So spots, we all get them and tackle them in many different ways. Some use toothpaste, crushed aspirin, but my personal favourite method in high school was to perform surgery with tweezers and safety pins (don’t tell me you haven’t done the same)! Thankfully we no longer have to rely on barbaric methods and homemade remedies to address our facial indiscretions! The nice people at Sk:n Clinics have created something that actually works, is easy to use and doesn’t interfere with makeup application.
Now I just want to say this is very different from other spot treatments I’ve used in the past. As you can see from the picture above it’s an orange medicinal coloured gel, so nothing like an actual lotion. And even though this is a gel it’s not sticky, more like a watery substance. This contains both Glycolic and Salicylic acid so be careful if you are using other skincare that contains these ingredients or your skin may become very unhappy with you.
I was fortunately/unfortunately able to test this out on a real massive spot on my cheek that James had no end of fun pointing out at any opportunity. You know the kind that sit under the skin and don’t come to a head – yes those! So I washed my face as usual and applied the gel and to be honest I wasn’t sure how it was going to tackle the mountain on my face. The next morning I noticed the size of my spot had shrunk first and then the redness faded over the next few days into a pink mark on my face. This was able to dry up the spot without making my skin flaky which is great when you are trying to cover blemishes. I was able to tap on my Bobbi Brown concealer with no problem and no cakey build up.
This is my second product from Sk:n that I’ve tried and I have to say I’m super impressed. It’s not often I get really bad spots, but when I do they are the ones that sit along my jawline or cheek area and don’t actually come to a head – they are more like little knots of angry redness. I haven’t tried it on blackheads but this is recommended for mild to moderate acne and retails for £12. I would definitely buy this even if it’s just to shut James up!
You can buy Sk:n products on their website or at Boots!
*pr sample
I haven’t done a face mask review for ages and I have so many of them too so I better get crackin’ eh? Now Boscia is a 100% preservative free brand from Japan that only came to my attention because I signed up for emails from ULTA the American beauty super store. I’ve already reviewed their blotting papers and black nose strips and I was quite happy with both products especially the nose strips.
So what does this mask do other than make you look like you’ve got some kinky rubber apparatus on? Well Boscia says:
The Luminizing Black Mask’s exceptional treatment benefits include:
• Dramatic improvement in skin’s clarity and radiance. Skin is brighter and smoother.
• Impurities, bacteria and excess oil are drawn out.
• Powerful antioxidants prevent free-radical damage, such as lines, wrinkles, dryness and dullness.
• Reduced skin roughness and minimized lines and wrinkles, resulting in younger-looking skin.
Wet mask
You need to apply to this to a clean dry face otherwise this won’t spread very easily. I thought the texture would be quite thick but it is more like a syrup consistency rather than say treacle or molasses.
Dry mask
This takes about 20 – 25 minutes to dry. As with all peel-off masks it’s tempting to pick at before it dries but I wouldn’t recommend it!
Mask peeled off
In an ideal world this would come off in big chunks but every time I’ve done it, it has taken me several minutes to get off every last bit. And don’t do what I did and peel this off while you are in bed, otherwise your other half may wonder why there are little bits of black stuff that resemble torn bin liner on the duvet. Also make sure you don’t get this anywhere near your hair line or eyebrows otherwise you’ll regret it. Needless to say that peeling this mask off is akin to using wax strips. I found that even the downy hair on the sides of my face made it difficult to peel off and hurt like hell when I did. In future I will only use this on my cheeks, chin and forehead and forgo spreading it further.
This is one of those masks that after you take it off you don’t see much of a difference but you will notice your skin looks better the next day, luminous as promised and plumped up. I don’t think this mask is going to dry up any spots but if your skin is looking lacklustre/dull this should brighten it up. I would only use this a few times a month as I prefer a mud based face mask like Kiehl’s Rare Earth Deep Pore Cleansing Mask to control excess oil.
I would buy this again, it retails for $34 on Boscia website which is a reasonable price for something that will probably last 6 months. What Boscia skincare products have you tried?
I bought these not because I needed them but because they were there – there on the shelf at Boots staring at me. I had seen on other beauty blogs this new range of Kleenex products and thought I’d give the facial cloths a whirl. I normally use plain cotton wool pads from Boots/Superdrug and they work just fine.
Maybe I’m being dumb but I’ve found these hard to use. The box says you use these for: cleansing, toning, removing eye makeup, and removing nail polish. I didn’t have a problem using them to remove nail polish but trying to cleanse, tone, and take my makeup off was another story. I may be wrong but there seems to a coating on the cotton (to make it soft I presume) and this prevents it from absorbing moisture. I really struggled to pour toner onto the cloth without it just pouring back off. When I used them to remove my makeup I had to use twice as much cleanser and I’d rather use a face/wash cloth to clean my face.
So these won’t be finding their way into my shopping basket again – anyone else use these or other products from this range?
