The best primer/pore minimizer I've ever tried

Not enough links to fill Tuesday links, so you all get a review.

www.sephora.com

This summer, I purchased the Allure beauty box, and the Benefit Porefessional was one of the products for me to try. I have tried various primers and pore minimizer creams in my day to help with my sometimes oily/shiny T-zone, but nothing ever lasted all day. Until I tried this...this stuff is HANDS DOWN the best one I have ever tried. It comes out of the tube neutral, but goes on translucent. I can put this stuff on over my normal moisturizer or sunscreen and sometimes skip foundation all together. It keeps the shiny face away and doesn't clog my pores. A friend of mine recently mentioned to me that she had this new minimizer I should try from Benefit, and simultaneously we said "It's amazing".

It's $29, which may seem a bit steep for such a small bottle, but a little dab goes a long way. And it is SO WORTH IT. It gets 4-5 star reviews on Sephora and Benefit websites, which means I'm not the only one in love with this stuff. I think it's a great product year-round, not just for summer. Try it out and let me know what you think!! Any other primers out there you guys are dying over?

Winter vaca 2011...aka how I saved my skin

Hi all. Sorry as usual for the lack of posts, I actually have quite a few products I want to comment on, but haven't had the time! Hopefully the next month or so I will get better about it. (I do say this every month don't I? Well. Here's hoping).

Enough rambling. I wanted to share with you a pretty old school product that basically saved my face on my vacation. T and I just returned from our week-long ski trip to Steamboat Springs, CO. It was absolutely fabulous, and I am very depressed to be home and working again. However, I do feel better in being a little more prepared this year to deal with the cold, wind, and altitude change! Last year it took about 2 weeks for my skin to recover, but this year I feel normal already! Here's some tips for any winter vacations you may have in the future.

1. Get a humidifier in your hotel room. I know. Any readers outside of the south are probably laughing at me, but whatever. I am Southern through and through, and my skin, sinuses, and eyes just CANNOT handle the dry, cold air. Last year I was miserable by day 2...this year the FIRST thing I did was ask the hotel for a humidifier, which they promptly provided so I must not be the only person in need! I may complain about the humidity when my hair is in full on freak out, but I sure do appreciate it when I'm NOT in the steamy South!

2. Chapstick. Copious amounts. No brainer.

3. Visine. I had two bottles--one in my ski pants pocket and one in the hotel. Again. Copious amounts.

www.walgreens.com $5

4. Aquaphor. This is the old school product but by God, it's GENIUS. It's basically straight Vaseline on your face, but I guarantee you will wake up in the morning with all traces of windburn GONE. Lifesaver this trip. Lifesaver.







 


5. Sunscreen. Just because it's snowing does not mean you don't need sunscreen. I'm in LOVE with Neutrogena Ultra sheer SPF 70. Best. Sunscreen. EVER.








I did not have any of these items last year except the sunscreen, and I was pretty miserable with the dry skin and such by the last day. I was a bit #fail on my hair this trip, it's dry and a bit messed up now so I'm going to work this week on repairing that mess. Maybe next year I'll get skin AND hair down. :)

Now I have officially had my fill of winter...bring it ON Spring!!

Disappearing act

So this summer I managed to screw up the sunscreen somehow and developed some darker spots on my upper lip, kinda like a merged freckle, and a spot on my temple. It's one of those things where I don't think anyone noticed but me, but I obsessed over it. So I decided to try a few products claiming to lighten sun spots and correct skin tone. I started with a drug store brand.

Garnier Skin Renew Anti Sun Damage ($13.50 for 2.5 oz at drugstore.com)
3.5 stars (34 reviewers) on drugstore.com
This one came in the Allure beauty box I ordered and discussed HERE. I tried it for few weeks this summer, but unfortunately there were no noticeable changes at all. It was a decent moisturizer, but I have slightly oily skin so I didn't use it during the day. I wish this had worked, it's so much cheaper than my final test below.

Clinique Even Better Clinical Dark Spot Corrector ($49.50 1 oz)
4 star rating on Clinique.com (400 reviewers) and 4 star rating on Sephora.com (750 reviewers)

Photo taken from Clinique.com

I bought this last month at Sephora in a gift set that came with some "Even Better Skin Tone Correcting moisturizer with SPF 20" (a bit thick for my everyday use, but not bad), and a travel size "All About Eyes" serum, which I lurve. The lady at Sephora said customers RAVED about this stuff, so I felt ok about purchasing.

I use a very small dollop at night, concentrating on the spots I need help on. No use wasting it on the rest of my face when it's so pricey. The box says it can take up to 12 weeks for this stuff to really give you results, but I am seeing some improvements after about a month. Now, part of this can also be attributed to me spending less time out in the sun, but there seems to be more improvement than my normal summer-to-winter lightening of skin. The spot on my temple is a bit stubborn, but the darkness on my upper lip (which was by far the most embarrassing) is definitely lighter.

VERY IMPORTANT CAVEAT: You MUST wear sunscreen when you are using this. If your makeup has at least SPF 15 or 20 (which most nowadays do) then in general you should be ok, but if you are going out for any extended period of time (for a long walk, a jog, etc) then you really, really need to wear stronger SPF. If you don't, then the dark spots will return. The packaging even says "Sunscreen necessary". So don't spend $49.50 on this and then forget the sunscreen, undoing all the improvements.

Winner, even though it's the most expensive is Clinique. I just didn't see results from Garnier. Are there any brands or lotions you have tried that worked? Share in the comments.