Most people who know me personally would probably be aware that I have had an ongoing issue with my skin. Since I was around sixteen years old I have experienced my fair share of acne, never going a day with completely clear skin. I either had a family of pustules around my nose, or whiteheads on my forehead, and so on.
Now I know that this is seen to be completely normal for a sixteen year old girl at the peak of puberty who loves to wear Revlon colour stay on a daily, only to take it off at the end of the day with a few swipes of a makeup wipe with no other form of skincare. Which I might add, is still something that I cringe about to this day. If only I could go back in time and put a bottle cleanser in one hand of my oblivious sixteen year old self and a tube of moisturiser in the other.
But as time went on and as I grew up, I was constantly told that this was only a phase and that I would eventually grow out of my acne. I am now 22 years old and no, I have not "grown out" of my acne, it has been as present as ever during the beginning of my adult years.
When entering adulthood my acne came right along with me and shockingly enough this is where it became a lot worse. Even though I ate a balanced diet, I wore better quality makeup and took care of my skin, making sure to cleanse, tone, moisturise etc., I began to develop pretty severe hormonal acne around my jawline that in recent years spread up to my cheeks.
Below are some images that were taken only weeks apart around the end of Jan to the beginning of Feb 2017. These are some of the the only pictures I have where my skin looks pretty bad, but not its worst.
My face was constantly congested, itchy, swollen and sore, and as you could imagine this took a toll on my self confidence. Although I have pretty much mastered the art of covering my acne, to the point of "Oh my! I didn't realise you had all that under there!" I would still love to be able to walk into my local shopping centre makeup free without feeling like all eyes are on me and judging my fresh faced madness.
In steps Kate Somerville and her campaign "#KateCan"
I am lucky enough to be a part of an amazing campaign where I am able to use a regimen prescribed to me by Kate Somerville herself *insert fan girl scream here*. This is a three month long journey where I am only using products from Kate Somerville's range to hopefully give my skin a makeover of a lifetime.
A run down of my regimen;
AM:
- Detox Daily Cleanser
- Clarifying Treatment Toner
- Oil Free Moisturiser
- Goat Milk De-Puffing Eye Balm
PM:
- Detox Daily Cleanser
- EradiKate Cleanser (double cleanse)
- Oil Free Moisturiser
- Goat Milk De-Puffing Eye Balm
- Deep Tissue Repair Cream with Peptide K8 (only on dry areas).
Exfoliators, Masks and Treatments:
- ExfoliKate Intensive Exfoliating Treatment ( 2x week, 1min only)
- EradiKate Mask Foam Activated Acne Treatment (2x week)
- Anti Bac Clearing Lotion Acne Treatment (only on blemished areas)
- EradiKate Acne Treatment (as needed)
It has been almost three weeks since I started my regimen and the results so far have been fantastic. It is important to note that I also have made better food choices and have cut diary and processed sugars out completely. This was something that I was making a conscious decision to do before so anyway. Although my skin is feeling a little dry, I have not nearly as many active breakouts as I did previously. However it feels much better than it looks, most areas of my skin are very smooth to the touch, when before it was quite textured and indented where I have some scaring. The pigmentation of my scars has also reduced and I have close to no congestion on my jawline.
Here is what my skin looked like the week before and although it certainly wasn't at its worst, my skin in this state still effected me pretty badly.
Below is how my skin looks now at almost the three week mark.
I will continue to post updates every 3 weeks to show my progress, as well as an in depth review of each product at the end of the three months. I am really eager to see how much my skin transforms.
