The Hub Take Part 2

It’s time for more husband skincare reviews, for what they’re worth. (I kid — I think it’s worth it to get non-skincare-fanatic takes on skincare.) Being Very Into Skincare, it’s been great to get my primary reason for living into my third reason for living (the second reason for living is Fran, our mini aussiedoodle, and she just loves the flavor of skincare but not its application). Josiah can be a bit of a hypochondriac but that’s worked in my favor to turn him into a daily sunscreen wearer. If you didn’t get a chance to read his initial round of reviews, you really should, as he reviewed the other products that he uses and loves, namely Stratia Liquid Gold and Isntree Watery Sun Gel. It’s worth noting that these reviews were taken by dictation while cooking no fewer than five dishes from French to Ethiopian to Thai simultaneously — he’s Renaissance man and a hell of a catch. Each review will include product type, his rating out of five, his review and my caveating notes.

1️⃣ Naturium Niacinamide Cleansing Gel

Product Type: Cleanser
Rating: 2/5
Review: I want to be honest, but here’s the thing. Hunter S. Thompson described Nixon as a badger — the sort of critter which, when attacked, rolls onto its back and emits a smell of death. That’s this cleanser.
Editor’s Notes: Let me set the record straight: I did not buy this cleanser for Josiah. I bought it for a friend, to send to France, and he got excited about the bubbles and wanted to try it. We actually opened this in March, and he’s used it maybe three times (which is, incidentally, the number of times he’s used the Farmacy Clean Bee cleanser, which arrived last week). This has a nice serumy texture to it, but yes, if you’re the sort of person who finds fragrance-free products to smell clinical, this may not be your jam. I’ve since taken it over from him and am enjoying it, but it’s not life-changing.

2️⃣ Farmacy Clean Bee Ultra Gentle Facial Cleanser

Product Type: Cleanser
Rating: 4.5/5
Review: I’ve long had a semi-rational fear that if I wash my face, my personality and my face will end up in the sewer — it is my native habitat, after all. My wife bought me a cleanser that I felt clean after, but I didn’t feel clean during using it. It must have been the smell: halfway between hospital and morgue. But let’s talk about the bee gel. Bees are the most helpful critters on earth, and it really shines through the moment you take a whif of this product — it just smells like honey gently hugging your skin and removing the goops. It gives you a nice bit of foam and smells great all the while, and at the end of it you don’t feel all stripped down, and you’re ready to put on some Stratia Liquid Gold. I think that the honey smell could be a bit stronger, and I don’t know if this is good for cleansing, but the foam could be a little bit thicker. I’m actually using this one.
Editor’s Notes: I asked the Skincare Fanatics group on Facebook for a good, smelly cleanser for Josiah a while ago and this came highly recommended, so when they had a 25% off sale I took the plunge. This is a really sexy inci list, with honey, propolis and royal jelly extracts and, of course, a lot of honey fragrance to amp it up. I’m tickled that he’s using it so much, as he gets some immediate skin improvement from it — otherwise he’s a “splash with water and go” sort of fella, which does not go well with his wonderful proclivity for daily sunscreen use.

3️⃣ Paula’s Choice 10% Azelaic Acid Booster

Product Type: Treatment
Rating: 5/5
Review: Skincare’s a lot more rich and fascinating than I ever could have imagined. For example, did you know that azelaic acid is a collaboration of all the bests letters of the alphabet to help your skin? Shit letters of the alphabet like “B” opted out. Actually, I’m pretty sure that’s not true, but it’s one o the things our family likes to call “a rock fact.” But seriously, I started to get a bit of rosacea which me, in my hypochondriac way, assumed was a malignant spider angioma caused by liver failure. Turns out my liver’s fine, but I noticed that my rosacea had been strongly triggered by sun exposure. But with regular sunscreen wearing and the azelaic acid, it’s much less noticeable. Every time I use the azelaic acid it seems to resolve, and so I need to be more consistent in that. The product itself is pretty neutral — I was expecting some sort of strong scent or heavy texture, but whether I put it before or after Stratia, I can’t feel it 30 seconds after application. I use it in the morning and follow it up with Isntree Watery Sun Gel. It just works — makes your skin glowy and I’ve even gotten compliments when using it.
Editor’s Notes: The modmin team at Skincare Fanatics loves this, so when I realized that Josiah’s two great loves — beer and the outdoors — were causing him to get rosacea flares, I picked this up. I’m pretty jealous because every time he uses this, he wakes up glowing the next morning. It’s worth noting that here in the US, 10% is the highest percentage azelaic acid you can get over-the-counter. It’s possible that we can use our new bougie health insurance to get him some higher percentage stuff that would just eradicate the rosacea entirely, but hey, I love that he loves it. Additional note: in reading this to him, he would like to clarify that I rank above beer and the outdoors. But prior to 2014, that was indeed probably true.

4️⃣ Benton Aloe Propolis Soothing Gel

Product Type: Moisturizer
Rating: 6.5/5
Review: Belize is a paradise, but it’s hell on your skin. There’s no shortage of critters what are going to eat it, the sun’s coming at you from ever freaking direction, you’re mostly in the water which is going to wash off all the good stuff you have on, but still have weeping ores from bug bite. And I had a pretty bad sunburn — let’ not mince words — from my use and abuses of the Omi Verdio Sun Gel (see below). However, this tuff was my salvation. Going back to those bees and their gifts of skincare, man, this is the gift which keeps on giving. After my misadventures in the sun, my skin was feeling pretty jacked up. Lisa whips this stuff and immediately the texture is just fantastic. Smells great, feels great, works great. I got almost no peeling, and almost none on the spots where we actually applied it — I came back as one of those red-backed tourist-looking people, and everything cleared up basically immediately and it was a non-issue. I don’t know if one if its recommended uses is as a sunburn smoothing whatever, but it sure works well as everyone, and I’ll always have a soft spot in my heart for the bees and it really fixing my little red wagon. This gets the rare “greater than 5” rating because it came through when I really needed it.
Editor’s Notes: This is officially a burn treatment in our house, though you should not use it that way. We initially opened it after I got a freak second degree burn from some hot tea water, though I’d always anticipated taking it to Belize for sunburn use cases. It has an aloe gel texture, so if you just want a fancier aloe gel I’d highly recommend it. It doesn’t cut the mustard for me for a moisturizer but I have started using it as the conductive gel for my Nuface and it works a treat there. (Josiah’s review of my Nuface? “Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. It’s the water torture of skincare.” He hates it. It’s a problem.)

5️⃣ Hyggee Vegan Sun Cream

Product Type: Sunscreen
Rating: 4.5/5
Review: Don’t get me wrong, the first thing I look for in a sunscreen is not being able to feel it almost immediately after application. This one’s a little bit different, but I kind of like it. You can feel the rich smooth creaminess, which is not cloying somehow. But once it’s on, rather than the neutral “just my skin-ness” character that I look for in other sunscreens, like Beet Shield or Isntree, you still feel this wonderful, soft moisturizey goodness, or at least that’s my impression. And I like it. In the summer I’m still going to go for the Isntree, but as the weather’s getting colder and the air’s getting a bit drier, this is definitely finding a place in my routine. It’s held up in some really challenging conditions, and I’m not the most assiduous reapplier.
Editor’s Notes: I initially picked this up for us because we were obsessed with Krave Beauty The Beet Shield and were bereft when it was discontinued. This is, in terms of inci list, pretty close to a dupe, but the texture is indeed quite moisturizing. This had been his BAE sunscreen before I forced him to try the Isntree Watery Sun Gel, which he’s now obsessed with. (Says Josiah: “You get the best fucking sunscreens. I’m not even kidding.”)

6️⃣ OMI Verdio UV Moisture Gel SPF 50+ PA++++

Product Type: Sunscreen
Rating: 4/5
Review: Let me preface this by saying this is going to seem a little unfair. To be honest, I slapped it on and within 5 minutes was in the splash pool in Belize, flopping around in the sun like some sort of beached narwhal. And then I took my shirt off and went snorkeling in warm salt water for, like 2.5 hours. And I did get burned. But I wasn’t like Christopher Lambert in “Fortress 2: Re-Entry” — seriously, give it a watch if you like terrible sci-fi, and it’s a fantastic endorsement of sunscreen. (Basically, for insubordination his punishment to get fried by the sun for a while.) So taken as a whole, bad first experience but fantastic sunscreen — it withstood a lot of misuse, and it’s good to use, and it’s got what I crave: it’s light, it works well, it’s coral-safe, and it’s more cost-effective than some of my more preferred alternatives like Isntree or Beet Shield. Seriously, give it a try.
Editor’s Notes: The price and size on the Omi Verdio Gel is, in and of itself, a reason to try it. It’s bigger than the usual Asian sunscreens, and super inexpensive. This has a ridiculously liquidy texture, so if you don’t like that thick sunscreen texture I would definitely recommend this.