I thought I'd write this to try and help someone who has the same issues as me! Before I bought any products to help my acne, I spent hours reading through info here at acne.org and found them really helpful so hopefully I can help someone too

I'm a 21 year old girl from England, I've suffered with mild - moderate acne since I was about 16. I get cystic acne round my chins and jaw line and in the hollows of my cheeks, also some on my forehead (I don't know if anyone else notices this but my acne seems to 'move around'...when my jaw line is clear my cheeks will be bad, when my cheeks are clear my forehead will break out) like many people, this gets significantly worse as I start my period or just before!

anyway, I finally have a regime that works and my face is now clear minus 1 or 2 small pimples, hidden well by a tan currently. Last month I found my holy grail product that was the final step in stopping breakouts even during my period.

Anyone who has acne knows how horrible it makes you feel, I used to find it hard to meet people's eyes when talking to them because I felt so self conscious. In January of this year things really got bad and that's when I started researching things properly. 

First I tried body shop tea tree products on my back and face, I stuck with them for a couple for months even though I wasn't seeing improvement as I thought this was a purging stage. It's really hard to tell the difference between a purge and a bad reaction but I eventually decided tea tree really wasn't for me, it was making things worse.

Next, I tried cutting out dairy (I LOVE cheese, milk, butter , anything dairy) but let me say, this is when things really started to improve and I will never look back. The difference was noticable within just 4 days. I had a friend who recommended this to me years ago and I wish I'd listened back then! Milk is full of hormones as cows are pumped full of them as they are expected to produce milk all year round. If your acne is hormonal like mine it makes sense that this would be a trigger. Even a little bit of cheese now will cause me to break out...it really is worth the commitment if you've tried everything else!

Finally, I heard about Mario Badescu, this is another turning point for me, I'd be lost without these products now. I use the AHA Botanical cleaner on my back and chest and don't get any spots there anymore, not even during my period. I go to the gym a lot so try and shower as soon as I can, this really helps.

On my face I use the acne facial wash (acne cleanser) twice a day. Then if I have any under the skin spots (cystic acne), once a day I apply the  buffering lotion followed by a dot of the drying mask over the top. I'll use the drying mask on any active spots while using the healing and soothing mask on any red marks/scabs that need healing. The healing and soothing mask is really amazing.

I never use both masks all over my face, seems like a waste of money when you can just use it like a spot treatment cream on the affected areas once a day, they both give immediate improvement

I then tone with the Glycolic acid toner. I used to use their soothing cucumber lotion but found it was too weak and didn't seem to make a difference to my oily skin. As long as you don't have dry skin, the Glycolic acid toner is great to use twice a day. This is my new holy grail, the missing puzzle piece and I believe it's what's stopped my period breakouts! Finally I use the ceramide moisturiser twice a day and if I have any active spots over night I'll use the drying lotion which extracts the puss in hours!

I appreciate that this is a lot of products to use but I've built these up over the last 6 months. To start with I just purchased the acne facial cleanser, toner and moisturiser. Once things started getting under control I started introducing the other products to help with acne scars and brightening. Confidence is worth the money in my opinion!

I take vitamin D supplements every day, this is a huge help. I also love the sun and find my skin is even better after a tan and a few hours outside.

I also avoid caffeine where possible and when I drink/smoke at the weekends I avoid beer. Alcohol can give me small breakouts still if I'm run down but hey, you've got to enjoy life

Sorry for the extrmemely long post but thought I'd explain as much as I can! I'll try and answer any questions you have!

thanks for reading xo