Has my life calmed down? No. Has it stopped raining in Colorado? Also no. Am I managing to make it outside when it’s not? Yes. Am I managing to do my skincare routine more often? Also yes. Because skincare is both a self-maintenance and a self-care endeavor for me, I’ve been trying to make more of an effort lately, so even on days when I’m really not feeling it I manage to squeak in a bit of a routine, even if it’s a pretty low effort one.

Sunscreen

🌸 OMI Menturm Tint Lip Sakura SPF 20 PA++

I really enjoy k-beauty lip sunscreens, but I usually go for Rohto Mentholatum, so the OMI Menturm Tint Lip Sakura SPF 20 PA++ is a new formulation for me. This has a very classic chapstick feeling, with plenty of slip. In addition to being a lip spf, it’s also got a bit of a tint — very specifically, the sort of tint that notionally is activated by the pH of your lips. On me, this makes the clear balm go to a sheer pinky pink, much in line with the color of the tube. Because I tend towards rather red lips naturally, it’s not too noticeable, but your mileage may vary.
Price: $6 USD / 3.5g

😎 Dewytree Urban Shade Cool Calming Sun Stick

It’s summer, and so though I’ve got one sun stick open already (Innisfree), I opened up the Dewytree Urban Shade Cool Calming Sun Stick because more outdoor activities means more random places I need to stash to-go sunscreen. As the name implies, this sunscreen has a lot going on with it. I’m not sure where the Urban Shade is coming in, but there’s definitely some cooling going on here. Indeed, this has strong menthol vibes, without having menthol, as it has both a strong smell and a cooling effect. The calming comes from the niacinamide, aloe, rice bran oil and panthenol, among other ingredients. This is definitely a more oily-feeling sun stick, and though the cooling effect is real, it’s definitely got a vary narrow appeal.
Price: $15 USD / 20g

☀️ Isntree Hyaluronic Acid Watery Sun Gel

You’ve tried the Isntree Hyaluronic Acid Watery Sun Gel. I’ve tried the Isntree Hyaluronic Acid Watery Sun Gel. My husband has tried the Isntree Hyaluronic Acid Watery Sun Gel. Well, this is our new bottle. This is a k-beauty sunscreen made with the modern chemical sunscreen filters, seven types of hyaluronic acid (which actually works in Colorado! huzzah! HA in a sunscreen, somehow, not an issue), and some other delicious ingredients, like ceramide NP, pinus pinaster, cica and heartleaf. Long may it be in production!
Price: $17 USD / 50 mL

💪 Kaine Green Fit Pro Sun SPF 50+ Sunscreen

I received the Kaine Green Fit Pro Sun SPF 50+ Sunscreen through the YesStyle Influencer program in exchange for a review, and this ain’t that review, because that I put on Instagram. I usually wait a fair bit after opening a product to review it, but this one I feel pretty read to pass judgment on. I was very curious about this sunscreen because it’s a hybrid, with both modern chemical filters as well as titanium dioxide. I was hoping, because there was no zinc, that it wouldn’t be drying and that it wouldn’t have a white cast. Well, it’s not drying, but it does have a white cast. It also pills if I have pretty much any skincare underneath it. It functions alright as a body sunscreen, but that white cast becomes pretty evident any place where the skin tends to crease (hello, purple elbows).
Price: $16 USD / 55 mL

Serums

🍹 Beekman 1802 Golden Booster Amla Berry Vitamin C Brightening Serum

I picked up the Beekman 1802 Golden Booster Amla Berry Vitamin C Brightening Serum when it was half-off through Ulta, and I have to say that’s probably the way to buy it. This serum is pretty preciously priced for a vitamin C that’s getting that vitamin C from a fruit extract (amla berry), a plant extract (holy basil) and a derivative (ascorbyl palmitate), and has to be cocktailed with another product to have any amount of slip. In Beekman 1802’s defense, this is explicitly how they recommend using this booster, which is why they call it a booster. I do find it interesting that this also includes carrot root extract and seed oil, as that’s a source of vitamin A — theoretically, if you’re a more sensitive skin type that can use plant extracts and oils, this could be a nice source of both.
Price: $28 USD / 15 mL

🐝 Dr Ceuracle Royal Vita Propolis 33 Ampoule

Long-time readers know that I take a Pokemon approach (gotta catch ’em all!) to propolis serums — gotta catch ’em all! — and one of the last few on my tour is the Dr. Ceuracle Royal Vita Propolis 33 Ampoule. This has 33% propolis extract, as well as royal jelly, though it lacks the honey that would make it round out the “bee trifecta” as I call it. This really focuses on antioxidant support by adding green purslane extract, sea buckthorn fruit extract, niacinamide and other extracts. It’s a rather watery formula, likely because the percentage of propolis is low compared to many of the other serums and ampoules out there. It’s been about a month since I’ve had a propolis serum (though I have been using a propolis sleeping mask most nights) so I’m looking forward to seeing the glow in my skin amp up again.
Price: $48 USD / 30 mL

🌲 iUNIK Noni Light Oil Serum

I got the iUNIK Noni Light Oil Serum in a BOGO Black Friday sale almost two years ago, and so this is my second time opening it. Noni, or morinda citrifolia, is a type of evergreen whose fruit (which, of course, looks like a cone) makes an anti-inflammatory, hydrating extract. This serum isn’t actually an oil, but rather a slightly creamy serum, thanks to the addition of macadamia nut, jojoba seed and olive oils. This has been a nice serum to reintroduce during summer, when I want a bit of extra moisturization and hydration without it feeling too heavy.
Price: $20 USD / 50 mL

💡 Naturium Multi-Bright Tranexamic Acid Treatment 5%

With increased sun comes increased sun damage, so I picked up the Naturium Multi-Bright Tranexamic Acid Treatment 5%. I’ve used tranexamic acid, which is known for its ability to fade dark spots and melasma, before in the Glow Recipe Guava Vitamin C Dark Spot Serum, so I was keen to try it in a more focused formula. This is combined with encapsulated kojic acid, a tyrosinase inhibitor which should help sun damage from forming in the first place, as well as alpha arbutin and acetyl glucosamine. This is an odd, thicker formula, likely because of the inclusion of kaolin, but it layers with no issue. For the time being I’ve mostly been using it in the mornings, or in the evenings after long adventures outside when I don’t want to stress my skin with AHA or retinoids.
Price: $22 USD / 30 mL

😴 UNPA Lacto Cica Locking Serum

I don’t always go in for toner pads, but sometimes life is doing you a big bamboozle, so I ordered the UNPA Lacto Cica Locking Serum ones. I find toner pads really nice for evenings when I’m just not up to cleansing — though it’s no substitute for a good cleanse — or for mornings when I find myself waking up grubbier, like when it’s humid and my house has been upended for weeks at a time. These have a variety of postbiotics, in the form of bifida ferment filtrate and lysate, lactobacillus ferment lystate, lactococcus ferment lysate, and saccharomyces extract, which I always love to see. The cica in this comes from centella leaf extract, as well as madecassoside and asiaticoside. These are generally quite hydrating and calming, and a great shortcut to an easier morning.
Price: $34 USD / 85 pads, or 145g

Moisturizers

🪷 Rovectin Clean Lotus Water Cream

Having dry skin, I’m not usually a water cream person, but I love Rovectin’s line (the toner and sheet mask, anyway) and Colorado’s been so unexpectedly humid for the past month so it seemed worth trying the Rovectin Clean Lotus Water Cream for both AM and PM use. This is a pretty stripped down formula, with lotus flower extract being the main hero ingredient, supported by glycerin, niacinamide, sweet almond oil, panthenol and prebiotics. Given that the sheet mask immediately leaves my skin looking better, and the toner was pretty deeply hydrating, my hopes are high for this moisturizer — but frankly, I still haven’t used it enough to see any particular results beyond moisturization, because I’m still working my way out of the Skincare Struggle Bus.
Price: $20 USD / 60 mL

👑 Stratia Liquid Gold

Stratia Liquid Gold is a cult classic, and I highly recommend it for the person who could use some skin barrier support but doesn’t like the feel of products on their skin — like my husband. He uses it as a moisturizer, both AM and PM (when he remembers to do his routine, of course). I find it a bit lightweight for that, though a few layers of it works as a pinch, but do use it as a ceramide serum when we’re packing light on a trip. This has the skin barrier trifecta of ceramides, cholesterol and fatty acids, as well as antioxidant, skin-loving ingredients like niacinamide and sea buckthorn oil.
Price: $27 USD / 60 mL

Other

½ Naturium Half Step Flash Facial Cleansing Mask

While I enjoy an exfoliant I can use on a regular basis, sometimes my skin just wants an exfoliating mask to really have a good reset, and having tried a bunch of others on the market (Peach & Lily, Versed, Then I Met You … still not The Ordinary, on principle), I wanted to give the Naturium Half Step Flash Facial Cleansing Mask a try. The reason this is a “half step” is that, unlike other exfoliating wash-off masks, this mask is explicitly intended to go between a first and second cleanse, on either wet or dry skin. This is partially a clay mask, so I went with damp skin — those with sensitive skin will want to do dry, because it also includes lactic and glycolic acids. I leave this on for five minutes, as directed, and then rinse off and continue with my second cleanse. I didn’t find the clay (kaolin and bentonite) in this to be drying, in part because five minutes is simply insufficient for them to dry down. I didn’t notice an immediate improvement in skin texture, as happens with some wash-off masks, but I’m excited to use it more.
Price: $20 USD / 62.3 g

🌚 PSA Midnight Courage Rosehip & Bakuchiol Retinoid Night Oil

I picked up the PSA Midnight Courage Rosehip & Bakuchiol Retinoid Night Oil during one of their BOGO sales, because I’m pretty keen on bakuchiol. It, along with rosehip oil, is considered a retinol alternative, and is safe for daily use, even in the morning. There is an actual retinoid in here as well, in the form of hyerodypinacolone retinoate. This is a proper facial oil, with a sunflower seed oil and safflower seed oil base, but the antioxidant power of the vitamin A sources is bumped up by black currant, pomegranate, arctic cranberry and baobob seed oils, as well as ubiquinone (CoQ10). It seems a bit like playdoh, which isn’t ideal, but it doesn’t feel to heavy.
Price: $46 USD / 15 mL

🪄 Magic Molecule The Solution

Did I open a bottle of Magic Molecule The Solution two months ago? Yes. Did I empty one one month? Yes. Did reopen one last month? Also yes. Are there four more bottles out in my mail waiting to be rescued? Also also yes. This is a sprayable hypochlorous acid solution which is a new go-to in our household and is, at some point, likely to not merit mentioning in our household’s skincare openeds and empties anymore simply because it’s such a staple. I spray it on my face as a bit of an anti-acne solution, as well as to pretend I cleansed on lazy days. We also spray it on bug bites and itches.
Price: $25 USD / 100 mL (in two 50 mL bottles)