~Skincare Review: Bye Bye Blemishes~

Hi everyone!! For today's review I have a drugstore-ish skincare product to try! I was browsing Amazon (as per usual LOL) the other day and I happened upon these popular blemish products that consist of a pink sediment with a clear liquid above it in a bottle. Reading through the reviews people were raving about how fast acting it was! And they were saying things like "Remember, don't shake this bottle!" And that was interesting to me hahaha. The application was also something different, you have to take a clean Q-tip to put this stuff on! Never heard of this kind of blemish treatment? How about I just show you then! Hahaha~

I read about a few popular acne remedies with this liquid/sediment format, there was one called EradiKate and it was around $24 a bottle and the reviews for it seemed really good! Then I saw this one called Bye Bye Blemish on Amazon that was EradiKate's cheaper counterpart, so I decided to go ahead and try it! Then a couple days later I went to Fred Meyers with my mom and saw that they actually had it there for pretty much the same price and no waiting!! YESSS.

The one I bought came in this box:

Sorry for the bad lighting I took this in my room at around 10 PM haha

We'll see about that lol

When I first spotted this at Fred Meyers I wasn't sure if this was the one. Turned it to the side and saw a picture of it! Yup! This is the one I saw on Amazon.

See the sediment and the clear liquid on top?

It specifically says it's a drying lotion on the bottle, so know what you're buying! Some acne creams just treat the acne without drying it, but this one certainly dries.

DON'T SHAKE! Haha I read all the reviews that said don't shake this!

My current skin condition:

My skin has actually been SUPER bad lately. At first all my acne was only on the right side of my face (and even my SHOULDERS?!) And now it's moved to the left side mostly T___T And this is actually an improvement as it is right now HAH! Last week was just...the worst. So I decided that now's a good time as ever to try this interesting product!


First make sure your face is clean and dry, then take a clean Q-tip and dip it into the bottle, getting a bit of the pink stuff as well as the clear stuff:

Dab it on the acne and get a new Q-tip and repeat on all the other blemishes as necessary!

The bottle recommended that you use this at night as an overnight remedy, so that's what I tried ^.^

The next morning I didn't notice a ton of difference on my face, some of the smaller acne were gone but everything else was the same. Sorry I forgot to take a picture!! I was running late to school hahaha >.< What's new?


Impressions so far (Week 1):

So I've actually been using this for a week or so now. And I must say, I'm kind of on the fence about it? It works pretty well for the smaller acne, which is great because it stops it from becoming the big problematic acne and whatnot, but I was kind of hoping for immediate results on the bigger ones. I also noticed that since I've been using it frequently, my face is starting to smell a little...sulphur-y? I'm probably going to stop using it for awhile haha. It's incredibly drying so I HIGHLY suggest you have a few things on hand while using this product.

1.) The most important thing you're going to want to need is a good face moisturizer. I didn't think I would need to use face moisturizers often because I get soooo oily and sometimes using lotion or creams on my face just makes it oilier. But these days I've also been trying a new primer that prevents oil so it's also kind of dry, in addition to my The Face Shop Magic BB Cream which tends to be quite drying as well. All of these dry things combined really makes my makeup look cake-y and flakey so I have to use a mist toner over it and lotion before I prime! It's only one extra thing to put on your face under your makeup and I assure you it will make all the difference~ I use Clinique's Dramatically Different Moisturizing Lotion. A couple of dabs on my dry areas, let it sink in, and then I'm good to go for the rest of my makeup routine!

2.) It's also probably a good idea to have some sort of exfoliating face wash or brush to get rid of the dry dead skin cells and dried up acne bits (ew sorry haha) once you use this acne remedy for a while. If you don't exfoliate these bits off, like I said, your makeup might start to look a bit flaky like mine did. But after exfoliating your face will be smooth and fresh like new! I recommend using a denser exfoliating product like a salt scrub or Clinique Sparkle Skin Exfoliating wash once a week when you start to get dry pieces of skin, but not so dry that you'll irritate your skin from exfoliating! If you are severely dry, hold off on exfoliating and use oil face washes to gently rub away the skin and moisturize at the same time.

3.) The last thing(s) you're probably going to want to need some good moisturizing face masks and maybe some of those steam tablets from Lush to help your skin back into shape! It also helps if the masks and things have a nice scent to get rid of the sulphur-y scent?! (As long as those perfumes don't irritate your skin of course!) I don't know if other people who used this had this issue, but it just feels like I still have the scent of the sulphur on my face even after I washed it off. Like it soaked into my pores or something. If I use one of my masks right after it initially goes away, until later in the day when I think I still sense it?! Is that weird?! Hahaha

My last tip is that you should listen to your skin, as always, and know that everyone's skin is different so this may work very well for you, or worse than it worked for me, or you could also be on the fence! Just remember, right when you start to get negative results stop using it! You don't want sad irritated skin! Also, try not to use this everyday like I have been doing. If you've been following my blog you guys know how I talk about how oily my skin gets, but now it's SUPER dry even in my t-zone. You would think I'd see that as a good thing, but alas, I'd rather have an oily t-zone to be honest hahaha.

Upsides: Does what it says- dries! Mostly works on small acne though :/
Downsides: Super drying, really strong sulphur smell, doesn't really work on the larger problematic acne.

Let me know what acne remedies you guys have! Maybe I'll end up abandoning this if my skin gets too dry within the next week >.<

Thanks for reading as always sugar peas!!! Sorry for the inconsistent posting again! MIDTERMS.

xoxo Abby

~Skincare Review: Pure Smile Muddy Girl Mud and Clay Masks (Long Post)~

Hello hello lovely people!! It's time for another skincare review! Yippie! This one took me about four weeks to finish. Crazy right? Hahaha~

About a month ago I found these Muddy Girl mud masks in the cosmetics area of Uwaji and (mostly because of my new found love for non sheet masks lately!) I really wanted to try them out~ It comes in a sample pack of four different mud or clay masks! Which is really nice so you can see which one you like best and then buy a full tub or tube and whatnot!

I've tried Pure Smile (Japanese brand) sheet masks in the past, and I would rank them as maybe my second or third favorite sheet mask to use after My Beauty Diary ^.^ Another reason why I didn't hesitate when I saw they also have mud/clay masks as well!

Since there were four different masks in this set and I mask once a week (every Wednesday) it took me four weeks to finish reviewing this product lol. That's the longest it's ever taken for me to finish something so small!

AHH I'M SORRY, I accidentally deleted the picture that showed the rest of the ingredients T__T 

I can't read Japanese (yet) so I just randomly chose one on Wednesday and had a surprise! Lol 

It turns out that blue=charcoal, green=pearl, pink=mud, yellow=red clay.
I've really been into clay masks instead of sheet masks lately. They just feel SOOO good when you put them in the fridge and put it on right after a warm shower that opens your pores ^.^

The first one I decided to try was the blue (charcoal) one, cuz why not? Lol You put this on like any other clay mask. I like putting them on right after steaming my face/showering for best results. The pack suggested 10-15 mins but I forget and always leave it on longer lol.

Doesn't look like there's a whole lot in there, right?

Texture and look is a lot like my Dr. Douxi mask I did a review of before *__*

Right after shower, before mask.

That one dab on my face.

I used the whole thing on my face. It's tingly when you first put it on. And that always gives me the impression that its working lol.

After rinsing my face after leaving it on for about 45 mins lol~

It's hard to tell whether it really "did" anything for my skin right away. I usually wait the next morning and record my results, like a true scientist right? LOLOL This one was very much like my Dr. Douxi glacier clay mask. It even smelled the same! It didn't irritate my skin and I felt fresh (as usual with clay masks) after rinsing it off with lukewarm water. Sometimes I feel the need to use a toner after I mask, but with this one I didn't. The next morning my skin felt smooth and not super oily (just a bit on my t-zone but still a little less than normal). The pack doesn't describe (from what I could see) the benefits of each of the different masks. But I suppose you could look at the ingredients to see what is in there that might help you!

Consistency: It's an absolutely smooth mask. It glides on super easily and feels even nicer coming right out of the fridge.
Scent: Light and doesn't seem to bother me, you get used to the scent after a few minutes and it fades away.
Effectiveness: Like I mentioned above, there is really no immediate difference and the moisturizing properties are average.
Irritation?: No irritation! Yay! Just a bit tingly when you first put it on, but there was no itchy feeling.
Overall: There was just enough product in there for one use on my face which I was a bit surprised about since a lot of the times I can get at least two or three uses from jelly packs that are about the same size!

The next Wednesday I used the pearl mask (green):

Ever so slightly green/yellow

It was kind of hard to document the results over a span of four weeks because I'm so used to blogging about one thing I tried, so I often forgot to record my initial thoughts lol. But I do remember this mask! I don't know if I was having a good skin week or if this mask actually just did me wonders haha. That's the thing about testing something overtime I guess >__<

Before masking~

One swipe

The rest on my face...

All covered!

I look scary/angry in this pic lol. This was when it was all dry after about 30 mins~

And after I washed it off!

Consistency: I'm just going to say that all the masks have the same texture. Absolutely smooth with no lumps or grains. It's a very fine clay/mud combo and it's almost like putting on a very rich lotion!
Scent: They actually all almost smell the same ahha. The differences are very subtle, but you always get used to the scent after a few minutes. It leaves a light scent to your skin in the end but nothing really strong or bad I'd say.
Effectiveness: This one seemed to do something out of all the other ones. But that isn't saying much since the masks did so little lol.
Irritation?: Like the previous one this one gave me no irritation!
Overall: My favorite mask of the four! (blue is my 2nd fave) My skin felt SUPER smooth in the morning. It might be because of the mask. Or it might be because I was having an awesome skin week (I'm back to bad skin right now lol T___T)

OK now I'm just gonna blaze through the other two:
Pink: Mud

Looks like pudding!

Ehh kind of looks weird here I guess O.O

Overall: Mud was my least favorite. This was the only one that actually did irritate my skin. Not badly, but none of the other masks left me with pinkish skin after a few hours. Maybe this was a bad skin day? lol

Last one! Yellow: Red Clay!

I was expecting this to be red...silly me I guess!

They all have the same silky texture.

Just a dab

For some reason I felt like this mask had less product in the pack? It just felt like I had thinner coverage. Hm.

It's dry!!! My forehead! LOL

Meh didn't really do anything special.

Final verdict 6/10: Since these were sample packs I can't really say any of these masks changed my skin miraculously, even in the four weeks I continuously used them. I think this might be good as an every other day mask rather than a once a week mask like I did. You might see actual results if you use this mask more frequently. Based on how my skin reacted to each of the masks I would say the charcoal and pearl masks are the only ones I might actually consider repurchasing if they had small packs of just those separately. Actually I might just look for the pearl one since I already have a clay mask like the charcoal one. It's kind of weird how all the masks gave me pretty much the same results. It's not really a good or bad point since that means there wasn't a particularly bad mask, it's just a little disappointing. I don't think I would re-buy this sample pack now that I know how they all feel.

Next time I want to try the carbonated mud mask or maybe a Lush mask! I just want something with texture or something that promises immediate results, just to see if those actually work! Especially since I try to only mask once a week, I think a mask with more immediate results would work a lot better for me ^.^

What is your favorite non-sheet mask to use? I'd love to try it!

xoxo Abby

~Beauty Review: Innisfree No Sebum Mineral Pact and The Face Shop Magic Cover BB Cream~

Uhh I don't think that's what they meant by putting makeup on your face >,<

Gee that's a long title! Haha~ Hello everyone!! Today I'll be doing a dual review on two different products that I purchased from Amazon recently ^.^ I decided to do these two reviews together because I bought them to use together and this will be my first time trying them both out so I decided two in one would make the most sense and be more efficient ahha~

I now have four BB creams in my large make-up collection (large to my standards, ok? lol) Shara Shara BB cream, Atom BB cream, L'OREAL BB cream, and now this Magic Cover BB cream by The Face Shop! I've heard many promising things about this product. Mostly I just wanted to try something new, but I realized I ordered this before I bought the green BB cream I reviewed last time so...yeah now I have too many creams hahaha. Anyways, this particular one caught my eye because of it's packaging! Normally cute packaging is what catches my eye, but this time I noticed that this BB cream comes in a sort of tube/pump type packaging which I thought was pretty interesting! And I thought it wouldn't hurt to give it a try because it has SPF 20 and I'm always trying to look for the perfect coverage/color combo in BB cream. So far the closest I've gotten to matching my skin tone is mixing two of my different BB creams (now that I think about it, maybe I should also do an update on what's in my makeup collection? Yes.) and even then it's not exactly the right color. Hopefully this one will be closer! I ordered Natural Beige.

As for the compact powder, I actually only have two powders a loose one and a compact one. The loose one is my go to favorite: Skin Food Peach Sake Silky Finish Powder. And the compact was one of the first makeup items I ever bought: Too Cool for School Photoready Compact. I expected the TCFS one to be really good but I find that after an hour or so, even in the winter when I'm not SUPER oily, my t-zone gets shiny. So I wanted a new powder that would give me better results. I was about to buy the Tony Moly Cats Wink Clear Pact but I decided to try this Innisfree No-Sebum Pact first because the loose powder one has really awesome reviews.

Pictures of the products:

Pretty purple packaging ^.^

"The perfect cover fix powder magically covers fine skin flaws, through dense coverage to enable the skin to appear fair. It adheres to the skin comfortably and helps make-up last for an extended period of time."

On the back it tells you how to use the pump I think? 

I hope you can read this >.< lol

I love the color of the compact!

Compare the size to my hand. It's quite small, you see!

Here's my makeup routine using both of these products!

As usual I start with a clean face and dab on a bit of my Smashbox primer:

And now the BB cream!

See the cap and pump? 

This side of my face will be primer and BB cream only (with the powder on top later)

Texture of the BB cream:

You really don't need a lot for medium coverage, this BB cream is quite thick! I used this amount for half my face and I think it's still kind of too much!

Once it's blended in!

On the right side of this picture I'm putting the green tinted L'OREAL BB cream under this BB cream to see if it looks nicer/how the color blends with a darker colored cream:

Putting on the green stuff first!

Then TFS Magic Cover on top!

Everything is blended in!

Now my whole face has BB cream! In this pic no particular side looked "better" but I like the color (in person) of mixing the green and Magic BB creams (right side)

Time to set with powder!:

Swiped a bit with my finger.

Swatch on hand.

It really is translucent! A nice thin powder!

Apply with puff:

Can you tell it matte-fied my face? 

Compare sides of face:

Sometimes I don't mist after I use powder, this time I didn't for the sake of testing the oil trapping qualities of the compact!

Done!

BB Cream thoughts:
Texture/consistency: It's quite a thick BB cream! Not runny at all! And you can tell when you put it on that it's very creamy and smooth but it is also dry if that makes sense?! I didn't get what it meant on the front when it said "fix powder" but now I do. It gives you a dewy complexion without actually being liquid-y and oily feeling. It's like a matte texture with a dewy look! COOL.

Color match: Right when I put it on I could tell that it wasn't my shade hahaha. Surprise surprise. It is darker than my CC cream by Too Cool For School and is about the same as my Atom BB cream! A bit more olive-y than pink, which I appreciate since I'm trying to minimize my pink/red tones.

Scent: BEAUTIFUL. I love the scent of this product!! It's light and floral when you first put it on and stays smelling fresh throughout the day ^.^

Coverage: For me this is more of a medium-full coverage BB cream. It is still build able but I can see myself wearing just one layer of this! I might not even need the green BB cream underneath it because it's pretty perfect on it's own. There isn't much of a difference so maybe this could be my new go-to BB cream!!! AHH!

Irritation?: None at all! So far at least!

MAGIC?!: The only weird thing I noticed with this is when I looked in the mirror I think I missed a spot on my nose? And my pores just in that one area looked HUGE compared to the rest of my nose? I covered it up with the BB cream and it disappeared like it never happened. Are my pores really that large?! Or does this BB cream just shrink the pores on the rest of my face and nose so much that my normal looking pore look enlarged? Spoopy!

Longevity: My t-zone got a little cakey looking after about 4 hours outside walking around living life, but the side with just Magic cover and powder stood up a lot longer than green BB and the Magic BB, which is a good sign!

Overall: The color match was disappointing since that was one of the reasons why I wanted a new BB cream. But everything else about this is AMAZING. I'm sure my fall/winter tone will look really nice with this BB cream and I'm looking forward to using it for the rest of the year! Yipee! A success!

Compact thoughts:
Texture: Smooth, not grainy or clumpy or anything. It's a nice thin powder.

Scent: There really isn't a scent to this. Maybe because all I can smell on my face right now is the BB cream (mm so good lol). So it's not exactly a bad thing that this has no scent! I actually prefer that the powder doesn't have a scent haha. But my mom said it smells like baking powder? It really doesn't smell like anything to me ahha.

Translucency: When I put it on it didn't wash me out or lighten me at all! Surprisingly. It just blends right in with the rest of my makeup.

Longevity (Did it last throughout the day?): Patting this liberally on my t-zone (focusing on my nose because it's the oiliest) this lasted me about the same as my TCFS compact which made me REALLY disappointed:

Closeup of my face after a long day out and about in Seattle: it was a hot day with a lot of stairs and sweat so it was a good day to test this stuff out! This is in unnatural (bathroom) lighting.

Nose is shiny (I didn't re-apply throughout the  day b/c reviews said you wouldn't have to. But I think  I need to sadly haha) And the area between my eyebrows got a little cakey.

Overall: The only other thing I don't like about this compact compared to my TCFS one is that this one doesn't come with a cover inside the compact to keep the puff from touching the powder all day like my other one:

The TCFS compact comes with that plastic cover set on a hinge so the cotton pad isn't sitting on the powder all day, whereas the Innisfree compact has a temporary plastic cover only.

I do however like that this compact is...compact! It's much smaller than my Too Cool For School one so I am more comfortable taking it around everywhere! And since it actually is translucent I can put it over any makeup without fear of looking oily ^__^ I don't think I'll repurchase the compact version though. Maybe next time I'll try the loose powder (even though it's not so easily portable I've had more success in the past with those!)

Thanks for reading as usual! Hope you are all having a great week!

xoxo Abby