Sunblocks and Suncare Products I Use

When I posted a few weeks ago about sunscreens, sunblocks, and sun safety a few people reached out to me to ask for recommendations on suncare products and what I used. Additionally, the lovely folks at Goddess Garden contacted me to see if I would like to review one of their products (little did they know that I had a small army of their products already lurking in my home. They're my preferred sunblock brand!)

The regular use pile from my vanity. That trigger-spray Goddess Garden sunblock is the one they sent for review; you can tell it's new to the family because it doesn't have a yellow expiration date sticker dot on it yet. The poor Mustela is lingering for another few months from winter, so its sticker is on the back.

Small reviews, explanations, and general rambling after the jump:

Foundation Final Round! A Winner Emerges!

Sorry for the delay in posting, I've been having some computer troubles.

I figured that this foundation was going to be a long shot. You might remember in the swatches and the Jane Iredale BB cream in BB1 looked yellow compared to the others. It looked like it wasn't going to be a match at all. Turns out, I was so, so wrong.

First up, the packaging on the BB cream isn't anything astounding - it's more convenient for throwing in my bag to head to the gym, though.

Jane Iredale Glow Time Full Coverage BB Cream

Here's the day one face test for shade BB1, indoors in natural light:

Look at that - it matches my neck, chest, and hairline! It doesn't look dry, it doesn't look overly shiny which is what "glow" usually equates to. The coverage is definitely full. It has a titanium-dioxide sunblock (25 SPF UVA/B full spectrum) built in and my skin feels amazing when I wash my face at the end of the day. I've been using this for two weeks now and my skin has never looked better, which wasn't something I figured a foundation would do. There is a very light sweet herbal scent which makes sense given the number of extracts in it: white tea, green tea, aloe leaf, grapefruit, bitter orange, apple, sunflower seed oil, radish root, honeysuckle. I only smell it when applying and I have a very acute sense of smell.

For a more matte finish, you can layer the Pressed Mineral foundation over the top. My shade match is Ivory (neutral undertones) but they have a variety of undertones available in a fair-to-light pressed powder. The refillable compact is amazing - the hinge is sturdy and will stay where you place it which is so rare anymore in a mirrored compact. Just large enough to hold the powder puff that comes with the powder refill. All of the packaging is recyclable, as well.

Here's my second-day photo, taken a week or so after the first photo with the powder over the top. Sorry for the lack of visibility of other skin for color-matching, it's been cold here! Clearly, I'm outside.

I think I could go on forever, so I will just wrap up with, uh, more photos (after the jump.) I may have gotten over-excited about this being such a good match and throughout the day on day one (first picture) as I ran errands with my little guy, I took pictures in different kinds of lighting situations - see more after the jump, this even looks good in florescent lighting.

Foundation Swatches

Quick - you're pale, your favorite foundation has just been discontinued (again,) and you haven't even looked for a replacement in years. What do you do? If you're me? You panic and go and get, I'm not exaggerating here, 24 different foundations color matched to you by a variety of counter sales folks, make up artists, and other pros to swatch and find the next foundation for the CPTB (Cosmetic Powers That Be) to discontinue. (This seems to be a thing with pale foundation - in fact, Torq (my spousal compatriot) jokes every time I find one - "So, how long until they discontinue this one?" or most recently, "Are you going to send the company a condolence letter on their impending discontinuation?")

(Super long post and swatches after the cut)