La Mer Review

I'm sure many of you have heard about the miracle of la Mer. La Mer means the Sea in English; and sea kelp is what constitutes most of la Mer's miracle broth. This is no typical sea kelp: it can be harvested only twice a year. For the miracle broth, la Mer's sea kelp is combined with other natural vitamin and mineral rich ingredients, and then painstakingly processed for months with special bio-fermentation process that includes using energy in the form of light and sound waves. Next time someone says that they can get all the ingredients of la Mer for less than $10, tell them to look up the specifics of la Mer's ingredients/how it's collected and processed, and then try getting ingredients of exact same quality! Yes, even so, it still won't cost as much as la Mer products for obvious reasons. But my point here is, that you can't get a bag of sea kelp at the market and think that it equals to sea kelp used by la Mer. Without the miracle broth, creme de la Mer is merely a very moisture rich cream.

I used creme de la Mer years ago after someone recommended it to me during my efforts of battling adult acne. My skin was at it's worst condition due to the strong acne treatment products I used daily for nearly 6 months. And last year, after nearly 5 years, I went back to using la Mer again. This time, along with creme de la Mer, I also tried the Treatment Lotion, the Concentrate, and the Eye Concentrate. Watch my You Tube review below to find out about my experience with these products as well as my overall thought on la Mer.

Estee Lauder Re-Nutriv Ultra Radiance Lifting Creme Makeup

Re-Nutriv is Estee Lauder's ultimate luxury line targeted more towards mature skin. With use of Multi-patened Contour Lifting Technologies and precious micro-fine gems, this line promises to provide intense hydration, 'lifting,' as well as array of anti-aging benefits. 

Estee Lauder released Re-Nutriv Ultra Radiance Liftng Creme Makeup with SPF 15 PA++ (as well as the liquid foundation version) in Fall of 2014. This one is different from Estee Lauder Ultimate Radiance Makeup, same idea but better. I've been wanting to try a 'serum foundation' which seems to be gaining popularity lately. The idea of getting anti-aging serum benefits from a foundation is definitely intriguing. For me, it was a toss-up between YSL Youth Liberator Serum Foundation and this Estee Lauder one; they both promise anti-aging serum benefits and 'lifting.' I decided to go with Estee Lauder because I like the idea of extra moisturization of cream foundation for winter.

Beauty Best & Worst of 2014

Best Beauty Products of 2014:
Face Architect Smooth Fit Fluid Foundation (my shade is #764, similar to MAC NC25)
Estee Lauder Re-Nutriv Ultra Radiance Lifting Creme Makeup
Tom Ford Lip Color Sable Smoke
ARITAUM Honey Melting Tint #10 Bitter Rose
Wet 'n Wild Color Icon Eye Shadow Single - Brulee
MAC Eye Shadow Single - Shroom
Majolica Majorca Lash Expander Edge Meister Mascara (this is the waterproof one!)
Kiss Me Heroine Make Eyelash Serum
OPI Nail Lacquer Liquid Sand Collection What Wizardry Is This?
OPI Nail Lacquer Liquid Sand Collection Wharf! Wharf! Wharf!
OPI Nail Lacquer Liquid Sand Collection Alcatraz...Rocks
Bare Escentuals Hydrate and Brighten Brush

December 2014 Favourites + Sephora Haul

Sephora Favorites Give Me More Lip Ultimate Lip Sampler (Too Faced Cosmetics Melted Liquefied Long Wear Lipstick in Fuchsia, Tart LipSurgence Lip Tint in Moody, Fresh Sugar Berry Tinted Lip Treatment, BareMinerals Mini Marvelous Moxie Lipstick in Speak Your Mind, Benefit Cosmetics Posiebalm Hydrating Tint, Bite Beauty Luminous Creme Lipstick in Palomino, BUXON Mini Full-Bodied Lipstick in Menace, Hourglass Opaque Rouge Liquid Lipstick in Icon, Kat Von D Everlasting Liquid Lipstick in Outlaw, Laura Mercier Creme Smooth Lip Colour in Red Amour, Laura Mercier Lip Glace in Blush, Make Up Forever Waterproof Lipliner Pencil in neutral beige, Obsessive Compulsive Cosmetics Black Dahlia Lip Tar, Sephora Collection Lip Infusion. Stila Cosmetics Stay All Day Vinyl Lip Gloss in Nude Vinyl, Tart LipSurgence Power Pigment in Flush, Too Faced Cosmetics La Creme Color Drenched Lip Cream in Naked Dolly)

Coconut Pack Review

Coconut infused skin cleansers have been around for many years. Coconut milk cleansers, coconut cream cleaners, coconut water cleansers, as well as many other variations. Not to mention the option of using pure coconut oil as cleansing oil. I've tried some of these in the past and found some to be pretty decent cleansers, but didn't find any to be all that unique. 

With the recent rising popularity of coconut oil for health and skin benefits, I opted to try a coconut face soap called Coconut Pack from a Korean company called Boutique Bebe. What's interesting about this face cleanser is that it can be used as a cleanser as well as a face pack ("pack" meaning facial mask). 

This is a product that's been highly reviewed by Korean bloggers. I've seen many impressive before and after photos, and I haven't come across a single negative review! However, I've noticed that most of these over zealous positive blog reviews are sponsored reviews. So I didn't take these raving reviews too literally, nevertheless, they did amp up my expectations...

This product claims to: treat blackheads, whiteheads, dry flakes, and enlarged pores without drying out the skin to give a smooth and even skin texture. And all this without harmful additives such as parabens, color/dye, mineral oil, animal oil/fat, or silicon. 

Main/active ingredients are: extra virgin coconut oil, organic coconut oil, organic extra virgin olive oil, organic argan oil, and organic shea butter. 

Other interesting ingredients are: low molecular weight hyaluronic acid powder, rice bran oil, natural vitamin E, olive butter, nano-EGF, FGF, marine collagen powder, snail slime extract, propolis, Coenzyme Q10, arbutin, and salicylic acid.

Current Beauty Favorites

Sisley Black Rose Precious Face Oil & Cream Mask Review

Black Rose Precious Face Oil

Sisley's first face oil promises to radiantly revitalise the skin with concentrated active ingredients including black rose extract as well as Bulgarian rose and magnolia. Black roses are indeed 'precious,' as they only grow in Turkey. Black rose extract is known to soothe and firm the skin, although I'm not too sure how more effective it is compared to regular rose extract. And currently, Sisley seems to be the only well known brand that uses black rose extract.

Here are the active ingredients listed by Sisley:

Plum oil (rich in omega 6): strengthens the barrier function and brings comfort and suppleness to the skin

Camelina oil (rich in omega 3 and 6): nourishes, soothes and preserves the skin's lipid balance

Phytosqualane: nourishes, moisturizes and strengthens the skin's protective film

Natural Tocopherols: help to combat free radicals

Unsaponifiables of avocado: regenerate, repair, nourish, soothe

Padina pavonica: stimulates synthesis of glycosaminoglycans

Black Rose extract: moisturizes and softens

Bulgarian Rose essential oil: tones

Magnolia essential oil: soothes

Geranium essential oil: purifies

Black Rose Cream Mask

This mask promises "instant youth" by hydrating, plumping, lifting, and revitalizing the skin within 10-15 minutes. It's infused with powerful vitamins and plant components to fight stressed skin for more youthful and refreshed skin. 

Here are the active ingredients listed by Sisley:

Black Rose: smoothing, anti-free radicals

Alkekengi Calyx Extract: stimulates the synthesis of collagen fibers

Padina Pavonica: promotes the synthesis of glycoaminoglycans

Vitamin E Acetate: anti-free radicals

Red Vine: promotes radiance

Chlorella: revitalizes

Essential Oil of Geranium: contains stimulating properties

Great Mullen: protects and soothes

Shea Butter: nourishes, heals, soothes, softens, and protects

Provitamin B5: softens and hydrates

Essential Oils of Rose and Magnolia: soothes

Vegetable Glycerin: hydrates

Phytosqualane: emollient and hydrates

To purchase Sisley Paris Black Rose Precious Face Oil and Sisley Paris Black Rose Cream Mask, check out NORDSTROM for worldwide shipping.

♡

Lisa

TONYMOLY BCDation All Master Review

TONYMOLY recently (September 2014) released a new foundation.  Well, it's not exactly new per se; it's an updated and 'improved' version of BCDation now called BCDation All Master. I purchased this on a whim not knowing much about the original BCDation. The salesperson telling me that this is TONYMOLY's newest best product that's endorsed by 4MINUTE's Hyuna caught my interest.

This product offers anti-wrinkle, whitening, and UV protection (SPF30++); standard benefits of many BB creams. In addition, TONYMOLY BCDation All Master promises to “tone-up” your skin (as in brighten), and even-out your skin tone with lightweight coverage that’s long-lasting (up to 24 hours). It also claims to lift and volumize the skin as well as provide lasting moisturising effect (up to 48 hours). All this with no harmful ingredients that’s safe and effective for all skin types and tones! It 'sounds' pretty amazing...

I’m not a big believer of ‘one-for-all’ type of products: I like variations of products that I can choose from. Besides the irrational simplemindedness of "one color for all skin tones" concept, I haven’t come across many base products that works well on both ends of skin type spectrum (oily/dry). So as much as I was intrigued the "BB + CC + Foundation = BCDation" concept, I had my doubts, but still, I had my hopes up.

This is a lightweight formula compared to typical BB creams, but not as light in texture as most CC creams, and the coverage is similar to that of medium coverage foundations. It comes in only one color (the old BCDation came in two shades).  This one color does NOT suit all skin tones. But it does work on ‘many’ skin tones: fair-light-beige-medium-slightly tan and everyone in between. It won't look natural for porcelain-fair, olive-tanned or darker skin tones.

At first, I thought this would be too light for my current skin tone (MAC NC25-30ish, light/med), but it actually gave me a natural yet brightened “tone-up” color that complemented my skin tone well (given few minutes after the application for the product color to ‘adjust'). But, if I try to go past medium for full coverage, it does make me look a little ghastly.

I did find that it ‘somewhat’ plumps up the skin, but it wasn’t significantly noticeable or lasting. Also, it wasn’t moisturising for my skin. My skin type is currently normal to bit on the dry side. It felt pretty matte and drying on skin at first; so much so that I felt setting powder may be unnecessary. And it accentuated every type of dryness I had on my skin; even in areas I didn't know about! It also seemed to make pores more visible. After an hour or so, the dryness did go away somewhat, and my t-zone appeared slightly oily. My first few uses of this product were definitely not positive.

I did find a way to make this product work better for me: I exfoliated my skin with a gentle powder enzyme product (Amore Pacific Treatment Enzyme Peel) followed by a hydrating face mask (TONLYMOLY Pureness100 Hyaluronic Acid Mask Sheet) the night before, and also throughly moisturised my skin prior to application in the morning by using a face oil (Sisley  Black Rose Precious Face Oil), and a heavy duty moisturiser (Creme De La Mer). 

Here's the best result I got with this product:

1. Before application: just face oil and moisturizer on face.

2. During application: one light layer of TONYMOLY BCDation.

3. After application: extra applications in areas where more coverage was needed, and finished with light translucent finishing powder and some bronzer on sides of face.

I doubt 4MINUTE's Hyuna actually uses TONYMOLY BCDation in her daily life, and if she does, she must already have perfect skin! My skin is far from perfect, and to make this product work for me, I had to try to make my skin to be close to perfect as possible. I found it to be too much of a hassle. Given that my skin type is more on the dry side, I do expect many base products to feel drying on my skin. But this product actually claims to moisturise the skin for 48 hours: so not true! It was drying from the first application. And after 1-2 hours, my skin appeared oily on the surface but I can still feel the dryness underneath.

TONYMOLY BCDation All Master's claim of long lasting finish of up to 24 hours also fell short: after about 3 hours (4-5 hours when I use finishing powder on top), the once evenly applied BCDation All Master looked like a mess! Some of it had shifted around on top of my skin; some spots looked oily with barely any product left on the skin; while some parts appeared dry. This tend to happen when I use products that are not suitable for my skin type: so when I use products that aren't moisturising enough, my skin starts to produce more oil in certain areas to account for lack of moisture. This product has absolutely has no ability to balance different skin types. So much for one-for-all skin type product...

I'm not completely hating on this product. I think it would be a great product for someone with evenly balanced normal skin type (I don't know how many of you guys are out there but I'm super jealous!) It does give a decent coverage with lightweight finish, and it's best applied with a brush or sponge applicator for medium coverage.

In my opinion, TONYMOLY BCDation would be a bad choice for dry or combination skin types, or anyone with uneven skin texture. It would be an OK product for oily skin types if you're prepare to touch up with setting powder every couple of hours. It's best suited for normal skin types, but don't expect the finish to last 24 hours as advertised by TONYMOLY. 

It was disappointing how many of the product's claims fell short, especially since I've read positive reviews about the original BCDation. I'll still use this from time to time; only on days after a facial or on those rare occasions when I'm having 'a good skin day.'

TONYMOLY BCDation All Master can be purchased online from from GMarket or Amazon

♡

Lisa