My Acne Treatment Journey

I used to have a very bad acne infection. When I came to Australia 4 years ago, for the first time in record, my skin started to become reddish with all the dots and yellowish acne. I let it be for months, thought it could be just a random breakouts, and in the end, acne virus just spread all over my face, and it looked exactly like my picture below. Imagine that on both sides of your face. HOW SAD WAS THAT ???? And the most sad part was, I didn't do anything to fix it except for changing my facial products cause I thought that was the initial problem that my face had. 

I cried in the morning when I woke up to this face. I thought I looked fugly but I still did not go and see doctor. I waited for more than half a year, and went to see a dermatologist when I was back in my home country for the first time. I was encouraged by a friend's mother who know my skin specialist in Malaysia, he  is a very very good skin doctor, perhaps I think he is the best dermatologist ever. He scolded me for not getting my face treated with a specialist ASAP when I noticed the seriousness. I was diagnosed with seasonal acne infection and this was my skin condition when I first started the treatment.

My doctor gave me a 4 months anti-biotics, called Doxyclycines, (as i could remember Doxycyclines are used to kill the bacteria or virus of the acne). He also gave me few tubes of Stieva-A 0.025% cream, which as far as I know it is the lowest percentage for a topical acne treatment. I took the anti-biotics, one capsule a day, and it must, MUST BE taken right after dinner. As in, your stomach must not be empty. and apparently, some people can't take the antibiotics as it has very strong negative effects and it is a prescribed medicine. My friend used to take it for a week and it upsets her stomach till she vomited the whole week. I had a few experience with vomiting as well cause I didn't take it right after my meal and stupidly thought that it was okay to take without meal once in a while but IT WASN'T OKAY. I PUKED. so take your instruction seriously when it comes to medicine. I also applied the Stieva-A cream every night without missed. But I started with applying it by once in two days, or skipping one day (if that makes more sense) cause it dries up my face really badly when I first started using it. And I think they stop selling this Stieva-A brands anymore, a more common one nowadays is Differin or Retin-A.  

oh and another side reminder, always always always always apply sun block during the day time. regardless indoor or outdoor, sunblock is a must to protect your skin from aging and also dark spots that cause from the UV rays. I am using this Cetaphil everyday moisturizer with SPF50, cause I think this suits me best. I tried Clinique City Block SPF 40 before, it is also very good but because this Cetaphil also acts as a moisturizer and its much much cheaper than the Clinique one, so the asian in me choose to use Cetaphil haha!

After 12months treatment, TADDAAAAAA !!! My almost perfect skin !!!! and honestly, until today, I am still using the Stieva-A cream every night, basically that's my night cream. I still have my last tube and might need to hunt for an alternative cream as Stieva-A is not on the market anymore :( #SOBS

HEHEHEHHE see this is my confident selfie photo. I am really really thankful that I met my doctor, truly my life savor. Without him, I will still be the girl that has very very bad skin and spam inches of foundation and has very low confidence in herself . Not to say that now I am very confident la but having a good skin really really boosts one's confidence up. SO GIRLS AND BOYS, GO AND SEE A SPECIALIST if you have any skin problem before its too late !!! Don't wait !!!

Good Luck. 

xx Jo xx

Words

Be strong :)

Everyone that had been hurt would definitely understand the feeling of heart broken. Usually, a sour ending of previous relationship will bring one person into a sad phase, and if it is serious, sinking into depression is possible. But don't worry, you are not alone. I believe many of us had the experience of heart broken pain before, but you just have to remember, keep your feet together, keep walking, your heart might not be able to take it now, but your feet are stronger than you thought. 

Sometimes it is not about how much it hurts, its about the disappointment that you had after you put ten millions of hope and faith but in the end it gave you nothing but a broken trust. And sometimes it is about the companionship that you used to have when you were in a relationship, and when you lost it, you feel like your life lost a piece of puzzle. and sometimes, it is just memories that still stay in your head. And sometimes, its the dream that has been manipulated in the relationship, and suddenly when everything didn't work, your only dream will just be gone forever. Its like the footprints that you left by the shore, once the wave came and its varnished forever. and that, is the saddest part of everything.

All you need to do is to find a new direction, find a new dream, and start moving to get there. Regardless it is a big or small dream, like losing that 10 pounds, be prettier, to get a doctor degree, saving 10k in your bank account, or going to places that you have always dreamed to go. So stop crying, now is the time to start taking your first step to make it happen. It is hard at the first place, but all these things will get you distracted from the mindfking memories, it will stop you from thinking of the pain, it will help you move on with your life. Trust me, when you are in the middle of making your new dream, you will find yourself much contented and hell happier than before.

Once a relationship breaks, it is forever broken. You can't bend it back to normal. Once you make a wound, there is forever a scar. All you can do is to keep walking forward, everything will be fine, tomorrow will be better, time is the only healer. Depression only takes a tiny small phase in your life. Just keep walking, you will soon the light. And this is me, speaking based on my own experience, and now I am all well and recovered. Depression is not a shameful thing to admit (I used to be embarrassed about it), even I can do it, You can it too. 

Don't give up.

Have faith in life.

God loves you more than you know.

+ +

#OOTD FOR LAST WEEK

There is nothing very interesting going on in my life, I have been really busy in working on my dream,and my part time work and bla bla blah.. Plus these two weeks were like the busiest weeks of my uni, three assignments due on the same week and one presentation this week. Even though I am a real busy bee, I never forget to take picture of my #ootd pictures I am such a committed blogger LOL

This is what I wore on Monday, cause I was really busy so I have no time to dress up obviously, so going simple is the key element in this week dressing LOL *keyelement* what a word.

Wore a pair of extremely skinny jeans (doesn't look that skinny in the picture), matched it with a mint green button shirt that has gold color collar tipped at the end (i think i blogged about this shirt before lol) and of course another oversized pullover to make it more hipster looking ! hipster hipster hipster ftw!

oh and a pair of vintage brown loafer and the hipster look is complete yeepie !

NEXT, I need to go to uni and go to work after uni, so t shirts and jeggings for some comfort ! Wore my favorite kurt cobain t-shirt yayyy and to make it look more fashionable, or maybe more hipster looking, I folded the sleeves up, what do you think ? HAH, checked on the mirror and still looked dull cause its just a t-shirt duh, so I wear a knitted hat and a maroon color ankle boots. But I am going simple on working day anyway so simple is more? HAHAHAHHAHA

Heh, and another cold day came, another simple outfit that I wore: A white tank top with brown wool cardigan and a boyfriend jeans (from witchery) and of course a scarf for cold day, and it has to be a red one. Cause red goes with white. Cause I said so. HAHA. tadaa, folded the bottom of the jeans of course, to make it look more trendy and fun or else why'd you think I like to fold so much ?! LOL sounds wrong *I like to fold* HAHAHAHHA 

And then, Saturday is here !!! Of course, being a typical youngster, Saturday night is party night, I would not miss out all the fun of being young babe hehehhee . So I went out to a friend's birthday party, went to town, went to a bar with full of whites and we were the only table with all asians, drank wine, and TOOK PICTURES ! 

So this is what I wore: A pencil skirt (very tight cause I wanna look more slutty in club lol) and a chiffon loose top boink wore my most expensive Gianvitto Rossi heels with Valentino studded clutch , boink. and snap, take picture again. 

Taddaa, another snap, picture time ! This is my only full body length picture for my outfit on that night and I thought I looked good so ya, enjoy ! hehehe and my friend looked gorgeous on her mint green plaited skirt as well ! She knows what suits her best :D

Lastly, no selfie photo this time! enjoy reading guys :D

lotsoflove, 

xx Jo Anne xx

What to wear ?

The first thing I think of when I wake up is "WHAT TO WEAR". No matter what occasions, plans, events, themed parties, or just going to uni and work, I will for sure get a headache and also because of that, I am always late, especially morning classes haha #firstworldgirlproblem it seems. 

I am sure every girl has the same problem as me every morning, so I decided to make a post about what to wear for uni or part time work or you can call it casual street style wear or whateverz you like. 

What I wore: A white collared shirt with black polkadots where I got at an extremely cheap price back in Malaysia but the material is really good, SCORE ! It was a tad bit of cold yesterday, so I put on a dark brown knitted pull over, which is the key piece that makes my whole look appears more fashionable UISEH hahahahahha calling myself fashionable so no shame. 

I go with my favorite pair of denim highwaisted shorts, and wore leggings cause it was cold, and if you want to achieve a slimmer legs, put on a pair of black leggings, it will for sho work the magic :D 

chaching !! my full body #ootd look but the picture appears to be blurry cause of my dirty mirror LOL please don't judge I will clean it soon my room and wardrobe are very messy right now eeek

HEHEHHEE this picture is so not related to this post, but it is still a trendable picture right HAHAHAHA 

I really really love this mustache beanie, it is really cute !!! and cheap !! If you happen to reside in Australia, better be quick and go grab in from Jay Jays its only $5 ! Even if you won't wear it its still worth to buy it for instagram purpose HAHAHHAA but this beanie does keep you warm, cause it covers till your ear and it really can make you look extra cute with only 5 dollars thing, so why not invest on one right? 

ok this is another What I Wore picture, but it looks a bit grainy I don't know what happened to my camera :(  I got the top from Bangkok also another steal, I think it was only 200 Thai Baht so its equivalent to 6 AUD? I know don't be jealous I get all the good deals when I shop hehehehe

I accessories this look with a chunky necklace I got from DIVA Australia for $18, it is not expensive but in comparison to my other cheap stuff, my necklace seems expensive hahaha even the pale blue brogue shoes that I wore was only $5 as well !! HAHAHAHAHA I am a true asian in heart and soul

TADAAAA, another selfie photo I took this morning, right after I dolled myself up with tonnes of make ups and hair products LOL and to be frank, I took 10 selfie photos but only dare to post one cause I think I need to show some decency to be less shameless cause not many people would want to see my face LOL

and lastly, this ain't a DUCK FACE 

have fun reading guys

with love, 

x Jo Anne x

Marching into autumn

ITS AUTUMN YAYYYYY so its blazer time ! Just had a major spring cleaning of my wardrobe and took out all the blazers that had been frozen over the summer hehehhe i am trying to be funny but not that funny actually lol

This is what I normally wear for autumn, well at least starting of autumn when the weather is at the midst warm and cold. Guess today I got the wrong idea of autumn in Hobart. It was freezing colddddd this morning (less than 10 degrees) when I went out this morning . It looked sunny but too bad I overestimated the sun :(
Here is a picture collage of my lookbook attempt with no filters or effects or whatsoever so I looked kinda ugly well life goes on 

Wore ASOS green blazer with a brown button top match with a pair of black leggings. Here is a small tip for you girls, if you wake up and not sure what to wear, go for blazer and leggings, these two things will never ever GO WRONG. Trust me. These two things are the essentials in my wardrobe. Its a must have ! Leggings, you don't need me to say more, its very comfortable and definitely won't look ugly with anything , except that you choose something colorful or stripey kind. But a friendly reminder, a very important point that you have to be aware of what you choose for your top to go with your leggings. Remember to choose a longer top, long enough to cover your camel toe/v-jayjay lol so that you won't embarrass yourself HEHEH cause people do notice ! DO NOT BE A FASHION CONVICT ! lol

an up-close photo of my outfit but I look fat WTF have been eating a lot these few days cause I had visitors over the easter holiday week so today is my last day of cheat week !! gonna go back to my gym routine and be slim again #lesigh why are we so self-conscious :(

one last picture, definitely a non-fashion related photo HAHAHAHAHAH since its my last day of cheat week, I CAN HAZ DESSERTS ! I found a new heaven in the city, called Darcy & Darci, will do a post about the place I LOVE MACAROONS hahahahhaha

ok got to go now to continue with my essay, and I was just trying to make a #lookbook kind of picture collage (only applicable to first picture) sorry for the low quality photos hope you enjoy !

cheers

x Jo Anne x

H A P P I N E S S

It's been a while that... I am this happy !! All the happy news keeps coming in to my life, I feel so blessed. It's time to thank god hehheehe

I can't believe my life is so eventful and it is unbelievable that I could love my life more than before.

I will update more about my life this week but that was last week's party photos and I forgot to take a head to toe picture to show my outfit sorry guys I was rushing before I go out so no #ootd pictures .

I went for a friends birthday party at a rather hipster hang out bar in the city called Jack Green. It's a new place but I forgot to take picture of the place but I went there for brunch before so I think I still have a few pictures from back then so maybe I will dig out the pictures to paste it here hehe

I looked fat in this outfit but since it was st Patrick's day so I wore a green top just to match with the theme :)

A mustard color knee length pencil skirt to fit the look tadaaaa hehehe nice right the colors combination hhee I paired it with a colorful chunky necklace so I won't look so dull ( actually I was just greedy for being the center of attention lol ) .

Anyway, enjoy reading guys will post about what happened in my life this week. I swear if my life were to be made into a video, it would be like those Chinese/hongkong movie (I meant tvb if you are Malaysian or hongkie). I could say, I had bad days that made my good days perfect :)

Hehehe ok ciao guys hope you guys enjoy my this fashion non-related post

Have fun for the weekend !

Love xx