Beauty of Joseon Relief Sun : Rice + Probiotics | Review

I haven’t been that into sunblock until I discovered more moles growing on my face and concluded it could be due to sun exposure after watching videos on Youtube. At that time, I didn’t see the need for sunblock and just went out bare faced, especially when I was lazy to put on any makeup. 

The first sunblock I started using was the Krave Beauty Beet the Sun, I repurchased this product and used it for quite a while (product has since been discontinued, hoping for a new sunblock from Krave soon). The next sunblock I’ve purchased is the Biore Light Up Essence (read review here). Now, I'm using the Beauty of Joseon Relief Sun: Rice + Probiotics.  

I found out about this product as I saw some influencers and Youtubers recommending it. It looked pretty good and seemed quite affordable so I decided to buy it to try. 

Read on to find out more. 

Bioré UV Light Up Essence | Review

I haven’t been a big fan of using sunblock until recent years after learning that exposure to sun can cause additional skin problems like break outs, more moles and maybe even skin cancer in the long run. Since then, it has been an aim of mine to find a good sunblock.

The previous sunblock I was using was good but it was being discontinued due to a discrepancy in the SPF rating. I still had quite a bit left but after testing, the SPF wasn’t as high as stated which means I wasn’t getting that much protection… So I had to find another alternative sunblock fast. 

After looking around for a while, this Biore UV Light Up Essence sunblock kept popping up on my timeline. Plus, it was pretty affordable, ranging from $16 - $19. It also has SPF50+ PA++++. 

My thoughts on this product…

April Skin Real Calendula Peel Off Pack | Review

It's been a while since I've tried new beauty products! Received this product for Christmas and finally had the chance to test it out! April Skin has been promoting this product quite actively on Instagram as I've seen this product on my feed quite a few times. Most of the time it shows how well this product removes things stuck in your pores. 

After testing this product out...

Krave: Great Barrier Relief & Beet The Sun ♥︎

For the longest time, I've wanted to try products from Krave after hearing good things about their sunblock but the shipping was not very favourable. Finally, they launched their global website with more affordable shipping so I went ahead to get some products. 

Krave Beauty
Great Barrier Relief
Beet The Sun 

COSRX: Acne Pimple Master Patch & Clear Fit Master Patch ♥︎

With the increasing workload, there's also an increase of stress. With the increase of stress, there's an increased breakout rate. So for the past few months, that's exactly what I've been battling with. Without the help of these COSRX Pimple Patches, I probably wouldn't have been able to survive these breakouts.

COSRX
Acne Pimple Master Patch
Clear Fit Master Patch

The Face Shop: Herb Day 365 Cleansing Foam ♥︎

The past few months, I've been battling with rather bad skin. I'm not sure what the cause is but I suspect it could have been an allergic reaction to some new products I was using, which caused me to have itchy eyes and also dry and very itchy lips. The first thing I switched out was my makeup remover but that only stopped the itchy eyes. Finally, I then wondered if it could be the facial cleanser I was using. I then decided to try a new cleanser from The Face Shop. 

The Face Shop 
 Herb Day 365 Cleansing Foam
  Peach

Well I basically got this product on sale. Hehe. It was I think around $10 or something like that. The thing that attracted me to it was firstly the smell. Although I do know that products with scents aren't good for people with sensitive skin but so far I haven't had an issue with The Face Shop's products so I just went ahead to purchase it.

Innisfree: Wine Peeling Jelly Softener ♥︎

I recently have been trying out new skincare products. For some reason, these products are mostly from Innisfree!

Innisfree 
Wine Peeling Jelly Softener

This product was recommended by the sales personnel at the shop as I was looking for an exfoliating product. I felt that my pores were clogged and the dead skin caused the surface to be rough. So was looking for something to help with removing the dead skin and hopefully through that minimise the black heads.

Too Cool For School: Art Class By Rodin ♥︎

I'm back with another beauty post! A few months have passed (it takes me forever to complete writing a post zzz) and I haven't posted any beauty content yet. So let's get right to it! Leggo!

I have been loving these products and been using them recently. Who ever said art class was difficult?

Too Cool For School
Art Class By Rodin
Contour • Highlighter • Blush

For the longest time, this collection just had the contour but in the recent years they added on the highlighter and then the blush. I got the contour first in April 2016 before getting the highlighter and blush around October 2016. Been crazy about this collection ever since!

Thoughts

Saw this product being highly reviewed and talked about on various YouTube videos so decided to get the contour one for myself. After trying it, the rest is history! Got the highlight and the blush at the same time without much thought.

They aren't too pricey as well, costing around ₩15,000 to ₩17,000.

Each of these comes with 3 different shades. I normally swirl all three shades together and apply them. Except for the bronzer where I use the middle shade to contour the sides of my nose. 

Swatches of the 3 shades. Apologies for the out of focus photo 😝  I haven't used the highlight much but it does provide just enough of a glow when applied. Comparing the bronzer and the blush, they both have matte finishes, however, the blush definitely has more fallout as compared to the bronzer. So instead of swirling, I end up tapping to get product on my brush.

But the colour is amazing! It became my daily blush like instantly. It's a pastel peachy kind of shade which happens to suit my skin tone perfectly.

Verdict

I would definitely recommend the contour one. I can totally see why it's a best seller and everyone's hot favourite item. (Recently hit pan while I was in Korea. Headed out to get another one that day itself. Hehehe.) As for the blush and highlight, I would say it's up to personal preference. The blush may not suit everyone so you might want to test it out before purchasing. And for the highlight, it isn't as obvious or pigmented as one would hope for but it's just enough for me.

Chanel: La Solution 10 ♥︎

I recently had the chance to try out a new product as a collaboration with Female Magazine. It’s none other than Chanel’s La Solution 10! It’s a cream for sensitive skin and when I first heard of the product I was on a holiday in the UK. Due to the cold and dry climate, my skin was in quite a horrible state with dry patches and itchy red spots or white heads all around my face.

Before I talk about how has the product worked for me, let’s first talk about the product. Here’s a description of the product as written on the packaging:

Soothing and de-stressing restorative moisturizer for sensitive skin. Defense against pollution.

The name La Solution 10 came about because there are 10 ingredients in this product. These ingredients include:

Water | Vegetal Squalane | Soft Powder | Glycerin | Silver Needle Tea Extract | Shea Butter Extract | Emollent | Emulsifier | Humectant | Preservative

Thoughts

Initially when I read up on the product, I thought it would be more like a lotion but the texture is more similar to a cream. Although it’s a cream, it’s pretty easily to spread over my face. I don’t have to pump out a lot to cover my whole face. There isn’t a scent to the product, there is a faint scent but it isn’t very strong like some lotions I’ve used previously. For friends with sensitive skin, I really recommend using products without scents as something the chemicals in the scents may cause reactions.

The product comes in a bottle with a pump top, which honestly I prefer compared to a tub, as it’s so much more hygienic! Also, with a pump it’s easier to control how much product you want to use, reducing wastage. Especially with sensitive skin, it’s safer to have a pump to minimize contact with bacteria and dust.

So, I’ve been using this product since mid April and at first I thought the cream didn’t help. I’d still have pimples and some redness around my nose. Then I realised something one day at work when I was standing out in the sun, my skin no longer had those itchy red spots that would appear when the weather changed. Those spots looked like little insect bites or rashes and they really itched. If I accidentally went to scratch it, the skin will tear and it’ll become an ugly scab.

Also, the skin doesn’t peel around my nose area as often anymore. Previously, my skin would get dry rather easily even when I apply lotion. When I apply any base makeup, the dry flaky skin shows up clearly. It does not look pretty at all. So far with the La Solution 10, although it doesn’t feel moisturising like the lotions I’ve been using, it does provide enough moisture for my skin to not flake.

Verdict

As this product is for sensitive skin, I would really for the friends in this group to give this product a shot. I react to change in the weather or climate and sometimes dust. My symptoms for sensitive skin include:

• Redness around nose and cheek area
• Dry patches, flaky skin around nose
• Itchy red spots and white heads on cheeks

If you can identify with these symptoms and they occur because of pollution, stress, climatic changes, you may wish to try this product out!

Innisfree: Green Tea Balancing Skin ♥︎

A new change to my skincare routine! I think I might end up switching to all the green tea products eventually. You'll see why as you read on~ I've really grown quite fond of the Innisfree skincare products!

Innisfree
Green Tea Balancing Skin

Basically after purchasing The Green Tea Seed Cream (read review here) I really was quite impressed with its moisturising properties. I also realised that my skin was actually drier than I thought it to be. So instead of a pore reducing toner, I should go for a moisturising toner instead to prevent flaking of the skin around my T-zone.

Unfortunately, due to the lack of time, I had to send my mum to purchase this for me. I didn't know that there are a few different green tea lines. Apparently, the different green tea lines cater to the different skin types.

• Oily skin: The green tea fresh line

• Combination skin: The green tea balancing line

• Dry skin: The green tea moisture line

• Special moisturizing and nourishing care line: The green tea seed line

She had to check with me what my skin type was before making the purchase. I'm of a Dry-Combination skin type so my mum got this toner for me.

Here's a description of this product from the Innisfree site:

A moisturizing and nourishing toner with eco-friendly Jeju fresh green tea & green tea seeds
More moisturizing and refreshing than ever before!

1. Green tea extracted from fresh green tea leaves harvested on Jeju Island is rich in amino acids and minerals that help keep the skin moisturized.
2. With a water-like texture, it applies smoothly and absorbs quickly without any stickiness.
3. The natural moisturizing agent betaine, derived from amino acids, provides intense moisture for combination skin to restore the skin's natural balance.

My Thoughts

It actually caught my by surprise when I first tried to use the product. Unlike the liquid texture of previous toner I've been using (unfortunately, didn't write a review for that), this toner has a thicker, gel like texture. I was a little skeptical at first on how it would feel on my skin but it felt fine ☺ It's not sticky neither did it feel thick.

The Green Tea Balancing Skin retails for around SGD $24 for 200ml of product. It is quite reasonably priced and toners do last quite a long time. Especially for this toner, I don't have to pour a lot out onto my cotton pad, around a 10c or 20c coin size would suffice 👍🏻

The Verdict

After using this product for around a week or so, I've observed that my skin seems more hydrated. Previously, if I skip out a day applying lotion, my skin would be quite dry and my foundation would be patchy. With this toner, my skin doesn't appear dry or patchy as quickly. I can't comment if there has been lesser oil secretion as the weather is really hot right now ☹ But really, hydrated skin really makes a huge difference; lesser dry patches, lesser breakouts.

I would recommend this product for people with combination or combination-dry skin. I'm not so sure about the oily skin type, as moisturising products might cause the skin to appear oily or shiny.

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Hope that this review was useful though it was a short one. I'm really starting to switch to mostly Innisfree skincare products. Probably going to be getting the Green Tea Cleansing Foam next!

Etude House: Berry Delicious Haul ♥︎

Etude's House latest collection probably has everyone smitten. I was already deciding on what products to get even before the collection arrived in stores on 5th March 2016. Since the products were released in Korea first, I managed to do sufficient research searching for reviews before deciding what products to purchase.

So let's begin this quick haul post! I'll be doing separate reviews for these items in later posts. Many apologies that this post is going to go up so late as I was away on a holiday. Hope that it'll still be useful.

I think I really went quite crazy with this collection as you can see from the above photo. The anticipation probably built up while watching videos on the products.

1. Berry Delicious Colour in Liquid Lips

I got the colours RD305 Berry Berry Much and PK015 Berry Tropical Dream. I was deciding in between PK015 Berry Tropical Dream and PK014 Berry Cherry To Go. I went with PK015 in the end as the colour seemed more unique, more towards purple. The PK014 is more towards the pinkish orange side and rather similar to other lippies that I already own.

The colour payoff seemed quite good. That's how I ended up with two tubes. It retails for about SGD $17 for 3.5g of product. So far, it looks and feels different from the other Colour in Liquid Lips products will test it out and do a comparison in the review post.

2. Berry Delicious Fresh Cream Blusher

I don't need a new blusher but decided to try this product out after hearing about it's unique texture. Apparently people have been saying that it looks like a cream blusher but doesn't feel like it, it feels rather powdery. After testing it at the shop, the texture is somewhat in between a cream and a powder. So it probably wouldn't work with a brush. Even the sponge that comes with it is rather special. It's slightly sticky, probably catered to pick up the product. 

This product retailed about SGD $15 for 6g of product. It seems like this product might work well with the given sponge only. I tried swatching it using my finger and it really picked up quite a lot of product.

So far the few times that I've tried this product out, if you use a really light hand it shouldn't appear too thick. I think it suits my skin tone pretty well. The other two shades of blush may not suit darker skin tones as they're quite light and even fair people have reviewed that the product doesn't really appear.

3. Berry Delicious Strawberry Soufle Nail 

I got 3 colours out of the 10 shades they had. From left to right, #8, #10 and #1. I haven't tried any of these products yet but based on my experience with Etude House nail polishes, they seem to have pretty good colour payoff and they can last an average of 1 to 2 weeks with good base and top coat.

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That's all for this quick haul post. If you do have any questions about this Berry Delicious series, do not hesitate to ask! Hope you've enjoyed reading this haul post and greetings from the UK! ☺

Innisfree: No Sebum Mineral Powder & No Sebum Mineral Pact ♥︎

I don't know what's taken me so long to review this product especially since this is like the best thing out there. In fact, I'm sure most of you have already heard of this product or have this product in your makeup collection already.

It's a really popular product that was recommended by many beauty youtubers. Back then, I didn't apply powder after my foundation but since this product was highly recommended by so many people, I thought I'd give it a try when I went to Korea in 2014.

To me, these products are almost the same other than their names and pricing therefore I decided to review them together. I got the Mineral Powder in Korea and got the Mineral Pact later on when my dad visited Korea.

Here's the description for the products taken from the Innisfree website:

A replacement for oil control paper that leaves the skin soft and matte
1. The double sebum-control system controls the secretion of sebum to keep the skin soft and fresh all day long.
2. Jeju minerals and mint control skin oil and moisture to keep skin healthy.

Thoughts

As mentioned, I got the Mineral Powder first. There's 5g of product and I think I paid around ₩6,000 for it. I liked it's small packaging as it was easy to carry around unlike some other brands where mineral powders would come in big round tubs that aren't travel friendly.

The Mineral Pact comes with 8.5g of product and since my dad got it for me, I'm unsure of the price although I think it costs around SGD $16 at the local Innisfree stores.

Comparing the two products, I would say the Mineral Powder seems to works better as it is a loose powder so you are able to get more product on your face in a shorter amount of time. However, the problem with loose powders is that you do end up wasting some product in the process since you have to tap it into the cap and swirl it around with your brush.

The Mineral Pact is definitely convenient for touch ups especially if you're outside, no worry of accidentally spilling powder all over the toilet. When I'm at home, I like using the puff to pat powder over my face before using a powder brush to blend it.

I've tried using this product on my hair too. Yes, hair. Last year I had bangs and in the humid weather they always get oily. Whenever they start to show signs of oil, I would dab a bit of this product on my hair. It will absorb the oil and my bangs will be shine free. Pretty awesome right?

Verdict

This product is really like one of my daily go-to products. I definitely have to use this to end my makeup routine. The makeup isn't complete without this product. I guess due to the humid climate here, I rely on this product a lot to keep my face shine free. Even if you don't come from a humid country, this product works great as a setting powder and it feels so light and natural on the skin.

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Hope that this review was useful although I'm quite sure that most people would have heard of this product before. Nonetheless hope it provided extra information for those who haven't decided if they should purchase this product. 

Innisfree: The Green Tea Seed Cream ♥︎

The first makeup post for the year! Nothing better than to start the year with a good skincare product! I have been using this product for slightly more than a month and it's been great!

Innisfree
The Green Tea Seed Cream

I have watched many monthly favourites on YouTube featuring this product. I recommended it to my sister and she has been using this product for some time. She used this during winter and it was able to keep her skin hydrated.

Here's a description of the product from the Innisfree site:

Antioxidant-infused cream made with Jeju green tea seeds for deep hydration and nourishment. 
A moisturizing and nourishing serum containing eco-friendly Jeju fresh green tea and green tea seeds More moisturizing and refreshing than ever before! 

I finally decided to get this product after my previous moisturiser ran out. I just went ahead with this product without trying a sample first. My skin has always been quite alright since they use natural ingredients.

My Thoughts

I initially wanted to get the regular sized one but the lady at the counter recommended me the large tub as it would be cheaper. So I got the 100ml tub for around SGD $45. I didn't expect it to have the Christmas design so that was a bonus ☺

The first thing that caught my attention after applying this to my face would be the really pleasant scent and also the texture of the product. I like that it does feel rather thick but it isn't sticky and it evaporates quickly so that it doesn't feel uncomfortable at all. Especially in a humid country like Singapore, sticky lotions are a no-no for me.

I tried shaking the container and to my surprise, the cream doesn't move at all. I guess that shows how thick the formula is. It's of a pretty good texture to use in the morning before applying your makeup. Some lotions are too watery or too oily and thus not good for applying makeup on top of it. Although, I wouldn't recommend applying this on top of your eyelids before makeup as it'll cause your eye makeup to smudge easily. Then again, I do have oily eyelids, so it probably wasn't a good idea to have applied lotion there ☹

Something else I like about the green tea series from Innisfree is that it smells so good! There are some people that prefer scentless products but I do prefer products that smell pleasant. This lotion has a faint but pleasant scent which is another reason why I like it.

The Verdict

I would definitely recommend this product! It's pretty good for a basic lotion and it works well for my dry skin. I don't have to apply this every day and my skin doesn't look dry and patchy on days when I don't apply it. When my skin does get dry, apply this before bed and it'll be fine the next morning. Can't wait to see how this works in a different climate when I go on my holiday.

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Hope that you've found this review useful! There are a few new products that I'll be getting next month, can't wait! Do check out this blog for more beauty product reviews!