Probably one geeky thing I love most is to do research whenever I’m about to buy something. It doesn’t matter whether it’s food, clothes or skincare! One night, diptyque candle on, with an autumn jazz playlist on Spotify, I came across a post on Google about best beauty products of 2017 and 2018 and of course I clicked, and yes, most of the stuff are not available in my country (Indonesia). Not only from google, but sometimes you found some Instagram posts and news about certain products that people like. People tend to follow the hype, including me! Like why not? They say that the products are amazing and I want to try them out myself. However, what you see is sometimes, barely fit you!
When it is down to skincare, I don’t play around. I bought from the cheapest skincare to the most expensive one, the hypest one and the most underrated one – but eventually, what stays, is what works. It’s been several months since my first skincare routine post and I have tried TONS of new skincare products and I want to share with you all on which ones that hail, and which ones that fail. You might be surprised on this review since some of the products are 90% liked by people, and voila, they did not work on me! A gentle disclaimer, this is not an ad nor this is a sponsored post, I bought all of these skincare products myself and I am saying this again and WILL always say this, I speak nothing but the truth!
On Today’s post, I would like to list down the products that have helped my skin to improve as well as those that don’t. My skin is a combination skin, sometimes it's sensitive, sometimes it's very oil and etc – what I will review might work differently with your skin; consider these as your considerations :D
Which Hails (Works)?
On this which hails section, I will list down the products that are my current holy grails. These stuff work like magic and I cannot recommend you enough to try them out! Remember, check your skin type first so you will know which is necessary to your skin.
Face Oil
What will you do if you find out that you actually use a product that is loved by her royal highness? You give yourself a non-stop dance for 5 minutes. This Trilogy rosehip oil is my first ever face oil and I will stick to this! I’m using this face oil as a moisturizer at the end of my skincare routine or even to put it on my body. This face oil helps to fade away your scar (acne scar) and this is 100% rosehip! Whenever I use this, my face glows in the morning! I use this only at night. However, use this only 2-3 times in a week. I feel like when I use every single day, my face tends to have excess oil and somewhat creates a little bump on the face. How do i apply it? release 2 drops of the oil on your palm, warm them by circling your palm against each other, and pat them gently on your face. I mean come on, Duchess Kate Middleton loves this product and it actually works! Anything to add? TRY IT!
Acne Gel, Face Mask, and SPF
Doesn’t matter what you wear, you will get acne once in a while. Not because of your skincare or you don’t clean your face enough, but maybe because you sleep very late and the stress. This Clinique anti blemish gel has always been my go to gel since 2014! This works very fast and your acne dries faster with this. I have tried TONS of gel and cream to tone down my acne but nothing works like this one.
As in for face mask, I thank everyone who introduces me with this Laneige sleeping mask! It literally sounds like it is, you can sleep with it. They have a tech where it won’t fall out or transfer to your pillow. My face feels so very hydrated in the morning and I would recommend this to all of you!
Another honorable mention is this $7 face SPF from SkinAqua. SPF is important you guys, especially when you know you want to have a direct contact with the sun. It was a struggle to find a face SPF until I found this one. Why it’s great? It doesn’t dry out the skin and it doesn’t leave a white feeling on your face. Sometimes when you take a picture with your face SPF on, your face looks whiter and it’s annoying. With this one, it’s not! FYI - i only wear sunscreen if i know i'm gonna be outdoor a lot. SPF uses chemical and as important as they sound, i still only wear them if im gonna be outdoor 70% of my day. Something you might want to consider.
Lip Balm
You all, I have tried La Mer’s and the most loved lip balm from Loccitane and NONE of them works like this Vaseline! Ok, listen. This might be weird, but I was given this by a good friend of mine (shoutout to my gal Fathia). She bought this in the Middle East and it is rumored that the best Vaseline potroleum jelly comes from the middle east; AND IT’S TRUE! I have tried the Vaseline that is in my country and others and NONE of them works like this one! You all, I cannot recommend you enough with this. My lip feels AMAZING. It cures dry lips and it makes your lip hydrates a long time. Seriously, ask around to your friends who go to the middle east and ask them to buy this for you.
Body Lotion
You don’t need a $100 body lotion, what you need is actually a $10 body lotion called Jergens! I have mentioned this in my previous skincare routine and I want to emphasize this more just because it works like magic on my skin. I watched a YouTube video about body’s skin and the doctor said that you’re never too young to apply a body lotion – I agree with this and I would recommend this body lotion for your daily use. It comes in 650 ML and it doesn’t get better than this. It’s cheap, Comes in a good size, and it WORKS!
Which Fails (Doesn’t Work)?
On this which fails section, I want to unfortunately list down the products that have broken my heart. Products that don’t work on me, as much as I want to love them. Remember, this might work on you, but this certainly doesn’t work on me.
Face Wash
If you saw my previous skincare routine post, you can find that I cannot recommend enough the Lush’s aquamarina face wash; I still am! However, lush is not available in my country and of course I have to find a substitute. BIG MISTAKE! I really should have sticked with the aquamarina because face wash is THAT important. I learned the importance of double cleansing, thus i tried out these products. Read the reviews and the majority said that they are amazing. I don't know why but these products break me out. Pimple started to show and unfortunately, pimple started to show up.
How did i know that these products just don't work on me? since i stopped using them, no breakouts and pimples afterwards. I literally donated these two products with 80% of the inside is still unused. This is the bad thing with skincare, you can only see a difference in 1 - 2 weeks and i really really want to love these products but it just didn't work on my skin. One good thing about them though, they smell amazing! But that's not what we are looking for, correct?
Serum and Face Wash
WHY LA ROCHE? WHY? As one my of my favorite skincare brands, they let me down this time. For someone who thinks they have the magic moisturizer, I am disappointed. Ok here’s the tee, I tried their milk cleanser and at first I was like, oh this might work. However, this doesn’t clean your face well! And therefore, it caused acne to my face which annoyed me a lot. I stopped using it because it didn’t work and voila, acne stopped showing up. Now you know where the problem is. I don’t know why people say that this product works, but this just does not work on me at all.
After toning, I used the Hyalum B5 serum and did not love them even the first time I put them. It’s VERY sticky and it has a very strong smell which irritated me. Acne poped out after a few days of using this and I thought its gonna stop in a few days but it didn’t. I stopped using it and back to my holy grail serum which is Missha’s night repair.
Face Mask
Ok, this is probably the most controversial thing so far. Sorry Lush, but this mask just does not work on me. 99% of world population thinks this Magnaminty mask is amazing, but I don’t know why but it did not work on me! Here’s the thing, it smells amazing and after application, your skin feels very minty and cold, which I loved it!
HOWEVER, it caused acne!! Even the day after using it. It has little scrub in the mask and at first I thought maybe the acne was caused because I pushed the mask too hard when I cleaned it. I tried to clean it VERY carefully and STILL, acne the day after. You guys, I wanted to love this but I just can’t because it simply didn’t work. If you can see from the picture, it’s still 90% full because I stopped using it lol. Check even the expiry date, I bought this in late May, I asked my friend in Italy to bring this for me (shoutout to Karima). When I chose to stop using it, no acne occurred since, and there is when you know what causes the problem.
There you go, Mavens! Tell me, have you tried these products? how did they work on you? Questions and thoughts are welcomed! Hope this post will help you to improve your skin and i can't wait to hear your responses!
p.s. life is not elusive, you just need to know the how tos x
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