Deciem The Ordinary's Salicylic Acid 2% Solution Review

So much for getting all my Deciem reviews done in January. While I've been busy with real, paying work, I'm determined to get two posts up this week so let's start with a look at a product I absolutely love: The Ordinary's Salicylic Acid 2% Solution.

While I'm in my 30s, I still regularly battle blemishes. Pimples, blackheads, whiteheads, I hate them and I want them gone. And with this product, I can just that. According to Deciem, this "2% treatment solution helps exfoliate the inside walls of pores to fight the appearance of blemishes and for better visible skin clarity with continued use." And yeah, that's exactly what this product does.

It's not a miracle-maker. If you put it on a nasty pimple it won't make it vanish overnight. However, I did find that it visibly improved pretty much any blemish-related problem area. Without a doubt, this product left me with clearer, brighter, healthier looking-skin.

Aveda Tulasāra Firm Concentrate Review

As I mentioned in my last post, in September I was the lucky recipient of a few full-size Aveda items. One of the products I received, and that I've been using faithfully for over a month now, is the company's Tulasāra Firm Concentrate.

This product is essentially a serum that you're to apply twice a day, under your moisturizer. According to Aveda, it "visibly lift(s) and firm(s) your skin, and smooth(s) the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles..." With such ingredients as "a potent, bio-fermented peptide," "safflower oleosomes" and "almond seed extract," the serum "helps promote skin's natural production of collagen and repair" while "tight(ing) skin" and "retain(ing) moisture and strengthen(ing) skin's natural defense against environmental stress."

Avon Anew Power Serum

I've always been skeptical of serums. I see how they could work, providing an extra and/or targeted boost to one's skincare routine, but personally, I haven't had a lot of success with them. Still, I approached Avon's latest serum with an open, and hopeful mind. After all, if it did deliver the results that it claimed it would — hydration, smooth texture, radiance, firmness and finally, lines and wrinkles that looked diminished —  it would be a product that I would happily incorporate into my routine.

Unfortunately, I didn't notice any positive differences while using this product. It anything, my fine lines were a bit more obvious. Since diminishing their appearance would likely be the result of increased hydration levels in my skin, I can only theorize that this product didn't deliver the hydration that it claimed it would.

Pure+Simple Hydration Serum and Skin Drink

I’ve heard a lot of good things about Toronto’s Pure+Simple so I was thrilled to see two of the company’s offerings in my Spark Sessions Swag Bag: the Skin Drink and the Hydration Serum. Both products are full-sized and are aimed at moisturizing one’s skin, so they were well-timed for the winter.

I started both items shortly after I received them in late November and I’m still working on finishing off the two 50 ml bottles. That’s over a month’s worth of usage, plenty of time to come to the conclusion that these two products are great… for someone else.

Estee Lauder Advanced Night Repair

I can’t believe I’m about to type these words: I may have found anti-aging serum that actually works. 

Now this serum by Estee Lauder isn’t a miracle product and it hasn’t made my forehead lines vanish. However, I do count myself among the 75% of women who felt that using this product for four weeks left their skin looking more youthful. 

To stretch my sample bottle out, I used this serum only on my forehead. While it had no immediate impact on the two pesky lines that run across my forehead, after about two weeks, I did notice that they looked less deep, especially if I was properly hydrated. And even on those mornings when I did wake up a bit dehydrated, the lines weren’t nearly as bad as they usually are.

Kaia 24 Hr Booster Serum

I'm not big on booster serums for moisturizers; why not just get a better moisturizer? But I received a bottle of this serum by Toronto-based skincare company Kaia in my Beauty Board swag board and I decided to give it a shot because it makes some pretty impressive claims that, if true, could make this product a must-own.

Made with argan and moringa oils, "the most nutrient dense in the world" (says the packaging), this product markets itself as a "2 in 1 skincare and primer" that delivers "100% matte finish, velvet texture" and "no shine."

I started using this serum almost daily since mid-May, usually mixing it into another moisturizer, as per the instructions on the bottle. I've also tried applying it directly to my face. So I've been using this serum for quite some time now but despite that, I still can't make up my mind on it.

Lancôme New Advanced Génifique

While I did receive a fairly generous sample of this anti-aging serum in my spring Luxe Box, it wasn’t enough to last me the full eight weeks needed for this product to “Reactivate the 10 key signs of youth, day and night.” No, I’m not completely sure what that line means either however, Lancôme does add that 34 women who used this product for an eight-week period reported a real improvement in these areas: Fine lines, wrinkles, radiance, clarity, even skin tone and texture (I know, that’s not 10 areas, I have no idea what the earlier mentioned 10 is referring to).

Since I didn’t use this product for eight weeks I can’t comment on any claim related to the results generated by that length of usage. But I can comment on what six weeks of continuous use does. Since late May, I’ve been using this product at least once a day, and more often than not twice a day, on my forehead (it's the only part of my face that could benefit from an anti-aging product). According to Lancôme, users should see, “First results in just seven days” and those results should be “…smoother and more radiant skin that you can see and feel.”

Fresh Umbrian Clay Mattifying Serum

I can sum my experience with this face serum up in one word: Disappointment.

Fresh claims that this product, “…tones and hydrates while minimizing the appearances of pores and controlling shine.” While it probably did help to hydrate my skin (glycerin is one of the first ingredients), it sadly did nothing to tone down shine or minimize the look of my pores.

To fully test this serum out, I tried it out in an number of circumstances including wearing just the serum, with nothing over it, wearing my usual moisturizer-and-makeup over it and  doing the split-face test, where I applied the serum to just half of my face.

I found this last test to be the most interesting because the side that received the serum was immediately shinier than then serum-free side. Now, it was a slight shine, and one that was quickly mattified with makeup, but still, there was a visible difference and not in a good way.

Nip + Fab Frown Fix

I picked up this “instant line filler” a while ago at Shoppers because I figured that a product that at one time had a waiting list of 8,000 had to be the perfect weapon in my ongoing fight against my forehead lines.

Initially though, I was quite disappointed in this item. My first issue was the packaging. It comes in one of those tubes where the product is dispensed onto a little brush by twisting the opposite end. I hate this set-up because I find it difficult to control and just a pain in the ass to use (plus, I have had twisty tubes break, resulting in me having to throw out the whole item).

The Body Shop’s Nutriganics Smoothing Serum

So my plan was to start posting reviews from my trip to New York City today but I’m still exhausted and don’t have the brain power to write things up properly yet.

But I do have enough negative emotion to write a quick review about The Body Shop’s Nutriganics Smoothing Serum.

This review could just be one line: Don’t buy it; it doesn’t do anything. But I will take a few paragraphs to explain my disappointment with this product.

No7 Protect & Perfect Beauty Serum

If I’d been writing this review last spring, I would be gushing about this product, just like these people over here. Just like them I found that this silky serum did wonderful things for my skin, making it smooth and healthy looking. In fact, I was so impressed with the results that I actually used two bottles of it back-to-back. I think the only reason I took a break from using this serum is that I couldn’t find it one time in Shoppers (which I believe is the only store that carries the No7 brand in Canada).

So I expected the same great resulted when I started using it again earlier this year. Unfortunately, something’s changed and I know feel like I’m just rubbing magic beans into my skin because the serum now seems to do nothing for me.

I thought that maybe it was because I wasn’t applying it properly so for seven days, I applied it once in the morning and once at night and almost always followed that application with some kind of moisturizer (no, I didn’t use the recommended No7 brand product but then I never had). And the results? Not impressive.

Unless I slathered moisturizer on them, fine lines and dry patches were unchanged and yes, I did develop those dry patches will using this product. Interestingly, the serum did make skin feel quite soft and smooth but if you actually looked at it, the texture was nothing to brag about.

As far as I can tell, Boots hasn’t changed the formula of this product in the past year so I’m thinking that what’s changed is my skin. For whatever reason, No7 Protect & Perfect Beauty Serum just no longer does it for me. Or maybe I need to upgrade to the intense version, which apparently has science behind its beauty claims.

I will say that I do love how this serum goes on it. It’s light, silky and absorbs very quickly. Unlike some other serums out there, you can easily apply a second product over top of it, as well as you makeup, and not worry about the products “balling” up on your skin.

Because of all of this, the serum is a product that I won’t be purchasing again for myself but it is one that you might want to try out. However, since it’s close to $30 at Shoppers, you may want to wait until it goes on sale (I have seen it happen) or buy it with Optimum points.

Would I buy this again: No
Should you buy it: Try it out but keep your expectations reasonable