Review: Andalou Naturals 1000 Roses Pearl Exfoliator

So I have another Andalou Naturals skin care product to talk about. Yes, another one! lol. If you missed out on my previous reviews on Andalou Naturals skin care products, click on the links below to check them out!

Review: Andalou Naturals Luminous Eye Serum

Review: Andalou Naturals 1000 Roses Eye Revive Contour Gel

The product I’m sharing this time is Andalou Naturals 1000 Roses Pearl Exfoliator. I was on the quest to find an amazing facial scrub. I thought I would give the brand Andalou Naturals a try. So this exfoliator is a mineral exfoliator with alpine rose stem cells. It gently sweeps away impurities, dull skin, and dry skin. Contains pomegranate to uplift tone. Has moisture-binding humectants to help revive skin’s hydro lipid barrier for a flawless looking complexion. It’s non-GMO, gluten-free, vegan, cruelty-free, pH balanced, hypoallergenic, and dermatologist tested. I finished the whole product. Now here are my thoughts on it!

My experience

This product is a gel with very tiny exfoliating beads in it. The beads are not harsh or abrasive. They’re smooth. This exfoliator is indeed very gentle on the skin. It didn’t burn or irritate my skin. I want to emphasize the gentleness of this facial scrub because it truly is. Even though I love how gentle it is on the skin, I wish it was more exfoliating and actually did something for my skin. I didn’t think it did anything. I saw no improvements in the condition of my skin. I still had dead skin stuck to my face after use. It’s supposed to be an exfoliator, right? Shouldn’t it remove dead skin cells and leave my skin feeling softer and smoother afterwards? It just didn’t do anything. It’s too gentle. The amount of beads in this product is very sparse. It feels more like a facial cleanser than an exfoliator/facial scrub. Since the exfoliator was terrible at removing dead skin cells, I tried pressing the exfoliating beads onto my skin a little more. Giving it a little bit more pressure to feel the beads on my facial skin, but that didn’t work either. It didn’t help remove dead skin from my face. From this experience, I think this exfoliator is just too weak and just not right. When I’m exfoliating my facial skin, I want the process to be a smooth, effortless, and natural as much as possible. For that reason, I didn’t like this facial scrub. I wasn’t happy finishing the product. It’s just a very bad product.

Pros & Cons

✅ Pros

• Extremely gentle on the skin
• Good for sensitive skin
• Cruelty-free
• Vegan

❌ Cons

• Not enough exfoliating beads in this product.
• Doesn’t exfoliate the skin. I still had dead skin stuck on my skin after use.

Conclusion

Another Andalou Naturals product down. This exfoliator was just really bad. It didn’t exfoliate like it’s supposed to. It didn’t sweep away impurities, dull, dry skin or uplift the tone. It didn’t leave my skin looking flawless. My complexion didn’t glow afterwards. I had no results from this product. It was a waste of money. I won’t purchase again. It’s not an exfoliator I would recommend. Don’t buy.

Say Hello to My NEW Face Wash! 🙂

I officially made the switch to new facial cleanser. Wait, no, it’s not actually a new facial cleanser. I’ve used it before, and it was my HG face wash at some point. It has one of my favorite ingredients in it. It’s very effective on my acne. I’ve gotten great results from it. Can you guess what it is? If you said tea tree oil, you got that right! The face wash I’m using right now is Trader Joe’s Face Wash with Tea Tree Oil. I miss this face wash sooooo much! For some odd reason it stopped working once upon a time. But now, since my skin is back to normal. It’s functioning properly again. YAY!! A lot of my skin care products are working on my skin again! I thought I would bring back the face wash that I used for a very long time with much success. It brings back so many memories! Now let’s get into my experience with this face wash! Has it been the same? Does it still work? Did it break me out? What’s new?!! Read on to find out!

More about this face wash first…

This face wash contains tea tree oil, awapuhi, orange peel, and lavender. A strong face wash that’s gentle, refreshing without being an astringent. Soothingly cleans all skin types and leaves the skin feeling smooth and silky.

That’s what it says on the bottle. Now, let’s take a look at the ingredients!

The first ingredient in this face wash is castille soap. So, it’s made of water, coconut oil, tall oil, and potassium hydroxide. The list of ingredients go on and says that it contains glycerin, tea tree oil, awapuhi, lavender oil, bitter orange peel oil with other extracts and oils. If you’re wondering if this face wash is vegan and cruelty-free, you’re in luck, it is! 🐰

So, did it work?

Back to the ingredients, shockingly, even though it contains coconut oil, yes, it worked on my skin! Coconut oil is highly comedogenic and not all that great on acne-prone skin. It clogs pores. For some reason, this face wash hasn’t clogged my pores. It didn’t clog my pores before many years ago, it’s not clogging my pores now. Yippeee!! 👏🏻

That’s wonderful news! 😃

This face wash when dispensed comes out as a liquid, but it foams up when mixed with water. It’s oh-so-foamy and leaves the skin feeling nice and clean without being harsh. I’ve mentioned this many times before on my blog, but I think it’s very important to mention it again (if ya didn’t get the memo). I have oily skin. That’s a very important part of my experience with this face wash and skin care products in general. This face wash did an amazing job cleaning my skin. Feeling tingly. Not like menthol but more like (of course) tea tree if you have used tea tree oil before. I love that tea tree feeling on my skin. Just freaking LOVE IT!! Did it dry out my skin, nope! Not at all. Once again, it’s the oily skin that I have that’s preventing my skin from drying out from cleansers like this. It does say on the bottle that it’s for all skin types, but dry skin take caution. Do a patch test and see if it works for you or not. For me, it’s just an amazing face wash. It cleaned my skin, didn’t leave residue behind, made my skin feel refreshed and rejuvenated. Also, with the tea tree, it’s anti-bacterial and anti-fungal! Just amazing stuff!

SO! It looks like we have a winner. I’m just so ecstatic that I’m back to using this face wash. I know it’s been only less than a week, but from my past experiences of using this face wash. It’s been golden. I stuck with it for so long until my skin went through some weird things. Now, since my skin is back on track. I have a gut feeling this is going to be my HG facial cleanser for a while. So far, so good! I’m hoping for the best! An update coming up soon! See you all there!

Check out my posts on facial cleansers 🙂

An Update on PanOxyl Acne Foaming Face Wash! What I’m Using Now.

Neutrogena Ultra Gentle Daily Cleanser for Acne-Prone Skin? My Thoughts…

Review: Benton PHA Peeling Gel

If you missed out on my review on Beauty of Joseon Apricot Blossom Peeling Gel, just go to the link! After I finished my tube of Beauty of Joseon Apricot Blossom Peeling Gel, I decided to try out other peeling gels. Even though I liked the Apricot Blossom Peeling Gel, I was curious what else was out there. I picked up Benton PHA Peeling Gel. This peeling gel is formulated with naturally-derived cellulose to buff away dead skin cells and excess sebum from the skin. It contains PHAs, which is even more gentler compared to AHAs to leave the skin feeling exfoliated, smooth, and bright without irritation. The star ingredients in this product are cellulose, PHA (Lactobionic Acid), Chrysanthemum Morifolium Flower Extract, Ceramide NP, and Sodium Hyaluronate. These ingredients help to replenish moisture and soothe the skin. It’s suitable for sensitive, dry, acne-prone skin types. It’s vegan, cruelty-free, artificial fragrance & color-free, sulfate-free, alcohol-free, mineral oil-free, essential oil-free, and silicone-free. So I’ve been using this peeling gel for a few weeks, here are my thoughts on it! 🙂

My experience

This peeling gel is a soft white gel (see photo below). It’s very different compared to what I was using before (Beauty of Joseon Apricot Blossom Peeling Gel). When applied to the skin, it feels very gentle on the skin. Feels lightweight and moisturizing. Not drying at all. It gently sweeps away dead skin cells without being aggressive or harsh. I think gentle is what I would describe my overall experience with this peeling gel. It doesn’t irritate or burn the skin at all. I’ve used this peeling gel when my skin became super sensitive and dry. I had some flakes on my skin to remove. I experienced no irritation from it. The texture of the product is really nice. It soft and squishy. Fun to use. Cellulose rolls across the face, and you can see clumps of it while massaging it into the skin. This peeling gel is just so interesting, lol.

But, there’s one thing I don’t like about this product. When I’m massaging the product on my face, the product falls off of my face and gets everywhere. It doesn’t stick to the skin or at least stay on for the time being. It gets messy. With that in mind, make sure to use the product over the sink, so the product doesn’t get all over the floor.

As for results, it’s not bad for a gentle exfoliant that doesn’t irritate the skin. If your skin can’t handle more aggressive exfoliants, this is a good choice. When my skin needs a break from tough facial scrubs and leave-on chemical exfoliants, I use a peeling gel like this one. The ingredients in this product looks pretty good too. It contains ceramide np, sodium hyaluronate, licorice, lactobionic acid, and allantoin. So far, the results are similar to my previous peeling gel but without the tingling sensation. I think I like this one a little bit more. My skin looks and feels very soft afterwards. 🙂

The peeling gel is perfectly sealed. 😉

This is what Benton PHA Peeling Gel looks like. It’s so interesting…

Pros & Cons

✅ Pros

• Contains ceramide np, sodium hyaluronate, and lactobionic acid (PHA)
• Soft and gentle on the skin
• Excellent choice for ultra sensitive skin
• Provides gentle exfoliation
• Leaves skin feeling soft and smooth
• Not drying at all

❌ Cons

• Product falls off of the face (haha)

Conclusion

This is a good and honestly very gentle peeling gel. A great option for sensitive skin. Even though I don’t have sensitive skin, sometimes when I use drying acne treatments, my skin gets more sensitive. I like having gentle products of this one around just in case I need to remove some dead skin cells from my face without being overly aggressive. The only gripe I have about this peeling gel is that the product rolls off of the face and gets everywhere. So I highly recommend using this product over the sink to prevent something like this from happening. Other than that, using this peeling gel was definitely nice experience. Will I purchase again? Yes! I like the soft, gentleness of the product. It’s a good thing to be kind to your skin. 🙂

Review: The Ordinary EUK 134 0.1%

I’ve gone through a bunch of The Ordinary skin care products. Check out my review on other The Ordinary skin care products if you’ve missed out on them! So! On to The Ordinary EUK 134 0.1% Serum. I just had to try this serum out to see what it’s about! This serum is an antioxidant. It prevents the loss of water and oxygen from the skin. It also helps to reduce redness and protects the skin from UV radiation. Sounds like any other antioxidant. But let’s see if it works or not! I’ve had this serum for so long. I’ve used it on and off when I was off of acids. With the EUK serum, it can’t be used with strong acids (like ascorbic acid). EUK would be completely destroyed (according to their website). With that thought in mind, here’s my experience with EUK!

My experience

I took a break from acids to use this serum. Just to see if it’ll work better for me. Once again, EUK and strong acids don’t go well together. EUK would be rendered useless. So this serum is lightweight. It absorbs into the skin (takes time to completely absorb) but has an oily feel to it. Just like the many other The Ordinary skin care products that I have issues with, lol. I used it in the morning and night because I wasn’t using anything else on my skin (no acids, just a basic, plain skin care routine). Honestly, I thought the serum felt oily on the skin and made my skin look oily too. There’s only two ingredients in this serum. They are (of course) Propanediol and Ethylbisiminomethylguaiacol Manganese Chloride. I think it’s the propanediol that I’m having issues with once again. I noticed blackheads in the most random places. I discontinued using it immediately.

As for results, it didn’t do anything for redness. Sometimes I get some redness on my cheeks and nothing changed after using this serum. Also, I can’t tell if it helped boost UV protection. Maybe it did, maybe it didn’t. That’s what it’s supposed to do. I definitely didn’t see improvements in my complexion using this serum. It just made my skin oily and dried it out at the same time. Making my skin look aged and wrinkly. After this experience, I don’t think the EUK serum is for me. I know it’s an antioxidant, but I think antioxidants that are acids just work better on my skin, such as vitamin c and retinol. They both help tame oilies in my skin, reduce acne, fade acne marks, and minimize wrinkles (or at least are better at preventing them). I can visually see changes in my skin using vitamin c and retinol, while the EUK serum didn’t produce any results. It was a waste of time. Perhaps it may work better on someone that have very sensitive skin and can’t tolerate acids at all.

This is what the serum looks like…

Pros & Cons

✅ Pros

• An antioxidant alternative if skin can’t tolerate acids
• Affordable

❌ Cons

• Oily and drying at the same time
• May clog pores, blackheads
• Didn’t help with skin redness
• Can’t tell if it helped with UV protection

Conclusion

I thought this serum was such a waste. It didn’t do anything for my skin. I don’t see the point when there are acids that give me better results. Much, much better than this bottle of grease, lol. I just know that it’s not for me. I won’t repurchase, obviously. haha. Next!

Review: Trader Joe’s Cucumber Avocado Body Butter

I finished my bottle of Neutrogena Hydro Boost Body Gel Cream. 👈🏻 Previous review here! Should I do a new update?? 🤔 We’ll see! I’m currently looking for a new body moisturizer. I remembered that I had a jar of Trader Joe’s Cucumber Avocado Body Butter. I thought I would give it a try again. It’s there, so why not? lol. The purpose of this body butter is to moisturize, deeply hydrate, and leave the skin feeling super soft and supple. It’s enriched with shea butter, avocado oil, cucumber extract, and jojoba oil. So did it do what it’s supposed to do?? Keep reading to find out! Here’s my experience with Trader Joe’s Cucumber Avocado Body Butter!

My experience

The texture of the cream is super soft. It resembles more of a gel-cream than a body butter upon touch. But when applied to the skin, it feels much richer and leaves the skin moisturized. It absorbs and blends into the skin nicely. But it doesn’t leave a clean finish behind. Feels like there’s a layer of residue sitting on top of the skin after it blends into the skin. It doesn’t feel sticky or greasy though. I feel that my skin becomes irritated due to the residue and the fragrance in this cream. Yes, it contains fragrance. This cream smells like artificial cucumbers. And I didn’t like it at all. It gave me a really annoying headache each time I used it. So I can see why I stopped using this moisturizer for a while. In my opinion, the product is below average compared to other body moisturizers and butters. The smell is just way too strong for my taste. There’s nothing special about this body butter. It contains shea butter, avocado oil, cucumber fruit extract, jojoba oil, sodium hyaluronate, vitamin e…but that’s nothing out of the ordinary. A lot of products do too. I just think the overall formulation is just poor. It could’ve been better.

This is what the body butter looks like. I hope to finish it soon, lol.

Pros & Cons

✅ Pros

• Moisturizes
• Contains shea butter, avocado oil, cucumber fruit extract, jojoba oil, sodium hyaluronate, vitamin e
• Nice creamy, soft texture
• Blends into the skin well
• Not sticky or greasy
• Not tested on animals

❌ Cons

• Contains fragrance. Gave me a bad headache.
• Leaves residue behind

Conclusion

Honestly, I don’t like this product at all. I thought it would be good when I touched the cream, since it feels so soft and smooth in consistency. But when applied to the skin, it just feels very different. It doesn’t leave the skin feeling sticky or greasy, but the residue that it leaves behind is annoying and irritating. I prefer products that just vanishes into the skin and doesn’t feel like I have product on. The fragrance in this moisturizer is just as bad. I don’t like it. Since it gives me headaches, I only use it on my feet, so I won’t have to smell it, lol. All in all, I won’t purchase again. I wouldn’t recommend it either. It’s not as great as I thought it would be.

For more reviews on moisturizers go here