[Review] Estee Lauder Double Wear Light Stay-in-Place Makeup SPF10

Estee Lauder Double Wear Light Stay-in-Place Makeup SPF10

Product description

15-hour wear, light as air: long-wear makeup is now lightweight makeup.
It’s makeup that keeps up. Fresh, natural, comfortable. Goes on sheer, leaves skin free to breathe all day.
Controls oil. Resists smudging and wont “melt” off through heat and humidity.
For a look that stays vibrant and fresh whether it’s a workday, a workout or a weekend. Smooth it on once and don’t think twice about it.

Ingredients

Water, Cyclopentasiloxane, Trimethylsiloxysilicate, Butylene Glycol, Trimethyl Pentaphenyltrisiloxane, Phenyl Trimethicone, Silica, Magnesium Sulfate, Polyglyceryl-3 Diisostearate, Tribehenin, PEG-10 Dimethicone, BIS-PEG/PPG-14/14 Dimethicone, Ethylhexylglycerin, Phenyl Methicone, Sodium Hyaluronate, Dimethicone, Polyglyceryl-4 Isostearate, Laureth-7, Glycerin, Polymethylsilsesquioxane, Hexyl Laurate, Cetyl PEG/PPG-10/1 Dimethicone, Chamomilla Recutita (Matricaria), Disteardimonium Hectorite, Methicone, Propylene Carbonate, Tetramethyl Hexyphenyl Tetrasiloxane, Cellulose Gum, Xanthan Gum, Dimethicone Silylate, Tocopheryl Acetate, Alumina, Sorbic Acid, Chlorphenesin, Phenoxyethanol. May contain: Iron Oxides, Titanium Dioxide, Bismuth Oxychloride, Mica, Ferric Ammonium Ferrocyanide.

Price: USD 37 for 30 ml

Hello beauties! Let’s talk about makeup today! One of the first foundations I ever tried was from Estee Lauder. This one has sit in my makeup drawer long enough and after sporadic usage I manage to finish it, yay! Pat me, please? lol. Finishing base makeup seems to be impossible back then when I was still trying out gazillion of bases back then, it just seemed to last super long. I intended to review this one and I kept postponing it and before I realized it’s already an empty by the time I took a shot at it. Pardon me..

Estee Lauder Double Wear Light Stay-in-Place Makeup SPF10

Estee Lauder Double Wear Light Stay-in-Place Makeup SPF10

If you were wondering about the slightly different packaging, mine was the old packaging, with all-gold cap. Estee Lauder Double Wear Light Stay-in-Place Makeup SPF10 comes in a tube with a small nozzle. The opening is small enough so as to give controlled amount of product dispensed. However, like any other tube packaging, you have to be extra careful when bringing this out on traveling, especially if it involved traveling by air. The pressure change might cause a little explosion, so beware (personal experience).

Estee Lauder Double Wear Light is the lighter counterpart of its heavy duty best selling Double Wear. Double Wear Light, as its name implicates, provides a light coverage, and it’s buildable up to medium coverage. The texture, as you have seen in previous post, is quite light but not too runny with no discernible scent. It’s easily spread, but can get a little tacky. Hence me adding some silicone-based primer on every application. It has the tendency to settle into any fine lines it can find, so the primer helps to counter this side-effect. For such a light texture, I’m surprised it always sink into my fine lines *sigh*. It has SPF10, but in our tropical country such meager sun protection is surely not enough, so please wear a separate sunscreen underneath.

The coverage is enough to cover my pigmentation without looking to cakey. With light application, it immediately evens out my skintone. Any redness around my nose and cheeks are immediately neutralized. The finish is semi-matte, which is what I always prefer in my base makeup. I still need to conceal my undereye dark circles though as the foundation only manages to cover a tad bit of it. The dark circles still peek through it.

Estee Lauder Double Wear Light in Action

Estee Lauder Double Wear Light in Action

The shade I was matched is Intensity 1.0. The shades available is less extensive compared to its sister, Double Wear but there are 9 shades available. Intensity 1.0 pretty much as neutral undertone so it fits me to a T. It’s pretty hard finding a neutral undertoned bases, most are always leaning towards yellow or pink. I have swatched it along with my other bases and you can see it’s the most neutral one.

Estee Lauder Double Wear Light Intensity 1.0

L-R: Estee Lauder Double Wear Light Intensity 1.0, Laura Mercier Tinted Moisturizer in Nude, Garnier BB Cream, Revlon PhotoReady in Nude, NARS Sheer Glow in Deauville, Chanel VitaLumiere Aqua in Beige 20

On me, once I set the foundation with loose powder (currently using SK-II Loose Powder) it stays on whole day until I removed it. Pretty impressive for the staying power. Eventhough the description states you can use it on a workout, I won’t recommend it. I personally think when you workout, all those sweats need to come out and I just hate the icky feeling when it’s mixed with whatever makeup I have on. So I always remove my makeup before working out. Besides, I usually just change my outfit and continue doing something else before showering, so I don’t like the foundation mixed with sweat stays on my face for too long. If you’re proned to breakout, never forget to remove your makeup before workout and at the end of the day. The foundation itself is not waterproof, so while sweating profusely there might be a little bit of it melts off but most of it stays intact throughout the day.

Would I repurchase? No. I don’t like that it sinks into my fine lines despite the light texture, I’m moving on to other foundation. We had a good run but that’s it haha.

Plus: light texture, easily spread, staying power is good, acceptable range of shades available, unscented

Minus: tendency to sink into fine lines, can get a little tacky, unable to cover dark circles completely

Adios.. Til next post!

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[Review] Shu Uemura Cleansing Beauty Oil Premium A/O

Shu Uemura Cleansing Beauty Oil Premium A/O

Product description

for ageing concerns
cleansing beauty oil premium a/o is the #1 selling shu uemura cleansing oil in the world. a premium anti-oxidant skin purifier that thoroughly cleanses the skin while protecting it against internal and external aggressions associated with skin ageing.
contains catechin, derived from green tea, botanical oils, deep sea water, and a calming aroma based on watermelon, jasmine, and sandalwood
the formula has anti-oxidant properties, and helps to hydrate and soothe skin.
it also naturally provides moisture to skin, and helps to enhance skin transparency and improves skin quality. 

Ingredients

paraffinum liquidum/mineral oil, zea mays/corn germ oil, polysorbate 85, carthamus tinctorius oil/safflower seed oil, sorbitan trioleate, isopropyl myristate, dicaprylyl carbonate, undecane, maris aqua/sea water, tridecane, squalane, glycerin, simmondsia chinensis oil/jojoba seed oil, macadamia ternifolia seed oil, propylene glycol, tocopherol, limonene, linalool, camellia sinensis extract/camellia sinensis leaf extract, ginkgo biloba extract/lactobacillus ferment,moringa pterygosperma seed extract,parfum.

Price: MYR 120 for 150ml / MYR 290 for 450 ml

Aloha world!

Today I’m going to review the iconic Shu Uemura Cleansing Oil. I’ve been an avid user of Shu Uemura Cleansing Oil since 2008, ever since I first started foraging into makeup. I couldn’t remember why but all I know I’ve been using their cleansing oil for ages and have repurchased countless time. I’ve tried the balancing (the one in yellow) and fresh (pink one) formulation and now I got itched to try Cleansing Beauty Oil Premium A/O. Why so? Pardon me if I’m so shallow, just because it’s green! LOL. There are few more variants of Shu Uemura Cleansing Oil and I intend to try them all. It’s baffling how I just started trying the rest of the line while I’ve been religiously faithful to the yellow one haha.

Shu Uemura Cleansing Beauty Oil Premium A/O

I believe recently there’s a new formulation Shu Uemura conducted on their cleansing oil. Now when I checked their website, the only green cleansing oil I can find is anti/oxi skin refining anti-dullness cleansing oil. I got mine from duty free shop, travel-exclusive 100ml bottle. My sister got me the big-ass bottle few months ago and I noticed the different name and the new one comes in slightly lighter color. I shall do comparison post once I try the new one.

Instructions how to use cleansing oil

I’ve been incorporating double cleansing method to my PM skincare regimen yonks ago. What I do is removing my makeup with cleansing oil, including waterproof eye makeup, and continue with regular facial wash. It’s easy peasy to use this great stuff. Just use 1.5-2 pumps on dry face (depending on how heavy the makeup I wear. Do note that the instruction recommends to use 3-4 pumps but I think 2 pumps is abundant already), spread all over my face and neck, massage it in circular motion, emulsify with water, continue massaging until all makeup breaks down and rinse. I take extra precaution on eye area as it’s very delicate, you don’t want to be too harsh and give yourself fine lines, or worse crowfeet. I don’t usually use separate eye/lip makeup remover because I find using cleansing oil is sufficient enough. When I first did it, some of the product got into my eye. It didn’t sting, but my vision got a little cloudy for a moment. However, it’s gone after a good rinsing with water. If you had very sensitive eyes, though, do skip this and use separate eye makeup remover. You’ve been warned lol.

Cleansing Beauty Oil Premium A/O is significantly thicker than balancing or porefinist (what the fresh one is called now). It’s still quite runny nonetheless so spreading it allover the face isn’t a problem. The scent is very mild and relaxing, whilst the yellow one is always slightly more refreshing. I can definitely detect faint scent of green tea. I actually like it more than the yellow one, I don’t know why I took so long to get out of my comfort zone and venturing into other line of Shu Uemura Cleansing Oil. I love how it leaves my skin visibly more moisturized compared to the other two I’ve tried. Initially I felt it was too oily, but I get used to it after using it for a few days. I can safely say I’m a big fan now. Oh who am I kidding, I’m a worshipper haha.

The 100ml bottle lasts me for almost 2 months with regular use. I found that the 450 ml bottle usually lasts for about 6 months. So for such asking price, it’s not that expensive. The initial outlay is but not so in the long run. Shu Uemura Cleansing Oils contain mineral oil, so please don’t splurge right away on the big bottle if you were unsure whether you may be allergic to them or not. I’d suggest buying the sample bottles which comes with all variants, try them first and decide which one you like, or rather which one your skin prefers. I am a huge fan of this so I’ll continue use this as long as Shu Uemura continues producing it (keep producing it, pretty please?).

On a slightly related not (lol!), some of you might ask why am I getting the travel-sized bottle when I’m a religious user of cleansing oil. I just wanted to try it out, even though I know the previous ones I tried didn’t give me any problem, I still think getting a smaller version as a precaution, you never know what different formulation might do to your skin. Turns out I’m hooked lol. Also, the 100ml bottle is great for travelling, the pump mechanism is superb, I never came across a faulty one throughout the last 6 years I’ve been using Shu Uemura cleansing oils. Every bottle also comes with a plastic sort of seal you can insert into the neck of the pump so it won’t spill during traveling. I also put one bottle (the travel exclusive set comes in 2 bottles) at my mum’s. If I chucked the big bottle my mum will scream at me for overcrowding her bathroom haha, just kidding. All in all, it’s a great stuff. Enough said :P.

Plus: removes makeup excellently, keep my skin hydrated, relaxing mild scent of green tea

Minus: none, go get yourself one! teehee~

Til next post darlings!

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[Product Smackdown] Laneige Water Sleeping Pack EX vs Neutrogena Hydro Boost Night Concentrate Sleeping Pack

Hello beauties 😉 Today I’m going to do a product smackdown between two sleeping packs, the highly raved one from Laneige and one from Neutrogenya which I encountered by accident. I swear I didn’t know I have the Neutrogena one in my drawer as the box is eerily similar to their gel moisturizer which is my staple day moisturizer haha. So let’s begin!

Laneige Water Sleeping Pack_EX

Before dwelling further, sleeping pack is a leave-on mask you put on after your night skincare routine (or you can opt to skip your skincare and just proceed straight away with this mask) and leave it overnight. For the purpose of having an idea how good it performs I put it on sans my night skincare. I have few sachet samples of Laneige Water Sleeping Pack_EX from beauty box subscription, each sachet was good for two uses. Laneige Water Sleeping Pack_EX is runny gel which spreads on very easily. Don’t fret if it wasn’t absorbed into your skin because hey it’s a sleeping pack lol. It’s claimed to provide intense hydration, vitality and brightening effect.

What I noticed in the morning after application is that my skin feels hydrated, a tad bit more compared to just using my regular skincare. Vitality? Meh. Brightening effect? Not sure about this as I didn’t feel there is any difference.

Neutrogena Hydro Boost Night Concentrate

The competitor is Neutrogena Hydro Boost Night Concentrate Sleeping Pack, such a lengthy name! It comes in exactly the same jar as gel moisturizer. Even the texture is similar, albeit slightly thicker with tiny blue speckles which crushes upon application.  I applied it sans skincare as well. Unlike Laneige that comes with so many different claims, Neutrogena only promises hydration, that’s it. Hence it delivers what it promised. I woke up to a hydrated and supple skin :). It does what it claims.

Scent-wise Laneige is more lightly scented although Neutrogena’s scent wasn’t too unbearable, it dissipated pretty quick so it’s not a problem to me. Both hydrated my skin well but I noticed Laneige only delivered one of its claims despite being packed with more complicated substances (Beta Glucan, Ceramide SLN, Hunza Apricot extract and Chestnut extract) compared to Neutrogena (Hyaluronic Acid, Olive Oil and Ionic Mineral Complex). Price-wise I coudn’t remember how much the Neutrogena’s priced at (since I didn’t even know I have it haha) but considering Neutrogena is a drugstore brand and Laneige belongs to department store I can safely say Neutrogena Hydro Boost Night Concentrate Sleeping Pack is more affordable than Laneige Water Sleeping Pack_EX. However, Neutrogena is not readily available in Indonesia, I think I got mine in Malaysia. I will definitely buy more backup for this good stuff on my next visit. It’s creeped slowly into my weekly routine ;).

So what do you like me to review next? I’m all ears here 🙂

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[Review] SK-II Cellumination Deep Surge EX

SK-II Cellumination Deep Surge EX

Product description

This light daily moisturizer is infused with an advanced whitening complex Aura Bright Cocktail EX with Pitera™, which deeply hydrates, evens out your skin and boosts its luminosity. With every use, dullness and appearance of spots are minimized to reveal your skin’s natural translucent glow.

Ingredients

Water, Cyclopentasiloxane, Galactomyces Ferment Filtrate, Glycerin, Niacinamide, Triethylhexanoin, Isopropyl Isostearate, Pentylene Glycol, Caprylic/Capric Triglyceride, Butylene Glycol, Cetyl Alcohol, Sucrose Polycottonseedate, Sorbitan Stearate, Hydrogenated Lecithin, Hydroxypropyl Methylcellulose Stearoxy Ether, Batyl Alcohol, Behenyl Alcohol, Benzyl Alcohol, Stearyl Alcohol, Undecylenoyl Phenylalanine, Methylparaben, Dimethicone/Vinyl Dimethicone Crosspolymer, Aminomethyl Propanol, Sodium Benzoate, Disodium EDTA, Acrylates/C10-30 Alkyl Acrylate Crosspolymer, Squalane, Panthenol, Polysorbate 80, Ascorbyl Glucoside, Fragrance, Sodium Methyl Stearoyl Taurate, Centella Asiatica Extract, Lecithin, Polymethylsilsesquioxane.

Price: USD 150 for 50 g

Good morning beauties!

It’s still the continuation of SK-II skincare ark lol. Today I’m moving on to moisturizer, Cellumination Deep Surge EX. As usual, I received this as part of GWP. The sample I had was travel size tub. It’s pretty handy once I’m done with it as I can use it as my traveling container :P.

Cellumination Deep Surge EX hails from the latest line of SK-II skincare products aim at brightening effect. I’ve seen the full size tub in real, and oh boy it’s such a pretty packaging with all those pearlescent packaging, I’m a sucker lol. The first thing I noticed when I first used this moisturizer is the presence of shimmer. I was like, omigosh what’s shimmer doing in moisturizer?? However, once applied the shimmer was not noticeable. Maybe the shimmer contributes to translucent glowing effect that SK-II promises. Putting shimmer asides, this is actually a pretty great moisturizer. It’s creamy but very light and was absorbed almost readily. I’m using patting motion for application. It may get a little slippery during application due to the presence of silicone, but once absorbed I feel nothing but moisturized supple skin.

There’s a faint scent of citrus and rose which doesn’t bother me. It’s relaxing actually. I took a good sniff and it never gave me headache so I just proceeded and got addicted to the scent eventually haha. Performance wise, I noticed after a month of use, my skin is noticeably brighter and also I no longer have dry patches. Do notice that I said brighter, not fairer. My skin just looks better and more radiant, but it does nothing to my pigmentation.

Now, I exclusively use this a night moisturizer. The website recommends using it daily, both day and night. Some bloggers stated it should be incorporated into nighttime regimen. It’s a little confusing, but given the light texture you can use it as daytime moisturizer as well. It’s just a personal preference, really. Whatever works for you, right? I prefer lighter texture for day moisturizer, like gel as I like to layer my skincare in the morning so it’s better for me to slap on lighter textured stuff. It cuts down the absorption time.

Will I get myself a full size tub once I’m done? Maybe, I’m still contemplating. Besides I still have the Stem Power moisturizer to try on. I will see how it fares with the other moisturizer and make my decision :P. If I do, I will need to rearrange my beauty financial budget to fit this in, haha. Baby is top priority for now lol.

Plus: moisturizes skin well, brightens skin, eliminates dry patches, light texture easily absorbed, relaxing scent

Minus: does nothing to pigmentation, contains silicones and alcohol (so stay away if you’re allergic to these)

Do you have any suggestion for cheaper alternatives? I’m dying to know..

See you on the next post!

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[Oh-My-Blush!] Part 3: Benefit Bella Bamba

Hi beauties!

I decided to continue my Oh-My-Blush! installment featuring one blush at a time. Now I can’t promise how regular this installment will be as I’ve already cut down gazillion of blushes in my collection so I will try to make it a weekly thing 😉 The blushes that I have right now are my favorites so don’t judge me if I sang praise to the heaven for these blushes lol. I’m biased that way.

Benefit Bella Bamba

So to kick it off I’m gonna present you with Benefit Bella Bamba! Shake that booties to samba rhythm! Oh I just fail miserably trying to make things rhyme. Bella Bamba belongs to Benefit’s Box ‘O’ Powder range. I used to have Dandelion and Georgia but those two were too sheer for my liking, so I ditched them. Oops sorry, I swapped them away :P. I can faintly remember I had a hard time to decide whether I should take this baby home or Coralista. I was attracted more towards this blush just because the packaging was too gorgeous to pass, gawd I’m a sucker.

According to Benefit, this is a 3D brightening face powder. Look at the box, it even says 3D pink. Honestly I have no idea what 3D pink means *baffles*. To me, Bella Bamba is strawberry pink with gold shimmer. Benefit suggests to apply this on the cheeks and *lo and behold* dot at the hairline. Dot at hairline? Have you ever seen people putting PINK on their hairline. No, thanks, I’ll just stick to the traditional way of applying blushes.

Left: Swatch, Right: Blended

How Benefit Bella Bamba looks on me

Mind you, unlike other Benefit Box ‘O’ Powder mentioned above, Bella Bamba is fairly pigmented. It’s not as pigmented as NARS blushes but a light hand is still needed if you don’t want to overdo your blush. So please be careful. I usually use stippling brush for application as it’s easier for me to control the amount of blush placed on my cheeks.

Benefit Bella Bamba after 10 hours (please excuse the shiny face, I had to use flash)

On me, Bella Bamba sticks like a leech. It stays on whole day with minimal fading. My skin is on the drier spectrum so blushes usually stay put throughout the day. I still can’t vouch for oily-skinned ladies. Maybe I should ask my sister to put this on and see how it fares (Dang how come I never thought about this??). I shall update this post once the experiment’s done ;). Priced at USD 28 it’s not exactly cheap but considering a little goes a long way I can justify the price hehe. I won’t repurchase as this blush is gonna last me a lifetime, or maybe two.

Where can you get this? I’m not sure whether Benefit Cosmetics is available in major cities in Indonesia, please let me know if any of you ever encountered one. Even if there isn’t any at the moment, Sephora’s coming to Jakarta pretty soon I heard so it will be available at Sephora. You can also find this at IndoMakeup, where I got mine. I’m not affiliated to IndoMakeup but I found their service to be excellent.

Ah I’ve been blabbering too much. To conclude, Bella Bamba is a pretty strawberry pink with gold shimmer which looks awesome on fair to medium skintone. It lasts all day long so one box could definitely last me ages.

Oh here’s the ingredients for those who are concerned 😉

Benefit Bella Bamba ingredients list

Watch out for the next issue of Oh-My-Blush!

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[Review] SK-II Facial Treatment Repair C

SK-II Facial Treatment Repair C

Product description

A serum that contains Concentrated Pitera with effective moisturizing complex that helps to improve skin’s appearance by reducing the look of fine lines due to dehydration. Pump a pea-sized amount onto finger-tips. Smooth over entire face, especially around the eyes and neck which are prone to fine lines and dryness.

Ingredients
Saccharomycopsis Ferment Filtrate**, Aqua (Water / Eau), Butylene Glycol, Glycerin, Pentylene Glycol, Sodium Hyaluronate, Methylparaben, Sodium Benzoate. *Pitera

Price: USD 160 for 30 ml

Onto the fourth review of SK-II products, please bear with me.. Just two more review including this and I’m done, at least for now :P. As per my previous samples, I received a travel sized bottle from GWP. The bottle it came in looks exactly the same like the full sized one. The bottle contained 15 ml of product. First thing first, I love the bottle! It survived numerous traveling and I experienced no spillage whatsoever. Even after I finished the content I still keep the packaging for future use.. Oh well you never know when this jiffy stuff might came in handy.

At first I was perplexed by its name, I was questioning myself what the ‘C’ in Facial Treatment Repair C stands for. After consulting Dr. Google turns out it stands for concentrate. Ring any bell? Yes you guess it right, it contains concentrated form of Pitera, in other words the thicker version of Facial Treatment Essence and it’s 10 times as smelly lol. The concentrate was a thick clear liquid which spread quite easily and dried out pretty quick after a few patting down. My skin was significantly moisturized afterwards. The leaflet it came with recommended 1 to 2 pumps for each application, but 1 pump is pretty much sufficient. I tried using 2 pumps before and it took forever to sink in. I’m not usually skimpy when it comes to the amount of skincare I slather on my face but trust me 1 pump is enough, no need to waste precious goody, it ain’t cheap.. Well unless you have a larger surface area then you may need more, just adjust accordingly.

Combined with the Facial Treatment Essence and Cellumination Deep Surge EX (review coming soon) I woke up to a fully moisturized face and smooth canvas for makeup application. So far this has been my routine night skincare regime, alternating between Facial Treatment Repair C and The Spot Specialist. I seem to always go back to this serum whenever I need that boost of hydration. Speaking of reducing fine lines, I can’t vouch for that as I don’t have noticeable fine lines 😛 (for now at least).

So the next big question is would I repurchase? I love it, need I say more? I know I’ve been praising SK-II skincare because they work for me. What works for me might not work for you, so if you planned to splurge do try to score some sample as I notice quite a lot of people I bumped into are allergic to these Pitera-loaded skincare.

Pros: moisturizes skin well, give smooth canvas to work on makeup

Cons: the yeast smell might be too strong for some people

I’m not going to comment on the price as I can justify myself to pay that amount as long as my skin’s happy 😉

Zoom zoom!

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[Review] SK-II Facial Treatment Essence

SK-II Facial Treatment Essence

Product description

This unique Pitera-rich product by SK-II moisturizes to improve texture and clarity for a more beautiful, glowing complexion. 

Ingredients

Galactomyces Ferment Filtrate, Butylene Glycol, Pentylene Glycol, Water, Sodium Benzoate, Methylparaben, Sorbic Acid.

Price: IDR 2.027.100 at Luxola / USD 134 at Lotte Duty Free Shop for 215 ml

Don’t kill me just yet, I still have a few of SK-II reviews lined up lol. This is the infamous holy smelly water, yes it smells a little yucky, yeast kind of smell when I first used it. By now I have developed immunity towards the smell haha.  Like any other SK-II products I’ve reviewed so far I received this in a 15 ml travel-sized bottle. I use about one teaspoon and the sample lasted me for about 1 month of regular use, both day and night. It’s either a love or hate relationship when it comes to this smelly water. Some people rate this as their must-have item whilst quite a lot totally detest this. So which category do I fall into? Read on 😉

SK-II Facial Treatment Essence (I will just call this FTE) used to come in a heavy sturdy glass bottle but recently they have changed it to plastic bottle. It was light alright but somehow it feels cheap. You pay not only for the content but also the packaging too, no? Or maybe it’s just me, just let it slip, will ya? The so-called Pitera-rich product is very watery, just like your good ole tap water with hideous scent. Again it’s said to come from the yeast extract they use. You either pour sufficient amount of this product onto cotton pad and pat to the hole face or you can opt to pour a teaspoon to your palm, spread it across your face and pat dry. I opted for the latter. I’d rather have my hands soaked up the goody rather than the cotton pad. It’s absorbed pretty quick after a bit of patting down, and immediately I can feel my skin’s moisturized. Not too moisturized that I can totally skip my moisturizer. Mind you, you still need your moisturizer after applying SK-II FTE. It’s just an essence, it’s supposed to help your skin absorb the next step of your skincare better. Some kind of booster.

I notice that whenever I’m using SK-II FTE, my serum and moisturizer are absorbed faster. It’s either this FTE works or my mind is playing some trick on me lol. What I notice after regular use is that my skin is significantly hydrated, dry patches around my nose and mouth started to diminish and makeup applies better.

So.. am I a convert? Duh, yeah~~ I’ve purchased full sized bottle ever since I’ve finished the travel sized bottles. I’m on my third bottle now. Each bottle lasts me about 6 months, so I can still deal with the price, me thinks.

Pros: hydrating, readily absorbed, plumps skin up, boosts absorption of skincare

Cons: plastic packaging, mind-boggling yucky smell

Have any of you tried this? Do let me know your opinions on the comment section. Toodle 🙂

 

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[Just Sampling] Juara Candlenut Body Creme, Sweet Black Tea & Rice Facial Moisturizer, and Rice Facial Cleanser

Just sampling is a series where I review products on a glance, meaning the products I tried from not-so-generous samples (lol!). Pretty much just reviewing on the surface.

I came across Juara Skincare from my beauty box subscription ages ago, it was Lolabox if I’m not mistaken. The sample sachets came with a cute brown pouch which I still use up to now. Juara in Indonesian means winner or champion. At first I thought Juara Skincare is a local brand. After some googling turned out it’s a US-based company. One of the founders is Indonesian (yay to Indonesians!). The inspiration behind their skincare line comes from Indonesian botanical ingredients, they researched and formulated their products in the US. Apparently they claim to be 100% vegetarian and paraben-free.

Juara Candlenut Body Creme

Juara Candlenut Body Creme

Ingredients

Water/Eau, Cetearyl Ethylhexanoate, Emulsifying Wax NF, Cyclomethicone, Illipe (Shorea stenoptera) Seed Butter, Candlenut (Aleurites moluccana) Oil, Avocado (Persea gratissima) Oil, Stearyl Alcohol, Rice Bran (Oryza sativa) Oil, Dimethicone, Carrot (Daucus Carota sativa) Seed Oil, Potassium Hydroxide, Carbomer, Fragrance/Parfum, Phenoxyethanol, Caprylyl Glycol, Glycerin, Glyceryl Caprylate, Phenypropanol

This body creme boasts to have contained candlenut, which they claim to have high content of fatty acids to help fighting dry skin. The sachet I received was sooooo small I could only use it once, all over my body. The scent was very pleasant, mild and relaxing, I actually loved how it smells. The texture was pretty light but it moisturized my skin well and left my skin velvety smooth. It retails for USD35 for 213g tube. I believe Juara Skincare is available locally in major cities, I may ask someone to get a tub for me. That’s how much I like it :P.

 

Juara Sweet Black Tea & Rice Facial Moisturizer

Juara Sweet Black Tea & Rice Moisturizer

Ingredients

Water/Eau, Candlenut (Aleurites moluccana) Oil, Emulsifying Wax NF, Avocado (Persea gratissima) Oil Unsaponifiables, Rice Bran (Oryza sativa) Oil, Cyclomethicone, Stearyl Alcohol, Illipe (Shorea stenoptera) Seed Butter, Glycerin, Dimethicone, Squalane, Saccharomyces/Xylinum Black Tea Ferment, Hydroxyethylacrylate/Sodium Acryloyldimethyltaurate Copolymer, Hydroxyethylcellulose, Polysorbate 60, Phenoxyethanol, Caprylyl Glycol, Glyceryl Caprylate, Phenypropanol, Fragrance/Parfum

As you can see this moisturizer contains candlenut, avocado, rice and black tea. It’s supposed to hydrate and help us women fight aging :P. Texture-wise it’s a cream moisturizer, a little on the lighter side. The sample I received gave me 6 uses. The moisturizer absorbed pretty quick, left my skin moisturized well throughout the day. However there is this little oily residue I don’t like after application. Maybe it’s just me who’s used to gel moisturizer. I had this nagging feeling that my makeup would slid down on top of this moisturized due to its slightly oily feeling, but thankfully it didn’t. They recommend to mix this moisturizer with matte foundation to create a dewy finish but I didn’t try it. Juara Sweet Black Tea & Rice Facial Moisturizer retails at USD 49 for 120ml.

 

Juara Rice Facial Cleanser

Juara Rice Facial Cleanser

Ingredients

Water, Disodium Lauroamphodiacetate, Acrylates Copolymer, Sodium Methyl Cocoyl Taurate, Cocamidopropyl Betaine, Rice (Oryza sativa) Starch, Peg-7 Glyceryl Cocoate, Glycol Stearate, Phenoxyethanol, Caprylyl Glycol, Glycerin, Glyceryl Caprylate, Phenypropanol, Fragrance.

Yet another rice-inspired skincare from Juara. As you might have known, Asians love their rice, so I wasn’t too surprised it’s now included in a skincare lol. Juara Rice Facial Cleanser shared similar scent to that of Sweet Black Tea & Rice Facial Moisturize, lightly scented and calming. This facial cleanser was pretty thick but it lathered really well upon contact with water. My face immediately felt cleaned but a tad too dry for my liking. My skin is now on the drier spectrum so those who are blessed with normal skin should give this a try. At USD 25 for 134g it’s worth a shot as a little goes a long way. I only need a small dollop everytime I wash my face.

Overall, I recommend Candlenut Body Creme as among the three samples I received, this seems to be the superior one. The moisturizer and facial wash weren’t too bad either. I would love to try other products from Juara as it’s quite a promising brand.

Signing off for now, see you in next post!

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[Review] Cottage Vanilla Softening Shower Gel & Green Tea Energizing Shower Gel

I received samples from beauty box subscription Lolabox quite a while ago. I did not manage to snap a picture before finishing the whole stuff so in this post I will be using pictures I found from other blogger.

The samples I received are from different box. I have another full size bottle waiting to be used in my drawer, of different variant. The ones I am going to review today are Vanilla Softening Shower Gel and Green Tea Energizing Shower Gel. I will update the price of full size item when I review the unopened bottle.

Cottage Shower Gel

The first one I received was Green Tea Energizing Shower Gel. The sample was enough for about a week worth of use. I found the green tea smell to be a little too synthetic, however the fragrance was not too strong so I was fine with it. Cottage seriously needs to change the Energizing part from the name because the smell is way too soft to wake me up lol. The shower gel was in the so-so department, not something I would get in near future, it’s better to stick with the good old Johnson & Johnson baby milk bath. It didn’t leave my skin dried out, it wasn’t moisturizing either.

Cottage shower gel: sample size vs full size

Next is Vanilla Softening Shower Gel. Now this I totally loathed. The fragrance was too strong for my liking. Don’t get me wrong, I love vanilla scented stuff but this one totally gave me some minor headache. Vanilla should smell softer than this. On the softening aspect, it did nothing. Again, these shower gels are considered drugstore items, so after my experience with the green tea one I didn’t set the bar too high. I am not against drugstore items, in fact I’m a strong advocate to drugstore makeup, there really are some jewels I found in drugstore but these two just didn’t cut it. Would I repurchase? Definitely no. The only good thing from this shower gel is that it didn’t leave my skin scaly. The smell, oh, the smell. Urgh.

I still have a full size bottle of Cottage shower gel that I got from Lolabox anniversary box, I think it’s in Figs. I gotta check again. I hope the last one wouldn’t disappoint me like the previous two.

Anyway, I will come up with mini-reviews soon as I have been sampling a lot of stuff. My reviews will probably on the shorter side but I hope it’s informative enough.

Toodles for now 😉

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Review: Etude House Mascara Remover

Price: RM18.90
Size: 100 ml
What it claims: Removes durable mascara and eye makeup in one quick and easy step
Ingredients: Cyclopentasiloxane, water, hydrogenated polydecene, dipropylene glycol, alcohol denat, sodium chloride, phenoxyethanol, methylparaben, parfum, dipotassium glycyrrhizate, benzophenone-9, caprylyl/capryl glucoside, betaine, butylene glycol (and) water (and) portulaca oleracea extract, disodium EDTA, rosa centifolia flower water (and) alcohol denat, red 4, blue 1, yellow 5

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