Review: CVS Cold Cream Deep Cleanser

When it comes to beauty reviews, controversy abounds over the issue of comedogenicity (ingredients that cause clogged pores) and acnegenicity (ingredients that exacerbate existing acne).

Mineral oil and other petrolatum-based products have a notorious reputation for clogging pores. I've read reviews that sounded so terrible that I've long put mineral oil and petrolatum on my no-no list.

However, a 2005 lit review article in Journal of Cosmetic Dermatology titled "Is mineral oil comedogenic?" concluded that cosmetic grade mineral oil even at high doses was not comedogenic. 

Despite widespread hatred of mineral oil, it ends up in much of our beauty products: moisturizers (face and body), cream cleansers, cleansing oils, foundation, eyeshadow, blush etc. 

Being a skincare snob, I had actively avoided products. With this revelation, I wanted to see for myself the effects of mineral oil on my face.

I wanted to start with cold cream, which is chockful of mineral oil.  I had always been intrigued by those chubby jars of thick white cream with a rosy scent. I've read rave after rave about how cold cream was an amazing makeup remover that was not stripping to the skin.

Why the CVS brand? According to this post, Pond's had reformulated and I wanted to try the original formula. The knowledgeable gals of MakeupAlley say drugstores' generic brand uses the original formula. 

With this looong preface, so begins my review!

Finally using these babies a year after my haul!

Mega Haul / is there an item limit on addiction?

I swear I didn't mean for it to end up like this. I've been school-free for the past six weeks. Not of my own volition, of course. I dropped a class (though I managed to learn P(finding an upper division probability course too hard to take during the summer) ~ 1). The first few days were heaven, no school to be late for, no homework to toil and weep over. It was absolute freedom.

Which meant I got sick of it after two days.

I was so bored. As the saying goes, the devil finds work for idle hands. Well, my idle hands shopped! It was way too easy to shop with all the available time. Now I know what they mean by "retail therapy."
Bad mood? -> Wonder what sales are at Rite Aid?
Miss bf? -> I think I need more blushes.
I'm bored -> I really should get into painting nails.
And on and on. And blogs and vlogs only gave me more new products to try. This added up really quickly.

Here's what it looked like after hitting countless CVS's, Rite Aid's, Target's, and Walmart's.

Can you tell it took 20 minutes to arrange it so it would all fit in one frame?

Pretty scary, right? It looks like I emptied a drugstore shelf into my shopping cart (which wouldn't be too far from the truth). It's actually worse than it looks, because some products are hidden by others. If I expanded it, it would look insane.

It's weird. I'm more interested in skincare, but I have an absolute weakness for cosmetics. If I love a cosmetic blogger's taste, I will develop a lemming for her raved products like no other until I have them in my hands. I have absolute trust in other bloggers' take on cosmetics, because I'm so unfamiliar with it myself (not wearing any on most days).

In contrast, I will be more skeptical with skincare. I won't invest in a skincare product until I know its ingredients, no matter how many raves I see.

What are y'all's buying habits like? :)

I'll break this down by store I purchased it from:




Haha, I realize that making a spreadsheet is pretty neurotic, but that's how I am when I have nothing else to do. I love being detailed and crediting sources. :)

I didn't just buy beauty products either. After I read Elle's rave over Poketo for Target's collection, I went the very next day to get my hands on some. They were available in Target and online way before the August 10 release date.

My Poketo Haul
Further evidence of my inability to resist temptation. :P

I bought a laptop sleeve (which fits a bit snug for my HP TX2500, but would be perfect for small, super thin laptops), a pack of three bags (big one for my make-up, medium one for pencils, and wee one for camera/phone), and an umbrella (couldn't deny myself cute green bears = fail). The entire collection was all so cute that I applaud myself for not walking out of the store with it all (baby steps).

My out-of-control spending habits will hopefully diminish with the new school year starting in late August. I'll be too focused on school, clubs, etc. to buy things or go to stores. You won't see hauls like this anymore!

Well,

we'll see. ;)