Hanskin Bio Origin Royal Ampoule BB SPF 30PA++

Hiya Everyone

I had always hated BB creams - at least the ones I would buy here in Australia.  They seemed pretty pointless; the coverage was rubbish, the finish was rubbish, and I'm pretty sure it took me longer to apply them, than how long they actually stayed on my face.

Enter Asian BB creams...... now these are products that have coverage, lasting power, and a great finish (at least the ones I've just anyway).  My first foray into the land of Asian BB creams was the Liole Triple the Solution BB cream, and I absolutely love it.  I have been using it consistently for well over a year, and I haven't' finished it yet.  I think it cost me about $20 for a 50g tube off of Ebay, so it was definitely a great buy.

Anyway, I digress.......  today's review is of an Asian BB cream that is a little different - it comes in the form of an ampoule and dropper - the kind of packaging you'd normally see for a serum.  I was intrigued........
 

 

Important Info 

Name:   Hanskin BIO Origin Royal Ampoule BB SPF 30 PA++
Size:     35ml
Price:    $51.02USD from www.koreadepart.com

What is it?

Description from the Memebox information card
 

Hanskin's famous Royal Ampoule BB cream is packed with rich nutrition from royal jelly extracts and it lightly glides over your skin when applied, leaving a visibly silkier, brightened complexion.

Oh, if you're wondering what PA++ means, its a ranking system of how protected your skin will be from long term damage caused by UVA rays.  The more "+" the product has, the greater protection for your skin.
 

Packaging

I received a 5ml sample of this, so I can only speak to the sample packaging - though the picture of the full size product (with the exception of the shape, which is more pear shaped) I've seen seems to be pretty much the same thing.

This BB cream comes in a eye dropper form, with the product itself contained in dark purple sturdy plastic.  The packaging itself is luxurious looking and would look really nice sitting on any vanity.

Unfortunately, I don't think an eye dropper style packaging is the best for this product.  While it is a lot thinner than the average Asian BB cream, the eye dropper just doesn't seem to work - perhaps it's cause this is a sample size?  I think a squeeze tube would work a lot better - functionality over flashy.

I found that rather that expelling the BB cream out of the eyedropper, I actually have to wipe the sides of the eyedropper on my hand to get any product.

I have also found that the bottle got messy really quickly (2 uses) - I'm one of those anal people that keep their makeup really clean, so this irritates me :).

 

 

 

 

First Impressions

As noted above, this BB cream has a thinner consistency than other Asian BB creams I've used.  It has a lovely silky feel, which glides onto, and blends into the skin effortlessly.  My skin felt really velvety after application.  This BB cream did not feel the least bit sticky, and my skin felt like it had nothing on.

The colour match was really good for my skin - I'm light/medium on my face, but significantly paler on my inner forearms where the below was swatched.

Oh, I should probably add that I applied the BB cream to my face with my fingers.

Dabbed on my skin, and once blended.

 

Was it Any Good?

The texture and feel of the product was lovely, but it was missing the one thing I really look for - coverage.  The information on the Memebox card does specifically state to apply to the face, and then add extra to areas that require more coverage.

I'm not the sort of person who puts on one layer or product, and then will add layers until I'm satisfied with the coverage - I don't have time for that getting ready for work/going out with a toddler running about.  The coverage needs to be there from a single application.

I also found the product started to break down on my nose at around the 3 hour mark (not set with powder).

Despite this, this BB cream still runs rings around any BB cream I've purchased from Australia - but the coverage was just too sheer.  My husband even remarked that he wasn't used to still being able to see my freckles when my face is "done" - he didn't know I was trying a different product - he just came out with it. 

If you like a sheer BB cream, or are happy to build layers of product until you are satisfied with the coverage, then I think you'll really like this BB cream.  If you're time poor and like medium to full coverage, you might want to give this one a miss.

 

Rating

3/5

25cc Hairbooster

Hiya Everyone

Todays review is of a peculiar (packaged at least) Korean hair product.  I am typically pretty particular what I put in my hair.  Why? well because my sister is a hairdresser, and I'm a qualified make up artist (although professionally I'm an accountant lol), so I can purchase professional salon quality hair care products at wholesale.

This is yet another item received in a Memebox (#9 to be exact).  I may as well come out with it now - I am a Memebox-aholic, and I very much doubt there is any hope for me.  Mind you, Memeboxes seem to induce some type of insane addiction in everyone who purchases from them, so I know I'm in good (as well as enabling) company.
 

Important Info 

Name:   25cc Hairbooster
Size:      25g
Price:    $8.25AUD from www.gmarket.com 

What is it?

Description from the Memebox information card
 

25cc Hairbooster is absolutely the best hair care system that will nourish your hair from the scalp and repair damaged hair and increases strength against breakage.

 

Packaging

The cardboard is satin black with silvery/grey writing and pattern.  Its about 20ish centimetre's long, so its reasonably big for a product containing only 25 grams!.  The name and description of the product are in English, but all other writing is in Korean.

The product itself is in a clear plastic syringe - which is a bit weird - but I guess it goes along with the whole medically themed "25cc" thing. The opening of the syringe has a little plastic cap on it that fits snuggly.
 

Picture courtesy of www.gmarket.com

 

First Impressions

I didn't think there was very much of it!  I should say, I have a lot of hair - its curly and goes 3/4 of the way down my back and when I saw this product, I doubted very much that there was enough there for a single treatment on my hair!

The treatment itself is a pale yellow colour and is pretty thick when "syringed" out of the packaging.  The scent smells like a nice hair product - I'm terrible at describing scents - but the smell of it certainly wouldn't be out of place at any hair salon.

After I shampooed my hair, I squeezed the water out of it and applied about a big marble size (anyone remember Jacks?) of the product to the ends of my hair, and distributed it about 3/4 up the hair shaft.  I did not bring it all the way up to my roots, as this is something I never do (with normal conditioner or a treatment).

The instructions say to leave it in for about 3 minutes and then rinse, but I probably left in closer to 7 minutes (I didn't read the instruction card before I got in the shower so I was winging it).
 Oh, I should probably pop in here that my hair is in pretty good condition - my ends are dry because of its length, but I rarely colour or heat style it, so there isn't much damage.
 

Was it Any Good?

Well firstly, I was wrong about there not being enough product to give my hair a treatment - I probably used 1/5 of the product.

 

After rinsing it out, my ends felt nice and soft, but not weighed down.  I couldn't find an English ingredient list, so I have no idea if it contains silicones.

 

I had no problem brushing through my hair with my tangle teaser when my hair was still wet, and after brushing my hair felt almost light and bouncy - not bad for hair that is pretty long and wet!

 

I went to bed with my hair still damp (yes I know that isn't very good but it was late), and it the morning my hair felt really nice.

 

Styling wise (if you can call it that) all I did in the morning was run a small amount of oil though it (my hair still wasn't knotty despite sleeping on it damp), and out the door I went (daughters ballet class).  My curls didn't have any frizz, and there was a nice soft definition to them.

 

I was really impressed with this product, and I think it holds its own against my beloved Macadamia Hair Treatment Mask. I would definitely consider buying this item again.

 

Rating

4/5

TonyMoly Shiny Foot Peeling Liquid

I live in Australia, and its been well over 30 degrees everyday for the past 6 months (note - its now finally cooled down - yay!!).  As a result of this, my feet have taken an absolute beating!

Feet masks are pretty new to me.  I looked at all sorts of different ones, and decided to purchase a TonyMoly peeling feet mask - as a said my feet have taken a beating and I needed something pretty heavy duty.  

The idea of these masks are you place your feet in these plastic bootie type socks, and pour in a solution, usually made up of various acids (lactic, glycolic, salicylic), and other liquids which are supposed to gently, but effectively cause the feet to peel off the old, rough skin, revealing new soft feet.  The peeling should commence after 4 to 6 days, and should be completed in approximately 2 weeks.

I'm not going to show any actual pictures of my feet because...... well..... nobody needs to see that!

Important Info 

Name:   TonyMoly Shiny Foot Peeling Liquid

Price:    $12.99USD for 2 pairs from beautynetkorea.com

 

What is it?

Description from the BeautyNetKorea website

This special treatment for foot calluses contains plant derived extracts, and will make your feet soft and supple.  it removes rough dead skin cells from your feet, leaving your feet smooth and silk soft

Ingredients List

Packaging

The 2 sets of booties come in a laminated box with a picture of what appears to be a sparkly pair of baby's feet.

The peeling solution comes in a foot shaped foil pouch, which is a pre-measured dose to be poured into each booty (no guessing of how much is half - yippee!!)

Each pair of booties is packaged in clear plastic wrapping with a sticky closure.

The back of the box contains not only instructions written into Korean, but also English - thank goodness because with this type of product I wouldn't really want to guess what I need to do.

First Impressions

As I bought a 2 pack of booties, I gave one to my sister to try out (she's a hairdresser so is on her feet all day).  She tried them first.  It says on the instructions to cut the peeling solution packet across the dotted line - but when she did that the solution spurted all over the floor - I'd recommend just cutting off the big toe (which is what I did when I tried them the next day)

I have size 10 feet (Eu41), and the booties still fit me fine and did up around my ankle without any issues.  There is a paper type of insert inside the plastic bootie that you put your feet into.  Once my feet were snuggly in the boot, I cut off the big toe of the peeling liquid and poured it into each bootie. I liquid was really cold!  I then tied up the booties to make sure none of the liquid escaped.

The instructions say to keep the booties on your feet for an hour to an hour and a half (or until the feet have absorbed all the liquid).  I kept them on for about an hour and three quarters.

A bit of a side note, my sister had a 2 week old gel manicure of her toes which was removed by the peeling liquid!  I had normal nail polish on my toes and it had no effect. 

Another unexpected benefit was after using the booties, my sister noticed a significant improvement in the corn between her little toe and the one next to it - who knew???

Day 1 Results

After I removed the booties and thoroughly rinsed my feet of the solution, I can tell you my feet have never looked so clean!  No change to the feel or texture of my feet on day one.

Day 6 Results

It look about 2 days for my feet to start to peel.  At day it, it kind of looked like I had walked in some baby powder, and it was stuck in the lines of my feet.  Later that night I had a bath, and when I got out of the bath, a significant amount of peeling had started - initially more so on the softer area of my feet (arch, under my toes), but by day 5 the more calloused parts of my feet had started to peel, and I could see a significant difference.

By the end of day 6, there was only minor peeling still occurring.  

After 2 weeks

My feet didn't peel any further from day 7 to day 14.

 

Was it Any Good?

Although my feet aren't completely baby soft, I think the peeling mask did a really good job.  My feet are pretty battered - between the Australian Summer, wearing nose-bleed inducing high heels, and pretty much thongs only now that I'm heavily pregnant -  the singular use of a peeling mask was never going to fix all.  But there is definitely a huge improvement - particularly on my heels.

 

Would I buy it again? I already have, and its only its way to me (yay!).  I don't think I'm able to use it straight away though.  I think I read somewhere to give a 6 week break between treatments - d'oh!

Rating

4.5/5
 

Where Can I Get It?

I purchased mine from beautynetkorea.com as they offer free shipping, and ship to Australia

Sep Face Lifting Mask

Another week, another face mask.  If I had it my way, I'd do at least 2 face masks a week, but between chasing around a toddler, running a household, working full-time, and being 33 weeks pregnant, I find it hard to remember!

I don't know about anyone else, but I find using a sheet face mask really indulgent - am I on my own there?

Important Info: 

Name:   Sep Face Lifting Mask
Size:      30g 
Price:    $14.00USD (per Memebox Lucky Box #1 informational card)

What is it?

As per the informational card: - 
This sheet mask is a 6 in 1 facial hydrogel mask made with a special fabric normally used for body shaping underwear.  It provides intensive nutrition, fights against the appearance of wrinkles, brightens skin tone, firms fine lines, and hydrates the skin.

Packaging

The mask was enclosed in a large white foil packet with a beautiful silver lace design on it.  The packet had a tearing mark, which made it really easy to open.

All directions on the packaging were in Korean.  The informational card I received advised to apply the mask after cleansing, leave it on for 10 minutes, and then remove.  The excess product left on the face should be allowed to absorb.

First Impressions

Before I get into the product itself, can I first just say this must be the prettiest beauty product I have ever used.  It it were black, the eye part of the mask could be a masquerade mask.  I don't usually get suckered into that kind of stuff but wow!

Okay, back to the important stuff.

The mask comes in two sections.  The eye section covers the forehead, nose and to the bottom of the cheekbones.  The mouth part covers the jaw, upper lip and chin.

Both sections had a solid white plastic backing on one side, and a transparent thinner plastic on the other side.  Each section was folded in half.

I don't know if I was just being a little clumsy handed, but I found the mask quite difficult to remove from the back and front backing.  It may be because of the slipperiness of the product, or the fineness of a lace mask, but it took me a little while to get it off the backing.

I found the mask a little too small for my face.  It didn't reach up to the top of my forehead, or all the way to my ears or completely cover my jaw.  I don't think I have a particularly large head......... (Insert joke here lol)

Was It Any Good?

I enjoyed this face mask, but I didn't love it unfortunately.  

The mask felt cooling on my face which was lovely, but just sitting down watching television, I could feel the mask slipping down my face.  I had to keep re-adjusting the eye holes on the top section.   The mouth section kept heading south too.

When I removed the mask after 10 minutes, the mask was still reasonably damp, but it just didn't have enough product on it to adhere to my face properly.

It left a thin layer of product on my face to soak in, and probably after about 10 minutes or so, it was completely absorbed.

It left my skin feeling hydrated, but I didn't notice any brightening or firming of fine lines.  My sister tried this mask too, and she reported that her skin felt tighter - I didn't notice that - bummer.

Rating

3/5  It was nice, but I want more from a sheet mask as expensive as this.

Etude House Baby Choux Base #2 Berry Choux

Hiya Everyone

Last week I received a package of some items I purchased from beautynetkorea.com, and amongst them was the very cutely packaged Etude House Baby Choux Paste.

I have other colour correcting bases, but this is my first pink one, and I was keen to give it a go.

Important Info 

Name:   Etude House Sweet Recipe Baby Choux Base SPF25 PA++
Shade:   #02 Berry Choux
Size:      35g/1.23oz
Price:    $10.99USD from Beautynetkorea.com 

What is it?

Description from the product packaging:

The light and fluffy choux cream-like makeup base creates baby choux skin with its moist inside and soft smoothness on the outside.

Baby Choux paste comes in 3 different colours - I chose berry choux for a pale skin tone (I would consider myself light/medium).  The other colours are mint to correct a red skin tone, and peach to correct a dark skin tone with yellow colour.

This product does contain Dimethicone for those sensitive to it.

Packaging

The cardboard packaging is really cute pink pin stripe with little profiteroles over it - its very bakery style.

The product itself is in a light pink squeeze flat tube with a gold lid.

The cream is dispensed from an opening roughly the size of a "hundreds and thousand".

First Impressions

The product is a lovely baby pink colour with a sweet scent (though not obnoxious at all). 

The cream has a lovely texture.  It doesn't feel silicon-y - it just feels like a very light cream.  It blended onto my face nicely, and filled in fine lines (you can see the file lines on my hand filled in below) and pores - not a porcelain like finish, but definitely an improvement.

About 30 seconds after the product was applied, my skin felt nice and smooth.  It dried down to a silky finish - a perfect base of face make up.

Although the product is clearly pink, my face was not left with a pink hue.

Was it Any Good?

Note: Prior to putting the choux cream on my skin, I had cleansed and applied toner, hydraluron, eye cream and face moisturiser - the usual routine

This product created a beautiful smooth base to apply my BB cream over (Liole Tripe the Solution - a very thick BB cream).  Once I had the products on, I could really feel them for a minute or so, and I didn't like the way my skin looked.  I did not apply powder, or any other facial products.

After that minute, I looked at myself again in the mirror (with morning daylight coming through the windows), and my skin looked really nice. My fine lines and pore were visibly reduced, but I didn't look plastic-like.

After four hours or so, my skin has the slightest hint of shine in the t-zone, but nothing that would have me running off to find my blotting sheets.  The BB cream did not start to break down in any area of my face.

Rating

4/5

Review of Flower Men Energy Factor Moist Boosting Sheet Mask - Hyaluronic Acid

Important Info: 

Name:   Flower Men Energy Factor Moist Boosting Sheet Mask - Hyaluronic Acid
Size:      25g 
Price:    $4.00 USD (per Memebox #8 informational card)

What is it?

This is a single use hyaluronic sheet mask applied to the face and left on for 15-20 minutes.

Packaging

The mask was enclosed in a large foil packet with Psy's face printed on it (apparently the packet is the actual size of Psy's head).  If you were really keen, you could delicately cut around the edge of the mask, pop out the perforated eye and ear holes and make yourself a Psy mask to run around the house in.

I hacked into it with scissors though, so there's no Psy mask for my 2 year old to run off with.

All directions on the back of the packet were written in Korean.  The Memebox informational card contained English instructions. However all sheet masks I've used in past are pretty much the same process - take it out of the packet, unfold, whack it on your face, and leave it on for 20 minutes or so.

First Impressions

The face mask was folded up to a quarter of its size (in half, and then in half again).  This is the first sheet mask I've used that didn't come with some sort of backing that needed to be peeled away.  This turned out to be pretty awkward.  The backings give a kind of stability, so when the sheet mask is being opened, it's reasonably resilient.  However without this backing, I had to be really careful when I unfolded it, because the delicate nature of these sorts of masks mean they tear pretty easily.

The mask was very saturated with the jelly-like product; not so much that it was all gloopy and made a mess, but enough that it stayed on the face without any problems.  I walked about the house doing a bit of housework when I first put it on, and it didn't slide at all.  The sheet mask was a good size, and covered my face to my ears, and underneath my chin and jaw.

Was It Any Good?

I've loved all the Korean sheet masks I've tried, and this was no exception.

When first applied, the mask had a lovely cooling effect which remained the entire time it was on my face.

At the 20 minute mark of the mask being on my face, it was starting to dry, but still had plenty of product on it.

When I removed the mask, there was a thin layer of hyaluronic acid on my face which my skin absorbed over the rest of the night.

When I got up this morning, my skin felt lovely, soft and plump and there was absolutely no dryness under my eyes, which I normally have in the mornings.

Rating

4/5