I have a love-hate relationship with this sunscreen. When the #evurl girls reviewed this, I was excited. Hada Labo’s products work well for me generally, so this really shouldn’t be a problem. But well… you’ll have to read on to know how it fares on me!

Biore’s sunscreen has been my holy grail sunblock for years, I did stray and used a few others but I always go back to Biore. Enough said.

Hada Labo’s sunscreen is housed in a slim bottle, containing 38ml of the product, which is quite a weird number, but not that I mind.  I like the simple packaging and it comes with a screw cap, so the chances of it leaking is really minimal. I have been travelling with it and no problems there!

The nozzle makes it easy for you to control the amount of sunscreen you wish to use. Usually I dispense a good amount of it on the back of my hand and apply it liberally all over my face.

Now here’s the tricky part. It took me a while to figure out how to actually use this sunscreen. This sunscreen, feels a little heavier than Biore’s Perfect Face Milk and it feels a little sticky and gives me an oil-slick look which I detest. I believe it’s due to it being “moist” and containing Hyaluronic Acid which might be a little problematic for my oily skin. I really don’t need that oily look on my face!

It has bother me quite a while about this, because no matter how I adjust the amount of the sunscreen I use, it’ll just end up making me look greasy.

Then I simplified my skincare routine. I went from layering a few of my magic potions to just using one or two of them, and voila, the sunscreen gave me no problems anymore! I don’t look so much like a grease pot! But still, I have to be careful with what skincare products I use, because I find that if I use anything rich or very hydrating, the sunscreen will again make me look oily. Need to find the right balance and the right products to use this sunscreen, which I never had to with Biore.

Even though it requires a bit of work to use this, I find this work very well when used in drier climates, like winter in Taiwan. With Biore, I’d end up with drier/ flaky skin, but not with Hada Labo. And when I don’t feel like using my magic potions and lotions, I’ll just skip them and use Hada Labo’s UV Moist Emulsion straight, which doesn’t dry out my skin, leaving it feeling comfortable throughout the day. It’s something that Biore can’t do.

By the way, it doesn’t leave a white cast nor does it break me out. No clogged pores either, which is a good thing.

Retails in major pharmacies and supermarkets at RM49.90

Take a look what other #evurl girls think about this:

Paris

Pretty Beautiful

Tine

 Connie

 

Disclosure: This entry contains sample product(s) provided by a PR firm or from the brand itself for review consideration. I do not do paid or guaranteed reviews. All opinions are completely mine.

This serum’s name here is a mouthful. I don’t want to call it by it’s full name, so let’s call it the SOS Moisture Essence okay?

I came back from Taiwan last December with dry skin. With the travelling, late nights and bad eating habits in Taiwan, I just assume that the dryness will just go away once I resume my normal lifestyle/ habits. It’s only when I went to Shu Umeura for my brow session, Selina (my usual SA) told me that it seems like I have a slightly sensitive skin right now, due to my skin being rather dry, and my skin doesn’t look as glowy and bright as it used to.

So she told me to give the SOS Moisture Essence a try, and I bought it without hesitation. Impulse purchase, this is.

shu uemura offers a new night ritual, an everyday “mask” like essence to emergently quench the thirst of the skin overnight.

due to today’s contemporary busy lifestyle, women’s skin is facing SOS signs such as dryness, dullness and roughness.

the revolutionary formula intensely moisturizes the skin overnight while retexturizing skin’s micro texture. a “water-mask” is created through a moisturizing network, targeting to instantly deliver the moisturizing actives and nutrients and locks in the moisture deep into the skin. the next morning, the formula is absorbed into skin with a deep feeling of moisturizing comfort.

taken from http://www.shuuemura-usa.com

Wow, there’s sure a lot of promises going on eh?

It’s a little thick in texture but not too thick, as it’s still quite runny. It is a bit sticky after application and it takes a while for it to sink in. On Shu Uemura’s website, it says to use 2-3 pumps for your face, and an additional 1-2 pumps for areas that need more hydration. For me, even when I have dry skin, 2 pumps is already an overkill! I only use 1 or half a pump depending on my skin condition, and that’s more than enough for me.

One good thing about this is that it’s hydrating enough for me to use on it’s own, without using any additional moisturizer. Anything more, I’d end up looking oilier than usual, which isn’t a pretty sight.

So, after consistently using this day and night for around 3 months, suffice to say this essence didn’t wow me.

I find that even with such claims of the essence containing depsea water, hyaluronic acid and urea, vitasea ferment, and mineral algae mgc, it’s performance is just like any other basic hydrating serum. And with the price I paid, RM190 for 30ml, I don’t find this SOS Moisture Essence worth the price tag for it’s performance. I just feel that there are cheaper solutions out there which would work just the same.

I don’t love this, but neither I hate it either. If this was priced lower, I guess I would have love it better. I’d rather fork out RM200 for Kiehl’s Midnight Recovery Concentrate, you know That’s on my to-try list. Tee hee.

Ingredient list for those interested:

Should have written about this a while back, but it was just sitting in my pile of drafts, waiting for a chance for it to see the daylight.

Well now here it is!

I had wanted to try out the lighter version of Clinique All About Eyes but the SA told me I should take the Rich version as my undereyes are really dry and needed something richer, hence I picked it up.

The eye cream itself is hard in the pot, but soft and buttery upon touching it. You only need a pea size amount for both of your eyes, anything more and you’d end up with really oily greasy eye. I don’t think the skin around my eyes love this eye cream as much compared to the Antipodes one, as it refuse to absorb it. It just stays on top of my skin like a greasy film and that’s about it. No matter what method I use, be it patting, rubbing (horrible!), warming it up, nothing would make my skin absorb it in! Absolutely nothing. I surrender myself to oily eyes. *sigh*

Moisture-rich eye cream diminishes the look of undereye circles, shadows, fine lines-instantly and over time. De-puffs, calms with botanicals. Helps boost natural collagen production. Strengthens skin’s moisture barrier against common irritants. Ophthalmologist Tested.

Taken from All About Eyes™ Rich

Since the product doesn’t get absorb in, it doesn’t help reducing my fine lines under my eyes, nor reduce dark circles. Does it depuff my eyes? No sadly. It did nothing for me. So everything that the above claims to do for me is nothing but empty promises. Luckily for me it didn’t break me out or give me millia seeds, so that’s a good sign since it was just sitting on top of my skin waiting to be washed off.

I have already finished the product and I guess you know my verdict, there’s no way am I repurchasing this. Can’t make it work for the life of me, so what’s the point? I might try out the lighter/ original version of Clinique All About Eyes, since that version seems to be more popular and fetches better rating compared to this Rich version, but it’ll be a bit later in the future, since I now have another eye cream in my arsenal.

Too much of a hope leads to disappointment is all I can say for Clinique All About Eyes Rich

Readily available at all Clinique counters for RM130 (last I check) for a 15ml tub.

Dove has never been my beauty essential list, given that their hair shampoo wrecked me and my sisters’ hair, I really don’t want to touch it again. I did use their body wash and find it okay though…

So yeah, my initial experience with Dove’s hair shampoo/ conditioner isn’t really great, but ksuan from belle demoiselle said it worked really well and I had to try something new (actually I just wanted to buy something to satisfy a weird shopping urge), that I pop by the nearest Watson and bought it.

Now this cleanser is pretty confused about it’s identity. Is this a scrub or is it not? To me, no matter what the description says (refer to picture above), it doesn’t qualify as a scrub. At least texture wise. No scrubby bits but it lathers into a thick, dense creamy foam that’s really a delight to use! If you have used before Shiseido Perfect Whip Foam, well that’s the kind of foam you are looking at. Maybe a touch silkier and denser.

It has this really nice soothing scent which reminds me of clean morning breeze. And after cleaning my face with this, you’ll feel refreshed. I think the scent is playing with my mind.

As a cleanser that deep cleanses, it surely does what it claims. My face feels really clean but not tight/ dry. But… this only happens when I have really oily skin which is usually around that time of the month. I can’t use this on normal days when I have combo-oily skin that’s leaning to the drier side. I’d find my cheeks feeling rather taut.

Just a note, I don’t find my serums/ moisturizers to sink in better/ faster when I used this, but I do notice I get lesser blackheads and my existing blackheads are easier to extract whenever I use this cleanser.

All in all, Dove Deep Pure Facial Wash earns it’s place in my monthly beauty essentials (yes you read that right), for doing everything right. The price is affordable (about RM18-20), lovely scent that’s not too strong, cleanses well (not when I am having drier skin though), what’s there not to love?

But this still haven’t change my mind about Dove hair shampoo/ conditioner though…

Have been pretty much on a roll with deep cleansing mask for the past 2 months, all the stress and what nots are just giving driving my skin into oiliness overdrive, that I can’t really live without one right now.

This 3-in-1 mask here reminds me very much of Lush’s Mask Of Magnaminty. It’s pretty much the same. It deep cleanses your skin, purifies it and also exfoliate it.

The difference between the both?

I ‘d say that The Bodyshop version is the harsher, or more abrasive version of Lush.

I find that it stings my skin a little, usually when my skin is on the drier side, but not when my skin is oily. The scrubby bits are more abrasive than Lush, I feel. Maybe that’s why it stung, but I never had such problems with Lush, whether my skin was dry or oily.

Apart from it being a little stingy (as and when it likes), the scrub is actually pretty nice. It really does give you bright clean skin, that’s smooth to the touch. The glow is actually better than what Lush’s counterpart can offer, in my opinion.

And yes, this mask also leans closer to the “drier” side, which like as though you are putting on slabs of dry clay paste onto your face. It takes a bit of effort in applying but it can be done. But the cleaning up isn’t as bad as using Lush, so it’s a pro!

I usually leave it on for about 10 minutes, let it dry a bit and then use warm water to gently rinse it off, while I give my face a scrub. And yay to a really clean and bright face! It didn’t dry out my skin, nor did it make my skin feel tight, it just leave my skin feels like as though I gave it a really good wash inside out.

Would I repurchase? I don’t think so. I really like the effect it gives, but I don’t want to deal with the sting. There are other scrubs out there like this (Lush, for example) which is gentle enough yet does the job. It’s a pity Lush isn’t available locally.

The Bodyshop Blue Corn 3-in-1 Deep Cleansing Mask is easily available in The Bodyshop outlets, retailing around RM60 or so. Watch out for their sales and you may get to bring it home for a much cheaper price! And remember, do a patch test first before you go slab it on your whole face!

Mud mix with loess (read here for more info: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loess) and vegetable oil. Yucky no?

Quite the contrary though.

Like it’s clay mask counterpart, this one is even more “moist” (god forbid I use that word) and it doesn’t dry out my skin at all. In fact, it feels kinda creamy, and dries down smooth and matte. It doesn’t even crack even when it’s dried.

This one doesn’t make me feel as clean as the clay mask, nor have great oil controlling properties, it makes my skin feel just… normal. Maybe just a little softer, a little more plump, but that’s about it. I don’t get the smooth skin feel from this mask too.

The only thing I love about this mask is the lovely scent! I can’t say exactly for sure what scent it is, but it’s light and sweet, maybe citrus?

This mask is probably suited to those who have drier skin, not so much for girls with oilier skin type.

Not my cup of tea, but maybe it’s yours. Who knows eh?

Retails for RM70 (120ml) at NOPS outlet in Sunway Pyramid.

Disclosure: Product featured was a press sample provided by PR or the product’s respective company for review consideration. I do not do paid or guaranteed reviews.

This NOPS Green Clay Pore Mask is currently my favourite clay mask at the moment.

It spreads well and doesn’t have any icky scent, possibly a very light clay-ish smell but not that my nose can detect anything. It also doesn’t dry out my skin nor makes it feel super tight after washing it off, it controls the oilies very very well (imagine waking up the next morning with skin that is close to being matte!), makes my skin feels very soft and smooth, best of all, it makes extractions of yucky blackheads extremely easy! Though it doesn’t really made my pores go any smaller, or made me think my pores has shrunk. LOL.

Beware of the gory picture ahead!

Gross huh? But I totally love the results, 15 minutes of ugliness is okay with me! Hehe. But please don’t ask me why the nose area didn’t turn as whitish grey like the rest of my face, because I really haven’t got the faintest idea!

Am using this mask twice a week, and so far it has been good. I guess this is good for those with oilier skin types, while dry skin girls you might want to be a little bit more careful with this, as the oil control properties is really quite good, it might give you flaky skin if you use too much!

Retails for RM70 (120ml) at NOPS outlet in Sunway Pyramid.

Disclosure: Product featured was a press sample provided by PR or the product’s respective company for review consideration. I do not do paid or guaranteed reviews.

Have been using this for a while and already close to finish, I thought I’d report my thoughts on this.

I have always been a fan of Biore UV Perfect Face Milk and don’t really have any intentions of changing brands or the product itself, but as my skin gets drier as I age, I find that at times even this sunblock would give me dry flaky skin. Bummer.

What’s a girl gotta do then?

Came along this new sunblock from Biore which is said to contain Hyaluronic Acid and Mix Citrus Essence (made with orange, grapefruit and lemon extract) as it’s main moisturizing ingredients. Sounds good to me and off I went to buy this.

My thoughts?

It’s of a moussy-airy kind of cream texture, which spreads really well and leaving behind no white cast. Though on occasions I do notice a slight hint of white cast, but that’s because I used a little too much. Hee.

Though it may look thick, it’s actually pretty light and does feel quite moisturizing, but it’s not oily nor sticky. It has this really light lemony scent which is quite refreshing too!

There are days when I feel really really lazy, I’d just slap this on and go to work, very bad move I know, but my skin still feel okay. It doesn’t feel any drier than normal or give me any major issues.

Ingredient list for those interested:

Overall, I do like this sunblock very much, as it’s very wallet friendly and does what it is supposed to do.

Have you put on sunblock today? What’s your favourite?

Read other reviews here:

Jenn

I was impressed with the Vichy Normaderm Refine Total Pore Resurfacing  Essence which I had reviewed earlier, that when they offer me the chance to try out Normaderm Tri-Activ Anti- Imperfection Hydrating Care, I said yes immediately!

Reason being I really like what Vichy is doing for my skin, even my sister (who has sensitive skin) loves the earlier version of this moisturizer, the Anti Imperfection Hydrating Care. It did help her reduce bumps and such on her face.

It was pure love the first time I had it on my face, it goes on totally matte, but not the overly matte kind of feel. It leaves a soft and slightly powdery velvety finish, if that makes sense. It’s really light and it gets absorbed quickly. No stickiness or any oily feel. Perfect for such hot humid days.

Triple Performance in One Gesture; Anti Imperfection, Mattifying and 24h Hydration. Refines skin’s texture for healthier skin within 1 month. Imperfections such as pimples, clogged pores and shine are reduced.

taken from press release provided

I won’t say it’s 100% mattifying, as I still have quite a bit of shine when noon hits, but overall shine is reduced, it is especially noticeable if I use it together with the Pore Resurfacing Essence. Though it helps to reduce sebum production and help to reduce skin imperfections, it isn’t as drying as you’d think.

As for reducing pimples and clogged pores, I can’t say much for pimples as I hardly have them *touch wood*. Can’t say it has help clear up all my clogged areas too, but after about 1 month of using it day and night, it has definitely reduced, especially on my nose.

Before you run off buying it, I’d like to point that if you have drier skin, this might not provide sufficient moisture for you. Those with oily skin or with problematic skin, you might like this. Like I do

Also a quick note on the ingredients: Salicylic Acid, Glycolic Acid, LHA, Glycerin, Silica & Vichy Thermal Spa Water

It’s currently available in leading pharmacies and retail outlets in 2 sizes: 30ml (RM49), 50ml (RM79)

Disclosure: Product featured was a press sample provided by PR or the product’s respective company for review consideration. I do not do paid or guaranteed reviews.

Dear Etude House Happy Teatime Peach Tea Cleansing Foam,

When I just got to know you, my first impression was “Why is your name is such a mouthful?” As the day goes by and we got to know each other better, we both agreed to just call you Peach Tea, since this is my favourite drink for hot humid days.

You always smell so amazing, with a lovely peach scent (duh, of course!). Just by sniffing you already make my dullest and gloomiest day seem so much better. And not to forget I smile every so often just by sniffing you.

You are such a delight to use because you foam up easily and you clean my face well. I love the squeaky clean feeling although at times you do leave my skin feeling a little tight. But that’s alright, a moisturizer will fix things immediately.

You promised me that if I were to have you around, I’ll have brighter skin because you contain Peach Tea extract for brightening purpose. I’m sorry to say you have broken your promise, but it’s okay, I’ll just use something else to get brighter looking skin.

I’m sorry to see you go as we had such a wonderful relationship despite you breaking your promise, but thank god the price to pay to bring you home once again is within my budget (you’re really affordable at RM13.90, even more affordable during sales, approx RM10).

Till then, I’ll miss you so. But I know I’ll see you soon again, maybe even bring home your other sisters too!

with much love,
plue

Update: Psst! Actually I have finished using the product and it went into the bin, I didn’t give it away or throw it just because it didn’t help to brighten my skin. LOL, I forgot to mention that in my post! Sorry!