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!!!

The Face shop Matte polish 매트

The Face shop Matte polish

 YL701매트

Price : 4 or 5 something….

So last summer when Matte nails were just becoming fashionable in Korea, The face shop released a small line of Matte Nail polishes! It even says, right on the little label 매트  (matu). Tee hee!

I was ecstatic! I had so wanted to try Matte, but couldn’t find anything in Korea up until that point. Face shop only had four colors at the time, a green, a yellow, and two others(I can’t remember. Does anyone know?) I picked the yellow. It was just so lovely and mustardy.

I didn’t try it right away, I don’t have many clothing options that coordinate with mustard. But finally one night, I painted my nails and had to use it.

I was in a hurry for some reason, and I didn’t base my nails first. I usually do, but I had never had a problem with Korean Nail polishes.
The finish was… ok. It was very matte, and the color was nice, but the texture of the polish was too thick, and it turned out uneven. Plus, since Face shop didn’t release a Matte top coat, I couldn’t top coat it.

I went to work the next day, my nails chipped and flaked, but that’s understandable when you consider there was no top coat.

But then I noticed something odd, where the polish had chipped of, my nail still was colored. My nails looked yellow.

I went home and stripped off the nail polish. It came off easily, but beneath it, my nails were mustard yellow.

I tried EVERYTHING I could think of to remove the stain. Nothing worked. I scrubbed, and buffed and cleaned. Nothing.
So for the next 4, or 5 months I was stuck with yellow nails. OMG it was awful!
I love nail polish, but I was teaching kindergarten, and polish just isn’t practical. It chips after a hard morning with the munchkins. But the yellow was so noticeable! People commented.

I was ashamed.

Skinfood Carrot Cleansing Oil

Skinfood Carrot Cleansing Oil

Price 13,900won ($13.90)

Size : 170ml

Have I mentioned how much I love skinfood? There is a store in Moogeodong, Ulsan that I often go to, and the ladies who work there are ever so nice. I was down there one day with a couple of my friends. They ‘dragged’ me to skin food, because it seems I’ve become the local expert.  I pointed out a number of my favorite items, the best things for them to try. So they bought stuff. I didn’t (shocking isn’t it!)

With their purchases they got this adorable little carton with the new (at the time) carrot toner and emulsion.

I’m sure my eyes widened with envy.
And the woman behind the counter handed me a sample set too :D
They are just so nice there!
So that was my introduction to the carrot line. I’ve gotten many samples of it since, and generally it’s quite nice. But I didn’t buy anything full size until the Carrot Cleansing oil.

I’ve been on a mission (a never ending mission), to find a really good eye makeup remover. I am addicted to a couple of very difficult to remove mascara, and I have sensitive eyes. So far I have found but one, Skinfood’s eggplant mascara remover. It’s is amazing, but the tube is SO tiny.
So I though a cleansing oil.  Perfect right? Plus since it’s about the same price as the eggplant mascara remover, but you get tons more, it would be a great value.

Except…. It’s super hard on the eyes! It’s so bad, it leaves my eyes red the next day!!! Plus it stings like the dickens (…. A weird way to put it, I know). Ugh.

But, I though, it’s not a total loss. I do like oil cleansers, just to get the makeup off, so my regular cleanser can go to work. So silly me, I kept using the Carrot cleansing oil.

Until something happened, something that almost never happens to me. I broke out. I stopped using it for a while, only to try it again later, and guess what…

I broke again.
Not only that, but a friend and I bought the cleansing oil together. After I had convinced her how WONDERFUL skinfood is, then she broke out too.

*sigh* This stupid product made me look like I don’t know what I’m talking about!!!! I hate looking foolish.

Nature republic - Eau de Shine - Prism blossom Powder

Nature republic - Eau de Shine - Prism blossom Powder
Price 16,900 won ($17)
Size : 20g

Ah Nature Republic, how I hate thee.

It was payday, and I was on my way home. Heading the long way to pick up something from the Bakery for breakfast, when the shiny newness of the local Nature republic pulled me into it's depth. A dire mistake.

Usually I don't blow money on things that I honestly have no use for. Generally I try to be sensible, and not wooed by pretty packaging.

I try at least.

But on this day, my will power was weak. It might have been the long day of work, the fact I hadn't eaten since noon, or the flush of money my once a month pay day instills. Whatever it was, I spent $14.50 on this piece of junk.

It's a plastic container, albeit shiny and sleek, containing four seperate loose powders, in pale peach, purple, pink, and a brighter more intense pink.

I brought it home, only to discover that as lovely as the loose powders look to be in the package, they are woefully un-pigmented. I swatched tehm on my arm, in the picture they look pale, but I put like 5 coats on, to get them to show that much color. It doesn't work as a blush at all. 

They are far more like a finishing powder than a blush. Not even shimmery, so unusable as a highlighter.

I've considered it might be a finishing powder, even though the box says blush. And so I've attempted using it as such, with limited results. It can be used as a finishing powder. It does work.... It's certainly pale enough. But it's not a very good finishing powder, and the peach colored section contains sparkles. I personally don't like sparkly finishing powders.

This stupid container was a complete and utter waste of money.

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!

Favorite Skin Care Products of 2010!!!!!!

Favorite Skin Care Products of 2010!!!!!!

Happy New year!!!

Here are my FAVORITE skin care items of the year! Please comment on your favorites too, I'm already searching for new stuff for 2011! :)

When I was writing this I realized, I haven't review a lot of these items.... *shame* But this week, I will get FULL reviews for all of the ones up! Those already reviewed by me, I have included links for :)

Cleanser

It's a TIE!

Etude house Yogurt Peel in Apple vs Nature Republic Apple Fresh foam cleanserBoth are apple foam cleansers. The Etude house one has scrub particles, but both are gentle enough to use every day. 

Both are soooo gentle, and both make my skin feel fresh and soft, but not dry. They even smell similar!
But the Nature republic cleanser was less than $4!

Toner

Holika Holika Cooling tonerNot only does this toner come in an adorable bottle (Think witches potions), but it's a gel!!! So I don't need cotton pads,  or any thing but my hands to apply it! Plus it's light, cooling, and gentle!

Mask/ Treatment

Skin Food - Papaya yogurt mask - wash off

Notice how I didn't pick a sheet mask as my favorite? I love sheet masks, they are fun, interesting and convenient. But they aren't very good masks. I find wash off masks, or sleeping masks SO much better.  And I have tried Tons of different sheet masks.

The skinfood papaya mask is not pretty, but it makes my skin feel so soft and moisturized, even the next day! Plus it's cheap and lasts for ages!

Serum

Skin79 - New turn therapy serum trio!

I love a good serum. I feel it allows me to customize my skin care. Have this great moisturizer, but you need wrinkle care too? You don't need to settle for a moisturizer that doesn't do either well. Instead combine a serum, wtih targeted needs, and a moisturizer that targets those needs....  What do you think? Multi purpose product (it does simplify), or two products which are great at what they do?

That's partly why I picked this trio of serums. In the winter when the cold weather makes my skin feels dull, I have White Vita C serum to brighten everything up.

When my skin is in sorry shape, I have the repair amino acid serum.
And for all other situations wrinkletox collagen serum
It's an awesome trio. Plus on g-market for the 3 they were under $20!

Facial Moisturizer

Detclear - Moon Night Gel

This is the moisturizer that made me fall in love with gel moisturizers. It absorbs quickly, and makes my skin feel plump and moist. My skin literally feels years younger after using it.  It doesn't have anything that treats wrinkles, it really doesn't multi-task, but it is an outstanding moisturizer.

Body Moisturizer

Etude House Peach Chou Body oil

It is this body oil that has converted me.  I went from hating body oils, to being a little bit in love!
It's certainly messier than a cream, but after a shower, or before bed this body oil offers unprecedented body softening! Plus it smells absolutely Divine!

Sunscreen

Anessa- Perfect UV sunscreen EX
SPF 50+ PA+++

At 47 to 50 dollars for only 60ml, this sunscreen is SOOOOO expensive.
But it is honestly worth it.  My skin is sensitive to sunscreen, and this is so gentle. Plus it makes my cheeks feel like a baby's butt. So smooth, so lovely.  I've tried countless different sunscreen options, for many different countries, and this beats out all of them. It goes on smoothly,  doesn't leave a white cast, is NOT oily or greasy, doesn't clog pores, and last forever.
LOVE IT!

Sunscreen/ Eye brightener
UV Magic Shield by Holika Holika

SPF 50+ PA++

This is a roll up eye brightener stick, with added SPF. I usually don't like eye brighteners, they tend to look obvious, or clump, or are really expensive.

This is a multitasker, it's a gentle eye SPF, it is pink toned, and helps with dark circles, and it works great as a base for BB creams and eyeshadow! 

Coming up NEXT - My favorite Makeup of 2010!!!!!!

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!