As you all know, I'm participating in this 7-Day Challenge. Last night was Day 3 and as promised, it was toner-mask / retinol mask day :) I intentionally did not document day 2 as I only planned a before and after post, along with this mid-week post.
After cleansing, I took one retinol mask and set it inside one of my empty cream jars. I had to remove the inner rubber stopper otherwise it'd take foreverrrr to soak that cotton mask. I then poured toner on one side, flipping it to the other side once it was over-saturated. The cardboard instructions say that you can soak it on your palm, but I didn't want my hand to absorb any extra toner.
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| Soaking my Shiseido Benefiance Pure Retinol Intensive Revitalizing Face Mask in Shiseido Benefiance WrinkleResist24 Balancing Softener |
Once it's soaked enough, it'll grow taller. AND I DON'T KNOW WHY but I really found it funny. *giggles*
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| 2-3 times taller. TEEHEE! |
Left it on for 10 minutes (5-10 recommended). There was a very mild stinging sensation on the cheeks, but I've had that happen with other masks so I'm not worried about it anymore. On a side note though, I never realized how tough these masks are to fit. And they float off when the toner starts to dry up.
The only thing that gives me the major sads is that it took a lot of toner to soak the mask. By just the third day, I'm already at 2/3 of the bottle :(
I didn't wash it off, and went straight to the serum and moisturizer. My skin was so soft and dewy that night, like refrigerated jelly-ace! It felt that way until I went to sleep, which I think is a sign that for once, my skin is hydrated enough.
This is what my skin looks like the day after the mask:
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| Day 0 vs. Day 3: Patches of dry skin are less obvious. Skin is a little bit brighter and rosier. |
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| Day 0 vs. Day 3: Flakes of dry skin have almost disappeared, but has unearthed some reddish bumps. |
Dry flakes are 90% gone and skin is a little brighter and rosier. However, I've noticed that I have tiny red bumps now. I was afraid that I'd done something wrong by doing the retinol mask while using White Lucent but looking back on my Day 0 post, I spot the same thing underneath all the dry skin. I kinda don't know what that is and I hate that I even saw it, but it's not really obvious in normal lighting so I'm not stressing out about it. I'm thinking it's too much cuddling with the puppies :/
~"~"~
Post #48! Two more posts 'til you find out what's up for my 50th post!
Here's a clue: This cosmetics brand reminds me of a brand of chocolates... And they've been on sale for a few weeks now. If you follow me on Twitter you'd have a good guess ;)