Starting Tretinoin: 4 Asian products to help fight flakes

Tretinoin: The dreaded dry skin flake-maker that promises to eliminate our acne and smooth our wrinkles. After attempting to fight my hormonal acne with AHA, BHA, benzoyl peroxide, Voodoo, Vitamin C, and anti-androgenic birth control, I finally caved in mid-October and scheduled a dermatologist appointment to get a retinoid prescription.

Now after around two months of using Tretinoin almost every day with very very minimal of the infamous flakies, I figured I'd write a quick blog about the Asian products that helped me survive starting tret. Yes, I use a lot of Western products too, but this post is just focused on the Asian ones. No, I don't use these all at once, I mix and match as needed.

I am not a doctor (nor do a play one on a TV show. I do, however, have a background in Theatre if you're casting for one...) so please take everything I say with that in mind. And remember: your mileage may vary (YMMV).

BeautyDNA November Product (and the promotion is still on GiltCity!)

I got my November BeautyDNA product today, but instead of waiting until December and posting them both together, I'm making an early post because BeautyDNA is back on GiltCity until December 4th! That is the promotional that I used to purchase my initial account...and I kinda sorta dropped the money for another 4 months (yes, they will add it onto your existing account if you email them politely).

Here is my one little shill moment: if you use my referral to join GiltCity, you get $25 and I get $25 to spend on Gilt/GiltCity. Here is my Referral Link if you want to use that to join, if not (or if you already have an account) you can just go here and buy the BeautyDNA promo. 

BeautyDNA November Product: Olie Biologique Huile Moderne 004 Hydrating Oil

Retail Price: $78.00

Cosdna Link

The package arrived late this afternoon and, thanks to the lovely winter snap we've been having, the heavy glass bottle was wonderfully cool to the touch. I can't stop petting it. Its so prettttyyyy. 

I love to use oils as moisturizers! This one is primarily Argan oil and Rosehip oil, both of which I've heard wonderful things about for skin. This one is supposed to be good for acne and breakouts, so hopefully my skin will like it. The good thing about BeautyDNA, though, is that if you don't like a product, they are of a high-quality that would make for wonderful re-gifting to friends and family (BeautyDNA is strictly against re-selling products received from them!).

Note: An oil-loving friend informed me that Bergamot oil is photo-sensitizing due to a compound called Bergapten. Some bergamot oils have this compound removed and should be labelled as "Bergamot FCF". This oil is not labelled as being bergapten-free, so please exercise caution and use it only at night.

I paid for this awesomely [discounted via GiltCity] subscription with my own cash because I'm too uncool modest to get free shit. Questions, Comments, and Casual Insults always welcome. Especially the latter, it gives me a sort of a bitter nostalgia for my high school years.

BeautyDNA: September and October 2015

BeautyDNA is a subscription that I had been itching to try for a good while. For $25 a month, they send you one full-sized skin/hair/body product that is selected for you based on a detailed survey you fill out when you sign up. The value of the product is supposed to be greater than the cost of the subscription and you can change up the answers to your survey at any time if you want to. For someone like me who has a pretty good sized backlog of samples, deluxe samples, and even full-sized products that I have yet to try (but still a hankering for new crap), narrowing it down to one item a month that is supposed to be a good selection for you seemed like a plan for me. Yeah, there still could be duds, but at least there won't be a box of several duds to go through at once.

So when Gilt.com did a discounted special on 2- and 4-month subscriptions to BeautyDNA, I promptly purchased a 4-month subscription and signed up near the end of September. You subscription starts as soon as you fill out your beauty survey, and my product shipped only two days after I did that. Since I joined at the very end of September, my September month product arrived a few days into October (but hey, having it at the very end/beginning of the month is a good way to remember when my subscription is coming).

I waited until I had two months of products to do a review of BeautyDNA, and will do the final two months at the same time, too. Please note: Your products will probably be different than mine, as these were selected for me, based on my survey responses.

September Product: Epicuren Alpha Lipoic Omega Facial Serum
Retail Price:  $90
CosDNA Link

So there is actually a story about my first product, because there was an oopsie at BeautyDNA. I have selected on my profile strictly no SPF products, as I am picky about my sunscreen and I don't like moisturizers with sunscreen that could possibly have filters that interfere with what I'm using. I'm obnoxious like that. Well my first product I received was a moisturizer...with SPF 15. I emailed customer service, assuming that maybe the "no" I checked on facial SPF was only referring to actual sunscreen, and asked how to edit my profile so that I would not get any more products that happen to contain sunscreen ingredients. She profusely apologized and said that my survey was perfect how I had it, and that the moisturizer had accidentally not been tagged as a sunscreen product in their system. They promptly shipped out my replacement product that day and it arrived via FedEx only two days later. Yay for customer service! A+!

Each BeautyDNA product comes with a "Skin Report" that has information on how this product matches your survey. The key terms are bolded (although some things that are bolded, such as fragrance-free, paraben-free, and sulfate-free, are things that I selected "don't care" for rather than "do not want").

I have never heard of the brand Epicuren before, but the ingredients (see the CosDNA link) look nice. It has propolis extract!

October Product: Dermaquest SkinBrite Cream

Retail Price: $73

CosDNA Link

I might have misplaced my Skin Profile for this product (beautyDNA does provide you with a pdf copy to download via your account if need be) but it is a lightweight cream that absorbs very well, contains multiple proven antioxidants and skin whiteners (as in, lightening dark spots, not bleaching). It is supposed to be good for skin that is sensitive as well, but I am putting this aside for now and will start using it after I finish my Tretinoin purge that I began last week!

So far I am really liking beautyDNA. I just find it to be an interesting and fun concept! We will see what November and December bring.

This subscription was purchased with my own money. Please feel free to leave Questions, Comments, and Casual Insults below. 

Review of A.True Violet Petal Black Tea Hydrating Moisturizer

I've been a bad bad blogger and procrastinating on well...everything. But I have an excuse! or seven... First it was practically monsoon-ing here, and all that weather craziness made my narcolepsy act up. And then I was pony-sitting!

Who would want to stay inside and blog when you could hang out with a pony like this?!

Okay, now on to the actual review:

Please excuse the shoddy attempt at cleaning up the cellphone camera image. Also. I've used about twice this amount since I took this picture...

Product: Violet Petal Black Tea Hydrating Moisturizer
Brand: A.True
Purchased: Cupidrop.com for $26 (not an affiliate link)
CosDNA Link

Intro:
I bought this because I was going mad looking for a daytime moisturizer that was just enough but not too much. My skin is combination, leaning towards oily slightly, and kinda rides the edge of being "almost dehydrated" due to my weirdass medications. Previously I had been using Innisfree Green Tea Balancing Moisturizer, but since I started using more actives it slid over to being not hydrating enough for my poor skin. I needed a moisturizer that packed a stronger punch, but didn't leave me greasy or dewy. Sorry guys, I know the dewy look is hip in Korea, but in the American south people just think you're overly sweaty. What sold me on trying the Violet Petal was the description on Cupidrop's page of it being "velvety" and "fresh". Spoiler: I don't regret buying it.

Good sized bottle.

Packaging:
I love love love love deep breath love LOVE A.True packaging. It's just so clean and pretty. The bottle is a very solid frosted plastic that seems like it would hold up very well with use. I mean, I haven't chucked it around much to test, so don't go punting it against a brick wall to see and then go blaming me if it breaks. The pump seems like it is very good quality and dispenses a lot of product when pressed all the way down. Thankfully, it is very easy to just lightly depress it and get out small dollops of moisturizer.

It's a pump nozzle. It works. Quite well, actually.

Smell:
Kinda like violets with a hint of tea perfume? Floral and vaguely sweet? I'm pretty bad at describing scents. It smells nice, okay?! It is definitely fragrant, but not the type of smacks-you-in-the-face smell that Innisfree products have. It is a ladylike scent, which I think goes with their "A True Lady" marketing.

One pump. Kinda looks like an upside-down heart. Or a cock & balls. Depends on how you look at it, I guess.

  Performance:
A.True promises a fresh and velvety moisturizer, and they deliver. There's nothing super special in the Violet Petal moisturizer. It doesn't whiten. It doesn't exfoliate. No anti-aging miracles. It only claims to moisturize effectively without making your skin too oily, which is exactly what it does for me.

The A.true Violet Petal moisturizer is of medium to slightly thin consistency. It feels almost closer to a cream than a proper emulsion. It spreads easily and dries quite quickly. When it is dried, you can still feel it slightly on the surface of you skin, but it isn't a sticky gross feeling. It really does feel velvety soft and hydrated. I felt like my face maintained a good balance of hydration throughout the day, and I had no problems applying sunscreen/makeup over top of it. People with dry skin might like this in combination with another emulsion or stronger cream to add an extra bit of umph. I sometimes use it beneath my night cream when the air conditioner is running high and drying me out. Did I mention that it actually does make my face feel kinda velvety? Seriously, I'm really happy about this.

Rebuy? Yes. I will still keep looking and sampling other day moisturizers (it never ends...), but unless I find something even more awesome before I finish this bottle I will 100% rebuy the Violet Petal Black Tea moisturizer.

I bought this product with my own money, yo. Feel free to leave Questions, Comments, & Casual Insults below.