#literally had maybe three pimples when i was a teen

[theyreonlynoodlesmike]

The universe said I was too sexy so its cursed me with adult acne

[boxyladies]

Y’all have no idea how excited I was when Influenster reached out to me and let me know they were going to send me some Ole Henriksen products! Ole Henriksen has been in my beauty routine for YEARS because I have bought bottle after bottle of the Ole Henriksen Truth Serum. It’s just my very favorite Vitamin C brightening serum. I tend to experiment but I always, always come back. It’s a holy grail product for me.

But I hadn’t tried their new Balance Line! I was so excited when I got this box in the mail because while I knew I was getting some products to try, I was really surprised by the big box…

…Which had three full-sized Ole Henriksen products in it! I mean, WHAT! I was so, so excited to start playing.

I admit, I kind of tore into the products first before I read the insert they sent which had some information on their Balance line. I finally went back and I read that the core to this line is what they call their “Green Fusion Complex,” which is their proprietary blend of potent active botanicals – green tea, eucalyptus, algae (kelp), Irish moss extracts- with natural antiseptic properties which help to absorb oil and refine pores. This line also features an invigorating eucalyptus-peppermint scent.

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I honestly could not try the line fast enough! However, I soon realized that while I think the products are great quality, they just aren’t for my skin type! I have dry/combination skin, whereas the Balance line would be much better suited for those of you out there with oily skin. (I also had an ill-fated idea to have Matt try the line. Long story short, Matt normally uses 0 products and when he tried 3 products, he did not like it… at all. I don’t think he had ever tried a toner before and I think it… startled him. But that is a conversation for another day.)

However, I wanted to give this review a fair shot so I reached out to my beauty bestie, Rachel Biggs, because I was pretty sure she had oily skin and would down to help out. Sure enough, she was fired up to try everything! I can always count on Rachel to talk about makeup and skincare products… for hours. We also love attending Neimans beauty events and you might remember that Rachel went with me to the Make Up Show Dallas. Our friendship goes way beyond the superficial but dude, we do tend to love the superficial shit in life. (I mean, you can probably tell by this blog that I am into the superficial shit in life. :))

But anyway…without further ado… here’s Rachel!

When Lauren asked me to review Ole Henriksen’s new Balance Skin Care line, designed to manage oily skin, I realized this is the only time in my life oily skin has been an advantage. I get that it may work in my favor as I age, but at this point, I am in that oily-skin-and-occasional-acne-slash-wrinkle-fighting stage of adulthood and it isn’t great. I heavily lean towards the fighting wrinkles end of this conundrum, so I jumped at the chance to test products on the other end of the spectrum. I tried three products from the Balance line: a cleanser, toner and moisturizer.

Find Your Balance Oil Control Cleanser ($25): A little goes a long way. In fact, if you use more than a nickel sized amount, you are wasting it. I predict this 5 ounce bottle lasts until my retirement, because so little is needed to work up a nice lather. I find this to be a major plus when considering a $25 cleanser. I am 80% sure I like the scent- it’s very eucalyptus-y. The packaging reveals this cleanser is made with Green Fusion Complex (including eucalyptus obviously), which I imagine contributes significantly to the scent. I like it… I think. Additionally, I highly recommend pairing this cleanser with a Clarisonic.  Also, did I mention you only need a very small amount?

Balancing Force Oil Control Toner ($26): Full disclosure, I do not regularly use toner.  I am not sure if I am lazy or I don’t get the point of an additional step after my face has been cleansed. Maybe both. This one smells nice and delivers the familiar (to some LOL Lauren! Poor Matt.) tingle. If you are into toners, you’ll probably like this one.

Counter Balance Oil Control Hydrator ($34): I have been using La Mer’s Crème de la Mer for years (not sure this is the wisest choice given my oily skin but pimples are temporary and wrinkles are forever) as my daily moisturizer, and as a result, I am accustomed to a lot of give in my makeup application routine. There are pros and cons here- the pro being it is easy to work with BB Cream and foundation when using a heavier moisturizer as the base. The con is that makeup doesn’t stay put. Enter Ole Henricksen’s Oil Control Hydrator. In contrast, this moisturizer doesn’t have a ton of give, and absorbs rather quickly.  It didn’t give me any problems in the application of my BB cream and foundation, and I liked how my makeup didn’t slide around all over my face.  However, it wasn’t quite hydrating enough to serve as a replacement to my daily moisturizer.

After one week of consistent use, my net takeaway is that if I were 10 or 15 years younger, and primarily concerned with controlling oil, Ole Henricksen’s Balance line would be perfect.  It provides the right amount of oil control and as promised, doesn’t strip skin of necessary moisture.  Of these three products, for me, the cleanser wins hands down, especially when coupled with the Clarisonic. I look forward to using it until I join the AARP.

Hey, it’s Lauren again! I decided to grab the Counter Balance Oil Control Hydrator back from Rachel (at a happy hour where we will drink champagne and eat doughnuts, like serious adults) because I really like using it after I wash my face in the morning before I go to the gym. I do not have it in me to not wash my face in the morning –  I will literally wash my face every morning and every night without fail. It’s just ingrained in me. So after I wash my face pre-gym, I also need to use a moisturizer afterwards because my skin just feels a little too tight without anything, and I don’t want to use anything super greasy or thick since I’m just about to sweat/wipe it all off. But this stuff absorbs so quickly and feels kind of like your skin but better. Like Rachel, I think it’s too light for my regular use but it’s great for me for that “in-between” time of the day.

There is actually another product in this line called the Counter Balance Mattifying Moisture Cream that may actually work better for those of us with dryer skin, but we didn’t get to try that one. However, I think this might bridge the gap if you needed a bit more moisture than the Counter Balance Oil Control Hydrator, so you might want to check that out if you think this line sounds like something that would be right up your alley!

[line]

Final Grade: A

While the Ole Henriksen Balance line didn’t work for my dry skin, I really do think these are excellent products. Like Rachel said, if you are in your teens or 20’s and you are just warring with your oily skin, I really think these products will work so well for you! They don’t strip your skin dry like so many acne products on the market but they also leave your skin tingly and a little matte, making a perfect base for makeup.

Press sample received in exchange for an honest review All opinions are my own Post contains affiliate links

Ole Henriksen Balance Skincare Review Y'all have no idea how excited I was when Influenster reached out to me and let me know they were going to send me some Ole Henriksen products!

[regular-lord-reckoner]

so far this week has been...frustrating 

so like...work-wise let me explain real quick so i teach teen pregnancy and std prevention, right? 

cool, cool.

how it works is, the government looks at each county in a state and sees which ones have a high teen pregnancy rate. they mandate that for the high ones that someone come teach these kids sex ed 

it doesn’t have to be our program, but it has to be someone 

so my supervisors work really hard to get in touch with the right people to get the green light so we can come to their schools and then people like me get assigned certain counties and we’re in charge of contacting the schools to try to get classes set up 

so i’ve got two counties right now and one of them we’re like knocking out of the park, we’ve already done/are scheduled with like five schools, so that’s awesome 

the other county...i am having a lot of trouble with 

like, there are basically four schools where i could go, so i’ve reached out to these guidance counselors to see and two of them just straight up haven’t gotten back to me and it’s almost been a month 

okay, fine. i mean i’m gonna keep trying but still, people get busy, i get that 

two of them i did talk to and they told me they’re already using a teen pregnancy prevention program (which i figured) and one was kinda “yeah, yeah i’ll let you know for sure, though, if we want you to come out still...” and i haven’t heard back 

the other sounded more game and if nothing else we talked about maybe i come after and just teach a shorter version of my material

and like i sent all of these people emails with a more detailed description of our curriculum because yeah, it’s about teen pregnancy and std prevention, but there’s also stuff about peer pressure and setting boundaries with your partner, etc. etc. 

the only part of my curriculum that strays away from the topic of sex is the skill set we teach to get out of peer pressure situations because it encompasses things like peer pressure to drink, do drugs, skip school, etc., etc. and some of the skits we do are about those topics as well as sexual peer pressure situations 

so they know this, like i’ve laid that out, this is me, this is what i teach 

so i’m cool to just kinda wait, like again i know shit’s busy that’s fine 

but my office mate (who teaches kind of the same thing but...not? she’s community based so she’s not in schools and therefore she can do like condom demonstrations and shit like that whereas i can’t “promote” condoms/birth control or i’ll get in legal trouble XD) tells me she was at like this health council meeting or something and she met someone from this county i’m trying to get into who was really interested in what i do and wanted to get in touch with me or whatever so...okay 

i get her contact information and i email her and she’s actually the coordinated school health so we’ve been in touch with her, she’s already approved us, and really by this point i should be dealing with specific schools, but i figure since this week i have literally nothing to do that sure, i’ll follow up on this 

so i email her and let her know that hey, i’ve been trying but so far i’ve had no luck as far as getting solid responses and that i understand some of these schools are already using another program, but i’m willing to still try to work something out, etc., etc. 

so that’s kind of an awkward exchange because she apologizes for me not hearing back from these teachers so i’m like ‘oh shit, i got people in trouble, great’ which really i wasn’t trying to do, i just didn’t want it to seem like i hadn’t bothered at all, i just wanted her to know like ‘hey, i’m trying!’ but whatever 

she also was like ‘yeah, we had [supervisor’s] contact info so we were probably just trying to reach the wrong person which...i didn’t say anything, because i know by this point my supervisor would have just passed any contact she’d gotten off to me so...mmkay, but instead i was just like, “she’s my supervisor and until i was hired she was in charge of getting set up with this county, but it’s all good, we’ll get it straightened out!” or something like that and that’s the last i heard, she hasn’t emailed me back, but again, people are busy, i get that 

so then someone from the company i actually work for emails me because she works in that county, except she does like the therapy end of things but had apparently heard i was trying to get into the county and wanted to know what program i was with in case it was something similar, basically maybe she could help me out so i was like “wonderful, i really appreciate it!!!” and so i explained what all my program consists of and whatnot and then...nothin’. silence. so...alright, no biggie, probably got busy, cool. i mean i dunno if she was thinking our two programs were similar or if she has a pulse on what sex ed these schools have and would be able to tell me if i was wasting my time or whatever, but i figured i’d get some kind of response, but again it’s cool, people get busy i get that 

BUT SO THEN i get an email from one of the aforementioned guidance counselors (the one who sounded like she did still want me to come) and she’s kinda defensive about not getting in touch so again i’m just...fuck my life, i wasn’t trying to get you in trouble, but anyway. 

she tells me they want me to come out, but to teach about drugs & alcohol, media, and violence & bullying... 

i...

that’s not...

nowhere in the program description i gave did i list those as a main focus 

like...that’s kind of a wide range of topics as is 

i know the company i work for actually has an entire separate violence and bullying program within itself 

i have resource information for things like alcohol and drugs 

and there’s like one section in one of the 8 modules i teach that talks about media influence but it’s specifically just about where we get messages about sex from, so really not even just media but peers, family, friends, partners, etc. so... 

i...

why would i, a teen pregnancy and std prevention specialist, be able to come talk about all these subjects? 

i just...i mean i will i guess, but i don’t...like i don’t have a curriculum for those topics. i don’t have the material. i don’t have a list of activities i could do. 

so...yeah

i forwarded that email to my supervisor basically like ??? because i don’t...i dunno what to do with that but she’s teaching this week so it’ll probably take her a while to get back to me, but that i understand and she’s always good about getting back to me, so i’m not really worried 

but i mean we can get someone from violence and bullying out there if they’d like, it’s just probably not gonna be me because i haven’t been trained to do that program and paperwork, nor have i observed anyone teach that lesson so...that’s a thing 

and then in my personal life like...listen, i’m 26 and i’ve never been to a gyn. 

i fuckin’ know, like...i get it

should have gone when i was 18 even though i’ve never been sexually active just to make sure my parts are...i dunno, still doing what they’re supposed to do but the thought of just...all of it makes me anxious beyond fucking belief, like i’m gonna have to take a beta blocker just to go to this appointment 

but so my mom gives me the name of this one who’s really good and she’s actually in the same medical group as the place my last job was at, like literally just down the sidewalk from one of the offices where i worked, so i’m familiar 

i call them and fortunately i don’t need a referral but the first appointment was like the end of april. i couldn’t do the day they gave me but there was one a week after in may so i took that one 

which...y’know really if it was just to check this visit off the life, get it over with i’d be fine with that. postpone that shit for as long as i possibly can, my man 

but my acne situation has become just...fucking miserable 

do i have the worst skin of anyone that’s ever struggled with this shit? well, no. 

am i a 26 year old adult who’s fucking tired of this shit, tho? yes, yes i am 

what’s bizarre is that i don’t remember it ever being this bad when i was going through puberty. i mean, i obviously had some issues because i remember using proactive and shit, so fine but it was never just...constantly bad 

i have to wake up an extra 30 minutes to an hour just to wrestle with my face because there’s just constantly like...a beard of breakouts along my jawline 

they’re deep, they hurt, and they don’t go away easily. i put up with it for as long as i can before i try to do something which of course just makes shit worse and then my skin’s just an endless fucking nightmare and i’m sick of having to struggle with makeup trying to cover it up 

like it’s okay this week because i’m not doing anything so i’ve been going without which uh...i really hate because please no one look at my face, please i know it’s awful but i’m trying to give it a break 

but like next week when i’m teaching i need to be professional so i’ll have to wear it and just the thought of it all makes me fucking exhausted and upset 

i realize there are worse problems in the world, believe you me, but this has been going on for years now and i know it’s not just in my head either 

i take pictures of myself when i’m having a blessedly good face day or when i have on enough make up or my webcam is just that goddamn low resolution that you can’t really tell but i’ve had patients offer me skin care advice without me asking ???? 

i’ll also never forget when i was getting xrays done to get my wisdom teeth taken out the lady who was doing it was asking me about what medications i take and so i told her the name of the one i take for my neuromuscular condition and she was like, “what’s that for?” and i started to answer, “oh, it’s for my...” and she goes, “oh, is it for your terrible skin?” 

so...y’know. i’m fucking aware. it’s not like i just get one pimple once in a full blue moon and i have a meltdown, like i wake up with a minimum of three new ones almost every day 

also lately my periods have been kind of weird, like i think it’s happened twice now but like i’d have one like normal, it’d last a week, then i went one week without but the next week...guess who’s got a period again!!!!!  

so...yeah. i’m suspect that it’s something hormonal and i remember taking a birth control once years ago and it helped my skin, it was just really expensive and so i switched to a cheaper one, but that counteracted my medicine so i just said fuck it and stopped taking any birth control but if it could straighten that shit out i would greatly appreciate it 

but so anyway, i told my mom i made the appointment and she was like, ‘well hey, i know that nurse practitioner personally, do you want me to see if we can move your appointment up?” and i said sure 

so she’d texted her about it and i said she could give her my cell phone to have her nurse call me when it’s convenient to see about changing my appointment 

but my mom, bless her, accidentally gave them HER cell phone number so they called her instead and of course she was busy so she didn’t answer 

so now i have to call back and clarify and just trying to explain the situation makes me feel like a jackass because “oh look at me, i’m so and so’s kid, she’s a provider in this group and i need a sooner appointment!” but whatever 

i have to leave a voicemail for the nurse, cool 

she doesn’t call me back until like...5 pm and i missed it because i was home and my cell phone doesn’t pick up calls out where we live very well, plus i worked within this medical group, i’m pretty sure if i try to call back after 5 i’m going to get the answering service so...alright (tbf i was fucking done by that point so i didn’t try, maybe i would have gotten through, but i was just...no) 

i wait until today to try to call back and i get voicemail again and as of yet i still haven’t heard anything so idk 

i plan on going to the gym once i leave work so i guess i’m going to have to be obnoxious and carry my phone around with me while i work out waiting for them to call which sucks ‘cause i really just want to get in there, bang out a routine, and not be bothered but whatever 

so i just...i say all this bullshit to say that i’m just...i’m frustrated 

i hate just kind of hanging out in the air with shit, i hate having to wait for people to get back to me because it makes me feel anxious as hell and i’ve got that in fucking spades in work right now, but also in just trying to set up an appointment that honestly, i’d rather die than go to, but this breakout situation is also making me want to die more so than usual so...y’know. 

i’m just...i’m frustrated. very fucking frustrated and so i’m just gonna sit here listening to more mbmbam and try not to get too stressed out