Skincare Week: Treatments/Serums/Oils

Caroline Hirons says this over and over, spend the money on a product that does one good thing rather than buying a product that does 10 things only slightly well. Makes sense, right? That's what treatments are about. Instead of the moisturizer that claims to do a billion things, why not just get treatments for the problems you want fixed??  

Things To Know:

• **You can layer treatments** That's right people. No one is going to jail for using more than one treatment at a time. Pile it on! Everyone's invited!
• If you use a facial oil, use the oil first, then top with serums, then moisturizer. 
• If you're layering serums apply them lightest to heaviest. Silicone based serums go last. Otherwise nothing else will go through. 
• Oils can be great even for oily skin. There are many facial oils that give a wide range of hydration, which we all know now, can happen to ANY SKIN TYPE.
• You can have AM treatments and PM treatments or ones for both.

My Personals:

I started last year with this Olay Regenerist Frangrance Free Regenerating Serum $22 for 1.7oz.  I liked it. Very much at the time. But looking back, it didn't seem to help me all that much. It was very siliconey feeling and I wasn't totally sure what this was suppose to actually do for my skin, but I felt like I was old enough to get into serums, so I did. 

If you are looking for just a bit of moisture, this could work for you.  My skin did feel softer to the touch with this and had I been exfoliating properly, this might have worked differently for me. Mostly it felt like a silicone type makeup primer on my skin.  I eventually stopped using it because the Laura Mercier Tinted Moisturizer I was using seemed to look gunky and runny around mid day when I used this serum. 

My next venture into treatments was the Murad Rapid Age Spot and Pigment Lightening Serum. I received this small tube and cherished every drop of it. This really did fade dark marks and it made my skin look great! It's pricey, at $60 for an oz. But it's well worth the money if you've got some serious marks to fade. 

I used this to spot treat some marks to make it last longer but the nights I used it all over, I awoke to glowing skin!  My sister also had a great reaction to this product, however, The Indian did not. She told me it made her skin hate her, and I couldn't understand it!  But hey, different folks, different stroke, right?  Too bad, The Indian, too bad. 

Looking for a Murad substitute, I turned to the Yes to Grapefruit Dark Spot Correcting Serum $20 for an oz. I used at least 2 full bottles of this serum. Besides the wonderful grapefruit smell, this serum never interfered with my makeup and always sank into my skin very nicely, albeit slower than the rest. It gave my skin a tighter appearance, but it was a borderline tight feeling, which was corrected with moisturizer. 

I had to learn how to dispense the right amount of this because using too much would cause it to ball up on my skin when I put moisturizer over it. It did help fade some dark marks, not nearly as fast as the Murad but it helped. But that seemed to be the only thing it really did for my skin despite using it AM and PM. 

Bare minerals Active Cell Renewal Serum $50 for an oz, but I got a smaller size in a B.E. Kit. I really underestimated this product and thought it was the other things I was using that were helping my skin. As it turns out, this Cell Renewal serum gives my skin an intense dose of moisture! 1 time use noticeable. I also rationed out this serum best I could until it was finally gone. This is the serum I used when I felt a dry spot coming up, or if my skin looked dull. The intense hydration perks it all back up over night! 2 nights if it's super stubborn.   

I haven't made the plunge into buying a full size bottle of this, but I know winter is coming, and with that a number of skin issues could arrive.  This time I am prepared and the first sign of skin dehydration will mean a trip to my B.E. Boutique to pick this up! 

Now I'm using the Olay Regenerist Night Resurfacing Elixir $20-25 for .5oz.  This contains Glycloic acid as it's third ingredient. If you were paying attention yesterday, you know that glycolic acid helps exfoliate the skin. This also claims to bring great hydration to the skin. Can't hurt, right?

I've been using this as my night treatment after toning, for a few weeks now. I like that the bottle is lightweight plastic and that you can see how much product the push up dispenser has inside. The packaging says it's for smoother, tighter skin, and that's what i'm going for!  It's a clear, liquidly serum that feels slippery at first but then sinks into the skin very fast. The box says it needs up to 5 minutes for full absorption. Sometimes I wait the 5, sometimes I can't be bothered. It seems to be working either way. 

The information about this product tells you it replaces your moisturizer. Yeah, I don't agree with that. And neither does Caroline Hirons.  However, using this after my toners actually feels like I've put on a thin moisturizer so I could see why people would think it's fine to stop here but I still suggest using a moisturizer over this.  

The glycolic acid actually does make for great exfoliation and seems to also be helping fade some dark marks. Not incredibly fast, but it's at least helping and not hurting. I also feel like this is locking in some of the moisture I put on before this with my L'Oreal Hydrafresh Toner It's also adding a bit of it's own and every bit counts when you're talking hydration. 

If there is something about your skin that is bothering you, there is surely a treatment out there for you. Shop with your gut. If something is bothering you, look for things that will help. HELP. Don't expect things on a counter to 'fix' anything.  

And remember to know your store's return policy in case something doesn't work for you. Something something frog and prince story....      

 Lucky for you I did a post about return policies right HERE. 

I Say Yes

Though I become very loyal to certain brands or products, I can't seem to squelch the urge to try new things!  Despite that, there are still some things that I buy over and over.  If I buy something twice, then I know we're meant to be! .... At least for a while.      

I bought this serum months ago and have been loving it! And recently I went and bought a second!

Yes To Grapefruit Dark Spot Correcting Serum $20

You may have heard of the Yes To brand. First it was carrots, now they've moved on to many fruits and veggies! I'm glad they went with grapefruits because I've always completely loved the smell of grapefruit. Especially in beauty products! I spent years using the Neautrogena Body Clear body wash in pink grapefruit not for it's acne fighting properties, but because it smells like grapefruits! 

It makes me happy. 

So here's how this serum stacks up.

It's in a nice light plastic package. Nothing easy to break. Nice pump dispense. Except that if you do a full big pump, will you get enough product for about 3 days.  This is a little goes a long way product. 

With most serums, you do have to move fast, and this is no exception. There's no lollygagging in seruming! 

Now, when you see it, it's not....appetizing. It comes out looking like yellow snot. Sorry for that visual, but it's true. But what it lacks in curb appeal it more than makes up for in scent! 

It's a very slick consistency and because of that, I find it a bit cooling on my skin when I get it on.  It takes a few seconds to sink in, so sometimes I stand in front of the fan, and that really ups the anti of cooling effect.

There's a bit of learning curve with how much to use on your face. If you use too much, it will begin to get flaky once it dries. Or bead up under your moisturizer. But all that wipes away pretty easily. I find I don't have to do that if I use the least amount I can to cover my face and give it a full minute, maybe 2, to sink in. 

I wasn't expecting this to work as fast as the Murad Lightening serum, but I did have a dark mark on my cheekbone when I began this product and I can say it's helped lessen that mark faster than it would have on it's own. I do have darker skin, and I do scar extremely easily and for an extremely long time, so any time shaved off is really great for me.  Obviously, other people will have other results. 

A few times I switched back to my Olay Regenerating Serum, and I noticed that my skin didn't look as hydrated, and had a more dull appearance. Once I went back to this serum, it was just.....aaaahhhhhhh. 

I don' t know if it's the natural fruit extracts or what in this, but once this sinks into my skin, it makes my skin appear smoother than the Olay serum. I can tell especially on the very tops of my cheeks, close to the nose. That whole area looks like my pores are tighter and my skin is much smoother. 

The Olay serum is also very silicone based, and especially in the warmer climate coming up, my makeup sits on the Grapefruit serum much better. 

Bottom Line: I think this serum is really great on my skin. It keeps it looking hydrated, smoother and tighter and actually is helping reduce my dark marks and making my skin brighter. And the oh so lovely smell is a wonderful bonus!

Did I mention that it's only costs 1/3 of the Murad serum??