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Showing posts with label Skincare. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Skincare. Show all posts

Lately I've been trying to incorporate more products into my daily skincare routine that are geared toward the eye area. I've always had a few lines and creases under my eyes naturally. But now that its winter, the harsh indoor heat is really sucking all the moisture from my under eye area and emphasizing every teeny tiny wrinkle! I've also been attempting to try and use more natural based products on my skin and body overall. With that said, theres a lot I love about the InstaNatural brand, and the products I've been using.



InstaNatural Hyaluronic Acid Serum ingredients. 
First the Hyaluronic Acid serum. Its 100& vegan, has a simple list of potent ingredients and comes in a huge 2oz. blue-tinted glass container with a dropper lid. Its a thick clear gel that applies smoothly and absorbs in under 60 seconds! I love that its not runny or messy and the dropper ensures that you don't waste any product. Prior to using this hyaluronic acid serum, I'd been using one from the brand Hada Labo, that was extremely watery and hard to dispense just the right amount. 

 This serum penetrates deeply and gives my skin and especially my under eye area a boost of moisture. Because it absorbs so completely, its perfect for layering other products on top of. And since it doesn't leave any shininess or residue behind I have the option of applying my makeup right away if I don't use another moisturizer on my face. 



The Vitamin C Toner. This toner is just plain good stuff! Again like all the InstaNatural products I've used so far,  this toner has a pronounceable and potent ingredient list. I use it immediately after washing my face while my skin is still a little damp. Its got a great spray nozzle so I can just spritz it on without needing cotton balls or squares like with other toners. It feels very refreshing on my skin and has a pleasant, citrusy scent. It removes the dry/tight feeling my face usually has after washing and sinks in super fast. 

InstaNatural Youth Express Eye Gel ingredients
And finally the Youth Express Eye Gel. As I mentioned before, my under eye area is extreeemely dry. This wonderful gel hydrates my eye area and feels cool on my skin. Almost as though I placed chilled cucumbers over my eyes, lol.  Its a great pick-me-up first thing in the morning. It also works well under my makeup and doesn't cause my concealer/foundation to apply patchy or crease.

Overall, I'm very happy with these skin care products from InstaNatural. Since I'm a skin care junkie I'm always on the lookout for something new, but based on the way these have made my skin look and feel, I'm gonna wait until the bottles are empty before adding new products to my skincare rountine. 

Okay, that last part was a lie, lol. But these are really good products at a really great price! They can all be purchased from Amazon.com



Product provided for my consideration. All reviews are my own honest and unbiased opinions.
I don't about anyone else, but I hate washing my makeup brushes. I usually wait about a week until they're all dirty before I set out cleaning them. With that in mind, I was excited to try this daily brush cleaner from ELF in the hopes I could just spray my brushes down after I use them and they'd be clean.

To my disappointment it didn't work out that way. I tested the cleaner on 2 of my brushes, gave them a few spritz each and vigorously rubbed them against a cotton wash cloth. I have to admit that it didn't take them nearly as long to dry as they do with soap and water. I think thats because the ELF cleaner is something like 90% alcohol ( I also wonder if this will negatively affect the fibers of my brushes with extended use).

After the brushes were dry, they looked only slightly less caked with product than they did when I first started.

On the upside, the bottle of cleaner was much larger than I expected it to be, and so will probably last a long time. I read a bunch of reviews that complained about the smell of this product, but to me it wasn't that big of a deal and didn't offend my nose at all.

Since this is a "Daily" brush cleaner, I'm going to give it another try with brushes that only have one days worth of makeup on them as opposed to about 7 and see if that makes a diff in the way this stuff performs. Like most of ELF's products, this is super cheap. Its in the studio line and costs $3.00.


Every winter I start to notice small lines forming on forehead and my normally oily skin dries up into a crispy cracker like state. Last winter I used a combination of pure vitamin e oil and coconut oil at night to combat this. But this year I'm going to do something different. I happened to find the original German Nivea at my local Wal Mart and since I've read so many rave reviews about, I'm going to test it out for the next few weeks. Supposedly, the Nivea contains the same ingredients as the super pricey La Mer cream and works just as well. Now I've never used the La Mer, or heck even seen it in person and for $130.00 (per freakin OUNCE!!) I probably never will. But I'm thinking the Nivea might be pretty good.

Anyway the Nivea cream has a thick, velvety consistency. It leaves an oily sheen on my face after I've applied it but yet my face feels kinda wet, if that makes sense. I've only used it twice so far and it takes a good 15 minutes to fully absorb into my skin, so this probably isn't something I can use in the morning when I'm rushing out to school.

*Update: While this did moisturize my skin really well, it also clogged my pores and caused small clusters of pimples on my forehead and cheeks. I tried to keep using it thinking that my skin was just purging and would adjust, but after more than 3 weeks with no sign of the pimples going anywhere, I had to call it quits on Nivea :(