Layer up

I've discovered the secret to keeping warm in Korea. 

Layer up, and layer lots (more than you think!). Seriously though, I end up wearing four layers (not including a jacket) if I really want to stay warm (bonus, four layers means I don't even really need a jacket). Light layers is the way to go so that nothing is bulky - everything underneath my sweater is super thin cotton or viscose. Looser clothing also works better at retaining the heat. A cotton tank, viscose blouse, long vest and a sweater to top it all off. On colder days, tights or leggings underneath jeans is a must as well. 

While, I've had to wear leggings under jeans before in Canada, I've never really used more than two layers on my upper body. I recently had an open class though, and in the midst of  my "I need to dress professionally but my school is an icebox" dilemma at 6 am, I decided to freeze and throw on my go-to business outfit with a tank underneath, as the blouse is a bit low-cut for Korean standards. Given the 0 degree mornings, I decided a could easily throw on my favourite sweater and just take it off when the time came for open class. At least I'd be a little warmer. And you know what, I wasn't a little warmer. I was a lot warmer. Like, no jacket needed in the icebox warm.

The combination only seems to work with the added blazer - I don't stay warm with just a blouse and sweater. The great thing is, the blazer just peaks out of my sweater to give a nice bit of colour. Longer vests or even chiffon trenches are also great to layer underneath sweaters as I'm finding out. They look great, and go with the loose, flowing aesthetic I seem to love so much. Now, to pick some up in every colour.

Sweater: Zara (similar here)

Vest: Forever21

Boyfriend Jeans: Gap

Purse: Botkier

Shoes: Enzo Angiolini (old, similar here)

Pure Heals Propolis 90 Ampule Review

Pure Heals Propolis 90 Serum is one of those Korean skincare products you don't really hear about. Which is unfortunate because this is AMAZING.

I first saw this on Sunnydahye's YouTube Channel and she was saying that this product really helped to moisturize her skin, as well as to lighten old acne marks. Now, as a long time acne sufferer, any time someone says something lightens the marks, I'm initially skeptical, but I also get this intense need to try the product out. I guess desperation does that to you? Either way, I bit the bullet as I was in need of a new serum and cream anyways, and headed off to ibuybeauti.com to purchase this along with the matching cream.

I've used this for about three months, and I honestly wasn't expecting much. I was beginning to breakout terribly due to some wayward birth control, and while the pimples themselves were shallow, the surrounding inflammation was horrific. I'd have a tiny little pimple, but the surrounding area was bright red and would extend a lot farther than the regular zits I usually got. In other words, five tiny pimples meant one side of my face was bright red and angry looking. Now, I've dealt with some serious acne before, and in my research and experience, that kind of inflammation will definitely lead to post-inflammatory hyperpigmentation. Not only that, but I'm pale, so I retain redness longer, and I'm half Asian, which means along with the residual redness, I'm prone to darker marks that could take months to heal (darker skin tones tend to be more prone to the brown, red and purple marks left after a wound). 

So, I was using this serum as my main moisturizer (I don't like to apply too many products when I get an angry breakout) as studies have shown that propolis may be beneficial in killing the acne-causing bacteria. Anyways, no dice for me. This has done nothing to prevent my angry hormonal breakouts. 

But that's not why I bought it either. I bought it to heal my left over hyperpigmentation. As well as the new stuff that I knew would come to form. Now, propolis is essentially bee glue – they use it to fill in any small gaps in their hives. It's anti-microbial (hence why some say it's beneficial in preventing acne), anti-inflammatory, and full of antioxidants, all of which means it's an awesome ingredient to see in your skincare products. It's also those antioxidant and anti-inflammatory products that make is so good at reducing the leftover acne marks. 

The serum is pretty light and thin, and smells a bit floral. It absorbs into my dehydrated skin easily without leaving it sticky. Feel free to layer it with other serums as well, I haven't found any pilling when using either vitamin c or other hydrating serums.

This ampule has actually healed my skin so well after my breakouts, I don't even need to wear foundation on a regular basis anymore. This faded my old acne marks, and healed the new ones within a week-and-a -half. I was amazed at how fast my skin healed after using this on a regular basis. Before, whenever I got the tiniest pimple, I'd be stuck with a red mark that would last anywhere from three weeks to a couple of months. I even had some that lasted for years! The other amazing thing is that I wasn't using my Retin-A when I first began testing this product. Once I added the Retin-A back in, oh boy. Marks gone within a week after the pimple disappeared. 

This is a holy grail product for me. And if ibuybeauti ever stops selling it, I'm going to move to Korea as I haven't seen it for sale anywhere else.

Linked up with - Mom Trends, Mama in Heels, Sassy Moms in the City and Musings of a Housewife 

My Favourite Acne Busters – The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

It's that time of the month again... that period where I break out horrendously for a week and don't want to show my face in public. Needless to say, I'm pretty well versed in the world of spot treatment and preventing acne, and have tried a number of products throughout the years.

Here's some of my favourites I've tried and have come back to, as well as the ones that didn't work for me in the past. I've also included products that were meant to fight and prevent new pimples... but didn't quite work out in that sense.

Etude House AC Clinic Intense Pink Powder Spot

This is hands down, my favourite spot treatment. It's similar (and by similar I mean I'm pretty sure it's the same) to the cult favourite Mario Badescu drying lotion. There's a pink powder (calamine and sulfur) sitting on the bottom of the container, with a salicylic acid solution on top. You dip your q-tip in and dab it onto any spots. The salicylic acid and sulfur will fight the acne bacteria and the calamine helps to dry them out and sooth the inflammation. If you catch a zit early enough, this will have it gone in a night. If your zit is larger, expect it to be gone in less than three days. It also helps to prevent smaller zits from getting any larger. Best part is that it's just as effective as Mario Badescu, but about $5 cheaper!

Etude House AC Clinic Intense Pink Powder Water

This came in a set with the Intense Pink Powder Spot. However, it ditches the calamine and just uses sulfur and salicylic acid. This way the solution is white and easily blends out instead of leaving a pink dot on your skin, making it perfect for morning spot treating. The white cast helps to camouflage the pimple, and provides a nice base for your makeup.

Retin A Gel

I use Retin A 0.05% on and off (terrible habit, I know). When I am using it, and breakout, I find the larger pimples heal a lot faster. Yes, they're big and nasty. However, they also come to a head within a day or two of showing up when I'm using the Retin A. Yes, I'll have a pimple randomly pop up at 10 am, get bigger and bigger throughout the day, and at 9 pm, it will have a head of pus on it, tempting me to pop it. So what I'm saying, is Retin A basically quickens the lifespan of the pimple. The 0.05% gel is gentle enough for me, and I rarely experience any dryness or sensitivities.

Now, from here, I can either pop them, or leave them to heal on their own. Now, you shouldn't be popping and extracting your zits yourself, as you increase the risk of scarring and reinfection, but we're all human, and sometimes it's just too tempting. Now, properly popping that nasty volcano gives a lot of satisfaction, and, if you do it right and not prematurely, may even speed up the healing. But it's not usually worth the risk. After years and years of battling acne, I know which pimples I can safely pop without it getting worse, and which I can't (most of them). And that's wear my favourite Etude House Intense Pink Powder Spot comes in, as it helps the to get rid of the pus and infection without the need for squeezing.

Zymogen Houttuynia Cordata Serum

This is new to my arsenal of acne fighters, but one I've been using everyday. While it's promoted as a serum to reduce acne breakouts, I haven't found it to be... as magical as claimed (I was looking at reviews where this definitely improved a couple of girls' cystic acne). So why is it on this list? This serum greatly reduced the amount of redness and inflammation I normally experience while breaking out, meaning that while my skin is bumpy, at least it's not as angry looking. I'll have a full review on this later, as there are a few more benefits I noticed, as well as to introduce you to the ingredients.

Chinese Herbal Cream

This is a no-name Chinese cream I bought from an herbalist when my friend suggested I try a more natural route to battle my acne. Like the Zymogen serum, I don't find it really helps decrease the severity of the breakout, but it does help to decrease the redness and speed up the healing of post inflammatory pigmentation or erythema. There are some antimicrobial properties, so it helps to prevent the bacteria from spreading as well.

La Roche Posay Effaclar DUO

Like the last two items, I haven't found this acne fighting serum to really have any effect on my acne. I live in Canada, so we do have a different version than the US which doesn't contain benzoyl peroxide. The Canadian version uses a combination of salicylic acid and capryloyl salicylic acid, both of which help to exfoliate the skin, and reduce inflammation. Again, I never saw a difference in my breakouts while using this, but it does help to heal the leftover marks from the pimples quite quickly due to the exfoliating nature of the product.

ProActiv Treatment

Full disclaimer, I used to work at ProActiv. However, I'll be as unbiased as I can in this mini review.

I hate the ProActiv treatment. Now, this has nothing to do with whether or not it's a bad product, or a bad formulation. My skin just doesn't agree with it at all, whether I'm just spot treating, or using it all over as recommended. It stings upon application and for an hour after, and once that subsides, I'll be super itchy for hours. If I try to apply a moisturizer on after, my face will get that same burning sensation. Oh, and I still have pimples after all the pain. Now, these are common side effects of any benzoyl peroxide product, and should disappear within a week, maybe two. Not for me though. Two weeks of ProActiv and I'm dry, itchy, flaking, red and sore. No thanks.

Now, don't get me wrong, the ProActiv treatment is a good product for a lot of people, and I used to use it as a spot treatment back in the day. It uses 2.5% benzoyl peroxide, which dermatologists highly recommend for acne. Benzoyl peroxide will basically kill all the acne bacteria living in your pores, as well as reducing your skin's oil production. The 2.5% formula is also considered to be the most gentle percentage while still being effective at treating acne and again, is often recommended by dermatologists. It's just not a good match for my occasionally sensitive, combination skin.

Birth Control

I think this is probably the number one recommendation from my doctor and dermatologist as acne is often caused by hormone imbalances. In theory, the added female hormones (estrogen and progesterone) would balance out the excess androgens your body is producing which might be causing your acne. Now, hormones are finicky, and too much of any, whether it's an androgen, estrogen, or even stress hormones, can cause acne so it's not an end all, be all solution either. I used birth control for about a year and half, and I would breakout in maybe one or two pimples every month, which is tolerable. Unfortunately, my birth control stopped working (hello month long periods) and I'd get cystic acne whenever I started a new pack for two weeks. I did switch birth controls after this lasted for two months, but I was left with the same acne issue whenever I began a new pack. Needless to say, I've stopped the birth control, and am currently waiting for my own body to rebalance itself.

Accutane

Ah, my love/hate relationship. On one hand, Accutane is an amazing acne fighter. Isotretinoin works to stop the oil production in the skin, thereby reducing your acne. On the other... it's not exactly healthy for you. There are a ton of side effects that may come with Accutane, and luckily the worst I get is chapped lips and dry, fragile skin. But others have reported bone and joint problems, depression, or even liver damage.

I've just started another course of Accutane due to the cystic acne I was getting from the birth control. One thing Accutane doesn't do is fix your hormones. So if hormonal acne is your issue, I would recommend Accutane to clear you up quickly and let you stay clear while you try to rebalance your hormones (whether that's starting birth control, or stopping it). As I've stopped using birth control, I'm now using the Accutane to keep me clear while my hormones rebalance naturally through a healthier lifestyle.

Tanda Zap Review

Today, let's talk about acne. It's something a lot of girls (and guys) struggle with at some point in their lives, myself included. I decided to switch things up today because guess what? I broke out. And I broke out bad – the worst I have in the last two years. In retaliation, I immediately went and bought the Tanda Zap, recommended to me by a friend who also struggles with the occasional breakout.

But first, I'll tell you a little bit about my skin so that you know the conditions this machine was exposed to.

I struggle with sensitive, combination skin, prone to dehydration and acne. And when I say I'm prone to acne, I mean I'm really prone to acne. If you look at all my photos, I'm sure you can find a spot on nearly all of them! Unfortunately, I was not blessed with perfect skin (let alone good), and I work really hard to find products that work to address my fickle skin.

I find I tend to get oily in my t-zone, but I'll also be flaky all over (you can tell when my foundation is clinging to all those flaky spots). After a bit of research, I've found this to be a symptom of dehydrated skin – skin which doesn't have enough moisture on the inside of the dermis, and thus over produces oil trying to compensate. This is a disaster if you're acne prone. The dead skin (flakes) clings to the excess oil (that your skin is overproducing in an effort to get rid of said flakes) and clogs the pores, resulting in blackheads, whiteheads, and full blown zits.

While I normally only get a few pimples during that time of the month thanks to birth control and Retin A, I experienced the worst breakout I've ever had in the last two years this past month. All those feelings of embarrassment over my skin condition came flooding back, and I immediately went into a panic, attacking those red splotches with every single spot treatment I owned. Needless to say, I only ended up with extremely irritated and flaky skin (that was still shiny!).

After a few days of seeing no end in sight, I went out and bought the Tanda Zap, a handheld device that uses blue light to fight acne bacteria. The blue LED light kills the P. acnes bacteria to fight and prevent breakouts. Since it's only light, the treatment can be used on any skin type (including sensitive), without drying it out (meaning my skin won't be producing more oil to compensate). The device also warms up and vibrates to help allow the clogged sebum to drain out of your pores.

The Tanda Zap is small enough to fit in your pocket and runs on 3 AAA batteries. You're supposed to place the device lightly on the affected skin for two minutes (it will stop automatically) It should be noted that the light bulbs will only work for 1000 uses, and then you will need to replace your zit zapper.

I had about 10 small clusters of pimples that I used the Tanda Zap on. Some of these were full blown pimples and some were just emerging. I used the device twice a day on each area for three days and was able to see the results the next day. My full blown pimples had flattened, but were still inflamed, especially after washing my face. The pimples that hadn't emerged were beginning to come out, but were not as inflamed as they would be normally and looked smaller compared to the earlier pimples. They never came to a head - just rose a bit, and went away after two days of zapping. 

Along with the Tanda Zap, I used my usual salicylic acid toner and moisturizers, as well as Retin A 0.04 and clay mask as a spot treatment. I use the toner first, and then zap away. After I'm done with the Tanda Zap, I apply my moisturizers, and before I go to bed, a clay mask on the spots themselves.

 I think the Tanda Zap helped reduce the time it took to heal by about two days, as well as limiting the amount of pimples that became fully inflamed. However, I have had similar experiences with the same results using clay/sulfur masks, benzoyl peroxide, or the Mario Badescu drying lotion. For me, the main difference was that I didn't experience any excess dryness from the Tanda Zap, compared to using a mask, benzoyl peroxide, or the drying lotion.

I paid $49.00 at the Bay for it, but I don't think the price is worth it. The Tanda Zap doesn't work any faster for me than other spot treatments, and considering I will eventually need to replace it, may only be worthwhile if I only had one or two pimples every now and then. However, if I have a severe breakout consisting of 10-20 pimples and I zap at them two to three times a day as recommended, the device will only last for about 30-50 days. Most of the spot treatments I've tried cost less than $49.00 and last between one month to a year, even when I've had severe breakouts. For me, the Tanda Zap isn't worth the price per use, since I don't know when the next severe breakout will be.

Luckily, the breakout is healing nicely due to the Tanda Zap combined with a spot treatment. I have a few smaller pimples still coming up, but nothing my regular spot treatment won't fix in a jiff. The unfortunate part is that I'm now left with a face full of hyperpigmentation/dark spots that I'll need to treat.

Recommended for: - Sensitive Skin
- Dry skin
- Those who rarely breakout

Not recommended for: - Those who have larger, more severe breakouts
- Cystic acne (I've had better luck with sulfur)

Ever tried it before? Love it? Hate it? Leave a comment with your experiences, or if you just want to cry about acne with me.

Linked up with - My Girlish Whims - Mama in Heels -