Victorian Cosmetic Institute: Part of my journey to flawless skin

The following is a non-food post.


In case you've been missing out on the story, here's a nice recap:

Year 2010, August: I had the best skin ever. There was not a single comedone on my face. And no, I don't use Photoshop or what not. I think it's like lying to yourself...

Year 2011 June: This is me now. My skin has gone haywire for some not so strange reasons (stress, hormones etc.). I just took this picture a few minutes ago. A week ago, it was worse. I had four large, pus-filled, inflamed pimple on my cheeks and forehead and three blind pimples on my cheeks. It hurt so badly when I washed my face.

I've been battling skin problems since the end of last year. Initially, it was kept under control thanks to photofacials and extractions (I often way lyrical about extractions on my twitter). Extractions are not the nicest things to have but they yield the best results. When I came to Melbourne, I had no place to go. I randomly hop from one beauty salon to another. After a series of bad experiences, unprofessional settings and pushy sales people, I nearly gave up seeking treatments and trying new products. In fact, I felt kinda sick of getting any new ones.

Until a phone call from Rationale came in, reminding me that I MUST try my samples because they wanted to know how did the products went. So, I decided to use the samples. I was given the Night Repair Kit which contained the Prep Cleanser, the Skin Refining Serum (An AHA-BHA exfoliant) and Retinaldehyde Serum (A step down from Retin-A but superior than retinols).

And I did. On the first day, my face looked perfect and never felt so comfortable. I found no need to use a moisturizer at night because of the products, except when my skin feels slightly dry from the heater. A few days later, I noticed that something weird is happening. My "constipated" skin is purging the contents out. Every single whitehead became engorged and screaming to be extracted. Some turned into really huge acne. I was freaking out. So I started googling for reviews for Rationale. I was quite surprised by how little exposure this product has because I felt that, in spite of the purge, my skin looks dewier than ever!

Then, I came across this blog called "You've Got Nail". It's basically a beauty blog and I rarely go through beauty blogs. She wrote about how Rationale products transformed her bad skin into better than normal skin. Not only that, she wrote about the Victorian Cosmetic Institute. Initially, I wanted to get a consultation from the VCI instead of the places I went before but decided not to because the VCI is quite far from where I live (judging based on public transport). I basically had to take the tram down to the city and take a 908 or 308 bus to get my arse to Templestowe Lower. I thought it was pretty far and went someplace else. Since I lost hope, I decided to take a gamble on the VCI. Plus, the blogger of You've Got Nail had a positive opinion towards the VCI.

So, I took the tram and the bus. It took me an hour to get to the Templestowe Lower branch. I can assure you t! hat Temp lestowe Lower looks nothing like where I live. It's like a completely different world. And there's no Melbourne CBD skyline. Yet, to regain my complexion, I can do anything. And my parents think that I should do something in case it gets worse and I get scarring.

When I first stepped into the place, I thought that it looked normal. Nothing fancy. But what I noticed is that unlike most places, they did not display products at their counters like most places. For me, that's a good sign. Also, the receptionist is very friendly. Did I mention they use Ipads to get you to fill up client forms?

And their waiting room is awesome. There's a Mac, Foxtel and Coffee Table Books. I attempted to grab the Chanel volume from the books but I just could not. There were just too many books!

After a few minutes of waiting, I was guided into the room by Dr. Natasha. She's very friendly and she pointed out that I had nice skin in spite of the congestion. She addressed all of my questions and provided me different options to battling acne. She was not pushy with products and let me do try outs on my skin. She even gave me lots and lots of samples! How I can not be happy?

She also recommended me to do Lactic Acid Peels instead of Salicylic peels so she could combine them with extractions. Moreover, she referred me to aestheticians who are very experienced with extractions. I was quite happy with the amount of detail given. I was also told to stop using a moisturizer if not necessary because a moisturizer does nothing but to seal your skin. Basically, it would be counter-productive to my current condition...

Price wise, I think it's reasonable. I paid 150 AUD for an 80 minute consultation. If you have a Medicare card, you basic! ally pay about 50 or 70 AUD I think.


Oh, I also got myself some products. I was very happy with the Rationale samples and decided to buy them in large bottles to help my skin crisis.


ProductsI tried so many products. From the cheapest to the most expensive. I was going to give up and then, Rationale rescued me. I found that Rationale works best to address my skin problems yet maintain the integrity of my skin. So far, the products have been doing a good job in getting rid of the gunk from my face without drying or irritating it. Of course, I started real slow. From one to two drops, I now use two to three drops. They may appear pricey but I can assure you, the 5ml samples that I have are not finished up yet and I've used them for a week now. They last really long.


Skin Refining Serum, Benzoyl Peroxide + Niacinamide solution, Retinaldehyde solution,
Prep Cleanser, Moisture Plus (Free)

My skin regime is now as follows:

Day:
-One pea size amount of prep cleanser
-One-two drops of benzoyl peroxide + niacinamide (This stuff is pretty potent so it's unwise to use too much)
-My current sunblock (Reflect RX) -> I wanted to try the Rationale Sunblock with 20 percent Zinc Oxide. I had pretty good experience with Zinc Oxide products. So, I'm looking forward for my sunblock to run out.

Night:
-One pea size amount of prep cleanser
-Three drops of Skin Refining Serum (18 % AHA + 5% BHA)
-One to two drops of retinaldehyde
-Optional moisturizer

Yes, I did get samples. I will be getting another one from the mail soon.

I will update you guys on my skin condition when I go for my peel.

Basically, to date, I did many procedures on my face. I don't know if teenagers of my age will go to such lengths... You see, I just can't stand looking at my face filled with blemishes. It makes me feel dirty. And I hate being dirty-looking. I hate dirty things in general. That's why my house is kept neat and proper. My writing is as straight as a ruler. I'm just prim and proper like that. I want to keep it that way.

Of course, not to the point of irrationality.



Disclaimer: Once again, I used my dad's wallet to pay for the products and treatments.