Tag Archives: moisturizer

Less is More with Tvål Skincare.

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I’ve had the opportunity to test some skincare goodies from Tvål. It’s been over a month now, and it is time again for reviews!

I’m writing these reviews short and sweet because I have difficulty reviewing skincare.  Is it just me?  If I missed anything, please ask me in the comments and I’ll answer them the best I can. :D

Buddha Eye Cream

Ingredients: Aqua, rose water, cucumber extract, glycerine, olive squalane, shea butter, Simmondsia Chinensis (Jojoba) Seed Oil, Cetearyl Alcohol (and) PEG-40 Castor Oil (and) Stearalkonium Chloride, silk amino acids, Tocopherol, Diazolidinyl Urea (and) Iodopropynl Butylcarbamate

I am only in my early 20s, but I could definitely do without the fine lines under my eyes.  Have you seen them in my EOTDs?  Recently I’ve turned to eye creams to help plump up my fine lines.  I know eye creams will never get rid of dark circles (that’s what concealer is for), so all I look for in an eye cream are reduction in puffiness and less visible fine lines.

Buddha Eye Cream ($23 for 30 ml) is a yummy ultra-hydrating eye cream.  It sinks in quickly and is a perfect base for under eye concealer.  Unfortunately, I haven’t seen a difference in my fine lines since I started using this.  I also suspect that something in this was irritating my eyes, because some days I wake up with puffier eyes than normal.  No nirvana for me. :(  Rating: C+.

Oil-Free Lotion with Strawberries & 2% Salicylic Acid

Ingredients: Aqua, Incroquat CR Conditioner Concentrate, olive squalane, Salicylic Acid, Sea Buckthorn Oil, aloe vera extract, strawberry extract, preservative

I have been using two pumps of the Oil-Free Lotion with Strawberries & 2% Salicylic acid ($11 for 30 ml) (and OMG longest name ever) for the day, layered under a SPF 30 from another brand.  First of all, let’s talk about the scent.  It definitely smells of strawberries, just like the strawberry body butter from The Body Shop.  I’m not the biggest fan of the scent, but I know someone out there is.  This takes about 2 minutes to sink into my skin, longer if I apply too much.  After the 2 minutes, my skin still feels a little sticky.

The lotion is vegan and packed with Vitamins A, C, & E and other ingredients that are good for the skin.  I do appreciate that, and the fact that this provides some — even just a little bit — of oil control throughout the day.  Although I didn’t like the smell and I’m not used to the feel of an all-natural face lotion, I would recommend it to those are concerned about going all-natural with their skincare. Rating: B-.

Resurface

Ingredients: Sodium bicarbonate, aqua, emulsifying wax NF, stearic acid, Diazolidinyl Urea, Iodopropynl Butylcarbamate, perfume

Tvål calls Resurface ($14 for 60 ml) as a “light and fluffy” vegan scrub. I never thought I would come across such a scrub, but this scrub is definitely that and more. Resurface is not your regular gritty scrub. Beneath all the fluff are micro crystals that work to gently exfoliate skin.

When I first tried this scrub, I actually rubbed it in quite vigorously all over my face. Bad idea. That left my skin feeling quite raw especially around my nose. Ouch! That’s what I get for not reading the instructions! :P Tvål recommends that you softly work this into the skin and just let the scrub buff your skin beautiful. It polishes my skin to a glow and minimizes the appearance of my pores (especially those pesky ones on my nose!). I really do like this a lot; it does what it says and I can’t say that about a lot of products I’ve tried recently. Rating: A.

Tvål Skincare is available all over Canada and online.

Oh So Cool! Biore Dual Fusion Moisturizer SPF 30 Review.

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It looks like it is a resounding “yes” for product reviews on Glitter Geek, so here’s another one.  I’ll keep the poll up for another couple of weeks to see if anything changes.  You can vote right here!  Go ahead, click it!  It will work this time. ;)

What would you like to see more of on Glitter Geek?

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  • Makeup Swatches (30%, 6 Votes)
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Total Voters: 20

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For a long time I have been jumping from one drugstore moisturizer to another, trying to find one that I loved.  Everything else has just been okay: it didn’t break me out or smell horribly. In short, they were boring. :|

Those moisturizers were never enjoyable enough to look forward to moisturizing every single morning.  Yes, I do look forward to such strange things.  Case in point, washing my face with Philosophy’s Purity Made Simple is the highlight of my pre-bedtime routine. :)

Biore Skin Preservation Dual Fusion Moisturizer + SPF 30 (whew!) is geared towards skin in the in-between stage, past the teenage years but before you think about slathering on anti-aging creams.  You know, when fine lines starting to creep in under the eyes, that type of thing.  Lucky for you, I happen to fall perfectly under this category!

Ingredients

Active Ingredients: OCTINOXATE 3.0%, ZINC OXIDE 3.9% Inactive Ingredients: WATER, CYCLOPENTASILOXANE, DIMETHICONE, GLYCERIN, ISOHEXADECANE, ALUMINUM STARCH OCTENYLSUCCINATE, BUTYLENE GLYCOL, PHENYL TRIMETHICONE, CETYL-PG HYDROXYETHYL PALMITAMIDE, CAMELLIA SINENSIS LEAF EXTRACT, NYMPHAEA COERULEA FLOWER EXTRACT, MELISSA OFFICINALIS LEAF EXTRACT, HORDEUM DISTICHON (BARLEY) EXTRACT, DISODIUM RUTINYL DISULFATE, PEG-3 DIMETHICONE, POLYACRYLAMIDE, DIMETHICONE/VINYL DIMETHICONE CROSSPOLYMER, C13-14 ISOPARAFFIN, SODIUM STEAROXY PG-HYDROXYETHYLCELLULOSE SULFONATE, DIMETHICONE/METHICONE COPOLYMER, LAURETH-7, PROPYLENE GLYCOL, IRON OXIDES, DISODIUM EDTA, 1,2-HEXANEDIOL, CAPRYLYL GLYCOL, IODOPROPYNYL BUTYLCARBAMATE, TROPOLONE, FRAGRANCE, GREEN 5, YELLOW 5, GREEN 3

Here’s What I Liked…

  1. Come on, the dual spout is so. damn. cool! :)
  2. SPF 30 is higher than what I usually wear (SPF 15) but the formula is non-greasy, perfect for my oily skin.
  3. It smells good.  Who else here “forgets” to use a product if they don’t love the scent?  I thought so.
  4. It applies comfortably, smooth and no unnecessary tugging, which I found to be a problem in the past with other higher SPF moisturizers.
  5. This one is for you ladies on the go: it absorbs very quickly into the skin.
  6. It photographs well under makeup — no white cast in sight here!

But They Should Improve on These…

  1. It’s not cheap for a drugstore moisturizer.  I got mine for $16 at Wal-mart.  Shoppers Drugmart has it for about $20.
  2. The packaging — while it is a cool concept — is a piece of crap.  The packaging instructs you to “tap bottle on hard surface and prime pump 7-9 times until products dispense evenly.”  When I did this, the product came out, but only from one side. :( Follow link to Babybubblz’s awesome review on how to fix this when it happens: click!
  3. In the mornings when I’m really in a hurry, I slap on my tinted moisturizer using my fingers on top of this.  It has a tendency to pill up when I apply the tinted moisturizer with my fingers.  It might be the extra pressure, because I don’t get this when using a brush.  Something to keep in mind.

The Low Down

Even though the packaging caused me a broken nail in the beginning, this is the best everyday moisturizer I’ve ever used.  I really enjoy using this moisturizer, and I’m sure most of you will too.  I’m not sure if it is the best for dry skin since it dries on the matte side, but if you have normal to oily skin, you should definitely give it a try!  Rating: A.