Product Review: Clarins' Instant Light Lip Comfort Oil

The most gooey, lovely oil that your lips will feel. I believe Clarins has mastered something that I have yet to come across in this big, beauty world of ours and have executed their first try spot on perfect with their Instant Light Lip Comfort Oil ($24).

From the formulation, to the cushiony dow-foot applicator, to the way it makes my lips look and feel, I fell in love with this product from the first nights use. I woke up the next morning to see my lips plump, full, as well as looking and feeling hydrated, soft, and smooth.

The texture is that of a lip gloss, though a bit more oily (duh), on the thicker side, with a slight tacky feeling after application; the intensity of the fades after sometime. For someone who loves lip gloss (not me), you will LOVE this on top of a matte lip to add that extra bit of unf, or for those who aren't much of a fan of lip gloss (over here!), this won't feel like a lip gloss at all, in fact you don't even have to wear out and about as a lip gloss, but as a nighttime treatment for your bedtime routine like I do.

I only wear/use this as a nighttime lip treatment within my skincare routine, and my lips are all the ever grateful for it. I don't own any lip glosses, I hate them rather, because of the gooey, sticky, tacky textures they leave behind...not to mention when half my head of hair gets glued to my lips, doesn't make a great look, personally.

At the end of the day, anyone that picks this up will love it! Whether you use it with your makeup look or throw into your skincare routine to pamper them lips up a bit, this is an all around winner for lips.

They come in 2 'shades'; I emphasize shades because the colors are very faint; you're not going to get a bold, glossy lip of color with these guys. I own just one of the shades, 'Honey' and the other shade from this collection is 'Raspberry' which is a nice berry-pink shade.

I'm absolutely thrilled that Clarins' decided to bring these babies back, hopefully permanently, since the praise of them are through the roof! It would be a smart move on their part I think ;)

You can find both shades still available on the Clarins US online store here!

Glossier: Phase 1 Set Review

"Skin Is In!" Three words have not rung truer for the beauty brand, Glossier. But, you shouldn't expect nothing else from a brand that creates skincare, right? Thats what I thought, thinking all their catchy lingo was just to gain press but, they are all bark and bite, and their products definitely bite my beauty bug!

Since this post has gone up, Glossier has just newly released their Boy Brow eyebrow product, as well as cheekily announced that there is also a face cleanser in the works for a 2016 January release (excited!!!) so, keep your eyes peeled sometime in the beginning of next year for reviews on those products. For now, I will be reviewing and talking about my favorites from the Phase 1 Set. I do also have both of the masks from the range, the Mega Greens Galaxy Pack and Moisturizing Moon Mask, but I will pair those together in a separate post after this one goes up (probably the following week).

The Phase 1 Set includes: Soothing Face Mist, Priming Moisturizer Buildable Hydrating Creme, Balm Dotcom, & the Perfecting Skin Tint (shade Light). Each product in this set is sold individually on the brands site, which is a lovely option because I had started to run very low on the mist & primer before I typed this post, so instead of repurchasing the whole set again ($80), I was able to repurchase the individual products that I needed instead of dishing out a load. The P1 Set is priced at $80; it doesn't cost you more or save you money because each product, if purchased individually, would also come out to $80, the fact that the option is given is nice nonetheless.

Phase 1 Set

Soothing Face Mist: This is your very typical rosewater facial mist. Its lovely, fresh, smells of roses, no fuss-no muss kind of mist. Its very gentle, super hydrating, and great for any time of day. I use this one in the morning always, after I cleanse, before I moisturize. It mists out beautifully, the way all bottles of that sort should; it lightly gives a nice dewy finish. This isn't anything special but, unlike most facial sprays, this, if not all Glossier products, are all: hypoallergenic, dermatologist tested, good for all skin types,  non-comedogenic, non-irritating, paraben free, alcohol free, and not tested on animals. Which gives all their product two big thumbs up from me already!

Priming Moisturizer, Buildable Hydrating Creme: Firstly, I probably should have done a separate blog post on this primer alone, because I feel like a lot of love is going to come pouring out of me and I'm not going to know when to stop, so brace yourselves.

This primer was a huge win for me, which came to also be a huge surprise considering my general dislike for primers. As mentioned in the beginning of this post, I already repurchased this product, still shocked! I fell absolutely in love with this priming moisturizer.  My lack of lust for primers usually stems from their silicone feeling, which, if you guessed, I normally detest. Those types of primers almost always clog my pores and make me break out, and/or make my makeup melt off or break apart after some point in the day...This primer on the other hand, so hydrating, so plump, so nice!

My skin feels healthy, plump, fully hydrated, and foundation just sticks to it so well without clogging the pores or breaking up. It has a very light creme consistency, sinks into the skin quickly, and pumps that moisture into the skin without leaving a residue or making the skin oily. This soft, unscented primer can also be used just as a regular, everyday moisturizer, though since none of this brands' range have SPF in them, its best to remember to add that into the mix as well before stepping out the door.

At $22, this is a considerably reasonable price for such a wonderful angelic creme in a cute tube. Its worth every penny in my opinion, & a little goes a long way so you'll get a good use time out of it. Everything negative that I've ever said about primers...well, still stands, though this Glossier one is the exception. This will be a continuous repurchase until they stop making (which if thats ever the case, I hope there's a heads up ahead of time so I can stock pile the hell up!).

Balm Dotcom, Universal Skin Salve: You can say that this is almost (but not entirely) like a $12 tube of vaseline with pretty packaging. I find this to be less tacky than vaseline, and though not as thick, its still just as moisturizing and very comfortable on the skin. I've only used this on my lips, but it saids you can also use this on pretty much any little dry bits you may have, even scratches. Its helped my lips stay hydrated all day long, even if I were to wear a matte lip product; they look full, plump, and healthy. This little wonder tube will come in handy during the winter season, especially if your prone to drier lips, and with its cute size at only .68oz (20ml), its purse and pocket friendly.

Perfecting Skin Tint: This is NOT a tinted moisturizer, foundation, BB Cream, CC Cream, etc...this is an extremely light veil of color that adds just that little extra UNF to the skin, but just a little. Its your skin, but slightly better. A very light, watery, thin formula that comes in a 30ml dropper bottle helps: slightly even out skin discolorations, while smoothing out the skin, whilst giving it a subtle, dewy finish (especially so when paired with the mist & primer beforehand). This will not help cover blemished prone skin, scarring, dark and/or sun spots.

This shouldn't throw you off with not being a full coverage makeup base, this is supposed to help enlighten the skin a bit, your real skin, not mask it, which is really what Glossier is trying to achieve with their range, and they do so, so well.

I got mine in the shade light, though I probably could have gotten away with the medium shade as well. This is great for:

- the 'makeup-no makeup' look lovers

- running-late-this-morning-but-need-something-on-my-face people

- non-makeup wearers that want to change things up a bit

- people that love their skin

At $26, again, a little goes a long way but, as previously stated, you will need to put an spf underneath or on top of this. That is the only gripe I can honestly say about all of these products, especially the moisturizer and the tint, is that none carry SPF in them.

The absolutely beautiful white and pink packaging, the type, the products themselves...everything about these products was instant love as first sight/use for me. I think this set would make a great gift for any skin and beauty lover, or a nice little treat for yourself this holiday season, or really anytime of year! 

Glossier wants you to love your skin, appreciate it, embrace it, but most of all, take care of it. The brand makes skincare fun, with its adorable and vanity-worthy packaging, they also always throw in a fun sticker sheet with every order, so you can decorate your products or stick them anywhere you like. They focus on their audience while stepping out of the box, while sticking to their mantra: 'Skin Is In'!

You can purchase the Phase 1 Set, or any of these products individually over at Glossier here

Institut Esthederm: Active De Jour, Tinted Day Care

With a mouthful of a name, a top-notch product stands behind it. My love for Institut Esthederm is strong, as seen in a previous brand spotlight post I did sometime back. It shouldn't be any surprise than that I still try out more of their products with the success rate I've had with them, which only continues with their Tinted Day Care.

This can certainly be put in the 'tinted moisturizer' category, though with such light coverage, can also be more well suited for a CC Cream, just with more science behind it. It helps protect the skin against environmental irritants and climate changes. Though I live in a suburb, I work in a more bustling part of town where a lot of pollutants reside, and this has protected my skin more than other tinted moisturizers have. I've noticed with use that less grime and dirt comes off my face by days end, which shows on my cotton pad the effectiveness of this product.

Now, this next part is something I'm not completely sure I understand scientifically speaking, but I'll try to explain it as best I can. This doesn't have an SPF rating, though does have a UV protection agent to help protect your skin from:

Special UV cellular protection without screens or filters helps prevent photo-aging, cell damage and inflammation 

So, I'm not sure if this actually helps protect broad spectrum (UVA & UVB), but I put an spf underneath anyway since I'm not so understanding of this part of the product. Regardless, I don't see any irritations or redness from the sun with use.

There is no color range for this product, though the product itself comes out in this tan color, which at first was a bit daunting to me considering I'm more light/medium skintone. I'm happy to say that it blended into my skin beautifully, with only a subtle notice of color, but not off-putting in anyway to notice a shade difference. If anything, the shade helped reduce the appearance of my common redness and other discolorations on my skin, which in turn makes it look more toned & refreshed, a "my skin but better" look. I get away with using this as a base, little concealer, little setting powder, & a quick setting spritz & I felt confident walking out the door. With all that said, I wouldn't recommend using this in hopes to help cover blemishes, because the coverage is very, very light. 

Overall, this product happily surprised me, and I notice a difference when using this on my skin; it looks less dull, less beaten up by environment and weather pollutants throughout the day, less grime gets attracted to the face, and the overall appearance of the skin looks healthier. 

Despite all my praise, there are a few unfortunate downsides: it only comes in 1oz; though most foundations and the like come in this size, you get more bottle than product, kind of similar to a bag of chips! Also, its hard to find in the US, like really hard to find. I have probably found about 2 websites that actually sell this product, and one of the places (where I purchased from) was Amazon because it was the most inexpensive (though usually with these kind of hard-to-get products, they tend to be more overpriced than under, this was luckily the exception). If this product wasn't so hard to find in the US, I would have stocked myself up with a few more by now! Its just my luck to find an amazingly wonderful product like this, only to notice that it's not even readily available for purchase here, like, anywhere! Such a drag.

Institut Esthederm, if you happen to stumble upon this post, can you darlings be kind enough to hook a girl up and send some more bottles of this my way, please! Your generosity would be undoubtedly appreciated, tenfold.