A post with empties, relatively on time? Well clutch my pearls and say it ain’t so. Openeds were last week, with August and July combined. These, being empties, will have my rating out of 10 on how they did for me and my dry skin.

Toner/Essence

🍃 Barr Centella Calming Ampoule Toner

I honestly had forgotten all about the Barr Centella Calming Ampoule Toner, when I went to write these reviews. I’ve tried the essence and the moisturizer from this line, as well, and I would say this is probably the least impactful of the line. Like those products, this has centella, panthenol, ceramide NP, heart leaf extract and jojoba seed oil. Unfortunately, one of the big things I look for in a toner is hydration, and this really didn’t feel particularly hydrating. In fairness, it also didn’t feel stripping or drying. I didn’t notice any particular calming, but I could see this being an interesting addition to those fighting acne, as the willow bark extract along with calming good be good for that skin concern. Overall pretty missable, though.
Opened: April
Price: $22 USD / 200 mL
Rating: 7/10

🍶 Cosrx Galactomyces 95 Tone Balancing Essence

I love Cosrx, and I love galactomyces, and so even though the Cosrx Galactomyces 95 Tone Balancing Essence isn’t a First Treatment Essence, I had reasonable high hopes. Well, I was disappointed. We can move past the fact that it is not a First Treatment Essence, and so rather than a light watery texture it had a more classic, goopy essence texture. That, after all, should be evident with the name. But as someone who really appreciates the benefits of galactomyces in that sort of format, I was surprised to find myself not really getting them at all in the essence format. Suffice it to say: not a dupe either in form or in function of my beloved Missha. This essence dries down rather sticky and feels a bit drying. I also didn’t find that it had any brightening or pore control effects, though perhaps that’s again a mismatch of expectations, as I find first treatment essences to have quite a lot.
Opened: April
Price: $24 USD / 150 mL
Rating: 4/10

Gels

🌵 Isntree Aloe Soothing Gel – Moisture Type

I picked up the Isntree Aloe Soothing Gel before their redesign, to use as a gel with my NuFace. This comes in two types, moisture and fresh. The fresh one is basically 100% aloe, but this one is 80% aloe with centella, green tea, and licorice root extracts, polyglutamic acid and hyaluronic acid, which is why I decided to go for it. It does indeed work well as a NuFace gel. The big problem with this one is that it is extremely hard to dispense because the plastic tube is oddly hard. It is possible that this has been fixed with the redesign, but it’s pretty annoying — I ended up taking off the lid, most times. Said irritation made me long to be through it sooner, and so because it’s such an enormous tube, I also just used it as an extra layer of hydration under my moisturizer, and by the end I used it as body care in addition. (Came in clutch when I burned the top of my knees while mountain biking, I’ll give it that.)
Opened: April
Price: $14 USD / 150 mL
Rating: 8/10

👁 Clinique Moisture Surge Eye 96-Hour Hydro-Filler Concentrate

I’m not very into eye products, as a rule, but the Clinique Moisture Surge Eye 96-Hour Hydro-Filler Concentrate is definitely the sort of product that could get me into them. This pink gel contains encapsulated antioxidants that burst on the skin during application, so when I remembered to use it, it was certainly fun. With long-term use, green tea leaf extract, algae extract, caffeine and niacinamide would certainly help with dark circles, and niacinamide, cholesterol and peptides acetyl hexapeptide-8 and palmitoyl hexapeptide-12 would help support the skin of the area. Hard to really know with such a short period of use, though.
Opened: April
Price: $37 USD / 15 mL; shown in a sample size
Rating: 9/10

Sunscreen

😎 SkinCeuticals Sheer Physical UV Defense SPF 50

You know when you see someone else use a product and it works out great, so you buy it and it doesn’t for you? Well, that’s SkinCeuticals Sheer Physical UV Defense SPF 50. We bought it from our day spa, and when they put it on you after your facial, you’re like “wow, that’s a nice tone up effect.” But after a few hours, even then you notice the white cast at the edge of your hair line, and the moment you try to apply it yourself, BOOM. Sufficient buffing does remove the white cast on our skin, anyway, but get it near a beard or a hair line and it’s back to a mess. We ended up downgrading this to a body sunscreen, where the white cast and drying from the zinc oxide (the “physical” of the “sheer physical”) was less noticeable. The “sheer” likely comes from this being quite liquidy, which did make application a bit easier. Still, we just barely managed to finish it before it expired.
Opened: July ’22
Price: $36 USD / 50 mL
Rating: 4/10

☀️ Hyggee Vegan Sun Cream SPF 50+ PA++++

This is now the second tube of Hyggee Vegan Sun Cream that I’ve emptied. It’s a moisturizing texture that uses modern chemical filters and thus can hit SPF 50+ PA+++. Previously, it was my winter sunscreen, but I found that with my dry skin, it worked well in the summer on days when I wasn’t feeling an AM moisturizer, or just wanted a gel underneath. This has some additional antioxidants in it, like beet root and green algae extracts, which make it a nice pick for times with a lot of sun exposure. Despite being moisturizing, it feels very light on the skin, so my husband and I bomb through this.
Opened: July
Price: $17 USD / 50 mL
Rating: 10/10

Other

🍵 Barr Super Balance Brightening Ampoule

I got the Barr Super Balance Brightening Ampoule as a gift with purchase from the other Barr products I’ve picked up, and I’ll level with you that normally I wouldn’t have gone for it. This is notionally brightening, because of the 81% green tea water and niacinamide, but this functions and feels more like a hyaluronic acid serum — which makes sense, given it’s got seven weights of it. I will own that it worked out well for me when I first opened it, as we had a tremendously damp spring, but as Colorado went back to its old desert tricks, I found myself needing to mist a lot before and after to feel like there was enough water around for the hyaluronic acid to do its work with. It was nice to have something with so much green tea for when I used my LED mask, though.
Opened: May
Price: $21 USD / 50 mL
Rating: 7/10

🪄 Magic Molecule The Solution

Magic Molecule The Solution is officially enough of a staple in our household that this will be the last (non-10/10 round-up) post that I include it in, because I don’t want to just spam you all with it. Heck, we have two bottles of it open at the moment, one downstairs and one upstairs. This is a sprayable hypochlorous acid solution that we love for bug bites, and I use additionally for rashes and on days when my skin is thinking about misbehaving.
Opened: June
Price: $25 USD / 100 mL (in two 50 mL bottles)
Rating: 10/10