Foot pad healers from Sasa

Footpad Healers

Price : ranging from 1000won to $1.60

Hello, strange. Have you noticed I have an obession with weird beauty things? The foot pad healers are one of my more recent forays into the odd.
I picked up a few,  Kokubo- Aloma in Rose,a Germanium and heating one from Sasa,  and from Daiso, a "Natural Diet" one!

I was Backpacking in Cambodia, so I thought My feet would be sore. So I thought they would be worth a try.

Inside each packet are two little sachets. Inside is a powder/granules. One side being sticky. You peel off the cover, and stick a square on the bottom of each foot.
Then your feet begin to sweat, it's oddly uncomfortable. My feet weren't warm, but I had a strong urge to wash.
After ~10 minutes, the pads have dark spots, where the sweat has soaked into the pads. And then you take them off.

Except for the sweat, they didn't do anything.... I know that they are supposed to make your feet sweat, that's the point, but It's not like they made my feet feel more relaxed, or fresher, or helped with swelling.
They were sweaty then nothing...
It was odd.
The heating one was the best, since it did heat up, which could be nice.

Other wise, I can safely recommend a pass!

Hyaluronic acid Serum by Juju cosmetics 
US $20.95
Amount 30ml
From http://stores.shop.ebay.com/Alpha-Beauty-Store

With a high concentration of moisture-rich Hyaluronic acid, as advertised, only 2 drops are enough for maintaining an overnight treatment effect comparable to moisturizing mask. The moisture-rich beauty essence efficiently penetrates deep to the skin and gives instant replenishment while at the same time helps remove fine lines and improve your skin texture. The improved skin moisture balance also helps a better application of makeup in next morning.

If you are a skin care addict like me than you’ve probably seen the term Hyaluronic acid being thrown around.   Restylane, a trade name for it, is used in injections to plump up wrinkles. But it is one of the new Star ingredients in a lot of topical skin care. 
As a topical ingredient it’s claimed to help moisturize the skin and improve moisture retention, and help plump wrinkles (through the skin being moist mostly). 
Since moisturizing is one of the 3 most essential components of any skin care routine (the other two being sun protection and cleansing) Hyaluronic acid is very interesting to me.

So why did I go out and buy a Japanese Hyaluronic acid serum when lots of moisturizers from reputable brands have Hyalurnoic acid listed.
Well, quite frankly I don’t trust brand packaging.
...
Really.  
I tried the Loreal; Skin Genesis line. I’m quite fond of L’Oreal, they are generally inexpensive, but of decent quality.
There was no noticeable moisturizing difference. Even after a couple of weeks of using the Serum and Moisturizer.
They were nice...
In my opinion Hyaluronic acid has fallen into the same trap as Retinol (retin, vitamin-a, etc.) It’s a selling feature, but there are no claims as to the amount of the key ingredient in the products.
You can add a miniscule drop of hyalronic acid and call it an ingredient.
So, I went to Juju. I love Juju. Seriously, I’ve used a ton of their products and they are always of really nice quality.
Now, I admit my Japanese skills aren’t very good. I can only roughly translate the label...
But, it’s supposed to be a hyaluronic acid serum, and I believe it.
The Japanese are so much more anal about their skin care.

So, the serum.
It’s clear with a gel like thickness. It goes on like water and absorbs immediately. Like freakishly immediately, as though my skin is a giant sponge baking in the desert. I apply a drop of the serum and it’s gone.
In fact, I have to be careful to spread it out quickly, otherwise it all gets absorbed into where I dabbed it...
Once applied my face feels exactly how it did before applying the serum.
It doesn’t feel moisturized, soft, wet, oily or sticky.
And if I don’t work quickly I can’t even tell where I’ve applied the serum and where I haven’t. 
I then move on and apply my moisturizer. Then I feel moist (well duh), but there’s no real textural difference than if I applied the moisturizer without having applied the Serum first.
So, so far, it seems like a dud right?
*laughs* that’s what I thought too.
But OMG, when I wake up in the morning, my face feels amazing. It’s like I just moisturized. My skin is soft and smooth and almost plumper.
And that softness carries on through most of the day. Even under make-up my skin is better moisturized.
It’s amazing.

The best part of all though is it makes even cheap moisturizers seem like magic. 
This stuff is so worth the money!

Anessa perfect pearly sunscreen
SPF 50 PA+++

Price: US 15.75 from alphabeautystore

I hate North American brand sunscreen. I am allergic to something in some, but no all sunscreens.
When applied to my face, certain sunscreens with make me blotchy, and purple, and I feel as though I’ve been burned.
It drives me Nuts. I try to wear sunscreen every day. I’m super pale and super paranoid about skin cancer.
But when 90% of sunscreens out there do bad things to you.... It makes it a chore.
So for the past 5 years I’ve tried nearly every sunscreen out there.
And discovered that there are two basic forms of Sunscreen, physical and chemical.
The physical sunscreens, like Zinc oxide don’t bother me.
It’s the chemical ones that make me uncomfortable.
But since walking around with a big slab of zinc oxide on my face... not so practical (Unless Clown was my choice of profession)
so onto chemical sunscreen. I’ve discovered that the thicker the consistency of sunscreen, the more it irritates my skin.
So those thick cream beach sunscreens.
I REFUSE to touch anything of the sort.
So as you might expect, a lot of lower SPF sunscreens work better for me. Like SPF ... useless.
Anyway, eventually I have found a couple of NA brands that work for me, Neutrogena Moisture – SPF 15.
Plus sheer cover mineral make-up has an SPF value...
But while I was in Japan, I ran out of all the safe sunscreen I brought with me.
I then attempted to buy sunscreen there, hoping I wouldn’t have to have stuff flown in (ah drama).
And out of all the brands I tried; only a couple bothered me.
Wait what?
Back home, I can only find a couple that don’t bother me, yet here only a few do...

Japanese sunscreen and NA sunscreens are very different.
In NA, they are generally very thick, very heavy creams; whereas in Japan they are very running liquids.
I think the difference is Sunscreen here is meant mostly as beach ware. Meant to be applied everywhere. And even though lighter facial sunscreens are becoming more and more popular they still maintain their roots.
Whereas the Japanese lines are meant for the face, and designed to apply lightly under make up!

The Anessa sunscreen is a drugstore brand by shisedo. It seems expensive at 15.75US (It’s cheaper in Japan of course...) especially when the size I have is only 25ml. This is tiny. Especially compared to my Neutrogena 120ml. But honestly it applies so well, and you need so little that they both take almost the same amount of time to use up!

So the Anessa perfect pearly sunscreen is a super runny liquid with an SPF of 50 PA+++!
It is lightly pearly but not sparkly. So it applies beautifully under makeup, leaving a soft slightly luminous finish.
It dries almost immediately. Plus it’s not greasy/oily at all. It makes a very good base for apply further make up application.
It doesn’t seem to make further make up slide off, or reduce the lasting time.

So if you have the opportunity, switch to a Japanese sunscreen, do it! They are a little more expensive than the usual drugstore sunscreen, but the quality and lasting power makes it worth it!

Pretika light therapy review

Pretika Light Therapy wand
The silly looking tool above is my Light therapy wand.
If you're addicted to skin care, and the newest coolest tool, then maybe you've come across some of the new light therapy tools for at home use.
Then again, maybe you haven't. Light Therapy seems to be only slowly taking on popularity.
Probably because it tends to be expensive...
Maybe even because a lot of people (like me) can't help but wonder how an LED light is supposed to make my skin smoother and firmer...
I mean really? light?
But when I found the Tanda light therapy tool on sephora.com I came down with a serious case of LUST.
Oh my GOD, I wanted it.
And then I read the reviews, the glowing reviews promising dramatic results...
Then I just had to have it.
But seeing the Tanda system is oh... nearly $300...
Well, that's a little out of my price range unless I'm guaranteed it's going to turn me into Megan Fox.
So I squashed the urge to stick the purchase on my credit card, and tried to forget...
Then one day, I came across Pretika...
And the light system was significantly cheaper.
It was so much cheaper that even if the whole thing failed I wouldn't be heartbroken (or just plain broke).
So I snapped it up for $30.
And excitedly went home to use it.

The device  is pretty simple, Like a red flash light with two settings, pules (I) and steady(II).
The pulse is supposed to better stimulate collagen production (so why are there two settings?)
You are supposed to keep the  lights about two inches from your face, I put it against my face because I`, concerned with damaging my eyes, and in the more expensive brands that what you are supposed to do.
Then you spend three minutes on each area of your face.
I spend maybe 9-12 minutes a night doing this (While watching Tv or something), but there are only a couple of spots on my face that I`m particularly concerned with wrinkles.
The first, and the bane of my existence is a single wrinkle above the left side of my upper lip.
I HATE that wrinkle.
My forehead and between my eyebrows are two spots starting to show expression lines (I`m only 23 it`s not fair... )


The results...
I`ve been using the Pretika thing for a couple of months now, not as regularly as I should, but fairly steadily.
And I am seeing REAL results!!!!!
Seriously.
The EVIL lip wrinkle is seriously diminished and one some days invisible.
The furrows between my brows are just about invisible, except when I frown, and my forehead is even smoother!!
Plus as an odd and unexpected side effect, my lips are plumper...
Specifically the left side (They are not uneven :P)
Honestly, I didn`t really think that the Red light would do anything.
I have been proven wrong, wonderfully so.

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