Zit Magic: Review of COSRX Acne Pimple Master Patches

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Things have been a little slow here on the ol' blargh. I'm going to try to post more frequently, but in case you haven't noticed, when I don't have time to write blog posts I tend to post more frequently on Instagram since I can put something up quickly on the bus or during my lunch break. Last week I posted a couple of new things I've been trying, which I'll review here more thoroughly eventually. (If you aren't an Instagram user, you can still view these posts in your browser.)

Today I am reviewing a type of product that will be nothing new at all to many of you--but I'm guessing there are still some people out there who, like me, are late to the game and haven't discovered these magical pimple patches yet. They are most definitely one of the best skin discoveries I've made in the past year. I had them sitting on my Amazon shopping list for a very long time before I finally got around to buying any, and I wish I'd tried them sooner.

The COSRX Acne Pimple Master Patches are thin, round, hydrocolloid bandages. They come in three sizes, and they look like this:

Lab Muffin has a great post explaining in detail how hydrocolloid patches work, but essentially what they do is absorb fluids. You stick one of these things on top of a pimple, and it sucks the goo out and dries it up. Sure, you could just squeeze your zits, but you risk doing damage to your skin that way, and there's also a good chance that they will just get infected again. These patches will not only soak up the crud, they will serve as a protective layer to prevent more bacteria from getting in there.

There are limitations to what they can do. Patches won't work very well on those deep, underground, cystic pimples that many of us get, especially on our chins. The fluid needs to be closer to the surface. Basically, my rule is that if it looks like I might possibly be able to squeeze it, I'll put a patch on it. If I definitely couldn't, I'll just dab some tea tree oil on the spot and see what happens.

Also, you need to have clean, dry skin before sticking a patch on, or it will absorb things other than your zit goo and/or not adhere properly. Besides, you don't want to cover up a dirty pimple and seal a bunch of bacteria in there. Because they have to be applied to freshly cleansed skin, it can be tricky to apply moisturizers or other products on top of them. If you rub everything around too much, your products can make their way underneath the patch and cause it to start lifting. I've found that if I just sort of pat products on the area of my face where I've stuck a patch, that problem is avoided.

I only use these things at night, but the COSRX patches are thin and translucent enough that you might be comfortable using them during the day. I'd just prefer not. I apply them as needed before bed, and they feel like nothing on my face. When I wake up in the morning, the patch has turned white and swelled up in the center where it has absorbed fluid. It's really disgustingly satisfying. My perverse fascination with these patches has all but replaced my perverse fascination with popping zits. So that's good.

After I remove the patch, the pimple usually feels pretty dry on the surface. Most of the time, it takes a couple of nights to clean out a zit completely, and then I'm just left with a red spot that takes the usual amount of time to fade. I don't know about you, but that's much faster than any spot treatment product I've used before.

There are other brands of acne patches out there, the most well known probably being Nexcare. I've also tried Nexcare's, and while they worked, there are a few things I prefer about the COSRX patches. For one, the COSRX version is more translucent and thinner. That means that they are not only less conspicuous, but they are less likely to come off during the night, since they don't have thick edges that rub against my pillow. I've read some reviews that said the Nexcare patches absorb more fluid than the COSRX patches, but I didn't notice any difference. Since they are close to the same price, you might want to try them both and see which you prefer.

Another option is just to buy a larger hydrocolloid bandage meant for healing blisters and cut it up to make your own patches. I haven't tried this method myself, but you might be able to save a little money that way, and they're easier to find in US drugstores than acne patches, which you might have to order online.

The first couple of packs of COSRX patches I bought were ordered from Amazon with Prime shipping for about $5 each. Once I decided that I was hooked, I sprung for 10 packs for $24, making each one significantly cheaper. They still have free shipping, but since they ship from Korea, they take a couple of weeks to get here. (You can also get them with Prime shipping for $29.)

If you've been curious about these patches, I totally encourage you to give them a shot! They are both effective and mesmerizingly gross, so you really can't lose.

This is the only product I've tried so far from the Korean brand COSRX. I've heard good things about other products, like their honey moisturizer, and I would love your recommendations if you're a fan of the brand.

By the way, if you want a chance to try these patches for free, I'm currently holding a giveaway on Instagram, which includes a pack of COSRX patches along with a whole bunch of makeup. You don't need an Instagram account to enter, but you can find the details here.

Summer moisture for oily or combination skin: Review of Simple Ultra-Light Gel Moisturizer

Disclosure: Affiliate links.

I've liked most of the skincare products from the Simple brand that I've tried so far (like the ones reviewed here). They always seem to be exactly as described. No frills, but effective. So when I wanted to find a cheaper alternative to the Paula's Choice Invisible Finish Moisture Gel (reviewed here) that I've been using for about a decade now, this Simple Ultra-Light Gel Moisturizer seemed like a good place to start. I still really like the Paula's Choice stuff, but I'm pretty sure that when I started using it, it only cost $15-18 (Canadian!), and it is now a borderline outrageous $28 a tube. I'll complain about that and other reasons I've been annoyed by Paula's Choice recently in another post, but for now suffice to say that I have been hoping to find a reasonable substitute--reasonable both in performance and price. The Simple Ultra-Light Gel Moisturizer fits the bill at under $10.

Gel moisturizers are wonderful if you have skin like mine: combination, leaning more toward oily than dry, and often dehydrated. My skin regularly feels tight and sort of shriveled while still being oily in places, which is a sign that it needs moisture. (For a really useful explanation of the difference between dry and dehydrated skin, check out this great post from Lab Muffin.) Especially in the summer, traditional lotion or cream moisturizers will feel too heavy and leave my skin greasy as the day progresses. A gel feels lighter and often leaves a more matte finish.

In the winter, however, and as I've got older, my skin has become drier, and I find that lotions are just fine. So when I first tested out this Simple gel moisturizer back in December, I wasn't impressed. Here are the notes I jotted down: "spreads easy, doesn't sting near eyes, very little actual moisturizing--doesn't seem to sink in and hydrate, just smooths a little, skin feels a little tight." So I stuck it back on the shelf and ignored it for several months.

A couple of weeks ago my face started to transition into its usual summer oil slick, and my winter lotion felt too heavy, so I pulled the Simple gel back out. Suddenly it's perfect. Just enough moisture without any greasiness. It's exactly what I need right now. Another thing that is really nice about gel products in the summer is that they feel amazingly refreshing on my skin. Almost like splashing my face with water.

Here's what the Simple gel itself looks like (right), compared to the Paula's Choice gel moisturizer (left). While most gel moisturizers I've tried are translucent like the PC version, the Simple moisturizer is transparent, like hair gel (but not sticky!).

Paula's Choice Skin Balancing Moisture Gel (left) and Simple Ultra-Light Gel Moisturizer (right)

This isn't what I would call a "dupe" for the Paula's Choice moisturizer. The two main things they have in common are the gel formula and the lack of fragrance, which I appreciate. The Paula's Choice moisturizer has a little more slip when you spread it, and it soaks in to create a smooth, matte finish quickly. The Simple moisturizer is just a little tackier. On the other hand, I have to be careful not to apply the Paula's Choice gel too close to my eyes, because it will sting, and I've had no problems like that with the Simple gel. That's a definite advantage.

The Paula's Choice moisturizer has some fancier ingredients like niacinamide,  sodium hyaluronate, and a bunch of antioxidants. The Simple moisturizer does have vitamin E and glycerin, but it's sort of a step down in that sense. Personally, that doesn't bother me too much, because I use other products with more advanced shit in them, and I mainly want my moisturizer to just moisturize. But if you want to limit the number of products you use or buy, maybe a more sophisticated moisturizer is your style.

I also like the packaging of the Simple Ultra-Light Gel, which is a pump bottle. Like this:

Most of the other gel moisturizers I've tried, like the ones from Marcelle and Laneige, come in jars, which I assume is to show off their pretty, translucent texture. I just don't like jars for this type of product. Sure, my hands are clean when I use it, and the preservatives are going to keep it fairly stable, but why not have have as airtight and protected a container as possible? I do actually prefer the Paula's Choice tube, though--it's easier to tell how much product is left, and you can even cut it open to scoop out the last traces if you want to.

If you have skin like mine--not dry, but prone to dehydration--I definitely recommend this moisturizer. I'm extremely happy with it. I just needed to use it during the right season to appreciate it! It's effective, and it feels really fucking nice soaking into my skin on a hot summer day. And it's very affordable. The cheapest I've seen it is on Amazon for $5.56 for 1.5 oz. (i.e. $3.77 per oz. compared to Paula's Choice's $14 per ounce).

Do you find that your skin's behavior also changes pretty dramatically with the seasons, to the point that you have to change products? Any suggestions for keeping the oil at bay would be very welcome!

Balm Bomb

I am swamped this week, but I want to use some of my limited mental energy to post on my blog instead of for "more important" things, and I'm a grownup, so no one can stop me. Still, this is going to be very short (by my standards).

I bought this lip balm out of desperation over the weekend, when I realized I was going to be away from the house for 5 hours without any. The horror! The drugstore around the corner from my in-laws' house was tiny and only had a small selection. There was Nivea, which for me usually ranges from ineffective to making my lips worse, Burt's Bees, which has the same problems (and was priced at $7 a tube), and Lip Smackers, which I haven't used in a decade. And Vaseline. In retrospect, I probably should have gone for the Lip Smackers, but instead I grabbed this pot of Vaseline Rosy Lips.

The gamble here was that lip products that are made up entirely of petrolatum (and fragrance) like this one don't usually do much to moisturize my lips. Protect, sure, but not moisturize. So I don't know why I picked this stuff instead of one of the Vaseline options that also had cocoa butter or whatever in it. Okay, I kind of do: I was imagining it as a replacement for my Smith's Rosebud Salve, which is almost empty. Usually I really like rosy fragrances in lip balms, like Smith's (on my Instagram) or TokyoMilk (on my Instagram) or even L'Oreal lipstick (reviewed here).

Unfortunately, not only does this stuff not really do much for my lips, I also don't like the smell. It smells almost exactly like some Maybelline lip products, like the Vivid Matte Liquid (reviewed here). I find the fragrance unpleasant, but the taste is the worst part. It's really strong and distracting, and I end up tasting even more of a balm than a lip color that I consciously avoid rubbing off of my lips. So I guess that scent that I couldn't identify in the Maybelline stuff was supposed to be rose.

I don't know what I'm going to do with this stuff. Maybe I'll use it as a cuticle balm. And never forget my lip balm at home again!

My cheap favorites: the best skincare for $10 or less

Disclosure: Affiliate links.

Here is the long awaited (by me) sequel to my cheap makeup post: skincare. As with the makeup, these are all things I've tried and repurchased because I liked them so much. Trusty and reliable! There are other good cheap options out there, of course, but I'm not going to vouch for anything I haven't used. Please leave your suggestions in the comments, though.

Some categories, again, are missing, because I don't use that type of product (e.g. toner), or I don't have a current favorite, or my favorite is a little more expensive (e.g. targeted products like retinol, or exfoliants, or my favorite sunscreen). And because I like to experiment with new things, I don't have all of these products on hand to photograph at the moment. You should keep in mind that I have combination-oily skin that is not particularly sensitive, and that I don't usually like fragrance in products I put on my face. If you have a different skin type, your results may vary (though you may find some of these things effective anyway).

That's enough preamble and disclaimer. Here's the list:

Favorite Cleanser: I'm using some Paula's Choice face wash at the moment, but my favorites are from Neutrogena.  I especially like the Redness Soothing Gel Cleanser and the Ultra Gentle Daily Cleanser. They do a great job of removing oil and makeup without drying out my skin. The latter comes in a really big bottle for $8-10, so it's an especially good value.

Favorite Facial Wipes: I try not to use these too often because of the waste, but a few times a month when I'm too tired to wash my face properly or when I'm traveling, they are handy. I've tried a lot of brands, and my favorite are the Simple Cleansing Wipes. They are unscented and they remove makeup effectively without causing dryness. They also have a very soft but durable texture (make sure you get the regular ones, not the exfoliating variety). The cheapest place to get them online is in a pack of two (50 wipes total) from Amazon for about $7 (and right now there is a $1 off coupon).

Favorite Makeup Remover: I don't use actual makeup remover on my eyes most of the time (only when I end up with a free sample somehow). Although dual phase formulas can be very effective, I don't like the oily residue they leave behind. It tends to cause milia around my eyes even if I wash it off. Instead, I wash my face first, and then I spread a small amount of Cetaphil Moisturizing Lotion (about $10) on my upper and lower lids and wipe it off with a dry tissue or cloth. It removes all the makeup residue and--bonus--my eye area is left moisturized. If I have a lot of waterproof mascara caked on my lashes, the lotion doesn't remove it instantly, though it does clean up any that has transferred to my skin. And I have a huge bottle of decent, gentle moisturizer that I can use for whatever other purposes I want. (You can also use moisturizer like this as a cleanser in a pinch--or if you find most cleansers drying. Apply it to your dry skin and massage lightly, splash on water and massage some more, and rinse.)

Favorite Daytime Moisturizer with Sunscreen: This isn't my sunscreen. As I said above, the everyday facial sunscreen I use costs more than $15 (though a bottle lasts me a year). But I work from home, and some days I don't get out of the house until after dark. On those days, I like to just use SPF in moisturizer for a little protection and one less step in the morning. I'm a big fan of the Simple Protecting Light Moisturizer SPF 15. I tried to go without it when I finished my last bottle, but I really missed it, so this is my second. As the name suggests, it's not fancy, but it does a great job of moisturizing and absorbs quickly. It doesn't burn around my eyes like lotions with higher (chemical) SPFs tend to do. This is the theme here: it does what it's supposed to do very well and doesn't do anything I don't like. It's cheapest on Amazon, where it's around $8 (I've seen it in stores for up to $14).

Favorite Acne Spot Treatment: Lots of people like benzoyl peroxide for acne, but I tried to get it to work for years and it never did anything for me other than bleach my sheets and towels. I've found tea tree oil more effective. I dip a q-tip in it and dab it on individual zits. With oils like this, there's a lot of variation in strength (even though they all say "100%" on the bottle, they are actually diluted), so look for good reviews. I've been using the Mason Natural Tea Tree Oil ($8) for a few years with good results.

Favorite Facial Oil/Anti-Aging Treatment: I love rosehip oil. It does all sorts of wonderful things for your skin, no matter what skin type you have. (Read more about it from Lab Muffin.) The only downside for me is that I have to avoid my eye area with it, or at least use it sparingly there, because my eyes don't like oils and again with the fucking milia. You also have to read reviews of this stuff, because the quality and potency will vary between brands. And make sure it doesn't smell like roses--it's not made from rose petals. In fact, it usually smells a bit like cooking oil. I've had good luck with the Aura Cacia Rosehip Oil ($7) and Life-Flo Rosehip Seed Oil ($6). You only need 2-3 drops for your entire face, so a bottle lasts a long time, at least until it spoils.

Favorite Mask: Hands down, Freeman Avocado and Oatmeal Clay Mask. Reviewed here. It really absorbs oil and helps to clear pores without drying out my skin. Love it, and it's $4 for a huge tube that never ends. I've tried more expensive clay masks. This is better.

Favorite Lip Balm: Palmer's Cocoa Butter Swivel Stick ($2-4). It looks like a glue stick, smells subtly like white chocolate, and keeps my lips super soft all winter. My favorite, forever. This enormous tube lasts a long time, as you can tell from my beat-up photo. Do not make the mistake of buying the teeny Palmer's lip balm with the sunscreen in it! That one is bitter and a fraction of the size for the same price. If you can't find the giant Swivel Stick with the other lip balms, look next to the Palmer products in the lotion section (or at Shopper's Drug Mart in Canada, sometimes it's with "ethnic hair care"). Or get it from drugstore.com for less than $3.

Favorite Hand Cream: I love, love, love Caldrea Hand Balm in the Ginger Pomelo scent. It's way better than the more expensive hand creams I've tried (ahem, L'Occitane), though it might be a tad splurgy at $10 a tube. But it smells amazing, and moisturizes extremely well while still absorbing quickly and not being greasy.

Favorite Foot Cream: O'Keeffe's Foot Cream ($5). Reviewed here. Put a very small amount on your feet before bed and they will be softened up significantly by morning. In a few days of using it, all the rough skin will be gone. It's really good. I don't recommend using it on hot and sweaty nights, because it has a slightly greasy feeling, and I think that's gross when I'm already sticky.

These are the best of the (cheap) best in my opinion, but I'd love to hear about any other affordable skin care you'd recommend--especially if you have a different skin type, since I can't really evaluate things that don't suit mine.

(Note: The title originally said "under $15," because when I started writing, I thought that the Simple moisturizer was over $10. But everything on the list can actually be found--in the U.S.--$10 or less. Excellent!)

Addendum to hyaluronic acid

Here is a quick note to add something important to my recent post on hyaluronic acid. (This is what happens when you try to write something at the tail end of bad cold.) I mainly said there that I like HA because it makes my skin feel nice and has potential for long term effects. True. But I forgot to add one of the immediate results it provides that I love. HA does an excellent job of combatting flakiness from dry skin or from products that cause it, such as the peeling you can get when you start using a powerful retinol product. Regular moisturizer never really cuts it for me under these conditions, but if I use something with HA after over-exfoliating or overdoing the retinol, it diminishes the flakiness significantly. Enough that I can wear foundation without weirdness caused by my makeup highlighting dryness. So that is something to consider as a more concrete benefit of HA.

I Heart Hyaluronic Acid

Disclosure: Affiliate links. Product provided free for review.
Okay, I'm back for real this time. A massively busy week was capped off with a nasty cold, which I am finally recovering from. The combination of those two things meant I had no brains left over for blogging. My apologies if you have left a comment around here recently and didn't get a response. This is why! Now I have a huge backlog of ideas (and photos), so I hope to get back into the swing of things.

I want to talk about a skincare ingredient that's become one of my favorites in the last couple of years: hyaluronic acid. It's something that occurs naturally in skin tissue, and it has healing properties. It also a extremely effective humectant, meaning that it has the ability to hold moisture. Apparently one gram of HA (hereafter, because I am likely to spell it wrong repeatedly, otherwise) can hold up to six litres of water. It has anti-oxidants and and helps with inflammation. It's basically unicorn magic, okay? I mean, science. Unicorn science. You can read more about it here.

I find it difficult to judge the long term results of skincare products most of the time, partly because I don't know what my skin would look like if I hadn't used them. But this stuff is promising in the long run, and it has short term effects that I really like. HA helps the skin feel smoother and softer. That's my favorite thing about it. When I apply a product with HA in it, my skin feels "really fucking nice," as I've said before.

Because HA is a humectant, that means it draws moisture from the environment. Ideally, it will draw moisture from the air and put it on your skin. But if the environment is so dry that your skin has more moisture in it than the air, it can actually draw moisture out of your skin. This fact probably explains why when I first tried a serum with HA in it, I wasn't impressed. I was living in an apartment where I couldn't control the heat, and it was always cranked all the way up. That winter it was regularly -30 outside, and I still had to crack my windows open in order to be comfortable. SO DRY. It's the same winter I tested the Neutrogena hand cream that is mostly glycerin--another humectant--and wasn't impressed. Yet when I travelled to Seattle for a weekend and used it there, suddenly it was more effective. So if you live in desert-like conditions, your results may not be spectacular. Otherwise, I recommend giving HA a shot.

My current HA is a Vitamin C serum (pictured above) from a company called Maple Holistics, who sent it to me, along with a shampoo and conditioner, for free. This is one of only two times I have ever been sent what could be termed "press samples." Now you know I'm not much for "natural" nonsense when it comes to skincare. Even weirder, Maple Holistics markets some of their beauty products as "homeopathic," which . . . I'm not even going to get into that. What could that even mean? But the proof is in the ingredients, I think. The Maple Holistics Vitamin C Anti-Aging Serum ingredients list looks like this:

Water, Vitamin C (Sodium Ascorbyl Phosphate) 10%, Vegetable Glycerin, Hyaluronic Acid, Aloe Barbadensis Leaf, Vitamin E Acetate, Retinyl Palmitate, Algae Extract, Pullulan Xanthum Gum, Hydroxyethylcellulose, Caprylhydroxamic Acid, Glyceryl Caprylate

Looks good! I actually can't really say much about this stuff as a Vitamin C serum. I've never had much luck with Vit C in skincare. Either it doesn't do anything for me, or I just don't have the issues it's meant to help with (my skin is already "bright," etc.). Plus, the first ingredient is water, and Vitamin C works better in formulas without water. However, ignoring that, this is great as a HA product. I smooth on a few drops in the morning, and my skin feels lovely. You can see from the photo above that I've almost finished my bottle. I've been using it since about September, 4-5 times a week, so I've tested it pretty thoroughly.

At under $12 for an ounce of product, it's not a bad price, either. In fact, you can test it out for free in return for an Amazon review (info here). Amazon is actually a decent source for products with HA in them. There are a lot of smaller companies out there selling stuff like this. The potential downside is that a lot of them trade free product for reviews, and even though they specifically request "honest" reviews, most people seem to be paranoid that a negative review will mean no more free stuff. (I hope you can trust that I am not one of those people, because I have amassed very little free stuff after years of negative reviews here. Which maybe means that concern is not so paranoid . . . ) Anyway, I would advise caution when looking at the options available on Amazon. Maybe assume the ratings are inflated or at least read the reviews with fewer stars.

If you don't want to venture into uncharted (or weirdly-charted) Amazon territory, there are HA options from more mainstream brands. For example, I recently read good things from auxiliary beauty about CeraVe's PM Facial Moisturizing Lotion, which contains HA. It costs about $13 for 3 oz. and contains other good things like niacinamide and ceramides. That seems like a particularly affordable option. If you want something separate from a moisturizer, there's the Paula's Choice Ultra-Light Super Antioxidant Serum (that I reviewed before), which has a bunch of other promising ingredients. Not cheap, though. Or if you have a regimen that you already like and just want to add HA to it, there's Paula's Choice Hyaluronic Acid Booster (damn, I had to spell it again), which allows you just to add some drops to whatever product you're already using. I've tried it and it seemed effective. It's also not cheap, but it should last a long time, since you only use a couple of drops at a time.

Whatever source you get it from, I do recommend giving a product with hyaluronic acid a try. It combines making your skin feel awesome immediately with (probably?) having excellent long term effects.

ADDENDUM: Please see this additional short post about another benefit of HA.

Anyone else a big fan of this stuff? Are there other good (affordable) sources of HA out there that you've tried?

Quick Question: Do you use toner?

Photo included because toner is watery? And this fountain at Caserta (near Naples) is cool.

I fully admit that I own and use way too much skincare shit, and that I'm intrigued by what various products might do for me and how they work. One common product that I can't remember ever using, however, is toner. I just don't know what purpose it would serve in my routine.

From what I understand, toner was originally used to counteract the basic pH level of soap. You applied toner with an acidic pH after washing your face to restore the face's natural balance. But since most cleansers today are pH balanced, it seems unnecessary for that purpose. I do use similarly watery or thin products like liquid exfoliants and serums, and there are other things out there such as essences that I haven't yet explored. But toner? I know some of them have beneficial ingredients, but I would just as soon use a serum or moisturizer with those ingredients in it as add an addition step and expense. I suppose if you have oily, not dehydrated skin, you might substitute a lighter toner for a heavier moisturizer.

What about you? Do you use toner? If so, what role does it play in your skincare routine? If not, why not? I'm curious how popular these things actually are, since I see them around but don't hear people talking about them a lot.

Drugstore.com has 20% off all skincare right now + extra discounts on brands I like (Simple, Freeman, etc.)

Disclosure: Affiliate links.
I know I've said before that I don't consider 20% off to be a very exciting discount, but since they also have sales on a bunch of brands, the combination of 10-15% off + 20% off makes for some good deals. You have to click through the link to apply the 20% off to your account (either the one they send you in your email or my link there). Then you can add things to your cart from the skincare section of the site and they will automatically be discounted another 20%. Shipping is free over $35.

Here's the full list of current skincare sales.

Here are some of the highlights (for me at least):

Simple is 10% off. I like their regular cleansing cloths. I don't use them often, but sometimes I am too exhausted to properly wash my face, and these are the best alternative. They are soft, unscented, and they remove makeup well without drying out my skin. This sale brings them down to $4 a pack. I also like the Protecting Light Moisturizer SPF 15. Sure, it's better to use SPF 30+, but this is a nice, basic moisturizer that also has some sunscreen, so I like to use it on days when I am feeling too lazy for two steps (moisturizer + sunscreen) and I'm staying in - i.e. most days lately, since I work from home. $8 is a good price for that too.

There are lots of decent rosehip oils out there, but also lots of duds. Aura Cacia's rosehip oil is one I've used before and liked. And this may seem like a weird suggestion, but if you like facial mists but don't like the spray nozzles on the ones you have (or want to make your own mist), the Aura Cacia mist bottles are awesome for creating a really nice, fine spray. I have three of them already, and they are only $2.54 each right now.

Freeman is 15% off. I love-love-love the Avocado & Oatmeal Clay Mask (reviewed here) and the Black Sugar & Charcoal Mask/Scrub (reviewed here) is also great. They're only $2.71 each here.

They also have Glysomed hand cream, which I used religiously when I was working in a bagel store during university. I had to wash my hands and/or use hand sanitizer every 5 minutes, so they would be really fucking red and chapped by the end of the day. However, if I coated them in Glysomed in the morning before work, they were totally protected all day, despite washing, and I had no problems. It's really good stuff. Highly recommended! On sale for $2.39-3.19 a tube here.

Anyway, those are my suggestions, and now my cart is full and I have to figure out what I really need. Definitely some Simple cloths and Glysomed (which I was just talking about yesterday to my boyfriend who complains about his dry hands all the time).

How about 30% off Paula's Choice?

Disclosure: Affiliate links.
If 25% off didn't tempt you, Dermstore has all of their Paula's Choice stock marked down 30% right now. And they have free shipping and free returns. They don't sell everything that Paula's Choice makes, though, so depending on what you need, don't forget about the 25% off from the Paula's Choice site (you could place separate orders from each site, since there's no free shipping minimum!).

And if you add something else that isn't already on sale to your Dermstore order, you can use code OCT20 to get 20% off that too.

I was alerted to this sale by an awesome member of the Our Beauty Talk forums, which is a great place to find deals and to chat about beauty stuff.

25% off + free shipping on everything from Paula's Choice

This might actually be the best sale I've ever seen from Paula's Choice. I don't think they usually go above 20% off. Use code SPOOKYSCARY. Expires Oct. 31.

You can also get $10 off a $15+ order with a new account if you use someone's invite link to sign up (here's mine). If you want some ideas about what to buy (and what to skip), here is my Paula's Choice tag.

Coal Miner Chic: Review of Freeman Feeling Beautiful Charcoal and Black Sugar Polishing Mask

Disclosure: Affiliate links.
The Charcoal and Black Sugar Mask is my second favorite of the impressively affordable masks from Freeman. It's not as miraculous as their Avocado and Oatmeal Clay Mask (reviewed here), which was the first one to show me that masks can actually do something. But this one is still great, especially since it does double duty as a mask and a scrub.

Exfoliation makes the skin feel softer and appear less dull. A lot of "experts" (I am not claiming to be one) argue that chemical exfoliation, using alpha- or beta-hydroxy acids, is preferable to manual exfoliation, using scrubs. The idea, as I understand it, is that chemical exfoliation is simultaneously gentler and more thorough. I do use a BHA product (Paula's Choice 2% BHA Liquid - reviewed here) several times a week, but I also find that using a scrub a couple of times a month makes a difference. I get a gradual buildup of crud on my skin that needs a little scrubbing to remove. It's possible that if I used a cloth to cleanse my face on a daily basis I wouldn't have that problem, but I don't.

One of the reasons people advise against manual exfoliation is that it can be potentially bad for your skin (or even the earth) if you choose the wrong product. If you use something that is very harsh or jagged, it can create micro-tears in the surface of your skin. You don't want to actually abrade your skin and require your body to heal it and fight off infection or anything like that. That means that you should not buy the shit with ground up apricot pits or walnut shell in it, because you're basically scratching up your face with tiny chunks of fucking wood. You should also avoid products with plastic microbeads (look for polyethylene in the ingredients list), because they are a terrible environmental pollutant.

Sugar, which is the first thing in the Freeman Charcoal and Sugar ingredients list, is a good option, because it's less abrasive than some other options, and it dissolves in water, which makes it gentler on your face and environmentally benign. If you just want a scrub, however, there's no need to buy this mask. You can mix a little sugar and honey or olive oil (your choice) in the palm of your hand and massage it gently into your skin. You can use it all over your body in the shower. It's nice, effective, and really fucking cheap.

The advantage of the Charcoal and Sugar Mask is that it is also, obviously, a mask. Let me show you the ingredients to explain.

Sucrose, Propylene Glycol, Carbon (Activated Charcoal), Kaolin, Musa Sapientum (Banana) Fruit Extract, Cocos Nucifera (Coconut) Extract, Zingiber Officinale (Ginger) Root Extract, Psidium Guajava Fruit Extract, Cymbopogon Schoenanthus Extract, Carica Papaya (Papaya) Fruit Extract, Maranta Arundinacea Root Extract, Rubus Idaeus (Raspberry) Fruit Extract, Santalum Album (Sandalwood) Extract, Macrocystis Pyrifera Extract, Nasturtium Officinale Extract, Aleurites Moluccana Extract, Lavandula Angustifolia (Lavender) Oil, Carbomer, Fragrance, Iron Oxide (CI 177491)

You can see that the first ingredient is sugar (sucrose). Third and fourth are charcoal and clay (kaolin). Those two are ingredients that absorb oil from your skin. Charcoal can also have antibacterial properties.

So you spread this stuff on your face and leave it for a few minutes, then wet your hands and gently (gently!) rub it around your skin to give it a little scrub, and then rinse it off. I recommend applying it before you get into the shower and rinsing it off in there, because it's pretty messy. In fact, because it's so chunky, it's a bit tricky to spread evenly on your skin. It still works, though. Don't worry too much if you look like this:

From my Instagram

I've found it effective both at absorbing oil (though it's not as absorbent as a mask with more clay in it) and at exfoliation. My face feels soft and not dried out when I'm finished.

I don't know what all those fruit/plant extracts are supposed to do, other than to provide a little fragrance, so I'm fine ignoring them. The scent, which is not too strong, is mostly sugary with a bit of floral-whatever. It feels a little warm on my skin after I apply it, but it's a subtle sensation. Nothing alarming. The most annoying thing about the product is that all the sugar in the nozzle makes the lid impossible to close. NBD though - I use a small piece of toilet paper to wipe it out and it's fine.

This is a good option if you want to combine your oil-absorbing mask and scrub into one, or if you want a mask that is a little less hardcore than one that is primarily clay or activated charcoal (or to get your clay and charcoal in one shot). You should be able to get it for $5 or less. Drugstore.com has it for $4, which is the best I've found online (and Walgreens should have it in store for the same price). It's a big tube (6 oz.), which lasts forever.

Have you tried this one? Do you use scrubs and masks, or do you consider them superfluous? For masks: clay or charcoal?

All L'Oreal Target Beauty Box $5 + free shipping

Disclosure: Affiliate links.
This box doesn't look the most exciting to me (mini hairspray, mascara, shampoo and skincare packets), but if there's more than one thing in it that you want to try, it might be worth it for $5. The value is $16, apparently. Anyone planning to get this one?

Quick question: Do you believe in eye cream?

I've been thinking about eye cream since I saw that Paula's Choice recently started to sell one. I'm seriously side-eyeing that. I've been reading Paula Begoun's recommendations for well over a decade, and one of the things she's always emphasized is that eye creams are a waste of money and a marketing gimmick. That is, they're just moisturizers in a smaller package at a higher price, and your eye skin is made out of the same shit as the rest of your face, even if it's a little thinner, so it doesn't need different ingredients. And now her company is selling eye cream. I understand that she will sometimes change her views with new evidence, as all reasonable people should, but I seriously fucking doubt that there has been any revolutionary evidence showing that eye creams are, it turns out, not just moisturizers in smaller tubes. I think that as her company gets bigger, she's started to let them formulate products based on consumer demand, rather than focusing on educating and not selling products that conflict with the principles she's promoted all along.

For a long time, I was strictly anti-eye cream, for the above reasons. And I still believe those things to be true - all you have to do is compare the ingredients and formulas of various eye creams and moisturizers. I have, however, tended to become more moderate over time, as many of us do. I can imagine some reasons why people might spend extra money for an eye cream. The main reason, other than just being fucking inundated by marketing telling you it's necessary, is that you might have sensitive eyes and want a product that presumably has been formulated to be gentle on the eyes. I think you're still better off just using a gentle moisturizer with good ingredients in it, because it will work just as well and cost you way less. If you think your eye area needs something richer than the rest of your face, there are lots of rich moisturizers out there. I've tried eye creams and didn't notice any different results than what I've got from moisturizers. But it's your call.

I know my opinions are not universal, and I am open to hearing why I'm wrong. So what are your views on this riveting topic? Are you pro- or anti-eye cream? Scam? Or vital element of a skincare routine? Any other beauty conspiracy theories you want to talk about? (We already know what I think about diversion of salon products.)

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.

Do I Need This? MakeUp Eraser

Disclosure: Affiliate links.
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 trendy 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.

The Original MakeUp Eraser is a facecloth that is advertised as being able to remove 100% of your makeup with just water. Let me be clear upfront: this is not a review of the Original Makeup Eraser, because I don't own one - because I am not going to pay $20 for a single microfiber cloth. But you have to admit that it's pretty genius marketing. I'm sure the product works as advertised, and it's pink and eco-friendly and all that good stuff. Plus, people will buy anything if you can tell them that it promises "no chemicals" - even if they pick it up at Sephora next to all sorts of dyes and pigments and perfumes. Water is not a chemical, naturally. All natural polyester! I know I sound like I'm making fun of it, and I kind of am, but I also wish I'd thought of the idea to put a cute microfiber cloth in a flashy box and sell it for 20 bucks.

So here's the question, and I'm sure you already know what my answer is going to be.

Do I need this?

Short answer: I doubt it.

Here's the thing. My sister swears by cleansing her face with a microfiber cloth. She's been doing it every day for years (at least 5), using nothing but water. She tells me that her skin is actually much better when she doesn't use cleanser, and that the cloth does indeed remove her makeup easily. Just like the MakeUp Eraser people say, it works. This is nothing new.

If you have trouble finding a cleanser that you like, or if your skin tends to be sensitive to face wash, this is a method you might consider. It's probably going to be especially effective if you don't wear heavy makeup (like foundation) regularly and if, like my sister, you have pretty good skin to begin with (that bitch). But even if you don't fit those criteria, it can't hurt to try.

Me? I've tried the microfiber thing, and it does indeed remove makeup, but I prefer my facial cleansers. But then I happen to like chemicals.

Anyway, if you want to give this method a try, I recommend just getting some regular, microfiber cloths. You can find them all over the place. Amazon has packs of 24 cloths for $15, for example, so you use a clean one almost every day for a month, if you want to. If it makes you uncomfortable to wash your face with a cloth intended for household cleaning, you can get cloths labeled specifically for your face, but they cost more. They might be a little softer, though.

These cheap microfiber cloths are not "dupes" for the MakeUp Eraser (and the MakeUp Eraser people warn you in all caps to BEWARE IMITATORS). That's not what I'm claiming here. They're an alternative. The MakeUp Eraser cloth looks more plush and fluffy - more like a stuffed animal pelt than a towel. But my (sister's) experience suggests that you can get the results they advertise with a regular microfiber cloth.

Okay, I've now typed "microfiber" so many times that it's beginning to lose meaning. Do you use this method to remove your makeup or to wash your face? What is your weapon of choice?

Not-So-Honest Company?

Jessica Alba's The Honest Company is being sued for falsely labeling products "natural" when they're not. I'm not sure how successful this will be, since my understanding is that there's no regulation of the term "natural" - because how would you define that, when it comes to cosmetics? The fact that it's such an empty, slippery term is why it's so annoying (and so useful to advertisers). Is a surfactant derived from coconut oil (cocamidopropyl betaine, once of the ingredients targeted in the lawsuit) natural or not? Coconuts are natural, but the ingredients extracted from them might have been made in a lab (gasp!). And so forth.

This particular lawsuit, which you can read about here, is claiming that the company uses synthetic preservatives (well, good) and surfactants, and that their sunscreen is ineffective (more here).

What do you think? On the one hand, I am irritated by all this natural=better marketing, but on the other hand, stuff should have fucking preservatives in it, so let's not sue companies for being responsible and safe.

#NotAllSpraySunscreens

Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links. I may earn a commission from purchases made through those links.
When I started to write this post, I was tempted to use a clickbaity/XOJane style headline like, "I use forbidden spray sunscreen and I don't feel bad about it! Here's why." You know, because I am such a rebel. But that seemed to obnoxious even to me, and instead I went for this not-at-all played out hashtag title.

Kinesys Performance SPF 30 Sunscreen Spray

I've seen articles all over the place recently about why spray sunscreens are The Worst. Beautiful With Brains posted an excellent explanation of why these things should be avoided last year, and I strongly recommend you read it. I agree with her on every point. And yet my everyday sunscreen is a spray, and I have no plans to stop using it. Here's why (ahem):

I use Kinesys SPF 30 spray sunscreen, which is a clear, alcohol-free, broad spectrum sunscreen. It's a chemical sunscreen that contains octinoxate, octocrylene, octisalate, and avobenzone. I avoid mineral sunscreens because they tend to break me out.

Despite its being packaged in a spray bottle, I never apply it by spraying directly on my skin. That's because I only use this on my face. I use cheaper lotion sunscreens on my body, since I'm much less picky about what things feel like when they're not going to be near my eyes. My biggest problem with the vast majority of facial sunscreens is that they inevitably migrate into my eyes and burn like a bitch. This stuff is one of the few that I have found (and I've tried many) that almost never does that. It also plays really well with makeup. In fact, I find that it works even better under makeup than on its own, because most foundations and powders help to set the sunscreen and ensure that it really, really, doesn't smear.

Some sunscreens that are SPF 30 or higher also cause an unpleasant burning sensation on the sensitive skin around my eyes, even when they stay put. This one doesn't, so I can apply it directly to my eyelids, which obviously need as much protection from the sun as the rest of my face.

Just because it comes in a spray bottle doesn't mean you have to apply it by spritzing yourself. If you think about it, with a product as thin as this, there are limited types of dispensers that will work well. It could come with a dropper or a really small opening at the top, I suppose, but a spray nozzle works just fine. I squirt the sunscreen directly in the palm of my hand (multiple times) and then apply it to my face just like I would do with a lotion. It's easy to control how much I apply and how evenly I apply it when I do it that way. If you hold the nozzle less than an inch from your hand, you can avoid any mess at all, and there's no risk that you will inhale the stuff, which is one of the potential hazards of spray sunscreens in general.

Here's what it looks like:

This Kinesys sunscreen also doesn't contain alcohol like many of the other dreaded spray sunscreens, nor does it come in a wasteful aerosol can.

The best testimonial I can give you for this sunscreen comes from my boyfriend who, like many men our age, never bothered to wear sunscreen for most of his life. I know that this is a generalization, and #notallmen, but in my experience, dudes tend to be much more picky about the texture of products they put on their skin and especially on their faces. That may be because they haven't been told their whole lives that they will be more successful at performing their gender if they smear various things on their faces every day. One of the reasons my partner avoided sunscreen is because it usually feels greasy and unpleasant to him. I finally convinced him to try this stuff, and he commented with a look of shock: "I can't feel it at all! It's like there's nothing on my face." So there you have it.

Of course, that meant I had to give him my spare bottle of expensive sunscreen for the good of his health, but I guess it's worth it. Sigh. I use this on my face every day, and a bottle lasts me about a year. I still have half my current bottle left, so I won't have to restock for a while.

Anyway, there's my annual plug for this sunscreen, in case you are someone who has also had a hard time finding a comfortable facial sunscreen. This Kinesys spray might not seem like an obvious choice, but it works wonderfully for me. If you can tolerate chemical sunscreens, and you haven't found one that you love yet, I encourage you to try this one. I haven't seen it in stores, but you can get it for $14 on Amazon right now, which is the cheapest price I've found (when I bought this bottle it was $18 so, as always, shop around).