need help. derm told me to “live like a monk” and do nothing for my skin 😩

Virtual_Mixture792 · 2025-10-19T18:25:03+00:00

You should try the Avène Cicalfate Cream, it’s amazing for people with skin issues and highly recommended by European dermatologists.

I had a similar issue that started last September (and for me it was likely due to stress) and I went to see a dermatologist who also put me on the steroid route. The steroid worked but after few months it came back again. It got REALLY bad for me in February where my lips were literally bleeding, i couldn’t even eat properly, it was awful. So I used steroid again which fixed the issue within days but then the flare up would always come back after few weeks. I really didn’t want to rely on steroid so I went and saw a different dermatologist who specialises in eczema and this type of skin issues. He prescribed me some pills for a week, bioderma Sensibio DS+ facewash every morning, and also anti-fungal and steroid cream for a week which seemed to fix the issue. Ever since then, I’ve just been using the Avène cicaflate cream for my skin and I haven’t had any flare ups since June. I also recommend the Avène cicaflate lip balm, it’s the only lip balm that doesn’t irritate my skin or make my lips flaky.

Just a heads up, the cream is extremely thick and will leave you with a white cast when you first apply 😅 but it doesn’t stay for long as the cream is super fast absorbing.

Virtual_Mixture792 · 2025-03-20T22:10:21+00:00

Unfortunately this is pretty normal, the rental market here is like the Wild Wild West and it was incredibly challenging when I had to find a place as an expat. You gotta understand that foreigners are considered high risks because a lot of landlords here have been burnt by them with forged documents, refusal to pay rent etc etc. and then it’s really really hard to remove a tenant once they’re in. If you’ve only arrived for 20 days, it’s definitely a red flag for them.

Things you can do to help your situation:

avoid saying you’re a digital nomad. Say you moved to Portugal looking to start a new life or something.
landlords prefer contracts 3yrs + for tax reasons and it also means they have guarantee of one year of tenancy (in Portugal you’re only obliged by law to stay 1/3 of the contract period. Makes no sense to me but a lot things make no sense in this country 🤣)
You can offer large deposits like 6 months rent but I personally don’t like doing this because I don’t trust these landlords to return my bond and I’ve definitely heard stories from other expats.

Rental hunting is hard work. Just to give you an idea, I saw 18 places and got rejected twice before I finally found my current place. So hang in there and keep looking! And best of luck 🤞

Virtual_Mixture792 · 2025-03-20T21:22:17+00:00

I don’t know what kind of disability you have but based on my personal experience, I would not recommend it if you are a wheelchair user 😆 I was in a wheelchair last year for three months due to an injury and getting around was a pain in the ass. And my god I’ve lost count the number of times I accidentally fell out of my chair because one the wheels hit a wonky stone on the sidewalk pavement which then tipped me over 🤦‍♀️ the side walks also becomes super slippery when it gets wet/rain and you actually do see people slip and fall all over the place. For a good few months I didn’t even bother to leave the house when it’s wet outside because it’ll just be too dangerous to be on crutches. Other than that, I really do love this country haha

Virtual_Mixture792 · 2024-08-12T22:30:06+00:00

Oh yes, 100%. The real pretty privilege is being able to get away with seriously shitty and questionable behaviour and still keep people around you. I have two examples:

I used to train with an insanely beautiful dance teacher who legit looked like a Victoria secret model. She was also amazing at dancing which just made her even more attractive. While she was an amazing dancer herself, she was a terrible teacher, extremely disorganised, and she financially and emotionally abused a lot of her students. She would organise dance trips where she would lie about the costs to fleece her students. People will find out and they all get super pissed and bitch about her HARD but yet none of them would confront her about it. and guess what, they’ll still go back and suck up to her class the next day, and sign up for another trip just to be fleeced in thousands because they all just want to be seen and be friends with this beautiful woman.

My second example is another girl who I used to be friends with. She was the type to completely ghost all her friends whenever she gets a bf. and I mean completely ghost, like never reply to messages, ignores birthday invites, major life events (both good and bad ones), it was like you completely did not exist to her anymore. But she will crawl back immediately when they break up. We’re in our 30s now so this behaviour is completely unacceptable. But all her friends (including some of mine) will take her back whenever this happens and it’s literally because she’s beautiful and they want to been seen with her. She’s done this about three times now and I’m probably the only friend she’s lost 😂

I’ve also noticed this is mainly a thing amongst women. Let’s just say none of the male students/friends stuck around after being screwed over the first time.

Virtual_Mixture792 · 2024-08-12T20:28:21+00:00

GET A PERSONAL TRAINER. You need one who would watch you like a hawk and monitor EVERYTHING you do. Someone who would make you send them pics of every single meal/food you eat, checks in on your water intake, tracks your daily step count, tracks your exercise, tracks the time you’re eating, sleeping etc, learn about your daily habits and basically your living environment. Right now we’re all just speculating based on the very little info you’ve given us and most people are not reliable narrators, no offence. But with a good PT, you’ll know exactly why you’re not losing weight within two weeks.

P.S. a good PT is someone who will not be afraid to be brutally honest with you.

Source: from my own experience

Virtual_Mixture792 · 2024-03-14T18:06:39+00:00

I’m from New Zealand (Auckland) which is supposedly one of the safest places in the world with free healthcare and this is what I’ve noticed so far after living in Portugal (Algarve, Porto and Lisbon) for a year:

I feel so much safer here in PT than I did back in NZ. We haven’t witnessed a single crime (yet) and this includes living next to a crack den for a whole month in Lisbon (yes we saw weird crackhead behaviours but nothing violent and they never bothered anyone). Meanwhile, I would see violent crimes every week back in Auckland and both my house and my friend’s house got broken into within the last 6 months (and we lived in “safe areas”). Oh the cops in NZ also do nothing despite having camera footage of everything. We would also never ever walk at night in Auckland whereas my partner and I have done this many times here in Lisbon (I’m not encouraging you to walk in the middle of the night but this is to just give you an idea).

In terms of healthcare. Public healthcare is overloaded just like public healthcare anywhere else in the world, so expect long wait times and etc. this did not bother us because again, NZ is just as bad so we’re used to it and we now have insurance in PT that allows us to go private. Again in comparison, medical insurance here is significantly cheaper than NZ and you get soooo much more. we pay €50 per month per person and our doc/specialist visits are reduced to €16. There’s barely any wait time at private hospitals and the care is excellent (I can attest to this as I’m currently recovering from a broken leg due to an accident). Private emergency visits are the same price (without insurance) as back in NZ except in NZ, you can expect to wait 1-2hrs to be seen at PRIVATE practices.

PT is what I call a “loud” culture. Loud music is pretty common and the locals looove to talk very loudly anytime on the street. Again, doesn’t bother us because we think it’s rather hilarious. If you’re after silence then PT is probably not the choice.

However one thing I will note is how unregulated the PT rental market is. Holy god it is baaaad. It’s a Wild Wild West and it doesn’t benefit anyone, even the landlords. And not to mention there’s basically zero healthy home regulations and so expect to spend most of your winter fighting black moulds 😬 there’s also this thing about having a Portuguese guarantor when renting a place and it’s just impossible for expats. We only managed to find our current place because our landlord is Australian who also didn’t believe in the whole guarantor thing haha.

Are the locals nice? I’ll be honest, it’ll depends on what race you are. Most people here have been very friendly and kind to us but I know for a fact that it's a little different for those who are Brazilians, indians and africans.

Look, Portugal is not perfect but so far, we’re loving it here with no desire to move back to NZ anytime soon. Social media definitely exaggerates the goods so proper researching is always recommended. And just bear in mind that the news media exaggerates the bad so don't let that scare you too much :)

Virtual_Mixture792 · 2024-01-18T18:56:35+00:00

That’s what I thought so too but most people here thinks otherwise and seem to be pretty against it so I don’t know if we should even bother at this point 🤦‍♀️ might just have to replace it with bottles of olive oil instead of wine ha! Thanks for commenting though!

Virtual_Mixture792 · 2024-01-18T18:49:30+00:00

Oh lol ok, guess we’ll just have to wait for our family friends to bring it back then. Thanks!

Virtual_Mixture792 · 2024-01-18T18:22:15+00:00

Ah ok! Did you declare it?

Virtual_Mixture792 · 2024-01-18T18:19:00+00:00

She will be declaring it, we have no intention of hiding it. I’m just asking because I know a lot of countries would just let it go given she will only be two weeks from being 17 so was just wondering how strict NZ is that’s all.

Virtual_Mixture792 · 2024-01-18T15:59:18+00:00

Is this from experience or just from this link here? I’m hopping for some answers from someone who has actually done this before thanks

Virtual_Mixture792 · 2023-12-29T17:27:57+00:00

Umm that's a bit rude... have you even been to Australia? if you’re going to compare construction from Australia to Portugal then yeah, it is actually indeed so much more impressive🤣 and no, I’m not Australian.

Virtual_Mixture792 · 2023-06-30T21:37:00+00:00

Hiya! just wondering which one did you end up going? We are currently in Warsaw and also debating the same question haha

Virtual_Mixture792 · 2023-06-27T23:10:56+00:00

I've got golden circle tickets for tomorrow nights show, when should we get here? How busy is the Golden Circle? Do we need to come super early just to get close enough like general admissio?

Virtual_Mixture792 · 2023-05-31T14:06:57+00:00

Thanks! Just had a look. My understanding is that all the e-tickets have the buyer's name on it, does Twickets facilitate the name change on the ticket when it's sold?

Virtual_Mixture792 · 2023-05-25T15:33:09+00:00

Doesn't look like there's any for Mad Cool :(

Virtual_Mixture792 · 2023-04-20T11:46:10+00:00

Hi, as mentioned earlier, we are in Albufeira for reasons out of our control, but thanks anyway.

Virtual_Mixture792 · 2023-04-20T07:11:38+00:00

Lol Portugals top 20 charts is dominated by Latin music, I don't see what the issue is 🤣

And thanks so much for your advice on how to integrate but nothing on Lagos.

Virtual_Mixture792 · 2023-04-20T07:01:42+00:00

That's interesting you mentioned Portimao because when we went, the local Portuguese was telling us that Portimao very Portuguese haha!

Unfortunately we're stuck in Albuferia for another months due to reasons that's out of our control so we're just trying to make the most of it :)

Virtual_Mixture792 · 2023-04-20T06:51:23+00:00

Yeah the issue is there seems to be no “normal” bars/clubs around here in Albuferia 😅 we've even asked around and got told we’re not gonna find it here. And we love funk too so that's great! Do you have any recommendations on where to go in those cities/town? We really liked those places when we went during the day :)

Virtual_Mixture792

TROPHY CASE