Origins GinZing Peel-off mask

Origins GinZing Peel-off mask

This was a lovely large sample I had sitting around for quite some time. I decided today was a good day to give it a try since my skin has been a bit clogged and dull. That was mostly my doing, though, since I didn't adhere to my skincare regimen very well last week.

As background, my skin is combination oily/dry. Very acne-prone, specifically in regards to cystic acne. Very sensitive.

I applied this on my clean, dry face after a shower. It went on smoothly, smelled a bit like oranges, and was the color of copper. I don't think I put it on thick enough because it dried in less than 5 minutes but was kind of a pain to peel off. As in, it didn't want to go off in a nice big sheet. I had to rinse with warm water and a wash cloth.

I give this a 3 out of 5. The results were pretty standard, but not spectacular. My skin felt nice and clean. Not too squeaky clean, but clean enough. This wasn't a super intense peel like a lot of others out on the market. So I feel like you could use this with more frequency than many. I just wanted to get my pores unclogged and it did a fair job at that. For a more intense peel, though, I'd go with the Boscia Luminizing Black Mask.

Link to buy the product:
http://www.sephora.com/ginzing-peel-off-mask-to-refine-refresh-P409768

Boscia Clarifying Detox Mask Review

I'm almost out of this Boscia Clarifying Detox Mask. That's because I think it is awesome. I only use this once every couple months. I used it recently because I spent all day in my makeup sweating outside in the hot and humid air hosting a Steampunk Swapmeet in my driveway. This stuff is really nice at drawing impurities out of your pores. I typically only use it as a spot treatment on whiteheads, but sometimes your skin calls for being totally treated.

Here's me sporting the mask:

I'd recommend to take a hot, relaxing shower before you do this mask. That will make your pores nice and open and ready to be treated. Use a non-drying, gentle facewash in the shower to get any makeup or face grease off. You want the mask to penetrate your skin a bit. This stuff can be pretty drying which is why I normally only use it as a spot treatment. If you have oily skin, you could probably get away with using this stuff once a week or every other week. Mine just isn't that oily.

This works basically the same as any other  kaolin clay mask but doesn't make my sensitive skin break out the next day! Once you wash your face, you pat it dry and do the mask. You put a thin layer on, let it dry for about 10 minutes, and then wash it off with warm water and a washcloth. This doesn't bleach anything, so it doesn't matter if you get it in your eyebrows or on your washcloth or towels. Rinse your face with cool water and pat dry your face. You cannot miss the final step of moisturizing, lest your face overcompensate for the lost oil and basically become a grease factory. Again, my face is middle of the road level oily, so I actually went with a deeper moisturizer than my normal daily moisturizer. Right now, I'm trying Murad Age-Balancing Night Cream but full review is pending on that as I've only been using it maybe 4 days now.

Product Review: L'Oreal Total Repair 5

I got a sample of this shampoo, conditioner, & treatment the other week and gave it a try. In fact, just this past Sunday, my mom also gave me her sample. So I actually tested this stuff out twice. Thanks for whatever mailing list we are both signed up for because I love trying out new stuff!

First, a run down on my type of hair that way you know if you have similar/dissimliar hair if you're opinion would be the same, better or worse. My hair is extremely long, thick, porous, color treated with both permanent and semi-permanent color in it. My scalp tends to be flaky if I don't exfoliate or have a good shampoo.

Ok, down to the review: the overall product line used all together is Meh to me. The shampoo seems alright as I don't have any flakes, itchyness or dryness after having used it. In both times using it, though, I had to use about a quarter size drop of my own shampoo because there wasn't enough in the sample for me. Again, I have ridiculously long hair. And even when you apply to just your scalp, it still soaks into the surrounding hair. So the shampoo was Alright/Not Bad.

The conditioner and balm/treatment stuff I had to use together both times. Again, excessively long, porous, damaged hair kind of required this. I again had to use some of my conditioner to go along with it. I'd probably say the first time I tried it, I used one part my stuff  to one part of the L'Oreal stuff. The second time, 2 parts the L'Oreal stuff and one part my usual. Both times, I was not impressed. Maybe its simply because I didn't have enough to really experience the product, but it just didn't seem to condition enough. The directions for each required you to leave it in. The conditioner 2-3 mins, the balm like 5 mins. I went with the longest time of 5 mins. I did the whole "wash, rinse, apply conditioner and then wash my body, brush my teeth, shave my pits to kill time" thang. That's normally what I do when I have to leave my conditioner in. I did comb it through to make sure it thoroughly saturated my hair, but it just didn't do the trick. My hair was frizzy and not notably softer than usual. My usual conditioner is much better on its own.

So there's my takeaway: Shampoo is fine, Conditioner & Balm I would not buy ever. It'd probably work fine for people with less damaged or porous hair. I wouldn't recommend it for curly hair or bleached hair. Again, the shampoo seemed alright, though I still prefer my Matrix Biolage Scalp Therapy stuff over the L'Oreal. I suppose if you had oily hair, the shampoo still wouldn't be for you because it isn't stripping either. So normal hair, not bleached, that isn't oily could use this shampoo. I think maybe if I got a huge sample (ok, a straight up bottle because let's be honest anything called "sample" wouldn't have enough to do my hair) of the treatment balm, I'd give it another try. But I'm very unlikely to buy anything after the experience I had so far.

Review of Boscia's Luminizing Black Mask

I bought this from Sephora. I've had other good experiences with Boscia before and I thought, "Hey a peel off mask by them is probably pretty awesome." I was totally right in that assumption. This thing basically works like a giant Biore pore strip. Only, its slightly less harsh. The pore strips can sometimes rip my delicate little facial hairs out. Probably I am letting it dry a bit too long. But this mask is better for more than just that reason. It also leaves my skin feeling super amazingly soft afterward. I don't know quiiiiite what they mean by "luminizing" but if it means "pulls black heads out/unclogs pores" THAT it does well.

Let's see it in action!

First, to get your pores all super open before applying this gel kind of mask, take a nice long, hot shower. You can tell it was a long shower for me because I washed my hair even. Just use two fingers to evenly distribute a thin layer of the stuff onto your face. It says to avoid eyebrows/facial hair. I agree with this warning.

Now, go do something for about 10 minutes while it dries. It should start to feel tight. Especially if you try to move your face. It should no longer be sticky at all. Now its ready to peel off. I start down here at my chin and work my way upwards. Kind of roll your finger tips up at the edge to get it started.

Look like a scary monster peeling off their skin! Don't pull super fast or it won't come off in nice sheets like this. You will see all kinds of interesting gunk in the mask when you look at it. Not as satisfying as a Biore strip (I actually don't think the mask goes nearly as deep as those) but still pretty gross/awesome.

You will inevitably have some spots where you put it on too thick and it didn't dry like the rest. Also where ever it ends, it kind of leaves trace amounts. If you are slightly dumb like me, you got some in both your eyebrows. Good job. Use a warm wet washcloth to rinse all the leftovers and residue off.

Once everything is rinsed off with the warm washcloth, I actually go for the super gross further measure of squeezing any remaining black heads out of my nose creases. You know, right where your nostril meets your cheek. Don't act like this isn't blackhead town for you too. It doesn't always pull the whole black head out, sometimes it just rips the top of it off. But that leaves it super open and easy just to scratch out gently with a fingernail. I doubt they recommend this step, but its nice.

Once your all done with that give your face a splash with some cool water. Pat dry and moisturize/medicate as usual. I do NOT recommend this for a day routine and putting makeup on afterward. This is a night time, just before bed, kind of thing. I like this over Biore for a lot of reasons. It makes my skin feels super soft and not irritated. Biore, though it rips the blackheads out in full, also rips a layer of my flesh off and makes my skin hurt. This stuff is fantastically gentle considering it still rips blackheads out and exfoliates the top layer of skin. A+, highly recommended. I use it like once a month.

Oh Acne!

This will probably be a recurring post topic for me since a lot of people struggle with it. I, myself, struggle constantly with acne. My goal here is to help you short cut to something that works for you or perhaps let you in on something you haven't yet tried. No matter how you cut it, face washes, creams, moisturizers, shampoos, deodorants, all beauty products are not one size fits all. What works for me might not work for you and in the end, it is YOU who have to experiment by trial-and-error. There's even the fact that your body chemistry changes over time and something that used to work for you might stop working & it's time to find something else. I'm going to try to ease your pain.


Identify your skin type
The first thing you have to do is identify what kind of skin you have. I have normal leaning towards oily skin. Oily especially in that famous T-zone. My skin is also exceptionally sensitive. I can't use peroxide (especially benzoyl peroxide at any concentration) without fear of my skin getting red, itchy, dry and in the case of open wounds, super filled with pus and 20x angier than if I'd just have left it alone. When I was a teenager, I was all about benzoyl peroxide. I thought it was a miracle. It zapped those zits dry but it left me with flaky, dry, red skin. Not pretty. Also, I find dry skin even harder to put makeup on than just flat out zitty skin.


Decide what your top concerns are
My two biggest concerns are no zits and no dry flaky skin. I don't worry so much about the unevenness of my skin tone or under eye circles - that's what makeup is for. I also don't worry about wrinkles. Not because I'm young, I'm almost 30, but because whatever. I want to look as natural an healthy as possible. Wrinkles are a sign of use. Smile lines around your eyes and mouth are good things to have. Now, unless you have a furrowed brow from being angry all the time, you shouldn't worry about wrinkles.


Develop a testing method
And stick to it! Your skin usually isn't going to react (positively or negatively) over night to a new face wash. You have to give it weeks to see if its right for you. I know. I am impatient too. But I promise to myself I will use the whole bottle of something (or like 3/4) before I determine if I like a product or not. About a month of using something gives you a better idea of if it is good for your skin or not. It will have been used during all levels of hormones and stress so you can better judge it. 


Don't get discouraged
Sometimes you'll go through a mountain of products before you find what is best for you. In the meantime, your skin is going to suck. But something I've learned over the years is that it isn't the end of the world. Life goes on. I admit sometimes acne has kept me from going to social events if it is particularly terrible. But I generally try to push on and go to events where having fun at the event would be a million times better than staying at home with my giant boil on my chin or where ever.  Keep trying til you find something that works for you. If you've tried the basics and still need help, there is always a dermatologist. I've been to plenty myself.


General pointers
Really there are only two. Wash & Moisturize. Wash your face in the morning when you get up and in the evening just before bed. You could get away with one other time (sometimes I re-do makeup for the night if my day makeup got all sweaty and gross) but don't wash your face excessively. It makes your skin flaky or conversely, could cause a serious over production of oil. Both are bad. After you wash, MOISTURIZE. I don't even care about you whining you have oily skin. There are moisturizers out there for you too. You have to replenish the oil lost in the washing process or your face will work double time to make more oil. Again, this is bad. Some people would recommend a toner in between but I haven't found that to significantly improve my skin so I say you can skip that step. Also, I only use acne treatments at night after I moisturize. It seems to be that I can't cover it with makeup during the day and I've really searched the market for something truly undetectable under makeup.  This Almay Concealer was the only one I could find that actually worked well as a concealer AND acne treatment. The problem was, the color didn't match well at all.


Here's some stuff I recommend & don't recommend
To help you on your journey, here's some things I've learned. I generally love Neutrogena products. I like their Pink Grapefruit, Redness Soothing and Stress Control lines. But I do NOT recommend any face soap - or for that matter soap at all - that is solid. Even Neutrogena's solid bar is a no-go. No matter how fancy or non-comedogenic it claims to be, solid soaps usually ends up either making me break out or drying the crap out of my skin. Most Clean & Clear & Clearasil products I either hate or just felt 'meh' about. Aveeno has been alright. It didn't remove makeup well in my humble opinion, but might be good for those who don't wear makeup or just as a morning cleanser. I've had some samples of Murad Clarifying Cleanser and Time Release Acne Cleanser that were pretty nice. Just WOAH expensive so I've never bought any.

As for moisturizer, I am pretty picky. I like Neutrogena's Oil Free Sensitive Skin moisturizer pretty much exclusively. I occasionally buy the CVS knock off, but that feels waxier on my skin than the real deal. I've had lots and lots of sample moisturizers and face washes from Sephora but most have not impressed me enough for me to want to buy the product. I seriously just searched Sephora for moisturizers and none of them I recall to be particularly amazing or terrible. This one I can't offer much help on. Choose one based on your needs (oily, dry, combo) that is non-comedogenic, non-acnegenic, and oil free. That's the best advice I can give. I hear ones with salicylic acid are good for oily skin.

I like Boscia's masks. I have the Clarifying Detox Mask I use as a spot treatment when I have just popped a white head. I don't use it on all of my face normally. I also use their Luminizing Black Mask about once a month to rip out black heads everywhere. Makes my skin so very soft. I don't recommend any drug store masks as they all seem to just make everything worse. Previously mentioned in another post, I like Philosophy's Micro delivery Peel but only about once a month.


In summation
Good luck! I will post more on my recommendations and non-recommendations in later posts and go into more detail as to why/why not I like them. In the meantime, know that you aren't the only one struggling with acne. It is totally A Thing. Even as an Adult.

The Microdelivery Peel

So I mentioned before that I kind of sort of love Philosophy products. Well, this is one of them. This stuff makes your skin feel suuuuuper smooth. So if you are having roughness (mine is normally from dry skin) or want to get to that whitehead that seems to be forming, this is the stuff. It peels a couple layers of skin off so that means a zit that you'd normally get to in 1-3 days, you can get to it NOW! Also helps you squeeze black heads with ultimate ease. You can just basically scrape them off with your finger nail. Now, I don't think that was what they had in mind when they made this stuff, but that's what I do with it. 

Here's how to use it:
1. Wash and dry your face
2. Put the step 1 stuff on with your fingertips and massage for about 1 minute in circular motion
3. Put the step 2 stuff on again just as above (its an activator so it makes it foamy)
4. Let it sit for about 3 minutes
5. Rinse off with lukewarm water and you can massage it in while rinsing to get more skin sloughed off
6. Final rinse with cool water, dry face, apply moisturizer!

Here's the needed products:

Here's where you can buy it: Sephora

Here's what I look like with both steps 1 & 2 on me (I'm looking at a scary big bug on my window):

I have not tried, but would be interested to know, if their Microdelivery Exfoliating Wash does the same good job.

I got my oldest sister their Oxygen Peel for Christmas, but never followed up with her to see how she liked it.

Also, I only use this like once a month. Since my skin is so sensitive, its hard to use it much more than that. I don't need to go ripping up the first few layers of my skin just any old time. I usually save it for an important event or something coming up in a few days of using it.