Better Skin Through Economic Hardship

A mere two years ago I had a lot more money than I do now, and most of it was spent at high-end skincare counters or Sephora in the quest for the perfect complexion. This was a somewhat quixotic quest, I have to admit. I have pretty good skin to begin with, but it's sensitive, and my friends and family have told me over and over again to leave well enough alone. Still, each time there was a GWP I trudged off in search of the next miracle product that would change my life.

My main skincare issue was a patch of melasma on my upper lip that I've had since I gave birth to my younger daughter 6 years ago. It's large enough to be noticeable, and extremely annoying because it looks like I literally have a smudge of dirt on my face. (I can't begin to tell you how many times people have taken napkins and tried to rub it off for me!)

I would occasionally give in to the impulse purchase of a wrinkle treatment or foundation primer, but virtually all of my skincare purchases went towards treatment of this tiny centimeter-square patch of dark skin under my nose. I tried every fad treatment imaginable-- copper, Vitamin C, retinol, AHAs, BHAs, even stuff from Asia where I couldn't read the label to find out what the active ingredient was. In most cases, the patch stayed the same; once or twice, it even became darker. And then the economy cast a shadow over my beauty obsessions, and I forgot about it.

Fast forward to recently when I grabbed a bottle out of my drawer to take with me to a wedding because I needed a good lightweight moisturizer. It was the Fresh Appleseed Brightening Essence, which I'd bought and never used, and it smelled nice and was the exact texture I needed. It was an enjoyable product and I'd spent a ton on it ($95) so I kept using it. And using it. And using it. (It's been five months now since that wedding and I use it every night.)

And one day when I was rubbing lipstick off my teeth in the mirror I happened to notice that the melasma spot was significantly lighter. Was it gone? No, but after 5 months of nightly treatments, no one was going to rub my face with their napkin anymore.

$95 is a lot to spend for any skincare treatment, but if it works, and lasts five months, I can't help but recommend it. I have not made a single skincare purchase this year-- I still have stores of hoarded stuff to work through-- but when this runs out, I will replace it.

You can buy Fresh Appleseed Brightening Essence from Sephora, a Fresh store, or Neiman Marcus, among other places. And if you know of other skincare or makeup products that are really worth their price, please share. We'll publish a roundup of them in a future post.