woooooooo! what a year it has been right? 2016 was the year I focused on skincare the most, after a pregnancy filled with a lot of scares and hormonal imbalances and being an early 30’s adult I figured it was time for me to correct some issues and invest time and coins on quality skin products. A few months ago I tried a mask that was incorrectly recommended by Sephora which burned my face and sent me to the dermatologist. (look previous posts for that). Since then @drunkelephantskincare sent me their products to test and as I was hesitant on trying new things during this particular time of my skin being a catastrophe, I headed into it. HEAD ON.

First things 1st: never switch your skincare drastically, please switch out one or two things at a time to catch any reactions of your skin early. I switched out the night oil first slowly and incorporated the vitamin C and Glycolic night serum on the third day until within 2 weeks I had migrated my entire skincare to the Drunk Elephant line easily and without breakouts or irritation.

Legal disclosure: I got these for free to test but my opinions are my own, I am not affiliated with Drunk Elephant but we are affiliated with Sephora, so if you wish to purchase through THIS LINK, we get a small commission if you do.

 

Drunk Elephant is a cruelty free brand that focused on ph balanced clean products with no dyes or scents catering to sensitive skin while promising clinical results. I took this exerpt from their website which I found mighty interesting:

D.E.’s mission is to deliver clinically-effective, clean skincare formulated with both cutting-edge synthetic and natural ingredients; and without the ubiquitous toxins, sensitizers and irritants, such as the disruptive essential oils, that block the pathway to healthy skin. We pay close attention to pH and toxicity levels, as well as formulating with efficacious percentages of active ingredients. Our goal is to teach the consumer that “natural” doesn’t automatically mean good and that every ingredient should directly and only benefit the health of our skin or the safety of the formulation. We shift the focus off of the consumer’s “sensitive” skin and on to the insensitive marketing ingredients that are responsible for the majority of our skin problems.

Unfortunately, today’s regulations allow companies in both categories to use harmful, toxic ingredients. And while Drunk Elephant aims for its products to be as natural as possible, it is far more important that the ingredients in them be effective and safe for your delicate dermas. Plenty of natural ingredients are oh-so-irritating, so we consistently formulate our cleansers, serums and oils with soothing, low-hazard ingredients — regardless of their natural or synthetic status.

Our product development team obsessively self-regulates and reviews every single precious ingredient to make sure it is the safest, most efficacious and most synergistic with the entire product line, while staying focused on internal and external health. So where does that leave Drunk Elephant? In a category of its own.

Whenever my skin has tried chemical stuff it just reacts badly but I gave this brand a try and I was pleasantly pleased.

Lets divide this into a daytime and a nighttime routine shall we?

Daytime:

I start this whenever I shower, so keep in mind I toggle between showering in the day or late at night in which case I end up doing a night routine instead.

I wash my face with the JUJU BAR as it’s mildly exfoliating, and since I live with dry skin that actually flakes off constantly, this helps by slowly scrubbing that away, it also claims to help reduce pores but Its been a few months and my gigantic pores still rock on, as you can see in the pics I post. I should name them and coddle them with love, maybe that way they’ll leave me finally, as I believe anything you over love leaves! damn that sounded bitter. I think today I’m just mourning the final death of my vine plant because yes: you can also kill air plants and vines that are unkillable if you love them too much… RIP plant, as you have taught me not to be attached to anything too much.

Conclusion: yay for exfoliating, not there yet for pore reduction but I kinda expected that, these pores have been jerks since the beginning of days and my only solution so far is a good setting powder..

I then mix the C Firma Day Serum with the B-Hydra Intensive Hydration Gel  and apply to my face patting all around and into my neck. I started moisturizing my neck for a funny reason: the packaging of these is actually a pretty cool twisty pump that you can graduate how much you want out, but I always get too excited and pump more than what my face would need so i end up applying to my neck, which is what I think they intended to do anyway, as we are supposed to be working on our neck: I AM TALKING TO YOU 30SOMETHING + READER: MOISTURIZE YOUR NECK! WE WILL END UP LIKE TURKEYS OTHERWISE!

When i started these two, my intensely sensitive skin felt a tingle which is why I applied it on and off for the first week until my face accepted the change. Also remember my face was burnt and super cranky, eventually the gel helped the serum feel milder on my skin. It was recommended that I followed with the Umbra SPF 30 but as I work from home and seldom leave the house, I almost never do. I should, as sometimes when I sit on my sunroom I do get a slight tan and vitamin C serums increase photosensitivity. I have tried the umbra and it is very light weight and moisturizing but I love topping my B and C concoction with the LALA whipped cream – this is where it is AT! if you have dry thirsty skin, this lotion is so quenching that I almost don’t need anything else ( I have continued my serums anyway cause I’m testing and because I do see some changes) this helped in the recuperating process of my burnt face and it is not greasy so I can wear it under makeup. I apply then the Shaba Eye Serum  to my eyes, and its cool to note that the applicator looks like a syringe of sorts so you see how much its coming out that way you don’t over pump it. This eye serum is cooling and you can instantly feel the sensation on your eyes, making it a dream come true for insomniacs everywhere. I also use Lippe which is their lip balm, is I think its nice and comforting but its claim of plumping the lips has fallen a bit short since it provides moisture but nothing my regular lip balms don’t do as of now.

Nightime

 

I wanna say that if it wasn’t because of the Marula Oil I wouldn’t be trying the night serum.  I am scared of anything glycolic but since it’s claim of helping  with texture I jumped right in.  Tada! My face didn’t react negatively either. I have yet to see a magic result and it’s been a few weeks, but I do feel my face not as severely dry like it usually is, and we are in the middle of winter and (you’ve seen my snaps) I live in the middle of narnia, it’s prob legal for it to snow in August here.  So it’s dry and mountainlike and my skin has been like meh, I’m cool.  

It’s prob the Marula oil.  This claims to be the highest grade Marula oil and it does feel very rich, it also claims that it helps smoothing out lines but this is a slower process to endure so I guess in a few months we’ll touch base with this and see. I seal everything with a layer of the LALA WHIPPED CREAM cause I feel it helps keeping everything seeping into my skin somehow. 

Overall, I feel this helped my severely irritated skin rebuild, while helping with other culprit issues such as severe dryness and peeling patches. It hasn’t done anything for my pores nor I feel my lines are diminished but it’s prob too early for that. I am mostly pleased by how gentle this is on my skin given my horrible track record with beauty products and how moisturizing overall it’s been. On the upside (that’s actually a bit of a downside for me) this doesn’t have fragrance so it will appeal a large ammount of people who can’t stand skincare competing scents with each other.  I personally miss a bit of s scent as to me my skincare routine had become something of a aromatherapy session at times but I appreciate all the lack of chemicals on this that is prob why my skin accepts it.  

I’m pleased and will repurchase the following: 

LALA whipped

Vita C serum 

Night glycolic serum

Marula Oil. 

Shaba eye serum 
Won’t repurchase and why: 

Hydra b gel: I don’t find it as moisturizing as I need things to be 

Juju Bar: it’s just ok and I rather use an actual exfoliator anyway 

SPF: because I can’t be tamed! I live on the edge! I use glycolic stuff without spf cause then again I don’t see the light of day anyway so meh… please don’t follow my lead, please use spf. I will prob see the error of my ways soon.  

 

Love

Em
Ps: you’re still reading? Sorry for holding you hostage dear reader. Have a happy 2017. 

Edited Lowe case i ‘s. Thank you guys for keeping me honest and please keep the constructive criticism because this is how we learn.  Just kidding, we’re on the way to your house w some bats to take care of biz lol. Keeeddeeeennnnnnnn!!!!!!!!!