This blog is dedicated to my husband who sees my imperfections and doesn't mention them.

I love trying new beauty products. Place me in a Sephora or Ulta store and I feel I am in paradise. For hours I can pleasantly entertain myself looking at the plethora of different shampoos, facial washes, makeup and perfumes, envisioning myself as a size 0 with glowing clear skin, no split ends, and being stopped by every man in America asking “What’s that scent you are wearing? (Ok, maybe not EVERY man)

One of my downfalls , as my mother will readily tell you, is that I am a sucker for cool packaging and intriguing ingredients. That inclination has resulted in trying hundreds of different products over the years – good and bad. Some products I have used ever since I was in college and I would rather exit the house with no makeup and hairy arm pits then see my fav end up on the proverbial chopping block. Others I have readily discarded vowing never again to be duped by flowery ingredients which deliver zero results.

Because of my “beauty product love”, I probably have more knowledge roaming around in my head than Wikipedia. So I decided to start this blog to share my adventures with you on the quest for beauty, giving my recommendations and warnings so your money can be well spent. The subject matter may be a tad vain, but ultimately every woman has an innate desire to look and feel her best and there is nothing wrong with that. Happy reading, and if you don’t come for my daily blabberings at least drop by for my contest giveaways that I hope to do every other month.


On the path to Exuviance


I had hoped when I reached my late 30’s that my acne would go away. But alas it has stayed and seems to grow more and more resistant to every product that I try. I have had pimples since the moment of conception—seriously if you look at one of my baby pictures you will see a big pimple protruding from my chin. Blemishes have been the bane of my existence and it seems I have tried everything—benzyl peroxide, sulfur, Salicylic Acid, battery acid. (kidding) The best thing I ever tried was Benazymcin (prescription only) but then for some reason my doctor couldn’t get it anymore. Ah, thanks Murphy's law.


So my quest continues. Right now I am using a product line called Exuviance. According to their website “The Exuviance brand products are designed to provide ‘physician-quality’ while also including additional skin benefit ingredients such as vitamins, marine and botanical extracts, and colors and fragrances to appeal to the prestige product user.” Oh geez why does such fru-fru language always appeal to me? I am, indeed a “prestigious product user.” After 15 minutes in Ulta, I walked out with their Moisturizing Antibacterial Facial Cleanser, the Clarifying Solution and the Acne Treatment Gel with a couple of free gifts to boot. So supposedly their soap-free Moisturizing Antibacterial Facial Cleanser should “cleanse deeply and draw out impurities and problematic bacteria” the clarifying solution should “boost my exfoliation and skin renewal with Alpha Hydroxy” and the Blemish Treatment Gel should zap those blemishes. I have been using the system for about a month and a half and I still have not gotten rid of those stubborn blemishes. But my skin DOES seem to have more of a glow and the cleanser is gentle on my skin. No peeling or flaking of any kind. But I don’t want glowing pimples—I want glowing skin WITHOUT the pimples. Exuviance, I will give you a couple of more months to work some magic. Otherwise, you are dead to me.

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