Fighting the Good Fight: Pigmentation

I've been dying to write this post for weeks now but I couldn't because I actually had to be patient. <-- the worst.

So lately, and especially towards the end of the summer, I have been seeing a ton of pigmentation on my face. As you know, I always wear SPF and I avoid the sun as much as possible. However, after a few cocktails at the pool, it's a bit hard to always stay in the shade, let's be serious. Hence, sun spots would appear (which is pigmentation.) Some people might call them freckles but I didn't have them when I was a kid, so the fact that I have them now means that those spots aren't cute, girl-next-door-freckles. Those bitches are sun damage.

Problem with pigmentation (which can also occur in larger patches due to hormones, stress, pregnancy, and of course, sun exposure. This is called melasma. Click HERE if you want to see some pics of what I mean) is that it's a BITCH to get rid of. It takes patience and time and good products. Because I have sensitive skin, I've stayed away from Retin A and professional chemical peels; both make your skin flake off so that your skin can regrow which in theory that sounds great, but I'm not trying to walk around in public like a flaky disgusting mess. So I've opted for a different strategy.

Enter Origins Mega-Bright Dark Spot Correcting Serum:

The active ingredients are citric acids, licorice and rose. I've always used a Vitamin C serum to combat pigmentation, to exfoliate dead skin cells which promote new cell growth and gives an overall brightening effect. But towards the end of the summer, ish was just not working anymore and I needed something else. I researched and found the above serum and it had great reviews. I've been diligent about using it twice a day for the past 6 weeks and take a look at the photos below.

Left is before, right is after

(PS: These pics were all taken the same time of day, using the same light)

Not bad, right? The bottle isn't quite finished yet so I'll keep using it and keep you guys posted.

Oh, another thing to note: I use the serum along with my beloved Philosophy peel, below. I use this peel about once a week because it's both a physical and chemical exfoliant so I don't want to over do it and completely damage my skin.

Moral of the story is that using the Origins serum twice a day plus this peel once a week can really fuck some pigmentation UP.