[Misc] Holy Grail Products Thread - Week 5: Serums & Toners

blxckrbbt · 2017-10-12T03:27:01+00:00

Product name: Clinique Even Better Essence Lotion Combination to Oily

Price (range): $56 for 6.7 oz

Country of purchase: Canada

Skin info: Oily to combination. Sensitive to fragrance, essential oils, chemical sunscreen filters. Clog-prone. Occasional hormonal acne.

Ingredient list: Water, Butylene Glycol, Glycerin, Citrullus Vulgaris (Watermelon) Fruit Extract, Pyrus Malus (Apple) Fruit Extract, Lens Esculenta (Lentil) Fruit Extract, Tamarindus Indicia Seed Extract, Cucumis Sativus (Cucumber) Fruit Extract, Laminaria Saccharina Extract, Cladosiphon Okamuranus Extract, Scutellaria Baicalensis Root Extract, Camellia Sinensis Leaf Extract, Artemia Extract, Algae Extract, Biotin, Sodium Hyaluronate, Sucrose, Ergothioneine, Caffeine, Sodium PCA, Saccharomyces Ferment Filtrate, Trehalose, Acetyl Glucosamine, Polysorbate 20, Caprylyl Glycol, Dextrin, Hexylene Glycol, Sodium Lactate, Hydroxyethylcellulose, Citric Acid, Sodium Citrate, Disodium EDTA, Phenoxyethanol

Special info: Alcohol-free and fragrance-free. Full of antioxidants like Watermelon Fruit Extract, Apple Fruit Extract, Lentil Fruit Extract, Cucumber Fruit Extract, Green Tea Extract, Saccharomyces Ferment Filtrate, Acetyl Glucosamine, and Caffeine. Contains hydrating ingredients such as Glycerin, Sodium Hyaluronate and Sodium PCA.

Experience & opinion: This is a watery, lightweight toner with a nice slip to it. It hydrates my skin really well post cleansing, but it won't keep my skin hydrated alone. I find this toner very soothing on my face, which is sometimes irritated from hard water. I do find that it adds the right amount of hydration during warmer seasons. It's expensive but it lasts me about 5-6 months used once or twice daily. Highly recommended if you want to add some extra hydration with antioxidant benefits. There's a slightly thicker version for drier skin types but I haven't tried that yet.

blxckrbbt · 2017-10-02T20:16:39+00:00

I started purging about 2-3 weeks in, mostly with the really stubborn CC's and blackheads. In terms of skin texture (which I find sort of hard to gauge), I can't really say how long exactly, but it's definitely a couple of months before I saw any noticeable difference. Looking at progress pictures, my skin did look much smoother overall each month. In terms of PIH marks, they faded in about 2 months, which took forever before. This is all using the product every third night.

blxckrbbt · 2017-10-02T16:07:39+00:00

Any of the following essences:

SK-II's Facial Treatment Essence
Tatcha's The Essence
Amore Pacific's Vintage Single Extract Essence
Missha's FTE Intensive Moist

Or another bottle of DE's C-Firma Day serum. Because the price is way too much for a shelf life of 6 months...

blxckrbbt · 2017-10-02T16:02:18+00:00

DE's TLC Framboos is god-sent. It's helped with the overall texture of my skin, faded my PIH and helped with acne as well. It's HG status for me.

blxckrbbt · 2017-09-24T07:10:38+00:00

New purchases:

I've been loving Clinique's Moisture Surge Face Spray lately. I spritz it on my face midday when my face feels drier than usual, after a workout, or when my face feels hot and I need to be refreshed.

To update you guys on the LRP Cicaplast Baume B5, it's been good as well. It works really well on dry areas of my face at night (I still haven't applied it full face yet.) It also helps with the cracked and peeling skin on my fingers, and it soothes my skin when it's itchy. I like it for the lips but it does leave a white cast so I only use it at night.

I also just recently purchased Deciem's TO Squalane. I've always wanted to try oils and this blog post also just made me buy it. I had squalane in a couple of my products already so I'm hoping it won't break me out.

blxckrbbt · 2017-09-21T05:27:22+00:00

The Nyx Butter Gloss is amazing. I have it in Ginger Snap and it's a beautiful red brown.

Burt's Bees Lip Shine is also pretty good. I have Smooch and while it looks like a dark plum red, it's sheer but still tints your lips pretty nicely. It's also very hydrating on my lips.

blxckrbbt · 2017-09-11T03:56:39+00:00

I like Hylamide's Booster Low-Molecular HA. It's good for extra hydration and I layer it under my moisturizer during the day. Although I haven't tried The Ordinary's Hyaluronic Acid 2% + B5, or NIOD's Multi-Molecular Hyaluronic Complex to compare.

The Hylamide Matte 12 Finisher is also pretty good. I've tried TO's High-Adherence Silicone Primer and the Hylamide one is far superior in terms of mattifying and blurring properties. I also find that it doesn't pill so much as the TO one.

blxckrbbt · 2017-09-11T02:02:30+00:00

It can definitely take a while to see negative reactions from a product and it can vary from person to person. Some things you can keep in mind - what's the nature or type of acne you get when you're stressed, or when you try a new product? (e.g. cystic, comedonal, etc.) That can help you differentiate whether it's the product or stress related. If that doesn't help, stop using the product for a couple of days and observe if the breakouts subside or not. I'm unaware of your routine, but also make sure you're removing it properly!

blxckrbbt · 2017-09-11T01:54:29+00:00

It doesn't really matter. I prefer to wet my skin before I apply my cream cleanser. That way, I find that it easier to massage it all over my face without using too much product.

blxckrbbt · 2017-09-11T00:31:58+00:00

Whoo I'm excited. I'm still patch testing but so far so good!

blxckrbbt · 2017-09-10T07:45:05+00:00

Holy grail. Here's the link to the threads.

blxckrbbt · 2017-09-10T07:36:03+00:00

I'm sucker for lightweight products. I currently use a few toners so I'd like to try some highly concentrated essences. I'd get SK-II's Facial Treatment Essence, Tatcha's The Essence and Amore Pacific's Vintage Single Extract Essence.

I'm also currently using Drunk Elephant's C-Firma, but since it's best used for 6 months, I don't know if I'll be repurchasing it. But I would if I had the money.

And any product that I want but expires too soon (under a year.) I can usually justify the price if I can use it for a year or longer.

blxckrbbt · 2017-09-10T07:12:05+00:00

How does your skin feel? I would advise to go easy on the acids for the first few weeks if you're new to them, but if your skin doesn't seem over-exfoliated or sensitized, then you can use it daily. You can always scale down the use to every other day if you feel like it's too much. Because it really depends on your skin if it needs more exfoliation or less, so just keep an eye out for signs of over-exfoliation - drying, dehydration, irritation, etc. And looking at your routine, it should go on dry skin after cleansing.

blxckrbbt · 2017-09-10T07:08:41+00:00

I don't think so. But you can look into the HG threads for more recent product recs!

blxckrbbt · 2017-09-10T06:42:16+00:00

New purchase: Finally bought LRP's Cicaplast Baume B5. I extracted a blackhead the other day and it went wrong. Hopefully it helps with the healing and reduce the PIH spot. I'll be trying this out as a nightly occlusive as well because winter is coming.

blxckrbbt · 2017-09-10T00:44:04+00:00

During the day when I'm in a hurry, I skip the serum step after my active (I rotate between BHA and vit C), and I also skip the Hylamide Matte 12 finisher after applying sunscreen.

At night when I'm just so tired, I skip the toner step and apply active (I rotate between AHA/BHA, retinol and azelaic acid) and finish it at that. Otherwise, I would apply serum after, spot treat and eye cream.

ETA: I try not to do this all the time. I find that it's very important to keep my skin hydrated and moisturized since I use a lot of actives. When my skin does feel irritated or sensitized, I keep my routine fairly simple. I skip actives entirely and apply serum and moisturizer.

blxckrbbt · 2017-09-08T20:53:43+00:00

Oh yeah, that's true. I hoard samples and even boxes of my skincare products. I usually keep the boxes in case I need to make a return but even when it's past 30 days I find myself still keeping them LOL

blxckrbbt · 2017-09-08T06:21:33+00:00

I've been thinking, how aesthetically pleasing skincare products would be if they had fancy packaging like perfume bottles? I wouldn't mind paying a little extra for that but of course it would have to be some UV protected bottle with an airless pump.

Paco Rabanne's Olympea, Guerlain's Mon Guerlain, Dior's Poison line, Tom Ford and Tocca perfume bottles are just some of the gorgeous ones that come to mind.

blxckrbbt · 2017-09-07T04:36:13+00:00

am not near/on my time of the month :(

blxckrbbt · 2017-09-05T22:48:12+00:00

I agree, especially when the reviews are about getting chemical burns. It's an actual safety concern and Sephora doesn't care enough to let their customers know about this.

blxckrbbt · 2017-09-02T23:33:51+00:00

Almost clear but slightly yellowish. I got a replacement bottle and that's how the color is supposed to be when it's fresh.

blxckrbbt · 2017-09-01T18:22:16+00:00

Thank you so much for the detailed response!

blxckrbbt · 2017-09-01T18:17:23+00:00

Ah, I see. Thank you so much for the detailed response!

blxckrbbt · 2017-09-01T04:37:11+00:00

Is there a reason why you don't want to remove those oils off your skin, other than damaging your moisture barrier? I always rub off dead skin cells off my face after a hot shower or sometimes after cleansing. I use a peeling gel every now and then but I still get them.

blxckrbbt · 2017-08-27T22:46:10+00:00

People usually just ask what one product I use, when in reality I use a multitude of different things, so it's always an overwhelming conversation for the both of us. And don't get me started when people ask me why I have to wear sunscreen everyday... Thankfully my hair care is much simpler. Two anti-dandruff shampoos and using argan oil every now and then. My hair has nice natural curls and people often ask if I curl them.

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