Beauty Friends - Collagen Mask

Beauty Friends - Collagen Mask
Price: Free (free gift, usually 1000won)
Beauty Friends masks are super cheap. In fact I got them as freebies from Beautiplex. A store here in Korea that sells Korean, Japanese and Western brands.
I hate beautiplex, it looks like a discount store with Department store prices. Blech.

Anyways, my experience with freebie masks is medicore. They generally aren't terrible, but they are at best barely moisturizing.

With the Beauty friends mask, I was first pleasntly surprised with teh mask size, it wasn't too big, ro two small, and though it doesn't fit my face perfectly (really odd eye holes), it fits really well.
Also, when on the mask feels thicker than many others. Which is nice, and kind of warming. Like wearing a blanket....(odd I know)
But since this helps the absorption of the essence, I really like the thicker mask!

The essence itself was nice, moisturizing, but pretty generic. On the plus side, no irritation. On the negative, no significant moisturizing.

All in all it was a great value, considering it was free :)

Skin food - Gold Caviar collagen serum

Skin food - Gold Caviar collagen serum
Price: 27000 won ($27)
Size: 45ml
If you’ve read my introduction to Skinfood, then you know that the packaging of their products is lack luster at best.
So I didn’t immediately go out and buy any large items, or anything particularly interesting. In fact, the whole brand seemed completely uninteresting to me.
But included with the small things I did buy were piles of samples.
Most were small little packets., but a few larger sizes too.
And eventually I got around to opening those little sample, and actually using their contents.
I have gotten TONS of the Gold caviar collagen serum samples. Inside each package is a clear liquid, thick and heavy, with gold flakes suspended in it.
So I tried it out.
The first time, I really liked it, after a couple of sample packages(over a number of days of course, since one sample is good for two or three uses), I fell in love.
So when my once a month payday came around, I went out and bought the $27 little bottle of Serum. And I was so impressed by the serum I also bought the $27 eye cream set (To be reviewed soon!!!!)

The full size glass bottle is gold and dark purple, with a gold cap. The caviar collagen is the most sophisticated and sleek of the Skinfood products.

The cap itself is a dropper, with the button on top, on the outside of the bottle, for dispensing.
Inside, is a milky white serum, with gold flecks. Quite different from the sample, which was clear and liquid….
As soon as I opened the bottle I was horribly disappointed. The actual product looks so different from the samples.

But it’s not as though I could return it. I used it.
The serum applies smoothly.
Unlike the serums I usually use, it doesn’t absorb cleanly into the skin. The gold Caviar serum is heavy and oil based.
It’s a very heavy serum.

Generally I hate things that don’t absorb into the skin on my face.
For this I make an exception. It makes my face soft, well moisturized, and after a few days of continued use, my skin is tighter, firmer.
In fact, after using it for a day or two, I got over my disappointment that the samples weren’t identical to the actual product, and just fell in love with the real thing.
It has become one of two serums that I use. The other being the hyluranoic acid serum, which I now us in the mornings, to allow me to use the more intensive Gold serum at night.

Oh, and as a side note, the gold flecks, though obvious in the serum itself are not visible once applied.
I don’t know where they go, but you can’t see them!

daily fresh mask - tomato white collagen

Vov Masks
Daily Fresh - Tomato white collagen

Price 2000 won (less than $2 US)

On the package :Yammy mask pack for clean and pure skin

Tomato’s fresh vitamin provides a whitening effect, and Lycopene’s anti-oxidation effect helps to provide an elastic skin like tomato’s.

 The Tomato white collagen mask,  promises a lot. Whitening, tightening and freshening.
I’m not sure about any of the claims. 

Unlike some of the Daily fresh masks, there was no tingling while wearing it.  The solution absorbed well, but left my face slightly greasier than the others. Almost as though it contains some oil. So the product did not absorb and then disappear.

The day after, there is some mild irritation around my nose. Suggestion a possible reaction. Nothing major, but my skin isn’t lovely and nice like it was the day after the Pomegranate collagen mask.

I will not repurchase this one!

vov face mask

Vov Masks

Daily Fresh - Blackbean Isoflavon

Price 2000 won (less than $2 US)

-for all skin types

On the back - Black bean’s isoflavon, which is a key ingredient for anti-oxidation, provides a vitality and nutrition to your skin , and helps to provide an elastic and healthy skin to you.

The blackbean isoflavon mask is supposed to be moisturizing and purifying. Its meant for already healthy skin, I think more for maintenance than treatment of a particular problem.

The mask itself is of good sturdy cloth, not super thin and easily tear-able like some.

The size is perfect for my face, it reaches from my forehead to my chin, and from ear to ear without any extra.

However, I don’t have a wide or large face, so for some it might be a bit on the small size. However that’s generally true with all Korean masks.

The package contains a lot of extra product, enough to scoop out and apply on the neck and above the chest.

The essence is clear, and almost gel like. It’s light, without a strong smell.

It has a slightly cool feeling when applied to the skin, even when warm.

The essence is super gentle, feels almost like aloe. It absorbs moderately well, and after twenty minutes the mask is still damp, there is extra left over (Not that you can use a face mask twice).

With this mask there were no noticeable effects. It was super gentle, and I do think it would be a good one for sensitive skin.

The next day my face was moist, but not significantly so. 

Honestly, after one use, this mask doesn’t really go either way. But since I like the daily fresh style, and it’s non-irritating, it’s worth getting, and for me getting again, to see if continued use will get real results.

 Tony Moly Caviar Skin Care

I got samples of just about a complete skin care regime.

Toner, serum, eye cream and moisturizer.

So I thought I'd give some initial thoughts...

The packaging both in the mini’s and the full size products is less than inspiring. 

That’s ok though, as much as I love beautiful things, It’s more important to me that my skin care works.

Toner - Thick almost gel like. A slightly unpleasant smell, chemical and old lady-ish, but not overwhelming.  No toned feeling.

Essence/ Serum- thick, really thick and white. Doesn’t absorb well, doesn’t make the skin feel softer, same smell. My skin actually started to burn and itch just slightly after using this.

Eye cream, thick, absorbs better. But very thick. 10 minutes late I can still feel it on

Moisturizer - same unpleasant smell, which, with all four products on I can still smell. It’s not thick, but I can still feel it on my skin. I actually applied a lot less than I do with other products, but my skin feels almost greasy.

Basically, The samples were big enough I got nearly 3 days use out of the whole line, and more from the toner and serum. But... They suck. I am definitely NOT going to buy the line, or anything from it...

Banilla co - goodnight kiss

Banilla co is definitely not a cheap brand… I haven’t found a stand alone store for it yet in Korea, but have only encountered it in department stores (never a good sign!)

Anyway, I’ve been dying to try Banilla co’s Goodnight Kiss since I read a review of it on Lotus Palace. Most lip treatments I encounter are day time treatments… or mentholated, or just plain suck.

*sigh*

When I travel my lips get super chapped, and remain dry for up to weeks after. I bought Nivea’s kiss care out of desperation. But it sucks! It barely helped at all.

My lips remained chapped even days after I had settled in here.

The remained chapped until I found Banilla co, and bought goodnight kiss.

Then poof, the morning after using, My lips were no longer chapped, no longer peeling, and completely normal.

Thank god.

The product comes in a squeeze tube, but its sooo thick its really hard to get it to come out.

I prefer a squeeze tube to a little pot for lip treatments, but in this case, the product should have been put into different packaging.

It’s not a big issue though, just irritating.

The product itself is milky white and very different than a Vaseline based lip treatment. Its smooth and silky, but the texture is different somehow.

There is almost no taste, and I can’t detect a scent.

One minor issue though, is unlike Vaseline, this stuff disappears quickly.

I presume it’s being absorbed by my lips, but sometimes you want a oil based layer to seal the outside of your lips, especially for a night time treatment.

This lead me to the discovery that the product works best when worn to bed under a layer of Vaseline.

You get the best of both worlds really.

And the combination of the two is the best lip treatment 

Face washing brush
This is my all time Favourite face tool.
It’s a soft little silicone brush. The package says “Pore-clogging debris and excess skin oil on your entire face are refreshingly dropped”
*laughs* I love that “refreshingly dropped”…
Anyways it’s designed to fit between two fingers, and it’s very comfortable to use.
It’s a huge improvement on just rubbing my cleanser all over my face.
What you do is place the cleanser directly on the brush, and wash your face, the cleanser never needs to touch your hands.

The brush is soft and super gentle, it doesn’t tug or pull at the skin at all.
Which is good, because face cloths (my previous cleaning method…) do. Cloths tend to be rough, they pick up dirt and bacteria easily.
In fact, if you use the same face cloth to wash your face a couple of days in a row (even just to rinse off…) you can get a build up of bacteria, causing acne.
*sigh* It’s happened to me, back before I knew anything about the proper washing methods…
So if you can find one of these little brushes, buy it! ( I have 4 in different colors…)          
                            

My package from alpha beauty shop came today!!!!
I ordered it on the third of August, and it arrived today the 14th. That’s precisely two weeks…
Which considering it travelled from Hong Kong to the East coast of North America is quite a trip.
Hell, I order stuff from the other side of the country and it takes longer.
So what arrived is the juju Hyluranonic acid serum, the Softmyo Q10 powder wash, the Anessa Pearly SPF 50 and the Suisai powder enzyme wash!
Some of these I’ve used before and these are only refills… But I’m still weak with excitement!
Reviews will follow shortly.

Intro

Welcome to my blog, where I rant and occasionally rave about 
various beauty and skin care products.

I have a mad obsession, join me, despise me, criticize me.... it's 
all the same.

-Mack