Mario Badescu skin care products

Hello my lovelies! I'm back! I haven't blogged in over a week! I've been ill and busy with some last papers for school. I'm finally done with everything (the cold and the papers) and can (hopefully) start on my thesis soon. Anyways... I'll be blogging more frequently now so stay tuned. :) 

Today I'll be reviewing some lovely skin care products from Mario Badescu.

I've heard very little to nothing about this brand, before seeing it on Boho Vanity blog and then stumbling across it on BeautyBay.com. I saw that most of the products had very good reviews so I decided to try out a few of them... and boy am I glad I did. :)

The first product I wanted to try was the Glycolic acid toner. It's supposed to be a great exfoliating toner that helps with congested skin (which I have). I have to say I really like this toner. I haven't been really consistent with using it every day so I can't say, if it makes a difference in the long run. I did however notice that my skin looked better every time I used this toner - the pores were immediately tighter and smaller and the skin just looked healthier, fresher (which I guess is due to the exfoliating properties of the toner). Even though the toner contains glycolic acid and is basically an exfoliant, it's very gentle on the skin and does not irritate it. It will sting a bit, if the skin has been hurt (from poking at a pimple for example), but nothing much really.

The price is very high for a toner - 21.40 € on BeautyBay.com. It's a lot, but I think it's a product worth investing in. I truly believe it makes a noticeable difference in my skin and helps with congestion (especially with those nasty little blackheads).

The next product I wanted to try was the Honey moisturizer. I can have a pretty hard time finding the right moisturizer for my combination skin. I have normal skin on my cheeks, a dry forehead which can also get oily some times and kind of an oily nose and chin. I say 'kind of' because it really depends on the weather, my hormones and other things - sometimes it's really oily, sometimes really dry... it differs. So the problem I have with this strange mix going on, is that when I find a great heavy duty moisturizer it takes care of the dry parts, but makes the oily ones even oilier. If I try a lighter moisturizer, it doesn't make my skin any oilier, but it doesn't moisturize it enough.

Well... I was really surprised when I discovered that this little fella works great for my skin. :) It is such a great moisturizer. It has quite a runny consistency, it's definitely not a thick cream. It has a lovely pale pink color to it (not that that's very important) and smells really really nice - I can't put my finger on what I'm actually smelling in it, it just has a lovely, gentle scent. When applied on the skin it absorbs fairly quickly and does not leave a sticky feeling behind. I'm especially happy with the fact, that I can apply it in the morning and don't have to worry about my T-zone getting oily in a matter of minutes (which some creams tend to do) - it just absorbs into the skin and leaves it soft and supple.

The price is again pretty steep - 29.20 €, but since it has become my favorite moisturizer (ever), I would repurchase it again and again. :)

The last product that I'm going to talk about, is the Strawberry face scrub. I have to say I have mixed feelings about this one... I kind of feel like it doesn't do much for my skin. It is a non-abrasive scrub, so it doesn't have any rough particles in it (except for the strawberry seeds, which don't do anything). And I understand that, but I'm kind of used to the feeling that something's 'happening', that the product is doing at least a tiny bit of scrubbing. But it's not just about the feeling... I really don't notice a huge difference when I use this product on my skin. To me, this is more of a cleanser than a scrub. You could use this on a daily basis to cleanse your skin and there wouldn't be anything wrong. That's probably my main problem - I wouldn't call this product a scrub at all. It's a good product, there's nothing wrong with it, my skin feels clean after using it, it just doesn't act like a scrub or make my skin look like it has been exfoliated, if that makes sense. I will continue using it because I do like it, but I much prefer the Ole Henriksen Walnut scrub, so I know I'll be gravitating towards that one.

Even though this product wasn't really my cup of tea, I'm still planing on trying out the other two scrubs they have - the Kiwi one and the Almond&Honey one. Both are non-abrasive scrubs as well, so I'm not sure how I'll like them, but I'm really curious so I'll probably get them anyway. :) The price is again pretty high for a scrub - 17.80 €.


What do you think of these products? Have you tried any of them or any other Mario Badescu products? Do you like to invest in your skin care or don't think it's worth spending that much money?