Foundations -Unlisted Brand - Zuzu Luxe Oil-Free Liquid Foundation
amayhew 7/20/2009 12:28:00 PM
Needs much more formulatory work done on it - as a previous review has stated, it's so dry that even the quickest, most sure-handed application technique won't manage it satisfactorily. I haven't tried mixing it with moisturiser or TM to help with applicability, maybe I'll try that in the future if I can reanimate some interest in this product. Coverage is also really bad - useless pretty much. It doesn't even have enough coverage to give a smoother-skinned look on larger pored areas, even if it did nothing else. Unsurprisingly, it's a big time pore-sinker. I timed the last time I wore it - it took about 20 mins to sink into the pores I have on either side of my nose. I wore it over primer and it balled. Beware any dry areas getting this foundation onto them, because it will flake up like crazy. Its main pro is that it is a vegan foundation. It's a great pity they didn't spend a little more time and effort to make it a useable product. The other pro - it didn't seem to cause any clogging, certainly its ingredients are all very noncomedogenic. But really, if it can't function as a foundation then the lack of comedogenicity is sort of a pyrrhic victory for it. The idea of repurchasing this would be a joke. The price is certainly equal to a better product: $29.75 from several online places.
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Liquid -Vichy - Aera Teint fluide mat
amayhew 5/14/2009 6:37:00 PM
Looks really pretty at first BUT dries up and flakes/oxidizes in no time - I timed it today - foundation looked as it had when I had just put it on for about an hour - that's not long enough. Also, bit of a mask-y effect in daylight, not the worst I've seen with foundation but still not that great. As other reviews have said, coverage isn't good. Pros? Feels light and moist. Ah, yes - I forgot my biggest complaint against Aeratint - it has the dubious honour of being one of the most pore-clogging, spot-causing, comedogenic foundation I've ever used, in fact, it's in second-place in these stakes, with EL Double Wear in first. I stopped using it and saw an improvement in days. Just goes to show, you can do a highly effective purge of your skincare stuff, go natural, get smart and get rid of anything with comedogenic ingredients, but then neutralise the benefits by using a product like this. On someone not acne prone this would probably not be an issue though. Very cute bottle it comes in doesn't make up for the flaws. It's a pity Vichy can't come up with something better.
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Cleansers -DHC - Deep Cleansing Oil
amayhew 4/25/2009 10:48:00 AM
I love this stuff. I know there are other cleansing oils out there getting great reviews - YSL's and MAC's and Shiseido's for example, but this one is excellent and I've got no real reason to go looking for a different one. I bought it initially to function as a leave-not-a-nanogram-behind foundation and sunscreen remover, but now as I've overhauled my routine, it along with my clarisonic are basically my cleansing agents, along with lancome eau micellaire, which I use with cotton pads to do the initial removal of skin makeup, prior to getting to the wet stuff. I no longer use foaming cleansers or creamy cleansers of any kind, although I'm going to try a garden of wisdom one - everything I had in my stash had a comedogenic ingredient of one kind or another so out they went. DHC oil does have a comedogenic ingredient, caprylic/capric triglyceride, which depending on which database you use, is either a 4 or a 2 on the comedogenic marks out of 5 scale - though there's a big difference between 4 and 2, obviously. For some reason, I didn't register this when I went through the ingredients initially. Now, they say with cleansers you can include some comedogenic things because the cleansers aren't meant to absorb, they're wash-off. I was very dubious of this, because I know damn well the sodium-chloride laden Simple Refreshing Facewash Gel was doing some damage while I used it - and that was one I bought because it was SLS free... With DHC oil, you are supposed to spend a minute or so massaging it on your face, but I've read in other reviews that you shouldn't leave it on for more than a few minutes, as I suppose it would start to absorb, or at least get into some pores, albeit minimally. I've been using this for weeks now and it has caused no problems, so clearly for me, caprylic/capric triglyceride isn't managing to get in any clogging. The other reason could be that it really is only a 2 and not a 4 on the scale, so it's a low-prob clogging agent anyway. As for oils, plant oils, etc, and how you feel about them....you can't really promise or guarantee someone that an oil, plant oils in this case, won't have a comedogenic effect. In my case, tonnes of non-oil stuff breaks me out, but the two oils in this product do no harm at all. I go by a list of oils at http://www.soapnuts.com/noncomo.html. I think with oils you have to try it and see - if they work for you, it's fabulous, because you have your escape route from the world of "chemical-vat" cleansers with 40 squillion ingredients, etc. Pros: it's an individual-variation thing, for me, this leaves no film behind and does not dry out my skin after using it. But this has occured to some users. I don't think there's a way to predict which reaction you will have except by using it. I have not broken out from this product, but some seem to have, though I would argue that a one-use trial might mislead because there might be some other reason for the break out, i think it would be worth giving it a week or so's worth of use before deciding it's definitely the culprit and using no other unusual/infrequent use or new products during that time. Cons: it doesn't smell gorgeous, but I certainly don't find it off putting. Once you get used to it, you don't smell it at all, really. Ingredients and comment: 1. Olea Europaea (olive) Fruit Oil: get a 2/5 on two comedogenic scale lists (http://www.dermaxime.com/acne-comedogenic-ingredients.htm and http://www.zerozits.com/Articles/acnedetect.htm#inglist) and is classified as a non-clogging agent in another one (http://www.soapnuts.com/noncomo.html). So I suppose you could call it a low-probability ingredient. 2. Caprylic/Capric Triglyceride: a very common emollient and a sort of a spreading agent in lots of products. ** see my review text 3. Sorbeth-30 Tetraoleate - an emulsifier. Doesn't seem to appear in any comedogenictiy lists. 4. Tocopherol - a compound which has vitamin E activity. noncomedogenic according to databases in which it appears 5. Phenoxyethanol - a preservative which can be an irritant 6. Propylparaben - I'll say no more, you either avoid them or you don't care. I don't care. 7. Stearyl Glycyrrhetinate - a derivative of Glycyrrhizic Acid which is the main constituent of licorice root. Antiinflammatory activity. Can't find it on any comedogenic activity lists. 8. Rosmarinus Officinalis (rosemary) Leaf Oil - a plant oil. can't find specific references to its being comedogenic, so I'm taking it that it isn't in general but can be for certain individuals.
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