My Update on iUNIK Beta-Glucan Power Moisture Serum!

I tried iUNIK Beta-Glucan Power Moisture Serum again this week! Keep in mind that I stopped using all of my skin care products besides a facial cleanser, acne products, and sunscreen. It’s been going well, but I had to take a 3 day break to let my skin rest and heal. I noticed that I still had a bottle of iUNIK Beta-Glucan Power Moisture Serum. I thought I would try it out to hydrate and heal my skin during this short period of time. Also, this serum only has 6 ingredients in it. Here’s the ingredient list: Water, butylene glycol, 1,2-hexandediol, beta glucan, sodium PCA, ethylhexylglycerin. That’s a very short list of ingredients. So what happened when I used it??

Here’s a recap on what this product is supposed to do for the skin. It claims to be hyper moisturizing, nourishing, soothing, and improves skin elasticity. Beta-glucan helps to moisturize and strengthen the skin’s barrier, brightens, and helps with wrinkle care. My skin was irritated from my acne products, and this serum seemed like it would help to moisturize and nourish my skin. The texture of the serum is soft, smooth, and moisturizing on the skin. It’s a slightly thicker serum (compared to other serums I’ve used). Once it fully absorbs into the skin, it leaves the skin feeling hydrated upon application. The moisture from the serum isn’t long-lasting. My skin felt dry after a few minutes. I didn’t use anything else on my skin afterwards. Just this serum. I didn’t reapply the serum either for more moisture. Why would I have to? It should work with a single application, right? One application is all I did. I lasted 3 days on this serum. I tried using it in the morning once, but I didn’t like how it made my skin more oily. I mainly used it at night to hydrate my skin. Sadly, it didn’t work as I thought it would. It dried my skin out terribly. My skin didn’t feel hydrated or moisturized.

Some other issues I had with this serum is that it made my skin feel a little more rough instead of soft and moisturized. My skin felt crusty. It didn’t help soothe, nourish, or brighten my skin. I noticed my skin was more red and irritated as I continued to use it. It could be the star ingredient or other ingredients (or a combination of ingredients/formulation) that my skin didn’t agree with. I noticed new breakouts while using it too. I developed a cyst and a few tiny clogged pores on my chin out of nowhere. Once I noticed the breakouts, I stopped using it immediately. I’m glad I stopped using it before it gets even worse than I have experienced. After using this product, I think my skin is better off just not using anything at all besides what is necessary (cleanser, acne products, sunscreen, or nothing). I was going to try out my other serums and essences since I still have them (still trying to finish them!), but my experience with this serum alone really did put me off from using any other serums or essences on my skin. 3 days of use and I’m already breaking out in acne. I’ll just use the rest of my leftover skin care products on my body instead and be done with them. There’s no going back after this. They just don’t work on my skin.

I hope this review was helpful. Stay tuned for my update on my acne journey coming up this week! 🙂

Update on The Ordinary Caffeine Solution 5% + EGCG & Cosrx Advanced Snail 96 Mucin Power Essence

I stopped using more products. 😃 I’ve been using these two products since forever. I think it’s time to let them go. They are The Ordinary Caffeine Solution 5% + EGCG and Cosrx Advanced Snail 96 Mucin Power Essence. Let’s start off with The Ordinary!

The Ordinary Caffeine Solution 5% + EGCG:

It’s been about 2 years using The Ordinary Caffeine Solution 5% + EGCG. The purpose of this product is to reduce the appearance of eye contour pigmentation and puffiness. I thought it was working at first, but I haven’t noticed much of a change in my skin (under eyes) after another year of using it. All it did was dry my under eye area out. I still have dark under eye circles. I make sure to get enough sleep too, and I still have them, lol. Must be genetics, haha. Oh well. I only have puffy eyes once in a while, but this product didn’t do much for puffy eyes when I had them. Just like most The Ordinary skin care products, this one didn’t work for me either (2 years!!! 😮‍💨). This is the last of The Ordinary products I have in my skin care routine. I removed all of The Ordinary products I was using. I think I’m over this brand. Most of their products are too greasy, oily for my skin type. They don’t sit well on my skin. My skin gets more oily and ends up with breakouts. I’ve been dealing with acne for so long that I wonder if The Ordinary products contributed to the clogged pores. So far, after not using any of them (along with a bunch of other skin care products), my skin has improved. With the Caffeine Solution, it was just drying even when I moisturize my eye area heavily. It tightens my under eyes and dries it out. When I stopped using it, the dryness went away. I’m going to stick to moisturizing products only for the eyes from now on. I’m over this product. It didn’t work for me.

Cosrx Advanced Snail 96 Mucin Power Essence:

I stopped using Cosrx Advanced Snail 96 Mucin Power Essence since I wanted a simple, basic skin care routine instead. All products that didn’t serve a purpose in my routine had to go. This was one of them. With the Snail Essence, it didn’t really hydrate my skin by much. I tried using it alone without any other skin care products, and my skin felt extremely dry. My skin started to crack. I couldn’t even smile, lol. The dryness started to hurt my face. So the essence doesn’t do well as a stand alone skin hydrator. It works better in combination with other moisturizing products. So did it do anything at all for my skin? lol. Well, I didn’t see improvements in my skin texture and hydration levels while using it. I’ve gone through several bottles too. I just didn’t see the purpose of this product anymore. It feels like I’m just wasting my money hoping that it’ll do something for my skin since it’s a snail product. Nothing’s happening and it seems like a waste of time and money. Also, another aspect of the product that I didn’t like was the packaging. This applies to other Cosrx skin care products as well, such as Cosrx Galactomyces 95 Tone Balancing Essence, Cosrx Oil-Free Ultra-Moisturizing Lotion (with Birch Sap), and Cosrx Hyaluronic Acid Hydra Power Essence. They all come in the same type of packaging/bottle. It’s a plastic bottle with a pump. Once you reach the bottom of the bottle, it’s difficult to get the rest out. They should really change the packaging of these products. It’s extremely annoying. I feel like they did this on purpose. 😂 So that’s another reason why I’m going to stop purchasing products that come in lousy packaging like this. They’re also very clunky to carry around and to travel with. It’s just not for me, I guess.

More products that I stopped using…

Benton Fermentation Essence

The Ordinary Matrixyl 10% + HA

Melano CC Vitamin C Essence

Purito Centella Green Level Buffet Serum

The Ordinary Resveratrol 3% Ferulic Acid 3%

1 Month Update on Vanicream Daily Facial Moisturizer for Sensitive Skin

I remember picking this moisturizer up and hoping that it’ll become my main moisturizer. The ingredients look sooo good, the price was also not too bad, and it’s accessible where I live. All points lined up and was perfect. Here’s a quick snapshot of the moisturizer: It’s a rich, lightweight lotion that provides effective moisturization for day or night. It’s formulated with 5 key ceramides and hyaluronic acid to hydrate and retain skin’s moisture. It leaves the skin feeling soft and deeply moisturized while still being lightweight and suitable to wear under makeup. It’s free of dyes, fragrance, masking fragrance, lanolin, parabens, formaldehyde, and other preservatives. It’s non-comedogenic and gluten-free. That sounds like a dream come true moisturizer. So it’s been 1 month using Vanicream Daily Facial Moisturizer for Sensitive Skin. Here are my thoughts and experience with this moisturizer.

Texture & Application

This moisturizer is a lotion. It’s not a cream. The texture of the product is soft and smooth. It’s on the thicker side. The moisturizer glides on the skin smoothly without tugging at the skin. It takes a little bit of time to blend the lotion into the skin, but the moisturizer eventually blends into the skin. It vanishes into the skin nicely. After applying the moisturizer, the finish of the moisturizer is sticky. It doesn’t feel like it fully absorbs into the skin. It sits on top of the skin, which can feel uncomfortable and bothersome. I didn’t like the stickiness of the lotion. It made my skin feel unclean and just plain annoying. As someone with oily skin, I thought the lotion was heavy and thick on the skin. I wish it was more lightweight and absorbed into the skin better. Even when my skin was feeling a little more dry, I still thought the product was heavy and thick on the skin. The product claims to be lightweight, but it’s not. This moisturizer worked pretty well underneath my makeup. My makeup went on better. Much smoother. It just glides across my facial skin much more easily. It made my skin appear softer, smoother, and flawless.

Heals & Protects

This moisturizer is very good at healing and protecting the skin. It contains ceramides, hyaluronic acid, and squalane. I loved the ingredients in this product. The ingredients were the perfect combination for my skin and helped to heal my skin from my acne treatments/chemical exfoliants. It help to strengthen my moisture barrier when it’s damaged or experiencing a burning sensation. Out of all of the moisturizers that I have used to heal my skin, Vanicream Daily Moisturizer for Sensitive Skin was the only one that worked so far (after trying a bunch of moisturizing skin care products!!). My skin didn’t feel dry, red, or irritated after using it. On occasion, if my moisture barrier is damaged, it did burn upon application, but it wasn’t too bad. This product was the least irritating as of yet. It sat uncomfortably on my skin after it settled down. With this moisturizer, my moisture barrier felt healthy after each use. On my skin, it was extremely moisturizing. I was so happy that I had found a moisturizer that improved my skin over time.

Clogs pores??

I didn’t notice clogged pores at first, but I noticed clogged pores after using it for a month. Maybe they were there before and I was in denial, lol. I really wanted this moisturizer to work since it helped to moisturize my skin, not just lightly hydrate it. It did an amazing job at protecting my skin from dryness and irritation. But, unfortunately, the clogged pores became noticeable as time went on. I developed blackheads and tons of sebaceous filaments. Some of the blemishes were not noticeable until I stopped using the moisturizer. My skin started to break out in acne. After the acne appeared, they started to clear up rapidly. My skin became less oily and clogged. Blackheads diminished on my nose. So, this moisturizer ended up clogging my pores in the long run. Shocking? Not so much. I haven’t found a moisturizer that moisturizes my skin in years. And I still haven’t found one that works well on my skin. *sigh* Back to the drawing board…maybe…haha.

Final Thoughts

Another moisturizer down, I guess, lol. I think I’m done searching for a moisturizer for my face right now. It’s getting really annoying using a moisturizer for a month and experiencing negative side effects afterwards thinking that it was working. 😮‍💨 Even though it didn’t work on my face, I’m not going to remove it from my routine. I like the ingredients in this product (ceramides and hyaluronic acid), and it helps to protect and heal my skin. It works very well as a moisturizer at an affordable price. I’m using it as an eye cream and neck/chest cream instead. It works even better than my eye creams that are eye creams. Also, I’m keeping it around to use on my face (yup!) when I’m treating my skin with my acne treatment/chemical exfoliants, which isn’t often. I just can’t use it daily as a facial moisturizer, which is kinda funny since it’s called a ‘Daily Facial Moisturizer’. In my opinion, I don’t think this moisturizer is entirely bad. I mean, I’m still using it. I like the product, but it’s a bummer that it didn’t work on my face as a daily facial moisturizer.

If you missed out on my acne journey, don’t forget to check them out!!

My Acne Journey: 1 Week In…

My Acne Journey: 2 WEEKS!! 

My Acne Journey: 3 Weeks Results!

My Acne Journey: 4 Weeks Results!

My Acne Journey: 5 WEEKS IN!

My Acne Journey: 6 Weeks Results…

My Acne Journey: 7 Weeks Results

My Acne Journey: 2 MONTHS!! 

My Acne Journey: 2 Months + 1 Week Results!

My Acne Journey: 2 Months + 2 Weeks!

My Acne Journey: 2 Months + 3 Weeks Results!

My Acne Journey: 3 MONTHS!! 😃

My Acne Journey: 3 Months + 1 Week Results

My Acne Journey: 3 Months + 2 Weeks Results

Review: Garnier Fructis Damage Repairing Hair Mask

Here’s my review on Garnier Fructis Damage Repairing Hair Mask! I’ve been meaning to get to this mask. I just finished it. Here are my thoughts on it!

The purpose of this hair mask is to nourish and repair damaged hair. Make it softer and smoother without weighing it down. This hair mask contains 98% naturally derived ingredients. It contains papaya extract. No silicones, parabens, and artificial colorants.

How to use? There are 3 ways to use this hair mask. That is as a hair mask, hair conditioner, and as a leave-in treatment. As a hair mask, use the hair mask after shampooing. Apply the product onto wet hair and leave it on for 1 minute. Rinse afterwards. As a conditioner, after shampooing, apply the product from the root to tip. As a leave-in treatment, apply the product onto damp hair for frizz control and color protection.

I tried all 3 methods. Here’s my experience with this product.

The texture and consistency of the product isn’t too rich or thick. I’ve used other hair masks/conditioners that are thicker, richer, and heavier on the hair. This one was pretty decent in consistency. It also has a nice smell to it. It’s fruity and pleasant. So I tried all three methods as mentioned. Out of the three, I prefer using it as a leave-in treatment. It takes only 1 minute to use. That’s what I did at first. Since I love experimenting to see what works for me. I tried leaving the product in my hair for longer than a minute. I tried leaving it on for 5-10 minutes. I preferred leaving the product in my hair much longer, since I have dry ends. After rinsing the product out of my hair, my hair didn’t feel greasy or heavy. It didn’t weigh my hair down (yess!!!). I really don’t like it when products make my hair flat. But, I wasn’t a fan of the overall results of this product. I love the smell and all, but it didn’t deliver results. At least for my hair type. It didn’t help moisturize my hair. It only felt moisturizing when I was applying the product to my hair. Afterwards, not so much. I wanted a hair product that would moisturize and make my hair feel softer and smoother. This didn’t do much of that. Also, after drying my hair, it felt like the product sat on my hair and left a layer of product over my hair strands. It felt like it coated my hair with plastic. My hair felt like straw after a few hours. By the end of the day, it looked and felt really gross. It didn’t matter how I used the product, my results were pretty much the same. My hair just didn’t feel or look good. Maybe the formula of the product isn’t for my hair type. I don’t know. All I know is that it didn’t work for me. I’m just really happy that I finished it. I won’t be purchasing it again.

My Skin is CLEAR! :) What I’m Doing Now.

My skin is officially free from acne! And all thanks to BP! Wow, it worked so fast! 😍 But I haven’t given up on BP after being clear. I’m still using it to treat my acne, but I don’t have to use it too often anymore. I’m aiming for once a week at night or twice a week if my skin gets really oily. I think once a week is more than enough. 🤔 BP really dries the living hell out of my skin. After a day of using BP, my skin looks more dull, uneven, and crusty. The next day, it looks AMAZING!! The dead skin just comes off and my skin looks so fresh, bright, and new! The dryness from BP can be a good thing for my skin sometimes, since my skin gets more oily during the more humid, hot, summer months. ☀️ The weather has been hotter than usual. Along with using BP, I’ve made a few changes to my skin care routine. I know, AGAIN! I just can’t stop making changes. LOL. Since I’m focusing more on skin texture and post-inflammatory hyperpigmentation. I mean, I’ve already gotten my acne under control. Now let’s keep the positive changes rolling! I still have some acne marks that needs to be treated, but I’m not going to purchase any new products to fade them. None of them have worked on my skin anyways. That’ll just be a waste of money. So I decided to re-add some products I removed not so long ago, haha. I know, odd! I didn’t expect this to happen, but I started to miss using these products on my facial skin. They are…

Guess first! lol. Never mind, let’s goooooooooooooo! 🙌🏻

Benton Aloe Propolis Soothing Gel:

All of a sudden I had the urge to use the Benton Aloe Propolis Soothing Gel again. I needed some more moisture in my skin. And I just out of nowhere started using this product again. I think I’m just hooked on it, lol. It feels cooling and soothing on my skin. Gives my skin lightweight, jelly moisture on my oily skin. It’s not the most moisturizing moisturizer, but it provides nice hydration to my skin right now. I’ll use it, but I’m still not sure if I’ll buy another tube of the product. I still have another unopened tube of this product by the way, lol. I’m so addicted to skin care products, hahaha! 😂 My skin is currently loving this aloe soothing gel.

Cos De BAHA MA Peptide Facial Toner:

I really like how this facial toner feels on my skin. It’s another gel-based product. Works perfectly on my oily skin. Just like the Benton Aloe Propolis Soothing Gel, it doesn’t provide much moisture, but I like it for what it is. I like the anti-aging ingredients in this product too. I’m almost out of the product, so I thought I would use it on my facial skin instead. I’m tempted to purchase another bottle since it’s so affordable for the amount of product. But we’ll see. I hope it does wonderous things to my skin for the time being. I’ll just have to wait and see what happens after finishing the bottle.

The Ordinary Resveratrol 3% Ferulic Acid 3%:

I kind of missed that glow that I get from using The Ordinary Ascorbic Acid 8% Alpha Arbutin 2% and The Ordinary Resveratrol 3% Ferulic Acid 3%. I decided to start using The Ordinary Resveratrol 3% Ferulic Acid 3% again. I decided NOT to use the Ascorbic Acid 8% Alpha Arbutin 2%. I wanted to see how my skin is going to react to just using the Resveratrol 3% Ferulic Acid 3% serum. I really like these ingredients and can’t seem to find another product with these ingredients that are affordable. So! Let’s see how it’ll go just using The Ordinary Resveratrol 3% Ferulic Acid 3% alone without the Ascorbic Acid serum! My face hasn’t turned orange yet. Maybe it’s the Ascorbic Acid that’s turning me into an oompa loompa. 🍊

Those are the 3 products I decided to reintroduce back into my skin care routine. I thought I would call it quits for good on these products, but it just felt like it was the right time to use them again. One night I just grabbed these products and used them on my face. The next morning, my skin was super glowy and pretty that I had to continue using them to see what happens. My skin has been looking good since. No problems so far. I haven’t experienced any breakouts from any of them (as of yet). I hope it stays this way. Besides skin care, I’m trying to eat healthy. Trying to get more vegetables into my diet. Drinking more water to keep my body hydrated. Everything has changed so much since the beginning of this year until now. Hope all goes well this summer and the rest of the year!

But there’s something else…

I started using tret again! Well, I still am once a week, but my dose has been increased! I’m using a higher concentration. I was bumped up to 0.1 for acne. 0.05 did absolutely nothing for my acne. I tried 0.1 before, and it was way too strong on my skin during that point in time. But, that was the past, this is now. Let’s give the 0.1 a try and see how my skin reacts. I’ve been using the 0.1 for about 2 days now. And you know what? My skin has been tolerating it pretty well. Much better than it did before. Here’s my 2 day experience using tret! What happened to my skin??

Day 1:

One night, I decided to use my tube of 0.1 tret. I had it. It was just sitting around unused because it was too strong for my skin at one point. Not anymore. I applied it to my skin. The product felt warm and smooth on my skin. It moved across my skin very nicely. I liked the way it felt on my skin. At the same time, I was petrified not knowing what would happen the next morning. When using tret, I used my moisturizing skin care products to prevent my skin from any dryness. There’s another product I started using again when I started using tret too. It’s the Eucerin Q10 Anti-Wrinkle Face Cream. I needed a richer, heavier product to prevent my skin from drying out when on tret. This seemed to be the perfect choice. I took some of the cream and applied it to my face after applying tret and my lightweight moisturizers. Eucerin Q10 Anti-Wrinkle Face Cream was the 4th product that I reintroduced to my skin care routine. 🙂

Day 2:

The next morning (after day 1), my skin felt warm. I can see red splotches on my face. They weren’t that bad. They were just a light pink/red color that eventually faded away. I decided to use tret again on the second night. My skin didn’t feel dry or irritated besides some redness that went away. I’m glad I went forth with the second night. Because the next day, I noticed a lot of peeling on my face. Also, I noticed some random breakouts that healed very fast! Am I purging? Hmmm! My skin looked really good besides my skin peeling off all over my face. I’m pretty excited to remove these dry, dead skin cells from my face! Wow, is tret really working for me this time? Because it seems like it! My skin is responding well. No major irritations besides some redness and skin peeling on the second day. Maybe I just needed to give my skin a break and move on to something stronger. Also, I’ve continued to use Eucerin Q10 Anti-Wrinkle Face Cream in the morning too and at night to prevent my skin from drying out or if there’s any itchiness. My skin hasn’t been itchy while on tret. Some dryness hasn’t been bad either. All is going well. 👍🏻

SO! It looks like I’m back on my tret journey. AGAINNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN!!! hahaha. I’m really excited this time because my skin is actually peeling like when I was using BP. The more dead skin my face sloughs off, the clearer my skin gets. It helps to prevent breakouts from living underneath the surface of the skin. Plus, it’s a bonus that it also helps to improve the quality of my skin. My skin looks really good right now. I’m not sure how long it’s going to take to achieve a near flawless (nothing is perfect!) complexion, but I’m really happy how things are going. I’ll make another update on my tret journey soon! See everyone there! I hope this post was helpful! Have a nice day! 😊