Benzoyl Peroxide Acne Treatment - first 3 days

 Hi guys, just an update on my acne journey and how things have progressed.

I went to the pharmacy a few days ago because I wanted to bite the bullet and accept that my acne needed a helping hand by getting a 10% benzoyl peroxide cream. 

You can buy this cream almost anywhere and it comes in 2 strengths, a  5% BP (for sensitive skin & beginners) or the one I bought which is 10% BP. You can buy this in pretty much any pharmacy or at Boots for £2.65 (so cheap!)

What this cream does is dry out the layers of skin to get rid of the spots and acne. Using 2-3 times a day on clean skin you can start seeing results within 2 weeks. I only apply it 2 times a day because I wear makeup during the day.

Day 1 - I only used this at night as I bought it after I put my makeup on this morning. The cream is like a white powdery paste if that makes sense, it rubbed into the skin well and I didn't seem to notice any discomfort.

Day 2 - After applying this once in the morning and again at night I began to feel my skin burning slightly and certainly more uncomfortable but the instruction leaflet did say I would experience this and it shows the product is working. My skin felt much better after applying my moisturiser though.

Day 3 - Today I have woken up and my face is so dry, flakey and stingy. This is normal but it's very uncomfortable. I washed my face using a natural soap and applied the cream to my acne. It STUNG! My skin is changing though, the acne is drying up but still looks super red although I'm sure the pigmentation in my skin has changed over the years. The super bad stinging only lasts a few minutes and I waft a piece of card over my face because the old breeze helps to soothe the skin until that stinging feeling fades. I realised today that my skin would need a much heavier moisturiser so I have put lots of E45 cream on and hoped for the best.

I will keep you updated on how the treatment goes and hopefully when 2 weeks is up my skin will be improving and my skin will have become a little more used to the product and not sting like crazy all the time!

Have you used any benzoyl peroxide products before? Tell me your experience

T.L.B

xxx

Things I Can't Live Without

Hi guys, so this is going to be items or products I can't live without. I have some beauty, makeup and haircare bits so there will be something to interest everyone (I hope). I use everything every single day (almost) and I honestly would be lost without them!

Ok, so here goes!

Tigi Bead Head Foxy Curls shampoo

Tigi Catwalk Headshot conditioner

I love these products so much, I wash my hair every other day and I know it's bad for hair to be washed so much but I can't stand having greasy hair. I never wear my hair natural because my hair because I hate it so I do have to blowdry it and use my straighteners everyday so using a shampoo and conditioner that keeps it moisturised and protected is so important. I buy these produts from TK Maxx, the shampoo is around £5.00 and the conditioner is around £12. They'll last you ages so it's worth the money.

Garnier Pure 3in1 cleanser

This is my favourite cleanser, it does everything it says on the bottle and I literally can't live without it now it's just amazing. For everyone that knows about my acne problems and dry skin, having this product makes my skin so smooth and soft. I got it for about £4.00 and you can buy it from the drugstore.

Eyelure Dylash

Ok, so I'm obsessed with eyebrows. I need to have dark eyebrows as I've got dark hair so dying them is a must. I find this one to be brilliant and does just the job and lasts for about a month before you need to dye them again. A box will last nearly a year and you can also use it on eyelashes too. Such a great investment. Around £8 in the drugstore.

Soap & Glory body butter and hand cream

Love. love , love these. I use them every single day after my bath and my skin is transformed afterwards. It's good to get these when they're on the 3 for 2 offer at Boots. I use so much of the body butter and it has the typical S&G smell. £8.00 ish and £2.50 ish for the hand food.

Simple light moisturiser around £4 drugstore

E.l.f brush cleaner £3.50 www.eyeslipsface.co.uk

Revlon ColorStay in Ivory £12.50 drugstore

Mac lipstick in Faux £13.50 maccosmetics.co.uk

17 brow pencil around £3 boots.com

Naked Palette £35 debenhams.co.uk

If I didn't have any of these products, I would die! Simple!

E.l.f brushes range from £1.50 to £3.50

These have to be the biggest influence in my make up kit. They are so cheap and they last well. 

What are your favourites you can't live without?

T.L.B

xxx

Updated - The Trouble With Me

Well, hello again!

I'm sorry if some of you are sick of reading these acne/skincare posts but I do hope they help someone out there!

As you'll know if you read my previous post on my acne, I had been having a major breakout, like the worst one in AGES and it was just sore, dry and I didn't know what to do or where to start. It was really getting me down so I thought it was time to really think about what might have happened to cause me to have such a big breakout.

After having an informal chat with someone at Clinique in boots, the lady told me my skin seemed to be bacterial and hormone related acne and I'd need to see the doctor to get some antibiotics. Now, having been on antibiotics before I just wasn't keen on going on them again, because i didn't think they helped and being on them long term, well, you never know what the long tern affects might be. I'm the kind of person that hates to take a painkiller for a headache never mind an antibiotic so going down that route was just out of the question for me.

I decided to treat my skin naturally the best way I could, even if I could just calm the inflammation, I'd be happy so i decided to use the Honey&Olive Oil face mask method. I'll go through all the steps so you guys can try this out for yourself, even if you don't have acne it's sytill a wonderful thing to do for your skin as the honey contains antioxidants and antibacterial properties while the oil cleanses the skin deep down into the layers of skin.

You'll need:
Extra virgin olive oil (it has to be virgin so it's pure and won't irritate the skin)
Pure honey, I used clear although organic would be better.
A little pot, a rinsed out yoghurt tub would do the job.
Teaspoon.
A clean face, free of makeup and anything else.


Ok so you want to pour half a teaspoon of oil into your pot then a whole teaspoon of honey and mix them together with your spoon. With clean fingertips, gently smooth on the honey and oil mixture onto the face and neck in a generous layer and leave for as long as desired. I left it on for about an hour whilst watching the soaps :). When you remove the mask use warm water only using circular motions. It might take a little while to rinse it all off your face but do be gentle. After rinsing, pat the face and neck dry and apply your usual moisturiser and your done! Your face should feel soothed and moisturised.

Hope this is helpful to you guys and I hope you try it out :)
T.L.B
xxx

The Trouble with Me - Acne Battles

Hey everyone!

This post is all about my journey to beating my acne which I've suffered with since my early teens and although it's improving it's still a pain in my life. I consider my acne to be moderate and I've recently had a major breakout and my skin feels so sore all the time. I'm beginning to feel like my acne will never go away, as after years of trying creams and lotions I find they are just not for me and the best way to deal with it is reducing the amounts of products that aren't natural or contain lots of man made ingredients. At the moment for skincare I use the olive oil cleansing technique to deep clean my skin followed by Fresh Farmacy cleanser. For moisturiser I use Olay Classic Fluid which I find smoothes everything out and leaves me with a good base to apply my primer, then foundation.

I'm going to try and figure out if any of the products I'm using could be contributing to the bad break outs I'm having by withdrawing one of the products for 2 weeks until I find out which is the culprit! I do lead a relatively healthy lifestyle and I'm pretty sure that it's down to hormones at the end of the day but I don't want to be on long term antibiotic medications or anything like that.

What do you find helps your skin problems?