How Laying Off Acne Products Cleared Up My Skin | My Organic Joanna Vargas Skincare Routine

Disclosure: There are some affiliate links below, but these are all products I highly recommend.  I wouldn’t put anything on my website that I haven’t tried or personally used.

Riddle me this: Will laying off acne products help to clear up your skin?  Counter-intuitive, right?

For the majority of my life, I have struggled with controlling my acne and breakouts. Around this time last year, I hit a breaking point.  I was willing to do anything and pay any price in order to put this battle with acne to bed once and for all.  I tried numerous products over the years from drugstores, department stores, dermatologists and skincare salons.  I’m sure I spent more money than I can even calculate on every type of skin care product, all promising fantastic results.

So after doing a little research, in February of 2017, I decided on a new plan.  I opted to try my luck at getting facials every 6 to 8 weeks and chose a renowned salon here in Manhattan, Joanna Vargas.  Joanna Vargas is well-known for her celebrity clientele, so I had a lot of faith that her services would do wonders for my skin.  Her treatments are pricey, but given the amount of money I had spent over the years, I decided it was worth taking a chance.

After embarking on my plan, I came to the realization that one huge part of my skincare problem was my self-created skincare routine.  Over the years, I had picked up bits and pieces of information about skincare from just about everywhere.  If it sounded good, I was going to try it. If you have struggled with acne like me, you find yourself on a never-ending merry-go-round.

Over time, I developed my own skincare belief system and regimen based off of it.  While acne products appeared to work for a short amount of time, these products were just causing more problems underneath my skin and over time my skin got worse instead of better.  It became a vicious cycle.

As a result of using intense acne products, I was drying out my skin.  I was left with red irritated skin in addition to the acne I was trying to fix.

Because of this, my skin was working in overdrive to produce more oil to take my skin from dry to normal.  The more oil my skin produced, the more my pores were clogged.  In turn, this caused me to break out more and more.

Repeat cycle.

I must admit I had tried facials in the past with mixed results.  Sometimes my skin would react okay and other times it would break out even more.  Luckily, this time it appeared to be much calmer and less irritated.  By the end of my first facial, my esthetician put me on a new skincare routine that I implemented immediately.  I made the switch from using common, everyday skincare products to mainly using organic, natural products, which strongly contributed to clearing my skin as well as bringing it back into balance.

For my ultra-sensitive-break-out prone-combination skin, these three specific products from Eminence helped to clear my skin and minimize the number of breakouts:

1. Cleansing Concentrate

Despite my catastrophic self-created skincare routine, one thing I have always done correctly is using a gentle cleanser for my skin type.  This cleanser is one of my favorites, and I had actually been using it before going to Joanna Vargas (second thing I did right!).  It is gentle and can be used for all skin types.  Just note that a little goes a long way!

2. Clear Skin Probiotic Moisturizer

This hydrating moisturizer helps calm inflammation from acne while healing and preventing breakouts at the same time.  I love how lightweight it is and of course that it really helps to keep my acne under control!  It also keeps my skin moist, but not too oily.  I use this as my daily moisturizer in the morning, but you can use it both in the morning and at night.

3. Sweet Red Rose Toner

   My skin has some battle wounds (acne scars) from this whole process.  I have a few friends who are very interested in organic and natural skincare products, and they suggested I find a floral toner because florals are great for calming irritated or inflamed skin.  I love spritzing my face with this toner!  It is so refreshing, and it does calm things down.  You can use it both morning and night.  I typically use it before putting on my moisturizer in the morning.

These three products are now staples in my everyday skincare regimen and I use them consistently.  You can find these online as well as other Eminence products on Dermstore.

My skin has come a long way, especially within just a year.  It’s incredibly relieving to be able to confidently leave my apartment without makeup and run a few errands. 

As an extra added bonus, my sensitive skin is also prone to scarring easily.

Because of this, I am now focused on healing the scars that my past acne caused.  I use the Restore Propolis Balm from Anakiri, which I apply at night to reduce and diminish the red marks caused by acne.  This healing balm has a tolerable yet strong smell, so I tend to only use it at night.  I’m seeing fantastic results, so I’ll take smelly and effective over the alternative any day.

It’s also important to note that I also exfoliate with Joanna Vargas’ enzymatic Exfoliating Mask 2x a week.  It’s not very rough on your skin (always a concern of mine), and it leaves my skin smooth and glowing every time I use it.  Quite honestly, it’s the best exfoliator I’ve come across.

I tend to live by the 80/20 rule, and this even applies to my skincare routine and makeup.

I am now in the process of migrating all of my makeup over to natural and organic products, with the exception of eye makeup and lips (hence my 80/20 rule!).

I’m just diving into learning about the organic makeup realm, but I know enough to say that the majority of popular makeup brands contain harmful chemicals and are toxic for your skin.  Blog posts and more on this to come..