My Clinique Log

Hi guys, I like the idea of having a log and keeping track of how my skin is doing so I thought I would start one. I would really appreciate any advise and thoughts you could share because I'm extremely concerned about the bad turn my skin has taken over the last few weeks. I'm trying my hardest not to get depressed but it's becoming really stressful and I'm hoping that my skin clears up soon.

Some history:
My skin began to break out about 6 months ago after using a sunscreen that was really bad for me. Since then I have been trying to clear my skin up. I had heard a lot of good things about the Clinique 3-step acne system so I decided to try it out. These are the products I use:

Morning and Evening:
Acne Solutions Cleansing Bar
Acne Solutions Clarifying Lotion (active ingredient = Salicylic Acid 1.5%)
Acne Solutions Clearing Moisturizer (active ingredient = Benzoyl Peroxide 2.5%)

I normally follow this up with the Spot Healing Gel and dab it on my spots if needed (active ingredient = salicylic acid 1.0%) and some foundation to cover up my marks before heading out (the foundation is non-comedogenic)

For the evening I use a makeup lotion remover to help get rid of everything before I use the system at night.

For a while it seemed that my blemishes and spots were clearing up. I started using Clinique's Even Better Serum to help get rid of my marks.

When things went wrong:
After using the serum and applying a good load of concealer and foundation on to cover everything up, I noticed my face becoming more red and my number of breakouts increased dramatically (mostly on one side of my face). I'm not sure what caused the breakouts again. And they're hurting whenever I touch them. I talked to a specialist at Clinique and she said that I should stop using the serum, obviously because my spots came back and I have to be clear before I should try to even out my skin and get rid of the marks. She also said that maybe it would be better stop using the concealer and use minimal foundation so that my skin can breathe. This is what I've been doing for the last two days now. I've seen a little difference as far as my acne, but the redness is still there.

My Concerns and Questions:
- My skin hurts. A lot when I'm trying to cleanse it with the bar no matter how gently I do it. I have no idea why my problem areas are hurting and the specialist didn't really explain why it might be happening either. Any ideas?
- I'm really concerned about the number of pimples I have, although it's reduced a little in the last two days.
- I have a lot of red marks now. : (
- Another concern is how long it will take for my acne to subside so I start working on evening my skin tone out.
- As I was typing out the ingredients for the products above I began to think: maybe the ingredients are more than what I need??
- The biggest concern I have is that it may not work. I'm usually optimistic about something I'm positive about, like I was pretty confident in the Clinique acne system because I have friends who have used it and have great skin, but it's not having a consistent effect for me. I don't know, I may just have to stick with it for a while and see if there's any improvement. The specialist said that their trainer would be coming over in September and if my skin was still the same she would ask me to come in so the trainer could take a look at it. I hope things are better by then, we'll see.

Hi everyone :)

Hi guys,

I was so shocked to come across a forum dedicated to acne that I had to sign up.

A little about me:

I'm a 22 year old college student about to graduate in Early Childhood Education. All my life I've had minor problems with acne, nothing that required serious consideration. About a year ago I travelled abroad and brought home a high SPF sunscreen which made me break out a lot after using it. Since then I've been trying my best to clear my face. I thought I was making progress when I bought the Clinique acne system a month ago but now my breakouts are worse than ever (I've been told maybe because of the makeup I use) and I have red marks all over my cheeks. I'm really getting desperate but I think I'll stick with the Clinique system for a little longer; hopefully because I'm applying my makeup more carefully my acne will start to reduce again. Anyway, now that I've spilled my guts, I'm looking forward to checking out the forum and meeting new people here. Hope everyones having an awesome day.