THE GREAT FACE PRODUCT EXPERIMENT UPDATE

I figured I would update you all on how I was liking the Alba night cream and mineral face powder I bought a few weeks ago...

First, the night cream. A few weeks ago I bought Alba's Sea Plus Renewal Cream as a new night creamand I must say that so far I love it! Now I must admit that before I got this cream I was guilty of not always washing my makeup off my face at night (SHOCK!). This is bad, I know, and most nights I tried to, but sometimes when I got home late my pillow was just too enticing. Since I got this, however, I have been totally steller on the night face care routine tip, so that may have had an overall effect too. Now, back to the cream: I have NOT broken out, and it has already made my skin softer. NICE! It smells good, and is really really thick (sort of a body butter consistancy). It tingles when I put it on, which freaked me out a little bit at first, but I have had nothing but good results. I noticed yesterday in the mirror that the texture of my skin just looks nicer. YAY ALBA! It has only been a few weeks, so we shall see what sort of an end result I get with a little more time, but so far so good.

During that same CVS trip, I also purchased both Revlon and NYC mineral face powders. I am still deciding on these. The Revlon powder was the first to be tried. I have had a bit of a problem getting very much to come out when I shake it, which is annoying, but once I get it on my face, I do have to say it looks really really nice. It gives me a subtle finish ALL DAY (seriously no shine for hours) and actually provides more coverage than I had expected. I think it works best on a good skin day, since it is still more subtle than the ol' foundation/powder combo, but I really dig it for daily wear.

I have only tried the NYC powder once so far, so I still need to do a few more tests with this one. It went on easy and lasted well, but I think the color I got (which was light) might actually be a bit too dark for my face still. Not sure, only had a chance to look at it for a minute or two. But neither has made me break out, which is nice, and both really keep my face matte for many hours (hallelujah!).

Back on the Alba tip (I think I am getting obsessed with Alba products), I was so impressed with the face cream experiment that yesterday I bought their Green Tea Eye Gel

It promises the combined impact of aloe vera (with skin-building amino acid and protein compounds) and green tea (loaded with antioxidants) will soothe, smooth and protect while cucumber and kelp extracts will firm and tone my eye area. It also has chamomile and papaya extract, and Vitamin C. Sounds good to me. I have never used an eye GEL before, only creams, so using it this morning was weird. The consistancy was definitely very reminiscent on using an aloe vera gel, which felt weird. And I squirted out too much, bummer. BUT I have to say that my eye area actually feels really really hydrated and firm right now, several hours into the day. At $16.95 for 1 fl oz ( a LOT of bang for your buck for eye cream) I could get used to this.

Time to test

Ok, so at lunch I had to go to CVS to pick up a new nightguard so I stop grinding my teeth, and while there I grabbed a couple more things as well.



1. Mineral Makeup: First I picked up the NYC mineral makeup powder I blogged about earlier. Then, for good measure, I grabbed the Revlon version of the same thing in "fair", just so I could compare the two. I put the Revlon one on in the car after I left, and at first was sort of frustrated because as most loose powders are, it was a little messy. But that is just klutzy me, probably. I looked in the mirror and thought it pretty much looked like powder, but I realize that I put it on a half day old face, which is not the best testing ground for this sort of thing. Once I got back to the office though, I checked it out in the mirror in the bathroom and it does look smoother and more substantial than regular powder, but without the makeup look of foundation. Not sure yet, must experiment. I will let you know.



2. I also needed a new night cream, and wasn't yet decided on what I wanted, being relatively new to high tech night creams (for years I avoided them for fear of breaking out). So after perusing the aisle, I settled on Alba's Sea Plus Renewal Cream.

This retails for $14.95, which was within my budget (some nightcreams are insanely expensive!), and I like that it includes Alpha Lipoic Acid (derived from vegetables), avocado and kukui oils, and their unique Marine Complex (several kinds of algae extracts), which I secretly think I dig on all the more because I am a pisces. HA! This is my first non-Proactiv high tech night cream, so we shall see how it goes. I dig Alba's other products, however, and their cruelty free, nature-based stance combined with their ok prices. Sweet.

I love NYC

Although I do enjoy the city, I'm actually referring to the cosmetics line. They are upfront about their products being cruelty free, both on the packaging and on their website :-) , they are SUPER affordable (like wet n wild affordable) and their products work much better than those in a similar price range. I love their translucent face pressed powder (the puff sucks, but they always do), I just bought another one the other day and it is exactly what translucent powder should be, for such a great price - ready? - $1.99!! Yup.

And now I see that they have something I have been wanting to try for a while now: Mineral makeup. Mineral foundation/powders for the face are supposedly the be all end all for an easy, natural, flawless finish, not to mention that many purport the actual skin benefits of using this type of makeup. So, I have been curious, but lots of these products are in the $20-50 range, wich is too much for this girl. But I have ignored the talk about mineral makeup for long enough. I have seen this, and am out of excuses

And the cost? $6.99... sigh... could I possibly be in love with a makeup company? I think maybe.