Clarisonic Diaries July 9th 2014

Ola beauty lovers! I haven't updated you all on my journey with the Clarisonic over the last few months. Things have been hectic. But good news is my skin has been doing well.

I only use my Clarisonic once a week now, if that some times I use it once every two weeks depending on how much makeup I have been wearing over the past few days. I have been making sure I use some sort of cleanser with either Tea Tree oil, salicylic acid, or retinal. I tend to stay more to Tea Tree oil or salicylic acid.
There is another ingredient that keeps break outs down but I forgot what its called.

The only thing I have changed is the mask I use when my cystic acne comes along. The Glam Glow Super Clearing treatment mud mask is my new savoir. That stuff although is so expensive works like gold! Now I know it is not a product a lot of us can afford but if you go into Sephora and ask for a sample size, bring it home try it out and see for your self. A sample size should last you a few times. Don't use it all over the face just spot treatment it to save on product. This baby pulls out all the crap in your pores and you see it in real life in front of you. It's gross but so cool.

Other then that I still use my moisture masks here and there if I feel my skin needs a drink of water. I usually mask 2 to 3 times a week for different things. Just pampering myself like that at home helps de-stress.

Side note I have made an appointment with a dermatologist next week to further discuss my skin issues and hopefully I can learn more from the doctor. I really want to avoid using prescription products since I am a Sun girl, I can not stay out of the sun during this time of year. Let's hope and pray my situation isn't as serious as other peoples I have seen.

With my skin clearer, I am able to wear light make up foundation and feel really good about it. Below is a photo I just took today, and I am not wearing much make up at all. My chin is clear and I feel great. Keep in mind I just finished my period so any woman's skin looks great when her cycle re starts every month, BUT this month was not bad at all compared to past months I dealt with. 

That is it for now ladies! I will keep you posted on what the doctor says next week!

Until next time beauty lovers <3
MacGirl25

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Clarisonic Diaries: February 5th, 2014

Ola Beauty Lovers! My journey with the Clarisonic has been an interesting one since I purchased it with my own dollar bills back in the beginning of November 2013. My skin has had its up and downs, and for the first while it was down, way down. But after a lot of tender love and care my skin is slowly but surely looking great again. A few entries ago I showed you the horrifying breakouts my face was hosting. I know bad, my girlfriend asks me all the time how I had the courage to post those. My response was, honey I am not ashamed, its a common issue that most people encounter at one time in the their life or another.

My skin care routine hasn't changed too much since my last post in this series. I still use the Clarisonic once or twice a week at most. I wash my face twice a day and I always make sure I remove my make up off before bed every night. Any dermatologist will tell you that is the number one rule, always take off your make up before bed. I still exfoliate without the Clarisonic once a week, and I always make time for face masks.

I have changed up my facial cleanser. Right now I am using Estee Lauder Sparkling Cleaning oil control foaming cleanser. This cleanser is great!Very light weight and gets the job done. Let me know in the comments below if you want a full review on this cleanser. Other then that the rest of my products have not changed.

For my non Clarisonic exfoliant I have been using the Lush Ocean Salt. Love this product for exfoliating the face. The salt is sea salt and not abrasive, very gentile on the skin. The scent really smells fresh which I love as well. I usually use this product once a week.You can use it as many times as you need to exfoliate depending on your individual skin care needs, but I personally only use it once a week.

When I use the Clarisonic, I will either use my Estee Lauder cleanser or the Clarisonic cleanser that came with the tool. Realistically you don't need to buy another cleanser to use with the Clarisonic. What every cleanser you are using at that time, just use that with the Clarisonic.

My favorite skin care past time is masking. I just love the whole process of it all. It is my time to wind down and relax in peace with a cup of tea and a book. Anyway, the mask I have been going back to is the Lush Mask of Magnaminty face and body mask. Love this mask, it's great for pulling out all the impurities out of your face to prevent and help heal acne and bad break outs. Bonus is this mask is made with all natural ingredients. I try to mask about twice or three times a week if I can because it does help my skin keep pimples away or at least tame the break outs I do have.

I love the Proactiv Refining Mask. It is pricey but it does help when you have those random isolated break outs. Apply a tiny bit to the pimple, leave on over night for best results, or leave on for 30mins to an hour and you will notice that sucker starts to break down and disappear. This puppy I don't use often, I try to savor this for real emergencies before big events. But this one is a great one, just love it as well. You can use this as a full on mask, which I do once in a while, but mostly I use this to spot treat.

This month has been decent. My break outs that I have gotten around that time of the month are not severe like the photos I showed you before. These break outs have been minor and manageable. Which is great! The key is to balance everything out. My diet hasn't changed from the last entry. I have still cut out junk food, but I will still splurge every now and then on a sweet or salty snack. My stress levels are still high, but I am trying to keep them tamed so that my skin doesn't go all bonkers. I have been working out, though however this last week and half I haven't been to the gym due to my head cold I managed to catch in this brutal winter weather. Not surprising, it happens every year to me. But I plan to get back to the gym hopefully by this weekend.

So far so good, every month seems to be improving my complexion. I am praying with the warmer weather it will be even better but let's see how that goes.

Until next time beauty lovers <3
MacGirl25

Please check out my other Clarisonic Diaries posts:
http://macgirl25.blogspot.ca/search?q=clarisonic+diaries

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Clarisonic Diaries January 19th 2014

Hello everyone! Welcome back to my blog. I thought I would give you all an update on my skin care and using the Clarisonic Mia. The last entry I posted on this topic was about two weeks ago and I am happy to report that my Skin is doing much better now.

The last entry I showed you just how nasty my hormonal break outs can be. Well, there is a few items I have changed in my daily routine that I think has to do with the improvement on my skin.

1. I changed my diet. Cut out more junk food, and eating more clean and drinking more water and tea.
2. Started the gym. I have been going three time a week so far and breaking a serious sweat. Which is good, and it helps me feel better over all.
3. I changed my cleanser to the Estee Laudier Oil Control cleanser. This baby removed un-wanted oils without stripping your skin of the natural moisture it has during this cold weather season.

But the major change that I think did the trick was....are you ready?
4. I started using the Lush Mask of Magnaminty a couple times a week. Let me tell you, that this stuff does wonders!

Now I am going to do a full review on this baby as a different entry, BUT I have to give props to this product for the improvement on my skin because after the first couple sessions of this mask, my skin was looking better and better after each use.

I still use the Clarisonic Mia, but I reduced the number of times I use it per week to about twice a week. Sometimes three times if I feel like I have been wearing too much make up.

Honestly last month this time my face was looking like it had a party of pimples/breakouts all over my chin, and this month, my chin is still healing of course but it doesn't have any redness, and the minor pimples it does have are just the odd ones that stuck around a bit longer from my escapade from last month. Not fun let me tell you.

I honestly think that with all four methods combined above, that is what is helping out my skin so much. The Lush mask has been a HUGE help. So look out for my next review on this product because I am definitely going to share the goodness that comes out of this product with you all in the future.

If you did not read my last entry from the Clarisonic Diaries Series please check out this link below:

http://macgirl25.blogspot.ca/2014/01/clarisonic-diaries-jan-6-2014.html 

Here is a updated photo on my chin below: Notice the improvements compared with the photos from the link above of over two weeks ago!

Don't forget to follow my blog, Twitter @AntoniettaNacc  , and Instagram @AntoniettaNacc
Until next time beauty lovers!💜
MacGirl25

Clarisonic Diaries Jan 6, 2014

Ola beauty lovers! It's a cold one today in Canada and with the cold weather comes dry stubborn skin. My face lately hasn't been acting normal over the last few months. Most of the year, well in the warmer months at least, my skin will have very minor hormonal break outs before my period that only last a few days. BUT since November my skin is not working with me.

My hormonal break outs have been lasting for a week and half or more before my period! For you women out there you know how annoying this can be, I feel your pain! It can be difficult to put on makeup when your skin is looking like you got chicken pox or dried blemishes that make you look dehydrated. I have to say, I have been under a lot of stress since November, which is most likely why my skin acted out for the last two months. I promised my self this new year I would turn that stress around, and six days in, I am doing pretty good. Staying positive, keeping my mind exercised, and keeping my body exercised. Yes I am joining the gym. I am not going to get into why and all that jazz as that is for another post, based on another topic. BUT I am really hoping that these changes I am making inside help with my skins out come on the outside. Of course I am changing my eating habits as well. More healthier choices will help my breakouts stay away.

Any ways, my Clarisonic journey is still on the go. I have still been using my Clarisonic Mia every other night, some times every third night depending how much exfoliating I need. I am finding in the winter time, I exfoliate more since my skin just tends to flake off more then the summer time. I still wash my face twice a day, however if I use the Clarisonic I make sure I only use it once in that day not twice! I tone after I wash my face and then apply moisturizer. I use face masks through out the week to help keep these bloody break outs at bay, but ladies and gents, it is so hard to keep these break outs under control. The last two weeks my break outs before my period have been outstandingly uncontrollable. You don't believe me? Oh I have pictures for ya to see. This is what my chin looks like a week and half before my period. The pigmentation on these babies are brutal. I am trying every dark spot corrector during this time to get rid of these spots and any scars that may be left behind.

Now just so you know the Clarisonic DID NOT do this acne party on my face. I have been using the Clarisonic Mia since early November and my skin already did the break out badly portion of that process. However these break outs are all hormonal a week and half before my period as you see below. I am praying that it is just because this winter is bad, but once spring hits and if these break outs don't ease up at that time of my cycle then I am kicking my ass over to a dermatologist to see what else I can do.Once my period comes my break outs actually diminish and disappear, but for that time frame before hand, its just horrifying.

In the mean time I am doing trial and error to see what else can work with my face. Let's hope I find an answer this year. I am still doing my skin care routine daily, let me know in the comments below if you would like to see a skin care routine and what products I enjoy using that I find that works for me?

Until next time beauty lovers <3
MacGirl25

Olay Fresh Effects System Review

Ola beauty lovers, I wanted to let you all know my thoughts on the Olay Fresh Effects cleansing system that I have seen out in stores for a while now. I hope you all are ready for the holidays, I know I am. I plan on doing some more blog posts and a couple videos as well so keep an eye out over the next few days.

Anyways, I passed this fresh effects system in the store plenty of times and I was curious to see how great it was. The set comes with the shine minimizer cleanser, a battery operated brush to "exfoliate" which the bristles are made of a thick rubber, and a large size of the exfoliating cleanser. All this was around $17.99 on sale! Retail regular price was around $24.99. A little bit pricey for my liking.

So I tried out the shine minimizer cleanser, and it spooked me out a bit at first because when you squeeze it out of the tube it looks silver grey. I was so afraid to put that on my face. Now if it was a gold then I would have no issues placing it on my face, who would? :)

I did apply it to the brush gadget that it came with and used it with the brush but I was not too thrilled of the brush it comes with. I don't feel like its cleansing my skin at all, it feels as if the brush is just moving around the cleanser without lifting the dirt out of your pores.

Now I know comparing that brush to the Clarisonic is a no brainer. Clarisonic wins hands down. However, this little set would be perfect for those tween and teenagers who don't want to spend the extra money or can't afford to spend the money on a Clarisonic. As for mature skin, this cleanser brush does not cut it.

As for the actual pore cleanser it self, it is fairly decent. I must say using the pore minimizer without the rubber brush gadget was pleasant, or even using the cleanser with your Clarisonic is great too.

The exfoliating cleanser on the other hand was a disappointment. When I see "exfoliate" in the name of a product/cleanser, I would expect that means there are decent exfoliating beads in the cleanser to exfoliate the skin. My favorite face exfoliate is the St.Ives Apricot scrub. The exfoliation in that cleanser is amazing and affordable. This "exfoliating" cleanser however wasn't exfoliating at all. The cleanser is a creamy consistency with no exfoliating beads or scrubs ingredients that I could feel when I apply it to my face. Basically it just felt like a normal cleanser. So as  an exfoliating cleanser it sucked, BUT as a regular cleanser it was good. Did the job to remove the dirt after I took off the majority of my make up with a wipe.

I have to say for $24.99 retail price, I think is a little steep for these products. They did not wow me any differently then an average facial cleanser. The rubber brush is useless to me, I mean you can attempt to use it on your body instead of the face but there is not much to it really. The bristles are too thick and doesn't really get into your pores to remove all the left over dirt.

Would I repurchase these items? Nope. I love better and more affordable cleansers out there that I know I will be much happier with for my mature skin. However this kit would be a great starter for a tween and teenager who is just starting out on taking care of their skin and doesn't wear as much make up.


Until next time beauty lovers! <3
MacGirl25
Happy Holidays!

Clarisonic Diaries Dec 6th, 2013

Ola beauty lovers. It has been almost two weeks since my last Clarisonic Diaries post. My skin was touch and go there for a bit. It will be one month on Dec 8th, that I have been using the Clarisonic on my face as part of my skin care regime.

I have to say my skin is looking a bit better then the last few weeks. I swear I honestly didn't think that my skin could produce that many break outs in one month! A lot of people did say in their reviews that your skin could possible break out bad, but not to be alarmed because that is a sign that the Clarisonic is pulling out all the impurities out of your skin. Therefore causing breakouts.

Being complete the fourth week of using this baby in a couple days, so far I am loving this tool. At first I must admit I was thinking about returning it because of all of my break outs. But I said to myself, stop being a wimp and suck it up and keep moving forward because it will be worth it in the end....funny how that also sounds like relationship advice.

My break out attacks before using the Clarisonic was all in the chin and jaw line AKA hormonal break outs. What else is new, just like every other girl out there. Women problems. It was so bad and  that's what convinced me to pick the Clarisonic up.

I have to say my chin break outs have gotten smaller then what they used to be over a week ago. As for my jaw line, those break outs are gone. Thank God! I had a few minor bumps around the sides of my face up and around my forehead, nothing too noticeable but those bumps have now diminished.

So far, so good. The process is long and requires patience but it is well worth it.

P.s. with the colder weather now, I notice my skin is a lot drier and my chin area does produce dry patches, so I have increased the number of times I exfoliate in a week because of it. Lets hope it works. I also moisturize once I finish exfoliating. That is a huge thing, always moisturize after exfoliating or else your skin will hate you.

P.s.s. I also use the Proactive Refining mask on my chin break outs as a spot treatment to break them down and hopefully make them disappear. It has been helping tons and I have included this product in my November Favorites! So make sure you go check it out.

If you haven't checked out my last Clarisonic Diaries post please check out this link below:
http://macgirl25.blogspot.ca/2013/11/the-clarisonic-diaries-nov-23-2013.html

If you haven't checked out my last beauty favorites, go check it out at this link below:
http://macgirl25.blogspot.ca/2013/12/november-beauty-favorites-2013.html

Until next time beauty lovers <3
MacGirl25

Happy Holidays! Don't forget, don't drink and drive!

The Clarisonic Diaries: Nov 23 2013

Ola Beauty Lovers, so I have decided to start a new series of posts about my journey with the one and only Clarisonic. There are so many mixed reviews and opinions on this product that I thought this way would be different for all my readers to see what the process is when introducing a new skin care product to your body.

So I have been using the clarisonic now for about two weeks. I was so excited to get this baby in the mail. I was hesitant to try it for the longest time but one day I got fed up with how my hormonal acne was acting, so I said F**** it lets just try it out. So I bit the bullet and bought this sucker.

As soon as I got it I ripped it open and started reading the instructions. It explains how to take care of it, how to charge it, how the battery buzzes when it is half charged or fully charged etc.

Before I started using this "tool" if you want to call it that, my face was doing OK, not great because I would have acne pop up here and there but it wasn't strikingly brutal. Plus I had heard that this sonic technology is suppose to be great for your skin....once you get over the first few weeks of bad break outs. Although I have heard some people did not experience break outs at all. Anyways this series is going to be my experience with the famous Clarisonic Mia.

With in the first week I noticed that my breakouts on my jaw line and chin were enhanced times five. By this second week, my breakouts in the same spots were enhanced times ten! Now I knew before starting this journey a lot people said that the first month will be your skin purging all the inpurities out of your skin when using this tool. So I mentally prepaired myself....sort of.

Two weeks in and my chin breakouts (which is where I usually get my bad acne) are looking like they came to party on my face and want to stay there! I am mortified. I know I should not pick at them but sometimes it gets difficult especially when you get all anxious and nervous. That is the worst time!

I don't use the clarisonic every day. After a long period of researching and checking out other peoples experiences/reviews, I decided to use this tool every other day or every third day instead of every day. I did not want to butcher my skin that much.

For those of you who do not know what the Clarisonic is (if you really don't know then your living under a rock) it's a  special, expensive tool that is suppose to work as an exfoliant/cleansing system to ensure you get rid of all the dirt and oil off your skin when you wash your face. It can also be used for your body too, but I just want to use it for the face.  

The kit that I purchased comes with the clarisonic mia, a sensitive brush, and a deluxe sample size of the Clarisonic facial cleanser. Retail cost for this kit is $135. So yes this kit is a bit pricey but I figured this device should last me a long time and should be worth it in the long run.

I guess we will see how this product will change my skin, hopefully for the better. This is going to be an interesting journey, sit tight for a rollar coaster ride my friends.

Until next time beauty lovers
MacGirl25