Lipgloss and nail polish are all well and good, but I feel about makeup the way I feel about fashion: it enhances and beautifies, sure, but at the end of the day it’s what’s underneath that counts.  As a result, skincare is my true beauty passion–if your skin isn’t glowing, taut and in its best shape, all the makeup in the world isn’t going to do a damn thing.  Luckily, there have been seemingly endless advances these past few years, as beauty companies are realizing the huge potential of the anti-aging market: now you can find a serum or night cream at every price.  But which ones are best…and do they actually work? 

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It’s been three days since I had my Vi Peel, and the phenol acid, vitamin C and Retin-A peel is working wonders…if by “wonders” I were to actually mean “is causing every last ounce of my skin to kamikaze dive off my face in unattractive, flaky sheets.”  Pictures of the disgusting-yet-effective madness to follow shortly!

UPDATE: See my 6-week-later before and after photos here!

UPDATE: My 3-week-later before and after update here

It’s been about three weeks since I started Retin-A, and my skin is slowly but surely acclimating.  No more snake-like shedding!  No more necessity of hiding my face under a paper bag!  I still have a fair bit of flaking, but at least now it’s socially-acceptable, as opposed to “Ew…do you, like, have a disease?”  This weekend, at the Total Beauty Blogger Summit, I had my skin analyzed using a super-duper fancy machine, and while I have some sun damage (damn you, Florida!), my skin is in the 99th percentile when it comes to wrinkles.  I’m still waiting for the transformation, however—that moment when the first friend or stranger says: “Your skin!  It looks amazing!  What have you been doing?”  Don’t let me down, Retin-A…