liquid foundation let alone a powder! So when i went into the shop to get colour matched it was safe to say that i was pleasantly surprised. Now the coverage wasn't as full as what i normally have, but it did the job, it covered the redness on my face and some of the scars on my face. I wasn't too bothered about it giving really really full coverage as i am slowly using less and less makeup, and you may be surprise to know that although i have acne, you will normally see me without makeup on and when i do have makeup on its normally a light-medium cover, so the bare mineral foundation seemed like a perfect buy! 
The colouring of foundations is always something that i struggle with, i have quite a dark olive skin tone, therefore drug store foundations never really make the cut in terms of getting the perfect colour match. But when i walked into Bare Minerals i was kind of surprised at how many colours they had! and the girl matched me perfectly, so put three colours on my jaw/cheek and i went for the one that was virtually unrecognisable on my skin. 
In terms of how long the foundation lasted on me, it would be nice if it lasted a bit longer. I can get really good coverage for about two and a half hours, and then it just starts to disappear meaning that my scars start to show again, and this was despite using their primer and the mineral veil over the top. So for me that is a pretty big down fall, as im not one for touching up makeup throughout the day so i like my foundation to be long lasting.



 

Warmth

Now when i saw warm i instantly thought it was some kind a bronzer and i guess you could say that it is. However it was described to me as a product that brings the color back to your complexion that the foundation takes away, and it does exactly that, it adds a bit of dimension to the face so that you don't look flat and washed out. This is probably my favorite product out of the starter kit that i got, as you only need a little to just add some colour, however you could go quite orange if you weren't careful. 
In terms of the colour range, well...there isn't one, believe it or not it is one colour for every skin tone, weird right? but it actually does work for everyone, and i know this first hand, because my friend who is literally as pale as you can get, i mean true english rose colouring used it and it didn't make her orange at all, you could barely tell that she had it on! 



Mineral Viel 

Mineral Viel is basically Bare Minerals finishing/translucent power. Bare Minerals claim that the Mineral Viel will help with minimising pores, absorbing excess oil and and smoothing out your complexion  now i can't say anything about it minimising pores or smoothing my complexion but i can tell that it absorbs oil ver well, as when im wearing it my face isn't shiny at all!



So as you can see its so far so good with the Bare Minerals makeup, there will be another Bare minerals post coming up soon, but that will be focusing on their rather bazar night treatment, so keep a look out for that post!


From Left - Full Flawless Face Brush, Flawless Face Brush and Max Coverage Concealer Brush
Lara x