A Reluctant Review: Paula's Choice BHA Exfoliant

In last week's post Skincare SOS: My Recovery Routine When I've Been Bad, I mentioned I've been using the Paula's Choice Resist Daily Pore-Refining Treatment With 2% BHA to help undo the results of neglecting my skin.  While most of my Skincare Wardrobe is comprised of Korean beauty products and cosmetics from Asia, I can't deny that western skincare is still in the lead when it comes to acids.  Specifically, acid exfoliants, chemical peels, and prescription-strength "bring your skin to Snesus" topicals like azelaic acid and retinol.

Studies courtesy of my research frenzy for Cosrx BHA Power Liquid Exfoliant Review & My Descent Into BHA Research Madness

However, with a name like "Paula's Choice Resist Daily Pore-Refining Treatment With 2% BHA", you would think it was a K-Beauty product, right next to other "ridiculously long product name" titleholders like the "Missha Time Revolution Night Repair Science Activator Borabit Ampoule" and ... well, too many others to list.  Interestingly, Paula's Choice does make Asia-exclusive versions of their products, but this isn't one of them.

In this post:

• Product details
• Ingredients & how to apply
• How I was lured away from my usual BHA
• The good and the bad

 I'm somewhat reluctantly reviewing this product, because I'm not a big fan of the company, but dodgy science demos and flip-flopping shade parades aside, they make some gooood acids.

Cosrx BHA Power Liquid Exfoliant Review & My Descent Into BHA Research Madness

This has been a difficult post.  It was supposed to be merely a review of the Cosrx BHA Blackhead Power Liquid with a delicious little snack science on the side, like I did in Milky Dress Vita C+ Powder Review & It's Time to Get Nerdy About Vitamin C. Fun, crisp, & fluffy, with a satisfying aftertaste.

Unfortunately, this was not to be; I've spent days hunting down studies, tracking the muddled pawprints of sources in roving bands of reference herds, stalking my prey through stacks of marginally related papers, and all I've managed to uncover is some seedy research practices and what appears to be a multi-decade ongoing game of academic telephone.

Thankfully, there's more to products than just their INCI profile, and having gone through a good four or so empties of the Cosrx BHA Blackhead Power Liquid, a daily BHA (beta hydroxy acid) chemical exfoliant, I feel confident in discussing my personal experiences with this product even if the exact details of its scientific pedigree remains murky.

Emptying a bottle and cracking into a fresh one is so satisfying!

Ultimately, reviews are (or should be) our thoughts on products that we've used, and I've certainly used this enough, by both time and volume, to be ready to review it; I just never did so as there's already excellent reviews of this product out there, such as fellow Snailcast podcaster Fifty Shades of Snail, and Sheryll of The Wanderlust Project.  However, I was keen to do another review-with-a-slice-of-science post, since I enjoyed the last one so much, so I decided to take advantage of our household's as-yet-unexpired university library subscription and hit the research papers.  I sort of regret that, but we'll plumb those depths of despair later.

In this post:

• Why chemical exfoliants are swoon-worthy
• Product details
• Ingredients & short review
• A research overview on the benefits of BHA and salicylic acid
• BHAs don't do what we think they do
• Why use BHA at all?
• Photoprotection, not photosensitivity
• Does it work on acne?

• Final thoughts

I'm going to keep the review portion short and sweet, so I can focus on the results of my research efforts; this way you can bail out of the rabbit hole if you're not into descending into nerdy madness.

Milky Dress Vita C+ Powder Review & It's Time to Get Nerdy About Vitamin C

I'm a fan of acid.  For someone who used to view chemical exfoliants with fear and distrust, I've certainly done a complete about-face on the subject; if I was at a cosmetics convention and you slid up to me whispering "Pssst hey Snow, I've got a new form of BHA derived from a kind of tree in northern steppes of Europe, and it's got twice the efficacy with half the irritation of Salicylic acid.  It's the coolest thing to happen since Mandelic changed AHAs.  It's under this trench coat, meet me outside if you wanna see it." I very well might blithely follow you, excitedly chattering about whether it's also pH dependent and whether it's commercially available yet, trench coat notwithstanding.

In addition to having AHA (Alpha hydroxy acid) and BHA (Beta hydroxy acid) in the "actives" category of my Skincare Wardrobe, I also have in my stable of acids a form of Vitamin C, called L-AA (L-ascorbic acid) and if you're a skincare fan, you've probably heard of the anti-aging powers of Vitamin C.  You've probably heard of the ridiculous $160+ price tag of some serums and expensive creams, the warnings to keep them away from light, air, and heat, making them difficult to use and prone to spoilage.

The version I use is a tenth of that cost, but it's just as annoying to use-- shuttling back and forth to the fridge, decanting small portions into other bottles, forgetting to use it for days on end because I do both my AM and PM routines half asleep, it's all aggravating.  It's tempting to latch onto other forms of Vitamin C which promise to provide the same effects but in stable formulations that won't have you pondering a mini-fridge for your skincare.  Lured by a demonstration on Korean beauty show Get It Beauty, I snatched up this powdered Vitamin C (SAP, aka Sodium Ascorbyl Phosphate), amazed at how convenient it looked.  A powder that could be mixed into any, yes any, current skincare product without worrying about pH dependency, wait times, or oxidization?  Yes please!  Get in my cart!

Except that it sucked.

On the left, the watery serum in which I mixed the powder, and on the right is said powder displayed on the spatula.

(By the way, if you are wondering what that gorgeous bottle is, you can read more about it here: The Bottle That Stole My Heart: Sooryehan Hyo Biyeon Concentrated Brightening Essence Review.)

In this post:

• Product Details
• What's the fuss about Vitamin C?
• What I'd rather use instead

Like many things that seem too good to be true, this powder was highly disappointing although I'll freely admit that it may work really well for others.  Sadly I wasn't able to test it's long-term hyperpigmentation fading abilities vs a traditional L-AA serum, and while I certainly quickly formed an (irate) opinion on the product,  I felt so grumpy toward it that I wasn't ready to devote the time to research it properly.  Now that I've spent several nights squinting at PDFs and getting cockblocked by paywalls, I'm ready to get this off my to-do list.

A Review of Curology (PocketDerm) & Why I'm an Azelaic Acid Fangirl

I had a hard time choosing the title of this post, not because I couldn't think of anything, but because I thought of so many horrible puns that I struggled to resist, such as: "AHA, BHA, now BAE?" (Har. Har.) Or "S&M in your skincare: how to abuse your pores and enjoy it", or "Is that a tube of Azelaic acid or are you just happy to see me: a review of Pocketderm" and so on.

The two Azelaic acid creams I've tried.  What's that wheat doing there?!  You'll see later.

Against all odds, I've managed to restrain myself and focus on the relative seriousness of this post, but it's difficult because my pupils have dilated from a day's worth of reading on the wonders of Azelaic acid and I'm sort of flopping around in a fangirling frenzy.

In this Post:

• My First Experience with an Azelaic Acid Cream
• My Experience with Curology PocketDerm's Service
• My Review of the PocketDerm Product
• Where it fits in my Asian skincare routine
• Why Azelaic Acid is so Exciting (Warning: Nerdiness)

Update: PocketDerm has changed it's name to Curology, and added more ingredients and flexibility to their formulations.  Carry on!

I've placed the "Serenade to Azelaic Acid" at the very end, as this post is quite long and those who aren't interested in 1. ridin' nerdy, 2. curling up with a cup of tea in a comfy chair to read the whole thing can skip out early.

Review: Cosrx AHA / BHA Clarifying Treatment Toner vs Mizon AHA BHA Daily Clean Toner

This week I'm going to be doing a mini-review of the Cosrx AHA/BHA Clarifying Treatment Toner and comparing it to my trusty Mizon AHA BHA Daily Clean Toner.  Why a mini-review, and not a full review, you might ask?  You'll see shortly.

Before we start, I just want to add a note about what I expect out of these types of toners.  My expectations are pretty low, actually:

1. I expect them to be a suitable pH to lower my skin's pH after cleansing to prepare it for my actives (Vit C, BHA, and AHA), 
2. I expect them not to leave residue on the skin that would interfere with the ability of my actives to work directly in my skin, 
3. I expect them to be non-irritating.  

That's all I need.  With such minimal expectations (I pay no need to the brand's claims such as "prevents whiteheads, blackheads, and blemishes with the perfect blend of all-natural ingredients and mineral water to rejuvenate and replenish your skin."  Yeah, no.  It's a just a pH-adjusting toner.  Its job is to ready my skin for my next steps, I'm not expecting magic here.  Most people don't even need a pH adjusting toner, I just live in the desert so my skin dries out too fast to wait around for it to naturally adjust itself.  But I do, and it does, so here I am.  Onward!

In this post:

• Ingredients overview of Cosrx vs Mizon
• A small pH testing snafu and ensuing rage-shopping
• pH of Cosrx Natural BHA Skin Returning A-Sol
• pH of Mizon 8% AHA Peeling Serum (control) and AHA BHA Daily Clean Toner
• pH of Cosrx AHA/BHA Clarifying Treatment Toner 
• My observations and experience with Cosrx vs Mizon

I'm also incredibly surly today because I realized halfway through my prep, when it was too late to stop, that I had ordered the wrong size of test tubes.  RAGE!