Hey, wanna hear about stuff I bought recently? If so, it’s your lucky day. If not, well … it’s not your lucky day, but it could be worse. I could be talking about knitting again. Ba-dum-tish! (Although, in the interests of full disclosure, there is a post on that very topic waiting in my draft folder. You have been warned.)

Amope Pedi Perfect Foot File

I loathe feet. Have I ever mentioned that before? I’m sure I have, because my loathing is strong and of long-standing. I include my own feet in that statement, so summers are a trial for me from that perspective. I do what I can with salon pedicures, but it never seems to be enough. Being too easily grossed out to try that whole Baby Foot business, I decided to go a more modest route with this Amope foot file [non-affiliate link]. It’s cheaper on Amazon than at Shoppers Drugmart, which is the extent of my consumer research into this product. It’s okay. It doesn’t work as well on heels as that blade thingie they use at the salon, but if used consistently, it does seem to keep my feet looking somewhat presentable between pedicures.

I thought I would be ingenious and use some of my (skincare) acids on my feet – skin is skin, and a little chemical exfoliation wouldn’t hurt, right? Well, it turns out that, no: the skin on my feet probably needs a more nuclear option (like the aforementioned Baby Foot) in order to see any results, because a little glycolic acid made no difference whatsoever. So now I just use Aquafor to try to keep my hooves as soft as reasonably possible.

L’Oreal Mythic Oil Huile Originale

This is basically fancy leave-in conditioner. I bought it at Shoppers on a whim, after remembering that my old hair stylist used it once on my hair, years ago. This would have been around the time of my second or third perm – remember those days? – when my hair was very dry; the oil, I seem to recall, made a big difference. Considering the current length of my hair and the fact that I don’t colour it (and barely style it), the Mythic Oil is probably overkill. But it’s nice and it does wonders as a detangler for my daughter’s waist-length, naturally wavy hair. I’ve also started using it as a leave-in conditioner for my son’s hair, which is very thick and wiry. A little goes a long way, so my current bottle (which was around $28CAD) should last the family a while.

Castor oil

I bought this after a bout of pink-eye forced me to ditch all my existing eye products, including my beloved EyEnvy serum. A friend told me that castor oil is good for stimulating hair growth and, well, it’s a lot cheaper than EyEnvy. I did use it on my eyelashes for a few days with no adverse effects, but then I chickened out and went back to the EyEnvy. Now, I’m using the castor oil mostly on my eyebrows and my hairline, in spots where I have some hair thinning. It’s only been about a month, so it’s too early to have a good sense of results (or lack thereof), but I think I’ve seen a little bit of improvement in my (patchy) eyebrows. Will keep you guys posted.

Stila Color Balm Lipstick

I found a couple of shades of this lip stuff at Winners for $8.99 and … well, I’m weak, you guys. After Rimmel discontinued my favourite lip crayons, I still haven’t found my replacement Holy Grail lip product. So I keep looking and succumbing to various temptations. The good news is that this Stila stuff in Raisin is the bomb. It’s a great reddish brown that nails the whole “my lips but better” thing. The finish is somewhere between shiny and matte, which is great for everyday, and it doesn’t dry out my lips. I am less fond of the Avery colour; it’s a sort of coral that doesn’t really work for my complexion, and it has that minty smell I dislike in lip products (which, oddly, the Raisin does not have). I’m not sure if these are still carried by Stila, but I like Raisin enough that I will probably investigate further once my current tube runs out; the regular retail price is likely to be too high for me, but we’ll see.

This blog might not be good for much, but it’s a workable excuse for all kinds of self-indulgent projects because … blog content, amirite? Anyway, I love an excuse to “experiment” with “science” so blogging it is. Those scare quotes are there for a reason, by the way, because what I’m going to talk about today is actually more in the line of playing around with skincare. But that doesn’t sound nearly as cool, sigh.

You may recall that, a few months ago, I busted my skincare budget when I decided to splurge on some Dr. Jart Cicapair Tiger Grass Cream. I like the cream a lot, but maybe not $60 worth of a lot. I started to look around for a plausible dupe and, lo, I found not one but two. Sort of.

First, L’Oreal definitely jumped on the centella asiatica bandwagon with Revitalift Cicacream. This usually sells for about $30CAD at Shoppers, which is half the price of the Dr. Jart cream, but still on the high side for me. One day, I found it on sale for under $20CAD, which is when I decided it was worth trying. For science, you understand. (Also because, as we have established before, $20 is the magical number my threshold for impulse buys.)

The second product I decided to try was the Roche Posay Cicaplast Baume. This actually does not contain the same active ingredient as the Dr. Jart cream, though the name sounds similar which is what drew me to it in the first place. I’ve done exactly zero research into this (which is, come to think of it, par for the course for my “science experiments”), but I think the “Cica” comes from cicatrice – the French word for “scar”. Both creams are supposed to aid in healing damaged skin, you see. The Cicabalm was around $20CAD (regular price) at Shoppers; for what it’s worth, you can also get it on Amazon for around the same price, and it has very good reviews.

My experiment went something like this: I switched from using the Dr. Jart cream (every morning, after my lactic acid, and before sunscreen) first to the Roche Posay, and then to the L’Oreal cream. I gave each new cream a month’s trial; I figured this would be long enough to see any effects, differences, etc. And? I’m sure you are on the edge-of-your-seat excited to hear about the results. Well … sorry. The truth was that I really didn’t see any real difference among the 3 creams. All 3 worked well as moisturizers for my normal-to-dry skin. I experienced no adverse effects, though I also saw no dramatic change.

With that said, here are my (subjective) impressions:

I *think* I like the Dr. Jart cream the best, though the Roche Posay is a close second. Oddly, I think I like the slight medicinal smell of the Dr. Jart cream and its consistency (more balm-like). Also, it’s green. The Roche-Posay smells nicer, though not in a skincare-fragrance sort of way. It’s lighter and absorbs more quickly than the Dr. Jart. The L’Oreal cream is the one that feels (and smells) the most like a typical face cream. I don’t hate it, but I also don’t feel like raving about it, if you know what I mean.

What’s next? Since I am nowhere close to finishing any of my current tubes, my plan is to use the Roche-Posay and L’Oreal creams through the summer and fall, then switch to the Dr. Jart in the winter because I find it a little bit heavier (and, in my mind, slightly more moisturizing). When the time to re-purchase comes, I think I’m going to go with Roche-Posay. I like it a lot, it’s easily accessible, and it’s relatively inexpensive (at $0.50/ml, it’s cheaper than the other two: Dr. Jart, $1.20/ml; L’Oreal, $0.60/ml).

If you’ve done any “experimenting” of your own recently, and have some good discoveries to share, let me know in the comments.