Skincare testing - mini blog

[Cupcake]

I hope that we can each start our own mini-blog for posting our results as we trial Karen's new skincare, here's my thread. I hope it'll be useful feedback and I'll update it every other day or so. Tell me if it's too wordy / irrelevant / etc.

About me:
Age 34, very pale skin, serious dehydration and slight crepey lines but no real wrinkles. Occasional acne from food intolerances. Normal condition of skin is oily T-zone and normal elsewhere. Some redness from living on ocean seaboard cold climate. Health good.

Products being tested:
Oil Control Serum (applied mornings only)
Vitamin C Serum (applied nightly, only)
Green Tea and Aloe Serum (occasional, previous use)

Prior usage:
About two weeks, mostly using Green Tea and Aloe Serum = radical improvement in dehydration. After one week, switched to VitC serum = slightly less hydrating, but added glow, reduced pore size (due to base hydrating ingredients common to both serums) Better texture and evenness of colour.


Results so far:

Day one - first application felt tight but not unpleasant. Didn't notice any major effects. No negative effects, no irritation. Using only OCS on clean skin, followed by regular light moisturiser. End of day - blotted once, slightly oily, no noticeable difference.

Day two - skin cried out for hydration, so used VitC serum liberally last night. Must've soaked in 10 fingertip-fulls. Applied OCS this morning and skin felt tight again. This time, stayed matte for several hours without makeup - very unusual! Usually gets oily left bare. When I applied makeup (Untinted Blur -> foundation -> Perfecting Powder -> colours) I found that it didn't adhere so easily at first. Skin felt almost glassy-smooth and minerals didn't hold on at first. Another light coat of foundation = fine. Stayed matte for the few hours until bedtime. Needed to use the VitC serum all over for hydration.

Day three - skin looking less red, more plump and even-toned. On waking up, no oil slick on forehead! I realise I must use hydrating serum daily to manage the dehydration. Green Tea serum works better for dehydration (need to use less volume per application, get longer lasting hydrated and dewy surface results). VitC gives the evenness of skin tone and reduction in redness, and also gives a glow, so that's a keeper, but it's not enough for hydration without using it heavily (6+ fingertip-fulls).
OCS lasted all day, stayed matte with light surface oil barely there, kept makeup looking dewy and fresh. Even after washing face at night without moisturising, it ought to have turned into an oil slick but didn't. I think the OCS has cumulative effects as well as immediate mattifying 'cosmetic' effects.

Day four - OCS lasts all day, again. No tightness (that must have been a blip from not using VitC Serum). Stays matte even in hot, humid weather and working outdoors (a bit sweaty). What impressed me is that a couple minutes after coming indoors, I expected my makeup to have slid away and melted, but it was still in tact and did not even need touching up or blotting! Incredible.

Day five - didn't apply OCS, wanted to see if cumulative mattifying effect was true or not. Went to meeting, stuffy warm room, no bathroom break for several hours. Makeup stayed intact and matte all day, only getting a bit oily around forehead hairline by evening.

Other observations so far:
Pore size has reduced by about 50% since first using hydrating serums.
Since starting OCS, have noticed slight peeling on nose where I was roughest on my skin. Nose pores are less gunky
With VitC serum, I don't get enough hydration so in patches along my jawline where breakouts are fading, I've got tiny patches of peely skin around pores which are healing-over breakouts. With Green Tea serum, no peeling anywhere.
With VitC serum, undereyes are still crepey and need extra serum (2 applications) versus 1 application for GT serum.
With only Green Tea serum, my skin is still plump and fresh looking, but not glowy.
I think OCS is too drying for my nose where skin is re-balancing, but it is essential for my oily forehead. It's of no effect on normal skin which is great because it's not drying it out beyond faking a balanced effect.

More info in a few days time.

[Anne]

Helena, thank you so much for this thread.
Very interesting and helpful!

I'll try to follow your lead when I get all my new gumballs!

[Shirin]

yes me too, waiting for my Facelift serum and wanna order also other skincare. In the mean time I can say even the foundation has improved my skin.
Would be great if I could also get rid of my dark under eye circles which i have trouble with concealing as the kin is so wrinkly and fine. Getting old!

[Cupcake]

Okay, a brief update. It's been around two weeks and since then I've been using the VitC serum twice a day, quite liberally, and using the microdermabrasion cream twice a week. I ran out of the other serums as I gave them to friends who are just starting to get into skincare.

I've noticed that the dehydrated 'reflective-shiny' skin has returned mostly on my forehead and this means that the VitC serum is not quite hydrating enough for me on its own when compared to the Green Tea and Aloe serum which was ideal. However, the VitC serum has made my complexion a lot more even in colour and texture. A lot of the redness has diminished, there have been so few breakouts because the sebum balance and skin cell renewal has become a lot more balanced with all this hydration and exfo. In short, it works exceptionally well.

I had enough Pore Refining Toner to test it for three days on my T-zone and it helped reduce my pore size further. The huge open pores on my nose are now down to being like pin-prick holes, not getting 'gunk' trapped in it so much and generally looks a lot smoother under makeup. My skin feels a lot more velvety and 'peachy' in that way people describe baby skin. It's not baby skin, but it feels closer to it than it has in many years! Most impressive is how the pores have been reduced and the daytime and nighttime oiliness has balanced right back to 'enough' instead of 'too oily'. It doesn't dry out, but it doesn't go all yucky and need blotting either.

For me, I need to use Green Tea and Aloe Serum on a continual basis along with the Microdermabrasion Cream. The VitC serum has remarkable benefits for restoring radiance, so I'll continue to use this at night time because I really need the hydration of the GT&A serum throughout the day. I'd also recommend the Pore Refining Toner.

I haven't yet tried the AHA or BHA toners, nor the Oatmeal Serum. I'll try those next.

[elianne]

Bump!

I just finished off my Rose and Green Tea + Aloe serums (each bottle lasted me nearly 2 weeks because the serums were quite liquidy -- just invented the word) with a week's break in between. Hydration-wise, Green tea + aloe is marginally better than Rose. But, Rose did a better job than Green tea + aloe at shrinking pores. My pot holes seem to have gone back to their usual state after I started using Green tea + Aloe.

The Vit C peptide serum isn't getting rid of my eye bags but its definitely helping with my undereye texture esp with the fine lines. I still use my anti-puffy eye gel in the am but the puffiness goes away faster with the vit C underneath. Progress is slooow and I am impatient so I now have a post-it note saying "GOOD THINGS COME TO THOSE WHO WAIT" on my bathroom shelf.

And the Vit C DMAE serum does kind of shrink your face. I use it after a scrub or AHA treatment and my jaw does look a little more sculpted when I wake up. I am getting some for mum, aunts and grandma.

[royalgoddessbeth]

I have full-size versions of the DMAE and the Oatmeal Serum. I still have some OCS in my gumball size.

I use the DMAE 2x a day.
In the mornings, I use the OCS in my t-zone area.
In the evenings, I use the Oatmeal Serum. Sometimes I dab a little Oatmeal Serum on my cheeks in the morning if I'm feeling dry.

My skin looks pretty good these days. I'm in my 30s, so I'm past the whole acne thing with only occasional exceptions. I think the OCS helps with my T-zone area during the day. I hope the full-size with more active in it helps even more. It's practically summer now in Texas, so my oilier skin period is getting into high gear.

I love the way the Oatmeal Serum calms my redness down.

I use the GoW cleansing oil- I'll probably get some of Karen's when I run out of that.

I wish I had got the Holy Crow gumball before it was gone, but I suppose I'll try the regular version when it's released.

[msorrent]

Anyone try the Holy Crow yet? What kind of results are your getting?

[chaye]

Anyone try the Holy Crow yet? What kind of results are your getting?

Holy Crow: I should have asked this before I tried. Is Holy Crow safe for the eye area? Anyway, I used Holy Crow as a moisturizer for the skin around the eyes for a week now (mornings and nights). I noticed that it helps reduce the lines that usually appears after concealer is applied around the eye area. It is not greasy, is easily absorbed by the skin and works well as a primer for eye shadows. Double duty. I love it.

Pore Refining Toner: Love. Used it on my cheeks and neck (night only). It is a great hydrator, but too rich for my oily t-zone.

However I cannot say the same for the Apricot Cleansing Oil. My face broke out the next day after I used it. I should have known that my skin is allergic to apricot oil. I used Jason's Vit E oil which is also contains apricot oil and broke out too. No apricot oil for me. Back to Fancl Mild Cleansing oil (more expensive Japanese version).