Yet I am here

lifestyle blog

I used to be one of those people, who, when seeing a beautiful three-story house and a happy family in it, thought, that it could never be me, laughing and running in that yard.

I was negative in a way, that when I saw a four thousand euro bag in the mall window, I didn’t even dare to dream about it, because I could never own that.

For some reason, I found myself thinking, that where I am now, is where I will always be. That the situation where I am, will always stay the same.

It’s a wrong kind of thought. Because that means, that I could never go forward.

charlotta eve beauty lifestyle blog

But it’s only human to have those thoughts, and those feelings.

It happens. You find yourself having the same doubts, the same insecurities, day after day. On some days you can silence those thoughts – and you get a glimpse of what could be. But on other days, you need a push outside, to wake you up. And you feel silly for staring at the wall.

It’s hard to see into the future, when your feet are so grounded, almost glued, to present.
You wake up tired, even though you would like to be one of those people, who wake up at 6am, not at all tired, ready to conquer the world.

And what is that, anyway, about conquering the world? Why do we need to conquer that? Isn’t it already conquered?

Can’t I just enjoy the world? I would like to walk on it’s grass, feel it’s heat on my skin and meet it’s people. Yeah, I always think, that I don’t really like people, but I know I’m wrong. I love people. I love how everyone looks different, how everyone laughs different and how everyone has their things. And even when I’m alone, I am comforted by the thought, that I have my closest friends on my Whatsapp.

And now, when I really think of it, with the people I have in my life, I’m exactly where I want to be.

space buns blonde hair

But to get back to accomplishments and things, that sometimes seem so distant and almost impossible to achieve – I’ll say this.

It’s funny.

It’s funny, because right now I’m sitting on my computer, writing, in a home, that I share with the love of my life. I get to drink my coffee freshly roasted from the machine, just like I like it, and it’s one of the things, I will never get bored of. And the weirdest thing really – I am an entrepreneur. I know, that if a young Charlotta could see me now, sitting on our balcony, drinking coffee and smiling to the sun, she would be quite amazed. I ended up here, even though that wasn’t meant to be possible. In front of me is my new DIY-project, even though I was supposed to know nothing about crafting..

I know these are just things, and stuff. But we do dream about things, and stuff as well. At least I do and I did. I’m not as perfect, as to only value feelings and reality. Sometimes it’s easier to point out something, by pointing out something physical, such as my makeup station, which is, yet again, another dream come true.

But to not sound as superficial, let me put it this way.

If that was funny, this is crazy.

Because fifteen years ago, I wondered, what life was gonna be like for me. Was it always gonna be as dull, sad and miserable, as I felt inside? Surely, it had to, since that was what was happening right then. Eleven years ago, I sat in the middle of my classmates, and wondered – would I ever be able to create real connections or was my output too foreign for anyone to understand?

It’s crazy, because I still have to pinch myself to really understand that it all turned out okay. No one told me, how cool is it to be adult, to fall in love with yourself as the years go by, and to understand, that it all went, how it was supposed to go. Who knew, that you would drink wine with your best friend from kindergarten, light candles and imagine it’s autumn together, in the middle of the summer. Who knew, that you could love so many people, and that inevitably, they love you right back. You.

lifestyle blog

This is what I’ve always been waiting for, and here I am now. A while back I went through my wardrobe and bought some new things while putting some things to sale. Today I did some dishes and cleaned up some makeup brushes –  and pretty soon I will go take a run in a cloudy, yet warm weather.

An old text reminded me of something today with this sentence: Remember to smile and to love.

I am one of those people, who stops every once in a while to write, and remembers yet again, why it feels so good to play your favorite songs so loud, no one hears you when you sing along.

It only feels natural, to end this text with a quote, that is written on one of the candles, that sits on our balcony:

Happiness is not a destination
It is a way of life

charlotta eve blog

Hair & photos of me by Susanna Pomèll
Coffee photos by me

I have tried almost everything | Acne & me

hormonal acne blog

So, it’s safe to say I was wrong.

My recent battle towards acne with antibiotics seemed like it was working, and on this post you can see how happy I am with my skin and the results. And for some time, my skin was doing pretty good. I even told everyone about it – how antibiotics cured my acne and how my acne didn’t come back. I was even planning on doing a post about it – a little update on my skin and how it looked even better after the treatment. I didn’t think I would have to do another acne update, but here we are. I feel disappointed, but then again there are people who have gotten help from antibiotics, so maybe I had to try and see for myself. We are all individuals anyway.

As I said, for a long time I felt like my skin was doing amazing. I had some breakouts every once in a while, but I wasn’t stressing about them. There was a pimple or two and then they were gone. There were some major breakouts, but then it all settled down. Then there were more pimples.. and this time, they didn’t seem to go away. I feel like my acne came back super quickly, overnight. Bam, and it was all over my jaw again. Possibly worse, than ever.

I have to admit – seeing these photos for the first time was a shock. Is that really my skin? It sure doesn’t feel like it.

acne hormonal acne my experience  i have tried everything acne

Before I felt super down about the acne. It has been stressful and hard on me mentally. But I have kinda changed the way, that I think about it and how I see myself and how I talk about myself. Acne isn’t the first thing that I see, when I look into the mirror. And obviously, since it’s on my jaw I can’t even see it that well, than if it was on my forehead for example.

Maybe I’m tired of the battle – I don’t want to be at war with myself. I don’t want to waste any energy towards something as boring as acne. I’m focusing on the good things – the skin on my forehead, nose and cheeks. There my skin is beautiful. To me, it’s flawless. And then there are obviously other good things – not just my looks.

acne antibiotics and diet

My skin (and my mood) after the antibiotics.

To sum everything together, I did a little list. I have now tried almost all the ways to treat acne. Including

  • Isotretinoin
    I ate two rounds of some kind of isotretinoin drug – at least I’m pretty sure it was that, or at least one of them was. I can’t be sure, ’cause I can’t remember the names. This was when I was about 13 years old. Those did help a bit on each time, but then again it didn’t, so I’m horrified of ever trying this again.
  • Differin
    This was around my teens too, nope NOPE.
  • Birth control
    This did help and kept the acne at bay for seven years – damn my skin was perrrfect during those years.
  • Acnatac 
    It did help a bit and I blogged about it, read all on Acnatac tag.
  • Antibiotics 
    It did help at the time, but acne came back after. I did monthly posts during my four month treatment, check the Apocyclin tag.
  • Being wheat-free aka gluten free
    It was great for my stomach and maybe it did balance my skin ever so slightly, but it could also be the full moon, so I’m not convinced.
  • Being sugar-free aka ditch the sweets
    There are several times I have tried this for some weeks or maybe a month at a time, but I dread to inform you, that eating sweets every once in a while – say once a week – isn’t the reason for my acne.
  • Being dairy-free
    Now this is interesting. I think being dairy-free does balance my skin a bit. Then again I still get acne, so everything kinda sucks, don’t you think? Okay to be honest I like eating less dairy – it’s good for my health and actually this one makes sense, ’cause dairy can affect hormones and my acne is hormonal. But anyway you must be shocked, but being dairy free didn’t cure my acne.
  • Drinking lots of water
    Honestly?
  • Changing the pillowcase regularly
    I’m just kidding at this point.
  • Coconut oil
    Hahah you’re killing me

I mean, you can not not laugh at this at this point.

There are still some things I haven’t tried. So, let’s hope the next acne post shows the actual solution to my acne, which is clearly hormonal. You can tell my acne is hormonal, ’cause it started right after I quit the pill and it’s on my jaw – the typical place for hormonal acne.

But to get to the point or to end this post the way I want to end it, here’s something that happened: Last Saturday, fresh after sauna, Risto said to me: “You are beautiful” and then he put his hand on my chest right where my heart is and said “and you are beautiful in here too”. And that – ladies and gentlemen – is what matters in life.

acne makeup coverage

In this photo you can see, how my skin looks with makeup. Flawless elsewhere, on my jaw you can see the acne even through makeup.

Feel free to share your experiences with acne! This can be our little peer support place.

PS. I accidentally lost your comments. Thank you all for commenting and sorry!

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