September Skin Care Empties 😎

It’s the end of September! Here’s what I finished! September’s empties was quite satisfying. I knocked out a ton of products this month! I’ve been meaning to finish up some of these products, such as the Benton Aloe Propolis Soothing Gel (finally!) and Canmake Mermaid Skin Gel UV SPF 50+ PA++++ (White)! And some others. 😁 Now here are my thoughts on my September empties! Enjoy! 😊

iUNIK Propolis Vitamin Synergy Serum:

Here goes my last bottle of iUNIK Propolis Vitamin Synergy Serum! I purchased this serum to help moisturize and brighten my skin. That’s what this serum claims to do. It says right on the packaging that it’s powerful calming, nourishing and brightening, and is for wrinkle care. Some beneficial ingredients in this serum are Propolis Extract, Hippophae Rhamnoides Fruit Extract, Niacinamide, and Sodium Hyaluronate. I went through a few bottles of this serum. It’s a serum that feels nourishing and soothing on the skin, but it does feel sticky and takes a while to absorb into the skin. I didn’t like the texture of the product. After finishing a few bottles of this serum, I didn’t notice much of a difference in my skin. It helps to hydrate, but it didn’t help with wrinkles and didn’t brighten my skin. All it was is a hydrating serum. I’ve decided that I’m not going to purchase it again.

Benton Aloe Propolis Soothing Gel:

Benton Aloe Propolis Soothing Gel was one of those products that I couldn’t let go, which is weird because the ingredients aren’t too exciting. It contains Aloe Barbadensis Leaf Water, Glycerin, Propolis Extract, Betaine, Cucumber Fruit Extract, to name a few. The product was lightweight, somewhat hydrating, and soothes the skin. It also didn’t break my skin out. I loved it for a while. But, I haven’t been using on my face lately, and I don’t miss it at all. Thinking about it now, I don’t think it did much for my skin. I just kept it around because it didn’t clog my pores, and I needed a product that moisturizes my skin just a little bit. I had a hard time finding a moisturizer that works on my skin. This was the closest to a product that moisturizes my skin. It worked for a while, but I’ve found something better.

Canmake Mermaid Skin Gel UV SPF 50+ PA++++ (White):

I finally finished the last Canmake Mermaid Skin Gel UV SPF 50+ PA++++ (white version!). It took me so long to reach the last bottle. Finally, I have! So the white version is the unlikable version of the ‘Clear’. The white version didn’t break me out, but it leaves the skin with a noticeable white cast and dries out the skin tremendously. Well, on my skin it did. It didn’t look good on my skin. It accentuated every fine line and wrinkle, pore, and flake. There’s no way I’m going to purchase the white one again. It’s terrible. I don’t recommend it at all. Stay away from it unless you like having a white cast and dry skin. The cooler weather is coming up, so it’s best to stay away from this sunscreen.

Gold Bond Ultimate Neck & Chest Firming Body Treatment Cream:

I’ve been using Gold Bond Ultimate Neck & Chest Firming Body Treatment Cream at the beginning of this year. I’m on my second tube. The product is pretty tiny. It’s only 2 oz. The cream is supposed to help improve skin elasticity, texture, firmness, boost hydration, and repair dry, depleted skin. It contains salicylic acid to exfoliate to help reveal younger-looking skin. After finishing the cream, I feel that this cream is just another body cream. I didn’t notice an improvement in skin elasticity or texture. It’s just another product that’s making claims and under-delivering. It’s not a bad product when it comes to moisturizing, but there’s more affordable options out there that moisturizes the skin. I couldn’t tell the difference between this cream and my other moisturizing creams. I’m glad I’m done with it. I won’t repurchase again.

Differin Oil-Absorbing Moisturizer SPF 30:

Another sunscreen I finally finished before the winter season! It’s the Differin Oil-Absorbing Moisturizer SPF 30! I’ve been trying to finish this sunscreen up too. I don’t use it on my face anymore. I stopped after it started to make my skin oily while causing breakouts. Also, it burns my eyes too. It’s just not the type of sunscreen for my sensitive facial skin. My skin is very picky with sunscreens. This one failed the test. So I used this sunscreen mainly on my hands. It’s moisturizing, lightweight, and feels just like a non-greasy moisturizer. When I finished it, I never looked back. Out it goes!

Up & Up All In One Micellar Cleansing Water:

I stopped using micellar cleansing water on my face. I had half a bottle left, but I couldn’t finish the rest. The product does help to remove residue and makeup from the facial skin, but I just don’t like the way micellar water feels on the skin. It’s just one of those products that I can live without. So with the rest of the micellar water, I ended up using it to remove my eye makeup. I had to use it for something. I didn’t want to waste it. Once I finished the whole bottle, I tossed it out and didn’t repurchase. It’s not just this micellar water that I don’t care for. It’s micellar water in general. I haven’t found one that I liked. It feels like an extra step in my skin care routine that I don’t need. A cleansing oil alone removes my sunscreen and makeup just fine. I’ve had no issues just using a cleansing oil followed by a face wash. It works, and I don’t have to use another product like this one to aid in the product removal process. I prefer to keep my skin care to a minimum as much as possible, lol.

CeraVe Eye Repair Cream:

I’ve tried a ton of eye creams and this one just sucked. lol. There’s no other way I can put it. The ingredients look nice. It contains Niacinamide, Ceramides, Hyaluronic Acid, Almond Oil, Aloe, Vitamin E, and much more. But it doesn’t live up to its claims. The eye cream is supposed to reduce the appearance of dark circles and puffiness. Ceramides help to repair and restore. Nope, none of that happened. It didn’t help with dark circles or puffiness. I love ceramides, but it didn’t do anything for my skin in this eye cream. My skin still felt dry using this eye cream. It just didn’t do anything. I wouldn’t recommend this eye cream. It just wasn’t a good pick.

RoC Line Smoothing Daily Cleansing Pads:

I finished two containers of the RoC Line Smoothing Daily Cleansing Pads. The product claims to visibly reduce fine lines and improve tone and texture in 1 week. Diminishes signs of photo-aging and uneven skin tone, dark spots in 4 weeks. Visibly diminishes wrinkles and pores in 12 weeks. There are 28 pads per container. After finishing this product, I didn’t notice many changes in my skin besides softer and smoother skin. It didn’t help to reduce fine lines or wrinkles. Tone and texture, not so much either. Signs of photo-aging and even skin tone? Nope. Diminishes wrinkles and pores? Not at all. Just softer and smoother skin, lol. It’s a good physical exfoliant (pads with tiny little bumps on it) that cleanses the skin very well. My skin always feels squeaky clean afterwards, which is nice on this oily skin of mine. I liked this product, but I don’t really need it in my routine. I feel like it’s one of those products that’s just fun to use. I won’t purchase again.

Neutrogena Sport Face Oil-Free Lotion Sunscreen SPF 70+:

I tried Neutrogena Sport Face Oil-Free Lotion Sunscreen SPF 70+ on my face, but that didn’t work out. It felt really greasy and oily on the skin. It has a chemical smell to it too that I didn’t like. It also broke me out. I wanted it to work out due to the price and that it’s SPF 70+. I finally finished my last tube of this product, and I’m happy that it’s gone. It worked well on my body but not my face. I won’t repurchase it again for the body because it’s only 2.5 fl. oz.

For my August Empties go here 👈🏻

Review: The Ordinary Squalane Cleanser

I’ve had this product for a while. I forgot that I purchased it, lol. So just last week, I started using it. I’ve been using water-resistant sunscreen every day, and I needed a product that’ll help to remove every single drop of product that’s on my face. I’m also using a homemade cleansing oil to remove my makeup (if I’m using any) and sunscreen. Double the cleansing duty! Using a cleansing oil and The Ordinary Squalane Cleanser seems like a good idea. Why not? I have a bottle of it. Let’s try it out!

Squalane on my face! Yes, no??

I’m not too big on squalane. I can’t use this ingredient on my face. I’ve tried squalane oil on my face, and it seems like it just sits on my face and doesn’t moisturize my skin. It also gets in my hair and makes it oily. I tried using it in the morning and at night. I tried using it in the morning only and at night only. It didn’t work out either way. It makes a huge mess. But the main reason why I stopped using it is because it makes me breakout every single time I use it. My skin just doesn’t like oils in general. I’ve also tried other oils like jojoba oil, rosehip oil, and argan oil. Plenty of others too. They all failed on me. I even had to give up on my heavy, rich moisturizing cream because it started to clog my pores. I didn’t know it was my moisturizer that was causing breakouts until I stopped using it. My skin definitely looks so much better without oils and rich creams.

My Thoughts on The Ordinary Squalane Cleanser!

So I purchased this product in 1.7 oz. It also comes in a larger size (5 oz.). I bought this product on a whim. I didn’t think much about it at that time. The packaging of this product feels pretty cheap. I’ve used other products from The Ordinary in this type of packaging, and they all have the same feel to them — tacky and cheap. When dispensed from the tube, the product is a white cream. It’s not runny. I mixed it with a little bit of water to lather it up. This cleanser doesn’t lather up. It just feels creamy on the skin. It didn’t feel like a legit cleanser. It’s not foamy. Not even one bit. I ended up using it as a makeup and sunscreen remover instead of a stand alone cleanser right after I used my cleansing oil. So what I did was cleanse my face with my cleansing oil and remove the oil with a cotton pad with micellar water. I didn’t know I had a new bottle of micellar water so I’m using that too, lol. More on this micellar water product in another post! Once my skin is dry and clean, I take a small dollop of the squalane cleanser, mix it with a little water, and massage it into the skin. The squalane cleanser actually rinses clean and helps to remove whatever is left on my skin. That can be any leftover residue, dirt, debris. I liked how it rinsed off clean. It didn’t leave any residue behind or make my skin feel sticky. It was really easy to use and rinse off. Some facial cleansers can get a little messy. This one was really simple to move across my face. It reminds me of a cleansing balm without being or feeling oily.

This is what the squalane cleanser looks like. Ooooooooo, kinda interesting. lol.

Overall, I think this product works. I’m not going to replace my main cleanser with it by any means. I’m still feeling sketchy about squalane since I’ve had bad experiences with it. But, I didn’t have to leave this product on my face for long. It gets rinsed off. I haven’t had any breakouts from using this squalane cleanser (yet). It doesn’t seem like it’ll be a problem. I hope! ha! Will I purchase it again? Honestly, I don’t really need it. I’ll use it in the meantime since I have it. I still prefer my cleansing oil as my makeup remover. I’m currently using a mixture of almond oil and olive oil. I kind of spontaneously created this mixture out of the blue. Olive oil is definitely one of my favorite makeup remover oils. So it’s a no for me on The Ordinary Squalane Cleanser. It could work for others though.

You can read more on my thoughts on The Ordinary skin care products right here!

My Review on Coxir Ultra Hyaluronic Acid Cleansing Oil + More Skin Care Products I Stopped Using!

I haven’t introduced this cleansing oil yet, but I finished using it yesterday. It’s called Coxir Ultra Hyaluronic Acid Cleansing Oil. I started using it after finishing Kose Softymo Speedy Cleansing Oil. Here’s more about Coxir Ultra Hyaluronic Acid Cleansing Oil!

This cleansing oil is supposed to remove dirt, blackheads, and sebum. It’s a moisturizing formula that contains hyaluronic acid to hydrate and moisturize the skin. It leaves the skin feeling refreshed and supple after every cleanse. It also contains camellia oil, rosehip oil, canola oil, and aloe vera extract. Other ingredients in this cleansing oil includes tea tree, acerola, blueberry, grape, and sweet cherry.

So I’m not really big on cleansing oils. I feel like I’ve said this so many times, lol. Honestly, I really can’t see the difference in my skin using a cleansing oil and not using one. I’ve been using oil (just pure oil) to cleanse my face as a makeup remover for so many years. I find that using oils, such organic coconut oil and extra virgin olive oil works the same without the high price tag. I still have a large container of organic coconut oil that I use to cook with and for beauty purposes. A huge tub of organic coconut oil just lasts forever compared to a bottle of pre-mixed oil. So that’s why I’m not too wild about pre-mixed cleansing oils. Since I still have them, I’m just going to use them for now.

Here are my thoughts on Coxir Ultra Hyaluronic Acid Cleansing Oil…

This cleansing oil feels like any other cleansing oil. It feels a little thick and oily (duh, lol). It moves over the facial skin just fine. It feels soft and smooth on the skin. I didn’t have any issues with it tugging at my skin. I didn’t use this cleansing oil alone. I used it as a makeup remover only. So I used this cleansing oil first then followed up with my everyday face wash. It helped to breakdown my makeup before washing my face. I think it did a better job at removing my eye makeup including my stubborn waterproof eye makeup compared to other cleansing oils I have used. This cleansing oil gets a thumbs up for that! Even though the product says that it’ll help remove dirt, blackheads, and sebum, I wouldn’t trust that. Once I rinsed the oil off of my face, my skin didn’t feel clean. Just oily. A good facial cleanser is recommended after using the cleansing oil. That’s what I did as mentioned. I didn’t get any breakouts because of that. It didn’t help with blackheads like it claims to do. I experienced some blackheads when I was using it (not from the cleansing oil). I’m just saying that the cleansing oil didn’t do anything for blackheads. It’s not going to remove them. My overall experience with this cleansing oil wasn’t too bad. I mean, it helped remove my makeup very well due to the thickness of the oil. I remember using iUNIK Calendula Complete Cleansing Oil, and this product was terrible at removing my eye makeup. So it all comes down to, am I going to purchase Coxir Ultra Hyaluronic Acid Cleansing Oil again? Probably not. I don’t need it that’s all.

Now on to other thoughts…

Here are some more products I stopped using! Yeah, I’ve been eliminating products from left to right. Have a much more minimal routine since I don’t have time to apply this many skin care products daily anymore. It just became way too much for my lifestyle. If you missed out on my previous posts on products I gave up on, here they are!

Skin Care Products I Stopped Using

Continued: Skin Care Products I Stopped Using

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I stopped using 2 moisturizing products from my moisturizing skin care products list. They are Hada Labo Gokujyun Premium Lotion and Cos De BAHA MA Peptide Facial Toner…

Hada Labo Gokujyun Premium Lotion:

I really liked this hyaluronic acid toner (gel moisturizing product). It does give my oily skin the moisture that it needs, but I think it’s way too much moisture for me. More than I actually thought. I started noticing a greasy and more oily complexion while using it. I mean, I love the combination of hyaluronic acids in this product but perhaps this product is too heavy for the warm, hot, humid weather where I’m at. My skin just feels way too damp. I noticed a few breakouts out of nowhere while using it. I feel like my skin retaliated against the excess moisture, so I decided to stop using it for now. Maybe I’ll bring it back in the winter if my skin gets dry. I actually feels nice to not use it. I’m trying to accelerate my routine. haha. It’s a good product, but it’s not so much for me right now.

Cos De BAHA MA Peptide Facial Toner:

I decided to remove Cos De BAHA MA Peptide Toner from my moisturizing routine. I like the ingredients in this product and the fact that it does hydrate my skin. It makes my skin appear moisturized and smooth. It’s just that I don’t really need it. I started to feel like it’s an extra step in my moisturizing my skin. It’s just another product that isn’t necessary. So I don’t think I’m purchasing it again when I’m done with it. It’s time to say goodbye to this facial toner. 👋🏻

There goes 2 more products being dropped from my moisturizing routine. I like what I’m doing right now, but I may stop using more products if I don’t see any results from them. Stay tuned for more updates!

Review: Burt’s Bees Cleansing Oil Balm

I absolutely love cleansing balms. I had a chance to try Burt’s Bees Cleansing Oil Balm. If you LOVE cleansing balms, don’t forget to go check out my latest review on this cleansing balm right here. I’ll drop the link right here. Enjoy! 😃

My Experience with Banila Co Clean it Zero 3-in-1 Cleansing Balm!

Now on to Burt’s Bees Cleansing Oil Balm!

This cleansing balm transforms from a solid balm to a silky oil to gently remove impurities without stripping moisture from the skin. It includes antioxidant-rich green tea to fight against harmful effects of pollution and free radicals. It leaves the skin healthy, soft, and glowy. Removes makeup, dirt, oil without over-drying the skin. Rinses away easily. It’s paraben-free, phthalates-free, SLS-free, and petroleum-free. No animal testing. Responsible sourcing and recyclable.

Now here are my results and experience with Burt’s Bees Cleansing Oil Balm! 🙂

My experience

This cleansing balm comes in a 3 oz. jar. It’s tiny. When opening the jar, I noticed that the cleansing balm is the same coloring as the packaging. It’s a light pale greenish hue (see photo below to see the color of the cleansing balm product). It’s not a fragrance-free product. It has an herbal scent to it. The balm is soft to touch. Yes, it comes in solid form and melts into an oil. Well, it should fully melt into an oil. It didn’t fully melt into an oil for me, lol. There were still little chunks of the product in my palm even though I tried to rub the product a little more and add some heat to it for it to melt. It took a little more effort to melt the product. *sigh* That’s a negative.

The cleansing balm does feel oily as I expected it to be. I mean, it’s called a cleansing OIL balm. Says so right on the packaging. When applied to the skin, it feels soft and gentle on the skin. I actually do like the oiliness of the product. It helps to glide the product across the face much easier. It also helps to glide the product in the most delicate areas of the face, such as the eye area. It felt moisturizing on the skin too. But did it help to remove my makeup? It removed my foundation, eyeliner, eyeshadow, and other makeup, but I had trouble removing my mascara with this cleansing balm. I even left it on for a bit longer to give it a chance to break down the makeup/mascara. Nope, it didn’t work. My mascara was still sitting on my lashes just staring back at me.

So I was disappointed in the fact that it did a poor job at removing my mascara. Perhaps this cleansing balm isn’t for me. Removing my mascara was one of the most important parts of being a good makeup remover. So, I’m not very happy with the overall results. On top of that, I thought this cleansing balm felt a little too waxy. It does contain wax in the ingredients after all. Looking at the ingredients, it contains helianthus annuus (sunflower) seed wax. I tried rinsing the cleansing balm off, and my skin looked waxy afterwards. I don’t recommend using this cleansing balm as a face wash. Make sure to follow-up with an actual facial cleanser to remove any residue left behind on the skin. In saying that, it doesn’t rinse away easily or clean. Also, this cleansing balm isn’t gentle around the eyes but it is on other parts of the skin. My eyes burned. If you have sensitive eyes (or not), be careful using it around the eyes.

This is what the cleansing balm looks like. Mine had bubbles in it (fresh and new) that I couldn’t resist poking at. They left holes behind, lol. I was expecting more of a softer appearance to the balm. It looks more hard and waxy.

Pros & Cons

✅ Pros

• Feels soft and gentle on the facial skin (not the eyes)
• Moisturizing on the skin
• No animal testing

❌ Cons

• Contains fragrance (herbal smell)
• Feels waxy
• Doesn’t melt easily
• Burns the eyes. Not for sensitive eyes.
• Didn’t remove all of my eye makeup (mascara)

Conclusion

I wasn’t a huge fan of Burt’s Bees Cleansing Oil Balm after my experience with it. The product feels way too waxy, doesn’t melt easily, and didn’t remove all of my makeup off properly. I’ve tried other cleansing balms, and I find Burt’s Bees to be below average. It’s not a cleansing balm I would purchase again. I thought it would be better, but I’m just not into it anymore. haha. I’ve moved on to better makeup removers/cleansing balms.

My Experience with Banila Co Clean it Zero 3-in-1 Cleansing Balm!

I finally finished a whole jar of Banila Co Clean it Zero 3-in-1 Cleansing Balm! It took me a little over a year. I didn’t use it regularly since I have other cleansing oils that I’m trying to finish up. So this cleansing balm, what about it???

This is a 3-in-1 cleansing balm (as it states on the packaging). The purpose of this cleansing balm is to quickly melt away stubborn face and eye makeup. To completely cleanse the skin in one simple step. It’s a hypoallergenic cleanser that was developed to remove waterproof makeup and impurities while leaving the skin fresh and hydrated. Transforms from sherbet-like texture to smooth oil when applied to the skin. Zero Balance Technology deeply cleanses and gently exfoliates without stripping the skin. Free of parabens, sulfates, phthalates, polyethylene, mineral oil, alcohol, and artificial coloring.

Whoa! Sounds good! 😀

I remember picking up this cleansing balm over a year ago. Wow, it’s been such a long time! So, I didn’t use this cleansing balm every day. I would use it whenever I felt like it. All of a sudden, recently, I started using it again and ended up finishing the whole jar. By the way, the jar is 6.09 fl. oz. (180 mL) — as it states on the product box. It’s a decently-sized jar. The jar feels bulky, in my opinion. The first thing I noticed when I opened the lid was that the amount of product doesn’t resemble the size of the jar. Just an observation, lol. Now on to the my experience with the cleansing balm!

My experience with the cleansing balm…

I have the cleansing balm in Original. It’s the pink one. The product feels soft, silky, smooth, and lightweight to touch. It feels super silky and elegant. The product melts into my palm easily and smooths over my facial skin softly and gently without leaving chunks behind. It feels like it’s nourishing my skin. It’s very creamy yet feels oily at the same time. Has a light sweet scent to it. I was never bothered by the smell of the product. So the texture and the consistency of this cleansing balm is amazing compared to the other cleansing balms I have used. I like it a lot more compared to my cleansing oils. It has this soft, light, fluffy feel to it that makes it very different compared to a cleansing oil. But did it work just as well compared to a cleansing oil? Or was it better??

The cleansing balm was very effective at removing my face makeup and eye makeup. It’s one of the cleansing balms that actually can remove my waterproof eye makeup, especially my stubborn mascara that sticks to my eyelashes like glue. When applied to my eye area, it just melts the eye makeup off. That’s pretty cool! Like, I have been searching for a cleansing product that actually removes ALL of my makeup and this one works! There’s no tugging, pulling at the delicate facial skin or eye area (good!!). Just let the cleansing balm and the warmth of my fingertips do the job. I love it! My experience with this cleansing balm from the beginning to end has been awesome. It simply just works!

Now let’s look at the ingredients!

The first ingredient in this cleansing balm is ethyhexyl palmitate. This ingredient is known to be comedogenic. From my own personal experience, it is pore clogging. I always avoid skin care products (that go on my face) if it has this ingredient in it. But, since this is a cleansing balm, it doesn’t sit on my skin for too long. It gets washed off after it melts my makeup off. I don’t use it as a facial cleanser. I only use it as a makeup/sunscreen remover. Other ingredients in this cleansing balm includes synthetic wax, vitamin e, fragrance (if you’re sensitive to fragrance, the smell of the product isn’t overwhelming). Some extracts, such as Lithospermum Erythrorhizon Root Extract (herb) and acerola fruit extract. None of the ingredients bothered my skin. I didn’t have any skin flare-ups while using it. It worked on my skin.

This is what the cleansing balm looks like. This was the beginning of using the cleansing balm. Now it’s empty. 😭 The pale pink translucent shade of the jar looks really pretty. 😍 The product is a milky white to really pale baby pink color.

Note: The product came with a small plastic spatula to scoop out the cleansing balm (not pictured).

Even though I liked this cleansing balm, I think it’s going to be a while until I pick up another jar. I have soooo many cleansing oils that I have to finish up first, lol. Also, I find that extra virgin olive oil, organic hemp seed oil, and even extra virgin coconut oil does a mighty fine job at removing my face makeup and eye makeup wonderfully. They’re all less expensive compared to Banila Co Clean it Zero 3-in-1 Cleansing Balm and works the same. That’s something to keep in mind (for my skin, hehe).