Search This Blog

Showing posts with label Skincare. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Skincare. Show all posts

Friday, June 23, 2017

April-May 2017 Skincare Routine

Ok, I've been bad at keeping this updated, but I did a lot of traveling in April & May, that my skincare routine kind of went out of whack. So...here's some updates to significant changes in my skin:

  • 2 Week Trip to Korea early May: This ironically made me breakout, because I decided to survive on samples and have a whole new skincare routine. I guess the months of great skin make me forget how fragile and acne prone my skin actually is. Plus this included a sudden change in weather and diet. 
  • Running out of my supplements: My digestive system isn't the best thanks Sjögren's, so I need to take probiotics, magnesium, HCl and digestive enzymes supplements. I messed up and ran out of one after the other during these few months, and getting replacements take me a week or two since I need someone to bring them over from Singapore. My skin broke out so much.
  • Anaemia struck: I bleached out badly so none of my foundations match. I ended up going bare faced most days and when I do wear makeup, I only use concealer on spots. This may have helped clear the breakout faster. 
So yeah, my skincare routine had to change to one that combats acne. Oh, and I had to go to the dermatologist to get a shot for the intense cystic acne that popped along my jawline. They're so bad, I'm still dealing with the post-inflamation hyperpigmentation. 


April-May 2017 Skincare Routine


Now, for my skincare routine as of April-May 2017, with reviews. I'm constantly trying out new products, so this will change every month. Bolded items are tried & tested holy grail items I strongly recommend, the rest are items I'm meh about or still testing out. New items are in red.


AM:

  • Mermete's Boryeong Mud Cleanser: like Glam Glow's mud cleanser, I love it, but it's too expensive, looking for a dupe
  • Wipe down with CosRX's Natural BHA Skin Returning A-Sol: This is amazing. It really helped me fight my new breakouts. 
  • Sulwhasoo First Activating Serum: my skin got really good since I used this, because it really does help your skin absorb everything better. When I ran out of this, I find my serums and moisturizers swimming around in my face and refusing to get absorbed.
  • It's Skin Power 10 Formula VC Effector: no one can tell me the percentage of Vitamin C in contains, so I'm not happy about it. It doesn't seem as strong as my previous Vitamin C serums, but there's no noticeable adverse effects yet, so I'm going to just use it until I run out.
  • Vitacreme B12's Vita Blanc: I notice this really helped fade some of my hyperpigmentation. It's not a magic formula that'll make them disappear completely, but the fading is noticeable enough that this is worth using.
  • Hada Labo serum Anti-Aging versionthis has retinoids to combat breakouts too!  
  • Sulwhasoo ginseng eye cream: this is magic. The sunken holes under my eyes started disappearing
  • Wojin Effect's Baby Glow Cream: I'm still torn on this. On one hand it feels very thick and sticky going on, but it doesn't feel greasy at all. My face looks so juicy and glowy after using this, BUT it also has this white cast that takes forever to rub out. I can't recommend this to someone with a darker skin tone at all. Does an amazing job moisturizing me, so I'll be using it until I finish it. Probably won't repurchase it if I can find a better daytime moisturizer.
  • Anessa's suncreen: I like it, and just like Biore's Perfect Face Milk, it doesn't leave me greasy and feels amazing going on. It doesn't leave the powdery texture that Biore does, so it's not that great of a makeup primer, but I way prefer this sunscreen's scent. But for the price, Biore's perfect face Milk is more worth it. 


PM:

  • L'Oreal Micellar Water makeup remover: I moved on to water based makeup removers since oil-based ones were breaking me out. I've tried Garnier's & Bioderma's too, but L'Oreal's is the best since it wipes off my makeup as well as Garnier, but doesn't sting my eyes as much
  • Marmete's Boryeong Mud Cleanser
  • Wipe down with CosRX's Natural BHA Skin Returning A-Sol
  • Sulwhasoo First Activating Serum
  • It's Skin Power 10 Formula VC Effector
  • Hada Labo serum Anti-Aging version  
  • Sulwhasoo's Time Treasure Renovating Eye Serum: I think at this point of my life, 2 eye creams are an overkill so I don't see much of a difference. This makes it easier for me to give myself eye massages though, so I use it. Don't think I'll repurchase given the price.
  • Sulwhasoo ginseng eye cream
  • Vitacreme B12: this is for moisturization. It may be good, but I think my skincare is already so intense, it didn't make much of a difference. 
  • Etude House's Age Defense Firming Cream: (used only for 1 week) feels so heavy and greasy on my skin, and takes forever to rub in. I suspect this was making my breakout worse, so I nixed it. 
  • Etude House collagen sleeping pack: get this. Everyone I recommended it to got glowing, plump cheeks. May not make a difference if you're early 20s and younger, but in your late 20s, it's the difference between late 20s and early 20s


Every other day at night:


  • Sheet masks: I'm a fan of anything by Leader's Brand, except the masks that come in stiff hard paper that just falls off my face, and anything with ginseng or snail. My Beauty Diary is my favourite budget face masks, and the brands I most frequently buy are Etude House, Innisfree & The Face Shop just because they're easy to access in Singapore. Also just discovered Holika Holika's Black Snail Black Snail Hydro-Gel Repair Mask and it's AMAZING. My skin gets so glowy and plump the next day.
  • Etude House's lip patch: the only thing that hydrates my lips...Sjögren's means my lips are often split and bleeding, but at $5/piece, I don't use it that often
  • Glam Glow mud mask: clears my breakouts so well. On my husband who takes terrible care of his skin, this makes a HUGE difference. His face ends up so clean and bright afterwards!
  • Cure Natural Aqua Gel: I used to have a lot of whiteheads and this helped reduce them significantly. Huge fan. I used it daily when I was clearing up my skin, but now it's every other day.
  • Origani's God's Nectar Manuka Honey Gentle Peel: this is not gentle at all. I'll end up with balls of dead skin that's lifted off, but still stuck to my skin. You can either leave them there and have your cheeks feel grainy, or scrub it off with a towel and end up with red, irritated skin. I stopped using it on my face, and used it on my legs instead. Does wonders for clearing out my ingrown hair!


During breakouts:

  • Cosrx one step pimple clear pad: I just discovered this and it's magic. Brings stubborn acne to head so fast, and if you're patient, helps them disappear. I'm bad and I pop.
  • Nexcare acne cover patches: sucks all the gunk out after you pop. I love it.


Sunday, June 11, 2017

Review: Thalgo Skincare Products

So I posted a video of myself getting a spa treatment from Thalgo:



So Thalgo gave me their products to try out and here's my review! The face products are all mini samples, and the dry oil & scrub are full size items. For the prices, I'm using the prices they're sold at in Indonesia, so everything's in Rupiah.

Face

Thalgo Silicium Eye Cream

Rp 816,000

Ok, so the current state of my eye is that I'm aging and developing hollows underneath my eyes. Prior to this eye cream, I was using Sulwhasoo's Concentrated Ginseng eye cream and well...that eye cream is really, really amazing. I'm pretty sure Thalgo's Silicium eye cream is amazing on some people, buuuuutttttt...my eyes are used to Sulwhasoo's eye cream is just really intense. Two weeks of using that eye cream and I noticed the hollows underneath my eyes filling up and plumping up. I looked much more refresh. I've never encountered an eye cream that's as good as Sulwhasoo's so I wasn't that surprised or disappointed when my hollows returned with Thalgo's eye cream. I think I'm just a bad candidate for testing eye creams, because my eyes have felt the magic of Sulwhasoo. I do like how light Thalgo's eye cream feels though!

Thalgo Collagen Concentrate

 Rp 1,098,000

I simply added this as an extra step to my current routine. I see no difference, but my sample is only enough for 2 weeks (using 2x/day), and 2 weeks is seldom enough to see a significant difference. My skin is also used to a lot of pampering with regular Hydrafacials, sheet masks & sleeping packs, so seeing a difference may be hard. This is a clear, light gel and seems to get absorbed fast.

Thalgo Hyaluronic Filler 

Rp 807,000

This one feels heavy and a tad sticky, and my face does feel sticky after a while. I use it after the Collagen Concentrate, and I added it as an extra step in my routine too. I didn't really see any difference either, but as I mentioned above, 2 weeks is a short time.

Melt-away Mask - Instant Comfort 

Rp 534,000

This is actually the winner from this set. I really loved this mask, because it feels light going on, but my face feels so moisturized afterwards! Oh and the creamy formula means I can give myself a face massage while I mask. I kept touching my face because it just feels so soft...it's one of the items I'll probably repurchase.

Oh and as an added bonus, this smells heavenly. It's a very light, clean, mango-vanilla scent with a hint of clean clay. It's a comforting smell that makes me think of snuggling with a fluffy blanket in bed while eating oatmeal.

I like this so much, I bought 2 of them straight away, one for me, one for my mom-in-law!

Body

Thalgo Polynesia Sacred Oil

Rp 567,000

This smells lovely! It smells like tiare and coconut oil. The coconut oil does run a bit sunblock-ish, but it still reminds me of sitting by the poolside in an island resort. It's a slightly heavier dry oil formula than what I'm used to, in the sense that it does feel like you have oil on you for a while, even though it doesn't feel greasy. I guess it just feels like you've just finished a massage. This will make an excellent massage oil btw.

It does come with shimmer, and leaves a light, sparkly golden sheen on your skin.

Exotic Island Body Scrub 

Rp 953,000


This is a salt scrub and I'm a fan of salt & sugar scrubs since they're better for the environment than microbeads. They're very generous with the oil, and scrubbing your skin will leave you with a luxurious, thick coat of oil. It may be a bit too heavy for some people, but if you're constantly in airconditioned rooms or going through winter, it's what your thirsty skin needs. I barely even need to moisturize after I get out of the bath, and I can't stop touching my skin. It feels sooo good!

The scent is predominantly coconut oil, but I do sniff hints of vanilla and some tangy fruit. The salt granules are large, so you can really slough off your dead skin.

One thing to note is that it is salt, so it'll sting if you have open wounds...I realized I nicked myself while shaving this way.

Wednesday, May 24, 2017

Mustika Ratu's Green Tea & Lemon Skincare Line: Launching Event & Ingredients Analysis

So today I got invited to attend Mustika Ratu's launch event for their new products, two new line of products –Green Tea and Lemon –that comes with a face wash, peeling gel, and peel off mask. Full disclaimer, I was paid to attend the event, write a blog post about the event, and post pictures on my instagram account.

The launch event was in Decanter and check out how pretty it was!








We started off with a competition to see who has the most yellow items in their bags and I won thanks to my hoarder tendencies (yay, I guess? XD).


This is taken by the very talented Aditya Pramuditha

 They demonstrated the products on a model for us:


Mustika Ratu recommends using the lemon line for oily skin and the green tea line for dry skin. You know I love looking at ingredients, so here we go....

All ingredients are checked with CosDNA.

_______________________________________


Face Wash

These are low foaming face wash and meant to be non-drying.

Mustika Ratu's Green Tea Face Wash

Aqua, Coamidopropyl Betaine, Sodium Cocoyl Isethionate, Gylcerin, Triethanolamine, Propylene Glycol, Dipropylene Glycol, Camellia Oleifera Leaf Extract, Olea Europaeo (Olive) Fruit Oil, PEG-12 Dimethicone, Acrylates/C10-30 Alkyl Acrylate Crosspolymer, Sodium Palmitoyl Praline Phenoxyethanol, Panthenol, Butylene Glycol, Lactose, Palmitic Acid, Cellulose, Methyl Lactate, Hydroxypropyl Methylcellulose, Jojoba Ester, Ascorbyl Palmitate, Tocopheryl Acetate, Nymphae Alba Flower Extract, Fragrance, CI77289

The ingredients are ok. Camellia Oleifera Leaf Extract is basically green tea, and the ingredient promoted in this product. It's a great anti-oxidant and has anti-inflamatory and anti-oxidant effects.

If you're very prone to acne, you may want to watch out for the Olive fruit oil, Triethanolamine & Palmitic Acid. They're very mildly comedogenic (can cause breakouts), but very mildly. It should be no issues for most people, and these are relatively common ingredients in soap.

Mustika Ratu's Lemon Face Wash

Aqua, Coamidopropyl Betaine, Gylcerin, Sodium Cocoyl Isethionate, Triethanolamine, Dipropylene Glycol, PEG-12 Dimethicone, Maltodextrin, Acrylates/C10-30 Alkyl Acrylate Crosspolymer, Butylene Glycol, Sodium Palmitoyl Praline, Ethyl Absorbic Acid, Panthenol, Phenoxyethanol, Lactose, Palmitic Acid, Aloe Barbadensis Leaf Juice Powder, Cellulose, Citrus Limon Fruit Extract, Methyl Lactate, Tocopheryl Acetate, Nymphae Alba Flower Extract, Hydroxypropyl Methylcellulose, Fragrance,  Cl 77491, Cl 77492

Phenoxyethanol is a preservative and allowed only in concentrations of up to 1% in formulation. That way, everything else below it, including the lemon extract is in concentrations of less than 1% in the formulation. This is actually a good think since high concentrations of lemon can actually burn your skin.

Like with the green tea face wash, watch out for Triethanolamine & Palmitic Acid if you're very prone to breakouts.

Face Peeling Gel 


This is similar to Cure's Natural Aqua gel where the product claims to make your dead skin cells ball up right off your face. Now, there's some controversy regarding these sort of peeling gel. Supposedly, nothing in the ingredients really causes any exfoliation and there are theories that it's merely a chemical reaction between the ingredients and the oils in your skin, so no actual dead skin cells are coming off, and the tightness you feel is from the ingredients which contain alcohol, like Butylene Glycol, drying up your skin. I personally LOVE Cure's Natural Aqua gel and I contribute my improved skin texture to that product. So yeah, I'm a fan of peeling gels. Since Cure isn't available in Indonesia, this local option may be what you're looking for.

Mustika Ratu's Green Tea Face Peeling Gel

Aqua, Carbomer, Propylene Glycol, Dimethicone, Aloe Barbadensis Leaf Juice Powder, Tocopheryl Acetate, Phenoxyethanol, Cetearyl Dimethicone Crosspolymer, Diazolidinyl Urea, Lactose, Cellulose, Sodium Hyaluronate, Fragrance, Allantoin, Hydroxypropyl Methylcellulose, Jojoba Esters, Ascorbyl Palmitate, CI77289

This contains two perservatives, Phenoxyethanol (safe for up to 1% in formulation) and Diazolidinyl Urea (safe for up to 0.5% in concentration). I really hope it was a typo in the ingredients list I found on the tube.


Mustika Ratu's Lemon Face Peeling Gel

Aqua, Carbomer, Ethyl Ascorbic Acid, Dimethicone, Glycerin, Aloe Barbadensis Leaf Juice Powder, Tocopheryl Acetate, Phenoxyethanol, Butylene Glycol, Cetearyl Dimethicone Crosspolymer, Diazolidinyl Urea, Lactose, Fragrance, Cellulose, Allantoin, Citrus Limon (Lemon) Fruit Extract, Sodium Hyaluronate, Hydroxypropyl Methylcellulose, Cl 77491, Cl 77492

Same as the green tea analysis above!

Peel Off Mask 


This mask dries up into a thin film over your face and can be peeled off instead of washed off.

Mustika Ratu's Green Tea Peel Off Mask

Aqua, Alcohol, Polyvinyl Alcohol, Propylene Glycol, PEG 40 Hydrogenated Castor Oil, Camellia Oleifera Leaf Extract, Butylene Glycol, Tocopheryl Acetate, Chamomilla Recutita (Matricaria) Flower Water, Imidazolidinyl Urea, Triethanolamine, Glucose, Fructose, Fragrance, Allantoin, Polysorbate 80, Urea, Sucrose, Dextrin, Bisabalol, Glutomic Acid, Aspartic Acid, Alanine, Hexyl Nicotinate

Mustika Ratu's Lemon Peel Off Mask

Aqua, Alcohol, Polyvinyl Alcohol, Ethyl Ascorbic Acid, Glycerin, Hexylene Glycol, Propylene Glycol, PEG 40 Hydrogenated Castor Oil, Butylene Glycol, Chamomilla Recutita (Matricaria) Flower Water, Imidazolidinyl Urea, Triethanolamine, Fructose, Glucose, Allantoin, Citrus Limon (Lemon) Fruit Extract, Fragrance, Polysorbate 80, Urea, Bisabalol, Dextrin, Sucrose, Alanine, Aspartic Acid, Glutomic Acid, Hexyl Nicotinate

I tried this one on my hand first and I wasn't a fan of the tightness I felt. The high concentration of alcohol may explain why it felt so tight against my skin. It's definitely drying so if you have dehydrated skin like me, you may want to avoid this.

_______________________________________

Anyway, that's it for the science-y stuff! More fun pictures of the day! We had a mixologist come and make us lemon, strawberry & green tea infused water and it was amazing!

This is taken by the very talented Aditya Pramuditha


This is taken by the very talented Aditya Pramuditha

This is taken by the very talented Aditya Pramuditha