If you’ve ever dealt with acne, you can understand how frustrating it is! If you’ve never struggled with bad skin, lucky you! This post is not for you. I thought I was one of those “lucky ones” until I had Avery. I had never had any major issues with my skin – no teenage acne or any problems besides sensitive skin, really. Of course I’ve had pimples, but just random ones once every couple of months or so. However, a few months after having Avery, everything changed. I started breaking out on my chin…so bad, I was so embarrassed and was always trying to hide it with something – my hands, a scarf, or anything I could think of. Thankfully, the only places I broke out were around my nose and on my chin (two spots prone to hormonal acne). I couldn’t understand why this was happening, and even worse…why it was happening in my late 20s (I’m 27)! I quickly realized it was due to hormones, and the stress that comes with having a new baby – even though I didn’t feel all that stressed, there was a lot going on with a newborn and a toddler running around like crazy. I was determined to find a solution…I tried drinking a gallon of water a day, changed my laundry detergent, cleansed & moisturized properly…but nothing seemed to help. I’m allergic to benzoyl peroxide, which is in a lot of acne products, so I felt like I didn’t have many options…until I did more research. One night, I went to Sephora’s website, typed “acne” in the search box, and found two products that had great reviews, neither containing benzoyl peroxide – this mask, and these treatment pads. I read through quite a few of the reviews, and found so many of them saying things like, “the ONLY product that has helped my hormonal acne!” and decided I had to order both right away. Honestly, within 1 week I noticed a big difference – I was using the treatment pads 2 times/day, and the mask once/week. Over the period of about 4 weeks, my skin was completely back to normal, and I’ve never felt so thankful for clear skin! I think the combination of these two products is lethal for hormonal acne…they were for me anyway. I didn’t really ever think I would post about this because of the way it made me feel, but I wanted to share in case anyone is struggling with the same feelings, insecurities, or frustrations I was. I’ve now ordered the cleanser to go with the treatment pads, and use it once/day…and have had clear skin ever since this became my process (thank you, Jesus!).

My acne routine now looks like this (note: only talking about the use of acne products, not my entire skincare routine):

Morning: Cleanse with Clear Days Ahead cleanser & moisturize

Evening: 1 treatment pad (after cleansing with non-acne cleanser)
Saturdays: Mask day!

**If you have any acne treatment products you swear by, I’d love to try them out! Please let me know! Also, looking for a new concealer…I like full coverage but not cake-y, please help! 
I wish I had better pictures to share with you…but honestly I was trying to avoid photos, or would only post ones where you couldn’t see the breakouts, but trust me…it was much worse than it shows in this photo – BEFORE:

AFTER: