Product Focus: Olay Pro-X Cleansing System

For the most part my skin is pretty good. I don't have a lot of breakouts, I have something between dry/normal and combination skin. My biggest issue with my skin is the size of my pores, especially on my nose. It's been a constant bother to me, though I am fairly sure it's one of those things that I'm the only one who really notices it. As a result I was thinking for a long time about purchasing the Clarisonic Mia, but I just could not deal with the price point. Not just the unit itself which retails for $119 at Sephora, but also the cost of replacement brush heads which are $25 a pop. I have been wanting an airbrush system for my makeup and I can only rationalize one of those as my big makeup/beauty purchase. So I started shopping around and found the Olay Pro-X cleansing System.

I got this through ULTA for $29.99 and the replacement brushes (which I have not yet purchased) are $9.99. So I figured what the hell, I'll give it a try and if it's crap I can always reconsider the Mia down the road. Overall I am pretty happy with the Olay brush. It works well, and I've noticed a difference in the size of my pores as well as the texture and clarity of my skin as a whole. It's waterproof so I can take it in the shower (Mia is as well). It also has two speeds, which is nice although there is not a VERY significant difference between the two, you can still notice it. It also comes with a sample of the Olay Regenerist face wash, which was a nice little bonus. 

There are a few downsides... The Mia is chargeable and the Olay brush is battery powered, so make sure you have rechargeable batteries. The Mia also has a variety of different types of brush heads, whereas there is only one type with Olay and it is slightly abrasive. I have fairly sensitive skin and it does not seem to irritate my skin at all, but for somebody with even more sensitive skin it might be a little on the rough side.  

Bottom Line: Price per performance I would absolutely recommend the Olay brush to anybody who does not have very sensitive skin. Also if you tend to have dry skin, make sure you use something that has some extra moisturizing properties cause I could definitely see how this could dry out your skin further.

Like most makeup/beauty geeks I subscribe to most of the newsletters from my favorite makeup companies: MAC, Sephora, Urban Decay etc. A few weeks ago I got the newsletter from Sephora including a very....ehm, provocative picture. I started to laugh uncontrollably when I saw this:

Now maybe it is just that I have a 12 year olds sense of humor, perhaps even a perverted 12 year old sense of humor. But if you can tell me that doesn't remind you of the most horrific cumshot in a porn, then you've either never seen one, or you are lying to yourself.

Upon viewing I immediately turned to my boyfriend, who is a graphic designer and is one of 4 people who run global marketing for a very large company, and asked "What do you think when you see this?" Now maybe it's because we are both completely sick in the head, a fact that neither of us would argue, but we both agreed. He followed by telling me that everybody in the marketing division of Sephora as well as the individual label probably had the same thought. So obviously I needed to do further investigation. The ad was for Dr. Dennis Gross skincare. The original picture they had of him is now gone, replaced by one that looks a bit less skeevy, what's more this ad is now gone. Further proof that somebody besides Chris and I, noticed how ridiculous this picture is.