It feels like I was back to my old tricks in April, with over 10 empties. You would think that would mean a complete routine overhaul, but my routine is so long that you would be wrong. That said, while I spent April focusing on getting back into skincare (sometimes work wears me down, and phone it in a bit), I also didn’t do all my steps all the time — instead, I made a point of mixing and matching to suit how my skin and I were feeling on any given morning or evening.

Also — I hope you like the borderdoodle bottom photobomb. I had a whole two products placed before Kirsten decided the banging of roofers stressed her out too much and she flopped down and would not be budged.

Toners and Essences

🍶 Scinic First Treatment Essence

The Scinic First Treatment Essence concludes my tour of the SK-II dupes (outside of Cosrx which, spoiler alert, very much not a dupe). I swear by first treatment essences (specifically with galactomyces) for hydration, pore-size reduction, and just general brightening. They’re a can’t-miss for me. The Scinic didn’t quite add up to what I love in a galactomyces first treatment essence, unfortunately — I feel like I bombed through this in part because I needed two layers to really get that hydration. Good thing that it’s really the cheapest dupe option out there. I also didn’t notice as much pore management from this. Could be that I’m 35 now, could be the product, but I’m going to go back to my tried-and-true Missha, which thankfully runs frequent sales.
Opened: February
Price: $20 USD / 150 mL
Rating: 7/10

🍄 Chasin’ Rabbits Magic Beauty Shroom

Call me a sucker for marketing, because I couldn’t not try the Chasin’ Rabbits Magic Beauty Shroom. The shroom in here is not the traditionally magical kind (IYKYK), but rather tremella, aka snow fungus, which is really having its moment due to its hydrating and antioxidant properties. I used this as a toner (it would function as an essence, too), layers up well, though there’s enough body to it you likely wouldn’t want to use it as your only toner for the seven skins method. My skin definitely felt hydrated with it, though it was not as deeply hydrating as some of the other toners I love. I’d give it that final, extra point if it had that deeply hydrating feeling — which honestly might be a function of its texture more than anything else.
Opened: January
Price: $25 USD / 200 mL
Rating: 9/10

🐌 Cosrx Advanced Snail 96 Mucin Power Essence

The Cosrx Advanced Snail 96 Mucin Power Essence is a lot of folks’ holy grail, and an introduction for many to the joys of snail. Snail is a great hydrating, skin soothing and wound healing ingredient (if you’re not allergic to it), and this essence is one of the cheapest ways to get it into your skincare routine. I found that this took three pumps to cover face, neck and chest, and while it did have some snail stringiness, it wasn’t as bad as, say, the Cosrx Advanced Snail All-In-One Cream. While I don’t mind the stringiness one way or the other, I will say that, much like the shroom, this might be one where I found it to be less hydrating than the Peach Slices Snail Rescue Blemish Busting Toner, which I do find to be quite hydrating. Otherwise, I did indeed see all the classic benefits of snail with it, like faster healing on blemishes, and keeping my skin more protected against the barrage of winter.
Opened: December
Price: $25 USD / 100 mL
Rating: 9/10

Serums

💧 Vichy Mineral 89 Prebiotic Face Serum

I’ve been sleeping on Vichy for a while, despite the insistence of the Skincare Fanatics Modmins team, but I finally took the plunge into their product line with the Mineral 89 Prebiotic Face Serum. Vichy is known for its thermal water, which has high concentrations of 15 different minerals that are good for the skin. In addition, this has niacinamide and postbiotics (but I guess they decided prebioitics sounded more fun). This has a nice milkiness, and didn’t give me the feeling of dryness I sometimes get with hyaluronic acid serums, nor add any tackiness or weight, so it was usable AM and PM.
Opened: February
Price: $35 USD / 30 mL
Rating: 9/10

🍃 Barr Centella Calming Gel Essence

The Barr Centella Calming Gel Essence is an essence in that it has a lot of centella, but it’s very much a gel serum — to the point that when there was 1/4 left, it was hard to dispense with the pump, and I had to flip the bottle upside down and tap it out. This has 85% cica leaf water and extract, with additional bioactive compounds madecassoside and asiaticoside. In addition, this has panthenol, ceramide NP and heartleaf extract. I was hoping this would be more hydrating, but it really wasn’t, which shouldn’t be a surprise given the willow bark extract. That said, this isn’t stripping, and I suspect that acne-prone skin types in search of some daily calming would really enjoy this. As it was, it didn’t do anything noticeable for my skin one way or the other.
Opened: February
Price: $18 USD / 60 mL
Rating: 7/10

🐝 Skinfood Royal Honey Propolis Enrich Essence

This is my second time emptying the Skinfood Royal Honey Propolis Enrich Essence — another essence that’s actually a serum. This has what I call the “bee trifecta” of royal jelly, honey and propolis. This makes it moisturizing, healing and glow-inducing, which are all things I am here for in my skincare routines. Additional nice-to-haves here are the beta glucan and sodium hyaluronate for hydration, and lactobacillus and saccharomyces for skin barrier goodness. I pearl clutch a bit every time at the price, since I’m usually a $30 per serum person, but given that this is 50 mL and it’s one of the more available propolis serums in the U.S. (the other one being Cosrx’s ampoule, which is also available at Ulta), it’s a great option for people of any skin type.
Opened: February
Price: $39 USD / 50 mL
Rating: 10/10

Last Steps

🍉 Glow Recipe Watermelon Glow Sleeping Mask

The Glow Recipe Watermelon Glow Sleeping Mask is one of those sleeping masks that is definitely intended to use over a moisturizer. It has a lightweight gel texture that goes on in a nice, thin layer that seems to disappear … until the morning, when it’ll make your AM layer pill unless you give it a good rinse off, at which point it seems to suck in all the water and become positively thick. Every time I forgot to rinse in the morning, I regretted it. I’m not sure if this was resolved in the reformulation/rename to its new Watermelon Glow AHA Night Treatment status. Given that this has lactic acid and glycolic acid, and should not be considered a replacement for a moisturizer, I support its rename, generally — though I will note that it doesn’t seem as exfoliating as you might think, and in my experience was fine for daily use, even layered over retinal or another exfoliant. If you’ve tried this version and the new one, I’d be interesting in hearing what you think!
Opened: January
Price: $40 USD / 60 mL; shown in a 30 mL travel size
Rating: 8/10

🔵 Village 11 Factory Ultra Facial Cream

I keep seeing Village 11 around, but didn’t try it till the the Village 11 Factory Ultra Facial Cream was an option through the YesStyle influencer Program in exchange for a review (this is not that review). This one definitely got me excited because of its ingredient list: laminaria japonica extract, the hero ingredient, is a type of brown algae shown to give great antioxidant, anti-aging and moisturizing benefits; it also has tranexamic acid and licorice root extract for brightening, green tea and milk thistle (aka silymarin) extracts for additional antioxidant support, and centella and heartleaf extracts for calming. I found that more than a dab of this wound up being too much, despite its lightweight nature. It leaves a bit of an emollient, dimethicone feel on the skin, so it’s likely great for makeup wearers. The price on it is also impressive, and it lasted me a good while. I didn’t notice any particular changes on my skin, other than the improved skin texture while wearing. I honestly felt bored with it after a while, though — or maybe just constantly picking dog hair out of the big tub got old.
Opened: January
Price: $16 USD / 100 mL
Rating: 8/10

☀️ OMI Verdio UV Moisture Essence SPF 50+ PA++++

The OMI Verdio UV Moisture Essence SPF 50+ PA++++ has, sadly, been discontinued — a common problem with j-beauty and k-beauty brands is they care so much about delivering the best product they can, with regards to sunscreen, that they seem to reformulate frequently. It’s a crying shame about this one, however, because I hear that the new version isn’t nearly as good for dry skin. This is a j-beauty sunscreen that uses modern chemical filters to get the coverage listed, and while this isn’t water-resistant, I’ve never had an issue with it. Even better, my husband enjoys using it — that’s why it was open for so long. I hear the new gel is great for oily skin, though, and still reasonably priced, so definitely try out the brand if you haven’t yet.
Opened: October
Price: $11 USD / 50 g — discontinued
Rating: 10/10

Other

🍑 Peach & Lily Power Calm Hydrating Gel Cleanser

Don’t be deceived by how long it took me to empty the Peach & Lily Power Calm Hydrating Gel Cleanser travel size, since I definitely used it in its travel capacity. That said, the full-size was one of my first cleansers after getting Seriously Into Skincare, and it did legitimately last me forever. This is one that would make a great AM cleanser for folks who do that, assuming you use the usual pea size amount. For evening, you definitely need to apply with more aplomb, as it can leave some residue afterwards (I would recommend using it as a second step in a double cleanse, though). Beyond its gentleness, there’s not much to say about this cleanser. It doesn’t strip, but it also doesn’t leave any lasting calm or hydration on the skin, except perhaps if your skin is so angry and so dehydrated that any hint of product will do so.
Opened: September
Price: $28 USD / 100 mL; shown in a travel size
Rating: 8/10

👁 Hydrafacial Eye Replenishing Serum

I occasionally indulge in Hydrafacials, and if you get the eye perk you’ll get the Hydrafacial Eye Replenishing Serum after. This is essentially like a toner for the eyes, with oat kernel, mushroom and arnica extracts, as well as hyaluronic acid. I’ll admit I didn’t notice a difference when using this, though I will say that rollerballs for eye skincare are definitely deserving of their hype — what a nice way to apply, and it feels like it’s depuffing even if it might not actually be doing so.
Opened: January
Price: N/A
Rating: 5/10