Skincare Routine Mondays: Feb 29, 2016 Leap Year Edition!

1. Oil Cleanser: None. Still none. Still feel unnecessary. My bad.
2. Water-based Cleanser: Fresh Soy Face Cleanser. This is also the Sephora birthday gift. I can't wait to get mine and then I can play with the rose mask. 
3. Toner: Missha's Clear Toner (in the Time Revolution Starter Set).
4. Serum or essence: Not quite an essence/serum, but a "First" Essence-- Missha's The First Treatment Essence (in the Time Revolution Starter Set).
5. Moisturizer:
    AM: Aveeno Smart Essentials Daily Nourishing Moisturizer SPF 30. But sometimes I just use NR's Combo Watery Cream with Biore's Watery Essence PA 50+++. Depends on how greasy I  feel.  
   PM : Nature Republic Super Aqua Max Combination Watery Cream.

Nothing much has changed except for the fact that I am now including a chemical peel once or twice a week (depending on how I feel). The lady at Sephora gave my friend and me three days worth Dr. Dennis Gross extra strength daily peels, and the first time I used it I was nervous at how much my fine lines really did decrease. However, I have used it twice in conjunction with an assortment of "revitalizers" in order to compensate for their harshness. 

The first time I did the peel, a clay mask, my usual routine of #3 and #4 and then a hydrating face mask. Boy did my skin feel great!!

Right now, I used a peel (evenings only since it makes normal skin photosenstive and I'm naturally "photosensitive" anyway and don't want to risk sun damage). Then the rest of the Caudalie Pink Clay mask and my usual 3/4/5. I hope it's enough and that I don't feel sad tomorrow when I wake up with skin trying to re-balance itself.

Still have an oily t-zone, but not nearly as bad as when I was using the Donkey Milk 3D moisture. After my NR Combo Watery Cream is done (and it will be done before I know it), I'm moving on to the Mizon AIO Snail cream. Hopefully that won't be too crazy and make my t-zone greasy again.

Sephora Sample Wonderland: SUPER PORE KILLER EXPERIMENT

To be honest, when I talk to the associates at Sephora, I really take EVERYTHING with a huge grain of sand. Sometimes a boulder of sand. But really, the advice that they give out is not always the best, nor applicable towards my skin. It's really important not to just feed in and think what they say is by the book, especially when labels note otherwise.

Getting another Glamglow SuperMud mask sample as well as three days worth of Dr. Dennis Gross Skincare Alpha Beta® Peel Extra Strength Daily Peel, has given me the guts to try Fiddy Snails's "Super Pore Killer" method, which these two ingredients would be great for. Plus, I have an Eve Lom cleanser sample I would love to try out.

However, I am nervous about trying out multiple products at once since two out of three will be new. Either way, trying out anything that is supposed to be a "super pore killer" is going to be terrifying in my eyes. On my face, rather. Let me put on my purple ears headband and get to work.

While I'm doing that-- follow-up from last week:

ONE IMPORTANT THING I noticed, after the last Clay Mask SSH (Sephora Sample Wonderland) Experiment, was that the right side of my face... on the chin at least, I had MORE defined sebaceous filaments. Yes, those pores got bigger, darker, and more pronounced on only HALF of my chin. It was the side where I tried Glam glow, it was also the side that I tried the Kakadu C Amethyst mask. WHAT MADE THEM POP UP?!? It had to be a product because the line between regular pores and new big pores is just so definitive, it's almost ridiculous.

Continuing on with the Super Pore Killer Experiment brought to you by Sephora Sample Wonderland and a Fiddy Snails Post:

Step 1: Apply the AHA/BHA whatever it is that is going to loosen the sebum. The Dr. Dennis Gross soaked pads made my face a little red, but half is from my rubbing my face down, and the other half is from the face that I am rubbing my face down more harshly over my "problem spots," aka, my schnoze.

Happy Ears and Clogged Pores!

Mistake 1: Did NOT wait 20-25 minutes for the thing to do its thang as Fiddy Snails directed. Honestly, it was not a stridex pad and my skin felt dry as bone after a minute or two of doing it. Since it's a two step peel, I feel like the first step was where Stridex would have stopped and the second step stopped it. Who knows.

Step 2: Apply clay mask. SuperMud is coming into play here. It is only on my problem spots as I do not need to apply it to my whole face. It is drying, I am five minutes into a very thin layer that has already dried on what portion of my forehead I have applied it to.

Wet, Dry, Up Close and Personal

Mistake 2: Not using tepid/lukewarm water to wash off the mask... The sink in my bathroom has a new faucet and I have not yet mastered the temperature. It was lukewarm when I started rinsing the mask off my face... and then it got hot really fast. Good thing I was just about done with the mask, but it didn't help that it was hot by the end of the rinsing. Also, my skin did not feel overly dry, another good indicator, I hope.

Step 3: Apply cleansing oil/carrier oil. Fiddy Snails uses Banila Co, which I couldn't bring myself to purchase at Incheon Duty Free. However, as I noted above, I have Eve Lom Cleanser, which the first ingredient is mineral oil, so it satisfies the oil need. There are these little bumps in my Eve Lom, but once I applied it in a gentle way to my face, they disappeared. The Eve Lom cleanser is a sort of cleansing balm, and feel like I'm rubbing that naturally smelly kind of mineral oil on my face. It becomes kind of liquidy once it hits the heat of my face. Still waiting 10-15 minerals before I see if I have any "grits" though I doubt it. Hmm, my lips feel dry. That's odd.

Step 4: Gently massage for 2-3 minutes. No Grits. Just Oil On My Face Being Rubbed In Circles. Oil. Oil. More Oil. Milky Oily. Ew, Rinse Said Oil.

Step 5: Take a look at the work that's been done. Are my pores minimized? Have they been SUPER KILLED?! I do feel like I took the skin that is my face and put a layer of plastic wrap and wrapped it back on to my face. It is a shiny and tight as it looks and feels. No after pictures, they all came out blurry and out of focus-- I think the shine was throwing it off.

Mistake 3: Maybe it's not a mistake, but this is the first time that I have used a clay mask and not instantly used a sheet mask to compensate for the sucking outtage of oils from said face. However, I felt like the Eve Lom cleanser was very oily and balanced it out a bit more. Still using and I am going to use up my Nature Republic Combination Watery Cream. We will see how my poor face fares tomorrow.

Sephora Sample Wonderland: Clay Masks Part Deux - DERMADOCTOR Kakadu CAmethyst Clay Detox Mask vs Caudalie Instant Detox Mask

First things first: read the directions. So I headed over to find the directions. One sad thing about the Sephora Sample Wonderland is that though they print out a little "receipt" of sorts about the product, they never actually tell you how to use it. Yay for the Internet to provide such simple things. 

DERMADOCTOR Kakadu C Amethyst Clay Detox Mask:

Apply a generous layer to clean, dry skin. Leave on for 15 minutes. Rinse thoroughly with warm water, and pat dry. Use three times a week.

Caudalie Instant Detox:

Smear a thin coat over clean skin twice a week. Leave for 10 minutes then rinse, following with your favorite serum or moisturizer.

As you can see, both of these masks suggest being used multiple times a week. Would I really suggest that? Cannot say for sure right now, but they're definitely no super power that Glamglow has. I do say that I like how the Caudalie directions tell you to follow with what ought to be common sense, but is something I highly doubt people take into consideration. I actually used my normal toner and first essence regieme post-mask since I already did a sheet mask yesterday. Following with Missha's snail cell new sleeping pack (which I think of more as a nicely fragranced, kind of stickier moisturizer) which I have yet to really see any results from, but wanted a protective barrier.

The Kakadu C was thicker and smelled like blueberries, or maybe it just looked like blueberry colored, but definitely had a grape or sweet very like smell. It was thick and not very easy to spread, however I do wonder if that was because this was the bottom of the jar that I received the sample from. It smelled nice, but was very tacky and reminded me of the Peter Thomas Roth Irish Moor Mud. This mask also did not change colors when it dries, or if it did it was very subtle.

The Caudalie mask was pink and had a light refreshing and almost kind of minty smell. The texture was smoother and more like Glamglow, but without the grains. It went on smoothly and very nicely, I have to say that part really felt nice. Akin to Glamglow, when it dries it changed colors and had this air pocket all over where my sebum probably is the most. The instant gratification kind of fell knowing that your trouble spots are being properly targeted. It's a pink clay, so maybe the bubble or circles in the mask when it dries are really a property of clay masks. This needs more research.

However, the Sephora lady this time was stingy, and I hardly had enough to put in my entire face, especially the Kaladu C, that ran out on half of my face and I wasn't even that generous. It was difficult to spread and I didn't have enough to do a whole face, what a bad sample. The Caudalie spread so nicely and even generously spread it was not tough and there is enough for another go. Best make it to Sephora again for another sample, hopefully out of a fresher jar this time.

Sorry for the yellowish lighting, but it's really more of a blue/purple than gray. Kakadu C is made from a sort of plum, though the color seems artificial to me. The Caudalie is a light pink that almost looks like a nude when on, which is how I missed a small spot. However, it's dries very obviously and turns a white-ish pink.

On the lower right you can see the instant gratification spots I mentioned earlier.

Bottom line: Needs a part deux, but I am definitely leaning towards the Caudalie. Finally, something Caudalie that I like! Their other products usually have a smell that I just can't stand.

Sephora Sample Wonderland: Glamglow Versus PTR Irish Moor Mud PART DEUX

Forgot to write about how I followed-up a week later by testing a round two for these two masks.

All in all, I hate to say this, because I like rooting for the underdog, but I think Glamglow wins.

PTR Irish Moor Mud is just too much to clean off and felt like rubbing ink all over my face in trying to rinse it off nicely. It also has less of an effect, from what I can tell. It's probably more gentle and doesn't harden on the skin, but at the same time I did not like the whole messiness of putting it on and taking it off.

Like rubbing ink all over my face, I tell ya.

Glamglow, while messy at first, dries, and then is hard to rinse off in that rinsing it makes it melt all over again, but it's not as dark or difficult.

Pictorial Evidence:

The process begins with the mask already drying where it's thinner around my lips. Look at it almost dried, even though in the side of my nose it's still very wet and so leaves a dark gray line (which I waited to lighten before rinsing).

Now in the last picture I apologize for the nastiness that is the amount of sebum making the Glamglow all bubbly as it recognizes the filth in my pores. However, if you look at the left, compared to the right, the left looks cleaner. Maybe it's an accident of the camera being blurry, as I am not using a macro lens, but still, it looks better to me, and in the mirror it did too. This is Glamglow versus PTR Irish Moor Mud.

I really want to work on my pores, my nose and neighboring "wings" are horrendous.

The Dreaded T-Zone is back!

So I've been really happy and satisfied with Nature Republic's Super Aqua Max Combination Watery Cream because I wake up feeling fresh.

Perhaps it's the rainy weather? Maybe it's because I slept less than six hours, or maybe touched my face my hands after I lotioned my legs before sleeping.... but it's back, the dreaded oily T-zone upon waking is back!

Maybe it just takes a month or so for my skin to get used to a product before the oily T-zone is back and making my mornings greasier than I would like them to be.

However, as always, I am going to give it the benefit of the doubt and keep using this cream for another week. If results are consistent and I wake up a greasy T-zone, it's time to take a look at what other options I have in my "Skincare Wardrobe".

Options:

• Go back to Donkey Milk even though I know it gives me a greasy T-zone.
• Stay and finish the Nature Republic Combination Watery Cream.
• Move on to another cream. Do I have another cream? I have a Sephora gift card.
• Use The Guerission 9-Complex mini that I have, even though I just think it's "meh" and I have only used it on my hands so far.
• Nature Republic Royal Ginseng Jelly Cream. Will probably incorporate the Essence into my routine as well.
• Mizon All-In-One Snail Cream (which I bought in Taiwan and keep forgetting that I have)

However, next from Sephora Sample Wonderland:

DERMAdoctor Kakadu C Amethyst Clay Detox Mask 

versus 

Caudalie Instant Detox Mask

I do have my concerns about the Kakadu C Amethyst Clay Detox mask since the sample that I received was taken from the last of the jar and may only produce enough to run a single test run versus the double test run that I did with the last two masks. Also, is this product old? Why were there no more on the shelf and why is it only this almost used up one there?

We'll just have to see.

Skincare Routine Mondays: Feb 1, 2016

1. Oil Cleanser: None. Still none. I am bad at this.
2. Water-based Cleanser: Fresh Soy Face Cleanser. This was a Christmas present from my friend, and I really love it. It gets milky the same way that oil cleansers get milky, but because you wet your face before using, it gets milky as you massage it around your face. I use a pinky-nail's worth of cleanser and it goes such a long way. So far, I LOVE IT. It's the first cleanser that doesn't make my face tight and it feels clean, yet moisturized. 
3. Toner: Missha's Clear Toner (in the Time Revolution Starter Set).
4. Serum or essence: Not quite an essence/serum, but a "First" Essence-- Missha's The First Treatment Essence (in the Time Revolution Starter Set).
5. Moisturizer. 
      AM: Aveeno Smart Essentials Daily Nourishing Moisturizer SPF 30. But sometimes I just use my PM cream with Biore's Watery Essence PA 50+++. Depends on how greasy I  feel.  PM : Nature Republic Super Aqua Max Combination Watery Cream.

I've really calmed it down with trying to maintain my samples of "liquid gold" (aka SKII Repair Treatment C). Can I tell a difference? Not really. Hahahahaha. Oh my gosh, how much am I spending on things that may or may not actually have an effect?!

Have a random pimple on my left cheek (totally in the middle, like one red dot in the vast desert of my left cheek) and my chin area feels greasy and pimple-prone. What is up with my face. When I used the masks on Sunday I made sure to follow-up with a nutrient-rich mask. Tested out My Beauty Diary's Imperial Birds Nest and it's great. Best quality mask in that it's pretty see-through, keeps it's wetness for a prolonged period, and feels great.