I must confess, I love, love, love Philosophy! It seems expensive at first glance but the massive containers take ages to finish and very little goes a long way (It takes me 1 yr. 2 mos. to finish my Purity). In the end it comes out cheaper than other drugstore products and your skin comes out beautiful. My aunt, cousin, step-mom, sister and friends are now addicted to Philosophy because it really works. It is no wonder Oprah loves em (she named Hope In a Jar one of her favorite things) and many of their products are award-winning (Allure, Sephora, etc.)!
I’ve been helping a friend out with her skin care – yes I am a beauty junkie and I confess am always looking for the best products to use (value for money of course). This list is for her. Enjoy Mrs. C!
I’ve been battling the breakout these past 3 days and I am happy to say that with my armory below everything is almost gone. Just a couple of spots left.
Morning Routine
- Philosophy Purity – to wash & tone. If you are a fan of Cetaphil non-soap cleanser, then you are going to adore this. It’s like Cetaphil only much, much better or Cetaphil-on-steroids, as I like to call it. It is a 4-in1 product so perfect for busy moms!
- Non-saop facial cleanser – It’s important that you use a non-soap cleanser on your face so it doesn’t strip off moisture. Soap can be harmful to our face. Dryness = aging
- Make-up remover – unlike other make-up removers which are oily and leave residue, Purity is not. It DISSOLVES make up, dirt & oil. Say good-bye to tugging at your waterproof eye makeup AND giving yourself more wrinkles while you’re at it. The secret is to gently massage on your face for 60-90 seconds and voila! Everything is melted away.
- Acetone-free toner – Toners are SO passé. Especially now that we know that alcohol is not good for your skin. You can use Purity by massaging onto skin with a little water then wiping it off with a cotton pad. Repeat with a new pad, until it comes off clean. You’ll see if there is any dirt left and leave pores smaller. Rinsing after this is optional.
- Mild moisturizer – Unlike other cleansers, Purity will leave your skin moisturized. After washing and using as a toner, you can leave it on for extra moisture if you like. People always ask me if they can do without their moisturizer and the answer is no. It is only a mild moisturizer. And skin, especially aging skin (20+ yrs old) needs more than that.
- Philosophy The Microdelivery Exfoliating Wash – This removes the dead skin on the surface and help the skin absorb all the products I am about to slather on
- Galderma Sans-Acne 4 Antibacterial Gel (4%) – Instead of spot treatment, I place this all over the forehead, cheeks, area around the nose & chin when I am breaking out, to prevent further breakouts. I think in other countries this is called Eryacne. If unavailable, look for other erythromycin products.
- Philosophy Turbo Booster C Powder – I mix this with moisturizer (#5)
- Philosophy When Hope is Not Enough replenishing cream – moisturizer for dry or stressed skin
- Philosophy The Supernatural Poreless Flawless – oil free, tinted foundation primer with SPF 15. Daily sun protection is a must from the time we are babies, especially now with the ozone thinning-out. The main cause of wrinkles when we are matured is the sun damage accumulated from the time we were kids, walking from the house to the car & other random short exposures. Not the relatively few times we went to the beach and got burned (but that’s bad too). All I am saying is, it’s the small daily doses of sun that really get us wrinkled in the long run. Minimum of SPF 15 daily is a must. Longer exposures like a job wherein you are out in the sun a lot need higher SPFs.
DID YOU KNOW? SPF rating is calculated by comparing the amount of time needed to produce sunburn on unprotected skin versus protected skin. Say you start burning or turning red after 10 mins under the sun when you are not wearing sun-protection, then if you wear SPF 15 it will take you 150 mins to start getting sunburned instead. 10 mins x 15 SPF = 150 mins of sun protection. This of course is a rough estimate because SPF is also lessened if you rub the sunblock into your skin too much, wipe your skin, sweating, etc. More comprehensive information about sun-protection here. Thanks Corinna for the refresher on SPF!
Before Bedtime Routine
- Philosophy Purity – to wash, remove makeup & tone
- Philosophy The Microdelivery Exfoliating Wash
- Galderma Sans-Acne 4 Antibacterial Gel (4%) – see note above
- Philosophy Help Me retinol treatment – to help slough off rough spots without ugly peeling
- Philosophy When Hope is Not Enough replenishing oil
- Philosophy When Hope is Not Enough replenishing cream
All-out war
When I am desperate and my skin situation has gone from bad to worse, I use the items below. I used to have a problem with my back and saw many dermas but nothing worked until my allergologist told me to use this for a month. Now my back is clear and I can finally wear low-cut backs. And he also advised me to use the same treatment for 1 week if I have a recurrence of bad acne. You should definitely ask your own doctor about it before trying this out.- Galderma Benzac ® AC Wash (10%) – Instead of Purity I use this benzoyle peroxide wash that I use on affected areas. You have to rub gently for 20 seconds, then leave it on for a minute, and rinse. Warning: this can bleach clothing & bed linens.
- Galderma Tetralysal ® Capsules (Oral Lymecycline) – I take this once a day at night after food.
- Philosophy When Hope is Not Enough Capsules – Okay this was not recommended by my doctor, but is still a part of all-out-war armory. I mix this with the moisturizer I am using or use alone after putting moisturizer.
Normal Skincare Routine
I know it sounds like a whole lot – and it is. But the abovementioned is only for days that my skin is not cooperating with me. When my skin feels good, clear and normal (not dry) then I have a simpler routine and use only the ff:
- Philosophy Purity
- Philosophy The Microdelivery Exfoliating Wash
- Philosophy Hope in a Jar – moisturizer for normal skin with the usual T-zone. Super hydrating and light.
- Philosophy The Supernatural Poreless Flawless *only for daytime
I can’t wait till they launch Sephora here in Jakarta next year! So how do we get our grubby hands on the above products? I hoard from Beauty Bar (exclusive distributor of Philosophy in the Philippines) & Mercury Drugstore (Galderma products) every time I am in Manila. Or Mrs. C orders Philosophy online and then has someone bring them from the USA when they come to Jakarta. It’s a lot of effort but totally worth it!
More details at:
Hi! Great post and product reviews! I just wanted to comment about SPF. I slightly disagree with part of your post here. SPF 30 doesn’t mean that you have to reapply after X times 30 minutes, that is actually the time you can stay in the sun before you get burned, WITH the sunblock on. It is not the time that the sunblock stays effective. So if you burn after 10 min out in the sun with no protection, you WILL burn after 150 minutes in the sun with SPF 30, and that’s IF you apply correctly and reapply according to instructions. Even if you’re wearing sunblock, you should get out of the sun after that!
Here’s a link that explains it a bit better.
http://www.gosunsmart.org/yourskin/yourskin_protection.shtml#6
Anyway, stay safe and un-sunburned! Am still looking for my holy grail moisturizer/sunscreen. Maybe I’ll give this one a try.
Corinna
Hey Corinna! I checked out the link and yes this is the one of the many literature on SPF I read before. We are saying the exact same thing so I am not sure which part we don’t agree about =) Perhaps I didn’t word it well? I will review my post again tomorrow to check if there is anything I can improve. It’s an oversimplification of SPF, but it’s a good place to start for people to understand how it works. I think it should have it’s individual post because there is so much more to it, but I just had to insert a little SPF trivia about it since I recommended SPF as part of an am routine.
You are going to love Supernatural Poreless Flawless! Unfortunately though, it’s not a moisturizer+sunscreen. You still have to put moisturizer beforehand. Sometimes the store staff will try to sell it to you as moisturizer w/ SPF but it’s actually moisturizer+foundation primer. More on Supernatural:
http://www.philosophy.com/web/store/prod_supernatural-poreless-flawless-spf15______58512
Let me know how it goes!
Aw, I was hoping for both a moisturizer and sunscreen! I don’t like having to put multiple products on my skin. It still may be worth a try though!
The part we don’t agree on is the “you must reapply after 150 minutes”. The SPF is the time you stay unburned (which won’t change even if you reapply), and not the time that the sunscreen stays effective. So 150 minutes is the time in which to get out of the sun, not to reapply.
I’m not sure why sunscreen uses this system, which is kinda confusing. I think they should have just labeled them according to “strength”, or percentage of UV rays blocked or something,
Hey Cor! I was just about to message you that I deleted the sentence regarding reapplication and saw your reply. I read it again and realized what you meant. Sorry it was like 5am in the morning last time so I was quite out of it and was really slow on the uptake.
You are completely right and I don’t know how it slipped my mind! It’s been 2 years since I worked for the health and beauty industry and I really appreciate your comment and reminder. If it’s all right with you, I just included the link in my post for people who are interested in more info. Do you know I used the same link as reference before too! It’s so great that you are so into skincare!
The thing with Philosophy Supernatural is that it’s a hardworking product. Are you the type who does not like putting a lot of makeup or none at all on a normal day? If you are then you will like this. You may have to put on moisturizers, before Supernatural, but after that your skin will look and feel smoother. You’ll feel great sans the makeup.
But if you do like to put on makeup, then it’s for you as well. Now that I’ve discovered primers, I would never dream of using makeup without it. It smoothens the canvass of your face and preps it. It also resolves the problem of streaking liquid foundation. (When I put on makeup at night and there’s no spf needed I use Smashbox Photofinish Foundation Primer – http://www.smashbox.com/PHOTO-FINISH-FOUNDATION-PRIMER)
Philo Supernatural may be worth a try =) but you should definitely try the tester first to see how you like the “feel” of it. Let me know how it goes!
Oh I forgot to mention that Hope in a Jar SPF20 is now available in Beauty Bar Manila in case you want to check it out as well. I can’t vouch for it though because I’ve never tried it. I am still trying to finish the massive HIAJ containers I bought (slash hoarded) from the last time I was there.