Clean & Clear Advantage Acne Spot Treatment review

Ok this has got to be the least flattering post I have written to date (it's a toss up between this one....) but I’m trying to keep it real here. I crop out the messy living room behind me in my FOTD photos but I’m going to show you this? Ay, ay, ay, Michelle.

Let me just say that apparently I’m 30 going on 13. I don’t know what happened but I’ve suddenly broken out like a pubescent teenager. Hormones, stress, perhaps my new foundation? Either way, we all get pimples now and then and for whatever reason I’ve suddenly got months worth at once. As you know I am a fanatical face washer and because that alone wasn’t fighting off the blemishes I knew I had to call in some back up. During our recent grocery shop I stopped in the skin care aisle to look for some astringent or spot treatment or a magic wand to help combat this issue. I browsed through the aisle and stopped at the Clean & Clear products as I remember liking some of their items in high school. I came across a few very similar products and to be honest with you I don’t know the exact difference between them, but the one I opted for was Clean & Clear Advantage Acne Spot Treatment.

 

The packaging read that 100% of users saw a difference within 4 hours of application. That’s a pretty hefty claim and I was anxious to see how it would help my problem area. The directions said to cleanse skin and apply 3 times daily. I haven’t been wearing any makeup to allow my skin time to heal so as soon as I got home I applied it. It is clear, has a medicinal scent and the consistency is a thin gel. Upon application it felt cool on my skin and tingled/stung a little bit – which I was glad about – stinging means it’s working right?

I came back for a peek a few hours later and I was shocked. The puffiness of each blemish had decreased as had the redness surrounding it. I knew they claimed I would see results almost immediately but I didn’t think I actually would. As this product does create a thin film on the face I washed it off and applied more to fresh skin. After applying it 4 times (I know they said 3 but you can’t stop me now!) I was amazed and am thrilled to say that I saw a remarkable difference in just one day.

The photo on the left was taken after one application and the photo on the right was taken the next morning. It is cliche to say but the photos really don’t do it justice. You can see the decreased redness and the inflammation is significantly less in the second photo. After 2 days of use the smaller spots were gone and after 3 days the entire problem area has nearly vanished. My blemishes have never healed this quickly and while the product has left my skin a little dry and tight in that area that is much more manageable than a patch of pimples.

I am happy to have found this product. I do not often have break outs as grand as this but believe this product will be useful in combating even the random pimple that appears. I feel armed and ready!

MAC Creme d' Nude

I have briefly mentioned in past posts how much I adore MAC Creme d' Nude lipstick. It is my favorite, must have, can't live without nude lipstick. I bought this one about a year and a half ago and I'm  just about reaching the bottom. :( This shade goes with virtually everything and I wear it a few times a week.

I will absolutely be replacing this lipstick when I hit the bottom, it's one that can not be absent from my collection.

If you are looking for a cost friendly nude lip alternative you can look at Revlon Soft Nude. It is not a dupe by any means but for girls that aren't as fair as myself it may be something that suits you even more. I searched for comparisons and found a couple great reviews on the 2 nudies here and here.

Do you wear a nude lip and what is your favorite nude lipstick?

UNREAL wedding proposal

I think I'm just going to call this YouTube week or something. Here's another video I want to share. :)

I didn't see this when it aired - I only heard of it when my mom called and told me to watch the link she had posted to her facebook. She wasn't even half way through it when she called to tell me to watch. Haha! I may not have cried when our car exploded but I sobbity sobbed through this! It's almost 15 minutes long so get your kiddos some pretzels and sit them in front of the Backyardigans cause you don't want to miss a second of this. Tell me what you think!

Gotye

While I am in the business of sharing things I was somehow completely oblivious to here is a song that was released last summer. I stumbled upon it this weekend (while half heartedly watching the Much Music Countdown while folding laundry Saturday night .... can you say PARTAY!) and I am a little bit obsessed.

I'm sure many of you have already seen this video and heard the song but it's new to me and I wanted to share. It's from Australian artist Gotye (I'm not the only one that had to google how to pronounce that, right?) and unfortunately from what I can tell it's a bit of a gem amongst his other work but I won't be too quick to judge, I've got to explore him more.

The song is called Somebody That I Used to Know. Have a listen and don't let the skin in the beginning of the video alarm you, it's totally PG I promise.



Is anyone more familiar with Gotye? What else should I check out?

Rio

I'm not sure what rock I was living under when this movie came out last year but we hadn't seen Rio until we watched it on Netflix a few weeks ago. Since then it's become one of our favorites. Am I the only one that completely missed the memo on this gem? In case you missed it as well here is a short trailer which happens to be a clip of my favorite part of the show. So funny.



Have you seen Rio? What are your other favorites we may have missed?

my day

I'm just looking for someone to whine to. Will you be a pal and let me cry on your shoulder? Although our morning was so ridiculous I haven't cried about it, all I can do is laugh. It's that bad. This may be long so if you aren't interested stop here before you are invested in this, because I'm sure you've got better things to go do. Like look on facebook... ;)

I had a quick errand to run this morning, just dropping something off at a friend's office downtown. Neil was home, Rigby was napping and I asked Porter if he wanted to go for a drive with me. We drove downtown and as I pulled into the parking stall in front of my friend's office the gas light came on. No big deal, there's always plenty of time before it really means it. I left the van running so Porter could watch 'New Groove' (don't judge, you've all left your kids in the vehicle to run something inside quick....) and I went inside to take my friend her stuff. When I came out the van was still on, as in the movie was still playing, but it was not running. I tried and tried to start it but nothing. **Insert a quick back story here - a couple summers ago in Edmonton my friend Sarah and I got stranded when I parked my van on a downward slope when it was low on fuel and it wouldn't start again because it thought it was out of gas... long story short, many strong men and a jerry can of gas later we got the van on level ground, filled up and it started without a sputter.** Thinking back to this I figured that's what was happening this time too as I was parked on a similar slope. I called Neil and asked him to be my knight in shining armour and come rescue us with some gas. So lame, who runs out of gas? He took the monitor to our neighbor and hopped in his car to come save us. We know the van battery is weak and needs to be replaced soon so instead of showing up with gas he came with jumper cables assuming the van just needed a boost. He tried a few times but the van would not start. We decided to go get some gas (as someone first suggested, just sayin') and try that. We all hopped in his car, took Porter home to the neighbor (thanks Vicky!) and then went and filled a jerry can with gas. On our way back to the dead van there was a loud *POP* Edit: Neil just read this and said, "POP!?" it was a KA-BOOM!!" under the hood of the car and then smoke started pouring out from under the hood and into the interior of the vehicle. Like billowing out. Smoke. Everywhere. We looked at each other and laughed. Could there be worse timing for one vehicle to die than when you are on your way to rescue another one? We managed to pull into the spot right beside our van and got out so we didn't die from the nastay-ness that was smoking us out. As Neil was filling the van with gas and realizing it still wouldn't start, a man in coveralls walked by and I asked him to come look under the hood of the car (wearing coveralls means you know something about cars right? I thought so.) He did and told us what had happened and said we shouldn't drive it and needed to tow it away. We stood back and looked at our van that wouldn't start and a car that had just exploded and I just want to say that when you're gazing into each other's eyes, holding hands on your wedding day and everything is bliss you don't think of moments in your future like this. I just kept telling Neil to laugh because at that moment it's all we could do. We formulated a plan and decided to walk to Neil's brother's office downtown and borrow his car so I could go home to the boys and Neil could figure this out. On the way home we called a tow truck for the car (we figured we could still get the van to start) and then Neil dropped me off. He drove back to meet the tow truck and I soon received a text that he got the van to start. Who knew this day would produce some good news? Apparently the tow truck guy tried to boost it again without success and suggested Neil go and get even more gas and eventually with another jerry can full it started as if it had never had a problem. Note to self: never let the van get lower than a quarter tank of gas and then park on a downward slope. Noted. He hopped in the van and met the car at the auto shop where they did some investigating and told us that if we wanted to spend x-amount of money, which is more than we even paid for the car, they would fix it but strongly suggested it wasn't worth it to which we agreed. The wreckers wouldn't pay a thing for it so Neil signed the registration, took off the plates and walked away. That's that. The silver lining on that dark cloud is that Neil had been meaning for a few weeks to take the car in for a wheel alignment among other things and since he didn't, we just saved a bunch of money on a car that was preparing to explode.

So, to summarize, I left this morning at 10 to run a quick errand and now later today we're down one vehicle and learned a valuable lesson about another. As most people try to do in these situations we chose to look on the bright side of things - our great van could have had a real problem, the car could have chosen to explode on any number of worse occasions, although I really appreciate that it did it when it was being used to rescue us, I got a kick out of that. OR the car could have started on fire as the mechanic said it very well might have. Although then we would have got insurance money for it. I suggested Neil drive it around the block at the shop to see if he could get it to flame up but he wasn't too impressed with my willingness to risk his life for some money. I suppose that's fair.

Anyway, nobody died, well except our car in a seriously dramatic fashion, and although that's a pain in the rear I'd rather that than a real tragedy. Anybody's day top mine?

stranded in the van, before we knew just how bad things were going to get

the great soother wean of 2012

Ok, I'm a little embarrassed to admit after Rigby just had his second birthday last week that he still uses a soother. I know. (I told you about him being a really sucky baby right?) I think I justify it with the fact that we do a lot of travelling and long hours in the van and sleeping at strange houses are much smoother experiences when there's a soother involved. I suppose yes, in some ways I'm the one that is still attached to it. Porter also had a 'soo-soo' but there was no "weaning" or "training" with that child. When it came to potty training, soother weaning and moving into a big-boy bed I just simply facilitated and stood by and watched as he did those things all on his own. Although it was awesome at the time it's left me quite ill prepared for Rigby. I guess I was hoping that the longer we left it Rigby would just give up his soo-soo on his own like Porter did. Nope. Anyway, reasons he still uses one aside, he does and we've decided that it's time to put an end to it. I have read many ideas online but I'm looking for tried and trusted methods from experienced moms. What has worked with your children, and with children that are really attached... like I'm worried this is going to get ugly. Well, I know it's going to get ugly but it's far past due.

Any suggestions?

perspective

Apologies to my more conservative readers but I’m sorry, I had to share this.

A few weeks ago I walked outside to see this drawn on some cardboard my boys and their cousins had been playing house with.

I kind of gasped and immediately wondered what on earth the kids had been playing!! The thought even crossed my mind that perhaps our backyard had been vandalized by neighborhood teenagers or something.

After a little investigating I learned that the kids had been drawing dog bones for Willow. Oooooooh, dog bones. It's unfortunate I didn't get a picture but it was my relief that the two round cirlces beside this dog bone were in fact food and water dishes for Willow as well. Dishes. Thank goodness.

Sweet, innocent kids.

Dirty minded mom.

birthday boy

I often write my posts in advance so that while I’m sitting uploading and sorting photos I can get a few posts done at a time. When I scheduled today’s post I neglected to remember it was my Rigga’s birthday. I could not let this day go by without saying something about this TWO year old!

Happy Birthday to my Rigby who has filled our home with a little more cheekiness, a lot more laughter, love, kisses and snuggles, tantrums and “NO!!” ‘s, learning and excitement for simple things, the cutest bum-chin, and those big beautiful eyes.

Rigby is a heart-melter, if you’ve met him, you’ve fallen in love with him. He is adorable, sweet, funny and did I mention adorable? But don’t be fooled, he knows how to use it! He’s got the devil in those eyes and I wouldn’t change that little spark for anything. :)

Rigby loves basketball or as he calls it "hoops." 

We didn’t find out what we were expecting when I was pregnant with Rigby and because his pregnancy was quite a bit different than Porter’s I assumed I was having a girl. I not-so-secretly really wanted another boy but was just happy to get that big baby out, whatever it was. When he arrived and it was announced the baby was a BOY I was thrilled. I felt like I had been given a special little gift in this big boy.

My favorite story to share about Rigby’s birth is that when he arrived he had two little raw spots on the backs of both hands, worn from sucking on them in the womb. He is such a sweet little boy that seeks out love and comfort and that came with him from the start. Throughout the day he often says, “’nuggle momma!” and I drop whatever I’m doing to snuggle because I know one day he’ll stop asking. And I also know that within the next minute he’ll be hitting his brother so I better enjoy it! These brothers are the joy in my life and Rigby is a significant part of that. Happy Birthday Rigotry, my sweet big boy.

tuck it in

I’ve been a tucker lately.

Like the look? All you need are a few key things and you can be a tucker too!

You need:

• A pair of pants. Any pair will do but I prefer this look with a pair of wide legged or trouser jeans.
• A shirt. I think a patterned shirt or blouse looks best.
• A skinny belt. The key here is skinny – we’re trying to look fashionable, not look like we’re wearing our 1980’s pair of Sears jeans that comes with a belt. Am I the only one that bought those? A pop of color in the belt is ideal, look for color or metallics.

Now put it all together and just tuck, tuck, tuck. You can throw on a cardigan for some rear-end coverage or go without and let that backside shine!

*tip* - scour your local thrift stores for skinny belts - I haven't paid more than $1.00 or so for any of the ones I have.