Haulpocalypse 2014: My Wallet Ends, Haulzilla Begins.

Well guys, it's been 3 months in the making, but the final piece of HAULZILLA has arrived, and it is finally ready to post!  Haulzilla is  a terrifying mutant comprised of multiple sellers, packages, and late night cart hoarding.

It's been growing slowly over time, and my living room has been a wreckage of boxes, bubble wrap, and packing peanuts for a very long time.  I squirrel away a small amount of money each paycheque for discretionary spending, but my beauty fund is currently a smoking ruin.

Somehow it looks even larger in person, I swear.

Please note before we start breaking down the components of this behemoth:

• This is a collection of many hauls, including things I have completely emptied and repurchased.  I do not normally buy multiples of products unless they're a staple and I'm tired of overpaying for emergency resupplies.
• I only ever introduce one new product at a time, and I don't open things until I am ready to start using it.
• I test it for at least two weeks minimum before introducing another product
• I test things for a minimum of a month before I review them, sometimes longer if I feel I need to put it aside and come back to it later, or combine it with different things to gauge its effects
• In the case of whitening items, you need 3-6 months of testing to gauge its effects.

It also takes me weeks, if not months, to build a large haul; I research things exhaustively, I consider if there is a 'gap' in my routine a product will fill or if it's redundant, I discuss it with people, I meditate on it.  Ok, my meditation involves long hours of browsing Korean sites with the aid of Google Translate, but the point is, I don't act fast.

In fact, as you will see, quite a few things are repurchases as I completely emptied several products and had to replace them while Haulzilla was ... hatching.

Skincare Discovery: Why the pH of Your Cleanser Matters

So, in an earlier Randomness post (click here if you are curious) I mentioned I had purchased the Su:m37 Miracle Rose Cleansing Stick, despite the expense and difficulty in purchasing it, because I was becoming more and more engrossed in what role pH can have in your skincare.

This topic is too huge to be addressed in a single blog post, so I will be doing an ongoing series that will address different aspects of it as I collect research and form my admittedly hoi polloi understanding of it.  

I will warn you before I start that this rabbit hole has no end, and therefore I will be glossing over certain terms and topics as well as reducing some explanations down to such a simplistic, generalized form as to trigger fits in any chemist wandering by my blog.  (If that happens, O Chemist, please drop me a line because I have a million questions for you!)

There's a lot of misinformation out there from popular sources like the beauty 'experts' on Oprah's website, who makes claims such as: "Cleansers and toners are alkaline—hand soap typically has a pH of around 9 or 10, for example—because alkaline molecules bind to dirt and accumulated oils you want to wash off." and "Bottom Line: A claim that a product is pH balanced is more marketing tool than useful information."  I admit I used to think this way, until reading a post from Skinandtonics on the acid mantle, which blew my mind.

So, I started to research and test it for myself, and hence me sharing the fruits of my labour with you today.

Included in this post:

• What is pH, I need a refresher?
• The pH of your skin, and does it matter?
• The pH of your cleanser, and does it matter?
• The claim that alkaline pH = efficacy, is it true?

Mizon Snail Repairing Foam Cleanser Review

This week's review is yet another Mizon snail product, specifically the Snail Repairing Foam Cleanser, or; The Last Foaming Cleanser I Bought Before I Knew Better.

Sigh.  Sometimes ignorance is bliss, my friends.

This foaming cleanser, and the Mizon Skin Turnaround Pore Refine Deep Cleansing Foam I purchased at the same time, is the last full size cleanser I'll purchase without either first getting a sample size or confirming that the pH is within an acceptable range.  

I purchased both because I was looking for a replacement to the Shiseido FT Sengansenka Perfect Whip Facial Wash (reviewed) which gives me a dense, firm foam that is the perfect compliment to my Clarisonic brush.  It's also way too high in pH for me to use, so I desperately need to find an alternative that works the same way with my brush.  I use my Clarisonic much less now that I am gripped in the voodoo of chemical exfoliation, but I still use it when it feels like my skin needs it.

So how does it measure up against my beloved Perfect Whip?

Weekly Review: Beauty Tool Edition - Missha Special Edition Magic Cushion Case

If you follow beauty trends, you have probably heard of the latest craze that has gripped the ever-fickle Korean beauty market; cushions.  If you're not a diehard kbeauty follower, you're probably confused.

Cushions aren't exactly new, as they use the same general concept as a pressed powder + puff compact, but the difference is that the product is liquid and is suspended in a sponge much like an inkpad for a handheld stamp, and they also have an ingenious little puff that repels product instead of absorbing it.  The combination of the two allows for an ultra thin, even layer of product to be picked up and applied to your face.

Laneige Cushion $34 at Target

I'm not totally sold on the cushion bandwagon, because I dislike the hygiene implications of dabbing something onto your face (teeming with bacteria no matter how carefully you prepped it, especially if you have acne), then dabbing back onto the product, transferring contaminants to it, then repeating the process.  You can wash the puff, but washing the sponge will result in losing all the product infused into it and the whole thing just makes me squirm a bit.

Plus, cushions are expensive!  Cushions are commonly between $30-$40 or more, whereas you can get a good BB cream for $10-$20.  They are new, which means they come in fewer shades and you can't get samples to colourmatch, you just have to bite the bullet and fork over your money while praying.

I was intrigued by the idea of cushions, especially since there were so many rave reviews about them, but I wasn't willing to plunk down that much cash for something that was inherently unsanitary and very likely to be the wrong shade.  Enter today's Beauty Tool to rescue- a DIY cushion case that lets you transform your favorite BB cream into a cushion BB, and allows you to tinker with the product, adding in foundation, pigment, skincare, and sunscreen to whip up your own custom blend.

And it's pretty:

I love gold, and red.  Ergo, I loved this cushion case before I ever saw it in person.  I couldn't resist the concept of being able test out the cushion craze without ending up with yet another unusable BB cream rattling around in my collection.  Does it work, though?

3M Nexcare Acne Stickers (Regular and Oily Skin) Review

Although the things asian skincare has done for me are wonderful and I'm a lifelong fan of asian cosmetics, the fact is, pimples still happen.  

Warning: this post will contain discussion of disgusting things, but no graphic photos.

I am in my early 30's and I dread looking at the mirror and seeing wrinkles and blemishes side-by-side, because dammit, acne is supposed to be for teens and wrinkles are supposed for be for adults and they shouldn't be meeting in the middle!   I am currently following a skincare routine that heavily features AHAs (and BHAs to a lesser degree while I await a package with a strong BHA product) and while all this acid goodness is definitely helping to shift my facial texture away from pebbly chicken skin, it's also causing purging.***

I wouldn't say that it's hit a stage where the term 'pizza face' comes to mind, but horrifying things are surfacing from deep within my skin and if you've ever had the kind of blemish that comes from a long-formed blackhead trying to surface, you'll know that they a. take forever to heal, b. they're huge and raised when they come to a head, c. they don't drain well, so even if you extract them they just refill and grow like some sort of B-movie monster, and d. they HURT, making it nearly impossible to keep your hands off them unless you're really paying attention.

There are days I want to rock this look. would a pocket square pull it off?

Worse, you can't cover them, because no matter how skillful your application or how vast your array of concealers is, there's this huge bump on your face, catching every shift of light and screaming "EYEBALLS OF EVERYONE SHE TALKS TO! PLEASE DRIFT AWKWARDLY OVER HERE AND MAKE MY HOST SUPER SELF CONSCIOUS!  AWWW YEAH, SUCCESS!!"  

Not only that, but makeup tends to make them worse and things just spiral out of control, unless you are willing to walk around with a naked blemish slathered in acne treatments for a few days.  Or rock a paper bag for a while.  I wish this look was more socially accepted.

Well, thanks to hydrocolloid bandages, I can now wake up with even the most monstrous zit tamed to a surface flat enough for concealer, and protect sore blemishes from my unconscious urge to scratch the irritating thing on my face.

This week's review is of two types of hydrocolloid bandages specifically designed for acne from Taiwan: 3M Nexcare Acne Stickers Combo packs, one regular, and one for oily skin.  Read on for full details of their zit-flattening/healing magic!