Beauty Bag: Mary Kay's Botanical Effects
Posted by Anonymous on Wednesday, November 14, 2012. Filed under: Beauty Bag
I cannot believe that next week is already Thanksgiving. Where is the last part of 2012 going? I normally volunteer to work on Thanksgiving, but since I'm out on medical leave this is the first Thanksgiving since 2007 that I'm not going to be working. Sounds like I'm going to be having a nice relaxing day with my sister-in-law and my niece, then heading out to the early Wal-Mart sales with my mom to kick of our 5th Annual Black Friday Shopping Extravaganza. WooHoo!!
Anyway, I've decided that I want to add a segment to my blog about what's in my beauty bag. I've got super sensitive, oily/combination skin and I have serious issues picking out skin care and makeup that doesn't cause my skin to break out or totally dry it out, or makeup that actually lasts on my face for more than an hour and doesn't end up some giant puddle on my face that makes me resemble some grotesque-looking clown from a bad horror movie.
Obviously, the first step to good skin is a good skincare line, and man, I tried everything I could get my hands on. I tried all of the obvious drug-store brands: Noxzema, Neutrogena, Clearasil, Cetaphil, and Clean and Clear, just to name a few. Most of them over-dried my skin, leaving me with that uncomfortable feeling that my skin was shrinking and too small for my face. Then it dried and flaked and just turned everything in to a hot mess. Noxzema and Cetaphil were nice and gentle and didn't overdry, but they didn't help with my acne, either. I tried Proactiv, and I don't even want to talk about the dry flaky mess that my face became after two weeks on that. Talk about nasty -- and PAINFUL!! Even trying to put unscented moisturizer on to my face to correct the dryness caused me to cry because my skin was so dry it hurt to put anything on it. I tried Clinique, and didn't see any results. I went on Differin, which was fine in the summer but when my skin got drier in the winter the Differin was too strong. So, for those keeping score at home, that's at least 9 different skin care options tried and rejected.
Enter Mary Kay's Botanical Effects Line:
I always swore that I would never be a Mary Kay person. I always thought it was overpriced and overrated. Enter my friend Clarissa, who about a year after I met her decided to take the plunge and become an Independent Beauty Consultant. She was very patient with me, and listened to me rant and rave over my failed skin care routine for over a year and a half before she finally broke down and said, "Listen. I know how you feel about MK. But here, I have these samples of this new line of skin care from Mary Kay that's specifically designed for people with sensitive skin. Try the samples, and if you don't like it, I won't say anything else about it."
I was running low on my current skin care product (I think I was back on the Differin right around that time) so I agreed, fully expecting to text her and say, "Yep. I was right. Not for me."
The first step in the Botanical Effects line is the Cleanse step.
Step two is called Freshen:
It's much like a toner. You spray it on to a cotton pad or cotton ball and wipe it on to your face (always going upwards ladies!) and it removes and excess residue and also helps minimize the appearance of pores, which is pretty crucial for me.
Step three is the oh-so-crucial Hydrate step:
This moisturizer is sooooo lightweight and fresh feeling; I love it. It doesn't feel greasy or overwhelming or clog my pores. My forehead is my "greasiest" part, so I only moisturize that every other day, but I'm super conscientious about making sure to dab on some in the under eye area and cheeks for sure every day since those are my areas that are tend to get driest. Plus, who doesn't want to make sure their under-eye area is well hydrated and doesn't get any lines or bags or any of that not-so-fun stuff?
You'll notice the number 3 on all of my bottles. I use Formula 3 which is for Combination/Oily Skin. Formula 1 is available for Dry Skin, and Formula 2 is available for Normal Skin, so Mary Kay made sure that this amazing skin care line is available for everyone. So here you have it, my favorite skin care line after a decade of experimentation. Another great part is that it's really affordable. It's comparable priced to many department store skin care lines, but lasts much longer than those bottles do because you only need a tiny little bit of each product every day.
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| You'll notice that I didn't review one of the products from the original picture. That one is so amazing, it's going to get it's own special post. I loooooooooooooooove it! |
And then I had to tell Clarissa that she was right and I was wrong. Which was painful. I dislike being wrong. But for a good skin care line, I'll suck it up.
If you want to learn more about this product line, please visit this Botanical Effects Product Page.
**P.S. - The link I included does link to my friend's page. She does make money off of purchases from her site, but I do not. Any opinions are my own.**
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