St Tropez Gradual Tan Tinted

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I think this is my HG instant tan. “But it’s a gradual tanner!” If I had a separate category for “Doing what it says”, this would get 0 stars. But like many other beauty products, this functions perfectly as something other than it’s intended use.

Get the gloves or mitt on for this one: it will stain your hands. Unfortunately this dark brown lotion isn’t incredibly “runny” so you’ll need quite a bit of product if you’re looking to tan your entire body, it’s probably about a month or two’s worth of product if you use it two times a week. Price tag is $30. Stacked against other tanners, this is… not horrible, but still a pricy venture. But keep reading — I think it’s worth it.

This lotion has probably one of the most phenomenal, most foolproof guides I have ever encountered. They’re incredibly dark brown, and you can see it within 15-20 seconds of spreading the lotion. This is quick enough to “notify” you that you need to do a better job spreading the product, because at that point, the lotion hasn’t fully absorbed yet. I am extremely careless when applying self-tanner, and don’t do a great job of checking myself over so it’s good to have a reliable guide. A lot of self tanners I’ve tried are notorious for having the guides show up way too late (well after the lotion has dried), or the guide is simply too light.

Speaking of dry times, this one does have about a 30 minute wait to set. I can generally start moving around a little more after the 15 minute mark, but 30 is probably safest to mitigate the risks of streaking. Also, if you notice any over-applied spots during this time (super pigmented spots in between your fingers, on your feet, knees, etc.), you can easily blend it in or remove some of the product.

Streaking only truly occurs, for me, after 3-4 days of wear and showering. Any splotchiness is caused by me rubbing my skin too hard against something, NOT the lotion itself, and furthermore this lotion DOES NOT cling to dry patches. Loving Tan mousse, for instance, had a tendency to spontaneously crack open once dried on the skin for no real reason. But St Tropez is remarkably resistant to a lot of direct interaction with the skin.

I personally like the color. It’s not orange, it’s a closer to dark brown. It’s not the darkest you’re ever going to get, but the difference is pretty dramatic if you’re originally an NC 10/15/20. The initial smell is a bit like cocoa butter, and fortunately this didn’t descend too quickly into extreme-DHA smell (no matter what anyone says, no matter what product you’re using, you’ll never escape that smell completely!)

As for the ingredients, well, let’s just say that I have lower expectations for the safety and comedogenicity of all self-tanners. There’s a lot of weird stuff in the ingredient list to begin with, but on a very basic level I can say DHA can be a controversial compound — it’s better than actually tanning, but is the forcing your skin to turn over and interact with melanin any better? I’ve also been googling “anisyl alcohol” for fifteen minutes, and can barely find any literature on it in regards to skincare. I didn’t experience any rashes with this product on my body, but my face didn’t tolerate this as well, and I had a few breakouts from it.

Onto the gradual tan vs instant tan issue: I don’t think this works AT ALL as a gradual tanner. Using it day-over-day will cause splotchiness, or at the very least, show evidence of day one looking lighter than day two’s application. But as an instant tanner, if your skin is more on the pale side? This is great! The color is evident after the first 30 minutes of wear, and as I mentioned before, the color fades out naturally in a few days, without tell-tale zebra stripes. That’s everyone’s instant tan dream, isn’t it?

That was a long review, but I think it was worth it to defend my favorite instant tanner that’s in the disguise of a gradual tanner! ~A

Buy St Tropez Tinted Gradual Tan here: https://amzn.to/2UA5amW

Perceived efficacy: 4.5/5 (as an instant tanner!)

Longevity: 4.5/5

How much I actually like this product: 4.5/5

Recommended for sensitive skin: Maybe

CosRX Galactomyces 95 Toner Balancing Essence

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One day, I woke up and decided I was bored with applying Cerave PM every single day. I know, complete blasphemy, right? Cerave PM is amazing. But I wanted to switch up my niacinamide treatment, so I picked up this product from CosRX.

I love CosRX for both their packaging simplicity, and their short ingredient lists. The product — clear, watery gel — can be seen from the outside of the bottle. You don’t need too much of the product, it’s easily spreadable once on the skin. The absorption time is a bit long — probably close to 5 minutes — and sits “tacky” on the skin even when dried. Considering the tackiness, though, it doesn’t pill up against other products as much as I thought it would.

Sadly, it turns out my skin is pretty sensitive to this product, so I wasn’t able to use it enough to see the long term results. For the short-term, I didn’t really see anything noticeable, not quite the way The Ordinary’s Niacinamide temporarily turned my skin into glass.

I tried this out both morning and night. A few hours after, I noticed quite a bit of pore congestion, and I believe I had some small breakouts from that. There’s no alcohol in this product, so my suspicion is that my breakouts are related to the fermented ingredients. Case in point, I used to use My Beauty Diary Natto Masks (natto = fermented soybean) religiously, with no issues whatsoever. Freakin’ love that sheet mask. But one day, a year and a half later, these masks started to have roughly the same effect on me that Galactomyces has on me now: it caused crazy pore congestion and breakouts.

I would tread carefully if you have sensitive skin. Cerave PM is probably a much safer option if you’re prone to breakouts. This is also relatively pricey — $18 — although you do get quite a bit of product. If you’ve been able to try this product out to see any long-term results, please comment and let me know how you like it!

Side note: You may also recognize this product as “Galactomyces 95 Whitening Power Essence”. I think the renaming was probably for the best… ~A

Try out Galactomyces here: https://amzn.to/2Sf9Ilo

Perceived efficacy: 1/5

Longevity: 3/5

How much I actually like this product: 2/5

Recommended for sensitive skin: No

Essence Extreme Lasting Eye Pencil

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Another cheapie that’s worth a try while filling up your basket at Ulta with things you don’t need, but “it’s only 2.99, so I might as well!”

Packaging for this eyeliner is the a very common twist up pencil. This is a gel-like, wax-based pencil. Due to the softness of it’s composition, be careful while applying, since the tip can fall off. However, this happens far less often for this eyeliner than I’ve seen with others in the same gel-liner category (I’m looking at you, Colourpop!)

I LOVE how this applies. Absolutely beautiful and smooth. Due to the ease of application, I can finish my look in under 30 seconds for each eye. I have this in “But First, Espresso” (dark brown) — like with other Essence products, dark browns do skew more black and it’s hard to make out any tinges of brown, but that’s okay with me. The problem I have with the majority of eyeliners is that it can be difficult to line the skin right above the root of your lashes. But this “bleeds” just enough to pick up to make that a non-issue.

Now, unfortunately… again, like most gel liners, this transfers like CRAZY. Although it does “dry” quickly after initial application, I’ve definitely noticed transfer lines throughout the day while wearing this. Oddly enough, though, I’ve never looked in the mirror and been like, “Wow all the eyeliner is gone from where I initially applied it!”, despite all of the transferring. The look really will stay for very close to eight hours, a well-intentioned stab at living up to it’s “Extreme lasting” label.

I probably wouldn’t rebuy this due to the transferring issue. But for a $3 pencil, the overall application is outstanding, and it didn’t cause any issues for my sensitive eyes!

Can’t get to Ulta? Pick up the product here:https://amzn.to/2BiMDVl

Perceived efficacy: 4/5

Longevity: 2/5

How much I actually like this product: 3/5

Mario Badescu Drying Lotion

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Mario Badescu’s Drying Lotion wasn’t a silver bullet for me, but it sure was fun to play around with for a spot treatment.

Ulta gives you the option to choose between a plastic bottle or a glass bottle. Seems to be the same product as far as the effect goes. There’s a clear liquid is on top, and some pink sediment (calamine? I think?) at the bottom. If this gets shipped to you, get ready for it to look pretty crazy on receipt, since it will undoubtedly get shaken up in transit. You’ll need to let it sit so that pink sediment gets back to the bottom.

Once it’s settled, grab a q-tip or two and push it all the way toward the bottom to pink up that settlement, pull it out, and apply very carefully to the spot you’re trying to treat. Since you’re essentially slapping pink clay on spots of your face, this is probably best to use at night, unless you… are… a very brave person who is okay with exiting their house with their spot treatment on full display! In theory, you should be able to wake up, gently wash off the remaining dried lotion with water, and see that the spot is reduced. I did appreciate the longevity of the lotion, I didn’t have trouble with the treatment cracking/smudging/falling away from the problem area, even overnight.

Oh yeah, probably the other most noteworthy thing other than the pink hue of the dried lotion — this has sulfur in it. Yes, the “rotten eggs” smell. It’s not overwhelming, per se, but… well, sulfur is still pretty strong no matter what!

I was a fan of this for roughly a week at the height of my cystic acne. Active break outs were visibly decreased by the next morning — I was stoked. I thought it was the sulfur and salicylic acid combo that were making all the difference. In reality, the “quick fix” ingredient was actually isopropyl alcohol. It dries out the spot (hence “drying lotion”), which I think in extreme moderation is okay. It serves it’s purpose to dry out the inflammed area.

But there came a point where I think I was using this too often, not carefully enough, and the alcohol started leaking onto my healthy skin where there were no breakouts. That would dry out the rest of the skin, and cause even more breakouts. What a mess.

For me personally, this product is too much of a pain to even consider using. It’s a little messy and cumbersome to get the product out of the bottle. In the same breath, I’d say it’s also kind of fun, somehow… ? The whole “I’m putting sulfur on a Q-Tip” is such a novel notion to me! I also think they raised the price on this product since I used it, which is a shame — it looks to be $17 now, I swore it was around $11 at Ulta before. I think this product does the trick if you’re only going to use it once in awhile on one spot. But this isn’t something I’d be keeping around in my medicine cabinet to reach for immediately.

If you’re looking for this effective short-term product, click here: https://amzn.to/2B1Dccw 

Perceived efficacy: 4/5 short-term, 1/5 long term

Longevity: 5/5

How much I actually like this product: 2/5

Recommended for sensitive skin: Maybe

The Ordinary 100% Organic Cold Pressed Rose Hip Seed Oil

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I’ve been really into trying rosehip products, since I’ve heard they’re beneficial for scarring. It will be close to a full year of having “clear” skin, free of cystic acne, but unfortunately the scarring from that persists for me, big time.

I use this product as an occlusive at night, long after all of the other products have dried on my face, otherwise it will pill those products up and remove them from your skin. I drop this oil directly on my face with the dropper, but despite this being a “heavier” oil, the product still moves pretty quickly down my skin, so I have to be careful that it doesn’t roll off onto the floor! The liquid itself is bright yellow. This will mostly fade out when you rub it in.

My biggest gripe with this product is the smell. At first it smells awesome — standard rose-hip smell, which I absolutely love — but as time goes on with the oil sitting on your face, it starts to reek badly of fish. It’s so weird. Maybe it’s just me…

I think that this oil is mainly good for the moisturizing properties. The air in my house is relatively dry, and without some type of occlusive I usually wake up with dry and tight skin. But having this on overnight is a good preventative measure from that — my skin feels bouncy when I wake up. I don’t personally break out from this, but it is an oil, so I would caution sensitive skin users to tread carefully.

As for scarring… I can’t really say that it’s done anything at all to improve that. I’ve been using this for about five months now and can’t say that I’ve seen any noticeable difference if I’m using it any more or less.

For $15, this is not too bad of a product if you need a moisturizing oil, although I’m not really seeing any added benefit for scarring. ~A

If you’d like to try this rosehip oil out for yourself, click here: https://amzn.to/2Mo2Cpq

Perceived efficacy: 2/5

Longevity: 5/5

How much I actually like this product: 3.5/5

Recommended for sensitive skin: Maybe

Skincare “Restart” Tips

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Happy Valentine’s Day, everyone!

Since I think all of my readers are amazing and I want you all to have perfect skin, I wanted to write a quick little post about some self-care items, regarding starting your skincare routine when it becomes a little too much.

Your skin changes — over seasons, months, and years. Sensitivities change. And sometimes that means the products you’re using, no matter how well they were working before, simply will not comply. Or sometimes, you’re just plain ol’ doing too much! 

Product overload: I personally tend to go a little crazy when I’ve ordered a bunch of new skincare products. Somehow convinced that every single one of them is a miracle item and that they’re all 100% going to play well with one another and that…. well, that just doesn’t happen. Recently I did this with Derma E Vitamin C (acids usually induce an initial breakout) and CosRX Galactomyces (clogs my pores, personally). Bad idea. Solution: Slow down. Go back to basics with your skincare routine, and add the products in slowly, one at a time! 

Skin Sensitivities Changing Naturally: There doesn’t even need to be a trigger, or even a “known sensitive ingredient” that causes sensitivities in a very large population. Currently, I’m having the weirdest problem with Neutrogena’s Hydroboost. This is normally my go-to HG moisturizer. But lately? It’s not hydrating enough, in fact, my skin’s been itching a bit after application. Weird, right? Am I allergic to dimethicone now, or something? I have no idea what’s going on. Maybe it’s just winter, and my skin needs something a little thicker. But I’m not ready to give up on it just yet. Solution: if you were using a product before with success, shelf it for awhile (or throw it out and buy another one later). See if it works after 3-4 months. If it’s still not working, it might be time to find another product.

Acid or Antiseptic Overload: Be wary of your acid, retinoid and benzoyl peroxide usage. These are all great and the exfoliation can give you visible results quickly, but it can turn on you just as fast. Your skin can become dried out, irritated, burn, or break out. I have a tough time with BP, because I think it works the best for reducing or preventing breakouts entirely, but I’ve discovered that my skin really isn’t interested in tolerating it more than “every other night”.
Solution: Build up your acid usage slowly. If your skin becomes irritated, decrease usage, and add in extra emulsifiers/heavy moisturizers to add moisture back into your skin. 

My ultimate “back to basics” routine:

Have a wonderful Valentine’s Day! ❤ ~A

Colourpop Creme Gel Liner

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I think the search for my holy grail eyeliner is going to last for a lifetime! This creme gel liner definitely wasn’t the one for me.

This is an easy-to-use twist-up eyeliner tube. The eyeliner itself is so smooth and lightweight that it’s really easy for the product to break off entirely while you’re pushing up the product. It happened twice to me with one eyeliner, which is really annoying!

I picked up Brouhaha and Show Me, which are two different shades of brown. I liked the pigment, they were relatively true to their color equivalency (ie: Show Me was lighter than Brouhaha, and both actually showed up with brown coloration, not black).

Application is AWESOME with these. Gel-cream eyeliners go on so smoothly! It’s really easy to get a thick line with these without having to go over it, again and again. I liked the look I was able to get with this.

However… these types of eyeliners are also notorious for transfer. I don’t think they ever truly dry. And this eyeliner is no exception. Every time I checked the mirror, there was a smudge on my upper lid. The irony of this is that the eyeliner is relatively difficult to get off with water and cleanser!

As far as irritants go, this isn’t too bad — I didn’t experience any stinging, redness, or fall out material into my eye. Still, overall, I wouldn’t recommend this to anyone, especially not for the price point of $14, unless they had a foolproof way of preventing pigment transfer. ~A

Perceived efficacy: 4/5

Longevity: 2/5

How much I actually like this product: 2/5

Carol’s Daughter Black Vanilla Sulfate-Free Shampoo

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Now this is a sulfate-shampoo to invest in! This product is marketed toward curly or textured hair, but I think that it would benefit anyone looking for a more natural approach to their shampoo. This retails around $9 per bottle, and you can buy it just about anywhere including Ulta and Target.

The product description cites that this product is paraben free, alcohol free and sulfate free. In fact, this shampoo has one of those ingredient lists that I can actually guess what at least 80% of the input actually is, which is a good start: there are a lot of coconut-based ingredients, and a lot of flower extracts as well. I did end up googling phenoxyethanol, though: today I learned, that it is a glycol ether, not an alcohol. So based on this almost all-natural ingredient listing, my expectations of this product to put moisture back in my hair were high.

This comes out as a clear liquid that’s not as easy to lather as most shampoos, so you may need a little more product than usual based on your hair length. Like several sulfate free or “natural” shampoos I’ve used, it may seem like it’s more difficult to wash out the shampoo completely, to the point where you may wonder if you were ever washing it out at all, but hang in there. The smell of this shampoo is, as the title states, very vanilla-y. Not my favorite scent — but that’s just personal preference. When you step out of the shower and comb through your hair, you’ll notice your hair is pretty darn soft, almost as though you’ve sprayed a detangler or a leave-in through it already.

When my hair is dry, I’ve definitely noticed an increase in how shiny it is. I wouldn’t say this persists through the entire day, but it is very evident the first couple hours of jumping out of the shower. Overall, I felt that my hair has been healthier since using it.

There are a few drawbacks to using extract-based shampoos. Like I mentioned before, you won’t experience a “clarifying” effect, particularly since there are no sulfates. You aren’t going to get a head full of hairspray out easily with this, unless you take a 45 minute shower and scrub really hard. And of course this isn’t going to deliver any miracles if your hair is already damaged — but that would be the case with any shampoo.

Last but not least, my personal jury is still out on the concept of sulfate-free shampoos as a whole. I still feel that I am dyeing my hair at the same frequency that I was before — it seems to become dull at the same rate if I weren’t using a sulfate-free shampoo.

But overall, I really love this shampoo: this is going to be my go-to response whenever someone asks me “What shampoo do you use?” I think it’s best for everyone to try to move toward a more natural-ingredient approach, regardless of hair type. ~A

Perceived efficacy: 4.5/5

Longevity: 4/5

How much I actually like this product: 4.5/5

L’Oreal Ever Pure Sulfate Free Volume Shampoo

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My first haircare post! Now, haircare definitely isn’t my strong point. My hair is naturally straight, and I can’t really get it to do much other than just lay flat and be straight. But frequent dyeing puts it in the category of “damaged” several times a year, so I’ve been on the hunt for something that won’t damage it more, or wipe out the color as quickly.

So surfactants are the things that are in soap that makes you feel as though all the grime and the build up have gone away. Sulfate is a surfactant. So inherently sulfates aren’t bad if you need a clarifying shampoo. For me personally, although I do use a clarifying shampoo from time to time, I don’t want to strip the oils away too often in order to retain some of the color. For that reason I wanted to add a sulfate-free shampoo to my shower caddy.

But… this shampoo has a few ingredients that would dry your hair and scalp out otherwise, namely benzyl alcohol and peppermint extract. There’s a whole lot of other chemicals in here that I, admittedly, know very little about, but I can’t imagine that it’s good for long term hair health. Still, for the peppermint and benzyl alcohol alone: if I wouldn’t put it on my regular skin, I probably wouldn’t want to put it on my scalp, either.

And it shows. After jumping in the shower and using this, your hair won’t be particularly voluminous. It won’t even feel healthy, in fact, it might even feel a bit brittle. Sure, the peppermint smell is nice, and sure, you get quite a bit of product for $5. But this is just another run-of-the-mill, doesn’t deliver on it’s promises shampoo. Despite claiming to be sulfate free, you will still feel that your hair has been stripped of it’s natural oils, and it will feel dry.

Don’t lose hope for sulfate free shampoos — I’ve reserved one that actually works for my next post! ~A

Perceived efficacy: 1/5

Longevity: 1/5

How much I actually like this product: 1/5

Tanwise Gradual Tan Moisturizer

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I wouldn’t say this is the best self-tanner on the market. I can’t even find it now that I’m googling it, and it looks like Tanwise has rebranded anyway since I bought this a year ago. I grabbed this at Sally’s for $9, figuring it was cheap enough to give it a shot.

This is a brown gradual tanning lotion. Gradual tanners obviously aren’t the answer to getting dark within a day or two, but I tend to think their end result is a little more natural and less blotchy than instant formulations. This product unfortunately missed the mark in both categories.

It went on as a white lotion. No guide, since it’s a gradual tanner. If I recall it was pretty notorious for getting under my fingernails and between my fingers, which is unusual for a gradual tanner, so in hindsight I probably should have used a glove. It does smell really good on application — fruity, very sweet — but after a day, this changed into one of the worst DHA smells I’ve ever smelled in my life.

With most gradual tanners, you should be able to use the lotion every day, causing the color to be darker the longer duration you use it for. But this was BAD in terms of being blotchy, and producing sections of extreme dark tan where another patch of skin would have almost nothing, despite efforts to spread the color evenly. Showering would also cause streaks after day 2, which is also very unusual for a gradual tanner.

The one good thing about this tanner (besides the initial smell) is that I think it’s actually ok for sensitive skin. I wouldn’t recommend it for the face, but for the rest of the body it was fine. Sometimes DHA products can briefly produce a very faint, temporary rash, but I didn’t experience that with Tanwise.

Looking around Amazon, it doesn’t seem like Tanwise has great reviews for most of their products, except for their mousse. Maybe that will be my next purchase, but their gradual tanner was definitely a miss. ~A

Perceived efficacy: 1.5/5

Longevity: 1/5

How much I actually like this product: 2/5

Recommended for sensitive skin: Maybe