I ordered the Mugwort Essence by I'm From in December 2021 and only received it in June. By then I had two other products open that I wanted to finish before opening the mugwort one. 

I finally got to it today, only to see that the expiration date was in August. Obviously I'm reluctant to throw it out because it was expensive, I checked the smell and it seemed fine and I'm doing a patch test just to be sure. Since it's just one ingredient I figured it can't be that bad to use even after the exp date. 

But are there any truly horrible consequences to doing this or should it be fine for at least a few months?

Mugwort epiration date?

Can PHA be used everyday? Specifically PHA in toners that are advertised for daily use.

This particular one caught my eye but I'm not sure if I can use it often or treat it as exfoliant.

(side question: are toners with betaine salicylate okay to use daily as well?)

PHA everyday?

I've never been the type to have serious acne, just the occasional pimple. About 4 months ago my skin started acting out and I've been struggling with acne since.

Coincidentally a few months ago I bought a new memory foam pillow because my old one was several years old and lumpy. I can't pinpoint when exactly I started using the new pillow but it was definitely this year. For the record, I change my pillowcases weekly.

I'm running out of possible triggers for what could have started my breakouts and at this point I wouldn't be surprised if it was the pillow but I couldn't find anything online that suggests this could be the case, so I'm wondering if anyone else has gone through this?

Can pillows cause breakouts?

I've got ridiculously sensitive skin (like even cotton pads are too harsh for me) and switch between combo and dry depending on the state of my skin barrier.

I've got lots of little black dots on my nose which I believe are sebaceous filaments, and clogged pores (black and white heads) that often turn into pimples since I can't help but pick on them. 

Common solutions are using exfoliants but my skin can't handle them, I use a BHA serum once a month and that's not enough but it's as often as possible without irritating my skin even more. 

I've heard clay masks are helpful but I've never used one before and I'm not sure which to get. They're supposedly very drying as well which I'm worried about. 

If anyone can recommend a clay mask that's gentle but still effective, please do!

clogged pores? sebaceous filaments?

I recently moved to Turkey and just started learning the language. 

Does anyone have any good SPF recommendations I can find here?

Turkish Sunscreen

For some reason it caused eczema flare ups when I used it. I tried it the first few times and got irritated patches so I went off it to see if it really was the cause and once my skin healed I tried it again a couple times and got even worse eczema flares.

I think it broke me out? I know pimples take time to develop but almost every time I used this, I'd wake up with a new pimple, I'm not sure if it's an allergic reaction (like the eczema) or if the sunscreen does cause acne but it's something to make note of.

Also for some reason it pills a little in some areas and leaves a white residue? Nothing excessive but I tried using it on its own and it still left a few white spots especially around my forehead.

It's really nice for a sunscreen, it feels like a moisturizer and is very moisturizing. It's pretty light, but can get greasy after a couple hours.
Unfortunately I didn't use it long enough to test out any brightening benefits but as sun protection it's great.

It doesn't cleanse very well, I couldn't take off my sunscreen with it at the end of the day and my cleansing balm would leave a residue that this couldn't wash off either. 
I gave it to my brother and he complained about the horrible cleansing power too.

It's also drying? Even though it doesn't leave your skin squeaky clean, it still leaves you feeling dehydrated. 

Overall I didn't really enjoy it, I'd recommend the CeraVe cleanser instead. 

Got this when my skin barrier was damaged.

It was alright, did the job (barely) and didn't make my condition worse. I had to rub it in for like a full minute to feel clean though. The bottle is pretty big too.

It was a bit drying, not sure if it's ever a good idea to use exfoliants everyday. My brother is young and isn't very thorough with using sunscreen so I told him to stop using it after a few weeks, that might be why his skin didn't react well to using it so often.

Got it for my brother who wanted an all-in-one product and told him to use it every other day. It smells reaallly good.
I use it a few times a week for underarms pigmentation and it works well.

It doesn't leave your skin sticky or anything, dries after a few minutes. It helped with clogged pores.

It claims to be hydrating but I didn't experience anything of the sort, it was a little bit irritating but I think that's because I had to use a cotton pad with it and my skin is too sensitive for that. It's hard to use without a cotton pad, the texture is a little weird, very runny and takes a while to dry, also leaves the skin sticky/tacky and you can definitely feel it. 

The texture is pretty water-like and the scent is quite nice, doesn't smell like fragrance though. The price is good for the amount of product in the bottle. 

It's not that special to be honest, works well as a cleansing toner for when I can't wash my face in the morning, but I didn't see any other benefits.

- Honestly it smells horrible, but you get used to it eventually.
- Due to the consistency it's a little difficult to spread so you do need a bit more product to cover your face with it.
- Unfortunately after a while whenever I used this, my skin started to sting? I'm not sure why but I've had to stop using it after that.

I've got sensitive skin and hyperpigmentation so azelaic acid was something I really wanted to incorporate into my routine. This was the cheapest option for me and I definitely don't regret getting it.

- This has helped fade away PIH so much quicker than anything else I've tried.
- Calms down any irritation and inflammation from pimples.
- Speeds up the healing process of acne and gets rid of pimples so much quicker. 
- Reduced blackheads and the appearance of sebaceous filaments. 

I've heard people mention that they had issues with the texture and pilling but I didn't experience any of that personally. The texture is similar to the porefessional primer if anyone has tried that, it feels like a normal light cream before transforming to a sort of powdery consistency. I've had no problems with it and actually like it.

silvie