Topher's Beard and Soap Co. ~ Dead Sea Spa Products

Over the past few weeks I have been testing out some items from Topher's Beard and Soap Co. They are a local company that started with beard care in 2015, but have expanded into bath products as well. They have a Dead Sea Spa Line which includes Detoxifying Dead Sea Bath Salts, Dead Sea Salt & Shea Butter Scrub, and a Dead Sea Mud Mask. I have been testing out the scrub and mud mask over the past couple of weeks.

Dead Sea Salt & Shea Butter Scrub (6oz $12 CDN)

Dead Sea Mud Mask (8oz $22 CDN)

I started with the mud mask, which can be used on the face and body. I have combination skin, which leans more dry in the winter and oilier in the summer. I do also have very large pores with blackheads, so mud masks are usually something I lean towards generally. I was very surprised at how fine the particles were in the mud and how easily the mud spread across my face. I was quickly able to apply a thin, even layer. Immediately you could feel the mask start to work it's magic, but at no point did it ever burn or feel uncomfortable. Within fifteen minutes the mask was totally dry and ready to be removed. The part about mud masks that I really dread is removing them. It usually consists of scrubbing and pulling at your skin, which is NEVER a good idea. This mask came off so easily with warm water. There was no harsh rubbing required. Once the mask was removed my skin felt smooth, soft, and my pores visibly smaller. I will say that after the first use, there was a dry patch on my nose, however when I followed up with my night cream, everything was fine. I also relate that to the season we are in. After the second and third use there were no dry patches, my pore size has reduced dramatically and my overall skin tone has improved. I usually battle redness, which nothing has ever helped, but this mask has been able to reduce that as well. Compared to the L'Oreal mask I reviewed a few weeks back, this one is much more effective and is actually cheaper per oz (L'Oreal is around $15 CDN/1.7oz and this mask sells for $22/8oz). When you're comparing on the other end of the scale, there is GlamGlow SuperMud Treatment. This is a mask that is very hyped up in the beauty community that I did try a few months back and it was nice, but I do find better results with the Dead Sea Mud Mask. GlamGlow is also $79 for only 1.7oz!! Overall, I would highly recommend this mud mask for anyone looking for a pore purifying, skin smoothing result. I think that anyone could use this mask, however if you have very dry skin I would follow up with a moisturizer (which you should do anyways). I was so impressed that I will be repurchasing this mask in the future.

I did also try out the Dead Sea Salt & Shea Butter Scrub. When I saw how large the granules were, I immediately lowered my expectations as I thought that either a) the granules would be too harsh for my sensitive skin, or b) they wouldn't do much as they would be too large to exfoliate properly. I tried this product out on my arms and legs as I have dry skin all over and "alligator skin" on my elbows. As soon as I rubbed the salt over my skin I could feel an instant improvement to the texture. By lightly rubbing granules over my elbows, I was able to penetrate the "alligator skin" and moisturize the layers underneath. Within second my body was able to absorb the natural oils and sluff off the dead, hard skin. I then rinsed the area with water and I couldn't believe the results. I did not apply moisturizer after as I wanted to get the full effect of the oils. After 24hrs, my elbows did have some dryness, however that is a drastic improvement to the "alligator skin" that they were the previous night, and this was after only one use! My arms and legs also still felt just as moisturized, soft, smooth, and healthy as they had the night before when I rinsed the product off. I am very impressed with this product and the effect it has had on my winter skin. I highly recommend this for anyone in the winter months, especially those with very dry skin all year round. I believe this product will become your best friend. However, I will say that you do need to be careful when using this product in the bathtub/shower as the oils will make it slippery. I always have to give Will the heads up when I use this so that he uses extra caution when he goes in to bathe after me.

Overall, these two products were very impressive, especially the Dead Sea Mud Mask. If you are only wanting to try one item from Topher's Beard and Soap Co. first, I would recommend that, especially if you have oily skin. If you are on the drier side, try the Dead Sea Salt & Shea Butter Scrub. I am confident that you will be impressed!

Topher's Beard and Soap Co. has many products on their website, even something for your fur baby! They are local, natural, and a lot of products are even vegan. If you are interested in checking out the products that they offer, their website and social media information is listed below. They are available in many stores across Canada and even a couple in the US. You can find a full list of retailers on their website, along with the products that each one carries. It is best to contact the individual retailer to confirm stock quantities. Of course, you are always welcome to shop online! They will ship worldwide as well (for my international friends!).

Topher's Beard and Soap Co.

http://www.tophersbeardco.com/

Instagram - @tophersbeardco

Facebook - Topher's Beard & Soap Company

Twitter - @tophersbeardco

As always, you guys can find me on Instagram @cherrytrish or on Twitter @cherrytrish17. I also do that SnapChat thing, which is CherryTrish. Let me know if you have tried anything from this company or are interested in trying anything. Did you enjoy these products as much as I did? I'd love to hear your thoughts!

And until next time, goodnight my friends!

Drugstore Face Mask.... is it better to splurge?

First of all, I want to apologize for being absent for the past few weeks. Between Christmas and New Years I got hit with a cold that morphed itself into a flu virus of epic proportions. I am just starting to feel like myself again, so I knew it was time to get back at it. Time to play guinea pig!

One of my goals with this blog is to try things out and give my unfiltered thoughts so that you guys (my friends) don't waste your money on things. It's so hard to to know the honest reviews of people on the internet, because there are so many sponsorships (both announced and hidden) that can alter how someone presents something. I will not do that. I'm hoping that you guys can look to me to find out the truth on how a product performs for me. As always, if you guys have any questions about products, please feel free to ask me via Instagram, Twitter or even as a comment here! I would love to help in any way that I can. This is my passion!

Now, onto the review.

Last night I tried out the L'Oreal Pure-Clay Mask, Exfoliating & Pore Refining. This is the one with the orange coloured clay. If you didn't know, I have the largest pores I have ever seen. I'm not saying this to be overly critical of myself, I'm saying this as it is an absolute fact. Anything that says "pore refining" or "pore minimizing" always gets my attention. They also have a green mask that is "Purifying & Mattifying" and also a black one that is "Energizing & Brightening". Everywhere I looked people were talking about how much they enjoyed the "Energizing & Brightening" mask and how it was a dupe for the GlamGlow masks. If that is something that you think would benefit your skin and you pick it up to try, let me know what your thoughts are on it! I moreso needed the pore shrinking variety which is why I swayed the way I did. Plus, I hadn't heard anything on it.... good or bad.

First, let's look into the claims that this product has. It is said to:

          ~ Unclog and tighten pores
          ~ Exfoliate dead skin cells and smooth skins texture
          ~ Draw out build-up of impurities, dirt and pollution
          ~ Refresh skin and allow it to breathe

Not only that, but it claims visible results IMMEDIATELY. These claims include:

          ~ Skin texture looks refined and smoother
          ~ Pores are visibly minimized
          ~ Dead skin cells, dirt and oil feel removed from skin

This mask was pretty simple. Apply a thin layer to your face, avoiding the eye and mouth area. Let sit for ten to fifteen minutes. Rinse off using circular motions to help exfoliate skin. Applying it was very easy, it has a really nice texture that isn't difficult to apply to the face. To me, it felt almost whipped with fine particles for exfoliating. It didn't burn or tingle at all, which was great! It was very comfortable.

I let it sit for the full fifteen minutes and began to wash it off. I will say that, because of the soft texture, it wasn't very difficult to wash off. One thing I dislike about most clay masks is that it takes you twenty minutes of scrubbing and harming your skin in order to get everything off. I don't like to use anything too harsh on my face and cause any damage.

Now, the results.... my skin did feel a little bit smoother and cleaner than before the mask, however my pores didn't look any smaller. I was slightly disappointed as my main goal was to minimize the appearance of pores, at least a little bit. My skin does feel like it can breathe a bit better, which was great when it came time to using my night cream. I felt like it really was able to penetrate the skin and get the layers nourished.

Would I use this again? Yes. I will definitely use this face mask until I use it up. It did make a slight difference in my skin and made it much easier for my night cream to apply. I did also notice that my makeup went on nicer today as well, however these results are typical of many other exfoliating face masks I have tried.

Would I repurchase? Most likely not. Again, these results are pretty typical to most other exfoliating face mask I have used. If I were to recommend a drugstore face mask that exfoliates AND shrinks pores, it would be the Black Sugar face mask by Freeman. You can get it at Walmart for around $3 (CDN) and it is amazing. This L'Oreal face mask was $13 (CDN) and that was even on SALE! Unfortunately, this didn't do enough to justify a repurchase. I may look into the "Energizing and Brightening" one as there is a lot of hype around that formula.

If you guys want me to give one of the other two a chance and review it on my blog, let me know! I would love to try any products you guys are curious about. Anything I can do to help save you money, I am down for. Speaking of which.... have you thought of any Pintrest beauty hacks you want me to try? Leave me a comment down below and I would be happy to look into it!

I hope this review has been helpful for you. I'm always up for trying new products or answering any questions that you have. You can reach me on Instagram @cherrytrish or Twitter @cherrytrish17 anytime!

So, until next time, goodnight my friends!