Tony Moly Nail star - Two way Nail art pen and brush

Tony Moly Nail star - Two way Nail art pen and brush
Price: 3000won


The Nail star nail polish is really cool. It's both a tiny pen and long thing brush. perfect for Nail art. Or at least it would be if I was any good at nail art....
It comes in two colors, black and white. I picked up the black. Mostly because tony moly was out of white when I was there.
That's fine. I'm bored of white French tips, and black is way more fun :)

The super thin long brush is designed for doing tips, or long thin lines. Since I'm not very good at doing tips, my results are... Ok. The best I could hope for really.

I like better than the brush, the teeny tiny little metal tip. With it I can do really lovely drops, and even designs. With actual successful results. (yay!) Plus, attached to the bottom of the bottle is a small metal wire for cleaning the tip when it gets clogged (which doesn't happen too often).

The black polish is thicker than regular polish. But it's also really weird. It's kind of like black tar, and I have to be really careful with it. It's incredibly staining. If it get in on my cuticles, or the skin on my fingers, they will remain stained for days.... Even when applied over polish and a base coat this stuff will sink though and stain my nails. It's really intense.  And these stains will not rub off with regular nail polish remover....


I will not be buying this nail art polish again. I really love the bottle, the brush and tip. But I do not like the polish inside!

Tony Moly- Backstage self smoky eye collection.

Tony Moly- Backstage self smoky eye collection.
Price: 14500won ($14.50)

Ah, I have a fetish for packaging. Mini things, or  travel sizes, or multiple items, or compartments. That's the sort of thing that makes me snatch up the most un-necessary things.

The Tony Moly Backstage self smokey eye collection is a black cream eyeliner, with two baked (i think) shadows, and a brush, all in one sleek compact.
And since I ADORE cream eyeliners, and smoky looks, I had to buy this!

Luckily for me, the eyeliner, while you basic black cream is lovely. It's NOT the perfect balance between wet and dry. More dry creams are longer lasting, whereas wetter/looser cream shadows are easier to apply(dry ones clump and flake sometimes.) it's not the Best cream eye liner I have, it's too creamy, too wet. It tends to smudge.      Of course all creams do when first applied... But this one never really dries down.  So I can smear my eyeliner half way through the day. That just sucks.
But tony Moly liner is smooth, deeply pigmented and lasts quite well. As long as I don't rub my eyes, or I set it with a bit of shadow, it's fine. And really, I'm picky about my creams, and it's not actually bad.

The shadows above, are in dark brown and taupe. The box didn't claim baked, but other than the name, there was no English on the box, so I can't be sure.
The colors are lovely, if on the cool side. The create a nice natural look. Both are pigmented, with a nice shimmer.
The eyeshadow's are really nice quality. They aren't flakey, or dry, they apply smoothly and last well. Generally to the end of the work day.
The price is a lot for an eyeliner and eyeshadow here in Korea.  Eyeliners are usually between 8and 10, and bake eyeshadow around 7-10, but considering the liner is half the size of my Etude house liner, and the eyeshadow is less than half the size of the baked trio from face shop....  It seems like a bit much.

All in all I really like this little set. It's a nice 'collection' great for a clean professional look.  But for the price, and the quality, it's more of a gimmick that a worthwhile buy.

Tony moly peach hand cream

Tony Moly - Peach Hand cream
Price: 4500won ($4.50)

When I bought this, I didn't know what it was.... I know that the Tonymoly tomato is brightening and the Apple is a peel, so I figured since the peach smelled good it must be something lovely.
Tonymoly is a brand here in Korea that I haven't really gotten into yet. Mostly because the products have little to no English on them....
The Peach, has nothing at all in english.
When I'm out shopping, it's hard to be enticed by something without knowing what it is.... I tend to be drawn to brands like skinfood and etude house which offer a little bit of information.
(I totally get that I'm in Korea, and I don't expect there to be English on everything, or anything really. I don't fault a brand for being all in it's native language, it just makes it harder for me to buy stuff.)

Anyway, I found out once I brought the Peach home, it is a hand cream.
Apparently it is both Anti-wrinkle and whitening; containing vitamin C, peach and apricot extracts.
It's random that hand creams are anti wrinkle... But it can't hurt... right?
The hand cream is thick, with a yellow/cream color and a strong peach scent.
the smell is nice, part really peach, with a slight tinge of fake/chemical. I really like it.
The cream texture is smooth and lovely. It absorbs really well, and the scent isn't overpowering when applied.

Its a nice hand cream. It's just not an amazing hand cream.

Tony Moly Green Lip tint

Tony Moly - Greeeeen lip tint???
Price: 3500 won ($3.50)

Last week I posted an entry on my V-day Haul :). And it was requested that I post a review of a couple of the Tony Moly products. So, I bumped it up on my to do list :)

I'm not sure what in the Hell this thing is supposed to be. It's a lip products, and it's green.... But whether is's a gloss, a lip treatment, a lip tint, or something in between, I'm not sure.
I checked out the Tony Moly website, but translating the info on the product really didn't give me any answers.
Ah well, It is too cool not to buy!.
The lip tint( What I've decided to call it...) comes in a BORING black and clear tub. I hate lip gloss tubs.
I don't mind using a lip brush, but I never seem to have on around when I need one.
I find this sort of packaging is typical of Tony Moly, they have 3 styles of packaging
1. Completely utilitarian, often in black, or one or two colors, not pictures or designs.
2. Packaging decorated with old (1930's style maybe?) images of women. - which is pretty but not my style
3. Fruit.... As in life size plastic replicas (tacky but cute).
Utilitarian is fine by me, as long as the stuff works.

So inside the boring tub is a green gel, that looks exactly like a jelly sort of dessert...
And smells just lightly of fruit. I really like the faint but tasty scent!!

Application of the tint is easy, dab a brush or finger into the pot, and rub.... The stuff is super thick, so fingers actually work far better than a lip brush...
It loosens up with heat.
The green immediately starts turning pink.
Bright pink. 80's pink.

There are two other colors available at Tony Moly, a clear pot and a pink one. Both turn Pink. When I swatched them in the store they did appear to be different shades, with the clear being the palest.
It takes a really light hand to apply this without over doing it. With that said though, when applied lightly, its a very young, very sweet look.
The finish on the lips is somewheres between a tube lip gloss (think lip chap or Bonnie Belle), almost matte, with just the barest shine, and a lip tint.  It does stain the lips, but it also rubs off...

The color changing thing made me thing of O-Glow/ O-gloss thing by Smashbox. So I immediately proceeded to rub it onto my cheeks. And... WOW.
It looks amazing. It's a super natural, easy to blend, cheek color! And in fact looks almost precisely like O-glow (which long long ago I use to love, but gave up on the price and lack of versatility).
How awesome is that????  as a cheek color, it's not sticky, or shiny at all. It blends in just like a cheek tint ( so it's not like applying lip gloss on your cheeks)
Plus since O-glow is like $26, and this is like $3.5.... um... thats a huge price difference....
Therefore as a lip product, its cool, and works really well for 'nude but better' lips. But as a blush, its Perfection!

V-day Haul!!!

Happy Belated Valentines Everyone!!

My Valentines was lovely. My Boyfriend and I went shopping!
He was wonderful and bought me this great haul of stuff from Tony Moly!

- Dual effect sleeping pack - intense repair, Peach cream (smell intense!)

- Green lip gloss (it turns pink :) ,-Eyeshadow and eyeliner duo (It's super cool!)

-Grey sparkly nail polish,milky nail polish base

-black nail polish (liner/nail art)

Professional modeling mask (??? I don't know what it is, so I HAD to buy it!) and  a mask brush

And of course I bought some lovely things for myself..... Necklaces, earrings and hair things :)

Tony Moly - slimming  peeling gel w/ oxygen

On the bottle : the oxygen transfer element enables to facilitate the supply of oxygen to the inside of the skin to make your skin healthy, and help to manage your skin clear by removing the horny substance. The ingredient of caffeine will help to make your skin contour look more beautiful

Apparently the whole ‘oxygen’ (in or producing) in skin care is just a gimmick.  I’m not surprised, but here is an article by Paula Begone if you’re wondering 

And I admit, before I ever went into Tony Moly I knew that ‘oxygen’ as an item on a skin care product is BS.

So why the Hell did I buy an Oxygen Peel?

Well the pushy sales girl used it on my hand, and since she was super nice I felt obligated to buy….

Yeah…   I’m usually good at ignoring that impulse. I know it’s a sales trick.  

But I was still super Jet lagged.

Plus I was actually looking for a peeling product. (excuses excuses…)

Honestly, I adored my Pineapple peel from back home (Bromelain an enzyme in pineapple is an awesome and quite gentle exfoliator).

When it was tested on my hand, it cleared off tons of dead skin, and one hand was lighter than the other.

The Oxygen Peel comes in a clear bottle with pump top. Excellent for nearly every skin care product. 

Inside is a bright blue gel with no discernable scent.

One applies the product to Dry skin, and rubs it around in circles. It than clumps up and turns grey.

Even if there is no dead skin, and no dirt on your face, the product will still lump into little balls. That’s how its designed. So don’t be fooled into thinking tons of dead skin is coming off. 

                                        

There is no noticeable ‘oxygenation’ like bubbling or fizzing. That’s fine by me, those are usually gimmicks anyways.

It does claim to be ‘slimming’.  That’s the caffeine.

But what this really means, is this is supposed to be for cellulite.

It’s not actually a facial product.

And in fact, it’s not good for the face. It feels light and gentle, but it leaves a bit of residue.

I did try it on my face; there was no bad reaction…. But it didn’t do anything good for it.

A peel usually makes my skin softer, and brighter.

This didn’t.

As for it’s intended effect on cellulite. Well…. It didn’t really make one.

I have very little cellulite, so little it doesn’t bother me, and no one else can see it. So maybe on someone with more pronounced cellulite it might be effect. Caffeine is one of the better products to temporarily reduce it.

So in the end I only ever use it on my arms and hands. I have dry skin, and until I get a better scrub, I will use this as a mild exfolator.

Stars  1/5

Re purchase  -  definitely No

Tony Moly Man cream 

Price: 13500won ($13.50)

This is a review of something you won’t see often here, or a Men’s moisturizer. Me not being a guy, and not particularly like ‘guy’ scents, Men focused products don’t interest me.

But my boyfriend was with me at Tony Moly, and I’ve been trying to convince him to do basic skin care. Ie. Wash with a cleanser, moisturizer and use sunscreen.

He’s not a Metrosexual sort of guy in the least. So it’s a bit of a stretch.

But who wants to look old before there time? 

I’m not pushing though (trying to change people is self delusional), just showing him options.

And here in Korea there are tons of men skin care lines. So for a guy, it’s not as scary as it might be at home.

We picked up the Tony Moly moisturizer. They have a few different lines. But this was one of the higher priced ones.

I personally think he picked it because the bottle is nice.

It’s heavy glass. So if you were going to order it for a male friend, I would not recommend it!

There is no included dispenser. This drives me nuts, since its very difficult to get creams out of glass bottles!

The first thing I noticed about the product was the scent. It’s strong.

In fact my boyfriend said it was way too strong the first time he actually applied it all over his face.

But, since it’s been open for a bit now, the smell has really diminished, and its now much subtler. 

The texture is very light. It absorbs really quickly, and it does moisturize well.

Stars  3/5

Re purchase  -  No. There are cheaper alternatives in more convenient bottles,  and the moisturizer isn’t amazing enough to compensate.

 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...