beauty | Berries in the Snow

Review: Max Factor Pastell Compact Blush

21. June 2015

Today, I have a western makeup product review for you. I received the Max Faktor Pastell Compact Blush (or also known as Max Factor Cream Puff Blush) with the German drugstore beauty box “Schön Für Mich-Box” from Rossmann. I saw these blushes previously in various drugstores and since I don’t have a marbled blush yet I was especially intrigued to try them. The shade I received with the mentioned beauty box is “seductive pink”. Since this is my favourite and almost daily used blush at the moment I thought about a quick review here:

Most of you will know the brand Max Factor, a makeup brand by P&G. Max Factor, the founder of the brand, was a make-up artist who worked with former Hollywood icons like Ava Gardner, Jean Harlow and Marlene Dietrich back in the 10th century making the brand one of the oldest widely and worldwide known makeup brands. The Max Factor Pastell Compact Blush is available in 6 different shades. Each blush is composed of two colors and is pressed into a beautiful marbled blush as you can see for “seductive pink”. The marbled surface was the main reason I was attracted by this blush. It makes the tiny container look really beautiful. The golden and black packaging gives an elegant edge to the whole product.

The description from Max Factor says:

“Sometimes, a subtle flush of colour is the look you’re after; other times, a more striking contoured finish is what you want. New creme puff blush is perfect for creating both, and everything in between thanks to its easy-to-build formula.

Multi-tonal pigments work with your skintone
Finely milled, marbled finish
Controllable formula allows you to build colour as required.
Ultra blendable – no visible blush lines”

And I can confirm all the points mentioned above. By swirling a brush over the blush you will get a perfect mix of the two tines in the blush. The application is very easy and leaves a nice color with a slight sheen on your cheeks. The color is buildable, too, but I think a light brushing already gives you a nice a visible pop of color.

As I said at the beginning of this post: I’m in love with this blush and with the color. It is daily wearable and fits to my skintone. It is easy to use and longlasting, too, and the marbled appearance is beautiful! Most of all the prize lies at 8.50 € and it is available in most drugstores even here in Germany. If you have a chance to try them I can recommend you to do so! Did you try any marbled blushes? Do you have a favourite brand? I heard good things about the Hourglas mnarbled blushes, too.

♥ And remember to take part in my 2nd bloganniversary giveaway! ♥

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asian cosmetics beauty review Wishtrend

Review: Pongdang Mulbit Glow BB Cushion

19. June 2015

After using and loving the Pongdang Donkey Milk Emulsion for quite some time now I’ve been really interested in trying more products from Pongdang and the next thing I discovered was the Pongdang Mulbit Glow BB Cushion. There are so many cushions right now and I’m tempted to buy more, although I do not really need anymore :D

Pongdang is a Korean brand by people’s. It has a small product range with simple products focussing on the ingredients as it seems to me. They have a webpage >>here<< but it is in Korean. The products have a clean design, which is what was most obvious for me for this brand. You can find their products on Wishtrend. The Pongdang Mulbit Glow BB Cushion is a cushion foundation containing 13 different marine extracts for providing moisture to the skin. Apart from that the cushion has SPF 50 and PA+++ in order to protect the skin from UV radiation. The cushion claims to be brightening, moisturizing, and long-lasting.

The cushion foundation comes in a cardboard box made from recycled paper. The design is very simple, typical for Pongdang products. You will find English and Korean description on the cardboard box, too. You can find the ingredients in COSDNA >>here<<, but they are also listed in English on the packaging. Pongdang Mulbit Glow BB Cushion contains various sunscreen components like titanium dioxide, Ethylhexyl methoxycinnamate, Ethylhexyl salicylate, Tinosorb S, and 4-Methylbenzylidene Camphor. The latter is labelled red in COSDNA. The key ingredients are also separatelly listed on the cardboard box. Furthermore the product is 6-free, which means it contains 6 non-added formulas. It is written in Korean on the cardboard box which these 6 are, but unfortunatelly I didn’t find the translation. The 13 marine extracts are Marine Collagen, Brown Algae, Agar-agar, Seaweed, Laver, Gom Pi, Gulfweed, Sea Staghorn, Holmes, Sea Mustard, Kelp, Hypnea Cornuta and Fusiforme. You can find further description on Wishtrend, too, or on the official Korean webpage >>here<<.

The cushion foundation itself comes in the regular cushion pact. It comes with a mirror and an application puff inside, too.

The puff feels different than the puff for Missha or Innisfree Cushion and it doesn’t seem to be a ruby-cell puff. Therefore, it doesn’t feel that soft as my other puffs. Another thing I noticed is, that the puffs from my previous cushion foundations have kind of a cooling effect, which is not the case here.

The inside is the same as for all cushion foundations. There is a seal for the soaked cushion inside and the lid to protect the cushion from trying closes properly, too. The sponge is also soaked thoroughly and one touch with the finger will be enough to get a propper amount of the BB cream. Unfortunately, there is only one shade available, which is quite light compared to my skin color at the moment. My face is usually a bit lighter than my hand, but still this BB cream leaves a bit of a white cast due to the bright color in general. Maybe it fits better in winter…The container with the cushion can be removed from the case, so it seems as if there are also refills for this BB cream, but I didn’t see them anywhere online yet.

The coverage of the Pongdang Glow BB Cushion is medium to high. It covers all my freckles and discoloration and gives the skin an even color. Due to the product description I expected this BB cushion to be similar to the Innisfree Ampoule Intense Cushion, which is one of my favourite bb/cc creams at the moment. The Innisfree Ampoule Intense Cushion leaves my skin feel moisturized and gives it a natural glow. The Pongdang Glow BB Cushion on the other hand has more of a matte finish and despite the name it doesn’t feel moisturizing at all. Also, the application is very difficult, especially with the included sponge and makes areas like my nose and chin look flakey. It is not buildable either and starts to flake once you try to apply another layer. Moreover, it is not touch-proof and you will leave marks on your complexion every time you touch your skin. With a ruby-cell puff the application works better, and you can create a nice(r) finish, but still the texture is not easy to work with. The scent of the BB cream is a soapy one, but it is not intense.

After loving the Pongdang Donkey Milk Emulsion so much I had high hopes for this cushion. According to the description, the dewy finish and the moisturizing properties of the Pongdang glow BB Cushion intrigued me to try this, but I must say that I don’t think that the product fulfills these claims. The name therefore is also not properly chosen, since I don’t see any dewy finish at all. Maybe, it works better on other skintypes, or maybe I did something wrong here…anyways, if you want to try this because of a dewy finish go for the Innisfree Ampoule Intense Cushion instead. Although this cushion is not my favourite I’m still curious about all the other items from this brand. I have heard that their regular BB creams are good, too. Maybe it is better to check out one of them instead. The Pongdang Glow BB Cushion retaills for 19.55 US$ at Wishtrend and has a volume of 20 g. Also, check out the June promotions on Wishtrend before grabbing your products. Keep in mind their friend-referral program: You can receive a 5 Us$ referral coupon if you use my invitation code 17939205 upon registration and you’ll receive this voucher immediately.There will be a specific field in your registration form called “friends invitation program” where you can put the code mentioned above. This way new customers can safe 5 US$ which is a great possibility to safe some money.

♥ And remember to take part in my 2nd bloganniversary giveaway! ♥

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asian cosmetics beauty review

Review: Bioré UV Aqua Rich Watery Gel

18. June 2015

Of course with summer approaching everybody thinks of sun protection, but even in winter you should use your daily dose of UV protection for your face. UV radiation will not only cause visible and accute skin damage (like sunburn), but it also makes your skin look older by the time. It is responsible for getting more lines and pigmentations (freckles). Looking at asian cosmetics you will find daily useable sunscreens everywhere! One brand which is often mentioned when it comes to daily sunscreens, especially japanese ones, is the Bioré UV Aqua Rich Line. Many people have heard of the Bioré UV Aqua Rich Watery Essence, but the Bioré UV Aqua Rich Watery Gel I’m reviewing is a new product in this year in that line.

Bioré is a japanese brand within the Kao cooperation, a chemical and cosmetics company. It is knwon for mainly skincare products like cleansing, lotions and sunscreen. The Bioré UV Aqua Rich Watery Gel has an SPF 50+/ PA++++ and is a daily useable sunscreen for face and body. Not only does it protect your face from UV radiation, but also it can be used as a makeup base. One thing I have to point out here: most asian sunscreens are usually made for daily use, but not for sunbathing or outdoor activities! You should use a sunscreen made specially for that purpose if you plan on using it therefore. Moreover, the Bioré UV Aqua Rich Watery Gel is not waterproof ( that means it is not sweatproof either).

You might be wondering why to buy an extra sunscreen for daily use if it is not sweatproof and not suited for sunbathing etc? You could go ahead and use your regular beach sunscreen daily and for protecting your face, too, but the problem I discovered with most of these sunscreens is, that they made my skin too greasy and heavy. They were not suited for base makeup either. The Bioré UV Aqua Rich Watery Gel is totally different here and I will describe my experience toawards the end of this review. But first let’s take a look at the packaging and the description:

The Bioré UV Aqua Rich Watery Gel and the Watery Essence have both a signature pale blue plastic packaging. In contrast to the Watery Essence, which comes in a regular tube, the Watery Gel comes in a squeezing bottle. It also contains 90 ml volume, whereas the Watery Essence tube contains only 50 ml (big size 75 ml). Like most japanese products it does not come in a cardboard box, but in a plastic packaging. The description is in Japanese only, but if you are curious about the ingredients you can check up COSDNA >>here<<. The key ingredients for sun protection are Octinoxate, Tinosorb S (BisEthylhexyloxyphenol Methoxyphenyl Triazine), Uvinol A Plus (Diethylamino Hydroxybenzoyl Hexyl Benzoate), Uvinol T 150 (Ethylhexyl Triazone), and Titanium Dioxide. Unfortunately, this sunscreen contains alcohol, but unlike aggressive skincare products with alcohol, this one didn’t feel uncomfortable on my skin. You will also notice a light alcohol scent at the beginning which vanishes quickly and leaves the signature citrus/lemon scent of this sunscreen. Apart from this, the Watery Gel contains moisturizing ingredients like hyaluronic acid and royal jelly and is thus also useable on dry skintypes like mine. If you want to read more about the description I can recommend you the my holy grail blog for asian sunscreen reviews, Ratzillacosme. Apart from descriptions for almost every japanese sunscreen you can also find reviews for tons of them. It is one of the most helpful sites if you are looking for an asian sunscreen.

So, the Bioré UV Aqua Moist Watery Gel is designed as a gel-type sunscreen which also moisturizes the skin. Since it is designed as a makeup base I have certain expectations for it, like to be non-sticky and not greasy. Like the product packaging also the bottle contains only japanese descriptions.

The cap of the bottle can be unwind easily. There is a small nozzle to squeeze the product out, but since it is quite runny in its consistency I would be careful not to squeeze too hard. Unlike you would think from the name the product is not a gel-type one, but it looks like a runny, light-yellow colored milk. It has a citrus scent to it, which I didn’t like in first place, but I got used to it eventually. It isn’t too strong anyways.

When applied the milky texture turns watery immediatelly. If feels moist and nice and not oily or heavy at all. It contains tiny white capsules which dissolve after blending the gel in and it absorbs super fast. When it is absorbed it leaves the skin neither greasy, nor matte and powdery, but just like healthy and moist skin. It has no white cast either. Although it contains alcohol I don’t have the feeling that it makes my skin tight or dry- on the contrary, the skin feels moisturized and fresh. Since it absorbs so quickly and isn’t oily or drying it works great as makeup base. I had no flaking or clumping problems with following steps.

I love the Bioré UV Aqua rich Watery Gel! Point! Despite the fact that I’m not the citrus-scent lover there is nothing I have to complain here. It is not greasy, leaves the skin healthy looking and not dried, doesn’t leave a white cast and absorbs fast. Oh, it is non-sticky, too! The application is watery and refreshing, too, and it works great as base make-up. I bought my tube from Adambeauty for HK$67 (~8.40 US$), but it is out of stock at the moment. It is also available on ebay for around 10 US$.

And something a bit off-topic: I repaired the link to my RSS feed and also put a link to my Email subscription list on the sidebar now. If you are interested feel free to subscribe :D

♥ And remember to take part in my 2nd bloganniversary giveaway! ♥

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asian cosmetics beauty review Wishtrend

Review: COSRX BHA Summer Pore Minish Serum

15. June 2015

Despite the fact that my main skin concern is dry skin, which has improved greatly since I’m using asian skincare and an asian inspired skincare routine, I still have another skin concern which is in correlation with increasing age: enlarged pores :’D I have visible pores in my T-zone, especially on my nose and what would be nicer than to make them appear smaller. Of course using BB/CC creams and or primers hides them, still it would be nice to have them smaller even without makeup. For that purpose I have started to use the COSRX BHA Summer Pore Minish Serum, a daily useable serum containing BHA to gently deep cleanse pores. After using it for around 50 days (maybe more, but I was inconsistent), here is my impression:

COSRX is a affordable Korean brand “offering good quality beauty items for 10 years”. The brand name is composed of COS for cosmetics and RX for prescription. Brand like Ciracle and C20 (yes, the famous vitamin C serum) are also part of COSRX. One of the rather popular skincare lines from COSRX are the AHA/BHA skincare products. I’m using the COSRX BHA Summer Pore Minish Serum in combination with the COSRX AHA/BHA Clarifying Treatment Toner I reviewed previously. The packaging design of all the COSRX products is simple and similar. They all come in a white cardboard box with a black area where the product name is written in. The rest of the cardboard box contains very detailled descriptions in English and Korean. You can click on the image below to enlarge and read the description.

The cardboard description also contains the rather short ingredient list of the COSRX BHA Summer Pore Minish Serum. The ingredients are also listed on COSDNA, if you want to check upon them >>here<<. The main ingredient of this astringent serum is White Willow water, which makes 80 % of the ingredients. Since it is an astringent serum for removing the sebum from clogged pores the second ingredient is alcohol, but although I have dry skin and usually too much alcohol in products makes my skin feel irritated I don’t have that feeling here. I focus for the application on my T-zone mainly, too. The Beta salicylate, the BHA, makes 0.5 % of the ingredients, and helps to exfoliate the troubled areas and smoothen the skin. Condition for the BHA to work is a low pH. The serum itself has a pH of 6-7 according to my meassurement, it says 7 on Wishtrend. Therefore it is important to use a preparation toner with a low pH before. Apart from these ingredients the COSRX BHA Summer Pore Minish Serum contains Hyaluronic acid for moisturization and Zinc Oxide for UV protection. Nevertheless, you should keep using sunscreen during daytime when using BHA/AHA products!

The COSRX BHA Summer Pore Minish Serum contains 100 ml in a pump bottle made of sturdy, frosted plastic. You see an orangy liquid through the bottle. When you receive it, you will notice floating white particles in the liquid and some white residue on the bottom of the bottle. This is the sebum absorption powder as stated in the description and you have to shake the bottle before every use of the serum, so the powder dissolves in the solution. The serum is made for all skintypes for daily use in the morning and evening, but if you have very sensitive skin COSRX suggests to only use it in the evening and 2-3 times a week. Since it is an astringent serum to remove oil and clogged pores I use a cotton pad to swipe the serum over my target areas. It is important to also leave the product until it is fully absorbed, so the effect of the ingredients is not weakened.

The bottom of the bottle has the production and the expiration date printed on and you will find further Korean description on the body label of the bottle and below the sticker. The serum has a shelf-life of 12 months.

I use a couple of pumps on my cotton pads while applying the serum. The serum has a clear, runny consistency and a light alcohol-scent which dissapears super quickly and leaves a scentless finish. The serum absorbs quickly, too, and is not sticky.

The immediat effect of the COSRX BHA Summer Pore Minish Serum is definetly the deep cleanse of the pores. Even after double cleansing this astringent serum shows some dirt on the cotton pad used. The area around my nose looks cleared up and the pores look less visible, which is only ahort time effect. But what about longterm effects of this serum? As I said at the beginning, I did not use this product religiously day and night, but I’d say I used it for around 50 days in total, maybe more. I’m half-through the bottle now. Below you can see a closeup of my nose starting from the first day I used it up to today. Despite the different lightening conditions you can see that the pores appear less deep. From only looking at the mirror I thought there are no huge changes, but seeing the closeup convinced me, that if used regulary I’m sure that the effects are even better to see. At the moment I do not use any other BHA/AHA products apart from this serum and the Treatment Toner, but I want to start using Mizon AHA serum in the evenings now. Let’s see how all the three (together with my OST Vitamin C serum) work together.

The COSRX BHA Summer Pore Minish clearly fulfills its purpose as astringent serum for deep cleansing pores. It immedieatelly makes the pores appear smaller and clearer and even on longterm you can see some changes. If used regulary day and night I’m sure the results will be even more visible. I’d say this is a good BHA serum for people with sensitive skin to start with. I’m in love with it and so far it fits nicely into my skincare routine. Let’s see how it works in combination with a stronger AHA serum and if I will keep repurchasing it or not. ~~You can get the COSRX BHA Summer Poire Minish Serum with a volume of 100 ml from Wishtrend for 13.80 US$.~~ It seems the product is currently out of stock!

Check out my other reviews for COSRX products >>here<<.

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asian cosmetics beauty beauty boxes review

Review: Ddung Liquid Eyeliner

13. June 2015

Thanks to the times that MeMeBox was shipping internationally I have a huge box of still unopened and unused Korean beauty products I didn’t have a chance to try yet. But as time goes by and there is no other beauty box I’m intrigued by I’m starting to go through the single products. This one is the Ddung Liquid Eyeliner:

I didn’t know the Korean brand Ddung before, but I received two products from this brand, which is this eyeliner and a foam cleanser (I didn’t try the foam cleanser yet). Apparently, Ddung is a toy brand selling dolls. If you search google you’ll find some of these dolls. I didn’t find any information about their cosmetic products. Looking at the packaging design the brand is targeting young females, because the packaging displays the images of the Ddung dolls and contains pink colors, too. Below you see the cardboard packaging for the Ddung Liquid Eyeliner:

The description are in Korean only, but product description crad from MeMeBox says that the formula of this liquid eyeliner is supposed to offer “defined, feminine eyes with a long-lasting, waterproof and non-smudging wear”. The Ddung Liquid Eyeliner comes in the typical short liquid eyeliner tube. The colors are black and pink, like the cardboard packaging, and show the illustration of the Ddung doll.

The backside contains a short information about where this is made. The ddung liquid eyeliner contains 5 ml product.

The lid of the container has a thin brush attached. Depending on the pressure you put on the brush you can create thin or thicker lines, like drawing with water colors ;) For beginners this might be difficult first, but you can get used to it quickly.

The color of this eyeliner is black and the color can be intensified when applying several layers. Nevertheless you have to be carefull because you might accidentially remove the previous layer. Once the liquid eyeliner is dried it is rubb-proof to an extend. If you rubb for a longer time you will slowly peel off the eyeliner. Water and a bit of rubbing removes it completelly.

The Ddung Liquid Eyeliner is a solid liquid eyeliner with a girly packaging. The black color is nice, too and is not too pale like with some other eyeliners. Nevertheless its claims to be waterproof are false. It is very easy to remove it with water and a bit of rubbing. Moreover, a liquid eyeliner like this might be difficult for beginners. I would advise to use pencil eyeliners or liquid pen eyeliners instead. The price for the Ddung Liquid Eyeliner is 12 US$ according to MeMeBox, but I didn’t find it anywhere else to confirm the price. Did anyone try products from the brand Ddung? OrR are there any collectors of these dolls around?

♥ And remember to take part in my 2nd bloganniversary giveaway! ♥

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asian cosmetics beauty PR Sample q-depot review

Review: Skinfood Hydro Fitting Snail Mask Sheet

12. June 2015

// PR SAMPLE / KBEAUTY / SKINCARE //

The Skinfood Hydro Fitting Snail Mask Sheet was featured in the guestpost for the Skinfood Brand Focus and Top 5 products, and since then I was curious about trying this mask. Luckily, the Korean cosmetics online store named Q-depot offered me to review exactly that mask, which made me really happy. First of all, it is a hydration-type sheet mask, which are my favourite, and second, it contains the key ingredient snail mucus, which is one of my favourite ingredients.

Skinfood is one of these brands which are competing with Etude House in terms of design– in my opinion at least. It is a Korean brand with vintage appearing design of their products which occupied my heart very quickly. The products are using the beneficial effects of ingredients, which are familiar to us in terms of “food” like vegetables and fruits. Their motto “Food that is good for your health, is also good for your skin.” reflects this brands’ ideology nicely. The Skinfood Hydro Fitting Snail Mask Sheet represents the cute design with a light pink sheet mask sachet showing a cute crawing of a snail. Normally, this sheet mask comes in boxes of 5 pieces.

The backside of the sachet contains the Korean and English description. The English description are quite short, but the main content of it is that this mask is supposed to moisturize and nourish your face and have a good and comfortable fitting. The ingredients are listed on COSDNA, too, and you can look them up >>here<<. The ingredient list is short and safe to use, but it contains alcohol as 5th ingredient and also methylparaben is included. The key ingredient is snail filtrate, which has a concentration of 1,120 mg.

This sheet mask is a regular cotton sheet mask. It is attached to a plastic sheet, which makes it easy to unfold the mask. The essence is a clear, liquid one, which soaks the cotton sheet very nicely. The scent of the sheet mask is a floral one, and it is quite strong. It smells of alcohol first, too. But even after the alcohol scent is gone the perfume scent still is noticeably strong.

The fabric of the sheet mask is soft and very thin. The mask promises a nice fit, but i’d say it is regular and depends on your facial shape. It doesn’t dry out quickly because of all the essence and thus feels very moisturizing and refreshing on the skin. Unfortunately, after a while my skin felt a bit sensitive, probably because of the alcohol. After taking off the mask and waiting for the essence to absorb the skin feels still sticky. I personally don’t like sticky feelings, so it was a bit of a dissapointment and didn’t really work for me. Since I only had one mask I can not say anything about longterm effects resulting from the snail filtrate, for example.

Overall, the Skinfood Hydro Fitting Snail Mask Sheet was not suitable for my skintype. Unfortunately, the alcohol felt irritating on my dry skin and also the stickiness is not to my personal liking. If you don’t have alcohol sensitive skin, are not very sensitive to strong scents either, and do not mind a sticky feeling afterall, you might want to try this mask anyways. As usual (and that’s something for all reviews in general), it might be different from person to person! If anybody tried this mask from skinfood and had a different experience feel free to write a comment below!

Last but not least some words to Q-depot: Like the Face Shop Face It Power Perfection BB Cream I received the Skinfood Hydro Fitting Snail Mask Sheet from Q-depot. This store selling Korean beauty items is quite new, but from the first glance it looks quite promising and is worth a look. They keep adding more brands and products, but they have already quite a variety of the most popular Korean brands. The site is easy to navigate, too. And they offer free samples for each order and free shipping for orders above US$69. What I like especially, that they have an extra section for cruelty-free products, which contains brands like Iope, Innisfree, Etude House, etc. I didn’t see that before for most of the online stores, so that’s something really innovative and nice. You can get the Skinfood Hydro Fitting Snail Mask Sheet for 9.95 US$ and it comes in a box containing 5 pieces of sheet masks. Q-depot is having a promotion were you can get 5 US$ coupon upon signing up. The coupon is useable for a minimum purchase of 69 US$.

♥ And remember to take part in my 2nd bloganniversary giveaway! ♥

Just as a short reminder: All products mentioned and reviewed on this blog are of my personal opinions. This product here was sent to me for reviewing purpose by http://q-depot.com/ which doesn’t influence me in providing my honest opinion on the products.

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Berries in the Snow 2nd Bloganniversary Giveaway

10. June 2015

Honestly speaking, this giveaway is 2 month delayed! I was going to celebrate Berries in the Snow’s 2nd Bloganniversary in March or April and now we have June already…time is passing quickly :’D When I started BitS I never thought about having it for any specific time, but seeing now that I’m still enjoying my reviews and other posts I’m kind of proud of myself. I never thought that people will enjoy reading my posts, but seeing that I have so many regular readers and blogger friends really makes me happy.

When I’m looking back to the first posts I made I feel a bit ashamed, too. Naturally, I didn’t know much about blogging (and I still know too few), and my posts were not the best ones. Sorry, for that! I’m also a bit sad that I didn’t have time to fix all the pictures from the old post since I transferred my blog from Blogspot to WordPress. I hope I will be able to change the blurry images soon. I started to overdo some of the reviews, but it is so time-consuming and sometimes it is simply more exciting to write reviews about the new products instead of taking care of the old posts :’D

Nevertheless, I want to thank all you wonderful people who kept reading my blog from long time ago, and I want to welcome my new readers. And there is no better way to say “thank you” than with a giveaway! I picked a couple of items, some of them I reviewed already, some I will review in the future. Berries in the Snow’s 2nd Anniversary Giveaway is open for all my readers living all around the world and these are the items that one of you can win:

Innisfree Skin Solution Mask Moisturizing

Innisfree Skin Solution Mask Total Care

Tonymoly Floria Whitening Mask Sheet

Tansan Kakumei Carbonate Revolution

Benton Snail Bee High Content Steam Cream

Etude House XOXO Minnie in the Nail Glitter #01 Minnie in White

Etude House Sweet Reciepe Candy Stick

Hope Girl Tinted Lip Balm #02 Love Peach

Essence Cinderella Highlighter Powder #01 The Glass Slipper

ÜNT Nail Lacquer x Hello Kitty

Banila co. Clean it Zero Cleansing Balm (sample size)

Missha Super Aqua Marine Stem Cell Active Toner (sample size)

I hope you like the selected items and I hope the lucky winner will have good use for them. I will pack up all the items in a small and secure box for the delivery!

Here are the rules for taking part into this giveaway:

1. The giveaway is open internationally.

2. You can take part through the Rafflecopter form below.

3. I will look through the entries and delete any wrong entries, so cheating won’t do you any good.

4. Please, be fair and do not like my blog, and unlike it after the giveaway has ended. This is my way to thank these people who like to read my blog.

5. The chosen winner has 3 days to anwer my Email and send me his/her address.

6. The giveaway ends on July 15th, 2015.

7. I’m not responsible for any damages/ lost items through postal services. I will pack everything safe and soundly and do my best to prevent these cases, of course.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Thanks again to all of you for reading my blog! If you have any recommendations on how to improve Berries in the Snow feel free to write a comment or Email me. If you want to make a guestpost here, you’re welcome to (related topics to asian beauty/fashion of course)! Good luck to everybody! ♥

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asian cosmetics beauty Born Pretty Store PR Sample

Review: Flower Water Transfer Nail Stickers from Born Pretty Store

9. June 2015

// PR SAMPLE / FASHION / AFFILIATE LINKS //

I wanted to post this Flower Water Transfer Nail Sticker from Born Pretty Store together with the Peackock Feather Water Decall showed previously, but this one gave me a hard time to get nice pictures to be honest :’D

As mentioned above, I received this set of double-ended dotting pens from Born Pretty Store. Born Pretty Store is an asian based online store selling very affordable products, reaching from accessoires to make-up and beauty products. They have a super huge amount of all kinds of nailart products and tools. This Water Transfer Nail Sticker is available in different patterns. This sheet contains various stickers: There are 13 transparant flowers, 15 black flowers and 6 Rolling Stones Symbols. I decided for these decalls because of the flowers in first place, especially the black flowers.

The backside of the water decalls shows the description on how to use them. Basically it is very easy: You have to soak the stickers in water first, then adjust them on your nail, remove the excess water, wait until it is dry, add clear nail polish on top, wait until it is dry, remove excess water decal by simply peeling it off (as soon as you put the clear nail polish on top of the water decal the uncoated water decal can be easily peeled off). Also, the instruction on the back of the package says, that you should blow dry the water decals. I didn’t do this…actually, I only dried the nails after the application of the stickers with help of a tissue and continued with the top coat directly. And it worked super well.

Since I was so excited about the black flowers I painted my nails black and started to put the flowers on top when I realized that they are not visible on black nailpolish. It seem the black flowers should be used as whole nail sticker, but there aren’t any shapes indicated and the area is too small to make 10 whole nail stickers of the black area. That was my first dissapointment. I continued with the transparent flowers. Since I knew from my previous experience with the peacock feather decalls that the decalls won’t show up on red nail polish I tried pink polish first. But the pink polish was to dark aswell :'(. After lots of tests and trials I finally used two coats of Etude House Look At My Nails Maple Syrup, which is probably the sheerest nail polish I own :D. Afterwards, I added the remaining decalls on some nails and sealed it with a top coat. Here is the result:

How do you like it? I love how pretty the flowers are, but like with the peacock feather decalls they don’t show off nicely on darker nail polish shades. I would advice you to use sheer nail polish, although I would have loved to see the design on darker shades, too. You can get this Flower Feather Nail Art Water Decals Transfer Stickers for 0.99 US$ per sheet from Born Pretty Store. I think it is super affordable! You can also use the promotional code KBX31 for 10 % discount on your order. They do offer free international shipping by the way. If youi use sheer and light nailpolish often the flower decalls are worth a try, they are cheap, long lasting and they have a lot of different styles available at BornPrettyStore. I will check out more in future for sure!


Just as a short reminder: All products mentioned and reviewed on this blog are of my personal opinions. This product here was sent to me for reviewing purpose by http://www.bornprettystore.com/, which doesn’t influence me in providing my honest opinion on the products.

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asian cosmetics beauty BNTnews PR Sample review

Review: Too Cool For School Egg Mousse Pack and Soap

8. June 2015

// PR SAMPLE / KBEAUTY //

The Too Cool For School products I tried so far were mostly makeup products rather than skincare, but today I have reviewed the Too Cool For School Egg Mousse Pack and Soap for you. This special duo can be bought as a set or each of the two products can be purchased and used on their own. These two products help to improve the elasticity and the moisture of your skin with the nutrients from eggs.

The design cosmetic brand Too Cool For School is a Korean brand, known for a unique packaging design. Their products are in the mid-pricey region and slightly more expansive than Etude House for example. The packaging design of the Too Cool For School products is always very creative and unique. I mentioned probably a thousand times how much I love their packaging design. The Too Cool For School Egg Mousse Pack and Soap are no exception. This special duo comes wrapped up in a plastic bag and contains two pump bottles of 50 ml (Egg Mousse Pack) and 70 ml (Egg Mousse Soap).

The pump bottles are mainly white, but have a cute doodle on the front showing mixing tools you usually use to beat eggs. The difference between the two products and the design of the bottles is obviously the color, which is yellow for the Egg Mousse Pack and blue for the Egg Mousse Soap. The pump is protected by a plastic cap and works like hair mousse products: You shake the bottle vigorously and push the pump. You will directly get a thick, foamy mousse product out of the bottle.

The backside of the Too Cool For School Egg Mousse Pack and Soap bottles contains description in Korean only, but the plastic bag contained a paper sheet with Korean and English description and ingredient list (click the image below to enlarge). The ingredients are also listed on COSDNA and you can look the up >>here<< (Egg Mousse Pack) and >>here<< (Egg Mousse Soap). As the name says the key ingredient of both is egg or better egg yolk extract and albumen (egg white) extract. Albumen and yolk extract have moisturizing and conditioning properties for the skin and it is reported that egg white gives a temporarily relief to pores which leads to the appearance of tightened skin. The Too Cool for School Egg Mousse Pack and Soap contain each 450µg yolk extract and albumen extract, respectively 420 µg. The TCFS Egg Mousse Pack contains safe ingredients, but the Egg Mousse Soap contains two red labelled ingredients unfortunatelly: Triethanolamine and PEG-7 Glyceryl Cocoate. If you have very sensitive skin you might want to be careful in that case.

The direction for both products is super easy! The Too Cool For School Egg Mousse Pack is a soft whipping cream massage pack. It is supposed to warm up while massaging and be great to use before applying makeup. It brightens and nourishes the skin with help of the egg yolk and albumen. It is advised to use this pack 2-3 times a week, by pumping an appropiate amount of the foam on your dry hands and massage it on your (also dry) face. After that you can rinse off the pack and voilá! The Too Cool For School Egg Mousse Soap on the other hand is a pore washing item. It creates a very dense and tight mousse which can be used for skin cleansing, but also as shaving foam for men. Again you can pump an appropiate amount of the foam on your hands and cleanse your face in the morning and evening. Afterwards rinse it off with water.

Because you get both products as ready-to-go foam out of the bottle the application is very easy and straightforward. Both products are dense and soft foam, but the foam from the TCFS Egg Mousse Soap is stiffer than the one for the Egg Mousse pack. From the description I expected the Too Cool For School Egg Mousse pack to warm up while massaging, but the warming effect is not really as much as I expected. I was focussing very hard to feel it, if you know what I mean :D Nevertheless, the foam is very smooth and nice to apply. It has a fruity scent to it, which I didn’t expect. After washing it off my skin feels definitively tight, but soft. I didn’t see any differences in the size of my pores nevertheless. Although I expected the product to have a tightening effect I also have the feeling that my skin is drier, too, so if you have very dry skin I would not use the TCFS Egg Mousse Pack more than the advised 2-3 times a week.

The Too Cool For School Egg Mousse Soap is a super easy and quickly useable foam cleanser. It has a pH around 6-7 (I’m sorry for those lovers of acid cleansers). In contrast to the Egg Mousse Pack the Egg Mousse Soap doesn’t have that extreme tightening effect but brightens up the complexion after use. The foam is super thick and stiff and it is really nice to work with. Unfortunatelly, the cleanser is not the most powerful one. In the picture below you can see that it doesn’t really clean off the eye crayon, lipstick and bb cream, and also for the eyeliner and mascara I had to wash it very thoroughly. If you are a double cleanser you will probably not mind the weakness of this foam cleanser. I wouldn’t advise you to use this foam cleanser as only step, unless you don’t use makeup/sunscreen. It is a good morning cleanser though, since you usually remove all the makeup in the evening and don’t use sunscreen during nights. Oh, and surprisingly, the TCFS Egg Mousse Soap doesn’t smell fruity, like the Egg Mousse Pack, but it has a soapy scent. It didn’t feel drying on my skin either, but made the skin feel soft instead.

My conclusion for the Too Cool For School Egg Mousse Pack and Soap is a positive one. It has some negative points for sure: The weak cleansing power of the Egg Mousse Soap is definitively a con for this product, but I love the easy application and the feeling of the skin afterwards. The thickness of the foam is also great for those who love rich and dense foams. I also like the idea that it can be used as a shaving cream, so you can share it with your husband/boyfriend…The Egg Mousse Pack definitively gives me the tightening effect it promises, but it may be too drying for dry skintypes. Since it is not a daily pack I can live with that point. I wished the warming effect was more noticeable though. You can get the Too Cool For School Egg Mousse Pack and Soap Special Duo from the official Too Cool For School site. It retails for 18000 Won (18 US$) and contains the Egg Mousse Pack with 50 ml and the Egg Mousse Soap with 70 ml. If you buy the single products you will receive bottles of 100 ml (Egg Mousse Pack) and 150 ml (Egg Mousse Soap) volume, which retail around 12 US$. At W2Beauty the Special Duo retails for 27.85 US$. The large single bottles retail at testerkorea for around 10 US$ each.

This product was provided to me by BNTnews for reviewing. Don’t forget to visit the other BNTGirls Doris, Celine, Alene and Bella and check out their reviews. And visit BNTnews for the latest Korean news and trends:

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Here is my rating for the Too Cool For School Egg Mousse Pack:

Here is my rating for the Too Cool For School Egg Mousse Soap:

Just as a short reminder: All products mentioned and reviewed on this blog are of my personal opinions. This product here was sent to me for reviewing purpose by http://www.bntnews.co.uk/ which doesn’t influence me in providing my honest opinion on the products.

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asian cosmetics beauty BNTnews PR Sample review

Review: It’s Skin Prestige BN Gel Mask EX

7. June 2015

// PR SAMPLE / KBEAUTY //

Another sheet mask review! I hope you’re not getting bored, but here I have another hydrogel sheet mask, the It’s Skin Prestige BN Gel Mask EX. This hydrogel mask contains Bird’s Nest and Gold as key ingredients. If you remember, I talked about Bird’s Nest as ingredient in my SNP Bird’s Nest Aqua Eye Patch review >>here<<.

It’s Skin is a Korean brand made by dermatologists at Seoul University and it was created to recover the natural power of the skin. The brand is not expansive, but on the same level like Etude House. They also have some cute designs for some of their products, so in general it is an interesting brand, especially their Power 10 Formula bottles intrigue me and I heard positive reviews about it. The only other It’s Skin product I tried so far is the It’s Skin Have A Pomegranate Cleansing Foam, which I didn’t like. With the It’s Skin Prestige BN Gel Mask EX I’m giving the brand a new chance :D

The masks come either in single sachets or in a cardboard box with 5 sheet masks, like the 3CE sheet masks I reviewed yesterday. The design of these sheet masks looks super elegant and has a golden color, which also can be referred to the Gold mentioned as one of the key ingredients. The material of the cardboard box and the sachet is a reflective paper, so it was hard to take the pictures to be honest :’D. The pictures almost don’t show that the color is golden. The backside of the cardboard box and of each sachet contains the Korean and English description and a small picture on how to use the sheet mask.

This mask is separated into two sheets, one for the lower part of your face (mouth/chin) and one for the upper part (forehead/butterfly area). Each part of the gel mask is folded into a plastic and a paper sheet, and both parts are covered by another clear plastic (not really environmental, but it makes the separation of the gel sheets easier). The sachets are not dripping with essence and also the sheet mask is not soaky/wet, but typically for a hydrogel mask the material feels cooling and moist. The gel sheet has a fine grid structure which helps to fit the mask and to keep it on the face.

This hydrogel mask is thicker than the Mediheal hydrogel mask I reviewed previously (see review >>here<<). It also has a yellowish, lightly shiny color, which is partially from the gold (at least that is what I’m thinking/hoping). The ingredients were written on the sachets and the cardboard box, too, and I added them to COSDNA, so you can look them up >>here<<. The ingredients are safe to use and surprisingly niacinamide is one of the first ingredients in the list. Also, the sheet mask contains titanium dioxide for UV protection. Sadly, the two key ingredients are among the last ingredients on the list, so their concentration will be quite low. Bird’s nest is supposed to be nourishing for the skin and improve the skin texture and gold is having brightening and revitalizing properties. I definitively can say that this mask feels nice on the skin and fits nicely, too. It brings a glow to the skin and brightens and cools the skin aswell, but I’m sure that these properties are mainly due to the niacinamide in these masks. It doesn’t need much time to absorb fully, and leaves the skin almost not sticky. There is a slight tacky feeling though.

It was nice to try out another hydrogel mask and the It’s Skin Prestige BN Gel Mask EX is definitively not bad compared to all the masks I tried. It gives a nice glow, brightens up the skintone and has a cooling effect, but if you are looking for moisture I would advice you the 3CE Water Wrapping Facial Mask instead. Unfortunatelly, the two key ingredients bird’s mask and gold make this mask expensive. You can find a box of 5 sheet masks at testerkorea for ~23 US$ or at W2Beauty for 39.69 US$, so the prices may vary. I’m happy that I could revise my bad first impression from the brand It’s Skin and I will try out other products in future for sure.

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Just as a short reminder: All products mentioned and reviewed on this blog are of my personal opinions. This product here was sent to me for reviewing purpose by http://www.bntnews.co.uk/ which doesn’t influence me in providing my honest opinion on the products.

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