March Hauls

I thought I had a good streak going...2 whole months of beauty no-buys since the new year started! Then a stop to Sephora and a walk through Chinatown, you know just to do some window-shopping, had my hands itching to try some new skincare. Maybe the impulsiveness came from my skin being flaky of late, partially due to the bi-polar weather and partially because of the acne healing process.



All things considered, exfoliating and hydrating have been all I could think about all month long. I do have products that tailor to both concerns already, I couldn't help but look for other approaches. The current routine is doing an okay job. But I feel like I need something slightly more intensive.

The Face Shop's Smile Foot Peeling is still my go-to item for foot care. It works well enough for me to not want to stray to anything else. Even still, my HG can get expensive fast when considering the cost per kit and the number of times my feet need the peeling. Wishtrend's Jungle Botanics Natural Body Glow Nutshell Scrub seemed to get stellar reviews on the interwebs for its body exfoliating capabilities and the company's in-house gurus claimed that it could tackle tough heels in one of their recent videos, I was sold! Now I can only hope it will work against my stubborn soles between feet peeling sessions.

It seems like AHAs and BHAs are making the beauty trend rounds in terms of exfoliators recently. While physical exfoliation used to be the standard for sloughing away dead skin and impurities, chemical exfoliants are supposedly more efficient, deeper penetrating, and most effective, like what the professionals use. I was intrigued by the ingredients because of their promise to make skin smoother and brighter while not being abrasive. I first bought Primary Raw DoYou 2-Step Milk Peeling Kit from Sephora for $6. Since exfoliating is something that should be done on a routine basis and these cotton swab things are one-time use, I searched for a more affordable alternative and found the A'Pieu Aqua Peeling Cotton Swab - Intensive Type from oo35mm for $2.99. Two exfoliations might not be enough to see drastic results with the swabs but maybe it'll show even a little more promising result than if I only had one.

Not to say the AHA and BHA products I bought would leave my skin peeling, but just in case it does, I found myself adding the 23 Years Old C-Tragel Modeling Mask to my basket and heading for the cashier. I definitely am in no shortage of facial masks; the idea of rubber masks is just really intriguing.

Banila Co's Clean It Zero - Purity is the only "necessary" skincare buy of the month. My current cleansing oil is running low and I have been meaning to give the ever so popular Clean It cleansing balms a go. I picked the Purity over the Classic version because it is Mineral Oil and Fragrance-Free. I don't think I have a big sensitivity to either ingredient but it doesn't hurt to play it on the safe side when I am prone to breakouts.