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Wishtrend February 2016 Coupons

3. February 2016

New coupon codes for February! As usual I will summarize the coupons and benefits that you can use while shopping on one of my favorite online retailers for Korean beauty products: Wishtrend. If you don’t know Wishtrend, but love Korean or Asian cosmetics and skin care products I can recommend you to check out their online shop, especially for one of my favorite products, e.g. the O.S.T. Vitamin C Serum. You’ll also find some products sold at Wishtrend on my Top 30 favorite asian cosmetics for 2015, like the Klairs Freshly Juiced Vitamin C serum or the ElishaCoy Moist Up Hyalurone Ampoule Toner. Also, they have listed brands like COSRX, Tosowoong and Mizon. You can find a list of all the products I reviewed from Wishtrend at the bottom of this post. Furthermore, they have really a great affiliate program for blogger and I can advice you to join it if you are one. Here are the Wishtrend coupon codes for February:

Wishtrend February 2016 Coupons

As usual, I’ll start off with the 5 Us$ referral coupon you can receive if you are a new customer. The principle is easy as this: If you use my invitation code 17939205 upon registration you’ll receive a 5 US$ 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 get 5 US$ off, which is a great to save some money on your first order.

Second, there is also a 10% discount Wishtrend coupon available for January. Below, you’ll find the coupon code for this:

Coupon Code: FEB10DISCOUNT
Requirement 1: Shopping cart order must be 50 US$ and over to be able to use the 10% off coupon
Requirement 2: Coupon code cannot be combined with any other discount or voucher code.
Only valid until the end of February 2016

The second promotion code is a special gift you will receive by using the code below. The voucher is valid on any orders of 30 US$ or more at Wishtrend! This months free sample are two free Skqin Sissi Sheet Masks in gold and silver.

Voucher Code: SKQINSISSIMASK2016
Orders +30 US$
Only valid until the end of February 2016

Wishtrend February 2016 Coupons

Moreover, since some weeks Wishtrend is having a new promo each Tuesday called Try It Tuesday. They have different coupons each Tuesday that you can use to get a free sample or product on your order. It is worth following Wishtrend’s Social Media (Facebook and Instagram) to see when they are offering this coupon!
Also, there is a new product by COSRX available at Wishtrend, the COSRX Oil-Free Ultra Moisturizing Lotion: I’m super excited for this product and it will be part of my next Wishtrend order definitively.

Wishtrend February 2016 Coupons

Another new item is the Yellow Tumbling Rubar by 23Years Old. This is a oil balm bar with reminds me of the Sum37 Miracle Rose Cleansing Stick. Another product I would love to try!

Wishtrend February 2016 Coupons

I would advice you to check out their “Free Shipping Area”, so you don’t have to spend the saved money for shipping costs. They have quite some nice items available there, changing from time to time. At the moment they are providing the OST Vitamin C serum for 14.99 US$ in their free shipping zone, and I spotted the Monstory Green Mon Fresh Mask there aswell!

I did a couple of reviews on various Wishtrend products in the past. You might like to check these out, if you are interested in purchasing these:

Klairs Freshly Juiced Vitamin C Serum

Chica y Chico Astazet 4.0

Delight 18 I.U Whitening Cream Glutathione

ElishaCoy Moist Up Hyalurone Ampoule Toner

Skinmiso Pore Corset Serum

Lailly 7 Seconds Make-Up Booster

Pongdang Mulbit Glow BB Cushion

COSRX BHA Summer Pore Minish Serum

COSRX AHA/BHA Clarifying Treatment Toner

I’m from Honey Mask

Boutique Bebe Hair Salon Protein Treatment

COSRX Acne Pimple Master Patch

ElsihaCoy Aloe & Lavender Mask Sheet

Berrisom My Lip Tint Pack and Lip Tint Cleanser

OST C20 Pure Vitamin C21.5 Advanced Serum

Confume Argan Treatment Oil

Pongdang Donkey Milk Emulsion

Klairs Rescue Moisture Kit Part 1 and 2

Berrisom My Lip Tint Pack

CareLab Powerful Pudding Mask

Klairs Gentle Black Deep Oil Cleanser and Sugar Facial Polish

Rojukiss Multi Vita Cleansing Powder

Klairs Rich Moist Soothing Sheet Mask

Damoae Therapy Shampoo and Tonic

Skinmiso Rice Foam Cleanser

Klairs Illuminating Supple BB Cream

O.S.T. Pure Vitamin C20 Serum

Wish Formula Panda Eye Essence Mask

ONL Saladit Essential Juice Sheet Masks

Do you have any favourite item from Wishtrend? What would you love to try from their products?

asian cosmetics beauty review

Review: Tonymoly Perfect Lips Shocking Lip Red

2. February 2016

// AFFILIATE LINKS / KBEAUTY / LIPS //

This lip tint by Tonymoly has become my favorite long-lasting lip tint and tattoo and I wanted to share this review with you for a long time already. It’s the Tonymoly Perfect Lips Shocking Lip and as you could have guessed already if you’ve been following me for some time it is a lip tint in my favorite color red. A while ago I reviewed another of Tonymoly’s lip tint as my favorite product, the Tonymoly Shaking Tint Delight. Seems Tonymoly slowly becomes my favorite lip tint brand :D

The Korean brand Tonymoly is best comparable to Etude House regarding its popularity. Unlike, Etude House though, the packaging is not princessy-cute, but offers cute designs, too. Especially fruit-shaped products (apples, bananas, mango, peach…) and other creative packaging shapes make this brand interesting for western consumers and therefore very popular.Lip tints have been super popular in Korea for years and there has always been a huge amount of different lip tints by various brands. Mostly, you came across either water-based lip tints or milky-type lip tints. In contrast to lip gloss or lipstick the lip tints look much more natural and are not sticky. They are also perfect for creating the gradient lips which is also popular among Koreans. The new trend have been oil based lip tints, which are less drying than the water-based lip tint. Another new trend are tattoo lip tints. A very popular example for tattoo lip tints are the Berrisom My Lip Tint Pack, which I really like and I reviewed them before >>here<< and >>here<<. The Berrisom My Lip Tint Mask needs a bit patient though, because you apply them, leave them to dry and have to peel it off. The Tonymoly Perfect Lips Shocking Lip works a bit different though:

The Tonymoly Perfect Lips Shocking Lip is available in 4 different colors: Pink (01), Red (02), Ruby (03), and Orange (04). It comes in a regular tint tube with a diagonal applicator for applying the product. There are two ways to use this product: you can either use it as overnight mask on your lips, or you apply it directly anytime you want. The tint is made from food coloring which is safe for the skin to use, this means that the stain will really be long-lasting, and if you use your fingers you will have the stain on your fingers all day! This means, that you should be careful to apply the tint very accurate, because it makes life easier for you aswell ;)

The product contains a lot of nourishing ingredients like rose hip oil, vitamin E, safflower seed oil, argan oil, jojoba seed oil and shea butter, which makes it great as overnight lip mask. But I was worried about staining my sheets, so I only used this lip tint during day time. I find the oil based lip tints feel more moisturizing, but still I didn’t find my lips feeling dried out. If you apply the tint fully on your lips it first looks very pigmented and has a gloss to it. The gloss will dry off and you will be left with red stained lips. For a softer look you can apply the tint on the inner parts of your lips only and use a cotton swab to blend it out. The lasting power is amazing. I’m using it in the morning and despite eating and drinking my lips are still stained in the evening. The color is not as vibrant as in the morning for sure, but there is still enough color on the lips.

You can simply touch it up in the evenings for a second time and it will be perfect for any evening occasion. Below you see how long-lasting and pigmented the swatch on my hand is even after washing my hands. Taking a shower removes the vibrant color, but still the stain is visible.

Do I have to tell you how much I love this tint? I can definitively recommend you to try one of these if you are looking for a long-lasting stain on your lips! I bought mine at W2Beauty for 13.55 US$ and it is totally worth every cent. For those living in the US you might want to check out the prices here on amazon.com, too. Did you try any of these Tints from Tonymoly?

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asian cosmetics beauty IASO PR Sample review

Review: IASO Total Eye Care Concentrate EX

29. January 2016

I have another new Korean brand for you today: It’s the prestige brand IASO! I was able to try one of their products, the IASO Total Eye Care Concentrate EX, and I’ve reviewed it for you as usual. This eye concentrate is the updated version of the IASO Total Eye Care Concentrate and it has got a changed ingredients list, which you won’t find on the official page yet.

First thing I noticed with IASO is the sleek and luxurious design of their products. The packaging is simple, with no frills. The IASO Total Eye Care Concentrate EX is part of the anti-wrinkle skin care line and all the products from this line seem to have a golden signature color. Somehow, golden packaging represents already luxury and seems more mature, too. Perfect for the target age of this line. The brand name “IASO” is derived from the name of the eldest daughter of the Greek god of medicine. The brand is founded on the professional knowledge of dermatologists, using plant ingredients for clear, healthy and radiant skin. They did not and do not perform animal testing on their products.

The IASO Total Eye Care Concentrate EX comes in a useful and sleek tube with a pump. It contains 30 g of product. The cardboard box contains description and ingredients in English. According to the description you should use your ring finger for applying the serum and pat it into the skin gently. That’s in general the way to go best with eye cream, since the skin around our eyes is especially thin. The eye care concentrate is made for all skin types and for use at day or night.

You can look up the ingredients on COSDNA. If you compare them to the ingredients of the old version you will see that it is changed in many aspects: it got rid of a bunch of irritants, but also of ginseng and ginkgo plant extracts. Instead it contains Niacinamide. The list of the new formulation still contains a bunch of preservatives in form of parabens and also three red-flagged ingredients which are BHT, Sodium Metabisulfite (both preservatives), Benzophenone-3 (sunscreen). It would have been nice if they had removed these ingredients aswell, while they were changing the formula.

The amount of one pump is more than enough for both eyes. The IASO Total Eye Care Concentrate EX has the formulation of a milky gel. It has a fresh and subtle scent. When you spread the gel over the skin it feels very moist and almost watery. It is not feeling heavy or greasy and absorbs relatively fast, leaving the skin slightly tacky. This makes it difficult to be used during day time, if you want to use a concealer for your eyes and dark circles. But the tackyness also mediates a firming effect on the other side. As far as moisture this concentrate gives a good amount of it and I’ve gladly incorporated this eye concentrate into my night-time routine.

The IASO Total Eye Care Concentrate EX is great in its moisture performance. The design and application of the product are easy and it targets customers which like high-end brands. With 69 US$ as price-tag I would say this is the biggest bummer for this product, especially considering that the improved formulation still has some ingredients, which should not be necessarily added. I would love to see them remove the doubtful ingredients, this would make the heavy retail price at least more justifiable. The product as such is a good one, but I can not and will not encourage you to buy it, since there are more affordable and similar effective products on the market. Nevertheless, IASO has some other interesting products, which might be of more interest. My sister did a review of their Dr. IASO AC Booster on her blog Lovely Attitude. you might want to check out her review aswell.

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://go-iaso.com/ which doesn’t influence me in providing my honest opinion on the products.

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Review: Lamy Cosmetics Real 97% Rice Paper Eating Mask Pack

22. January 2016

When it comes to DIY sheet masks rice paper has been often discussed as possibility. Now, Lamy Cosmetics has come up with pre-cut and essence included rice paper masks: The Lamy Cosmetics Real 97% Rice Paper Eating Mask Pack!

Lamy Cosmetics is a Korean cosmetics company with 6 different brand. The brands are Renoma, Geo, Sortie, Lafine, Catalina Geo, and Mennen. I reviewed products from Lafine and Catalina Geo previously, so the company name was known to me, but I know that many of you will not have heard of these brands before. The Lamy Cosmetics Real 97% Rice Paper Eating Mask Pack comes in three versions: tumeric, green tea and black rice– Since the mask sheet is made of real rice paper (yes, the one you may know from your kitchen) the name “Rice Paper Eating Mask” makes somehow sense. Also the three key ingredients are widely known as ingredients from our more or less daily food.

Why using rice as main ingredient of this natural mask pack? The sheet masks claims to have a wearing sensation which is completely different compared to the others sheet masks made of synthetized material. This way the mask is suitable for sensitive skin types and can be used safely without any irritation.

Moreover, the ingredients of the sheet mask essence uses patented herbal ingredients. It contains diverse herbal ingredients such as rh-EGF capsulized with lecithin, plant stem cells, Chinese redbud, and fermented red ginseng to nourish, reduce irritation and skin’s stress as well as keeping its health. The ingredients and description for the sheet mask are written in English and Korean on the backside of the mask sachets.

The essence of all three masks has the same ingredients. The only difference between the three masks are the rice paper sheets. The Lamy Real Eating Mask Tumeric has a sheet made of Rice, Tumeric, Water, and Salt. The Lamy Real Eating Mask Green Tea has a sheet made of Rice, Green Tea, Water, and Salt. Lastly, the Lamy Real Eating Mask Black Rice has a sheet made of Rice, Black Rice, Water, and Salt.

The Lamy Cosmetics Real 97% Rice Paper Eating Mask Pack have to be used as following: First, clean your skin with a toner after washing your face. Then, spread the essence included in the package on your rice paper mask sheet. Let the essence be absorbed by the rice paper for around 2 minutes. Afterwards, you can put on the mask from the center of your face stroking it to the outsides. Remove the product after 15-20 minutes and then finish your routine with your base products. Since the rice paper will turn from its hard, paper-like consistency into a jelly sheet you should not pull the mask while applying, because it is easily torn.

The essence for all the mask contains a bunch of plant extracts-some known from traditional chinese medicine, like ginseng, and Rehmannia glutinosa. The list also contains Bifida Ferment Lysate and Lactobacillus Ferment Filtrate. Ferment filtrate is nutrients-rich. It contains many vitamins, amino acids and proteins and helps to improve the moisture level of the skin. Lactic acid, an alpha hydroxy acid (AHA) extracted from milk, and honey and sugars (Trehalose and Raffinose) for nourishing and moisturizing are also worth to be mentioned here.

Below, you can see how the structure of the rice paper changes, after applying the essence on the rice paper. The essence has a light scent, but it is not heavy in my opinion. It is a clear liquid, with a consistency between gel and water. It distributes easily in the plastic container of the rice paper mask.

Once the sheets are soaked you will see that the consistency of the rice sheet masks resembles hydrogel masks. It is jelly and thin. The tricky part comes here: the difference between rice paper and hydrogel masks is, that the rice paper mask is much more prone to be torn apart. Honestly, I didn’t manage to use any of the masks without tearing at least a tiny bit of it. The second problem is, that it does not adhere to the skin as tightly as hydrogel masks…even not like regular cotton sheet masks (or whatever fabric used for the sheet masks). I could not wear the masks for longer than 10 minutes because it started to fall off at the one or the other side. Nevertheless, I must say that the essence is great. When absorbed completely the skin feels soft and smooth and no sign of irritation or anything.

Now, I really do like the performance of the essence of this mask, but is it worth buying a sheet mask made from rice paper? Honestly, I would not buy the mask myself. I would rather to buy an essence with similar ingredients (or one that I really like) and a pack of rice papers or compressed paper masks (or even cotton sheets or pads). It will have the same effect, or even better, and you can mix in your favorite serum etc together with the essence and soak your preferred material. Surely, the Lamy Cosmetics Real 97% Rice Paper Eating Mask Pack is a great product for you if you are too lazy to cut your rice paper or whatever into pieces, but even that is not the biggest deal, is it? If you want to give it a try anyways you can find these masks at Lamy Cosmetics, or on ebay or Amazon.com. It retails for 6000 Won (or around 8 US$ from ebay/Amazon). Did you try rice paper masks already?

This product was provided to me by BNTnews for reviewing. Don’t forget to visit the other BNTGirls Kim, Bella, Mary, Celine,Alene,Joanne,Chermaine,Mitha, and Blair and check out their reviews for the January BNT Beauty Box. And visit BNTnews for the latest Korean news and trends:

Official Page |Tumblr | YouTube | Facebook | Twitter

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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beauty Born Pretty Store NOTD PR Sample review

Stamping Nail Art from Born Pretty Store

19. January 2016

I’m totally a noob when it comes to more elaborate nail art. Nail stickers are easy to apply and I already reviewed a bunch of them, but I’ve always been eyeing the Stamping Nail Art! Finally, after a long time of thinking I selected a Stamping Nail Art Stamper and Scraper and two different Image Stamping Plates from Born Pretty Store.

Born Pretty Store is an asian based online store selling very affordable products, reaching from accessories to make-up and beauty products. They have a super huge amount of all kinds of nail art products and tools. They also have a super large amount of stamping plates and tools needed for stamping nail art.

I was super surprised to see how cute the packaging of the Image Stamping Plates is and that each of the plates comes in its own paper sachet. The two designs I selected are the Rose Queen Image Plate and the Banana Tree Image Plate. Both round shaped plates contain different patterns which you can either combine or you can use only one of the images.

The stamper and the scraper I chose were forming a 2 piece kit and are quite simple. They are made of black plastic and the stamping part of the stamper is made of rubber and it can be replaced. The scraper is also made from black plastic with a metal blade part for scraping the excess nail polish from the image plates.

The theory of Nail Stamping Art is easy: First you coat your nails with the desired background color. Then you select a second nail polish color which is opaque and visible on the background color and you apply the nail polish on the image of the chosen plate you would like to stamp. Then, by using the scraper in 45° angle you scrape away the excess nail polish from the image. The stamper has to be pressed on the image plate now quickly, so that the motif is transferred to the rubber. Usually, you roll the rubber part over the image to pick it up. Then you roll the stamper over your nail and transfer the image on your nail. Afterwards, you can use a topcoat to fix everything. Sounds easy, doesn’t it?!

But it gave me a hard time nevertheless!!! First of all: not all nail polishes work. Opaque nail polishes which are not too fluid worked best for me. Second: I couldn’t achieve a single pretty stamping image when I rolled the stamp on my nails. I tried so many times and I almost gave up, when I finally tried to not roll it on my nail but instead to press my nail inside the rubber part of the stamper! Voilá, it worked finally!!!

I was so happy after I found out what way worked for my stamper and my nails that I’m now so super fond of my stamping nail art kit. I even used it two times this week, which is amazing considering the fact of me being lazy to do any nail art at all!

How do you like my nails? If you are a noob with nail art like me, but you still would like to give Stamping Nail Art a try I can recommend you the tools from Born Pretty Store. They are super affordable and even if it doesn’t work it is not much of a pain. Yes, it will take some practice units at first, but if it works it looks really, really pretty…and so versatile depending to the images on the plates you choose. I got so many compliments for my nails in the last days, that makes me really happy! The stamper and the scraper retail for 3.84 US$. Each of the image pattern plates retail for 2.09 US$ at Born Pretty Store. You can also use the promotional code KBX31 for 10 % discount on your order. They do offer free international shipping by the way!

Did you try Stamping Nail Art already? What are your experiences?

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: Vely Vely Lipstick No.19 by Imvely

16. January 2016

The Vely Vely Lipstick No. 19 by Imvely is the newest addition to my red lipstick collection and meanwhile I’m starting to wonder whether I will be ever able to use up all my red colored lipsticks during my life or not. This Korean lipstick is absolutely new to me and I’m sure that hardly anyone knows about this product. It was sent to me by BNTnews, and as you probably know they tend to send out products which are either hardly available outside of Korea, or very popular and newly released products.

Vely Vely is the cosmetics brand of the Korean fashion brand and online store Imvely. The store seems to be quite modern and have a newly launched make-up collection including some eyeshadows, lipsticks and eyeliners. The Vely Vely Lipsticks are newest launch it seems and they are available in 8 colors. The Vely Vely No. 19 Red Rouge is a satin lipstick according to the description, whereas the other shades are called ‘matte’.

The packaging is simple and yet elegant with a light pink cardboard box with golden lettering. A poem is written on one of the sides. The ingredients of this lipstick contains a three oil complex and shea butter for moisturizing and elasticity improvement, Honey extract for nourishing and recovering and a 6 Flower Complex for soothing and revitalizing. I couldn’t find the full ingredients list though.

The lipstick container has a matte black color. The bullet is made of 3.4 g classy red lipstick. It swatches very softly with one stroke, but the pigmentation can be intensified when using a thicker layer.

The lipstick is neither super creamy nor does it glide softly, but it is more of the harder type of bullet. It can be nicely used when using a lip brush and can create nice and sharp lines. The staying power is regular for lipstick and it fades after drinking and eating and it isn’t transfer-proof either.

The color is really pretty and totally to my liking. You can create both elegant and natural look, depending on how thickly you will use the lipstick. A thin layer creates a natural look and is suitable for a gradation on the lips. Coloring the lips fully leads to a strong tomato red and looks super classy. It is not my dream lipstick considering the staying power, but is does what you usually expect from a good red lipstick. The retail price should be around 19800 Won – a quite regular price. On the Imvely online store it is available for 27.72 US$ which I would consider too expansive. Would you like to try products from this brand? What is your opinion?

This product was provided to me by BNTnews for reviewing. Don’t forget to visit the other BNTGirls Kim, Bella, Mary, Celine, Alene,Joanne,Chermaine,Mitha, and Blair and check out their reviews for the January BNT Beauty Box. And visit BNTnews for the latest Korean news and trends:

Official Page |Tumblr | YouTube | Facebook | Twitter

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 PR Sample q-depot review

Review: W.Lab W-Honey Beam Cushion

15. January 2016

The cushion craze continues, but this time we have a completely new brand I want to introduce today: The W-Lab W-Honey Beam Cushion! And as the name suggests, this cushion BB contains Honey extract, which is perfect for dry skin and for cold seasons! This cushion was offered to me by Korean cosmetics online shop Qdepot for reviewing purpose.

This is the first time I’m trying a product from the Korean brand W.Lab! Their brand philosophy is to offer high quality ingredients for a reasonable price with their products, by minimizing unnecessary packaging expenses for example. Their products try to replace unnecessary chemical ingredients with natural ingredients aswell. The W-Lab W-Honey Beam Cushion is a popular make-up product in Korea, probably because of the high popularity of honey-containing products in the recent years. It is a multi-functional cosmetics products combining UV-protection, Whitening- and Anti-Wrinkle-properties. Moreover, the cushion will make your complexion look dewy and moisturized, and is supposed to give you the popular “honey-skin”, which you might have heard of if you are into Korean celebrities and K-pop culture.

The W.Lab W-Honey Beam Cushion comes in a familiar cushion foundation compact. It has a cute illustration on the lid, a girl wearing a bee-cap. She looks quite annoyed…or focused…anyhow, I like the design of the cushion compact. The compact also has a golden rim, which makes it look more elegant. The cardboard box shows us Korean description only. But with help of google translate I managed to get the ingredients at least most of them. You can find them in COSDNA. Key ingredients of the W.Lab W-Honey Beam Cushion is honey extract, which makes 39.4% of the product. It also contains Manuka honey, but only 0.1%. You will find Titanium Dioxide, Zinc Oxide and Ethylhexyl methoxycinnamate as UV-protecting ingredients in the ingredients list, too. The cushion BB has SPF50+/ PA++. Niacinamide and Panthenol are some of the known moisturizing ingredients. Then, there is a bunch of fruit and plant extracts like lavender oil, lemon peel oil, basil oil, rosemary oil, and so on.

The cushion contains 15 g of products, which, if you have used cushions before, can be used up quickly. One way to make the product last longer is to flip over the internal cushion from time to time as soon as you feel that it empties. I do not know if there are any refills available for this cushion, but I didn’t spot any on Qdepot yet, although you can take out the part of the container with the cushion. It doesn’t fit into Missha or Innisfree Cushions though. The cushion compact comes as usual with a mirror in the lid and a puff applicator sponge.

The puff differs from the blue ruby-cell puffs you know from Amore Pacific for example. It is not blue colored, but salmon. But apart from the color the sponge itself feels somehow sticky, as if it adheres to the skin. I do not like that feeling too much, and I prefer the regular rubycell puffs.

The BB cream is available in two shades: 21 and 23. I would have loved to try No. 23, which suits my skin tone usually better, but I received No. 21, which is a bit to light for me sadly. The cushion is super nicely filled with the BB cream and upon touching it you will get a sufficient amount of the moist BB cream out of the cushion. The BB cream has a light lavender scent, when you are sniffing it directly from the container, but the scent is not noticeable when wearing the BB cream.

Below you can see how the BB skin looks when I apply it on my skin. It has a medium to high coverage and is absolutely enough to cover light birthmarks or rednesses. If you have very troubled skin you will probably need a concealer nevertheless. The finish is a satin and dewy one. It is not completelly dewy, but looks partially powdery. Unfortunately, these kinds of BB creams tend to settle into the lines or around the nose. Nevertheless, the skin does not feel dry while wearing it, but slightly tacky. Flying hair tend to cling to the skin when the BB cream is freshly applied.

The W.Lab W-Honey Beam Cushion would be a good candidate for a favourite cushion, if it would not be so tacky and if it wouldn’t settle around my nose. Apart from the not perfect shade it makes the skin feel moisturized and has a good coverage. I like the design of the cushion compact, too. Also, the ingredients are nice and I like the faint lavender scent. The W.Lab W-Honey Beam Cushion retails for 29.55 US$ at Q-depot. Q-depot is an online retailer for Korean cosmetics. They have already quite a variety of the most popular Korean brands and they keep adding products frequently. 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. Also, they are committed to contributing 3% of their group’s net profit for social causes in different countries. So you can shop for your favorite Korean products and do something good, too. Also, 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$.

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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asian stationary Dokidoki Crate home PR sample

Unboxing: Dokidoki Crate December 2015

13. January 2016

As promised, here is the unboxing for the Dokidoki Crate for December 2015! Unlike the Japan Crate I reviewed previously this box is filled with cute items from Japan, reaching from stationary, to plushies, keychains, and so on!

Dokidoki Crate is a monthly subscription box for cute things from Japan by Japan Crate. Inside you’ll find 8-10 items ranging from adorable plushies & squishies to collectible keychains, figures, apparel, miniatures and more. Depending on your subscription plan the Dokidoki Crate retails for 30 US$ or less if you choose the 3 month, 6 month or 12 month plan. Crates ship the first week of each month with free priority shipping within the US. For international orders the shipping costs depend on the weight of the box.

Similar to Japan Crate the Dokidoki Crate comes with a detailed information about the products and with some cultural background in a custom booklet. The booklet also contains the instructions for the DIY candies and a custom in-house manga. The Dokidoki Crate for December was really filled up to the last bit with super adorable items and I was really happy about the content, too.

The Dokidoki Crate for December contained 9 items: Henshin Awa Jelly DIY Kit, Chibi Totoro, Panda Sleep MAsk, Nya-Kuma, Alpacasso Coin Purse, Charizard Pikachu, Hello Kitty Blind Box, Totoro Zipper Pouch, and Totoro Desk Calender. I was so excited to see that three of the products are Totoro-themed items! ♥

Let’s start of with the two plushies of the December Dokidoki Crate: The Chibi Totoro and the Nya-Kuma Plushie. The Chibi Totoro is really “chibi” and fits into one hand. It is super adorable! The larger Nya-Kuma Plushie is of good quality and it is fun to see the bear wearing a cat-costume :D It even has a bell around its neck.

Another plushy item, but with a purpose, is the Alpacasso Coin Purse. It has a zipper and you can either store your coins or anything smaller you’d like to store inside. A Pokemon Keychain was included aswell. It shows as Pikachu dressed up as Charizard!

The Hello Kitty Mystery Box in my Dokidoki Crate contained a Hello Kitty figure dressed up as Audrey Hepburn, I suppose. 1 out of 5 possible Hello Kitty Figures were included in the Dokidoki Crate for December in order to celebrate the 40th birthday of Hello Kitty. Another fun item which was part of the December Crate is the Plush Panda Sleep Mask. I can imagine that it is super cozy sleeping with this mask! Also, the box contained a Henshin Awa Jelly DIY Kit.

My favorite items from the Dokidoki Crate for December are the Totoro Desk Calendar and the Zipper Pouch! I love Totoro and the calendar contains some super pretty illustrations from the film! Both of these products are already in use. There is also a monthly giveaway for the subscribers where you can win a so-called Suteki Crate, which contains some larger plushies, stationary and gadgets, similar to the Sugoi Crate for Japan Crate subscribers.

I really love the Dokidoki Crate! The boxes have a good value for the price and the items are from different animes and areas. There were Plushies included, but also more useable stuff like pouches or calendars. If you are a lover for anime and Japan related toys and stationary you will definitely enjoy the Dokidoki Crate. Again, the only downside is the shipping costs for non-US residents, but other than this I can totally recommend this subscription box if you want a versatile experience for Japanese Kawaii Goodies. What is your impression of the Dokidoki Crate Subscription Boxes? Would you like to try these yourself?

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 https://japancrate.com, which doesn’t influence me in providing my honest opinion on the products.

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asian sweets food Japan Crate PR Sample

Unboxing: Japan Crate December 2015

12. January 2016

I promised some more upcoming unboxings! I received this literally heavy japanese candy and snack subscription box mid of December, but due to all the holidays and food I almost didn’t have any time to try the products :D I still didn’t try all of the products which were included in the Japan Crate for December 2015, but still, I wanted to share with you this great subscription box. This post will be picture-heavy, so be warned :D

Japan Crate is a japanese snacks and candy subscription box founded in September 2014. Unlike other subscription boxes Japan Crate tries to design kind of an experience with their boxes. Each box comes with detailed information about the products and with some cultural background in a custom booklet. The booklet also contains the instructions for the DIY candies and a custom in-house manga.

How does a Japan Crate subscription work? You can choose between different type of crates which vary in their price and amount of content. There is a Mini Japan Crate, which contains 4-6 items and has a weight of half a pound. It costs 12 US$ per month. The Original Japan Crate contains 8-10 items, including 1 guaranteed DIY Kit. It has a weight of 1 pound and retails for 25 US$ per month. Last, the is the Premium Japan Crate which contains 12-14 products. You have 1 guaranteed DIY Kit and also it included drinks and not only snacks and candy. Moreover, the Premium Crate contains a surprise item, which can be either a gashapon figure/keychain or special premium DIY Kit or a bag of japanese chips…The Premium Japan Crate retails for 30 US$.

When I received my Premium Japan Crate the first thing I noticed was how heavy it is! This brings me to another point, the shipping costs: If you live in US you are lucky! Shipping is free for all domestic orders! For international orders, it is $10 – $15 depending on the size of the crate. That means, the bigger the crate you choose, the more expensive will the shipping costs be. Nevertheless, despite the shipping costs for international customers it is really nice to see that the amount of products reflects the price you pay for the box.

As I said above, each Japan Crate comes with a custom booklet. You will find an overview for all the products in your crate within this booklet. It is nice to see, that they divided the overview and you can see also what is inside the different sizes of the Japan Crate. Since the subscription plans are either monthly, 3, 6 or 12 months you can decide whether to change to a larger or smaller sized Japan Crate after your subscription plan has ended.

I will start with the items which are part of the Mini Japan Crate for December: Umaibo Sticks in three different flavours, Bad Kid Beer Powder, Awa Mocco Mocco Powder, and Fujiya Lollipop Bag.

The Fujiya Lollipop Bag is a surprisingly large bag of fruity lollipops in different flavours. The flavours included in this bag are: orange, grape, apple, and strawberry. I like lollipops as occasional candy, and this bag would be great for someone with kids. From sweet to savory: The Umaibo Sticks were included in three different flavours, Tonkatsu (pork cutlet), Veggie Salad, and Cheese. The sticks have the consistency of prawn crackers and tastewise something that I would have get used to. I couldn’t eat all of these sticks :D

The Mini Japan Crate also contains two powder drinks, the Bad Kid Beer and the Awa Moco Moco. The Bad Kid Beer is not actual beer, but a powder which creates a creamy grape soda when mixed with water. It will leave a tingling sensation while drinking it. In a similar way the Awa Moco Moco Powder transforms water into a flavoured, fizzy drink. There were three possible flavours for it: Strawberry, Melon, and Banana. My Crate contained the Melon flavoured powder.

The Original Japan Crate included on top of the above products the following products: Cute Totorin Parfait DIY, Pocky Demitasse, BlackBean & Soy Sauce Scones, and Naga-I Sawagumi Ornage.

The Cute Tororin Parfait DIY is the cutest DIY candy I have seen so far! With help of this kit you can create a thick and rich strawberry parfait. The Kit comes with pink candy topping and icing and the cute cup to serve the parfait. The booklet contains the translated ingredients. I didn’t try this Kit yet, because of lack of time, but I will surely post some pictures on instagram if it works :D I was also more than happy about the Pocky Sticks. I love Pocky sticks! Pocky Demitasse is a new Pocky made from high quality seasonal ingredients. These Pockysticks are shorter than the regular ones and coated in dark chocolate. A nice taste and not overly sweet because of the dark chocolate! I already ate all of these! :)

The Black Bean & Soy Sauce Scones were also to my liking! These savory scones make a nice salty snack. They have a crunchy and yet soft texture. The Naga-I Sawagumi Orange whinegum was also a good tasting candy. A lightly sour candy tape with orange taste. One of the products I ate all by myself :D

For the Premium Japan Crate four more items in addition to the ones of the Mini and the Original Crate were included: Hia Shuwa Cola, Celio Lifeguard Drink, Pachishuwa Dynamite Melon Soda, and the bonus item, a Legend of Zelda Figure!

I was surprised to see another large bag full of candy, and these are even in my favorite favorite flavor for candies: cola! I’m a sucker for candy with cola flavors :D and this bag of Hia Shuwa Cola Candies contains three different levels of cola flavoured candy: fizzy, soothing and gummy! One tropical flavored candy is also included in each bag! And there are so many of these candies you can easily share them with others!

The Premium Japan Crate also contains drinks. The drinks of the December Crate are the Celio Lifeguard Drink and the Pachishuwa Dynamite Melon Soda. The Lifeguard drink contains 7+ vitamins and amino acids and contains also honey and royal jelly. I tried this with my boyfriend, but neither of us liked it. It has a very sweet and artificial taste and the color is neon green! It reminded me of energy drinks widely available, and I hate energy drinks! :’D This is not my cup of tea…or drink! That brings me to the second drink, the Pachishuwa Dynamite Melon Drink! I’m not a friend of melon taste and to be honest, this drink makes me also afraid because of the name XD. This classic melon soda can either be frozen or you can drink it straight from the bottle. I think I’m not ready for either versions yet. Maybe I’ll freeze it :D

Last item of the Japan Crate Premium Box for December is the Legend of Zelda Figure included! I was super excited for this one and I of course hoped for Link or Zelda as figure, but my box contained Furuta. He’s cute nevertheless and I really enjoyed the fact that the boxes contained a Zelda figure. One of the 11 possible figures were included in the Japan Crates for December, which go along with the Zelda themed Sugoi crate of December! Oh right!, I forgot to tell you about the Sugoi Crate: Each month one lucky subscriber of the Japan Crate Boxes is selected randomly and wins a box packed with giant candies, japanese gadgets, toys and gaming systems! The Sugoi rate for December for example, contained The Legend of Zelda Link Shield Bag, a wearable Majora’s Mask, Nintendo 3DS XL Majora’s Mask Edition, and so on! It is really a nice idea to have such giveaways for your subscribers!

All in all, I’m really positively surprised by Japan Crate! The boxes have a good value for the price and the products are really versatile. It is a good mixture between savory and sweet snacks and also different kind of products. The only downside is the shipping costs for non-US residents, but other than this I can totally recommend this subscription box if you want a versatile experience for Japanese Candies and Snacks. Japan Crate also launched a new subscription Box, the Dokidoki Crate, which contains a monthly supply of cute items, like toys and plushies and stationary. I will review their first Dokidoki Crate within the next days, too! What is your impression of the Japan Crate Subscription Boxes? Would you like to try these yourself?

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 https://japancrate.com, which doesn’t influence me in providing my honest opinion on the products.

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asian cosmetics beauty review

Review: Innisfree Mineral Single Cream Shadow

9. January 2016

// AFFILIATE LINKS / KBEAUTY / EYES //

When I bought the A’Pieu Creamy Butter Shadows I was very indetermined whether to buy the creamy eyeshadows from A’Pieu or from Innisfree. I decided for A’Pieu back then, but after all I still could not let it be like this and grabbed a shade of the Innisfree Mineral Single Cream Shadow. I only grabbed one color, but you will find a comparison between the cream eyeshadow from Innisfree to the ones from A’Pieu at the end of the review. If you are as indecisive as me this review might help you a bit- at least I hope it will :D

I have quite a lot of products from Innisfree, but I discovered that my last review for this brand was almost one year ago :’D Innisfree is an eco-friendly Korean skin care 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. Innisfree products are usually free from harmful ingredients.

The Innisfree Mineral single Cream Shadow are available in 5 different colors. I decided for shade #04, a rusty-brown shade which fits nicely to autumn season, or in general for people who love brownish eyeshadow colors. You can find the description and full ingredients for these cream shadows on the official Innisfree page. The ingredients can also be found on COSDNA. Each pot of eyeshadow contains 6.3g of product.

As you can see from the swatch the color is beautiful and pigmented, and it is quite sparkly, containing a lot of shimmer particles. And here is already the main difference towards the A’Pieu Creamy Butter Shadows: The A’Pieu Eyeshadows are much creamier and softer, whereas the Innisfree Cream Shadow has a harder texture, probably also due of the glitter particles. The A’Pieu shadows don’t have as many shimmery particles.

Below you see a comparison of all the three cream eyeshadows and you will see that the main difference from the swatches is the shimmer. The eyeshadows from A’Pieu almost appear to be matte, although they have a nice sheen aswell. There is not much difference between the amount of products in the jars. The A’Pieu Eyeshadow contains 6g of product. But the small jars come in an additional cardboard box and compared to the Innisfree eyeshadow the packaging is much more vintage-like and beautiful, although simple aswell.

It is really hard to say whether you should buy the Innisfree Cream Shadow or the ones from A’Pieu. I personally prefer the smooth, buttery consistency and the packaging design of the A’Pieu Cream Shadows, but the Innisfree Cream Shadow is a bit more affordable and is perfect if you want to create a festive look with a lot of shimmer particles. Both products are good ones after all, and if you like cream eyeshadows it really depends on your preferences and favourite colors. The three shades I selected fit perfectly together and I’m very happy with my decisions.

Where to get the eyeshadows? There are several options:

Innisfree Mineral Single Cream Shadow: Innisfree Offial Store for 9US$

A’Pieu Creamy Butter Shadows: Q-Depot for 7.55US$

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