Reviews are never set in stone. Although I try to test all products I review for quite some time, factors might change: a product I hated in winter is great for summer. Skin changes. Personal taste might change, and sometimes, there’s a proper duh? moment. Here’s the Purito Centella Unscented Sun revisited, as is The Inkey List Q10 serum and Benefit’s Hello Happy foundation.
The Inkey List Q10 serum revisited
Ingredients, their concentration and regularity of use.
When I started to trial The Inkey List’s Q10 serum, my main complaint was that it broke me out. I’d use it every evening, and the following morning would find a couple of whiteheads around my nose.
Thus this perfectly nice antioxidant serum was relegated towards doing duty as a décolletage cream, but the whole thing was bugging me. As I said in my initial review, I couldn’t figure out why it broke me out.
What happened?
And then it hit me. My skin doesn’t like squalane in bigger amounts, and apparently, the amount of squalane in Q10 was, in fact, too big for daily use.
It’s totally fine, though, when I use it every other night. I then mix it into another serum, and go to bed with the good conscience that my face got a nice dose antioxidants. Q10 has a very pleasant formula, and I genuinely like using it. Would I buy it again? Maybe not, because there’re SO MANY antioxidant serums out there, waiting to be tried.
What I learned: know your skin’s triggers – but try to figure out in what amounts you can use specific ingredients (and how often).
Benefit Hello Happy Foundation revisited
Don’t try this at home
Benefit’s Hello Happy foundation I properly despised when I tried it two years ago. I hated the huge amount of alcohol denat. in it, and I found the texture challenging. Benefit’s Hello Happy would only work on me paired with a primer and setting powder, or I’d turn into a grease ball after a few hours’ wear.
Apparently, the bottle isn’t the bee’s knees, because the horrible alcohol smell has vanished by now.
What happened?
Lately I found myself on a weekend trip where I had just chucked that mini bottle into my bag, thinking it a good size for one weekend. At home, it would’ve been chucked into the bin when I realised the texture and smell had changed. (Two big warning signs when expiry is concerned.)
The foundation is no longer especially runny (duh, the alcohol has likely evaporated), and ALSO didn’t turn me into a grease ball (my skin’s reaction to said alcohol). It had, in fact, the advertised benefits: soft focus, skin-like appearance, the whole spiel. It was also, ahem, great under a mask.
What I learned: this could’ve been great. BUT: I don’t advocate using products when they’re clearly expired. I’ll have a look at Benefit’s Hello Happy line now that spawned a line of flankers since that first foundation. My whole experience made me curious, especially because this could’ve been a great foundation. Alas.
Purito Centella Green Level Unscented Sun revisited
How skin can change
As of December 4th, 2020, I can no longer recommend Purito’s Centella Unscented Sun: Apparently, the SPF isn’t 50, but rather 19. Maybe, it’s a batch issue, or maybe it’s something else, but I wouldn’t feel confident using it right now. Read more about it at Incidecoder.
I wrote the original review when I was maybe two thirds into the tube, and was not really enamoured with the texture. It was too creamy, too moist, too much on my Spring skin that was all over the place. I also didn’t enjoy that I could feel a slight tackiness on my face the whole day after application, but was surprised that it didn’t diminish my foundation’s performance on top of it.
It also made my eyes water – although thanks to Purito for figuring out how to prevent that! (It’s in the original post.)
What happened?
I had used other sunscreens, which did two things: dried my skin out, and made my skin look flaky. Because, here’s the thing: there’re two kinds of sunscreens, in terms of skin-feel. There’s one type that dries down completely and utterly matte. It’s nearly undetectable – until you actually touch or rub your face, and there it is, your totally transparent sunscreen: rubbing off in little flakes. And then there’s the other kind: the lotion-y type, that you can feel on your skin, but that’s surprisingly forgiving when layering foundation, powders, blushes and other stuff over it. Purito’s belongs in the second category, and right now, during the heights of summer, I miss it.
I’ve been using Niod’s Survival 30 on and off, and it’s rather drying on my skin (time flies, getting older, etc etc), same with Paula’s Choice’s Youth-Extending Daily Hydrating Fluid and Canmake’s Mermaid Skin Gel. They all leave my skin incredibly matte, which is nice for mask wearing and such, but I find myself craving a bit of a glow.
What I learned: taste in textures can change. The end.
Please note that this post is not sponsored in any way. We buy products ourselves, with our own money, and don’t accept exchanging goods or money for reviews. We are completely independent, and our reviews reflect that.
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