Taking This One To The Youtube!

I bought a new mask, that I was pretty disappointed in. I didn't think words were going to do my disappointment justice, and I didn't even feel like an Instagram post would do it justice. I had to take this one to the YouTubes!

Please to enjoy!

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I Gave Freeman Beauty Another Try...

If you remember from the last time I tried a Freeman Beauty mask, I walked away a bit of a hot mess. I'm pretty much always willing to give it another shot though, and so last night I tried a new Freeman Beauty mask. Yeah, I didn't go back to the coffee eye mask just yet.

As I was going through a box of stuff last night, I saw this:

Freeman Beauty's "Avocado and Oatmeal Clay Mask". An avocado green mask, made for normal to combination skin, that promises to deep clean and purify your pores. Smooth consistency, no notable scent to speak of. And as I was currently shiny, with some visible pores around my nose:

I figured I had nothing to lose. Last time, the ingredients were a little strong for how sensitive my skin was, but how strong could avocado possibly be?

I slathered up, and watched The Imitation Game (Which, sidebar: if you haven't, DO. Great movie. Even my husband, who typically falls asleep when his head hits the couch, stayed awake for the whole movie...). At any rate, I didn't want to stop the movie, so I ended up wearing the mask the whole time.

My best "How you doin'?" face. Haha...

This mask came off clean and easy, probably easier than any I've used in a while. Well, mostly clean and easy - I had to work it a little around my nose.

I didn't get a fantastic after, but this one was the best of the lot. The large pores on my forehead and nose are tighter, the redness is eased, and my skin even seems a little brighter. Yes! This is a big time improvement, not only over the before picture, but over the last time I tried Freeman products, that's for sure!

Freeman Beauty has a bounty of masks (and other products!) available for purchase. The last couple that I've gotten, I've purchased in individual portions for around $2 each. And a quick scan of their website shows me that the full sized masks are between $4 and $8 each.

See you later, lovelies!

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!