I'll be honest, I'm quite new to toners. I've been wanting to get one for a little while now as at 32, my skin is changing (hello old age!). My skin is doing the usual 30's thing of losing collagen, elastin and all that good stuff that we need to be addressing, like yesterday. I've been pretty okay with using skincare for a few years now and skincare is not the chore that it once was to apply. Hell, I even get quite excited when it's time to wash the day away and get into the bathroom. And there is DEFINITELY no more going to sleep with makeup on (okay, except when I might *occasionally* get too drunk, then everything gets disregarded, let's be honest here, we're all guilty of it at one time or another).
Luckily for me and timing would have it, I got sent this bad boy to try out and as we all know how much I love seaweed (if you don't, that's okay, you must be new here, WELCOME!), I jumped at the chance!
What initially struck me was the texture. It's like a liquid gel hybrid, thicker than a liquid but not as thick as a gel (hopefully you'll see what I mean with the pics below). I've never seen a toner with a gel like texture before (although, I'm very new, therefore short-sighted when it comes to toners. Is gel textures in toners a thing?)
Second thing I noticed? The scent. THIS SMELLS AMAZING! It has a fresh, clean, subtle marine scent. I personally LOVE anything that is marine or sea scented. It reminds me of something but I can't quite put my finger on it. I'm thinking maybe a Clinique skincare product, ahh! Not sure!
So after using this for a good month and a half here's what I've noticed with my skin. My nose pores are CLEAN. I've got large pores on my nose and they also look like they're filled with "gunk". Not black heads by any means but just generally "gunky" (you know what i mean surely?). Because they're less gunky looking, they also look slightly smaller. Ok, I'm not talking "wow they've really closed my pores right up!", but to me it's noticeable and my nose is much more clarified. I'm also not getting as many pimples during my hormonal breakouts.
My skin is combination (oily t-zone, normal cheeks), so I feel like I'm not visibly seeing any results in my skin being any more hydrated or moisturised. It definitely feels refreshing and does make my skin feel clean and soft after using it. Also, I think it's important to note, not that "squeaky clean" feeling, which *I think* is actually stripping and over-drying your face, so I guess it must be hydrating it to some point.
I think you'd probably see better results if you had dry skin vs oily, given the nature of being "hydrating".
Overall, yes I quite like this product and it does make my nose look spectacular, but I would recommend this to those who have dry skin. I think this is really good value for money, as you can see in the pic below. That's how much product I've used in almost 2 months with daily use (I skipped maybe 4 applications where I skipped my whole regime due to tiredness/ can't-be-bothered-ness).
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| Usage after 2 months. |
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| Back of the box. |
RRP: $26AUD (150ml)
Available: Glamourflage (free shipping over $50)
This product was sent to me for consideration. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
Through my journey of "cleaning out" my life and steering towards that "hippy life" of natural and chemical-free products, I feel like there's been a lot of trial and error. Especially with makeup products. I've always been a product (mainly cosmetic) junkie, and I'm definitely the type of person to not stray from my steadfast favourites. Unless it becomes discontinued. Which has happened too many times to mention. I think we've all been in that boat.
Unfortunately, trying to navigate through natural and chemical free cosmetics is not an easy task. Firstly, there's seemingly not as many natural and chemical-free cosmetic brands and products out there. Secondly, not many people review natural and chemical-free products, so you'll have to check it out yourself rather than waiting for reviews. Thirdly, because companies aren't using chemicals to make these products, some of the more natural products don't respond, act or behave the same way. To be honest, most natural products I've found (in the past) just don't perform the way I'd like (or rather, what I'm used to), which is why there's been a lot of trial and error for me.
One of my absolute favourite face products was MAC Mineralize Skinfinish Natural in Light. It was my holy grail powder for YEARS! There's a couple of reasons why I've stopped using MAC MSFN:
* I'm going as natural and chemical-free (time to make this a drinking game I think. Every time I say chemical-free, take a shot!) as I can.
* I had the most ridiculous amount of products that I really didn't need, so I stopped buying everything and just used what I had. (I've gotten rid of so much in the process of this. I reckon I've cut down my collection by about half, and I STILL have more than 1 person will ever need).
* MAC are no longer cruelty-free, which I personally don't condone and can't support.
After running out of each item of face/ skin makeup, I simply replaced them with natural and chemical-free versions. Nothing compares to some of my chemical favourites but I'm slowly getting there with some good stuff.
One thing I've found that is virtually the same is the Inika Baked Mineral Foundation to replace the MAC MSFN. They're both baked mineral powders that offer a very light, and slightly pearlized/ light reflective finish.
I find the Inika powder is a satin finish rather than a matte finish, which I personally don't look for in any product. I always like a luminous or satin finish to my skin.
The Inika Baked Mineral foundation provides a sheer but flawless finish. I use it to help set my foundation as I like my foundation to be "in place" and set. I feel like I can build it up as much as I would want to without it looking "cakey" at all, even if I've re-powdered throughout the day. It also doesn't initially cling to dry spots or acne, like some powders can do when you have texture and make them look dryer. Even at almost 32 I still get the dreaded flare ups from "that time of the month". The powder also doesn't emphasise my pores or sink into any of my fine lines.
The Inika powder wears evenly throughout the day and I find my makeup still looks reasonably okay when I take it off each night. I usually wear my makeup for about 12 hours easily (from 9am-9/11pm). Even as it wears throughout the day, I don't get any excess build up anywhere on my face so again, no patchiness or cakiness (when you've got those dry spots and powders cling to it, UGH!). I do have pretty good skin with little texture on my face (all texture is condensed to my chin and around my nose/ smile line area).
Being a baked powder, I also find that there's little to no kick up and it doesn't "pool" with powder in the packaging. I always find it discouraging when products do that as you know you're not getting as much product out of it. The Inika powder does last a long time in usage as well. I bought a replacement as I hit pan on my first one probably close to a month ago now, but it's actually still going strong and I'll probably get at least another 2-3 weeks out of it. I'm using it about 5-6 days a week, and I think I'm being pretty generous with the amount applied to my face.
I use the Inika shade in Unity and it's a perfect match. The MSFN shade I used to use was Light or Light Plus in comparison.
This has definitely become my new holy grail powder and it's such a pleasure to use.
RRP: $65AUD
Buy from: Inika Flora and Fauna Nourished Life
Earth Day is coming up this Sunday, and while I do as many Earth friendly things as I can, I'm extending the "invitation" to you. I'm putting up some easy and simple ways you can help this planet. We need to think about what we're leaving behind for the next generations to come. This is something we all need to work at together and create a much more beautiful and sustainable planet Earth. So far, we've only got this one so we should be looking after it.
On Earth Day 2018 we're focusing on plastic and plastic pollution. Plastic is becoming a huge, huge problem. We've been seeing this for years, but it just doesn't seem to be slowing down.
What can you do to help?
Ditch the plastic straws!
~ This is probably the one thing you hear again and again and again. Sorry, I'm gonna be telling you once more (for the people at the back). Plastic straws are one of the most wasteful, harmful to the environment, forms of plastic. Only because so many people use them, and they're generally a one-use product. Go for either bamboo, or stainless steel ones. Over time it'll also save you money (one set of straws vs how ever many bags of straws you'll go through over your lifetime). Simple math isn't it? So earth friendly!
Stainless steel straws (curved): Life Basics Curved straws
Stainless steel straws (straight): Ever Eco Straight straws
Bamboo straws: Yourstraw Bamboo straws
Produce/ nut bags:
~ Ditch those one use plastic produce bags when doing your grocery shopping. These bags are so great and hold quite a bit of stuff. They're available in packs of 5 or 8.
These are the ones I get: Onya reusable produce bags
Beeswax wraps or glassware:
Use glassware to store things in the fridge like leftovers, lunches etc. Glassware is something you'll have as long as you can keep it and it's also great for heating food (vs leeching plastic). It heats more evenly and generally tastes better too. Or you could try out those beeswax food covers which take shape however you use it and can be used until it basically gets destroyed from use.
A range of Beeswax covers: Beeswax covers
More covers: Beeswax covers 2
Change your toothbrush!:
~ Go bamboo! They're more sustainable and are biodegradable. Saves hundreds of plastic
toothbrushes going to landfill. They're also available in kids sizes too.
Get one here: Charcoal Bamboo toothbrush
Or here: Bamboo toothbrush
Sustainable razor:
~ Again, something we go through quite regularly but we don't need to. Go for a safety razor and all you'll need to replace are the blades. This is a much more sustainable and earth friendly thing to do. Again, saving you money in the long run.
This I the one I have: Edwin Jagger safety razor
Bar soap:
~ Okay admittedly bar soap is not as nice as some bottled body washes out there and it does tend to run a little pricier as soap breaks down quicker of course! So you will go through more bars vs bottles of body wash. But it's much better for the environment. I use bar soap for 3 reasons:
* to get rid of all that unnecessary plastic
* so I'm using less chemicals, like sls, sulphates, phlalates and also palm oil
* to help smaller businesses rather than big corporations (also majority of small business do not test on animals either vs companies).
I usually get mine from:
Here: Scrumpy Soap
Or here: Sugarloaf Soap
I also check out Etsy for handmade soaps, which there are a lot so it's very ripe for the picking!
