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asian cosmetics beauty Born Pretty Store PR Sample

Review: Flower Water Transfer Nail Stickers from Born Pretty Store

9. June 2015

// PR SAMPLE / FASHION / AFFILIATE LINKS //

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

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

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

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

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


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

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asian cosmetics beauty BNTnews PR Sample review

Review: Too Cool For School Egg Mousse Pack and Soap

8. June 2015

// PR SAMPLE / KBEAUTY //

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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asian cosmetics beauty BNTnews PR Sample review

Review: It’s Skin Prestige BN Gel Mask EX

7. June 2015

// PR SAMPLE / KBEAUTY //

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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asian cosmetics BNTnews PR Sample review

Review: 3CE Water Wrapping Facial Mask

6. June 2015

// PR SAMPLE / KBEAUTY //

Can you believe that the 3CE Water Wrapping Facial Mask is the first product I’m trying from 3CE?! Those who love asian beauty products will have heard of this brand previously. The May beauty box send by BNTnews contained mainly sheet masks and the 3CE Water Wrapping Facial Masks were part of them. Since I’m a dry skintype I’m always happy about moisturizing products, especially about moisturizing sheet masks, and I think I have found a new favourite moisturizing sheet mask here:

3CE stands for 3 Concept Eyes and was launched in 2009 as a cosmetic brand by Stylenanda. The packaging of the products is similar to MAC cosmetics and mainly black with the triangular logo displayed on the product. Although very simple I think that this kind of packaging looks somehow very trendy. The price of Stylenanda’s 3CE lies in the mid region, but since it is more expensive than Etude House for example, I never ended up buying any 3CE products. The 3CE Water Wrapping Facial Mask are available as single sheet masks or in cardboard boxes containing 5 sheet masks.

The cardboard box and the sheet mask sachets have the same design. They are black colored and have the product name written on it. It looks like a sketch or a doodle. Some waterdrops and an inforgraphic on the key ingredient make the packaging look pretty cute, too. The backside of the masks and the cardboard contain the description of the product. The description is written in Korean only on both, but you can find English description on the official Stylenanda page.

The 3CE Water Wrapping Facial Mask is a hydration solution mask, as the name already tells us. It is supposed to deliver the moisture deep into the skin layers in order to prevent dryness. The two key ingredients of this sheet mask are hyaluronic acid and mineral-rich Alaska glacial water, which are perfect for moisturizing dry skin, since both these ingredients have moisturizing properties. Moreover the sheet mask promises to be non-sticky and refreshing and contain a moisture rich essence which has soothing properties. Also the cotton sheet is made from super fine fibers and is supposed to give you a velvety smooth feeling.

When opening the sheet mask the first thing I recognized was the thickness of the cotton sheet. From all the sheet masks I tried this is probably the thickest one. Nevertheless, the cotton sheet mask is soaked in lots of essence. There is also quite a good amount of left-over essence in the sachet to be used on your neck. The essence used in the 3CE Water Wrapping Facial Mask is not that watertype, clear and super runny essence, but a milky essence which reminds me of japanese lotions. It feels more creamy than watery and I really do like that feeling. The sheet mask is so heavily soaked with the essence that it doesn’t dry out quickly either. The cotton sheet mask is super smooth and I can imagine that people with sensitive skin will definitively like the feeling of that mask. I love the feeling it has while on the skin (velvety is definitively the right word to describe it) and I totally agree about the points that the mask claims to do. After using it the skin feels refreshed and moisturized. When the essence is absorbed it doesn’t feel sticky afterwards, which is also a point that I really like about the mask.

The 3CE Water Wrapping Facial Mask fulfills all the claims it has: it is deeply moisturizing, it is not sticky and refreshing, it contains a nice amount of essence and it has the most velvety smooth sheet mask I tried! Regarding all these point I can say that I love this sheet mask and that it has become one of my favourite moisturizing sheet masks! The only downside is, that it is more expansive than other sheet masks, but definitively worth a try! On the official Stylenanda page it retails for 4 US$ each. The box with 5 sheet masks costs 18 US$. You can also get the box from W2Beauty for 24.84 US$.

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

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asian cosmetics beauty BNTnews PR Sample review

Review: Coréana Sho EGFactor 28 Days Timeless Program Part 1

5. June 2015

If I’m buying cosmetics I’m usually on the hunt for budget cosmetic finds. I’m not a person longing for luxury cosmetic brands, because in my experience the cheaper ones do a good job, too. When I received the May BNT Beauty Box there was one item which looked like a high-end brand to me from first glance: the Coréana Sho EGFactor 28 Days Timeless Program. This anti-wrinkle kit is a skincare program designed for 28 days of use in order to boost your skin with Jeju horse oil and EGF for a timeless and younger looking skin. This is probably the most expensive cosmetic product I have tried in my life so far! In this post I will show you the content of this kit and include my first impression. I didn’t use it for the full 28 days yet, so I will be making a second review part for this product, where I will take a closer look at the ingredients and show you some before and after pictures (if there is any difference). First, let’s take a breath and look at this amazing and elegant packaging:

Coréana is quite a well known Korean company with the motto “art through nature”. It has quite a variety of brands, like Senite or Biodefense and many more. Sho is one brand of Coréana using horse oil as key ingredient. Horse oil or “Mayu” has been very popular in Korea in the last months, esecially during winter, because of its deeply moisturizing properties. The Sho EGFactor line combines the horse oil with EGF in order to have even more anti-aging properties. This Coréana Sho EGFactor 28 Days Timeless Program contains two items: an ampoule and eyecream.

The items are packed in a beautiful box, in golden and brown colors. It is a hologram on the box, so you see if it is an original product or a fake. The logo of Sho shows a horse and reflects the key ingredient. You can flip open the lip and you will find the logo with the horse inside aswell. the inside of the box has a golden color, too.

You can already tell from the packaging that this is a more expensive product. The is even a transparent paper with golden imprints to separate the lid of the box from the products.

Finally, you’ll find the ampoules and the eye creams inside. There are two seringe shaped eyecream containers and 28 small vials with the ampoule. To be honest, I thought there would be one eye creeam container and I was totally surprised to see the two seringes inside the box.

Even for the products the colors are in brown and golden. The eyecreams even have some beautiful golden embroided ornaments and really look pretty.

Ususally, the eyecreams I have used were either packed in a regular tube, or a jar. I have never seen an eyecream packaging like this.

You can twist one end of the seringe to open or close it and by pressing on that end you can push out some eyecream from the tube.

The material is plastic, but it seems good quality plastic, too. If you press down the bottom you’ll get a nice dollop of the eyecream, which is more than enough for the eyes. The eyecream is a creamtype one, which is supposed to treat and brighten the eye area through a soft, easily absorbed texture that suits even sensitive eyes. The eyecream has a light floral scent and absorbs quite quickly. It doesn’t feel greasy or heavy. Each of the eyecream seringes contains 10 ml of eye cream.

The ampoules contain 2 ml and each ampoule is designed for one use. The 2 ml seem small but it is more than enough for the face AND the neck. The ampoule is designed to prevent the skin from dryness while preserving oil-moisture balance. In order to open these small vials you have to push aside the golden cap. I found it quite difficult to open so far, but maybe I’ll get the hang of it :’D

The consitency of the ampoule is not oil-like, but rather like a gel-type emulsion. It has a clear, light golden color. It is a bit sticky and takes quite some time to absorb, but it isn’t greasy at all. The scent is the same floral scent as the eye cream has.

As I said at the beginning: I didn’t use the Coréana Sho EGFactor 28 Days Timeless Program for many days, so I cannot tell you any details about how effective it is yet. So far I didn’t react negatively and I’m really curious if there is any difference after the 28 days of use :D As for the packaging and the overall design, this kit is definitively eyecandy! I hope this first impression made you curious to read my second part of this review in a couple of weeks. I will include the ingredients and give a final verdict for this product then. What is your first impression on this anti-aging kit? It may be a pretty present for next mother’s day, do you agree?

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

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asian cosmetics beauty PR Sample q-depot review

Review: The Face Shop Face It Power Perfection BB Cream

3. June 2015

// PR SAMPLE / MAKEUP / AFFILIATE LINKS //

It’s been some time since my last BB cream review, although BB creams are why I started blogging in the frst place. There are so many to try, especially in the asian market, and The Face Shop Face It Power Perfection BB Cream is one of them. This BB cream is supposed to be a total skin treatment with lifting, moisturizing and correcting properties. and was send to me by a new Korean cosmetics online store named Q-depot.

The Face Shop is a Korean brand that “shares the benefits of nature”. It launched in 2003 in Korea and tries to bring together science and nature in their cosmetics products. They have a huge range of items and most of the items I tried from this brand I actually did like. The Face Shop Face It Power Perfection BB Cream is an all-rounder BB cream formulated with omega-3 and vita skin complex to nourish and moisturize your skin. The BB cream comes in 2 shades: 01. bright beige and 02. natural beige. I received shade 02. The BB cream also has SPF37 and PA++ and has some sun protection properties.

The Face shop Face It Power Perfection BB Cream is also available in two sizes. You can get either a smaller tube of 20 ml, or the larger tube as I’m showing here with 40 ml of product. Both versions are packed in tubes with a pump dispenser, which is the best way to pack a BB cream in my opinion (apart from Pacts/Cushions). The signature color of this BB cream is purple and the tube looks quite elegant in my eyes. It is not something fancy or super cute, but it looks nice on the shelf, too.

The cardboard box packaging contains English and Korean description. You can find the ingredients on COSDNA, too. They are mostly green labelled and safe to use. Since this BB cream has a SPF 37/PA++ it contains titanium dioxide, zinc oxide and ethylhexyl methoxycinnamate for UV protection. It also contains niacinamide and other some plant extracts and moisturizing ingredients. This BB cream has a shelf life of 12 months after opening.

As you can see, the tube has a pump dispenser which is protected by a clear, purple colored plastic cap. The amount of one pumping is usually enough for the whole face, let’s say 1.5 pumps if you need some corrections and whant to cover your neck, too. It is super easy to use and the pump works prefectly fine.

Below you can see a swatch of The Face Shop Face It Power Perfection BB Cream in shade 02. natural beige. I swatched it on my hand. It looks quite light in the image and also lighter than my skintone, but can be blended in to fit. The consistency of this BB cream is quite creamy. It has a matte finish and a medium-high coverage, which can be layered. The BB cream has a light floral scent, like most BB creams do.

Below you can see my face before and after the application of the BB cream. I don’t have skin troubles in terms of many pimples, but my skin is not even colored and I have some redness here and there. I have used my regular creams/skincare in the “before” image already. After using the BB cream my skin looks more even and the color differences of my skin are corrected. Although it has a matte finish and my skin is usually quite dry it didn’t get flaky and looked nice even after 6 hours. Also, it didn’t have a white or greyish cast after using it. The texture isn’t heavy either, despite the fact that the BB cream has a creamy consitency.

My conclusion for The Face shop Face It Power Perfection BB Cream is, that this is a good and solid BB cream and nice for daily use. If you are looking for a BB cream with matte finish you might want to try this, even with nomal/dry skintypes. I would not say that it is the most moisturizing BB cream I have tried, but it isn’t heavy and isn’t drying. Nevertheless, I would not skip using your regular skincare creams before :D

You can get this BB cream at Q-Depot for 25.79 US$. The smaller tube of 20 ml costs only 15.29 US$, which is quite a regular price for BB creams of that size. They offer free worldwide shipping from 69 US$ onwards. Also, they have a promotion were you can get 5 US$ coupon upon signing up for a minimum purchase of 69 US$.

It is also available here:

W2Beauty for 25.97US$ (use coupon code berries10 for additional 10% off and free shipping)

Amazon.com for 20.74US$

Amazon.de for 19.03€

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.

16 Comments

asian cosmetics beauty BNTnews PR Sample review

Review: Forencos Selene Project Silk Mask Series

1. June 2015

As a child I’ve been very curious about ancient cultures, like the egypt, roman or greek. I read so many children’s science books back than and I knew many of the facts by heart. Today, I almost forgot everything, but nevertheless the topic still makes me very curious. I received this Forencos Selene Project Silk Mask series with my BNT News Box a couple of weeks ago and- apart from the fact that I love sheet mask- this mask series made me very excited because it has sheet masks for each day of the week related to the greek gods who are behind them.

Forencos is a Korean brand which sells enviromental cosmetics since 1988. The brand has quite a range of skincare and makeup products, but in the internationally known skorean online shops they don’t have a lot of products from this brand, which is why it is quite unknown. They have 7 main issues within their brand philosophy: skin rejuvenating, skin refreshing, skin revitalising, skin relieving, skin regeneration, skin revival and skin resolution.

The Forencos Selene Project Silk Mask Series is a sheet mask series containing 7 sheet mask for daily use. Normally, I do not use sheet masks daily, but I heard many (koreans) do that. Honestly, on most of the days I forget or I’m to lazy, tired or busy :D Having a sheet mask series like the Forencos Sele Project Silk Mask Series is great, because each of the sheet masks is themed for a day of the week and each weekday is translated to the ancient greek good for that specific day. This way even a person like me is motivated to keep using the sheet mask on a daily basis.

As you can see from the images, each of the 7 sheet masks comes in a different color and has a different key ingredient. These sheet masks consist of two steps. Each mask has a sachet with a mask base ampoule attached, which contains 2 ml and is used before applying the sheet mask. The week starts with Tuesday, the Forencos Hephaestus Volcanic Ash Detox Silk Mask. Hephaestus was the ancient greek’s god of metallurgy, fire and volcanoes, which make Jeju volcanic ashes the key ingredient of the mask. Volcanic ashes eliminate dead skin cells and clean and contract pores. Wednesday‘s mask is dedicted to Poseidon: The Forencos Poseidon Caviar Moistuire Silk Mask will provide your skin with moisture and increase the collagen production. The key ingredient are caviar extracts which have a similar texture to skin it in terms of amino acids, minerals and vitamins. On Thursday it is the Dryas Tee Tree Relax Silk Mask. Australian indigenes were already using tea tree leaves to cure infectious diseases. Tea tree oil, the key ingredient here, is amazing at calming and soothing the skin.

On Friday you can use the Forencos Midas Gold Regenerating Silk Mask, which treats wrinkles and helps blood circulation while delivering minerals with 24k pure gold. For Saturday the Forencos Gaia Mayu Elastic Silk Mask helps to make the skin more elastic. Mayu, or horse oil, is similar with human sebum and helps control its secretion. It also contains ceramide for skin regeneration and elasticity. Forencos Helios Black Pearl Whitening Silk Mask is dedicted to Sunday. Pearl was even loved by Cleopatra for its high mineral and amino acid concentration as well as for the bioactive substances it contains. It reinforces skin’s immunity and acidity for a bright complexion. Last but not least, the week ends with Forencos Selene Swallaw’s Nest Total Care Silk Mask on Monday. Swiftlet’s bird nest contains 2000 times more sialic acid that human saliva and 200 times more than royal jelly for a total turnover: moisture, elasticity, skin tone, it cleans and protects the skin (if you are interested in other bird’s nest products read my review on SNP Bird’s Nest Aqua Eye Patches >>here<<).

Unfortunatelly, apart from the sheet mask names you’ll not find any other English description here. Everythink is written in Korean, even the ingredients. I would have loved to read more about that specifically, since the advertised key ingredients sound nice. As I said, these masks consists of two steps, a base ampoule and the sheet mask. Each sheet mask sachet shows in an image how to use the ampoule in a first step and add the sheet mask on top. The Hephaestus Volcanic Ash Detox Silk Mask is the only exception as it seems (at least this is what I interpreted from the images). First of all, this mask is the only one which is soaked in a brownish, almost creamtype essence. You have to put on the sheet mask first and wait until it dries off. I waited for almost 1.5 hours, but the mask only dried partially. Nevertheless I took it off and the feeling was a bit like using a peel-off mask. I expected a tighteing effect and it was indead tightening, especially while the mask was drying. Unfortunatelly, I had the feeling that it was too drying on my skin.

I used the ampoule after the mask in this case, hoping that it would somehow moisturize the skin after the tightening mask, but the ampoule is a very sticky, viscous and rich one with a milky color. It feels like putting liquid glue on your face and has an instant warming effect. I think it is designed this way to keep the moisture inside the skin. I don’t know if it was correct to use the ampoule afterwards, since my skin was so dry. MAybe I should have used a moisturing toner before. It even didn’t absorb that way, so I had to wash my face because I could not bear the sticky feeling.

All the other masks of the Forencos Selene Project Silk Mask Series are liquid essence masks. For the other sheet masks I first used the ampoule and added the sheet mask on top. I had no problem with the other masks and all of them were really refreshing and nicely soaked with the essence. The sheet masks themselves contain silk, as the name suggests. They are thinner than regular cotton sheet mask, but not as thin as some other maks. They didn’t dry out either. The fit of the masks was not perfect for me, but this is something which depends to your face and the shape your face has. The scent of all the masks was the same. It was quite strong and noticeable and had a soap scent. I would have loved if the scents were slightly different from mask to mask, for example that the tee tree mask smells of tee tree oil. Unfortunatelly, because of the really rich and sticky ampoule, the sheet masks leave the skin quite sticky even after they absorbed fully into the skin. But I must say that putting a sheet mask on top of the ampoule still leaves the skin better than using the ampoule on its own.

All together, I like the concept of Forencos Selene Project Silk Mask Series. It is nice to have a specific mask for each day of the week and the relation to the ancient mythology is a nice idea. I also like the idea of having a boosting ampoule before using the sheet mask. I didn’t like the ampoule in this mask series too much, because of the super sticky consistency. The warming effect it had might be good to open up pores for example, but I cannot imagine that the ingredients of the sheet mask essence can penetrate through this thick and gluey ampoule. My skin felt moisturized afterwards, but I couldn’t see any real differences between the single days although the key ingredients were supposed to be different in each mask. It would be nice to know how the sheet masks perform on their own without the ampoule for example. I hope that I can try these masks again in the future and maybe I can make some more indeep review of specific single masks of this series. This Forencos Selene Project Silk Mask Series containing 7 sheet masks retaills at the official Forencos page for around 21 US$. As far as I checked it, it wasn’t available at any other of the online stores I normally buy Korean products from.

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

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asian cosmetics beauty Born Pretty Store NOTD PR Sample review

Review: Peacock Feather Water Transfer Nail Stickers from Born Pretty Store

27. May 2015

In my last nailart I showed you the dotting pens from Born Pretty Store and how to create a simple cherry blossom nailart. Today, I’m showing you some Peacock Feather Water Transfer Nail Stickers, which I received from Born Pretty Store, too. I’m not a pro considering nailart, but I liked the peakcock feather design of these water transfer nail stickers.

As mentioned above, I received this set of double-ended dotting pens from Born Pretty Store. Born Pretty Store is an asian based online store selling very affordable products, reaching from accessoires to make-up and beauty products. They have a super huge amount of all kinds of nailart products and tools. This Water Transfer Nail Sticker is available in different patterns. Butterflies and flowers are also available for this specific product number. Each sheet contains 20 stickers, so you can use it twice. The feathers have different sizes, so you can put the larger stickers on your larger nails, like thumbs, and the smaller ones on the other fingers.

As you might know by now, I’m pretty obsessed with red nails and lips, so I tried the decalls on my red painted nails. I’ve used one coat of Etude House Play Color Nails Polish in shade 52. afterwards, I added a sticker on each nail and sealed it with top coat. Here is the result:

The peacock feather design is really pretty, but it doesn’t show off nicely on darker nail polish shades. I would advice you to use sheer nail polish, although I would have loved to see the design on red nail polish, too. You can get this Peacock Feather Nail Art Water Decals Transfer Stickers for 0.99 US$ per sheet from Born Pretty Store. I think it is super affordable! You can also use the promotional code KBX31 for 10 % discount on your order. They do offer free international shipping by the way. I think these water decals are worth a try, they are cheap, long lasting and they have a lot of different styles available at BornPrettyStore. I will definitively check out some more.


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 fashion contact lenses fashion Lensvillage PR Sample

Review: LensVillage The Dolly Eye Candarae ML5 Lenses

22. May 2015

I should have written this review of The Dolly Eye Candarae ML5 lenses in brown much earlier, but my eyes were a bit sensitive recently (due to spring time) and so it took me a bit longer. Finally, here is my review for these lenses, which were kindly send to me by LensVillage.

I wear my regular contact lenses a lot, so my eyes are in general used to wear contact lenses. Some words about my eyes in advance: My prescription is -0.25 and -0.5, which is why I choose plano lenses mostly, because these small steps of prescription are usually not available for fashion lenses. Also, my eyes have astigmatism, which is the reason that lenses which are not adjusted to my base curve might feel uncomfortable more quickly than for normal eyes.

I received these lenses from The Dolly Eye from Lensvillage. The lenses came in the typical vials, together with a buisness card and an animal lens case. I got the lenses without prescription. The vials are really cute in their design, because of the colors and the hearts on the labels. And I love this hippo lens case ♥

You can find the description of The Dolly Eye Candarae ML5 lenses >>here<<. They are also available in other colors like blue, grey, green and violet. Here are the properties for the lenses:

Diameter : 14.5 mm
Water Content : 38%
Base Curve : 8.6 mm
Life Span : 1 Year Disposal

Here are my thoughts on The Dolly Eye Casndarae ML5 Lenses:

Design:

The rose pattern all over the lenses is very special and pretty. I had hoped that the pattern would be visible on my eyes, but unfortunately my eyes are too dark. I would have loved if the color of these lenses would have been brighter and more visible on my eyes.

Comfort:

These lenses are quite comfortable, since they are not overly large. I can wear them some time, before my eyes get tired. Probably, on eyes with normal base curve these are very comfortable.

Enlargement:

It has a visible enlargement, but nothing too huge and unnatural. I think this is a good size for people with naturally larger eyes.

Shipping:

Shipping was quick, but it was stuck in the customs this time. If you get standard shipping it will take 3-4 weeks. This is not the fastest shipping I experienced with standard shipping, but neither the slowest. The lenses were packed securely in bubble wrap plastic and they came with a cute animal shape lens case ♥.

Below you will find some pictures on how the lenses look on my eyes:

All in all, these are nice lenses. I the pattern would have been more noticeable they would be great for cosplay, but since the pattern almost dissolves with my natural eyecolor it looks surprisingly natural.

You can find The Dolly Eye Candarae Lenses at Lensvillage for US$ 19.50 >>LensVillage<<.

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 www.lensvillage.com, which doesn’t influence me in providing my honest opinion on the products.

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asian cosmetics beauty PR Sample review Wishtrend

Review: I’m from Honey Mask

20. May 2015

I’m a fan of all forms of masks: sheet masks, gel masks, packs, massage packs, wash-off masks, leave-on masks, DIY masks…and all these other great deep treatments for your skin. When I heard about the I’m from Honey Mask I was directly temped to try, but I hesitated to buy one of these. After a while the I’m from Honey Mask started to become super popular and it seemed to be appearing everywhere. When Wishtrend offered a sponsoring opportunity for their affiliates I was participating right away and luckily I was selected to review this mask. Unfortunately, the mask kept being out of stock due to popular demand and I didn’t receive the mask until around three weeks ago and I’m loving it since the first time I tried it!

I’m from is a Korean brand with the motto “a good cosmetics with a good ingredient”. They are using natural ingredients in their cosmetics and want to be honest and quality provider. They have three promises to their customers, being 1. open composition, which means known ingredients, 2. Honest Farm, meaning honest ingredients with true origin, and 3. being free of harmful chemicals. The I’m from Honey Mask is packed in a cardboard box with a simple design. The paper has the pattern of honey combs imprinted, which is a cute idea. If you look closely (or click and enlarge) you will see the pattern on the cardboard box.

The description on the box is written in Korean only, but you can find very detailled English description on Wishtrend. So what is so special about this mask? Since honey has been one of the trends lately in Korea, there were released quite a bunch of honey containing products. The I’m from Honey Masks points out, that it differs from other honey containing products in the point that it contains 38.7 % of real herbal honey from Jiri Werl-peyung vill. In contrast to other products using honey essence, this product uses real honey as a whole ingredient. That means 38.7 % is real honey, which means three tablespoons honey per each I’m from Honey Mask jar (120 g). 61.3%, that means the other parts of the masks are ingredients which help the honey to better add its nutritions to the skin. These ingredients are Lotus Water, Macadamia Oil, Beeswax, Sophora extract, snail slime filtrate, jojoba seed, sunflower seed oil, grapefruit extract, bamboo water and so on. Below you can see a full list of the ingredients including their safety. You can also look up the ingredients on COSDNA >>here<<.

If you are curious about the Korean description you can enlarge the below image to have a closer look at it.

The mask itself comes in a glass jar and looks like the jars you get when you buy honey. The I’m from Honey mask looks like those thick and sugary honeys, rather than the clear liquid honeys. Since most of the products are natural the ingredients might separate after a while. When I opened my jar for the first time I observed this separation, but after stirring it, the consistency becomes homogenous again.

The I’m from Honey Mask comes with a spatula to scoop the mask out of the jar and it has a plastic lid separating the lid of the jar with the product. Unfortunately, the plastic separator is not closing very densly, which is why my mask was leaked out a bit, when it arrived. Since the mask has a honey consistency it is also similar sticky (because of the sugars) to honey and it was a bit of annoying to clean it up.

The color of the I’m from Honey mask is golden, with a creamy consistency. As said before it is similar to honey and therefore has a sweet honey scent and it quite sticky. Since it is a wash-off mask the stickiness is important, because it helps the mask to stay on your face instead of dripping down the whole time. After washing off the mask (I recommend lukewarm/warm water) the skin feels very moistuized and glowy and really super soft and nourished. Below you can see a swatch on my hand, and how the product looks once spreaded in a thick layer. after washing it off (I used it for around 10-15 minutes here) the skin on the right side of my hand looks much more healthy and glowy than the other side. A very light and pleasant honey scent remains on the skin, too, and upon touching the skin you will feel the difference between the skin where you used the honey pack and the untouched skin. It feels like you’ve used a good hand cream and makes the skin very smooth in these areas.

I also heard that honey has good anti-inflammatory properties and reduces redness of the skin. It has been used in ancient times, by the pharaos in egypt for example (one of cleopatra’s beauty secrets maybe?!). I luckily don’t have too bad skin at the moment, but nevertheless I can show you how the mask effects the skin in my face after using the pack for around one hour. The longer you wear the mask the more you can benefit from the ingredients inside. You can click on the image below to view it enlarged. My skin is more of the dry type, although as summer comes closer it tends to be normal (that means oilier) on the T-zone for example. My cheeks are regulary the driest parts of my face, so I show them below. I don’t have much of redness at the moment, only a few small dots, but nothing too grave. After washing off the mask you can see that the skin looks more healthy and glowy. It is noticeably softer when touching it and the skin feels less dull and firmer.

I would love to know how people with more troubled skin experienced this mask. For dry skintypes this one works magic. By the way, the longer you wash it of the less glowy the effect is, because you wash off the oils. So if you are concerned about oilyness I can recommend you to simply wash it off longer.

Honestly, I’m obsessed with this mask. I love the touch of the skin afterwards and it is the perfect pampering for dry skintypes. The scent is super lovely and makes it really tempting to eat the product. For dry skinned people it is definitively a must! But I think it has a lot of benefits for troubled skintypes, too, because of the known anti-inflammatory effects of honey for example (if anyone has made such experience feel free to leave a comment :D). After all, I really like the ingredients used for the mask, especially since I didn’t expect it to contain snail filtrate for example. If you are allergic against beevenom or honey, or in general natural ingredients you should check the ingredients before using it and/or make a patch test. I’m sure I will repurchase it once it is finished…to be honest, I’m almost half through the mask. Luckily, I have a bunch of sheet mask reviews ahead, so I will have to stopp using the I’m from Honey Mask until those reviews are done, haha. Since the I’m from Honey Mask is so popular it is discounted on Wishtrend to 28.43 US$. You can also chose an option to get the mask together with a silicon brush for applying the mask. I used the spatula and my fingers, which works fine aswell. Check out the May promotions on Wishtrend before grabbing those. Also, keep in mind their friend-referral program: You can receive a 5 Us$ referral coupon if you use my invitation code 17939205 upon registration and you’ll receive this voucher immediately.There will be a specific field in your registration form called “friends invitation program” where you can put the code mentioned above. This way new customers can safe 5 US$ which is a great possibility to safe some money. And if you have a blog/vlog yourself you should check out Wishtrend’s affiliate program! They are offering monthly sponsoring opportunities for their affiliates.

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