About a year ago I was diagnosed with rosacea, a facial skin disorder characterized by redness on the cheeks, nose, chin or forehead; small visible blood vessels on the face; bumps or pimples on the face; and watery or irritated eyes. I have experienced the redness, the bumps and the small visible blood vessels on the cheeks, but I haven't noticed that much else, but that on the other hand was pretty bad. At some points it really hurt...

Nobody knows why it appears and it has no real cure, but it is possible to control and manage. For me it seems to get worse if I am emotionally stressed out (I think this was how it all started), when I stay out for too long in the sun, and when I have an allergic reaction to something (dogs, horses, hay or pollen). I have also learned that my skin is very sensitive to creams, cleansing products, and make-up. I had to find completely new products and adopt new habits, and I was really happy to discover the exceptionally mild skin care series from French Avène and the mineral make-up from Bare Minerals, even though I'm not using make-up that often. With the help from the medicine I use, a gel, the products from Avène and Bare Minerals, my rosacea, while not having vanished, is most of the time barely noticeable except for an occasional pimple. It's honestly such a relief and very nice to feel the difference from what my skin was like a year ago.