Beauty Tips For Body Care
...for like 12 hours. Tops.Warning: Long post aheadI know my title was a little hyperbolic, but I had no idea what else to say.A little background info: I'm an Indian guy with oily/combination skin, and I've never had acne, just maybe the occasional whitehead near my cheeks. I have a love-hate relationship with oily skin - it's reportedly great if you'd like to age less dramatically, and feels a lot more comfortable than having dry, peeling skin anyway, but who likes looking like an oil slick? Not me. It's off-putting and can severely impair one's sense of confidence, and short of going on a course of isotretinoin or accutane, which I could easily get without a prescription here (but I don't want to end up screwing up my DNA or shortening my telomeres by using a powerful drug that isn't meant for me in the first place) - there doesn't seem like much we can do to keep the oil slick at bay.I've tried a couple of solutions. I tried using mineral powder - yes, makeup - the SPF stuff from Colorescience (overpriced shit, don't buy it). Verdict? It kept the oil at bay, obviously, but I absolutely hated using it. I hated the feeling of makeup on my face, and as a pale skinned brown guy, it was pretty hard to get an accurate match, and the colour that I thought would match my skin made me look like an oompa loompa. I thought I'd try BareMinerals instead, but at one point I decided that I cbf and just gave up on mineral powder (and makeup) entirely. So long, makeup, but I don't expect we'll meet again.I've tried salicylic acid, and while it does regulate sebum production and make skin smoother, it obviously doesn't banish oil or anything - you'll still have oily/combination skin, no matter what.What finally worked for me?MATTIFYING MOISTURISERS AND PRIMERS.i'm not talking about the Smashbox kind - I think they're overrated, overpriced, and have sub-par ingredients anyway. I'm talking about skincare-specific mattifiers from skincare-specific brands, not makeup brands. I'm going to list a couple below, and the ones that I have tried (and am going to review) are highlighted in bold.Bioderma Sebium Mat Control (Mattifying Moisturiser)Bioderma Sebium Pore Refiner (Mattifying Primer)Embryolisse Hydra-Mat Emulsion (Mattifying Moisturiser)Caudalie Vinosource Moisturising Mattifying Fluid (Mattifying Moisturiser)La Roche-Posay Effaclar Mat (Mattifying Moisturiser)Avene Mattifying Fluid (Mattifying Moisturiser)Deciem Hylamide HA Blur (Mattifying Moisturiser)Deciem Hylamide Matte 12 (Mattifying Primer)Now, this is by no means an exhaustive list. There are many, many more products out there, usually in the French pharmaceutical market (almost EVERY major French skincare brand has a mattifying product, and you should be able to find some from Vichy, Uriage, Evian etc. as well).I tried all products under my sunscreen, on top of my sunscreen, and both under AND on top of my sunscreen, and I find that the latter combination worked best to keep my face matte all day.So how did the products fare?1. Bioderma Sebium Pore Refiner (Mattifying Primer)What does it contain? - Silicones - Glycerin - Salicylic AcidWhat does it claim to do? - Refine pores and make them smaller - MattifyThis was the very first mattifying product I tried. I got it after reading rave reviews about it, and it did not disappoint at all. It's a somewhat light, runny, white liquidy gel that does not feel heavy at all, and it mattifies quickly upon contact. It has a somewhat strange, fruity smell that could be described as... a mutated fruit? I can imagine that it would be off-putting to some.Upon applying it, it killed all shine and mattified my skin. The Sebium Pore Refiner gave me matte skin for about 7 hours at most before the shine started to break through. The shine still wasn't bad, it was still under control and was by no means a 'slick', but I'd have loved it if the mattifying effect could've lasted longer. As this contains glycerin, it has a slight moisturising effect even though that isn't really the intention of it - you should try the Sebium Mat Control instead of you want a fullblown mattifying 'moisturiser', as glycerin is way higher up in the ingredients list in that one. I doubt the pH of this product allows the salicylic acid to exfoliate properly, so I have no idea what purpose it's supposed to serve here.This product mattified my skin. That's about it. I didn't really see a visible improvement in my pores, then again I don't have a problem with my pores to begin with. This also didn't blur/smooth out my skin much, it just mattified it. All in all, it did the job it was supposed to do, but eh. It's really good if you're looking for a nice mattifier anyway. Just keep in mind that it'll mattify your skin and NOT do anything more than that. I personally think it kinda made my skin look dull, but YMMV.2. La Roche-Posay Effaclar Mat (Mattifying Moisturiser)What does it contain? - Silicones - Glycerin - Salicylic AcidWhat does it claim to do? - Refine skin - Mattify - HydrateSecond mattifying product I tried. It's a slightly thick white gel/cream that's light and not heavy at all. It has the typical LRP 'Effaclar scent' - anyone who uses the Effaclar Gel Cleanser will know what I'm talking about. This moisturised my skin pretty decently because of the high glycerin content. It took a little more time to mattify, but when it did, it made my skin feel nice, plump, and matte.This is also the only product out of the four that I've tried that contains denatured alcohol. I'm not sure how I feel about this. On one hand, I dismiss the Paula Begoun scaremongering and use cosmetically elegant sunscreens with alcohol denat in them, but on the other hand, I'm still jittery about alcohol denat. being in a MOISTURISER. That kinda defeats the purpose of it... moisturising your skin, because doesn't alcohol denat. tend to be drying? I suspect this is exactly how the LRP Effaclar Mat works, unfortunately. It works by making your skin drier, and then using glycerin to offset that. OR maybe the alcohol is meant to help the silicones set better on your skin and give it a nicer finish. I don't know. Well, at least it works, but there's only one word I can use to describe my feelings towards this product... 'inconclusive'.This mattified my skin for about 6 hours maybe?I have to note that this product made my skin look nicer when I applied it. It has a little blurring effect, although it's still minimal.3. Deciem Hylamide Matte 12 (Mattifying Primer)What does it contain? - Silicones - Some technology I can't fully wrap my head around, nano-spheres/crystals that bind to oil or somethingWhat does it claim to do? - Mattify for 'exactly 12 hours' without drying skin out 'by binding to oil instead of your skin's natural water content' - Minimise pores - Blur/SmootheThe moment I tried this... I knew this was The One. It took just one day for me to catapult this to absolute fucking Holy Grail status. It is THAT GOOD.This is by far the thickest of all four products. It's a very thick white gel that smells VERY siliconey, but it dissolves into absolutely nothing on my skin. The instructions say that you have to tap it on instead of rubbing it in, so that's what I did. It feels light and doesn't clog my pores at all. I'm just gonna copy my own review of this thing on Makeupalley and paste it here:"I'm a guy with oily skin, and I've been on the hunt for mattifying primers that can keep the shine at bay throughout the day, and also offset some of the grease from my sunscreen.I've tried many mattifying moisturisers and primers. Some of the prominent ones I've tried (that come to mind) are La Roche-Posay's Effaclar Mat and Bioderma's Sebium Pore refiner. While they mattify generally well, they don't really have much staying power throughout the day, and I find myself getting greasy all over again about 5 or 6 hours later, tops. Furthermore, LRP's Effaclar Mat contains a high amount of denatured alcohol, which is controversial as a 'bad' alcohol and definitely something I do not want in my moisturisers, and Bioderma's product contains salicylic acid, which I'm not in favour of because I use a separate salicylic acid product at night and I'm not comfortable with the idea of using the ingredient twice a day for the fear of irritation. In short, none of them really satisfied my needs, even though their mattifying abilities were pretty decent.This... this is different. I bought Hylamide's Matte 12 in the 'Finisher series' on a whim. The company claims that it can mattify for up to 12 hours, and distinguishes their product from other mattifying primers by saying that it doesn't dry the skin because it binds to oil as opposed to binding to our skin's water content.To say that I was shocked when I first used it was an understatement. I used a pea-sized amount and tapped it over my oily/problem areas after hydrating my skin in the morning with a serum and a light essence. It mattified INSTANTLY upon contact with my skin, and the finish that it left was far better than the finish I got from the two mattifiers I've mentioned above. The Matte 12 gave me an incredibly soft, insanely smooth, satiny-matte finish whilst still retaining my skin's dewiness. This therefore validates the fact that it binds to just the oil, not the moisture content, in your skin, and therefore doesn't dehydrate you. The product also lived up to its claims. It mattified my skin with nary a hint of grease or shine for about 10 hours, and then the shine started showing through by the 11th hour, but it was very, very minimal, and my face was far from being a grease slick. That's still incredibly good.The other mattifiers that I tried gave me matte skin. That was about it. The major drawback was that they accentuated every single flaw on my skin and made it look dull and lifeless. I suspect this is because they dried out my skin to mattify it as opposed to just 'mattifying' it like this product did. This has become my absolute holy grail, and I'm going to stick with it forever. I also got the HA Blur from the Finisher Series, but I haven't tried that one yet. When I do, I'll review it separately."I'm sticking with this forever.And finally,4. Deciem Hylamide HA Blur (Mattifying Moisturiser)What does it contain? - Silicones - Hyaluronic AcidWhat does it claim to do? - Mattify - Minimise pores - Hydrate - PlumpThis is also seriously damn good, just like its Matte 12 counterpart from Hylamide. In fact, almost everything I said about the Matte 12 can apply to this one, with the exception that this one obviously does not mattify as much as the Matte 12 does, but it still does a phenomenal job at doing so. Oh, and because the primary function of this product is to blur, it makes your skin look phenomenal - like a smooth canvas. The matte effect also lasted almost just as long as the Matte 12.One drawback, though... the smell. It smells really weird, sort of chemical-y, but I ceebs so as long as it works well. I can't exactly verify the hydrating/plumping claims because I always use a light serum and essence under my mattifiers to hydrate my skin, so if this one did plump my skin even further then I probably didn't notice it at all. This is every bit as HG as the Matte 12, but I'd use them for different situations. For example, I'd use the Matte 12 during a hot and humid day when I just know that I'm going to be a greaseball, but I'd use the HA Blur during some kind of event at night where I want my skin to look great.So to summarise, in terms of mattifying abilities:Deciem Hylamide Matte 12Deciem Hylamide HA BlurBioderma Sebium Pore RefinerLa Roche-Posay Effaclar MatIn terms of moisture provided (although frankly speaking this is irrelevant if you follow an AB routine and use essences and stuff underneath):La Roche-Posay Effaclar MatBioderma Sebium Pore Refiner (tied) Deciem Hylamide HA BlurDeciem Hylamide Matte 12In terms of how good/smooth it makes your skin look:Deciem Hylamide HA Blur (honestly... this cannot be topped for this purpose)Deciem Hylamide Matte 12La Roche-Posay Effaclar Matt (tied/inconclusive/idk) Bioderma Sebium Pore RefinerIf you guys have any questions just ask, although I'll only be able to reply tomorrow. Hope this helps!Edit: Image of the products - http://imgur.com/a/gmXGt (LRP Effaclar Mat not pictured cuz I only used samples of it as I wasn't sure about committing to something that has so much alcohol in it)
Girls Blog 2015
Submitted by hindustanza
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