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Clarisonic Mia 2 Review

February 17, 2023January 28, 2019 by Beauty Skeptic

This legacy post has been given a facelift for clarity and readability. Updates have been marked in line. Enjoy! Unfortunately, the Clarisonic Mia 2 is generally not for sale any longer (though I did see a set at Costco recently), but I can confirm that the results I experienced tend to follow several of their other devices. :)

Disclaimer: The following Clarisonic Mia 2 review was written by me and originally published over at the now-defunct Skincare Addiction Blog.

I tend to face ultra-hyped products with a certain degree of skepticism. After all, we’ve all plunked down money for something that just couldn’t live up to the marketing and was too good to be true. That doesn’t mean I am not interested in trying them, but it does mean I take a little more than two-days-worth of convincing before I dub something, “game changing,” or, “holy grail.”

I wanted to try a Clarisonic for a a while but could not bring myself to shell out for it. I had an Olay Pro-X which was a mere fraction of the price, and when it comes right down to it, how many buttons and internet* and whatnot do we really need in our skincare routine? Eventually, the motor in my Pro-X began to falter – even with fresh batteries and a fresh brush head I had to use it longer to achieve the same level of clean that I was accustomed to. I started looking into the Clarisonic Mia 2, as I tossed around the idea of replacing my 2+ year old Pro-X device. To my delight, my now-husband gave me a Clarisonic Mia 2 as a very early Christmas gift last year (so Clarisonic doesn’t know me).

My Skin

I wasn’t seeking a miracle worker in the Clarisonic Mia 2; I neither believe in miracle beauty products nor have any severe skin conditions to contend with. That said, let’s talk about my skin, about which I have few complaints (back in December 2014):

Normal/Oily T-Zone. Cheek dryness during winter
Larger pores throughout T-Zone
A few Hormonal (cycle-related) blemishes around, “that time”
Sebaceous filaments on and just to the area just below and next to my nostrils
Occasional flakiness around nose & odd texture (not dryness) between eyes and across the upper-bridge of my nose
Not sensitive

The Wait

Although I wanted to gush about it right away, I decided to be patient. I know I tire of reading/hearing how life-changing this new-fangled (and often expensive) product or gadget that the reviewer has had for oh, three days. It may be, but some things deserve a greater level of scrutiny (this isn’t drugstore lipstick, after all) before being published.

Considering that a Clarisonic is an investment item for many consumers, I decided to use it for a whole year before talking about it.

First Impressions

Clarisonic Mia 2, unboxed

Read more

Worth it? BS-Mall Brushes

February 17, 2023December 24, 2018 by Beauty Skeptic

BS-Mall Brushes, $13

If you’ve ever shopped for beauty products on Amazon, you’ve probably encountered BS-Mall Brushes. Retailing for around $13 for 14 brushes, this set has over 2,700 reviews that average out to 4.5 stars. There are other sets with lower piece counts at lower prices as well.

Oh, snap.

But if you’ve shopped for brushes before, you know that even a set of inexpensive drugstore brands like Real Techniques, EcoTools, and e.l.f. will run you more than that for 10 brushes unless you get a ‘value’ set that often features lower-quality brushes. The contrast between the price/amount and the quality makes me suspicious – after all, when it seems too good to be true, you’re probably screwed.

So I bit and decided to give them a shot. For $13, I figure at least one of the brushes should be decent. Overall, for less than a dollar a brush, it won’t be a total waste of my time.

The 14 BS-Mall Brushes

The fourteen-piece set I got includes:

Worth It? elf Small Stipple Brush

December 21, 2018 by Beauty Skeptic

This legacy post has been given a facelift! Content and opinions remain the same, but have been edited for clarity. A 2018 Update has been added to the conclusion. Enjoy!

elf Small Stipple Brush, $3

I can’t argue with the price-point of the $3 elf Small Stipple Brush, but how does it perform?

Back in the Day

I owned one of these back in 2013 and attempted to use it for foundation when I was still figuring out how to do facepaint. I ended up having some streaking and coverage issues with foundation application, though and ultimately got rid of it in favor of a flat-top buffer (I have one from Coastal Scents and from Sigma) and my beautyblender.

Interest Renewed

Now that I’m into cream blush, though, I want to explore other application methods. So far, my beautyblender has done beautifully, but exploration is fun, so I picked up another one of these at Target.

Coastal Scents Elite Brush Set – Unboxing and Review

August 15, 2018August 15, 2018 by Beauty Skeptic

This is a legacy post that has been given a facelift. Content has been edited for clarity and readability; additional thoughts are noted in-line. Enjoy!

In late 2013, facing a dearth of brushes and a wedding to pay for, I took advantage of a sale Coastal Scents was running and picked up their Elite Brush set. I’ve been meaning to share since then but lost the unboxing photos I took, so that delayed things.

The Details

This 24 piece synthetic brush kit normally retails for $69.95, but I picked it up during something like 50-60% off – all in all I think I spent around $38, shipped. The package, a bubble mailer, came quickly via USPS (shocker, right?). I did notice that the packaging had a peculiar smell, but the contents were unaffected. Inside was this tidy, cute white box that had been protected further by a generous layer of packing paper.

Coastal Scents Elite Brush Set Unboxing

The Brushroll

Popping open the box to slide out the contents reveals a black brush roll protected further by cellophane…

There isn’t much to look at, but the front cover of the brush roll has, “Coastal Scents,” inset. Simple isn’t a bad thing, I don’t think. Tools don’t need to be loud.

Coastal Scents Elite Brush Set - Brush Roll Thickness

The thickness of the rolled up, occupied brush roll is about an inch, maybe a little more. Considering its contents, it isn’t too bad for travel if you genuinely need an assortment.

Sock Bun Maker / Sock Bun Ring

June 25, 2018 by Beauty Skeptic

This legacy post has been given a facelift! Content and opinions are the same; I still use this product!

Ah, the sock bun – the easy, lazy way of pretending you’re a put-together person on days where you roll out of bed twenty minutes late. (Read: Every day of my life.) Or, even when you get up on time and:

don’t want your hair in your face
don’t want to wear a ponytail
can’t do a french twist and…

For being a lazy fix and something that is trendy, I actually think sock buns are cute. Sky, falling, etc. This sock bun ring is similar to the As Seen on TV Product, “Hot Buns,” but I haven’t tried that specific one.

Sock Bun Maker

My hair does not naturally come into a nice bun. Layers don’t tend to like that nonsense. Even when my hair is a uniform length, I just can’t create a neat bun on my own. I tried to do a sock bun with an actual sock and failed spectacularly. I sought help, but…not too hard. I can’t for the life of me recall what brand this one is, but I can tell you I picked it up at on a whim TJ Maxx for all of $2. Yeah, not a typo, two dollars. I figured it could either be an excellent $2 investment–or, if not, I paid what a vending machine at work charges for an energy drink!

Coping with Hard Water

May 30, 2018 by Beauty Skeptic

HotelSpa Hard Water Filter

Have you ever moved to a new home and found that you skin or hair started behaving totally differently from how you understood them to before? I had that happen when I moved from my home state to my current one and for the longest time I couldn’t fathom why.

I ended up completely changing products for my skin and hair since what I was using before just wasn’t cutting it. Eventually, I figured it out what changed: