NoTS Archive | Berries in the Snow

asian cosmetics beauty PR Sample q-depot review

Review: NoTS 28 Remedy Perfect Solution Set

11. February 2016

I love Korean deluxe sample sets, since they contain every product you’ll ned when you are on vacations. They are also great for getting to know a brand or a specific skincare line, therefore I was really happy when I was offered to review the NoTS 28 Remedy Perfect Solution Set by Korean cosmetics online shop Qdepot. So far this brand is still new to me, and apart from the NoTS Silk Glow Stick Foundation I haven’t tried any products from this brand. But finally I can now try some of their skincare products:

Unlike brands like Etude House or Tonymoly the Korean high-end brand NoTS is yet not widely known among people outside Korea. NoTS stands for ‘noble through skin’ and was founded in 2011. It is supposed to be natural functional cosmetics with eco-friendly ingredients. Since it is a high-end brand the products are more expansive than drugstore brands like Etude House or Tonymoly. Their packaging design is also not girlish or fun, but more mature and targeting another age group than the two other brands. The NoTS 28 Remedy Perfect Solution Set comes in a silver cardboard box and contains 4 products. The NoTS 28 Remedy skincare range is made for sensitive and acne prone skintypes and is a multipurpose range targeting also anti-ageing and having whitening properties.

The set contains the NoTS 28 Remedy Acne Pore Deep Cleanser, The NoTS 28 Remedy Balancing Toner, The NoTS 28 Remedy Intensive Serum, and the NoTS 28 Remedy Repair Cream. These four product already build a perfect tiny skincare routine. From the 4 products the cleanser stands out most, because it has orange-colored fonts and cap on the white plastic tube. The other three products are simple but elegant. The bottles and jars have a white color and silver fonts and caps. They are made of hard plastic and seem to be very sturdy and perfect for travelling without fearing for them that they’ll break or leak.

The backside of the silver cardboard box reveals the Korean description for the 4 products, but you can check Qdepot for English description of the single products. The first step of your skincare is usually a cleanser. The NoTS 28 Remedy Acne Pore Deep Cleanser is a cleanser containing salicylic acid. It also contains a bunch of plant ingredients. All in all there are some minor irritants within the ingredients list, but the formulation is color-, scent-, and alcohol-free. The deluxe size comes with 25 ml volume, whereas the full size contains 120 ml. The foam cleanser has a white consistency and a pH of 7 when mixed with water. It cleans of almost all the makeup as you can see in the picture below. It is a bit weak towards lipliner, eyeliner, and smudgeproof eyeshdow formulations, but it cleans nicely the BB cream. The cleanser builds a soft foam when lathered and doesn’t have any specific strong scent.

After cleansing your face you would use the NoTS 28 Remedy Balancing Toner and the NoTS 28 Remedy Intensive Serum. Both products come in bottles with a pump applicator, which is very convenient to use. The toner contains 15 ml in the deluxe sample size and 100 ml in full-size. It is a clear toner with a light gel texture. It is not completely watery when pumped out of the tube, but when spreading it the texture feels watery. It has a faint alcohol scent and the ingredients list reveals that it includes alcohol. Apart from this the toner contains many plant derived ingredients. Unfortunately, it contains Triethanol amine and Triclosan, which are red labelled according to COSNDA. Especially since it contains Triclosan I wouldn’t recommend using it because Triclosan is highly discussed and already banned in many cosmetics (in Europe). The NoTS 28 Remedy Intensive Serum is used after the toner. It also comes in a pump bottle containing 12 ml for the deluxe sample and 35 ml in the full-size. The serum is clear and like a gel. It also contains alcohol and has a faint alcohol scent like the toner. Apart from this the other ingredients look good. Similar to the toner the gel formulation melts like water when spread and therefore absorbs quickly and feels refreshing. The last step of your skincare routine would be the NoTS 28 Remedy Repair Cream. The cream comes in a jar containing 10 g, the full-sized jar contains 30 g. The cream has a thick, creamy consistency and a strong herbal scent. It contains a whole bunch of plant derived ingredients, similar to the serum, and also contains Niacinamide and Adenosin. The cream also contains some red labelled ingredients according to COSDNA, which are Triethanol amine and BHT. And it also contains Salicylic Acid, and some minor irritants. It also contains Zinc Oxide as UV protection, which is great. The cream applied nicely on the skin, but leaves the skin a bit tacky first. There is no greasyness though. The strong herbal scent lingers quite some time unfortunately.

It is nice that these kind of deluxe sample sets give us the opportunity to try out a whole range of new products. Out of the 4 products my favorite is the serum. I wouldn’t recommend using the toner because of the Triclosan. The cream has a very intense herbal scent and it is kind of bitter, too. Also, for a high-end brand it contains too many irritants and not so great ingredients. The cleanser is probably a good choice for oily skintypes and acne-prone skin, because of the salicylic acid. For me it was too drying, and since my skin is dry anyways it is not the perfect cleanser for my skintype. Also, considering the higher prices of NoTS products I would advice you to get some samples of the products from this range before, since they may contain irritants.

You can get the products at Q-depot. The Cleanser retails for 26.88 US$. The Toner is available for 67.20 US$. The serum costs 75.60 US$, and the cream retails for a proud 102 US$. 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 25 US$ coupon upon signing up. The coupon is useable for a minimum purchase of 69 US$.

Here are also some useful coupons and free gifts you can use and receive when ordering at the moment:

Coupons

Get $10 OFF on orders $129+ Coupon Code: A83RvEYo

Get $70 OFF on orders 99+ Coupon Code: LuGf8ZMX

Get $5 OFF on orders 69+ Coupon Code: Uxurfv9C

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Free Gifts

Orders 69+ – Free Missha Misa Gumsul Mask (worth $3.58)

Order 99+ – Free Tony Moly Kiss Kiss Lip Patch (worth $6.39)

Orders 129+ – Free Face Shop Lovely Mix Pastal Cushion Blusher (worth $8.99)

Have fun shopping!

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.

asian cosmetics beauty PR Sample q-depot review

Review: NoTS Silk Glow Stick Foundation

16. October 2015

I hardly use foundation despite on special occasions like weddings for example. Nevertheless, I was super curious to try a stick foundation for quite some time, which made me select the NoTS Silk Glow Stick Foundation when Qdepot asked me whether I wanted to try a product from the Korean brand NoTS.

Unlike brands like Etude House or Tonymoly the Korean high-end brand NoTS is yet not widely known among people outside Korea. NoTS stands for ‘noble through skin’ and was founded in 2011. It is supposed to be natural functional cosmetics with eco-friendly ingredients. Since it is a high-end brand the products are more expansive than drugstore brands like Etude House or Tonymoly. The NoTS Silk Glow Stick Foundation is part of their make-up range. It comes in two shades (21 and 23) and has SPF 30 PA++, which makes it a UV block functional cosmetics. The foundation comes in a mostly silver cardboard box of good quality. The description on the outside of that packaging contains English descriptions and ingredient list. Inside the cardboard box you will find the Korean description.

The NoTS Silky Glow Stick Foundation has a 5-free formula (free from artificial fragrance, mineral oil, tar, benzophenone-3, isopropyl alcohol) and is suited to all skin-types according to its description. It contains a couple of plant extract (6 plant oils and 7 flower extracts), too. The ingredients list is quite long though and you should check out whether you react on any of the ingredients. The lid of the cardboard box has a dark red color, the same color as the NoTS Silk Glow Stick Foundation container. The container looks really pretty and luxurious, although I imagined it to be larger. The size of the foundation stick fits nicely into a hand and therefore is quite travel-friendly. The cap of the stick has the same burgundy color as we found on the cardboard box. The rest of the container has a silver color. So a very sleek and elegant packaging, which also reminds of Tom Ford’s Stick Foundation.

These kind of foundation sticks are similar to a lipstick bullet, where you can wind up the product. The NoTS Silk Glow Stick Foundation only contains 12 g of product, which is not much, especially considering the fact that the price is rather high, since it is a high-end product.

Unlike liquid foundations you will have a solid bullet of foundation which you can stroke over your skin. It feels silky upon application and gives a nice coverage. The formula reminds a bit of concealer formula, but much lighter. It also says, that the stick can also be used as a concealer.

Shade 23 matches my skin-tone quite nicely and as you can see from the swatch on my hand, the color can be blended in in order to match even better. I used my fingers here to blend it in.

For applying it on my face I used various strokes around my face and blended them with a sponge like a beauty blender. I found it a bit hard to blend it in seamless using a sponge. Also, although the product name says that the foundation has a glowy finish the finish on my skin looks matte. The coverage is medium, but can be build up to high coverage. It is not sticky though, but could be not moisturizing enough for people with dry skin. I’m not sure whether a sponge is the best way to apply this foundation. Maybe a damp sponge delivers a nicer result after all.

I’m really happy I had the chance to try this new brand NoTS, but considering the price of the NoTS Silky Glow Stick Foundation and the low content (12 g) I think it is too expansive to repurchase it. The NoTS Silky Glow Stick Foundation is available in two shades from Q-depot and retails for 36.26 US$ at the moment. The formula of the product feels nice and I like the way it is not sticky and feels soft on the skin, but I miss the glowing aspect in this product. Also the fact that it is not easy to use on the first try, but that you have to try out which way of application is the best was a con for me. Probably, this foundation is better suited for people with oily skin-types.

If you are curious about NoTS and their products you can check them out on Q-depot, an online retailer for Korean beauty products. They have a 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$. By the way, Q-depot is having a “The Face Shop” sale with OFF 15% on all items. The promotion will end on 18 Oct 2015 (GMT+8 Time 00:00).

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