With Valentines day coming up you no doubt want to look your best for that red hot date! If you live in San Diego Partners In Beauty is hosting SULTRY on Tuesday Feb. 12th from 6pm - 8pm and would love for you to attend.  Features will include: The Eberjey Line by Pure Pajamas; Jane Iredale Make-up and the Vitality Treatment Belladerma Medical Center with Dr. Bucko; LASH OUT! eyelash extensions; Vintage Jewelry from Matti D Boutique and Jo Malone Fragrance Bloomingdale, Fashion Valley.

The keynote speaker is Life and Executive Coach, Sandra Pelletier who will be discussing how to Spice up your Love Life by putting yourself first.  SULTRY will take place at 9900 Genesse Ave. Suite B, La Jolla, CA.  Come and enjoy raspberry martinis, VIP gift bags and chances to win fabulous prizes!

Space is limited so RSVP today at 858-453-8484 and see you there!

I wanted to announce to all my readers that one of my businesses LASH OUT! has just joined on with San Diego based Partners in Beauty and will be offering discounts on eyelash extensions to all members who sign up. 

Partners in Beauty is a San Diego network of high end health, beauty, fashion and fitness experts offering huge discounts to their members.  PIB was founded in 2005 by Sarah Neal, a patient advocate for Dr. Dennis Bucko, a top San Diego Plastic Surgeon.  Sarah has worked on putting together this network of businesses to give it’s members the best possible beauty, health, fashion, fitness products and services at huge discounts. 

Membership is only $50/year and includes a free microdermabrasion treatment from the Belladerma Medical Spa as well as $50 towards your favorite treatment every quarter and a chance for a total mommy makeover. Other participating businesses include Haute Culture fashion boutique, Stephanie’s Shoes, LA Weightloss, Spa Velia, La Jolla Sports Club, Estancia La Jolla, iTan, Ultrafit and more. 

Just present your Partners In Beauty membership card to receive savings anywhere from 15 -40% off. PIB will be expanding to other areas in the future but for now it is available only in San Diego.

Ok everyone, here it is the results of my first ever chemical peel - the Belladerma Peel.  As you can see the darker pigmented areas have lightened up alot from my earlier photo.  I didn’t expect the hyperpigmentation and melasma to completely diminish after the first treatment (that would be a miracle!) but I was very happy with the results after only 6 days and very little down time.  My pigmentation is alot more concentrated in areas rather then spread out and will take longer to lighten.  Everyone’s result will be different with a peel.

I know after a couple more treatments alot of my hyperpigmentation will be gone but with hyperpigmentation its something my skin is prone to so it will require constant attention to keep under control.  Daily sunscreen, good skincare products, hats and possibly hydroquinone application will be needed.  Overall my skin feels soft, smooth and glowing and my skin tone looks more consistent. 

We gotta love the skin we are in so we need to take care of it. I highly recommend the belladerma peel ($99 introductory price) and look forward to my next treatment with Jessica! 

So on day 3 my lower face is starting to peel off.  What you start to notice is hanging skin which is definitely not the prettiest sight. You are not supposed to pick at your skin.  You can however trim off any hanging skin with scissors.  Just be careful.  I pretty much hid out at home on the 3rd day.  It was only my mouth area mostly that was peeling at this point but it’s not something you would want to share with strangers.  My face still feels tight and is slightly red still but slowly I’m noticing the peeling areas increase to up along my nose.  Everyone’s experience with a chemical peel with differ.  I’m anxious to see the final results.  Check back later.

So as i mentioned in my last post, I was off to do a chemical peel.  As you can see by my lovely before picture I was in desperate need of doing something about my hyperpigmentation.  The dark spots on my face seemed to have come out of nowhere and overnight!  Well, maybe not overnight but it sure seemed that way.  I was searching for a good peel for months or even possibly a laser treatment and I was holding out until after summer. 

Since I’ve had pretty good skin prior to this I didn’t really bother to seek skin care help when i should have.  I thought by using topical creams and serums it would magically disappear.  But who would have thought it would have gotten this bad! As I mentioned in my last blog, my friend had this peel done and acheived wonderful, turn back the age results.  It’s the Belladerma Peel created by Dr. Bucko who is located in La Jolla, CA which is in the San Diego area and who is also regarded as one of the best plastic surgeons around. 

The Belladerma Peel is a combination of gentle acids that chemically remove the uppermost layer of your skin. By doing this peel any product you apply is more easily absorbed into the skin which allows it to penetrate deeper into the skin and treat skin problems like hyperpigmentation, acne and wrinkles.

I met with Jessica his Medical Esthetician.  A beautiful girl with gorgeous skin and very experienced.  She made me feel totally comfortable and answered all my questions as well as explained everything she was doing step by step.  I really didn’t know what to expect since this was my very first peel. Was it going to burn and hurt?  Actually it just tingled and Jessica had a fan on me the whole time so it definitely helped as a distraction.  She applied three layers and then a serum and sunscreen.  Sunscreen is a must peel or no peel and she lathered it on nice and thick… It was an SPF 30 by skinceuticals incase you are wondering.  With a peel you want to avoid the sun as much as possible and if you can’t, wear a hat and don’t forget the sunscreen!  I was good to go.  Nice and quick… I guess that’s why it’s called the lunch time peel.  I got up wondering what my skin looked like.. was it burning red or leathery brown… i really didn’t know what to expect but as I turned to the mirror I saw nothing different.  I looked the same.  She told me that wouldn’t last.  She said “The second day is when your face will darken in certain areas and it may redden and get irritated. On the third day you will start to peel and more so around the mouth area first.  Up to 7 days you will continue to peel until your new skin has surfaced.” 

She did mention however that I would need additional treatments especially since it was the first peel I ever did.  My results would not be as that of my friend who has been in to see her a few times more then me, but any result will be better then what I see now and I have rescheduled to see her again in 4 weeks.  Check back tomorrow for day 3 -peeling.