I'm a hot disaster right now...

...and I don't blame Freeman, even though when you see the pictures, you'll see that it would have been easy for me to. Aah, let's go back to the beginning.

In December, I had Aveeno skin care recommended to me, because of the bumpiness of my forehead, that I've grumbled to you guys about before. So, couple the fact that I'm a beauty blogger (so I love a hot tip on some good product!), with the fact that I'm just generally a beauty junkie (so again - I love a hot tip on some good product!), I dutifully ask for some Aveeno skin care for Christmas.

And the bumpiness isn't getting better. And I'm starting to break out way more than I have in a very long time. The general rule of thumb with skin care is that when you're switching lines, you have to give it about a month to see genuine result from the product. So I didn't lose faith. But by the month mark, my skin is (to my eye) worse off than it was initially, and I'm not feeling great about things, so I check in with the dermatologist.

He puts me on a battery of lotions and washes - some over the counter, some not, and sends me on my way, with the instruction that my skin will be "red and irritated" and if it ISN'T, he needs to know, cause he's gotta change all the dosing.

Boy howdy, is it ever! Couple dry weather, with dry face wash, and it wouldn't take a lot to start a forest fire on my face. So I haven't worn makeup in about a week, cause honest, putting makeup on hurts.

But, I wanted to touch base with you guys, so I had to tell you about something I was up to, so I thought I'd give this guy a try today:

Freeman Coffee & Chai energizing eye mask. Promising to revive tired skin around the eye. I was pretty curious to try this one out.

First, I noticed that it wasn't nearly as scented as I'd expected. Doesn't "coffee and chai" sound like it would smell fantastic?! Unfortunately, in this particular instance, it doesn't smell like much. Which is funny for me to say, cause I usually grumble over stuff being too scented. I just really like the smell of coffee - and chai!

The package is thin, and you tear the top off, Where you get this fancy guy:

I still had on the flimsy plastic piece in this pic, it lays much more flush to the face when you take that off. But the pictures kind of sassy, so I stuck with it. Lay it down on the eye, wait 5 to 10 minutes (I hit up some Friends on Netflix...), peel off. Don't rinse, rub in any serum that remains on the skin.

Y'all, this burned. Now I did admit that my skin is a bit overly sensitive right now, but it burned.

Before:

Before shot. And by the by, the dermatologists "red and irritated" plan is working well, at least I think so. I think my skin is smoothing out and clearing up quite nicely.

After:

Notice the red? In pretty much the exact size and shape of the eye mask?

Just to be sure that the burning and redness wasn't an allergy, I swabbed the inside of my wrist with the serum. Waited 15 minutes (well past the recommended use time). My wrist looked just as pale and wrist-ly as it ever does.

But - here's the trick. The redness did eventually wear away, and my eyes do feel much firmer and more taut than before. I know they don't especially look it, but I felt like I had "revived" skin around the eyes. Of course, the boost is pretty temporary, but this would be fun to whip out for a nice at home spa day, or maybe when you have a special event coming up, and want a little extra pick me up.

So when you see those burns...see how it'd be easy to blame Freeman for that? But I honest don't. The redness did eventually fade, and I was left with nice, bright, revived eyes. I can't hardly hate that.

This reads a little bit like I don't like it, but I actually do, a lot. Inexpensive, easy to use, and a nice, quick boost to the eye area? What's not to like?

Ooh! Quick announcement before I let you go!

Over the weekend, I added an Amazon bar to the bottom of the page. Anything that you purchase through that search bar, a portion of the proceeds goes back to your friendly neighborhood blogger (that's ME!) So if I review something that I'm so overwhelmingly enthusiastic about that you  can't help but want to try it, scroll to the bottom, and you can have your own in a snap. Or if I hate it, and you're convinced it just positively can't be as bad as I said, you can have one of those too!

These individually packaged Freeman masks are $3 at Wal-Mart, but if you don't have the time - or desire, for a Wal-Mart run, now you know where to go! :)

Thanks in advance for checking out the bar. And I'll see you next time, I'm sure with rested and revived eyes. ;)

Later, gorgeous!