I guess you could call this a baptism by fire review? i am in the throws of a hormonal breakdown in every sense, so cue hyperventilating, manic, pitchy, stress rant:
At this point — no joke — I will swallow, snort, sit on or slap on practically anything that promises results. A dangerous place to be with a credit card and only one emotion: desperation.
I had another baby four months ago — yeah yeah, congrats me — but let’s talk about the fall out, shall we? LITERALLY. My fucking HAIR IS FALLING OUT. I have two bald spots just above my temples! WHAT?!
While my hair collected on the bathroom floor trying to create a new species of mutant dust bunny, my body then began to break out in unexplainable, inexplicable hives — from boobs to butt — little red spots started to rise, and then spread! They were so mysterious, even the Dr. couldn’t give me any idea what plague I had contracted! I cleared the pharmacy shelves of every ointment, cream and lotion they had. I took Benadryl, bathed in oatmeal, prayed to god (then to the other one, you know, below) and nothing — NOTHING — helped. I had never had any kind of skin irritation on my body before. I was the lucky gal that only had epidermal nightmares on the face, you know, where the WORLD could see. Usually my white ass stayed — well, white! Not anymore — now I am a pimply mess from head to toe. Continuity is nice, isn’t it? FUCK NO.
After my body started looking well diseased, I had the pleasure of welcoming back my old friend, the crimson curse. Yes, I got my period back and no word of a lie, my latest visit with flow sent me to the river. THE RIVER, PEOPLE. I bled for ten days! I thought I was going to die! I bled through tampons within minutes! My local drugstore made their rent on my frigging tampon bill for fuck sake!
But then came the worst of it all. The ultimate in humiliation. My face blew the fuck up. I got acne in places on my face I have never in my life had acne, man! My forehead was (sorry, IS) more red than my regular pale-as-a-ghost porcelain. And, not just “red” with irritation, no, fuck no, that would be pleasant! My forehead erupted in huge pustules, really big puffy buggers, the ones you can’t deflate, or cover, or even speed the healing — nada can be done for these things — they are a force of nature. My chin had open real estate for the normal splattering of hormonal acne so of course, I just got more this round. Really painful bumps mixed with white heads, from my lips down to the underside of my chin, oh god … it is not a pretty sight.
And, so? I have been battling. Tooth and nail. Fighting the good fight pretty well since sweet little Sophie Elizabeth was born in the New Year. Yes, she tore me asunder and then took my beauty too, evil nugget.
Oh. And, I forgot to mention in the middle of all this my husband gave me a cold sore AND thought it was hilarious to give me a hickey on my forehead. Plain and simple people, I’ve been praying for the eternal sleep (after hickey –his, and mine.)
Didn’t I say I was writing a review? I am, trust me. You just needed a little back story to understand what drove me to the brink of beauty-related desperation. Turns out, I am a vain creature … and Sephora loves that about me.
I’ve been wanting to take a swing at the brand Origins for a while now. Of course, every time I tried, I recoiled in fear because of the prices of their product line. I am not exactly used to thirty dollars for a FACE MASK. Plus, working for LUSH Fresh Handmade Cosmetics, I already had really great masks at my finger tips. But, because I was embroiled in the fight of my life over this “acne” — aka zombie apocalypse of the damn face — I wanted more than the powerhouse herb approach. I wanted what was trendy, what people seemed to be talking about and I wanted something I had heard might work. So, I paid my local provider of all things beauty 60-something dollars to fix my face. I bought the Original Skin Rose Clay Mask, and the popular Clear Improvements Charcoal Mask (review to come.)
I slapped on “Original Skin” after raking my face with tea tree wash laden fingers (probably not my best laid plan to clear skin — using torture and physical trauma — smart) and left it sitting for ten minutes. It stung a little, no doubt because I’ve recently been clawing at my skin, picking, over-washing, and literally scrubbing tea tree into my pores for days. So blame the product not, blame the dumbass known as Princess Desperato. Hello.
Why I chose this mask for the acne-attack 2016? Well, to be fair, that is a valid question. This mask is not sold to those looking for something for acne per se, but for me personally, anything with clay usually does a stellar job of sucking out the red, calming inflamed skin and bringing back a matte, even toned surface — and it did do just that.
I applied this mask and washed it off only mere moments ago, but here’s what I can see from this rapid-fire experiment. The rose clay does tone down the inflammation, the citrus oil (grapefruit peel) cleared my skin of excess oil, and the lavender soothed my skin, seemingly. The mask contains jojoba oil beads for exfoliation, and they left my skin feeling gently scrubbed and really nicely clean. Just clean, and sometimes especially during a breakout, just feeling “clean” can go a long way to settling your worries. To the touch, my skin felt refined, smooth and lovely après mask — as advertised — even though, I probably shouldn’t be shoving my fingers all around my face while having such a notorious breakout. Again. Dumbass. Hello.
It has a fairly inconspicuous scent, though if you’re not used to masks with a real fragrance to them, this might be slightly overwhelming to the old nostrils. It is fruity, or citrusy to my nose, and definitely flowery not unpleasant but I was happy to wash it off after ten minutes. The wash was the most pleasurable bit. When combined with water this mask becomes smooth and buttery while the beads give a little scrub in the places you apply pressure. For that reason alone, I quite liked the mask even before examining the final result.
The Origins website promises “Glow big with our innovative 2-in-1 mask! Made with Mediterranean Rose Clay, Canadian Willowherb and exfoliating Jojoba beads, it helps gently deep clean while refining skin’s texture. Pores appear to vanish. Clarity is restored. Glow is instant.” and frankly, even with my acne issues, I felt like it delivered on these points, maybe not excessively (let’s face it, pores are pores and they don’t really “disappear”) but overall it was an accurate description. Is it worth 25+ dollars? Well, let me try it a few more times and I’ll get back to you.
So whether or not I wake up tomorrow with better or worse skin, I suppose my initial reaction to Origins’ face mask is a positive one. Looking forward to trying the charcoal mask, though apprehensive it’ll be just “another charcoal mask” that I will have dropped a hot 25+ bucks on … then again, mayhaps, it will be an acne destroyer and I’ll once again regain some of my lost attractiveness … See, I know I am not just being melodramatic because husband just came to bed and didn’t even try to hit me up for nookie.
Maybe if this mask was really all that good I’d be fully decked out in nipple clamps by now, hitting my high notes. Goddamn it. Do I need to write a whole other review..?
Oh yeah, it has been a while. Reminder, I don’t believe in TMI. There is never “too much information” especially, ladies and gents, not in the world of beauty.
Until next time, beauty-battlers. Goodnight & good skin.
Post Script: dedicated to my fellow blogger & friend, Aubree. For her friendship & her inspiration — something that has been feeding and fuelling me more than she knows. Find her brilliance here: Broke Buyer’s Club