Most Loathed products of 2010

Most Loathed products of 2010

Living in Korea, buying things can be hit and miss. I don’t speak enough Korean to read all of what’s on a label, or to ask many questions about an item. So often I buy things that really don’t work out.  But honestly, I have been far more successful buying skin care and makeup here, in Korea, than I ever was back home.

Honestly, I find Korean Makeup and skin care to be of better quality, more inventfull, and just generally more awesome.  But there were a number of products that didn’t just suck, items that I truly hated.

 Nature republic – Eau de Shine

 What in the world this is? I don’t know. I thought when I bought it, it was a blush. It just looked so pretty.

The four colors are bright, vibrant and interesting!

It’s not a blush. It’s not pigmented enough. It turns almost white on the skin. 

Which made me think it might be a finishing powder. But if it is, it sucks. 2 of the colors are sparkly, very sparkly. So it’s far too sparkly to be a finishing powder, plus it does have some pigment, and looks odd.

Worst of all, the price I paid 16,900 won (almost $17!!!!!!). *SIGH* it was such a depressing waste. Plus, they have now repackaged the same product in a new box. Don’t be fooled! It still sucks!!!!!!!

The second worst nail polish ever!

The face shop - Triple finish 

This nail polish looks gorgeous in the bottle, chunky shimmery flakes at the bottom, a layer of pink, then a layer of clear.

I wasn’t precisely sure what it was. It came in a box, that proclaimed at the top Triple finish.

So I suspected it was a top coat.

I brought it home,  shook it up, and tested it out. It went on very clear, with a hint of shimmering flakes. So I was certain it was indeed a topcoat, there wasn’t enough pigment to be a polish.

I did 3 coats, I really liked the shimmer, and I wanted it to show.

I went to bed, my nails looked lovely in the morning, shimmery with a touch of pink. Then I went off to work the next morning.

It wasn’t until lunch time I noticed something, my finger nails looked funny. All dark and grey.

I went to the bathroom and washed my hands.

It wouldn’t come off. The dirt and grime of working with kindergarten kids had attached to the nail polish. Turning my nails grungy and grey (they looked like lint).
They looked SO Dirty! It was gross. And, worse, it wouldn’t come off!!!!!!!!

The nail polish is so weird. It isn’t smooth or slick at all, so all the dirt attaches to it, then won’t come off.

I removed all the nail polish immediately when I got home.

Yuck.

Skinfood – Carrot Cleansing oil

This is the first product from skinfood I have ever truly disliked.

It’s a cleansing oil, as you might have guessed by its name. It even does an excellent job at cleansing, removing make-up cleanly and thoroughly.

But, it’s terrible none the less. I made the mistake of using it to remove my mascara. I find oil makeup removers usually do a much more thorough job of removing makeup than anything else, and are my preference for removing Majorica Majolica. But the carrot cleansing oil stings, and makes my eyes red for days. Ugh it’s horrible.

But, I admit, my eyes can be sensitive to make up removers. So I continued to use the carrot cleansing oil on my face, just not around the eyes. For the eyes I use the WONDERFUL eggplant eye makeup remover by skinfood. But after a few days, I noticed my skin breaking out! It never does that!

It was the stupid cleansing oil.

And a co-worker, whom I dragged to skinfood because it is so amazing, and we bought the carrot oil together, found the same thing!!!!

The worst Nail Polish EVER!!!!!!!

Let me tell you a harrowing story. One day, excited to try out my new The Face shop polish, I failed to base coat my nails. I have ever so many polishes from the faceshop, and they have always been gentle on my nails, so that day, because I was in a hurry, I failed to base.

I covered them with a thick coat of Matte yellow. So mustardy, so modern. I was thrilled.

The finish was ok, a bit rough, and uneven, but the color was something. Wow.

I went to work, and went about teaching children English. It was lovely, until I noticed my nails chipping. Not a big deal I thought, until I looked closer. And my nails looked yellow, even where the polished had chipped off.

At the end of the day, I rushed home, cleaned off my nails, only to discover, they were bright mustard yellow. I tried everything. The color would not go away.
For months I cleaned and buffed. But in the end, I had to wait, 5 months, 5 long embarrassing months, for the color to finally grow out.

So that marks the end of my most hated items of the year.  There were many more I disliked, or wasted money on, or were just bad. But for some reason, these were the ones that bothered me the most.
I have posted full reviews of all of them.

 And I would Love to hear about your most loathed items!!!

Favorite Makeup of 2010 !!!

Favorite Makeup of 2010

Mmmmm Makeup. I think I've bought more Makeup in the past year the the sum of my entire life... Korea has such a wealth of inexpensive, but amazing make up. It felt like every time I left the house I would run into something amazing that I just had to have.

But I had a hard time making this list. My favorite skin care list was Easy. Makeup, is harder. Even though I tried lots of things, and liked many of them, a lot of them weren't things that I would go back and buy again and again.....
But there are certainly a number of amazing things I've found :)

Foundation/ BB

Let me introduce you to the BEST BB cream ever!!! It's the 'Absolute total BB' by Skin79.

It's super expensive at 29900 won($30!!), but on g-market it can be  as cheap as $9 :).

It is light, but with great coverage, super natural, makes my skin feel better after using it, has an SPF of 37 PA +++. It's AMAZING. I am almost done my second tube!


Highlighter

I'm willing to bet most of you have heard amazing things about Benefit's liquid highlighter (high beam and moon beam). I myself thought it sounded so good, I bought it. It's true, It's lovely. But this, Lime secret shine base by skinfood is SO much better! For one thing, it's huge, 30g compared with High beam at 12g(.45oz)
For another, Skinfood lime shine base costs only $7 less than 1/2 the price of Benefit's($24)!
Plus it has a more liquid consistency (easier to blend), looks more natural, comes in 3 colors, and smells lovely.
I use it every day, I mix a little into my BB foundation, and I get SO many compliments on my skin. I have bought all 3 colors, and doubles of those.... It's SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO Awesome!


Eyeshadow

It's skin Color play trio

I had a lot of trouble picking out a favorite eyeshadow this year. I found lots of nice ones, ones I liked. But some how all of them were less than exceptional. But then I remembered this BEAUTIFUL eyeshadow that I bought at It's skin. This gorgeous baked trio that was so smooth, so fine and blended so beautifully. It broke after I had used it maybe twice, then I couldn't it in stores... :(


Mascara

Holika Holkia -Enamel Magicara

For a long time Majolica Majorica has produced my Favorite mascara's. Their Mascaras are always exceptional. But Majolica is Japanese, and I have been living in Korea.
So when I encountered this mascara by Holika Holika, that looked freakisly similar to my fav from Majolica, I was sold.
And while the brush style is different, the mascara is exceptional. Big full lashes, long lasting, and not quite as hard to take of as Mojolica's.
It's a winner.

Lip tint

Etude House's Fresh Cherry Tint

When I was young, and I first got into make up, I thought lip tints were amazing. But as I got older I began to notice how immature the results were, how patchy, the colors odd, few choices, and a funny taste. 
The Fresh Cherry tint is beautiful, creamy, goes on evenly, has a lovely color (there are 3 options) and generally looks nice!


Nails

Face shop nail polish

Finally, my favorite nail polish.  There isn't just one..... Korean nail polish is cheap, good quality and comes in a million colors. It is an addiction.
Shown is one of my favorites, a subtle gold glitter(who would have thought), that is subtle and work appropriate. It just always looks beautiful!


So, that's it for my favorites of 2010, but coming up next, my MOST HATED products of 2010. Disasters, wastes of money and break outs galore!