"The cat is beauty and the beast, a baffling blend, a wicked feast.”
Hada Labo Gokujyun Foaming Face Wash is an auto-foaming face wash whose star ingredient is–like all products in the Gokujyun line–“Super Hyaluronic Acid,” which supposedly holds twice as much moisture as regular hyaluronic acid. The saleswoman at oo35mm recommended this to me after I told her I was looking for a gentle foaming cleanser for dry skin.
Continue reading “Foam Sweet Foam: Hada Labo Gokujyun Foaming Face Wash Review”
It was love at first touch.
Ole Henriksen’s latest cleanser, Pure Truth Melting Cleanser 3 in 1 Cleansing Gelée ($34 for 4 oz.), starts off as a firm light gel but quickly transforms into a smooth oil as soon as you begin massaging it over your skin. It’s a great option if you like to do a pampering facial massage because your hands could glide for days with this stuff.
I was most impressed with the ease of use and makeup-removing abilities. As a solid gel, it’s far neater than an oil cleanser (no drips on the sink or down your arms!). And even put up against my waterproof eye makeup and cushion foundation, it managed to dissolve them quickly and easily. I did have to use a cotton pad to wipe off mascara and eyeliner that had melted into my lash line and under my eyes but didn’t rinse off with just splashing (I didn’t want to rub that close to my eye).
Continue reading “¡Hola, Ole! Review of Ole Henriksen Pure Truth Melting Cleanser”
REN Glycol Lactic Radiance Renewal Mask ($55 for 1.7 oz.; also available full-size in the $58 Rediscover Radiance Set) claims to provide effective yet non-irritating exfoliation using four types of fruit acid and papaya enzyme.
It claims that it “reduces the appearance of fine lines and dramatically improves tone, firmness, and radiance” and “works well on post-acne scarring, blemishes, blackheads and sun-damaged skin.” It’s recommended for mature and congested skin (but not for sensitive skin). Continue reading “Perfect Ten REN: REN Glycol Lactic Radiance Renewal Mask Review”
Naruko is a Taiwanese skincare brand headed up by a man named Niuer and focuses a lot on natural and plant-based ingredients. It has various lines targeted at different skincare issues. From Naruko’s AMPM line, I purchased the Super Triple HA Hydrating Souffle.
“Super Triple HA” refers to the three forms of hyaluronic acid in the ingredients. Although I think something got lost in translation because the English ingredients list includes sodium hyaluronate twice as well as hydrolyzed hyaluronic acid.
Continue reading “Super Triple Heeeeyyy~! Naruko AMPM Super Triple HA Hydrating Souffle Review”
It looks exactly like butter. You know, the lovely room-temperature tub of goodness that you can just sink your knife into and spread globs all over waffles. Mmmm. I like my butter just a little salted. Well, aside from looking like butter (or margarine in a tub), this lotion is nothing like that. Doesn’t smell like it, doesn’t butter you up like butter. Doesn’t feel like a body butter even!
I’ll give TonyMoly thumbs up for amazing packaging and lovely scents. But so far I am kind of annoyed at how watered down their products seem to be. I had high expectations for this butter moisture cream to be my go-to. But it’s just a thicker version of a lotion. The texture is very butter-like but when you rub it in, it is not that velvety and luxurious like the image that it conjures. It’s not as moisturizing as other body butters (Boots body butters are out of this world btw). Continue reading “Butter Me Up – TONYMOLY Wonder Butter Moisture Cream”
I love the concept of acids. I’ve used a number of face cleansers, peels, moisturizers, and serums featuring acids but never before a toner. Until I came across Peter Thomas Roth’s Glycolic Acid 10% Toning Complex Clarifying Toner ($40 for 8.5 oz.).
I’m currently using this twice a day, swiping it on with a cotton pad after cleaning my face and before applying brightening serum. Continue reading “Glycolics Anonymous: Peter Thomas Roth Glycolic Acid 10% Toning Complex Clarifying Toner Review”
Every Asian product ever would promise to “whiten.” I don’t want to break it all down but this whitening business is pretty suspect. In any case I’ve used a moderate amount of “whitening” and “brightening” creams/potions/masks to treat my entire face of freckles and nobody has mistaken me for Michael Jackson yet. What DID homeboy MJ use though..? We need some of that for our age spots!
But I digress. My friend kindly brought me a sample from Laneige so of course I have to jump on it. I LOVE MASKS can’t you tell?
The latest experiment is with the Laneige White Plus mask.
Continue reading “White on Time – Laneige White Plus Renew Purifying Mask”
Korean cosmetic brand Mizon has expanded their line of invertebrate-extract skin care by coming up with the Returning Starfish mask (and cream which I will review later, of course). Why the poor starfish? The ability of starfish to regenerate lost body parts means that there is something in their stem cells that is magical. But if rubbing this on ourselves actually worked like we wanted it to, I’m sure people who lost limbs and stuff would befriend lots more sea creatures.
I am a fan of snail extract and basically the extract of all plump gelatinous liquid-filled creatures because they don’t seem to have too many skin problems and can totally heal their own wounds with goo.
But this “returning starfish” sheet mask is just dumb. It’s in the shape of a starfish so you put it on your face as if you were attacked by an alien face hugger:
Continue reading “What the Fish? Mizon Returning Starfish Biomask”
“Sluggish” chapped lips? Dip into this luxurious snail lip treatment. Yes I am obsessed with snail extract but beside that, this is a very nice lip balm if you don’t mind that it’s escargot-based and somewhat pricey.
The texture is thick & “cushiony” but not greasy. Once you open the container, you can see that the balm has been poured so smoothly that it looks like molded clear pink gelatin. I almost didn’t want to break the satiny smooth surface by dipping my finger into the balm.
Continue reading “Snail belle – TonyMoly Prestige Snail Lip Treatment”
If you look up the mysterious “Ghassoul” clay on Wikipedia you will see that it’s been used in the Atlas Mountains of Morocco since the eighth century for skin and hair. Surprisingly this mask is made in Japan by a Japanese company. I still trust it…those Japanese cosmetic products, while pricey, are almost always well worth it.
I picked this mask on a whim while grocery shopping at Sunrise Mart in the East Village.
Continue reading “Clay pride – Tsururi Ghassoul Mineral Clay Pack”
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