unecoccinellerouge

I'm Alexia, a 21 year old Anatomy and Cell Biology major who is using my blog to share the things I enjoy most: being a student, bullet journalling, and all things beauty.

[unecoccinellerouge]

1 Week Post-Accutane Update

I did it! I made it to the end of my Accutane course! 

This is the part where people ask “was it worth it?” and the answer to that is hard, because there’s a lot of stuff people don’t tell you about Accutane. Just because it works and you’re happy with your skin at the end doesn’t mean it was worth it. There’s a lot to consider first.

The last month was the absolute worst. The symptoms that would come and go randomly during the first three months all showed up at the end - difficulty breathing and joint pain, nosebleeds, liver pain, eczema, you name it. In isolation as they came and went, they’re not too bad, but on top of the constant symptoms (extreme dryness everywhere, inability to talk or eat properly because the mouth is so dry, skin that wounds ridiculously easily and doesn’t heal, burning through my clothes from sun exposure, feeling like I had a cold 24/7, eyes burning and itching 24/7, etc.), it’s kind of unbearable. 

The day after I took the last pill, I broke out on my chin, like everything that was being held back by the Accutane just resurfaced the first chance it got. I definitely panicked because I thought I went through five months of Hell just to go back to what I was before the second I was off it. But, luckily, it went down within a week (as you can tell from my 1 week post-accutane picture, it’s barely noticeable) and it doesn’t look like I have any more coming up to say hello any time soon. What a relief. 

I think the hardest part of Accutane, besides dealing with the symptoms, was explaining symptoms to other people or explaining that they were because of Accutane. Most people would just assume I was dry everywhere because I was just a “gross” person who didn’t take care of themselves. They’d think I was exaggerating and try to compare it to normal dryness people experience when the seasons turn. No, you can’t fully wrap you head around what this drug does until you experience it first hand. 

The best parts of Accutane were also the dryness. My makeup would never slip around with any oil to do so, and I could have my makeup done from before work to go out for happy hour an entire work day later. I also could suddenly go an entire week without washing my hair and it looking decent, which never was the case before. There are definitely some things I’m glad to take with me after Accutane!

Was it worth it? Kind of. To go through this for five months? Sure. To go through this for an entire year? Absolutely not. I don’t think I would make it an entire year of Accutane, as many people do. People experience different degrees of symptoms. I don’t think I experienced the worst dryness that you can experience, compared to the way some people describe wanting to tear off their skin because it cracked and ached everywhere. But, I experienced other weird, but maybe more unpleasant symptoms, like my ribs hurting every time I breathed or feeling sick for five months straight. It wasn’t fun, it will never be fun to be on this drug, but it does partly make up for years of BS I had to deal with from other people just because I had acne. 

Seems like a mostly negative post, so let’s make it cheery with some things that made my life more bearable:

Sunscreen for body (Neutrogena) and for face (CeraVe) - As you can tell, I went down 34 shades from summer to winter, purely because being exposed to sun would burn me instantly, even through my clothes. Make sure you put sunscreen on parts of your body where your clothing might be thinner or areas you would never think to put sunscreen, like your hands, ankles, and ears.

Moisturizers for body/hands (Glysomed), moisturizers for the face (First Aid Beauty Ultra Repair Cream and Neutrogena Hydroboost), and face oil (Josie Maran Argan Oil) - MOISTURIZING IS KEY AND IT’S NOT EVEN GOING TO HELP MORE THAN 50% BUT THAT 50% IS EVERYTHING.

Aquaphor Healing Ointment - Your best friend for everything, whether it’s dry/cracked skin, wounds that hurt and just won’t heal, you name it. It’s affordable, too, so a big recommendation even for people who aren’t on Accutane!

[unecoccinellerouge]

2.5 month Accutane update

The course of treatment has been passing faster than I thought it would. I feel like the end is near. With all the stuff I hear about accutane, it’s surprising that I’m not totally suffering 24/7 and I wouldn’t be angry if I needed to add another month to my treatment plan. 

First thing’s first: the dryness. Face dryness is entirely manageable. Sure, my makeup doesn’t look the best because it can get a little flaky in some areas and I don’t glow at all without producing any oil, but it’s not so bad that I sit and ruminate about it every day. The lip dryness hasn't changed at all, not to get better or to get worse, making it a win in the accutane world apparently. In my progress pictures, you might be able to note a small rash on my jawline in ‘Month 2.5 - L’. That, and the small rashes on my arms, have been the only rashes I’ve dealt with to now. They don’t bother me much except on the rare occasion that they’ll flare up and get really itchy. The backs of my hands have been ridiculously dry since  hitting the start of month 2. Add onto that the numerous drunk people who rubbed my hands when they were cold, and now they’re extremely scaley, itchy, and red. Pro tip: don’t let anybody touch you where you’re already dry while you’re on accutane. 

How’s my acne? Great, I think. My face cleared up pretty quickly, but my body took a while to catch up. Up to the 2 month mark, I was still getting really bad cystic acne on my lower back. I’ve now completely stopped getting cystic acne and it’s mainly white heads, if any. This is the same trend that I experienced with my face at month 1. 

Let’s talk about the body pains. The chest pain while breathing has mostly gone away, however it’s  been replaced with liver and kidney pain. My blood tests are showing up fine, so I don’t know what to make of the pain, but it’s worrying when I know this is a drug that could damage your organs!! Standing for long periods of time really hurts my legs and lower back and I’d really like for that to come to an end ASAP. 

I think that’s it for updates. I feel like I’ve reached the most dry my face will become, so I can share my makeup routine while on accutane. That will be my next post. 

[unecoccinellerouge]

Accutane Week 4

I did it. I survived the first month on accutane and it wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be! 

Most of the dryness that I experienced over the last month has gone down. My scalp is no longer unbearably itchy and flaky, as it was during my first week or two. The dryness of my chin has reversed dramatically as almost all of my active breakouts have cleared. Every spot you see in these pictures is a scar, with the exception of that one breakout in the process of going down on my chin. Any new breakouts I get on my face are extremely small and almost immediately become a whitehead and I’m okay with this because I have been struggling with large, stubborn, and painful cystic breakouts.  My shoulders and upper back have cleared up, too, but my lower back is still getting new cystic breakouts every day. We win some and we lose some...

There are some negative symptoms I’ve been dealing with lately that aren’t dryness. My bones ache, especially my ribs. It makes working out very hard because it becomes painful to breathe during weight training. Sometimes I’ll start gasping for air throughout the day because it hurts to expand and contract my ribs. Yeah...it’s pretty rough. I’ve also been experienced cold symptoms - coughing uncontrollably (probably from dry throat), constant runny nose, etc. It’s really annoying to deal with when you work an office job and need to interact with people. 

Sun sensitivity is real. One day, I decided to wear short sleeves while I drove, without sunscreen. The arm exposed to the sun developed a mild form of eczema. It’s not my full arm, but I have patches that won’t go away. I imagine that if I was exposed for longer, it would be so much worse. I also burned my ear one day driving home. If you’re on accutane in the summer months, please don’t forget the sunscreen!! I’m so ready for fall and winter because I won’t die of heat every time I wear long sleeves to protect myself. 

You can see my previous weekly updates for the things I’ve been loving and have been helping me deal with some of the dryness. 

[unecoccinellerouge]

Week 3 of Accutane

This week was conflicted for me because while the more negative side effects hit me harder than the previous weeks, I also started to experience the pros of being extremely dry.

The biggest issue I’ve been experiencing is chest pain. My ribs and sternum ache. I feel it most when I lay on my stomach so my chest has pressure on it or when I hunch over. Recently, I went to the gym and trained my upper body and it felt like I couldn’t breathe. It’s a little worrisome, but I’ve read that these exact symptoms are what a lot of people experience on accutane so I think I can safely say I’m okay. It’s just uncomfortable. 

My chin area was getting drier and drier every day and was still localized mostly there on my face. My lips were starting to become scaly and I had no idea how to tackle it with the Aquaphor Healing Ointment alone, so I invested in a lip scrub and it was the best decision I made that week. Not only did it make me presentable to the people I was going to see that evening, but it actually kept the flakiness of my lips under control for several days when I was only expecting it to be a temporary solution. 

A new area of my body that became dry was my hands, although they looked worse than they actually felt when it comes to the dryness. They weren’t itchy or uncomfortable yet, which is nice. I’ll take them looking dry over them feeling dry any day. 

While the dryness on my face was very hard to tame for makeup application, it seemed like overnight later into this third week I stopped producing any oil on my face. Usually, by lunch I need to blot, powder, fix creasing and smudged mascara, but it was well into the evening and not a single area of dew on my face! Other than the annoying dry patches my foundation would cling to, my face looked great up until the end of the day, which is something I never experienced. 

I also went from washing my hair almost every day, to not washing my hair for 4 days. My hair is really dry at the ends, but at least it isn’t so oily anymore. I can finally take the time to style it knowing my styling will last for a few days. The next step is to see how my hair handles a real sweaty workout. If I can get by a workout without washing my hair immediately after, that would be an absolute godsend for me! 

For my skin’s improvement, it’s a mixed bag. Some areas of my face (my chin) and body (my back) were erupting with stubborn breakouts and other areas that were notorious for stubborn breakouts have cleared up completely (my jawline). It looks like my skin is pushing out everything that has been trapped inside of it in my problem areas. My nose was covered in small bumps that no one else could see, but I could feel if I ran my hand over it, as if my pores were purging everything from them. Ideally, I wouldn’t have those massive cystic breakouts on my chin, but the rest of my face was pretty smooth and only had leftover scarring, so it was a win for now.

As I mentioned earlier in this post, probably one of the best things I found this week was a lip scrub from Lush. I now have it in my small travel makeup bag with me at all times because it’s perfect for scrubbing away that dry skin on your lips quickly. Another favourite of the week from Lush was the Birth of Venus Jelly Face Mask. It was the only thing that could calm my annoying dry patch on my chin that would not go away with any exfoliating or moisturizing. These are two things I think everyone needs to if they plan on surviving accutane. 

[unecoccinellerouge]

Week 2 of Accutane

Week 2 on accutane was when things started to get real for me.

My lips went from sort-of-dry to noticeably flaky, to the point of me being embarrassed to speak to people if I didn’t have lip balm (or that Aquaphor Healing Ointment mentioned in my last post) slathered all over them. The only other parts of my body that are dry and/or flaky are my scalp, chin, and the sides of my nose. I’m not sure if moisturizing and hydrating well throughout the day are keeping my body in good condition or if the effects just haven’t reached the rest of my body yet. I read that people, by this point in the treatment, have broken out into rashes on their face and body. Maybe I was lucky. Maybe I’m just handling the drug well and it won’t come until later into the treatment or (fingers crossed) at all. It makes me extremely curious for the upcoming weeks.

My active breakouts are still there. At the start of the week, they were very dried out and crusty, which made me hopeful that they were going away. Girl, was I wrong. Towards the end of the week, the breakouts that were once dry and on the verge of dying became large, disgusting whiteheads. Other places more prone to breaking out were erupting with new and extremely painful breakouts. They were even starting to pop up in places they wouldn’t normally pop up, like on my hairline. . This didn’t worry me too much because I was told by many that it gets worse before it gets better. Although I doubt it, I hope this is what worse means and that’s as bad as it’s going to get for me. 

I didn’t try any new products, so no new favourites to share for this week. I am still covering myself in SPF from head to toe (including under my clothes) to prevent any burns and I think I’m doing a great job. I haven’t burned yet. The SPF I’ve been using since the beginning is the Neutrogena Hydro Boost Water Gel Sunscreenn Lotion SPF 50. I find it very moisturizing, too, which helps combat some dryness on the body while protecting you from the sun. 

[unecoccinellerouge]

Week 1 of Accutane

Some of you might remember my post on how I cleared up my very acne prone skin a few years back. My skin was under control for a while until an especially overwhelming year at university hit. Not only had my acne come back in full force, it was also worse than before. There were several reasons my skin was freaking out - stress, diet, working out, abnormally cold/hot seasons, hormones, etc. . Some of these, like diet, were controllable. Others, like working out and sweating, were not. I was sick of breaking out every time I broke a sweat at the gym or put on sunscreen. I was tired of getting advice from people I didn’t ask for advice from and who had no idea what I tried/didn’t try over the last 8+ years. I was undeniably done with feeling ashamed with my face and body. It was time to bring out the big guns - and hopefully the final solution - once and for all. 

Now that I’ve started by journey on accutane, I want to document it. When people ask me “was it worth it?” at the end, I can remember everything I went through to get to the point of clear skin and, more importantly, a radical confidence transformation. 

So, here it goes...

The first few days on accutane were great. My body wasn’t reacting badly to taking this new pill, which was refreshing given that medications tend to irritate my stomach and I fully expected this intense drug to do that as well. Finally, taking a pill wasn’t a dreadful experience. 

The first symptom to appear in the first day or two since taking my first dose was a painfully dry throat. You know that feeling when you wake up in the morning with a throat that feels like sandpaper because you haven’t had anything to drink in hours? It’s that feeling, except I’m constantly drinking and not a single sip makes it better. (Writing this into my second week, I can say it did go away.)

The end of my first week was when the other more typical symptoms began to kick in. My scalp, back of my neck, and ears were extremely itchy, kind of like a sunburn (but not, because I’ve been wearing a lot of SPF on every exposed part of my body, including my hands). My lips were starting to get dry (no cracking or flaking just yet). My face, on the other hand, was actually more oily than ever! Although I’ve always had very oily skin and would be shiny after hours of wearing makeup, I’ve never had my makeup slip and slide around my face. I think that’s one thing I can’t wait to have reversed soon. 

There are no before and after pictures this week because there is absolutely no difference in my breakouts yet, which is fine. I have many more weeks to go to see any improvement. 

I thought it would also be fun to talk about which products I’ve been loving. I think the reason my lips don’t feel so bad is because I made sure to buy (and keep with me constantly) Aquaphor Healing Ointment. I bought this specifically because it seems to be all-purpose and when I’m at work, I want something that can temporarily relieve anything that comes up. Another essential is a simple black cap! I was told being on accutane makes me especially sensitive to sunburns and sun damage, so I’ve made sure to always be sporting a cap.

[unecoccinellerouge]

Now that I’ve graduated and have nothing to study, my bullet journal has been lacking on the creativity of spreads. The only spreads I currently use are:

1. Monthly spreads

2. Work hours tracker 

3. Expense tracker

4. Fitness tracker 

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After a summer of experimenting, I think I finally decided on a weekly spread for the fall semester ✨ Simple and lots of space for planning

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Finally posting my Sephora VIB sale haul ❤️ I’ve already played with all of these for a month now, so I’ll also make mini-reviews FAB Hydrated Ever After Set (with Ultra Repair Cream And Ultra Repair Lip Therapy): This is my third time purchasing the moisturizer, so I thought I’d get it with the lip balm for the same price. I could do without the lip balm 🤷‍♀️ Ole Henriksen Transforming Walnut Scrub: It’s a normal scrub. The scrub has really fine particles in it which is nice. Surprisingly gentle enough for the face. Clinique All About Eyes Rich: Again, my third repurchase. The most moisturizing one out there, but does absolutely nothing for dark circles. I let it slide. Hourglass Ambient Light Blush in Mood Exposure: Obsessed! It’s the perfect mix of a cool toned blush and glowy as hell for the winter. And it lasts all day! Benefit Hoola Lite: I’m still not sure how I feel. It’s definitely less muddy on my pale skin than original Hoola, but it sort of looks like I have nothing on halfway throughout the day. May return, may not. We’ll see. Bare Minerals Gen Nude Buttercream Lip Gloss in Totally: I tried it on in store on a whim, went to the bathroom a while later, and DIED over my lip colour. The perfect nude for me. Still trying to find the perfect nude lipstick, then I might have found my holy grail lip combo.

[unecoccinellerouge]

MUJI PEN HAUL

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They finally came in 😍

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After a summer of experimenting, I think I finally decided on a weekly spread for the fall semester ✨ Simple and lots of space for planning

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When school is around the corner, so is fall 😍

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And just like that, July and my MCAT came and went 😱 I can’t believe it’s over. Now I have to start mentally preparing myself for school to start again in September 😭

[unecoccinellerouge]

This week 💕

[emmastudies]

Exam revision printable pack

Exams are one of the toughest parts of life so why not make it just that tiny bit easier with some printables! I picked out some of the things that seem most necessary for studying including a definitions and formula sheet, topics for revision checklist, essay and project planner, and a weekly schedule!

All the six pages come in a single download in six colours: pink, blue, peach, grey, green and purple. You can download the file in a colour of your choice from the Google Drive link below:

Folder of printable pack download

I hope you enjoy using these and if so, I’d love to see them in action! Feel free to tag me on Tumblr with #emmastudies or on Instagram with my username @emmastudiess in any photos you upload. If there are any problems or errors, please let me know via my inbox.

Disclaimer: This printable is for personal use only. You may edit it yourself if you like, but please do not redistribute without my permission. Thank you!  

[unecoccinellerouge]

Studying physics 📐