Hello everybody, welcome back to my
channel, where skincare is all about progression over perfection. Because,
perfection doesn't exist. Let's get into it because,
I'm tired. Not to scare anyone but the year's nearly done. We're coming up to
September now, and then it's Christmas and then it's New Year, and then we're done.
And I was looking back at all the products I've already tried this year,
and today I wanted to share some of the worst ones I've tried. Then the better
alternatives I've actually tried. Disclaimer, none of these are sponsored.
Some products might have been gifted but as we're gonna see in this video, just
because the product's gifted doesn't mean I have to be nice about it.
There's some real sh*t ones in here. As always, these are products that I
personally don't enjoy, and I'm just sharing my own personal experiences with you.
So, you know, you get the good and the bad reviews of products online. Let's start
off with Bliss Block Star Invisible Daily Sunscreen. This is a 100%
mineral broad-spectrum sunscreen. This was not invisible as the name suggests
but for a mineral sunscreen, it was one of the less whitey chalky ones I've used,
and that is because it is slightly tinted. However,
the pigment, the tint in the sunscreen matched my skin so perfectly that it was
invisible. I just happened to be the exact color of this sunscreen. So they kind of
use that to offset the white chalkiness, the ghostly face that you usually get
from mineral sunscreens. However, I've seen black creators review this and
swatch it, and it's not invisible as you... Calling your sunscreen invisible is
just a lie. And you know, realistically we don't expect that from mineral sunscreen,
it's gonna be a bit chalky whatever happens. But let's not call it invisible,
you know. And I do take issue because of how they describe their product. So on
their website it says, "This silky 100% sheer..." it's not. "... mineral, cruelty-free
sunscreen blends in effortlessly for superior daily mineral protection, and an
invisible finish." It's not. It should say it's 100% invisible for people
slightly white tanned, to white. Because any darker than me, no. This does go on
great. It goes on very, very good. Not in the beard but of course, I don't
expect that from a mineral sunscreen. My big issue with this, other than the word
invisible, is the application process. So, it completely depends on what products I
use as to whether this sunscreen is going to sit well on my skin. If my skin,
for example is too hydrated, even if I've left time for the product to settle on
my skin, then go in and use the Bliss
sunscreen, one to two hours later it starts to peel up on my skin. And then,
when it comes the reapplication process where, the product seems to not sit well with
itself. And I know it sounds really weird but it's almost like the product is
fighting against itself to sit on the surface of your skin. So two hours later
when I have to reapply my sunscreen, I put this on and it peels up on itself.
When I want to apply sunscreen, I don't want to be thinking about the products I
can and can't use with my sunscreen. I can't be thinking, oh is my skin too
hydrated? Is this product going to play well with this product? It's, I just don't
have time for that faff. My alternative to this product would be one of
Ultra Violette's sunscreens. The Clean Screen. Another mineral sunscreen with a
slight tint, very slight tint. It goes on pretty much like a chemical sunscreen as
far as fluidity and smoothness goes. But of course, it's mineral, you're gonna get
that slight white cast. This is about £10 more expensive as well but it
does feel much better. The reapplication process is better, the application
process is better. But if you do know a good affordable mineral sunscreen please
share in the comments down below. I like my chemical sunscreens, I don't really
look for mineral filters to be honest with you. But overall, I'm very lucky
because I'm just on the cusp of tanned, so when I do wear mineral sunscreen I
just look a bit ill instead of like ghostly, you know. But I do feel like when
brands make a sunscreen they need to get over the idea that their sunscreen is
invisible, because it's got a pigment in it. When that pigment doesn't suit
everyone. Bring out a full pigmented range of sunscreens, mineral sunscreens.
It's a foundation with SPF in. If you're looking for good skincare and sunscreen
reviews for darker skin tones, of course Ramón here on YouTube does a lot of
sunscreen testing. Tamuno also does some great overall just skincare content but
also tests out a lot of more affordable, even drugstore sunscreens. I'll link both
their channels, as a pinned comment actually. But she does some great
sunscreen tests on black skin. This one, of course, didn't pass that test.
Let's talk about the Kevin Aucoin Glass Glow Face.
Oh look, another viral TikTok product. Which is, unsurprisingly, not that great.
Massively overhyped. But the product isn't bad but the way that the brand and
TikTok is telling us to use it, makes it kind of sh*t. Tthey describe this product
as, "A universal and unique gloss highlighter." And this is when I Googled
this product, and researched into it before I bought it. This is the bit that
got me, it says, "For an added translucent poreless effect, apply gloss glow face
all over the face. Tap on gently and sheer out for a natural finish."
So there's me thinking I'm gonna get this like amazing instant, temporary, but
instant glow. That translucent glowy glass skin. That isn't a real skin type
or condition, so it is just a temporary effect, right. And I was like, oh this sounds
great. I saw people on TikTok applying a thin layer of it over their face and
just glowing. So that's what I did, I applied a very thin layer all over my
face using a skincare brush. I was like, this does feel a little bit thick but
let's let it settle. This was me 30 minutes later. If you follow me on
Instagram you would have seen this. I look so sweaty and hot, it looked and
felt like vaseline with glitter in it. There was no natural glow to it,
whatsoever. That is a thin layer over my skin. This is, and this is the thing with
things on TikTok, even here on YouTube, is you see it for a little bit, you know,
it's like look at this instant glass effect, right after applying the product.
But people don't really show it like an hour later, two hours later. And it just
kind of felt... I had to go wipe it off, I physically could wipe it off my skin, you
know. So no. As a finishing product, just on your skin in a thin layer like TikTok
is making it out to be great at, isn't so great. For those with even a
tiny drop of oil on your skin, I wouldn't bother with this as an all-over face
thing. They do suggest mixing in with foundation, or using as a primer, or even
just using it on like certain bits of your face to highlight. I bet it looks
great like that. But, if you are after a product that gives you this temporary
glow without weighing your skin down in grease or glitter-covered vaseline, then
of course Glow Recipe's Niacinamide Dew Drops are the ones to go for. Because not
only does this give you this temporary glass skin glowy look but it works in
the long run as well, because this is an actual skincare makeup hybrid. So we have
things like Niacinamide in here to help even out your skin tone. Hyaluronic Acid
to actually hydrate your skin. And you know, glass skin, glowy skin, translucent skin,
is all about hydration within showing on the outside, you know. But yeah, in all
fairness they don't advertise this as that skincare kind of product but they
do recommend applying it all over your face for like a finish, and it just
doesn't... no. The next product that I absolutely
hate, really dislike is any reusable cotton pad. I've mentioned this many a
time but I hate reusable cotton pads. They're so sh*t, oh my god. But I do love
the reasoning, you know, save money, save the environment. Even if it's like the
little change that you make in your life, at least you're doing something, right.
But brands seem to have this obsession with every reusable cotton pad to make
it like a washcloth, to make it like a flannel. This obsession with it being
super soft, which in turn makes them super absorbent which is not what we
want. We want the product to just hold on to our toner or product for a little bit
then put it back on our face. But these products are so absorbent, they end up
just seeping up all your product and it's a waste of money, and it's a waste
of product. I've tried so many, so, so many. No exaggeration, literally every week in
PR a brand will send me reusable cotton pads. Whether it's their own brand or
they've teamed up with a brand for the PR kit. I get a new lot every week, and they
are all the same, they're all the same. They arrive in those little hessian bags.
All the same but I have found what is, in my opinion, the most amazing reusable cotton
pads. Actually, Bliss sent me this along with some of their products that I do
enjoy. This brand is called Last Object, and these are their Last Rounds. These
are reusable cotton pads made from 70% wood fibers and 30% cotton. Whilst the
packaging, the little plastic holder for them, is made from 100% renewable
materials produced from recycled ocean-bound plastic. They look awful,
right. When I first got these out of the box I was like, what are these? I was like, I don't know
what these are. They look scratchy, they look dry as f*ck. They look like that
like communion bread, you know. The little... that I always wanted when I went to
church a couple of times. Is it just pita bread?
What is communion bread? Is it rice paper? I don't know. But the moment you add your
product to the skin, the moment you soak this in a toner or you wet this to wash
away cleanser, it turns into this like bouncy sponge. Almost like chamois
leather kind of like feeling product, that feels so soft on the skin. And yes,
whilst it does absorb your product very well and hold on to it, it's got that
spongy feeling to it where even with the lightest pressure on your skin just
gliding over, that product comes straight out. And you're left with pretty much a
dry pad, like a normal feeling cotton pad. There's none of that product left in the
pad, it's gone on your face, where it belongs. I actually keep throwing these
away by accident because they feel like normal cotton pads. I do this and I'm like,
chuck it. I keep having to go through my bin to get them back. So yes, I did
receive these in PR but I've actually bought three more lots of them, because
I'm lazy, I can't bother to wash them. They're £11 each, so a little bit
of an initial investment if you buy a load of them. But these are the last
cotton pads I'm gonna buy for maybe a year, and then I'll replace them. But
they're so easy to clean, you can literally clean them with like, how
you clean your makeup brushes. You can pop them in a hessian bag or like a
netted bag in the washing machine, on high heat. They're really, really good.
Like I really really like them, I'm so glad I found them. I would recommend
washing them first, because they stink a little bit when you first use them.
But they're so good, so, so good. I need to show you this. The next product is Nude
Stix X Beauty Magnet 5-in-1 Tool Set. I need to preface this, pre-face
this by saying I'm so grateful to even
receive PR as part of my job. I'm so grateful that brands even want to send
me stuff. It's, it's a part of my life that I never thought would be a part of
my life, you know? And I'm, I'm honestly so, so grateful. But at
the same time, what the f*ck is this? What is this?
This literally looks like Barbie's Swiss Army knife. It's so,
so bad. I remember...
oh my god. I remember opening the box and literally like backing away from the box
like there was a dead body in it. I was like oh! Okay, let me explain it. According to
the Nudestix website, "The Nudestix X Beauty Magnet is a patent pending..."
Steal the idea now. "... 5-in-1 magnetized professional skincare tool
collection. Containing a derma roller, a rose quartz face roller, a d-puffing
eye roller, tweezers" for some reason, "...and a comedome extractor."
This is it right, and they all kind of like magnet together.
It's clever, it's clever, right? They say, "This collection was created as a
beautifully simple, yet professional solution to organizing your essential
must-have skincare tools." They say, "Just as brushes aid in applying makeup,
skincare tools make your skin routine more effective." So, here's my... not real
issue but my, my qualms with this. Number one, derma rollers need to be replaced.
Cleaned, replaced, sterilized. They need to be stored somewhere sanitary. They're not
a product that you clip with other tools and chuck in a drawer somewhere. They're
also not recommended to do on your own at home, by Dermatologists. And Nudestix
do say you need to replace this head every month but I do not see an option
just to buy a replacement head, or any of these separately. And yes, not recommended
by Dermatologists do at home, nor are homeish extractions. This is the smallest
roller I've ever seen in my life, it's cute though, and feels cold, the usual.
I don't hate this under eye roll, I actually quite like these when I finally
do use eye cream, and it's very cooling. Wheezes?
As a skincare I feel like this is just like, a like, we need one more tool, what
can we do? Tweezers. Why not like a...
Reusable spatula, you know. To get your product out. Tweezers just feels very
like... I don't consider tweezing my eyebrows as part of my skincare routine.
Does, do other people? I don't think so. I get the idea of this, and I like the idea of
this. I don't like what is here. I think it'd be great if there was more,
and they were sold separately, and you could buy like five tools, mix and match.
I don't know, it's just, it feels a bit outdated for me. It feels like
two years too late. Like, we know not to use half these tools.
And the only tools that I think are kind of like...
we all have our own favorite pair of tweezers, like this,
this is horrible to use. It's so like, end heavy.
And then you're tweezing up here. It's just a pain to use. The only tools that I
think are somewhat useful, if you enjoy kind of like spoiling yourself and
massages is this. But you can get some great roller tools that are affordable
and bigger than this. Sacheu Beauty, Sacheu. Amazing. You have the small roller
at the end, and the big bigger one at the top. Amazing quality. And that's the thing
is the... quality of these,
for me, doesn't match up with the price. This is £80. I think it would
have been better to launch better quality individual tools rather
than whatever this is. It's so weird, It's such a weird
thing. Like I get it but also like, you're not gonna be like, oh I'm going away for
the weekend I better take my Swiss Army knife of skincare tools. I don't know,
I don't understand. I guess it's like tidy but I don't know, I don't know.
Let me know if you think this is useful. Let me know if you use all these,
and you're glad finally that they could all be stuck together. I don't know.
I find it so strange. So honestly my alternatives is don't do this.
Sacheu Beauty, get yourself a good quality one. Whatever tweezers you like.
Salicylic Acid, you know. I don't know, I find this very, very odd. I can't even put it
back together now, it's such a faff. Let me know what you think about these
products down below, and if you've used any of them I would love to hear your
opinion on them. I'll put some more product reviews here, and some more
TikToky viral stuff here, and I'll see you next time.