Music | Cage the Elephant - Tell Me I'm Pretty

Coming at 'cha with another music recommendation. This time it's Cage the Elephant's Tell Me I'm Pretty. I discovered this band under "new releases" section on Spotify and I'm not at all disappointed! 

The music is very similar to what I was obsessed with back in junior year of college–that alternative, indie soft rock. Cage the Elephant's style and sound reminds me a lot of Portugal. The Man and Young the Giant. So if that's your thing, definitely give this album a listen! I'm VERY obsessed with the song "Too Late to Say Goodbye" right now. 

Skin Care | Innisfree Masks

So sorry for being MIA this month! Between the job hunting and traveling, I just haven't had much time to talk about passions and hobbies. But here's a brand of products that has really been helping me with my skin in the past few weeks. Innisfree is a Korean skincare line that is cruelty free and overall very popular. I purchased these 15 It's Real Squeeze Masks from Amazon recently and so far I've been really enjoying them. 

The best thing about this is that you can try all different ingredients that target specific concerns. Because there are so many different ones, I generally choose which one I want to use based on how my skin is feeling that day.

Masks are so expensive nowadays, one single sheet mask at Sephora can go upward $10. It's a blessing to find cheaper yet equally as effective ones on Amazon for just a fraction of the price! 

Battle of Acne Treatments

I've been wanting to talk about this for a long time now and I'm finally coming around to it. I wanted to do a compare and contrast of the two acne treatments I've used and what I feel about each of them.

In the past year or so, I've gone through 1 bottle of the Mario Badescu Drying Lotion and 1 bottle of Kate Somerville's EradiKate. (This is currently my 2nd bottle of the drying lotion pictured above). Pricing wise, Mario Badescu's lotion is $17 at Ulta or Nordstrom and Kate Somerville's is $24 at Sephora.

In terms of application, the two are exactly the same. You take a q-tip and dip it all the way down to the bottom where you get a little bit of the pink lotion and apply it onto your face where you see acne or feel like a bump is about to grow. When on your face, both might give a slight stinging feeling because that's the beginning of the drying effect of the lotion. 

In ingredients, both are big on sulfur, salicylic acid, and isopropyl alcohol. However, when you compare the ingredients side by side, Mario Badescu's product has a few other key components including calamine and resorcinol. For those who have gotten the chicken pox before, you know that calamine lotion is a soothing component that helps ease the skin and calm down swelling or itching. Resorcinol is a product that, in small quantities, gets rid of certain skin irritants such as eczema and psoriasis. 

If I had to choose, pricing aside, I think that Mario Badescu's drying lotion is significantly more effective. I think this is heavily because of the calamine and resorcinol that is in the product. I really see it calming my skin and being more effective in fighting the acne on my face. 

However, I can see Mario Badescu's drying lotion to be a lot harsher for the skin. It's effectiveness come a lot faster than Kate Somerville's, which may be a problem for people with sensitive skin. I personally don't have a problem with it or feel like it's too harsh for my skin type. But having used both products, I can definitely say that I enjoy my Mario Badescu lotion a little bit more. 

Hope this helps!