 In this video, I am going to share with you my two-year retinae journey, the good, the bad, and the ugly. And at the end of the video, I have some comparison. I shot a little video clip in 2016 after I'd been on retinae for about a month. And also some still pictures I'm going to compare them with today as I looked in 2016. I have no makeup on in any of those pictures, so they're kind of scary, especially the video. So stay tuned. But before I go there, I just want to mention this is sort of a collaboration, comparison type video with Natalie the Beauty Diva. Natalie and I have done, I think, I have to go back and look, but I think we've done three retinae videos, or at least two. But I'm going to link them below, and I'm going to link Natalie's channel. And Natalie, I know I don't have to say anything about Natalie because I know most of you watching this video know exactly who Natalie the Beauty Diva is. But I just want to say that when I first started seriously exploring the thought of skin care and seriously looking into perhaps doing something called retinae on my skin, I searched on YouTube for mature women. And I found a few channels, and one of the channels I found early on was Natalie the Beauty Diva. I started to watch her, and I was mesmerized. I know she's younger than I am, but I was mesmerized by her beautiful complexion, the way she did her makeup. And the more I watched her, and the more tips she shared, the more I learned. So Natalie the Beauty Diva, oh my gosh, I owe her a huge debt of gratitude, as well as Mary Ellen after 60. I'll tell you, Mary Ellen after 60 and Natalie were the first two that I watched, especially from mature skin care and retinae. And I also found Carol from the O'Carroll show, right about the same time. So those ladies paved the way for me. They really did. And Natalie, what can I say about Natalie, kind, kind-hearted, beautiful woman, from the inside out, from the outside in, it doesn't matter, she is just plain beautiful. Her personality totally shines through, and her skin care is meticulous. She's just unbelievable. I wish I could just be a tenth of what she is. I really do. But that said, I know I can't, I can only be me. But I want you to know, if you haven't connected with Natalie, I'm going to definitely link her channel as well as Mary Ellen after 60 and Carol from the O'Carroll show. I want you to know that these ladies in our mature community, they have helped me so much. They paved the way for me to experiment, to try different things, to feel confident in trying those things. So that said, before any of you jump on the retina bandwagon or even think about it, you need to understand that what I'm going to talk about, what I'm going to share with you, what anyone else shares with you are simply our experiences. I am not an expert. I am not a beauty diva by any stretch of the interpretation. I basically am learning as I'm going and I'm sharing that journey with those of you that watch my videos. So if you are new to my channel, if you just happen to land on it because you're searching retina, you're searching the mature beauty community, etc., let me first tell you a little bit about who I am. First of all, I am 64 years old. I will be 65 in February, February 14th of 2019. I did not start doing serious skin care until about two, two and a half years ago. Prior to that time, I was of the generation where sunblock was considered baby oil with a little iodine mixed in. And when I did have to actually buy sunblock, it was typically Vandicelae number four oil. And I baked in that from the age of 12 on. So most of my life, I have baked in the sun using baby oil and most of my life from the age of 12 on until about, I know maybe about seven, I'll have to check for sure about 17 years ago. I was a heavy smoker. I started smoking as a very young, not even a teenager, 12 years old. So I was a heavy smoker, abused the sun and, you know, I probably did abuse some alcohol at various points in my life, but that said, I now, I feel like I'm trying to play catch up. I really do. So when I got on the retina bandwagon, I was looking for a miracle. I was. I was looking for something that was going to make a change right away. And everyone said, nothing is going to make a change right away. And I knew that, but I still wanted to have, like everyone else, instant gratification. I did go to see a dermatologist. I did talk to him. I did tell him what I wanted. The things that bothered me the most, he said to me, retina is never going to take care of you need to lift this up. You need to have injections and then you can get rid of some of your jowls and your 11s and things of that nature. And I was like, I didn't want to do that for one thing. You know, everyone has a has a different budget. I could not afford it. Insurance wouldn't pay for it. And I have too many other things at that point in time on my plate to even contemplate saving for something like that. So I ended up getting retina. And I ordered my first thing of retina from a pharmacy in Canada, which was significantly cheaper than here at the States. And since that time, I've ordered my retina from a pharmacy in India, which is significantly cheaper than the Canadian pharmacy. So in 2016, I started my journey and everyone said, go slow. Um, yeah, I kind of thought I had to do it my way. So I would listen to the caution and then I'd say, okay, I still did it my way. And slow is definitely better, but I know you're going to have to do it your own way and you're going to have to figure out what works for you. But I ended up going too fast, adding too much product and I suffered from it because I continuously had, and I still have flaky skin. I continuously had flaky skin. So there were times and I, I work full time, so there was times I was going to work and I'm like, I didn't want anyone to, I'm like hiding, hiding my face because I didn't want anyone to, to see the peels and see the flakes. I started using face oil. I started using B Venom cream. I actually started using the B Venom cream. I'm still using it and I, and this is the Lancome one that you just get a TJ Maxx. Just, just the cheapy. So I started using this and then the it cosmetics secret sauce. I started to use that as well around my eyes. So these would be my two creams of choice. And I'm just talking of trying to handle my flakes. And I got into the habit of exfoliation, exfoliation, exfoliation, exfoliation, exfoliation. I can't say that enough just to try to lift the gunk off my face. I could see that I had dead, dried skin, but I had to like somehow get rid of it. So exfoliation is the key. I would look in the mirror and I'd go, I'm not seeing a difference. Then I would look in the 10 times mirror because I would do that several times a week. And after a while, I did think that I started to see a diminishing of some of the deeper lines, but they didn't go away. My jowls didn't lift. The weird things that did happen. And I think it was probably the eyelash serum more than anything was my hoods lifted and you can see that in the pictures. You'll see that in the pictures at the end of this video. My hoods lifted and that was like amazing to me. About six months into my retina journey is when I started to see some of the difference, but I was still struggling. And I try every which way imaginable to me to deal with the flakes. So I could continue on with the retina, yet I could also function without looking like a lizard, you know, or whatever. You know, when you're like a snake peeling its skin, you know, oil, exfoliation in the morning, the Studio 35. I think I'm in use that all time. I still use this every day, every morning. This has helped tremendously. So I'm not at the point where I can say to you that the ugliest are over, they're not the good bad in the ugly about retina. If you want to get to somewhere, maybe where the road is going to be better, you're going to have to go through some huge, huge bumps along the way. And those bumps at times made me feel like I was just going to throw in the towel. I just, I couldn't, I just couldn't deal with having skin that was hanging off my nose, my face, you know, all that stuff. I was like, Oh my gosh, I don't think I can deal with this. I hung in there and after a year was like, Hmm, you know, I, I'm seeing a difference. Now I will have to say to you at the same time, there were three things that I was doing on my skin about the same time as my retina journey. One is I am an avid collagen person. I take two tablespoons of powdered pure collagen every morning and every night. I put it in my shake sometimes during the day, but I take that consistently every day. And I think that collagen from the inside, coupled with my retina and my derma rolling, I think that collagen production and the taking of the supplement of the powdered supplement on the collagen has really helped everything to the point where I would not go without my collagen supplement at all period. The other thing that I would not go without is my cheap B. Venom cream. I actually put that on my skin every night. I layer it on my skin every night. It stings to all get out and not everyone can take it and not everyone will like it, but it works well for me. It is probably the biggest thing that has helped me manage my flakes in my retina journey. So I said in the beginning, the good, the bad and the ugly and the ugly is all, all the peeling, all the flakes, all, you know, I know now if I have a special occasion, like I have a wedding coming out. And so I know I'm not going to use any retina for probably three or four days before that wedding, because I know that is the cycle on my skin two to three days. I get this huge, huge turnover and I can actually kind of like lift this, the peeling skin off. So I'm not going to do that. I'm going to be very, very careful with that before the wedding. So I have to plan that a little carefully and then the other ugly part about it is summer. Right now I'm roasting here and it's, we have a heat wave. Can you believe it in New Hampshire? It's a heat wave. Unreal. And I'm probably a shiny blobby mess because it's hot and I'm shooting a video and I have a light here to kind of light me up because it's kind of, as you can see, dark out. But anyways is sun protection. So it's a trade-off, you know, you want to put a lot of sunblock on, but you also want to have some foundation on. A lot of foundation doesn't play good with sun block. So you buy a foundation like my CC cream that has a 50 SPF in it. So a lot of times in the summertime, I would just put that on my face and I felt somewhat covered and then I would put another sun, you know, a clear sunblock on top of it. Or I would use the Australian gold, the mineral, it's tinted sunblock. I really like that. I could wear that alone. But sun protection, you have to, you have to live your summer life differently and retin A. And you make that judgment. I made it. So a lot of hats. I sit under an umbrella. I am a beach baby. I mean, I think I told you a majority of my life, baby oil, iodine, or bandage L.A. number four oil, that was it. For me, all of a sudden to not be a beach baby, to deal with the beach differently was a huge adjustment. Basically in finishing up summer number two on retin A and we camp a lot. We go away. We go to the ocean. You know, we're always outside. So I've had to make some major adjustments to that. And I'm still using 0.1% on my face. I have the gel. This is my last two. I've gone through one full tube of this. I am still on my last tube of my 0.5%. And then I have a much smaller 0.025%. This I was using down my neck and in trying to, you know, take, use this in conjunction with my rose hip oil down my neck and my chest to try to help my neck and my chest. Now, my neck and the chest, you know, look, they don't look that bad, but you know, when not, when you're, when I look down, I can see the wrinkles and I can see the massive lines. But that's what I'm using on my neck and my chest on my eyes. I had tried to use my 0.025% retin A around my eyes to try to get at some of the deeper lines. But since my birthday, I have been using the US version and then shortly there after the UK version of the Olay Pro retinol eyes. I honestly will continue to use this. What can I say? I believe that it has softened some of the lines, but I can't tell you for sure. I can't tell you for sure if it's this or if it's the retin A, because you get to understand if you apply a retin A, it does go upwards. So I think it's a combination of everything. And so here I am two years later, my anniversary, my retin A anniversary. And you're going to see some photos of me starting in 2010, I think it is here. And you can see through these early photos that I'm showing you right now that I have always had hooded eyes, you know, always. And you can see some of my wrinkles and you can see the progress I've made. So I'm going to end talking here and come back at the end of the video. I'm going to show you the clip that I made, a couple of video clips and some still comparison pictures. And all I can say is I think you need to be the judge. You let me know what you think. It's August 28th, 2018. Two years since I started retin A. In the 2016 video, I have nothing on my skin except for my mascara, just like I have on now and a little bit of probably eyebrow pencil, and that it's naked skin and just eyelashes. That's what this is today, two years later. Has there been a dramatic improvement? You're going to have to be the judge. Particularly concerned right about here in this, I'm hoping it diminishes a little bit. I'm not too sure. You can see it sort of off. I'm not even. And then bags under my eyes, the wrinkles here is what I'm hoping I can eliminate some of these fine lines. I don't have as many on this side. For some reason, this side of my face gets wrinkled. This side, not as much. And a few still pictures for your viewing pleasure. Pretty gross. I can't believe I'm actually publishing videos without makeup. Yeah. It has been a journey. It sure has been a journey. I'm going to continue on the journey because I think it's only going to get better from here on in or here on out. I do think if someone has unrealistic expectations or they expect a miracle or an overnight solution, they're going to be in for a big, big disappointment. I will also say that I think it's important before any of you jump on this journey that you go and talk to your medical profession. You go ahead and professional, you go ahead and talk to your dermatologist. That's what I did just because somebody on YouTube is saying you need to do this doesn't mean it's going to be right for you. So you need to make that judgment call yourself. But in my real life, there are people that know me well that have seen me day in and day out. There's some people that haven't seen me in a year and then they suddenly see me. But in my real life, I have had more people comment about how good my skin is looking. And trust me, my skin is not perfect at all. It is far from perfect. I mean, I still have my red veins all over the place. And, you know, my wrinkles and my, you know, my my jowls and my leavens and, you know, the whole nine yards. But from even from 2010, where I was a lot younger than I am in 2018, I people say I look so much younger today. And that to me is a huge, huge compliment. And that to me is enough to keep me going when the people I see day in and day out comment on things like that. I know you're seeing me on a YouTube video. Many of you don't know me, but in real life. But those people that do know me in real life, they've seen a difference. And to me, that's huge. So that's going to be my motivation to keep going. And who knows what next year, my third year anniversary is going to be like, you know, I hope I can come back and say, wow, you know, yeah, it looks a lot better. But two years into retina, I am absolutely, absolutely so thrilled that I stayed the course. There were many times I was going to throw that towel in many times when I looked at myself and went, Oh, no, but I hung in there and I hung in there because I kept having hope. I kept watching women like Natalie, like Mary Ellen, like Melissa 55, like so many of the gorgeous older women on YouTube that they're using retina. You would never know it. Look at look at Carol from the Ocaro show. She's older than I am. She looks absolutely wonderful. There are so many, so many beautiful women that are paving the way. And for that, I am internally grateful. So I just want to thank you all so much for watching. I hope I didn't gross you out with my before and after pictures. It does look pretty bad, doesn't it? Thanks so much, guys. I will talk to you later and please be sure to leave me a comment. Give me a thumbs up. And if you have not subscribed, please subscribe to the channel. I truly, truly appreciate all your support. Bye, guys.