November Skin Care Empties 🦃

I didn’t have any empties last month (October). Here are my skin care empties for the month of November! If you missed out on my empties for August and September 👈🏻

SOME BY MI Niacin 30 Days Miracle Brightening Sleeping Mask:

I’ve been trying to finish my last jar of SOME BY MI Niacin 30 Days Miracle Brightening Sleeping Mask. I tried using it on my face and body. My experience using it on my face was not that good. The sleeping mask feels very drying on the skin. I could see the skin along my chin cracking. It’s not a good product if you have dry skin. I don’t. I have oily skin, and this sleeping mask dried my skin out like crazy. It helped to temporarily brighten my skin, but the brightening effect faded within a week. Maybe my skin just doesn’t like niacinamide in this product? I just know that it’s very drying and made my skin feel awful. With the rest of the product, I used it on my body and won’t repurchase ever again.

Kose Suncut UV Perfect Essence Super Waterproof SPF 50+ PA++++:

This sunscreen is lightweight, blends into the skin easily, absorbs quick, has SPF 50+ PA++++, comes in a 110 mL bottle instead of something tiny like 40-50 mL (yes!!!), sweat-resistant, water-proof. Ah, how this sunscreen could’ve been perfect because I can overapply and my skin wouldn’t feel sticky or greasy. But, this sunscreen lists ‘ethanol’ as the second ingredient on the list. It smells like alcohol and dried my skin out and irritated it. I couldn’t believe how my skin looked so aged after using it at least once. Sun protection is important, but this product is not for me if it makes my skin look all wrinkly because of how drying and irritating it is. I won’t purchase again. By the way, I also tried it on my body and hands. It made my skin super itchy. I ended up with a bad rash and blisters.

Dear, Klairs Freshly Juiced Vitamin Drop:

This vitamin c serum feels gentle on the skin. It contains 5% ascorbic acid. The serum didn’t irritate or burn my face. But I wasn’t a fan of the texture of the product. It’s on the oily side. As for fading acne marks, I didn’t see much results using this serum. It didn’t help to brighten my complexion either. Maybe the 5% concentration is just too low for my skin? All I know is that I didn’t see any results while using it. So I wasn’t able to use the whole bottle, the serum turned really orange. It oxidized. Hmmm, note to self, never purchase a vitamin c serum that claims to be formulated with stabilized vitamin c that comes in a clear, see-through bottle. It’s clearly not stabilized. It turned really orange, and I kept it in a dark, safe place. I had to toss the serum out. Not recommended.

Vanicream Mineral Facial Moisturizer Broad Spectrum SPF 30:

This is a moisturizer with sunscreen. It feels like a moisturizer. It’s thick, rich, and feels heavy on the skin. I have oily skin, so it felt very rich and heavy on my skin. It left my skin looking more shiny and greasy on the surface, but it helped to moisturize and soothed my skin. I don’t think this is a bad product. It’s just that, it’s only SPF 30, and I’m using another product that contains similar ingredients to the Vanicream that works better for me. This product works to moisturize and protect. It’s not something I need in my life right now. It was nice to try it out.

CeraVe Hydrating Mineral Sunscreen SPF 30 Face Sheer Tint:

One of the products I finished this month that I really like! It contains ingredients like ceramides and niacinamide. The sunscreen moisturizes my skin and helps to brighten my skin up. I haven’t noticed any breakouts using it. I’m still keeping my eye out for any clogged pores just in case! Some things I would love to change about this product is to boost the SPF 30 to 50, make it water/sweat-resistant, and add more shades. The shade isn’t a perfect match for my skin. It does blend into the skin, but I wish it wasn’t too orangey. I wish it was a more natural-looking skin color. As for reapplication, it’s really easy to reapply sunscreen with this product. There’s no white cast. This sunscreen comes in a 1.7 fl. oz. (50 mL) tube. It would be nice if it was larger, especially for the price. It’s 13.99 where I am. It’s not super affordable compared to other sunscreens I have tried.

Neutrogena Hydro Boost Water Gel Lotion Sunscreen Broad Spectrum SPF 50:

I figured out that I still had a bottle of the SPF 50. I found it in my bag, lol. And it’s still usable and hasn’t expired yet. I didn’t use it on my face. It’s not the type of product for my facial skin. So I used it on my hands instead. The sunscreen absorbed into my skin very well and quickly. The fragrance was awful. I didn’t like it at all. Since I didn’t use it on my face, I didn’t have to worry about the alcohol content in this product. I used this sunscreen up and threw it out. I won’t repurchase. I hope this is the last Neutrogena Hydro Boost sunscreen that I have, haha!

August Skin Care Empties! 🧴

September Skin Care Empties 😎

Update: My Moisturizing Skin Care Products

Since I’ve removed a ton of skin care products from my skin care routine (thank goodness!!!), I’ve rounded up what moisturizing skin care products I have left. Well, look at that, about 7-8 products. I mean, it’s not the most minimal, but it’s much better compared to what I was doing before. To think of it, I’m just laughing my butt off because there is such a thing as too much. What I was doing was too much. It wrecked havoc in my skin, and it was also taking up a lot of space in my bathroom. ha! So! These are the moisturizing skin care products I’m using. There’s a chance that I might even remove more products if I don’t see results from them or don’t need them. Time will only tell. 🙂

Cosrx Advanced Snail 96 Mucin Power Essence

Before I get into Cosrx Snail Essence, I did remove Cosrx Hyaluronic Acid Hydra Power Essence from my routine. Cosrx Hyaluronic Acid Hydra Power Essence is just a basic hyaluronic acid product. There’s not much to call home about it. Nothing about it stood out to me when I was using it. Even though it’s an essence, it feels more like a gel. It would come out in blobs and feel a bit sticky. So I didn’t think I needed it anymore, since I have other products that contain hyaluronic acid. This ingredient is like everywhere. It would just be too redundant keeping it in my routine. It’s also not that moisturizing. I wasn’t impressed by it. I think it’s time for me to stop spending money on this stuff.

Now on to Cosrx Advanced Snail 96 Mucin Power Essence…

Between the hyaluronic and snail essence, I prefer the snail essence. It’s lightweight and absorbs into my skin very well. It’s perfect for my oily, problematic skin. And I only use a single drop for the whole face in the morning and at night. It’s a little bit more moisturizing compared to the hyaluronic acid, in my opinion, but not by much. I need some moisture in my routine, so I decided to stick with the snail essence rather than the hyaluronic acid essence. This is the only snail essence I’m using too. If I could find a better snail essence product, I would switch because the packaging of this product irks me.

Cos De BAHA MA Peptide Facial Toner

I didn’t think I would like this facial toner. It’s called a toner, but it’s really a gel. It also comes in a 200 mL bottle compared to my Cosrx essences that are only 100 mL. It’s a pretty good deal for a gel moisturizing product. I haven’t had any issues with it. I’ve been using it twice a day without developing any breakouts like blackheads and cysts. It’s not the most moisturizing, since it’s a gel, but I need some type of moisture and this seems to do the trick for the moment. The ingredients are pretty good too. It contains aloe, betaine, sodium hyaluronate, matrixyl 3000, peptides, beta-glucan, and so on. Just looking at the ingredients makes me think how redundant these ingredients are in a lot of my skin care products. So far, with this product, I like it, I’ll keep using it.

Benton Fermentation Essence

This is one of my favorite skin care products. I love, love, LOVE this essence!!! 💗 It contains galactomyces ferment filtrate, bifida ferment lysate, sh-oligopeptide-1, and ceramide np. Love the ingredients! The product does come out as a liquid. Once again, I know I mentioned this several times in the past, the product shoots out straight from the pump. Make sure to shoot it in the palm of your hand! As for the product itself, it feels liquid-like and silky, and it goes on the skin feeling soft, smooth, and silky too. It’s another essence that isn’t that moisturizing, but since I have oily skin, it’s decent. I haven’t had any breakouts from it either.

Hada Labo Gokujyun Premium Lotion

This is my main hyaluronic acid product. I like it much more compared to Cosrx’s hyaluronic acid essence. It contains different types of hyaluronic acid. When dispensed, it comes out as a gel. I don’t need a lot of product to cover my whole face either. Just 1-2 drops of product. It’s more moisturizing too and makes my skin look super glowy and dewy. Feels a little bit sticky though. That’s not a huge issue as of yet, lol. Just like other gel moisturizing products, it’s not as moisturizing compared to a cream. I think I’ve accepted that by now. I rather have some moisture than breakouts caused by using a heavier, richer product. This one works pretty well. I like it.

Purito Centella Green Level Buffet Serum

I started using Purito Centella Green Level Buffet Serum again last year to heal my skin. My skin was such a mess from a bunch of stuff going on. I wasn’t happy with my skin, and it needed to be repaired and needed time to heal. Since this serum contains centella, ceramide np, sodium hyaluronate, asiaticoside, asiatic acid, madecassic acid, peptides, and a bunch of other skin care goodies, this serum looked like it could repair and heal skin. I don’t remember it burning my skin in the past when I used it, so I decided to use it again. With this serum, it helped to provide some moisture (not the most moisturizing, again), but it was a product that helped to heal and repair my moisture barrier for the time being. After my skin healed, I decided to keep using it because it hasn’t done any harm to my skin. It lightly hydrates, provides my skin with healthy skin repairing ingredients and leaves my skin feeling, I guess, rather nice. It’s a nice serum to keep around for now. I think I’m going to keep it in my routine since I haven’t experienced breakouts or clogged pores.

SOME BY MI Yuja Niacin Brightening Moisture Gel Cream

I purchased this product on a whim without thinking much about it. I’m glad I did. I’ve been using it for nearly half a year already. Around there. Once again, like all of the moisturizing gels, it doesn’t moisturize the skin too well. I have oily skin, so that doesn’t bother me too much. I just don’t want to get breakouts or bad acne from a moisturizing product, which happens way too often. Fortunately, this gel moisturizer hasn’t broken me out at all. Yay! I remember using it for the first couple of weeks and it brightened my skin. I’m on my second jar of the product, and I don’t think my skin is any brighter. I was hoping that it’ll help get rid of some acne marks, but I haven’t noticed that either. I feel like the best thing for me to do to get rid of acne marks is to simply eat a healthy diet and let the acne marks fade on their own. I haven’t encountered a product that helped with acne marks yet, and I’ve used plenty. Let’s see what this product can do. I’m almost done with my second jar. I don’t mind using it or having it in my routine right now.

The Ordinary Amino Acids + B5

Look what I have! Yep, The Ordinary Amino Acids + B5! I remember this serum breaking me out last summer. This time, it seems to be going well! I haven’t had any breakouts from it! But it doesn’t leave my skin drenched in moisture like I wanted. It’s just another lightweight moisturizing serum with amino acids. But that’s OK! I decided to keep it in my routine because it’s very lightweight and hasn’t caused any issues. Also, it’s a super affordable serum too. With this serum, I only use 1-2 drops for my whole face and neck. It’s another product that’s going to last forever. I hope, haha! I can’t say much about the results besides the very lightweight moisture it provides. I’ll make another update when I’m done with the bottle.

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I mentioned in another post that I am using Eucerin Q10 Anti-Wrinkle Face Cream when I use my acne treatment to prevent my skin from drying out. Don’t forget to check out that post!

Another moisturizing product I removed (almost forgot this one!!) is Cosrx Oil-Free Ultra-Moisturizing Lotion (with Birch Sap). I debated if I should keep this product in my routine or not. Well, I decided to stop using it on my face. I think I have more than enough moisturizing products. Maybe a little too much still. I just feel like this moisturizing lotion, even though it doesn’t break me out and does moisturize my skin, is just another excess product that I don’t need. Also, I disliked the packaging of the product by a ton. I can’t seem to get to the very last drop no matter what. I’m not smashing bottles. lol. 😂

That’s all of my moisturizing skin care products. I might eliminate some of them if necessary. I’m not trying to complicate my life and skin care routine. But so far, this looks pretty good. Life has been so much easier just cutting out products. Plus, I haven’t spent a dime on a new skin care product as of late. It’s pretty shocking because I would throw my cash to try something new, lol. This is a nice change in life. ✨

My Thoughts on SOME BY MI Niacin 30 Days Miracle Brightening Sleeping Mask After Finishing My First Jar!

I finished a whole jar of SOME BY MI Niacin 30 Days Miracle Brightening Sleeping Mask! It took a little over 2 months to finish a whole jar. I used it in the morning and at night to help moisturize my skin a little more. I didn’t have any issues with it compared to another SOME BY MI product that I tried — SOME BY MI Yuja Niacin Brightening Moisture Gel Cream (read!!). After 2 months of using this sleeping mask, here are my thoughts on it!

This is a nice watery-gel moisturizer. It’s supposed to be used only at night, but since I didn’t have any issues with it (breakouts, redness, other skin irritations), I used it twice a day. I just take a dab of the moisturizer and gently pat it into my skin. This moisturizer soaks into the skin very nicely. It just absorbs into the skin and feels calming, cooling, and soothing on the skin. It feels very refreshing! I always look forward to using it. I just love the way it feels on my skin. As for moisture, it’s not the most moisturizing skin care product, but it gives my skin some moisture. I do have oily skin and have trouble handling heavier, richer moisturizers, so this gel moisturizer works perfectly fine on my skin. It doesn’t leave my skin looking shiny, greasy, or oily. As I said before, it just sinks into the skin while leaving the skin feeling somewhat hydrated.

With this product, it’s just not only the hydration that I’m after (even if it’s just some hydration). I love the ingredients in it too. I think I mentioned this before in another post that I wrote about SOME BY MI Niacin 30 Days Miracle Brightening Sleeping Mask. The ingredients in it are very nice. It contains citrus junos fruit extract (70.5%), niacinamide (5%), panthenol, and jojoba seed oil, hippophae rhamnoides fruit extract, arbutin, glutathione, ascorbic acid, and biotin. And it looks like the ingredients/formula of this product is compatible with my skin type. I have experienced NO clogged pores while using it. YAY! As for results, I noticed my skin looking brighter every time I use it. I’ve tried a bunch of other skin care products that contain niacinamide and none of them worked to improve my complexion. This one worked on my skin! It helps to brighten my skin and hopefully helps to fade acne marks and dark spots along the way.

So it’s only been 2ish months of using the moisturizer, but I’m very excited what results it may bring in the next couple of months. I’m ready to pop open a new jar! Cheers!! 🥂

Here’s my empty jar of the product and a new, freshly opened product! I’m so excited! 😃

If you missed out on my previous posts on SOME BY MI Niacin 30 Days Miracle Brightening Sleeping Mask, don’t worry, it’s all here!! 👇🏻👇🏻👇🏻

My Thoughts on SOME BY MI Niacin 30 Days Miracle Brightening Sleeping Mask

1 Month Results SOME BY MI Niacin 30 Days Miracle Brightening Sleeping Mask!!

Trying out SOME BY MI Yuja Niacin Brightening Moisture Gel Cream…

1 Month Results SOME BY MI Niacin 30 Days Miracle Brightening Sleeping Mask!!

It’s been about 1 MONTH using SOME BY MI Niacin 30 Days Miracle Brightening Sleeping Mask! Here’s my experience after using it for a month!

So I started off using the sleeping mask a few times a week at night. That’s what a sleeping mask is for. You use it a few times at night. But you can use it more often at night too if you want. Honestly, a sleeping mask from my experience feels just like any other moisturizer. Moisturizers can range from being lightweight, fast-absorbing to rich and creamy. This sleeping mask falls under the lightweight, fast-absorbing, gel-serum category. It’s so lightweight that it doesn’t even feel like a true moisturizer. More like a gel-cream-serum type of product. That works for me because I have oily skin. Heavier skin care products tend to clog my pores and make my skin appear more oily than ever! So if you have dry skin, this may or may not work for you. It feels like it would work better for someone with combination-oily skin. It absorbs the oilies on my face pretty well, but it doesn’t leave my skin feeling too tight due to the natural oiliness of my skin. I always follow-up with another moisturizing moisturizer just in case. This moisturizer isn’t that moisturizing. Technically, I use it as a gel-serum.

This sleeping mask contains beneficial skin care ingredients, such as citrus junos fruit extract (70.5%), niacinamide (5%), panthenol, and jojoba seed oil. Also, it contains peppermint, hippophae rhamnoides fruit extract, arbutin, glutathione, ascorbic acid, and biotin. This sleeping mask contains a lot of ingredients that’ll help to brighten the skin. But did it brighten my skin??? I’m intrigued by the ingredients! It looks SO GOOD!!! 😍

Alright! For the first 3 weeks, I only used it a few times a week (at night). I took it pretty slow. I didn’t know how my skin would react to the sleeping mask. I was afraid that it might break me out. It does contain jojoba seed oil. Jojoba seed oil is a hit or miss on my skin. It may or may not work. In other words, it may or may not break me out. Luckily for me, it didn’t break me out, but there’s another product that I have from SOME BY MI that destroyed my skin. Go here to read about it ~ SOME BY MI Yuja Niacin Brightening Moisture Gel Cream ~ Back to the sleeping mask! When I used the sleeping mask every day (am + pm) for a week, I noticed my overall complexion glowed! It looked brighter and more even-toned. I can’t tell if it helped to fade acne marks. Acne marks can take months to fade. It’s a long process. I’ll have to give it more time to work on acne marks. I’m hoping in the next few weeks that I’ll see some changes in my skin. Let’s just hope! lol. The same applies to dark under eye circles. The ingredients in this product look so good for dark under eye circles. I hope it’ll improve my under eyes too. But, unfortunately, there’s no effect on my freckles. It’s not like I’m trying to fade my freckles. But I just noticed that they haven’t budged, haha. I still have freckles all over my nose and cheeks. Oh well! They’re here to stay! hehe! 🙃

With this sleeping mask, I’m just really glad that I didn’t break out from it. I’m so surprised since it’s not oil-free. Cheers to a new moisturizer in my skin care routine! Cheers to a product that contains niacinamide that works on my skin! I’ve yet found a good product that contains niacinamide that WORKS and didn’t irritate my skin! I’ve been looking forward to using this product every day. It just sinks into my skin and doesn’t leave my skin looking shiny. Great for mornings to control the oilies. It’s working so well so far! Stay tuned for my next update. Coming soon! See you all there! 🙂

For more reviews on brightening skin care products for acne go here! 👈🏻

Trying out SOME BY MI Yuja Niacin Brightening Moisture Gel Cream…

Here’s another SOME BY MI product that I tried. It’s SOME BY MI Yuja Niacin Brightening Moisture Gel Cream! This gel-cream contains 90% yuja extract and 5% niacinamide. It’s supposed to help with skin brightening, blemishes, moisturizing, and helps to fade freckles???? What??!! Well, we’ll see if it works or not! Here’s my experience with this product!

So this product is a nice gel-cream. It goes on the skin easily and just sinks into the skin. It feels lightweight. Not heavy, greasy, sticky at all. This gel-cream is a dream come true for oily skin. If you have dry skin, this product isn’t moisturizing at all. Might want to think twice about using it. As someone with oily skin, it dried my skin out! But my skin didn’t feel dry at the moment when I was applying it to my skin or wearing it. It felt dry the next morning. And having dry skin can look just as bad as having oily skin. It accentuates every single little flaw. Makes the skin look worse. Also, unfortunately, the first night of using this gel-cream, I woke up with new blemishes. I didn’t think much about it (maybe a purge??), so I continued to use it the following day…

The next day, I used it in the morning and at night. It’s one of those things where I wanted to give it a chance. Who knows what might happen. But, I should’ve listened to my gut instinct. My skin didn’t look good after day 2 of using this moisturizer. My skin reacted. I noticed more new blemishes that looked swollen. My skin looked very irritated and super red. I didn’t know what was going on, so I had to stop using the moisturizer because of this reaction. Ugh, the product worked so well at brightening my skin! It truly does do what it’s supposed to do (minus fading freckles, no clue if it works for that or not)! I noticed a glowy, more even tone complexion, and my acne marks looked better when using this product the first day. It was instant results! Sadly, it makes me break out! Now on to the next! Whatever that is. haha!

I looked through the ingredients, and the ingredients look so good. I just know that something or a combination of ingredients in this product wasn’t compatible with my skin. Perhaps it’s too drying and caused issues. Anyways, I’m currently using another product from this brand, and it hasn’t caused any breakouts, but I’ve only been using it a few times a week due to it drying my skin out when used too often. Go check it out! 👉🏻 SOME BY MI Niacin 30 Days Miracle Brightening Sleeping Mask Hopefully this product does something for my acne marks and overall skin condition. I can just hope! 😋