Lately my skin has been completely on the fritz. As for the cause of my recent skin misfortune... exercising! Right after joining a local dance team and starting a regular gym regimen (which resulted in a lot of sweating) acne on my forehead popped up. Nothing has been working to calm it down, and I have tried everything! I've tried all the different cleansers, moisturizers and toners. I even went to the dermatologist who prescribed me a topical cream.... that didn't work. I also cut moisturizers out and tried using extra virgin olive oil in its place.... also no luck!

The acne on my forehead is accompanied by random breakouts of stress acne on my cheeks and the usual "monthly" under-the-skin acne on my chin. All the acne can be painful, red, and well just plain gross (lol).

I heard about the Clarisonic months ago while in a department store, the sales associate proclaimed how its supposed to clean 6 times better that your regular method, how it uses sonic technology,  blah, blah, blah. But as soon as I read the price tag of about $150 (in most retail stores) for the Mia 2 (shown above), I put the display model down and ran away from the sales person.

Two nights ago, I began to search YouTube looking for another answer to my acne dilemma. (I'll be going on vacation in two months, I don't want my skin to kill my mood.) Every video I ran across featured one special item... the Clarisonic Mia. So then I searched reviews for the Clarisonic, and the general consensus was that it was worth the $150... not to mention the $40 for two replacement brush heads every 3-4 months.

The next morning, I made a trip to the Joint Base Andrews Main Exchange (the Armed Forces equivalent to Wal-Mart) and picked up my discounted Clarisonic Mia 2... not only was it tax free, it was $134 and some change. So I felt a little better about purchasing it....

My acne after 1day of use (4/24/13)

Regimen
The only thing I did was add my Clarisonic Mia 2 to my face cleansing routine. I use a standard salicylic acid face wash with the Clarisonic (with the sensitive brush head it came with) followed by a splash of cold water to close my pores, then I apply a gel moisturizer.

Day 1
From the picture, my acne doesn't look any better, but it does feel a whole lot better. This cluster of pimples were especially painful but after one use in the morning, they stopped hurting and with the night's use they reduced in redness.

I am hoping that this is a good omen to the results this "miracle machine" has to offer, and I will keep updating my progress...

with love...
...Steph