Ole Henriksen Review

I love Ole Henriksen products. Founded by a very chipper looking Danish guy - Ole Henriksen himself.  Once upon a time, he had terrible acne but, while working as a show dancer/model in Iakarta, he was cured by a local esthetician through herbal treatments and since then has been dedicated to skincare.

I suppose the line is not exactly "budget" - these puppies are pretty expensive, with a lot of things costing upwards of $ 50. But boy are these products great. 

First off, not much has worked better for my oily/combo skin than Sheer Transformation cream. It's oil free and contains fruit acids and calming agents that really do a nice job brightening skin tone and preventing breakouts. 80% of things I try give me breakouts, but this is pretty safe to lather on in copious quantities (not that you would really want to at these prices however). I have bought this over and over again and while my only qualm is that it should be a little more moisturizing and last a bit longer, otherwise Sheer Transformation is a A+ product for oily skin. 

DermOrganic haircare and facial moisturizer review

I adore DermOrganic range of haircare products, they have really made a difference in the health of my hair. The shampoo is sulfate-free and made with ingredients gentle enough to use on your face, so any problems I had before with more harsh shampoos and itchy scalp etc. are completely non-existent. The masque works better than any other mask I have ever tried, it makes hair feel like lightweight silk. I hold it for about an hour, which is longer than the recommended time and the results are great. The conditioner is more lightweight and works better on a daily basis. 

Because I enjoyed the hair products from DermOrganic so much, I tried their facial lotion. It is relatively cheap at $20 and for something that reasonably priced it has a few uncommon ingredients and antioxidants. A lot of drugstore creams at a comparative cost have filler ingredients and silicones - so this is a pretty good value for the price. Andddd it's oil-free, so it's just an affordable lotion for the summer and for oily, acne-prone skin.

- FA

Dr. Jart Premium BB cream review

Now that summer is in full swing, I decided to search for a more intense SPF than my long-time Smashbox Camera Ready BB cream (SPF 35), which has a combination of chemical and physical blocks. 

Dr. Jart's Premium BB cream (SPF 45) has wholly physical blocks (titanium dioxide and zinc oxide). I prefer physical blocks, which are most effective. But I also had issues with breakouts and high spf in some higher end brands - regardless of whether it was physical or chemical so a lot of the popular ones like Shiseido, Clinique, Dior and Clarins really clogged up my oily/combo skin. 

Dr. Jart seems to be working fine so far - some mild skin issues but in general this is a pretty good BB cream. Although it does not finish quite as matte as my previous Smashbox standby, it still stays up through the day without a lot of blotting. Its a bit pink upon application but oxidizes and sets less pinkish.

- FA

Recipes Grandma Agafia

Recipes of Grandma Agafia is a Russian-made line that is super cheap on Amazon. They do creams, serums, shampoos, oils, etc. The focus is on natural ingredients - with products supposedly inspired by original formulations by a Siberian herbalist Agafia. Each product comes with an insert with DIY recipes (in Russian) and a guarantee that the product contains silver ions (which have questionable skincare value). For the price (some in the range of 3-5 bucks), I do not expect anything amazing - but there are a few antioxidants and some carry 98% organic labels, though I haven't looked into the certifying agencies.

The products are stably-packaged and some smell absolutely amazing if you like herbal scents (the middle one for hands in particular) and do the job well enough. The face creams (for normal skin on the left, for oily skin on the right) are both very lightweight, but the oily one smells a bit alcoholic.

They also have budget hair masks, which work well and a few antioxidant serums which contain uncommon oils (marigold oil and prickly pear?). 

buttermilk and bread hair mask

onion and egg hair mask

golden root serum

I enjoy this line because of the  unique ingredients and herbs that are not normally used in US formulations and the dirt cheap prices, compared to comparable brands like Aubrey and Burt's bees.

- FA

Review of 100% Pure super fruits night balm

I like the idea behind 100% pure as I prefer a little bit more natural skincare and some of their foaming cleansers are really nice. Their super fruits night balm, is loaded with all kinds of antioxidant ingredients, so I was intrigued to get some "age corrective" results. Unfortunately, this balm feels completely like an oil when blended out, and I could not use it all over my face, as my skin type is oily and acne prone. I would recommend this for the driest complexions and on any dry spots and around the eye area only. Its a fairly large tub and has a short shelf life (6m) so it has to be used up quickly.

- FA

Review of Skin79 BB Cream Mini Set (Black)

Skin79 is a South Korean brand of BB creams and other skincare products that has a large and fun selection.  Being as thrifty as I am, I avoided buying the full set of the more popular Skin79 BB creams and just went for the trial sized versions. Amazon has these, but you can also find both the full sized and a larger sample versions on the official site. I tried all of these, but as you can see I went mostly for the pink "whitening" one, as I liked the consistency of that one best. All are wearable, except for the Pearl (second from the left), which has a distinct iridescence that would look pretty garish if it was slathered all over your face. These blend well and hold for a large part of the day. 

Unfortunately, I will not be purchasing any of the full sized BBs because they contain triclosan as an antibacterial agent. Despite concern over its role as a hormone disruptor in animals, the FDA has been delaying a review of triclosan for years; it is still under review. Perhaps tellingly, Johnson & Johnson will remove triclosan from all of its adult products by the end of 2015. It is really too bad that Skin79 does not seem to have full lists of ingredients for products on its North America website; the company does have a lot of really neat skincare, but it would be helpful to know if triclosan is something they use widely. 

- FA