Makeup Withdrawal

Showing posts with label Skincare. Show all posts

50 Words or Less Reviews: Some Things I Like

Wednesday, January 22, 2020

Happy 2020!

My first post this year is a shorter one. Just some items I like.

Mixed Feelings: A Selection of Products

Monday, September 16, 2019

Good afternoon! Today I have a spread of six products that I don't love but I wouldn't say I hated either. They're somewhere in the middle, but unsatisfactory enough that I wouldn't repurchase any of them.

A Few More Sun Products

Monday, July 22, 2019

Much as I hate to come to grips with it, summer is halfway over. I've tried six more sun protection products (seven if you count my longsleeve shirt with UPF50!) since my last sunscreen roundup at the start of the season. All mineral sunscreens and half of them made in the US.

Summer Makeup Prep

Friday, June 21, 2019

It's heating up for me here in the northern hemisphere. In the very hottest part of the summer, day time temperatures are often over 100°F/ 38°C for a week or more at a time. It's a dry heat that can really exacerbate my t-zone oiliness. At the same time my cheeks and now eye areas dry out from the AC, so it's a balancing act to address combination skin when preparing it for makeup. Today I want to talk about two products that I've really liked the last couple of years.

2019 Newly Reformulated: Missha Borabit Becomes Probio Ampoule

Wednesday, March 20, 2019

I've written about Missha Borabit Long Name Ampoule before - I first received it to try for free from 08Liter and it immediately became an HG product for me. Over the last two years I've bought at least four bottles of the stuff, I've tried to look for alternatives but they just didn't stack up. When I saw that Missha had released a new version of this ampoule now called Probio, I was eager to start it after finishing yet another bottle of Borabit.

Four Mineral Sunscreens, Compared

Saturday, March 16, 2019

I have four sunscreens in my possession, and thought I'd compare them in case you also gravitate towards zinc oxide and titanium dioxide sunscreens. The ones I'd like to chat about are EltaMD UV Physical Broad-Spectrum SPF 41, Colorescience Sunforgettable Total Protection Face Shield SPF 50, Farmacy Green Screen SPF 30, and Trader Joe's Mineral Sunscreen Stick SPF 50.

2018 Beauty Let Downs

Friday, December 28, 2018

Before I trot out the products that I loved this year, I thought I'd share the products that let me down.

Manyo Factory, Revisited

Tuesday, November 6, 2018

About a year and a half ago, I wrote an overview of my favorite skincare brand, Manyo Factory. I thought it’d be fun to revisit the brand and see if my feelings are unchanged. Spoiler alert: still love it to bits. Some of the products have dropped out of rotation (or downgraded to I’ll Buy it On Sale status) while some have been repurchased quite a few times.

Mask Madness: Manyo Factory Deep Clean D-Toc Mask

Tuesday, October 16, 2018

Another installment today of the Mask Madness series! It's been one of the longest running review series on the blog, a lot of masks have come and gone in the last three years. Today I want to talk about one of my favorite masks that I've used in 2018: the Manyo Factory Deep Clean D-Toc Mask.

Dr Jart+ Peptidin Serum: Skincare for People Who Don't Like Skincare

Thursday, August 30, 2018

In February of this year, I picked up Dr.Jart+ Peptidin Blue Energy Effect Serum mostly because of the ingredient list. Glancing over the very long list, quite a few ingredients really jumped out at me. In particular, I had been reading about copper peptides and the effect it had on skin health and noted that I had only one other GHK-Cu product - my Manyo Factory Lactobacillus Bifida Mist.

It also contained borage, which produces the blue flowers shown above. Borage is a great source of antioxidants. Full disclosure, the leaf pictured is comfrey not borage, but borage leaves don't lay flat nicely for photos. Whew. I felt like such a phony without disclosing that.

Ingredients:

Aqua, Methylpropanediol, Glycerol 1,2-Hexanediol, Niacinamide, Capric/Caprylic Triglycerides, Polyglycerin-3, Borago Officinalis Extract, Algae Extract, Eclipta Prostrata (False Daisy) Leaf Extract, Melia Azadirachta (Chinaberry) Leaf Extract, Melia Azadirachta (Chinaberry) Flower Extract, Avena Sativa (Oat) Kernel Extract, Pteris Multifida Extract, Cynara Scolymus (Artichoke) Leaf Extract, Coccinia Indica (Ivy Gourd) Fruit Extract, Solanum Melongena (Eggplant) Fruit Extract, Aloe Barbadensis Flower Extract, Ocimum Sanctum (Tulsi) Leaf Extract, Nymphaea Alba (Water Lily) Flower Extract, Curcuma Longa (Tumeric) Root Extract, Corallina Officinalis Extract, Centaurea Cyanus (Cornflower) Flower Water, Nymphaea caerulea Extract (Egyptian Lotus) Hydrogenated lecithin,Citrus Aurantium Bergamia (Bergamot) Fruit Oil, Sodium Hyaluronate, Lavandula Angustifolia Oil, Cyclohexasiloxane, Ammonium Acryloyldimethyltaurate,VP Copolymer, Xantham Gum, Adenosine, Carbomer, Fructo-Oligosaccharides, β-Glucans, Edetate Disodium,Tromethamine, Polyquaternium-5,Butylene Glycol, Inositol, Propanediol, Hydrolyzed Hyaluronic Acid, Dipropylene glycol, Sodium Palmitoyl Proline, Cholesterol,Vitamin B12, Glycine, Dipalmitoyl hydroxyproline, Sodium Cocoyl Alaninate, Acetyl, Glutamine, Serine,Glutamic Acid, Aspartic acid, Leucine, Alanine, L-Lysine, Arginine, Tyrosine, Phenylalanine, Valine, Threonine, Proline, Isoleucine, Histidine, Methionine, Cysteine, Acetyl Hexapeptide-3, GHK-Cu Tripeptide, Palmitoyl Tetrapeptide-3, Palmitoyl Tripeptide-1, Palmitoyl Pentapeptide-3, Hexapeptide-9, Ethylhexylglycerin, Caprylyl Glycol

I went in and put in parenthesis the layman's term for most plants.

In addition to borage extract, there's niacinamide and algae extract, two ingredients that my skin really likes. The niacinamide brightens and algae is wonderfully moisturizing. Peptidin contains a whole host of plant extracts, most of which I am not very familiar with. I was more interested in the peptides listed at the end, which are known to increase collagen production and improve skin health. With such an extensive list of plant components, I'm surprised that my skin didn't react poorly to this serum. Many of these plants I've never tried before/didn't even know they were utilized in skincare.

The bottle is a bright royal blue, and one of the sturdiest I've encountered in skincare. It's just so solid. 40mL of product sits inside. The cap has a twist up button/dropper that dispenses the serum, a mechanism that I'm extremely fond of.

The serum is a translucent, barely blue liquid that is neither sticky nor oily. The scent is faint, lightly herbal/floral selling. It's pretty moisturizing on its own and I think it's a great candidate for someone who doesn't want to put on very many skincare products. If you already have a pretty well established routine with hydrating steps and skin nourishing ingredients, you're not likely to see much of a difference, in texture or tone. However, if at the end of the day all you want to do is wash your face, dab on a serum and maybe smear on a cream (we'll see) before bed instead of some long winded routine, this is for you. It's a good maintenance serum - if you're not looking to reduce acne, deep spots, wrinkles, etc but just want something hydrating and with components that address anti-aging, this would fit the bill.

I don't know if I would repurchase this for myself because I'm down for a multi-step skincare routine, but I think this is the sort of thing that I would buy for my mom.

In the US, this is sold as Dr Jart+ Peptidin Firming Serum. It's $48 at Sephora.

~~This product doesn't seem to be widely released, especially not in the US~~. A lot of Dr Jart+ stockists don't seem to carry this yet. Your best bet is to buy it from SweetCorea ($21), Amazon ($32), StyleKorean ($31) or eBay ($27).

Product featured was purchased by me. Post contains affiliate links. For additional information, please refer to my Disclosure Policy.

Some Things I Like A Lot

Friday, August 17, 2018

What a long winded way to say "favorites"!

Just a collection of products that I've been using a lot lately.

G9Skin Pink Blur Eye Patches

Tuesday, August 14, 2018

Today's review is of patches made by G9 Skin, an offshoot of the Korean brand Berrisom. These Pink Blur Eye Patches boasted eight different berries and are also very sparkly pink. I bought one tub of eye gels last year and liked them enough to repurchase at the beginning of this year, which I'm just now cracking open.

50 Words or Less: This Stuff Has Gotta Go

Wednesday, August 1, 2018

I'm having difficulties coming to grips with how it is already August, I truly never want this summer to end. Today's installment of 50 Words or Less is a collection of products that I need to destash. A lot of these products just broke me out, I get acne very easily from skincare.

Manyo Factory 2 Week Express Program

Saturday, July 28, 2018

I have no desire to be any whiter (or tanner, it goes both ways) but I did want to tackle some small patches of melasma that were getting rougher, darker, and larger with each passing month. The patches were getting dark enough that I would have to apply concealer in a couple layers over that spot. My paternal grandmother had similar melasma on her cheeks and over her lifetime, they deepened in color and increased in size. To be fair, she was living through a time when SPF didn't have much traction (Cultural Revolution in China, so I mean forget sun care, skincare isn't even a thing), and I'm taking note, hoping to avoid those dark patches when I'm older. MelodyCosme recently had a sale and I purchased the Manyo Factory 2 Week Express Program to take those dark spots head on.

A Trio of Pure Heal's Propolis Products

Monday, May 7, 2018

One of my favorite products in skincare is propolis. My skin can get be really reactive and there's a whole host of ingredients that sets it off (snail mucus, fruit enzymes, a lot of sunscreen filters.... the list is quite long) but propolis is one that's always been safe for me. I started using the 90 Ampoule last year, then added in the Cleansing Milk and Softening Toner in January this year.

Review: Manyo Factory Active Refresh Herb Peeling Gel

Tuesday, March 27, 2018

I haven't used a gommage in years. Let's flashback to 2013, when I bought a Koh Gen Do gommage that was so useless that it never even made it to the blog because I was so disappointed. I couldn't even muster up the energy to rant about it, it was such a useless product. Imagine rubbing thick, gel-like water on your face, because that pretty much sums up the experience. This is the kind of letdown that makes me stay away from that product type for years, like when I had a bad experience with a cleansing balm and didn't try another one for half a decade. However, I am an unabashed Manyo Factory junkie, so I couldn't pass up a low priced duo of the Manyo Factory Active Refresh Herb Peeling Gel & Active Refresh Herb Mask (reviewed here).

Mask Madness, Vol. X: [I'm From] Volcanic Mask

Monday, February 26, 2018

Good morning! Another installment of my mask series. I'm not letting myself buy any new jars of wash off masks until I review them. It's working out pretty well, I only have a few more to go before I'm all caught up. Today's mask is another one I bought from the brand [I'm From] because the Vitamin Tree was such a success that I wanted to try the sister masks. If you recall, the Honey was not a winner in my book (review here), so I was hoping the Volcanic would balance out my dislike and redeem the brand in my eyes.

Manyo Factory Midnight Regenerating Cream

Saturday, January 20, 2018

A new Manyo Factory product came out last fall and I very eagerly used a shipping service to obtain it (click here for my review of KoreanBuddy). With 'Regnerating' in the name and a Tardis blue tube, you'd expect a whole new face, a la Time Lord.

2017 Skincare Empties

Friday, December 22, 2017

This year, I saved all my empties for one final post. I did a pretty good job of saving almost every scrap; every sheet mask backing sheet, all the boxes, and even empty foil sample packets. I used a surprisingly amount of things on my face, body and head. Laying it all out like this is certainly one way to survey your wallet damage for the year.

Thoughts on [Huxley] Skincare

Monday, October 30, 2017

Every once in a while I do get swept up with the idea of products and let me tell you, it was all too easy to succumb to Huxley products. The line offered up a new ingredient I've never encountered (desert cactus, fancy) and SweetCorea had a really great price on the line. I ordered four items from the Huxely Secret of Sahara lineup without thinking too much about it.

Regret, folks. I feel it.