August Opened Reviews

I am so excited to be back in Colorado right now — but I spent most of my August in the humid climes of Tulsa, Oklahoma. My skincare routine definitely shifted while in Oklahoma, mostly because my entire life routine shifted a lot. Thankfully my skin’s generally been doing pretty well, though the heat and humidity made my mustache melasma flair a bit. Hopefully these products help! Products listed in notional routine order.

🐝 Some By Mi Propolis B5 Glow Barrier Calming Mask

If you, like me, love wash-off masks and propolis, the Some By Mi Propolis B5 Glow Barrier Calming Mask feels like a no-brainer. The propolis serum in the same line is one of my favorites. This has 56% propolis extract, plus honey extract, royal jelly extract, panthenol and a variety of cica compounds. It’s a lightweight jelly mask, making it super easy to apply, but it does dry down quickly. Luckily it’s not drying when it does so, so this can still qualify as a hydrating and moisturizing mask — but maybe not as good for forgetting it’s on your face, like the I’m From Honey mask, which this could arguably be trying to dupe.
Price: $23 USD / 100 g

🍶 Secret Key Starting Treatment Essence

Nearly completing my exercise of trying all the SK-II dupes, I’ve finally tried the Secret Key Starting Treatment Essence. This is the least galactomyces ferment filtrate-heavy of the first essences I’ve tried, but it includes a bunch of other goodies: arbutin, aloe juice, cica extract, green tea extract and more. I use two layers AM and PM, before any other leave-on skincare. So far my pores appear to be in the same state as when I was using SK-II — but we’ll see how things shift over time.
Price: $22 USD / 155 mL

🍃 Mary & May CICA Soothing Sun Cream SPF50+ PA++++

Mary & May is a relatively new k-beauty brand, and the CICA Soothing Sun Cream SPF50+ PA++++ is, to my knowledge, their first contribution to the sunscreen scene. As a k-beauty sunscreen, this uses modern sunscreen filters like Uvinul A Plus, Uvinul T 150, Tinosorb M and MBBT. It also includes six different centella asiatica compounds (ergo that CICA in the name), plus saccharomyces ferment and a bit of fragrance for masking purposes. This has that classically lovely k-beauty sunscreen finish, without being too dewy, and the fragrance isn’t noticeable.
Price: $20 USD / 50 mL

💜 By Wishtrend Vitamin A-mazing Bakuchiol Night Cream

K-beauty seems to have gone straight from “no retinoids but retinyl palmitate” straight past retinol to “hello retinal”, and the By Wishtrend Vitamin A-mazing Bakuchiol Night Cream is a great example of doing it right. Retinal (yes, with an A) is stronger than retinol, and can be a lot more irritating accordingly. This retinal combines with bakuchiol in a cream formula — though not so creamy as to be a stand-alone night cream, in my opinion. This cream base, which includes macademia oil, niacinamide, beta glucan, cica, ceramide NP and palmitoyl triipeptide-8, offsets the irritation, or at least has, for me, so far. As always I recommend easing into using, even if this might be one of the most beginner-friendly retinals out there.
Price: $33 USD / 30 g

🌻 Aromatica Comforting Calendula Decoction Juicy Cream

I got the Aromatica Comforting Calendula Decoction Juicy Cream through the YesStyle Influencer program in exchange for a review — this is not that review. The star ingredient of this cream is calendula extract at 48% calendula, which is widely used for its skin-soothing abilities in k-beauty. In addition, this has aloe extract, shea butter, coconut oil and ceramide NP to make it “juicy”. It definitely feels lightweight upon application, so I can see why Aromatica recommends it for face or body — the size makes it good for a “downgrade” to the body to help with eczema and irritation, as well, without feeling bad. I had hoped to use this as a day cream but I do find that it can be a bit greasy. As such, it now lives on the bedside table, so I can pop it on my cheeks before bed if they’re feeling irritated, or apply straight to my stomach which can feel dry and tight after a night of freestyle tummy-sleeping.
Price: $37 USD / 150 mL

💄 I Dew Care Plush Party Buttery Vitamin C Lip Mask

I usually go to I Dew Care for their masks — so the whole reason the Plush Party Buttery Vitamin C Lip Mask is even in my collection was because last Black Friday it was the cheapest way to get a full-size Matcha Mood Mask from them through YesStyle. This is arguably I Dew Care’s response to Laneige’s cult classic lip sleeping mask. This combines a variety of waxes, butters and oils for an experience that’s actually fairly similar. There is a bit of ascorbyl glucoside in here, as the name suggests, though it’s not clear if there’s enough to actually deliver a skincare benefit. I had been wondering at first if this was actually drying out my lips — then I realized it just couldn’t stand up to the incredibly chapped lips I got when being sick.
Price: $16 USD / 12 g

👄 Aquaphor Lip Repair

An oldie but a goodie, Aquaphor Lip Repair is usually always on rotation in my life. When I got sick in August, it came in clutch to help my chapped lips but also my chapped nose — no reason not to put this on any extremely dry, irritated area, in my book, though if going for a full slugging experience I’d recommend not going with the lip formulation.
Price: $5 USD / 10 mL