This ceramide cream is a simple-yet-effective moisturizer that’s found itself in pretty heavy rotation in routine. Even with the inclusion of PHA’s, this moisturizer isn’t exactly a heavy-hitter with stand-out results, but it’s simple, and sometimes that’s all I’m looking for in a routine.
There’s 50ml of product in this tube (which, by the way, is super portable and great for when you’re on-the-go). But it never really feels like there is truly 50ml in this product, like, there’s seemingly a lot of empty space in the tube, which is unfortunate because I go through this stuff pretty fast. This comes out of the tube as a white cream, is easy to spread on the face, and absorbs quickly. It’s about medium weight, so it’s sufficiently heavy enough to make you feel moisturized for most of the day. It doesn’t cause any pilling, so it’s great under foundation.
I think this was my first experience with a PHA cream. It exfoliates to a much lesser degree than a BHA or AHA would, thus the irritation is incredibly minor, if there even is any at all. That said, don’t use this before slapping on your retinol at night. There’s also some dispute on whether it enhances the effect of Vitamin C or just causes irritation. I’ve used Vitamin C with this with no issue, so this is ok to use in the morning provided you’ve snuck in some SPF in your last step.
As far as long-term effects of the ceramides and PHA’s go… well, there haven’t been any, really. But this hasn’t caused any breakouts for me, so I think this could be a good pick for someone with sensitive skin. Also, it’s relatively cheap to buy online, between $10-15 depending on where you look. You’ll most likely have to wait a couple weeks for the international shipping, but I think it’s worth the wait to try it out.
This was a pretty short review, but you know what they say, less is more. I stan a basic moisturizer! ~A
I can imagine the Physican’s Formula marketing round-table at the Markwins Beauty Brands HQ for this serum, scrolling through Instagram, watching the myriad of videos of girls applying shimmery-colored serums out of droppers onto their face before they accomplish some glorious feat of makeup. “We’ll make a shiny serum with absolutely no benefit at all!”, said the marketers. “But we’ll say it boosts collagen and make them think it’s doing something.”
For $14, it’s a really cute and boujie-looking gold and glittery bottle, although the bottle itself is way too big for the amount of product it’s actually holding, 1 fl. oz. Points off for wasteful packaging. The pump itself is pretty efficient though, and gives you a consistent helping of the amount of product you’ll actually need to apply on your face. I’m not going to say “a little goes a long way” with this product, since it tends to dry up really quickly, but two full pumps should get you exactly what you’ll need.
Application of this is… smooth, but as I mentioned before, it dries up pretty fast. Ok, not dries up. It transfers immediately from your fingers to your face, and leaves a super tacky residue behind. But it doesn’t feel like you’ve delivered any moisture to your skin, so that’s… not great. And that tacky residue is uncomfortably long-lasting.
As you probably guessed, this contains gold. Not sure what I was expecting that to do — like, I’d apply it and it would make my skin like… automatic highlighter? Realistically, I’d get one giant chunk of a gold flake in the serum, and it would wind up somewhere inconvenient on my face.
Eh, ok, this has niacinamide in it, which is always good. Fine. That’s one redeeming quality. Collagen does make it’s way as well. But for short-term and long-term effects, this product doesn’t do much for me. My skin doesn’t feel hydrated — it just feels sticky. I don’t experience any collagen-boosting effect. Heck, I don’t even see any niacinamide pore-shrinking benefits, in fact, I’m pretty sure this serum breaks me out! Although I can’t pinpoint the exact ingredient that would cause that.
This is a lose for me, but a win for the Physicians Formula marketing team. I definitely judged a book by it’s cover in this case, and bought the sparkly thing instead of the plain-looking thing that actually worked. ~A
I guess I lied about needing an Epiduo-induced skincare break — this reliable little eye cream was worth a post. Now, I know what you’re saying, “eye creams are a scam, they’re just up-marketed moisturizers/retinoids!”, which is probably true. But I still LIKE this thing.
This was a relatively inexpensive buy at $14-$15 that I picked up at a local natural foods store, I think they’re also available at various vitamin shops. The tube is only half an ounce, but a little goes a long way.
This comes out as a white cream that you lightly apply under your eye and near the corners. Obviously be careful not to get too close to your waterline, or you’re going to get a bit of stinging. It’s easy to oversaturate this product, so in that instance it take a bit longer to rub into the skin, but otherwise, it absorbs very well and quickly, without being heavy. Even if you do oversaturate, you won’t experience that stinging sensation that retinol products sometimes cause when you overdo it.
Speaking of retinol, that’s in here, so apply this at night. There’s also a bunch of plant-based ingredients in here, which I like. No drying alcohols. There’s also “bakuchiol”, a retinol alternative, that I’d never heard of before today, so it looks like I have something new to research.
Now, I’m sure some of this could be placebo effect, but when I woke up the next morning after using it, I swore my natural and normally very pronounced under-eye circles were slightly diminished, a feat no other product has ever accomplished. A few fine lines had also decreased as well. I don’t really think the effects carry beyond an entire day, but I’m convinced it does work relatively quickly, with noticeable results.
What I love about the product (well, on the packaging I have, at least), it specifies that the user “dabs around the eye area with your ring finger”, because they darn well know if you use your pointer finger, you’re going to put way too much on. Anyway — I’ll definitely rebuy this after I run out. Call me a sucker for buying into the eye-cream scheme… ~A
This stuff is so powerful that it is causing me to have to temporarily forfeit like, 70% of my regular skincare regimen. On that note, I may be taking a temporary hiatus until my skin gets back on track after having used this.
This is my second go-around with Epiduo Forte. I was prescribed this in conjunction with spironolactone when I first saw a dermatologist about my cystic acne. Yep, prescription only, depending on where you live — and I think there are different variants on the name of Epiduo, depending on the strength.
The first time around was a true clear out of my extremely broken out skin. I was excited to start using this white-gel-cream product, with 2.5% benzoyl peroxide for bacteria killing and .3% adapalene for cell exfoliation. The general Internet consensus is that this stuff really does work, but I quickly realized that applying Epiduo at night isn’t exactly the same pleasant experience as slapping on a sheet mask. For the first month or two? This stuff is gonna burn like mad.
You know that phrase “if it burns, it’s working”? Ok, first of all, that phrase is terrible advice to live by, because it’s NOT true for most skincare products, except maybe this one. Even then, you will question if it really is working for the first few weeks, because it actually makes your skin WORSE. Like, a lot worse.
The first time around, my cystic acne multiplied. By a lot. It was terrible, painful, and just all around hard to deal with. Even now in my second go-around, my skin is probably the worst it’s been in about two years. Epiduo forces your skin cells to turn over more rapidly, thus bringing the bacteria to the surface and causing a break out. It doesn’t matter how diligent you are keeping your face clean — you’re still going to break out, a LOT. And in areas you don’t normally break out in, too!
I waited it out for about six weeks, the first time. My skin finally started to improve! I mean, it doesn’t PREVENT your break outs from happening, but it makes your pores quite a bit clearer, and overall the texture and condition of your skin will be brighter.
So what’s my deal with Epiduo today, 3 weeks into my second go-around? Heck, why am I even here, on a second go-around? Shouldn’t my acne be mostly cured-ish after using it the first time? Not exactly. You need to keep using it. And that’s what I stopped doing. Sure, I would use it like… every two weeks… to spot treat, but that was it.
About nine months after I stopped using it consistently, my face started to get a little more… blotchy. Not so much cystic acne as it had been before, since the spironolactone keeps a lot of that at bay. But the texture overall just wasn’t great. My dermatologist told me in no uncertain terms that I “can’t just stop using Epiduo”.
So here I am, week three. I apply Epiduo every night. The first two weeks, my skin burned like CRAZY — that’s getting a little better now, though. Peeling skin though? Non-stop. Exfoliants are risky to use, since the Epiduo is already exfoliating for me and my skin is pretty raw. I can’t use most of my moisturizers or sunscreens, since they’ll pill, even if my face is 100% clean. And my skin is still… not great. New spots are turning up every day!
I’ve gone through Epiduo before and know it works, so I’ll have to just hold out for another month or so. In the meantime, my skin care routine is minimal: Clinique’s Dramatically Different in the morning, a TINY dot of Its Skin 2pm, and CosRX Honey Ceramide Cream at night (and The Ordinary’s Lactic Acid 5% if I’m feeling brave).
Hopefully my next post will contain some positive news. Hey, if the Epiduo works for me a second time around, then that will mean the product REALLY works! Unfortunately it’s a pricey venture at $375, and many insurers won’t cover the cost — although, manufacturer’s coupons will occasionally help to knock the price down if they’re available. Ah, the price we pay for clear skin… ~A
Perceived efficacy: 4/5
Longevity: 3/5 (you have use it regularly)
How much I actually like this product: 3.5/5 (the burning! the purging!)
Recommended for sensitive skin: It will MAKE your skin sensitive, even if it wasn’t in the first place. Prepare for two months of total annihilation!
If you’ve been following my blog for the past few months, you’ll know that I’ve been doing a lot of really terrible things to my hair lately, like stripping the color, bleaching, and re-dyeing. And as much as I’ve been loving the Carol’s Daughter line of hair care lately, I just didn’t think the conditioner was heavy enough to repair all the damage I’d done. So I picked up this conditioner by Sauce Beauty at Sally’s for $10. It’s a small bottle at 10 fl. oz, but it’s well worth the cost, and you won’t find yourself running out of the product too quickly.
Right off the bat, I LOVE the smell. It smells like a banana-scented bubble bath (Describing smells is still not my strong point, apparently…), and the smell will linger in your hair for the better part of the day, which in this case I definitely appreciate.
The conditioner is REALLY thick, but somehow easily spreadable in your hair. I usually wet my hair first, apply this conditioner, and wash it out after it’s been sitting on my hair for a minute. It makes your hair feel incredibly smooth even while you’re still washing your hair, and long after you’ve hopped out of the shower. Combing through is a breeze. In fact, this is one of the only conditioners that I ever felt like my hair was still smooth and tangle-free a few hours after washing.
I think my biggest gripe with this product is the combination of the thickness of this conditioner, and the bottle that it’s in. The conditioner is incredibly thick, and having a smooth-plastic, triangle-shaped bottle makes it really difficult to squeeze out.
This conditioner has a lot of great features and ingredients, too. It’s color-safe: this conditioner sulfate, paraben, and drying-alcohol free. The banana, honey and coconut are relatively high up on the ingredient listing also. I personally have sensitivity to coconut on both my regular skin and my scalp, but I didn’t feel that this bothered me at all (still, with that being said, if you have a coconut oil sensitivity, just be mindful of this product).
All in all this is a fantastic conditioner at an amazing price point. Considering everything I’ve put my hair through, it’s a lot healthier than I would have expected — I think I owe most of that to this conditioner. ~A
There are so many things going on with this rosewater. All I wanted was a replacement for the Mario Badescu rose spray I’d left at home on a trip once — and after a quick Google search of this $10, 4 fl. oz spritzer, I realized that I was getting a whole lot more than I bargained for. Not only was this alcohol-free, but this included vor-mag water! And… a blessing from a dead propheteer, Edgar Cayce!
This spray only has two ingredients. Vor-mag water, and rose. As I mentioned before, no drying alcohols or sulfates or literally anything else. What is vor-mag water, you ask? According to Heritage Store, it is water that has been “vortexed and magnetized to raise the energy to a higher vibration that we believe to be more beneficial”. Um… ok. Alright, I’ll spritz some of this on my face.
This smells like a jar of potpourri, which is… fine, as far as fragrances go, but I’m not sure if I like that smell on my face. The mist is super, super fine. It’s refreshing, for two seconds, but evaporates almost immediately and the only residue it leaves behind is honestly sort of sticky. I don’t think it’s clogged up my pores or caused any break outs, but the residue is pretty annoying and it’s not moisturizing at all. I must be immune to the benefits of this “vor-mag” water.
The label also goes on to say that this rosewater is “recommended in the Edgar Cayce Readings”. I had no idea who this guy was, so I did a little research on him. He was a psychic in the late 19th/early 20th century who supposedly predicted the Great Depression, World War II, Atlantis, and the El Nino. Oh, also he wrote a bunch of documents about holistic health and even had his own diet plan, the Cayce diet. Busy guy.
Apparently, the Heritage Company loves this guy so much that they create their products based around what they think he would recommend. Sorry Heritage Company, but this rose water isn’t really the best, and I kind of think that Edward Cayce would probably approve of Mario Badescu’s version instead. ~A
Dropping Edgar Cayce’s name in your phone number is just one way of many to show your true dedication!
Perceived efficacy: 2.5/5
Longevity: 1/5
How much I actually like this product: 2/5
Recommended for sensitive skin: No. I don’t think it will cause break outs, but that residue is just so tacky and gross.
One N’ Only is a brand I usually skip over at Sally’s due to the weird 80s/90s style branding of their product. C’mon, you can’t tell me this doesn’t look a little dated:
But I’ve been using quite a few of their products lately, and they’re pretty darn good. In another post, I am going to go into extreme detail about their ColorFix product. But for now, let’s focus on this purple shampoo.
While I had bayalage, I tried about six different blue/purple shampoos/conditioners, and Shiny Silver was the clear winner in the shampoo realm. For $10, you get 12.5 fl. oz of product, which is in the cheaper range for blue shampoos — and, considering that you won’t need to use it every day, it will certainly last awhile.
The consistency of this shampoo is just runny enough to easily get the product out of the bottle, but consistent enough to get a good lather out of it. It will make you feel as though you’ve sufficiently applied enough to your hair (which Joico and Pravana don’t do — those two always made me feel like I had to dump out half the bottle to get a good amount of product). After 2-3 minutes of letting this soak into your hair, you can wash your hair out and hop out of the shower without feeling much of a residue.
Now, unfortunately, that “no residue” feeling is likely due to the inclusion of sulfates, so if you’re looking for a sulfate-free shampoo, this ain’t it. Also, the dreaded isopropyl alcohol rears it’s ugly head in the 4th line down on the ingredient listing. For me, isopropyl alcohol usually ensures that dryness will eventually occur, so I try my best to avoid it in skincare and shampoos. But, hey — all in the name of experimentation, right?
Despite the aforementioned quasi-nefarious ingredients, I didn’t feel like my hair was SUPER dry, by any means. I mean, there was already bleach in it to begin with, so the damage had already been done. But this shampoo didn’t make it worse.
I loved this product because the color payout on the highlights was pretty significant. Even though the effects weren’t super long lasting (maybe two days, at most), they were pretty darn noticeable. All the red/copper/orange tones were temporarily cancelled out, and I was able to achieve a more white-silver blonde highlight look, as opposed to yellow-blonde. Which was exactly what I was going for.
Long-term, this shampoo isn’t going to either help or hinder your hair health. It does what it says it will, which is make your highlights brighter and cancel out the copper-tones. And while it’s not the most moisturizing of shampoos (particularly since it has sulfates, which strip out the natural oils), it’s also not going to damage it beyond repair even after a few weeks of sporadic use. All in all, not a bad buy! ~A
In preparation for winter, and knowing that Cerave in a Tub is no longer a go-to option for me, I went on the hunt for a heavy ceramide cream. It’s a bit on the pricier side — $18 — but it had a few good reviews on r/asianbeauty, so I decided it was worth the splurge. The 2 fl oz’s go a long way.
I was surprised by the heavy jar when I got this in the mail, but I do like the yellow packaging. Nice, bright, and clean! This cream itself feels great: it’s very smooth and creamy. It is peach-colored in the jar, but the color disappears immediately once it is applied to the skin. It melts, actually, which I love. The only drawback here about the physicality of the product is how much I dislike the smell. It smells like some sort of lemony household cleaner.
The ingredient listing is where I become a bit conflicted. The ingredient listing is SO LONG and I am unfamiliar with quite a few of them, which isn’t always the best sign. I mean, it’s great that there are no drying alcohols in it, but I DO think my skin is a little sensitive to this because of how many oils they put in. Now, oils for me are hit or miss — some certainly play better with my skin than others, but this just seems like a lot:
Phew! Not listed in this screenshot is the inclusion of coconut oil and aloe vera (which both tend to be comodeogenic for my skin). On the plus side, we’ve got three types of ceramides, niacinamide, and allantoin.
Despite drying a little bit more tacky on my skin than I would care for (don’t put makeup over this one!), this does make my skin feel protected and soft. I don’t think it quite lived up to the “72 hour” claim, but the feeling did persist up to about the 18 hour mark.
As for my skin condition over all… I do think I have a bit of a sensitivity to this. Although it works GREAT as an emollient, especially overnight, I have woken up a few times with clogged pores, blotchy skin, or tiny break outs. But, I went into this knowing it wasn’t oil-free, so that was the price I paid.
If you’re not sensitive to oils, don’t mind the smell of Pine-Sol, and you’re looking for a great overnight mask, this will do the trick. Otherwise, sensitive skin users, be careful with Good Cera! ~A
Double feature Saturday! I wanted to write about this before I forgot about my experience with Colorfix. I’ve been experimenting with this product for close to three weeks now, and I’m hoping that my journey is nearing the end.
My natural color is dark blonde (7 or 8 color). I’ve been dyeing my hair either black or darkest brown (1 or 2) since I was 13 years old. It started off as a mistake that I figured would fade over time, but I actually grew to love the color. I carried on that way for sixteen years, dyeing my hair every 3 or 4 weeks to maintain the roots.
When I got bayalage about a year ago, I decided I was really tired of the black entirely. I knew right out the gate that removing SIXTEEN YEARS (!!) of black dye was going to be a near impossible task. But I bit the bullet, and picked up a box of Color Fix from Sally’s. Could a $13 product get rid of a 16 year love affair with black hair dye?
In the days leading up to this, I scrubbed my hair with Head n Shoulders shampoo, because dandruff shampoo unintentionally reigns supreme in fading out hair dye. I got home from work, made sure my social calendar was clear (in anticipation of looking a bit crazy for the next few days), and ripped open the box. There are three bottles within the ColorFix box, steps 1, 2, and 3. At the advice of the knowledgeable Sally’s employee, I threw out step 3 because it contains peroxide, which revitalizes shrunk hair dye molecules and in turn makes your hair dark again. Makes you wonder why One n Only even included it.
I poured out steps 1 and 2 into a regular mixing bowl, and mixed the two together. This is where the terrible sulfur smell of Colorfix comes into play. Even if you turn your fan on and open your windows, there’s practically no escaping it. The first time I used it, I felt sick to my stomach. Now that I’ve used it a few times, it’s still pretty disgusting, but it doesn’t phase me as much.
You can apply it with a brush the same way you would with a normal dye. After the dye is applied, try to massage the product into your hair to ensure the Colorfix is inundated in as much of the strand as possible. Find a plastic cap or bag to put over your hair to trap the heat, and wait for 20 minutes. I’ve read some anecdotes about using a blowdryer on the highest setting over the cap. I’ve tried this in a few of my applications, but I don’t really see a difference when I don’t use it — it neither increases or decreases the amount of color that gets pulled from my hair. I think all it does is create more unnecessary damage.
I rinsed it out after 20 minutes. A few times I used dish soap, thinking it would clarify the hair more than a normal shampoo clarifier, thus knocking the dye molecules out of the strand — but, in the end, I found that Head n Shoulders was just as effective, and way less damaging than dish soap. You have to make sure you rinse the ColorFix for AT LEAST 20 minutes — not only to get rid of the sulfur smell, but to make sure the product is removed fully before dye is applied over it (otherwise the color will re-oxidize and you’ll be back where you started).
The result? Well, if you’ve been dyeing your hair black for sixteen straight years, do not expect this to work much after the first application. It’s HIGHLY likely you’re going to have to repeat this process at least three or four more times, if not more. For a one-time black dye application, this probably works great, and immediately turns the hair into a rust-red color.
But for me — the process has been slow, resulting in blotches of orange, yellow, light brown, red, and LOTS of remaining black, no matter how meticulously I apply. And though I just hopped out of the shower coming off of my seventh application of the product over three weeks, I’d say that it’s only minimally improved. There are still patches of black that are clinging on for dear life.
My goal: C2 to C7. My hair color after Colorfix: C2, C9, C10, C11, C4, C3, C6….
But the point is that it WORKS. The process is arduous, sure, but I never thought I would see a full head of non-black dyed hair, and the progress toward that is evident. What I also appreciate about ColorFix is that it doesn’t fry your hair the same way that bleach does. It’s a bit damaging, but nothing that can’t be fixed by a week of deep conditioning and possibly a trim.
I know that was a lot, so here are the quick steps to using ColorFix:
Shampoo with a clarifying shampoo before using
Mix up Colorfix in a bowl.
Apply Colorfix to dry hair. Rub it into your hair as much as possible.
Put a processing cap over hair. Wait 20 minutes
Rinse out hair with a clarifier for at least 20 minutes.
Let hair dry, and determine whether or not the steps need to be repeated.
If the old hair color has been satisfactorily stripped, apply hair dye of your choice (or don’t!)
Here’s a few extra things I would like to add about my journey:
I used bleach very shortly prior to using Color Fix. Do NOT do this!!! Colorfix, on it’s own, is not the most damaging product in the world, but in conjunction with recent bleaching, it might just turn your hair to straw. Also, using bleach first will cause the color stripper to turn parts of your hair a somewhat unsightly yellow.
Since you’ve basically wiped out a ton of molecules from your hair, your hair is now very porous. Naturally, it might start to darken on it’s own, even if you don’t apply anything else after the Colorfix. For the same reason of hair porosity, when re-dyeing, ensure that you are using a dye that’s 1 or 2 steps above the desired color.
Yes, that smell will go away. I promise. ~A
Perceived efficacy: 4/5
Longevity: 3.5/5 (due to eventual/inevitable oxidation)
In my experience, eyebrow gels across all the different makeup manufacturers aren’t really wildly different from one another, so this is going to be a short review. But Glossier’s Boy Brow and Brow flick have been hugely popular lately, so I thought I’d give it a try. (Plus, I low-key love Glossier’s super-simplistic packaging. Just another case of me falling for what’s on the outside…)
I bought this in the color brown. For a brown gel, this is pretty dark, probably bordering more on black. What’s really a huge sell for me is the tiny wand. My eyebrows aren’t super bushy, and the applicator only has 6 spindles of brushes on it (ie: short applicator), so it’s easy to follow even the thinnest part of my brow without getting it all over my skin.
My only problem with this gel is that, either, there isn’t a ton of product in here in the first place, or that it seems to dry up really quickly. So actually getting the product on the brush after the first week or two of application can be a struggle. You have to kind of, wiggle the applicator around until you can pick up some color. This can sometimes cause the actual application of color to be inconsistent — one side of the applicator will have a TON of product, and one will not, causing the color to sort of, bleed out onto on part of your eyebrow and not the rest. But this is easy to fix by just going over the eyebrow a few times (without re-applying product to the applicator).
Because of the occasional heaviness caused by an over-saturated application, this can take a minute or two longer to dry, whereas most brow gels dry almost immediately. Once dry, it’s pretty difficult to rub off. Unfortunately I find myself needing to re-apply this after hour 4 or 5 — not that the color has completely disappeared, but it definitely looks to be lighter. This is compared to my Ardell brow gels that seem to last a whole work day.
All and all, I think the $16 pricetag is mostly just for the name “Glossier”. While I do love the size of the wand, there are longer lasting gels out there that are a little more consistent with their color application. ~A
The Altruistic Face 