The Ones That Got Away: Skincare Edition
The moment you realise your holy grail product has vanished from the shelves forever is a special kind of heartbreak. The perfect products that elevated your skincare routine into the best skin ever, products that held a special spot on your top shelf or the best serum in existence - I’m reminiscing about those products today, tomorrow and probably the next day as well.
Lanolips Face Base Gelcream Cleanser: This was one of the best cleansers on the market, when it was on the market. It was a hybrid Gelcream that cleansed deeply like a gel but felt like a cream on the skin. It really respected your skins natural oils and pH and never left my skin feeling dry or stripped. It contained lanolin which can mimic the skins natural oils and can hold up to 400% of its weight in moisture, meaning it gave the most hydrating and refreshing wash ever. I’m not sure exactly when this product was discontinued but my skin feels the loss, especially in the cooler months.
Holifrog Sunapee Sacred-C Brightening Powder Wash: This product gave me the brightest and clearest skin of my life! And then they reformulated. So technically this product still exists, but it is not nearly as good as it once was. I’m a big fan of a powder cleanse, they can’t be beaten when it comes to gentle exfoliation and getting that really good clean feeling without scrubbing your skin raw. I haven’t yet found one quite as good as this. This cleanser used a combination of vitamin C, enzymes and skin hydrators to give you what once was the best cleanse and exfoliation of your life.
Ella Bache Balancing Serum (Serum Antiase): This was my number one skincare product. It was brightening, hydrating, refining, it cleared pimples and dry patches and kept the overall health of my skin in check. Plus instead of taking a million skincare products whilst travelling, all I needed was this. I can’t even tell you how many bottles of this I went through. And it was almost $80! I would save up my pocket money to buy this in highschool. I think this is probably the product I’m most gutted about being discontinued.
Laneige Water Bank Hydro Essence: Also a product that is still technically around, but reformulated. This essence was so lightweight but it had some serious hydrating powers and was a serious skin saviour for so many years. You would also never catch me without a bottle of this. It also had the sweetest scent to it, kind of like a fresh green apple. I’ve since found other hydrating serums that my skin loves but nothing quite like this. I believe this got reformulated into Laneige’s new Water Bank Blue Hyaluronic Serum, it is not nearly as good.
Glossier Zit Stick: I don’t know what magic ingredients they put in this but if I got a pimple, no matter how big or small, I’d dab a little of this on and poof! Gone, in a matter of hours. It contained 5% benzoyl peroxide, tea tree and Capryloyl salicylic acid and I’ve used other spot treatments that contain similar make ups but none that were as fast or effective as Glossier Zit Stick. Also can we talk about the packaging? So easy to slip into a beauty bag or a small purse for on the go use. The antimicrobial rollerball was so genius for dispersing the right amount of product and also for easy application.
Fluff Casual Cosmetics Face Oil #3: All three of Fluff CC’s face oils have been discontinued but No.3 was my pick of the bunch. It contained a natural retinol alternative Bakuchiol, hemp seed oil and frankincense. I liked that it was an oil on the drier side, not quite a dry oil but didn’t leave my face looking or feeling like an oil slick. I’ve tried a few other Bakuchiol facial oils but none that made quite as much difference as I saw with this one.
Boscia Vegan Collagen Microcrystal Eye Mask: These were more fun than anything. Tiny little vegan collagen microcrystals pierced the skin when you applied the eye masks which helped deliver the product further into the skin, rather than just applying topically. These masks gave my under eyes a bit of a much needed boost. They definitely did hurt a little!