This is my skin at it's BEST point before using Mary Kay. It normally had big, red and scaly bumps all over my cheeks. They were, at times, very painful both physically and emotionally. They itched and burned really badly. Like I said, most doctors thought it was rosacea and wanted to give me antibiotics. Another doctor wanted to try some laser procedure. I'm glad I didn't listen. I knew it was something else. I tried everything. I don't think I can even begin to list everything I've EVER tried, but I will tell you what happened right before this picture was taken.
I was up late, watching TV and feeling bad about myself. Mainly about my skin. Then that ad for ProActive came on. Okay, so I'd seen it SO many times before and thought it was probably not even worth the $19.95, but I'd tried everything else and thought, "Well, why not?".
Big mistake. It burned me. It made everything so much worse and I had huge welts going from underneath my cheekbones up to right underneath my eyes. Huge blisters; puffy welts. All I really could do was cry. Oh, and use cover up, over makeup, over cover up, over powder - just to be able to show my face at work. There were more layers than Tammy Faye Bakker. Not kidding.
I called the company and they refunded my money...but not before trying to convince me that I needed to buy more of their products. OH and I almost forgot! NOT BEFORE TRYING TO CHARGE MY CARD AGAIN AND SEND ME MORE SHIPMENTS!
So, what in the world was I going to do? I tried olive oil, neosporin, hydrocortisone cream, elecon cream, popping open vitamin e gelcaps and applying it directly to my skin...nothing was working and the burning was driving me crazy. I was walking around the house with cold compresses on my face. It felt like I stuck my face in a pot of boiling water. So, as I'm frantically searching for something else to try, I found an old tube of Mary Kay's Extra Emollient Night Cream.
As soon as I slathered it on it began to feel better. It was almost bedtime so I decided to just leave it on all night long. I didn't expect anything else; I was just glad the burning was gone.
BUT OH MY GOD...
When I woke up the next morning, IT WAS ALL GONE! All the welts and blisters, the burning and itching...all of it! There were still pock marks on my face from years of improper skin care; you can see them in these pictures. I knew it would take time, but it looked so much better!
I really don't know if I have pictures of it at it's worst point. I layered on makeup and avoided close-up shots at all cost. That's why there's a period of about two years where there are hardly any pictures of me. Any pictures I had out or on myspace were either from far away or from a long time ago. And NOW? I have a HUGE close-up of my face - taken just a couple months ago - right on my homepage of myspace. I love it!
So, anyway, this is why I believe in Mary Kay and signed up to be a consultant. I'm not in it for the money or some big Pink car or whatever. I just want to share my story and help others who may have had similar problems with their skin.
xoxo
P.S. I wouldn't be too terribly sad if I ever got a big pink car someday!
