A Love Letter To Louise: The Woman Who Made My Sh*tty Skin Better

I've got shitty skin. Correction: I HAD shitty skin.

During high school hormones kicked in, I spent most evenings on MSN chatting to my teenage crush and I somehow managed to get away with near perfect skin. While a lot of my friends had to deal with the dreaded acne that comes along with finding hair in weird places and just generally feeling like you had no control over your body, I miraculously got a free pass in that department. But before you start thinking "OK shoosh, we get it adolesence was a breeze for you," I'll kindly let you know that I had weird frizzy hair, suspiciously albino eyebrows and I thought you could get away with fake tanning only your legs and not the rest of your body. However, for all those shortcomings I had it pretty good in the skin department.

Cut to last year at the ripe old age of 28 when I came face to face with the devil...ADULT ACNE. Almost overnight I developed big huge cyst-like (sorry for the visuals) blemishes all along my chin and jawline. And sometimes even my forehead - yay! It really threw me. I never expected to be struck down with skin problems at this age. Needless to say I tried every kind of facewash, mask and home remedy on the market. I became a woman obsessed, googling at all hours and without sounding dramatic (ok, that's a lie I'm incredibly dramatic) it started to effect my personal life. I would avoid going out, spending time with friends and I felt like everyone was looking at my awful face. And on top of all that I was having to film my interviews and news for MTV. Let me tell you, it's really not nice thinking the whole *internet* is judging you and your rotten skin. As a result I felt incredibly depressed.

(Me seen above smiling but just a real sad sack on the inside.)

I've never been one to spend lots of money on skincare products or facials but at that point I needed to throw a hail mary so I booked into Face Plus Medispa in Bondi to get this truly f*cked situation on my mug sorted out.

Enter: Louise, the woman that I can only describe as my skin fairy godmother.

As a complete ~day spa~ novice I really wasn't sure what to expect. As soon as I walked in I felt like I was inside what I imagine Gwyneth Paltrow's mind is like. Candles, cucumber water, beautiful coffee table books - the works - invited me in. And then walked through Louise. We discussed at length my issues (both facial and personal - she's a really great listner. Did I mention I'm needy?) and she immediately put into action a three session treatment plan and assured me I would finish up the process feeling better than even. And you know what, I believed her. Completely.

Due to post inflammatory acne scarring and redness she performed an intial HydroPeptide facial and Pumpkin Peel. I'm not exactly sure what they mean but it felt f*cking fantastic and we finished off with a red LED light session for 20 mins. i.e this thing was on my face.

The second time I saw Louise she remarked on how incredible my skin was looking - something I hadn't heard in a very very long time. I truly wanted to cry. After another skin peel and LED light treatment I walked out of there feeling like, yep, this is working. And honestly the change in my personna, my energy levels, my zest for life was palpable. I started going out to long lunches again! I love long lunches!

My third and final session with Louise was bittersweet. She popped a Phyto Peel to clear up the P-acne bacteria in my skin followed by a herbal peel (with something like 1,990 herbs in it - ok that's an embellishment but I felt like some forest pixies had given birth on my face. Which is a really great thing and a sentence I never thought I would type.) Before leaving Louise set me up with a full treatment plan on how I can go about my skincare routing going forward and then we hugged because she truly brought me and my skin back to life. And for that I'll never be able to thank her enough.

I can now say with confidence that my skin has never looked better. My scarring, blemishes, inflammation and redness have all but gone and most importantly my confidence is back. 

If you're going through a rough trot with your skin, I'm gonna save you a lot of anguish and say - JUST GO SEE LOUISE. And tell her I miss her.

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