moisturizing

Beauty Review: bliss Drench & Quench Cream-to-Water Moisturizer

Beauty Review: bliss Drench & Quench Cream-to-Water Moisturizer | Writing Between Pauses

Recently, I started watching the viral hit, 100% Hotter, on Netflix. Have you watched this? A team of 3 professionals (a stylist, a make up artist, and a hair dresser) makeover two people with the intent to make them 100% hotter. The premise of the show is one of those that makes me feel a bit mad: yes, some people dress outrageously bad, they don't dress to flatter themselves, and as a society we might deem it unattractive. But goodness gracious, is it anyone's business? And how cruel is it to have people rate their appearance, to their face!? 

I'm still watching it though. There are some bright spots, like the stylist pointing out that sometimes the clothes we wear are a mask to save ourselves from having to reveal our true selves, but overwhelmingly, it's a shallow little bit of television. 

However, on one episode, the make up artist tells a young man (who was absolutely gorgeous, by the way) that to help prevent oil he shouldn't moisturize in the morning. 

I nearly yelled! No, that's the wrong answer!

That used to be a commonly held belief: if you're oily, you shouldn't moisturize, especially before putting on makeup. Because that moisturizer is going to make you more oily through the day, right? 

Wrong. 

If you're like me and have oily skin (and trust me, I could run a car on my oil some days). you're skin isn't oily because it feels like it; your skin is oily because it is dehydrated. I wrote about this a bit in my post on skin congestion; dehydration can be solved by drinking more water (internal hydration) and using good moisturizers (external hydration). Dehydrated (and therefore, oily) skin is different from dry skin. We don't get dry, flaky patches; dry skin is caused by a lack of oil. Oily skin goes oily because it is overcompensating for a lack of moisture (water), so we need to add that. 

Whew, that's quite the explanation, huh? 

I'm a bit obsessed with moisturizers. I have a few holy grail favorites (specifically Pacifica's Dreamy Youth and Crystal Youth), but I love trying new moisturizers because I'm always looking for something better. 

I recently decided to try bliss's drench & quench Cream-to-Water Hydrator; it's a little more expensive than your average moisturizer, but I was intrigued by the promise of a cream-to-water formula. 

Here's what bliss says about it: 

Feel this ultra-lightweight moisturizer transform into water on contact, surging skin with more than 10,000 marine micro-droplets for intense, yet weightless, all-day hydration. Perfectly balanced hydration disappears instantly into the skin – no greasy or heavy feeling. Skin immediately feels soft, healthy and refreshed; within 4 weeks skin’s moisture barrier is improved

Lofty promises! It contains purified micro algae, which improve skin hydration and reduces the loss of water (dehydration); it also has milk thistle oil, passion fruit seed oil, and German chamomile. That's a lot of lovely sounding ingredients. 

Adding It To My Routine

I have a very reduced skincare routine lately: I double cleanse my face with jojoba oil and the Body Shop's Tea Tree Facial Cleanser, then tone, then apply moisturizer. That's in, easy peasy! (If I use a mask, it goes after cleansing.) 

I started using this moisturizer when I used up my tube of Pacifica's Crystal Youth; I loved that moisturizer, it was nearly perfect! 

This moisturizer is quite an interesting texture. It comes in a tub, which isn't my favorite way to store beauty products, and is blue. It feels almost like a very light, whipped marshmallow. As I put it on, I could feel it take on a more watery texture and it absorbed into my skin really quickly. It didn't feel "wet" like a water product might. This moisturizer does promise not to feel greasy or heavy, but I did find it felt quite greasy for the first 10-15 minutes after putting it on. It's not enough for me not to like it, but it definitely still felt like a cream moisturizer on my skin. 

Do I Recommend It? 

Here's the thing: I love many bliss products. 

I'm just not sure this is one that stands up to its promise. 

It sounds so promising, doesn't it? But for $20, I expect a lot more from a moisturizer! It's quite nice and I feel like it does the job, but I am absolutely not blown away by it at all. It feels like a fairly standard moisturizer once it is on. It's disappointing because the concept (cream to water? Yes!) sounds amazing, but in execution, it leaves a little to be desired. 

That leaves me using up this tub and then trying to find another holy grail moisturizer! Any suggestions? 

Beauty Review: BITE Beauty Lip Masks

Let me tell you about lip balm: it's probably not that great for you. 

I know! When I first heard it, I was like, "No, that's wrong. I need my Chapstick." But then I started to think about it: when I have access to Chapstick (or any similar stick-style lip products), I tend to use it a lot. Like, every hour, I feel like I need in. I listen to the podcast Natch Beaut and my girl Jackie J recently talked about she stopped using lip balm because she realized it was making her lips drier. 

I was, honestly, a little shaken. But I've backed off using lip balms for the past few weeks, I've tried to drink more water, and guess what? I'm not putting my EOS lip balm on every few minutes. 

The only routine I maintain is brushing my lips with my face brush every other night and then always applying a layer of either Smith's Minted Rose balm or Vaseline Lip Therapy. Or, if I have them, applying a dab of BITE Beauty Agave Lip Mask. Let's talk about those, since obviously it's the point of this review! 

I received these BITE Beauty Agave Lip Masks in a Sephora order. Immediately, I wanted to try them. Look at those sample packages! They're lips! I received Regular, Champagne, and Rose colors. The idea is that you can wear them during the day or you can slather them on at night to prep your lips for lipstick the next day. 

My first impression was they are thick. This isn't like a lip balm that you have to scrap out of a tin; they aren't solid. They aren't really a Chapstick texture either. It's like a very thick, goopy lip gloss. I was suspicious, but I persevered. The first night, I woke up to super moisturized lips: the softest lips I'd had, honestly, in months. (All that Chapstick, destroying my pout!) 

They smell great too, which is definitely a bonus. I love my Vaseline Lip Therapy tins, but the smell of them sometimes it's a little too... Vaseline-y? These had a light scent, kind of sweet, but not overpowering. Mostly, I loved having super moisturized lips every morning. My favorite was the original because it was completely sheer (great for sleeping and not smearing pink lip balm all over your sheets); these aren't something I would wear during the day because they are so thick and goopy, but if you are okay with that, the Champagne color is really pretty. 

If you want to buy these BITE Beauty Agave Lip Masks, they're available on Sephora here. Yes, it's $26 for a tube (I gasped a little too), but realistically, a tube will last you ages. You don't need a huge amount (I used probably less-than-half a pea sized drop every night) to cover your mouth.