My beauty arsenal that is :) For the past couple of months I've been switching up my skincare and makeup regime. Firstly cos my charcoal soap just didn't seem to be cutting it anymore - products just don't seem to work on my skin after the 1 year mark. Second, I've been hit by a bout of hormonal acne - I read that this is common at my age. LOL, that just seemed depressing to even write.
Anyways, I've shaken up my skincare regime completely and there were some products that worked/are working and some that didn't seem to be doing much, if at all, for me. I still haven't completely settled on a fixed regime but I'm close. My only concern is that I might have to go through all this again in a year's time.
Right now I'm using the Lush Ocean Salt facial scrub as my twice daily cleanser. The one in the pic above is the small 120g tub I recently got. I still have the 250g my mum helped me get back in July but it's kinda finishing up fast. Yea, I know it's not really a done thing to be exfoliating twice in a day but it seems to be the only thing that is working to reduce my outbreak. I believe it's the sea salt property that is helping to reduce the tiny bumps and a couple of cystic, angry-looking acne that have cropped up on my right cheek and my left temple area. Right now I have 2 healing blemishes on my right cheek, one on my left cheek and a healing blemish on my left temple. Tres annoying. I'm ecstatic that the outbreak on my chin has disappeared and the marks there are barely perceptible (is this even a word?). I can't say that the little bumps have completely dissipated because they haven't but I don't have as many as before and I think that some areas of my face is REALLY, REALLY clear. Though there is this cluster of four minute bumps on my right jawline which is completely annoying me - it's been nearly a month and no amount of Mario Badescu Drying Lotion is making it vamoose :)
Another cleanser that I've been using consistently is the Aveeno Positively Radiant Makeup Remover foam cleanser. I truly like this. It was recommended to me by my eldest sis who was watching a beauty vlog on Youtube and some beauty guru suggested this. I love it cos it really does work well as a makeup remover. I can just use one pump and it gets all the makeup off. I usually follow it up with the Lush Ocean Salt scrub. I don't use this clenaser every day. Just on weekdays when I go to work since I've been using full coverage foundation for the past month and I didn't want to rely on my go-to makeup remover in case it broke me out even worse - Johnson's & Johnson's Baby Oil, lol. I know that it's not a proper remover but it did get all of the gunk off but considering I have oily, acne-prone skin right now, I figured my best bet would be to use a dedicated makeup cleanser and this one from Aveeno got some great reviews.
Toner-wise, I've been switching between the Lush Breath OF Fresh Air, Mario Badescu Special Cucumber Lotion and my old Boots Tea Tree + Witch Hazel. At this moment I've mainly been trying to finish off the Boots toner not only because it's the oldest one on my dresser but because I think this actually does something positive for me. I can't really give a yay or nay for the Mario Badescu Special Cucumber Lotion cos I can't really tell if it is doing anything good for my skin right now. I'll give a clearer definitive opinion once I'm all out of the Boots toner (which will be sometime next week, I predict) cos then I'll really have no other toner to rely on. And the Breath of Fresh Air by Lush seems more like a facial spray than a toner so I've really been using that to set my makeup or for freshening up after a couple hours - I like it as a facial mist but as a toner, I don't think so.
And I've gone back to my personal favourite drugstore brand for my moisturising needs. I'm using the Garnier Skin Naturals Light Overnight Whitening Peeling Cream. Hehehe, the name's a mouthful but if it works, I'll vouch for it. I truly believe that it's been helping to reduce the appearance of the acne scars and speed up the skin healing process. I also tried Palmers Vitamin E serum but I stopped after a few days. I don't think my skin is suited for oil-based serums. I had a similar issue with Bio-Oil last time. When I tried dabbing the oil on my blemishes to promote skin regeneration and healing, it always ends up aggravating the blemish and gives me a reemerging zit. Not cool. So I'm just gonna stick to this Garnier moisturiser. I even use it during daytime even though I own the day version that comes with SPF. Somehow I feel the night cream works better on me. Putting this moisturiser also helps prevent the peeling effect from any acne treatment I use on my blemishes.
Which brings us to the Mario Badescu Drying Lotion. It's basically a pink powdery substance that settles at the bottom of the bottle and is submerged in a liquid that has a strong benzoyl peroxide/salycilic acid property. The trick is to avoid mixing the pink stuff with the liquid. So I usually use a q-tip to extract a bit of the pink powdery stuff and dab it on any blemishes I visibly see or can physically feel. Using this is supposed to dramatically reduce the redness and swelling overnight. The question is: does it really? Well, honestly, yes and no. Perhaps I have more stubborn blemishes but there are time when the lotion only works after 3 days, sometimes even a lil more. And I can't say that the same area doesn't erupt again after treating with this lotion because I'm still having blemishes in the same place. However, I'm gonna blame that on my makeup session with my sis who, while trying to conceal these two particular blemish, really poked them with her concealer brush and I would hazard a guess that that aggravated the skin and thus, zit reappeared! Honestly, I do like it cos it does what it says it does - reduce the swelling and redness - and it does it pretty well. It is perhaps the only Mario Badescu item I would repurchase.
Next in my list of favourites is my new Bubblegum Lip Scrub from Lush. This was part of a gifted Lush haul I got from my friend who works in Oz. She knows I'm kinda a Lush junkie and surprised me with a Lush goodie bag. I love my friends :D Anyways, by nature, I have very dry lips. No amount of water that I drink helps to compensate for this. This is a major reason why I avoid wearing lipstick altogether cos it just looks horrible when my lips dry out. At that point, no amount of balm will be of any help. But now, I exfoliate every morning with this simply scrumptious sugar lip polish and after letting the sugar granules melt into my lips (or I "accidentally" lick them off) I'm left with soft smooth canvas ready for some colour. Admittedly, I've been using this a lot cos the taste is kinda addictive, lol.
And I also recently purchased this Stila Convertible Lip Color in the shade blush bloom from Strawberrynet. Basically it's a double ended lipstick/rouge stick. One end is for sheer coverage while the other end is for a matte look. The sheer goes on like one of those coloured lip balms and basically complements your natural lip colour while the matte gives a more fuller coverage - you actually look like you're wearing lipstick as opposed to a barely there hint of it. Personally, I prefer to use the sheer for my lips and swipe the matte for my cheeks. Yup, you can use this as a cheek stain as well. The shade blush bloom is a muted burgundy-like hue and I find it's really pretty with my skintone despite the fact I am in the warm/light dark category. My only complaint is that the tube of lippie ALWAYS rubs off at the top of the tube and I end up with lip colour on the rim. Now, I usually don't even bother to twist the lippie up and just swipe the colour off of the rim.
I've been using the Revlon PhotoReady Foundation in medium beige for about one month now and I think I've mentioned that this is a great foundation to provide a natural, complimentary coverage for my currently problematic skin. I don't even need more than one pump of this to get an even, full coverage. One of the good things about this foundation is that although it is a full coverage foundation, it applies feeling light. You don't really feel as if you have heavy makeup on - in fact you look like you have naturally clear, glowy skin. Yup, this foundation gives off a nice glow. It says it gives an airbrushed quality. It's good coverage but after using the Temptu, I'd say that it falls a little short on that claim. I love it all the same and have already ordered my second bottle from Walmart the other day. Also, it has SPF 20 and anything that provides coverage AND sun protection is a clear winner in my book. I think that due to the SPF, it has helped to reduce the pigmentation on the blemishes since the sun's rays can't reach the skin easily. This might be another reason my scars have been quicker to clear.
I've never really commented on deodorants before but I've been using this Rexona Naturals Bioprotection deodorant stick for a month and a half now. I like how it contains natural ingredients. As I'm made to be more aware of the chemicals contained in beauty products, I am trying to go a more natural/organic route. It's not always a hit but I'm when I find products that work, it feels good. Anyways, it does provide long protection though I can't 100% vouch for the 24-hr claim :) The scent is really clean and fresh, like good-smelling soap even. Also has a very green vibe :D
Up next is the Lush Happy Hippy shampoo/shower gel. I haven't used this on my hair cos I haven't had to but as a shower gel, I LOVE IT. This is also from the gifted Lush goodie bag and I was pleasantly surprised by this selection by my friend. It is a grapefruit scent that is best used in the mornings on working weekdays as the fresh, citrus smell will give you a boost. And it leaves the bathroom smelling simply gorgeous, hehehe. I really would repurchase this. The consistency of the gel is thick but it lathers well. It doesn't really foam up but more like suds lightly. I read that the best kinds of shower gels are those that don't foam a lot anyways. This will look like it'll leave a filmy residue but it washes off easily and you'll be left with a really great lingering scent on your skin. I believe it goes best with a shower puff since a little squeeze of the bottle creates a good lather. On the packaging it's described as: Mellow yellow hair and body gel with freshly squeezed grapefruits - Just the thing for centralising your aura. I agree in that it does leave you feeling relaxed and calm and awake :) Plus it's vegan which falls in line with my organic/natural thing I'm trying to incorporate into my life.
I also tried the Pop In The Bath bubble bar which is also courtesy of my friend. I put in a lil bit under half of the bar and it really suds up great. I got a lot of bubbles for my bath and its apparently scented with a bergamot, lemon and mandarin aroma though I found it to be more of a sweet vanilla smell, lol. I definitely could not make out a trace of citrus. But then again, I am not a perfumer and I was taking this bath at 2:30 am while listening to Oz and 1st-To-Marry chit chat so I wasn't truly concentrating on the smell. The bath experience was relaxing and really pleasant though!
Ok, that's about it on the latest favourites in my beauty treasure chest. I have to skedaddle cos the whole house is going out for lunch together at 12:30 and I have to clean off the drying lotion from my face :P Toodles!
Anyways, I've shaken up my skincare regime completely and there were some products that worked/are working and some that didn't seem to be doing much, if at all, for me. I still haven't completely settled on a fixed regime but I'm close. My only concern is that I might have to go through all this again in a year's time.
Right now I'm using the Lush Ocean Salt facial scrub as my twice daily cleanser. The one in the pic above is the small 120g tub I recently got. I still have the 250g my mum helped me get back in July but it's kinda finishing up fast. Yea, I know it's not really a done thing to be exfoliating twice in a day but it seems to be the only thing that is working to reduce my outbreak. I believe it's the sea salt property that is helping to reduce the tiny bumps and a couple of cystic, angry-looking acne that have cropped up on my right cheek and my left temple area. Right now I have 2 healing blemishes on my right cheek, one on my left cheek and a healing blemish on my left temple. Tres annoying. I'm ecstatic that the outbreak on my chin has disappeared and the marks there are barely perceptible (is this even a word?). I can't say that the little bumps have completely dissipated because they haven't but I don't have as many as before and I think that some areas of my face is REALLY, REALLY clear. Though there is this cluster of four minute bumps on my right jawline which is completely annoying me - it's been nearly a month and no amount of Mario Badescu Drying Lotion is making it vamoose :)
Another cleanser that I've been using consistently is the Aveeno Positively Radiant Makeup Remover foam cleanser. I truly like this. It was recommended to me by my eldest sis who was watching a beauty vlog on Youtube and some beauty guru suggested this. I love it cos it really does work well as a makeup remover. I can just use one pump and it gets all the makeup off. I usually follow it up with the Lush Ocean Salt scrub. I don't use this clenaser every day. Just on weekdays when I go to work since I've been using full coverage foundation for the past month and I didn't want to rely on my go-to makeup remover in case it broke me out even worse - Johnson's & Johnson's Baby Oil, lol. I know that it's not a proper remover but it did get all of the gunk off but considering I have oily, acne-prone skin right now, I figured my best bet would be to use a dedicated makeup cleanser and this one from Aveeno got some great reviews.
Toner-wise, I've been switching between the Lush Breath OF Fresh Air, Mario Badescu Special Cucumber Lotion and my old Boots Tea Tree + Witch Hazel. At this moment I've mainly been trying to finish off the Boots toner not only because it's the oldest one on my dresser but because I think this actually does something positive for me. I can't really give a yay or nay for the Mario Badescu Special Cucumber Lotion cos I can't really tell if it is doing anything good for my skin right now. I'll give a clearer definitive opinion once I'm all out of the Boots toner (which will be sometime next week, I predict) cos then I'll really have no other toner to rely on. And the Breath of Fresh Air by Lush seems more like a facial spray than a toner so I've really been using that to set my makeup or for freshening up after a couple hours - I like it as a facial mist but as a toner, I don't think so.
And I've gone back to my personal favourite drugstore brand for my moisturising needs. I'm using the Garnier Skin Naturals Light Overnight Whitening Peeling Cream. Hehehe, the name's a mouthful but if it works, I'll vouch for it. I truly believe that it's been helping to reduce the appearance of the acne scars and speed up the skin healing process. I also tried Palmers Vitamin E serum but I stopped after a few days. I don't think my skin is suited for oil-based serums. I had a similar issue with Bio-Oil last time. When I tried dabbing the oil on my blemishes to promote skin regeneration and healing, it always ends up aggravating the blemish and gives me a reemerging zit. Not cool. So I'm just gonna stick to this Garnier moisturiser. I even use it during daytime even though I own the day version that comes with SPF. Somehow I feel the night cream works better on me. Putting this moisturiser also helps prevent the peeling effect from any acne treatment I use on my blemishes.
Which brings us to the Mario Badescu Drying Lotion. It's basically a pink powdery substance that settles at the bottom of the bottle and is submerged in a liquid that has a strong benzoyl peroxide/salycilic acid property. The trick is to avoid mixing the pink stuff with the liquid. So I usually use a q-tip to extract a bit of the pink powdery stuff and dab it on any blemishes I visibly see or can physically feel. Using this is supposed to dramatically reduce the redness and swelling overnight. The question is: does it really? Well, honestly, yes and no. Perhaps I have more stubborn blemishes but there are time when the lotion only works after 3 days, sometimes even a lil more. And I can't say that the same area doesn't erupt again after treating with this lotion because I'm still having blemishes in the same place. However, I'm gonna blame that on my makeup session with my sis who, while trying to conceal these two particular blemish, really poked them with her concealer brush and I would hazard a guess that that aggravated the skin and thus, zit reappeared! Honestly, I do like it cos it does what it says it does - reduce the swelling and redness - and it does it pretty well. It is perhaps the only Mario Badescu item I would repurchase.
Next in my list of favourites is my new Bubblegum Lip Scrub from Lush. This was part of a gifted Lush haul I got from my friend who works in Oz. She knows I'm kinda a Lush junkie and surprised me with a Lush goodie bag. I love my friends :D Anyways, by nature, I have very dry lips. No amount of water that I drink helps to compensate for this. This is a major reason why I avoid wearing lipstick altogether cos it just looks horrible when my lips dry out. At that point, no amount of balm will be of any help. But now, I exfoliate every morning with this simply scrumptious sugar lip polish and after letting the sugar granules melt into my lips (or I "accidentally" lick them off) I'm left with soft smooth canvas ready for some colour. Admittedly, I've been using this a lot cos the taste is kinda addictive, lol.
And I also recently purchased this Stila Convertible Lip Color in the shade blush bloom from Strawberrynet. Basically it's a double ended lipstick/rouge stick. One end is for sheer coverage while the other end is for a matte look. The sheer goes on like one of those coloured lip balms and basically complements your natural lip colour while the matte gives a more fuller coverage - you actually look like you're wearing lipstick as opposed to a barely there hint of it. Personally, I prefer to use the sheer for my lips and swipe the matte for my cheeks. Yup, you can use this as a cheek stain as well. The shade blush bloom is a muted burgundy-like hue and I find it's really pretty with my skintone despite the fact I am in the warm/light dark category. My only complaint is that the tube of lippie ALWAYS rubs off at the top of the tube and I end up with lip colour on the rim. Now, I usually don't even bother to twist the lippie up and just swipe the colour off of the rim.
I've been using the Revlon PhotoReady Foundation in medium beige for about one month now and I think I've mentioned that this is a great foundation to provide a natural, complimentary coverage for my currently problematic skin. I don't even need more than one pump of this to get an even, full coverage. One of the good things about this foundation is that although it is a full coverage foundation, it applies feeling light. You don't really feel as if you have heavy makeup on - in fact you look like you have naturally clear, glowy skin. Yup, this foundation gives off a nice glow. It says it gives an airbrushed quality. It's good coverage but after using the Temptu, I'd say that it falls a little short on that claim. I love it all the same and have already ordered my second bottle from Walmart the other day. Also, it has SPF 20 and anything that provides coverage AND sun protection is a clear winner in my book. I think that due to the SPF, it has helped to reduce the pigmentation on the blemishes since the sun's rays can't reach the skin easily. This might be another reason my scars have been quicker to clear.
I've never really commented on deodorants before but I've been using this Rexona Naturals Bioprotection deodorant stick for a month and a half now. I like how it contains natural ingredients. As I'm made to be more aware of the chemicals contained in beauty products, I am trying to go a more natural/organic route. It's not always a hit but I'm when I find products that work, it feels good. Anyways, it does provide long protection though I can't 100% vouch for the 24-hr claim :) The scent is really clean and fresh, like good-smelling soap even. Also has a very green vibe :D
Up next is the Lush Happy Hippy shampoo/shower gel. I haven't used this on my hair cos I haven't had to but as a shower gel, I LOVE IT. This is also from the gifted Lush goodie bag and I was pleasantly surprised by this selection by my friend. It is a grapefruit scent that is best used in the mornings on working weekdays as the fresh, citrus smell will give you a boost. And it leaves the bathroom smelling simply gorgeous, hehehe. I really would repurchase this. The consistency of the gel is thick but it lathers well. It doesn't really foam up but more like suds lightly. I read that the best kinds of shower gels are those that don't foam a lot anyways. This will look like it'll leave a filmy residue but it washes off easily and you'll be left with a really great lingering scent on your skin. I believe it goes best with a shower puff since a little squeeze of the bottle creates a good lather. On the packaging it's described as: Mellow yellow hair and body gel with freshly squeezed grapefruits - Just the thing for centralising your aura. I agree in that it does leave you feeling relaxed and calm and awake :) Plus it's vegan which falls in line with my organic/natural thing I'm trying to incorporate into my life.
I also tried the Pop In The Bath bubble bar which is also courtesy of my friend. I put in a lil bit under half of the bar and it really suds up great. I got a lot of bubbles for my bath and its apparently scented with a bergamot, lemon and mandarin aroma though I found it to be more of a sweet vanilla smell, lol. I definitely could not make out a trace of citrus. But then again, I am not a perfumer and I was taking this bath at 2:30 am while listening to Oz and 1st-To-Marry chit chat so I wasn't truly concentrating on the smell. The bath experience was relaxing and really pleasant though!
Ok, that's about it on the latest favourites in my beauty treasure chest. I have to skedaddle cos the whole house is going out for lunch together at 12:30 and I have to clean off the drying lotion from my face :P Toodles!
