*UPDATED* Panoxyl Acnegel: Review

Last night, I had this zit just above my left eyebrow and I was like "This has to disappear ASAP! Tomorrow is my sister's graduation!". I felt like the zit was not really flattering sitting just above my eyebrows. And so right after my skin care routine, I lightly dabbed on some acnegel hoping that by tomorrow (and by tomorrow, I mean today), the condition would get better. I was thinking less redness, smaller size and all that. I slept almost immediately after.

And so I woke up really early at the break of dawn (5:30 AM). I had to wake up really early since I was in charge of curling my sister's hair. Anyway, I got up from my bed and went straight to the bathroom to take a shower. Before doing so, I took a quick look on the mirror and there's this big red mark on my forehead! The attack of skin irritation! Good thing it wasn't itchy. But MY OH MY!!! The redness is like 10x the size of the zit! I just made everything worse by trying to fix it. T_T

Here's what I wrote previously. "I notice that only the areas below my eyes got irritated. If I use it on my forehead area, I don't get irritated and the product works really well." I could never be more wrong. I guess I was just lucky the last time I used it.

Lesson learned. I will NEVER use PanOxyl again.

Anyway, I will be providing pictures maybe next time 'cause my head kinda hurts and I just wanna hit the sack.

04/09/11: Updated with photo.

Kashieca Beautiful Soul EDT: Review

Kashieca's Beautiful Soul is easily one of my favorite everyday scent. It is a mild citrusy EDT perfect for all the beauties out there. With less than PHP 500.00, you can already purchase this lovely fragrance. Cheap, right?

I got this as a birthday gift last year and I must say that I am very much impressed by Kashieca's EDT. The scent reminds me of Angel's Breath. Most definitely NOT because the scents are the same but because they both have this mild fresh scent that does not overpower your nose. What's best is that this fragrance is actually cheap. It's just PHP 385.00, if I'm not mistaken.

This is a part of Bea Alonzo's first fragrance line along with Beautiful Mind and Body. I haven't tried the other ones but Beautiful Soul? I'd love to buy it over and over again! My best friend uses the same scent too! Both of us are completely in love with it.

Package-wise, this EDT definitely looks sassy. It fits my everyday bag just right. I bring this with me whenever I go out shopping, whenever I meet my friends, to parties, etc. Basically, I bring it with me everywhere I go to!

My verdict? This is definitely WORTH IT! :)

Baby Oil as Make-up Remover

I'm pretty sure you guys know that one of the key things to achieve good looking skin is to keep it clean. After a day's work, one must NEVER forget to remove one's make-up. It doesn't matter how much make-up is on your face but I'm telling you. Remove it before going to sleep! Let your skin breathe! If you don't, then you better be prepared for breakouts and the sort.

I'm not actually the type of person who wears a lot of make-up every single day. When I'm at home, I actually don't put anything after cleansing, toning and moisturizing. When I go out though, I use pressed powders, blush, lippies and eyeliners. I only use foundation, concealers, mascaras and other cosmetics when I have a special event to attend to or if I'm trying out looks I've learned over youtube.

All that aside, I make sure that before going to sleep, I remove the make-up on my face. Regularly, I don't have much to worry because most of my everyday make-up can be removed with just my facial wash. There are times, though, that my eye make-up tends to be stubborn. For this, I use baby oil! Yes, you got that right! Baby oil! Just place a few on a cotton pad or a soft tissue and I easily swipe it over my eye make-up.

Specifically, I use Johnson's baby oil like in the picture above. I have both colors actually but I usually use the green one for no particular reason. Using baby oil is as good as using commercially sold make-up removers out there. Personally, I have tried Clinique's make-up remover and I don't see any difference, performance wise.

Okay, so maybe baby oil is cheaper and was not originally made for that. But trust me, it does the job just as well. You can try it too! I am aware that other people's skin does not really match well with commercially available make-up removers. Either they experience this stinging sensation or get their skin irritated. Baby oil is made especially for... well, babies! Therefore, its ingredients are gentle to match babies' skin. Anyway, I'm not forcing you to try this too. If you're not comfortable using baby oil, then you can just stick with your trusty make-up remover. :)

I was actually going around youtube earlier and I saw Michelle Phan's video about virgin olive oil as make-up remover and I saw featured videos of other people who use baby oil as their make-up remover too! This may not be the world's biggest secret but I just wanted to share this with the other people who doesn't know yet.

As for my experience, baby oil is effective in removing make-up. Just make sure to wash your face to remove oil remains after. :)

EOS E202 (Violet) Contact Lens: Review

EOS E202 or the Japanese Big Eyes Love Series comes in five colors, if I'm not mistaken. Available colors are brown, grey, green, blue and violet. In this post, I will be reviewing Love Violet in particular.

 

here is what love violet looks like

Lens Details:

Power Grade: 0.0 only

Base Curve: 8.6

Diameter: 14.0mm

Water Content: 42%

Life Span: One Year

Now, I'm not an expert when it comes to contact lens but I have tried 3 lenses from JBE collection and 2 lenses from GEO. I can only tell you about what I know of these products. So I will be rating in terms of color, comfort, vision and enlarging effect:

COLOR: 3/5

COMFORT: 4/5

VISION: 4/5

ENLARGING EFFECT: 5/5

OVERALL: 4/5

More details as to:

COLOR: I gave it a 3/5 because I when I purchase violet lenses, of course, I expect to have violet eyes when I wear them. People don't actually notice it's purple unless they stand really really close to me. They look darker and it looks almost black at some point. I have brown eyes so maybe that's a factor on why it looks so dark on my eyes. However, I learned to like it since I like natural looking lenses more than those bright lenses that make you look like you're out of this world.

COMFORT: For comfort, I give it a 4/5 mainly because it's pretty much wearable. If you're the type of person who wears contact lenses everyday, I'm pretty sure this would come as an ordinary feeling with you so most probably, you'd give this a perfect score. As I don't wear lenses everyday, I do actually feel that they're in my eyes. It dries out in a few hours so I bring with me eye drops. I can wear this at around 6 hours (with occasional eye drops) without making my eyes look red.

VISION: Do note that I have myopia (both) and astigmatism (right eye only) but I wear lenses that doesn't have grade. But even if I wanted to buy one with grade, you can't cause love violet only comes in power grade 0.0. Good thing I only have really really low eye grades. I have 25 on my left (myopia) and 50 (myopia + astigmatism) on my right. So I go about wearing lenses with no grade. Anyway, as per vision, it does make things a little bit blurry at times but nothing too bad that causes bad perception. Do note that in sudden humid change, you will actually see sudden blurring (uncomfortable) but nothing that a few blinks can't overcome.

ENLARGING EFFECT: It has a pretty thick dark violet ring outside that makes your eyes look big even with only 14.0 diameter. I like the fact that the ring is also in violet shade rather than black which, sometimes, overpower the color of the lens itself. I really love the effect when I line my upper lash line and use this.

Pictures while wearing EOS E202 (Violet)/ Japanese Big Eyes Love Violet:

I bought this lens from THE PINKSHOPPE.

I dropped by their multiply account but I do know that they already have their website at http://www.thepinkshoppe.com/. If I'm not mistaken, they ship both locally and internationally and they have a lot of mode of payments to choose from. I bought ALL my lenses from them because they are so accomodating and they offer a lot of good items aside from GEO and JBE lenses. They also have promos from time to time too! :)

PanOxyl Acnegel: Review

One of the first few products that I've tried to clear acne was PanOxyl. I used this when I was a freshman in high school. PanOxyl is also known as Benzoyl Peroxide. It is one of the most effective keratolytic/anti-acne topical medication. Back then I used 2.5% concentration and it was super effective. It dried up my pimples very fast and was really happy with the results.

There are 3 variants: 2.5% for mild acne, 5% for mild to moderate acne and 10% with severe acne with numerous lesions and/or body acne, all of which I have tried and used. My thoughts on each variant would be discussed later.

For those with sensitive skin or for everyone who's going to try the product for the first time, it is always best to start with the lowest concentration which is 2.5%, unless your doctor prescribed otherwise. PanOxyl should be used once daily and gradually, you can increase it to twice daily, if needed or as directed by your doctor.

First things first. Before applying the gel, you must first cleanse your face. If I'm not mistaken, PanOxyl also has a soap free cleanser, much like Cetaphil. My sister is using it but I'm not so I can't actually say anything about this product. Anyway, it is not required to use the PanOxyl cleanser. You can use your trusty facial wash and noone would condemn you. Haha. Now after cleansing, just get a pea sized amount of gel on your fingertips and apply over areas with acne (TAKE NOTE: areas, not just spots). After which, wash your hands. If I'm not mistaken, it stains fabrics.

It is important that you don't apply too much because this product often has warm/stinging/itching side effects. It might also cause redness and peeling. Now all of these are normal in the beginning but if you use too much, you would end up with adverse effects (severe side effects) and might end up ruining your face.

So how do you know if you're using too much? Simple. If the gel doesn't run onto your skin easily, then that's a sign. You're putting too much gel on just one area. May I suggest that you just spread the excess gel to other areas needing attention.

You might ask, what should I do if I get those adverse effects? Well, first, STOP using the medication and of course, consult an expert- your doctor.

Now what are other things that you should keep in mind while using PanOxyl? First, keep the medication away from your eyes and lips. Avoid using it with other peeling medications unless of course your doctor says so. He/She's the man so learn to follow his/her instructions. Haha!

Where did I get all these info? I read the literature (paper that comes inside the box).

So yeah, back to my experience in using PanOxyl. I've used 2.5% first and had good results. However, as I went deeper into my adolescence, my pimples gradually worsened as well and it came to a point where the 2.5% gel did not help me anymore.

I then switched with the 5% concentration. After using the 5% concentration, I noticed red marks that went beyond the area where I placed the gel. It was a little bit warm and was very itchy. I naturally washed my face because I felt that PanOxyl was causing these reactions. Even after cleansing my face, the redness and itchy feeling did not go away immediately. I stopped using it until the redness was gone. I thought to myself, maybe I used too much. So after the redness was gone, I tried using it again and carefully applied a small amount onto my skin. I still had the same reaction! After that, I stopped using it and went back to using the 2.5% (this time the packaging of PanOxyl changed) concentration because I naturally thought the 5% was too strong for me. I don't know what happened but even after switching back to the 2.5%, the same reaction occurs. Ever since then, I stopped using PanOxyl and concluded that I'm allergic to whatever's new with the PanOxyl formula. Back then, I just asumed that their formula has changed along with the change in the packaging.

I just naturally switched to another gel that helped me clear the pimples I had. I'll probably do another blog post on that product next time.

Years later, I had these stubborn pimples that I couldn't clear no matter what regimen I do. I have tried a lot of products to clear acne and there are times when I'd just hit eureka- my pimples would disappear! (I'm thinking of making a post with previous things I've tried that have worked for me.) 

This time, however, was different. I opted to see a dermatologist and she prescribed me a number of products, one of which was benzoyl peroxide. While she was giving me my prescription, lingering memories about PanOxyl was running through my mind. I was aware that PanOxyl was also benzoyl preoxide. But then again, I still tried it, just to check if I was allergic to PanOxyl specifically or benxoyl peroxide in general.

I used it (spread all over the face thinly, as prescribed) and I noticed redness on areas below my eyes (chin, cheek, chest). It was soooo itchy. I immediately went back to tell the doctor what happened and she suggested for me to use it only on the areas and just use a small amount. She also told me that if adverse reaction still occurs, I should just stop using it because that only means I'm allergic to benzoyl peroxide. And so I tried using it only on the area where I have pimples and has come to the conclusion that I am allergic to benzoyl peroxide.

Now lately, my mother has been buugging me because I had few breakouts and she was bothered by how it looks. I'm using my current skin care routine (will post about it next time too) and I was happy with it. My mom, however, kept on telling me to use the PanOxyl my sister was using. She had the 10% gel and it works really well with here problematic skin. I told my mom I was allergic to it but she doesn't believe me even if I told her it was what the doctor told me. I was getting irritated (sorry Ma! ILY!) so I just told her I'd use it and show her the reactions and she agreed. I had pimples around my hairline (probably caused by the shampoo I used) and some on my chin and cheek area. A few moments later, my skin reacted and I showed her. This convinced her. But I also noticed something!

I notice that only the areas below my eyes got irritated. If I use it on my forehead area, I don't get irritated and the product works really well. So I use this whenever I try a new shampoo and I get hairline pimples. It dries pimples fast so I could easily say goodbye to brushing-my-hair-gets-tricky-whenever-I-have-hairline-pimples scenarios.

So would I buy it for myself? That's a big NO. Even though it works great on the areas where I don't get irritated, I won't buy it for myself because the other products I use can also do the same thing. Although it works a little bit longer than benzoyl peroxide, at least with other products, I don't have to worry of getting skin irritation.

So over all, I would like to say this product is WORTH IT for other people but just NOT WORTH IT for me.

Pros:

- dries up pimples VERY fast (improves pimple condition overnight)

- color is unnoticeable when blended easily

- widely distributed in pharmacies

Cons:

- a little bit expensive

- leaves a dark mark after

- stains fabrics

- noticeable peeling

- if you put too much, color turns white when gel dries up

UPDATE!!! >> click!

(I bought this/these product/s with my own money and I am not getting paid for anything I say about it. Note that these are just my opinions and I do not guarantee that what I say would hold true in everyone's case.)