I’ve talked A LOT about dealing with acne and the scars that came after over the past few years on this blog. And I’m constantly looking for new ways to improve those imperfections and feel better in my own skin! So today I’m sharing with you all the treatments that I’ve been trying lately and absolutely LOVING!
But before I get going, I definitely recommend checking out these posts:
- Conquering My Acne – I share my month to month experience with accutane
- My Skincare Routine (Acne, Lasers, Dermaplane and More!) – I talk about all the products I use, the prescription I am on now to help with acne, makeup I wear, and treatments I do regularly such as dermaplane, BBL Broadband light, ProFractional, and botox
- My Experience with Microblading (aka permanent makeup) – I share my experience with microblading and how much I LOVE it
Ok, now that you checked all that out, let’s talk about what I’m loving the lately! One of my most recent treatments I’ve done is the Venus Viva laser. The Venus Viva helps with wrinkle reduction, acne scars, texture improvement, skin tightening, and facial rejuvenation. My esthetician Shawn (if you are in the Colorado area, contact her at 720-459-7960) says that it gives your skin a airbrushed look and I definitely think it does after doing it! After your skin is dermanplaned, she numbs your skin for about 30 minutes then your skin is cleansed before the treatment. The treatment takes about 15 minutes. It’s not comfortable. I thought it was rather uncomfortable, honestly, but not near as bad as Profractional (which I will be doing again soon). Afterwards your skin is red and slightly swollen and you have some dryness and flaking for the next few days, but nothing too dramatic. This picture below is probably 4+ years apart, right when I started accutane to now, after I healed from the Venus Viva treatment. The only makeup I have on here is some concealer under my eyes, a little bronzer on my cheeks and forehead, and I put on my mascara and filled in my brows.
I posted this photo a couple days ago and I had many people ask if the change in my skin has to do with eating paleo and it definitely has to do with that, but it’s also many factors. Working out less (the hormones fluctuations messed with my skin), going on accutane, cutting out eggs and nuts (still eat both on occasion but not regularly), going on spironolactone, using Vivant skincare products, and going to see my esthetician months. So it wasn’t JUST paleo, it was many things and lots of hard work to get my skin to where it is now. And I hope it continues to improve over time! Again, it you are in Colorado, you MUST see Shawn (303-956-8887). She truly works miracles. I feel so lucky to have met her!
Ok, let’s talk about my next treatment I tried recently! After getting my eyebrows microbladed and absolutely loving the results, I talked to my wonderful permanent makeup specialist Lea Curry (contact her if you are in the Colorado area – 720-252-3182) about getting permanent makeup for my eyeliner. She numbs your eyelids for a while then uses this pen type instrument to draw on a super thin line. Recovering from it is super easy compared to microblading, you just have to stay away from eye makeup for a bit and steer clear from rubbing that area. I honestly thought this hurt more than microblading. I didn’t find microblading very painful, but this is uncomfortable because it’s SO close to your eye, which makes it rather uncomfortable. Lea makes it very minimal to begin with, which just makes your eyes pop a little more! At first, I thought I may want a thicker line but I’ve liked how it’s healed over time and I like that it’s not an obvious thick line that we think of when we think of permanent eyeliner. In the photo below you can see my first eye that was done before the other!
When I do full makeup, I still put eyeliner over it because I like the thicker look when I’m getting dressed up, but I love it when I have no makeup on! My goal since I had acne was always to feel great without any makeup on, which was why I did even tried permanent makeup, and I’m SO glad I did it!
Last but not least, lash lifting! So lash extensions are all the rage right now. Almost all my friends have them and love them. But I’m just not into it. I don’t want to keep up with them, I don’t like how they look when they start falling out, I don’t like how you can’t put mascara on so once you put eyeshadow on, it makes your lashes a lighter color. I’m just not into them. No offense to anyone that is, again, most of my friends have them. So whenever I go out, I just put on fake lashes because I don’t mind that. BUT one day while I was doing the normal instagram explore feed stalking, I came across something about lash lifts. I had never heard of it and quickly did a google search and watched this quick video. So lash lifting is pretty much perming for your lashes. You can see the full how-to video here. They cleanse your eyes of all makeup, tape your lower lashes down so they don’t curl up too, then they put these silicone pads on your eyelids and pull the lashes up onto the pad then use a perming solution to curl them. This is left on for 20 minutes or so before they remove it then she also tinted my lashes. It is totally pain free, no burning occurred. It was simple and painless. In and out the door in probably 40 minutes!
Below is a photo of my lashes before, then right after (with no makeup on), then with mascara on. I seriously have LOVE the results!
And here is a photo from the side so you can see how the lashes turn up!
I didn’t know anyone who did lash lifts, so I simply hopped on yelp and looked up lash lift and found Lashology which had awesome reviews and they were great and super professional!
{UPDATE ON LASH LIFTING: I went back in after 5 weeks since my lashes were beginning to drop just slightly. This time I had a different person than the first time and she TOTALLY f*cked up. Instead of “perming” then part of the lash at the lash line, she permed the entire lash so my lashes completely turned in instead of just up. So curly that I couldn’t even put mascara on or fake lashes. So I called the manager and she had me come in to try to fix it. It’s better now but still a tad too curly. So going forward, I won’t go back there or probably get them done again. I LOVED it the first time, but they f*cked up bad the next time around. I honestly wouldn’t recommend going there now, sadly.}
I’ve seriously loved all these treatments lately and would recommend all of them! If you have any sort of questions, feel free to ask them below! And if you are in the Colorado area, check out these amazing people and companies:
- Shawn at Cherry Hills Facial Aesthetics 720-459-7960
- Lea Curry at 720-252-3182
Loving all your information regarding the treatments you have had. I’ve had my eyebrows microbladed and I’m obsessed! I agree about the falsh lashes. I used to have them and they ruined all of my real lashes ! keep up the great posts. xoxo
i didn’t mention that but i’ve heard that from SO many people that it really thinned their real lashes and i don’t want that at all!
Thanks for sharing! Definetely going to look into lash lift! I had lash extensions but they just get so expensive after a while!
I also wanted to do lash tinting because my lashes are so freaking short and thin! :/
tinting them totally makes a difference!
Can they pair a lash lift with dying?
I have long, light, straight lashes- need the curl and color.
Also, you have BY FAR the only permanent eyeliner I’ve ever seen that looks good.
i actually mention that in the post! she lifts them first then tints them (which is dyeing them)
You are very, very brave!!!!
I once looked into the limelight laser at my dermatologist to help get rid of melasma and dark spots but the price was OUTRAGEOUS. So I kept my $3,000 and stayed spotty. It just sucks because it’s on my upper lip so the darkened skin looks like the friggin mustache.
I’m interested in looking into the cost of other options, but my guess is that they start in the $3000 range as well. It might be worth it in the long run, but I just can’t swing dough like that any time soon.
Hi Lisa,
I’m not expert but I had melasma pretty noticeably on my forehead, cheekbones and upper lip (I didn’t know what it was until I finally went in to a med spa) and they gave my a nightly skin cream that you use for 90 days, and then give your skin a break for a bit. Also I learned it becomes a lot worse with exposure to heat and light. I live in the desert and it was summer when I started that, so I was SUPER vigilant about sunscreen and hat wearing and trying to shade my face. Anyhoo, long story short the cream was about $90 and the fancy sunscreen I got from them about $40 and it nearly eradicated all of it. Much more palatable than $3K, that’s nuts! Plus they told me IPL laser treatments generally make melasma worse because of the light. Don’t know if this will help you but I hope it does!
Maybe Juli will respond to you but there are other options that aren’t nearly as expensive. IPL for example is great for dark spots and it’s (going from memory here), only about 150-300 each time. I recommend going to a med spa versus a derm’s office, and if you can get a referral from someone (ask your waxer or hairstylist, then do your own research), that’s the best. I find the derm’s office is way more expensive and they tend to nickel and dime me more than a med spa. Also, if you can find someone that is licensed for lasers but does facials, they do the dermaplaning, extractions, and lasers all in one.
LisA – check into Rodan & Fields Reverse line. I do not sell it but I do use it for “sun spots” & have been happy with my results.
Hey LisA – That seems wayy expensive. You may be interested in looking at Caroline Hirons blog (search “melasma”) as she’s a skin care expert and has it herself. She mentions products that help and also talks to a derm about it in a youtube video. Definitely worth trying before shelling out that much money. Good luck!
And Juli your eyeliner and lashes look great! I once tried eyelash extensions and hated them so much I had the girl turn around and take them off immediately. Whoops! Oh well – wasted some money but so glad I didn’t leave the salon with them. Lash tinting and curling seems way more reasonable!
Quick question about your skin clearing up when you removed eggs from your diet. Do you mean removing all eggs from your diet, for example not just eggs for breakfast but also eggs in recipes included in recipes like your 5-ingredient spaghetti squash pizza?
And a few beauty questions:
– How often do you do each beauty treatment?
– Do you still do botox or do you prefer to do other skin treatments now like the Venus Viva laser?
– How do you know which beauty treatments to do? Do you do the same treatments every time or do you always do something different? I would love to know how you figure out what you should do.
Holy crap – they can perm your eyelashes now??? The advances in beauty are crazy 🙂 They look great!
Totally off subject but for all the haters out here that don’t like cussing, here’s an article saying A ‘Dirty Mouth’ May Be A Sign Of Integrity; Study Associates Swearing With Increased Honesty 🙂
http://www.medicaldaily.com/dirty-mouth-may-be-sign-integrity-study-associates-swearing-increased-honesty-407640
Juli – will you report back and let us know how long the last lifting lasts for you? I visited the website and it says 4-6 but up to 12. I’d love to hear your experience and your feedback after living with them for a bit. Definitely something I’d consider doing if the results held up.
for sure! my place said up to 8 weeks but i booked an appointment for 5 weeks out so i’ll update this post after that to let you know how they look at that point!
I think I commented a while back that your post convinced to me to bite the bullet and get botox. I had been wanting to do it for years but finally got up the nerve. I went to a local plastic surgeon so I wouldn’t be risking it at a med spa.
I am beyond thrilled with the results and they are subtle. I am 31 and my forehead lines were starting to get permanent, so I just got my forehead injected (not my 11s or crows feet since those are fine). I am so so so so happy I did it and will continue to.
It honestly barely hurt and it took about 7 days to take effect. I did Dysport since my doctor likes that it spreads slightly more. I was really worried about not having expressions but he avoided the muscles that control my eyebrows and you can’t even tell. The best part is my face feels less stressed and full of tension from me making faces at work. It feels more relaxed and I have less headaches. SO PLEASED, thanks Juli 🙂
Had you had the permanent eyeliner done in the pictures for the lash lift?
yes