Natural and DIY Skincare and Chemicals: You Ask, I Answer

Here's my second "You Ask, I Answer" post, where I consolidate some common (and not so common) reader questions. Reader questions aren't a new thing on my blog, and I've written a bunch of posts based on reader questions over time, including some of my personal favourite science-y posts, like my post on parabens, and my post on talc. But I thought it would be nice if I could share some of my reader Q&As with everyone else too!

Today's question on DIY and natural skincare comes from Chelsi:

Chelsi asks:
I want to ask u something. It's so hard for me to get organic and natural skincare that avoids not using harmful chemicals...the fact is there are lots of brands outside there use chemical ingredients... I want to make DIY skincare but I think i don't have enough time to make it while I have to work and after work I am tired and just wanna take a rest..So , do you think it's okay to still using the skincare which still contains chemical ingredients? thx :)

Your question is quite a big hairy one, so I'll just touch on some key topics that you raised:
1. Are chemicals really a problem in skincare?
2. So when should I avoid "chemical" ingredients?
3. Can you actually DIY your own skincare, and if so, is it actually "better" that what's available out there?

Reader Question: Elizavecca Carbonated Bubble Clay Mask Ingredients Analysis

As some of you may know, I do feature reader questions on my blog from time to time, especially when they provide inspiration for science-y posts, like this post on parabens and safety, and this other post on talc and safety. Recently I received a reader question on the Elizavecca Bubble Clay Mask, and it's an ingredients analysis type of question - exactly the sort of questions I love to take a stab at!

Elizabeth asks:
Do you think you could evaluate the "Elizavecca Bubble Clay Mask"? I bought it but I'm not sure if it actually works...it does make my skin feel smooth and soft right after but I'm not sure about any long term effects. I'm afraid this product might be mostly skintertainment because of the bubbles.

Elizavecca Carbonated Bubble Clay Mask: A niche product that has gained a little bit of a cult following (Source)

The Elizavecca Bubble Clay Mask is something of a niche cult product that has gained popularity among some kbeauty fans over the past couple of years or so, along with other bubble masks. Elizavecca is a fairly niche Korean beauty brand, and their Bubble Clay Mask seems to have gotten popular in part due to the novelty factor. Basically, the Bubble Clay Mask goes on like a normal clay mask, but once applied, quickly foams up with lots of little bubbles when you apply it, like so:

Elizavecca Carbonated Bubble Clay Mask: A large part of the novelty is the bubble and foaming effect (Image source)

I'm pretty sure a part of the reason why they're so popular is because the foam gives rise to all sorts of really cute, funny, or weird (sometimes all at once!) selfies, like this. I mean, imagine applying a mask and then having it foam and bubble up right on your face! That's pretty fun, isn't it?

Elizavecca Carbonated Bubble Clay Mask: Possibly the most fun ever when masking (Image source)

That said, bubble masks, despite the novelty value, aren't actually anything super groundbreaking, and masks of this format have existed for awhile. In fact, waaaay back in 2011, I reviewed just one such bubble mask from another Kbeauty brand, The Nature Lab Oxygen Shield Bubble Mask. And more recently in 2014, I reviewed a sort-of-similar product from a Western brand, the Elizabeth Arden Ceramide Boosting 5-Minute Facial, a 2-part skincare product where the first part also consists of a foaming mask. So while the Elizavecca one is more popular, it certainly isn't the first of its kind.

Anyway, since this is a reader question, let's get back to the question, and then we'll talk a bit more about bubble masks in general. What's inside the Elizavecca Bubble Mask, and what makes it bubble? Does this bubbling really help skin? Do bubble masks in general really bring any skincare benefit beyond being novel or entertaining? Let's take a look, starting with the ingredients list!

You Ask, I Answer: Under Eye Puffiness, Eye Creams, and Undertones

Reader questions aren't a new thing on this blog, obviously - I've featured a bunch of them on my blog over time, and sometimes they are the inspiration for entire (sometimes pretty long) posts, especially when it pertains to the science-y part of things, like this post on parabens and safety, and this other post on talc and safety.

You Ask, I Answer: Today's reader questions talk about undereye puffiness, eye creams, and undertones

I love it when readers send me questions (if not I wouldn't be blogging!), and I love responding to them. Because a lot of my readers are pretty interested in skincare and ingredients, I get a lot of questions that require some time to research and reply to, so I often am unable to respond immediately, although I try my best! Through the years, I've also noticed that some questions are repeated as well. So, to better answer questions at a faster pace and eliminate repetition, I decided to compile a few similar questions and answer them all at once, and put them up on my blog! Hopefully it will also serve as a useful reference to anyone else having similar questions too!

Today's questions deal with undertones and skincare, specifically eye creams for undereye puffiness. All questions are printed "as is" in order to remain faithful to the original reader's words. I do basic editing for spelling and simple grammar where possible, however. So, without further ado, let's start!

Talc, Cosmetics, Safety, Cancer: What the Science Says About Talc in Makeup

Is talc in cosmetics dangerous or safe? Does it cause cancer, particularly ovarian cancer? Is it safe to use talc in makeup? With the news about Johnson and Johnson being sued over the talc in their baby powder supposedly causing ovarian cancer, I've been asked a couple of times about talc's safety in makeup. One such question came from my lovely reader Joanna (hello Joanna!) as below:

Hello!! Just wanted to say your blog is very very informative and I've made several purchases following the information on your reviews. Since you're so into looking at ingredients of cosmetics too I was wondering what your thoughts are regarding talc-based products, especially bronzers and loose face powders. With the recent news about Johnson and Johnson's baby powder case it's sort of alerted me a little to think about this. I know that we don't use make up in the genital area hence ovarian cancer risks are unlikely but there's also mixed evidence about chronic inhalation of talc maybe causing lung cancer. What are your views in this area? It has raised my concern as I believe effects are cumulative but I've also realised a lot of big brands such as Bobbi Brown, Benefit and 3CE all have talc based powders and bronzers. Please share your opinion :)

From her question, it's clear that there is concern about talc on multiple fronts - applied on skin, inhalation, and also perineal use (aka, using talc down there in the genital area). Although Joanna was specifically asking about talc with respect to inhalation, I thought, in view of current events, as well as other questions I've been getting, I'll just look at all 3 concern areas of skin, inhalation, and perineal use - that way, I have a neat, more complete summary of what the science says on talc in general that will hopefully be more helpful!

Talc has been in the news lately due to J&J's lawsuits, prompting questions as to talc's safety (Image source)

First though, before I start, I would like to say that this is not in any way meant to detract from the suffering of women who do have ovarian cancer. It is a serious disease with far-reaching effects, and my sympathy goes out to all ovarian cancer sufferers and their families, and they deserve our support. But for the purpose of this blogpost, I am most interested in responding to Joanna’s question, which is specifically about talc in cosmetics. So although this question certainly is prompted by current events, the scope of this blogpost is not to talk about the J&J lawsuit, but just to look at what the science says about the safety of talc in cosmetics. So, I hope that noone takes offense the narrow scope of this blogpost. Trust me, this pretty narrow scope is already quite a lengthy blogpost!

Bounce Up Pacts and Pore Putty: Chosungah22, Ver 88, Stila, Peter Thomas Roth: Do They Work?

One of the trending things in the beauty scene now, particularly the Asian beauty scene, is Bounce Up Pacts, as they are called by Asian brands, or Pore Putty as they are called by Western brands. For those who may not have heard, this is basically a base makeup, akin to foundation, and functions quite similarly, in that it comes in a variety of skin-like shades, and is meant to provide coverage and a smooth finish to the skin.

Bounce Up Pact, Pore Putty: New and trending here!

What's different and new about these Bounce Up Pacts/Pore Putties, though, is the texture. These have a hybrid texture that's sort of similar to a dough, or Play-Doh, which you can roll up, ball around, squish, and so on. You can depress your finger into the pact, and like Play-Doh, your finger will leave a print on the surface, but you can smooth it out. So these are sort of like, not as liquid as traditional cream foundation, but not as dry as a powder, and the "Putty" or "Bounce Up" name is a reference to how malleable the products are. On Youtube, you can find all sorts of videos demonstrating the more interesting properties of this product, as you can see below.

A Play-Doh, putty-like texture gives a feeling of novelty to the product (Source)

Interestingly though, this new generation of products aren't actually the first to use the phrase "pore putty". Back in the early-to-mid-2000s, Japanse brand Sana came out with a range of products called "Pore Putty", although none of them had a malleable, dough-like texture. Rather, the range's name was indicative of the supposed claims of the products - to hide your pores - and came in a range of liquids, powders, and creams, with BB creams, mineral powders, makeup bases, concealers and so on.

I guess this Bounce Up Pact/Pore Putty thing must be pretty huge right now, because I received two real-life queries from friends about this class of product, as well as one online request via Twitter. So I figured, why not? Most of the questions I got were centred around 1) whether the Bounce Up Pacts/Pore Putties were really novel, new or groundbreaking, as well as 2) what are the ingredients that give the product its interesting texture? So we'll attempt to look at these two questions in this post!

hello, @musicalhouses :) would you like to do ingredients analysis to Ver. 88 Bounce-Up Pact? It has been hot item these days.

— a (@justletterA) December 14, 2015

The best way to get blogpost ideas: Reader suggestions! Thank you for the idea!
If you know my blog, you know what I'm going to say next - we're going to look at ingredients lists! It was quite hard to find the ingredients lists for some of the Asian brand Bounce Up Pacts, but after searching the internets and asking other bloggers, I managed to get the ingredients lists for 4 products: the Chosungah22 Bounce Up Pact Master, Ver 88 Bounce Up Pact SPF 50/PA+++, Stila Perfectly Poreless Putty Perfector, and the Peter Thomas Roth Pore Putty. With two "Western" Pore Putties, and two "Asian" Bounce Up Pacts, this should give us plenty of material to work with! So let's get started!

Reader Question: Retinol in a Skincare Routine

Sometimes, I get interesting reader questions that are featured on my blog, because I think that the question might be relevant to my blog readers. While some of my older reader questions come from my Formspring page (which is still in use, although Formspring itself seems to be no longer as popular as it was), this one came to me via email.

I thought this question was worth featuring, because it is a good example of how a seemingly easy question asking for product recommendations actually begets a much longer answer - indeed, sometimes skincare is never that simple! The reader was asking for product recommendations for retinol products. However, when including retinol in a skincare routine, I'd advise some care as retinol can interact with your other skincare products. So while people tend to focus on product recommendations, I'd also advise ensuring that the products you pair your retinol with don't inadvertently counteract each other.

Retinol and some of its variants. (Source)

Question:
I was actually mailing to ask you for a product recommendation - since you're so good with ingredients. I'm looking to add retinol to my skincare routine and was wondering if you could suggest something that's not too strong. I haven't used any before.
At the moment I have a vitamin c serum and my usual Kiehl's moisturiser. Oh and there's some salicylic acid from Hope in a Jar Night. Thanks so much!"

Reader Question (and my Biggest Makeup Secret): Makeup for Hot Climates and Air-Conditioned Indoors

Now normally I don't import questions from my Formspring page onto my blog, but I thought this was a good question faced by a lot of readers, so I thought it deserved some cross-posting love! Also, I realized after I responded on Formspring that I still had a few things to add to the question, so I thought I'd add them here.

Question:
Just wanted to ask, what make up products do your normally use on a working day? (or which products do you rotate around with) I'm in a perpetual dilemma between the moisture sucking air-con and humid sunny Singapore weather:(

Answer:
Hi there, first off, I totally sympathize, as you're in the exact situation as me! Often we Singaporeans spend our days in air-conditioned offices, but still have to travel quite a bit in humid, sunny weather! It does make it trickier to find skincare and makeup products!

First off, I'll tackle the bit about humid sunny weather. Oil control is important over here, especially if you have oily skin. My favourite product for this is plain ol' silica powder spheres. It's just generic cosmetic grade silica powder, and it helps in oil control very well. The best thing about this is that it’s cheap and easily available – I got mine from Coastal Scents (you can probably get it from other cosmetics etailers and wholesalers as well), and a big bag cost me a few USD. If not, you can also get MUFE Microfinish HD Powder, since its just silica spheres as well, except that you'd be paying a lot more for a tinier amount (essentially you're paying retail price for a wholesale product). There are a few ways to wear this - some like to wear it as a finishing powder over makeup, and some (like me) mix it with a transparent powder for setting your makeup. I personally find it easier to use if I mix it with another powder, and buff in well. You'll have to play around a little to find out what works for you, application-wise, if you try this out.

I can't post pictures on my Formspring page, so I thought it would be cute if I interjected my Formspring response with a photo to show you just how much silica powder you can get in a bag. The last time I ordered silica powder spheres from Coastal Scents, I got 1 oz of powder, and it came in a huge bag! I had no idea that 1 oz of powder was THAT much! (The photo below is mine, but it came from my pre-blogging days so it isn't watermarked.) Best part was, I had to travel on an international flight soon, and I was worried that a customs official might open the bag and think I was trading crack or something, LOL. Fortunately all turned out well, and I brought my bag of powder back safely across continents.



So how long will that huge bag of powder last you? Well, it's been 3 years since I bought that bag of powder, and with daily use (and I do mean every single day - it's now a staple I can't do without), I've only used half of that bag. So there you go. That's my biggest makeup secret, and honestly the one thing that I think really helped my makeup stay on all day instead of melting off. It's not really a "secret" since silica powder has been around for awhile, but for me, it's really been a lifesaver. Before the advent of silica powder I had to touch up my makeup after lunch everyday, and at the end of the day. Now, I just put on my makeup once in the morning, and it lasts pretty much the way I did it until at night. It may not be for everyone, but for me it has worked wonders. But anyway. The fact I got that huge bag for like US$5 should make you enraged that MUFE is charging us so much more for so little powder...

Okay. But enough digressing. Back to the Formspring question.

Secondly, I still wear moisturizer. I know it sounds odd in Singapore, but just because your skin is sweating doesn't mean it's not dry, especially if you spend long hours indoors with air-con. So I still wear moisturizer everyday

My daily working routine consists of:
1. Pimple cream (cause you know, I still have spots although I'm working!)
2. Moisturizer (I use something light, The Body Shop’s Aloe Soothing Day Cream and Biotherm’s Aquasource Moisturizer for Oily Skin)
3. Sunscreen (I use Avene Very High Protection Spray with SPF 50+) (you guys will probably have read my Sunscreen Tips post)
4. Concealer ONLY where I need it (not too picky if it's just under eye, I use Laura Mercier, MAC or Kevyn Aucoin, but if I have spots I usually use Prescriptives or a brand that won't aggravate my skin further)
5. My finishing powder (silica powder + random loose face powder that is transluscent).

That's my "base" - after that I go on to apply blusher, lipgloss, eyeshadow etc if I feel like it. I don't know if this routine will work for you, but for me it works, because although the moisturizer and sunscreen can feel like a lot, once I add my finishing/silica powder it mattifies the skin while still feeling natural. Maybe you'll need to play around with a few products to see what works for you. I wish you good luck!

Reader Question: Tips for Cleaning Makeup Brushes

Brush cleaning is something every makeup fanatic (or makeup user, for that matter), has to know how to do. So since I got a question about how I clean my brushes on my Formspring page, I figure I might as well cross-post it to my blog, because, well, we all need to wash our brushes, don't we? :) I need to do some sort of actual brush-cleaning post with pictures one day, but for now, here's just the words with no pictures.

Q: How do you wash your makeup brushes? Thanks =D

In order to clean the brushes, you'll need a supply of water (I do this in my bathroom), some brush cleaner, and a bunch of paper towels (or a cloth towel), as well as a place to let your brushes air dry.

First, I wet the bristles of my brushes a bit, and then I apply a bit of brush cleaner to the bristles and sort of gently swirl the bristles around in the cleaner. If the brush is very dirty I also gently rub some cleaner into the bristles using my fingers. After that, I rinse the brush bristles to remove the cleaner and gunk, and then I very gently squeeze any excess water out of the bristles with my fingertips. Afterwards, I try to get my brush as dry as possible using the towel or paper towels. I usually do this by gently pressing the bristles against the towels, or by running the brush back and forth against the towels. It's important to try to get as much water out of the brushes before you leave them to air dry, so that the drying time is shorter. After I think I've gotten as much water out as I can, I leave them lying flat on a small towel in a well-ventilated place, and let them air dry. It usually takes about 2 days for the brushes to fully dry, although thick, synthetic brushes (e.g. like a synthetic kabuki) can take longer.

The entire process can be pretty laborious because you have to do it by hand, one brush at a time. Three very important tips I can give you for cleaning brushes are:

1. Use the right cleaner, not just any soap or detergent. You can get brush cleaner from most stores (I know MAC has one that's pretty good, and can be diluted with water when used to make it last longer), but if you don't use brush cleaner, it's OK too. The main thing is to make sure that whatever you're using isn't too harsh or drying on the bristles, especially if they are made of natural hair. If your bristles feel dry or scratchy after they have dried, you know the cleaner you've used is too harsh. I personally like to use my Biore makeup remover gel for washing my brushes, because it gets out all the gunk but doesn't dry the bristles out. Other alternatives to brush cleaner that are popular are baby shampoo, as well as Dr Bronner's Castille Soap. Some people also use handsoap, though once again I'd be careful to make sure that the handsoap you're using isn't too harsh on the bristles.

2. Be gentle. Be very, very gentle. Some brushes shed hair, or bleed dye when washed. That is normal, especially if it is the first couple of times you're washing the brush. Subsequently, hair should shed less, and dye bleeding should lessen also. However, you also want to be very gentle with your brushes when you wash and dry them, so you don't excerbate the shedding or bleeding.

3. When you wash your brushes, be very careful to only wet the bristles, and not the ferrule. The ferrule is the part which joins the bristles to the handle of the brush. Most brands just fix the ferrule with glue, which means that repeated wetting of the ferrule will eventually weaken the glue and cause your bristles to come loose. That's a scary thought, isn't it? So it's important to make sure that the ferrule doesn't get wet unnecessarily, and is thoroughly dried. I just make sure I wet the brush and stop before the ferrule, instead of drowning the entire head of the brush in water. And it's also important to get the brush as dry as possible before letting it air dry (hence the activity with the towels), and also, it's equally important that the brushes are left flat (as opposed to upright) to dry.

Well, those are my tips for brush cleaning, and I hope they help you!

Reader Question: Eyeliner for Asian/Partially Folded Eyes

When I put eyeliner on, when I hope my eyes the eyeliner disappears due to my weird eyelid/fold. Are there some other techniques or ways to make my eyes stand out?

(Now, I don't normally copy questions from my Formspring page over to my blog, but I thought this would be useful, as a lot of Asian eyes I come across seem to have this problem. Hope it helps someone!)

Welcome to the club! I know exactly what you mean, because that's what my eyes are like, too. Liner is fine on the lower lid, but not on the upper lid, because the upper lid is obscured by the flesh of the eyelid. It's actually quite common among Asians.

There are various ways you can make your eyes stand out, and generally, different people prefer different methods. If you still wish to use eyeliner, then the most common method to counter the "sleepy-looking" fold that obscures your lashline is to simply draw a thicker line. This ensures that even when your eyes are open, the liner doesn't disappear. A lot of girls I know do this, although I myself am not personally too keen on this for one reason: that if the lid is very heavy, then the line that you end up drawing can be really thick in order for the liner to show up even when your eyes are open. Another tip for eyeliner is to make the line thicker at the outer corner of your eye, and thinner towards the inner corners. This helps to leave some liner visible on the eye even when the lid is opened, without giving that "one fat line of eyelier" look. I guess whether thickening the eyeliner works for you or not would depend on how obscured your lashline is - if you don't have to draw a very thick line for it to be visible, this method would work for you. But if you're like me and the line needs to be a quarter of an inch thick before it's visible, then usually I would just skip lining the upper eye altogether.

If you skip lining the upper eye altogehter (as I often do), there are still other ways to bring out your eyes. For me, I find that lining the lower lashline really helps a lot, even if I don't line the upper lashline. And also mascara - this is a much overlooked tip, but curled lashes with a good mascara on really helps to make the eyes look bigger. Lastly, there is also eyeshadow to play around with to emphasize the eyes. Contouring your eyes with eyeshadow can subtly make them appear to have more dimension. I've actually done a series of posts on eyeshadow for various types of Asian eyes, although it's incomplete. I believe the first post is located here: http://musicalhouses.blogspot.com/2010/03/eyeshadow-tutorial-for-asian-eye-shapes.html

It can be pretty frustrating if liner doesn't seem to always work for you, but there's always other tools you can use. If you need examples of eye looks where the eye is brought out without the use of liner on the upper lid, feel free to look through my EOTDs on my blog - I don't think I've ever lined the upper eye in anyone of them, because lining the upper lid is so useless on my small puny obscured eye, LOL. But rest assured you're not the only one, and there are definitely still ways to make your eyes look good even if liner doesn't look good on your lids.

Ask me anything

Reader Question: do you know if storing nail polish in the fridge keeps it in better conditon?

(Normally I don't put my formspring answers up on my blog - instead they're usually up on my Twitter, Facebook, and of course my Formspring page, and I don't want to duplicate content too much. But I thought this question was interesting, so I just put it on my blog too, in case anyone else was wondering.)

I don't think it helps anything, because nail polish isn't like other cosmetics. Other cosmetics, especially creams or liquids, tend to go bad or go "off" after awhile because bacteria get into them and start multiplying there over time. This is why some people suggest putting some of your makeup in the fridge, because the cooler temperatures slow down bacterial activity (although it doesn't stop it complete, and it doesn't kill the bacteria inside). However, nail polish is different. The chemical composition of nail polish is such that it's a very unfriendly place for bacteria to live - in general, they just don't survive in the sea of chemicals found in our polish. So nail polish has very little bacteria compared to other cosmetics. So since there isn't much bacteria surviving in your nail polish, there really isn't any point putting it in the fridge, because nail polish doesn't go bad the way other cosmetics do. However, over long periods of time, the solvents in the polish will evaporate naturally, and the polish will thicken or dry up. This can be fixed by adding thinner to the polish. (A side note - it's thinner you want to add, NOT nail polish remover, which will mess up your polish!) I hope this helps you!

Ask me anything