Monroe Misfit Makeup | Beauty Blog: Skincare Loves of Late - A Multi-Product Review

May 06, 2014

Skincare Loves of Late - A Multi-Product Review

I've been finding myself exploring the skin care realm over makeup lately, particularly the world of anti-aging and natural product lines. Some of the new things I've been testing out are a bit left field...a pillow that promises no wrinkles..at home spa...a skin mask treatment that the never shy Courtney Love describes as "it's like I just had sex for four days" (her new song is amaaaazing btw). I guess you can call this an updated with extras skincare routine :)

Courtney masked invites you in to skin & body product's that made the cut

Bioxidea Miracle 24 Face Treatment ($59)*
Courtney approved, if my rock idol loves these I'm all over it. The Miracle 24 Face Treatment contains 3 Bio-Cellulose masks for Normal to Dry Skin. Applied for 15-30 minutes the mask dissolves in to your skin leaving it revitalized while lessening the appearance of wrinkles in one treatment.
Bioxidea's mask resembles sheet masks, but they're quite different. They have a rubbery skin feel to them that dissolves in to your skin as you wear it, pretty weird feeling! Specially formulated to reduce the signs of premature aging advanced peptides reduce fine lines and wrinkles while arginine increases firmness and elasticity for up to 24 hours.
These mask's were a savior over Winter, they gave my skin a much needed moisture boost. The mask itself is soaked in a ton of serum. I take the rest of the serum and use it on my hands and feet and I've never had skin so soft! They also make masks for your hands, feet, neck, even bossoms. I think you'll notice even more benefits if you have dry & aging skin or visible wrinkles, but I was happy with just the hydrating effects. Bioxidea masks are pricey, but in line with what a treatment like this costs at the Spa.
When I get a break out I immediately paint on the GLAMGLOW YouthMud Treatment ($69). It will kick the sh*t out of that break out. This mask literally sucks the dirt from your pores and you can see it happening right before your eyes and it helps accelerate the healing of blemishes.

Adovia Purifying Mud Mask ($29) * resembles your traditional green mud mask but instead of stripping your skin and making it fel dry and tight like a lot of mud masks do this one contains dead sea mud to extract oil and impurities with Vitamin C & Aloe hydrate the skin. I use this mask weekly to purifiy my skin, it's like two masks in one because it reduces pores, acne, and also firms and provides moisture leaving your skin super soft.
Montangne Jeunesse Masques * ($1.25-$2.25)
These fun, easy-to-use masques are bursting with delicious natural ingredients to cleanse, purify, refresh, and soothe your skin.

I kept eying these masks at Ulta, the packaging and delicious sounding names immediately get your attention. They come in a bunch of varieties like mud mask, self-heating, tonic, peel off form. I tried the White Chocolate Mud Masque first and it smells soo good! It's like putting dessert on your face. The cocoa butter in this is so moisturizing, it would be great for dry skin. The Green Tea Peel off mask applies like a thick gel that you peel off when its dry. This was so refreshing and calming to any skin irritation. You can get about 2-3 uses out of each pack. If you're craving a little relaxation and "me time" these are an indulgent skin treat. Organic, vegan, cruelty-free and under 2 bucks. Available at Walmart & Ulta.

Juverest Sleep Wrinkle Pillow ($180) *
Juverest is a pillow engineered to protect your delicate facial skin. Whether sleeping on your back or side, the contoured design lends support and helps minimize wrinkles that appear after compressing your face onto your pillow night after night.

I never thought much about how sleeping could effect your skin or cause wrinkles but it totally makes sense! Smooshing your face all night long who doesn't wake up with pillow lines on their face?

I'll be the first to admit this pillow isn't pretty and the odd shape is a lot different to sleeping on a normal pillow. Juverest is firm almost like a memory foam pillow. If you sleep on your back you'll find it comfortably cradles your neck and head, but side sleeping takes some getting used to. If you're a stomach sleeper well this prevents you from doing that because it's the worst for causing sleep wrinkles. After getting used to sleeping on it I noticed much less redness and no scrunched up lines on my face when I wake up in the morning. Another benefit was less lower back pain because it aligns your body all night. Something like this you will see the benefits from over time or if you already have significant sleep lines that don't go away when you wake up. I think Juverest is a great concept and would be beneficial to any anti-aging skincare regime.

 For an every day moisturizer I've been using Skin Authority's SPF 30 Moisturizer ($42) A broad spectrum UVA/UVB water resistant sunscreen for the face. It has a great dry feel to it that acts as a mattifier and primer for your makeup. If you dislike greasy sunscreens that never absorb this is the complete opposite, it sinks right in and sets to a powdery finish that doesn't give off a white cast or film. Great for Oily skin types and I've never experienced a break out which a lot of SPF's can cause. As you can see the tube is an enormous 4 oz. so even with daily day use it will last a long time.

Skin Authority Reviving Eye Brightener ($79.50)
Kiehl's eye cream has served me well for moisture, but not so much for the stress of allergy eye problems. Skin Authority's Eye Brightener is infused with co-enzyme 10, green tea, and antioxidants to attack the underlying cause of dark circles, puffiness, and fine lines. This cream makes my eyes go "ahhh". They immediately feel rejuvinated and less irritated. The cream is light and sinks right in to the skin making it easy to use before makeup. It slightly reduces the dark circles under my eyes and gives a subtle brightening effect. I never expect much out of eye cream's, but this one is effective and is exactly what I was looking for. With sensitive eyes I appreciate the natural ingredients and that it contains no parabens, dyes, added fragrances, or animal testing. 


Murad Environmental Shield Advanced Active Radiance Serum ($89)
After all the hype on Vitamin C Serum's I looked up some reviews on MakeupAlley and bought this one from Murad. It's loaded with a powerful Vitamin C and cell-renewing ingredients. I only use this a few times a week if my skin is looking dull because I want to stretch it, it's fantastic for brightening up the complexion.

OST Pure Vitamin C Serum ($19.99) *
A more affordable alternative I found to the Murad Active Radiance is OST Pure Vitamin C Serum. The best selling serum in e-commerce last year in Japan. This is straight vitamin C in a 20% concentration and works to brighten the complexion and reduce the appearance of scars, dark spots, and blackheads. I've been using a couple drops of this for about 3 months now before my moisturizer nightly and am seeing results. It's evened out my skin tone some and is diminishing those pesky sun freckles. I also swear it's making my under eye circles lessen some...but that could be wishful thinking.

DermaE is a cruelty-free natural skin and body care line that you might have seen while shopping the aisles at Whole Foods. I was looking for something to switch up with the Kate Somerville Exfolikate which is the most incredible exfoliator ever but $$$.  dermaE microdermabrasion scrub ($27.99) uses a crystal blend that includes Dead Sea Salt and Volcanic Sand to buff away dull surface cells, helps diminish the look of fine lines, wrinkles and acne scars. The super fine grains are gentle and exfoliate the skin to a smooth finish with out being harsh.

derma E Hydrating Facial Wipes ($7.99) * are what I'm currently using to remove my makeup. The hydrating Facial Wipes lift away makeup, oil and impurities while thoroughly hydrating, softening and smoothing skin. Each naturally scented pre-moistened wipe is infused with Hyaluronic Acid. I love how these remove your makeup and moisturize at the same time. They leave your skin feeling refreshed and so soft. Speaking of soft If you want the softest footsies you must get the Dry Cracked Skin Relief Cream. A tiny bit of this super foot cream will leave you with heels like a baby's bum. The Skin, Hair, and Nail Oil is pretty sublime too, I use it on my cuticles and ends of hair, it's so light compared to the heavy oils that are popular now. I can't say enough good things about the whole dermaE line, they make so many excellent products that are natural, organic, and target every skincare need imaginable. 


Beauty Chic Facial Sauna with Cucumber Mask ($26.99) *
How cool is having your very own little diy mini-spa for at home facials? The set up is quick and it's very easy to use. Just pour distilled water in to the basin and turn it on, after a few minutes out comes a hot facial mist. It includes a cucumber mask that reduces oil, tightens pores, and leaves skin soft and radiant. You can use it with your skin masks or with out. I like to use this right before I apply a mask, the warm steam really opens up the pores in preparation for the rest of your skincare product's to fully sink in. There's also a nasal inhaler cone for clearing nasal passages with the therapeutic steam, this is a godsend during cold/allergy season. It's also just realllly relaxing and feels like a day of pampering at the spa without even having to even leave your bathroom.

Wishtrend Pore Beauty Nose Pack ($21.99)
Wishtrend.com is an online korean beauty and skincare store stocking many popular Asian beauty brands. The pore beauty pack is one of the most popular sellers. These are similar to the American pore strips like biore but they have a 3 step process. First you apply the removal pore strip, then take a tool or qtip to scrape off any blackheads or gunk, apply a second calming and contraction pore strip, finally a pore silky essence. I don't have blackheads but my pores do get clogged. This trio is amazing! I've never seen my nose look so clear. I could go completely do with out foundation. If you get clogged pores or blackheads you must try these. I've never seen anything work so well at eliminating them. Beware the pictures on the product page are pretty upfront, but you can see just how well these work.
Elite Therapeutics Platinum Moisturizer ($195)*
I was sent this moisturizer by Elite Therapeutics. My skin reacts very positive to Apple Stem Cells, so much that I'm still using the Eclos Apple Stem Cell cleanser from my original skincare routine post. Having purchased pricey moisturizers in the past (looking at you La Mer) and seeing no difference between it and less expensive ones I didn't have huge expectations. So... I was wrong. This is a high end moisturizer that is worth the investment. For a couple months now I've been using this as my night cream and it couldn't be any more perfect. It's a rich creme that fully sinks in by morning and your skin looks plumped up and hydrated. I don't have many wrinkles yet, but I do notice the fine ones being less noticeable.
While this is a very hydrating moisturizer it doesn't feel heavy, just soothing. Having sensitive skin finding an anti-aging moisturizer that is also gentle hasn't been easy. I just wish it wasn't so expensive, that's the only thing deterring me from continuing to use this. If you can swallow the high price tag though this is an exceptional moisturizer for sensitive skin. Cruelty-free/Paraben/Fragrance free, though I do detect a light citrus scent. Available at elitetherapeutics.com

Keep Buzzin Body Products Hand & Foot Cream ($10) *
Keep Buzzin’ Body Products are a natural and Earth friendly way for to keep skin healthy and moisturized. Both the hand and foot cream's from Keep Buzzin leave your skin feeling velvety soft. The cream is thick and rich, but leaves no oily residue. One of my pet peeve's with hand creams is they never sink in and you have to wait to touch anything. This fully absorbs right away and your hands feel conditioned not greasy. I've been dipping in to one of these tubs every day and one has lasted me over 2 months. The creams are super concentrated and you only need a pearl size amount to get smooth skin.
Earth Friendly Features of Keep Buzzin’ Body Products:
•    100% natural, sustainable and vegan hand and foot creams
•    Contain the butters of cocoa, mango, cupuacu & shea for long-lasting skin protection
•    Essential oils are certified 100 percent pure, natural, unadulterated and solvent-free
•    No colors are added
•    Available in seven natural scents: Cherry-Almond, Tangerine, Fresh Lemon, True
     Lavender, Peppermint, Spearmint and Fragrance-Free
•    Products are NEVER tested on animals
•    Contain No paraben, lanolin, petrolatum, sulfates, oxybenzone or carmine
•    Jars are 100 percent recycled and made in the USA with No BPA and No phthalates
•    Shrink sleeves are 100 percent compostable and made from corn

What I love beyond how natural and sustainable these are is the scents! As someone who is allergic to perfume's and working my way towards a more organic/natural skin care route I really appreciate these. All of the scents are so light and authentic, they smell exactly as you would hope they would. Real.

Cherry-Almond is my personal favorite, a blissful marsachino cherry blended with sweet almond. Tangerine smells like you just picked it from a tree and the calming and relaxing scent of Lavender is nice before bed. Spearmint foot cream is the the most unique scent, it smells just like spearmint gum, a weird scent to put on your feet but it works. The creams have a very unisex feel about them, there's also a fragrance-free, even the men in your life wouldn't scoff at using these. 

 Keep Buzzin is teaming up with Food For The Poor to give back to the global community for Earth Day.  For each $10.00  2 oz. jar of hand or foot cream sold at www.KeepBuzzinBodyProducts.com from April 15-May 15,  Keep Buzzin’ will donate $3.78 per jar.  Each $3.78 donation will feed one child 60 meals.

Tree Hut Coconut & Lime Body Scrub ($7.49)
If you want to smell amazing and have a soft bod, just head to your local retailer and pick up something or everything from Tree Hut. Once I tried Tree Hut's Coconut & Lime Body Scrub I went back and bought two more and have been rotating all of the Tree Hut line bath & body products since.

The Coconut & Lime Body scrub smells of fresh limes with a hint of coconut. The sugar scrub is infused with certified organic Shea butter, Coconut and Lime extracts and an array of natural oils. The sugar grains and ground coconut shells softly polish away dead and damaged skin, leaving your skin sooo soft and smooth. They have a whole range of scents like a mocha, lavender, and passion fruit but this one is the best one is my favorite. The delicious scents and ingredients of all the Tree Hut products are really what make them outstanding, plus they're affordable so you can pick up multiples.

Because every good review has a flip side, here's what I didn't love...


Michael Todd Organics. The Skin Defender AHA Cleanser * stripped my skin something fierce and the Citrus Moisturizer * did nothing to repair it. I don't understand the hype around Michael Todd, I've never had success with any of the products I've tried. I love Skindinavia's Makeup Finshing Sprays but No Glow is a no-go. It felt tacky on the skin and didn't get rid of shine no matter how much was applied. If you want a matte finish get the No More Shine spray instead.

Aaand I think I've covered what I'm currently lovin and not lovin head to toe :)

products marked with * sent for review consideration