Hello, everybody.
Welcome back to my channel, where
skincare is all about progression over
perfection because perfection doesn't exist.
Every year, I kind of like
to reset my core skincare routine.
So obviously I test a lot of skincare, but I
always have my, like, go-to, run-of-the-mill,
kind of standard skincare routine, and then I slot experimental
products in between, the ones I want to review.
Now, I am kind of four months into
the year of content worth of products I
tried from last year, if that makes sense.
But the products I have in front of me are
products I want to kind of keep as my consistent
products throughout the year, products that I've tried and that
I know I love, and a few new ones that
I kind of want to experiment with.
And these are all going to
be award winning skincare products.
Each of these products have at some
time won an Olive Young Award.
The Huawei Beauty Awards. Probably said that wrong.
And the Glowpick Beauty Awards, some of them winners of
this year and some of them winners last year.
One of those products is actually
sponsoring a segment of today's video.
So you may recognize these products.
These are the ISOI Blemish Care
Up Serum and their lip treatment balm.
I used them on and off last year,
and I feel like I didn't really get a
lot of dedicated time with the serum.
I used up a whole bottle and absolutely loved it.
And their lip balm treatment is just a lip balm that
I have in every pocket in every room of the house.
It overtook Glow Recipes
lip balm as one of my favorites,
like ones I buy in bulk.
But their Blemish Care Up Serum I see all the time.
All the time, because for ten years running,
it's been an award winner of the Olive Young Awards.
In the essence section.
Now, toner's, essences, and serums are kind
of interchangeable, so that's why they kind
of like, group them all in there.
So, yes, it's topped the Olive Young Awards for ten years
in a row, and there's got to be a reason.
I see some amazing before and afters of this serum.
Its main selling point is its Bulgarian Rose
Otto Oil, which nourishes and rehydrates the skin.
I don't like rose.
You know, I don't like rose.
I don't like the smell of rose.
But this has a more Turkish Delight smell to
it, like the traditional covered in powder Turkish Delight.
It's almost sweeter rather than floral, and the
smell goes once it's on your face.
The things with Bulgarian Rose, is it's known to
be very, very expensive, but they've been able
to formulate this in a nice, affordable way.
But the Bulgarian Rose Oil was kind of known
to have antioxidant properties and antimicrobial as well, but
has some other interesting ingredients in.
Now, it's called the Blemish Care Up Serum, and some
of those key ingredients include Arbutin and I feel
like Arbutin had its moment and then kind
of everyone moved on really quick.
I feel like it was popular for a couple
of months and everyone kind of forgot about it.
But Arbutin is a skin
brightening ingredient as well as antioxidant.
And for me, it was one of those ingredients that
I really did use, you know, the single ingredient type serums to
help fight with post-inflammatory hyperpigmentation, which I don't get
that much anymore, but when I do get a tiny
spot, I do get a blemish, guaranteed all the time.
Not only does Arbutin help brighten the skin and
even out skin tone, but it helps the collagen production.
And in this serum, it's released slowly.
So even if you have sensitive skin, it's not going
to irritate your skin like some actives can do.
So a constant kind of blemish care serum throughout
my routine as standard, I think is really, really
going to help my skin this year.
And we have Licorice Root extract as well.
Another one of those ingredients that people are like, this
year is going to be the year of this ingredient.
And it never is. But Licorice Root,
again, super popular for brightening out the skin.
Then we have Willow Bark Extract, Panthonal and
Allantoin as well, to help soothe the skin.
So, like I said, when I get
those little breakouts, they're usually like little
itchy annoying ones that leave a blemish.
This serum is hopefully going to cover that
irritation, that constant feel and need to itch
my skin, whilst fighting the blemishes as well.
So I'm interested to kind of give this a
more rigorous test, because, as I said, the before
and afters that I've seen online are incredible.
It's an award winner, ten years in a row for a reason.
So, yeah, a true K-beauty icon.
As is, for me,
their Lip Treatment Balm.
I love a tinted lip balm.
And they come in two different kinds.
So this one is... what's this one called? Baby Pink.
I've got it on now.
It's barely visible.
It's like your lips, but more even with
a touch more color, very, very natural.
It doesn't go on too glossy.
This one I use on nights out. Hang on.
I really like this one.
This is one of those ones I keep backups of
in my drawer because I just like to have it.
This one is called Pure Red, but
it's not like a...
red red.
It's a very natural red kind of tint.
Again, that anyone can wear, but I kind of prefer that for
a night out or like a dinner or an event
or something, because it gives your lips kind of like
this more lively kind of look to it.
But unlike other tints, it doesn't transfer
onto like glasses and straws and cutlery
and all that kind of stuff.
More importantly, it's incredibly nourishing and
moisturizing without being greasy and heavy.
There's some really nice oils in here,
including Jojoba Seed Oil, Grapeseed Oil.
We got Rosehip Fruit Oil as well.
So you do get that rosy smell, but again,
it's more on the fruity side, Rosehip Fruit
Oil, rather than the unbearable floral kind of smell.
So the Bulgarian Rose Oil is going to
help supply that moisture to the lips.
There's something called Candelilla wax in here.
Probably said that wrong.
Which is going to help with any kind of
evaporation of hydration and moisture from the lips, locking
everything in, giving you nice, plump, moisturize lips.
So, yeah, a brand and a serum particularly that
I featured on and off in the previous year,
that I want to make a bit more of
a main focus of my skincare routine this year.
As I mentioned, they are sponsoring the segment of today's
video and I do have a discount code for you.
If you're here in the UK, you can get
15% off at Tonic 15 using the code JAMES15,
valid for ten days from today.
And on Amazon you can get 20% off.
Again, valid from ten days from today.
All the links will be in
the description box down below.
So let's go back to the start of a routine.
I want to talk about the cleanser.
No surprise, Aestura is one of my favorite brands
when it comes to repairing any kind of like
damaged skin times I'm going through, any skin irritation.
This is a really nice moisturizing cleanser,
targeted at those with drier skin.
But even if you have oily skin, it's a cleanser
Oh, light.
It's a cleanser that's going to
leave your skin feeling nice and non-stripped.
This is a packed with Glycerin,
obviously for moisturizing, hydrating reasons.
We also have Green Tea Leaf extract in here.
It's an antioxidant, but it's incredibly soothing.
Green Tea is one of my go to
again, for when I've really, really irritated my
skin and some antioxidant properties as well.
So it's just a really nice,
gentle, but really effective cleanser.
I haven't settled on my first cleanse
yet, my cleansing balm, but this will
be my go-to second cleanse for sure.
This is a product I'm kind of undecided on.
This is the Torriden Dive-In Toner.
Of course, it's known for its lower molecular weight
Hyaluronic Acid, but also with Allantoin as well.
So really nice and soothing.
For me, my toner stage is the
ultimate hydrating stage in my routine.
It's just an easy and effective way to get an extra
dose of hydration that you can see on your skin.
So if you do like a dewy, plump looking skin,
not exactly like glassy and too shiny, I really would
recommend toner, especially if you're very dry and dehydrated.
My main gripe with this is that it's literally just too
watery and I have to apply it with a cotton pad.
Otherwise on my hand it just kind of goes
everywhere. Saying that, it is incredibly hydrating and that
is what I want for from my toner.
I do like my toner's a little bit
thicker, but this really does do the job.
And if it's just a texture issue, at the end
of the day, it doesn't bother me too much.
So I will see this whole bottle through and kind
of get back to you on this because I do
love a lot of Torriden's other products as well.
My next step would be the Blemish Care-Up serum.
But as another kind of like standard serum,
daily use serum, I'm going to carry on
using the Hanyul Powerful Bean Firming Serum.
This is an interesting one that when I first saw it, I
was like, hmm, no, but I'm going to buy it because I like
the packaging, which is something I do a lot of.
But after using it, look, it's nearly
gone, I need to order another one.
After using a lot during the kind of mid end
of last year, I saw some really good results.
Firming of the skin that I really want to continue with.
So this contains Bean Oil and Phytosterol, which
is meant to give you that firming effect.
And then they say they have something called Peptide F.
Again, for helping to firm up
your skin, helping with elasticity.
So, yeah, it's something that as I hit... well, I'm still early
30s, I'm going into my mid thirties.
I kind of want to start concentrating on keeping
my skin nice and firm and hydrated and smooth.
And this has been really, really good at that.
I have a cream of theirs as well, somewhere.
There.
Evening moisturizer.
No surprise.
Aestura Atobarrier 365 Cream.
I know my job here is to experiment with different
products and kind of like give other products a chance.
But when you have something that works for you
so, so well, you have to stick to it, rght?
So this, again, is for strengthening the skin
barrier and moisturizing, containing those essential Ceramides and
fatty acids for our skin barrier, nothing too
fancy, but a really nice user experience.
It doesn't feel heavy and plasticky
and clinical in any way.
It just feels really nice and
moisturizing and soothing on the skin.
My daytime moisturizer is going to be one that
I've been using towards the end of 2022.
Again, Torriden, this is their Dive-In Soothing Cream.
This is a very typical gel cream in
the sense that you expect it to be
good for oily skin, very, very hydrating.
Again, with its multi Hyaluronic Acid kind of gimmick,
I was going to say. It's kind of a gimmick.
It's got a lot of Hyaluronic
Acid in for deeper hydration.
But we also have Ceramides,
again, for your skin barrier, we have
Panthanol. But this is a little bit
thicker than your standard gel cream.
You put it on, it feels nice and watery
and hydrating, but then it kind of has this
more standard cream moisturizer feel to it.
So we got Ceramides in here as I mentioned.
But then we've also got a lot of nice fatty acids.
Then we have some nice oils
as well, including Jojoba Seed Oil.
And I feel like you can really
feel that in the texture of it.
It is very odd,
kind of like gel cream going into moisturizer kind
of feel to it, with a really nice moisturized
finish that makes you feel like everything's locked in.
It's not just evaporated off your face.
So I've been really, really enjoying this.
Now, we don't have quite an award winning sunscreen,
but Cell Fusion C makes some award winning sunscreen.
And I feel like the sunscreen is no different.
This is their Aquatica Sunscreen 100 SPF 50+ PA++++.
And this, again, is quite a nice standard sunscreen.
I would use it as a moisturizer.
It's got Hyaluronic Acid in. Triple Hyaluronic Acid, Allantoin
as well for a soothing sensation, which I like
in my sunscreens to kind of counteract any kind
of irritation some chemical sunscreens can give me.
The Aquatica comes from the Mentha Aquatica
Extract in here, which is supposed to
help calm and cool down hot skin.
So it's Menthol, basically.
So in the Summer, when you are feeling a
little bit parched, parched? Hot on the skin, reapplication
of this gives you a really nice cooling, soothing sensation.
It's not like, doesn't smell like peppermint or anything.
It's not crazy menthol. But it is a really
nice hydrating and calming, as it says here, sunscreen.
That doesn't give me any irritation whatsoever.
Now, I do have an award winning sunscreen
here and I want to kind of show
you something, because I've been getting tagged in
a lot of sunscreen compact videos recently.
They've been around for a very, very long time.
The only reason you don't see them on my
channel is because vast majority of them are tone
up, which means it lightens your skin, really
to like this peachy glow or they're greeny tinted.
So they've got this kind of like correction feel to
them that you use as like a base kind of
primer, or they're just very, very white casty.
This is an award winner.
This is the Scinic SPF 50+ PA++++
Airy Sun Cushion. It's huge.
We're going to try this together, but I expect
it to be a little too white on me.
So they're huge like this.
And they're good for reapplication, but not
really for the main application of sunscreen.
Don't do this to yourself.
Don't make these yourself because the sunscreen
is in its packaging for a reason.
So I'm just going to show you. A little bit white.
It doesn't actually look as bad as I
thought it did in real life here.
As I said, it's good for reapplication because you
don't really get a lot on there unless you
really start spending a long time layering this up.
I'll be honest,
it's a lot of work.
It's like a lot, a lot of work.
I don't know how, like, looking on my monitor,
it doesn't look too bad, but my monitor always
comes off a little bit lighter, so the white
cast doesn't tend to show as easily.
If I'm at home sitting in my garden, I
will reapply this and not be bothered about it.
But the issue with these is they do
come off just a little bit too white.
So, yeah, I'm looking forward to seeing
if there's a version of this.
If someone.... I've actually ordered a load of sun sticks
and compacts to see if there is one that has
a tint to it or maybe can just be clear.
I'm not sure why they always have to be
white casted. Maybe it's something about zinc that holds
up better in a compact kind of packaging. I don't know.
But yeah, it's an award winner.
If you're white, you're going to love this.
And then I usually do my lip balm last.
Being the ISOI Lip Balm Treatment.
So there we go. There is my award winning skincare routine.
A lot of these products I know I already
love and already work for me, but I'm looking
forward to spending a bit more time with a
few of the serums and the moisturizers.
So let me know if you've tried these
products before, if you want to try any
of them down in the comments down below.
Again, thank you to ISOI for
sponsoring a segment of today's video.
Check out the links and the discount
codes in the description as well.
You can watch some more product reviews here, and some general
light entertainment here and I'll see you over there.