Skinfood - Honey Black Tea Jelly foam

Honey Black Tea Jelly foam 

-Honey black tea cleansing foam with a glutionus jelly texture. It contains honey extract effective for moisturizing dry skin and black tea for eliminating keratin and giving skin a boost.

Smells INTENSELY of Honey and tea. It's over poweringly strong, nice, but as though I smeared honey and 20 pots of tea all over teh bathroom. Sometimes Skinfood samples smell more intensely than the actual product. 

Texture- super runny, clear liquid, and did not foam AT ALL??? isn't it suposed to be a foam?
effectiveness - seems to very gently cleanse. Very light, very soft, very gentle

Buy?- No, though it's gentle and softens my skin, I don't 

Sample overload! And a new goal!

Samples samples samples.

OMG I have so many samples. I absolutely love that here in Korea you get samples with just about every Makeup or skin care purchase. But over the past 6 months, I have accumulate A LOT of samples.
Just look at them all (and there are more not shown, hidden away Everywhere!)
So I've decided it's time to jump in. I am going to use only samples, until I run out.
It's my mission.
I'm not allowed to use any of my regular beauty products, if i have a sample.
My samples mostly consist of skin care, moisturizers, toners, and cleansers.
But there are also shampoos, body washes, and a fair number of BB creams.
So this could be a serious disaster, my hair does not like weird shampoo!
So over the next few weeks I am going to be posting a Million mini reviews.
But for you my dear readers, it also means I am going to share the wealth!
I am going to do a giveaway, with a winner drawn every week for the next 5 weeks!
So keep an eye on the blog, I will be posting the giveaway later today!

Holika holika - A new Korean brand!!!!!!!

Holika Holika
Korea has come out with a brand new brand *snickers*.
I came across when in Seoul a couple of weeks ago, tucked away in meyong-dong, across from Forever 21.
Holika Holika

The building definitely makes an impact, all pink with a giant clock and witch riding a broom.
And the shop ladies are all wearing cute purple witch costumes!!!!!!!! I didn''t take a picture of the shop ladies though.... I thought that would be a little creepy!
It's seriouly exciting!

The store itself is really pretty, lots of magical themed displays, gold, purple, swirls, black cats. oooo

                                      

The poster is of Matsushima Emi. But Holika's main endorsement is CNblue.

                              

I got this folder, with a CNblue member on it, with some of the stuff I but at Holika!

Holika Holika only came out in March, I was there only a couple of weeks after opening (sadly I don't live near Seoul, other wise I would have found out sooner.
The brand is by the same makers of Enprani, but much much cheaper.
The whole theme of Holika Holika is witches and magic, which I think is too cute.
I immediately bought a ton of stuff!

Apple shine-peeling sheet mask, Cream shadow, peach BB cream

Garden recipe body scrub,  Pore cover mousse

My favorite item is this plumping cream. It's bizarre, and comes in a cute bottle!

My other favorite, a gel toner! Its super nice :) 


But I do have bad news for all my readers, the brand is so new, that none of the items are avaliable on G-market yet....
So you will all have to wait...
It probably won't be long though, because a second store already opened up in Myeong-dong, in Seoul. 2 stores in 2 months, that's quick :D

Brand new line of Skin food wash of masks!!!!!!

Skinfood has a new line of products!!!!!!!!!!

I was perusing my local skinfood, when I noticed a sign, saying new.... And sure enough, there is a whole new type of product.

It a series of six different masks.
Acorn jelly mask 10900 ($10.90)
Acai Berry  mask 11900($11.90)
Honey Red Orange mask  9900($9.90)
Chocolate  mask  9900($9.90)
Ginesing  mask 12900($12.90)
Olive mask 10900($10.90)

The selling point is that each contains products from across the world, like Acai berries from the Amazon, Honey and red orange from New Zeland, Chocolate from Belgium, Olives from Spain, and the acorns and ginseng from Korea. Which probably accounts for the cost.... Since for skinfood the masks are more than a little pricey. Their regular masks run from 4700won to 8000won, for about the same size as the new masks.

They come in little glass jars with paper wrapped on top. Much like little homemade jam jars. I like the look of the packaging, but if anyone is considering ordering them online, the glass makes them very heavy :( .

I picked up the Red Orange Honey mask intially.
Since I was in Skinfood the day after the masks came out, there were no testers out yet.
I brought it home, and opened it up...
Only to find, it wasn't a mask at all.
But a scrub.
Then I look at the tag. Silly me, I should have looked at the little tag in the store. I did actually try, but it was tightly attached to the product, and i was concerned about ripping the tag with a Skinfood worker hovering next to me....
It says inside that the Honey red orange mask is a scrub. And to thoroughly mix the two layers, with the enclosed spoon, before using.

Then I check for the enclosed spoon.
There is no enclosed spoon. I discovered later, that because I went to Skinfood and bought the mask during the promotional period I was supposed to be given a spoon....
The lack of a spoon doesn't really bother me.
At least that is, until I try to mix the two layers with a regular kitchen spoon, on to make a epic mess.
As you can see from the picture, the jar rounds out towards the bottom, and wedging my large kitchen spoon down there, in attempt to actually mix the layers, results in product slopping over the sides, onto the jar, the counter, the spoon and my hands.
*sigh*

So a few days later I go back to Skinfood, and pick up anonther mask. I really was looking for a Mask/Pack not a scrub. So I pick up the Acai berry. This time their are testers, so I open the jar and check, and I read the tag. It's says moisturizing mask.

So I take it home. This time I recieved a spoon. Which for the Acai berry I don't need, since it doesn't need to be mixed, but solves my problem with the honey scrub.
That night, I first use the honey scrub, then follow with teh Acai berry mask.....
Only to discover, it too is a scrub....
WTF?
The scrub particles are tiny, and few. So upon testing it seemed just like a moisturizing mask, but when applied, there are enough scrubbing particles to be a scrub.
*sigh*
So I went back to Skinfood yesterday, and tested every single one of the six new masks. Here are my results

Acai Berry  - Scrub

Honey Red Orange - Scrub

Chocolate - An actual mask!!!!!!!!!!

Ginesing  - Scrub

Olive - Scrub

Acorn jelly - Also a mask!!!!!

Only two out of the six are masks. This is bizzare. Since they all say masks. And they are all in the skin care section. The cleansers and scrubs are generally in the cleansing section....

The Acorn Jelly really is a jelly. Very curious, I will probably pick it up at some point.

Also the chocolate mask is like a pot full of chocolate pudding, it smells like real chocolate.  Very interesting.

So the reviews.

Honey Red Orange Mask

This mask is MESSY! Not only is it super sticky, you have to stir the whole mixture before it can be used. With the freebie spoon that Skinfood included during the promotional period, this is not a problem. without the spoon.... good luck.
It has to be stirred because it's actually a salt scrub, with large granules of salt settled in the bottom.

Generally I don't like salt scrubs. I find they tend to be drying, not to mention to rough for the face.

But with the super thick honey mixture, the effects of the salt seemed to be cancelled out.

I apply about two spoonfulls to my face, then scrub.

But as I said, this Mask is messy, and best done before a shower, in the bathroom, while naked.

Seriously. I made the mistake of being clothed the first time I tried it.
Not only did I splatter my clothes with little droplets of honey and salt (And I swear I am not a messy person!), I also smeared honey into my hair.
One really shouldn't attempt this scrub without planning on showering afterwards.

The scrub is quite good, very cleansing, and the honey is great. It's really moisturizing. After it was all washed off, which was a bit difficult, because the honey really didn't want to leave...
I found my face moist and soft.
And the next day, it was extra soft, and a little extra glowy. This mask really did make my skin look brighter and healthier.

Though the Honey red orange mask was not what I was expecting, I really really like. It's actually a really nice scrub.

Acai Berry Mask

In the store this looked like a good gel mask. The little exfoliating particles are so small that I didn't even see them.
The seem to be the same as the particles in St. Ives Apricot scrub. They are really rough, but they are also very loosely divided. So it's like scratching my face with random pieces of sand....
As a scrub, I don't like it.
In my opinion less exfoliating particles don't make for a gentler scrub, rounder, smaller particles do. less just means more scratching, less exfoliating.

Like the Honey red orange mask, it contains rough salt granules, but they are densely packed in a thick medium, so the scrub doesn't feel nearly as rough.

I've had both masks for nearly a month now. I've been ready to post my review of the Red orange honey mask for ages, but I wanted to post both reviews together.
But the Acai mask.... I don't know.
I've been using and using it, trying to find something to say about it to review.
But.... nothing....
It does NOTHING! It is not a wash, it will not clean my face, I tried.
The rough bits are not dense enough to be a scrub. So it is definitely not suitable to be a scrub.
It is not at all moisturizing. I've used it as a wash of mask numerous times.
It does nothing, nothing at all.
So while the Honey mask (ie scrub) is worth purchasing, the Acai mask is quite frankly a waste of money.

Skin food nail system- Hardener, Base, Essence

Skin food nail system- Hardener, Base, Essence


I am fully aware of how woefully short my nails are. Since I've never been big on polish, it's has never been an issue. But getting the Konad system has caused me too look at my nails as a deficiency.
since I've started using the Konad system, I have students whom, everyday ask to see my nails.
I didn't really think it's healthy to instill a beauty obsession in them so young. Definitely what's on the inside is more important than what's on the outside..... But it did make me realize that using the Konad system was drawing more attention to my nails.
So I decided to pick up some items to help my nails grow longer, and look better.


So I bought 3 things from Skinfood.
Nail Vita Essence 1500won ($1.50)
Nail Vita Base coat  1500won ($1.50)
Nail vita hardener 2000won ($2.00)


They are all in the Nail vita line, but they aren't technically a set.... I just bought them together.


Nail Vita Essence

This is a nail moisturizer. I've never seen anything like it. I've seen tons of nail/cuticle oils, but never a cream.
Between that, and the fact the Etude House Nail Polish remover leaves my nails painfully dry (ugh...), I had to buy this!
First off, it smells yummy. It's a soft, nutty moisturizer scent. Reminds me a bit of Vaseline intensive care moisturizer. Which might not sound amazing, but after nail polish remover, it's a relief.
The moisturizer is applied directly to the nails using the nail polish brush.
It is very moisturizing. My nails look shinier, and healthier after using.
But most importantly, the moisturizer does not interfere with polishes applied afterwards. I just wipe of any excess, and I'm ready to apply my Base coat.


Nail Vita Base coat

Something I've noticed here in Korea is the Nail polishes base and top coats are not much more than clear nail polishes. They seem to have no affect at all on the staying power of nail polish.
It's bizarre.
The Nail Vita Base coat is not a wast of money and time though.
As you can see from the milky pink color, it's not just a plain old clear or milky white base. According to the label it contains Vitamins and Keratin, for healthier nails.
This is good considering how much I'm changing my nail polish these days.
The polish is runny, but applies smoothly, leaving a glossy finish. Correct me if I'm wrong, but don't a lot of base coats leave a slight rough, or at least matte base, to make the next coat of polish apply better?
This doesn't affect the polish either way.
What it does, is help protect my nails. It definitely helps keep them from drying out, and helps a little against staining.
So while this isn't the best base coat for staying power, I  recommend it to anyone who is looking at protecting their nails.


Nail Vita Hardener

I have used Nail Hardeners before. Mostly back in Canada, with little or no success. But I needed a top coat,   so I thought I might as well try the hardener.
It's an orange tinted clear polish, that I'm not exactly sure is meant to be used as a top coat....
any time I've used hardeners before they've indicated clearly on the bottle whether they are to be a top or base coat.
Regardless, I apply it atop my finished nails.
The results.... Not bad. If I apply the polish every day, my nails are firmer, less inclined to bending and breaking. I did successfully manage to grow them a bit longer ( I do teach kindergarten kids, so my nails take a serious beating, painting, washing my hands a million times, games, etc.).
As a hardener it's as good if not better than anything I've ever used.
But the best part is, it is the best top coat I've found for the Konad nail art!
Surprise surprise! It goes on quickly, and doesn't blur the design at all!
The only problem is the orange tint to the polish makes white polish yellow....
So it's useless over anything with white. But for all other designs its perfect!

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!

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 :)

Majolica Majorica

Majolica Majorica - Bk999
Price:

I Love Mascara. I think I might have mentioned that before... Maybe...
This though, it the best, most wonderful mascara ever.
My old stand by, cheap and reliable was covergirls Lash Blast.  I have discovered, that for my lashes a comb, or silicone brush is better than a traditional brush.
But until I picked up the Majolica mascara I wasn't toally sold on the comb. They generally work well, but it's rare to find a mascara that is actually exceptional/
This mascara is exceptional.

The comb despoits color evenly, extending the lash tips, while sperating and thickening. The result after one good swipe, beautiful, thick long lashes.
It only takes a swipe or two to be perfect, any more and clumping will eventually happen, as is true with any mascara.
However, unlike other mascara's you really don't need to keep swiping. Hell, I look like I have false lashes on after two swipes.
It's perfect.
And the mascara formula is both very darkly colored and wet enough that it does dry out, in the tube or on the lash (so no lumps...).

The only fault of the product, is it's staying power. It's intense. The mascara stays on FOREVER! No regualr eyemake up remover is match for it. It's definitely the most difficult to remove mascara I've ever encountered. I have to use a heavy duty mascara remover, and sometimes I will still find traces the next day, or two days later....
But I've cried and sweated, and rubbed my tired eyes in this mascara, and it doesn't budge. It's fail safe.
I love the Majolica Majorica mascara.
Love love love!

Etude House - Orjel Light Lipstick

Etude House - Orjel Light Lipstick -
Price: 8000won ($8)
After the miss with the Etude House's Milk Screw, I was still on the hunt for a peach lip color, preferablly not a lipstick, but something with more color than a gloss.
So I tried the pretty Orjel light lipstick.

It comes in a pink, pearly tube with the Etude House characteristic swirl motif on top. Honestly the pink packaging of Etude house is all too pink and girly for me. But I tend to love their products, and I don't hate the packaging. So I keep buying stuff....

The lip color looks sooo pretty in the tube. It comes out a sheer, slightly sparkly gloss. A bit more opague and a bit less shiny than a true gloss. But really its a grogeous color, just a nice natual balance between pink and peach.
It even goes beautifully with my Canmake cream blush (the whole reason I bought the lipstick in the first place!)

The only downside to the lipstick is it's super drying. I can't figure out why. I wear it, and all of my sudden my lips are parched. I had to go out and buy a thick gloss from It's Skin, because my lips were driving me insane. I had gone out thinking I'd been just fine with only my Lipstick.
Ah well, lessoned learned.


As for the Orjel light Lipstick, I really love the color, and I will continue wearing it, with a moisturizing gloss near at hand.

Konad - Nail art system

Konad - Nail art system

I finally took the plunge and bought into the Konad system. I've been dying to get ever since I caught a glimpse of it on anonther blog. I've never been skilled at doing my nails. I've finally mastered painitng my nails smoothly, without a whole lot of mess. That's a real accomplishemnt in my books.
But the Konad results look SO amazing.
I bought my Konad items on G-market, for awesome prices. The stamper and scrapper were only 4000 won, the plates 3500won each, and the polishes 3000won.  I spent 34000 in total, and got extactly the plates I wanted to start out with an exactly the colors. Since the kits range from 16000 to 20000, for a basic one including the one sided stamper, scraper, two polishes, and two or 3 plates. My haul with 4 colors 4 or 5 plates, the double ended stamper, sponge, and scraper, along with two packs of free rhinestones and a bottle of nail polish remover, was an excellent deal.
Plus since I spent over 30000, shipping was free!

So here are the items

The scraper

The Double ended stamper. 
The long size makes it way better the regular. Plus the short side is perfect for touch ups, or multiple stamp patterns.

As you can see the stamper and the scraper have the Konad logo, and little butterfly. The finger indentations on the scraper are a ncie addition, though not entirely necessary.

The red side is significantly larger than the green. The red being bigger than the quarter, and the green smaller than a nickel. For some reason, the images don't stick to the green side as well, so I generally use the red side, unless I need to be extra exact.

The Plates

Plate #56 - celtic designs

                               

Plate #66 - Cherry Blossoms, Lotus flowers, and bamboo (My favorite!)

                              

Plate #S9 - Flowers, and Japanese designs

Plate #73 - Whole nail patterns (music, squares, etc.)

Plate #79 - Whole nail patterns (Super cute clouds, and others :) 

                               

The Nail Polish

I purchased four colors, Pink, Purple, Black and white. However the seller sent me black pearl, and white pearl! Not what I ordered or wanted at all....
I ordered regular white again from the same seller, but got pearl again. So i ended up ordering it from a different seller....

Also interestingly enough the polishes came in two different packages, even though they were from the same seller. Two came in packages with Korean, and two in English. Mind you the packaging does not make a difference, it's just curious.

I got a few free gifts also, A sponge, for doing shaded nails

Also two packs of rhinestones, in pink and white. The are sooooo tiny!

The Review
Though I've never been big on painting my nails, unwilling to do anything than slick a quick coat of paint on them. I think this is partly due to my lack of skills, and my desire for simplicty.
After living in Japan, with the ridiculous fake, over decorate nails, I tend to like simple designs.
The Konad system gives me really pretty nails, and it's only up to me whether I want something simple and classy, or wild and crazy.
Using the system is simple, a little frustrating, but simple. You paint you nails a solid color. Then you aply the special nail polish to the plate, you swipe of the excess polish with the scraper, and press down with the stamper.
You then press the stamper onto the nail, rolling from one side to the other (for small designs just pressing down is usually fine). Then cover it all with a quick coat of top coat.

The special nail polish is super tiny. They are only 5ml, Nail polishes are usually at least double that. Plus considering these tiny Nail polishes are ~3000won ($3) each. In Korea Full sized Nail polishes cost 1000 or 2000won($1-2). Thats really expensive for something so tiny.
I thought when I was buying the system, that the size wouldn't matter. I mean it only takes a tiny little bit of polish to do each design. But that's only half true. It does only take a tiny bit of polish to do the super thin layer needed for each layer. To make that thin layer requires a gob of polish. I've tried spreading only a thin layer, but sometimes parts will dry out before it can be stamped. The thiner I spread the polish on the plate, the worse the results.
That means a lot of wasted polish for each application. Then theres the fact that half of the time you stamp a design, something goes wrong. Sometimes it only picks up some, some stick to the plate (meaning you were to slow or the plate wasn't clean enough), or the design blurs (meaning there is too much polish on the plate, or you jiggled the stamper too much), or something else goes wrong....
*sigh* the result is you have to do at least twice as many stamps than you would think should be required. It's ridiculous.

Because of the cost, the size and the limited color selection available, I've done a few attempts with regular Nail polish. The Konad special polish is really different than regular polish. It's super thick and sticky. Its like liquid rubber.

Regular nail polish is a thin liquid. So the results with other polishes are a bit hit or miss. Nail art polishes work pretty well since they tend to be thicker. Just normal nail polish also works for big designs, without intricate detail.
The problem with using any other Nail polish is it makes the whole process even more frustrating. Instead of having some bad stamps, lots are bad, and they ten stamp tends to blur a lot easier. You end up using so much nail polish, that you're not saving anyone money.  It's really just a lot easier and quicker to use the Konad special polishes. Unless I'm looking for a particular color, I don't bother.

The images last as long as regular nail polish, but look soooo cool!
It's way easier than airbrushing (obviously) and even stickers.
Once I got the hang of it, I was doing all kinds of super cool things.
Plus, since you can get all the parts on G-Market for way cheaper than it is to buy a kit, you can get exactly what you want, without paying a ton :)

I recommend this system to everyone. It is just that cool, that easy, and that affordable :)