I’ve been on a bit of a binge recently. With my daily life a bit different now, studying/applying for jobs all day and maybe the gym if I feel up to it, my focus has shifted a bit from simply surviving and getting by to now actually trying to live through the moments. Paying attention to the small details of life instead of just trying to get from one thing to another. What currently has my attention is skincare/makeup.
Some people might say that I’ve always had this obsession but a couple things are different. For about ten years I’ve been using the same toner and acne treatment. It started when my acne got really bad and my aunt recommended it when we went for a visit in NY.
Clearproof (previously Mary Kay) cleaned up my acne incredibly fast and it was easy to follow the steps. Also living in the states also made it easy to get off of Amazon. What I did notice was that missing a couple days led to a breakout so I’ve just never missed more than a day. Now that I’m in Canada it’s not that easy so get it. There’s always that chance that I won’t be able to get backups in time so I’ve been trying new products to see what can be good substitutes. Between my Ipsy subscription giving me samples and Sephora being so accessible (maybe too accessible) I’ve found some great products that I found actually work to keep my skin managed.
For one I’ve changed my face wash from any generic drugstore I could find to one that has in a couple active ingredients to help me out.
Along with changing my face wash I’ve taken to spending more time actually washing my face and massaging the face wash into my skin. If I’m going to spend the money on a pricey face wash I want to make sure it spends as much time as possible on my face before I wash it off. It’s a gel based cleanser with Salicylic Acid that gets sudsy pretty easily and my skin feels nice after I wash it off. If I happen to have a breakout it does help to clear it up a bit faster so that’s great. And worth the money thankfully.
For a toner I haven’t found one that I know works as well as the Clearproof one from Mary Kay. I’m not sure I want to give up that toner just yet but at night I’ve been using the Pixi toners which I think are good for what I need them to do, hold me over until I use the Clear Proof toner again.
I’ve used both the Glow tonic as well as the Retinol tonic but if I’m using a Retinol already I prefer to just use the Glow tonic. I also tried the Retinol oil from Pixi but I seem to break out on my forehead every time I use it for some reason. I know your skin may breakout or purge from using a Retinol but I didn’t get his from using the Luna oil from Sunday Riley sooooo I’m not sure what’s going on there. And the breakouts are only on my forehead which is weird.
Unsurprisingly, sitting in my Sephora cart waiting for me is another full sized product that I got to try through Ipsy. It’s the Murad Essential C Moisture Broad Spectrum SPF 30.
I almost got the full sized product through Ipsy but because of shipping to Canada or something it didn’t make it so now I have to get it from Sephora. This is one of the first white looking moisturizers with SPF that actually rubs in completely into my skin without leaving a white cast. That’s almost unheard of! I’m really liking the Murad brand, maybe a bit too much because now I want to try everything!
There are a couple more samples I’ve been loving but these are the ones that made me have to have the full size. I haven’t even touched on face masks! Those are another part of skincare I’ve been loving but I haven’t found many that I absolutely love so if you know of any I should try just let me know. Keep in mind I have oily to normal skin 🙂
Carla Jones 
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