‘My ability to turn good news into anxiety is rivaled only by my ability to turn anxiety into chin acne’ – Tina Fey
I never really suffered from acne as a teenager, apart from the odd pimple here and there, which continued into adulthood with a couple of breakouts (usually hormonal) but on a whole nothing really to get too worked up over.
So imagine my surprise at the ripe old age of 32, I’m diagnosed with stress related adult-acne. And when i say acne, I’m not talking about a few little white heads that could be treated with some toothpaste and a glass of water. I’m talking full-blown, red, angry, will never get asked out by a boy in high school, could squeeze my face for 6 hours a day and stuff would come out then wake up the next morning and do the same again type acne.
So I lived with it for a while, thinking it was just seasonal and that coming into autumn and the change in temperature had dried my skin out. But after 6 weeks it was getting worse if anything so i went to my GP and decided to have a complete overhaul of my over expensive beauty products that claimed to make me look 20 years younger and decided to start from scratch.
Obviously everyone’s skin is different so you might need to experiment a bit with what works with your skin the best. My advice would be keep it simple, make sure your skin is cleaned and moiturised properly and that your make up (although will cover up your blemishes) isn’t aggravating and actually making things worse. Believe me when i say I’ve tried loads of high end products from Philosophy, Clinique, Proactiv and Dermalogica and couldn’t find anything that worked.
So I decided to go back to basics and start from scratch, this is the regime I’ve been using for the last fortnight and touch wood, so far, my skin has been a million times better (I wish I’d taken some before and after pictures but as you can imagine, with a face like mine as it was, i wasn’t all that keen on having my picture taken!).
1. Facewash
I’ve used Quinoderm 10 cream for about 10 years until you could only get it on prescription in the UK, I found this antibacterial facewash on ebay (£10.29 for 3 bottles) which has all the right stuff in to help prevent breakouts (chlorhexidine digluconate and mytrimonium bromide), but is gentle so doesn’t dry my skin out.
2. Steroid Cream
Applied very thinly to the affected area at night, i was prescribed this cream by my GP and isn’t available over the counter. It’s good stuff, helps especially if you have lots of clusters of angry red pustules as it dries them out brilliantly over night. Sadly it also dries out the rest of your face so a bucket load of moituriser is needed once it’s soaked in!
3. Toner & Moisturiser
Boots Glycerin and Rosewater oil is a fantastic toner, it takes away any access facewash and rehydrates my skin after the steroid cream as sapped any remaining moisture my skin ever had. I’ve also found that the Simple range of moisturisers is excellent, particularly the Illuminating radiance scream which is fantastic for nights out as it gives my skin an extra shimmer.
Boots Glycerin & Rose Water Cleansing Oil – £2.32
Simple Kind to Skin Hydrating Light Moisturiser – £4.50
Simple Kind to Skin Vital Vitamin Night Cream – £5.99
Simple Kind to Skin Illuminating Radiance Cream – £7.99
4. Make Up
If my skin is going to act like a teenager, i’m going to treat it like teenager! This foundation from Boots’ Seventeen range contains salicylic acid which has anti inflammatory properties so helps your spots and provides really good coverage; it doesn’t quite take you from day to evening but very good as an everyday foundation. Rimmel’s Clear Complexion power foundation which is supposed to be formulated to not clog pores works well for me and keeps you relatively shine free for most of the day
Boots Seventeen On The Spot Foundation – £6.99
Rimmel Clear Complexion Clarifying Powder – £3.99
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