Hello Ms Liz and all the readers :) I hope you could answer my question. I recently tried another variant of shampoo kasi I was getting tired of the scent of the old one. I just started two days ago and just today I noticed a few bumps on my forehead near the hairline. I don't know if it's the shampoo or the hormones as my period's approaching. I just wanna know how I can avoid getting serious breakouts caused by hair care products in the future and how to distinguish them from a normal breakout. Thanks! - Nerys

Hi Nerys! This is an excellent question because I feel that a lot of us may be unaware that hair products are as guilty of causing breakouts as skincare. Thing is, whatever's applied there and on our scalp can easily migrate to our face! When I was younger i would ALWAYS get pimples and I can never tell what causes them. Until I switched to my current (and unglamorous) shampoo - Head and Shoulders - the pimples did not stop.

I invest in good skincare but so far there is only one shampo that doesn't break me out after regular use. So yeah, this is pretty important! I've gone through a LOT of breakouts caused by hair products, so my advice is to observe a new hair care product closely the first couple of weeks.

So how will you know if you shampoo is breaking you out? Ask yourself the following questions:

1. Do you usually break out on those sections of your face/body? Usually, breakouts caused by hair products happen on the chin and near the hair line. If you don't normally get pimples there, then it's likely your new hair care is causing it.

Even if you're breaking out somewhere else, it might be because your hair tends to touch that area (like the cheeks and back). 

2. Is it the only new thing you're using? I strongly recommend using new products only one at a time so you can isolate any effects you get from them. I know how exciting it is to use new things all at once, but a bit of restraint and patience will save you a lot of trouble and backtracking in the long run!

Hello Project Vanity readers! I'm really curious about skin purging. Is it really true, or is it just a hoax? I'm trying out a new skin care regimen, but I'm breaking out. When I asked a representative of the product, she said that I was just experiencing "skin purging", and that my pimples are coming out now but it will discontinue later as my skin adjusts. How do you know if you are actually skin reactive to the product, or just purging? Hope you can help me on this one! Thanks. - Beth

Hi Beth! This is a very useful question. I checked out the topic online and yes, skin "purges" (and this is only in a figurative sense okay) when we use new skincare (especially those for curing acne). Certain active ingredients like retinoids or a new exfoliating regimen can cause deep-seated dirt, dead skin, and oil to rise to the surface of the skin. So you get pimples. It's the only way for all that junk to get out of your pores.

Sometimes, your skin simply adjusts to the new ingredients in your new skincare. You're basically shocking your skin into accepting these alien ingredients, which is why it's okay to cut your new products some slack...to a certain degree, that is.

I've tried A LOT of products since I started beauty blogging, and here's what I've experienced: a product is fine for me if I just break out for one week.

When someone asks me about makeup in person, I always tell them: don't get me started, because I'd be hard to stop once I get rolling! I can spend an hour (or more) just talking about cosmetics, and a good fraction of that time may or not be spent giving the other person a mini-make over. Haha. I always jump on the chance to educate and inspire the best I can; it seriously makes me happy!

But makeup is just really the tip of the iceberg. If you don't have good skin to begin with, your makeup won't look flawless no matter how expensive it is. So always prioritize treating your skin first and then maintaining it to the best of your ability. You'd be happier and more confident knowing that makeup is just an option for you and not a requirement.

Anyway, today I want to talk about the VMV Hypoallergenics ID Monolaurin Gel (P710 /120 ml). It's basically a clear face and body gel that can be used to treat pimples and sweat acne, as well as a primer to keep oil at bay. It only has six ingredients, which I will break down for you so you can see how this intriguing gel works.

The main ingredient is alcohol. I know there are a ton of people out there saying that alcohol is bad for your skin, but there is bad and good alcohol! Good alcohol is not a common allergen/irritant or VMV won't put it in their products. If there's one thing you need to know about this brand, they are incredibly anal about ingredients! They base their choices on studies published in peer reviewed journals and even publish research on their own.

I first heard about the Vichy Dermablend Foundation (P1,390) three years ago when Lisa Eldridge, celebrity makeup artist, used it on a girl with severe acne. You'll see in the video how Dermablend magically hid the spots with only the tiniest amount of product! It was just the thing I needed since I had serious acne scarring at the time. Unfortunately, Vichy wasn't a popular brand back then. It was practically impossible to get it in the Philippines short of shipping it from the UK.

Thankfully, Digital Traincase brought it in early this year. *cue trumpets* I just had to get it when I visited the store in Ortigas a few weeks ago! It's out of stock at the moment but expect fresh stocks to arrive next week.

So how was it? It's every bit as amazing as shown in Lisa's video - as a concealer. My shade, Nude, matches me perfectly when it's just on spot patrol, but when used all over my face it looks quite, erm, pink. I suppose I could still get away with wearing it as foundation (did it once) but only if people don't look too closely! My face looked light and pinkish in comparison to my neck and shoulders.

Even if I can't use the Dermablend as a proper foundation, it's still a great find. Here's why!

What I love about the product

• It has heavy, full coverage. It can cover very dark blemishes in a couple of layers, and normal blemishes and under eye circles in one dab. Redness is easily banished even if you have fresh pimples and rosacea.
• Even with that coverage, it feels weightless on skin due to the watery, easy-to-spread texture. It's also non-sticky and non-greasy.

The AC Clinique line of Etude House is designed to prevent and heal acne, and until recently only features facial wash, toner, and moisturizer. Two new products were recently added to the collection (labeled "intense") that have the sole purpose of spot-treating pimples as they come. I've tried the famous AC Clinic Intense Pink Powder Spot and it's just okay. It's like calamine lotion - smells like, looks like, feels like. I reckon it would also be useful on rashes and other skin irritations. ;)

The star of the collection for me though would be the Etude House AC Clinic Intense Red Spot Balm (P628 when packaged with the facial wash). This is the real deal! It was one of those things that have been sitting in my "to review" box for weeks, until I took it out for a test drive because of extreme annoyance. I had these two large red pimples on my right upper and lower lip (like star-crossed lovers UGH) and they are just not budging after more than a week. That's abnormal for me!

So I thought hey, why don't I try that Red Spot Balm over there. Boom. The two very angry pimples calmed down in an hour, and stopped swelling completely after six hours. No kidding. The next day, they're gone!

No matter how well I try to take care of my skin, I still break out a week or two before my period. Sometimes I get puny pimples that are easy to manage. But sometimes, like last week, I get red and angry cystic pimples on my chin or temple! Ugh. I need to see a derma for this hormone problem soon.

In the meantime, I've come across an awesome pimple treatment called the VMV Hypoallergenics Red Better Spot Corrector (P400 for 8 grams).

It's part of VMV's recently-launched Red Better line. Red Better is designed for those who suffer from rosacea, but while the rest of the line is for dealing with irritation all over the face, the Spot Corrector is specifically for inflamed acne. Oh, sign me up. I used it as soon as I got it.

I hate suspense, so here's a before and after photo of my horrid cystic pimples!

I'm feeling down and not in the mood to blog because I have horrible skin right now. It's a bad mix of pre-period hormones, stress, heat, and possibly comedogenic products I've tried recently. It's driving me nuts! 

My skin is a seething mass of stupid acne right now. Makeup is a lifesaver. Whoever said makeup is useless and dumb doesn't know what he or she is talking about.

Some things that I am doing to remedy the situation:

1. I am using a Clindamycin 2% and Tretinoin 0.05% mix to dry my pimples ASAP.

Remember my war with acne around three, four months ago? It's almost over now. I'm enjoying relatively good skin lately since the pimples have stopped. Well, I still get one or three on occasion but they're not cystic. It means they don't leave a deep mark and it's easier to get rid of them.

Anyway, I have recently re-discovered these acne drying products I bought from the House of Obagi three months ago. I got two new (thankfully small) pimples last week so I needed a quick fix, and thought of giving these Acne Clearing Solutions another chance.

Why another chance? Well, the last time I used them, they dried up my skin quite horribly. My face felt rough, dull, and flaky. After that I swore off using them because it took my skin weeks to recover! But I think I was just applying them incorrectly. I used to pat two squirts of the liquid all over the affected area and, predictably, that area became extremely dry (Duh! Why didn't I think of that earlier). Now I use a cotton bud to apply the product only on the pimple itself.

Works like magic, I tell you. My pimples dry up overnight. That's awesome considering that these Acne Clearing Solutions cost only P500 for one bottle.