"The cat is beauty and the beast, a baffling blend, a wicked feast.”
Olive a good face oil. My latest oil is Sonia Kashuk’s Radiant Boost Restorative Facial Oil. To sum up in one sentence, it’s a bargain version of $170 Rodin Olio Lusso with a retinol boost a la Sunday Riley Luna and the clever packaging of Tarte Maracuja Oil. Basically, Sonia Kashuk combined the most appealing elements of several products into one.
Cremorlab is one of those Korean brands that I (Angela) first spotted at an American retailer (Peach & Lily) and that I never see talked about on the few Korean Instagrams that I follow. The cream we’re about to review is also $72 for a tiny 45ml/1.52 fl. oz.–a side-eye-worthy price when a big appeal of K-beauty is the lower cost compared to Western luxury brands. In short, take Cremorlab’s K-beauty credentials with a grain of salt.
However, the people demanded that I review the Cremorlab Triple Bright White Bloom Floral Cream. Seriously. I polled y’all on Instagram about the next moisturizer that I should use and review, and this one beat out two other creams.
Continue reading “Worth It? Cremorlab White Bloom Floral Cream Triple Bright Review”
W.Lab’s Tone Line Change Pack is like something out of a horror movie. Luring you in with promises of youth and beauty, it soon transforms your face into a grotesque distortion of yourself. The category of “monster” packs is something I’ve seen trending in the last year or so, but curiously W.Lab’s version (provided for consideration by Q-depot) appeared to be an innocuous wash-off mask. Was I in for a surprise!
Warning: Photos of shriveled, puckered, Quasimodo skin ahead.
Continue reading “Dr. Jekyll and Mr.–HIDE!!! W.Lab Tone Line Change Pack Review & Demo”
Why did Marx hate Earl Grey? Because all proper tea is theft. Buahahahahahahaha. Get it? Get it?……I’ll see myself out.
I was visiting a baby (not mine, from what I remember) in Atlanta, GA over the weekend. This marks the 12th consecutive weekend I haven’t been home, or something like that. By Atlanta I mean the suburbs of Atlanta, like deep suburbs where nothing is in sight except empty roads and strip malls. And mother of god, there was an H-Mart? WTF? H-Mart! And inside this H-Mart was a beauty store with a mask-only tiny counter. It was like the Russian dolls of Asian marts.
So I picked up this random box of 10 masks for $20. Based on information from our fabulous followers, this shit could’ve been bought for $10. Cries.
The two lovely girls Sue & Hera from Ohlolly.com reached out to BeautyandtheCat to test their new products. I’m always in the mood to disco-fur some sites and KBeauty. Once upon a time, even peachandlily was obscure, right?
So they sent us this, behold:
This is a new brand, and according to the excerpt from the site:
The philosophy of Kicho is to wholeheartedly embrace the order of nature. Kicho is dedicated to bringing back the basics of skincare, combining ancient arts with modern research. Kicho works in unity with the skin, respecting the skin’s essentials, by avoiding harsh chemicals and using natural ingredients, like sprouts, minerals, and plant placenta.
Oooh! I like placenta from anyone, plant or animal. And being natural is all the rage nowadays so I was stoked when the package came.
I don’t know what the eff the mail room guys did but there was some…ummm…leakage on the package. It wasn’t a huge deal and was only on the outside…but whuh? Did they test the product for me? Kekeke.
Continue reading “Kicho Kicho ya ya dada – Kicho Natural Mineral Water Foaming Cleanser”
Sunday Riley Blue Moon Tranquility Cleansing Balm made a splash as soon as it arrived. Its deep aqua color and ingredient-of-the-moment blue tansy made it eminently Instagrammable. At $50 for 3.4 oz./100 g, it’s a splurge to be sure.
The balm can be used as a first cleanser (to dissolve makeup and sunscreen) and as a hydrating mask. It’s targeted towards dry and dehydrated skin and claims to leave skin “thoroughly clean, comfortable, hydrated, and glowing.” Tall claims!
Along with blue tansy oil, it has vanilla, tangerine, sweet orange, and chamomile oil and moringa and cocoa butter. It’s also fairly heavy on the waxes, with various waxes at the top of the ingredients list and beeswaxes in the middle. The cocoa butter ranks a 4 out of 5 on CosDNA’s acne/comedogenicity scale. I don’t normally mention CosDNA rankings, but I mention it here because Blue Moon may have made me break out. More on that at the end of this post.
LuLuLun sheet masks are a staple at many a Japanese beauty shop. They’re the first bulk sheet masks that I recall seeing and come in resealable bags and boxes, big and small. I bought a bag containing 7 sheets in 80 ml of essence.
After some extensive investigation (i.e., Googling), I learned that this is the special edition LuLuLun Premium Hokkaido version (Japanese MSRP ¥ 1,700 (~$15 USD) for 7 masks x 5 bags). The labeling is almost entirely in Japanese, so initially I didn’t know which version I had. What marks this as the Hokkaido one are the tiara made up of stars at the top and the silver packaging (some stock photos make it appear light lavender, but it’s silver) .
Continue reading “Win or Lu-lu-lose: LuLuLun Sheet Mask Review – Premium Hokkaido Edition”
Acids and I have a long turbulent history together.
Most recently, I flirted with Biologique Recherche’s P50 Lotion (see my beginner’s guide to buying P50), Sunday Riley Good Genes (40% lactic acid), and Pixi Glow Tonic (5% glycolic acid).
Before that, I had regular rendezvous with Neova Reveal Exfoliator gel (20% glycolic acid) and Peter Thomas Roth 10% glycolic acid toner (link to my review).
The appeal of uncovering new baby skin after sloughing off the top layer–with acne marks, sunspots, large pores, forehead lines, and slight textural imperfections–was undeniable. And when you regularly follow Caroline Hirons–a big proponent of acid toners as a regular part of a routine–it’s hard not to feel as if you’re handicapping your skin’s full potential when you omit acids. It’s like writing blog posts instead of the brief that’s due tomorrow and still expecting to get that promotion. ::quickly looks away::
Continue reading “Dropping Acid: Making Chemical Exfoliation Work for Me”
I’m just gonna poot this out there: anything is worth a try IF it may give you eternal youth and beauty. So while you may think my idea of rubbing bird poop on my face is shit, I am doing a fecebility study on your behalf.
This whole bird poo thing has been dung before and skinandtonics had reviewed it briefly. But she got grossed out after 2 applications. I have a pretty strong stomach. I am stool doing this as we speak (it’s been over a week.) Behold my latest expooriment:
Continue reading “One Pooed Over the Cuckoo’s Nest – Uguisu No Fun Mask (nightingale poop mask)”
First thing around New Year 2016, Christine from Tatcha emailed BeautyandtheCat with a lovely note announcing the newest additions to Tatcha’s growing Luminous Collection. Angela really loves the Tatcha Dewy Skin Mist but it’s MY turn to bask in the goodies so I said send ME the samples for review. Yes, that’s right, you can’t touch this Angela!
I was ho-humming away at work when this beauty arrived. I mean, just look at it! It came in a white box with turquoise washi wrap. Inside is a white satin bed holding an orchid, note in a bottle, and gradient purple and gold containers of the good stuff. Siiiiiigh….it’s like a gift from some Japanese cat goddess.
Continue reading “You Can’t Tatcha This – Tatcha Overnight Memory Serum Concentrate”
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