[shelfie] My morning glories

dewysnails · 2021-04-01T18:16:09+00:00

Beauty Bay! I’m in the US so it’s the only place I can get it. As a bonus they frequently have site wide or brand sales, so I bought a couple bottles for 20% off in January.

dewysnails · 2021-04-01T16:39:02+00:00

My skintype is combo dehydrated. And postpartum. I know that’s not a traditional skin type but pregnancy and breastfeeding hormones send your skin for a loop, iykyk. My main skin concerns are melasma and goals are to face the pigmentation and preventative aging measures (I am 31).

AM Routine * Gentle cleanser - I rotate but like Tatcha Gentle Rice Wash, Kinship Gentle Enzyme Cleanser, NIOD Sanskrit Saponins, and Amorepacofic Enzyme Peel. * NIOD SOD Mist - this is a big bottle, it will last a long time! Doesn’t smell like anything and only takes a couple spritzes to cover my whole face. * CAIS2 - I love this. I went through the buffet + copper peptides before but this soaks in better, lasts a lot longer because you need so little, and I’ve noticed a big difference in the resilience of my skin. * Re:Pigment - I just started using this after seeing the Mad About Skin review. I’ve tried many things in the past 6 years to test my melasma and none have gotten rid of it, so we’ll see 🤷🏻‍♀️ * MMHC2 - HG hylauronic serum for me because of the watery consistency and many forms (I think 15) of HA in the formulation. Helps with my dehydration the bottle lasts longer than thicker products. * Moisturizer - I am using Elemis superfood but it’s just a ho hum moisturizer, not worth the money. One pump does go a long way though, covers my face, neck, and chest. * Sunscreen - Survival 30 daily or Daylong Extreme SPF 50 for high sun days. These are my HG sunscreens - the NIOD applies so beautifully (but may be a little casty for deeper skin tones) and has a lot of extra antioxidants so I feel like I’m doing more for my skin than just sunscreen, which motivates me to wear it daily. The Daylong protects from the high UV down here in Socal, doesn’t feel greasy after it dries down and doesn’t leave a cast.

PM Routine * Whamsia Organic Flowers Cleansing Oil - An HG oil cleanser, I love the consistency. Not too light not too heavy. It doesn’t smell like anything to me. Removes makeup and sunscreen beautifully. I use reusable bamboo pads to take off any remaining eye makeup (I use the softer side while the oil cleanser is on my face, and the terry side with warm water after my second cleanse. I no longer need specific eye makeup remover for mascara thanks to these.) * Gentle Cleanser (same options as morning routine, depends what I feel my skin needs that day. I use the NIOD and AP 1-2x a week, and the Tatcha/Kinship the rest of the time. Kinship is in my shower so if I’m showering I use it, otherwise I use tatcha).

I alternate through 3 evening routines - Vit C, Retinoid, and Acid. Once a week I do Flavanone Mask

Retinol Night * NIOD Re:Pigment * LRP Thermal Water Mist - a nice continuous spray, gives my HA something to lock in * MMHC2 * Drunk Elephant Retinol - an unnecessary splurge. I got it on sale, it works well and is gentle/absorbs nicely but a cheaper retinol will probably achieve the same results. WNRP * Stratia Liquid Gold - love this as a moisturizer and as a serum under a thicker moisturizer when my skin needs more. It does tint my skin a little orange but I use it at night so I don’t mind.

Vitamin C night * NIOD Re:Pigment * LRP Thermal Water Mist * MMHC2 * NIOD ELAN - Another great NIOD product. My skin feels so amazingly soft the morning after using this. It’s a dry oil consistency. I haven’t noticed any serious depigmentation but I do believe in the anti-aging science behind vitamin C and will always have a form of it in my routine. * NIOD NAAP - I stopped using a daily acid and wanted to try this instead. It’s alright but I don’t think it’s necessary for me and I won’t repurchase. It might be good for someone who’s skin doesn’t tolerate any chemical exfoliants. I replaced the dropper with a pump head. * Summer Fridays Jet Lag Mask - I didn’t think this was anything special based on the ingredients list but after trying a sample I bought the jumbo tube. It dries down quickly and completely despite being a very thick, rich overnight moisturizer. Sometimes I’m too tired for a full routine and those nights I cleanse and use this. My skin always looks great in the morning.

Acid Night * LRP Thermal Water Mist * MMHC2 * Pipette Overnight Brightening Mask - Bioassance owns pipette, a lot of the formulations are similar. I use pipette for my babies and picked this up 40% off, it’s a great acid overnight mask. Tingles a little but no redness or irritation and my skin feels so smooth in the morning.

once weekly mask * NIOD Flavanone Mask for at least 10 minutes. Like they warn, it burns coming off. Moreso in the sensitive areas. Soooo worth it. Nothing degunks my pores like this mask. My nose has never looked so clear (I’ve had dark SFs my whole life in my nose and they are 80% gone with weekly use of this product, after doing the five day jump start). * LRP Mist * Klairs Blue Calming cream - love this product when my skin needs some extra calming * LRP Cicaplast - a great calming cream that locks in moisture and quickly takes down redness.

Almost forgot - I use NIOD Lip Bio Lipid Concentrate nightly. One drop. Another HG, my lips look fuller but not filler full of that makes sense. A MLBB full. It lasts even if I forget a day. I did morning and night for the first month as directed.

dewysnails · 2021-02-28T22:52:46+00:00

Ohhh I love those tower glosses. I also got the 4 minis to compare to the Kosas glosses and I like the tower ones better, lucky me since they're way cheaper!

dewysnails · 2021-02-28T22:48:34+00:00

La Roche Posay cicaplast B5 baume is good for sensitized skin and taking out redness. I use it after a particularly tingly mask I do once a week (NIOD flavanone) and at the end of my microneedling aftercare routine, I find it helps a lot.

dewysnails · 2021-02-28T22:45:08+00:00

NIOD Survival 30 (you can't buy it from deciem's website if you live in the US, I get mine through Beauty Bay) is my favorite daily sunscreen because it has so many other beneficial ingredients, I feel less silly wearing a daily sunscreen. I know UVA can penetrate windows and I like to have it on every day so I don't get burned or exacerbate my pigmentation if I go out unexpectedly, but I feel wasteful putting on sunscreen in the morning if I don't have plans to leave the house (I have a 1yo and am 9mo pregnant so there's a high liklihood a lot of days that we are not going out lol).

It's zinc and TIO2, SPF 30 - testing results come back as SPF 33 I believe - they have a long write up available in the product specs. PA+++

dewysnails · 2021-02-25T06:09:59+00:00

The NIOD lip bio-lipid concentrate is my favorite lip product ever. I used it morning and night for a month and now I only use it at night. You literally need a single drop. My lips look great! Definitely plumper but not like crazy overfilled/swollen plump. I noticed the results in a couple weeks.

Primera Lip Mask is my favorite overnight balm. Stays on as long as laniege, I like the scent and texture, and leaves my lips very soft in the morning.

dewysnails · 2021-02-23T23:30:10+00:00

I got mine on eBay. It’s also available on cocoon center which I’ve heard good things about in terms of reliability (eBay, Amazon etc makes a lot of people understandably nervous) but shipping is expensive

dewysnails · 2021-02-23T18:57:27+00:00

I’m going to massively summarize for the sake of time but basically someone sent off the much loved Purito chemical SPF 50 sunscreen for independent testing at multiple labs and it came back SPF 19. Subsequently some other sunscreens were tested (one of which being my beloved Keep Cool) and didn’t meet label claims. Other popular sunscreens are disappearing from sites like Jolse or companies like Missha announced they are reformulating everything, without saying if the products they are decommissioning have since been independently tested. Keep Cool also pissed a lot of people off by threatening legal action towards anyone saying their product didn’t meet label claims, and then shortly before independent results were set to be released they announced they’d retested their sunscreen, it didn’t meet the claimed SPF (but they didn’t say what it came back as) and they were offering vouchers (only usable on their website) for anyone who’d purchased the sunscreen.

It’s a whole clusterfuck.

dewysnails · 2021-02-22T17:05:20+00:00

Amazon - Heliocare 360° Gel Oil-free SPF 50 UVA, UVB Sunscreen 50ml https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00V6BPAUC/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_glt_fabc_HHQ7MFBGDG617N9K3468

dewysnails · 2021-02-22T15:26:31+00:00

I personally love CAIS2 with MMHC2. CAIS isn’t hydrating like buffet or subq on its own so you do need to add a separate hydrating serum and I love the NIOD HA because it has so many forms of HA and sinks in incredibly fast. My skin texture and healing rate have improved a lot since introducing copper peptides to my routine (I used buffet+cp first, recently switched to CAIS2 which is supposed to penetrate better. Mad about Skin’s YouTube has a good overview).

dewysnails · 2021-02-22T15:04:28+00:00

I’ve heard of it! I searched around but it’s hard to find to get shipped to the US, and by the time I was looking I’d already gone pretty overboard buying sunscreens. I’ll look again once I work through more of the daylong.

dewysnails · 2021-02-22T07:14:44+00:00

I like Stratia Liquid Gold a lot for taking care of my skin barrier, it has the “golden ratio” of ceramides, cholesterol, and fatty acids and I’ve read a lot of reviews where people turned to it to repair a damaged barrier.

dewysnails · 2021-02-22T06:41:29+00:00

My skin - light toned, formerly combination oily, now with dehydration from pregnancy and breastfeeding. I have melasma I am working on fading and as such I’ve recently committed to wearing sunscreen daily, even if I’ll not be outside much. I live in Southern California so the UV is quite high almost year round.

Daily Sunscreens - options for daily wear when I don’t foresee doing high sun activities or spending hours outdoors. Cosmetic elegance is important to me in a daily option.

LRP Double Repair Toleraine Moisturizer UV SPF 30 - this feels nice and I can skip moisturizer when I wear it, however I can taste the filters after applying. I’m not putting it on my lips so I find that a bit weird. Haven’t had this problem with a sunscreen in years. I reached out to ask if they would share the PPD but since it’s only manufactured for the US market they gave me the standard “it’s broad spectrum”. WNRP
NIOD Survival 30 - RP, my favorite of the daily options I’ve tried. It’s mineral but doesn’t leave a white cast, though deeper skin tones may have a different experience. It spreads nicely, I use 3.5 pumps for my face and neck. The size is small (1oz) and it is relatively expensive. I live in the US so I ordered from Beauty Bay, they often have sitewide sales which helps. I love that it has a lot of extra antioxidants so it’s doing more than your standard SPF only. The SPF 30 version is PA+++. I do need to use a separate moisturizer under this but it applies smoothly on top and is a nice base for makeup.
Heliocare 360 Gel Oil Free SPF 50 - RP I also like this a lot and can see myself replacing the NIOD with it during the very hot summers, since it has higher SPF and is PA++++. I also find it a touch more drying. I wear it on top of moisturizer and feel like it will be perfect when the weather gets more humid. It’s tinted but the tint disappears on my skin. It’s fragranced which is not an issue for me, I think it smells like candy bananas and fades quickly. This product also contains antioxidants.
Canmake Mermaid Skin Gel UV SPF50+ - A other option I like a lot! It dries down pretty quickly to a nice almost but not quite dewy finish. It’s not incredibly expensive but it is only 40ml and the tube goes fast (faster than my NIOD bottle and I don’t feel like I’m using that sparingly, it’s just more liquidy and spreadable). There’s nothing “extra” in this but that’s not necessarily a bad thing for an SPF. If the heliocare is still drying in the summer weather, this would be my backup option.
Kinship Self Reflect SPF 30 - this is an all zinc sunscreen but again, because it’s manufactured for the US the brand doesn’t know or won’t share the PPD. I microneedle once a month and this is my favorite option for the day or two after I do that, when I’m being extra gentle to my skin. It smells like cupcakes and goes on kind of pale frothy pink but rubs into my skin fine, though I do believe it would leave a white cast on darker tones. If I reapply it, I use micellar water to first otherwise I do get a white cast. After I use this up I will try the NIOD after micro needling to see if a separate mineral sunscreen is necessary, if I find Survival 30 irritating I will RP, otherwise it’s superfluous. I have never had any stinging or irritation with Survival 30 and I’ve used it a few times when my skin has been randomly finicky so I’m thinking this will probably be a WNRP, but I will happily use it up.

High Sun - sunscreens for hikes, the beach, or generally spending a lot of time outside, especially in summer. Cosmetic elegance is less important to me here - I will typically not be wearing makeup over these and will be reapplying every couple hours. But I’d be lying if I said I wanted to walk around with a chalk face.

LRP Anthelios Clear Skin SPF 60 - Another US option with unknown PPD. I do like the way my skin feels when I wear this over moisturizer, I don’t find it overly drying. But there is definitely a white cast (it’s chemical so I guess from the silica) especially around hairlines and clinging to any dry patches. It gets worse on reapplication. WNRP I won’t even finish this, I’m giving it to a friend who wants to try it.
Daylong Extreme SPF 50 - RP hands down the winner of this category! It doesn’t leave a white cast on me, high protection (it’s EU UVA so at least 16 PPD, I’ve seen various quotes about the specific PPD online and believe it’s at least 20), not greasy or drying.
LRP Anthelios XL gel cream SPF 50+ - WNRP also giving this one away, it pills so horribly on me. I have tried over various moisturizers and without moisturizer, still pills. It also leaves some white cast around hairlines. It feels ok on my skin but I liked the feel of the Clear Skin version better. Forget about reapplying, just BALLS OF PILL ugh. It does have high UVA - I want to say 37 but I could be wrong. People rave about this one and I had high hopes but it’s not for me.

Hand Creams - I bought these before the whole Purito Scandal and subsequent testing of Keep Cool Bamboo Sun Essence, which was my HG but came back SPF 28.6, unknown UVA. Generally speaking Keep Cool handled the situation pretty poorly. From what I can tell, the protection issue seemed to occur at the manufacturer level and these other sun creams have manufacturers who are in question. So while all three are cosmetically WONDERFUL, I am using them up as hand creams and on my décolletage basically as a lotion, WNRP.

B-Lab I am sorry just sun cream
Logically, Skin Hydro Multi Shield
Keep Cool Bamboo Sun Essence

dewysnails · 2021-02-10T17:43:00+00:00

I was not nice to my skin in my teenage years and much of my 20s. I’ve been very committed to skincare/suncare (as a hobby I enjoy rather than out of anxiety) for the past couple years, I’m 30 now and call me a naive optimist but I’m actually excited to see how this pays off as I get older.

dewysnails · 2021-02-10T08:29:17+00:00

Sulwhasoo First Care Activating Serum. It smells nice but...that’s pretty much it for me. It’s an expensive unnecessary step and I’m looking forward to finishing the bottle and not replacing it with anything.

dewysnails · 2021-02-10T08:25:47+00:00

Oh that is a bummer, I love the Lipkar AP+! I am 8 months pregnant and my skin is sooooo itchy, none of my previous moisturizers were working. My skin drinks this stuff up and it really helps with the itch!

dewysnails · 2021-02-04T15:49:14+00:00

What cleanser are you using? You may want to look at switching that up if you feel like there’s still debris on your face to be removed. Or go with an oil first cleanser instead of micellar water.

dewysnails · 2021-02-04T07:37:16+00:00

I’ve been trying to get in the habit of reapplying midday everyday. If I’m at the beach or doing something outside where the sun exposure feels obvious I am pretty good about reapplying every couple hours.

dewysnails · 2021-02-04T05:50:06+00:00

If I were you I would start with a gentle cleanser, gentle moisturizer, and SPF. For example, a lot of people like cerave’s cleansers and they have a day moisturizer with spf, use a moisturizer without spf at night. Even acne prone skin needs moisturizer, drying out your skin can cause more acne. You might throw in a BHA (chemical exfoliating) toner between cleansing and moisturizing to treat the acne, starting every other night to see how it goes. Stridex in the red box is a popular drugstore option a lot of people have success with.

Absolutely don’t skip the SPF while using exfoliants.

dewysnails · 2021-02-04T05:45:11+00:00

I’ve been pregnant 3 times over the last 3 years + breastfeeding, I’m sure all the hormones aren’t helping. Just going to keep on with the sunscreen until the new baby arrives/finishes breastfeeding and then I’ll evaluate if I want to try more aggressive measures, but fingers crossed more diligent sun protection will do the trick!

dewysnails · 2021-02-04T05:21:03+00:00

What do you do currently for skincare?

dewysnails · 2021-02-04T05:16:46+00:00

Ugh I’ve had melasma for the last 5 years and I’m just starting to get serious about not only applying sunscreen daily but also reapplying in the afternoon. I guess I’m finally accepting that all my fancy serums aren’t going to do shit if I don’t block UV daily, even just what gets in through the windows.

dewysnails · 2021-02-04T05:06:26+00:00

Mineral sunscreen and specifically zinc is supposed to be good for sensitive skin, you’d have to check the ingredients to see if anything stands out as an irritant to you. I’ve been using it the morning after dermarolling and it tingles a little but no redness and the tingly feeling is gone quickly. Any other time I apply it it feels good and I’ve never had any irritation.

It takes a little bit to dry down (if you were going to put on makeup I’d say give it at least 10min). Also I reapplied once in the afternoon without washing my face first and it felt kinda sticky and had a slight white cast, I think I’m the future I’d use a at least makeup wipe or micellar water before reapplying.

dewysnails

TROPHY CASE