Ok, I know it’s been a while since I’ve posted, however, going forward I plan on posting on a regular basis.  I promise 🙂  I pretty much took the summer off to focus on family and now I am recharged and ready to go.  As you can tell, I have revamped my blog.  Please be patient as I am still work on tweaking the formatting but it’s finally somewhat presentable. View Post

Hello beauties! If any of you out there are anything like me, you read beauty blogs, watch YouTube videos and get the news on any wonderful new beauty products, collection launches and new trends.  Then all of the sudden you have the urge in your gut to go out and buy those products that everyone is raving about.

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I received my Dior palette in the mail yesterday and I opened it up and marveled at it for a little bit.  I don’t know, there’s something so luxurious about Dior.  This palette was actually an exchange I did for a brown toned palette that I really didn’t get much use out of.  Thank goodness Nordstrom has an awesome return policy!

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Sorry I’ve been so MIA lately.  Between trying to manage my YouTube channel, Facebook and Twitter, it seems like I can never keep up and unfortunately my blog has been terribly neglected.  It seems easier for me to update my Facebook page more frequently.  I have been taking quite a bit of pictures of things, so I am going to attempt to play catch up on here.

With spring upon us I have gotten really into spring nail polishes.  To be perfectly honest I have been OBSESSED with nail polish lately.  I wanted to share some of my favorite colors I’ve been wearing lately.

Essence (mint green) in the color “You Belong To Me” with Confetti “Ice Ice Baby”
Greens seem to be really in right now.  I have been obsessed with Essence nail polish and even better they are only $.99 at Ulta!
Essence “A Lovely Secret” with CND “Sapphire Sparkle” on top
This lovely blue based purple is such a fun color with a hint of sparkle on top!
 Revlon “Flirt”
Such a pretty girly pink that really just “pops” out at you! Love this color!
Sally Hansen “Lively Lilac”
I am absolutely in love with this color, this plummy lavender color is just screaming spring to me!

Essie “Pink A Boo”
This is a lovely soft pale pink with a touch of iridescent sparkle
Also used a Konad stamp on my nail-I’ve been recently obsessed with nail stamping!

I also have a few orange/peach/coral nail polishes that are in my queue to try out.  Coral also seems to be a big hit this season too.  What colors are you guys enjoying this spring?
Hope you had a great weekend.  And again, apologies for being so absent on my blog I plan on playing catch up soon.  I also have a fun blog giveaway coming up this week to so stay tuned!
As well, I post more on my YouTube cannel and Facebook page so stop on by there and say hi sometime!

I’ve been obsessed with skincare since I can remember.  I suffered from cystic acne as a teenager starting at age 14.  Back then I had been put on several prescription treatments such as Prescription Strength Benzoyl Peroxide, Retin-A, T-Stat (topical erythromycin), Clindamycin, Benzaclin, you name it.  Although my acne cleared up before I graduated High School, I have always been prone to cystic acne.  When I do get a pimple, it’s typically cystic and painful.  I had been a faithful user of Shiseido Skincare for almost 10 years until recently last summer I had a bad bout of cystic acne that literally flared up all over the place.  I am living proof that you can be an adult and still suffer from cystic acne, it’s not limited to pre-pubescent teens.

My acne started to act up Dec 2010, I was having more than normal cystic pimples here and there.  Early 2011 it started to escalate from there.  Come March I started searching for different skincare systems as Shiseido was no longer cutting it.  I tried Murad’s acne line at first and all that did was dry my skin up miserably, my skin took on a tight and dry feeling to it and yet for weeks I wasn’t seeing any improvement. After that I moved onto Proactiv.  At first I felt as if it were helping, however, through the course of a couple of weeks I noticed very little improvement.

Finally with the urging of my mother, I gave in and went to a dermatologist.  The first thing the dermatologist said when he walked in was, “Oh yeah, you need help.”  I think I wanted cry right at that moment as I knew I probably should have made it over to the dermatologist sooner.  For 30 days I went through his prescribed regimen of a Benzoyl Peroxide wash, Finecea, Clarifoam and Erythromycin (oral antibiotics) 3 times a day. I honestly felt like this whole regimen was killing my skin.  Every time my skin cleared up it seem like new pimples would pop up.  My skin was painfully dry and had this leathery look to it.  It was awful.  When I went back for a follow up, although it improved some I still had pretty big breakouts and quite a big of hyper pigmentation left from the acne.  Going forward the Dr. recommended that I try a VI Peel (Chemical Peel) and move into the Obagi NuDerm Skincare system.  At this point I was desperate to try anything.  My skin was wrecked.  I was nervous about the peel but I was told that this would help with the hyper pigmentation.  So I went forward with it and was very happy about the results.  I have a day by day series on my YouTube channel with my experience of the peel.  Feel free to check it out:

After the peel I went on immediately to using the Obagi NuDerm Skincare system.  I had never heard of the system before, however, after reading lots of information on the internet I was very excited to try it.  The system is designed to address specifically acne and hyper pigmentation.  It is very heavy duty, so as a result my dermatologist put me on a schedule to ramp up the usage of products instead of using everything all at once which would have caused severe drying, pain and discomfort.  Ramping up the usage of the products allowed my skin to gradually adjust instead of shocking it all at once.  Below of pictures of the system and the usage instructions that come on the box.

I began using the system in the beginning of July and went off the products with Hydroquinone and Retin-A in early October.  Once your skin goes into the “maintenance” phase it’s no longer necessary nor safe to use Hydroquinone long term.  I can’t even begin to tell you how amazing my results were.  And because of that I have continued using Obagi Products.
From L-R:  My skin July 2011, My skin Oct 2011
From L-R: My skin June 2011, My skin January 2012
As you can see I have had dramatic results.  I was fortunate enough to not have any scarring left from the acne, however, I still do get my occasional cystic pimples.
It seems to me that skincare is such a personalized solution.  We all have different skin and what works for some does not necessarily work for others.  With my complexion, my skin tends to leave dark marks after I have a breakout and the Obagi system has helped tremendously in clearing up these marks.  I hope this post is helpful to some  Stay tuned for my next post on the new skincare system Zo Skin Health created by Dr. Obagi that I will be transitioning into.  Bye for now!