You, Me & Beauty...

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 

Being such a lover of lip balms, dry lips have never really been a problem for me, however this summer was an entirely different story. Not only were my lips severely chapped and sore, but the skin surrounding my lips was equally as bad; so I went on a hunt for the products that would be most affective and the products I purchased and have now come to love are the Lush Lip Scrub in Bubblegum and the Avené Cold Cream Lip Cream. 

Lush Lip Scrub in 'Bubblegum'

The first step I took in combatting my dry lips was to gently remove the dead skin that was just sitting there, to make sure that the lip cream would be able to do its job properly. A friend of mine recommended the Lush lip scrub, so while in Mallorca I popped into the shop and picked up a pot. 

There is a reason so many people have this product, it is simply amazing and its something I actually enjoy doing as part of my weekly routine. Its made from all natural ingredients meaning that when its time to remove the product you just lick it off, which for someone like me who is easily amused by stuff like that I found it pretty cool. The grains are really tiny meaning you get a nice gentle scrub, which wont irritate your skin. Priced at £5.50 you can't really go wrong, a little goes a long way with this product!

Avené Cold Cream Lip Cream

The second step in my little routine was the Avené's Lip Cream. I didn't have my Elizabeth Arden Eight Hour Cream with me and my Nuxe Reve de Miel wasn't doing much for me, so i went to the pharmacy in Mallorca and they advised me to get this product. Priced at nearly 9€ I was praying that this stuff would work, and I'm happy to report that it did the trick and then some. It comes out as a white cream, but once applied it gives your lips a lovely clear sheen with a velvet feel, keeping your lips feeling hydrated for a good few hours. 

After using these products for a week, my lips were back to their normal self just slightly more sensitive. If you are going through the same sort of thing i would highly recommend that you look into purchasing these products and in the mean time you could do a homemade honey and sugar lip scrub followed by your favourite lip balm. 

Lara x 

I've been having a bit of a love affair with Nars recently; Its gone from me not even knowing where to purchase their products in the UK, to me using something of theirs on a daily basis, and even giving the Sheer Glow Foundation holy grail status (Read my review on that here) and i have a feeling that the Radiant Creamy Concealer could fast become the proud owner of a holy grail title also.

I was on the hunt for a new all round concealer and had heard good things about this new Nars product, so when i stumbled across a Nars counter on a shopping trip with mother dear, i just couldn't resist trying it out. 

It was like love at first sight, I swatched a random colour on my hand to get a feel of the texture, and, as it says in the name it certainly is thick and creamy, but despite that its a real joy to blend into the skin. 

There are 8 shades (In the UK, in America there is a choice of 10) in total, and normally I would hold no hope in finding a colour to match my skin with such little choice, however I was matched to 'Med/Dark 2 Caramel' and it is honestly the perfect shade for me, and blends seamlessly into my natural skin tone.

Almost five months ago i celebrated my 19th birthday. I got to celebrate it with my amazing friends in the city of Madrid, i honestly thought it couldn't get any better, that is until my friend pulled out the birthday present that he got me, and its safe to say that the boy did very well! Knowing my love for all things beauty, and how i like to keep up with the latest products, he got me the Ayurveda Gift Set from Rituals... 

In the gift set you get a 200ml bottle of the Yogi Flow shower foam (full size), 150ml of the Daily Rose deodorant (full size), 75ml of the Yogi Flow foot scrub (full size), 70ml of the Honey Touch body cream (sample size), 70ml of Brilliant Bliss shampoo (sample size), and lastly a 100ml sample of the Energy Bubbles bath cream. Now if you ask me thats pretty good value for money, with the gift set priced at £32.50 (naughty Lara for looking up the price of a gift) you get full sizes in what in my opinion are the best products, and the sample sizes are large enough for you too have a good old test of them before you go out and buy the full size. The over all smell of the Ayurveda collection is very tropical, with the exception of the foot scrub, and when you use any of the products, whether it be the shower foam or a spray of the deodorant, its smells like you could be on a beach somewhere sipping a pina colada, making these products that you will love to use on a daily basis.

Yogi Flow Shower Foam

The shower foam was probably the thing that i was most excited to try as im a sucker for nice smelling shower products. When i first used this product i was unaware of how powerful the pump was, all it took was one push and a load of foam was all over my shower door, never the less i managed to get some onto my hands and actual use it properly. The fact that the product is already a foam consistency means that it lathers up in a instant, and i don't know about you but, if a product doesn't lather well, weather it be a shampoo or body wash it gains an instant position on my naughty list of products. Having used the product a  few times, i can safely say that this is one of the most hydrating body wash products i have ever used, i went through a bit of a dry skin phase while using this and i think it really helped.

The sent of the shower foam doesn't last on your skin once it has been washed off; personally this doesn't bother me and it certainly isn't a downfall of the product, as i like to be able to put a perfume on without the sent of my shower products distorting it, however it does make your bathroom smell heavenly for quite some time.

Daily Rose Spray Deodorant 

On to my second favourite product in the set. Normally spray deodorants aren't really my thing, i given the choice, i'd much rather have a stick deodorant; However it was like love at first spray, its no surprise that the smell was what made me fall in love with it initially, it definitely in keeps with the overall tropical feel of the set. The way it went onto my skin is also another reason why i really like this product (as weird as that may sound) most spray deodorants seem to go onto my skin at 100mph and its always a bit of a shock... for me at least, but this comes out as a mist, and this makes it much nicer to put on. I usually put this on just before i head out to class, and if i had a euro for every time someone has asked me what perfume im wearing, i'd be one wealthy student; you can only imagine their surprise when i tell them that its in fact my deodorant.

Its slightly pricier than your average drug store/high street deodorant but if you ask me it is definitely worth every penny.

Yogi Flow Foot Scrub

This was the surprise product for me, as im kind of picky about my scrubs, i like the ones with the big grains so it actually feels like its doing something, this goes for both face a body scrubs. When i first used this product i decided to do it as a part of one of my pamper nights nice which i do from time to time, and it made giving myself a pedicure a much more enjoyable experience. I would call this the black sheep of the gift set, as it doesn't inkeep with the overall tropical sent, instead it is very minty and refreshing, and once applied it has a lovely cooling affect on the feet. 

Being an oil-based product it is very hydrating and after having it on for about 20 minutes the oils will have soaked into your feet; because its so hydrating a foot moisturiser isn't really necessary, however if you wanted to take pampering to the next level, follow up with a heavy duty moisturiser and sleep with soaks on and in the morning you'll have feet to be marvelled at! 

Honey Touch Body Cream

If you're one of those people who like to feel the moisturiser on their skin then this is the product for you, however if your not, you may want to have a hunt for something else as i found the cream it leave a residue on my skin for a good hour or two, but lucky i quite like that in a body moisturiser. Combined with the shower foam, this is your skins dream as it is left hydrated and thanks to the cream, it is left smelling pretty heavenly. 

I would definitely consider buying the full size of this and use it for days when i want to smell and feel amazing!

Energy Bubbles Bath Cream

Talking of things that smell heavenly, this bubble bath is incredible. There is not much else to say really, it produces bubbles like no other and the smell will send you into the most calm a relaxed state. Just add some candles and relaxing music and you're good to go! 

Brilliant Bliss Ultra-Shine Shampoo

Its a shame that the conditioner isn't also in the set as i would have loved to have tried them both together. The shampoo however is good, again as with as with all the other products the smell is by far the biggest plus, however i can't say that it was particularly nourishing or that it made my hair ultra shiny, but it did the job i guess, i would be interested to see if my opinion would change is i had a the conditioner as well... i will keep you posted! 

I don't know if its obvious or anything but i really do love this set! I have tried not to use anything too much as i don't want anything to run out, i would highly recommend the gift set, wether it is a gift to your sister, friend, mum or simply just a little gift to yourself. Thank God my friend brought this for me or i would probably have never tried any of these products, and im now looking into making a few more cheeky purchases form Rituals...

Lara x

So i thought i would make my first proper blog post about something that is important to just about every woman. Our skin. As you can probably tell from the title of this post i have acne prone skin, but as well as that i also get an oily T-Zone and sometimes my skin can even be a bit sensitive.

I only developed acne about two years ago; i started noticing a growing number of spots around the end of summer 2010 just as i was about to start my A Levels, and it hasn't left me since. I'm not entirely sure what brought on my acne so suddenly because prior to that summer i had perfect skin, and i don't mean that to sound arrogant, but it was, i had no spots except for the odd one when it was that time of the month, and because i never really got spots, i never had scaring on my face. 

Having now lived with acne for the past two years, i have learnt to just get on with it, i go to the shops with no makeup on and i try to wear as little makeup as i can. Life is too short to be constantly stressing about your skin and inevitably stressing about it will only make the acne worse. 

This post is going to be a bit of a medical dictionary as i'm going to tell you the treatments i have tried and am currently trying to tame my acne. 

Lymecycline/ Tetralysal ® 300

When i first started using Lymecycline i thought it was going to clear my acne for good, and for a while it did exactly that. For the first few months i had clear skin again, i still had the scaring but spots were no longer an issue, however after those first few months i started to notice that my spots were coming back, and they were coming back in force; the acne had now spread to my cheeks where as before is was contained to my forehead and chin. I continued my course of treatment, but it was never as good as those first few months. So after a year of being on Lymecycline, i decided to stop my course and see a dermatologist, and the dermatologist that i saw prescribed me Trimethoprim.

Trimethoprim

Trimethoprim is the most recent thing that i am currently trying to help 'cure' my acne, and I've only been on it for about two weeks. Trimethoprim is again another anti-biotic used to help treat acne. The way Trimethoprim works is it stops the bacteria from producing folate; this is what the bacteria cells use to make DNA (sounds scary i know). Just like the Lymecycline is helps to stop inflammation of the skin.

As i said, i have only been on Trimethoprim for two weeks so i can't give you i proper indication as to if it is working for me as it normally takes about two months for it too kick in and start working, however i have already noticed a difference in my skin. First of all the number of spots i have on my face has reduced, not dramatically but there are much less that i need to deal with. However with any medication there are side effects and since being on Trimethoprim, i have noticed my skin has changed from combination/oily to combination/dry skin. I'm finding that i need to use a lot me moisturiser and have also invested in a hydrating mask (something i never thought i would be buying), my skin has now become a lot more sensitive, which hasn't really caused any problems as of yet but it has meant that i am now only allowed to exfoliate once a week (according to my beautician) and have to be extra carful when i'm in the sun. So far it seems to be working but I'll give you another skin update in a few months once it has really got to work on my skin. Finally the last product i was prescribed by the dermatologist was Differin cream. 

Differin Cream

Differin cream is basically a form of vitamin A, in which the active ingredient is adapalene. The purpose of Differin is to aid your skins natural exfoliation process; meaning that it increases the turnover of cells which therefore helps to unblock pores and the glands which produce sebum. 

So far so good in terms of the Differin cream, i haven't had any allergic reaction too it which is a relief considering i have had an allergic reaction to the last two creams that i tried. Now i can't really tell you if it is helping with my acne as I'm currently using in conjunction with the Trimethoprim, so I'm not sure with one is helping more, but the two together seem to be combating my acne pretty well. 

I'm sorry for crazy long post, but i just thought it would be helpful for all you acne sufferers out there. Any questions just leave me a comment below and i will be happy to answer :) 

Lara x

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