[Review] Etude House Big Cover Cushion Concealer SPF30 / PA++ Mint & Illuminate

I admit that I am not a good writer >_< Please bear with me~

Side note. After watching so many YouTubers doing GRWM ("Get Ready With Me") make-up videos, I really wanted to try out. In fact, I did last week, but sadly it didn't turn out well ;____; My phone memory burst to the MAXX when I'm only halfway through the process... Anyway, just a trial to see if it works. Guess you have to bear with me and all these writings for the moment heh :D

For the following weeks, we will be covering on this item --> concealer. Today our star will be Etude House Big Cover Cushion Concealer. 

Etude House Big Cover Cushion Concealer

For those who have heard of Maybelline Instant Age Rewind Eraser Dark Circles Treatment Concealer, I think you can pretty much relate to this product here. Unfortunately, previous mentioned Maybelline product has yet to be introduced into Malaysia market (which I think it's kinda awful to feel leaving behind the trend).

Hence, I try to find a product which is similar to Maybelline's yet available for purchase. It's been quite a while from my last purchase on Gmarket. Coincidentally, Gmarket was having an International Shipping Fee promotion during whole June 2016, which it only costs 5,000 won (about RM17++) for every shipment, regardless of the shipment weight. Super duper cheap!

Then I came about a product review from one of my favourite YouTubers (@HelloCatie) on this Etude House concealer cushion series. I felt in love right on the spot, and swear I'm gonna get my hands on them :D (I'm so serious about this)

Let's start by checking their colors! :D

There are a choice of 6 in this series. As you can see, first 3 colors are more on color-correction (a trending make-up technique, mostly popular in Western countries). And the latter 3 colors are the traditional concealer color tones you can get in any Korean cosmetic stores.

I heard of color-correcting make-up technique before, but not really certain how it functions. Unfortunately, as Peach Pink was out-of-stock during that time, I only managed to get two colors, Mint and Illuminate. I have redness skin issue, so I am pretty looking forward to see how Mint will turn out on my face. Meanwhile, as Catie has gave a BIG thumbs up for the natural glow from the Illuminate, I would like to give it a try.

As you can see from the photo above, its design is more like an automatic-pencil. All you have to do is to click the button on one end, and the formula will come out from the cushion end. You should get the formula within 10 clicks.

Above: Mint
Below: Illuminate

The formula itself is rather light and non-sticky. It is a liquid-type concealer, you can be assured that it is quite moisture. In terms of smell/scent, you wouldn't miss the powder-like scent which reminds me of baby powder. Not to say unpleasant, it's just unexpected. (we are talking about cosmetic right? not baby product ._.)

Well I am going to share how these products look on my face with a self make-up tutorial next week. Till then I will talk about first impression. So stay tune! :D

Check out Hello Catie's video here. :)


Do lemme know your thoughts about this product review or share your experience with me in the comment box below.

Cheers!^^

[Review] CHICA Y CHICO Mat Fix Matt Cushion Compact SPF35 PA++ + First Impression

CHICA Y CHICO Matt Cushion SPF 35 PA++

I think alot of us are more interested in beauty cosmetic products rather than skin care products. Personally speaking, I am that kind of person :p Simply because beauty cosmetic products can conceal our skin flaws and give us an instant beauty look as compared to long and persistent skin care routine (which might take months to see the effect) duhh :/ but that's not a good reason to stop daily skin care routine y'heard? :D

After weeks of skin care products, just to give it a balance, I am going to review a beauty cosmetic product which I got it from a beauty haul on Althea.kr not long ago.

As you noticed that BB/CC Cushions are getting really popular nowadays, there must be something which people love about it. I got my first ever CC Cushion Compact earlier February this year during my trip to South Korea. It is from Nature Republic and I just finished the first pack (I will write a review about it later on, and paste the link here).

Actually I quite like the Nature Republic one. But just being me, I want to try on more variety of products and of different brands (within my spending limits, of course). Thence I saw a promotion on Althea.kr and bought it for just RM35! I never heard of CHICA Y CHICO before this, but looking at its product design (thou they say "don't judge a book by it's cover") and price, I am definitely willing to give it a try! :D Black and white, most classic design yah? :D

Unboxing

As you can see, everything is black and simple. I love it, actually❤

The tone I chose was No. 21, which is indicated as Light Beige.

Well (if you noticed) generally BB/CC Cushion is promoting on healthy glow-ish and dewy finished look. Just like those Korean actresses and artists. Aren't they pretty? (◕‿◕)

But particularly this product, it is promoting on matt-finished look, which simply means no glowy nor dewy shinny look. You see, there are times you need to tone down a little bit, especially for pictures, otherwise your face might look super oily.

Here's my finished look after application... As you can observed, there is no shiny effect. You can get this similar look by applying powder compact, but this one fits on your skin better than powder products.

Something different today. As I have just unboxed and tried it on today, I am thinking of writing my first impression :D Hope it will serve as a good reference (if you are thinking of buying) :3

✓Non-sticky

✓Good coverage and fits on skin perfectly

✓Powdery and matt-finished look

✓Look good on photos

✖ Beware it can be quite dry after application. Make sure you apply good amount of moisturizer beforehand. It can be quite cakey after a few hours.

✖ For those who are looking for a more natural and easy-application type of BB/CC Cushion Compact, this is NOT highly recommended. It may be too thick for daily-wear.

Ratings: ★★★★☆

Do lemme know your thoughts about this product review or share your experience with me in the comment box below.

Cheers!^^

[Review] Bioré - Perfect Cleansing Water

Dear readers, apology that I couldn't make it for the past week as I was travelling to Miri, Sarawak during the weekend. >_<

In order to keep up with the weekly progress, I am preparing two product reviews for this week. Without further due, let's see the first item of the day! GO GO!!

I still remember, when I was a kid and we joined the church performances, mum used body lotion and baby oil to remove our stage make-up. The theory is simple - use something oily to remove make-up. Of course, it is not very handy afterall it is not meant for the purpose. Those were the days...

Daily cleansing routine couldn't be complete without removing your make-up first. Bear in mind that this step doesn't only apply to heavy / stage make-up, but even to sunscreens / sun care lotions. A good make-up remover not only able to remove make-up easily and gently, but also can clean dirt that clogged inside the pores.

But really, it is important and crucial to understand your skin type then only decide to use what kind of cosmetics / products.

Bioré - Perfect Cleansing Water

Before this, I was using The Face Shop's Rice Water Bright Cleansing Water and Rice Water Bright Cleansing Milk. Actually these two products are not bad, just that I think the Cleansing Milk is slightly oily. In search for more options, I came across this Japanese-brand Bioré and heard quite an amount of good reviews. So I gave it a try buy purchasing travel pack wipes. It is highly recommended to have it for short trips, especially travelling internationally to get away from custom checks.

Tip #1 : Get free samples or buy mini trial pack if you are intended to try on something new. To avoid running into expensive cosmetics / skin care products and end up with much regrets.

I fell in love it instantly while using the travel wipes. Literally, it wipes out everything! Foundation, eyeliner, eyebrow tint, mascara and lip tint! I really like the refreshing feeling after using it. Non-oily and non-sticky. All you get is clean bare skin! After using it, I washes my face with tap water, it just feels so clean and smooth that I am thinking of skipping the foam cleansing step! (well, it is not advisable, but maybe on the lazy days :p) 

300ml Bioré - Perfect Cleansing Water side view

I purchased it for RM35.30 at SaSa. It is available at Watson and Guardian as well. As shown in photo above, it is water-based make-up remover. With so much love to this product, I almost finished my first bottle! Left less than half now.

I read the product description at the back, there is one sentence which says "Clinically proven to be gentle on skin, leaves skin fresh and moisturised. No need to rinse off or double cleanse." whereby I would not disagree to this statement. Love it. However, I think it is a little bit pricy. So I might try on another make-up remover after finishing this.

Before & After

Do lemme know your thoughts about this product review or share yours experience with me in the comment box below.


Cheers!^^

[Review] Etude House Skin Mal:gem Moist

Etude House Skin Mal:gem Moist (250 ml)

If you ask me, to choose one, which step you cannot eliminate in your daily skin care routine? I would say, skin moisturizing. And I would pick "sun block application" as the second utmost essential step (which I would cover in my future post).

Living in an environment which is hot and humid almost 80% in a year, we often had oily skin and acne problem. In fact, I suffered serious acne problem during early-teenage (puberty) where I am too embarrassed to show my forehead. Then as time passes and hormones stabilizes, it all become under-controlled in its own natural way. 

However, still our skin gets oily easily during the hot days. One day, as I was reading an article, then I realized the reason why our skin secretes sebum is of a self-balancing action. Like how? For example, you wash your face with deep cleansing solution (thinking of cleaning all the oil and dirt off your skin) and leave it bare (without putting any skin care product), you will still find your skin secretes sebum. In fact, your skin does that in order to prevent skin dryness and to keep it moisture. Think of that, what if you keep your skin moisturized, would it keep of sebum? Not completely, but most certainly there is an effect.

Basically, you can feed your skin with water in TWO ways: drink/consume water (indirect) and apply moisturizer (direct). To do the direct way, a good moisturizing toner would do the trick. And today, I am going to share with you my personal favourite - Etude House Skin Mal:gem Moist Care Freshener.

맑음 (mal:gem) is the Korean word for cleanness, clarity and pureness.
Skin Mal:gem hypoallergenic toners are promoting clean, clear and
pure complexion with moisturizing and pore cleansing formulas.

An aluminum seal is found as shown above

Toner in 4-ways

You may use the series in 4 ways:

#01 - Directly apply fresh and/or smoother toner, then apply moist and/or deep moist and/or essential

#02 - 30-minute point-mask (apply on cotton pad and put on certain face spot)

#03 - Whole mask (apply on compressed-paper mask and put on your face)

#04 - Facial mist (pour it into a mist bottle and spray on your face)

 

I am quite a lazy person, you see. So most of the times, I simply just apply it directly to my face after cleansing. As demonstrates as above, I pour the toner into a smaller bottle (30 ml) as it is more convenient to bring it around than carrying a-250 ml, especially during short trips. Personally I like this pressed-type bottle as it is easier to control the portion that is being dispensed (to prevent wastage).

As you can see from the photo above (left), you can tell the density of the toner. This is how I usually describe its density to my friends:- it is neither sticky as Hada Labo, nor watery as those alcohol-type toner. Its non-heavy solution is just nice for the skin to absorb within seconds.

Please do not expect you will glow after applying this. It is not magic portion, or what-so-ever. It is merely a toner with moisturizing effect. In order to treat your skin well, this is an essential-step. To see the effect, do it consistently.

To note, this has been the THIRD bottle (250 ml) I have purchased. It used to price around RM80/bottle. I bought for RM33/bottle on my last purchase which is last year Christmas as there were year-end promotion.

Do lemme know your thoughts about this product review or share yours experience with me in the comment box below.

Cheers!^^

[Review] MEMEBOX X HERMO Holiday Edition PONY Nail Collection

MEMEBOX X HERMO Holiday Edition PONY Nail Collection

People who knows me personally can totally tell that I am a BIG FAN of nail polish/lacquer. Well, here we are, a review on a new nail lacquer collection which I have added - MEMEBOX X PONY!

For you who is not quite familiar with PONY, she is a Korean YouTuber whom is famous for self-taught makeup tutorials, hottest K-beauty trends and beauty tips (check out her YouTube channel : Pony's Beauty Diary). She collaborated with MEMEBOX and introduced a product line exclusively inspired and designated by her whereby it aims for beginner-friendly yet glamorous. Side notes, she is 2NE1 CL's exclusive makeup artist at the moment. (Geeeee, you can surely tell how good she is)

As the title reads, you can tell that I bought them from Hermo.my. They were having a Christmas sale then and this collection was introduced. Hermo actually sells them individually, but made a customized-collection for Christmas : 4 x PONY MEMEBOX nail lacquers (4 x 10 ml) plus 1 x I'M NAIL REMOVER (100 ml) for RM59.00/set. (you will find their original price as you read)

Left to right:
01. Meteor Shower #02
02. Worm Hole #01
03. Eclipse #04
04. My Planet #03

A black label which one end sticks on the bottle cap and the other on the body.
A design to ensure you are the first to open the bottle.

Look at all these pretty colors. Bold and attractive. Most of all, they all fit the Christmas theme perfectly. Well, don't worry that you may only get the chance to wear it during Christmas month, with some magical mix and match, they could turn out to be very wearable even if it's not festive days.

Here I am going to show two of my mix and match results inspired by PONY herself \\^.^//

               

                    Worm Hole #01 + My Planet #03

Meteor Shower #02 + Eclipse #04

Green is never my favourite, but My Planet #03 is such a glamorous creamy color by its own. (sorry, guess it's not quite visible in my photo above)

As for the nail lacquers, their original price at Hermo is RM20.00/each, but it can be sold at price as low as RM9.00/each during promotional seasons. (Do look out for promotion and be a smart money spender!)

Talking about the nail polish remover, is it me or do you felt the same that they might just missed out a word for the product name??? Shouldn't be it called "I'M NAIL POLISH REMOVER"??? I don't think that anyone would actually like to remove their nails, but nail polish would be acceptable :p As design per say, I find it is quite interesting to name products after "I'M" something something. For example, "I'M TOOTHPASTE" or something else XD

MEMEBOX's I'M NAIL REMOVER

And here we have "I'M NAIL REMOVER". It has a VERY strong sweet strawberry scent, quite pleasant anyway. I would say, it is similar to any average nail polish remover you can find in beauty stores out there. In terms of usability, it is quite handy while removing plain nail lacquer; however, I still struggles while removing nail lacquers that contains particles, such as Worm Hole #01 and Meteor Shower #02. Hermo priced it RM25.90/bottle before any discount, yet it can be sold at price as low as RM8.00/bottle during promotional seasons. (Goshhh crazy pricing)

What are you waiting for? Brighten up your day and sends off Monday blues by coloring your nails today! :)

Do lemme know your thoughts about this product review (what can I improve in my next product review) or share your personal review in the comment box below.

Cheers!^^

[Review] PETITFEE - Black Pearl & Gold Hydrogel Eye Patch

PETITFEE Black Pearl & Gold Hydrogel Eye Patch - 60 pcs

As we girls and ladies are aging in every minute every second, we not only need to keep-up with the aging process, but to outrun it (if we may). After all, who doesn't want to look young as if 18-years-old? Among all the parts on our face, the eye areas are the ones reflect aging the most. So you definitely want to put more focus there.

To my understanding, two main causes to aging are oxidation and dehydration. During the early stage of aging, especially during the early 20s while your skin still quite tender and soft, try to avoid oil base eye cream as it might be too heavy for your skin to absorb at this age. Hence, water base would be a better choice.

How to feed your skin with more water? If that's your concern, I think you've got what's you're looking for - PETITFEE Black Pearl & Gold Hydrogel Eye Patch.

It says, PETITFEE is French for a little fairy

So I've got mine online from my.Althea.kr (check out my online shopping review here : http://sakura-hyoeun21.blogspot.my/2016/04/online-shopping-myaltheakr.html). It costs me RM35 a box. There are 60 pcs in a packing; which means 30 pairs. Literally it only costs me RM1.17 per pair! And that's super-duper-duper cheap.

It is a Korean made product. A small spatula is provided in the package.

It writes, this product "offers your parched skin an intensively hydrating infusion of moisture plus vital nutrients and experience the dramatic firming and cooling results you thought only a professional spa treatment could deliver." WOW

It look something like this while you open the container.
Black shimmering eye patches, just exactly how I imagine the color of black pearl should be like.

The eye patches are quite thin, yet thicker than the usual cotton eye patch available in the market.
It feels like thin-pudding when you touch it.
**Best recommend to chill it in the refrigerator. It should give you a good cooling effect.**

Place it like this on the eye area.

Since it is a hydrogel, it has better attach-ability than usual cotton-type. Few minutes after the liquid essence got absorbed, the hydrogel will stay at its place, like a sticker (not adhesive, of course). What I did was to place it overnight in order to let the skin absorb all the essence, to the max.

On the next morning, if you can still find the patches on your face, you should find the patches became thin like a paper. Gently pat on the eye areas as if a magical touch. Not sure for you, seeing the patches go thin on the next day, it feels so good, feels like all the essence has been absorbed into the skin. In case you can't find it, I suggest you to go back to your bed and search for it heh :D

That's about it. Do lemme know you thoughts about this product review or share your personal review in the comment box below.

Cheers!^^

[Online Shopping] my.Althea.kr

Hello there! ^^

Today I'm going to share my online shopping experience on another website. my.althea.kr

This website is quite a new one, started from year 2015.

As far as I know, the founder(s) first started to help oversea friends and families to buy Korean beauty products, and send them over. Sooner and later seeing the high demand, the business is established, so as the website.

Well, I'm not very sure about the founder story, but anyway that makes sense, right?
Personally that happens to me. I used to ask my Korean housemate to bring back new K-beauty stuffs once she is travelling back to Korea... and I'm so excited when she brought something back... Especially unboxing it! (sniffing the air enclosed in the box as if I can smell the air caught from Korea! *snap snap* back to the topic, girl)

FYI, the national flower of South Korea is Hibiscus syriacus, and it also known as Althea frutex.
That's basically explains how they got the name.

the home page

The website has a nice and simple concept. No fancy advert. No confusing information. Everything is clear cut and easy to understand.

As it is quite a new page, you may find not much of product choices available yet MORE are coming, I am sure!! The website is expanding, and I can see new products/items are being introduced from time to time.

C'mon lemme show you what I bought from Althea :)

Tigger is trying to help me unbox hahaha

Nice green color for Christmas theme

All items are wrapping tightly and carefully with bubble-type wrapper 

My first order from Althea!

My second parcel from Althea!
(sorry for the low lighting zzz)

Second batch order received safely!

**Please look forward for my individual product reviews in the future! :3**

Herein I wish to mention one incident happen during my second order.

I was scrolling the webpage and wanting to checkout using my cellphone.

However, my payment has failed to due to weak internet connection.

When it automatically brings me back to Althea website, I saw my order was posted yet unpaid.

As I was outside, so I thought to continue the payment when I got home.

Hours later when I get back home, I opened up the browser and it automatically brings me back to the online payment platform (which was failed to load earlier).

Without thinking much, I clicked on the payment.

Nevertheless, when I check again my order status on Althea, it hasn't change after the payment made.

Quickly I sent in my customer report to Althea Helpdesk to ask for help (it was a Saturday).

I am so thankful and happy to receive their reply on the next Monday. So efficient!

The personnel, Daniel, told me that they have manually updated my order status after confirming the payment, and my order is being processed at the moment. (hip hip horray!) :D

On other hand, I have been comparing products offer by Althea with another online shopping website, I find Althea usually offers a lower price. (be a smart shopper, always!)

Meanwhile, Althea provides FREE SHIPPING on orders above RM150! Direct delivery from Korea. (I tracked and traced my parcels all the way from Korea to Malaysia, so I know :D)

So you ask, what if my order is less than RM150?

The shipping fee for per order will be calculated automatically based on the mailing address (distance) before you proceed to payment.

As for me, it costs me RM35 per shipment, from Korea to Kota Kinabalu, Sabah.

I find it quite reasonable, but as for me, I would try to accumulate my orders until it exceed RM150 in order to get FREE SHIPPING! (why not heh)

Well. That's basically my personal encounters with Althea, and I am above satisfactions.

Hope this is informative enough for you if you're looking for a review for Althea online shopping website. :)

And here's a little goodie for you before leaving, a referral welcome code from me:
type this code before you checkout to entitle a special discount: ATAMY20-0572-EQXYN-HJEG

So... KEEP CALM & ENJOY ONLINE SHOPPING! :D