Skincare Routine Mondays: April 25, 2016

1. Oil Cleanser: None.
2. Water-based Cleanser: Been switching between Fresh Soy Face Cleanser (which is still my favorite) and SUM:37's Miracle Rose Cleansing Stick. Alternating because something is going on with my skin and I can't figure out what.
3. Toner:  The Face Shop's Chia Water 100 toner from set (on right)
4. Serum or essence: The Face Shop Chia Seed First Essence (10ml sample size) and I "tried" the set's "lotion." 
5. Moisturizer:
    AM: Aveeno Smart Essentials Daily Nourishing Moisturizer SPF 30, though lately I've been breaking out the BIORE UV Aqua Rich Watery Essence because the weather has been so nice and I don't need the grease of my usual Aveeno.
   PM :Mizon - All in One Snail Repair Cream (75ml), which honestly has been the most skin saving, best thing this week!!

RANT:

So my Missha Time Revolution set has finished itself, and I had already started introducing MRCS into my routine.... BUT, something is going wrong!!!

I know starting too many new products at once is bad, but it happens. :( I am out, and so I started the Chia Water set thing and OH NOES, my skin feels smooth-ish, but there are SO MANY little bumps popping up everywhere! Little white-ish ones that aren't white-heads, but aren't normal either!

The MRCS gives my skin a little tightness, I'm guessing it's overly drying my skin, so I've been using what little is left of the Fresh Soy Face Cleanser that I love so dearly (and thank goodness it's Sephora's Birthday gift as well, so I have a little more to live off of). So MRCS is not as "miraculous" as it made to be. However, it's only made worse by the new products that took over Missha's place...

Toner, First Essence 10 ml, Moisture Cream 10 ml, "Lotion" UGH

The most disappointing though is The Face Shop's Chia Water set. Sure, it looks pretty, and it was an impulse buy in duty free, butttttt not pleasing at all. They're in two skinny, but really heavy glass bottle, that I'm always nervous I'm going to crack the sink with (already cracked it once before).

The toner is toner, it's not as watery as the one I just finished from Missha, but it does the job. Unlike the Missha Clear Toner, this is a hydrating toner. The first essence is more gel-like and sticky when I put it on, but the WORST is the "lotion" that came with the set. I feel like I'm just putting hand lotion on my face to the extent where I stopped using it after two days. It felt awful and just ineffective. 

Mizon All in One Snail Repair cream has really saved my face this week. If it weren't for that product, I would probably cry and use face mask after face mask, begging my skin to get it's act together and just pretend that my Missha Time Revolution set did not run out.

Though I do not know where exactly I stand with toner yet, but I do know that I got spoiled by using good products to start my skincare routine, and now that I'm using sub-par products I am really feeling (paying) the difference.

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.

New Product Excitement!! - MISSHA Thanksgiving Haul

Can it really be called a haul when I only purchased two things?

My Missha Haul came: a Time Revolution Starter Set and SUPER AQUA Cell Renew Snail Sleeping Mask. The samples were stingy, I guess I came to expect much more than just two little night repair ampoule samples. No complaints though, I will use these and check how they work with my skin.

So excited!!! Though my trial period with Freeset's Donkey Milk 3D Moisture Cream is only in the sixth of fourteen days, I have used a mask (ugh, more on that bad choice later) and this is a sleeping pack, so it's an additional to whatever is usual. In twelve days though, I will introduce the Time Revolution Set which will incorporate a toner and a first essence prior to any additional serums and creams.

However, I really do NOT like the Clinique City Block SPF 40 that I have been using. This is probably because I am not used to wearing make-up and it reminds me of wearing make-up. It has this tint to it that I can see pools in the fine lines around my eyes (I am very expressive, so I am not surprised). My biggest turn off to this product would have to be the fact that this color comes off when I blot my face with a wet paper towel, which I often do after I was my hands in the restroom.

Perhaps this is odd, but I do not like to touch the bathroom door handle, or any other door handles really. It is gross and covered in germs. So usually, I go to the bathroom, wash my hands, dry my hands on a paper towel, and with this damp paper towel I blot my face (it's very refreshing) and use that same towel to cover the door handle as I exit.

Today I blotted at my face and it felt like I was just blotting all the SPF away. It made the paper towel so... brown, and I did not like that ONE BIT. Nope! I do not like at all and will probably just stick to my Aveeno SPF 30 instead. Seriously, that's one item I have not lived without. In college I started with their other line of moisturizer with was a cream bottle with a pastel green top dispenser. It only had 15 SPF and that was not enough as I would still suffer from slight bouts of sunburn, even on the least sunny of days. Lots of the reviews complain about it's smell-- I think it's a nice fragrance though I admit it is heavily fragranced.

Anyway! My excitement has carried on long enough. Tomorrow I will divulge my snail sleeping mask experience!! Yay!!

Review: Hada Labo Alpha Lotion (Rating: Crestfallen)

I wanted so badly to like this. Purchased on Saturday night I instantly incorporated it into my routine. After all, I hadn't used toner in a while and this is precisely what it is.

It's a viscous liquid, and it comes out of the bottle in sticky drops. In all honesty, I reminds me of really watery sperm, maybe a little creamier. It spreads nicely, and goes on easily. However, today is the sixth day I am using it (for both morning and evening routines) and these pesky little white-head pimples just won't go away.

Ingredients: Water, Butylene Glycol, Glycerin, Beta Carotene, BHT, Caprylic/Capric Triglyceride, Carbomer, Disodium EDTA, Helianthus Annuus (Sunflower) Seed Oil, Hydrolyzed Collagen, Hydrolyzed Soy Protein, Hydroxyethylcellulose, Limnanthes Alba (Meadowfoam) Seed Oil, Methylparaben, PEG-20 Sorbitan Isostearate, PPG-10 Methyl Glucose Ether, Retinyl Palmitate, Sodium Acetylated Hyaluronate, Sodium Hyaluronate, Thioctic Acid, Tocopherol, Triethanolamine, Zea Mays (Corn) Oil

On COSDNA.com the ingredients do note that some are acne triggers. I can spread virgin coconut oil, a well known comedogenic, all over my face and never get a single pimple. However, I use this light, but sticky lotion/toner on my face and my cheeks are just dappled in acne. They're lining the undersides of my cheeks and my skin has never been this bumpy before.

Tonight marks the last night I use this lotion. To ease it's ill effects and to introduce a new product, I am started to use Donkey Milk 3D Moisture Cream at night.  My skin is still irritated with pimples, but feels nice and plump with this cream on.

Also, very excited, bought Missha's Time Revolution Starter Set because it was 40% off. Getting the First Time Essence is exciting! But I am also excited to get the clear toner because I have been trying to incorporate a toner into my routine and just can't find the right one. However, I erroneously thought I needed to spend over $50 to get free shipping (I realize that this is for SOKOGLAM and not Missha US, Missha US is $40 for free shipping, ugh, stupid me), I got a snail sleeping pack to make my total to be $60.

Snail goo, who knew? Going to hop on the bandwagon while I'm here. :)