Olay Fresh Effects System Review

Ola beauty lovers, I wanted to let you all know my thoughts on the Olay Fresh Effects cleansing system that I have seen out in stores for a while now. I hope you all are ready for the holidays, I know I am. I plan on doing some more blog posts and a couple videos as well so keep an eye out over the next few days.

Anyways, I passed this fresh effects system in the store plenty of times and I was curious to see how great it was. The set comes with the shine minimizer cleanser, a battery operated brush to "exfoliate" which the bristles are made of a thick rubber, and a large size of the exfoliating cleanser. All this was around $17.99 on sale! Retail regular price was around $24.99. A little bit pricey for my liking.

So I tried out the shine minimizer cleanser, and it spooked me out a bit at first because when you squeeze it out of the tube it looks silver grey. I was so afraid to put that on my face. Now if it was a gold then I would have no issues placing it on my face, who would? :)

I did apply it to the brush gadget that it came with and used it with the brush but I was not too thrilled of the brush it comes with. I don't feel like its cleansing my skin at all, it feels as if the brush is just moving around the cleanser without lifting the dirt out of your pores.

Now I know comparing that brush to the Clarisonic is a no brainer. Clarisonic wins hands down. However, this little set would be perfect for those tween and teenagers who don't want to spend the extra money or can't afford to spend the money on a Clarisonic. As for mature skin, this cleanser brush does not cut it.

As for the actual pore cleanser it self, it is fairly decent. I must say using the pore minimizer without the rubber brush gadget was pleasant, or even using the cleanser with your Clarisonic is great too.

The exfoliating cleanser on the other hand was a disappointment. When I see "exfoliate" in the name of a product/cleanser, I would expect that means there are decent exfoliating beads in the cleanser to exfoliate the skin. My favorite face exfoliate is the St.Ives Apricot scrub. The exfoliation in that cleanser is amazing and affordable. This "exfoliating" cleanser however wasn't exfoliating at all. The cleanser is a creamy consistency with no exfoliating beads or scrubs ingredients that I could feel when I apply it to my face. Basically it just felt like a normal cleanser. So as  an exfoliating cleanser it sucked, BUT as a regular cleanser it was good. Did the job to remove the dirt after I took off the majority of my make up with a wipe.

I have to say for $24.99 retail price, I think is a little steep for these products. They did not wow me any differently then an average facial cleanser. The rubber brush is useless to me, I mean you can attempt to use it on your body instead of the face but there is not much to it really. The bristles are too thick and doesn't really get into your pores to remove all the left over dirt.

Would I repurchase these items? Nope. I love better and more affordable cleansers out there that I know I will be much happier with for my mature skin. However this kit would be a great starter for a tween and teenager who is just starting out on taking care of their skin and doesn't wear as much make up.


Until next time beauty lovers! <3
MacGirl25
Happy Holidays!

The Clarisonic Diaries: Nov 23 2013

Ola Beauty Lovers, so I have decided to start a new series of posts about my journey with the one and only Clarisonic. There are so many mixed reviews and opinions on this product that I thought this way would be different for all my readers to see what the process is when introducing a new skin care product to your body.

So I have been using the clarisonic now for about two weeks. I was so excited to get this baby in the mail. I was hesitant to try it for the longest time but one day I got fed up with how my hormonal acne was acting, so I said F**** it lets just try it out. So I bit the bullet and bought this sucker.

As soon as I got it I ripped it open and started reading the instructions. It explains how to take care of it, how to charge it, how the battery buzzes when it is half charged or fully charged etc.

Before I started using this "tool" if you want to call it that, my face was doing OK, not great because I would have acne pop up here and there but it wasn't strikingly brutal. Plus I had heard that this sonic technology is suppose to be great for your skin....once you get over the first few weeks of bad break outs. Although I have heard some people did not experience break outs at all. Anyways this series is going to be my experience with the famous Clarisonic Mia.

With in the first week I noticed that my breakouts on my jaw line and chin were enhanced times five. By this second week, my breakouts in the same spots were enhanced times ten! Now I knew before starting this journey a lot people said that the first month will be your skin purging all the inpurities out of your skin when using this tool. So I mentally prepaired myself....sort of.

Two weeks in and my chin breakouts (which is where I usually get my bad acne) are looking like they came to party on my face and want to stay there! I am mortified. I know I should not pick at them but sometimes it gets difficult especially when you get all anxious and nervous. That is the worst time!

I don't use the clarisonic every day. After a long period of researching and checking out other peoples experiences/reviews, I decided to use this tool every other day or every third day instead of every day. I did not want to butcher my skin that much.

For those of you who do not know what the Clarisonic is (if you really don't know then your living under a rock) it's a  special, expensive tool that is suppose to work as an exfoliant/cleansing system to ensure you get rid of all the dirt and oil off your skin when you wash your face. It can also be used for your body too, but I just want to use it for the face.  

The kit that I purchased comes with the clarisonic mia, a sensitive brush, and a deluxe sample size of the Clarisonic facial cleanser. Retail cost for this kit is $135. So yes this kit is a bit pricey but I figured this device should last me a long time and should be worth it in the long run.

I guess we will see how this product will change my skin, hopefully for the better. This is going to be an interesting journey, sit tight for a rollar coaster ride my friends.

Until next time beauty lovers
MacGirl25