Iope Archive | Berries in the Snow

beauty empties

Graveyard: January and February Empties 2015

28. February 2015

I tried to use up as much as possible, before I by new products in 2015, and for the first two months I did a good efford in also emptying my sample stash. Here are my product empties for January and February and a quick impression on each product. As usual, I didn’t include any sample sachets or masks.

Frizz Ease Shampoo & Conditioner for curly hair- Repurchase? Maybe.

I used and liked the fullsize of this in the past quite often (these are travelsized tubes), but atm I’m in love with my Shiseido Tsubaki Shampoo, that I don’t want to go back to any western brands :D Within the western drug store brands these are still my favourites.

Iope Super Vital VIP kit- Repurchase? No.

I used up the complete items of this kit and I’m really proud I did without changing to another line inbetween. You can find my review of this highly nourishing and moisturizing line >>here<<.

Secret Key Snow White Cream- Repurchase? Yes.

I loved using this. It gave a nice finish to the face and it smells great! The packaging is very pretty, too! Read my review >>here<<.

Mizon Multi Function Formula Snail Repair Eye Cream- Repurchase? Maybe.

I used this eyecream during daytime because I think it is not moisturizing enough to be used at nights. I like the size of this eyecream and the fact that it is really affordable and can be used up in a realistic period. I could imagine repurchasing it, but I would rather try other eye creams first :D Find my review >>here<< .

SXM I Value Body Amoule- Repurchase? No.

This was part of the MeMeBox Diet Box and I was really curious about this ampoule. You take some drops and put it to the desired regions of your body. I could feel the skin being somehow tightened while applying but it did not show any longterm effects for me.

Shiseido Benefiance NutriPerfect Day Cream- Repurchase? No…sigh

This creamy cream is rich in its consistency and hydrates skin nicely. It also contains SPF 15. I enjoyed trying out this tiny tube, but since it is an expensive brand I don’t think that I’ll be repurchasing.

Welcos Confume Argan Treatment Hair Ampoule- Repurchase? YES!

I’m in healthier-hair-heaven since I bought Confume Argan Oil and Confume Treatment Hair Ampoule! My hair has been frizzy and dry since forever, but these products are amazing! This is the first of 5 tiny bottles and I love it! This indeep hair treatment doesn’t need to be rinsed out. It is mixed by a bit water and turns milky and warmer….can be used on wet and dry hair…I will buy more definitively! and I’ll be doing a review for both the argan oil and the treatment soon!

Only you Green Tea Jasmin Moisturizing Body Lotion- Repurchase? No.

I think this was a gift and came together with a shower gel. The scent was really nice. The bodylotion took a bit longer to absorb, though.

Lancome La Vie Et Belle shower Gel- Repurchse? No.

This was a gift with an order. I like the scent, but other than that there is nothing special about this shower gel.

Kneipp Almond Blossom Oil- Repurchse? Yes.

I used up the fullsized bottle of this last year and I loved it and this tiny version is no exception. The scent is soooo nice and it makes the skin feel very soft.

L’Occitane Karite Handcream -Repurchase? I would love to.

This is a rich and nourishing hand cream with a nice scent. There is nothing negative to say about this and I would love to try more handcream from L’Occitane.

Kerasys Moringa Miracle Essence- Repurchase? Yes!

A very nice smelling and softening hair essence which I loved to use. It is not as super effective as the Confume Argan oil, but it is nice for everyday use without making your hair greasy!

Do you know any of these and did you try them yourself? What is your opinion on these products I showed above? I’d be happy about your comments ♥

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asian cosmetics beauty honestskin PR Sample review

Review: Iope Super Vital Cream VIP Kit

15. January 2015

Here is another review from the honestskin Special Gift Event about the Iope Super Vital Cream VIP Kit. This kit comes with 5 products from the Iope Super Vital Extra Moist line, and honestly speaking it is the first Iope skincare line I’m trying. I was really happy therefore, that this kit was part of the gift event I received.

Iope is a Korean high-end brand and part of the Amore Pacific family, similar to other brands like Laneige, Innisfree and Etude House (and many more of the known Korean cosmetic brands). The brand focusses on innovative biological technologies in their cosmetics. Thus their brand image and approach is not cute or girly, but rather mature and scientific. The product packaging reflects this by being elegent and high quality. Also here the Iope Super Vital Cream VIP Kit comes in a golden reflecting cardboard box. It looks very luxurious (but makes photography hard due to reflecting material).

The description on the packaging is not very detailled and it is in Korean only. Probably it lists what kind of products is included in the VIP kit. This set contains 5 products in total: The Super Vital Extra Moist Softner (20 ml), the Super Vital Extra Moist Emulsion (20 ml), the Super Vital Extra Moist Serum (5 ml), the Super Vital Cream Bio Intensive (7 ml), and the Super Vital Extra Moist Eye Cream (3ml). You’ll find some of the ingredients for the products on COSDNA (Softener, Emulsion, Serum, and Cream). Most of the ingredients are green flagged, but you’ll find some irritating ingredients like alcohol, PEG and Triethanol amine. You’ll also find some great ingredients like niacinamide, titanium dioxide, ascorbix acid, and various plant extracts. You’ll also find caffeine in some of the ingredient lists.

The products in this kit are all travel sized and come in a plastic packaging. Unlike the fullsized products, the packaging looks less sturdy and elegant, but still the golden color of all of the products gives it a luxurious touch. The softener and the emulsion do have normal bottle packaging. The serum comes with a pump dispenser. The cream comes in a tiny jar and the eye cream in a tube. It was harder to get ptoduct out of the softener and the emulsion, because the plastic of the bottle is very hard. You have to shake it a couple of times. The pump dispenser also needed a few pumps before the first product could be pumped out. Other than this the packaging was fine. The back side of the tubes, bottles and jars contains a short description in Korean, too.

I swatched the five products on my arm below and as you can see the softener is a liquid toner with a bit of a gel-like structure. It has a soft flowery scent and feels moist on the skin. After a few pats it will absorb and leave your skin soft. The eye cream has a rich creamy texure which melts away on the skin nicely and leaves the skin moisturized and nourished. The eye area feels hydrated for quite a long time. The serum has a gel – like consistency and the same flowery scent as the softener. it has a slight stickiness to itself, but feels also moisturizing. It is not oily after application. The emulsion and the cream are my favourites out of this set. The emulsion has a light milk-type formula. It feels lightweight and yet deeply moisturizing. Actually, although I have dry skin I only use the emulsion during daytime, because it delivers enough moisture especially with the serum in advance. The cream has a butter-like creamy texture and is a VERY rich cream. I’m apllying it during the night and the next morning my skin is still moisturized and my T-zone is even shiny. Both have a very nice flowery scent which I liked a lot.

The Iope Super Vital Cream VIP Kit is very recommended to people with dry to very dry skin. Also people with dull skin will like this. The products in this kit are highly moisturizing and very nourishing. The Super Vital Cream Bio Intensive cream is not recommended for people with oily skin. It made my dry skin oily on the T-zone when I applied it over night. People with super dry skin might love to try this out. The eyecream was rich and hydrating and is great for people with lines. The extra moisture and lipids will make your lines appear finer. If you only have dry lips you might want to try the Laneige Waterbank Eye Gel instead. A downside is the price, of course. Since it is a high end brand the Iope Super Vital Set with the fullsized items (not the travel sized items I showed you here!) retails for 95.34 US$ at honestskin. Before you go ahead and buy the fullsized product I would advise you to look for a trial kit like the one I showed here.

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Honestskin Special Gift Event

20. December 2014

As you know there are a lot of different retailer selling asian cosmetics products in the world wide web. I’m trying to check out different shops in order to see which one offers the best service and good prices on the same time and it’s been a while that I subscribed for honestskin‘s newsletter. But somehow, although they have a lot of discounts, I never ordered anything myself, but after I read about The Beauty Code’s experience I was curious and applied for the Special Gift Event– and I was lucky to be one of the selected winners of a gift package. So here is my experience with honestskin so far:

Honestskin is an online shopping mall run by the Silicon Two Inc. in Korea. They claim to have authentic products, a huge range of different products and fast delivery. They ship internationally, too. Their page is easy to navigate and already displays all the different brands they offer on the front page.

As I said, I follow their newsletter for quite some time and I recognized that they offer a lot of different discounts and special sales. The only downside is, that they don’t offer free shipping. Instead, they have a way to collect the shipping price in dependence to the amount of items you buy. If you buy 1-3 items you pay 5 US$, for 4-6 items you will already pay 9 US$…(see details >>here<<) Actually, it would be better to pay for the weight instead of number of items.

So, apart from their regular discounts they have also this so called special gift event you can apply for. They also seem to have other events from time to time, like the Sponsor Event they offer at the moment (if you are a blogger you should try to apply for it ;) ). In the event I took part, I received a package containing three korean beauty products. The parcel arrived after 11 days of shipping, which is a good shipping time for packages from Korea. All three items were packed in bubble wrap. I received Iope Super Vital Cream VIP Special Gift, Etude House Color Lips-Fit in shade #OR201 Dream Fit Coral and Nature Republic Collagen HD Essencial BB Cream. The products were undamadged, too :)

Oh, another thing, you will get some points when you register on their page, and you can also collect more points for doing reviews of the product on their page. These points can be spent as money for your future order. I always like the idea of being rewarded :) Check out about this >>here<<.

I’m happy about my gifts and I will review them within the next time, so if you are curious about any of these items watch out for future posts. I hope this quick shop introduction was helpful for you :)

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beauty beauty boxes

Unboxing: MeMeBox NakedBox No. 24 All in One

9. October 2014

My last MeMebox Unboxing is almost one month ago and it feels like ages, since so many new boxes have been announced and have been sold out in the mean time. MeMeBox keeps up with new topics and discount opportunities, that it is difficult to resist buying for me sometimes. Although I was planning on making a spending break from MeMeBox I couldn’t resist grabbing the MeMeBox Nakedbox No. 24, the so called “all-in-one” box. The products in this box were announced previously, and they should be products with “all in one” properties, which means that they give multiple benefits in one.

MeMeBox is a box service company, offering a wide amount of different beauty boxes. Unlike most western beauty boxes which have to be subscribed for on a monthly basis, MeMeBoxes can be preordered but that doesn’t force you to buy more than the desired box. They ship to many countries and the products they send in their boxes are mainly Korean. Apart from their monthly Global Boxes like the ones I reviewed previously (check out the links at the end of the post), they also have a huge amount of themed boxes, Mini Boxes, Boxes where you know what is inside, so called Superboxes with a higher value and so on…just check out their online store and you’ll find a huge selection of different boxes. Since they have become very popular within the blogger community they sell out pretty fast, but they bring up new beauty boxes so fast, that you cannot keep up with them anyways. At the end of this post I will make a list of all the discounts they offer at the moment, too.

Here is the description of the box:

“This box with all of its components revealed from the very beginning is dedicated to you girls out there who feel a little bit shy or hesitant in trying out our our beauty boxes. Nakedbox #24 includes smart all-in-one items that give you multiple benefits in one!”

As you can see, the main reason for people buying this box is because they know what is inside the box. A lot of people don’t like these surprise boxes because they preferr to know what they buy. The Nakedboxes are addressing especially these people. Below you can see the content of the box. all the products in this box are full sized products ♥ Unfortunately, there was no product card included this time :/

1. IOPE Essential Tone & Wrinkle Care Eye Cream 25ml ($86) Full-sized Product
Enriched with shea butter and jojoba oil, this moisturizing eye cream will fill the lines between wrinkles around the eye area and creates a protective moisture layer to prevent further sagging and wrinkle formation.

2. SHARA SHARA Real Sauce Lemon Mask 20g X 3ea ($4) Full-sized Product
Packed with vitamin-rich lemon extracts, the Real Sauce Lemon Mask works to balance out the moisture and oil balance, brighten up, and rejuvenate dull, darkened complexions.

3. INSOBEAU Perfect Deep Clean One-Step Cleansing Water 200ml ($22) Full-sized Product
There’s no need for double cleansing with this smart One-Step Cleansing Water from insobeau. Its gentle formula, made from natural derivatives, works to quickly and easily deep cleanse all makeup and skin impurities in one step. Plus, it functions as a moisturizing toner as well, protecting, soothing and brightening the skin all in one.

4. DEWYTREE Real Collagen Nutrition Serum 50ml ($39) Full-sized Product
Dewytree’s popular Real Collagen Nutrition Serum is infused with high concentrates of collagen and treats enlarged pores, sagging skin, and other signs of aging with its highly moist and nutritious formula. It expedites the skin’s regeneration and renewal cycle for the look of more youthful and luminous skin.

5. THE SKIN HOUSE Face Calming Galactomyces Cream 30ml ($19) Full-sized Product
Containing galactomyces fermented extracts and other active ingredients, this facial cream soothes and replenishes skin stressed from external stimulus for a healthier, more youthful complexion.

6. HELLO EVERYBODY Nature Holic Hand Cream Grapefruit 50ml ($12) Full-sized Product
This super-creamy grapefruit hand cream penetrates the skin quickly to protect, moisturize and replenish dry skin and nails. Enriched with hyaluronic acid, Indian Gooseberry and grapefruit extracts, this cream will nourish skin and nails to its finest. Citrusy Mandarin Orange and Grapefruit top notes will keep your hands and nails feeling fresh all day!

The main reason for me for buying this box was the Iope eye cream. Iope is a high end korean brand and I’ve never tried anything from that brand before. The box retailed for 23 US$ and the value of this product alone is worth this money definitively. The other reasons for me were the Shara Shara masks. I really do love the design of their products and these sheet masks look so adorable. I will definitively put up a review as soon as I’ve tried them. I also heard a good deal about The Skin House Face Calming Galactomyces cream and I needed a new moisturizer anyways. I’m also curious about the cleansing water because I didn’t try any cleansing waters yet. This box was definitively worth its money and even more, because I knew for which reasons I bought the box. What do you think of this box? Do you preferr the surprise boxes or the nakedboxes? And which products from this box would you love to try out, too?

If you are curious about MeMeBox and their products, aswell as their enourmous selection of different beautyboxes check out their page >>here<<. Check out the value sets and the possibility to upgrade to free express shipping, too. MeMebox has also a couple promotions:

– receive 3 MeMePoints worth 3 Us$ by signing up

– receive 5 US$ OFF for October using the code 6DL4

– using my affiliate link or the code AFFILIATE-7711-I8PV5-MWLL will get you $5 OFF discount on any orders above $100 (shipping charges not included, can be combined with other coupons)

– using my affiliate link or the code AFFILIATE-0319-ZKQVT-DBNX will get you $10 OFF for orders above 150 US$ (shipping charges not included, can be combined with other coupons)

– Referral-Only Deal: get MeMePoints by purchasing some boxes available through this link >>here<<.

– $5 off on entire order when purchasing over 3 Memeboxes: MEMEBUNDLE3

– $8 off on entire order when purchasing over 4 Memeboxes: MEMEBUNDLE4

– Free shipping on orders above $70 from Memeshop: FREESHIPPING

– ONLY UNTIL 9th OCTOBER 12 AM PST: Get 5 US$ (in form of MeMePoints) when buying K-Style Box 4 or the value sets containing this box

You can also read my previous unboxing posts:

MeMeBox Diet Box

MeMeBox My Cute Wishlist

MeMeBox Oriental Medicine Box

MeMeBox Scentbox Bundle

MeMeBox 10 Minutes Box

MeMeBox GetItBeautyBox Global No. 11

MeMeBox GetItBeautyBox Global No. 10

MeMeBox GetItBeautyBox Global No. 8

MeMeBox GetItBeautyBox Global No. 6

Do you know MeMeBox already? Were you happy with the products so far? And if you have any requests for reviews of the received products, feel free to leave a comment :)

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