Hada Labo Goku-Jyun Premium Hyaluronic Acid

thealtruisticface


I REALLY like this product a lot. I just don’t think it quite delivers much in the way of long-term results.

For the price of $14 this plastic bottle has a TON of product. It can be a pain to wait for this to ship from Japan, but you shouldn’t need to re-order it too often just because there is quite a bit of product. You really don’t need a ton of this for application on your face, either.

I’m impressed by the contents and the ingredients overall. Alcohol-free, fragrance-free, oil free, and five types of hyaluronic acid. This has NEVER aggravated my skin in the four months I’ve been using it. This watery gel is colorless, so you won’t have to worry about any white cast.

But… well, the watery gel composition is just the problem. Everytime I read a review that says, “this goes great under makeup!”, I think to myself “what?” Sure, the gel will fully absorb after 30 minutes or so; it’s not going to persist the same way that something like Bio Oil would. But if you wanted a product that was going to make just about anything over or under it pill up, then this is the product to do it. Initially, I thought this lotion was simply removing grit, but no, it just likes to roll off your other products.

So that’s what makes this lotion a little confusing. Where does it go in your routine? It seems like you could use it in place of a regular moisturizer, but if you had an extra emolliant to layer over that moisturizer, well, forget it. And while this lotion IS incredibly hydrating, I don’t find that it quite cuts it in the winter on it’s own. So I’ve been using it as an additive: If my skin dries out after my regular night-time routine, I will very carefully apply this on my skin for an extra layer of hydration.

Probably because I am most likely using it incorrectly, I haven’t seen any noticeable results. It is super hydrating — I think someone with a minimalist skin routine, and normal to oily skin type could probably get by on just using this. But it doesn’t create the effect of “bounciness” in my skin as some of my Cerave products do. Still, the fact that this has never caused any irritation puts this lotion in high regard for me, despite how finicky it can be during application. ~A

Buy Hada Labo Goku-jyun HA Lotion here:https://amzn.to/2DeqM23

Perceived efficacy: 3/5

Longevity: 3/5

How much I actually like this product: 4.5/5

Recommended for sensitive skin: Yes

Hask Cactus Water

thealtruisticface

I picked this up at Duane Reed while travelling, after I realized that I really can’t travel without bringing a leave-in product with me! It was cheap enough ($6) where I wouldn’t regret at least trying it out with only two seconds of prior research.

And… man I’m glad this only cost $6. This is a terrible product — at least for me. This is a 5 in 1 leave in spray — none of those five things actually seemed to come to fruition with my hair. Let’s take a look:

Claim 1: “Conditions and hydrates.” Absolutely not. Hair was drier after application. I would say my hair felt brittle, in fact, and I hadn’t even used any heat that day! In a weird way, this leave-in was almost tacky — not only was it drying out my hair, but I felt like the strands were sticking together, as well. Which, in turn, made my hair feel heavy and weighed-down.

Claim 2: “Detangles.” Although my hair is straight, it is extremely knotty post-shower. This did nothing to alleviate my situation.

Claim 3: “Resists humidity and reduces frizz.” It was a balmy 65 and sunny in NYC while I was using this. Now, I don’t think I noticed extra frizz, so that’s a good thing, at least, but as I mentioned before my hair was plain ol’ brittle-feeling. If humidity was a factor in this, then this leave-in did nothing to stop it.

Claim 4: “Repairs dry hair and breakage.” Nope! Split ends seemed more split-endy than ever. My hair was super dry, itchy to my skin, and rough to the touch.

Claim 5: “Adds shine”. Nah, this didn’t happen either. Maybe after the first three minutes of spraying it on, but not so much after that.

I will say that this smells AMAZING, and the smell persists after even several hours, which is nice. There’s nothing that’s necessarily “bad” in the ingredient listing either, although I noticed dimethicone and panthenol are both present. Leave-ins that I use and like don’t generally contain these, and I can’t help but wonder if the dimethicone is what’s causing my hair to feel sticky. I’ve also read some anecdotes about how panthenol, despite being an emolliating agent to make hair seem “slippery”, is not necessarily effective for all hair types. All that said, I still wouldn’t recommend it. ~A

Perceived efficacy: 1/5

Longevity: 3/5

How much I actually like this product: 1/5R

Hair Dye and Hair Health

thealtruisticface

I used to go into my hair appointments and flat out not pay attention to what they were doing. I hardly asked any questions: they were the experts, after all, (well, most of them were, anyway…) they knew what they were doing! But that’s just it: they are the experts, why was I holding back? Why wasn’t I asking them why my hair was constantly breaking off at the end?

I’ve gotten a myriad of different answers from different stylists, but they all seem to ask the same thing: “Are you using box dye?” All through high school and college my answer was always yes. I’d insist that the leave-in conditioner that Nice n Easy provided was enough to wipe out the damage the dyes were creating, but they always shook their heads and carried on silently, letting me live in my delusion.

Now, full disclosure, my hair still isn’t perfect. I have fly-aways like crazy, due to years of damage from heat and hair dye, abrupt weather changes and unfavorable indoor climate controls. My hair still falls out, a lot, and now that I have highlights, the breakage is at an all time high (thanks, bleach!). But I saw a picture of myself from seven years ago and I realized just how much my overall hair condition has changed. I attribute it to this “one secret trick that hair dressers don’t want you to know about! (Just kidding, they probably do want you to know about it so that they don’t have to tell you 50 times to stop using box dye): Switch to mixing your own hair dye.

The chemicals that are used in box dyes are just too strong for most hair types. Most of them have at least a 30 developer strength. The darker your hair, the less developing strength you need. Personally, I only use 10. On the occasion that I’ve used 20, my hair quality has suffered. I’m not even going to talk about how most box dyes usually slip a drying alcohol into the 2nd or 3rd ingredient, whereas I couldn’t find any even listed on my separately purchased developer and hair dye.

Now, because my hair is so dark, I can’t really speak to the process for lighter colored hair. It probably still stands that you will need a 30 or 40 developer, or bleach and toner as it applies. But I’d hazard a guess and say that you’re probably still better off not buying a box kit, solely due to the unneeded and questionably stronger ingredients that get put into it. I will say that ammonia is another not-so-great feature that pops up in the hair dye that I use today — but there are ammonia free options on the market, in both box dyes and separately purchased hair dyes.

The first time mixing on your own can be a little intimidating, but fear not, as the ratio of developer to color should be 50:50. Most mixing bowls have measurements marked on them, and you don’t necessarily have to even be super precise for the color to develop and ultimately process on your hair. Sally’s Beauty has always been my go-to supplier for hair dye and accessories, but I’ll link what I can back to Amazon even if it’s just for reference.

1- Put on an old shirt that you don’t mind getting dye on. Cover your “work station” with newspaper or towels. Put on some gloves. Any non-powder latex or vinyl glove will do. Buy them online and/or in bulk: they sell ’em at Sally’s, but they’re too expensive. Here are some cool purple gloves: https://amzn.to/2I6owxY

2- Find an occlusive to put onto your skin around the hair line. This makes the dye a lot easier to “wipe off” if you accidentally get it on your skin. Elta MD’s Intense Moisture does the trick: https://amzn.to/2UClPtV

3- Get out your dye bowl and brush: https://amzn.to/2I2g3f7

4- Put the developer into the bowl first. The amount you put in the bowl will depend on the length of your hair, but just keep in mind that the ratio of the developer to the color should be about 1:1. If there are measurements on the bowl that you purchased, you could put enough developer to reach the “1” line. I use this 10 volume developer, but again the number could increase depending on the lightness of your hair: https://amzn.to/2I6p1bk

5- Put the hair dye in the bowl over top of the developer. If you have measurement markers, squeeze enough color out of the tube to reach the “2” line, or whatever will accomplish a 1:1 ratio with the developer. Throw the excess hair dye away, since breaking the seal exposes it to air and will degrade the product before you can use it for your next color. I use this hair dye by Zotos: https://amzn.to/2WWhoI3

6- Now all the same rules apply as regular hair dye! Alternate between mixing the product, and sitting and waiting until the color has started to develop. Once the color is showing, you can go ahead and use your brush to apply. Wait 25-60 minutes, and then wash off. ~A

Derma-E Vitamin C Renewing Moisturizer

thealtruisticface1 Comment

I’ve always heard anecdotes about Vitamin C serums being far more effective than moisturizers, since the type and the percentage of vit C is higher in the serum. Be that as it may, my skin is still crazy sensitive, and sometimes these serums simply don’t dry in time before I need to leave for work. So this was my first ever Vitamin C creme moisturizer.

It comes in a pump bottle — this is relevant because it keeps the Vitamin C stable, since exposure to air will cause it to break down. So if you learn anything from this review, don’t buy anything Vit C related that’s in a jar or tub. I digress. There’s quite a bit of product in here and it’s another case of one or two pumps going a long way.

The cream is white but absorbs quickly and colorlessly, although some white residue might cling a little bit to peach fuzz you might have on your face (been there…), so be careful of that. Don’t use this as your only moisturizer, it’s not at all heavy enough — use something over it. Probably one of the bigger selling points of this product, for me, is the scent: It’s AMAZING!! If you like Fruit Loops. Which I do.

There’s essentially no dry time, so it can go under any of your other products without any pilling issues. Make sure you wear sunscreen with this product, as Vitamin C will increase your sun sensitivity. Now, speaking of skin issues, you might encounter a break out or two initially, because Vit C is an exfoliant, but you shouldn’t expect to see anything terribly uncouth. Unless, of course, you have sensitivities to oils, in which case stay away. This has a few of them. Other than that, though, the ingredient listing is largely naturals, and has no drying alcohols.

As for the overall effect, I noticed my skin was “brighter” for the first hour or two of wearing this — longer term, it seemed my pores had shrunk in size, and some of my skin tone had evened out. As for deeper icepick scarring, ehh — this product didn’t help much.

Considering moisturizers are not as powerful as serums, I think this product is shockingly effective and fast-moving: If you have any spots that are in the process of healing, this moisturizer will speed up the process tenfold of turning the skin over. I had a bad patch of skin with superficial scarring that I thought would take weeks to heal, and using this product did it in about 3 days. Unfortunately that meant my skin was quite literally flaking off in the middle of work. Not my best look.

All in all, though, I would repurchase this $17 bottle. It works, it smells good, it’s lightweight, and it’s pretty darn effective. ~A

Buy this powerhouse Vitamin C moisturizer here:https://amzn.to/2UcNSAE

Perceived efficacy: 5/5

Longevity: 4/5

How much I actually like this product: 4.5/5

Recommended for sensitive skin: Maybe

Mizon Snail Recovery Gel

thealtruisticface

This snail gel has a pretty huge following, for good reason: It’s inexpensive, mimics the redness-reducing properties of aloe vera, and it works well as an occlusive or moisturizer. Unfortunately, my acne-prone skin does not love this product.

This comes in a cute, pink plastic bottle — small, but, a little squeeze of this colorless, odorless gel-cream goes a long way. From personal experience, this product is great to travel with — it’s small enough to chuck in your bag without taking too much room, and could also, hypothetically, replace a larger-sized occlusive or moisturizer product in your routine while you’re out of the house.

I used this, typically, as the last step in my routine — primarily when my heavier oils or occlusives weren’t in reach. I’ve used it as just a moisturizer as well, and put other products over it. However, this product is NOT heavy. You should absolutely stack other products with it because it’s not super moisturizing on it’s own. My word of caution is that it does still have a slightly longer dry time and it’s a bit tacky even after drying, so try to leave some time in between adding the other layer.

As for overall effect… I stand by what I wrote in the first paragraph, it works “well”, but it’s not GREAT. It’s definitely better to use it than to not use anything at all. My skin felt some relief immediately after use, and it might have retained a bit of moisture overnight. But I wasn’t wowed by the effects over a long period of time.

While I feel like this made my overall skin condition, at minimum, “ok”, I think it was also causing break outs. Nothing major, but after using the product for 3 days in a row, I noticed an increase in whiteheads and pore congestion. Like anything else, there could have been a myriad of other factors influencing this, but all other products remaining the same in my routine and the snail gel being the addition, I would suspect the snail gel. I had a similar reaction to CosRX’s snail gel. Is there such thing as being sensitive to snail secretion filtrate? Or perhaps it’s the olive oil. At any rate, there’s no drying alcohol in this product, so I know it’s not that.

For sensitive skin users, I ultimately wouldn’t recommend this, but only due to my own reaction. It may be worth a shot regardless, because it is a decent, portable “extra layer” you can add in. It’s also pretty cheap ($6, although it looks like Mizon’s either raised the price or price gouging is in play. I see it for $10 or $11 today!). I might be doomed to never experiencing the skin benefits of… a snail. Although if I’m being honest, I never envisioned putting anything related to a snail on my face until last year, so I’m not sure if that’s a bad thing… ~A

Still want to give this snail gel a shot? Click here: https://amzn.to/2JRDzx8

Perceived efficacy: 2.5/5

Longevity: 3.5/5

How much I actually like this product: 2/5

Recommended for sensitive skin: No

Jergens Natural Glow Daily Moisturizer

thealtruisticface1 Comment

I think I’ve been buying this since lotion for well over a decade now. It’s definitely gone through several changes during that time. It’s latest iteration, to a bit of my dismay, changed how I use this product completely, but I suspect that’s not going to stop me from keeping this lotion around as a beauty staple for another decade after this.

Natural Glow has always come in two colors: Fair to Medium, and Medium to Tan. There was a time when Fair to Medium used to produce a noticeable color, but I don’t really feel like that’s the case anymore, so I usually default to medium to tan, even though my skin tone is pale. My issue now is that this product has become surprisingly blotchy for being a gradual tanner, but I’ll get to that in a minute.

I used to religiously mix this in with my regular lotion every morning and apply to my skin. It distributed the color evenly and I never had an issue with blotchiness. It dried very quickly. The DHA smell didn’t really pop up until halfway through the day, and that smell was tolerable enough until the next morning, when I’d end up washing it off anyway.

But ever since this was reformulated, the lotion is extremely thick, and dries SLOW, like, 30-45 minutes slow. The color shows up a lot faster than it used to, and darker, but it comes at a cost. Mixing it in with another lotion is disastrous, because if your ratio isn’t exactly 1:1, then you’ll start having weird color deposits, or lack thereof. So I treat it more like a mousse. I put it on over clean skin at night, sleep in it, wake up and rinse it off in the shower.

Speaking of showering, it’s a good idea to have one around several hours after applying. The smell — in general, and the resultant DHA-stink — is HORRIBLE. This lotion has always had an initial “bubble bath” kind of smell that did a pretty good job of persisting at least halfway through the day. Even when the self-tanner stink finally kicked in, it wasn’t overwhelming and I could live with it. The primary smell is still “bubble bath” after the reformulation, but it doesn’t stick around for long, and the self-tanner stink is HORRENDOUS.

But if you wake up after keeping this on overnight, the color is pretty reasonable. For being a gradual tanner, and not being the “three days to glow” product by the same brand, this works pretty quickly. You’re not going to get super dark like you would with an actual mousse, but with the medium to tan shade, you’ll at least be noticeably one shade darker the next morning. Brown, not orange, phew! As long as the lotion has had a few hours to sink into your skin, the color will persist even after you shower, and for a day or two after.

This being a gradual tanner, you could build it up. But Natural Glow has always seemingly had a “cap” — no matter how much you build it up and for how many days, there’s a certain point it just doesn’t get darker. It is just a lotion, after all. There’s also the issue of blotchiness with this particular version. I have a really hard time preventing this from creating pigment deposits in thinner parts of the skin, like the hands, ankles, etc. I never had this issue with the older iterations, but the deposits prevent me from wanting to keep stacking this product.

Sensitive skin users, don’t put this one on your face. It’s not going to give you a DHA rash, but the product is far too heavy and will clog up your pores. There’s notably no “bad” alcohols in the newer iterations (the existence of them in older versions probably explains why it dried so quickly and this does not), but again, due to the weight, it probably wouldn’t even spread the color evenly across your face, even if you mixed it in with a moisturizer.

There is also two versions of this self-tanner, besides the shade differences: there’s a “firming” version and a “daily moisturizer” version. I like the daily moisturizer version better. The firming version does dry a little quicker, but it makes my skin feel tight (…as the name would imply, lol), which I don’t care for. Also, the last time I checked out the ingredient list for the firming lotion, it was still sporting benzoyl alcohol.

I’m probably going to keep buying this $8 for the indefinite future, despite it’s several setbacks, and despite needing to keep up with how to best utilize the formulation changes. But it’s always been my “base tan in a bottle”, and the consistency of the color is still unmatched by any other drugstore gradual tanner. ~A

To get this overnight base tan in a bottle, click here to buy Jergens Daily Moisturizer:https://amzn.to/2upLFCP

Perceived efficacy: 4/5

Longevity: 4.5/5

How much I actually like this product: 3.5/5 (ugh the smell)

Recommended for sensitive skin: Yes — on body only.

Not Your Mother’s Beach Babe Texturizing Sea Salt Spray

thealtruisticface

Now that I have medium length hair and bayalage highlights, what better thing to do then to copy every girl on Pinterest by putting small waves into my hair? I figured maybe instead of subjecting my hair to the straightener-turned-curler every day, this product would just, ya know, do all the work for me.

This was really cheap, about $4 for a good amount of product. It comes in a spray bottle, and has a fresh baby-powder smell when you spray it. It does smell and taste (oops, hair in my mouth!) salty, more noticeably after a few hours have passed with the product on. Here are a few of my observations, based on the condition of my hair when spraying:

Wet hair: the “tease” factor didn’t really stick around once my wet hair had dried with this product on it, although it did make my hair strands separate and looking stringier. Not really the desired effect without any texture, though.

Dry, straight hair: made my hair stick together, even after spreading the product throughout and texturizing with my fingers. This didn’t really produce much of a “stringy” effect as it did with the wet hair, so the end result was just giant clumps of hair sticking together unfashionably.

Dry hair with waves already in it via straightener: now THIS is what the product was meant for, I think. If you’ve already got a few waves going on and then spritz this stuff in, it will 100% legitimatize the Pinterest “wave” look you’re trying to go for. You have to be careful because too much of the product will weigh the initial waves down, but if you aim it toward the ends of the hair follicle, your hair strands will start to split out from one another, creating the jagged, stylishly messy texture.

I was really impressed by the hold-time of this spray. Even though I would probably term it as a light-medium hold, I was impressed by how long it seemed to hold the texture up, at least 10 hours at my longest stretch.

This is a neat little buy for such a cheap price. No, it’s not an instant hairstyle in a bottle as I would have hoped, but it’s an awesome additive if you already have waves in your hair. ~A

To get those coveted beachy waves, click here:https://amzn.to/2OnAvHM

Perceived efficacy: 4/5

Longevity: 5/5

How much I actually like this product: 4/5

EltaMD PM Therapy Facial Moisturizer

thealtruisticface

Pretty upset at this product and at myself. I tried this a few years ago when I was bored of my go-to niacinamide standby Cerave PM (I know, I know, again, this is blasphemy… I learned my lesson). I forgot why I stopped using it and trashed it in the first place, and repurchased just a month or two ago to try it again. So, here’s my big ol’ posting to remind myself why I should never buy this again.

Right off the bat, this is expensive. $32. For me, absolutely not worth it.

This white gel-cream comes out of a push-tube, and it’s odorless. All well and fine. When attempting to spread this on your face, you’ll find you have to keep going back for more product. For a lightweight moisturizer, it’s pretty hard to push around. It seems to absorb fine without leaving any product behind, but within five minutes you’ll notice… PILLING!

That’s right. Pils galore. Want to put on your sunscreen, or perhaps another moisturizer over this? Forget it. What about your foundation? Ha! Laughable! I’ve never seen a product pill so badly. I feel like I am missing something, because I had the same conundrum with The Ordinary’s Niacinamide product. These two products have crazy high reviews and the consumers love them. But every so often I run across a review that’s like, “This product pills up into little balls on my skin” and I want to scream Yes!!! That’s me!! Is there a specific skintype that forcibly pills up product you put onto it, for no real reason? I’d like to form a club for me and those people.

This product is hugely popular for being oil-free and thus tending to be good for acneic skin. I didn’t break out from using this (although to be fair my testing period was only four days), and people really love this product for being tolerant with skin sensitivities. But… what’s the point if it’s just going to roll off of your skin? This is a hard no from me. ~A

Perceived efficacy: 1/5

Longevity: 1/5

How much I actually like this product: 1/5

Recommended for sensitive skin: Yes

Clinique Moisture Surge 72 Hour Auto-Replenishing Hydrator

thealtruisticface1 Comment

On today’s episode of buyer beware and Fake Stuff on Amazon…

I purchased this several times as it’s older iteration, prior to the upgraded title of 72-hour hydrator. I loved that stuff. It made my skin very bouncy, it didn’t pill, and had a very subtle fresh fragrance to it. It was comparable to Clinique’s Dramatically Different, maybe just a bit heavier. I used it day and night, and felt like it truly made a difference in my skin texture. It was an absolute dream to apply.

When the product changed names to tack on five more words, I jumped on Amazon to repurchase the new product. Seemed like the moisturizer had the same intended effect after all, and checked off all my moisturizer needs: “bad” alcohol and oil free. A little pricier, sure, ($39, ugh) but so was it’s predecessor.

A week passes and my package shows up. The jar looks identical to what was shown on Amazon’s website — the seller’s name was listed as “Clinique”, after all, why would it be any different? I open up the jar and woof… a strong smell of paint thinner. And, the gel-cream was white. It’s not supposed to be white! It should be light pink, for both the old and the new versions.

But like the idiot I am, I pressed on. “Perhaps this is the smell of fragrance free?”, I thought. “Perhaps alongside changing the product’s name, they changed the color of the gel?” The end of this story ended in a breakout, two days after stupidly slapping this stuff onto my face. So my assumption is that a fake had slipped into whatever warehouse it was being shipped from. As I went to contact the seller, I noticed a few reviews had recently appeared on the listing with similar complaints. Not the first, and won’t be the last time that will happen to me on Amazon, I presume.

So the second time around I popped into Macy’s to pick this up, as that seemed slightly less risky. This time around, the gel-cream was actually pink and devoid of that… wonderful paint thinner smell. It seemed to me I was finally holding the real deal.

But it didn’t perform the same way the old version had. This moisturizer does not play well with any other moisturizer or foundation. It’s very tacky feeling, and it pills like crazy! For all that tackiness, you would think it was retaining more moisture, but my skin didn’t look or feel “bouncy” at any point while using this.

“Use it as a night cream”, I thought, but while the product is still oil and drying-alcohol free, I noticed it causes my pores to clog up and I’ve broken out from it. The ingredient list is a bit lengthier than the original, but I can’t seem to pinpoint the new addition that could be causing this.

It really stinks that this is no longer a super-great moisture. I love the texture of this stuff still; it’s really satisfying to apply. If only the results were still as satisfying… (oh, and if Amazon would stop shipping out fakes, that would be great, too 😉 ) ~A

Perceived efficacy: 1.5/5

Longevity: 4/5

How much I actually like this product: 2/5

Recommended for sensitive skin: Yes

J. Cat Beauty You Glow Girl Baked Highlighter

thealtruisticface

Another “cute packaging, mediocre product” review. I think I fell in love with the rose stamp that’s imprinted on the powder, primarily! But don’t get me wrong, it’s not a bad highlighter.

I picked this up in the shade Bella Rose, which may have been my problem from the start. I think pink-pigmentation probably gets lost in my slightly pink-tinted cheeks. The shade range is pretty extensive, though — 9 shades in total.

It seemed really difficult to get the powder to “show up” on the brush, or on my fingers. I had to press down pretty hard, and had to go back into the pan to get to the point where I felt I was getting enough product. Even on the skin, I didn’t think this highlighter was particularly noticeable without stacking it. I don’t know if it’s problematic, per se — there’s certainly enough powder in the pan. But I don’t like dedicating a ton of time to highlighter application, so it’s annoying to have to go back in to re-apply.

As far as effect, I wouldn’t say this is a particularly strong highlighter, not the same way Maybelline’s Master Chrome or the Wet n Wild highlighters are. It’s great for a subtle effect — a shine you can see up close, but not from further away. Me, personally, I like highlighter to be obnoxiously visible and potentially blind people from several feet away, but I won’t take off points for my own bad taste 😉 What I will consider though is the very short longevity of this powder. I didn’t think any of the highlighter was visible after hour four.

So while I personally think this is a very mediocre product, it might be worth the $7 buy if you’re looking for a highlighter that’s much more subdued. ~A

Perceived efficacy: 3.5/5

Longevity: 2/5

How much I actually like this product: 2.5/5