Monday, December 16, 2013

REVIEW: TONYMOLY CLEAN DEW TEA TREE SEED FOAM CLEANSER

I bought this cleanser a long time ago when my skin was oily and spotty, hoping that it'd cure my problems. Well, I couldn't have been more wrong.


(Source: tonymolyvn.com.vn)

Price: 132,000 VND (about US$6)

Size: 150ml

My opinion: Let's start with the good points first. This cleanser has amazing cleansing power and it can even remove makeup! It lathers up really well and creates a lot of bubbles. If you like that "squeaky-clean" feeling after washing your face, then by all means go for this one. It's also very cheap and long-lasting. However, the biggest downfall of this cleansing foam is that it dries my skin out like nobody's business! I had to give it up after 2 weeks because it made my skin peel so bad :( Since I didn't want to waste it, I used this as my brush cleanser. Although it cleaned my brushes really well, it dried out the hair of my brushes and left a weird scent on them. I gave it two months and finally, I threw it away because I couldn't bear to give this to someone else and end up wrecking their skin. 

Pros:
- Cheap
- Last for a very long time
- Clean well
- Can remove makeup

Cons:
- Super drying (this is hands down the most drying cleanser I've ever used!)
- Contain SLS and paraben

Repurchase?: Hell no!

Sunday, December 15, 2013

REVIEW: ETUDE HOUSE FRESH CHERRY TINT IN RD301

In my opinion, nothing can brighten up a dark and cold winter day better than a red lip color. One of my favorite shade of red is Etude House Fresh Cherry Tint in RD301. This one is so popular in Vietnam that it's often sold out in the stores. I finally got hold of it when I travelled to Hong Kong last summer.




And this is how it looks like on my bare face (sorry for my hormonal acnes T-T):





With one coat, it's a pinkish red but if you layer it on, it'll be a bright red.  One thing I dislike about this is that it fades unevenly and leaves red stains in the center of my lips. This may look good on other people, but for me, it just looks like my lips are bleeding. As I drink water quite often, it'll fade after about 3 hours. After reapplying, my lips feel a little bit dehydrated (but not dry), but it can be fixed by applying a clear gloss on top. However, if you have dry and chapped lips, make sure to wear a lip balm beforehand. I often use Bifesta Cleansing Gel - my holy-grail makeup remover to take it off completely.

Pros:
- Beautiful color
- Last for a decent amount of time
- Affordable

Cons:
- Fade unevenly
- May not be suitable for people with dry lips

Repurchase?: No, just because I've never purchased the same lipstick twice :)

Saturday, December 14, 2013

QUICK REVIEW: TONYMOLY KISS LOVER LIP MASTER IN 04 ALLURE ORANGE

Thanks to my lovely colleague, I've got a chance to try out this amazing orange lipstick. I tried lots of so-called orange lipstick before, but this is the only one that truly appears as an orange shade on my lips.




This is supposed to be a dupe for YSL Glossy Stain. I haven't tried out the YSL version yet, so I can't compare between the two. Tonymoly advertised this as an all-in-one lipstick + gloss + tint, and I think this lipstick lives up to its claim. The color is as vibrant as a lipstick, it looks glossy on my lips (but honestly, all lipsticks look glossy on me, so... yeah) and it has the amazing staying power of a lip tint! After 4 hours of drinking and light eating, it still stays on my lips! As the color fades, the color turns into a reddish orange shade like the following photo:


Pros:
- Nice orange shade
- Non-drying
- Long-lasting
- Affordable 

Cons:
- None that I can think of

Purchase?: Yes. I'll get this as soon as possible and I may get shade 03 as well :)

Friday, December 13, 2013

REVIEW: NIVEA ANTI-PERSPIRANT WHITENING DEODORANT

I bought this roll-on deoderant on a whim in Malaysia during a "Buy 1 get 1 free" promotion. I didn't have much expectation for this but it turned out to be quite a good product.


 Description:



Ingredients:


My opinion: This deodorant has a pleasant and subtle scent which lasts all day. This 50ml bottle lasts for such a long time. I've been using it regularly for about 4 months and there's still a third left. This is free of colorants and preservatives. It works great as a deodorant, but I don't notice any whitening, pore-tightening and anti-perspirant effects whatsoever. However, with such a cheap price, I honestly don't expect it to perform all of those things.

Pros:
- Nice scent
- Stay on all day
- Last for a very long time
- Cheap
- Free of colorants and preservatives

Cons:
- No whitening, pore tightening or anti-perspirant effects

Repurchase?: Yes, but this product may have been discontinued as I can't find it on Nivea Malaysia website :(

Thursday, December 12, 2013

REVIEW: IT'S SKIN POWER 10 FORMULA VC EFFECTOR WITH VITAMIN C DERIVATIVES

It's Skin Power 10 VC is the first serum from the Power 10 line that I've ever used. Since then, I've tried 8 different types of Power 10 serum and haven't had time to go back to this yet, but it always holds a special place in my heart :)


(Source: itsskin.com)

Description (from It's Skin English website): Brightening serum containing vitamin C and green tea components suppresses the formation of freckles that can make skin look dull and dark, and tightens pores to leave skin fair and luminous.

Size: 30ml

Price: 467,000 VND (about US$21)

Ingredients (from ratzillacosme.com): water, butylene glycol, glycerin, polyglutamic acid, PEG-60 hydrogenated castor oil, ascorbyl tetraisopalmitate, methylparaben, triethanolamine, carbomer, camellia sinensis extract, acrylates/C10-30 alkyl acrylate crosspolymer, chlorphenesin, fragrance, disodium EDTA

My opinion: This serum has a thick consistency and it feels sticky on my face. Despite that, it doesn't clog my pores or break me out even in the hot summer weather. It does have a brightening effect, but to be honest, I think Power 10 CO and Power 10 LI works better in this aspect. I don't notice any pore tightening effect. It doesn't make my skin look as glowing as Power 10 VE. OK, so I guess now you're wondering why I said that this had a special place in my heart if it doesn't perform that well in terms of brightening and pore minimizing. Well, that's because of its moisturizing property. As I've mentioned countless times on my blog, I suffered from a very bad case of dry and damaged skin because of Tonymoly Pore Cleansing Brush, and although this serum didn't completely cure that, it helped so much in soothing and repairing my skin. So, if you have dry/sensitive skin, I highly recommend this product.

Pros:
- Moisturizing
- Non-comedogenic and non-acnegenic
- Brightening

Cons:
- Sticky
- No pore tightening effect
- Contain paraben

Repurchase?: Yes, but not immediately coz there're other things I wanna try first :)

Tuesday, December 10, 2013

REVIEW: IT'S SKIN PRESTIGE CREME D'ESCARGOT

Most of my skincare products are quite affordable. However, once in a while, when I feel like my skin is really really bad, I'd splurge on a high-end product. I bought It's Skin Prestige Creme D'escargot when I suffered from hormonal cystic acnes on my chin and my philtrum earlier this year. They often came around that time of the month, took about a month to heal, so just when the old ones disappear, the new ones came up T-T They were huge and quite painful to the touch. Since the regular acne treatments just didn't work on them, I bit my tongue and purchased this insanely expensive cream. It cost me 2,863,000 VND (about US$136). And yes, I still shudder every time I think about the price >.<



Description: First class luxurious cream contains mucin (snail mucus), the ingredient with superior cell restoration, moisturization, and skin trouble relieving effects, and EGF (epidermal growth factor), through the combination of which creates a synergy effect to regenerate damaged cells, the fundamental cause for skin aging.

Size: 60ml

Packaging: The jar is gorgeous and it comes with a small spatula for those who don't like dipping their hands into the cream.

My opinion: This is hands down the most expensive cosmetics product I've ever purchased. So was it worth the price? I have to say, yes. It has a light citrusy scent that snail products seem to have. The moisturizing property is okay, nothing to write home about. It didn't make my skin feel smooth or plump. It absorbed fast coz of its light texture but still felt sticky on my skin. If you have dry skin, this won't be enough for you. But I bought this to treat my cystic acnes, and for that purpose alone, it worked great! The cream got rid of my pimples in less than a week! And while I was using this, I stopped having any new acnes! So, it cured and prevented acnes at the same time! However, it didn't work on the small bumps I had under my skin and it failed to fade away my old acne scars. I was heartbroken when I ran out of this coz my pimples started coming back around that time of the month T-T Around 2 months ago, I was lucky enough to receive some samples of this cream. However, it seemed that this time my skin had got used to this product, coz it didn't have any effects whatsoever on my skin. It neither cured nor prevented acnes. And no, it's not because the formulation has changed coz the full-size product and the samples were manufactured at around the same time. This happens to all acne treatments I've used: after a while, my skin becomes immune to them and they stop working for me (yeah, my skin is cunning like that). But you know what, in a weird and twisted way, I'm kinda glad that it's no longer effective on me coz it means I don't have to buy it again :"> Besides, thanks to my new skincare routine and my (relatively) healthy diet and lifestyle, I rarely get cystic acnes now (cross fingers), just some odd zits around that time of the month (they are small and often go away after a few days), so I no longer need any acne treatments :) I'd still recommend this cream for those who suffer from severe acnes coz it's a gentle, non-drying yet effective acne treatment :)

Pros:
- Moisturizing enough for oily skin
- Effective on curing and preventing hormonal acnes
- Gentle and non-drying
- Gorgeous packaging

Cons:
- Not moisturizing enough for dry skin
- Ineffective on under-the-skin bumps and old acne scars
- Feel sticky on the skin
- My skin becomes immune to it
- Insanely expensive, especially in Vietnam 

Repurchase?: No, coz my skin has become immune to it. 


Monday, December 9, 2013

QUICK REVIEW: DIOR ADDICT EXTREME LIPSTICK IN 479 HOLIDAY

My colleague has just bought Dior Addict Extreme Lipstick in 479 Holiday, and she was kind enough to let me try it (thank you so so much ^o^). Here's my quick review for this lipstick :)




Packaging: Very sleek and elegant in my opinion :)

Shade: On my lips, it's pink with just a hint of purple. It's quite sheer though and I had to apply 3 coats to get the color in the following photo:


Staying power: This fades so quickly! It's gone right after I drink water T-T

Moisturizing effect: It feels quite moisturizing, but since I don't have dry lips, I don't know how it'll perform on those with chapped lips. My friend doesn't have any problem using this lipstick though.

Pros:
- Nice packaging
- Non-drying

Cons:
- So-so color
- Fade quickly
- Expensive

Purchase?: No (my friend also regrets buying this). It seems like I don't have much luck with high-end brands, which may actually be a good thing for my wallet :)