Loose Powder

This past spring, I was struggling with a lot of blemishes on my skin. I’m not sure if it was hormones or because I was trying out various BB creams, but I was having constant breakouts on my forehead and chin.

Now, I’ve always used100% tea tree oil to treatment but for some reason it wasn’t working and that was getting frustrating. I remembered that from a recent Body Shop haul, I’d picked up a bottle of their tea tree oil. It wasn’t pure and contained a blend of other ingredients. The reviews for it were great online, so I thought I’d finally open it up and try it.

The ingredients for their tea tree oil is listed as:

Water, Alcohol Denat., PEG-40 Hydrogenated Castor Oil, Polysorbate 20, Melaleuca Alternifolia (Tea Tree) Leaf Oil, Limonene, t-Butyl Alcohol, Calophyllum Inophyllum Seed Oil, Citral, Leptospermum Petersonii (Lemon Tea Tree) Oil, Denatonium Benzoate, Tocopherol.

As you can see, there are quite a few other ingredients aside from tea tree oil (Melaleuca Alternifola), and I couldn’t quite believe that it work any better. Well, I was wrong! This stuff works amazing on blemishes. Applying it directly once or twice a day, depending on how bad the blemish is, will clear up the spot in a few days. Previously, it would take weeks for the blemish to start to heal and I’d still be left with a spot of dark discoloration.

Now I tend to apply this tea tree oil when I feel a blemish beginning and nearly every time, it will keep the pimple from developing. I love this stuff and always make sure I have ti with me when I travel.

The bottle costs $9.00 for a 0.33 fl oz bottle, but you can usually get it for less during one of the Body Shop‘s frequent sales.

I consider myself lucky that I don’t have to worry too much about acne. When I do break out, it’s usually due to hormonal changes and/or diet and that has pretty much been the case until recently.  I’ve been experiencing more break outs (which I blame on stress and hectic travel schedule) and have been testing a variety of products to keep the pimples and zits at bay.

When Cyn told me about a sale at Missha, I went to stock up on their cotton face mask sheets but also spotted the Speedy Solution Anti Trouble Patch and bought a couple of packs to try out for $0.99 each.

One pack of the anti trouble patch comes with sheet containing ten round stickers or “patches” that you apply to the problem area. The directions and ingredients on the packaging are in Korean but a check on the website includes salicylic acid and tea tree oil which are ingredients with anti-inflammatory properties to help calm acne. There’s an “8-12” listed on the step 2 of the packaging, which I guessed was the timeframe for you to wear the patches.

What I really like about the patches are that they’re clear and have a matte like quality. Getting a pimple is already stressful enough and the transparent patches blend right in to your skin and don’t bring too much attention to the fact that you’re treating the problem. The offside to that is that they’re a bit hard to see once you do put them on, depending on the angle of lighting. You kind of have to tilt your face so that the patches can reflect the light to find them but that is simple enough to do. And if you do misapply the patch, you don’t have to worry because the patches are tacky enough that you can peel off and re-apply. I’ve worn them overnight and have had no problems with them remaining on; in fact, I’ve forgotten that I’ve had them on until one of the patches was reflected by the bathroom light.

In terms of their effectiveness, I’ve definitely noticed a decrease of redness and swelling. When I removed the patch on the first pimple I tested, I could no longer see the pimple itself but I did notice there was a round marking of where the patch was, but that faded after a couple of seconds. For the more problematic pimples, there’s also a decrease in pain or tenderness around the skin and it usually involves applying more than one patch to diminish the pimple!

All in all I found the Speedy Solution Anti Trouble Patch a handy way of treating the occasional problem pimples. The Missha US website offers sales every now and then. If you can’t find a store in your area and you’ve a group of friends, think about combining an order to save on the standard shipping cost.

Concealer is not something I had to worry about until recently when my face decided that adult acne followed by blemishes and scarring was a good idea. I’ve spent too much money trying out various concealers at Sephora as well as some drugstore brands. Nothing really matched my skin tone or worked the way I wanted.

One day, while browsing The Body Shop, I figured I would ask one of the sales associates about their concealer. She showed me the Tea Tree Concealer, a paraben-free product that contains both lemon tea tree and tea tree (Melaleuca Alternifolia) oil.

There are two shades of this concealer available and I went with the 01 Light. It was a good match for my skin during the winter, but for the summer I might need the 02 Medium. A heavy swatch of this product on my hand does look a little orange, but the small bit that I use to cover up spots blends in well.

I don’t think this really helps heal blemishes, but having the extra benefit of tea tree and Tamanu oil certainly can’t hurt. This product does a good job of covering any red spots and blemishes when used over my Missha Signature Real Complete BB Cream. When using mineral powder foundation, I like to apply this first.

The Body Shop‘s Tea Tree Concealer retails for $9.00, but The Body Shop is always running promotions and if you have a Love Your Body member card, you receive 10% off your purchase.

I realized after I submitted my choices for June that I meant to try and get a sample of the Indie Lee cleanser. Oops! Hopefully I’ll remember to try again in July.

This month I choose a range of items as well as a Mystery Sample.

• Indie Lee Coconut Citrus Body Scrub (mystery sample)
• Clickr Acne Spot Serum
• Control Corrective Anti-Wrinkle Face & Neck Cream
• Lucy B Australian Wild Jasmine Eau de parfum
• Atopalm Intensive Moisturizing Cream
• Korres Guava Shower Gel

I’ve been quite interested in Indie Lee products since getting the squalane sample and looking up the company. Indie Lee offers all natural beauty products like cleansers and balms.  The body scrub smells amazing and I’m looking forward to trying it out – hopefully the citrus oils will help lighten a patch on my shoulder that I accidentally sunburned into a dark tan.

The reviews I’ve seen for the Clickr acne spot serum have been very positive. It has a more natural formula that includes salicylic acid from willow bark and lactic acid sourced from sugar. I wouldn’t say I’m excited to try this product (because it implies I’m excited to have pimples), but I’m interested to see if it works as quickly as advertised. It should be noted that this is actually a full sized product, not just a sample.

The Lucy B Australian Wild Jasmine fragrance is really lovely. It’s a soft, slightly sweet, jasmine fragrance that works well on my skin. I might pick up a larger size of this.

I actually picked the Control Corrective Anti-Wrinkle cream and Atopalm moisturizing cream for my mother, but I did sample the Atopalm before I passed it along. It has a thin consistency and a little goes a long way, but I did find it to be very moisturizing.

Beauty Army is a monthly subscription service. For $12 per month, you can select up to 6 deluxe sized samples from a slightly larger group that is offered based on your beauty survey.

While at Sephora shopping for a gift, I spotted this Korres Wild Rose Face/Body/Lip Collection. It was originally a $55 value set, but Sephora had it on sale for $20 as part of a post-holiday sale.

Inside the box are full sizes of:

• Wild Rose 24-hour Moisturizing & Brightening Cream
• Wild Rose Face & Eye Serum
• Japanese Rose Body Butter
• Wild Rose Lip Butter
• Wild Rose Lip Butter Glaze

I bought this in January, so I’ve had quite some time to use the products so that I can review all of them properly. I’ve been a fan of Korres’ Cherry Lip Glosses and I also like their lip butter, so I was hoping that this sample set would be a great way to sample their other products.

I guess I should start with the item I didn’t like: the Wild Rose Moisturizing & Brightening Cream. It has a strong, woodsy scent that was nothing like roses. still, I thought I would give it a try. It’s a very heavy moisturizer and didn’t spread easily on my skin. After a week of using this, I started getting pimples on my chin and temple. Since I haven’t changed my routine otherwise, I can only assume it was this product, which I really should have anticipated due to the heaviness of the product. Pretty disappointed with this, actually. Maybe it would make a good hand cream?

The Wild Rose Face & Eye Serum has a nice texture that isn’t too runny or too sticky. I don’t have lines to reduce, but it would be a good preventative product, I think. I’ve been alternating using this and my Body Shop Aloe Eye Defense at night.

I absolutely love the smell of the Japanese Rose Body Butter. it’s a fresh, green rose scent rather than a powdery rose perfume scent. I use this as a hand cream rather than a body moisturizer as it would be a bit too expensive to get dependent on this product!

As previously state, I already love the Wild Rose Lip Butter, so this one was a back up for the pot I currently have. You can apply it with a lip brush or your fingers if you’re lazy like I’ve been. The Lip Butter Glaze is a thinner formulation of the lip butter in a squeeze tube, which makes it much more convenient to keep in a purse. Here are swatches of both:

The Lip Glaze is on the left and the Lip Butter is on the right. You can see that the glaze is a lot more pigmented and opaque compared to the lip butter. Obviously, you can apply more or less of either product to get the look you want. I love both of these products because they are very moisturizing. Even though the colors doesn’t last a long time, both of these colors leave behind a slight stain and leave my lips moisturized.

Overall, I’m really glad I purchased this set even though the 24-hour moisturizing and brightening cream didn’t work out for me.

I love the way my skin feels after exfoliating. After trying the Fresh Foaming Body Buff, I thought I’d try a stronger grittier scrub.

There’s the Rub is a natural sea salt scrub. It has a minty eucalyptus scent and feels cool when rubbed against the skin.  While applying the salt scrub, the scent is quite strong, but once the scrub is rinsed off the scent is very light if not gone. Since after using the scrub, I followed up with a moisturizing body wash, I did not detect the minty eucalyptus and only smelled my Dove body wash.

After using this scrub, my skin feels very clean and softer; however, the salt also makes my skin drier, so right after my shower I need to moisturize.

For $24 you get a 24 oz. tub of the sea salt, which would last me a while since I won’t be using this as often as I would use the Body Buff.

Even though this sea salt rub may be a bit harsher on my dry skin, after using it, my skin does feel squeaky clean and there is no oily feeling afterwards either. If you like sea salt scrubs, I’d give this a try.

It’s that time of the month again! Here’s a look at the samples I picked for my March 2012 Beauty Army box. I’m still getting mostly skin care offerings rather than makeup, but that’s okay since I’m interested in trying new skin care items.

Once again, my samples were wrapped well with tissue paper in a great flip top box. These boxes are great and I’m starting to re-purpose mine to hold samples and other small items that are scattered all over my floor. Here’s what was inside:

• Weleda Iris Hydrating Day Cream – for dry to very dry skin
• Mama Mio Shrink to Fit Hip & Thigh Cream
• Befine Night Cream with Cocoa, Millet, & Rice Bran
• Indie Lee Squalane Facial Oil
• M.A.D Skincare Youth Transformation Age Corrective Serum
• Cellceuticals Photodefense SPF 55+

I’ve been looking for a new facial moisturizer and it’s a good thing these showed up when they did since my Korres night cream was breaking me out. The Befine actually feels a bit dry, but when I woke up, my skin felt pretty normal. I was also very interested in the Indie Lee squalane oil as I had used argan oil for a time as a night time moisturizer.

Since I liked the Mama Mio Boob Tube I got in last month’s selection, the Hip & Thigh Cream was another item I was interested in trying. Erm, not that I really have cellulite to speak of, but I was thinking it would be a good preventative measure.

The other items are in the queue to be tried out and I’m looking forward to using them.

Beauty Army just launched a rewards program where you can take surveys and refer new members for discounts at their shop. You can join Beauty Army for just $12 per month!

I absolutely love the products at Luxury Lane Soap and the fabulous customer service from its owner, Kylee Lane. I’ve been meaning to review the Hemp Satin Body Cream for a while, but have only just gotten to it… with my second jar of this fabulous moisturizer.

Late last year, I started having really strange dry skin patches. I drank more water and tried all kind of  moisturizers to help heal the skin. This is not a medical endorsement, but I believe this thick hemp cream was very helpful in repairing my skin. After a month of using this, my skin was finally back to normal!

You can see the thickness of the cream in the third photo. It actually spreads very nicely and a little goes a long way. My skin felt very hydrated immediately and that feeling lasted almost all day. The very dry patches of skin did need some reapplication after a few hours, but that was okay with me. Right now I’m using this as a hand cream to fight winter dryness.

The cream is made to order so it’s very fresh when it arrives. There’s also a nice selection of scents – or you can choose unscented cream. My first jar was in TARDIS Rose, which is my favorite, but my second jar was Cranberry Citrus. It’s a lovely, fresh scent, but I might get another jar of TARDIS Rose next time.

I love this hemp silk body cream and will definitely be buying more in the future!

A 5oz. jar cost $8.99 and is made fresh to order from Luxury Lane Soap. You can also order an unscented sample pot for $1.99.

My second Beauty Army box arrived this weekend! I know I shouldn’t be so excited about what’s inside since I pick my own samples, but I usually forget what I’ve selected by the time it arrives.

This month, the items were all packed more securely in the tissue, which was greatly appreciated. I love the quality of the boxes – with some creative upcycling, these will make great gift boxes.

My six samples this month were mostly skin care items:

• CellCeuticals Extreme Defense antioxidant treatment
• M.A.D Skincare Transforming Daily Moisturizer
• LaRocca Skincare 24K Exfoliating Cream Facial Cleanser
• Mama Mio Boob Tube skin firming cream
• Freeman Beauty Pssssst! Instant Dry Shampoo
• Weleda Iris Hydrating Facial Lotion

I’m collecting a small grouping of LaRocca and CellCeutical items and I’m waiting to use them all at once when I finish some other samples I’m using, so I can’t say much about those yet. I like the fact that LaRocca products are free of a lot of chemicals like parabens, PBA, DEA, TEA, mineral oil, and phthalates.

The Mama Mio Boob Tube has a fresh citrus scent and a smooth texture. It’s free of parabens, which is always a great aspect of a product. I’m still a bit young to be worrying about skin firming, but I’m not too young to think about it so I’ll definitely be giving this a try.

Currently, I’m using Tresemme’s dry shampoo which works okay, but isn’t the best. I don’t like to wash my hair every day because it gets dry and brittle, but skipping two days makes my scalp feel greasy, so I often use a dry shampoo to absorb some of the oil. I can’t wait to try the Freeman Beauty dry shampoo and see how well it works.

Finally, I’ve seen Weleda products in Target, but never bothered to try them, so I’m looking forward to using this when my current moisturizer runs out.

Beauty Army is a new sample subscription service. For $12 per month, you can choose up to six large samples to be mailed to you.

Hi, everyone! I am quite excited by this month’s Birchbox because there was an amazing item inside! Let me just show you what was in my box this month.

Here’s a listing of the items:

• Beautyblender makeup sponge
• dermalogica Daily Microfoliant
• EYE ROCK Designer Liner – Classics pack
• Jouer Luminizing Moisture Tint (in Pearl)
• Extra: Heart Shaped Nail File
• Extra: six songs by Green River Ordinance

The Eye Rock liners look pretty cool and I might try those out when I go to a convention next weekend. I haven’t used the Dermalogica exfoliant yet since I’ve still got a few I’m working through, but I definitely look forward to trying it out. Here are some swatches of the Jouer tinted moisturizer:

I thought the Jouer Moisture Tint sample in Pearl was a good color match. It wasn’t oily, but there was thin coverage. I would consider getting this if it weren’t for one thing: the very fine shimmer. I know it’s a luminizing tint, but it was ridiculous amount of sparkle. I’ll pass on this, but if Jouer ever comes out with a non-luminizing version, I would definitely want to give it a try.

And now… the free Beautyblender! The day before this box arrived, I was actually about to purchase the Sonia Kashuk imitation blending sponge. So glad I didn’t! I’ve been using my Beautyblender to apply tinted moisturizer and it works great. I’m going to try using it to apply BB cream and mineral foundation to how well it works with those since I’m actually having difficulty finding a tinted moisturizer that like.

If you haven’t seen the Beautyblender before, it’s an egg-shaped latex-free cosmetic sponge. When you wet the  Beautyblender, it will expand to twice its size. Squeeze out the water so the sponge is just damp and then you apply your foundation or tinted moisturizer using a stippling, bouncing motion. There are lots of reviews and tutorials on YouTube if you need more instructions.

There are things I don’t like about the Beautyblender, of course. First, a single sponge costs $15 or you can buy a set of two for $25 – I feel like that’s a lot to spend in a sponge that you’re supposed to switch out every 3 to 6 months. Cleaning is also more involved than with a brush or the usual sponge. The company advises you purchase their special cleaner, but I’ve found that gentle shampoo or makeup cleanser work. Right now I’m using Body Shop’s Earth Lovers Shower Gel and it works great.

One tip for cleaning the Beautyblender: don’t wash it right away. You can try and rinse out some product after you finish your makeup, but I find it’s much easier to get the Beautyblender totally clean if you let the sponge dry for a few hours first. So, put your make up on, try to rinse out extra product if you want, then just put it somewhere and come back in a few hours. When you’re ready to clean it, dampen the Beautyblender, massage in some of your chosen cleanser – as you squeeze the suds out, you’ll see your foundation or whatever in it. Rinse out all the cleanser and set the sponge out to dry overnight. Easy!

My mother is subscribed to Birchbox as well and sometimes she’ll give me something from her box. This month, she had no use for  the Juice Beauty Blemish Clearing Serum.

I love this stuff! After washing my face at night, I put a little bit of this serum on any flare ups and in the morning they’re greatly reduced or gone. I will certainly be buying a full size when I run out of this sample size.

Birchbox is a monthly sample subscription service. For $10 per month, you’ll receive a box of 4 or 5 items just for you, based on a survey you will out when you sign up.