Mario Badesco ENZYME CLEANSING GEL

Eventually I will go hard on reviewing makeup but since its Summer, I realize that I don't wear as much makeup as I did before. I like to make sure my face looks great and sometimes it has its ups and downs. I always need to make sure that I use a good cleanser to take off the makeup that I do put on and also make sure that my skin is cleaned from all the sut of New York City. I like to try different things so even if I find one that I like, I would probably change it up and try something different and then maybe go back to it after. I am a part of different groups on Facebook so that I can see what other people are doing and what they are trying out and one of the posts put me in contact with +Mario Badescu Skin Care Inc. and I was really happy that their website offers you free samples after filling out a skin profile. 

One of the products that they did sent me was the cleanser which was the Enzyme Cleansing gel. This is a non-foaming, gel cleanser thoroughly removed the day's makeup, dirt and oil without drying the skin. This cleanser has Papaya and grapefruit extracts which even though it doesn't have scrubby components it has those extracts that are exfoliating alpha hydroxy acids that help prevent dulling build-up that can cause blackheads and pimples. I tried it and immediately thought it wasn't really cleansing since it doesn't really lather. In a cleanser, I like to have something that foams up and maybe have something like scrubs in it since I feel that really cleans my skin that way. There are something that feels clean when a cleanser foams and scrubs your skin. After using this product for about 2 months now, I have to say it works. I use it with my +Clarisonic so the scrubbing is done with that and I do have to say that it works. It clears my skin and removed my makeup when I don't use a face wipe to remove it. 

This cleanser retails for about $20 and its a huge bottle that you get. I got the travel size and it was about $6 and I've been using it for about 2 months already so I don't think its an expensive cleanser. I know you can buy this in +ULTA Beauty and +Urban Outfitters.

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Skin Care Tips to help Acne and or Breakouts

Skincare is very important and as if you've read my blog before you know that I am obsessed with with it. I want to know everything involved with it and I want to be able to help anyone and everyone that comes to me with questions. One question I usually get is how I treat my skin and what do I do to keep it looking flawless. I don't have full out acne but I do have occasional breakouts usually on my jawline not sure why but I do. I have different things but generally I try to do the following:

I try to not use products that will overdry my skin. I've noticed that any time you try to treat acne or blemishes the products that are designed to treat them are very drying. I have oily skin and I've noticed that some products are over drying which isn't good for your skin either. I try to get products with aloe and cucumber which are natural moisturisers. One of the cleansers that I love is Clean & Clear Advantage Daily Soothing Acne Wash which is really hydrating but helps clean blemishes. 

Another tip I can give you is to make sure you moisturize your skin. I know me saying this is kind of weird since I have oily skin but honestly you need to make sure you are moisturizing your skin day and night. Now a days there are all different kinds of moisturizers available to treat different types of skin. For someone with acne or blemishes, you should really be looking at oil free products. You don't want to add more oil but you do want to make sure that you add moisture which is different. I've said this before but just because you have oily skin,it doesn't mean that you don't need to moisturize your skin. You need to make sure that you are always moisturizing your skin because eventually adding moisture will trick your skin that it doesn't produce oil. Over time your skin will be less oily.

Third tip that you can use is to always make sure that the products that you use have salicylic acid in it. This will help treat your skin while you actually aren't treating it. So yes, there are your spot treatments that you can use and those will be great to use but what about when you have your makeup on and want to also have something that can treat your skin. Well there are a lot of makeup products such as concealers and foundations that have salicylic acid in it. Neutrogena has a lot of different products from a drugstore standpoint and then Clinique also has those types of products available in their makeup lines for a more luxury standpoint.  

Another tip which I think is 100% common sense but it is just easier said than done is to not pick at your face. This is definitely something you hear all the time but it is something that many of us still do even though we know its not good. Picking at a blemish irritates it and just makes it worse. This is prolong the healing process and it will just make it a mess on your face so best tip I can give you is to do not do it.

My final tip that I can say is if your blemishes are too hard to treat on your own, you should go to a dermatologist so that you know what type of blemishes you are dealing with. Before you can treat anything you need to know what it is. This is something that I recommend to those people who have been trying to clear their skin with no results. You want to make sure that you know what you have before you can treat it because you might have been irritating it. 

These are some tips that you can use to help on your path to clearer skin. These little things have helped me and I suggest that you try them too. Let me know if there are some tips that you use? any suggestions?

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Clean & Clear Advantage Daily Soothing Acne Wash, Oil-Free

If you've been following my blog posts you know that lately I've been complaining about how my face has broke out recently. Not sure what the reason was exactly but it can be one of many things. The weather is changing, hormones, stress, eating habits are all different factors that can cause your skin to break out. I've been all of the above. So when my face started to break out, I wasn't surprised. I already knew what I needed to do. I changed my skincare routine a bit to fit in more of acne fighting regimen. 

Since I have a lot of different skincare products, I don't always go through the whole bottle before acquiring something different. I also try to give my skin a break from the same thing since after a while a specific routine usually becomes ineffective for me. So once something happens to my skin, I start looking through my stash and I came across this Clean & Clear Advantage Daily Soothing Acne Wash. I decided to give it a whirl. Honestly, I forgot how good this cleanser was. It isn't drying at all. Thats the main thing that I have to say I like about this cleanser. It dispenses in a foam way and it doesn't feel like it is over-drying your skin. Actually, once you wash the soap off your face, your skin feels really smooth. It really does sooth your skin per the claims. This cleanser has salicylic acid in it so it is a really strong acne but since it also has aloe and avocado, it's really soothing to your skin and won't over-dry it while clearing your blemishes. 

Since I don't have acne per say I guess some of you might be thinking, why don't I just use

an acne spot treatment? Okay so I wanted to give you my rundown of spot treatments-- they don't work! I honestly have never found an acne treatment that works the way it claims. I've used the Kate Somerville drying lotion which is that pink milking cream liquid that looks like calamine lotion and people say that they put this on a blemish and overnight it goes away. I used this for about a week on a blemish and I felt like this stuff made the blemish stick around longer. It definitely didn't clear the blemish any faster than if I didn't use anything at all. I've used other drugstore brands and I have the same thing happen. None of them really clear up the blemish any quicker than if I didn't use anything at all. Its like I use them to make myself feel better and make me feel like I am proactively taking care of the blemish but its not really doing anything. This is why I usually opt for the cleanser which covers my whole face also masks. I am a huge fan of clay masks. I think they are the best for oily skin and for me they are the most effective treatment to blemishes.

This cleanser retails for $7.99 so its a great deal. I honestly have had it for about 3 months since I don't really use it all the time. I still have a lot left and after another 2 or 3 weeks I will probably go ahead and store it in my stash again. 

Do you have any tricks or tips that you use to clear that pesky blemish? Let me know! I would love to try new things.

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Aveeno® Positively Radiant® Brightening Cleanser

I needed to buy a new cleanser and this time I wanted to stay away from ones that had extra exfoliating elements. I just feel that since I use my +Clarisonic I don't really need to a cleanser that is harsh. I wanted drugstore because I guess I just didn't want to spend the extra money for one of the more expensive brands in like Sephora. After looking around at all the different brands, I went with Aveeno which is a great brand. This specific cleanser I purchased was part of their Positively Radiant collection. Its the brightening cleanser which we all know if you follow me is that I love anything and everything that makes me look like I have a radiant glow to my skin. Honestly since I am almost hitting 30, I am more worried about my skincare than actual makeup. My philosophy is that if the foundation isn't good, anything you build on top of it will just not look good so I figured I need to preserve my skin now that its still young-ish looking.

This cleanser is suppose to help improve your skin tone, texture and clarity to reveal brighter, more radiant skin. Everything about that description says I need to have this now. Who doesn't want brighter more radiant skin? Crazy people! Aveeno is a great brand because they are all for the natural so in this cleanser it has soy extract that is good with moisturizing the skin. The cleanser will remove dirt and makeup without over-drying. I personally do not have a problem with a cleanser being too harsh but for those of you out there that have sensitive skin, this cleanser is gentle enough to use every day twice a day. Its oil free, hypoallergenic and noncomedogenic. This is a given with this brand which is why I love it so much. 

When you dispense the cleanser on your hands, you see that it has an opal color to it. If you put it to the light it will have this opal radiance to it which is gorgeous for a cleanser. It doesn't have a harsh smell to it. Nothing too much, it is mostly non scented. But its really gentle and it does feel like its washing my face. I apply it on my face first and then go in with the Clarisonic so I can get a deeper clean. I've been using this for about a week now and I love how my face is looking so far. This retails for about $6 or $7 which isn't that much compared to some of the other cleansers you will find in +Sephora or other department stores. 

Do you have any new cleansers that you decided to try and ended up loving it?? Let me know I would love to try them!

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Morning Time Routine

Skin care routine!! I know many people have different things that they do but this routine works for me. I've noticed that ever since I've been writing this blog I keep up with my skincare routine even more because I always think about writing what I do and what works. I wanted to give you an insight about what I do every morning to keep my skin looking the way it does. I wake up each morning and drink a glass of water. I brush my teeth and then wash my face. 

I them move on to cleansing my skin. I don't always use the same things for months and months because I've notived that I need to switch up my routine to keep my skin from breaking out. Lately, I've been using the +olay Pore Refining Cleansing scrub in the morning and I make sure my skin is clean from all the moisturizer I put on at night. I use my +Clarisonic Mia brush. The brush head I has is the normal one and I added the Cashmere Satin precision brush around my eyes. I think this helps my moisturiser seap in deeper into my skin so that my eyes can get all the nutrients that my cream has. 

Once I pat my skin dry, I move on to moisturisers. I know a lot of people don't think people with oily skin should be using moisturizers but like I explained in my Beauty Oil blog post, you need to put it on to be able to trick your skin into producing less oil. At this moment, I've been really wanting radiance and glow since we are moving from Winter months and going now into Spring weather. I like to be able to strip my skin of all the winter dullness. For this, I put on Dr Brandt Ruby Radiance Glow day time moisturizer. I go into more detail on a previous blog. But I really do like what the retinol at night and along with this moisturizer is doing for my skin. This moisturizer has illuminating sheen to it and it gives you a nice glow. 

I have to moisturize my eyes a little bit more than the rest of my face because for some reason my eyes are always dry by the end of the day. For now I've been really liking the L'oreal Eye Defense. I didn't really read reviews on it before I bought it but I am glad I bought it. On the packaging it says that it reduces puffiness, dark circles, and lines with Liposomes. I am not that old so I was not looking for something that was going to go crazy on wrinkles. I was sold once it said puffiness and dark circles. This is what I am trying to minimize the most at my age. I used this and I saw results instantly. I like the hydration that this cream gives me. I went on and read some reviews and I saw that you can refrigerate so that the puffiness goes down faster. I did that and I didn't see that much of a difference but I do like the way it feels. 

After I moisturize my face completely, I can't forget about the SPF. I don't really care if for that day I decide to use a foundation with SPF already but just to be careful I add on a sunscreen. I posted the one I personally like to use in one of my other posts. I like the Coola Face SPF 20 with Rose Essence. It has some of a tint to it but I like the absorption it has. It doesn't leave my skin greasy and its great since it has the SPF 20. I also put on a lip balm so that my lips are moisturized by the time I add my lipstick. This is my routine for right now every morning. I add makeup but thats not my skincare routine. 

What do you do to get your skin prepped in the morning? Do you have any special things you can't live without? Anything that you do specifically for the Spring time?

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Olay Pore Minimizing Cleanser & Scrub Review

Back to skincare since we all can use a great new cleanser. I have oily skin as you know if you have been reading my blog, I have large pores as well. I don't have severe acne but I do break out occasionally. Its bad because when the breakout heals, it leaves a dark spot which I forever try to even out until it eventually does. For the last few months, my breakouts have been down to a bare minimum, I mean close to nothing (knocking on wood while I type this) so I decided to fight other areas of my skin that I would like to see change so I went to the local drugstore which for me is Duane Reade and I set out to look for a pore minimizing cleanser. I had my heart set on Neutrogena brand because I figured that wouldn't break me out while minimizing my pores but I guess I had something else in mind because the only thing they had was a scrub which I really didn't want since I use my +Clarisonic  every night. While looking through the aisle the Oil of Olay section caught my eye and it was because they have a whole line of new products. Good job +olay  marketing! The packaging is all floral and Spring-y and I immediately picked up and started reading the labels. I saw one that was geared to minimizing pores. I saw it was a scrub but I was so intrigued by the new packaging I was okay with it. 

So I've been using this cleanser for about a month now and I figured its a good time to give you an honest review on the product. So the packaging in general is a pump no screw on or anything and the bottom lifts up because its sort of like vacuumed so you don't really need to worry about wasting the product. Once you pump it out you immediately you get smell of floral. It is very strong but I love it. I either use the Clarisonic or just my fingers to massage it into my face and once I've massaged it and I cleansed my skin, I let the water remove all the suds and my face is left smooth. Now, I am not sure if my pores are minimizing but I do like the way it leaves my skin. Its soft and I love the smell. I am not sure if I would be repurchasing since it doesn't do what its states that it does, pore minimizing. This retails for about $6.99 and even though its not a bad cleanser, I wouldn't recommend it.

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