Archives for July 2013

My skin, that is. A couple of blogs ago, I said I am going to give the Nivea Smoothy cream a try. Which I did and have for two weeks or so. Unfortunately, testing came at a time when I’m having one of those nasty hormonal thing going on my skin and I’m afraid the cream really aggravated things. Behold, my huge zits.

I took these pics when the zits are drying down and my skin’s a hell lot calmer. I am lucky enough to have great skin and it’s very rare for me to break out, especially like this. Huge cystic pimples! Yegads.

Naturally, I had to stop everything I’m applying on my skin and find out what’s causing these pimples. I thought it might be the smoothy cream because it’s the only new thing I’m slathering on my face so unfortunately, I had to stop using it. So sad.

I still stand by what I said, my skin has never been softer since I started using the smoothy cream but the reaction I got, considering that this is made for babies, was something I didn’t expect totally. So these days, I’m just dealing with the scars and brightening my complexion. I started using my old Snoe whitening soap again to lighten the scars as well as my whole face. My recent trip to Palawan darkened my skin so nothing in my kikay kit matches my skin tone! Then I scrub the area every other day just to slough off the dead skin cells and lighter skin will peek through faster. Finally, I’m planning on finally getting a higher end night cream though. Let’s face it, I’m no spring chicken, I need all the help I could get, hahahaha!

Initially, I was planning to get a night cream from Clinique, the Moisture Surge one but after I did a little digging, I came across a great contender, the Kiehl’s Midnight Recovery Concentrate. Now, it’s an oil-based elixir so naturally, that’s a concern for me. My already ravaged skin cannot take more irritants at this point. But I read loads of reviews from MUA and even folks with acne-ridden skin are singing praises about Kiehl’s MRC so I’m willing to give it a try.

I’m actually testing the stuff now. My sister has one lying around and I’ve been using it for almost a week now. So far, things are great. If things go well, I will buy the regular bottle and give a review.

For me, to achieve smooth, clear skin, you should never skip exfoliation. When I was 17 or 18, I started using facial scrubs because I had a bad case of blackheads on the nose area, which was so gross. I believe I used St.Ives classic apricot scrub and I have tried some of the most recent iteration of the formula including the one for sensitive skin, the other for acne-ridden skin and the medicated one. I also tried the St. Ives Olive scrub, which I sorta liked but I never repurchased because it just didn’t do a great job and the creamy formula just made me breakout a bit.

So, I actually gave up on facial scrubs after I used up a tube of the classic St.Ives Apricot one because it was too abrasive but I didn’t want to throw it away. I ended up manually scrubbing my face with a face cloth for a while until I came across the St. Ives Green Tea face scrub. At first, I thought the formula is probably similar to the old one but I was curious enough to give it a try.

Everything about the Green Tea version is different from St. Ives’ classic formulation. For one thing, the grains are so minuscule, it actually made the formula thicker. The new formulation uses fine silica-based grains rather than the rougher, more abrasive crushed Apricot seeds of the past. I must say, I’m so in love with the new formulation! It has a fresh, green smell that I like. As much as I like non-scented shit, I do have a soft spot for stuff that smells really fresh and clean.

I tend to overcrub a bit, a habit I’ve been trying to abstain from. I use St. Ives Green Tea face scrub every day and every other day when I see that I’ve gotten rid of my flaky nose. The result is just great, clear skin! Th scrub is formulated with salicylic acid but I didn’t really see any obvious effects on my existing zits whatsoever. It just slough off dead skin cells so well that I’ve added the St. Ives Green Tea face scrub to my nightly beauty regimen.

Don’t overscrub like me though. I do it every chance I get and I’m trying not to! This shit is addicting so it’s hard to resist, hahaa!

If you’re like me who appreciates great finds at affordable prices then you must be kuripot, hahahah! For me, nighttime moisturizing is a must especially since my skin is on the dry side and needs ample moisture. Unfortunately, high end creams do cost more than your average daytime creams, some fetching as much as 4k or 5k per pot. And if you’re kuripot like me, you won’t fork over the monies as easily so I searched for greater alternative to my old night cream when I ran out.

I found a great alternative in Nivea face creams, the Smoothy cream in particular. Initially, I tried Nivea’s Soft Cream, which my sister bought from Kuwait. One thing I noticed is the soft cream formulation of Kuwait differs from the one here in PH. Ours tend to have a lighter formulation that resembles gel creams and is more lightweight with slight cooling effect when applied on the skin. Also, our version gets absorbed by the skin faster whereas the Kuwait one is richer, sinks slowly in the skin and tend to leave an oily film that sits on the skin. I know all these because I bought a small pot of the Soft Cream for use whenever I’m visiting the ‘rents.

Despite these minor caveats, I loved the effect of the cream on my skin! I wake up to super soft,incredibly clear skin with zero dry patches. It was a large pot too and when we ran out of cream I was gunning for a higher end cream. But when I came across an article that sings praises to Nivea’s Smoothy Cream, I was quite intrigued because the blogger compared the consistency and effect of the cream to her Embryolisse cream. Embryolisse is a popular French cream used by celebrities, MUA and beauty experts alike. They are quite expensive too (so I heard) and the blogger, pretty much said the Nivea Smoothy Cream is a worthy dupe to Embryolisse.

Now, since I used the Soft cream before, I had an idea what the other cream is all about. But I was curious to try it too. It’s only PhP 160+ at Watson’s anyway so no harm in trying. I did try googling reviews about it but from what I gather, Nivea never released this in the US or EU but rather, this is an Asian release so I couldn’t find reviews at Makeup Alley.

And when I did, I loved it! It’s actually better than the Soft Cream too in terms of moisturization. The Smoothy Cream is made for babies and is formulated with Calendula oil. It’s a hypoallergenic light cream with a lovely powdery scent! It goes on the skin smoothly and gets absorbed quickly. On my dry-combination skin, it delivers enough moisture so my skin stays silky smooth and free from dry patches. I wake to such incredible skin and I gotta say, I love how it makes my skin feel so soft and plump.

I also didn’t break out which is a relief since this is something I’m always worried about whenever I try something new. So for girls who want a good moisturizer that gets the job done at super affordable price, try this one out!