I've had the opportunity to try a few different BeFine products now, which I've loved, but the BeFine Gentle Cleanser left me wanting more.
It has several claims of helping rejuvenate you skin and such, which may be all well and true, but it was like water. Literally. Typically, cleaners foam or come in a gel or lotion/creme like form that you can see as it goes on and feel it as you cleanse - some sort of texture. But this... it had the consistency of water and I couldn't tell when I have put it on my face or if I still had some left in/on my hands. Which really bummed me out.
On the plus side, it smelled nice and it did leave a nice tingle on the skin... but even with that, I wasn't left satisfied my skin was cleansed. So I gotta say, unless I just got a bad sample, I can't say I'd recommend this particular product, even though everything else I've tried from BeFine has been awesome.
There's a lot of products out there claiming that they doing it better than the other guy - we all know that. Then you have the group that says it's good for those with sensitive skin. Shouldn't all facial care products be good for sensitive skin? Apparently not. But recently, a new line of products have hit the market in the US called Simple. Sounds simple, right?
I have a theory that we have become over obsessed with how a product is 'supposed to' feel. Case in point - in order for a face wash to be effective, your skin should be taut after you rinse. Or you should feel it tingling as you wash. 
I don't think this is really the case, though... and in order to really test Simple Refreshing Facial Wash Gel, you need to break away from that thought process. And I say this from experience.
When I first used it, I felt nothing while I washed, and nothing after I rinsed. So initially, my thought was, "This stuff doesn't do anything!" Of course, I didn't end it there. I still used it to get a good sense of how it worked. And that's when I realized we've been brainwashed as to how we *think* we know something's working. If one of our senses doesn't sense something, then of course it's not working, right?
Wrong. After a few times using it, I actually did notice something... my skin was a bit softer and a lot less irritated. Go figure! And I felt nothing along the way! Score!
Luckily, they gave me a big enough sample to last awhile... but I think I might stash it and use that for travel. This just might be worth enough of buying a full size before the sample's gone!
I have lots of freckles on my face. I've had freckles for as longs as I can remember. I think it just came with being blonde and growing up in FL. And probably having a wee bit of Irish in me. They've never bothered me and I've never wished them away. But sometimes they seem to have a mind of their own when they get in the sun, some of them darkening, others not, giving me an almost blotchy look. But that's what foundation is for, right? To help mute and matte things a bit.
So when I received a sample of Kiehl’s Clearly Corrective™ Dark Spot Solution in my Birchbox last month, I figured it was worth a shot to see if it did anything to these areas. While you can use it everywhere to even skin tone and to impart overall radiance and luminosity to your skin, I chose to do areas just on my cheeks since I had such a small sample.
While I didn't see jaw dropping results, there's was some lightening of some of the underlying skin tones that caused the blotchiness (leaving the freckles there to pop all on their own). This surprised me, but then it may just have been a coincidence to me not being in the sun too much lately. Which leaves me on the fence a bit. But I think it's worth exploring a little further and maybe even focusing on some of it's other claims, as well (like reducing the appearance of scars, etc.). I could see where you might get the results they note on their website, though, which take up to 8 weeks to see.
Everyone has some blemish issues on their face, even if it's only once in blue moon. For us women, something seems to pop us about once a month (unless you're one of those perfect models out there). The biggest issue with the treatments out there is that they often seem to irritate and cause more issues... even more blemishes! So a viscous cycles continues... And it sucks.
Low and behold, with all the natural products popping up on the shelves nowadays, one was bound to be for fighting blemishes! Enter Juice Beauty Blemish Clearing Serum, a powerful organic fruit acid complex with salicylic acid from willow bark unclogs pores, reduces breakouts and lightens scars while organic aloe, CoQ10 and fat-soluble Vitamin C renew the skin for a healthy, clear complexion.
As always, I'm a skeptic about 'natural' products. I love the idea of them, but so many have failed to meet my expectations. I've thought about lowering my expectations, but I can't do that. Keep the bar high, otherwise you settle for mediocrity.
But I have to admit, I was pleasantly surprised by this product. The biggest plus I saw was no irritation! While it didn't work overnight, it DID work! And there were some small instances (literally) where it DID work overnight! This one's going on my 'To Buy" list!
In this day and age, we seem to be rushed with everything, so we're always looking for a shortcut. I reviewed some nail appliques in an earlier blog, which I really loved (though I did find a downside later - it weakens your nails!) which is a good case in point of this trend. More recently, I've discovered there's a whole array of 'stick on' make up you can use, including lipstick (which is sometimes referred to as lip tattoos).
While I haven't done the lip art, I did try something I thought would be a little more conventional in the wisdom of stick on make-up, Eye Rock Designer Liner, which as you can probably tell from the title, is stick-on eyeliner.
At first, I thought this was a great idea! Who hasn't had problems putting on eyeliner, especially in on of the trendy ways of the moment. So I decided to try it out during a night out with the girls. I followed the instructions, including making sure your eyelid is clean, dry, and free of oil... which is harder than it sounds, believe it or not. I pulled off one of the stickers and... uh oh... I couldn't get it to stick down all the way. Wait... now it's stuck to my finger! Do I even have them on right??
So aside from the cleanliness of your eyelid, the instructions aren't very clear on the best way to apply them. On top of that, just looking at them alone (unless it's one of the funky styles - this wasn't), you can't tell which is for the left eye, and which is for the right eye... or which way is up, for that matter! Some labeling on by the stickers would be nice.
Finally, after getting them on (correctly, I think), I took a look. Interesting, but I could definitely tell I had something stuck on my eye! And I had a narrow 'normal' looking liner one. What if you go for one of the bigger, funkier ones?? Then I noticed the ends still weren't staying stuck down.
These got a big FAIL in my book! I didn't even make it out the door with them to get any outside opinions on how they looked. They were too difficult to work with and even weirder feeling one they were on. Not worth it, no matter ow cheap! I'll stick with my non-perfect hand drawn eye liner.
It has several claims of helping rejuvenate you skin and such, which may be all well and true, but it was like water. Literally. Typically, cleaners foam or come in a gel or lotion/creme like form that you can see as it goes on and feel it as you cleanse - some sort of texture. But this... it had the consistency of water and I couldn't tell when I have put it on my face or if I still had some left in/on my hands. Which really bummed me out.
