Under my skin

I've always had sensitive skin, which includes an incredible sensitivity to chemicals. If I use any sort of skincare product that contains salicylic acid, I will get a chemical burn in minutes. My skin starts to sting, becomes covered with little bumps, and eventually those lovely bumps will turn scaly and peel off. It's sort of an accidental chemical peel because afterwards my skin looks great but in the meantime it absolutely sucks. As a result I am extremely careful about making sure that I never use any products containing salicylic acid or other harsh chemicals.

Well, usually I am.

I ordered makeup from Sephora last week and they included in the box a sample for some moisturizer. That moisturizer did not have an ingredients list, but it said it contained sea silk and was oil-free, and I thought what are the odds that moisturizer contains something bad for my skin? So, I tried it for a couple of days. I didn't notice any weird sensations although I did not love how my makeup applied over it.

But now my cheeks are covered with little bumps.

In three or four days, my skin will be scaly and then peeling and it's going to be quite disgusting to behold. And I'm so annoyed that I didn't check the ingredients list online before I used the stuff. It contains Steric acid, which presumably is the source of these lovely little bumps.

Grr.