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Mario Badescu Facial Spray – Aloe, Herbs, Rosewater

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Mario Badescu Facial Spray Rose

I looove this stuff. I’m not sure why. It’s another case of “is it doing anything?”. I don’t know if it is, but it sure makes my face feel better.

I spritz this stuff on after I get out of the shower, or after I wash off my makeup — so, I use it both morning and night. It smells GREAT — like roses, of course, as the label would imply. This isn’t something that I would use in place of a moisturizer, although the aloe certainly does provide some moisturizing aspect, but it does give the skin a little boost prior to putting the next layer on.

The website says something about “dewy radiance” and “boosts … glow”. I mean, of course, you basically just spritzed yourself with water, so of course you’re going to have a glow for a minute or two. But once it absorbs, it doesn’t quite stick around. Sure does feel pretty soothing, though.

I can’t really tell if there’s been any long-term benefit from using it, and unfortunately that rose water smell kind of, wears off after a few minutes. But for a quick boost and the “first layer” after washing your face, this is great, especially at the price point of $5. And since the ingredient list is pretty minimalistic, it has no adverse effect on my skin — no breakouts! I just picked up the cucumber and green tea spray the other day at Ulta, so I’ll see how that one stacks up compared to this.  ~A

Grab this refreshing pick-me-up here: https://amzn.to/2RhFxtV

Perceived efficacy: 4/5

Longevity: n/a (I don’t know if longevity is what this product is going for, really… I mean, it’s basically fancy water)

How much I actually like this product: 4.8/5 (if only that wonderful smell just lasted a liiiiittle longer!)

Recommended for sensitive skin: Yes

Wet n Wild Color Icon Eyeshadow Trio

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Wet n Wild Eyeshadow

Eyeshadow has never really been my thing, but once in awhile, I decide that I want to dip my toes back into the eyeshadow arena. The idea is, if I go for one of these little Wet n Wild cheapie eyeshadows, then I can figure out my color and then move onto a higher-end product. I should have learned my lesson after almost a decade of doing this, that Wet n Wild eyeshadows unfortunately still fall into that category of “makeup you would buy for your twelve year old”, and ultimately turn me away from the idea of eyeshadow.

The foam applicator they provide is more or less garbage, the foam tends to rip through even after light use, and the “brush” has bristles that are hard plastic, too painful to use — so use your own brushes!

I swiped some primer on just to get some staying power since I know, from past experience, that these eyeshadows tend to disappear after an hour after application. I have the exact palette as pictured above, and several others, and they all seem to suffer the same problem in terms of coloration — the mid-level colors, like magentas, blues, greens, are near impossible to get to show up. They have absolutely no staying power even after you’ve gone over it a few times, AND applied primer.

The darker colors, well, are more pigmented of course, but not by much — the longevity is still poor, and they colors are not very malleable (okay, that’s not a good word to use, but you get the point). Once you put it on, no amount of good skill, light-handedness, or times spent swiping it over, regardless of tool that you’re using, will get that powder to “move over” where you need it. It’s very smudge-y.

The one thing WnW does do a bit better with are the lighter colors. I have a few one-shade palettes in my drawer (that are way too old, now that I think about it, so I should probably throw them out…) that are beige/sand/off-white colored. The longevity on these is a bit longer, maybe four hours, but there honestly isn’t really much color differentiation once you get the product on your skin — ie: doesn’t really look on the palette how it will ultimately look on your skin, and all of the lighter colors sort of look the same.

The powder on these eyeshadows WILL fall off. If you’re a contact lens user, beware! More than any other eyeshadow product I’ve used, I have the biggest issue with powder fall with WnW.

In my opinion, Wet n Wild definitely does a few things really, really well, particularly over the past few years as they’ve attempted to become more competitive with their drugstore peers. Their highlighting powders really blow me away. But these $2-$3 eyeshadows still stay firmly in the arena of “kid’s first makeup”. Even then, I probably still wouldn’t recommend it, based on the powder-fall alone.  ~A

Perceived efficacy: 1/5

Longevity: 1/5

How much I actually like this product: 1/5

Cerave Foaming Facial Cleanser

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Cerave Foaming Cleanser

This cleanser is highly coveted by many, but I personally am just not feeling it. The caveat here is that I have a tough time with cleansers, generally speaking, and I try to avoid using them when I can.  I originally picked this up when I realized that the Cerave Hydrating Cleanser isn’t super-phenomenal at taking off makeup. I figured, hey this one is a foaming cleanser ergo it will remove my makeup, and it’s from Cerave who has never let me down in terms of pumping their products full of hydrating ingredients, so I won’t feel like I’ve completely stripped off the first layer of my skin after washing.

The product comes out as a clear liquid from a pump. It doesn’t really smell like anything in particular, maybe a bit like something you would smell from a generic handsoap, with substantially less fragrance. It’s supposed to foam up when you apply water and rub it against your skin, but I… don’t really think it does that? Am I wrong? Ok, it foams a TINY bit. Doesn’t matter. The next issue is, no matter how much product I pump out, it’s seemingly never enough to get my entire face, and I need to pump out more. Good thing this is kind of a big bottle, right?

In terms of makeup removal, it does… okay. Again, not great, but it’s not like this product is exactly screaming out “makeup removal” on the packaging (rather, not at all), so I’ll give it some credit. Certainly, it does a better job of stripping off oil and product than it’s sister hydrating cleanser.

What this product is really good at, though, is making your skin feel dry as a desert after you’re done washing. As I mentioned before, I try to avoid cleansers and it’s for this very reason — that is their purpose, to strip you dry of all the gunk on your face. But considering Cerave goes out of their way to advertise the ceramides and HA, I just feel like… I shouldn’t feel like that? I don’t know. I certainly feel like my skin barrier’s been disrupted.

Over time, I’ve discovered my secret combo: mix the Cerave hydrating cleanser and the foaming cleanser together! That way, it’ll take off my makeup and ever-so-slightly keep my skin hydrated, simultaneously. So I guess I’ll keep the foaming cleanser around, so long as it’s sister cleanser stays on my bathroom sink. ~A

Perceived efficacy: 2.75/5

Longevity: 5/5

How much I actually like this product: 2.5/5

Recommended for sensitive skin: Yes

Rimmel Stay Matte Liquid Mousse Foundation

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Rimmel Stay Matte Foundation

This is going to sound really ridiculous, but I feel a little emotional, writing this post. This foundation right here got me through YEARS of mediocre to bad skin, and did a pretty good job even during the very worst of it. Strangely, this is not the best foundation that I’ve ever used in my entire life — but it served me well for so many years that I wanted to give it some credit for how good of coverage this has. I have at least six bottles of this in six different shades on standby in the my dresser drawer.

This is a mousse foundation that comes in a squeezable tube. When you squeeze it out, you’ll see the color come out with little “air pockets” — normal for a mousse. You would think that a little would go a long way with this, but it can be tough to spread, due to the thickness. Honestly I would put the initial layer on with my hands, and use a beauty blender only occasionally to smooth out some creases. This WILL OXIDIZE into a darker color. I’m sure it didn’t help that I used my hands to apply, but even with blender application, it will still oxidize anyway.

After the initial struggle to try to apply this stuff and make it appear smooth, you will find that the coverage is AMAZING — I’d say more full coverage than medium, in fact. I have covered up some spots that… well, should not have been able to be covered up. Redness, gone. Raised spots, gone (well not really, but it sort of looked like it). Also, this stuff played surprisingly pretty well with makeup — it needs a bit longer than most foundations to set on your face, but once it’s set, you’re good to splash blush and bronzer on to your heart’s content.

But the price to pay for coverage was large. This stuff is really messy, and also difficult to wash off. Even if your finger gets a microscopic distance away from your face, it WILL transfer to your skin. It WILL somehow magically transfer to your purse handles and your car steering wheel. Don’t even think about hugging people. “Oh but I can just use a setting spray/powder!” Wrong! Yes, use the setting spray, but don’t expect it to save you!

Here’s my next gripe: this foundation touts itself as oil-free, so I was excited as a crazy acne sufferer. After hour six, this foundation had completely broken down, but I don’t think it was just from my own face. I found this picture on reddit awhile back:

Oil test

there’s our friend circled in the middle. What IS that?? is that water or oil separation? In any case — this foundation breaks down pretty quickly and will create swamp-like conditions on your face.

So, I realize that I’ve complained a lot about this foundation. There are a lot of issues with it and I don’t really think it’s the best option for day-to-day casual wear. It can definitely a big perpetrator of “cake face”, since it’s medium to full coverage. I’m also not really positive it was “good”, from a biological standpoint, to wear while I had such bad acne. But let the six tubes of this in my drawer be a testament to how much I loved it, for many many years. The coverage is awesome. The shade range is awesome, possibly one of the only foundations that’s been able to match my skin tone through every single season. The price point is phenomenal as well, from $5-7 a pop.  Thanks for getting me through it all, Rimmel! ~A

If coverage is your issue, I strongly recommend picking up a tube of Stay Matte here: https://amzn.to/2M10jZa

Perceived efficacy: 3.75/5

Longevity: 2.75/5

How much I actually like this product: 4/5

Hawaiian Tropic Silk Hydration – Oil Free Lotion Sunscreen 30 SPF

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Hawaiian Tropic Weightless Face Sunscreen

I’ve used every Hawaiian Tropic sunscreen and tanning lotion under the sun (hah) since I was 16 years old. And, since I’m on this quest to find a new American HG sunscreen, I decided to give their Face sunscreen a try for $8.

It comes in a canister, almost, but with a push pump. It comes out plain white, and the application is pretty easy — of course you’ll need to rub it in to get rid of the whitecast, but that’s the deal with sunscreen. After that, there’s not really much residue white cast to deal with, or any crazy clinging to tiny baby hairs. It’s not tacky, and dries quickly. Sweet! It has a pretty strong smell — very sunscreen-y, and a hint of light floral, but that doesn’t bother me. From the get go, I really liked it…

…until my face started to turn bright red, and started to itch! Now, admittedly, my skincare sin is that I very rarely ever patch test, so I have no one to blame but myself. But the active ingredients in this are relatively similar to Cerave’s sunscreen, which I didn’t have an issue with, so I’m not sure if there was an interaction with something else I was wearing, or if I’m intolerant of something else in this sunscreen. In the resulting days I broke out just a bit, but I suspect this was because of my reaction, since the product does claim to be non-comedogenic.

Later on in the week, I did an, ahem, reverse patch test (yep I know, that’s not how you do it). I didn’t experience the same redness I had before, but the itchiness was definitely there.

I’m really not happy that my skin didn’t love this product because otherwise this ticks off all the boxes for me, in terms of what I’m looking for in a sunscreen. Lightweight and smells good. The SPF could be higher, but 30 would work for inside-only days. Heck, after the initial application I even tried applying makeup, and that went on smoothly over this product (although in the end I ended up just washing everything off, since my skin itched so much).

It’s really mind boggling to me since it’s not my first rodeo with these ingredients, and I wish I knew what the trigger had been. I do love this product, but I guess I can’t win ’em all… ~A

Perceived efficacy: 4.5/5

Longevity: n/a

How much I wanted to like this product: A new category for failed attempts! 5/5

Recommended for sensitive skin: No

Ardell Brow Building Fiber Gel

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Ardell Brow Gel

This product kind of makes me want to rewrite the review I did on Essence’s Brow Gel — Ardell’s Brow Building Gel is a much better option! I’ve been using this in Dark Brown.

Application is similar to the Essence Brow Gel (and other brow gels I’ve used before, but I think they were insignificant enough, color-wise, where I may have trashed them after a few times of use, so my basis of comparison is poor) — the applicator wand is pretty small, which is good for the tail end of my brows where there is basically no hair left. I haven’t had any issues with clumping in the actual eyebrow on application– perhaps a bit on the applicator itself, but that’s easy to scrape off.

I’ve gone halfway through this tube and have not had an issue with the color drying up or looking duller than when I first started. I wanted to mention that the dark brown color is honestly closer to black. If you’re looking for a step up from black, the medium brown has more actual “brown” tones in it (seems like an obvious statement when I type it out like that).

It does go on a little bit tacky, so don’t touch your face for a few minutes! It absolutely will smear. But once it’s on, it’s on. There’s no fiber-flaking throughout the day, in fact I’ve probably rubbed my eyes more times than I can count with this stuff on, and it stay put. The color is definitely lessened after eight hours, but it’s still there and very much noticeable. All in all, a pretty solid purchase for $5-6 bucks! ~A

Perceived efficacy: 5/5

Longevity: 4.5/5

How much I actually like this product: 4.25/5

Wet n Wild Color Icon Blush

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Wet n Wild Color Icon

Alright, Wet n Wild… your winning streak is over. I own this blush in Rose Champagne, Mellow Wine and Apricot in the Middle. I do really love the color of each of these — Mellow Wine is probably a little to strong for my skin tone and eye color, but apricot in the middle and rose champagne are perfect for achieving a natural blush tone for me. They are SO subtle, and yet, make all the difference in my makeup for the day looking complete. Rose Champagne probably takes the cake for me in terms of color (and, it’s got a little sparkle to it, which I love!)

This does come with a brush, but it is very small, so you are better off using your own (larger!) blush brush. Application of this blush relatively eventless. The powder distributes evenly, and only “clumps” up if you’re a bit too heavy handed in one area. It’s easily correctable. Again, the ending result is a beautiful, consistent tone.

Unfortunately, this blush only holds up for about half of my day. The blush tones, while outstanding in coloration and consistency, are quite light to begin with. But if you have oily skin like myself, you’ll find this blush breaking down around hour three or four. The end result is an oily mess, and instead of the red hues pooling into one area, they seem to travel, um, downward, below the apples of your cheek where you originally applied it.

For $3-$5 a piece, it’s not a bad price point at all, but I suppose in this instance you get what you pay for. Ugh, I really wish they lasted longer, because the color payout is better than many higher-end blushes that I’ve tried! ~A

Perceived efficacy: 3.75/5

Longevity: 2.25/5

How much I actually like this product: 3.5/5

Spironolactone

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The drug spironolactone is actually one of the huge drivers in why I decided to start keeping this blog. It was a really long journey to get to the point of taking it — mostly, dealing with the neverending cycle of terrible skin and terrible, misleading skincare products. While spironolactone ended up being my acne’s endgame (for now), I realize that this isn’t necessarily possible for all people suffering the same issues I did.

My skin was NEVER great, and I’ve struggled with cystic acne off and on since I was 13. I had a friend throughout school who had crystal clear skin — I was jealous of her, and confused how she had gotten to that point. She told me she ONLY used some cleanser from Clean and Clear, so I tried it, too. It did nothing. If anything, I found more new spots.

In college, my acne cleared up a tiny bit. I’d still get the occasional cyst, but nothing damning, or nothing that makeup couldn’t fix. It went on like this until I hit 27. All the sudden, my face was disgusting. Painful, inflamed, HUGE spots, that were crazy deep into my skin. I was new to my current company at this time, and this condition was absolutely mortifying. No matter how good a foundation was, it would never fully cover the issue I was experiencing.

I subscribed to r/skincareaddiction on reddit. I read every skincare blog (especially Simple Skincare Science — while I don’t agree with 100% of the product reviews on his page, this is one of the greatest, most extensive info-dumps of all things skincare, and I still read it religiously). Still, NOTHING helped (except maybe Cerave PM… even though I had a ton of zits, the “good” skin was super glowy, woohoo!). After many nights of crying about my busted self-esteem, I realized that maybe it was time to go see a dermatologist.

So I did. I slapped down $200 for my first time appointment, at a dermatologist’s office (and that was after insurance! It’s not a cheap venture). Within five minutes of examining me, the dermatologist recommended Epiduo and Spironolactone. She told me she had seen a lot of success with Spironolactone — and, if that didn’t work, I would begin the dreaded Accutane.  I zipped over to another office to get my blood work done, and once it was decided that all was well, my pharmacy filled the order of Spironolactone. I was overjoyed to get started.

After four days, I looked in the mirror and was foolishly disappointed that nothing had changed (guess I was hoping for the whole “wake up and it’s fixed” effect). When I wasn’t looking in the mirror, I was hunched down over the toilet wondering if I was going to throw up — the first couple of weeks of Spironolactone bring a few gnarly side effects, one being nausea.

The second week was misleadingly good — I thought I was beginning to see progress! Then came the third and the fourth week, and my acne was worse than it ever had been before. I suspect this is what they call the purging period, and it may have been exacerbated by the Epiduo. I still wanted to puke during all hours of the day. I wanted badly to throw in the towel, but I decided I would give it more time.

Around month two, I could start seeing the spironolactone work. I still had a few cysts that were new, but I wasn’t seeing the same “volume” of new acne that I had been before. Unfortunately, month two brought about a new, less pleasant surprise: I was getting my period every 14-15 days, instead of my normal 24-25. My derm expressed some concern about this, and suggested I ought to go from 50mg to 25mg if this persisted. I decided to keep going with the 50mg/daily and see if anything changed.

Month three and month four were my biggest breakthrough of clear skin. The new spots were small, and certainly not cystic by any means. I had a ton of scarring to deal with, so it was difficult to tell that my skin had actually cleared up, but I wasn’t in pain like I had been before with the cysts. And my nausea was finally starting to diminish! (although the five lbs of weight loss was technically not the worst thing that’s ever happened to me).

So here I am now on month nine. Here’s how my life looks now:

  • My skin is virtually acne-free
  • …minus the “that-time-of-the-month” blemishes, but even those disappear on their own in under three days.
  • I still take my spironolactone religiously without missing a day, at 50 mg, and use Epiduo every other night, or as spot treatment.
  • I’ve made huge strides with scarring, but I have a ton of work to do. Some of the ice pick scarring will likely never go away, and everything else will take years to turn over, but I’m okay with that.
  • I try to stick to oil-free moisturizers and makeups, nothing “too heavy”. But, my skin can pretty much tolerate anything I throw at it now, unlike before where it would break out just on contact with a product.
  • My period cycles are still way shorter than they were before I started all of this, but are starting to creep back to 19, 20 days in between.
  • No more terrible nausea  🙂

Just the first line alone — the fact that I do not have pervasive, cystic acne, that is LIFE-CHANGING. I can go out into the world without makeup. I’m not in pain anymore. I don’t have to find ways to hide my face from people.

I suffered with acne for half a lifetime before I summoned both the financial means, decent enough insurance, and emotional courage to go to a dermatologist. So for all of you in that place right now — I completely understand and empathize with you. It’s really, really tough. That’s why I wrote this blog — so when you’re in that “in between space” of buying products and seeing a derm, hopefully one of these blog entries will resonate with you, to help steer you toward, or away, a drugstore product. We live in a world where people are monetized to go online and say good things about a company, even if that company’s product totally sucks. I myself fell for planted reviews, on several occasions. I would never wish that on anyone else, because it’s just an honest to goodness waste of time and money.

But when, or if, you can get to a dermatologist — it is absolutely worth the high upfront cost. It saved my face, my skin, and my self-esteem! ~A

Perceived efficacy: 5/5

Longevity: 5/5 (as long as I’m on it anyway… hopefully!)

How much I actually like this product: 5/5

The Ordinary Niacinamide 10% + Zinc 1%

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The Ordinary Niacinamide

I found a post the other day on Reddit, in which the user was confused as to what the hype was re: products from The Ordinary. The concern was that the product — this one, specifically — pilled like crazy. At which point I thought… MY THOUGHTS EXACTLY!

I like the company’s mission here, to strip out all the extra junk you don’t need. I appreciate that. But I also don’t understand how that makes this practical for every day use. See, on initial application, this stuff looks lovely — it makes a nice glossy-not-shiny sheen over your skin. Glassy with an “a”, actually, that seems like the best word to use. I like it. It’s odorless, and you apply a few drops with a dropper. A little goes a long way. And I think I picked this one up for $11 — not bad!

But that all comes to a halt after 30 minutes. Suddenly, even without touching your face, the pills start to form everywhere. Your skin just peeeeeeels off. Did you have sunscreen or makeup on? That’s going to come off, too. So I quickly learned that, at minimum, this is not for “going to work” use.

But then I thought… when the heck am I supposed to use this? Either way, it’s going to peel off, and apparently it’s going to peel off anything else I’ve applied as well, including other moisturizers.

And I mean — is the Niacinamide even working? Similar to the Cerave PM, I feel like the initial application does make it appear that my pores have shrunken, due to that glassiness both products create initially. As for any long term effects… I guess I haven’t been using it long enough to tell, but I also cannot fathom how it is useful when it falls off your face after 20 minutes.

I don’t know. I want to repurchase it, I want to love it because everyone else does. But I just… don’t get it. If you have any insight as to what I may be doing wrong, leave me a comment! ~A

Perceived efficacy: 2/5

Longevity: 1/5

How much I actually like this product: 3/5 (that initial glossiness, though!)

Rimmel Lasting Finish 25 Hr Breathable

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Rimmel 25HR

During the worst of my acne, I really underestimated this foundation because it’s not full coverage like Rimmel Stay Matte. In retrospect, I should have used it more often because it is extremely lightweight, yet gradually buildable — I think my skin would have fared a lot better! 

The initial application is pretty strange all around. There’s a wand applicator which is… fine? But not really helpful? I’d rather use a sponge or my fingers, since the wand isn’t absorbent enough to hold onto much product. So it ends up sort of getting in the way.

Also, after spreading, you’re going to look in the mirror and say “wtf, where is it?” and want to apply 20 more coats. But the foundation should start to noticeably thicken up after about five minutes — once that happens, it looks great! The color is gorgeous, and accurate to it’s description. The overall texture is very smooth and “glowy”. No cakey-ness whatsoever.

Now, as I mentioned, the coverage is medium, and it won’t cover huge spots very well. In fact, it’s not really great at covering even small spots, so keep your concealer handy if that’s an issue. However, I can confirm that this makeup has not caused MORE spots for me, which is great!

After a nine hour day of work, this held up really well. The vibrancy had definitely faded, sure, but I didn’t have any crazy oil breakthroughs, and I still felt fully covered. Now, as for the advertised 25 hours… I’m not so sure about that. I have worn it later into the night and definitely thought “I need to reapply this”, but it doesn’t break down as badly as most foundations I’ve tried.

Foundations are really tough for me to find and buy in exactly my color without being cake-y or breaking down after hour six, so this was a solid purchase. And, bonus, this has SPF in it! Happy Halloween, everyone! ~A

Update, one week later: this foundation plays best with my Clinique Dramatically Different moisturizer, and not so well with anything else in my rotation. Also, as with most foundations, warmer weather will knock the longevity of this product down to about six hours instead of eight, so I dropped the longevity score a bit. I still love this stuff, though!

Perceived efficacy: 4.5/5

Longevity: 4/5

How much I actually like this product: 4.5/5