1) Clinique "Take the Day Off" Cleansing Balm 2) Kensington Apothecary Rose Water Exfoliating Tonic 3) Andalou Naturals Willow Bark Pure Pore Serum 4) DevaCurl Ultra Defining Gel
I hesitated just a bit with these reviews, putting this post off until I could be really sure that the results I was seeing were for real, but screw it. We're 3 weeks (almost a month) in to me using these products and I absolutely love every one of them.
Click through for my in depth reviews!
First up is the Clinique Cleaning Balm. Loved by Caroline Hirons, I picked this up after seeing Sali Hughes use it in a video and I have to agree that is the most perfect of simple makeup removers I have ever tried. Like oil cleansers, you put a bit of the cleansing balm in to your dry hands and rub them together so that the heat of your palms can melt the product. Once it's an oil you gently rub it into your face as usual, dissolving the makeup as you go. Once you've gone over everything you can either flannel off the product or do what I do, and rinse it away.
This is a fabulous cleanser for sensitive skins. Or heck, for all skins, because it removes makeup without stripping the skin. I'm a double cleanser, but when I've used this to remove makeup before yoga, and thus don't follow up immediately with all the other steps in my evening routine, I've never felt like my face had any leftover residue on it, or that it was dried out.
Now the Kensington Apothecary toner and Andalou Naturals serum were totally random products I picked up at Whole Foods of all places, and I absolutely love what they're doing for my skin. I can't tell if it's one or both products that are making the magic happen, but since introducing them to my night time routine I have to say my face has pretty much just stopped breaking out. Just stopped. I've almost never seen anything like it. I wouldn't say that they've done like, huge amazing things for overall tone or leftover hyperpigmentation, but they've seemed to finally allowed my face the time to fix that with other products without new pimples popping up to ruin my efforts. The toner and serum are super gentle, I don't feel like I'm putting on anything "active" per say when I apply them, but I'm so happy with the results that I have to urge you guys to try them (and keep the receipts, because Whole Foods does take returns if you don't like them).
And finally, a hair gel. Which is a thing I haven't even bothered to try for years, because I just never really loved the hold or look that they gave me. I ended up throwing in this DevaCurl Ultra Defining Gel in my Sephora cart during the last sale on a whim and damn am I happy that I did. It's made an incredible difference in the shape of my curls, not only for each individual spiral, but for how voluminous it looks in the end. I wash my hair at night, and while still in the shower I use my fingers to comb through a combination of leave in conditioner and hair oil. After that I put a quarter or so amount of the gel in my hands, scrunch it through my hair (with some finger combing) and after standing straight and flipping my hair back, I go in and encourage specifics curls around my head by wrapping them around my finger. I then squeeze out some of the water gently with an old t-shirt, but that it's! The hair is left to air dry and the next day I have magical beautiful curls (though admittedly the humidity can sometimes play havoc with how they look at the end of the day).
How about you? Have any of you guys tried something new
and been shocked at how well it performed?
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