Tuesday, November 18, 2014

Influenster Review: Mary Kay Clearproof Acne System

I was provided with a complimentary sample of the Mary Kay Clearproof Acne System by Influenster.

What I received honestly feels to me like a clone of the Proactive system.  And is has the same flaws for the most part.  I am not sure the 4 step system is at all necessary and it is serious a pain in the ass to use. It gives me the feeling they are trying to dole out a fairly small amount of active ingredient camouflaged by four tubes full mainly of water and pseudoscience.

That said it is about as effective an any of the Salicylic acid-based treatment.  The cleanser is the only really useless product, especially if you already have a well-formulated cleaners. The moistener is a little better but I still prefer the moisturizer I was already using. The toner and is okay and the ointment is about on par with others that have the same active ingredients.

If you really are not doing anything at all for your skin a set like this might be a good way to start. And if you are already using Proactiv and like this system, the Mary Kay version has the advantage of not trying to strong arm you into a subscription--you can just order it when you need it and order all the parts separately (because the most important part is in the smallest tube--I would tend to use that up first).

Overall I would rate it: meh.  But as someone who has been dealing with acne-prone skin for decades now I may not be the "typical" consumer for this product.

Monday, November 17, 2014

Serving Size Recommendations Are Completely Ridiculous

Okay so it makes sense to have a serving size when you report nutritional information. Like if there is a bag of twelve hotdog buns, the serving size would be one (1/12). A dinner for two, would have two servings. Because, um, it's logically the amount you would serve each person. But as for why a box of 7 bacon slices would be 5 servings... well, I just give up. Is 1.4 the natural serving size for bacon rashers and no one ever got around to telling me?