My Top 10 Skincare Products!

Hey guys I have a fun (and hopefully helpful) post for you guys today! I've complied a list of my absolute favorite products for my skin. Just some quick info about my skin first so you get an idea of why these work for me, and if they'll work for you. I have oily/acne prone skin with no real wrinkles. I'd say I was a pretty average sensitivity level, I will mention if I think something would bother sensitive skin. These are in no particular order, I thought numbering them would be pointless because they all have different uses. Also all of these are tried and true products for me, not new faves. I've had time to judge my skins reaction properly  Alright let's see 'em!

1.) Lush Ocean Salt Scrub. This is hands down my favorite hard core exfoliant! This scrub has sea salt (duh) to get rid of dead skin and dirt while avocado, lime, and seaweed soften and clear your skin. I generally have some results after just one use. This is a great weekly scrub and fantastic right before a purifying mask. Big big fan! $21.95 USD for 4.2 oz at Lush.

2.) Yesto Tomatoes Daily Balancing Moisturizer. This was a toss up between this product and Lush Vanishing Cream my other favorite. (I chose this one because they work the same on me and this one is less expensive!) This moisturizer is made to keep sebum in check to help oily skin stay healthy instead of greasy. This moisturizer is high in skin boosting antioxidants like tomatoes, and red tea which is great. My skin much smoother and healthier when I use this, but there are a couple other nice things about this product that are more cosmetic. First, it has a pump! Pumps are always the preferred, because they stay sanitary. This is key when you have acne prone skin! Also the yes to tomatoes line has the most amazing scent (expect for the scrub) it smells a little like vanilla spice cake to me. I love it! $14.99 USD Yes to Carrots.

3.) Boots Expert Anti-Blemish Cleansing Foam. I've been using this cleanser for awhile, and I really like it. It's very gentle and fragrance free but takes my makeup off and helps prevent acne with the help of willow bark extract. This one I would definitely recommend for people with sensitive skin. This also works great with my clarisonic, which I'll be mentioning in a little bit. $5.69 USD from Boots

4.) Best Face Forward Daily Foaming Cleanser by Formula 10.0.6. Okay so this cleanser is not for sensitive skin. In fact I need to moisturize after using this stuff. However it is a very effective acne cleanser, for a low cost. The passionfruit green tea scent is really nice too! From Formula 10.0.6 buy for $5.99 USD from walgreens.

5.) The Clarisonic Mia. So this is a tool rather than a product, but I needed to include this on the list! This product has definitely improved my skin, and makes my breakouts heal faster. However my favorite part is that it takes ALL my makeup off. I can put my makeup on at six in the morning, and when I take my makeup off at eleven at night and the brush will be orange with product. It's amazing, but I'm not going to oversell this product. Its a great tool, but it's not life changing super product like a lot of people say it is. So if you're broke, this might not be worth it for you. $125 USD from Clarisonic. 

6.) Lush Fresh Face Masks. I couldn't choose just one! I love lush's fresh face masks, and the good news is that they have one to suit every skin type. My favorite is Cupcake, it controls oil and smells AMAZING. Like chocolate, vanilla, and mint. But I also really like Cosmetic Warrior which is fantastic for controlling acne. There are several others I like too. $6.95 at Lush stores (N/A online)

7.) Lush Dark Angels Scrub. This charcoal scrub is straight up addictive! Dark angels is a much gentler scrub. I use it 2-3 times a week, and I used to use it daily. It makes your skin super soft and the smell becomes an addiction. $12.95 USD for 3.5 oz at Lush.

8.) Mario Badescu Drying Lotion. Okay fellow acne sufferers, this is the hands down the best spot treatment I've ever used. It's a calamine based over night treatment, you dip a clean cotton swab into the pink sediment at the bottom of the bottle, and dad it over your zit. You go to sleep and it reduces or removes the zit. It is the best, no joke. The bottle is small, but it'll last you years. $17.00 USD for 1 oz from Mario Badescu. (P.S if you're at Ulta or at the counter get it in the plastic bottle, trust me.)

9.) Mario Badescu Silver Powder. This powder mask is great for blackheads, and excess oil. Its a little tricky to apply, and leaves a white cast so its definitely a night time mask. This also will last you forever. I've had the same tub for two years and am only half way through it. $12.00 USD for 1 oz from Mario Badescu. 

10.) Finally, I know some of you guys don't have the patience for a whole face routine. While I definitely encourage you to slowly build up a regime, I have the perfect product for you. Formula 10.0.6 Keep Me Clean Wipes. They remove makeup and help fight acne. $5.99 USD at Walgreens.

I hope you liked the post! What are your skincare favorites? Let me know in the comments!

Review: Best Face Forward Cleanser

So I thought I'd do a review of the cleanser I'm currently using, Best Face Forward Daily Foaming Cleanser by Formula 10.0.6 (Thats a long one!) I've been using it for about two-three months so I feel like I can give it a fair review now.  There are some things I feel that I have to cover before I move on.

• If you have combination skin, don't put this near the drier parts of your face, if you have dry with ance, this is NOT the product for you. 
• If you have sensitive skin, I'd do a patch test. I also recommend maybe only doing it every other day.
• But hey I'm not a doctor! So be wary of anything I tell you!

So as you can probably tell by the above warnings, this is pretty strong. During the first couple weeks of using this it really dried out the area around my nose, I remedied this by avoiding the area and adding more moisturizer to the affected area. My skin did get more used to it though, now it just feels a little tight if I don't use moisturizer. It does seem to clear up acne pretty well, I do still get a couple breakouts here and there but nothing major. I should also mention that my skin 'adapts' to acne treatments pretty fast so somethings don't work forever on me. =(

It has a sort of pleasant light fruity smell, not necessarily 'passion fruit and green tea' but I like it. It comes with quite a bit of product. It is pretty foamy, but not so foam I can't use it with my clarisonic. I used maybe a dime sized drop all over my wet face and then use my clarisonic. Then I apply my moisturizer.

I have maybe an 8th of the bottle left, and have yet to decide to repurchase when I run out. I like this, but in the intrest of not letting my skin build up a resistance, I might switch this out for a different cleanser for awhile.

Formula 10.0.6 Best Face Forward Foaming Cleanser $6.99 for 5 fl oz

( I got mine at Walgreens, I know they sell it at Ulta too.)

Review: Lush Vanishing Cream

Heaven in a tub! An eco-friendly tub at that.

I went to lush today, mainly to pick up this lovely product, and I thought to myself "I should do a post on this!". I love Lush Cosmetics with a passion, and when I got a sample of their Vanishing Cream moisturizer a couple months back it quickly became one of my favorites.

Now let me state that I have oily, ance prone skin, that doesn't need a lot of extra moisture. This moisturizer is perfect for that, it has lavender for balancing skin and soothing redness/ inflammation  from ance. Plus witch hazel to tone, and grape seed oily to make your skin seriously smooth.

A little goes a very very long way with this stuff, I used the sample I got almost every night for two months straight! I just ran out a couple days ago and I seriously started to miss the feel and smell at night. Its $39.95 for 1.5 oz, and although thats a little on the steep side for me, I have no doubt this will last me nearly all year.

Its super lightweight, and sinks into your skin really fast. It never feels too greasy or oily, and has a lovely lavender scent. I really can't say enough about this product. Also on an unrelated side note going into Lush is always such a good experience. The SA's always seem genuinely nice, not pushy and fake, they also really want to teach you about all the natural ingredients. Also it smells beyond amazing, I can't even describe the scent of a Lush store. Okay I'm done now.

You can buy this here...
Or find a store near you here!
1.5 for $34.95

This was purchased with my own money, pictures are my own.

Face Mask Review!

Alright, so I finally tried out a face mask from Montagne Jeunesse. Frankly I'm shocked that I've never tried any of the their masks, they're so cheap and popular. I think its probably because I only ever see their chocolate face mask, and I'm partial to my Lush cupcake mask when it comes to chocolatey face goodness.

But anywhoo, I was walmart the the other day getting a Hard Candy fix and I saw their Dead Sea Mud Pack. It claims to use "Ultra deep cleansing dead sea minerals to penetrate skin and lift up impurities." Lets see how it fares!

The first thing I noticed upon opening is that it smells like mens aftershave! It doesn't bother me, and its not to strong, but you might wanna watch out if your sensitive to smells. It applies very smoothly, and is a lot creamy the the mud masks I'm used to. I also like the pouch design, it forces me to apply the mask as liberally as intended. (I tend to be a mask miser. ;D) Its very tingly, but not painful. Kind of like that minty tingle you get the first time you apply burts bee's lip balm. The tingly went away in the first few minutes, and though it did tighten as it dried it wasn't crazy joan rivers can't move your face tightening.

After I took it off I noticed two things very quickly:
1: My skin felt really smooth!
2: I was regretting that I didn't put on my normal pre-mask lip balm. My lips felt really dry around the edges. Nothing that a good lip balm couldn't fix though.

So final verdict is, pretty good. Not crazy amazing, but excellent for the price. I would not recommend this for anyone with dry and or sensitive skin, as I found it a little drying on my very oily skin.

This product was purchased by me, photo is my own.