Spring Beauty Update: Recent Empties + SkinOwl Review
I’ve been using up a few favorite skincare and beauty products and giving some new products a try, so I figured it’s time for a lil beauty update! I’m usually not one to switch up my routine with the seasons (though maybe I should), but I have been switching up my products in general as I work through a bunch of products I purchased and had stashed away for a while. I got into a bad habit of buying products and then never using them because I was saving them for some special occasion (I do this a lot with clothes, too). Why am I like this?
There’s also a skincare brand that’s new to Boise called SkinOwl, and I dropped by during their soft opening to peek around and ended up leaving with some products. I stopped using everything else for a month so I could properly test them out!
Caveat: I’m not a beauty blogger so take everything I say with a grain of salt, though, LOL. It’s helpful for me to get recommendations from regular people like me so I hope that if you’re the same way that this post is somewhat helpful for you too.
Along with the fact that I don’t really dabble much in beauty and skincare, you may have also gathered that I’m very low maintenance when it comes to beauty, makeup, and skincare in general. I don’t have a morning skincare routine and only use product at night. My problem areas tend to be my forehead and chin (T-zone), and my skin is overall fairly normal (sometimes oilier on my forehead and drier on my cheeks). I break out most often around my period—yay. (Lol.)
Spring Beauty Update
I’ve used up (or am close to using up) a number of skincare products recently, and I've either already purchased more of these same products or they’re sitting in my cart waiting for me to checkout. A couple of these I’ve already purchased multiple times!
FYI: Sephora’s Spring Savings Event starts TODAY for Rouge members (get 20% off now through 4/19). If you’re VIB, you get 15% off from 4/13-4/19, and Insiders receive 10% off from 4/15-4/19. (All you have to do is sign up if you’re not already a member and you’ll get the Insiders discount!)
Some recent beauty empties (or near-empties) that I’m buying or have bought again:
Briogeo Don’t Despair, Repair! Deep Conditioning Hair Mask — I’ve been using this hair mask in lieu of conditioner at least once a week since last fall, and it’s so lovely! I shower at night, let my hair air dry overnight, and by the next morning it’s sooo soft. I already bought another jar as part of the Don’t Despair, Repair! value set which also includes shampoo, conditioner, and hair oil. (Sephora offers the same value set but with a mini deep conditioning hair mask and oil.)
Farmacy Daily Greens Oil-Free Gel Moisturizer — I’m obsessed with this moisturizer. I also mentioned it in my current favorite nighttime routine beauty products, and it’s still a favorite! I love the scent and how my skin looks the morning after using it—dewy and fresh! I’m just about out of this jar but have already purchased my next jar via Poshmark. (I do still have Honey Halo to try, though, too! So much moisturizer, so little time.)
Moroccanoil Hair Treatment — I honestly forgot about this until I was organizing my beauty cabinet the other day. Why did I ever stop using this?! It makes my hair so soft and shiny! I’ve mentioned this product before in previous beauty roundups and I will be repurchasing when it runs out (it’s getting low!). I use the treatment after showering, primarily on my ends. This plus the Briogeo deep conditioning hair mask = heaven. (Though I have the Briogeo hail oil now so maybe I should try that first! Ah!)
The Ordinary Azelaic Acid Suspension 10% — I use this product on breakouts. It’s honestly hard for me to tell if this works; I think my hormonal breakouts are immune to basically every product, but it seems like it reduces puffiness overall, especially if I remember to ice roll breakouts before they appear in addition to using this. I often repurchase this because it’s inexpensive.
SkinOwl Skincare Review
I had never heard of SkinOwl until a photographer I follow on Instagram worked with and shared the brand. The founder recently moved here to Boise and opened up a storefront, and since I love supporting local when I can, I stopped by!
I chatted with Annie, the founder, about my skin issues (hormonal acne, dry winter skin) and she recommended the Pomegranate Enzyme Cleanse and Lavender Drops. She also gave me a sample of Neck after mentioning that my neck is a problem area when it comes to wrinkles (I have “tech neck”, which is the most 21st century phrase ever, lol). Annie said I should notice results after only a few days but I wanted to give it a longer test. I used all three products—and only these products—for the month of March. I’d never done a test like this before!
SkinOwl Pomegranate Enzyme Cleanse — This cleanse was made to clean without drying the skin, which is exactly what you want in a cleanser during the dry winter months. Annie and another employee raved about this product and said it was a fan favorite during the beta test (95% rated it 5 stars!). I love the lather, which makes me feel like I’m really cleaning my skin, but my skin doesn’t feel tight after using it. This is recommended for sensitive and acne-prone skin. The bottle is small, but I only used a very small amount of it; one pump every night for 31 days.
SkinOwl Lavender Drops — Annie recommended this product specifically for my breakouts. Lavender calms acne-prone skin and reduces redness, and even though it’s a facial oil, it’s recommended primarily for sensitive, oily skin. I was told to cleanse and then use this oil, which is used in place of serums and moisturizers. I think I was using a little too much oil now that I look at the site, but I don’t think this did much for my hormonal acne. Like I said above, it’s pretty immune to every product I’ve tried unless I manage to catch it before it reaches the surface. Luckily, it’s usually just a couple of spots here and there. Such is life, I suppose! Even though I may have used too much every night, I also didn’t make a huge dent in the bottle in the month that I used it daily.
SkinOwl Neck — I was most skeptical about Neck, but I actually think I like this product the most out of the three! The product claims to make skin “looks smooth, supple, and quenched, with dark spots & crease marks visibly reduced.” It really does noticeably smooth out neck wrinkles! I was shocked. The price for a full-size bottle is steep but I think I’m going to go for it next time so I can use it a bit more liberally on my neck and décolletage.
