Product I Regret Buying: Skin Care

This post is about skin care products I regret buying and even though these products didn't work out for my particular skin type, they may work amazingly for you. As for some background, I had combination skin for a most of my life but now I have dry, sensitive and acne prone skin. I always had some acne but recently I got an acne rash all over my face due to an allergic reaction which resulted in peeling and flaky skin. 

Lioele Night Spot Treatment: I have tried Mario Badescu Drying Lotion in the past and that one didn't do anything for my breakouts and I knew this product has the same basic idea but still thought of giving it a shot. I used it religiously every night for about 2-3 weeks and instead of drying out the acne, it dried off the surrounding skin resulting in huge dry patches and uneven skin tone. 

Clinique Acne Solutions Spot Treatment Gel: This product is meant to reduce redness and dry out the acne, but it actually makes them look bigger by pulling out the puss onto the surface resulting in huge white heads that are very nasty looking and  impossible to cover with makeup. Also, I absolutely dreaded putting this product on my face because it stings very badly. Even though the stinging goes away in a few minutes, but it is a nightmare if you have several acne all over the face. So, in short, it hurts and makes the acne look humongous and nasty.

                       
                       

Christopher's Beauty Facial Cream: As I said earlier, I have extremely sensitive and dry skin so I need super moisturizing night creams to make my skin look presentable in the morning. However, the problem is, that I am allergic to Stearate which narrows down my options to minimal. But I found that this cream not only has very simple and nourishing ingredients, but doesn't contain anything that I am allergic to. The color is definitely appalling but the actual product is really moisturizing, however, the scent is so  strong that it is just impossible to put it anywhere near your nose. And mind you I am not super sensitive to scents but this one is a different story. Also, the scent lingers for hours and hours. I regret  buying it because I can't use it on my face, but since it is very moisturizing so  I will probably use it on elbows or other dry areas of my body for the sake of finishing it up. 

Desert Essence Tea Tree Oil Skin Ointment: Tea tree oil is considered very effective for acne so I picked up this ointment as a night cream. Firstly, the product is super hard and solidified, so in order to cover just your chin, you will have to rub your finger in the tub at least 10 times. Secondly, after you put it on your face, it just does not sink into the skin at all for hours. Thirdly, I know it has tea tree oil in it, but it made my face feel so oily and dirty that I literally had to wipe it off with a tissue. So I do not like it for my face, but will probably use this one too on my elbows.

C+M Green Tea Whitening & Firming Eye Cream: I bought this cream because I have dark under eye circles and green tea is known to help reduce them. When I started using it, I absolutely loved the texture because it went on very smoothly and provided sufficient hydration. However, after a couple of hours it made my eyes sting and water very badly. And I guess that was probably because its so smooth and thin that it traveled to my eyes. I tried putting it as far from the rim of the eyes as possible, but nothing worked so I had to stop using it. Since I didn't use it enough for the above stated reason so I am not sure if it actually helps with the dark circles or not.

Oxy Maximum Action Spot Treatment: I always used Salicylic Acid as an acne treatment, but it never gave satisfactory result so I thought of trying benzoyl peroxide this time. I picked up the highest concentration i.e. 10% and it did absolutely nothing for me. I tried it several times as a night treatment and didn't notice any difference in the redness or the size of the acne. 

The Body Shop Aloe Protective Serum: I don't have any major issues with this product, however, the problem is that it doesn't provide any long term benefit to the skin. Also, it has a lot of junk in it. Even though The Body Shop claims to be a natural brand, but if you check the list of ingredients, it is full of chemicals and parabens. 

The Body Shop Coconut Shimmer Body Lotion: This is shimmer body lotion and is good for only that purpose. It hardly  has any moisture so I use it only for a glowing shimmery skin during summer days. And for me, that is kind of a waste because  it doesn't have any real benefit and I get to use it only for a few weeks.

 

The Body Shop Wild Rose Hand Cream: I bought this hand cream because I heard a lot of good things about this line and I absolutely love roses. However, it was such a disappointment in terms of mositurization. No doubt, it smelled absolutely amazing but instead of hydrating my hands, it made them even more dry, which was very weird. Also, the dryness increased with the number of uses, so I returned it within three days of buying it.  

Have you tried any of these? If yes, how did they work for you? If no, do you have any recommendation of the ones that you use?

Thank you for taking time to read this post, I hope you enjoyed it. Have a great day!

September 2013: Ipsy Bag

I am a regular subscriber to Ipsy bag for a while. I have tried almost all other subscription services that ship to Canada but this is the only one for now. Ipsy is pretty consistent with the quality and size of their samples as compared to some other services in the market. However, I must say that when I saw this months bag, I wasn't super excited about it. 

Septemper 2013 Ipsy Bag

This months bag contains 3 Freeman Masks, which can be found at Walmart for around $2-3 and are pretty popular. However, Ipsy sent sheet masks, which I believe are a new addition to the brand. Then there is a NYX eyeshadow, Cailyn Tinted Lip balm, Starlooks Kohl eyepencil and It's So Big Volumizing Mascara by Elizabeth Mott. 

Cailyn Tinted Lip Balm - Big Apple

Cailyn Tinted Lip Balm in Big Apple is a beautiful cherry red shade that comes in a glass packaging usually used for gel liners. Judging from its name I thought it is going to be a sheer lip balm but I was so wrong. It is super pigmented, goes on smooth and leaves a matte finish. It is absolutely stunning and my most favorite product from this months bag. 

NYX Eyeshadow - Hot Crystal (Left: 1 swipe; Right: Multiple swipes)

I have several single NYX shadows and I love their pigmentation but this particular one is not my favorite in terms of consistency. It is a creamy white shade with some shimmer and goes on super sheer in the first swipe and takes several coats to build up the the actual color, which still looks kind of splotchy. 

Top: Rimmel Scandaleyes - 1 Swipe; Middle: Starlooks eye pencil in Obsidian - 1 Swipe; Bottom: Starlooks eye pencil - Several Swipes.

The Starlooks kohl eye pencil is nothing special. It takes several swipes to get to the desired color. Also, it is not very smooth and these days almost all the drugstore liners have raised the bar for smoothness and lasting power so high that these kind of liners do not even stand a chance. 

I didn't open the It's so Big mascara because I have so many mascaras lying around to be used. However, I was reading the ingredients and it contains stearate, which I am allergic to which means that there is a possibility that other mascaras also do but I never paid much attention to the ingredients of the mascara. Can anyone clarify this to me,that if  you are allergic to certain ingredients then do you avoid them even in mascaras or just in products that come in direct contact with skin?

Extra Sample - 1 look out of Em Cosmetics Life Palette

This month an extra sample was included from Em Cosmetics which was kind of disappointing in the sense that the shadows and the blush are actually on a piece of paper and you need to peel off the plastic to use them. I give them props for the unique packaging but I have to say that it is not user friendly. I am not a fan of samples that come stuck on a paper whether they are of perfumes, skincare or cosmetics. I usually toss them out and I guess for this one too I'll just swatch them on my hand. I know this was just an extra but Michelle owns Em Cosmetics and she is also a part of Ipsy so they could have included one decent eye shadow pan like they do for Coastal scents or BH Cosmetics if nothing more. 

Are you subscribed to Ipsy? If yes, then what did you get? If no, then would you consider subscribing in future?

Thank you for taking time to read this post, I hope you enjoyed it. Have a great day!

Reviva Labs Makeup Primer: For Acne Prone, Allergic and Sensitive Skin

Primers are way more talked about now than they ever were, and have almost become a necessity for makeup lovers. There are tons of primers in the market today addressing all different skin issues. However, finding a good, affordable primer with skin benefits is the real challenge. I have tried a lot of primers from high end to drugstore including Hourglass mineral veil primer, Benefit porefessional, Smashbox photo finish, Too faced primed and poreless skin, Tarte clean slate and many more. Obviously, I didn't like all the ones that I tried, but now the problem is that I am allergic to stearate so I am not left with a lot of options. Therefore, it is kind of difficult to find the one that I really like and does not contain stearate. Fortunately, I have found one, which is really affordable and has some skin benefits and it is Reviva Labs Makeup Primer.

I bought this primer from www.vitacost.com for around $12. It has very few ingredients which is always good (Ingredients: Cyclopentasiloxane, dimethicone, vitamin A palmitate, vitamin D3 (cholecalciferol), olive oil, coenzyme Q10, squalane) and is cruelty free.

It claims to:

• Fills in lines, conceals pores, controls excess oil.
• Helps skin instantly look and feel smooth and silky.
• Helps makeup foundation last longer, (safe under eye shadow, too).
• And COQ10 adds protective antioxidant action.

As you can see from the ingredient list, there is dimethicone in it so  it is a silicone bases primer and goes on very smoothly like Smashbox photofinish primer. However, it has skin benefits unlike some other primers that are just meant to keep the makeup on for longer. Also, since eyelids are very sensitive and it is usually not recommended to put face products there due to the risk of them sliding into the eyes. But this primer can be used on the eyes suggesting how mild it is. 

PROS:

• Very few and recognizable ingredients (less is more for skin)
• Affordable
• Skin benefits
• Keeps makeup on all day
• Can also act as an eye primer
• Has a pump
• Paraben free
• Cruelty free

CONS:

• Can only be found online unless stores near you carry Reviva Labs

RESULT: I absolutely love this primer and would recommend it to everyone, especially people who have sensitive skin and are looking for products with lesser ingredients.

Thank you for taking time to read this page. I hope you have a great day!

                  

Allergies and Acne

Acne is one of the most prominent issues that youngsters and individuals in mid-twenties have to deal with. I always had some acne since the beginning of my teenage years, however, it was never to the point that I needed a dermatologist. Now that I am done with my teens, I got the worst acne of my life. I tried everything to get rid of them but nothing helped. I even took prescription medicine and my skin got better for a while but as soon as I stopped, my skin went back to where it started. I even tried essential oils and everything was fine in the beginning but then my skin reacted very badly.

So when everything failed, it just struck me that maybe its the products that I am using and I was right. I started making a list of all the products that I felt may be the reason of my acne and then compared the ingredients. It took me a while to narrow down to a particular category but I found the culprit at the end, which is Stearate. I noticed that all the products that had any form of stearate whether it is glyceryl stearate, zinc stearate, magnesium stearate, PEG-100-stearate or even stearic acid resulted in acne.

After I was sure that it is the stearate i.e. causing all the problems I got rid of all the products that had those ingredients. It was sad because some of the products were quite expensive but clear skin is priceless. As soon as I started paying attention to the ingredients, I noticed a huge difference in my skin. Yes, it could be quite difficult to find products free of stearates, but they are definitely out there. I can do a whole blog post about that if anyone wants. However, a great source to check the ingredients while online shopping is http://cosdna.com/. It has a wide range of products and different columns displaying the levels of acne causing ingredients.

At the end, I would recommend going through this process if nothing else is helping your acne. All you need  is a rough idea if a product is causing allergic reaction and then just notice if you can see a pattern. I am not a dermatologist or a doctor, I am just sharing what worked for me. I just hope it does for you too.

Thank you and have a great day!