On the Quest for Beauty: A peel a day keeps the blemishes away

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.

Today I had my second in a series of five chemical peels at Luminous Skin Studios. (You can read about my first experience with chemical peels by clicking here.) I would say that my skin after my first treatment saw minor improvement. At least my breakouts during PMS weren't half as bad this time. Whether I can attribute that to the peel or not, is hard to say.

This time the peel was left on longer, and a glycolic peel was added to the mix. To my delight, the burning didn't bother me nearly as much (my skin must be building up a tolerance--yippee) Of course the peeling, flaking, and mild flare ups will still occur again, but I'm told that's a good thing as the sebaceous oil glands are breaking down. I also decided to purchase 2 products in the IMAGE Skincare collection: The CLEAR CELL Salicylic Clarifying Tonic and Medicated Acne Lotion. In 2 weeks, I will have my third peel and hopefully will see some marked improvement in my skin. If you would like to try one of these peels, you can't beat the $37 price tag. For more information, visit their website at: http://www.luminousskinstudios.com/