CURRENT SKINCARE (JANUARY 2023)

As a fragrance and cosmetics blog, I don't talk about cosmetics enough. It's partly because it takes a while for you to thoroughly test them and for you to see results, but it's also because I have more perfume samples than skincare products.

I recently finished using iUNIK's Beta Glucan Daily Moisture Cream. This watery great has moisturizing, skin barrier improving/healing, anti-aging, collagen boosting, and toning benefits. It's lightweight, and it didn't make me too oily. (I have relatively normal skin with an oily nose.) Because of its lightweight, watery texture, it's better in the summer or daytime. I used it day and night. 

I noticed that I needed more moisture in the fall and winter, so I had to layer several serums with it. 

I used the cream with serum from the same brand and line. It's nice, with the same pros as the cream, but I don't think much of it because it looks like the other niacinamide or hyaluronic acid serums I used in the past. 

Skin looks and feels about the same. 

I stopped using Tretinoin from Curology because I didn't want to pay for it anymore. I'm now using retinol from The Inkey List. Nothing spectacular or to write home about, but it's enough.

My pore size and amount of sebaceous filaments have not improved or gotten worse, so cutting out Curology wasn't too bad. I didn't notice much of a difference when I used tretinoin or when I stopped. Didn't experience purging either. 

I'm also using The Inkey List's peptide moisturizer and their Vitamin B, C, and E moisturizer. I've used it before. Picked it arbitrarily because it's cheap. But looking at the sizes now, I wonder if I really did save money?

I've mentioned this before but have pore/sebaceous filament issues. Using PanOxyl's benzoyl peroxide has helped a lot. The pores look a little smaller, and there are fewer filaments. 

I do have something to rave about. 

All the hype for Beauty of Joseon Relief Sun is well-deserved. A comfortable, layer-able, non-irritating, and elegant formula. I don't experience pilling, white-cast, a weird waxy film, or strong sunscreen smells. Great sunscreen. Highly recommend. I bought two more tubes. One for me and my mother or sister, whoever wants it. 

I've been rotating between my Beauty of Joseon and the terrible mineral sunscreen from Make p:rem I reviewed before. I still experience white cast and waxiness.

Lastly, I picked up Tatcha's birthday gift sample from Sephora and was disappointed. This is what y'all have been raving about?! I wasn't a fan of most products because they were fragranced. I don't like fragranced skincare products; fragrance irritates my skin. (Yet here I am with a perfume review blog.)

There's a sample of their dewy skin cream (purple jar,) and it was a little too heavy for me, even as a night cream. I felt oily when I woke up in the morning. There's also the rice wash. I didn't read anything about the product, so I didn't know that it has gentle exfoliants. It's not the most even exfoliation. The first part of your face you wash will have the most exfoliation, and the granules dissolve immediately after/before you get other parts of your face. 

Even though these were samples, I still used sparing amounts because it's an expensive brand. Not very impressed. 

I recently finished my Petitfee Oil Blossom Lip Mask, so now I'm using CARENEL, which is awful. 1) the fragrance is terrible, artificial, and reminiscent of the cheap lip gloss I got at Chuck E. Cheese. 2) my lips feel itchy and tingly. I take back what I said about this being a dupe for Laneige. Stick to Petitfee!

That's all I've been using for skincare. It's super basic. I browsed on Stylevana for new products, but I'm often overwhelmed, so I quit and stick to what I like. There aren't any skincare products I want to try, but I did purchase this haircare set from them because of an Instagram post. Stylevana haul coming soon!