Haul and Review – Gifts From Christina

Hello, interwebz!  Today, I want to share some thoughts and reviews on products that one of my BFFs, Christina, has given me.  She is much more knowledgeable about beauty than I am and has been really supportive of my efforts to find beauty and skincare products to help my “new” skin.  Also, I found out that her mom has eczema.  So, I’ve been swapping stories and suggestions with her mom as well.  Hooray for supportive friends and family!

Christina was kind enough to share some Kat Von D products with me.  I have never tried the brand, but have heard alot of good things about them.  I immediately smothered my mouth with the Studded Kiss Ultra Violet lipstick and loved it!  I had never worn a purple lipstick as an adult, but it looked better on me than I thought it would.  I tried the red a few weeks later and it was VERY red.  I liked it, but definitely need to do a full face of makeup to balance out the VERY red lipstick.  The third color was a nude that worked whether I wore makeup or just sunscreen.  Christina also gave me a Tattoo Liner that I tried a few times before washing my face.  I am not very skilled at eyeliner, so I mostly use it just before washing my face because I’m trying to get better at applying it.  I wore it once in public and kinda messed it up, but I managed to mostly remove and cover the mistake with alot of eye shadow.  Mostly.  Either way, I love this eyeliner because it’s a very smooth application, the brush is fine tip, and the color is rich.  It stayed through puddles of sweat in the Texas heat, and that’s the highest compliment for any eyeliner!  These products are also vegan and not tested on animals.  Wearing this makeup made me feel a bit more glamorous than normal because I knew they were designed and approved by Kat Von D, who is a completely badass!

At a time when I was using foaming face washes that burned the sore spots on my skin, Christina gifted me with Pacifica Quinoa Sensitive Super Gentle Face Wash.  Guess what!  This stuff actually works!  It calmed my skin while also cleaning it.  There is a scent, but it’s not strong or perfumey and has not bothered my skin or sinuses.  I started using the other foaming face washes on my back and chest and I use this on my face.  Since switching, the eczema on my face has calmed down quite a bit.  Yay!

In my late teens – early twenties, I used Palmer’s Cocoa Butter Lotion like it was going out of style.  I was self-conscious about stretch marks all over my body from gaining and losing weight all the time.  I figured that if Palmer’s worked for pregnant women, it could work for me, and it did, but it was too rich to use in the summer.  (I don’t think they even sell it now because they have so many specially formulated products, but this may be it.)  However, they recently came out with coconut oil products.  Christina’s mom gave me a bottle of Palmer’s Coconut Oil Body Lotion to try and I love it!  I use it every night on my hands, legs, and feet.  My heels are so dry right now, even during this sweaty summer.  This lotion keeps them pretty well exfoliated and smooth and has taken care of some cracked areas around my fingernails as well.  This is definitely a must try for anyone needing deep moisturization in high-humidity areas.

Christina also gave me some Acure Ultra-Hydrating Shampoo to try on my eczema-ridden scalp.  It doesn’t irritate my scalp, but it doesn’t work quite as well as the Korean stuff that I have been using (post on that to come!)  That being said, since this shampoo is organic, sulfate free, and paraben free, it works better on my hair after I have used hair dye than the Korean stuff.  The Korean stuff I have just heals your scalp and prevents hair loss.  This stuff heals your scalp (a bit more slowly than the Korean stuff), makes your hair smell nice (light almond scent), and protects your hair (and any dye on it).  So, I’m alternating it with my Korean stuff as needed and am very grateful to have just the right arsenal of hair products at my disposal in the shower.

Those are not all of the things Christina has given me over the past few months, but those are all of the beauty products!  Thank you for reading this post and let me know if you’ve tried any of these products.  Are you as in love with Kat Von D makeup as I am now?  What do you use on your dry heels?  Any other suggestions for gentle face washes?  Let me know in the comments below!

Review – a.c. care Bee’s Skin Care 2pcs Set

Hello, interwebz! In the last part of my skincare saga, I began a skincare routine to deal with severe acne, pimples, irritation, eczema. After about four days, I switched out products to an even more gentle routine.

This was when I tried the horse oil toner that worked so well. I also used CosRX Acne Pimple Master Patches, which is what really started making a difference on my cystic acne around my nose and chin. Afterwards, I realized that my problem was less of a pimple issue and more of an irritation issue.

I went to the Shiseido store and picked up some cotton squares that don’t fall apart the way the dollar brands do. They didn’t have anything to treat acne or eczema, but I got some samples of products to help with moisture and color spots. I also got an Esfolio Banana Mask to see if it would help. It was amazing! The mask immediately calmed my skin and took away the redness from anything that wasn’t a scab or sore. It smelled like a banana milkshake and the fragrance didn’t bother my skin or nose. Shiseido sunscreen has also been the only sunscreen that I’ve tried so far that hasn’t caused breakouts, has no scent, and withstood my constant sweating in this Texas heat. I used a sample, but will be buying a full size container soon.

Near Shiseido was another Asian beauty store that sold a brand I had never heard of before – a.c. care. I was told that this is what all the teenagers with acne buy because it’s on sale often, whereas Dr. Jart never goes on sale at that store. a.c. care products are supposed to be made with bee venom and other natural ingredients. Buying the treatment set meant that I also got the face cleanser, trial kit, and samples for free. Along with the “buy 10, get 7” masks deal, I believe everything came to a little less than $94. I had never spent that much money on beauty products in my life! I have always tried to stick to the $5 and under range, but I was desperate. Ben ended up buying it all for me as my Mother’s Day gift and we joked about me getting a new face for Mother’s Day.

Now, you may be thinking, “Hey idiot! How is bee venom any better than horse oil?!” It’s not. When the sales woman said, “bee venom”, I thought, “bee spit”. It might be a little gross, but that’s basically honey, and I knew that honey was good for my skin. Stupidity is no excuse, though.

When I read the ingredients lists, most of the products had bee’s venom at the end of the ingredients list. That made me feel better because we were basically paying for the words on the box and not the actual venom. However, I did decide to write up the first five ingredients in every product and link them to reports on how good or bad the ingredients are (see the end of my post). Some of the links provided are easier to read and understand than the actual research papers I read on them. Most of the ingredients actually weren’t very natural and has questionable side effects. I didn’t want horse meat on my face, but I was willing to try butylene flycol and denatured alcohol to see if they might give me some relief.

***None of the photos of myself have been edited in any way other than cropping.  This is me in all of my inflamed skin glory.***

After three weeks of using this stuff, I do think it’s helping. Pimples aren’t really an issue anymore, just the inflammation, texture, and sores. The eczema is all over my neck, chest, and back too. I even have spots of it on my fingers. So, I think the heat is aggravating my eczema all over. I have seen improvements on my face and neck in terms of calming new irritations. I have no new cystic acne and have slow improvement on parts of the eczema. I have a bad habit of picking at my skin during the day and don’t even realize what I’m doing until my hands are bloody. So, that is not helping. Mostly, I am trying to be consistent and patient. Surprisingly enough, my new skincare routine seems to be working.

***I only researched the first five ingredients on each list because they will be the most concentrated. Afterwards, you’re usually looking at ingredients in the 1% or less range. That is a negligible amount unless you are highly allergic to a specific ingredient.***

Two Piece Set plus free Cleanser

a.c. care Bee’s Pure Skin Ingredients: Water, Butylene Glycol, Propanediol, Alcohol Denat., Glycereth-26

a.c. care Bee’s Moist Lotion Ingredients: Water, Butylene Glycol, Hydrogenated Polydecene, Glycerin, Cabbage Rose Flower Water

a.c. care Bee’s Foaming Cleanser Ingredients: Water, Stearic Acid, Butylene Glycol, Glycerin, Lauric Acid

a.c. care Bee’s Trial Set

Contents of set: Bee’s Foam Cleanser, Bee’s Water Essence, Bee’s Spot Serum, Bee’s Control Cream, Bee’s Shield B.B. Cream

Bee’s Water Essence Ingredients: Water, Butylene Glycol, Alcohol Denat, Propanediol, Glycereth-26

Bee’s Spot Serum Ingredients: Water, Alcohol Denat, Butylene Glycol, Portulaca Oleracea Extract, Acrylates/C10-30 Alkyl Acrylate Crosspolymer

Bee’s Control Cream Ingredients: Water, Dimethicone, Cyclopentasiloxane, Butylene Glycol, Glycerin

Bee’s Shield B.B. Cream Ingredients: Water, Cyclopentasiloxane, Ethylhexyl Methoxycinnamate, Dimethicone Copolyol, Titanium Dioxide

Skincare Haul & Review – Silicone Applicator, Guerisson 9-Complex Toner, Innisfree Green Tea Cleansing Foam, and Ample: N Hyaluron Shot Cream

Hello, interwebz!  I am addicted to Korean skincare and the multi-step skincare method.  In this post, I’ll show you what I did to deal with the acne breakout that happened after I used BB cream that my skin did not like.  Eventually, the pimples turned into eczema and it has become a whole disaster that I’m trying to deal with in the cheapest, yet most effective, way possible.

***None of the pics of me are touched up in any way.  I just cropped them so that you can focus on the natural anger of of skin.  With irritation like this, who needs blush?***

Here are some products that I ordered for this post.  Because my skin is so fussy, I try new items one at a time so that I can see how it works before incorporating a grander scheme.  Only the cleansing foam was actually used the night the photos were taken, but I do include my reviews below on the other products.

I got the applicator for less than $2 from WalMart when we were visiting my in-laws.  I ordered the Guerisson 9-Complex Toner, Innisfree Green Tea Cleansing Foam, and the Ample: N Hyaluron Shot Cream on Amazon.  These were some of the first Korean skincare products that I’ve tried and I started, as always, with the cheapest stuff.  Everything from Amazon was under $10 with Prime shipping.  After a week of using the Guerisson toner, I realized that it was made with horse oil, which is not like tiger balm or horse shampoo.  Horse oil is not made from plants and is not used on horses, but is a byproduct of processing horse meat.  The Guerisson toner worked better than the toner I used in this post, but I couldn’t continue rubbing horse innards on my face.  I also found out that something in the Ample:  N Hyaluron Cream irritates the skin on my eyes.  I used it for three nights and my skin was okay, but my eyelids were puffy.  My right eyelid was so puffed up that I could only open my eye halfway and I eventually developed eczema on that eye.  So, I’m not sure if the eczema was in reaction to the cream or if it was already there and the cream made it worse, but I have put the Hyaluron Cream aside for now and will try it again when my skin clears up completely.  I haven’t actually used the applicator on any face masks yet, but I have used it on every cream and lotion that comes in a tub.  I’m paranoid about adding germs to the creams and changing the way they work, so this $2 solution was great!

Here is my face before I washed it.  You can see the biggest pimples and quite a bit of redness.  I should’ve taken a picture of the side of my face too because it was red and irritated.  I also needed to dye my gray hairs, but wanted to try to soothe my skin a bit before I added harsh chemicals to my head.

Here are the items that I actually used for this post.

For the last year or two, I have basically been washing my face with water and putting aloe gel on it before bed or any time that it starts feeling dry.  I knew I’d have to change things when I started wearing makeup, but I didn’t anticipate having such a crazy reaction from my skin so soon.  The Korean skincare system has been the only thing that seems to work right now, and this was my first attempt at most of the steps.  This video from Beauty Within, this one from The Beauty Breakdown, and this one from Gothamista are some of my favorite skincare routine videos.  I have the products above in the order that I used them.

1. Kopari Coconut Cleanser
2. Innisfree Green Tea Cleansing Foam
3. Sephora Pink Clay Mask
4. Dickinson’s Pore Perfecting Toner
5. Aura Cacia Tea Tree Oil
6. Trader Joe’s Organic Virgin Coconut Oil
7. Sample of Avon Anew Clinical Eye Lift Pro Dual Eye System

First, I cleansed with an oil to really break down any goop, sweat, moisturizer, sunscreen, etc.

Then, I used the cleansing foam to really clean everything off of my skin.  When I first heard about double cleansing, I thought it was crazy, but now I get it.  Two different cleansers for two different reasons.  The green tea cleanser comes out rather creamy and you work it into a foam by adding water to your hands and rubbing the cleanser between them.  The instructions didn’t say this, so I tried to put it on dry skin without anything else first.  It worked much better after adding water.

The cleanser was supposed to be calming, but it stung a bit since I had so many open sores on my face.  However, I didn’t feel squeaky clean afterwards, which meant that it was not stripping my skin of essential oils and would not tell my skin to overproduce sebum for more pimples.

I followed up the foam with a clay mask to try to pull extra junk from my pores.  I just want all the junk out so that I am not piling good ingredients on top of pimple goo in my pores.  The mask is something that I only use once or twice a week.  I used it instead of an exfoliator because it was less irritating to my skin than a physical or chemical exfoliant would have been.  This specific mask doesn’t dry either, which I have noticed my skin likes more than the ones that dry on your face.

Instead of rinsing off the mask over the sink, I went ahead and took a shower.  I like to take showers at night because it helps cool down my body in these brutal Texas summers. (It’s technically spring, but when you’re hitting 100 degree weather, it’s summer no matter the date.)  Washing off the mask during my shower meant that I didn’t have to worry about getting it all out of my hair or getting the mask on the bathroom counter.  Win-win!

Next, I put some toner onto a cotton pad and swiped my skin lightly with it.  This step is supposed to prepare your skin to accept the active ingredients that will be treating problems.  This toner is super cheap and works well, but it wasn’t doing much for my eczema issue, so I switched to something else a week or two later.  After the toner, I patted tea tree oil onto my pimples.  Normally, you’re supposed to use a carrier oil to dilute the tea tree oil so that it’s not so strong.  With the giant pimples I had, I did not want to add any extra oils that were not going to work specifically towards clearing my skin.  I don’t use the tea tree oil unless I have crazy pimples like this, so it didn’t really bother my skin, but it did nothing to help my eczema on my cheeks.  As a moisturizer, I used coconut oil.  I used the silicone applicator to spoon out a little oil and pat it all over my face and neck.  Overnight, it soaked into my skin to moisturize and calm my skin while treating acne (or at least pulled the gunk to the surface to remove from the pimple).  Finally, I tried my samples of Anew eye cream for night.  I don’t think it did any good, but it didn’t do any bad, either.  I didn’t have an allergic reaction and my skin was smooth.  So, I guess it worked well.

Overall, I think you can see how much calmer my skin was at the end of the skincare routine than it was at the beginning.  If you are looking into Korean skincare or even just trying to calm down angry skin, then the items used in this post should work pretty well for most people.  Even though I have very sensitive and combination skin with eczema, none of the items I used were bad for anyone with dry, oily, combo, or sensitive skin.  You always have to try things out for yourself to see.  I definitely saw a difference in my skin after doing this routine for a couple of days.

Thanks for reading this long post!  Have you tried any of the products mentioned in this post?  Do you think you’d try skincare products made with horse oil?  What are your favorite tips for calming down angry skin and clearing up pimples?  Let me know in the comments!

Beauty Haul and Reviews – Sephora, Target, Daiso, and Marshall’s

Hello, interwebs! Let me begin this post by saying that I do not have a lot of money and did not get all of these things at the same time. This is stuff that I got over the course of about two months from various stores. Also, I got all of this stuff before I went to Daiso the last time, but the pics were originally lost. With my sensitive skin, there is a lot of trial and error, mostly error, so I thought this post would still be beneficial to anyone wondering where to find skincare products for sensitive skin, how much they cost, and if they work.

This Caudalie set was actually my free birthday gift from Sephora last year, but I never used it. I still haven’t tried it, but will soon because it fits into the Korean skincare routine. I only add one new product to my skin regime at a time, so I may try these in a few weeks.

Christina gave me this gift set of Soap & Glory Heel Genius and Hand Food. The foot cream has urea, so the smell bugs me. I slather it on my feet before bed and put on socks, though, so I don’t really smell it. I really like the hand cream, even if the grape seed oil bothers my nose. It doesn’t help the eczema on my thumb and forefinger, but it doesn’t make the eczema worse either. As far as softening your skin, both products do a pretty good job. These do contain parabens and sulfates in addition to the urea, so I won’t be buying them when I finish these. I am grateful for the quick relief on my sore skin, though. They are available at Sephora, Ulta, Target, and Amazon for under $10.

After deciding to try the Korean Skincare Routine, I figured that I should stop at Daiso. Why start with the expensive stuff if the cheap products will work? I got a beauty blender because I wanted to try it when I start working with liquid makeup. I thought it might only take a few weeks to heal my skin and then I’d move on to finding the right makeup for my skin, but I was wrong. The first thing I tried was the coconut mask and it was amazing! It soothed my skin, healed some sores, and moisturized. It didn’t remove the giant pimples even though it brought them closer to the surface, making them easier to treat with other products. I use the charcoal wipes when I get home from work or any other time that my skin is itching and hurting. I start picking at my skin if I can’t soothe it, and the wipes have been good for calming my skin between washes. The concealer stick was okay. It’s the exact same color as my skin and blends easily. It doesn’t make blemishes or the circles under my eyes disappear, but it doesn’t settle in wrinkles, lines, or pores either. Most importantly, it does not break out my skin. I’ll keep using it for now, but will need to find something better later. I haven’t tried the vitamin E mask or charcoal blotting papers yet , but I’m sure they will be fine. Overall, I was surprised with how well these Daiso products worked, considering none of them was more than $3.

On a shopping trip at Target, I picked up some Biore Charcoal Pore Strips on sale ( box of 6 for $5.99) and Shea Moisture Smooth and Tame Treatment Masques on clearance. I’ve used Biore pore strips before, but not the charcoal strips. I think the charcoal pore strips I got at Daiso worked better than these. The other kinds of Biore strips worked better for me than these too. The box I got came with a single packet of Biore Charcoal Self-Heating One Minute Mask. I had tried the non-charcoal mask before and liked it, but I’m not sure if the heat was good for my eczema. My face always feels clean, but soft after those masks, though. Using the masks before the strips actually works better. I think the heat opens your pores, making it easier for the strips to grab gunk from them. I haven’t tried the Shea Moisture hair treatments yet because I prefer to use them after dyeing my hair. These were on clearance for $.64 and I couldn’t pass up such a deal! The Shea Moisture packs have no sulfates, parabens, pthalates, don’t test on animals, etc. This is more like the type of beauty products I try to buy when I’m not desperate for solutions to my skin problems.

When Sephora had their VIB sale in April, I went with Christina to check out the deals. I found a Sephora Pink Clay mask that was $8 for 4 treatments. I thought the pink clay might help soothe my skin. Christina ended up buying it for me, along with “the best beauty blender on the market” and a mo fo Glam Glo Glittermask!!! I argued with her about buying all this stuff, but she said that she wanted to treat me. I have only used the pink clay mask so far, but it does a decent job of calming my skin.

For all of the birthdays and holidays in May, I stopped by Marshalls to try to find some nice gifts at low prices. While there, I picked up a few things for myself. I bought the Jeunesse Anti-Aging Treatment ($5.99) and the Mon Amie Rose & Collagen Face Serum ($5.99) as items to try for moisturizing steps in my new skincare routine. Collagen is known for helping your skin retain its elasticity and rose oil is a mild moisturizer. I haven’t tried the Jeunesse moisturizer yet, but the rose & collagen serum works well and doesn’t seem to clog my pores. It also seems to calm my skin well. As much as I have loved that oil, the Earth Therapeutics Bamboo Natural Bristle Paddle Brush ($4.99) was a huge disappointment. That brush is trash! The bristles fell out on the first use and were not able to reach my scalp. I will admit that the brush did not make my hair frizzy, but I only brush my hair before I wash it (2-3 times a week). #CurlyHairGirlRules If it can’t even reach all my hair, who cares about pre-bathing frizz? I’m going to use this one on the cats.

Overall, I spent less than $40 on all of the products above even though they are worth more than that. It helped that Christina bought the most important things, but she also gets to enjoy all the bonus points! Have you bought any new beauty products lately? Do you try multiple new skin products at the same time or do you tend to ease into new items? Let me know in the comments section!

Review – L’oreal True Match Naturale Mineral Foundation Powder & L’oreal Magic Skin Beautifier BB Cream

Hello, interwebz!  First of all, I’m very disappointed as I type this because I lost a boat load of photos for the blog and had 20 minutes of video for my first vlog post.  I did manage to rescue some of the photos, but all of the videos are gone, including one of my son’s spring band concert.  The last two photos on this post were taken last minute on my iPad in crappy lighting because my other photos were lost.  I’m trying to focus on the bright side of things and decided to work with what I have so that I could still put up a post I’ve been working on for awhile.  So, slap on a smile and here we go!

The Short of It:

L’oreal True Match Natural Mineral Foundation Powder worked great with my eczema even while in the humid Texas heat.  L’oreal Magic Skin Beautifier BB Cream tore my skin apart.

The Long of It:

***None of the pics of my face have been touched up in anyway so that you can see the true dorkiness and skin conditions.***

I decided to try some new beauty and skincare products one at a time so that if anything bothered my skin, I would have an easy time figuring out who was the culprit.  So far, Kopari face oil worked well on cleaning my face without breaking me out or bothering my eczema.  I was ready to move on to a foundation since that is what goes under all other makeup.  I had heard good things about L’oreal True Match Naturale Mineral Foundation Powder and was eager to try it.  I tried color Nude Beige (W3) since I have yellow undertones and the color matched pretty well.  The kabuki brush that comes with the powder worked well for a couple of weeks, but hairs started falling out of the brush after that.  I tried a few brushes that my friend, Christina, gave to me and finally found a good one in the Real Techniques brush.  I cannot believe that this brush is so cheap and readily available at Target!

After using the face powder for a couple of weeks with no issues, I was pretty happy.  In fact, just as I had heard and read in many reviews, it actually improved my complexion, helping blemishes and eczema sores heal faster!  What are you oh magical power of mine?!  At this point, I’m feeling pretty good about L’oreal face products and decided to try the BB cream.  (Here’s a good YouTube video about the purpose of  BB and CC creams.)  I went with L’oreal Magic Skin Beautifier BB Cream in Light 812.  I applied the BB cream the way I’d seen so many people do  in video tutorials and was okay with the results.  I mean, I still had blemishes and eczema, but they were blurred out a bit.  It also seemed to even out my skin tone and soften my skin texture.  So far, so good.

After two weeks of using BB cream in the Texas heat, I came to understand that this stuff wasn’t going to be my makeup BFF the way my mineral powder was.  I broke out like crazy.  I saw some new blemishes here and there, but though they were just a result of my oil cleansing pulling things to the surface.  One day, I wore BB cream and spent alot of time outside instead of in the office like usual.  You could see a line of deep and red blemishes every place where my fingers applied the BB cream – my forehead, nose, cheeks, chin, and neck.  From the initial touch zones, the blemishes spread out.  It was a literal map of how I applied the BB cream to my face and neck.

I spent the next two nights washing my face with coconut soap, treating with tea tree oil, and calming with thick layers of aloe gel.  The coconut soap is my body wash (Alaffia Everyday Coconut and Coffee Berry Body Wash) and is pretty gentle on skin, but maybe not on my face.  I was just desperate and wasn’t thinking.  I used Aura Cacia tea tree oil from Target (on sale!)  Normally, this stuff is too rough on my face, but these were giant cysts and were painful.  I wanted them gone.  The tea tree oil worked, but dried all the skin around the blemishes.  After a night or two of that, I switched to cleansing with Kopari and doing a Sephora clay mask.  After washing the clay mask off,  I finished each night with a layer of aloe gel to kill the bacteria, calm my skin, and moisturize my skin.  It worked well.

After a few days of that, I switched to washing my face with pure coconut oil.  Coconut oil is the same PH as skin, fights bacteria, and moisturizes.  I always have a jar of Trader Joe’s Organic Virgin coconut oil.  You need something that has barely been processed so that all of the good stuff is still on the oil to help your skin.  First, I scooped out some oil into my hands.  It was solid, but melted as I rubbed it on my skin.  I rubbed it in circles all over my skin and neck, concentrating on the most problematic areas of blemishes and eczema.  Normally, I would place a warm rag on my face and lay down for 10 – 15 minutes, but this time, I didn’t want to lay in the bed with the wet rag on my face.  I repeated this as I made my way around my face and concentrated on the parts with the worst blemishes and eczema.  The goal of this was not to get all of the coconut oil off, but to take some of it off, while easing things out of my pores.  I think you may want to do something to close your pores afterwards, but this time, I wanted my pores open so the coconut oil would soak into my skin overnight.  I went to bed and woke up with a much calmer face.  You could still see plenty of blemishes and eczema, but the redness everywhere else was gone.  I rinsed my face with water and put a thick layer of aloe gel over, adding a bit extra to the problem areas.

I’ve been doing this routine for a few days now and my skin looks much better.  Where all of the blemishes and eczema were are now just spots that are healing.  Your skin heals from the outside in, so it takes time.  Aloe gel and coconut oil also helps brighten skin so that the sore spots fade quicker.

While going through all of this, some other health problems came up and my skin hurt all over my body.  After doing the treatments with coconut oil and the wash rag, my face felt better, even if the rest of my skin and body hurt.  That reminded me why I spent so much time taking care of myself in years past.  I have looked into the Korean skincare routines and decided to give it a whirl.  So, stay tuned for my reviews on that!  Also, I haven’t given up on BB Creams yet.  I may try another kind in another month

Product testing – Kopari Coconut Cleansing Oil

***Disclaimer: None of the photos in this post were touched up in any way. I am naturally that funny looking.***

My skin is jacked up from a combo of eczema, changes in medication, and being too exhausted to take care of myself.

https://www.flickr.com/gp/scarletloser/537g1V

I’m trying to get back into the habit of taking care of myself, though. I have a few oils that I’ve tried for different things over the years that I like. The Aura Cacia lavender oil works well to relax me and helps prevent migraines overnight. Neutrogena body oil is good for conditioning my skin after a shower. The almond oil and coconut oil are what I use on my face, body and hair anytime they’re feeling particularly dry.

https://www.flickr.com/gp/scarletloser/67G22e

I’m usually wary of trying new products, but my friend, Christina, is a beauty product expert. She gave me some Kopari coconut cleansing oil and I decided since this is for free and she knows her stuff, I’ll give it a try.

https://www.flickr.com/gp/scarletloser/qCo2ev

The bottle says that there are no parabens or silicone and that the oil is sourced from the Philippines. So, I like to think that one of my cousins processed the extra special coconut oil.

https://www.flickr.com/gp/scarletloser/Q990e9

The directions say to start with three pumps of oil in the palm of your hand and rub your hands together before applying to your face. Then, rub the oil in for 30 seconds and the wash face with warm water. I cannot use warm water and I also do not just wash my face for 30 seconds. So I washed my face the normal way, moving my fingertips in small circles over each part of my face for 10 seconds at a time before rinsing with cold water.

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I used the hand towel that I got in my first Kira Kira create to blot away the water. Always dab, never rub!

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The oil smelled sooooo good and reminded me of the pearl eye cream my mom used when I was growing up. The oil felt light on my face, but left my skin feeling a bit dry.

https://www.flickr.com/gp/scarletloser/fC9HW3

My face wasn’t nearly as irritated as it is with most cleansers, though.  I finished off with my moisturizer of choice, aloe gel, which calmed my skin down immediately.

https://www.flickr.com/gp/scarletloser/75sy64

I still had to use my eczema ointment around my mouth and extra lip balm on my lips, but my face wasn’t burning. So, this facial oil may have potential!

https://www.flickr.com/gp/scarletloser/1v7px0

Final Word:

After washing my face with this oil every night for the past 3 weeks, I have decided that I do like it. I still expected it to irritate my skin after using it for awhile, but it never did. It pulled a lot of junk to the surface of my skin, where it is ugly, but easy to treat with aloe gel.

https://www.flickr.com/gp/scarletloser/AsJ7eZ

Because it’s an oil, Kopari does a good job of removing makeup gently as well. When combined with my new foundation (more on that in a future post!), this stuff has been clearing up and calming down my skin. I haven’t had any new eczema show up on my face, even though it has appeared on other parts of my body where I am not using this cleanser. Overall, I like the product and would definitely buy it again. However, I’m on a very tight budget, so I would have to wait until it was on a huge sale. Until then, I cam use the almond or regular coconut oil as a face wash.

What do you think of face oils? Have you ever tried any of the fancy face oils, or do you prefer the cheaper food oils instead? Looking forward to reading your thoughts on this!