Holika Holika - Apple shine scrub soda

Holika Holika - Apple shine scrub soda                                                                                             

                            

Price: 8,500 won ($8.50)

Holika has an assortments of scrubs, and most of them look really boring.... I am such a packaging whore. Seduced by the pretty or new.

I can't remember why I bought the Apple shine scrub soda.... It certainly wasn't for the packaging, which looks almost as boring as stuff here in the west.

Has anyone else noticed the inconsistent packaging and style of Holika holika? There website pretty clearly defines their style, but.....
I haven't noticed it with other companies, has anyone else?

On to the scrub- The apple shine scrub is a scrub. It comes in a very generous tub.  (tee hee, that rhyme was accidental...)
The scrub is very odd. It's basically moist baking soda.... Which makes sense since it is a Scrub "soda". I've never used baking soda as a facial scrub. 

                               

Does anyone know if baking soda is supposed to have special properties for cleansing? I love baking soda toothpastes.
Having never used a baking soda scrub, I'm not sure if I can accurately access it. I found it bad. Oh so bad!
It's really rough, I think too rough for the face. It's textured like baking soda with a bit of water added, and it has no scent! It says apple in the name, but I can't detect any apple.

It is a very rough scrub, so it does exfoliate well, my face feels very smooth afterwards. 

In the end, I will never buy this again. It's not worth it at all....

Etude house - Peach Beam blusher

Etude house - Peach Beam blusher

                          

The whole peach line from Etude house is WONDERFUL! But sadly it only contains a handful of items. This is the newest addition, a two tone blusher. The style is very similar to a lot of companies in Korea, a lot of eyeshadows and blushes are showing up in this crescent moon shape. In fact I adore the similar looking eyeshadows from Holika Holika.

I can't be certain, since it does not say on the package, but I am fairly certain it is a BAKED blush. It has the mounded shape, and the texture of a bake powder.

The blush comes in three choices.  I picked #3 Peach beam.

It contains 2 colors, a peach toned pink and an orange ( contrary to the name this half is more orange then peach.)

Swatches- The middle is the two colors blended!

Both colors are very pearly, which I find weird since the lighter color is meant to be a highlighter(in which case it makes more sense for the blush to be matte, or at least less pearly.... Don't you think?) 

Not only is it pearly but it's sparkly too! It has tiny golden sparkles. It is definitely a very Young looking blush!

I am willing to bet that this alone would put off a lot of you reading this.  But the truth is the colors are lovely! They are soft, and beautifully coordinated, the  blush is soft and fine, and of medium strength.

So really, I think it's very wearable. Especially since blush is usually very subtly applied. I feel that with a light hand, The Peach Beam blusher is lovely. It's warming, and softening, and just gives a face light.

I adore this blush, I really should have picked up all three colors...

As you can see the blush is pearly, but the sparkles are barely noticeable. It can be lovely and subtle!

Holiday Nails

My holiday Nail look!

I used Holika Holika - white

Konad special polish - red and green

Konad plate - M65

What do you think?

Love Balm –in Rose – Nature Republic

Love Balm –in Rose – Nature Republic

Love Balm. Sounds dirty J

It’s so not *sigh*. So for all of you readers who were hoping for another sort of review, well I guess you are going to have to look else where.

The Love Balm is a potted lip gloss by Nature Republic.  I’ve be wavering between curiosity and dislike with Nature Republic. I so often find their products boring and lack luster.  Which with all the wonderful and exciting things in the Korean beauty care world, means I generally don’t buy.

But since Nature Republic replaced my favorite little Etude house shop, sometimes I would wander down there when I was bored.

When I am bored, I spend money on things I don’t need. Is there anyone out there like that???

Anyway, this lip balm comes potted, without an applicator. I have come to hate potted lip glosses.  Mostly because it gets under my finger nails, and I then need to wash my hands.

But, I love the scent. It smells exactly like the Moroccan Rose facial spray, which for ages was the ONLY thing from NR that I liked! This also means, if you don’t like rose scents, or potent scents, this is not for you.

I don’t think Korea has become aware of the fragrance free trend, everything seems to be LOADED with scent!

But personally, I love it.

The lip gloss base is nice, It’s thick smooth, and minimally sticky. It is certainly a balm rather than a gloss. I haven’t found it to be exceptionally moisturizing. In fact it’s a pretty average, pretty basic balm.

I do like it, I use it every night as a lip treatment, after using my rose toothpaste, before using my Rose Mask….

I’m a bit rose obsessed at the moment.

For you, I f you are looking for a nice basic balm, and like rose, great. This is the one for you, between that and the inexpensive price, it’s a good buy.

If you have to import it, or are expecting miracles, then this would be a….. pass!

Etude House- First snow Ice cotton Toner

Etude House- First snow Ice cotton Toner

STRANGE!!!

Alright, so this is the weirdest thing I’ve ever encountered while make-up/skin care buying. Even in Asia, this is bizarre!!!!! So, if you’ve been reading my blog,  then you will know, I HAD to buy it!

Seriously, I was compelled.

So what it is, is a toner.  It comes in a tall thin aerosol type can. It was part of Etude house’s very small first snow line out for the summer.

It might seem backwards to have ‘first snow’ items be part of the summer line, but the premise is the products are cooling. So it makes perfect sense…

The ice cotton toner is just that, a toner. It’s based on the traditional way of applying toner, putting the product on a cotton ball, then applying it to the face.

This takes it to a whole other level. Did you notice the word cotton in the name? That’s because the cotton ball is in side the can! You press down, and out shoots a white stream of cotton ball!! It looks like white silly string, but feels like cotton.

You are supposed to spray it in a circular motion, and make your very own cotton ball!

It’s sooo weird.

Plus, the whole thing is cooling!

And once you are done toning, most of the cotton ball has completely disappeared.

Of course, it never  completely disappears. You are always left with a small little piece of lint to be tossed out.

I really like this toner. It’s odd, but fun to apply. The toner itself is actually really light, and really cooling.

So if you have a chance to pick some up, I really recommend you do. I had a lot of fun!

Holika Holika Aqua jelly Trio!

Greetings Bloggers!

I’m Back officially!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It took me a while to get here, I am no longer in Korea, and am now in the possession of a new Laptop, with which to blog.

But as exciting as all this is, here is My first post.

With a little bit of the peculiar from Holika Holika!

 For the summer season(2010) Holika Holika released a new line called Aqua Jelly.  The colors and look, bright pastels, all done in cheap plastics, did not suit the style of Holika Holika at all. But then again, Holika Holika has tons of stuff that doesn’t suit the witchy, border line gothic style.

The selling feature of the whole Jelly line is awesome, its all about moisture J. I personally have dry skin (ugh which is s so irritating). So a line of moisture enhanced beauty products, sounds good to me!

But does anyone else think it’s a bit odd for them to be releasing a moisture line for the summer? Don’t most brands do that for the winter?

The line included, foundation and highlighters in jello type molds (cute and different). I tested the foundation out, and it’s lovely, it smooth, and the texture is quite unlike a jelly, but it is very moist . I really wanted it, but the lightest of the two shades was WAY too dark for me. And the highlighter was far to similar to other highlighters I have to justify bothering….

Lip glosses, in totally boring cheap looking packaging.

And this thing…. The Aqua petit Jelly – Triple kit.

I was shopping at the new Holika Holika store in Ulsan(korea) with a friend, and I came across the triple kit in a display. I picked it up, tested it on the back of my hand, and was suitably puzzled.

What in the world is it for?

So of course I had to immediately buy it and find out!

What it is, is an eye cheek and lip kit.

It has three products, purple sparkly, peach sparkly,  and green gloss.

And when you mix the purple and the peach, you get pink.

So you can where these products anywhere. The purple and the peach can be applied directly onto the eyelids as a cream shadow, or on the checks as a blush. The green gloss, is meant to go on the lips. When applied alone, it applies clear, or when applied in combination with the other colors, it goes on colored.

The little tube at the top of the case, is a double ended sponge applicator.

So, what do I think of the kit?

It’s stupid.

Here are the colors swatched. The colors are accurate(My skin is currently really pale...)

After the three colors, the shiny bit, is the gloss...

The purple and peach colors are boring and weak. The texture doesn’t work well as an eye shadow at all. It’s better as a blush, but still very weak.  They are creamy but dry, very much like other bad cream eye shadows I have tried, and they dry out, with a tendency to clump. The gloss itself isn't glossy, it's more like lip balm.
And the colors mixed with the gloss are too dry to be a gloss.

The whole kit seems like something you get for kids. You know the kind, with magic makeup that changes color, and is easy to wash off…

What a waste!