Beautystar Archive | Berries in the Snow

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Review: Tansan Kakumei Carbonate Revolution

4. October 2014

In Korea and Japan recently a trend developed to wash your face with carbonated water. I first saw this trend in Korean Beauty Show “Get it Beauty” and when I received the Tansan Kakumei Carbonated Revolution from Beautystar I was very happy to be able to try this trend. By using carbonated water for cleansing your skin will get a massage and be cleaned more thoroughly, taking advantage of all the pearling bubbles in the water. I will tell you right away that I have a little crush on this product ♥

Tansan Kakumei is a Japanese product and it is one of the best selling items. After its release 50 million packages were sold within half a year. This product is part of the Synapse Media Lab. All you need to have is a basin or a bowl with water in order to use the product. The product consists of two bags with two powders, which combined make up your carbonated water. The front of the bags show a face covered in bubbles, persumeably the carbonate bubbles. Since it is a Japanese product, the instruction on the backside of the package are in Japanese. There are pictures explaining the instructions. You’ll find a English translation to the product description on Beautystar.

The bags for the two powders are separately packed and marked with “A” and “B”. The color of the bags is different, on e is a bold pink, the other a light rose pink.

Below you’ll see how to use the two bags of powder to create the carbonated water. First you dissolve powder A into the water. The color of the water remains clear. You won’t see any bubbles at this step. Powder A contains citric acid, malic acid, and glycolic acid. As soon as you add powder B the water will start to sparkle. Powder B contains more ingredients than A, which are:

hydrogencarbonate Na, sodium carbonate Na, sea salt, Sodium lauroyl glutamate Na, magnesium ascorbyl phosphate Mg, Argania spinosa Kernel oil, Aloe barbadensis leaf extract-1・(BG)・(H2O), Hyaluronic acid Na・(H2O), hawthorn berries extract, zizyphus jujube fruit extract, citrus paradise grandis (grapefruit) fruit extract, pyrus malus (apple) fruit extract, citrus aurantium dulcis (orange) juice, lemon juice, citrus aurantifolia (lime) juice, BG・H2O

First it foams up, then the foam on the water surface dissapears and you are left with bubbling and fizzy carbonated water. Putting your hand or face into this carbonated water makes the bubbles burst and results in a tingling feeling on your skin. The ingredients are what differentiates this carbonated water from normal carbated water from the bottle. It contains plant extracts and hyalorinic acid, which have beneficial properties for the skin. The sparking and bursting of the bubbles will result in a massage of the skin and promote the blood circulation while the ingredients will provide care to your skin.

Now, the funny part when using this: you have to soak your face into this sparkling solution, and while you are doing this you have to keep your eyes and mouth closed. Moreover, I would advise you to hold your nose, because the bubbles will popp into your nose otherwise :D You best use cold water, but if you are not used to use cold water start of with lukewarm water – this reduces the tingling. In any case I would previouly clean the face and remove make up residues. The first time I used, the tingling feeling was so shocking that I had to put out my face quickly and start all over again. Now, after I was prepared for the sensation I could try it again. If you use the whole package, the carbonated water is quite strong and the bubbles will burst heavily on your skin. The tingling effect may be considered as unpleasant first, but after a while you get used to it and occasionally start to enjoy it. Afterwards, my face appeared red, because of all the bursting bubbles on my skin and I really could tell that the blood circulation of my skin was stimulated. My face felt refreshed and clear. The redness dissapeared quickly, too. I also tried using only half of the packaging of powder A and B and you still have a lot of bubbles, but the effect was less intense and my face didn’t become red this time. The reddening of the face is also described on the product description, so it is normal and you don’t have to worry about it as long as it dissapears after some minutes. After a while the powder will sink to the bottom of the bowl or basin, but if you stirr the powder, the water will start to bubble up again.

I never thought that this carbonated water would be so addictive…at first I was annoyed that you have to use a bowl or something similar because it means more work. But after feeling and seeing the effect on the skin it made me kind of addicted, although the bubbles tingle on the skin and feel discomforable first. I really love this and I can recommed you to try this. ♥ You can get this from Beautystar for 3.69 US$ each. If you buy 10, you’ll receive one for free. If you buy 30 you’ll receive 5 for free.

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.beautystar.me/ which doesn’t influence me in providing my honest opinion on the products.

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asian cosmetics beauty beautystar PR Sample review

Review: Tunemakers VC3 Vitamin C Derivate

20. September 2014

A while ago I reviewed the Tunemakers Original Moisture Lotion (a Japanese toner) I’m using currently, and – as I mentioned back then- I use it together with a serum called Tunemakers VC3 Vitamin C Derivate Serum. Both items have been provided by Beautystar, a new online shop for some Japanese beauty products which are harder to get for people living outside of Japan. If you want to have soft skin and don’t use products with a long ingredients list but with natural ingredients mainly these two products are a perfect combination which I can recommend to you anytime. Keep on reading if you want to read more about it :)

Tunemakers is a Japanese brand, which seems to be featured in a lot of Japanese magazines…unfortunately the brands site is in Japanese only, but according to Beautystar’s describtion, Tunemakers was born through the wish of a lot of people for skincare products which contain ingredients which are part of the skin. I think this means, the use of raw ingredients in a good concentration to be absorbed by the skin and yet have the best possible effect. Tunemakers VC3 Vitamine C Derivate serum is formulated, as you can say from the name, from a vitamine C derivate for skin conditioning. It can fix the balance of oil and moisture in skin, and leads to glistening and smooth skin according to the product description. The ingredients list is again – like for the Tunemakers Lotion- very short and contains safe ingredients only: water, BG, ascorbyl phosphate Mg, hydrogenated lecithin, citric acid Na, PEG-100 hydrogenated castor oil, dihydro correspondent-20, Toriokutanoin, citric acid, cholesterol, tocopherol acetate, methyl paraben. You can look up the ingredients on COSDNA >>here<<.

This tiny bottle is made of brown glass, like the Tunemakers Lotion, and prevents the content from light in this way. Nevertheless, since it is real glass you have to be careful not to drop it. The design looks again like the old bottles in pharmacies. I personally like it, but maybe some of you will consider this boring… The cap can be winded on the bottle tightly, too, to prevent oxidization. The opening of the bottle has a dripping nozzle, so you can get out the product dropwise…according to the product description it is advised to use 2 drops in the morning and two in the evening. In this way the bottle should last you last less than two months…I was sometimes a bit unpatient with the nozzle and I ended up with more drops on my hands than the two drops, but still after 4 weeks I have still serum left in the bottle.

The serum is a watery milky colored liquid which is scentless. After a while of using the product you’ll see some white powder on the winding of the bottle. Don’t worry about this, because it is only the dried vitamin C powder. The VC3 derivate is a stabilized vitamine C derivate matched with a derivate of phosphoric acid in high stability. In order to guarantee the stability it is based on capsular lecithin. Other than the O.S.T. Vitamine C Serum, this serum doesn’t change it’s color because of oxidization or anything and doesn’t have to be used up super quickly...but the concentration of the vitamin C in this serum is also less than in the O.S.T. vitamin C serum and thus the effect of these two serums is quite different. As a huge fan of the O.S.T. Vitamin C serum I certainly want to compare these two vitamin C serums and I came to the conclusion that both are good in their own ways. The Tunemakers VC3 Serum makes your skin as promised smooth. Especially in combination with the lotion the skin feels nice afterwards. The ingredients list of both products is short, so it will be suitable for sensitive skintypes, too. The O.S.T Vitamin C Serum shows a more visible result. Because of the high concentration of vitamin C it acts like a chemical peeling, and you will even feel some tingling on your skin sometimes. I didn’t experience any tingling feeling with the tunemakers serum. The downside of both are, that they feel a bit sticky after application, that’s why I prefer to use them at night. If you mix the serum with a cream the stickyness is reduced though.

Concluding these points, I would say that I recommend the tunemakers VC3 serum for a use on daily basis, whereas I recommend the O.S.T. serum for a more deep peeling. People with very sensitive skin, who did not like the tingling effect of the O.S.T. serum will maybe enjoy the tunemakers VC3 serum more. You can get Tunemakers VC3 Serum (and a lot of other serums, too) from BeautyStar. This bottle costs 14.60 US$ and contains 10 ml. Also, check out my review on the Tunemakers Original Moisture Lotion which teams up perfectly with this serum. Did you know about this Japanese brand? Which is your favourite vitamin C serum? :)

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.beautystar.me/ which doesn’t influence me in providing my honest opinion on the products.

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asian cosmetics beauty beautystar PR Sample review

Review: Tunemakers Original Moisture Lotion

2. September 2014

I introduced the online shop Beautystar in my previous review about Relevance Highlighter Tip and today I will review another item which was provided to me for reviewing purpose, the Tunemakers Original Moisture Lotion. Beautystar is an online shop selling Japanese skincare and cosmetic products which are harder to find in other online shops. Apart from the lotion (Japanese lotion is the adequate to Korean toner or skin) I received a serum with I will review separately in future.

The Tunemakers Original Moisture Lotion is a simple waterbased lotion containing ceramide, hyaluronic acid, honey, collagenand royal jelly extract in a ratio of 5:3.5:2:1:1. Water with a weak acidity builds the basis of this mixture. Ceramide is one of the main lipid components of the skin. The content of ceramide declines with age, so ceramide is a skin-identical component and is supposed to help the skin regenerating or balancing the decrease in ceramides. Collagen is also one of these components which occur naturally in our body and thus in our skin. The amount of collagen declines with our age, too. Ceramides and collangens in cosmetics won’t probably affect our skin in a way, that we start building more collagen and/or ceramides in our skin, however, collagen binds moisture and thus does it help to prevent our skin to dry, when applied on our skin. The same for ceramide, which, as a lipid keeps the right amount of fatty acids on our skin. Hyaluronic acid binds moisture aswell and thus helps the skin to stay moisturized, too. Honey and royal jelly extract are both natural ingredients. Honey is one of the ingredients with the oldest history for beauty uses. Both these ingredients contain vitamins, aminoacids and have anti-inflammatory and also antioxidant effects.

The full ingredient list is supprisingly short: water, glycerin, 1,2 – hexanediol, sphingoglycolipids of rice bran , hyaluronic acid Na, honey,water-soluble collagen, hydrolyzed royal jelly extract, licorice root extract, ascorbyl phosphate Mg, lysolecithin, hydrogenated lecithin, BG, xanthan gum, apple acid Na, malic acid, citric acid, citric acid Na, phenoxyethanol. Thant’s it! According to COSDNA almost all the ingredients are green flagged. No fragrance, no coloring, no mineral oil, petroleum based surfactant-free, paraben-free,and alcohol- free. I guess this should be suited to people with sensitive skin, too.

The product itself comes in a brown colored glass bottle. It is real glass, so you have to be careful while using it. Other than this, the bottle looks like a vintage medicine bottle, with a simple ettiquette and all in Japanese. The opening has a drip function, so you won’t spill too much lotion on your hands. I usually apply these moisturising toners/lotion with my hands, directly after washing my face. It has the same consistency like water, it has no scent and feels very light. After applying it absorbs really quickly into the skin and leaves my skin very soft and hydrated.

Apart from the fact that it is a glass bottle, this lotion/toner has nothing I would complain about. It has a short ingredient list, feels like water, but makes the skin feel hydrated. I didn’t have any skin irritations while using it and I’m using it every day since two weeks now :) You can get this from Beautystar for US$ 19.50 and I’m sure, that there will be quite some of you, who will share my opinion.

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.beautystar.me/ which doesn’t influence me in providing my honest opinion on the products.

♥Feel free to take parte in my “End-of-Summer”-Giveaway ♥

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asian cosmetics beauty beautystar PR Sample review

Review: Relevance Highlighter Tip

25. August 2014

It’s one week since my last post, but unfortunately my internet broke down and I didn’t have any possibilty to upload any new posts. Nevertheless, I took a lot of new pictures for upcoming reviews and I’m happy that I can post one of these reviews today- moreover, it is a japanese brand and as you know, I love trying out new brands: Relevance Highlighter Tip will be topic of today’s post.

Relevance is a Japanese brand and honestly I didn’t hear about this brand until I received the package from Beautystar, a new online shop for japanese cosmetic brands which are hard to find elsewhere. Relevance belongs to Reinatural Pure Cosmetics and if you are interested in their products you can check out their (japaese) page >>here<<. The trend of highlightening your eyebag is very popular in asian countries, simply because it makes your eyes look more awake, younger and vivid looking. These all contribute in a more youthfull look and larger appearing eyes. The Relevance Highlighter Tip is one of the best selling items for this purpose.

The Relevance Highlighter Tip comes in a girly pink packaging with ornaments all around. There are three different colors available for this Highlighter Tip: pink, orange and yellow. I received the pink version of the Relevance Highlighter Tip from Beautystar for reviewing purpose and I’m really glad about the color. Pink toned highlighters look always more natural than for example white colored ones. The Highlighter comes in a pen-shaped form. the material of the pen is plastic and as the packaging it has a pink color and some ornaments on it. It looks lovely, but simply. The product description is unfortunately only in japanese, but as far as I know the product contains hyaloronic acid for providing moisture and indeed, this product doesn’t make your eyes feel dry at the end of the day.

Other than you would expect, it is not a pencil type highlighter, but it is a sponge-type applicator with the eyeshadow included in the cap. You can twist the cap (it feels like there is a spring inside the cap), and by twisting you dispense the eyeshadow on the sponge applicator. The color of the highlighter is a soft pink color with glitter/shimmer particles. The pigmentation of the eyeshadow is soft and not too opaque, so you can create a natural look. By adding more layers you can double the pigmentation.

If you look at the before and after pictures, the effect is not too strong on my eyes, which is caused by my dark cicles, but you can see that my appearance looks brighter and awaker in general. If you add conceiler before, keep in mind that this will make the sponge applicator dirty, since you use the sponge directly on top of it. The shimmer particles cause fall-off, unfortunatelly, and so the lasting power of this eyebag highlighter is not optimized for 24 hours, neither for 12 hours. I must point out that I don’t like that kind of glitter particles normally, but here it looks still appropiate for every day use. Also the size of the Relevance Highlighter Tip is perfect for the handbag, so I end up using it every day or every second day in turn with the Etude House Rose Drawing Show Eyeshadow Pencil, despite of the shorter staying power.

All in all, this is a nice alternative product for eyebag highlighteing. The sponge applicator is kind of unique and I love the twist mechanism for using it. The packaging design is cute and reminds of Etude House Rose Collection. Moreover, the size is travel-friendly. The downsides are the fall-off caused by the glitter particles and the short staying power as a result of this. If you love highlightening your under eye area you might want to check out this product. I received my Relevance Highlighter Tip from Beautystar and I can recommend you to check out their online store. They have some interesting products, but you can also write them if you want any other specific japanese product. The shipping was fast, too, and they added japanese sweets as gift, which is really nice ♥ They also have a youtube chanel where the members try the products they offer or recommend. Here is the video for the Highlighter Tip:

Youtube Beautystar Relevance Highlighter Tip

Also, check out their Youtube Channel, Google+ and instagram below:

Beautystar on Youtube

Beautystar on Google+

Beautystar on Instagram

If you have seen my instagram picture you may have seen some other products apart from this highlighter tip and I’m already looking forward to introduce the other products to you. I have a couple of favourite new items now. Also, check out

And last, but not least: Did you take part in my End-Of-Summer 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://www.beautystar.me/ which doesn’t influence me in providing my honest opinion on the products.

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