A mid-twenties skin crisis

"I've always been quite lucky when it comes to my skin" - are the words that I shall never utter again, EVER! As the last 4 months I've had a bloody tough time of it skin wise. Much worse than all of my teenage years combined. When I say I was lucky, I'd get the odd spot here and there, blackheads in the usual areas, but nothing that makeup couldn't cover or a few days of some skincare tlc wouldn't clear up. It all began the day we started filming on that last BBC job I worked on (note, this links to the very end of the post/story so keep that in mind) I came home from work, took my beanie hat off and noticed that my forehead was covered in lots of tiny bumps under the skin. They weren't sore or red, which you'd think would be okay with the addition of makeup... but that actually didn't help at all, as every little bump scattered across my forehead was still so clearly visible underneath. In certain lighting it looked absolutely awful.

I had no idea where this strange outbreak had came from, but I jumped straight in to finding a way to control/get rid of it. At first I wondered if it was my hat or hair that had been irritating my skin, so I went weeks without both and tried to pin my fringe out of the way when possible. I'm not a vain person (even if my instagram selfies beg to differ) and I would happily leave the house most days with no makeup on. But these spots really started to upset me and dent my confidence after a few weeks of absolutely no improvement whatsoever. The strangest thing of all was that they were just on my forehead, and the rest of my skin was still completely clear.

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My skin under minimal face makeup now

Fast forward to today, I have FINALLY got my skin under control and have started to see major improvement. I've not been using heavy concealer as I've still wanted my face to be able to 'breathe' while having a little bit of coverage. In the top photo this was hard as my forehead was literally all lumps and bumps, but in the second photo my skin feels completely smooth and the red dots you see are flat. Which I think is scarring? I made the mistake of trying to squeeze every damn spot on there. Worst move ever. Now that the actual spots have cleared I just need to deal with the scars! But in the meantime, here's some progress pictures without makeup, and the products which helped me along the way...

The beginning

My skin doesn't actually look too bad here, but this is stage one when it was covered in all of the tiny little spots. Even though they were skin coloured and hard to pick up in photos like this under a bright light, they still looked awful side on and especially with makeup. I decided to go for a chemical peel at Destination Skin as they had some half price offers running. It was quite a strange experience and I found the heat of the peel very uncomfortable. I never actually realised how much my skin would literally 'peel' afterwards (think sunburn, all over your face, for almost two weeks) and luckily everyone at work was quite understanding of my flakey face, and I didn't need to leave the office much. My social life did suffer a bit though as I didn't want to explain to every person I met why my face resembled a character from the Mighty Boosh. Anyways, I have went off piste a bit, but after the peel I did experience a change in my skin, but not the change I hoped for.

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Once my face had finished peeling, all of my skin (apart from my forehead) felt absolutely amazing. So clean, fresh, and new! As new skin is exactly what it was. My forehead, however... had changed from tiny skin coloured spots, to a large collection of full on, red, angry ones! At this point I popped into boots and had a chat with the pharmacist who recommended Acnecide. This is 5% benozyl peroxide and which attacks the bacteria thought to be one of the main causes of Acne. Did I have acne? I didn't really know. I knew I needed to get the morning off at some point to go and see a doctor.

After a week of using the Acnecide, the spots weren't as angry and felt quite dried out. But as soon as I forgot to use it for one night they were red again in the morning. I finally went to the doctor for a chat, and she suspected Adult Acne, so prescribed me with Dalacin T. This is an antibiotic medicine which also treats infections with bacteria, the prime cause of skin outbreaks like this (so I was told!) All this chat of bacteria made me feel like my face wasn't clean. Up to this point I had been using a salicylic acid based cleanser from Agera in a desperate bid to clear up my skin. Along with the occasional glycolic fix pad from Nip + Fab. All in all I think I was probably overloading my face in this absolute panic. No wonder the spots looked so sore, red and angry.

At this stage I was on holiday in Portugal and was hoping that 10 days in the sunshine would help clear up my forehead. It definitely helped! The spots started to disappear, leaving only a handful of angry ones left. At this point I felt comfortable in introducing a regular routine of the Forever Aloe Scrub as a gentle daily cleanser/scrub, and Forever Aloe Propolis Creme as a moisturiser. I continued on with the Dalacin T in the mornings, and Acnecide overnight too.

A few days after coming home from Portugal, I went back to the doctors so we could chat about my skin again, and also address some anxiety issues which have been creeping back lately. It's really frustrating, because life is great at the moment. I am the happiest I have ever been, which makes the anxiety even more confusing as I have absolutely nothing going on that would trigger it or the panic attacks I've been having. But for now I need to accept that this is how I feel, and going back on medication seemed like a positive step for me. Initially I was disheartened because I have been off them for a couple of years now, but sometimes we need a helping hand! You wouldn't expect a diabetic person to come off their medication and fight their illness via 'good thoughts' or just hoping for the best. So for mental illness it's exactly the same. The icing on the cake is that a week after being back on the medication, my skin has came on leaps and bounds! Which takes me back to the first paragraph of this post when I said the skin outbreak started when I was very busy at work, and feeling quite overwhelmed... my skin problems have very likely been stress related all along. I'm definitely putting it down to that anyway, as I have seen such an improvement in the last couple of weeks. Even when you feel like your brain is handling stress and pressure okay, your body can start to cry out in other ways. In this instance, crying in absolute rage through my bloody forehead!

This next picture is my skin as of Friday just there. As I mentioned in the first photos with makeup, my forehead is totally smooth now and the red marks which are left appear to be scarring. They are not raised or sore, so hopefully now I can continue confidently with my skincare regime and perhaps add something in that will help with the marks which are left. Or maybe they will just fade in time! If you have any products you could recommend to me at this stage to help with that I would really appreciate it. You can imagine I'm a bit scared to overload my skin again, or chance putting anything on it that might make me take a few steps backwards. I've been staring at these photos for so long I'm not sure if I can really see a big difference between them, but I know I can feel and see it on my face. After a wonderful consultation and mini facial at Kiehls on Buchanan Street with Fay, I've introduced their Iris Extract Activating Treatment Essence*, and their Blue Herbal Moisturiser*, which are both really helping too!

Acnecide (from Boots) before bed, and Dalacin T (prescribed from the doctor) in the mornings.

Forever Aloe Scrub  - I use this as a scrub and cleanser, as it's gentle enough to be used daily. I'd quite like to replace this with another cleanser soon and just continue using it as a scrub. Any suggestions?

Iris Treatment Essence - I pat this gently all over my face morning and night, after cleansing but before my moisturiser. It makes my skin feel so soft and plump!

Aloe Propolis Creme - My morning moisturiser. It has quite a smooth matte finish that absorbs quickly, which makes it a perfect base for your makeup too.

Blue Herbal Moisturiser - This is my night time moisturiser, it's oil free and feels really nourishing, and contains salicylic acid acne treatment which gets working on your face overnight. Giving all the more meaning to the words beauty sleep!

I couldn't give all this chat about skincare products without mentioning the makeup that has been my saving grace throughout this whole thing. Bare Minerals have just launched their new Blemish Remedy foundation*, which I have been testing out on the weeks leading up to its release. It's specifically designed to help promote clearer skin and keep blemishes at bay, and it was a big weight off my shoulders to know that I could still wear a kind and gentle foundation throughout this process of clearing up my skin. The powder has a lovely smooth and silky finish, and the coverage is buildable so it was easy to pop on some more for the days my red skin needed hidden a bit more. I'm wearing it in the first two photos of this post, and for a nice coverage on my face I've not needed to put on much at all, but you can still see the breakout on my forehead a little bit. So I tend to build it up more in that area - but hopefully not for too much longer. If and when my skin does clear up fully, I'll still continue to use this as my daily foundation. It really helps control the oil and shine that I experience after a few hours of wearing most other medium to full coverage foundations.

How is your skin looking at the moment? I think my experience has been down to a mixture of stress and hormones, as I hadn't been doing anything differently in my daily skincare and makeup routine up until that point. Troublesome skin doesn't just end along with your teen years, and I really take my hat off to anyone dealing with full blown adult acne. I never realised how much your skin can effect your confidence on a daily basis. My friend Heather gets a lot of bad outbreaks whenever she eats/drinks soy based products, which I was quite shocked at! So I'd be interested to hear what you think effects your skin, from the inside and out.