A Confession + A Giveaway

Today’s post is very off the grid for me.

I usually stick with outfit posts or sometimes baking posts. And I never do giveaways. But today is an exception because I absolutely ADORE this product.

You have to hear my story to know how much I love it:

SO. I’ve pretty much always had acne. It always had it’s ups and downs but it was constantly there.

It got especially bad when I was in Korea for 1.5 years. Probably for a number of reasons: stress, climate changes, I was too busy to pay my skin the attention it needed, etc. When I was nearing the end of my time there, my acne was the worst it had ever been and I decided to see what I could do about it. So I went to a dermatologist, and I couldn’t understand everything he said because he was talking in Korean, but all he told me to do was to keep my hair out of my face and make sure I don’t pop my pimples because that will leave scars. He said, “acne goes away but scars don’t.” He didn’t charge me for the consultation but he had me buy a tube of acne cream and told me to apply it at least twice a day. So I did.

My acne was clear in only a couple of months and it doesn’t return so long as I am using my cream (and not accidentally falling asleep with makeup on too often…). There was a 4-month period where I was studying abroad and ran out of cream. I couldn’t find any more and my acne came back until I could get my hands on more cream. I’m telling you, it’s my own personal miracle stuff. Been using it since 2010, and will never stop.

Here’s why I think it’s so awesome:

-It’s a cream that goes on CLEAR. I put it on morning and night, but in the morning I get out of the shower, put on the cream, let it dry, then put on my face lotion and apply my makeup. And the cream just keeps working under all of that. Awesome, right?

-It stays on your face. The only active ingredient it has is Benzoyl Peroxide, which a lot of acne products contain. But if you’re just using a Benzoyl peroxide face wash then all you’re doing is putting it on for 30 seconds, then washing it off. Well the cream stays on your face, so it actually has time to work. That’s my theory for why it is so awesome.

Anyways, this is the cream: La-Roche Posay’s Effaclar Duo

La-Roche Posay focuses on skincare and has a lot of award-winning products, this one included. And they are going to send some out to anyone who wants to give it a try. So sign on up through the link at the bottom.

But first, at the risk of feeling very vulnerable, here is a before and after of my face. It’s the best I could find that showed my acne close up, you might have to click it to see it better. All that red you see is either acne or scars. I think I am even wearing makeup there so you can imagine what it looked like without. My face was one big red blob: