 Hey guys, it's Monica. I am going to answer a couple of questions that I have received regarding How do I manage my flaky retina skin? And how do I wear foundation? You know and how long does the flaking period last and Do I actually have skin that peels off? Yes, yes, so I'm gonna attempt to answer some of those questions I'm going to try to keep this fairly short Because the answers to these questions are only going to apply to my skin Your skin may be completely different and most likely is you may have a completely different type of reaction to retinae than I do And all the products that I use So, you know rather than talk about retinae in the sense of how am I using it and all that which I've talked about Not too long ago. I'll link the playlist to my retinae videos somewhere here So they can go watch them if you want. I think I would tackle the question that I get What foundation can you use that actually plays nice with retinae and how do you deal with it out in the public and it is It is a hard hard question to answer. It really is because it I wish I could tell you That for me and again, I'm gonna have to preface this with this is just for me and my skin again You might be completely different than me but for me The flakes and the peeling is an ongoing process. I pretty well know now after almost I'm close to I'll be two years I'll be three years actually The end of this year. So I'm pretty close to really having a good handle on knowing when I'm going to flake and how bad I'm going to Flake and so I kind of plan To lay off my retinae before any kind of a big event, you know Three to four days before because I don't want to have any flakes my skin seems to go in cycles and Sometimes it's two days after retinae. Sometimes it's three days after retinae, but my skin goes in cycles So I I may apply retinae and then two days later have a mass of peel and then The next time I apply retinae, I'll have a mass of peel three days later or no peel. It really really all depends So what I normally do when I'm using retinae consistently I normally when I get up in the morning The first thing that I'm going to do after I rinse off my face is I end up using and I've been Use this for quite a while and this is the alpha hydroxy face cream So this is my morning thing. I put this on and I put it on pretty well all over my face now After about 20 minutes or 30 minutes or 45 minutes really all depends on how much time I have I'm going to remove it and I'm going to remove it and sometimes I have a very cheap Glove like an exfoliating type of a glove that I use other times I just use the back of a cotton ball that not a cotton ball that a cotton pad that has a little lumpy things in it and I then will massage this into my skin and off my skin Now usually after I've removed this I'll take a cotton Swipe and I will do a toner and I usually use my witch hazel toner Whatever toner it is and then I will use whatever essence it is I usually you know use an essence every morning I have two different types of essences that I use one at night one in the morning Because my snail essence is very sticky. So that's a nighttime thing I don't want to use that in the morning and I let that really soak into my skin and then I go with my normal serums my vitamin C My you know my trick cell or any kind of other peptides that I would normally put on my face And I will sometimes I will use the dolphin that I recently talked about and I will massage that into my face Other times if I don't have a lot of time, I just pat it on and then I'm done So I try to do this in cycles, you know, I don't I don't do this in five minutes So I get up early. I do a little bit. I go have coffee. I go do something else I'll answer my work emails. I'll come back in the bathroom. I'll do something else But I try to have enough time for it to really absorb into my skin and then the most important element for me is my sunblock so Usually at that point in time I'm going to put my sunblock on whatever whatever it is if I'm peeling really bad I know that I'm not going to use an expensive foundation I'm going to use a cheaper foundation because I'm going to be removing it and trying to wipe my face down during the day but depending on how my skin is at that point in time, I Might put on a little bit of a face oil, but if my skin feels okay, I'm just going to go right in with my sunblock 99% of the time it's the Australian gold minimal sunblock the 50 SPF I put a huge doll about that on my my hands and I go all the way around my face down my neck behind my neck into my chest on top of my hands and again That is something then I let it sit it settle in when I do my makeup And the most interesting thing is now this sponge is a little dirty because I use this this morning I will take a sponge and this happens to be the one that I got from Sigma. I really like this This is really really nice But anyways, I'll take the sponge and I will either dampen it with a setting spray or water And then I will take now. This is after my sunblock Has really absorbed into my skin if I do it too soon The foundation whatever I put on I'm going to get peeling not peeling but piling or whatever you call it where you can Almost see it rubbing off So I have to make sure that I let that settle in so on a really peely day a really peely day I will then take the Sun the after the sunblock is settled in and I'm all set. I will take a little bit and I normally use I should show it to you because it's going into my favorites. I Normally use the elf poreless face primer and I just stick this on my nose and in my chin and up here. I don't go anywhere else with it and I really like this a lot It it really does a good job on my skin with my primers with my with my pores I Let that settle in and then I will go in with my foundation if I'm really super peely I'm probably going to use my lift illuminate boots number seven or I will use a combination of these three colors of The CYO and this is the long lasting foundation. These are very very inexpensive foundations and the reason I'm talking about it inexpensive foundation at this point in time is because my my Beautiful foundation thanks to my beautiful friend Sheila who turned me on to this foundation is My Estee Lauder double wear I absolutely love love this foundation But this is a pricey foundation So even when you can buy it at a cosmetic company store and outlet or whatever have coupons, it's still expensive So I'm not going to put this on my face on a day That I have massive peeling going on I'm just not because no matter how I apply it. I'm going to have some sort of issues throughout the day So what I normally do on the peely days, I will use my inexpensive sunblock My inexpensive foundation I normally put a big blob of rub it on if you want to call it that a big drop of it on My my hand and then I will tap it on in spots then I take my dampened beauty sponge here and And I will then tap it in I never ever ever When I'm in a peely cycle rub at all Nor do I rub with my hands nor do I rub with my brush ever when I'm peeling for me if just that's a no-no So I take the sponge and I usually prefer to use the setting spray That's non-matifying. I don't want a mattifying setting spray So I have a couple of different setting sprays that I use so I'll usually dampen it with that or water So when I have this on then I am just pouncing and I am pouncing this into my face I'm never moving it. I'm never rubbing it and you guys probably all know this I mean everyone's skin is completely different, but I'm actually pouncing this all over my skin Into my hairline into down here and all the way down now This might take a while I might have to put more on it You should use my hand to put more on and then you know do it with the with the sponge It might take a while to apply it this way because I'm pushing it in I am pushing pushing pushing pushing pushing pushing and I really do push it in All over the place. Now if I were to on a peely face go like this or Use this or use and this happens to be my this is my Sigma And I really like this is the flat kabuki I use this to my foundation and I really love this But if I were to use this to buff in my foundation, which I love to do on a peely day My skin would peel like crazy. So After I've done that after I have pounced this in as much as I want I'm looking in a ten times magnifying mirror, which is horrific Scary stuff and so but anyways after I've pounced it in I make sure that I'm pretty evenly coated I might still see some flaky spots and I'm going to try to pat them down I'm not going to try to peel anything off because I'm going out the door So then I will take normally put on whatever blush that I might be using for the day or a powder That is very very mild, you know, I tend to avoid powders completely even blushes sometimes completely when I'm peeling because It just makes it worse But when I'm all set when I either have a little bit of color, maybe I did some contouring And I'm all set I will then spray with setting spray and I usually try to use a lumifying type of a setting spray when I Leave to go. I always make sure that I have my little wipes my makeup remover wipes with me that I have my oil I love I have a bottle of squirreling oil. This is from the Ordinary and I keep that in the office I also have a lovely oil from Gerrara. I'm sure I'm saying that wrong I've talked about this before. This is the one oil that I took with me to Vegas because it's a really good oil Expensive, but it's a really really good oil. So one of these or both of these come with me to the office as my skin Goes through hours of a cycle. I continue to peel even if I exfoliated the heck out of my skin It is a cycle that continues to happen So I might look at myself three or four hours later and start to see skin hanging and it sounds so gross Well, it is so gross So, you know, if I'm like talking to people if I'm really up close and very very conscious of that I've been known to run into the bathroom get one of my makeup wipes and rub it off And then I've taken the oil and I put the oil on and now normally what I do if it's not really totally flaking my makeup I'll take a little bit of the oil and I'll just dab it in especially where my wrinkles are Because I just want to make sure I'm not accenting it So I'll dab some of the oil in and I'll try to maintain my foundation look throughout the day If I have to remove my foundation I just take my makeup wipe and I take it all off if I'm going back out I have to be really conscious about having sunblock or something on but if I'm inside I'm not too worried about it till I leave the office later in the day. I might take some oil pat that on Well, if I'm going to flake during the day, it's my lower part of my face That's where the flakes are going to really really happen. Sometimes my forehead sometimes along my nose But it's usually the lower part of my face So I will make sure that I tap with the oil in and then I will redo a little bit of the foundation And I always have a little sponge with me and I'll do the same thing. I'll just I'll just tap I'll just tap So I'm sure this is not anything new to most of you But it's what I have to do to be able to manage my flakes so I can face the public I have a very public-facing job I'm teaching or I'm engaging with customers and clients or I'm with other agents and I'm up close and personal so You know the idea of having flaking skin and then going to work is pretty gross and it's kind of like difficult to deal with But the the end results are worth it as my skin flakes off I have younger skin, which is why it's so Super important to use sunblock even on cloudy days even on rainy days to use sunblock and And so whatever sunblock you're using just make sure that you keep Reapplying it to protect the skin that's coming out, but the retinase is cycle It's sort of like having a baby, you know, you carry the baby for nine months You go through some discomfort and all of that, you know and all of that and then you have some more pain You give birth and there's the joy of this beautiful baby, and then you go through some of the terrible tooth And goodness gracious you go through the teenage years, but you know what I mean? You have to go through the cycle of the uglies to get to Ultimately better skin and I wish you could sit here and say well once you go through the uglies You're all set. You won't have uglies anymore. Well, maybe you won't But I have uglies all the time still I have flakies all the time still and I started my retin a September of 2010. Yeah, September of 2016 So I was like, oh, you know let my skin get used to it Well, some people skin never gets used to it mine continues to turn over I'll be it on a lower, you know slower pace. I don't have any kind of soreness redness or whatever I can usually deal with the flakes But I also have to make sure that when I am dealing with the flakes that I'm I'm sort of planning it to when I'm not going to be in the public so much if that makes sense At least that's my attempt. So the tools of the trade, you know, whatever you use Exfoliate exfoliate exfoliate, you know make sure that you use some sort of a toner And I mean I have a glycolic toner that I really really like But I'm very careful on when I use all of these, you know in conjunction with each other So, you know in the morning just make sure that you're starting with as clean of a canvas as you can The glycolic toner for me. It's almost like when I put that on It is like gumming up the dead old dry skin and I can see it gumming it up It's kind of making it loose to gum so that when I you know gum me so that when I actually Exfoliate a little bit after whether I'm doing a gentle gommage or something of this nature all depends on the condition of my skin I can then remove that gunky stuff and have a fresh canvas and That's that's the goal, but it is a For me it is a continuing cycle of doing that it it It has not stopped. It's gotten better to answer your questions It's gotten better, but it has not stopped and on days when I know I'm not flaking like after I have that first day I'm really icky flaky. I know if day two is not gonna be as bad, you know And I and I'm using retina, you know four times a week, so I'm always in in some stage of flakes I'm always in that stage my skin is continually to be you know being turned over so I Save my expensive foundation when my skin looks the best Being the reason I'm doing that is because I know during the day I'm going to probably have to remove some of this stuff and Stop fresh when my skin goes through that massive peel And I would go nowhere without having some good face oil with me And I have some in the office because this stuff Will go a long way to getting me through the day me through the day without feeling like a Lizard or whatever, you know So I don't know if that answers your question, but I mean I hate to be a naysayer For me. Anyways, the peeling never stopped. I've talked to some women who use retinae and they never peel So, you know, it's sort of like to me. I look at the peeling as sort of the pleasure in the pain It's painful to look at it doesn't hurt at all physically But it's painful to look at because it's kind of ugly and to go through that ugly stage The pleasure is what happens afterwards the skin that's there afterwards the wrinkles that don't disappear But after the course of time Will diminish slightly be more of a preventive Forgetting further wrinkles as long as you're using your sunblock So the pleasure in the plane the pleasure in the pain of retinae use for me the flakes are just always there they never ever really seem to go away and My dermatologist when I talked to him he said to me well on your skin and everyone is different on your skin that's a sign that it's doing what it's supposed to be doing and It's gonna continue to do that, you know, I don't think it'll get to the point Or maybe it will where I have no reactions, but you know, he says don't expect it for a long time if ever So yeah, I'm a working woman 40 hours a week and I do like to wear makeup And I don't like to have the flakes and if you're working 40 hours a week and sometimes I'm working six or even seven days a week There's a lot of days that I'm facing people where my skin is in a constant peely flaking State and that is the best way that I can tell you to handle it Try to start with this clean up a canvas as you can and for me It's pouncing my foundation on and never ever rubbing and I wish I could buff it But when I'm in that fake flaky stage, I do this it's gonna make it worse I rub with my hands. It's gonna make it worse when I'm not Then I can I can put it on with my hands. I can buff it beautifully with my brush and Not have an issue, but when it's flaking over other so anyways Thanks so much for watching guys. I hope I answered your question. The flakies might never go away But it's worth it for me. Anyways, it's worth it in the end and if you're curious about where I buy my retina I do buy it overseas reliable Rx. I've always have it linked in my description box And I do have a prescription. I talked to my dermatologist. He knows exactly where I buy my retina He's no problem with it and I've had no issues with any kind of delivery or service or anything of that nature So the price is just so affordable. See I'm probably the only way I could actually afford to do and have it by buying it that way because in my area, you know the same tube that I buy from overseas that cost six or seven dollars here cost Upwards to three hundred and forty dollars a tube depending on where you buy it so That's the scoop any other questions guys leave them below and I'll try to answer them either in a future video or answer them in the Comment so thank you so much for being with me and I'll chat with you all later. Bye. Bye