skincare review – LiveLifeInTheFloralLane

GlamGlow Glowstarter Mega Illuminating Moisturizer – Review

Hey all you cool cats and kittens! (*in Carole Baskin voice*)

It’s been a while since I’ve posted, I guess I’ve had the quarantine blues and have been a super lazy piece of poop. I’m trying to get into a routine but that hasn’t really been happening. I reallllyyyy hope this ends soon, but idk man…

But with all this time spent at home, I’ve had all the time in the world to play with new skincare, and so here we are with another review.

This is the Mega Illuminating Moisturizer from GlamGlow. I received a sample of it with another Sephora purchase, and I immediately fell in love with it. For starters it smells like an orange creamsicle, which I personally love, and it makes you look SO GLOWY. It’s like a lit from within glow, so it’s not too overwhelming as if you were to put a liquid highlighter all over your face. It’s just the right amount pearl that it covers dullness and minimizes dark marks, without looking like a greasy disco ball.

The consistency of it is a light cream, as opposed to a gel or super thick cream. Because it’s on the lighter side it’s perfect for combo/oily skin like mine. I do have to blot with oil absorbing sheets throughout the day but that’s the case with literally any products I use (sigh).

Not only does it make your skin look good, but the ingredients in it are actually super beneficial for your skin health (it’s also vegan). These are the key ingredients highlighted on the Sephora website.

– Hyaluronic Acid: Provides hydration.
– Jojoba Oil, Shea Butter, and Ceramides: Help restore moisture balance.
– Green Tea: Helps energize skin.

I use this moisturizer on my no-makeup days because the glow helps hide minor marks and imperfections and makes my skin look super healthy without makeup. Some days for extra glow I will use the Smashbox ‘Blendable Lip and Cheek Color’ in the shade “Hollywood & Highlight” just on the top of my cheekbones for an extra pop.

That’s all I have for now!

xoxo

Sarah

Tako Nose Pore Strip? – Trying Korean Skincare

My friend from work was nice enough to give everyone some skincare goodies from her recent trip to Korea. She gave me a 3 step nose pore strip and the whole process takes 45 minutes. I was so intrigued because I’ve never heard of anything like this before, all the pore strips we have here seem to just be one step.

The first step is the ‘Heating Sheet’. It claims to “Open pores and macerate black head and sebum before absorption”. This feels like any other sheet mask, it is super soaked with serums and it just rests on the nose area for 15 minutes. Even though it’s called the heating sheet, it didn’t feel hot at all which was a little disappointing. You then wash off the serum, dry your nose, and get ready for the second step.

Step two is when we extract all the gunk we just prepped. It looks and feels like any other pore strip (think of the Biore ones for example). You wet your nose and apply the dry strip and let it stand for 10 minutes, or until the strip has completely hardened on your nose. When you remove the strip, all of the blackheads and oil should come out with it. It definitely gets stuff out, however I didn’t really stand out from other strips I’ve tried. I feel like I got the same result from this as I did with one step strips.

The third step is called the ‘Tightening Sheet’ and it claims to tighten pores, control sebum and put moisture back into your pores. This is the same consistency as the first step, it just feels like a classic sheet mask but this time you don’t wash off afterwards. I can say that it did bring moisture back into my skin, but also made it feel kind of oily. Truthfully I don’t feel that it was the best consistency for my skin type.

In the end, I don’t think I would recommend this product to anyone. I think it’s way too time consuming with very little payoff. For a 45 minute treatment I expected to be WOW’d, but sadly I was not…It pulled the same results as any other pore strip I’ve tried. It’s a cool concept but I just wish it did a little more! Either way, it’s always fun to try something new.

I hope you enjoyed this review! Maybe it will work out better for other skin types!

That’s all for now,

xoxo,

Sarah

Korres Pomegranate Moisturizing & Balancing Cream-Gel

Since my boyfriend and I share skincare, we go through it like crazy! So it’s already time for us to buy a new moisturizer. We just finished ‘The Ordinary – Magnesium Ascorbyl Phosphate 10% Hydrating Cream’ and truthfully it wasn’t my fave. It didn’t sink into the skin very easily and felt greasy to me. I wanted to try something that was more geared towards oily skin.

I came across this one from Korres called the ‘Pomegranate Moisturizing & Balancing Cream-Gel’. This is specifically geared towards those with oily skin. It is considered a ‘gel-cream’ which is great because I prefer gel moisturizers over thicker creams, and this is somewhere in between which will be good for the winters when my skin gets a little more dry.

The packaging is adorable (it’s pink so I was immediately drawn to it 😛 ) and you get 1.35 fluid oz for $42.00 CAD.

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Below is a pic of what the moisturizer actually looks like. It’s clearly thicker than other moisturizer’s I’ve tried (see my others posts here for more info: https://livelifeintheflorallane.com/2019/08/03/makeup-and-skincare-haul-reviews/

https://livelifeintheflorallane.com/2019/02/21/the-best-moisturizer-for-oily-skin/)

It takes a bit longer to sink in than a straight up gel moisturizer, but it doesn’t take too long and it eventually dries feeling smooth and soft. It smells really good which is always a plus, I don’t like when my products smell medicinal or chemically.

This is my first time ever trying a product from Korres even though I’ve always heard really great things. So I’m pretty excited about this and I’m definitely going to review more Korres products in the future!

That’s it for now!

xoxo

Sarah

The Body Shop Haul

Another day another haul LOL (idk why I’m laughing because my bank account is not… oh well hehe).

The Body Shop has really upped their game in terms of skincare recently so I really wanted to try a couple of things.

The first thing was the ‘Honey Bronze Shimmering Dry Oil’. I picked this up because I’ve always been interested in a shimmery body product like this and I’ve been looking at ones from Nars, Anastasia Beverly Hills, and Fenty Beauty, but this was by far the cheapest option. I’ve used it a few times and it’s not sticky nor does it transfer onto your clothing or sheets, so it’s a pretty good product in my eyes but I can’t compare it to the other brand’s formulas.

Next up is another body oil. I picked up the ‘Coconut Nourishing Dry Oil for Body and Hair’ and I’ve been using it after every shower to moisturize my skin. Just like the honey bronze, it sinks in to your skin almost right away and doesn’t leave any sticky feelings. I just love the smell of coconuts especially in the winter because it reminds me of the summer and helps with my winter time blues. I haven’t used it on my hair yet since I use other treatments, but I might give that a go sometime soon.

The Body Shop has come out with some newer face masks in the last little bit and two of them really caught my eye. The first is ‘Japanese Matcha Tea Pollution Clearing Mask’. I reaalllyy like this mask. It has a fluffy consistency almost like whipped cream, and it looks just like mint chocolate chip ice cream! I apply a really thin layer onto my face and leave it on for about 15-20 minutes. It tingles on the face and has a cooling sensations so it feels really refreshing. When you wash it off there are tiny beads in the mask that help exfoliate your face as you remove it. Afterwards my skin feels soft, clean and refreshed. This is definitely one of my new favourites!

The next mask I picked up was the ‘Nicaraguan Coffee Intense Awakening Mask’. This mask has a much thicker consistency than the Matcha one. I apply it with my fingers and let it sit for 20 minutes. It doesn’t completely dry on the face like a clay mask would. Similar to the Matcha mask, this one also has exfoliating beads (coffee grinds) in it that helps smooth out your skin as you wash it off. I do like this mask just not as much as the other one, but the smell of it is amazing!! Perfect to wake up to on a weekend morning.

And finally, since my order was above a certain amount of money (I forget I think it was if you spend over $45.00) I got a free hand soap! I picked up the Tahitian Tiare scent and it is honestly to die for! I didn’t think I was going to end up loving it so much since I just picked it up and random, but it is honestly one of my new favourite scents and I will forever buy this for my bathroom.

That’s it for now! I highly recommend that you try some of these items!

xoxo

Sarah