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Review: Mizon Multi Function Formula Snail Repair Eye Cream

24. July 2014

// KBEAUTY / SKINCARE / AFFILIATE LINKS //

I loved the previous eye cream I reviewed by Laneige because of its hydration, but since it was only a sample I bought a new one: Mizon Multi Function Formula Snail Repair Eye Cream! Phew, it is a long name so I will shorten it to Mizon’s Snail Repair Eye Cream throughout the review ;) There are a lot of people out there who are familliar with the Mizon Snail Repair skincare line and snail mucus has been a highly raved ingredient in the past year and still it is. Mizon’s Snail Repair Cream has a lot of fans and this is the eye cream in this skincare range. Some of you might be wondering, because it comes in a jar ususally, but since some time ago Mizon offers this size for the cream and the eye cream, too. Since you normally don’t use a lot of eye cream throughout the day, I find that jars are normally like forever lasting and if you don’t like the cream you end up wasting a lot of product. I was really happy about this travel size tube ( which was affordable, too!) and bought it right away.

Mizon is a Korean brand and as already mentioned the Multi Funcional Formula Snail Repair Line is the most well known amonst their products. I reviewed the really recommendable Snail Recovery Gel Cream earlier and this is the perfect product for snail mucus newbies. And don’t worry, the cream or nothing about it will make you think of snails, except the name…and for animal lovers: no animal was harmed for obtaining snail mucus. All Mizon products I tried so far had a sealed packaging with a reflective sticker, and this one also has a sign that it is approved by the KMAC (Korean Model Association Certificate). Honestly, I don’t know this certificate or know what it means and I didn’t find anything on google either. Any information anyone?

As already said earlier, the cream comes in a standard tube with a screwing cap. I would have preferred a pump instead of jar or normal tube, because it is more hygienic, but a tube is already more hygienic than a jar in my opinion. The tube comes in a cardboard box containing the description in English and Korean. Also the ingredients are written in English, which is great. The components of the cream are not harmfull according to COSDNA and mostly green flagged. There are some irritants/acne triggers though, so if you have sensitive skin, you may check the ingredients first. The main ingredient is the snail secration filtrate, which is on first place in the list. It makes 80% of the cream, which is a great amount. Snail secration filtrate is supposed to promote wound healing and have a positive effect on photodamaged skin.

Note that you can find the production date (not the expiration date!) on the top of the tube.

The application of the cream is easy. You need only a tiny amount of the cream which can be dosed easily by the tube. The cream has a white, creamy consistency and does not look like snail mucus at all. It has no scent either. While applying the cream the consistency turns more watery and aborbs fast into the skin, leaving it without any traces or greasiness. It makes the skin feel matte and healthy.

Do I like the this cream: Yes. It is a good eye cream for the day time. I also had no problems with it when applying concealer for example. In terms of moisture, I still think that Laneige’s Waterbank Eye Gel is my favourite. This one gives you a more healthy look. I can’t say that it makes my fine eye lines vanished, but it helps to make the under eye area look nurished. I can recommend this eye cream as a good daily eye cream. At night, I use another eye care product (serum) atm. You can find the tube for 10.37 US$ at W2Beauty. If you want to try the tube I would look at www.testerkorea.com.

Who knows this eye cream or would like to try it?

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Review: Innisfree Eco Safety Perfect Waterproof Sunblock

18. July 2014

// KBEAUTY / SKINCARE / AFFILIATE LINKS //

I think this is the first time I review a sunscreen on my blog. Today’s post is gonna be about the Innisfree Eco Safety Perfect Waterproof Sunblock. Normally, I use normal drugstore brands when I’m looking for sunscreen, but I still had this travel-sized tube of Innisfree’s Sunblock in my sample stash, so I decided, why not give it a try and write up a post about it. So here it is:

Innisfree is an eco-friendly Korean skincare and makeup brand focusing on natural ingredients and recycle packaging. The design of their products is simply and neat and nicely reflects the ideology of the brand. The Eco Safety Perfect Waterproof Sunblock is a 5-free product, that means that it is free of 5 commonly used ingredients, which are not beneficial. This product is free from parabens, artificial colors, talc and mineral oils. Furthermore it is animal-friendly.

The sample sized product comes in a little tube with a screw cap. as does the full-sized product. The back of the sample product contains only Korean description. As far as I know the card board paper packaging of the full-sized tube contains English description and an ingredients list. You can look up the ingredients on COSDNA. This sunblock has a 100% mineral filter composed of the two ingredients zinc oxide and titanium dioxide. It has SPF 50+/PA+++.The downside hereby is, that these physical sunblocks show a white cast upon application. Apart from these two ingredients, the list also contains niacinamide, which helps to even out the skintone. Keep in mind not to use it directly with a vitamin C containing product, but wait at least half an hour between using these two ingredients (also see my review on Secret Key Snow White Cream). The sunblock also contains organic sunflower oil and green tea.

The product itself has a citrus scent. The scent lingers on your skin if you smell directly the part of your body you used the sunblock on. The scent is not overpowering though. The cream has a beige color. Probably in order to adapt to the skin color.It has a slight whiter cast, but it is not too bad. The cream absorbs quickly into the skin and doesn’t feel sticky. The product says, that since it brightens up the skin, it can be also used as primer. What I like most is, that it is waterproof. It also claims to be sebum- and sweat proof, but I think that it is not suited for oily skin faces. But for normal and dry skin this sunblock should work great. there are two other versions of this sunscreen available, one is suited better for oily skin, since it is called Eco Safety No Sebum Sunblock. The other one is the normal version (not waterproof) called Eco Safety Perfect Sunblock. You can find all these three sunscreens for around 13 US$ at W2Beauty. What are your favourite Korean Sunblocks? Anybody tried the other two versions of this cream by Innisfree?

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Review: My Beauty Diary Bird’s Nest Mask

8. July 2014

This is my favourite sheet mask so far: My Beauty Diary Bird’s Nest Mask! It took me quite some time to review it, because I’m always a bit lazy when it comes to sheet mask reviews, but here it is finally :) If you are a sheet mask lover you should definitively try out this mask and if you’d like to know my opinion about it, please continue reading my short review :)

My Beauty Diary is a well known Tawainese brand. Their sheet masks are amongst the most popular sheet masks, since they are effective and cheap in comparison to other brands. On their products site you can find detailled descriptions to each of their masks (in English!). The Bird’s Nest Mask is supposed to nourish, brighten, moisturize and firm the skin. Bird’s Nest Mask?! Yeah, that’s right. It is exactly what you think. So why use such an ingredient at all? Bird’s nest acid essence (Neuraminic Acid) promotes the production of Collagen, Elastin and Hyaluronic Acid and thus contributes to hydration and elasticity of the skin. Apart from this, the mask contains a couple of other ingredients. All the ingredients are green or yellow flagged according to COSDNA except for the pH adjuster Triethanol Amine. If you know that you had previously bad experience with this ingredient, be sure to make a test on your arms either or skip this mask at all.

While using this mask I discovered that the cotton sheet is soaked nicely with the essence, but isn’t dripping wet at all. This makes the application easy and less messy. It gives your skin a cooling and refreeshing effect while wearing and you can feel the moisture provided. After leaving it on for 20-30 minutes it starts to absorb into the skin. As soon as it is absorbed fully it does not feel sticky at all. Moreover, it doesn’t leave a film or looks greasy. But the best part of this mask is the touch of my skin, wich feels soft like silk. I think, this is the first mask were I also experienced a direct “wow” effect after one usage. I couldn’t stop touching my face afterwards *_* All in all, this is a great mask and absolutely recommendable! You can buy this mask from ebay for around 14 US$ per 10 pieces.

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Review: Innisfree Green Tea Pure Deluxe Kit

3. July 2014

// KBEAUTY / SKINCARE / AFFILIATE LINKS //

I received this Innisfree’s Green Tea Pure Deluxe Kit a while back during a giveaway and I was very happy about it. Innisfree’s Green Tea line is often talked about within the blogger communitiy and since green tea is a very beneficial ingredient I was especially curious how this would work, especially as a mini version of the complete skincare line, including toner, emulsion, cream, essence and sleeping pack. These kits are always a great way to test a special line if it works with your skin or doesn’t. Here is my impression on these products:

Innisfree is an eco-friendly korean skincare and makeup brand focusing on natural ingredients and recycle packaging. The design of their products is simply and neat and nicely reflects the ideology of the brand. The Green Tea Pure Deluxe Kit is a 4-free product, that means that it is free of 4 commonly used ingredients, which are not beneficial, most likely parabens, etc. I couldn’t find any english ingredients list, so I don’t have the exact information for you, unfortunately.

Nevertheless, the key ingredient in this line is Jeju Green Tea. On Innisfree’s official web page you’ll find the following description:

“Green Tea Pure Line with the clean and clear moisture of 100% Jeju Organic Green Tea Water: The vitality and condensed moisture of green tea grown on the organic green tea field of the pure island of Jeju, refine the skin for clarity and suppleness.”

As I stated above, the kit constists of the Innisfree Green Tea Pure Skin (toner), Innisfree Green Tea Pure lotion (emulsion), Innisfree Green Tea Pure Cream, Innisfree Green Tea Pure Sleeping Pack and Innisfree Green Tea Pure Seed Serum. I used the items for my daily routine as this: toner, emulsion, cream. During my night routine I used: toner, serum, emulsion, sleeping pack. Of course it depends on your skintype how your routine works best. It may be, that cream and emulsion are to much for oily skin for example. My skin is rather dry, so I used emulsion and cream together.

Let’s start with the toner and the emulsion.

These two items come in two miniature plastic bottles, as do also the full size products. The plastic appears sturdy. The Innisfree Green Tea Pure Skin is a gel-type clear toner. It contains tiny particles which disolve while applying onto the skin. This makes it feel grainy during the application first. But the toner absorbs quickly and since the grains dissolve the only thing which lingers is the scent of green-tea mixed with some fruity/flowery scent. It is a nice scent, but if you don’t like scents at all, I wouldn’t recommend you this line at all. In principle all the products have this scent.

The Innisfree Green Tea Pure Lotion is a milky emulsion, which absorbs really fast into the skin. It is not sticky and doesn’t leave a greasy feeling. The skin feels instantly smooth and firmer. It has the same scent as the toner.

Innisfree Green Tea Pure Cream:

The Innisfree Green Tea Pure Cream also contains some grains, but in contrast to the grains in the toner, you don’t feel these on your skin. This cream is a good moisturizer and feels very refreshing. In contrast to the emulsion, the cream takes a bit more to absorb, but once it is absorbed, it isn’t sticky either. The cream gives you really that glow you get after being well moisturized. The deluxe sample comes in a mini jar, which is really nice.

Innisfree Green Tea Pure Seed Serum

The Green Tea Pure Seed Serum is a geltype serum, which is lightly milky. The consistency is thicker than of the toner. After it absorbs it is not sticky at all. It feels like adding some moisture, but not a lot (so this might be good for combination/oily skin?). Again, it has the same green-tea scent of the other products. The set included 6 of these ampoules. Each ampoule was for one usage only. The other products of the kit are more often usable, so it would have been nice, if the set included also more of these serum ampoules. The fullsize product comes in a pump bottle.

The last product is the Innisfree Green Tea Pure Sleeping Pack

The sleeping pack in this kit comes in a tube (the fullsize product comes in a jar). Also here, we have tiny beads. The beads dissolve while massaging the pack into your skin. The sleeping pack doesn’t absorb quickly, but it takes some time, but since you put it on before sleeping it doesn’t matter after all. The skin feels a bit sticky, too, but this is also a minor problem for a sleeping mask. On the next day the skin feels soft and refreshed. Also here, I really like the green tea scent, especially before going to bed. It is so relaxing.

My total impression about Innisfree Green Tea Pure Line is quite positive. My favourite products are the sleeping pack and surprisingly the emulsion. I’m rarely using emulsion during my skincare routine, only if I’m testing a specific skincare line as a whole like now. This emulsion made my skin so soft and firm, I really enjoyed using it ♥ The scent is also nice if you like green-tea scents. That’s why I like the sleeping pack aswell. It is so relaxing to use. Most important, none of the products gave me any breakouts or irritations :)

Also, Innisfree refreshed their Green Tea Line. The line is now divided into Green Tea Fresh (oily skin), Green Tea Balancing (normal/combination skin) and Green Tea Moisture (dry skin), which is a good idea. I think the former line will resemble most likely the new balancing line. I would suggest you to browse through W2Beauty for all the products.

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Review: Shiseido Hada Senka Hoshitsu Lotion

30. June 2014

A while ago I baught some Japanese skincare and beauty products, but I never found the time to edit the pictures I had taken. Finally, I managed to write the review on Shiseido Hada Senka Hoshitsu Lotion :) This is a basic toner, from Shiseido’s drug store brand Hada Senka.

First of all, as I said, Hada Senka is a drugstore brand from Shiseido. The product range is not expansive and directed towards younger people, since it is a basic skincare line. Also, since it is a japanese brand they use slightly other terms than korean brands do. This product is called a “lotion”, but that doesn’t mean that we have a liquid form of cream here, but it is the equivilant to korean toner or sometimes also called “skin”. That means, that the lotion is used as first step of the skincare routine, after cleansing. This product is also available in two forms, a light version and a heavy version and you can differentiate them according to the color of the cap (pink for the heavy version and white for the light version). I’m showing you the heavy version for dry skin.

I bought this as a promotional kit, which is why it came with travel size samples of the Hada Senka Perfect Whip and the Perfect Watery Oil. Also, the set contained samples of the Hada Senka Milk, which is the emulsion from this skincare line. The description of the product is unfortunately only in Japanese. You can find the ingredients listed on COSDNA, too. The key ingredients for moisturization are hyaluronic acid and royal jelly extract. This is also the main reason I wanted to buy this moisturizing toner, because I love the effect of skincare products with hyaluronic acid, since it provides the skin with moisture. The ingredients are safe to use according to COSDNA, but if you have very sensitive skin be aware that this toner contains alcohol.

The tones comes in a hard plastic bottle, which appears sturdy. It is milky plastic, so you can see how much is left inside the bottle if you see through it against the light. The bottle comes with a simple cap with a small hole for dispensing, but the application works nice and it is not difficult to get the product out of the bottle. The packaging is not very special, I would rather say the packaging is super boring, but it shows the simplicity of the product. Since shiseido Hada Senka is a cheaper branch of Shiseido I can live with the boring packaging on the other hand.

As I said, this is a moisturizing toner containing hyaluronic acid. It does exactly what it claims to do and provides the skin with moisture. The toner is geltype, so it is not completelly liquid. It has a light alcoholic scent when you pour it out, but the scent dissapears quickly and leaves a scentless product. The lotion absorbs quickly and is not sticky after absorbing. The skin feels soft after apllication. I like this toner a lot. I especially liked to put a few drops of the O.S.T Vitamin C serum in my palm and mix it with the toner. This worked very well! Moreover, this toner has a PH of 5, which makes it work gerat together with active ingredients like vitamin C or BHA/AHAs.

Overall, the Shiseido Hada Senka Hoshitsu Lotion is a solid basic lotion with a good pH (weak acidity). It works good with skincare routines containing actives, too! Unfortunatelly, it contains alcohol, so if you have sensitive skin make a patch test before. I bought the promotional kit at Adamsbeauty and it is still available. It costs around 10 US$, which is quite cheap for a japanese product. The great thing is, that there are refills available which makes it very environmental friendly, too. I can totally recommend you to give this affordable product a try!

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Review: Laneige Waterbank Eye Gel

28. June 2014

Today’s review will be on Laneige’s Waterbank Eye Gel, a gel type eyecream claiming to be extra moisturizing. Laneige has a whole skincare line named “Waterbank” for moisturizing skin. I had a couple of samples for this cream and here is the impression this eye cream left to me.

The main color of this line is blue, therefore the fullsize product comes in a blue colored jar. The fullsize contains a spatula, too, in order to be able to leave the product in the jar as hygienic as possible. I don’t know how much product is contained in each sample sachet but each sachet had enough eye cream to be used a couple of days, since you only need a tiny bit for the skin around your eyes.

This eyecream claims to be moisturizing and also vitalizing. The ingredients list is quite long, but most of them are green flaged according to COSDNA. The sample sachet contained ingredients in English, and also the directions were in English, which is great.

As to the consistency of the eye cream: it is a milky gel type cream, which reminds of a balm. Also the feeling of the gel is more like a balm, than a gel/cream. As soon as it is worked into the skin, it feels like turning into water. It feels moisturizing and refreshing on the same time, while absorbing fast into the skin. Also the moisturizing effect stays for the whole day. I had the feeling my eye area was still hydrated at the end of the day, when I applied the cream in the morning ♥ The scent is the typical scent you might know from Laneige. It is fresh and soapy, without being to strong and irritating.

All in all, I didn’t expect this cream to be such a good moisturizer, but it is! I love the effect and how the effect is still noticeable at the end of the day. If you are looking for a really good moisturizing eye cream, then I would recommend you to buy Laneige Waterbank Eye Gel. The only downside is, that it is a bit expensive, since it is from Laneige. But since one does not need a lot of eyecream per day, I think that the fullsize jar will go a long way until it is empty. I’m seriously thinking of buying the jar as soon as I have finished my other opened eyecreams. You can buy Laneige Waterbank Eye Gel at ebay for around 40 US$.

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Review: ONL Saladit Essential Juice Sheet Masks ♥sponsored♥

14. June 2014

It’s a whole bunch of sheet mask for today’s post. I present ONL Saladit Essential Juice Sheet Masks, a set of sheet masks available at Wishtrend. I’ve been trying to reduce my sheet mask stash and I have managed to have only 5 left. Can you imagine this?! :D Time to buy new ones, haha! These sheet masks from ONL are dedicted to different vegetables and help to nourish and care for your skin each in it’s specific way. I tried all of them for you and here is my impression: