Entries from May 2008 ↓

I’m sorry everyone that it’s been so long since my last blog post, but I’ve been really, really sick. I’ve had one week so far in Toronto, and all I’ve seen is my bedroom, the house, the local doctors surgery, and the biggest drug store I’ve ever seen in my life. Yes, I’ve been struck with some horrible virusy infectiony thing from hell, and it’s really knocked me over.

But, it’s not all bad news. I did log onto my laptop a couple of days ago in my fevered state to discover that the High on Health mini-course has now passed 500 subscribers!!! This was AWESOME news and it made me feel a little better straight away

It still makes me smile every time a new person subscribes to the course so that’s been over 500 smiles now, and I have you to thank. So thank you for putting your trust in me and joining up to my mini-course. I hope you’re enjoying the content and finally finding some relief in your skin condition.

I can’t wait until I’m well again because I have a ton of ideas for the mini-course and my newsletter that I’m really excited about getting started on. One thing I have had plenty of energy to do while I’ve been sick is product research, so you’re going to be finding out about some new exciting products very soon. I also want to get back to basics and start experimenting more with home-made skin care recipes that can easily be made at home (and of course on a budget).

Most importantly – I’d love your feedback. So if there’s something that you thought was missing in the course, or you’d like me to write about in the future …let me know.

Have you taken my free mini-course?

If you haven’t yet signed up to the mini-course, now’s your chance. It’s a holistic plan that runs through step-by-step how you can finally get rid of your acne. The steps are a result of months of research, trial and error to ‘cure’ my own severe acne that I developed almost overnight at the ripe old age of 27.

All you need to do is put your first name and primary Email address in the box below and hit the join button. You’ll then receive your first Email from me. Don’t worry, you’re not selling your soul when you join up – you can unsubscribe at any time.

Thanks again to all of you lovely subscribers for your support!

Fran

Price: USD$17.95 (118 mL)
Rating: (I took a star off for not being a natural product!)
Website: http://www.cosmeticscop.com/

I’ve been using a new product for a few weeks now, and it’s been working miracles on my skin. I didn’t want to tell you about it too early in case it stopped working so well, or in case it was just a coincidence that my skin was doing better, but I think it’s time that I share my thoughts and my success with this product.

Actually I’ve already mentioned it a lot in the High on Health forum and in some of my blog comments. It’s Paula’s Choice 2% BHA gel.

First, a little warning …

BHA stands for ‘Beta Hydroxy Acid’ and it works by exfoliating the pores from deep inside the pore itself, instead of just on the surface like ‘regular’ exfoliators do. The active ingredient in Paula’s Choice BHA is Salicylic Acid which you may already have seen in a ton of other acne treatment products. Paula’s BHA supposedly has its Salicylic Acid at the perfect pH level to work properly, I don’t know weather this is true, but it seems to work well for me, and this product has great reviews from others that have used it on makeupalley.com

The gel also comes as a lotion if you prefer, and as a 1% which is a little gentler on the skin.

After using the product for a few days I realized that I should have bought the 1% because the 2% seems to be quite strong for my very sensitive and very dry skin. I can only use a very small amount each time (about half the size of a pea, yes I’m not exaggerating that …the bottle is going to last me years) and only once a day when the recommended use is twice daily. I found that if I used it twice a day my skin went a little pink and too dry. I’ve read posts in forums from beauty therapists who say that it’s bad to use BHA’s on your skin every single day, so I’m happy to use just a teeny tiny amount.

The directions on the bottle also recommend to use it underneath your moisturizer, but I found this to be too difficult. For some reason my moisturizer didn’t go on too well after I’d applied the BHA, even if I’d wait ten minutes after I applied the BHA, and …I don’t know, I just didn’t like it. So after I cleanse my face, I moisturize, then wait about half an hour before I apply the BHA. I wait for half an hour so my moisturizer has properly settled into my skin. Any earlier and it seems to make a bit of a strange mix of moisturizer and BHA on my skin.

I apply the BHA only once a day – at night.

This product is not for everyone

Continue reading →

I know I say that chocolate is good for your skin, and it is …but you need to be really careful with what chocolate you eat. It doesn’t mean that you can go to the grocery store and stock up on Cadbury and Hershey’s and eat it until you drop. It’s actually a lot more complicated than that.

Mmmmmm chocolate fondue!

The reason why regular chocolate is bad for you and will make your acne worse, is because of all the sugar and chemicals they add to it. It’s the cocoa in chocolate that is great for your skin. The sugar and chemicals they also add to the chocolate will unfortunately aggravate your acne. So what you need to do is find raw cold compressed cocoa, or buy chocolate that contains NO sugar and NO chemicals.

raw cocoa = healthy skin
sugar = pimples
chemicals = pimples

I’m a self-confessed chocoholic so I know a bit about chocolate. While I’ve been in Vancouver I’ve also been indulging in a lot more chocolate than I normally would. Usually I’ll only eat a very small amount of organic dark chocolate every now and again, but while I’ve been here, I’ve been feasting on Godiva (hey, they don’t have it in Brisbane), Rocky Mountain, chocolate fondue, hot chocolates …chocolate anything really, you name it and I’ve probably eaten it over the last week. I even lay in the bath the other night reading a chick-flick and eating dark chocolate truffles. I was in heaven.

Another yummy scrummy chocolate fondue. Yes, I tried TWO different fondues in Vancouver

These chocolate apples looked amazing

I’ve been extra relaxed because I’m on holidays and I’m giving myself a break. And even through I’ve always opted for the dark chocolate varieties while I’ve been here, I know the sugar is really bad for my skin. In fact, I’ve noticed that the couple of spots I do have, have been larger, more inflamed, deeper red in color and take longer to go away. My scars are also taking longer to heal. My friend that I’ve been travelling with (who’s probably a bigger chocoholic than me) has also got a couple of pimples too, and he VERY rarely gets a spot.

So there you go, we’ve decided to treat ourselves on holidays and we’re suffering for it, but hey ..I don’t feel bad because I know it’s only temporary, and sometimes you need to just chill out and do that. So I get a couple more pimples, I know it’s not forever, so be it. Next week we’ll be settling into Toronto for a few months and getting back into working, eating well and doing a lot of yoga …and I know my skin will love me for it But for now, pass me another chunk of rocky road please!

Fran

“Rudolph the red-nosed Fran, had a very shiny nose ….”

Yep that’s me, Rudolph. I always remember getting a bright red nose in cold weather but NEVER this bad. I guess travelling from such beautiful warm weather in Australia, Fiji and Hawaii and then shocking my body into freezing weather in Vancouver has given my skin that lovely extra ‘glow’. Or rather, a bright fire-engine-red nose.

It’s important to note that I have not been blessed with one of those cute little button noses that girls should have. Instead I have a particularly prominent and sharp nose that I guess you could call more ‘large’ than ‘petite’. So this red nose problem that I’ve developed in Vancouver is particularly annoying because it is just so damn obvious. Continue reading →

I want to get to the bottom of this. I’ve been in Vancouver for the past five days and one thing I’ve noticed is Canadians have GREAT skin. In general, everyone’s skin in Vancouver is significantly better than where I’m from (Brisbane, Australia). I’d say almost one in five people (especially women) under the age of 30 in Brisbane get acne, but here it’s ridiculous, it’s like one in fifty or something.

To be fair, there is a massive hole in the ozone layer right above where I live in Australia, so our skin ages a lot faster, we get wrinkles earlier and we have more freckles and sunspots …but here in Vancouver, there is noticeably less acne.

Even my friend that I’m travelling with has noticed. He comes to Canada every couple of years or so, and he said he always notices that a lot of Canadians have beautiful clear porcelain white skin. Well, I definitely have to get to the bottom of this!!!

Are you from Canada? I’d love to hear from you. I’ve done a Google search and I’ve even found resources on the net that talk about how great Canadians skin is. Why is that!!?? I’ve got a few theories:

1. There’s not a lot of sun here. I know the sun aggravates acne rosacea, but I never though sun was a big cause of ‘general’ acne. Maybe I’m wrong.
2. Canadian air is very dry. Brisbane (where I’m from) is a tropical city so it’s often humid. This means more sweating and oilier skin. So perhaps the dry air in Canada means less oily skin and therefore less acne. This is the best theory I have so far I think.
3. People in Vancouver seem to be SUPER healthy. There are organic stores everywhere and a lot of vegetarians. Exercise and fitness also seems to be a huge thing here. People are also more open to alternative medicine. That’s got to make a difference.

That’s all I’ve got. If you’re Canadian and you know the secret, please pass it on. Honestly though it’s SO noticeable. I’ve seen Proactiv commercials on TV here too. I don’t think they’ll do as well in this country!!!

Fran