Review: Laniege Multiberry Yogurt Repair Pack

I've been a fan of Laniege's Water Sleeping Pack for many years now. I decided to switch it up a bit since I wanted a mask that I could rinse off before I put on my products. Since I love the Sleeping Pack, I decided to just try the Multiberry Yogurt Repair Pack.

The packaging is the same as the Sleeping Pack, a sturdy plastic tub except this is in Pink! And of course with Laniege, they provide you with a spatula for hygiene purposes.

So this pack contains Sogurty, which is a specialized fermented yogurt which promotes collagen synthesis and enhances defence ability of skin from harmful external causes to leave skin healthier and firmer. Its antiiflammatory effects also soothes skin from skin troubles, which means it'll help some of my break outs. It's supposed to soften and clear dead skin cells as well because it exfoliates the skin without you doing any of the exfoliating.

I have been warned about the super sweet smell of the yogurt. It couldn't be that sweet right I thought to myself. Oh boy, I am wrong. The moment I smelt this, I just felt like dipping my finger in and licking it. It smells EXACTLY like strawberry flavoured Pocky! It really does smell delicious. If you're not a really big fan of sweet stuff, then you might wanna pass on this.

The texture is like yogurt. A soft, satin, creamy consistency, making it really easy to spread it all over your face. Having this on my face felt kind of weird. Had to keep reminding myself not to lick the side of my mouth. It was a little oily too, but I'm pretty sure it was just the pack itself. 10 minutes later, I washed it off thoroughly with warm water. Be thorough, because it's really thick, it feels exactly like putting yogurt on your face. My skin did feel soft and smooth. I don't feel refreshed or anything like that cause it doesn't really have a cooling effect? But my skin still feels good, better than not putting on a mask you know? If you do want it to have a cooling effect, I suggest you put your products in a fridge then. I don't cause if I do, I'll forget about the product. Hah. My skin however, feels really moisturized. It does exfoliate the skin I guess! Pretty darn impressed. What I usually do is after the pack, I carry out with my nightly routine and put on the Sleeping Pack. It gives an extra oomph I guess?

I've been using this for about 2 months now, twice each week and I can't say it has made as big of an impact as compared to what the Water Sleeping Pack has done for me (Talking about them individually). I love using it don't get me wrong. My skin didn't break out or anything, my skin feels moisturized. I'm not complaining. But I think pairing them together produced much better results.

One tub is probably going to last you for a long time since each time you use it, you're just going to use about 2.5cm diameters. Would I repurchase it? Maybe. We'll see as I have a long way to go. I got mine from Qoo10 at $23.90.


Talk to y'all soon! <3

Review: Innisfree Green Tea Seed Cream

My second Innisfree product I'll be reviewing! I bought this the same time as I did with the Innisfree Soybean Extract Essence, and this was during early spring. Weather was still cold back then and I was looking for something to moisturize my super dry skin. But since summer is here, I hope this product still works for me.

I think Innisfree definitely beats the crowd in terms of packaging. And I LOVE packaging! Because Innisfree runs based on a philosophy of using only eco-friendly containers, the box they used is recyclable paper! The tub is recyclable too! Super proud of this company and what it's doing for the environment.

Innisfree believes in using natural products so this one is 100% organic green tea water from Jeju. And it's supposed to provide excellent moisturizing and anti-oxidant effects on your skin.

This cream has a wonderful scent to it. It's my favourite scent among my skin care range, and it really makes you feel really relaxed. It's texture is almost velvety, making it non-sticky making it really easy and enjoyable to apply to your skin. It really made my skin soft immediately too. The cream's consistency is kind of light but heavy as well, I don't make sense I know. Light as in your skin absorbs this really easily but heavy at the same time because it's really moisturizing. Although, I only use this at night because it seems too thick for the day especially when sunny days are ahead where my skin tends to get oily. However, during the early spring, I was still using it during the day.

My skin feels really moisturized and I haven't been experiencing any dryness or flaking. I feel like my skin has even cleared up a bit since using this. Mind you, I am still using my snail cream together with this. I must admit that this broke me out at first, but after awhile it went away and I'm really enjoying using the cream.

You can get it from Korea Depart at $19.13 or Qoo10 at $19.80 for 50ml, which is pretty reasonable for a cream seeing how it'll last you for 4 to 5 months.


Also, Merry Christmas guys!!!! Toodles.

Review: Laniege Water Sleeping Pack EX

This is Laniege's BEST SELLING PRODUCT and I don't know why I haven't written a post about this. I've been using this for 2 years now and I AM STILL ABSOLUTELY IN LOVE WITH IT. During the drier seasons, especially winter, my skin dries out and it flakes if I don't moisturize enough.

The Laniege Water Sleeping Pack takes care of that. I first started using this end of 2012 and I just started getting into Korean skin care products (the influence of Kdramas tsk tsk). This is the first product I bought actually and I never stopped using it since then. This is my Holy Grail and I don't think I can ever go without this anymore.

The packaging is in a dusty blue sturdy plastic tub, and it comes sealed. Laniege is kind enough to provide a spatula for you hygiene freaks out there. I just turn the closed tub upside down so the product sticks to the lid and I use the product on the lid. To be honest, I'm quite lazy to use to spatula since I'm using the product almost every day.

The Sleeping Pack is of a aqua blue/green gel-like consistency. Apparently the colour may differ depending the harvest of the ingredients such as the rose oil. The gel is really light and is really easy to spread it over your skin and it doesn't have that sticky feeling like most moisturizing products have.

The smell is wonderfully pleasant. Not overpowering, but a very nice relaxing type of scent you would want to smell at the end of the day. The aromatic essence is developed by Amore Pacific known as the Sleepscent. It apparently helps to relax your mind and body to promote good sleep. Sleepscent comprises of essential oils from Orange flower, Rose, Ylang Ylang, and Sandal Wood. Laniege encourages you to dab the some product on your face and just enjoy the smell before evenly spreading it out. Once you spread it out, the smell kinda disappears.

I apply a pretty generous amount of the sleeping pack covering my entire face as my last step to my skin care routine and I spray Avene Eau Thermale Spring Water to seal the moisture in. This is perfect because I don't need to worry about washing it off until the next morning when I start my day. What I love so much about the product is how cooling it is when you put it on your skin. It makes my skin feel so refreshed which will definitely help soothe any red or aggravated areas.

The next day, I wake up to a brighter, softer, moisturized face. Washing it off feels like you're washing a layer of goo off, nothing disgusting. It feels refreshing in fact. I proceed with my daily routine after that. I love how my skin feels every morning after I use the sleeping pack.

Laniege recommends to use it once or twice a week, but they encourage to use more the recommended amount when your skin is particularly dry. My skin is super dry during winter so I use it almost everyday then. When summer comes up, I use it once every two days depending on how my skin is. Sometimes when I get sunburnt, I use this at night just to cool the skin down on top of my aloe vera gel. Or when I feel like my skin is stinging from a product I used, I apply this to calm my skin. Or when I find that my skin is really red during the day because I did something stupid like exfoliating my skin a little too hard the night before, I use this to cool down. There's no precise usage of how many times you should use it, I say just use it when you need it or feel like it.

It never broke my skin out in the 2 years I've used it. It still remains my Holy Grail to this day and I really don't think I can ever leave this out of my skin care routine. I never had flaky skin till this day. I've recommended to a few of my friends and those who have sensitive skin also never complained about anything. Basically, everyone I know that uses it raved about the product.

One tub lasts me about 6 months since I use it very frequently, but it'll last you about 10 months if you use it as recommended. Repurchase? I'm currently on my 5th tub LOL. I always get mine from Qoo10 at $18.70.


Toodles!

Review: Innisfree Soybean Energy Essence

I've been wanting to give Innisfree a shot since I've been hearing about so many wonderful products they have. Plus, Yoona is the ambassador, I kinda got sucked in.

First product I decided to purchase was the Soybean Energy Essence. I've been looking for something to use in the morning since I don't really want to use my Estee Lauder Advance Night Repair Serum during the day.

It says that the essence is made of 91% of fermented Jeju's indigenous green beans which helps to create healthy and vital skin. Other ingredients include, Japanese apricot extract, oat kernel extract, lotus extract, adenosine. Adenosine helps with preventing wrinkles, increases blood flow to the outer layer of the skin which will then improve damage repair and cell volume resulting in a fuller appearance (RGCell Time Slip Solutions, 2012). And apart from that, I don't see any signs of paraben! A plus!

It's a pretty small bottle, I thought it would be much bigger after reading several reviews and the pictures on Qoo10 misled me to think that it was a pretty big glass bottle. When it came in the mail, I was surprised to see the packaging LOOKED like it was glass but it was actually a plastic bottle. I think it's perfect for traveling though.

The essence had a really faint, sweet smell. A few drops onto your hands or cotton pad would suffice for your entire face. I usually like patting products directly onto my face instead of putting them on a cotton pad cause I feel it's wasting the product. Sorta sticky, like how an essence/serum would normally be. I would then continue with my creams and everything else after.

I didn't notice anything within the first few days. I broke out though after 2 weeks. A little history on my skin, I break out easily. I wasn't too sure if it was the stressful period during exams or it was my menstrual cycle or the food. I decided to stop using it for a bit. One month later, I started using it again  for about 2 to 3 weeks. And...I broke out again. I stopped again and I stopped breaking out. Yeah, it was probably the cause of my break out.

I was quite disappointed though. I really liked it. The consistency, smell and everything else. And reading so many other reviews about this, they all loved it. Maybe I'll try it again but I'm currently testing out other products, which I can't wait to share it with all of you!

Korea Depart is selling it for $33.48 for the 150ml whereas Qoo10 is selling for $19.80 for 80ml.


Toodles!

Review: Jaminkyung Crema Caracol Snail Cream

I've been using snail cream ever since I discovered it, and all this while I've been using Mizon All in one snail cream. But recently, my friend visited Korea and decided to buy me a bottle of snail cream cause it reminded him of me >. > He randomly picked one out of the hundreds of cosmetic brands.

I'm obviously going to compare this with the Mizon one, so bear with me.

Crema Caracol has about 90% snail mucus extract (Mizon is 92%). It contains other ingredients such as lanolin and caviar extract and EGF (epidermal growth factors). I'm not too sure if it has paraben in it, but seeing how it doesn't state it as a main ingredient, I guess not or maybe, I don't know. But I'm not too bothered about it. I always joke that my skin needs its paraben to look good. Lol. Oh, did I mention that it is Hypo-allergenic too! That means those of you who have sensitive skin will be happy to use this!

I can't show you guys the original packaging it came in, cause it was all squished when it was given to me and it was all in Korean anyway, so I had to gather my information through their website. The tub is plastic and pretty light. I've carried it around with me when I travelled and it seems to always leek out. Probably because it's so runny, it leaks through. My advice is to just pack it into another small bottle when you travel to avoid the risk of spilling it everywhere.

The cream is not really a cream, more like a runny, sticky substance. It's certainly more gooey than the Mizon one. I wasn't quite used to it at first. The smell was pleasant, but it was a little too pungent for me at first. I got used to it.

In the beginning, it was a little too sticky for my liking. But, the cream absorbed right into my skin the moment I pat it on. Remember, pat it onto your skin for the best results! The after feeling felt kind weird cause it felt like I didn't have enough on my face because it was such a thin layer.

I did break out when I started using it, but like my previous experience with Mizon, I was pretty sure it was bound to happen. My skin healed over time and break outs have been minimal. It gives the same effect, less break outs, faster healing of the break outs and acne scars. Well, comparing Crema Caracol with Mizon, I think Mizon wins on the after results. Mizon will always be my first love. I'm still using this one until I finish it though!

Would I repurchase it? Yes, if Mizon doesn't work out for me anymore or if Mizon discontinues their own line.

So since this was given to me, I'm not sure how much it is but Korea Depart it's $15 for 60ml. It's definitely cheaper compared to the Mizon (80ml). For my fellow Malaysians and Singaporeans, Qoo10 is selling it for $12.90. 

That's all for now, toodles! <3

Review: Mizon Snail Cream

With the very first post of the new year, number one resolution on my list is to update this blog more often with more awesome products!

Very first thoughts when I first read about snail creams (if you follow me on twitter, you would have seen all my rambles on it): 

- Ew. 

- Why snail? 

- Koreans, why must you find creepy things to put on your face? YOUR FACE? 

- I want to test it! Snail slime! 

- Who's bright idea was it to put a snail on the face? 

- That person must now be rich and having awesome skin. 

And after reading on how this idea developed:

- Oh, a couple of snail farmers noticed their cuts healed faster and their skin was soften after handling snails. Oh, that's nice. 

- WHY IS THERE A SNAIL FARM??? 

- oh right, escargot. 

After researching, I found out that snail creams have been around in korea for about a year already. And after several reviews on different types of brands, I decided on Mizon because it seemed to have the highest concentration of snail mucin (92%) and reviews were pretty positive on the results. Other brands like Tony Moly seemed to be quite good as well but it was mainly for cold climates cause it was very creamy. I was basically sold when Mizon had the highest concentration of snail extract amongst the other brands. 

I got it on G Market for about USD$26.89. The one I got was a All in one snail repair cream 75ml. The pictures show that it's filled up to the brink but it isn't. Oh well. I know they are meant for illustration purposes only. 

I was really excited to use it even though some of my friends were grossed out by it. The cream was definitely sticky. It has a slight smell, but nothing pungent, or overpowering. I just didn't like how it's in a tub, I don't find it very hygienic. Though it's made out of glass, making it seem quite professional, nice move Mizon. So what I do is I shake the tub so some cream gets stuck to the lid, and I use the product from there instead of digging my fingers in.


Day 1: Skin feels soft and hydrated. I hope this continues.

Day 2: Breaking out a little. Read that it might happen. Hopefully my skin gets better with it removing the toxins from the skin and all. Im going to let it do it's thing.

Day 3: Breakouts are healing!!!

Day 4: I've never seen a pimple heal so fast. 2 days? So awesome. Maybe I breaking out because of the late nights.

Day 5: Breaking out some more. I don't know if it's the late night sleeping or the cream. Sigh.

So after that I decided to stop. For some reason my skin started getting really dry and it started peeling. I knew it wasn't the cream but the dry weather but I just wanted to make sure my skin heals by itself first. I tried it again but my skin was breaking out, but then again I couldn't tell if it was the cream or exam stress. So I gave it to my friend to try it out. After a week, I saw her again and her skin was amazing. It was glowing and I asked if what she did. She said taping the cream onto the skin instead of massaging it in works better for absorption. But she also used masks in between.

My skin healed. Exams were over. I knew that if any problems arise, it was definitely the cream. I followed my friend's routine. Tapping it in, using My Beauty Diary masks, and just generally followed my skin routine.

After 2 weeks, I finally saw results. It was amazing!!! Results were amazing! My skin didn't break out at all. It looked fantastic in the morning, evening, all day. Even my mom said it was glowing. It looked healthy and plump every morning. Scars were healing faster, my skin looked smoother and fairer, and when pimpled came, they healed within 2 or 3 days together with my medications.

BEFORE

AFTER

No make up. Just natural face. Not photoshopped. You can definitely see the difference. Smoother skin, fairer for some reason (maybe of the different hair color), less scars, less pimples. I don't even get oily on the T-zone anymore. My skin became dry and it's much harder to take care of but the snail cream has made it easier for me to manage.

Snail creams does wonders. I LOVE IT. A definite repurchase for me. =D

I wish all of you a Happy New Year and may 2013 bring you happiness, health and prosperity. I love you all.


Toodles!