Monday, March 26, 2018

Wishlist 2018


Wants/Curious

My wishlist for 2018, I may or may not buy (or request as a gift) something from here... truly, I don't need anything but I just record things I have taken an interest in. Quite many of these are in luxury product price range for me too. My 2017 Wishlist, I guess still relevant as I haven't found an eye cream/serum or new foundation or sleeping mask or sunscreen or...


* Kicks Beauty Vitamin C peeling pads

* Herbivore Botanicals Lapis Facial Oil

* Burt’s Bees Complete Nourishment Facial Oil 15ml

* EKOPHARMA Helsinki Herukka Siemenöljy (blackcurrant seed oil)

* Green People Facial Sun Cream SPF30 Scent Free 50ml

* Madara Superseed Soothing Hydration Organic Facial Oil

* Sukin Sensitive Facial Moisturiser 125ml

* ELIZABETH ARDEN ADVANCED CERAMIDE CAPSULES

* First Aid Beauty Anti-Redness Serum

* Goodal Sensitive Relief Lotion

* Paula’s Choice Calm Redness Relief Serum

* TOO FACED Love Light Prismatic Highlighter ( 9g )


* Deciem NIOD COPPER AMINO ISOLATE SERUM 2:1


* Deciem NIOD Flavanode Mud


* Deciem NIOD Modulating Glucosides

* Jurlique Purely Age-Defying Nourishing Cleansing Oil

* RENARDBLANC Multilayer Sun Block

* The Body Shop OILS OF LIFE INTENSELY REVITALISING CLEANSING OIL-IN-GEL

* Missha Near Skin Total Ceramide Cream

* Basiron AC gel

Saturday, March 10, 2018

Dr. Young CentellaSCA Cream 50 ml Review




Ingredients:

Centella Asiatica Extract (57,12%), Cyclopentasiloxane, Glycerin, Cyclohexasiloxane, Butylene Glycol, Cetearyl Alcohol, Dimethicone, Polysorbate 60, 1,2-Hexanediol, Glyceryl Stearate, Sorbitan Stearate, PEG-100 Stearate, Betaine, Water, Pentylene Glycol, Microcrystalline Wax, Allantoin, Dipottassium Glycyrrhizate, Asiaticoside, Hyaluronic Acid, Dextrin, Camellia Sinensis Leaf Extraxt, Disodium EDTA, Caprylyl Glycol, Chlorphenesin.

I try to mark the sunscreen ingredients in red and other possible irritants in lilac. Ingredients thought to be good and useful for skin I mark green.  Learning as I go, google is my friend etc...







Thoughts:


I really have to think hard to come up with negatives for CentellaSCA Cream! Well, it's not heavy duty cream if you're looking for those qualities, not enough on its on for aging and dehydrated skin

Also, I don't really see it "strengthening the skin" or being "special care" or very soothing; didn't notice any difference with my skin's redness or brightness or PIE



Very pleasant light cream gel

Absorbs in about a minute completely, no stickiness

Layering the gel cream works well, doesn't feel heavy

Considering the lightness, moisturizes well! Not enough alone for my aging skin but for example with a couple of drops squalane oil, just perfect for daytime

I didn't notice pilling or anything else funny when worn under makeup

Not irritating,  however I don't know if soothing either

No fragrance, maybe a slight stuffy smell but barely that either



* If you're looking for a centella asiatica cream/gel/moisturizer and Missha Near Skin Madecanol Cream is too thick/balmy/sticky for your taste and skin, I think Dr. Young's CentellaSCA Cream could be an excellent choice! They are about the same price too.

I'm considering gifting this product to my sister who has an dehydrated oily and acne prone skin, she has liked Benton's aloe propolis gel as well and this is somehow similar in feel? Except I think CentellaSCA cream is better, or my skin likes it more at least.

Near Skin Madecanol Cream feels a lot more occlusive compared to CentellaSCA Cream, but somehow CentellaSCA Cream feels more moisturizing/hydrating.

When I started using this cream (I think October/November?) my skin wasn't very happy because I had been testing so many new things in a short time, I had overexfoliation and hormonal acne etc. First I added Squalane and my skin seemed to love it, then CentellaSCA cream and it worked very well in that situation. Certainly didn't make anything worse! Let's hope that it doesn't break me out now, my skin is in better condition and I haven't used it for a while. It does seem to have comedogenic ingredients. Sometimes I don't notice if something breaks me out if everything at the moment seems to be the problem...

If I would have to choose between Missha Near Skin Madecanol Cream and this, I would maybe still prefer Missha's Cream. At least for winter. I really learned to love the balm texture it had.



Price: 

About $15.29 USD / 50 ml with shipping

Bought from: 

Rubyrubyshop

Buy again? 

Maybe? For those days when I want to play it safe. It is a good moisturiser but is it good enough to repurchase?

Worth the money? 

I think this gel cream suits all skin types and is so pleasant to use! Also at the same I wonder if a daily cream is worth so much as it gets used up so quickly and it didn't offer me anything "special". I will not stop searching for new centella asiatica products, but I certainly do not regret buying Dr. Young's CentellasSCA Cream.

Friday, March 9, 2018

BB / CC / Foundation Cream Comparisons / Swatches











I don't like shopping for foundations. Quite often it's such a pain to find a match, not to mention, it's a high chance they break me out. My skin has a yellow undertone but many foundations seem to steer to orange if they are warm which is just the worst look, because my skin is still quite neutral warm/bright/red splotches. Just the other day I swatched a lot of L'Oreal and Maybelline foundations at the store and none of them matched (too orange-ish, even light colors). Max Factor didn't have that problem as bad. I still find Lumene's shades the best compared to all other supermarket makeup brands, rarely the lighter shades go orange.

Out of the the next three, Pladerm seems to match the bright yellow in my skintone the best; Lumene is neutral, it matches well the overall tone without highlighting anything specific (warmness or coolness or redness.). The photo makes it look almost grey but it's not true. The Ordinary on the other hand, yikes. The shade is supposed to be "Light Neutral" but I find it looks unnatural on me, kind of steers to... orange. I had to be a lot more careful when trying to blend it on my face. However all of these shades are wearable on me and it also is a personal taste how you want to look and what shades to highlight. Both The Ordinary and Lumene clog my pores/break me out a little.


The Ordinary Serum Foundation 1.2N Light Neutral









Here are some random foundations I thought I would swatch together. The only new one is Lumene's Instant Glow Beauty Serum. As you can see (despite not so good photos - my skin is so red), Canmake's BB Cream is almost exactly the same shade like the discontinued Lumene's Glow Foundation. Their finish and feel is completely different though, Lumene is more liquidy and doesn't have the coverage of Canmake. Both give a very healthy look on my face, as if I had tanned, on a verge of being too dark. Can't be layered because then they become too dark. Missha's Perfect Cover BB Cream in 21 is way too gray to look comfortable, too light as well. Good for all the zombie looks! But honestly it's wearable as a thin well blended layer or mixed with something else. Lumene's Beauty Serum in Light is actually technically too light for me, but because it is so light, sheer and glowy, it works, it just disappears in! I had a sample of the Medium, and when I tried it on my face, it looked so unnatural. Maybe I used too much? This made me do a mistake later however, Lumene's Fresh Skin Tint I also bought in Light - and it is a smidge too light, sadly. Can't be layered at all. The formula is super good anyway and one day I might go for the medium shade!

Canmake Be My Baby BB Cream SPF50

Missha Perfect Cover BB Cream SPF42 PA+++ in 21 Light Beige

Lumene Invisible Illumination Instant Glow Beauty Serum in Universal Light

Lumene Nude Perfection Glow Foundation in 1 Classic Beige SPF15











Missha Perfect Cover BB Cream SPF42 PA+++ in 21 Light Beige

Missha Perfect Cover BB Cream SPF42 PA+++ in 23 Natural Beige

If you ask me, Missha should totally do a shade 22 that would be in between these two, even though they both do blend in nicely and are similar. Still, 21 is too light for me, 23 is better.










Lumene's CC Cream in Light (at least this old version I have) is considerably darker/oxidizes darker than Lumene's Beauty Serum and Fresh Skin Tint in Universal Light shades. So maybe Ultra Light matches Universal Lights from CC line up. I feel that maybe Fresh Skin Tint is a bit cooler/pinker shade and slightly lighter compared to Beauty Serum that leans more yellow. That also could explain why on my face Fresh Skin Tint looks a bit too light. Of course this is just my speculation while staring at my arm swatches. :) None of them lean to orange however and they all look very wearable, neutral shades to light skintones and they are not full coverage so that gives a lot leeway. Still I wish Lumene would do some in between "Universal Light-Medium" shade! Considering I always seem to fall between the shades, maybe I am also shade matching wrong or try to match too critically.


Lumene Invisible Illumination Instant Glow Beauty Serum in Universal Light

Lumene Invisible Illumination Instant Glow Fresh Skin Tint in Universal Light