Ok, this post is extremely random, but it is something I have been wanting to do for a while now. I rely very much on product reviews so I feel that it is only fair for me to do my own to contribute, thus helping someone make a decision about investing in a product. Most skin care products that are supposed to be "really good" are quite pricey. I know this as in the past 3 years, I have tried 3 different pricey products. I am not really sure how I began trying these products other than I heard about them and felt my skin looked blah so I thought I would try them. I was tired of trial and error with random products that I ended up not liking and using half the bottle before tossing it in the trash.
The first pricey product I tried was Bare Minerals Rare Minerals (all photos on this post courtesy of google image search).
My friend Shelley told me about this product and I thought it sounded neat. Is is supposedly made from untouched soil/minerals found in another country. (Obviously my memory of the product details is a little foggy.) You apply it at night like a powder and you can use it in the morning under your make up. You can even wear this product as a make up if you get the tinted kind. I really loved the Bare Minerals make up so I was excited about trying their skin care product.
This little baby (and I mean little) will run you about 60 dollars. There were a lot of great reviews about this product but I was not blown away. I don't know what I expected, but I am not sure I could tell a huge difference in my skin. However, I have to say that I was not 100% compliant and I used it at night for a few weeks before I just gave it up out of pure laziness. (When I was using Bare Minerals make up I didn't have to wash my face before bed because it was "natural" so I was hit or miss on this.) The shame, right? Who spends that kind of money on a product and lets it disappear into a drawer? I know, I know....
Product #2 is the hailed WonderBar. I went nuts over this thing. I read all kinds of reviews and researched the website and thought it sounded like the best product ever! I used it during my pregnancy and the thing that appealed to me most, besides the great reviews, was the fact that it was supposed to shrink pore sizes and tighten your skin. That sounds good, right? Well, this tiny bar, the size of a bar of hotel soap, will cost you $45. The price went up since I purchased it at $40 but I am pretty sure it is now $45. Ben made fun of me for months for buying this but I was so excited about it.
The trick to this little bar is wetting your face and then rubbing the bar on your skin. This preserves the bar and mine lasted about 6 months.
I loved this product to begin with. After I used it, my skin had the look of getting a facial. I could tell that it was tight and shiny and it felt really clean. You are supposed to leave the product (also some type of special soil from some other country) on your face for 3-5 minutes before rinsing. (I rarely left it on that long.) This product claims to detoxify your skin and balance the pH. If you purchase this, I highly recommend reading the details on the website about how it works. The first week of use induces what they call a "healing crises" where your skin goes nuts and breaks out because it is getting the "toxins" out of your skin, thus balancing the pH.
The main con of this product, besides the price, is that you can only use certain make-ups while using it and NO mineral make ups (which is what I used). I had to totally switch make up brands to use this product. Also, as I said, it is not compatible with certain make ups but you don't know what make ups. So, that is a pain since make up can be expensive and you don't want to go switching make ups all the time trying to accommodate your expensive skin care.
I used this product over a year before I started to dislike it. (I even bought bars for my sister, mom, and a friend because I loved it so much.) However, after much continued use, I felt that it really dried out my skin. It seemed as thought no moisturizer could fix this problem so I stopped using it and switched to product number three.
Using product #3 was like coming home... Clinique's Skin Care regimen is what I used as a teenager back in the day. I did a little research and thought I would give it another go.
I love it!! I have been using the three products above in a stepwise fashion for about 3 weeks now and I am extremely happy. After using it for less than a week, my skin went back to normal and was more balanced. I really like the way these products make my skin look and feel. I got the three products about plus a bag and a travel size bottle of each product for 65 dollars. That is a special for this time of year and I believe you can get the three above for about $50-$55. After 3 weeks of use, I have barely made a dent in the products.
The main con of this regimen is that the face wash, which is the first step, is to be used AFTER you remove your make up. That means you really have 4 steps. I am a bit of a slacker in that aspect and just splash my face with water to "get off" my make up and then proceed. Works well so far.
Well, that about sums it up. I thought this would be a good post in case some of you were looking for some beauty products for Christmas! Let me know if you have any questions.
I am also familiar with Bare Minerals, Lancome, and Repechage make up. I just switched to Clinique Even Better make up and I love it! I am happy to answer questions about those as well.
