Monday 9 October 2017

Fresh Face Forward

Admittedly, I've never felt uncomfortable about my skin.  I had bouts of teenage acne, but I knew many friends with struggles far worse than mine.  I never worried much about make up and today rely on mascara, eyeshadow, lipstick and the occasional squirt of drugstore concealer to hide a pimple if it springs up.  I'm in the habit of wearing it to work, but if I'm running into town on a Saturday I don't have much care going "face naked" because I certainly can't be bothered to put on make-up if I'm at home. 

I have gotten myself into a habit of drinking water throughout the day and I also believe in sweating (meaning I exercise fairly regularly) which I think is cleansing also.

Over the years I have washed my face regularly with a myriad of products and because my skin is dry, I use moisturizer and sunscreen.  I have been lured, in recent years, into buying more expensive skin products as the fine lines (to which I firmly and proudly attribute to smiling, laughing and raising children) became somewhat more pronounced and visible.  The latest development has been a forehead full of discoloured spots.  They were sunspots, I was told by my doctor, which would never disappear because of the slow decline of melanin (not sure if this is the right term?) due to aging and again, it was a natural occurrence that just meant I had spent many good years enjoying God's beautiful sunshine. 

My first real investment into a skin care line was a big step for me.  I made my husband give the products to me for Mother's Day because I couldn't bear to think of it as a "daily expense".  I bought it from a fancy store in Las Vegas where a guy showed me impressive before and after photos and let me try on all the product right in their salon. I negotiated with him quite a bit and felt that when I got him down to $300 (from the $900 retail cost...apparently) I had a good deal. He "guaranteed" results and gave me his email so I could keep in touch with him to show how it was progressing.  I used the products (an exfoliator, a mask, an eye serum and an overnight eye cream) diligently.  I took "before" pictures.  I took "after" pictures 3 months later.  I sent him an email saying I didn't see much for results.  I scrubbed, washed and slathered another 3 months.  Took more photos.  Emailed again.  You probably know where I'm going with this.  Nothing and nothing. 

Nothing doing on my skin.  Nothing back from Las Vegas man.  And four beautiful jars of potions and lotions in my vanity.  The jars were probably worth more than the product.

So as you can imagine, and perhaps you've had a similar experience, I was a bit jaded when it came to non-drug store, more than $20/bottle skin care. Surely the millions of dollars that Aveeno or Dove or Loreal invests in their products must give them access to some pretty smart dermatologists and experts?   Were products really that different? 

I was somewhat content to carry on with my drugstore cleansers, drinking my water etc. but the discolouration on my forehead was getting bothersome and people were noticing (not in a rude way but it was evident).  My bangs were also growing out too quickly than I could keep up to so hiding the spots with hair, didn't seem like a reasonable option anymore.  It was at this time my husband overheard someone we both knew, talking about a great deal that Rodan + Fields was offering.  He was aware of my spots and asked her right away if he could buy some product off her that might work to take them away.  She was, obviously, a bit thrown off my some guy (albeit a friend) wanting to buy his wife's face soap, especially when it is a bit of an investment.  She pacified him by saying she'd get in touch with me. 

I need to say here I wasn't unaware of this product.  In fact I did wonder about it, having heard about it from several friends and acquaintances, but my previous burn from the Las Vegas line wasn't totally healed.  I still had product left and gosh-darn it, I was going to use every last bit of it.  It's not that it was terrible after all.  It just didn't do what I thought it was going to do...what I was promised.  But the moons were aligned that day as I had turned the page on that expensive stuff and used up my last bottle of cheapo-cleanser.  After speaking with my husband, the mutual friend had indeed touched base with me, in a very non-obnoxious way I might add, and yes, there was a deal to be had if I tried it in the month of July. And here was the clincher - there was a 60-day, empty-bottle full-refund policy.  I could use every last bit of it up and if I wasn't happy - for whatever reason - I could have my money back.  (This time, my friend lived a heck of a lot closer than Las Vegas to me, so I felt certain I could hold her to it!)

It was kind of a no-brainer. 

Now, if you've stuck with me this long I'll summarize by saying:
- my skin wasn't awful, but needed  a little TLC
- I'm not a big fan of make-up and don't pretend to know a lot about skin-care
- I was already in the habit of taking care of myself
- I don't like spending too much money on myself
- I don't like spending money (I'll just go ahead and a put a period right there).
- I had tried a lot of other products and didn't have bad results, just didn't have results per se
- I don't have any trouble returning products if they don't stand up to their claims

And the final bullet point is this:
This product worked for me
No filters, no lighting changes, no fancy camera (Samsung Galaxy 7 not on selfie-mode because I wanted full flash to highlight everything).
July 26, 2017 - Sept 26, 2017 - Reverse Regimen


And this product can work for you.  And maybe I'm the 5th person now who has told you this and your moons are aligned and now you want to know how to get some. 

You can call me. Or you can call that 1st person who told you about it.  It doesn't matter to me because I'm not quitting my day-job.  I'm just saying, this works and maybe, just maybe you are someone who has low self-confidence because of something your skin is or isn't.   Maybe, just maybe, this will make you feel like the beautiful and amazing person your friends know you to be.

Maybe you just noticed my glowing skin and were too afraid to ask if I was pregnant or not!  (I am most definitely not!)   

It works.