You guessed it, I fell off the skin care band wagon. I'd like to blame the sinus/chest cold that has wreaked havoc on my household all week and blame my daughter and her 4 new teeth that decided to show up all at once. But I can't really blame them because the truth is that I had stopped being compliant a few days before all of that hit.
So here we go again! I've been getting back into my AM regimen for the last few days and tonight I vow to use my Retriderm like a good patient. As I type I am giving myself a Flavo-C Mask, I always find that a mask is a perfect way to kick off a regimen.
And in case you were wondering, my skin is in complete revolt! I have two gigantic visitors who have taken up residence on my jaw line...I really need to learn to stop touching my face. And there is a small army of invaders trying to invade my chin area, but I've been spot treating those nasties with my AFA Micro Exfoliating Masque to keep them at bay.
I think part of my problem with compliance is that I wasn't really sure what my results were going to be or what I expected them to be. And then I didn't really see any changes. But my coworkers pointed out that I'm not even 30 yet so I shouldn't have skin concerns, it's about maintaining. They are right of course but where is the fun in that.
So my regimen is set to maintain the positive. Prevent and protect! But I am still using Tensage so there should be some repair happening there too.
I'll keep you posted, wish me luck!
Saturday, April 24, 2010
Tuesday, April 13, 2010
Flaky skin for the skin care flake!
Okay, new regimen is going to be switched up again. I'm flaky around my eyes today, my boss said I should not be using the Ascorderm XCP. So I'll be switching to the Ascorderm Contouring Serum and see what that does for me.
I think what he really wanted to tell me was to stop messing around and just go see a dermatologist...where is the fun in that?
So the lesson to be learned is that Ascorderm XCP is for patients with severe melasma and probably are older and haven't done anything to treat or prevent it. 20-somethings who think they have pigmentation issues because they work in skin care and stare at their face for too long in the mirror should stick to something less aggressive.
Hopefully I'll get my face put back together and have a better update for you next week!
I think what he really wanted to tell me was to stop messing around and just go see a dermatologist...where is the fun in that?
So the lesson to be learned is that Ascorderm XCP is for patients with severe melasma and probably are older and haven't done anything to treat or prevent it. 20-somethings who think they have pigmentation issues because they work in skin care and stare at their face for too long in the mirror should stick to something less aggressive.
Hopefully I'll get my face put back together and have a better update for you next week!
Monday, April 12, 2010
A B C...Easy as 1 2 3!
Well, I haven't added a B yet, but I did add in C!
So after one week of Retriderm use my skin is not flaking or falling off. It's not doing anything really. I had one little visitor pop up, but nothing major. My skin is looking pretty good, but I don't feel like I have that rosy glow that I've seen coworkers get when they start using the product. So I'm wondering if I need to step up in strength, but instead of doing that I decided to add in a new product and keep using the 0.5% for now.
The new addition to my regimen is Ascorderm XCP to see what it does for my acne scarring. I just used it for the first time last night. As expected with any L-Ascorbic Acid I was feeling a little tacky after application. We tell people to apply a moisturizer over it but I didn't because I already had the Retriderm and Ascorderm serums on and I didn't feel like another step. It was fine because I was just going to bed, but I can see how people might not want to put this on in the AM.
So my new regimen is:
AM - AFA Cream Cleanser
Endocare serum (same SCA technology as Tensage but a product we don't have)
The Eyes Have It! (PRESCRIBEDsolutions)
Lasting Results SPF 30 (PRESCRIBEDsolutions)
PM - AFA Cream Cleanser
Retriderm vitamin A serum
Ascorderm XCP
I can't believe how different my regimen is now from when I first started this blog. And I know if I were reading this I would be thinking "yea, right, I bet your skin just happened to change right when you started this blog so you'd have an excuse to talk about more products." Call it fate, karma, whatever, but my skin really did just happen to change and need a new regimen as unbelievable as it may seem.
Oh one thing that I did want to share about my Retriderm use is that I took a complete skin care break on Saturday (not really intentionally, my daughter is teething and was up a lot on Friday night and I just didn't feel like dealing with my skin and her teeth that day). On Sunday night I felt like my cheeks were feeling a little rough. After I put on the Retriderm serum they did feel a lot smoother. I don't know what that is exactly, I just know that it felt nice!
The only other change I intend to make this week for my skin (and my health in general) is to start drinking more water! I craved water when I was pregnant, I couldn't drink enough. And then when I had my daughter it just stopped. I've been really focused on eating better this year, but that is one area that I have definitely been slacking. So for my skin and my diet and my body, H2O!!
So after one week of Retriderm use my skin is not flaking or falling off. It's not doing anything really. I had one little visitor pop up, but nothing major. My skin is looking pretty good, but I don't feel like I have that rosy glow that I've seen coworkers get when they start using the product. So I'm wondering if I need to step up in strength, but instead of doing that I decided to add in a new product and keep using the 0.5% for now.
The new addition to my regimen is Ascorderm XCP to see what it does for my acne scarring. I just used it for the first time last night. As expected with any L-Ascorbic Acid I was feeling a little tacky after application. We tell people to apply a moisturizer over it but I didn't because I already had the Retriderm and Ascorderm serums on and I didn't feel like another step. It was fine because I was just going to bed, but I can see how people might not want to put this on in the AM.
So my new regimen is:
AM - AFA Cream Cleanser
Endocare serum (same SCA technology as Tensage but a product we don't have)
The Eyes Have It! (PRESCRIBEDsolutions)
Lasting Results SPF 30 (PRESCRIBEDsolutions)
PM - AFA Cream Cleanser
Retriderm vitamin A serum
Ascorderm XCP
I can't believe how different my regimen is now from when I first started this blog. And I know if I were reading this I would be thinking "yea, right, I bet your skin just happened to change right when you started this blog so you'd have an excuse to talk about more products." Call it fate, karma, whatever, but my skin really did just happen to change and need a new regimen as unbelievable as it may seem.
Oh one thing that I did want to share about my Retriderm use is that I took a complete skin care break on Saturday (not really intentionally, my daughter is teething and was up a lot on Friday night and I just didn't feel like dealing with my skin and her teeth that day). On Sunday night I felt like my cheeks were feeling a little rough. After I put on the Retriderm serum they did feel a lot smoother. I don't know what that is exactly, I just know that it felt nice!
The only other change I intend to make this week for my skin (and my health in general) is to start drinking more water! I craved water when I was pregnant, I couldn't drink enough. And then when I had my daughter it just stopped. I've been really focused on eating better this year, but that is one area that I have definitely been slacking. So for my skin and my diet and my body, H2O!!
Tuesday, April 6, 2010
Smelling Sweet
I applied my Retriderm for the first time tonight. I'm not sure why but I had convinced myself that it was going to burn like h-e-double toothpicks. It actually feels great and I love the smell! I guess it can take a few days of use to flake (if you even do at all) so we'll see.
I'm not sure why I had freaked myself out so much, lol. I feel a little silly now. I guess I shouldn't jinx it, maybe I'll wake up in the morning with most of my skin falling off! Just another case of needing to see it for myself to believe that it's true.
Did I mention that Retriderm smells great? Maybe I'm just burnt out on the rosy fragrance of Tensage and my shampoo, but I'm loving it. There's no added fragrance, it's just the natural smell of the proteins and vitamins in the suspension, but I think it smells sweet and a little fruity maybe. Also I thought it absorbed really well, we had warned the reps that they may hear complaints about it taking so long to absorb, but I didn't think it took more than any other product I apply.
Oh and if you were wondering what finally pushed me over the edge into finally trying Retriderm, it was my 2 new zitty visitors that popped up today! And a couple of bumps that felt like they might get ugly too. So we'll see how they fair against the retinol!
Okay, well just a quick update to let you know that my first response to Retriderm is Woo Hoo!
I'm not sure why I had freaked myself out so much, lol. I feel a little silly now. I guess I shouldn't jinx it, maybe I'll wake up in the morning with most of my skin falling off! Just another case of needing to see it for myself to believe that it's true.
Did I mention that Retriderm smells great? Maybe I'm just burnt out on the rosy fragrance of Tensage and my shampoo, but I'm loving it. There's no added fragrance, it's just the natural smell of the proteins and vitamins in the suspension, but I think it smells sweet and a little fruity maybe. Also I thought it absorbed really well, we had warned the reps that they may hear complaints about it taking so long to absorb, but I didn't think it took more than any other product I apply.
Oh and if you were wondering what finally pushed me over the edge into finally trying Retriderm, it was my 2 new zitty visitors that popped up today! And a couple of bumps that felt like they might get ugly too. So we'll see how they fair against the retinol!
Okay, well just a quick update to let you know that my first response to Retriderm is Woo Hoo!
Monday, April 5, 2010
I feel the heal!
Well I survived the Easter weekend and so far my skin seems to have too. Sometimes it takes a few days for the breakout to happen so I don't want to jinx it by assuming I'm in the clear, but as for now it's looking good.
I'm being modes;, I actually think my skin is looking awesome. I do love the Tensage ampoules, the craziest thing is happening with them. Tensage has some nice data on its wound healing abilities, the original human studies for the product were done on people suffering from radiodermatitis after the Chernobyl accident. But I guess until you really see the results for yourself it's hard to believe.
So my wound is just a battle scar of being a mom I guess. My daughter is at that lovely, wiggly stage where she has learned that she can crawl and get into anything she wants to and don't you dare try to hold her back! Pair that with my in-laws un-baby-proofed home and you can imagine that I was fighting with her quite a bit this holiday weekend. At some point during our struggles she put a nice scratch on the bridge of my nose.
That was Saturday, today it is barely visible. Just 2 days later! I can only think to credit Tensage because it is really fading much more quickly than I had expected it to. The same goes for that chin monster that I had sprouted before the weekend. I did do an exfoliating mask on Friday, but he still is fading a lot faster than my previous zitty visitors have.
As product manager I get access to some additional product goodies that aren't a part of the Biopelle products (yet, there's always room for more, lol). There are two that I'm using that I'm not sure if they will be a part of the Biopelle family or not, but I'm giving them a try anyway. Today I started using a serum that is part of the Tensage line of products that our manufacturer makes but we don't distribute here, its part of the Endocare products sold in Spain. It's a serum that has an SCA 15 rating, so now that I've done a full ampoule regimen I'm going to try this serum out and see how it works. It smells much stronger than the ampoules do, but once I put my sunscreen on I don't notice the fragrance. It absorbs very quickly and doesn't leave as much shine as the ampoules did, so I'm liking it so far.
The other product that I'm in love with is the exfoliating mask that I talked about earlier. It is from the manufacturer of Auriderm and Ascorderm, a Belgian company named Auriga. I'm not even sure what the product is called exactly, I know it is part of their Flavo-C line (which uses the same L-Ascorbic Acid as our Ascorderm line) and it's this gel mask that you put on and it dries and then you peel it off. It really exfoliates nicely and makes my pores look so much smaller! I can't describe the smell, I hated it at first but have grown to like it, it's almost like sniffing markers, you know you shouldn't like it but you kind of do anyway, lol.
I got a nice gift of products from our partners at Auriga because I helped them to set up their booth at the AAD meeting, so I have some other goodies from them that you may see popping up in my skincare regimen. I have to learn a bit more about what they do first.
So there's my skin update for Monday morning. I hope that everyone had a nice weekend and holiday if you celebrated one this weekend. The toy collection in my house has multiplied like rabbits! But it's so nice to know how loved your family is, we appreciate it all. But I'm going to go look for a blog about how to keep the toy clutter under control!
I'm being modes;, I actually think my skin is looking awesome. I do love the Tensage ampoules, the craziest thing is happening with them. Tensage has some nice data on its wound healing abilities, the original human studies for the product were done on people suffering from radiodermatitis after the Chernobyl accident. But I guess until you really see the results for yourself it's hard to believe.
So my wound is just a battle scar of being a mom I guess. My daughter is at that lovely, wiggly stage where she has learned that she can crawl and get into anything she wants to and don't you dare try to hold her back! Pair that with my in-laws un-baby-proofed home and you can imagine that I was fighting with her quite a bit this holiday weekend. At some point during our struggles she put a nice scratch on the bridge of my nose.
That was Saturday, today it is barely visible. Just 2 days later! I can only think to credit Tensage because it is really fading much more quickly than I had expected it to. The same goes for that chin monster that I had sprouted before the weekend. I did do an exfoliating mask on Friday, but he still is fading a lot faster than my previous zitty visitors have.
As product manager I get access to some additional product goodies that aren't a part of the Biopelle products (yet, there's always room for more, lol). There are two that I'm using that I'm not sure if they will be a part of the Biopelle family or not, but I'm giving them a try anyway. Today I started using a serum that is part of the Tensage line of products that our manufacturer makes but we don't distribute here, its part of the Endocare products sold in Spain. It's a serum that has an SCA 15 rating, so now that I've done a full ampoule regimen I'm going to try this serum out and see how it works. It smells much stronger than the ampoules do, but once I put my sunscreen on I don't notice the fragrance. It absorbs very quickly and doesn't leave as much shine as the ampoules did, so I'm liking it so far.
The other product that I'm in love with is the exfoliating mask that I talked about earlier. It is from the manufacturer of Auriderm and Ascorderm, a Belgian company named Auriga. I'm not even sure what the product is called exactly, I know it is part of their Flavo-C line (which uses the same L-Ascorbic Acid as our Ascorderm line) and it's this gel mask that you put on and it dries and then you peel it off. It really exfoliates nicely and makes my pores look so much smaller! I can't describe the smell, I hated it at first but have grown to like it, it's almost like sniffing markers, you know you shouldn't like it but you kind of do anyway, lol.
I got a nice gift of products from our partners at Auriga because I helped them to set up their booth at the AAD meeting, so I have some other goodies from them that you may see popping up in my skincare regimen. I have to learn a bit more about what they do first.
So there's my skin update for Monday morning. I hope that everyone had a nice weekend and holiday if you celebrated one this weekend. The toy collection in my house has multiplied like rabbits! But it's so nice to know how loved your family is, we appreciate it all. But I'm going to go look for a blog about how to keep the toy clutter under control!
Thursday, April 1, 2010
Hippity Hoppity
Getting ready for Easter weekend, which means packing for a weekend with my in-laws. Which skincare to bring??
My little chin eruption is back again, I really need to stop resting my chin on my hands because he keeps coming back in the same exact spot. My pores are looking more obvious to me, I decided it's time to start exfoliating again. I used my AFA gel this morning and it felt fine, but I think I want to try the Retriderm serum soon, hopefully the retinol will give me enough exfoliation but also help with my breakouts.
I flipped my vanity mirror over to the 5x magnification side and noticed just how bad my acne scarring still looks. For a while it seemed so greatly improved that I was happy, but I think I've platued with just using exfoliation alone. And I was using Stop the Clock with a Brightening Booster in it, but I think that I now need to incorporate something else to brighten.
So what's next, we have two products for pigmentation, Bolt of Lightening from PRESCRIBEDsolutions and Ascorderm XCP. I'm leaning towards the Ascorderm because then I'll also get the anti-oxidant protection, but I'm feeling biased towards Bolt of Lightening because PRESCRIBEDsolutions is one of my brands, and I could boost it to get the extra anti-oxidants too...
I should just start with the Retriderm and see how that goes, lol.
I think I may wait until Sunday to start anything though. Visiting the in-laws means well-water for my city slicker skin, I usually end up coming home and breaking out or being ridiculously dry. I actually went so far as to wash with bottled water when I was there, but it's a bit of a hassle and leaves me very open to harassment from the family. At least if I get a zit they don't tease me.
Is there a good wipe that I could use without water to clean my skin? I use my daughter's baby wipes a lot to take off my eye make-up, but I don't like the way they make my face feel. I'm open to any suggestions.
Well, hope that everyone else is getting a taste of Spring like we are with the gorgeous weather here! Enjoy your weekend!
My little chin eruption is back again, I really need to stop resting my chin on my hands because he keeps coming back in the same exact spot. My pores are looking more obvious to me, I decided it's time to start exfoliating again. I used my AFA gel this morning and it felt fine, but I think I want to try the Retriderm serum soon, hopefully the retinol will give me enough exfoliation but also help with my breakouts.
I flipped my vanity mirror over to the 5x magnification side and noticed just how bad my acne scarring still looks. For a while it seemed so greatly improved that I was happy, but I think I've platued with just using exfoliation alone. And I was using Stop the Clock with a Brightening Booster in it, but I think that I now need to incorporate something else to brighten.
So what's next, we have two products for pigmentation, Bolt of Lightening from PRESCRIBEDsolutions and Ascorderm XCP. I'm leaning towards the Ascorderm because then I'll also get the anti-oxidant protection, but I'm feeling biased towards Bolt of Lightening because PRESCRIBEDsolutions is one of my brands, and I could boost it to get the extra anti-oxidants too...
I should just start with the Retriderm and see how that goes, lol.
I think I may wait until Sunday to start anything though. Visiting the in-laws means well-water for my city slicker skin, I usually end up coming home and breaking out or being ridiculously dry. I actually went so far as to wash with bottled water when I was there, but it's a bit of a hassle and leaves me very open to harassment from the family. At least if I get a zit they don't tease me.
Is there a good wipe that I could use without water to clean my skin? I use my daughter's baby wipes a lot to take off my eye make-up, but I don't like the way they make my face feel. I'm open to any suggestions.
Well, hope that everyone else is getting a taste of Spring like we are with the gorgeous weather here! Enjoy your weekend!
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