I just wanted to publicly thank one of the moderators, Artist, for saving me a lot of time and hassle. My cleanser and topicals had severely dried out my face, and I could not find any moisturizers that helped. I read some of her backposts and discovered Vanicream Moisturizing Skin Cream a few days ago. My skin just loves it and feels totally protected and moisturized. I had a bad flare-up last week from some harsh wind, and subsequently got that oh-so-sexy red blotchy face. Almost all the redness and irritation is gone. I use the thicker cream at night then the lite lotion for daytime wear. I also splash on a bit of jojoba oil with water for cleansing, and that has also really softened my skin. It does have petrolatum as a main ingredient, and I think that might be a issue for some rosaceans, but luckily my skin can tolerate it. The most amazing thing--to me at least--is that Vanicream is only $15 at Walgreens and you get a ginormous container. I probably won't need lotion for the next decade or so. The thing is biiiig.
Artist also steered me toward the Lancome Undereye Concealer, which is also pretty awesome on its own. Very gentle on the skin and can be used for spot coverage anywhere else on the face. Unfortunately, this is not available at Walgreens for $15
but $30 is totally reasonable for something so effective and non-irritating. Also, a little bit goes a long way, and I highly recommend using a foundation brush rather than your fingertips.
One caveat: I've only been using Vanicream for a few days now, and we all know that products can turn on us in a few weeks time. Who knows, I may just come back in a couple of weeks and rant about how Vanicream destroyed my life and stole my boyfriend. However, I think the evidence so far is really compelling; nothing helped heal my skin the way this cream did, so I'm giving it a conditional thumbs up.
