3 BHAs: Paula's Choice 2% BHA Liquid, CosRx BHA Blackhead Power Liquid, and Stridex Maximum Strength Medicated Pads

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I've been using Paula's Choice 2% BHA Liquid ($30) as part of my (almost) daily routine for over a decade now. I consider salicylic acid (BHA) one of three staple ingredients that keep my skin in good shape, along with niacinamide and (more recently added) azelaic acid (reviewed here). But with Paula's Choice prices steadily rising (it was less than $20 Canadian when I started to use it!) and my income not keeping pace, I decided to gamble on a couple of more affordable, but equally popular, BHA products. I'll review them here, along with the PC BHA, which (spoiler!) I ultimately went back to. (Hope you like acronyms, everybody!)

CosRx makes a very popular and affordable liquid BHA that is now easily accessible in the US in places like ULTA ($22) and on Amazon ($15). Because I'd previously tried Paula's Choice's BHA gel and found it less effective than the liquid, I decided to try the highly-recommended liquid from CosRx. The consistency is actually significantly thicker than the watery PC BHA, which makes it easier to apply without using a cotton pad. It's decidedly a liquid and not a gel, however. It spreads easily on my skin and soaks in well, without leaving much of a film or a sticky residue. That's nice, because I apply my BHA first thing in the morning after washing my face, and so I want it to play well with makeup and other products.

There's not a lot to say about the CosRx BHA experience, except that it did not play well with my Paula's Choice Niacinamide Booster. When I used them both at the same time, my face flushed. It didn't last more than half an hour, and my skin wasn't irritated--my face just got pink and warm. There's nothing dangerous or damaging about this sort of thing, as far as I know, but it's a little unpleasant. I haven't had that experience mixing either of those products with anything else, and it was solved by just using one in the morning and the other at night.

Otherwise, the CosRx didn't cause any problems for me, but unfortunately it didn't do much for my skin, either. The role of BHA in my routine is to reduce clogged pores and blackheads, and to keep the pimples that result from them away. It doesn't really prevent hormonal/cystic acne for me, but it certainly reduces inflammatory acne when its working. The CosRx might have helped slightly, but I wasn't as satisfied with the state of my skin while using it as I was when I used the PC version.

The main ingredient in the CosRx BHA is probably what makes the difference for me. I know that salicylic acid works for me, but the CosRx contains a different form of BHA: betaine salicylate. This ingredient is sometimes said to be gentler than salicylic acid and is supposedly longer-acting. I don't experience irritation from BHAs in general, so I can't really comment on those qualities. My (admittedly very limited) experience suggests to me that if SA works well for you, you can't necessarily count on BS (ha!) to work as well--but on the other hand, if you've had bad luck with SA, a product with BS might be worth trying.

My second affordable BHA product was a bit of a desperation purchase. I traveled a bunch, visiting family and in-laws and friends, in September, but I somehow didn't pack enough of my PC BHA to last for the whole trip. By the third week, my skin was congested and breaking out, so I picked up a tub of the Stridex BHA pads (in the red packaging!) ($4-7), which had been recommended to me on multiple good authorities. The container holds a lot of pads and a lot of liquid, so they're not likely to dry out before you finish them. In fact, one pad was more than enough for my face, and so I started to cut them in half.

The pads are soaked in a 2% salicylic acid liquid, closer in composition to my PC liquid than to the CosRx product. They also contain a bit of menthol, so you get that medicinal smell and a mild cooling sensation--too mild to call it a "tingle." Still, I could do without it, considering it doesn't add anything. These pads served well enough in a pinch to start clearing up my skin a bit. In the long run, however, after I got home again they just weren't quite as effective as the PC liquid. My breakouts subsided and my pores weren't quite as clogged as they had been, but not as clear as I knew they could be. I ended up, as you know, going back to Paula.

I'm still using the Stridex pads, though. I've found over the years that otherwise disappointing BHA and AHA products work great as aftershave on my legs and armpits. If I swipe these on after shaving and before moisturizing, I almost never get razor burn or ingrown hairs. In fact, the price is so good, that I'd recommend picking up a tub of Stridex pads specifically for this purpose if you're a shaver. Their anti-inflammatory and exfoliating properties are ideal.

So now I'm back on the Paula's Choice BHA to stay, I guess. It's a thin liquid about the consistency of water, but it feels a bit sticky on my skin after I apply it. I think the stickiness bothers some people, but since I always follow up with moisturizer and/or sunscreen, I don't mind it (the product on top gets rid of that stickiness). It works perfectly well layered under every other product, skincare or makeup, I've used. And while the bottle is expensive, I only used 4-6 drops at a time, so it lasts me up to six months of daily use. Most importantly, it effectively and significantly reduces clogged pores and inflammatory zits for my skin.

I'll probably never stop testing cheaper alternatives to products I like, even if they fail to impress me half the time, but I suppose there's something satisfying in knowing that I haven't been wasting my money all these years. It's also a reminder that if I had ruled out BHAs entirely after trying the CosRx, I would have been missing out. Just like how glycolic acid doesn't do anything for my face, while lactic acid is excellent--if I had ruled out products called AHAs on the basic of glycolic acid alone, I'd be missing something useful.

Has anyone else tried all three of these? How do they compare for you? I'm also curious about other people's philosophy's on searching for less expensive alternatives to "holy grail" skincare products? Is it worth the gamble, or do you fear you'll almost always end up spending more money in the process?

Pros and Cons: Paula's Choice Resist Super-Light Daily Wrinkle Defense SPF 30 Sunscreen

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I finally finished my bottle of Biore Watery Gel sunscreen (reviewed here), and since I thought my favorite sunscreen had been discontinued, I had to decide what to use next. (As it turns out, Kinesys is back, and for now can be purchased on their website: US/Canada. I haven't ordered anything yet, but I'll post more when I've got my hands on some of their sunscreen again.) The Paula's Choice Resist Super-Light Daily Wrinkle Defense SPF 30 Sunscreen is a holy grail for a lot of people, so I decided to use a credit to try out a tube of it for myself.

After using it for several weeks, I have mixed feelings. What I like about it, I really like; what I don't like is kind of a deal-breaker. So I think it makes sense to write this review as a basic pros/cons list.

PROS:

• Ingredients: The sunscreen in this product is zinc oxide, which is reliable, stable, and good for most sensitive skin. It also contains some other potentially beneficial skincare ingredients like antioxidants.
• Texture: It's not too thin and not too thick. It's easy to apply an even layer on my face, and it really does feel like there's nothing on my skin after a few short minutes. It's supposed to be a "moisturizer + SPF," but if it's moisturizing, the results are very subtle. I don't mind that. It is meant for combination or oily skin, after all.

• Finish: Zinc oxide can leave a white cast on the skin, so this lotion is lightly tinted to counteract that. It leaves my skin matte and adds a tiny bit of sheer coverage. It also works very well under makeup, a lot like a primer. It provides a bit of oil control and keeps my makeup in place longer.

Here are some frowny before and after photos. In the first photo I have nothing on my face. In the second photo, I have just the Paula's Choice Resist SPF 30. You can see that the tint is very, very sheer, but if you look at the freckles under my eyes, for instance, they are less visible in the second photo. (Also if you ever doubted how invisible my eyelashes are, here you go. This is the nakedest face I've ever published on my blog.)

CONS:

• Price: This is a $33 sunscreen. The tube contains 2 oz./60 ml, which for daily facial use would probably last around 6 months, I'm guessing. So if this is the perfect sunscreen for you, I can see $66 a year or so being worthwhile. It's better to buy something you love and actually wear it everyday than to buy something cheap that you hate and avoid applying sunscreen at all. For me, it's way too expensive when I factor in the issues described below.
• Smell: This is the biggest problem for me. It's really a YMMV situation, because most reviews I've read say that this sunscreen has no scent at all. I've only found one other person who noticed the smell I'm talking about here. When I apply this sunscreen, there's no really noticeable scent, at least nothing that bothers me. When I step outside, however, I get a big whiff of something strange, almost like burnt plastic or latex with a sour note. I can smell it for as long as I remain outside, but when I go back in, it's gone. Even when I go out to head home at the end of the work day, hours and hours after I first applied my sunscreen, I get the smell again. Could it be that the product is reacting to the sun somehow to release the smell? It's not the wind, because I don't smell it in a drafty indoor space. It's so odd! And very unpleasant. (I made my husband smell my face when we were outside the other day to see if I was just imagining it, and he noticed it too.)
• Eye irritation: I have less of a problem with this particular sunscreen smearing or running into my eyes than with others I've used in the past, but I do have to be careful not to rub my eyes or the lotion will get into them and make them itch and burn.
• Tint: I mentioned the tint as a sort of benefit above, in that it removes some of the white cast that would ordinarily be left by the zinc. The tint does, however, make this sunscreen more fussy to use than most others I've tried. I'm used to applying my facial sunscreen to my face and then bringing it down to my neck and exposed parts of my chest. More than once, while trying to do that with this stuff, I've accidentally smeared a bit of it onto the neckline of my shirt and then had to change out of an otherwise perfectly good, clean shirt. It's a hassle, when I'm in a hurry, to have to use a separate product for my neck and chest (or to have to pick out another top to wear! Ugh!!). You pretty much have to treat this stuff like makeup by, for instance, washing your hands after you apply it. Plus I have my doubts about how invisible the tint would be on people with darker skin. If you have a deep skin tone and have tried this sunscreen, I'd be interested to hear your results.

Here is it swatched on white paper, so you can see what a mess it would make if you got any on your clothing:

Personally, I don't think I will buy another tube of Paula's Choice Resist Super-Light Daily Wrinkle Defense once I've finished the one I have, even though I can understand why it's such a favorite. The texture and finish are really lovely and it plays exceptionally well with makeup. The smell is a big turnoff for me, but I'd guess you probably have a less than 5% chance of having that same problem, judging from reviews. But the smell combined with the finicky application is too much for me. I like to be able to apply my sunscreen quickly and move on. There's a reason I don't wear foundation every day, after all. 

Does this sound like a sunscreen that would work for you?

(You can get $10 off $15 from Paula's Choice when you sign up for a new account using my link--I get a credit too, which is what allowed me to review this sunscreen.)

Do I Need This? Overnight Masks or Sleeping Packs

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Welcome to the latest installment of my Do I Need This? series. In these posts, I offer my experience and opinion about whether or not I think a product or technique is worth it. Obviously, you don't really need ANY beauty products, so the answer to the question is always going to be no, to some extent. But is it going to change your life (or face)? Is it going to make things easier? Are you going to notice any difference at all? That's what I'm getting at. You may disagree with my verdict, because we all have different bodies/faces/brains/desires, but I'll try to offer a starting point, at least.

Masks are having a moment. There are masks out there that claim to do just about anything you could possibly want. They come in creams and clays and sheets and gels and who knows what else. There are even masks for your hair and lips and various other body parts. One of the types of masks that brands are really pumping out right now is the overnight mask, also called a sleeping mask or sleeping pack--the latter especially from Asian skincare brands.

Do you need a sleeping mask?

Short answer: No. There are some nice ones out there, but you probably already have products that you can use in a similar way.

Review: Paula's Choice Berry & Bright Lip Pencil Collection + Giveaway!

Disclosure: Affiliate links.
Because people click my Paula's Choice invite link here on my blog, I've been able to try some things from the brand that I ordinarily wouldn't buy for myself. One such thing is this set of four lip crayons for $45. At $11.25 a piece, they're not too much more expensive than most drugstore lipsticks, but I haven't been especially impressed by PC makeup in the past, so I probably wouldn't have gambled. Since I had some credits, however, I figured I would give them a shot--turns out I like (most of) these! And since I got them because of the blog, it seems right to review them here. As further thanks, there's also a giveaway at the end of the post.

Paula's Choice Berry & Bright Lip Pencil Collection (top to bottom): Winter Berry, Currant, Plum, and Sugar.

These four lipsticks in crayon format are described as "satin matte." There are two reds, a dark berry, and a sheer, pearly shimmer. They apparently all have names, but I threw out the box, and the pencils themselves aren't labeled, so I am getting these names from the Paula's Choice website and hoping I assign them correctly: Winter Berry, Currant, Plum, and Sugar. 

Sugar is the sheer shimmer. I'm sure of that, at least. In trying to sort the others out, we come to something I found slightly disappointing about this set, i.e. that it contains two reds. In fact, the labels of all three colors look so similar, that I usually have to hold them side by side to figure out which one I want. My guess is that Paula's Choice probably intended to create a set that included a pink, a red, a berry, and a sheer shimmer. That would make sense, right? Instead we have a pink-red, a true red, a berry, and a sheer shimmer. The colors are lovely, but the variety is a bit lacking.

Paula's Choice Berry & Bright Lip Pencil Collection: Winter Berry, Currant, Plum, and Sugar.

The differences are clearer when you look at the lipstick itself, but obviously we are dealing with two different reds here, not a pink and a red.

Review: Paula's Choice Blush It On Contour Palette

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I got this a few months ago as a free gift with purchase from Paula's Choice. All of the reviews I've read of this palette have been glowing, but I don't love it, so I thought it might be worth putting a dissenting voice out there. We all know how much I like to be a dissenting voice.

Although it has the word "contour" in the name, it's not really a contouring palette in the same sense as others out there like the ones from Anastasia or NYX. It's really a blush palette with a highlighter and bronzer included. I think that the color of the bronzer would make it unsuitable for contouring on most people (more on that below), so really the only contouring product in here is the highlighter.

I'll start with the part of the palette I like best: the highlighter (Pearl). In fact, if I could buy this on its own, I would. It's very natural looking. The best part is that I can use it on large areas of my face (like the middle of my forehead) and it just gives a subtle glow without emphasizing pores or texture in a way that I don't like. Usually, even with the best powder highlighters I've tried (like The Balm's Mary-Lou Manizer), I have to limit highlighting to pretty small zones to avoid that. Because this is so subtle on my skin, I originally assumed that it was extremely translucent. But then I swatched it over black eyeliner to test the translucency, and it turns out that it's not. It's quite opaque, in fact. It's just a near-exact match for my pasty face. Interesting! I suppose that means that it will be more dramatic the darker your skin is.

Heres an angle so you can get a better idea of the very smooth shimmer it contains. Though it looks slightly pink in the pan, the sheen is mostly just pearly with maybe a hint of yellow gold.

Now the worst part: the bronzer (Bronze). It's possible that this shade of bronzer would work for someone out there, but it is really awful on me. My skin tone is pretty neutral, leaning just slightly warm/yellow. This bronzer looks like dirt on my face. It's quite pigmented and not easy to blend, so it gets patchy, which only worsens the effect. The color is very brown, with a little red in it, which isn't good for me at all. I don't know if some people tan that color, but I certainly don't. Here it is compared to some other products I have for reference (left to right): Wet N Wild ColorIcon Bronzer in Princess, Tarte Park Avenue Princess, Paula's Choice Bronze, and NYX Blush in Taupe (which is not a bronzer, but works well for contouring pale skin since it's cool).

The Wet N Wild is warmer, maybe, but it's more of an orange-gold warmness than red, which makes it look less dirty on my face. Closer to an actual tan, I suppose. In the swatches, the Paula's Choice doesn't look so far off from the Tarte bronzer, but the Tarte works just fine for me - so that slightly cooler and slightly yellower color apparently makes a big difference. The nice thing about the Paula's Choice bronzer is that it has no shimmer in it, so on someone for whom the color worked, it would look more natural than a glittery bronzer. Presumably.

The blushes are somewhere in between the highlighter and the bronzer: they're okay, but they don't really work for me either. They have the same type of formula as the bronzer, i.e. matte, quite pigmented and difficult to blend smoothly. They are also all very warm and a little ruddy. They're just not colors I can use easily, and because they are all so warm, there isn't one in the bunch that I can really wear. Which isn't to say I can't ever wear coral or warm pink blushes - but not these ones. All of these, even Peony and Soft Mauve from the far right side of the palette - which look relatively cool next to the other two - are still too ruddy and just not flattering on me.

Top row: on the left, Delicate Coral; on the right, Peony:

Bottom row: on the left, Dusty Rose; on the right, Soft Mauve.

Delicate? Dusty? Soft? Not so much. See how, even though they look fairly different in the pans, they somehow look very similar on my skin? Not identical, but there's not exactly a great variety here. Disappointing.

The blushes cause the same problems with blending as the bronzer. Because they are quite pigmented and the colors are iffy to begin with, they create a blotchy, unnatural effect on my face. Blush is supposed to give you a healthy flush, but instead I end up looking sicker. The patchiness is worse if I wear moisturizer (or on days that my skin is particularly oily). In the photo below, I applied moisturizer to my arm and let it soak in for 10-15 minutes, and then swatched one of the blushes (unfortunately I didn't note which one, and they all look so similar that I can't tell what it is from the photo).

This is as smooth as I could blend it out with a nice, soft brush, and then it wouldn't budge. It's even worse on my face, because the skin on the inner side of my forearm here is smoother and less oily than the skin on my face. Primer doesn't seem to help. I would highly recommend using a stippling brush with these blushes, like the one e.l.f. sells for $3. That makes the application a million times easier, because it doesn't deposit all the blush in a couple of spots that you then have to blend out. In fact, I never really understood the point of a stippling brush until I used it with these blushes. I've never had a blush that applied like this. I get it now. On the plus side, the Paula's Choice blushes are quite long lasting, so if you can master the blending and want something that will stick, this is an option.

In the end, this palette was an interesting concept that really didn't work for me. I was excited about the vibrant colors, but I think they'd be better for someone with a different skin tone from mine (who also owns a stippling brush!). Warmer and maybe less pale? I considered keeping the whole palette just for the lovely highlighter, but I have enough other highlighters that are perfectly functional. At $38, I don't think it is worth buying for the little pan of highlighter alone (and I'm glad I didn't spend that money on it). My general experience is that while Paula's Choice makes great skin care products, their makeup is hit and miss and rarely worth the high prices.

I'm really curious how this might work for someone with different coloring from mine, so here's what I'm going to do. If you would like to try it and report back, I'd be happy to send it to you for the cost of shipping (in a small, flat rate USPS Priority box: $5.95, US only, Paypal). Send me an email at cheapasf AT gmail DOT com and it's yours. First come, first served! (Though I will send it to the second (or third or fourth) person who contacts me if I don't receive the shipping money within 48 hours of my responding to the first one.)

Serious Retinol: Review of Paula's Choice Clinical 1% Retinol Treatment (with before and after photos)

Disclosure: Affiliate/referral links.

Enter here by December 21 for a chance to win this product!

Paula's Choice Clinical 1% Retinol Treatment

When Paula's Choice initially came out with their Clinical 1% Retinol Treatment, I wasn't especially interested. I'd worked through two very generously-sized bottles of their retinol serum (reviewed here) without seeing any clear results at all. But then I read Lab Muffin's review of the new retinol treatment, and I decided to add a sample, in a 0.16 oz. pump bottle, to my next order. Cheap as I am, I was particularly interested in the value breakdown Lab Muffin provides, showing that this product is really competitively priced, at least in Australia. As I understand it, cosmetics are really fucking expensive in Australia, but her price analysis seems promising anyway. Unfortunately, I am not mathematically inclined, so I haven't calculated a similar comparison among U.S. products (but if you are, and you want to share, that would be really exciting). The price of the full-size bottle is $56, which is not exactly cheap, so it's nice to feel like I'm spending my money relatively wisely. Especially since it turns out that I really like this stuff, and I want to keep buying it. Though it's mainly marketed as anti-aging, I'd also recommend this stuff if you have problems with clogged pores and/or breakouts, like I do. (More on how to save some money on it at the end of the post.)

I do suggest trying the sample size if you think this might work for you, because I got 4-5 weeks of use out of it. Since you only use a "pea-sized" amount each time, and you have to gradually increase the frequency of use, the sample contains more than enough to decide if it's right for you. You can see the main claims Paula's Choice makes about this product's purpose on the bottle above, i.e. to improve skin's firmness, smooth wrinkles/lines, reduce dark spots, and refine pores.

One pump of Paula's Choice Clinical 1% Retinol Treatment

During my initial testing period, I used the retinol treatment 2-4 times a week, as I adjusted to it and tried to determine what my skin could tolerate. I'm glad I read the Lab Muffin review first, because that meant I knew to expect peeling. And holy shit, the peeling. It's not painful, red peeling or anything, but I did lightly molt for the first few weeks I tested it. The peeling doesn't start immediately, at least for me - it would show up, reliably, 36-48 hours after I used the retinol. It can be controlled with lots of moisturizing, but unless your skin is super tough, do expect peeling. I recommend going slow when you start. Use only a small amount the first several times, or mix it half and half with moisturizer. That's what I did the second time around, after I got a full bottle and started the process over again, and the peeling was much less dramatic.

Another side effect that I noticed was that it seems to make my skin more sensitive to other products that I usually don't react to. Nothing major, but I sometimes notice a slight burning sensation when using my regular moisturizer or even things like liquid highlighters. Odd.

Anyway, results! I liked what was happening to my skin while I used this, but I wanted to be sure it was really the result of the retinol and not just a coincidence or something. I tend to be paranoid and to have a bad memory, which makes testing skincare products a pain in the ass. Luckily (?), the disruption of moving (twice), traveling, and housesitting in August interrupted my usual skin care routine and allowed me to sort things out. I packed up both this retinol treatment and the Paula's Choice 2% BHA liquid (also reviewed here) that I have been using for years, and I didn't have access to either of them for a couple of weeks. That, combined with stress, meant that my skin gave me a big old fuck you, and I ended up with a mess to straighten out.

I broke out really bad, I had seriously clogged pores, and my skin looked dull and just generally shitty. I started back in with just the BHA liquid for a week or two, and things improved noticeably. Definitely fewer blackhead and congestion. So, okay good, I haven't been wasting my money on that stuff all this time. Then I cracked open my new, big bottle of 1% retinol and an even greater improvement was noticeable immediately.

I don't really like using vague language like "brighter skin," or "radiant," or "luminous," or whatever, because I feel like a slippery ad man. What exactly do those adjectives really mean? They seem accurate, to some extent, for the results I get from this retinol treatment, but I'm going to try to be more specific. I think the main thing it does for my skin is keep my pores clearer than they would otherwise be, which in turn makes them appear smaller. Smaller pores make my skin, overall, look smoother, and that is the main thing that gives it a "radiant" appearance. For me, "refining pores" is the claim by Paula's Choice that I can really see when I use this.

I still get hormonal breakouts on my chin, but with this product they clear up more quickly and are less intense overall. When I stopped using it, those cystic zits came back with a vengeance and would not fuck off until I went back on the retinol. I'm not sure about overall firmness, but I don't (yet) have a lot of sag in my skin that I'm concerned about. I don't have many dark spots, but my freckles haven't really diminished, which is fine with me. I didn't think it was doing anything for lines until I looked at the following photos side by side. The first one is from May 2015, about 6 weeks before I started testing this retinol treatment, and the second is from the end of July, right as I was finishing up the sample. (I started to use it again toward the end of August.)

Before and after using Paula's Choice Clinical 1% Retinol Treatment for a month

It's hard to replicate lighting conditions exactly when taking photos like this months apart, and so the lighting is a bit harsher (at a more oblique angle) in the before photo. But I examined several different before and after photos taken on these same dates, and the comparison here is accurate. I think it's clear that I haven't added a filter or anything to the after photo, and I'm not wearing makeup (or anything but moisturizer) in either one. You can see that I still have a bit of hormonal chin acne and any freckles I had are still there in the after photo. The overall texture of my skin, however, is smoother, and that smile line between my mouth and nose is still there, but maybe slightly diminished. These subtle improvements add up to my skin generally just looking better.

In my current regimen, I use the Clinical 1% Retinol Treatment every third day, because that allows me to combine it with BHA liquid for optimal exfoliation with minimal peeling. You are not supposed to use BHA or AHA exfoliants at the same time as this retinol. So my routine goes something like this:

Day 1: one pump of retinol treatment in the evening on my entire face, except the eye area, since you're supposed to keep it away from there. I use a separate moisturizer around my eyes. I may or may not add extra moisturizer to the retinol, but it already contains things like glycerin and emollients, so it's usually moisturizing enough on its own for my combination-oily skin.

Day 2: light moisturizer and/or hydrating serum in the morning and evening. I find that using something with hyaluronic acid works well to prevent peeling. The Paula's Choice Antioxidant Concentrate Serum (reviewed here) worked - though I ran out a week ago and have been adding Paula's Choice Hyaluronic Acid Booster to my regular Moisture Gel since then (also reviewed here - yes, I seem to be a Paula's Choice fangirl, but you already knew that).

Day 3: BHA liquid in the morning or evening, whenever I remember.

Day 4: return to Day 1 (and I use the same moisturizer as Day 2 on Days 1 and 3 as well, as needed).

My skin is looking good with this routine. It's not perfect - I still get the occasional blackhead or pimple, and I still have human skin with pores. But I'm getting a lot of good things from the combination; besides the retinol, there's vitamin C and peptides in the treatment, and then there is the BHA and the antioxidants and everything else in the other products. I'm not hating my face at the moment. My skin is the best it has been in quite some time.

So. I'm recommending something that costs $55. Maybe you have health insurance that covers other retinoids, and that is a more affordable route to go for this kind of thing. I don't, and if you don't either (or you want to try something a bit gentler), here are some options for buying it. I usually get things directly from the Paula's Choice website, because they have frequent sales and free shipping deals. Right now they have 20% any one item and free shipping on $50+. Soon they will probably have a sale on all of their "Clinical" products or all of their retinol products or something, and it will probably be 15-20% off. If you don't already have a Paula's Choice account, you can also get $10 off your first $15+ order by using someone's invite link (here's mine).

Another option, if you've already used your $10-off, is to buy Paula's Choice stuff from the Nordstrom website. Here's the 1% retinol. This is a good way to go if there isn't an appealing sale on the Paula's Choice site, because Nordstrom always has free shipping and free returns. You can also collect your rewards points, if that's a thing you do. Nordstrom doesn't have the sample size, however, which you can only get here from Paula's Choice, and I really recommend trying that out first. Either way, you should also shop through Ebates and get at least 3% cash back from Nordstrom or 5% from Paula's Choice (here's my previous post about Ebates in case you're not familiar). I think that about covers it as far as saving money on this shit goes.

Have you used retinol? Does it work for you? I assumed it didn't do anything for me, but it looks like I needed a higher concentration than I had tried in the past in order to get results.

Swatches and reviews of Paula's Choice foundations and tinted moisturizer (pale edition)

I've reviewed a lot of Paula's Choice products here. I recently ordered samples of all of the Paula's Choice base makeup products. I've been looking for a good, light tinted moisturizer or foundation for a while now, and I figured I'd give the PC options a shot. So here is my favorite thing about them: you can spend a couple of bucks and get sample packets of all of the shades of all of their products. I wish other brands would do that. Sure, you might chance into a sample in a gift-with-purchase or a subscription service, but even those tend to only be the "medium" shade or shades. I once got a card sample of Laura Mercier's famous tinted moisturizer from Birchbox, and the amount included was so small it didn't even cover a quarter of my hand, plus all three shades were way too dark. So I could test neither the shade nor the formula. I know that I could go to Sephora and asks the sales associates to make me samples of various products, but getting to the nearest Sephora is a pain in the ass for me. I would gladly spend a few dollars to have decent samples of the most likely shades sent to me at home instead.

So I ordered packets of the four bases Paula's Choice sells: Best Face Forward Foundation (SPF 25, for oily/combination skin); Resist Instant Smoothing Anti-Aging Foundation (for oily/combination skin); All Bases Covered Foundation (SPF 25, for dry/very dry skin); and Barely There Sheer Matte Tint (SPF 30, for all skin types). Each sample pack costs $2.50 and contains four generously sized samples - at least enough for two full-face applications each. You can choose a darker or lighter range for most of the foundations, and you get four different shades.

Here are swatches of the two lightest shades of each of the products, on either side of Revlon ColorStay Foundation for oily/combination skin as a point of reference, since that is a fairly popular and accessible foundation. (If you want to compare the Revlon foundation to other pale foundations, see this post.) They are swatched heavily to show the color differences, rather than the textures. I used the lightest shades in the middle next to the Revlon swatch.

Swatches (left to right): Paula's Choice Barely There Tint in Level 2, Paula's Choice Barely There Tint in Level 2, Revlon Colorstay Foundation in Ivory, Paula's Choice Best Face Forward Foundation in Best Bisque, Paula's Choice Best Face Forward Foundation in Best Linen

Swatches (left to right): Paula's Choice Resist Anti-Aging Foundation in Level 1/Fair/Light, Paula's Choice Resist Anti-Aging Foundation in Level 0/Porcelain, Revlon Colorstay Foundation in Ivory, Paula's Choice All Bases Covered Foundation in Nude, Paula's Choice All Bases Covered Foundation in Sand

As you can see, there is a lot of variation in what the lightest shades available are, but they are mostly on the warmer/yellower side (which makes sense for this brand, since Beautypedia tends to give poor reviews to makeup that is too peachy or pink, despite the fact that it does suit some people). Judging from the swatches on my arm, the best match for me appears to be Best Face Forward Foundation in Best Bisque, but unfortunately I didn't like the formula much.

Here are my reviews of each product, based on at least one full day's wear (though I didn't use both shades of each). I ended up buying the Barely There Tint, so there is more information about that one at the end.

Giveaway! My Paula's Choice favorites ($149 value)

Because the people who read my blog are so awesome and have clicked my Paula's Choice referral link so many times, I've been able to try and to review a ton of different products from that brand over the past year. I have also been able to keep using my favorite skin care products even when I've been unemployed or underemployed, which is something I really fucking appreciate. So in gratitude, I wanted to give some back. I'm going to send my five favorite Paula's Choice products to the winner of this giveaway.

The prize will include:

2% BHA Liquid (reviewed here)

Skin Balancing Moisture Gel (reviewed here)

Resist Ultra-Light Antioxidant Serum (reviewed here)

Resist C15 Super Booster (reviewed here)

Tooth Whitener (reviewed here)

It's a $149 value in total.

I've chosen the things that I've found myself replacing when they run out, which I think is a good sign that they are reliable. The moisturizer and BHA I've been using for at least a decade (and that makes me feel fucking old). The tooth whitener I've been using for a few years, and the serum I just discovered last year, but I've already bought my third tube. The sort of exception is the Vitamin C serum. I'm still a little on the fence about it, but I recently did a consumer trial of a serum from another brand that I absolutely hated for over a week, and it left my skin looking really sad. When the test period was over, the Resist C15 was one of the first things I used, and my skin perked right up. It wasn't the only product I used, so who knows how responsible it was for my recovery. But technically I am on my second bottle, after using up a trial size first. Also, it seems like something lots of people would be curious to try, but nervous about shelling out the $48, so I figured it would be fun to include here.

Obviously most of these things will work best for people with skin like mine (combination leaning more toward oily than dry) - but these are the things I can vouch for. (If you are allergic to aspirin, you shouldn't use the BHA liquid - but you can enter anyway and we can work out a different option if you win. That will be the only exception I'll make. Any other winner will get this set.)

To enter, you only have to provide your email address using the gadget below so I can contact you if you win. If you want additional entries, there are other options, but they aren't required. One winner will be chosen at random from all the entries. Once the winner has been announced and contacted, they will have 48 hours to respond with their mailing address. If I don't hear anything in 48 hours, I'll pick someone else. (Well, I'll let the gadget pick someone for me.) I will have the prizes shipped to you directly from Paula's Choice (i.e. they will be brand new, not the products pictured above that I have here at home). That means I can send things either to US or Canadian addresses.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

This giveaway is in no way officially affiliated with Paula's Choice. They don't know I'm doing it. It's not meant to promote Paula's Choice. I just like some of their products - you can see reviews of things I like and things I don't like under this tag.

TheBalm Meet Matt(e) Nude Eyeshadow Palette vs. Paula's Choice The Nude Mattes Eyeshadow Palette

Disclosure: This post contains referral links.
I got TheBalm's Meet Matt(e) Nude eyeshadow palette in September after reading positive reviews of it and deciding that I needed some less shimmery eye options for work. I picked it up for $21 from Hautelook, which, as I've said before, is really the best place I've come across to buy TheBalm products, so long as you can be a little patient. They're almost always marked down 50% and they have a good selection there, including most of the newer palettes and other products. (TheBalm usually has a 50% off sale once or twice a year on their own site, but it almost always seems to be a mess, with the site crashing all over the place, and it only lasts 24 hours.) TheBalm is on HauteLook at this very moment, which is why I figured it would be a good idea to write up this comparison today (in case my saying it's "fine" ignites a burning passion in anyone?).

I posted a quick review of the palette on Instagram and noted that the shadows were fine, but that there were no good highlight shades. Most of the shades are very dark, with the exception of one fairly stark white, which I just don't find useful.

Then in December Paula's Choice had a deal where you could get their The Nude Mattes eyeshadow palette, which is usually $40, for free with a $60 purchase. Since I had some credits to use and I needed to replace some of my regular products anyway, I made a bigger order than I would usually do in order to get the eyeshadow palette. Exactly what they wanted me to do. I was a good mark, obviously. Why do I need another eyeshadow palette when I have approximately a billion fucking eyeshadows that I am never going to use up, you ask? I DON'T. This is why I'm trying to get my shit together. And as part of that, I've decided that I am going to get rid of one of these two palettes. I wanted to compare them, and I was not-so-secretly hoping that TheBalm came out behind, since it's less versatile. Since I wanted to do the comparison for myself anyway, and since writing these things out helps me make decisions, I figured I might as well make a post of it. So here we go.

Paula's Choice The Nude Mattes and TheBalm Meet Matt(e) Nude

Paula's Choice The Nude Mattes and TheBalm Meet Matt(e) Nude

The comparison is pretty simple. I used the brush that came with the PC palette, which is a soft but otherwise not very effective brush, to swatch shades that look similar. Obviously they are not identical, but I thought it made sense to compare them this way. I didn't swatch every shade. TheBalm palette has 9 and the PC palette has 12. I didn't do a comparison for the white ("Matt Malloy") or the yellowish ("Matt Lombardi") shades, since nothing in the PC palette came close, and they are shadows I'm not likely to use anyway. Here's how things compare without the use of primer.

Swatches of Paula's Choice The Nude Mattes (top row) and TheBalm Meet Matt(e) Nude (bottom row)

Overall, I guess TheBalm's shadows are slightly more pigmented (maybe?), but the think the difference is negligible. TheBalm's browns perform a bit better, but the grays/taupes are the same or worse. Note that the PC shadows might be just a little more powdery, in case mess bothers you, and the powder does show up on the black packaging. The texture of the TheBalm shadows is not perfect, either, though.

Then I swatched two similar shades from each palette (a grey/taupe and a brown) over Wet N Wild eyeshadow primer (my favorite primer, all things considered), since I always use primer when I wear eyeshadow. It makes sense to compare them that way, for me.

Swatches of Paula's Choice The Nude Mattes (top row) and TheBalm Meet Matt(e) Nude (bottom row)

With primer, there's really no difference at all. That means I'm going to ditch the palette from TheBalm and keep the one from Paula's Choice.

In an overall comparison, they each have strengths and weaknesses - and since their regular price is very close ($42 for Meet Matt(e) Nudes vs. $40 for The Nude Mattes), they are worth considering together. The advantage of the PC set is that it has more shades, and that it has more light shades to use for highlighting. It even has one shimmer/satin light shade to use for that purpose. It's a little heavy on the darker shades, I think, which is a negative for me. It goes from very light to very dark quickly, without much in the middle. I would gladly exchange the black, which is a color that I already have a million versions of and one that I rarely use, for another medium shade. Maybe a lighter taupe.

TheBalm's palette has the advantage of containing more than twice as much product for only an extra $2 (25.5 g vs. 12 g), so value wise it's a better deal. (You do get a brush with the PC set, and they clearly tried to go for a non-crap brush, but it's pretty lackluster, so I'm not factoring it into the value.) Meet Matt(e) Nude also has some more unusual shades, if you already own a lot of neutrals. But for me that wasn't a big plus, since the unusual ones are a yellowish beige that looks dreadful on me, and a barely-off white that I really can't find a use for. It's also not really a palette than I can use on its own, because I like to have a highlight color, and that white isn't doing it for me. So it wouldn't be great for travel, for example. (Maybe the original Meet Matt(e) palette would be a better choice, but I haven't tried it. And I won't be buying more eyeshadow for a while.) As for the design of the packaging? That might be a plus or a minus for you. I'm personally not a huge fan of the big dude face on it.

For me, the PC palette makes more sense to hold on to. If you were considering both of them at full price, TheBalm is a better value - and it is especially a lot of product for your dollar if you get it half price from Hautelook. The best deal you're probably going to get on the Paula's Choice palette, unless they give it away as a gift with purchase again, is to use someone's referral link (here's mine) for $10 off a purchase on a new account. And wait until they offer free shipping, which happens pretty frequently. $30 is better than $40.

I am usually someone with Opinions, but I'm going to have to say this one comes down to what you will personally get more use out of. In terms of performance, the two are virtually the same. You get more product from TheBalm, but if you're never going to use it all, then that's not necessarily worth paying for. I'm going to ditch TheBalm's palette, because it's taking up space, and I need to be more brutal about culling my hoard.

Review: Paula's Choice Resist Ultra-Light Super Antioxidant Concentrate Serum

I'm not going to blog about all the Black Friday sales, even though they are great for being cheap. First, I don't want to know about all the good deals out there right now, because I am trying to avoid buying more things. If I listed sales here, I would almost certainly have to buy something. Or things. I own too much shit, and I need to stop. Second, it would be redundant, because Nouveau Cheap has you covered.

I am, however, going to take advantage of the 15% off + free shipping deal from Paula's Choice to replace a couple of things that I needed to buy anyway. I always wait for them to offer free shipping before I order anything, and even though 15% off isn't huge, it's a nice bonus. (The free shipping applies to both US and Canadian orders, by the way.) I need some more 2% BHA liquid (review here). I'm also tempted to try the 4% BHA foam, which had been out of stock for a while. It's back and has great reviews. I have a few days to decide, since the sale goes until the end of the week (it's a little unclear exactly how long, but they call it "cyber week"). There's no code. If it's your first time ordering from them, you can also get $10 off by signing up through my invite link (I also get $10). Ebates (referral link) also has 6% cash back, which I will definitely be using (more info on using Ebates here and here).

Paula's Choice Resist Ultra-Light Super Antioxidant Concentrate Serum (empty!)

This seems like a good time for a review of the Paula's Choice Resist Ultra-Light Super Antioxidant Concentrate Serum, since I already had the photos on my phone waiting for me to scrounge up some free time. I have almost a week off! Amazing. I mean, I do have to write up and send out seven job applications and also try to plan the courses I'm teaching next semester, but I get to do most of that from home in while wearing yoga pants.

I just started my second tube of this serum. I've been using it 4-5 times a week in the mornings since September, so I think that's a pretty decent amount of time for it to last, even though the tube is small. I actually started it back in July, when I mentioned it here, but didn't start using it regularly until the fall. Back then I said I wouldn't be buying it again unless it did something "really impressive" . . . and here we are.

I don't actually know how to tell if it's having any long term results. That's true of most (all?) products I use. I guess if my skin stays looking about the same over time, then at least the big bad environment isn't damaging it too much, so maybe it's protected or whatever.

I absolutely love the immediate results that this serum gives me, though. I think the difference is that I'm now using it first thing in the morning, rather than before bed, and so I have a chance to observe its effects on my skin while I'm awake. I still find it moisturizing enough that I don't need an additional moisturizer, even though it's getting wintery and the furnace is running all the time. I use it after washing my face and applying BHA liquid with a glamorous piece of flannel. The antioxidant serum makes my skin feel really fucking nice. I never understood what people meant when they wrote in skin care reviews that their skin felt "plump" after using something. Swollen? Sounded weird to me. But I think this is it! It's softer and more cushiony, but definitely not tight. Like your face is a beauty blender that you ran under water once. Except without swelling. DOES THAT HELP? Sorry. Let me start over.

This shit makes my skin feel significantly smoother and softer after I apply it in the morning. So soft. So fucking soft. The other great thing is that it smoothes out dry, flaky patches. I usually have those on my chin and almost always around my nose. This cures those flakes in a way no moisturizer I've used has ever done, and it means I can put makeup over those parts of my face without it looking gross. It makes my face happy. Oh, and it has a really, um, appetizing appearance. This is about 5 drops, which is what I use on my face and neck each day.

Paula's Choice Resist Ultra-Light Super Antioxidant Concentrate Serum

I'm guessing it's the hyaluronic acid that's responsible for most of the effects I like. If you can find a cheaper product with that ingredient in it, you might want to try that instead. And let me know if it's wonderful? For now, since I really, really like this shit, I am not inclined to experiment and potentially spend even more money buying a bunch of other slightly less expensive stuff that may not work. At around $30 (or more) for 1 oz., I realize that it is definitely not cheap. Even breaking it down to $8-10 or slightly per month is kind of shockingly expensive. But if you're feeling fancy, this might also make your face feel fancy. I just want you to know that. Please don't yell at me. I'm still cheap. I swear.

On the other hand, the Skin Balancing Antioxidant Serum with Retinol is less pleasant. It has that thick, gelatinous-yet-siliconey texture that doesn't feel great to apply and doesn't have many immediately noticeable results. It does mattify, so they suggest that you can use it as a primer. There's that. Maybe it's doing something long term, but maybe my beloved Resist antioxidant serum is also doing something long term, and it's instantly goddamned miraculous.

A bunch of Paula's Choice reviews

Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links.
I've been very lucky during the past few months of my unemployment that I was able to keep using my regular Paula's Choice routine, even though the products are not particularly cheap. That's because lots of people signed up through my invite link, and I really, really appreciate that. As a result, I've been able to replace the things I was already using when they ran out, as well as try a few new things. In return, I figured I should at least review some of the Paula's Choice (PC hereafter) products I've used. (I'm also hoping to do a PC giveaway sometime in the future as further thanks, but that will have to wait until I can swing the shipping costs.)

This week also seems like a good time for this post, since PC has a 15% off everything + free shipping on all orders sale going on (use code EDDVIPJUL14).

I've been using a few PC products for almost a decade now. I found out about Paula Begoun via a Canadian TV show called The Shopping Bags, which was almost like a shopping/consumer review blog in TV format, before there were blogs (it's still on TV somewhere in Canada, I think).  Paula was one of their regular consultants on makeup, skin, and hair care. I even owned one of her enormous books at one point. At the time, there weren't really many other sources of the kinds of information she provides, especially in terms of evaluating the marketing claims made by cosmetics companies. Now there are more options, but I still use the ingredients dictionary on the PC website all the time, because it's really comprehensive and easy to use.

Paula herself is a bit of a polarizing figure. She can be a little dogmatic and extreme at times. For instance, she used to insist that no one, no matter who they were, should ever wear any color of eye makeup other than neutrals and maybe, if you wanted to get a little crazy, plum. No shimmer, either. I get that it was a reaction against the frosty blue eyeshadows of the 80s, but come on (she's slackened only slightly on that point since then). There's more to life than matte neutrals. Because she was one of the first to do what she does, she can come across as a bit self important, too. In one of her radio shows from this year, she complained that she's seen other people online repeating information about cosmetics that originated with her. Well, do you want to inform people, or not?

These days, I'm a little more critical about the PC proclamations. I don't like fragrance in my skin care either, and I'd rather err on the side of caution for ingredients that cause irritation, but I think the their NO FRAGRANCE EVER OH MY GOD YOU'RE GOING TO BECOME A HAG IF YOU USE SOMETHING SMELLY stance is a bit much. Give me all the scented body lotion and lip balm! I also don't rely heavily on Beautypedia's ratings of makeup, because they often hinge on one or two details that have little to do with the actual performance of the product (I'll write something more about that another day). Today, PC/Beautypedia is one of many sources of information I consult.

All that said, I have had really, really good luck with the majority of the PC brand products I've tried. I get that they are trying to sell me shit just like every other company, but I appreciate their accessibility and transparency about why they formulated things the way they did and why they think the ingredients will be effective. That's still pretty rare. It's a brand I personally like, even though it's not the cheapest. They do have a lot of sales, at least.

Below are reviews of several PC products I've used, and I've indicated roughly how long I've been using them, in case that's useful information. I didn't bother to take photos of the packages, because I didn't think that would be particularly helpful (and a little too advertorial for a post like this). So this is a text heavy post. You might want to grab a cup of coffee before you read on (or spread it out over three days because, let's face it, after writing all that I'm going to need some time off). I'm not going to go into detail about the ingredients, because you can find all of that information at the links, so I won't repeat it here.

Moisturizers

Comparison of three Paula's Choice Moisturizers (left to right): Skin Balancing Moisture Gel, Hydralight Moisture Infusing Lotion, and Skin Recovery Replenishing Moisturizer 

Skin Balancing Moisture Gel: I've been using this stuff the longest of anything from PC: at least 8 years, maybe 10. I absolutely love it. It's an ideal moisturizer for oily/combination skin like mine. It's a really light gel that soaks in quickly and leaves absolutely no greasiness or shine. It feels really refreshing. I've described it as a "drink of water for your face" to my boyfriend (though he continues to use his generic Lubriderm knockoff).

The downside of this particular moisturizer is that it burns if I apply it anywhere near my eyes. It's annoying. I can see from reviews that this doesn't happen with most people who use it, but apparently there's something in it that my eyes hate. If I want to moisturize the eye area, I have to pick something else. This gel is my usual daytime moisturizer, nevertheless. I put it on when I get out of the shower and it leaves my skin soft and gets rid of whatever tightness was caused by the heat and water.

It's not cheap ($24), but I've continued using it because I haven't been able to find a comparable gel moisturizer at a more affordable price. The only ones I'd encountered until recently were more expensive, packaged in a jar, and/or highly fragranced. I came across this Simple brand gel moisturizer a few weeks ago, though, so I might try it when I run out of the PC. (Has anyone else used it?)