When I was a kid...kid being a teenager...I thought the worst things in the world were the fact that my hair was naturally curly, and my skin tone was so pale it would not tan.
I laugh at that now, but the scars of your youth sometime follow you into adulthood. Of course I wanted to be like everyone else and wear my hair like Farrah Fawcett and tan my skin. It wasn't happening. {I know, younger readers just went Farrah who?}
I learned over time to appreciate my curls...people actually pay to get what I wake up with....and I learned that the sun is only your friend with 90spf sunblock. Reapplied often!
But in lathering myself up with spf15 tanning oils trying for the impossible, and ending up in the ER on more than a few occasions with sunburn that literally took the freckles off of me...all the sun did was give me aggravation and a few spots here and there.
So growing up you need to deal with acne...and large pores...then the sun does its number on you...and you come full circle with menopause and losing estrogen... and acne with your pores still the same size (they never shrink by the way) and sun spots. Ah, youth.
Enter the age of BB creams and CC creams all formulated to fix, what we break when we don't pay attention to our skin when we are younger.
While I do keep up on these new things on the market...I can't help but remember my grandmother and her beautiful skin. I know I may have spoken of it a few times but her skin was pale in color like mine, healthy and beautiful into her late 90's. She wasn't using serums and lettered creams. She didn't do these at home peels and she certainly didn't run gizmos over her face. And forget about injecting anything. She just was ...beautiful.
And beauty is big business. I just watched the Oscars on Sunday and was shocked at some of what I saw and later read. Why so many beautiful women felt the need to augment their looks to recapture something that they felt they lost surprised me. Yet in a way not.
Their choices may be a bit more drastic but the thought process behind the choice is probably no different than mine to color my hair and take care of my skin better.
We are all chasing something. Maybe our tails, going around and around. Some days it feels that way.
We want again what we had when we were not smart enough to appreciate it...or care for it. Thank heavens for the Beauty Makers. Those companies who make products to cheat the eye and sometimes fix what we do to ourselves. Because without them, maybe each of us would want to go under the knife.
Recently, I have been using five different products and I wanted to share a little of what I thought about each.
1) Physicians Formula new Youthful Wear Cosmeceutical Youth Boosting Spotless Foundation and Brush
When I found this at Rite Aid it was priced at $14.95 and upon reading the front of the box I assumed it was FOUNDATION.
It uses the words YOUTHFUL and SERUM and we are drawn to those words immediately. A little round label on the packaging lets me think I can "look up to ten years younger". Well, these last 7 years sucked emotional wise so this stuff must be pretty potent to take that stress off of my face. Bring it on.
So I open it up before reading anymore and there is a brush to apply this product. Okay, great...I use mineral makeup I get that. Then I open the bottle and its a dropper and you are directed to drop three drops of this product onto that brush and apply it to your skin. Afterward you are to finish it off with powder.
Powder? That is sooo, long ago I used powder and it was okay then in my youth but who wants to accent flaws now.
So I shake this up, drop the drops and start applying. Wow. They call this color LIGHT and it is NOT. Since there is no pale color available, I was pretty much stuck with light and its more of a medium base color and looks off on my skin. Not happy. They also mention to add more for buildable coverage. meaning, this stuff is thin.
You remember the girls in school who wore the Cover Girl foundation and the shade, back then, wasn't quite right and their skin is pale and their face looked orange? That is what this did on my skin.
SO what to do. Well, I did contaminate the brush and I did pay the fifteen dollars plus tax so I guess I should just use it around the house and see what it does. And that is what I am doing.
It is lightweight. It is the wrong shade for sure. Their label on the bottle appears to be lighter than the actual product misleading me to what was inside. It covers most of the bottle.
It settles in pores and does not offer any sort of coverage. But I will continue to use it up to see if I get any fading of the few sun spots I have. It is paid for and unless there is some big change, I would not buy this product again.
Now the thing that gets me is, the active ingredient purpose is to....prevent sunburn. You are to use this as a sunscreen to reduce the risk of skin cancer and early skin aging caused by the sun. hmmm, it has an SPF factor of 15. Really? The Neutrogena Face Sunscreen I use has an SPF of 55.
And that is what I don't like about beauty products. Those key words to get you to try it saying its one thing....foundation. Barely any coverage. Then saying it is used as a sunscreen. At 15spf? Okay, sure...something on your skin is better than nothing but really? come on. New innovation? ...um sunscreen has been around....and the word Serum. We are hearing that used over and over again. More things to draw us in and then disappoint.
Like I said, I will use this to see if I get the results that they claim happen. Should it work I will definitely do a repost.
2) Almay Smart Shade CC cream
I love Almay products and have used their smart shade line of things for some time now. They start out white and turn what is suppose to be your perfect match color. While I would love a bit more coverage, they do as they say so I am happy.
This product offers a 35SPF and claims to correct my complexion. I did like the color it left me with as it seemed very natural. I liked the feel of it on my skin as it felt light and while my skin isn't perfect some days...not all days... I did like using this product. I used it as a base under my more coverage makeup and it blended well. I like the color light as it seems to be just that and I would definitely purchase this again. I did purchase two tubes before actually trying it because I did like the Almay products I used prior and I will buy this again.
3) Physicians Formula new Organic Wear 100% natural origin CC Cream
This cream offers a SPF of 20 and claims to be the first 100% natural product. Again another key word everyone is looking for. The color I purchased was light and it's a light enough color without looking too pale. This is smooth going on and blends into my skin quickly. It does not have a dewy finish and is more of a matt, dry look. I included a copy of the back of the packaging so you can read what makes this Organic and how the product is to benefit our skin. This was priced at 15.00 as well, and I will continue to use it to see if it is something worth repurchasing. So far so good. They say to remove this you can simply use water and my concern was with summer heat and sweating it off (and hot flashes) how good will the product remain. Spring is almost here so we shall see.
4)Revlon Age Defying CC Cream
Priced under ten dollars I do like Revlon products so I gave this one a try. I was glad I did and I would repurchase it again. I find that it leaves my skin with a dewy finish before adding my foundation. Not wet, nor greasy, and not matt and dry looking. And my foundation looks better with it under it for some reason. I love that it has an SPF of 30 too.
5) Loreal Magic Skin Beautifier BB Cream
This is another one of those products that goes on white and blends to your natural color. It's called a skin beautifier and I find that it is. I have used it with and without a foundation and loved the way it looked on my skin. It is lightweight in feel which is a great start before adding a foundation. I've noticed using primers pre mineral powders my skin felt clogged a bit. The packaging does not mention any spf number so I assume there is none. A lot more foundations are adding sunscreen to them, so I am sure to use my base sunscreen and use a powder foundation that has it included.