Skincare

July Loves ’14

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Hello Lovelies!

Another month has passed which means its time to reflect back on this past month and think.. what products have I been really loving and reaching for nonstop?

I am going to start off with something that I have just been OBSESSED with..

Maybelline Rocket Volume Mascara:I just reviewed it here and I have not stopped using this since I opened it in the middle of this month. I am not joking that I can’t stop admiring my own lashes as to how awesome it looks because I have finally found a drugstore mascara that will keep my stubborn stick straight lashes curled all day.

Jergens Natural Glow Daily Moisturizing Sunscreen SPF20 – Fair to Medium: I am not an outdoorsy person so when summer comes around and I bust out those shorts my legs can probably blind you from a mile away because they are so pale and white. I have tried Jergens regular moisturizers in the past so when I saw that they had one with SPF I was like SCORE! There is nothing better than finding a multifunctional product that works really well. This is a gradual self natural looking tanner that is a moisturizer with SPF that doesn’t stink or feel sticky. I think thats all I have to say for you to get the overall picture of how awesome this product is.

Moroccan Oil: I normally do a deep repair hair mask about once a week but since I finished the ones I had I haven’t had the chance to repurchase any so I didn’t have any to use this month. To compensate for the lack of extra moisture I usually give my hair I have been using this Moroccan Oil after I wash my hair. It leaves my hair feeling soft and good smelling without it getting greasy. I can’t say that it prevents my hair from getting damaged and split ends because I have a ton to begin with but it is one of the best leave in conditioner/oils I have tried.

Michael Kors Watch: I’ve had this watch for awhile now but it was never my go to watch until this month. I didn’t realize how versatile it was and the leather strap goes great with my casual everyday summer outfits. My other watches are linked watches so it just looks more formal with the metal hardware compared to the leather. Also leather is just more comfortable to wear when it gets hot and sweaty.

Puzzles and Dragons: I have been obsessed with this game! Its a game on you phone that has bejeweled type puzzles that you have to clear to fight monsters. Through the game you get to accumulate different monsters almost like pokemon and you also get to assemble your team to fight the next levels. It’s a lot more fun than a regular puzzle game like candy crush because your progress goes beyond just passing the level. You can add your friends that plays as well so you can assist each other through each stage/battle.

If you could recommend one product that you loved this month what would it be? AND if you play Puzzles and Dragons then we should probably be friends!

Until Next Time,
❤ Jessica

 

Best Natural Detox To Relieve Your Irritated Skin

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Hello Lovelies!

I like to believe that our skin has a mind of its own. We can go a couple days with the most glowing perfect skin fooling us to think that we have finally found the perfect skin care regime and then it just goes downhill from there. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve gone through this treacherous cycle time and time again. In the past week or two I have noticed my skin starting to flare up and become susceptible to tiny little red bumps (like small acne) that forms over the course of the day then be gone in a day or two. What I need is to give my skin a little break from all the different chemicals that we use in our cleanser, moisturizer, toner, makeup, etc. to give my skin a little detox I use this scrub that only has one ingredient and is so inexpensive but works wonders for irritated skin. I present to you…Oats!

Oats or Oatmeal will make your skin feel so moisturized and soft after you use it. There are so many different uses that it makes this a Chameleon of Skin Care products in my opinion. You can use it as a face/body mask, scrub, bath, consumption, sun protection, etc. What we will be talking about today is using it as a Face Wash/Scrub.

The first time I used Oats to wash my face was after a bad trip to a facial that left my skin with a very weird bumpiness to it about 2 years ago. My skin was definitely reacting to whatever products that was used on me so I decided to do some research and found that Oats has anti-inflammatory benefits. It calms the skin and can also relieve itchiness. For those that have eczema you can use Oats as a body scrub or even take an Oatmeal Bath to relieve your skin (i haven’t tried this because I don’t have eczema). After using the Oats to wash my face it feels instantly better and plumped. After a week or so of doing this my skin went back to normal and was better than ever. I recommend you to try using Oats to wash your face because there are numerous benefits…
1. Anti-Inflammatory
2. Relieves Itchiness / Irritation
3. Moisturizes
4. Cleanses by soaking up Oils and dirt from your skin
5. Phenols and Flavonoid in oats acts as sun protection for the skin
6. Antioxidants

How to Use it…

1. You only need a pinch of oats. You can use pretty much any Oats that you would cook with. (not the instant individually packaged ones though)
2. Place it in the palm of your hand and add water onto the oats.
3. Press on the oats a couple times until the water starts to get murky from the oats breaking down.
4. Wet your face with the Oat water then just grab the wet oats and start using it as a face scrub. You will start to notice the oat breaking down even more as you scrub and the “juice” from the oat will almost form a sort of lather on our skin. After you’re done, rinse. (this does get a little messy so its best if you have a faucet catcher thing to filter the oats when you wash it off. If you don’t then wipe off the oats before your rinse your face)

Whether you’re suffering from major skin irritation or have perfectly fine skin, you should try this at least once just to see how well it works. Every time my skin starts acting up I will resort to this solution almost as a Restart button. If you have tried this then please let me know how it worked out for you because I would love to know if your skin loves it as much as mine.

Until next time,
❤ Jessica

 

June Empties Skincare

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Hello Lovelies!

I got here a pretty large bag of empty containers that I am going to share with you today. These have been products that I’ve been using up in the last couple of months so I am going to make the final decision today if I will be repurchasing some of them. This will be split into two parts because theres just too many for one post so this is going to be skincare and the next post will be makeup and hair products.

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Biore Deep Cleansing Pore Strips – 8 Strips $6.27

As you can see this is their old packaging so I’ve had this for awhile now. To be honest I haven’t used a pore strip in a very long time, instead I have just been using a black head extractor to extract after I shower every so often. Pore strips are great because its fast and simple in removing oil build up in your pores. I have gone through countless boxes of these because you can see the white/black head being pulled out on your strip after which I find to be super satisfying when I see all the gunk I have removed from the strip.. am I weird? Anyways, I would recommend this and repurchase in the future but please keep in mind to don’t over use these or else it might do more bad than good.

 

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Pond’s White Beauty Cleansing Foam – $9.0

This product is actually from Hong Kong so the packaging is different from the US Pond’s product but I know the US has a White Beauty line as well. To me this product didn’t do anything beside being a gentle cleanser. It didn’t really remove makeup very well, it didn’t do much lightening, it just acted like a basic cleanser. I would not be repurchasing this.

 

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Magic Olive Pimpleless Serum – $8.80

I discovered this product when a Sasa sales person came up to me and my cousin and said “Wow, you have a lot of breakouts, let me recommend you some products” What a bummer to be called out on because you have bad skin. I hate buying products without doing my research first because I am always skeptical with people that are trying to sell me stuff. Since this was fairly inexpensive I listened to her suggestion and made the purchase.. this was about 4 years ago and it has been a staple skincare acne controlling product since. The sales lady told me that this is infused with chinese herbal medicine as well as tea tree oil and some other herbal treatments. It not only dries it out like other products, but it also treats it and prevents scarring. Although I think my skin has become a bit immune to it so I will probably have to move away from it for awhile after I finish my back ups but I definitely recommend this.

 

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Dior Hydra Life Creme Sorbet Pro-Jeunesse Pro-Youth Sorbet Cream ($56.00) & Eye Cream ($49.00)

Both of these products has the consistency that I like for a moisturizer and eye cream – non sticky and absorbs into the skin leaving it feeling soft and fresh feeling. Although the consistency is good, it didn’t break me out, it didn’t leave my face greasy, and it smelled very nice, I didn’t notice it doing much to my skin. It didn’t love it nor hate, so to pay this hefty amount for a product, my skin needs to really love it for me to justify a continuos repurchase. I would not discourage people to try it because I know some girlfriends that absolutely loves this stuff but I’m not sure if I will be repurchasing this again.

 

Its Shiseido time…
Until about over a year ago my main skincare products has been from Shiseido. My mom only uses Shiseido products so you can probably guess where I got the influence from. I haven’t tried a single product from them that has made me break out so I am pretty comfortable in just diving in and trying any of their products.

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Shiseido The Skincare Hydro-Nourishing Softener Lotion – $ ?? Possibly discountinued

The consistency of this comes out to be less solid than jelly but thicker than liquid. Its a great toning lotion to replenish and give your skin a restart. Unlike regular toners, this one has a little bit of moisturizing element to it. I have gone through bottles of these before exploring other options and it has been awhile since I’ve purchased this. I just googled to try and find the price point of this product and it seems like its sold out on almost every site I come across (except for amazon which is selling it for $60!! thats x2 of the normal price). If you can find it at counters or in stores then I would recommend giving this a try.

 

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Shiseido White Lucent Brightening Protective Emulsion w SPF15 Sunscreen – $54.50

I’m actually not sure why I would get this in the first place because it only has a SPF 15 but I did. I got this to use as a sunscreen because I like the consistency (if you can’t tell already, the consistency makes or breaks a product for me) and how it settles into my skin. It has a bit of a brightening effect when applied but its not a permanent long lasting whitening effect so I don’t think it does what it claims to do. I would suggest using this almost like a morning serum for you skin under your daily moisturizer/sunscreen. Its not a terrible product but its just not something that I find necessary for my morning skincare routine (especially for the price) so I would not be repurchasing this product.

 

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Shiseido Pureness pore purifying warming scrub – $24.00

The lady at the counter sold me this product persuading me that it will solve my large crater pore problems. Well, those craters are still here. It claims that it’s suppose to warm up as you scrub but I didn’t feel any warming sensation and it didn’t minimize the size of my pores either. I haven’t even finished this product yet but I find it to be so useless that I don’t really use it so it has aged itself into the trash bin. I would not be repurchasing this product.

Skincare is probably one of the things that I actually get through and finish.. along with some haircare products.  I find it really really hard to actually finish makeup, especially the powder items. Stay tune for my next post for the rest of my empties!

❤ Jessica

Empty Products

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One of my favorite blog posts to read or youtube videos to watch are products that have been used up. After actually finishing up a product, then are you really able to give a full review on how a product is. And the ultimate question that comes along with it.. will you repurchase it? Periodically I will throw out since products I’ve used up post with my finals thoughts on the products. For now.. lets start with the skin care stuff thats been used up in the past couple of weeks.

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Shiseido Urban Environment UV Protection Cream – Face/Boby SPF 35 PA+++ 50mL- $30

Shiseido is probably one of my favorite skincare brand. My mom has used it since I was little and is all she uses so being her daughter I am a little bit biased I would say. I have tried products from them that I have not liked, but for the most part Its been mostly Hits.

My favorite sunscreen would have to be this one. #1 It doesn’t have that nasty sunscreen smell which I absolutely despise! #2 My skin soaks it up acting just like how a moisturizer would. Doesn’t leave your skin sticky like how some sunscreens will. #3 Has a decent SPF.. AND it contains PA+++. When I first bought this, this was probably one of the FIRST products in the states about 1.5 years ago that had  any PA level protection let alone PA+++. Of course now, we have a lot more options. I believe they no longer carry the SPF 35.. but its SPF 40 now. The highest SPF offered is SPF 50.

This products doesn’t break me out. Doesn’t leave my face looking like a grease ball (but then again I do have normal skin). They also have the oil-free version but I’m not a big fan of that consistency because its a lot more watery and not as nice as this one. Overall its my perfect face sunblock out there.

Active Ingredients: OCTINOXATE -4.9% / OCTOCRYLENE – 3.0% / ZINC OXIDE 0 6.7%

This product has already been repurchased (:

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Mario Badescu Drying Lotion 30mL/1.0oz- $17

There are so many spot treatments out there thats its insane to think that one is a miracle worker. When you first switch over, the first couple of times might seem like it but then as time goes, the immediate effect of it fades. This was the result of this Drying Lotion. It was highly raved and well deserved to be raved about. The very first time I used this, instantly the next day the inflammation has gone down tremendously. But over the last couple of weeks the results were not as instant since like all products my skin became immune to it in a way.

There are two parts to this product. The liquid and sediments on the bottom. Don’t shake the bottle and mix the two together because its suppose to be separate. You just dip the q-tip in to the bottom until you hit the pink sediments and you dab it onto the breakout. It will leave your face with some pink patches but its okay because you’ll be home sleeping anyways.

Depending on your break out, it might sting a little bit but its not bad. It does smell like strong alcohol and sulfur since both are in the product. I have found that it effectively dries out the mini break outs pretty fast, but it doesn’t do much to cystic acne. Those are just stupid stubborn things that refuses go away with product use (I haven’t found a spot treatment for cystic acne, so if you guys have any recommendations let me know!) I’ve read other people saying that it dries out their skin, but I haven’t had any troubles with it.

Ingredients: Isoprophyl Alcohol / Deionized Water / Calamine / Camphor / Colloidal / Sulfur / Salicylic Acid / Glycerin / Zinc Oxide / Titanium Dioxide / Talc

I will probably repurchase this product in the future.

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Clean&Clear deep cleaning astringent – sensitive skin – $4

I bought this at Target looking for the cheapest toner/astringent I can find because on e of the mask I was using required me to remove it with toner/astringent. I was not about the use the toner I was using at that time to remove it because it was just a waste. This was probably the cheapest one I can find to do the job.

I have been using it as a regular toner as well and I don’t think it does much in clearing up my skin department but it does remove any excess dirt or makeup that your cleanser failed to remove. It smells like alcohol but doesn’t burn your face of anything unless you got some really painful breakouts. For the price and size, you can’t really beat it.

Ingredients: Salicylic Acid (0.5%) Inactive: Water, Alcohol, Glycerin, Isoceteth-20, PEG-32, Sodium Citrate, Fragrance, Propylene Glycol, Dimethicone Propyl PG-Betaine, Benzophenone-4, Algae Extract, Aloe Barbadensis Leaf Extract, Denatonium Benzoate, Blue 1

I would probably repurchase this in the future.

Lush grease lightning

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Grease Lightning

My skin goes through phases where it will be clear for one week and starts breaking out the next. It has a mind of its o

wn. I have tried so many .. I mean SOOO many different types of spot treatment that I feel like my skin is growing immune to each product quicker and quicker. I usually have two different ones on hand just so I can switch between the two. The last one that I finished was the Mario Badescu spot treatment. (Which I would probably repurchase in the future).

Grease Lightning

So it comes time to start researching for a new one. With this in mind, I have already heard of great reviews on the Lush grease lightning spot treatment. It’s made of primarily tea tree oil. Which I have tried before as well. I have found that tea tree oil works at its own pace. It’s not something that will zap everything away overnight.

After the first couple uses of this, I didn’t really think it was that great of a product. Honestly I didn’t see it doing much for my skin. But I have been using it for about a month now, and I have to say, it’s a bit slower at getting rid of your breakouts, but it leaves no scar. Really. I didn’t think too much about it until today. Now that I really think about it, the last couple of times that I’ve used this for breakout, my skin has healed with close to no scar compared to normal (I scar really easily. Regardless if I pop it or leave it). The packaging is nice because it does have a pump dispenser so its a lot more sanitary. The product is a clear watery gel consistency. It claims that it will prevent break outs. I’m not too sure about that because I still break out quite regularly . But of course, most of my breakouts are probably due to hormones or lack of sleep.

Wouldn’t hurt to give this a try if your in the market looking for a new acne spot treatment.