Anti-Aging and Acne Solutions

I have long struggled with a variety of skin issues, if my skin is not breaking out with adult acne, it is reacting to a beauty or skin care product due to my rosacea. My skin is equal parts dry, oily, sensitive and downright frustrating!   As stated in previous posts, I try product after product…after product, to get to my desired skin care results…healthy, glowing, younger-looking and blemish-free skin.  Is that really too much to ask for?!

I find it really irritating (and not just to my skin!) that I need a degree in chemistry to even read the ingredients on most make up or skin care products. Giving up on all of those chemicals and unpronounceable ingredients, I set out to find products that had natural and organic products that I could recognize and pronounce, and still feel confident that I would get the skin care and beauty results that I expected.

So, you can imagine my excitement for finding a great beauty website that has amazing organic and natural skin care and beauty options. Makeup.com has page after page of fantastic offerings, many of my favorite organic and natural beauty products all in ONE PLACE!

Like, Juice Beauty, a company founded to provide organic beauty solutions by a team of women who are completely passionate about organic and healthy lifestyles AND the science behind organic and natural skin care. They are committed to providing organic solutions for healthy, radiant skin while making it fun to take care of ourselves, and our planet! One of my favorite Juice Beauty products is the Green Apple Body Brilliance Kit, great for making your skin look fantastic for a special dress, night out, or just to show off your healthy, glowing skin! This collection utilizes Juice Beauty’s antioxidant technology, which combines alpha lipoic acid, coenzyme Q10, DMAE, peptides, fat soluble Vitamin C, and essential fatty acids for optimum age-defying results.

Juice Body Brilliance

Another incredible line that I use and love is Coola Suncare. I am a firm believer in using sunscreen to protect my skin from the dangers of skin cancer, as well as the premature aging and damage that the sun can do. Living in Southern California, and loving the beach and outdoors, I have used so many different sunscreen products, many that again have ingredients that I cannot even attempt to pronounce and were harsh on my face and skin.

Wanting to incorporate sunscreen into my every day skin care regimen, I found that Coola Suncare SPF 30 Organic Moisturing Suncare did the job perfectly for me. This product is not at all greasy, did not make me break out, and even provides a nice moisturizing effect. It combines antioxidant ingredients like Vitamins A, C, D, and E, zinc, and a select choice of twelve certified organic skin-healing extracts.

This unique SPF moisturizing product, easily integrated into your daily skin care regimen, will protect you from the sun’s harmful rays while keeping your skin lustrous and silky-smooth. I can easily apply my usual makeup over this product without feeling like I have heavy products on my face, and they make a fantastic body moisturizing sunscreen and sport SPF 45 that I use for swimming or outdoor activities as well! I also truly appreciate that they have an unscented line, as all too many sunscreens can have a really unappealing scent!

Coola Suncare

Last but not least, I really love it when skin care companies offer kits or products in smaller, less expensive sizes. I have so many issues with my skin that it really becomes an issue for me to spend $20, $50 or more on a product, or a few products that end up not working out and being thrown into a drawer in my bathroom, or worse, thrown away. So when I can sample a line, try a range of products in sample or smaller sizes, I am always willing to make a small investment in potentially finding a true skin care gem!

Suki offers an amazing Nourishing Mini Skin Care Kit with a variety of amazing organic products that will completely replenish and protected protect your complexion. Suki offers cutting edge science with 100% pure, high-potency organics. This is also the perfect kit to travel with, as the mini skin care product sizes will meet airline regulations.

Suki Kramer founded this line to provide high performance professional organics, promoting a beautiful, radiant complexion and good health from the inside-out. Her lines offer advanced proven, scientific ingredients integrated in 100% pure botanical, results-driven formulas and work systemically, with each individual, creating harmony and balance. Love, love, love her hair care products as well!

Suki Mini Kit

Makeup.com makes it easy for you to find the perfect organic beauty and skin care products for you. Ditch those harsh, unnatural ingredients and find a wonderful world of natural and organic products! They offer an amazing array of beauty products, and you are sure to find the right products for you, your skin type, your skin care and beauty needs, and with great savings on both products and shipping! Beauty has truly evolved at Makeup.com Boutique. Shop now for all the hottest trends in makeup, skincare, hair care, and bath products.

Anti-Aging and Acne:  Real Acne Solutions!  GASP!  Is there such a thing?  I see so many ads and links for magic products that erase lines, magically clear skin…Yet…

I have still struggled with adult acne for the last decade or so, starting after the pregancy of my last child.  I was never acne-prone as a teenager, in fact, I can remember vividly so many times that girlfriends would have flare-ups just in perfect time for pictures, prom, a first date and they would tell me how very lucky I was to never have that nasty zit or two before a big event!

Well, those days have been replaced with embarrassing acne flare ups, always at the worst time, and I have truly tried so many product lines that I just felt that I would kind of have to “live with it”, hiding and camoflauging the breakouts the best I could with great makeup.  I am too sensitive to the antibiolics that work best to address adult acne, I also deal with rosacea, so I cannot use the more “hard core” kind of products that can address acne as they would leave my skin literally raw, red, and looking even worse. 

Recently, I visited Euro Day Spa, in Laguna Niguel, California and got an amazing facial treatment and received some fantastic recommendations for products that could help to impact my skin.  At first, I thougth, “Nope…not going to do it…not yet ANOTHER product line!”.  But I took the risk, and purchased the products that she recommended for my skin type and for my occasional acne flareups.  And, the risk was really mitigated by two factors:  Euro Day Spa is a day spa founded by Dr. Lorrie Klein, my dermatologist (and dermatologist to my entire family!), and the esthetician did not recommend the entire store to me.  Instead, she truly listened to my concerns, closely examined my skin and took into consideration my skin sensitivities and the acne protocol that I have followed in the past.  She took care to select only a few key products that were effective, yet gentle, that had more natural ingredients and that she stated she could stand behind and put her professional reputation behind.  How refreshing, right?!

One of the products that was recommended to me was Epicuren’s Acidophilus Probiotic.  The Acidophilus Probiotic works by mildly, and I do say very mildly, exfoliating skin to help blemish-prone skin and skin types.  While it exfoliates, it also moisturizes so you do not get the red, dry, flaky skin from other types of exfoliators.  The ingredients also help to create a healthy “flora balance” on the skin so the bad acne-causing bacteria does not have an environment in which to thrive. 

Please note that this product can make you sun sensitive, and you should always follow up with sunscreen and limit sun exposure.  But we are all careful with sunscreen and sun exposure anyway, right?!

I have truly seen a profound difference in my skin, the condition of my skin, and how dramatically fewer breakouts I do get.  When I do get breakouts, they are much smaller, and certainly not the cystic type of acne that I was experiencing.   Overall, the condition of my skin felt smoother, more clear and almost brighter.   The gentle effects of the exfoliating were truly impacting my skin overall.

I am not here to say that I am like completely cured, my skin is now completely flawless or that any product has worked some amazing magic, and I would not believe that hype if I read it somewhere else.  However, I am thrilled and excited to say that indeed this product has surpassed my expecations, and I have had friends and family comment on how fantastic my skin looks. 

While I still get the occasional breakout, I have found yet another product to address that beautifully!  Another product that was recommended to me is NeoCeuticals by NeoStrata’s Acne Spot Treatment Gel.  Love, love, love this gel!

I have used many acne spot treatment products, most of which completely dry me out and I end up with a huge dry spot on my face instead of a small, manageable pimple!  Ugh!  Not this treatment gel, this is a total gem.

The Acne Spot Treatment Gel has 2% Salicylic Acid and works more gently than any other spot acne treatment that I have ever used.  I apply it on a problem area both morning and night, and typically I can see results the very next day.  I have even put this onto problem areas before going to bed, or a spot that looks like it is going to become a breakout, and upon waking up, I have no breakout, I have no problem area.

So, I have found that I have been able to really manage the majority of my adult acne issues with two fantastic products.  I recommend that you discuss these products and other options with your dermatologist as there are products out there that can truly work, without any hype, and help to impact the effects of your adult acne symptoms.  There is no “miracle cure”, however, there are products that can work for your skin, your skin type, your lifestyle and your expectations.  Good luck, and feel free to share your success stories, so we can all help each other find real world skin care solutions!