Favorites and staples:Skincare products

 As a girl that is literally on Youtube watching beauty guru and random weird videos, I always see these well known beauty gurus doing their monthly favorites.  Honestly I really can not relate because there is no way I can like a product that fast in a span of a month.  And every month is usually different.  That tells me a couple of things, they are either getting paid to say it or they just want to keep it fresh and use new products for their viewers. 

I wouldn't say that these are my holy grail products just yet, but I would say they are definitely a staple product in my collection I tend to grab and rely on on a daily basis.  When I do have a holy grail product, they I will do a I FOUND MY HOLY GRAIL GUYS!  But for now, this will be called the favorites and staples.

Quality is not depended on the price tag attached to it.  Most, if not all of these products are very affordable, but two products are not readily accessible to all of us sadly :(.

P.S.  Do you notice the pictures are looking a bit different?  I recently learned to use my DSLR camera and my father gifted me a light box as an early Christmas present!  Seriously, I have the most awesome parents.  I'm glad I invested in a DSLR hehe.  I love you Canon!!

Also for reference, my skin type is...
-dry to normal
-get the rare occasion of pimples
-flakey skin from dry, not severe, just when I use foundation, you can see it clearly

 The first product is the Bioderma Micellar solution.  I'm sure a lot of you guys have seen this product before, especially on youtube.  From models, make up artists to the at home beauty and skincare junkie, this product is loved by everyone, and that includes me. 

 This product is from France, hence the french LOL, and isn't really accessible to those that are outside of France (they do have it in UK I heard but in selected stores).  Luckily in our Canadian shoppers drug mart, they carry this product retailing at $18 for 250 mL or $30 for 500 mL.  We also have Gosh cosmetics, la roche posay, Boots No. 5, etc so I can say I'm proud to be Canadian!  But sometimes it sucks because we are a border away from USA and they usually have all these cool stuff that we can't get.  Annoying..... 

What does this product do anyways?  This product is pretty much a super gently make up remover, cleanser, toner.  What?  Three things at the same time?  Yes!  It is pretty much a water with fatty acids in it so it breaks down make up no problem, but it is not oily and does not leave any residue on your skin.  I love it!  When I wore make up that day and I'm too lazy to use my clarisonic, I just use the cleanser and then use this as an insurance that all the dirty and make up is off my face.  It works like a charm.  It also acts as my toner, so it is a two in one product.

This is already my second bottle and I'm in love.  And I am aware that there are drugstore dupes now, which I will get a bottle and compare down the road.  Which ones am i talking about? L'oreal gentle micellar solution  and Garnier micellar cleansing water which both are priced at $10+ and $8.  But I can not seem to find the garnier one at my drugstore, and I have a feeling it is only for Europe or something which makes me sad :(.  Bioderma costs $18 at shoppers drug mart, so if there is anything that works the same and is cheaper is super awesome in my book :).

The second product is skin cermaic donkey milk and argan oil multi steam cream which i got back in July in my Milk memebox.  The box was a great deal since the box was $23, but we got 5 memepoints back so techincally the box was only $18!  This cream retailed for $34 and if you want to see the full description, click here!

This moisturizer contains donkey's milk and argan oil.  I wasn't sure of the donkey's milk because I have never heard of any beauty product that contains that type of milk, but I was willing to give it a try.  And guess what!  It is one of my favorite moisturizers ever!!  I used to use L'occitane shea butter face moisturizer but it did leave my face really greasy, and when I would wear my glasses, my glasses would start slipping down my face LOL.  But it did make my skin super soft and moisturizers during our super cold weather and tamed my flakey dry skin.  That moisturizer was near $50 so I'm glad I found something else that is cheaper, but i do not know where else to buy it after I'm done with this jar and it really makes me sad :(.

The texture is very light weight, soaks into the skin quickly and doesn't leave any residue.  Love it :D.  If you guys know where I can buy this online, please comment down below! I'm going to be so heart broken when I run out of this cream. 

The third favorite of mine is the Secret key lemon D-toc peeling gel which retails for $10+ on ebay, and $16 on memeshop.  I got this product in my Detox memebox and I really didn't think much about the box since it was a big disappointment.  But I'm glad I gave this product a try because it did turn out to be amazing! 

 I have used peeling gels in the pass, the Laneige berry yogurt peeling gel, and I really liked it.  But I forgot about it for a long time and the product went bad and the tube solidified,  so when I went to use it, the tube was so old it cracked LOL.  I was quite sad, and went to search onto buy a new one.  The one that caught my attention was the Tony Moly appletox peeling cream which turned out to be crappy and didn't do anything.  The reviews for that product was pretty good too, and the packaging was super cute :(.  Waste of money.  Get this one, the secret key one is a miracle in a tube!

The texture is slightly liquidy with the scent of fresh lemons.  I found that if you use this on your face when your face is still moist with water, it doesn't work as well.  So what I do is I slightly pat the water off my face with a towel and then proceed with putting this on my face.  Just gently rub and the dead skin will start balling up.

That's all the dead skin on my skin!  I think i need a bigger bottle for my whole body!  I have tried bead exfoliates, but they don't work as good as this.  Flaky skin was the one enemy I have to fight throughout the winter and colder months, so I used to slap tons of heavy moisturizers on but nothing ever work.  Now I don't have the problem because this product effectively gets rid of all the dead skin and leaves my face like a baby's bum.  Everyone NEEDS this product.  I'm serious!  I can say this is growing into a product I would have to add to my holy grail list!  This is for all skin types, but if you do have sensitive skin, maybe only use it once or twice a week.

My fourth favorite is Pure smile choosey lip treatment in tropical fruit and I got this one in my vitamin care memebox.  At that time, i did decide to buy the Bite beauty agave lip treatment which I got a sample of a long time ago, used it and loved it.  I would use it right before I sleep, and when I woke up, it was still on my lips.  It was amazing, and it moisturized my lips very well.  Even during the day, my lips were soft, moisturized without me having to apply any lip balm during the day.  But the price of that product was $30 and it was so stupidly expensive.  Can you guess how much the pure smile one cost?  $4.50.  Yes $4.50.... what a difference.  But I can not buy this anywhere online :'(, memebox can you please carry this product for a reasonable price!  This product is also nearing the holy grail list.

So I was lucky to get this product in my memebox, tried this product, already fell in love with the scent, and this product was a lot thicker and smelled a lot nicer then the bite beauty one.  The bite beauty one had this weird scent exactly like playdoh, while the pure smile one smells like Japanese fruit candy.  So which one would you get LOL.  Playdoh or sweet smelling japanese fruit candy.  You decide.

Another pro about this product compared to the Bite beauty one, this one comes with the plastic slanted tip. Meaning I don't have to use my dirty finger to apply it :).  The cute little tube is super cute too keke. So colorful!

This product comes out clear, with the scent of tropical fruits and once used on the lips, it does tingle a little. It doesn't tingle a lot to the point that it would plump my lip up, but it is more like a minty tingle. I don't mind it, but I have read other's review on this and they said it burned their lips O_O.  LOL  it doesn't burn my lips.  Maybe they are allergic?

The last favorite product is Michael Todd Honey and Oat cleanser which retails for $22 (they do have 15%-20% off coupon codes, just google it) and can only be bought online (link is included).  Why do I like this product?  I used to use Clinique mild liquid facial soap but it dried my skin out tons and I didn't know because it was the first skin care product I bought for myself when I was about 14 years old.  This was the second cleanser, and this was before me being able to buy things online or even had a job to afford anything. 

 Surprisingly this worked out very well.  I loved the scent, which is a citrus scent, and it was very gentle on my skin but super effective.  And guess what?  IT REMOVES MAKE UP TOO!  WAHHHHHHHHHHHHH.... I don't wear make up everyday, but when I do, this breaks it down real good and then I use Bioderma as an insurance.  This is the power duo for sure.  This is marked for all skin types, but I have only tried it on myself so I do not really know about that.

Michael Todd is also marketed as organic, this product is suppose to be  70% organic.  I'm not an organic freak, but I do appreciate products that are organic.

This cleanser comes out like honey, and slightly foams up when I rub it into my skin.  I really do trust this cleanser.  It has never broken me out,  nor does it dry my skin.  I have tested it if it does by just washing my skin when I shower, then let my face dry to see if it feels tight.  Never made my skin tight at all.  Love love love this product.  A definite staple, but not yet holy grail status.

I hope you enjoy this blog.  These are my current favorites, and I do hope you try these out if you think it suits you.  The Secret key peeling gel is an absolute must!  You MUST have it in your life.

What are your favorites?  I would love to try them out as well.  And if you have Memebox favorites, that is even better because I might have it already ;).  Leave a comment down below and let me know!

-Cheers, MMnoob.