My Current Favorites(oily skin must read) Part 1

I don't buy a whole lot of makeup/skincare products. If something works for me, I would keep re-purchasing.

But lately, I have been feeling a bit adventurous and willing to try new products.

I'm lucky that I don't have sensitive skin. So my skin doesn't usually react badly or break out if I use a product which does not agree with me.

I have oil skin on t-zone and cheeks. Lately, I have had good luck with a few items that I would highly recommend for oily skin type.

Tarte Smooth Operator Micronized Clay Finishing Powder

Picked this one as my absolute favorite. It is a product I wish I knew about years ago. It is a very fine white setting powder. I usually wear BB cream and just set with this and last all day long. I don't have to keep running to the bathroom to check my oily cheeks and keep blotting it. Love this. One minor complaint of this is the container has a very tiny hole and sometimes it gets hard to get the powder out. You can either push the top plastic lid a bit to release the fine powder but sometimes it ends up getting out too much and it is all over the place.

Bourjois Mineral Matte Foundation

This brand of cosmetics arrived in Shoppers Drug Mart lately and this is the first item I tried.

I don't usually wear foundation but some days just need extra coverage. The SA at Shoppers Drug Mart highly recommended this for oily skin. 

It is a souffle-like foundation. Very light. I usually dab a little and apply it with my foundation brush. I hate foundation which is very heavy and feel my skin is suffocating underneath. This one is not. Gives me the coverage and a very nice scent. I can just keep opening the jar all day long to sniff it :)

As you can see from the swatch, it is very souffle-y and light. If you want just a bit of coverage without the full heavy cakey feel, definitely try this.

For those of you who follow my blog, I got the Clarisonic Mia 2 a few months ago. Haven't done a review as I want to really test it out for a good while before doing one.

I got the pink one which comes with a sensitive head. Honestly, just within the first week of use, I find my skin clear up significantly. Since I have oily skin, have visible pores. After the first week, I find the pores are smaller and much cleaner. I used to use the Biore nose strips to clean the pores weekly. But ever since I started using the Clarisonic, I don't anymore. And even when I do, maybe once every 2-3 weeks, I find the pores are significantly cleaner.

After 2 months' use, the novelty wears down. Skin doesn't get any better or cleaner. Then I thought maybe it is time to change the brush-head as recommended ( manufacture suggests replacement every 3 months). The brush heads are not cheap. At Sephora, it is around $25-30. But since this cleaning tool is an investment. I guess with a proper brush head, it would begin to do wonders again.

Instead of getting the sensitive brush head(which comes with Clarisonic Mia 2), I thought I would try the new deep pore. This is designed for oily skin as it can cleanse harder to reach areas (like beside the nose).

I was skeptical about this as I thought this brush head would be too harsh on my skin. But surprisingly, the brush of deep pore is even softer than the sensitive brush head.

On the left: deep pore brush head

On the right: sensitive head (please excuse the condition of this head as it has been in good use for 3 + months)

You can see there are more bristles on the deep pore, making the cleansing so much more thorough.

I have used the deep pore for over a week now and can see the difference in my skin. 

If you have oily skin and large pores, get the deep pore and I wish the deep pore was available when I first got the Mia 2. It does make a huge impact. Don't let the extra bristles scare you thinking it would be too harsh for your face for daily use. It just helps clean your skin soooooooooooo much better.