Does It Work For Spots? | Skyn Iceland Blemish Dots With Salicylic Acid

Spots... those pesky little, sometimes even huge, under/on top of the skin blighters. Have somewhere nice to go for the week? Hi Hun! Sitting in all week in your dressing gown and greasy hair? Nowhere to be seen. Always popping up in the most inconvenient times and always a pain in the ass to try and tackle.

I, myself, have encountered a fair few spots in my time. I've been suffering with acne for around 12 years now and can guarantee you almost every two weeks, a new one suddenly takes up residency on my face. Sorry, but there is no available vacancies this week for you! They almost always pop up around 'that' time of the month or normally when I am stressed out, or actually instantly if I eat something that is high in dairy i.e. milk and cheese. So, you're probably wondering how I deal with my spots as it almost seems as though I know how to get rid of them in an instance. I'm sorry I don't. I am still looking for that holy grail product, but for now I am all for trialling and testing to see what works.

Back in December, I was lucky enough to win one of the 24 days a month advent calendar prizes from FeelUnique that they host every year around Christmas time. My prize included a skincare set from Skyn Iceland featuring masks, lip and eye products, spot treatments and more. There will be an entire post on the entire range of products I received after testing them, but for now I want to focus on the Skyn Iceland Blemish Dots with Willow Bark and Rich in Salicylic Acid. 

I have been wanting to test out blemish dots for a while now, rather than using a typical spot gel/cream to actually see whether or not having a potential barrier to lock in the spot fighting product would make the process of reducing my spot(s) a lot quicker. I also found the whole concept of using a small amount of material that contained product that would adhere to the skin interesting, as I have found a lot in the past products similar to blemish dots didn't stay on longer than 15 minutes for someone like me who tends to get very oily skin, so putting them to the test made the whole process a lot more fun.

In my little stash of products, I received 1 sheet of 12 blemish dots, which if purchased alone would include 4 sheets of 12 dots and be priced around £17.50. A bit pricey personally I feel to keep on top with, especially if you're someone like me who tends to get spots on a regular basis. But, if you are finding that spots aren't a regular occurrence then maybe these could be a holy grail product for you. Also, with each set comes 6 larger blemish dots and 6 smaller blemish dots, making it easy for you to pinpoint the right size for your blemish and also lessens the wastage of product depending on the size of the blemish you have.

Each set also comes in a sealed, easy to rip open packaging, similar to how a blackhead strip would. Personally, I do find this a bit unhygienic for this type of product, especially since once you've ripped open the set you then potentially have the strip of blemish dots either lying around on their own or contained within their original packaging but rather than sealed is open until you use that entire set of dots up. So, I would have liked if each dot came individually packaged that way I know nothing is going to contaminate each blemish dot and then clog my pores around the blemish I want to use it on.

The product is free of harsh chemicals, parabens, PEGS, formaldehyde, silicones, sulfate detergents, fragrance and dye and are also 100% vegan friendly. To use them it is recommended that you apply the patch directly onto the blemish (I personally washed my face beforehand as I didn't want any dead skin cells or anything that could clog my pores sitting under a contained area) and then gently press until the dot adheres to the skin, leaving it on for several hours or overnight for the best results.

BEFORE

When it came to testing out the product, as mentioned above, I was a bit iffy to the fact my strip would be out in the open, pretty much ready for any bacteria to come and make a home on. But after the sheer shock and potential bad thoughts of more clogged pores and spots, I began to proceed with testing out the product.

As you can see above, the infected area I am mostly focusing on is pretty raised, inflammed and one of those spots which is going to take a while to reduce and then even longer to control the redness and scarring (I'd also just like to point out that we are looking at the raised area closest to you in the photo and not the area behind it - I unfortunately have a rather large mole that sits on the side of my face and this particular spot decided to appear just near it). This spot had just reared its rather unwanted self a few days before testing out the product, but I thought it would be the perfect time to test it out and therefore put the blemish dots to the test for a week.

During the time of testing out the blemish dots I also received another unwanted visitor just a few inches away from the spot I am focusing on in this post. I did try out the blemish dots on that area too as that blemish actually produced a white head within a few hours of appearing, unlike the other one which even after a week still hasn't produced a whitehead and I also wanted to see whether or not it would add enough pressure to the whitehead to make it pop or just reduce it even a little bit. Unfortunately, it did not help reduce the whitehead and I did have to turn to using my spot/blackhead removal tool.

I used a variety of the smaller and larger blemish dots, ensuring that the larger ones were used when it was at its most painful that way it had enough room to breath and do its thing whilst also at the same time not cause me any discomfort. (Note: the patches sit rather comfortably on the skin and even stay put whilst sleeping!) The smaller ones were then used when it had started to reduce over the days and I could lock it down tighter to try and help it reduce more quickly. Both sizes were kept on for around 6 hours per day.

AFTER

After around a week of using the blemish dots, about one a day, I ended up using 8 of the 12 blemish dots, minus one for the whitehead I mentioned previously, so essentially 7, in order to get this final result. Both pictures have been taken in the same position at the same time of day on the same camera (Olympus Pen E-PL8) and as you can see after a week of using them, my spot has reduced very well, whereas if I hadn't used the blemish dots this would still be very inflammed. The redness has pretty much all disappeared from the salicyclic acid that was in each dot which is used to help reduce redness and it has also caused a slight bit of flaking, which I think is essentially the spot healing and being ready to go through its last healing process before it has officially gone.

Overall, the process of using these blemish dots I found to be very easy and quick with no difficulty, besides the fact sometimes you forget they are there due to them blending into the skin so well, so are great if you need to pop out and run some errands but don't want to wear makeup but battle any pesky spots at the same time. They also stay put whilst you sleep which was a bonus for me, as I ended up having an afternoon nap at one point and I tend to move a lot in my sleep and found when I woke up it was still in place, with no movement at all. As for how the product worked, I feel it worked very well for more under the skin, angry spots more so than those little ones that come and go very easily, so essentially I would use these dots for those, but overall I am very happy with how they performed and I'm hoping by the end of this spots little vacation on my face it won't have left any scarring!

Have you tried out blemish dots before? What are your thoughts?

This product was received in a giveaway. I have not been asked to review these products and all opinions are my own.

New Radox & Dove Shower Mousse Collections

One of my favourite ways to wind down/end my day is to have a bath. No matter what the weather is doing outside or time of day - I will always choose to have a bath over a shower. I guess with a bath comes the amount of choices you have to decide on with what you want to focus on for that particular day, whether that be distressing, uplifting or detoxifying to name a few or if you're like me just add a little bit of everything as you just love the smells, the colours and the amount of bubbles!

Now, although I do enjoy picking out what I'm going to use in my bath each day, my other favourite part is deciding what products I am going to indulge my skin in. I've tried everything from shower milks, to shower foams, to mousses and even just your standard shower gel. But ones that have always been my favourite are the shower mousses/foams. I find with this particular formulation you're getting more for your money's worth as a little goes a VERY long way and also because the scent tends to linger more.

An all time favourite of mine is the Imperial Leather Foamburst in Vanilla and Cherry - the scent is amazing, it lathers really well for such a small amount and also doesn't react with my oily/acne prone skin. The only downside to this particular product is the price tag with it being priced at around £3.00-£5.00 depending on where you purchase it from, which is not something I want to be paying especially if it isn't a luxurious product. Therefore, I made it my mission to find something that was similar, had a nice range of scents and had a much lower price tag that way if I went a little bit crazy with how much I used (I'm sure all of us enjoy going a little bit crazy with these sorts of products) then I didn't have product guilt when it came around to repurchasing again.

The two products that I found however, were the Radox Feel Shower Mousse which is a three product range, each having a different scent for the sense you're feeling these being; bright, vibrant and lastly vivacious and the Dove Shower Mousse range which also has a three product range, these being; argan oil, rose oil and lastly, coconut oil. 

The difference in these two collections, although quite similar in formulation is that they focus on something completely different. The Radox range focuses on what mood you're feeling whereas the Dove range focuses more so on using essential oils to help soften the skin. Therefore, these products could be used in conjunction with one another, such as using the Radox range to uplift your mood and then using the Dove range in areas you want to soften the skin such as after shaving. 

Another bonus to both these ranges as well is, that they come with a scratch for scent sticker on the lid. I feel more products should come with this option, especially bath products, as I am someone who prefers certain scents over others and who hates getting home to find out the product works amazing but is going to have to use it here and there just because I don't like the scent and don't want to waste it. So, essentially by having this option I am not only saving money but am also cherishing my bath times a lot more by using products that I enjoy.

A downside, however, to both these products is the material used for the applicator compared to the metal bottles that holds the product. On both products the applicator comes in a plastic material, which essentially is good in order to keep the price down to make them affordable but from personal experience the minute you snap the tiny bit of material keeping the applicator attached to the main part of the bottle, it's pretty much a fiddly process of trying to get the product out. Unfortunately, you can't screw the applicator back into place or press it down enough to attach to the small tube in which the product comes out from, so you may find you have water collected in the main rim as well as will find it fiddly to get the applicator to sit properly to get the product to come out.

The products itself are priced at £2.99 each for the Radox ones and £3.99 each for the Dove ones. Again, not the most affordable of shower mousses/foams, but I did find with these ones compared to my beloved Imperial Leather one is that firstly, a lot does go a long way and the scent lingers a lot more compared to the Imperial Leather one. Each range also has an amazing selection thus far to cater to something everyone will like. Another bonus also is that the Radox and Dove range have a much easier applicator compared to the Imperial Leather in the sense that you simply press down and the product will distribute without any fuss. Whereas I have found with some bottles of the Imperial Leather Body Foam is that you may have to press down a lot harder in order to get the product to come out, as well as sometimes even have to try and find a click point within the lid to make the distribution of the product a lot easier.

The product and formulations for both brands are very smooth and creamy. They glide onto the skin effortlessly, ensuring every inch of skin is pretty much gone untouched. They both rinse off really well, ensuring no residue is left behind such as a sticky feeling that you may find with mousse formulations themselves. Skin is left really smooth, as well as works amazingly with shaving ensuring the skin is protected and moisturised. As for moisturising the skin afterwards once you've finished showering/bathing, I found it worked really well with my normal moisturisers and didn't clog the pores or cause my skin to become overly moisturised.

Have you tried either of these ranges? What are your thoughts?

Sanctuary Spa Body Moisturisers: Body Butter, Body Lotion & Wet Skin Moisture Miracle

When it comes to my skin, I'm always looking for products that will sink in quickly, won't leave a greasy residue or that won't clog my pores. I have fairly oily skin and find face moisturisers are very limiting for me. But when it comes to my body I find I have a lot more choice in terms of what I can use, as my main skin concerns are only on my face, which is my acne, whereas on my body I'll only get the occasional spot here and there. 

For Christmas I received this 3-piece body moisture skincare set by Sanctuary Spa from a close friend. Sanctuary Spa is a brand I've heard of before but never tried any of their products before now and didn't even realise how cheap they were as well! Within the set I received for Christmas I got the Body Lotion, Body Butter and the Wet Skin Moisture Miracle. Now, the one that intrigued me the most was the Wet Skin Moisture Miracle. It's similar to the Nivea in-shower moisturiser in terms of you apply it when your skin is soaking wet, don't rinse and dry yourself with a towel as normal. A concept I haven't really tried before and one I was a little worried about would interfere with my oily skin. But here are my thoughts...

Sanctuary Spa Body Lotion: Now, body lotions aren't really my favourite and I hate the feeling on my skin, I'll just say it now. The fact you have to sit and wait for it to sink into the skin or be able to touch anything - I'm not a fan of that. However, after testing the consistency and comparing it to the others it is definitely not the thinnest consistency and certainly not the thickest consistency of the bunch, but the consistency is just enough to sink in fast enough without leaving a greasy residue or clogging any of your pores, perfect for anyone with oily skin like me or even combination. The scent also lingers afterwards which was pleasantly surprising and left my skin feeling pretty smooth, especially around the elbow areas which tend to get dry pretty quickly.

Key Tips: Fast Drying | Quick Absorption | Non-thick Consistency | No Greasy Residue | Acne Suitable

Sanctuary Spa Body Butter: A thick butter like consistency as the name suggests, making this product slightly on the heavier side compared to the others. I found I had to rub it in that little bit longer, so I suggest using this product when you have a little bit more time on your hands - however, if you find your skin gets irritable quite easily or your pores get clogged by heavy consistency products, then use this product in small amounts and gradually layer it up and you should be okay. When completing sunk into the skin, I found it hydrated any dry patches I have thoroughly well and therefore, mainly focus this product currently on my feet, due to wearing silly shoes and encountering endless amounts of blisters. It also didn't irritate the cracked skin, but just helped boost the healing process a long that little bit faster. In terms of how long it takes to sink into the skin, I would say it needs the most out of all three, but not that much longer than the body lotion. It did leave a tiny bit of a greasy residue afterwards, but this can be combated by simply rubbing the product in more, so would advise using this on any dry patches or someone who suffers with dry skin.

Key Tips: Thick Consistency | Extra Time To Sink In | Slight Greasy Residue | Not Acne Suitable

Sanctuary Spa Wet Skin Moisture Miracle: I remember when Nivea came out with their in-shower moisturiser, a much faster and simpler way to apply your moisturiser when on the go and was always intrigued to try it but never managed to pick it up. So you can imagine how happy I was to see a product similar within this set. The consistency is very thin, probably the thinnest of the set. It applies almost like water, which essentially is what you are doing, applying it on top of soaked skin. When rubbed in, it takes mere seconds and even leaves a rather lovely glow on top. You then towel dry like normal, which to me thought would leave a sticky residue afterwards, but was pleasantly surprised to see it had sunk in amazingly, no sticky residue insight and no greasy residue left over either. The scent doesn't linger as much as the other two products, but it has left my skin feeling incredibly smooth and also made putting my clothes on that more easier, as if there was no moisturiser on my skin to begin with.

Key Tips: Thin Consistency | Quick Absorption | Great For On The Go | Acne Suitable

Overall, I am thoroughly impressed with this set. I found it didn't clog my pores, didn't transfer off the skin onto anything else, left my skin feeling smooth, absorbed quickly into the skin and also found each product mentioned is priced below £10 individually, so won't break the bank. Each product also lasted a rather long time, besides the body lotion (depending on how much you use), especially if you shower every day like me, so it was amazing to see a little bit goes a long way. 

Etude House 0.2 Therapy Air 10 Pack Face Mask Set: Green Tea

Recently, sheet masks are fast becoming one of my favourite ways to have downtime. They are one of the most popular beauty products on the Asian market, as well as easy to apply, easy to remove and above all doesn't require any tugging of the skin. Plus for the price for some single sheet masks, they can work out to be a cheap treat for your skin with added benefits! 

One of my favourite brands of sheet mask is Etude House. I just find their sheet masks are packed with product and they aid my skin so well when its lacking in lustre and needs a pick me up. The current sheets mask I use are the Etude House 0.2 Therapy Air 10-Piece Variety Mask. 

These sheet marks are available in single sachets, however, for £13.95 I couldn't resist going for their 10-piece set, offering a variety of sheet masks which help with brightening, moisturising and more. Plus, to help aid you in choosing the right mask for your skin, I'll be going through each mask one-by-one and sharing my thoughts on their results. So, to start with I'll be reviewing the Green Tea sheet mask as I have been buying and using this particular sheet mask a lot, and found it has helped in aiding my skin so well ever since having a bad reaction to the My Scheming Blackhead Removal Mask. You can read about my experience here. 

To begin with, the 0.2 Therapy Air Masks are hypo-allergenic sheets that won't irritate the skin. They deliver 7-free essence to the skin directly through the 0.2mm air sheet. They have also passed the sensitive panel test, have water purified through their 6-step filtration system, have a 1 to 2 EWG green grade which is an American non-profit environmental organisation all about evaluating chemicals and ingredients used in cosmetics. They are also free from the 7 skin irritating ingredients of Imidazolidinyl, Urea, Polyacryamide, Trethanolamine, Mineral Oil, Silicon Oil, Pigment and Fragrance. As well as with the 0.2mm sheet mask, this allows for your skin to breathe more comfortable through the remarkable air-penetration and lastly, they use natural essence oils to make you and your skin happy.

These face masks also come part of a 3 Essence labelled category. These 3 Essence categories are; The Moist Water Type Essence, The Ampoule Type Essence and lastly, The Emulsion Type Essence. These all deliver a different outcome with the moist water type face masks being absorbed lightly and freshly into the skin to refresh the skin. The Ampoule Type Essence absorbs into the skin mildly but brings powerful moisturisation and lastly, The Emulsion Type Essence absorbs into the skin smoothly with added nutrition. I like the idea behind the masks being categorised as not only does it allow for you to decide which masks suit your skin type/skin problem better but it also allows for you to try a variety of these masks to see how one differs to the other.

As I mentioned previously, I've been trialling and testing the green tea sheet mask for a few months now, especially after getting a bad reaction after using The Scheming Blackhead Removal Mask a few month back. Also, because so many have raved about the benefits of green tea both externally and internally, I thought it was a good time to see whether it worked on more severe issues than what I originally have.

After using the blackhead removal mask, I ended up getting bad dry patches on the sides of my nose just above my lips as well as a section on my chin. I found no amount of exfoliating or moisturising was helping, so I had to delve deeper into my stash to try and find something that could help heal my skin back to its original state. Having had a good reaction from sheet masks when my skin needed a little pick me up, I thought about putting this particular mask to the test to see whether it could help with the aiding of my skin, by bringing moisture back into those specific dry areas. This particular sheet mask sits in the Moist Water Type Essence category, offering light and fresh absorption to the skin. When applied to the skin it feels cooling (I recommend letting them sit in the fridge 24 hours before you use it as it feels so much nicer on the skin!), the mask sat comfortably on my face without much fuss. Also, due to the mask having quite a thin texture, it allowed for my skin to feel as though it wasn't getting claustrophobic with product so essentially had room to breathe whilst at the same let the product do its work. After I had sat with the sheet mask on my face for the recommended time and then removed it, I noticed where I had my dry patches they felt a lot less dry and as though they had, had a major moisture boost. However, this sheet mask alone did not aid at helping the dry patches disappear completely, but after using this mask a couple of times a week alongside my normal skincare routine, I did notice that the dry patches started calming down a lot quicker. As for the rest of my face which didn't need a lot of aiding in moisturising and soothing, I did notice that it helped pick my skin up by making it a lot smoother, which allowed for my makeup to sit more nicely on my skin, as well as allowed for my other skincare products to sink into the skin a lot better. 

Rating: 9/10

Have you tried the Etude House 0.2 sheet masks? Which from the range was your favourite?

Foundation Review: Bobbi Brown Skin Foundation SPF 15

My go to foundation choice over the past year has been the Nars Sheer Glow foundation in Siberia. I found it works amazingly for my oily skin and even though it has a light to medium coverage I found it worked amazingly at covering any pigmentation or blemishes that I had. So you're probably wondering why I'm out trying new foundations when clearly I already found the perfect one? Well, as much as I love trying out hundreds of different skincare products, I found this love has slowly started moving over to makeup, but more so foundation.

As a fellow acne sufferer, I found it can be quite hard trying to find a foundation which is thick enough to cover any redness and pigmentation whilst at the same time last all day and look natural. Therefore, to help out others in a similar situation as me, I've made it my job to trial and test and report back for my acne sufferers out there about what foundations I feel work for my skin and which could potentially work for you and make it worth your money.

Now, I'm going to start by saying I've never tried anything from Bobbi Brown before. *shock horror* It was always one of those brands I heard numerous people mention, but kind of looked at it as one of those brands which could essentially work great for another but not technically me. The likes of Lily Pebbles and Anna from The Anna Edit go crazy for Bobbi Brown makeup and after noticing the very sleek, as well as more for your money bottle, as well as the amazing selection of shades (if you're struggling to find your right shade for a new brand and don't have a counter near you, I'd highly recommend going to this website) I took the plunge and deposited away £28 (I had a discount) of money to the Bobbi Brown website.

My favourite part about the Bobbi Brown foundation is that it comes with a pump. Unlike my current Nars one, you have to pay for the pump seperate which can total you to about £35-£36 depending on where you purchase it. What I also like about this foundation is the colour range. For someone who is as pale as me, it isn't always guaranteed that the lightest shade of foundation available is going to match with your skintone, so it was nice to see they had a shade which went past porcelain if that wasn't light enough. Thankfully, the shade porcelain matched me well enough and compared to the consistency of the Nars foundation, this one blended beautifully into my skin and looked a lot more natural due to the consistency being quite runny and thin, which allowed for you to go with the bare minimum or build it to your desired opaqueness.

Have you tried any Bobbi Brown foundations? What are your thoughts?

Does It Really Work? My Scheming Blackhead Removal Mask

If you're an avid skincare junkie then you'll be well aware of the famous blackhead charcoal mask that made its rounds a couple of months ago as the best treatment to remove your blackheads other than the Biore blackhead strips. As soon as it hit YouTube I knew I had to give it a go after seeing the results, however, I decided to wait a while for the hype to die down as with most products I try out there that are hyped up I do find they don't always work for my skin. Sadly, this product did just the same.

I ordered my kit from YesStyle for around £15 in total, which also included postage. Inside it came with the sebum softener as step 1, the charcoal mask as step 2 and lastly the pore refining essence as step 3. These all work in conjunction with each other so it is better that you follow the steps through and just don't go straight for the charcoal mask as you may find it won't work as good. For a full how to, watch this video here. 

When it came to trialling and testing the blackhead removal mask I did find the whole process in itself to be quite time consuming and fiddly. For a kit which is meant to be good at removing blackheads I wasn't surprised to find that it would require more than one step, but having gone through the process twice I did find the Biore blackhead strips to work a lot better for the time and money spent.

After removing the blackhead pore strip which took around 40 minutes in total to dry completely (side note: the box says it should take around 30 minutes, but I waited until it was completely dry for better results) I noticed that barely any of my blackheads had been removed compared to when I use the Biore Pore Strips which work really well on my skin. However, what I did notice was that after I finished the 3-step course with the pore refining essence that my skin was left feeling really soft and smooth. This didn't last for long as after a couple of days I noticed that my skin started becoming dry in the areas that I applied the charcoal mask and it is only now that my skin has started to improve to its original state after using a lot of hydrating products. This was really disappointing after seeing so many people use this mask with the same skin type as me and them having amazing results. However, with having acne-prone skin this could have caused a slight irritation with my skin causing my skin to become dry, so if you're on the look out to try this product I would recommend being extra cautious when using it as you may find your skin becoming extra dry.

Have you tried the blackhead charcoal mask? What are your thoughts on it?