How has your week been?

Everything’s good I hope?

For me, I was busy combating awful skin for the past week! >_<

If you had read on my post on Food, Sea & Sun I was spending time travelling quite a bit and enjoyed my time at Kapalai.

Well, sort off.

I didn’t get sunburn or get much darker during my trip, but it was when I was travelling back from Kapalai to the mainland which left me with red, dry parchy flaky skin! UGH! Imagine my disgust! Blame it on me dozing off and didn’t notice the bright sun until much much later

I’ve gone about half to one shade darker, with reddish skin on my left arm, my right arm and legs didn’t sustain much damage. My face, thank god for sunnies, I managed to get away with dry bits of skin on my cheeks and a little on my nose, but that’s about it.

But still, I hated how my skin felt! Like crocodile skin! ROUGH! Yucks!

Even Selina of Shu Uemura (my favourite sales!) also commented on how dull and bad looking my skin is She suggested me on loading up on hydrating mask to calm the skin before doing anything else. And why didn’t I think of it?

Blame it on me, because I never had any cases of sunburn before, so am a little clueless. And silly me actually went to do something abrasive to the face! The horror of not knowing I actually got mild sunburn.

So here comes my skin’s saviour!

I hadn’t had any access to my masks as I didn’t bring it along with me, so I had to wait till I got home and immediately took it out and put into the fridge.

And hooboy, using this for 2 nights consecutively rescued my skin! First night it reduces my flaky skin by about 60-70%, 2nd night, I woke up with skin that’s smooth to the touch. I hadn’t expected that my skin to recover that fast by just slapping this on, so it’s quite a nice surprise.

Well, the repurchase is definitely worth it!

Here’s my previous review on the product:

Laneige Water Sleeping Pack Plus

In case you are wondering, both tubs I have are of the older version, I haven’t finish my 2nd tub to buy the newer one like PrettyBeautiful did.

And to all my Muslim friends…

Drive safe during your journey back to kampung kay? And those not celebrating, have a fun weekend!

See you people next week!

After reviewing the toner from the Star White Series, I thought I’d give the emulsion a write up too. I bought this Emulsion together with it actually. Xin, next time I buy the essence ya!

The emulsion comes in a classy bottle packaging, which it isn’t good for travelling >_<. I think I’ll break it some day! Unlike the toner, this comes in a pump bottle!

The liquid is pretty runny and not that thick. Unlike some stupid silly emulsion I was using before, comes in a glass bottle but the emulsion was so thick that it’s so hard to get the product out! And it’s not even a pump bottle! Gah! %(*&^(&)(*)(_&***$#$&

Okay. Back to the emulsion. I forgot to mention that I prefer containers which is transparent or semi transparent, so I know exactly how much product is left. With this opaque bottle, I can hardly gauge how much product left >_< I am pretty bad with guessing you see.

But don’t let my negativity influence you. There is good stuff about this baby too!

Finished reading? Well there’s more! Haha!

Like the toner, this is alcohol free too. Good for those who prefer non-alcoholic stuff.

Well sad to say although my skin does feel moisturized, it doesn’t give me the soothed and refreshed feeling at all. Instead, I was welcomed by a moisturized but STICKY face!

The stickiness must be due to me either:

• using too much emulsion than I should
• not applying it the right way
• didn’t wait for my toner to be absorbed first before applying this

Whatever. I hate sticky face. LOL.

So I learnt my lesson, became a good girl by using half a pump for the day, one full pump for the night, and before I do that, I wait for a bit to let my skin suck in all the toner goodies. And gently patting the emulsion in instead of rubbing it in my face!

Yay! Hello pretty face, goodbye oil slick!

Well, not really saying goodbye to oily/sticky face, the stickiness is still there, but not as bad as my first few tries. Tee hee.

It does help to brighten and evening my skin tone to a certain degree, but like what I said in the toner review, the effect isn’t as great as to when I was living a healthier life compared to now. But at least the toner and this emulsion is keeping things in control.

At least I don’t look like a banana.

So are you buying this for RM100+ a pop?

But I’ve cleared my work enough to allow me for some time to blog and do something other than work, so here’s a quick review.

I’ve been using this for 1 month? Or 2? I can’t remember. Memory’s failing me.

Laneige Star White Skin Refiner is my most expensive toner to date, and the million dollar question is…was the splurge worth it?

I was thinking whether to get this or Kose’s toner, which is a freaking RM200++ for a 300++ml toner. >_< Running short on cash at that time, I figure I’d settle for this, since it’s alcohol free, unlike Kose which is loaded with it (according to forums which I read from).

Comes with a seal top to ensure it’s freshness. I think most brands are doing it now. Or it has been this way for other stuff but I fail to notice? Nevermind. Not important anyway.

Comes in a screw top so it’ll not leak, but damn, why a glass bottle? Do you how careful I am each day when I use this because I am so worried about me being clumsy and break the whole bottle? My vanity table is quite high, you know. A minus point. Glass stuff are bad for travelling but classy. Heh.

This clear runny liquid does what it promises. I think most brightening/ whitening toner claim about the same thing.I notice if I use it with my palms and gently patting the toner in, it isn’t as sticky as when I use a cotton pad. When I use a cotton pad, I can see the difference in a clearer skin as in the cotton pad plus the toner removes dead skin cells compared to other whitening/ brightening toners that I’ve used before.

So in short, use palms you get less sticky face and skin feel more supple. Use cotton pad it’s sticky face but clearer skintone. Which one do you go for? I alternate between both. Haha! Best of both worlds!

Just for some fun reading.

So, this toner is priced around RM100 or so for 160ml, which is decent if you have $$ to splurge. I think this works to a certain degree if your skin problem is mainly due to dehydration and not deep cleansing/ scrubbing as often as you should. If you have sallow skin because of work stress, late nights and all (like me), this will still work but you might not see a HUGE effect as you would hope to.

Why do I sound like I’m so sure it works that way? My dear, I started using this before work went overboard and I can see almost immediate results with this, now, my work is like killing me, and no mask/skincare could revive the glow I once had. Faking the glow by concealing the yuckies is my best method for now.

So my advice, have a better lifestyle. Your skin will thank you for that.

Okay, off I go! Back to work!!!!

But anyway, I have both now. I really shouldn’t be carrying too much cash around… I tend to get into hauling mode!

Let’s get into the details!

Packaging:
I like both, honestly. One is pretty in pink, another in a cool shady blue. Not a big factor to decide on which to buy.

Scent

Laneige: A fresh watery scent, rather soothing.
Etude House: A warm floral scent, makes you feel girly at heart.

Me like both!

Quantity/ Price

Laneige: RM80-RM100 for 80ml (can’t remember exact price already)
Etude House: RM35.90 for 180ml

Looking at the quantity vs the price factor, of course Etude House wins! But don’t get yourself too excited yet, we haven’t finish analyzing! :p

Texture

Laneige: Blue watery gel like. Not as firm as Etude House.
Etude House: Pink jelly like. Not as watery as Laneige.

Absorption rate

Laneige: Sinks into the skin fast, plumps up the skin without a layer of film on the skin the next morning.

Etude House: Absorption rate is much slower, doesn’t plump up the skin as much as Laneige, and it has this gel-like film on the skin the next morning even though I have massage it quite a bit before going to bed.

I guess you know who’s the winner already. Of course judging by price and quantity, Etude House would be a winner, but when it comes to usability, it doesn’t even comes close to second. >_<

I am rather disappointed with Etude House honestly, and had hope it did better. But sadly, what’s the use of an overnight sleeping mask that replenish moisture to the skin but it doesn’t sink into the skin properly?

No point right? Might as well save the money and go get yourself Laneige.

Hm… Now that Paris and Connie has reviewed the ~H20+ Face Oasis Hydrating Treatment Gel, I might just go check it out. But RM159 for 50ml? Maybe I’ll just stick to Laneige.

But if you are looking for something that’s not too expensive, you can try considering Laneige Water Sleeping Pack Plus. It’s really nice!

Laneige Water Sleeping Pack Plus

Blue, a colour that calms you down. Think of the clear blue sky and the deep blue sea, blissful. And yes, this mask when put on your face, feels good too.

Actually, this is my first leave-in facial mask. I usually go for either sheet mask or those wash-off mask. I never really fancy anything that can be left overnight as I am quite worried that it will make my pillow sticky and uncomfortable when I sleep at night. Sleep is my beauty cure! I can’t wreck it or I wreck my own mood the next morning!

So why buy this? It isn’t exactly cheap you know. I consider it as pricey judging from the cheap-but-works-well sheet and wash off mask I’ve used before.

Well, it all happen because I had a little extra cash to splurge that time and I saw some really nice reviews about this, so I decided to take the plunge. And I was not disappointed.

You don’t really need a lot of this on your face, just use slightly more than you would with your normal moisturizer and off you go to bed. I like to massage it in into my face and quite frankly, your face feels quite smooth and supple immediately. It has a slight sticky feeling which goes off really fast once the mask has been absorb by the skin, so no worries about dirtying my pillows or having hair stuck to my face!

My routine with this is the normal cleanser-toner-serum-moisturizer-mask and I go to sleep. The SA told me I can apply a thick amount on the face for 20 minutes and wash it off, but then again I have sheet mask for it, so I shall stick to overnight-leave-in-treatment for my skin.

The next morning, my skin isn’t as oily and using a really mild cleanser or just warm water is suffice to clean the skin. Skin remains supple and smooth throughout the whole day.

I like the fact that it is very easy to use and if I am lazy, I can just skip the toner, serum and moisturizer and lather this on straight away after cleansing and I can go to sleep and still wake up to great looking skin!

I took this with me on my Hanoi trip (shall blog about it soon) and because I sleep in air-conditioned room and with the crazy hot and humid weather there, my skin isn’t really looking too good. With this, it retains enough moisture and helps to calm my skin after being under the sun almost the whole day. No dry, parchy, flaky skin!

It’s quite a big jar and can last for quite a while, I am looking for alternatives to replace this as I use this quite often, I don’t want to spend too much if I can. I am looking at Etude House Moistfull mask, any reviews on this? It’s cheaper and it seems to have the same function as this, but if it doesn’t perform as well as this or I don’t have any other alternatives, I will definitely be buying this over and over again!

And I just don’t know what got into me. >_<

And does the performance of the scrub justifies the hefty price tag? Read on to know my opinion!

Laneige Strawberry Yogurt Peeling Gel

I love the sweet pink colour tube itself! It feels so girly!!! And it’s really minimalistic, which is a style I love very much, so just alone the packaging, is enough to make me buy it. I know, I am such a packaging whore. But I’m sure no girls can resist pretty packagings right?

It’s a pretty big tube, with 150ml of content. It’s a light pink with little red dots and smells oh-so-yummy strawberry yogurt! Delightful! It’s not overly sweet, so those who aren’t fond of sweet stuff should find this just nice. Oh, according to the SA, the little red dots are strawberry particles.

It’s slightly watery when freshly squeeze out from the tube, but once you start scrubbing on your skin, it becomes flakes that gently take away dead skin cells. The flakes slowly become whitish – greyish in colour and after a good rinse on the face, voila, soft skin! I love to touch my skin every time I use this thing! And yes, no breakouts!

Overall, it’s a pleasant product.

Heere’s my verdict:

I will not re-purchase this unless it goes for sale really cheap, or the ones I am using no longer suits me or I have extra cash to splurge.

A lot of cheaper scrubs provide the same clean fresh feeling as this so I don’t feel that it’s really a must to buy this. But if you want to try out something new, this is quite alright. But for the price tag I am paying, I have something else which works just as well but much lower in price. I rather pay a higher price for moisturizers, serums and essence.