I have a love hate relationship with this product. In fact so intense is my grudge against it that merely thinking about writing a review on it makes me angry. I have used it since 2006 and for anyone to use a product for this long, it either means one doesn't care for a change or one finds a product very effective. I belong to the latter.
But then why do i get so angry with it you ask?
Name: b.liv - off with those heads (used to be known as Cellnique)
Price: $44.95 (15ml) $69.95 (30ml) $94.95 (45ml)
Website: http://www.bliv.com/
Because it's expensive as heck , runs out super fast (for the price) , can only be bought in Sasa (or online) and is by far, irreplaceable. Such a toxic concoction! It makes me upset to know I need to continuously rely on a product so much, much less such an expensive one! Each 40ml bottle cost $94.95 without discounts and only last me 3 months since I use it on the entire face.
My grudge might have been wrongly placed but just talking about this product pains my heart as I quietly mull over the thousands I've spent on it. I'm sorry but I need a moment T.T
Ok lah ok lah. Damn drama I know LOL.
Packaging
The vacuum design minimises wastage as it pushes the whole product upwards instead of simply drawing it through a long pipe and leaving the insides of the bottle full of clinging product. The bottle is made of plastic which makes if less prone to breakage and very lightweight. Functionality wise it works perfectly however from the design stand point, I can't say I'm very enticed by it.
Fragrance
There is a slight hint of peppermint fragrance however it is mild and goes away fast.
Price
The 45ml bottle sells for $94.95 online. Which means it is $2.11 per millilitre! *faints*. I’m guessing I use 0.2ml per usage according to my visual gauge based on this video . I did some crazy math and come to the conclusion that each 45ml bottle lasts me 3.75 months.
($94.95 /45 ) = $2.11/ml
I use (0.2ml x 2) per day.
45ml divide by 0.4 = 112.5 days
112.5 days divide by 30days (rough est) = 3.75 months
$94.95 divide by 3.75 months = $25.32/month
If you ask me, that’s a pretty steep price to pay especially when you multiple it by 12 months. I like to bulk purchase from Sasa whenever they run discounts for it and sometimes, the discounts can go up to 20%!
Texture & Absorption
Clear gel like and takes quite a bit of massaging to be absorbed. It usually takes me a full minute or so to get everything absorbed into my face.
The packaging/website suggests using 3 full pumps for the entire face and that's what i do every morning and night. You can either use it topically on specific problem areas and get away with using lesser products or like me, use it on the entire face with 3 - 4 pumps. Since I unfortunately have whitehead and acne problems on my entire face, I have to use 3 pumps (and sometimes more) to feel like I am adequately spreading the product onto my entire face.
The product has a very cooling sensation on the skin that varies according to the condition of your skin. Sometimes when my skin is feeling particularly sensitive, the product can sting slightly or cause my eyes to smart or even water. I suspect my occasional reaction are a by-product of my sensitive skin with a delicate history and likely not applicable to most users.
The product dries clear and leaves the face feeling hydrated and cool. A blogger mentioned that after a while the face turned more oily due to the product however I am unable to ascertain whether that happened or not because with or without the sebum, my face still turns oily after a while ^^;
Effect on skin
The effect of the product requires regular use to be observed and that is consistent with their 2 weeks result guaranteed claim .
picture from : http://www.bliv.com/sg
This is one product that works better with the more amount you pile on. If you don’t use enough of it, you might not see much results.
After a few weeks (results may vary) the skin's whitehead problems is significantly reduced. Little bumps i always get under the skin and persistent little pimples have all disappeared.
Pores look smaller and skin looks finer. The redness I've been having around my nose and random patchy parts of my cheeks have almost disappeared. Surprisingly, the elasticity and vibrancy of the skin have also improved. Before I went back to using it day and night, my skin had been looking tired and haggard . But now even without makeup, my bare skin still looks relatively healthy and clean . My scars , hyperpigmentation and pores are still there and I still get the occasional pimples but overall my face is so much healthier and alive.
My long experience with B’liv Off with those heads
A simple online search and its easy to tell everyone likes this product. In fact my review above just added to the claims. So i decided to share my 8 years worth of experience with this product to hopefully shed some light on managing problematic skin and deciding whether this product is worth the investment. Maybe someone going through the same problems will find my experience useful.
This will be long but i hope it doesn't bore you.
I first started using bliv after reading Xiaxue's advertorial on it. This was how bad my skin was before it. My skin condition varies and on some months it can be relatively nice but the sad fact was that my skin was generally, always covered in pimples and scars. The healing process never seem to catch up with the growth of new problems and this is not even the worse photograph. I had a hard time finding old photographs of my bare face because with skin like that, who would want to have any pictures taken?!
2 weeks of using it and my skin turned absolutely CLEARED!! Like not a single trace of pimple could be found! That was when I realise the biggest problem with my skin was it's inability to cope with dirt and excess sebum and how my pores tend to block easily even though I do not have excessively oily skin. Once I got rid of the whitehead issue, my skin became awesome because i was stopping the whole acne producing life cycle.
Dirt /excessive sebum -------- > whitehead / blackhead --------> Pimple!!!
My pores became smaller and my skin tone was more evened out.
I enjoyed great skin with the product for a few months and then I started breaking out again due to some silly use of cleansing oil. A friend wrongly advised me to apply organic cleansing oil to my spots before I sleep to help heal them. On hindsight, she could have been referring only to the castor oil instead of the whole Castor + Jojoba + Grapeseed concoction but regardless of whichever, it is still something I greatly discourage doing now.
Needless to say, the breakout that started from 2 pimples became full faced… again =( . For that recovery period, i continued to use b'liv. Unfortunately, I never got the miraculous effect again.
I'm not entirely sure what caused the product to work less effectively but I suspect my cleansing and skincare routine might have done it in.
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Overly greasy skincare:
I found out in early 2012 that my trusty ZA sunscreen had been adding too much grease to my skin and was causing my pores to be blocked at an insane speed. I only found out after using it for so many years. It was the same sunscreen I used when I first started using OWTH, which was why it never crossed my mind to suspect it . But after my massive skin meltdown in 2009, I added a lot more skincare products into my routine such as serums and enriching toners and I guess the additional grease was just too much for my skin to take.
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Makeup removers :
I was using Ginvera's olive oil to remove makeup but realise after a few bottles that it was stripping my skin of it's natural oils and slowly causing my skin to be dry and sensitive (the olive oil did however made my lashes slightly fuller and longer lol). I then switched to using Pond's makeup removing cold cream because my skin was so dry nothing seemed to ease it . After a 2.5 jars , i realise it was blocking my pores and I stopped.
Don't you think my skin journey is very pitiful T.T? ??
So anyway, along the way, probably due to the wrong use of products that heavily clogged my pores, OWTH was not able to perform as well. I also have friends comment that the product doesn't work as well after a while.
Fast forward to the last few months and I was at a stage where i wanted to put my skincare routine to the test. I wanted to see if i could do away with anything in my laboriously long cleansing and skincare routine. So i started with exfoliation. Instead of exfoliating every night, i tried exfoliating only every other night or as i feel like it. Then i used Cure exfoliating gel on Saturday evenings as it was a stronger exfoliator not suitable for daily use. One of the other thing I changed was using the sebum gel only at night. And also sparingly only on areas of the face I felt like using.
The effect is not obvious at first but by a month or so I was starting to realise it wasn't working out.
My skin was still better than it used to be 6 years ago but it is far from healthy. It was tired looking, pores look significantly bigger, I had a lot of redness on my face and there was non stop spotting! It wasn't big dreary pulsating pimples but it was enough to annoy you. And the pimples almost always look red =_=; My skin looked dry and uneven and sometimes even with makeup, my skin looks bad.
This is me with makeup and maybe 1 week into using the product at 3 full pumps, twice a day. Even with Samsung's beauty face tuned at level 3, my skin is still not looking impressive.
Fast forward to my recent picture. This is me now without any makeup.
My skin is far far from perfect. In fact for this picture, you can still see scars from some pimples I recently got because I forgot to use B’liv for a few mornings and of course, other reasons that I am not sure of.
Would I recommend B’liv’s off with those heads to you? Yes and No.
If your skin is acne prone , I suggest you first relook at your lifestyle and skincare routine. Could it be your facial cleanser that isn’t doing a good job getting the dirt off your skin? Could it be a particular skincare product in your routine , like serum, lotion or sunscreen that doesn’t do anything for your skin except clog the pores? Is there an alternative product you can use instead?
I’d recommend you solve all the above problems first and if nothing helps, then use B’liv’s OWTH. Of course, if you don’t want to spend the time and effort of changing your routine, just buy OWTH to solve your whitehead and blackhead issues. However, remember that this is a product that will only work with consistent use. That in turn means time and financial commitment . In the long run, it can be a very steep investment. I have used it for a long time because I have yet to find a replacement and have decided that the amount of confidence healthy skin gives me is beyond the money spent.
In terms of the product itself, I have nothing bad to say about it and will likely continue to use it as I have for the past 8+ years
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