Welcome to the summer edition of the Quarterly Product Reviews! This one has all beauty products on deck – three skincare products, one hair care product, and one sunscreen. It’s a fairly positive post this time, with four of the five products falling into the “definite repurchase” category. So let’s get into it!
As a reminder, I personally tested every product in this post for at least a few months. So my opinions are not knee-jerk reactions, but honest evaluations over a period of time. My skin tends to be sensitive, dry, and acne-prone, so everything here is written through that lens.
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Beauty Product Review Roundup
Neutrogena HydroBoost Water Gel
This is my holy grail moisturizer at this point. I use it every day, twice a day and my skin feels great. I bought it after my Tahoe trip earlier this year, as a trip to the mountains always leaves my skin a dried out mess, and my previous moisturizer (Cerave PM Facial Moisturizer) didn’t seem to be cutting it. The Neutrogena HydroBoost killed all the dryness I had from that very quickly.
I think the application is the biggest pro for this moisturizer. It blends into the skin super well and doesn’t end up being sticky. I also don’t have to wait twenty minutes for it to dry down if I want to put makeup on top. Love it! I’ve already repurchased once and will continue.
If I had to name a con, it doesn’t have any SPF built-in, which means I have to layer sunscreen on top during the day, and I would love to minimize my skincare routine as much as possible. But that small con is not enough to revoke holy grail status at this point.
Cake Head Strong Scalp Scrub
This scalp scrub was a random Amazon purchase that ended up working super well. Sometimes my scalp gets some gunk on it – I especially notice it if I travel to a place with harder water than Seattle. My hairdresser recommended using a scalp scrub so I just kind of bought the first not expensive one I found.
And the Cake Scalp Scrub works great on my hair! It cleans out all the gunk and leaves my straight, thin hair with some much needed volume. I don’t use it super often, maybe about every two to three weeks depending on how my hair feels. I don’t use shampoo when I use it, but I don’t think it’s a shampoo replacement for frequent washing.
The best thing is the scent, it’s a yummy sweet vanilla cake scent. If you don’t like sweet scents, you will hate this, but I love it personally. I also love the price point, I think it works really well for what I would consider a drugstore price point.
Topicals Faded Brightening & Clearing Serum
In my last Quarterly Review, I did not have a good experience with the Topicals Faded Eye Patches. Luckily, it’s been the opposite with the Topicals Faded Serum.
The serum advertises that it will “visibly fade stubborn post-blemish marks, scars, dark spots, discoloration & uneven skin tone with dermatologist-tested serum”. I don’t have a ton of discoloration, but I do have red spots that appear after some pimples and don’t go away for months. (Post-Inflammatory Erythema I think? If I had to use the internet to self-diagnose…)
I used the Faded serum as a spot treatment on those areas and the results have been stunning at times. Like the first red spot I put the serum on shrank visibly overnight. Others have taken a bit more time, but have faded much faster than if I had not used any product.
The one con about the serum is that it has an odor. You’ll see that echoed in a lot of reviews on Amazon and Sephora, and it’s not a lie. It smells like sulfur. It’s kinda strong. The results that I’ve personally seen are enough for me to ignore the smell, but I could totally understand if that’s a non-starter for someone.
It’s a small tube, but you don’t need much, especially if you end up using it like a spot treatment like I do. If you’re struggling with discoloration, I would at least give it a try to see if it works for you and if the smell is something you can stand.
Topicals Sealed Active Scar Primer
To continue on the Topicals train, this is my favorite product so far from the brand. I have really textured skin from years and years of bad acne. I’ve tried products in the past that are supposed to help with texture but they made my skin dry or just didn’t seem to work.
This is the first product where I’ve actually noticed a reduction in the size and depth of my acne scars. Which is honestly incredible, as I was starting to think I’d never get that unless I did something more serious like a chemical peel. The scars aren’t gone by any means, but I notice them a lot less, and some of the deeper ones seem shallower than they used to be.
It’s billed as a makeup primer, but honestly I just use it underneath my skincare whether or not I’m using makeup that day. I haven’t noticed a huge difference in the appearance of my scars when I wear makeup and use the primer, so if you’re expecting magic there I don’t think this will be for you. But I have seen enough benefit from the long term wear to continue to use it regularly.
Supergoop Every. Single. Face. Watery Lotion
I got this as part of a Supergoop bundle about a year ago and I’ve mostly used it up. My verdict is “It’s fine.”. I like it because it’s a higher SPF face sunscreen, it’s very light to the touch and is easy to apply without any white cast. However, I don’t like to wear it every day as it still gives me that very strong sunscreen feel. Like, I can still feel it on my skin even though it’s blended in and it smells pretty strongly of sunscreen.
I’ve never had a problem with my face burning while using it, and I have used it when working out and on a boat, so it is a very effective sunscreen. I think its price point is a little high for what it is, so I would prefer buying the Unseen Sunscreen from Supergoop if I’m going to splurge on something from the brand.
Summer Beauty Products Recap
And that’s it for my second installment of the Quarterly Product Reviews series! What do you think, have you tried any of these products? Is there something you want to see me write about next quarter? Let me know down in the comments!
If you liked this post, check out the previous Quarterly Product Reviews!
