I got our 55th sample in the mail last week and have been using it ever since. I think we may have found a good one. I am getting some extra samples sent to me this Friday and I’ll send those out to moderators and see what they think. I helped design it myself. It is extremely high quality and goes on almost like water. I’ve never tried anything like it. It’s exactly what I wanted. Once it’s on, it takes care of flakiness entirely, which as we know is no small feat. It also goes on matte, but not so matte that it is tight. It leaves my skin in just the right sort of balance. It also has no scent and is super white and pretty It contains potent anti-inflammatories and 5% jojoba oil for sebum control. Anyway, I am loving it. We’ll see what other people think. I don’t want to get anyone’s hopes up. I will of course only okay the formulation if the moderators also like it.

New site going live soon: Paul (Real Maverick), Joel, and I have been working on a new Acne.org. It should be easier to navigate and less overwhelming for new visitors. It’ll also be more beautiful and up to date with more videos and such. After the new design goes live, we’ll start working hard on making the site more interactive so everyone can participate in developing content. I’ve been speaking with dermatologists as well. I’d like to do some interviews from prominent dermatologists who specialize in acne and put them up on Acne.org for viewing or for podcasting.

I ok’ed the salicylic acid formula and our formulator put some in stability but it wasn’t as stable as they wanted it to be. So they made a slightly new formulation that is back in the oven for stability. If all goes well I’ll have a sample on Wednesday. Then if it feels ok I’ll be able to send a bunch of samples out to see if people like it. I am loving it myself, but a couple of people who’ve tried it have said they broke out a bit. I also broke out some when I first started using it, and if I go off BP entirely, I seem to break out. But once a day BP and once a day SA seems to work beautifully for me so far. I should also have a sample of the next moisturizer Wednesday. Please send good vibes regarding that. At this point, turning to prayer seems like a good option

Well, at the risk of sounding like a broken record, the latest moisturizer sample isn’t all that great. I was excited because it takes care of flakiness, but my skin is still a little shiny looking hours after application. Also, it’s balling up a bit. So, I let the formulator know what the issues are and they’ll have another go at it. Someday we’ll get it. Someday.

First two moisturizer samples: I got two more from our usual formulator. They are, as usual, better than anything I’ve tried at moisturizing and taking care of flakiness. But, they still have the problem of leaving a slight tackiness on the skin. I’m not sure where to go from here. I don’t know if they’re going to nail it. I might need to come up with creative ways of taking the best parts of this formulator’s samples and auditioning manufacturers to address the tackiness issue.

Third moisturizer sample: I got this one from another formulator. I just tried it about a half an hour ago, so I’ll let you know how it goes. So far so good. It feels fine on my skin. There’s little tackiness if any. It felt a little thick going on, but upon application it just melted into the skin. More on this one tomorrow or the next day.

Salicylic acid medication: I’m still using this stuff every morning. And quite frankly, I look forward to it every day. I look forward to the silky feel of it. I look forward to the slight sting. And I look forward to wearing brightly colored clothes with no fear of bleaching them. But, I have two really small, eensie weensie blackheads on my nose. But the rest of my skin is happy as can be on this stuff. In fact, it is smooth and pretty fantastic. My nose has been a slightly strange area since I’ve been using the SA, but then again, my allergies have been crazy and I’ve been blowing my nose constantly, so the irritation could be to blame. I do love the formulation though, so I ok’ed it. The formulator is doing some final stability testing on it and then will send me 30 final samples. I am going to give 3 or 4 of them to Brandy, Joel, Paul, and myself, and then I’ll need volunteers to try the other samples. I have a pretty cool feeling about this stuff tho.