Melasma anyone?

Apparently at some point during pregnancy my body responded with a “hell yes” to this question!   Wondering what Melasma is?  Does the term “pregnancy mask” spark any type of recognition?  I read a little about this while I was pregnant but never looked into it.  I guess I really should have.  Two years later, after giving birth to Alivia, I have been battling with what I thought were age or sun spots when all this time it was Melasma! 

I was in search of a color corrector with my mom last night after I’d exhausted all concealer products for hiding my discoloration where a MAC consultant and Aesthetician in Macy’s told me it looked like I had pregnancy mask!  The minute she said “pregnancy mask”, it was like a light bulb went on over my head.   I just knew she was right and immediately wondered how I could not have realized this myself.  I could hardly wait to get home to start googling away on the ol’ laptop for confirmation.  It only took about several minutes to find image after image of what looked exactly like the spots on my face!  It was quite a relief to finally give it a name.  Now I could treat it correctly.  Or could I?  Apparently there were only few treatments and some not even 100% effective!  A little discouraging to say the least.  Not only that, but I learned that UVA and UVB rays make it considerably worse and here I’ve been in the sun these last two vacations with only a measly sun protection factor of 15 on my face!  No wonder why it’s been so noticeable! 

What boggles my mind though?  The fact that pregnancy mask is supposed to go away once you deliver the child.  Not so much in my case.  I’ve also read that oral contraceptives can contribute to Melasma as well and am wondering if that is why I haven’t been able to get rid of it.  I plan on making an appointment with my Primary Care Physician to find out what’s going on.  Maybe a different birth control pill would do the trick?  Not so sure, but I’m hopeful (sort of). 

In the meantime, I thought I’d share a few pictures with you so that you could see what I’m talking about.  These are unedited photos of my naked face so be kind.  I covered my eye area so you wouldn’t have to see my un-plucked eyebrows.  Trust me, it’s NOT pretty! 

These first two pictures are of the spots on my forehead.  It looks a little like dirt.  In fact, I’ve actually had someone say you have dirt on your face.  Yep, that was a great day folks!

This next picture is of the spots on my cheeks and bridge of my nose.  I have major issues with the spots around the sides of my eyes but I couldn’t get a good picture to share.  It’s difficult to catch them on camera.  If I had to make a realistic guess, I’d say that they are about two and half times more prominent in person. 

They wouldn’t be such a pain in the behind if they were easily concealed, but NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!  It’s amazing how much they show right through concealer!  I’ll tell you what I did find though.  MAC Prep & Prime Highlighter (color corrector) in Light Boost.  I really wish I took some pictures of myself after the MAC Consultant gave my spots a little makeover.  Although I didn’t know I was going to write a post about this at that time.  Anyhow, she applied the light boost highlighter under the Pro Longwear Concealer and then blended it well with Studio Careblend Pressed Powder.  She also recommended the Fix + spray to soften and blend the makeup better and the Prep & Prime Skin Brightening Serum as a treatment.  I noticed she used a cosmetic brush to tap product onto the spots where I’d normally use a sponge.  It makes sense that a sponge would just absorb the product where a brush would keep it on top of the skin.  It’s amazing how the application is almost more important than the actual product itself.  I  feel like this has a lot to do with why it created such nice and even coverage!  For those that are interested, she used a #242 brush to apply my corrector and #224 to apply the concealer.

The only reason I didn’t purchase any of these products yet is because I haven’t visited any other cosmetic counters other than MAC and I want to make sure there isn’t something better out there.  Once I narrow it down to a few products, I’ll be sure to publish  a follow-up post and share my findings. 

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On an ending note, I’d like to link up the photo below to the following photo challenges.

As wonderful as vacation in Cape Cod was, it’s nice to be back blogging and participating in photo challenges!  Love the back of my baby’s neck and those curls in her ponytail!  Mwwuuuaaaa!  In case you’re wondering, that’s supposed to be the noise a kiss makes!

Also, another BIG THANKS to last week’s guest bloggers that posted in my absence!  You ladies ROCK! 

Skye from First Time Mama - First Time Blogger
Becky from Finding my Creativity
Kyna from Great Expectations

I’m lucky I was able to publish posts at all while I was away since our room had a VERY weak internet connection.  Sorry to leave you hanging on Thursday and Friday with no posts!  I have some great stuff planned for this week to make up for it!