Beauty Haul | September

Thursday 26 September 2013
As I'm still new to the whole Korean skincare routine, I decided to pick up some stuffs to try - trying to get them into my routine as soon as possible and I guess I'll be reviewing them and therefore, I'll update this post with a link to the items that I've reviewed.

Let's get started!


First, let's go to THE FACE  SHOP Malaysia. 

For treatment steps, as I'm a batwoman i.e. I sleep like 3 to 4 hours a day, I decided to grab Raspberry Roots Sleeping Mask from the store so I can apply it whenever, wherever I want to sleep. I'll just wash my face, tone and apply this luxuriously and go for a quick 20 minutes nap in the evening. Sometimes at 4 in the morning, too. I also grabbed the White Mud Nose Pack as I never tried a nose pack before (only those nose strips) and so far it's working great at getting rid of my whiteheads and some blackheads.

For sun protection, I bought my first Korean sunscreen, the Natural Sun AQ Super White Sun Cream SPF50 PA+++ (Whitening) to finish off my skincare routine and too with a face powder. The lady at store managed to convince me to get 2 makeup items that befit my needs (natural coverage and sun protection) so I got myself the Smart Capsule Color Control Cream SPF40 PA++ and Face It Aura Color Control Cream SPF30 PA+++ in Medium Beige. As I'm not into anything with pigments for my lips, I grabbed that Lovely Mix Dessert Lip Balm in Orange and this comes with cute applicator.


As they were having a Buy 5 Free 5 promotion, I bought I think most of the variants from the Real Nature sheet mask line; Rice (Brightening & Complexion Improvement), Green Tea (Hydrating & Energizing), Acai Berry (Firming), Bamboo (Hydrating & Refreshing), Mung Bean (Clarifying), Honey (Moisturising & Radiating), Blueberry (Highly Nourishing), Lemon (Brightening), Pomegranate (Skin-Radiating), and Aloe (Soothing & Hydrating). So, I guess I'm good for the next 3 months? 

Beauty Talk | What is CC Cream?

Thursday 19 September 2013
Okay, one of the things I also want to do in this new blog is to share beauty tips that I got from the internet.

Firstly, I don't wear make-up that much unless I have to go out for dinner with friends or attending weddings.

So my only option after skin care is to either use sunscreens or BB cream. But, due to the medium to full coverage of my current BB cream, I'm looking for a replacement. Something that is lighter and fit my 'barely-there' make-up concept.

CC cream, also known as Color Control cream, or Color Correcting cream, is a refined Blemish Balm cream or Beauty Balm created and developed in Korea.

BB (Blemish Balm) cream was originally formulated in Germany and has in recent years gained popularity in Asia, and is also gaining popularity Europe and North America. BB cream is a popular product in Asia, used to provide natural-looking skin coverage.

As a multitasking beauty product, CC cream was developed to retain all the benefits of BB cream with added nourishing ingredients whilst reducing the appearance of skin redness or sallowness (often with light-diffusing particles).

CC cream is reputed to include sun protection, along with better skincare properties (such as anti-aging, hydration, blemish prevention etc.) and treatment of uneven skin tones than BB creams. Some users find it to have a lighter texture than BB cream, which allows for smoother application with a less oily finish. Coverage can vary greatly among the different brands, and are more often than not minimal when compared to BB creams. Some tend to work better as primers rather than a replacement for foundation.

Source: here

So, the hunt for a perfect CC cream for my skin has begun.

Skincare Routine | Skin Profile

Alright, to begin this journey towards a better skin, I decided to go to 5 different beauty shops to get the right and most accurate skin profile.

Basically I have a combination skin, oily at my T-zone and normal at my other face area. So I have to admit that choosing the right products is a little bit tricky.

But before using products with basic care function, the beauty consultants suggested to use brightening products before going for basic care products.

I don't have much trouble with my skin provided that I don't go more than 6 to 8 hours without cleansing my facial area. So, it's important to stick with the regime and try your best not to skip not even one product. Well, there's a way to shorten things for a bit but I'll get to that later.

Most of you probably know, Korean beauty regime has several stages which involve the usage of several products in each stage especially Cleansing stage.

As for right now, I'm using products mainly from TheFaceShop, some from Etude House, a little from Nature Republic and Skin Food. I went to Holika Holika yesterday only to find there's not much of product ranges for me plus I only found 2 shops, one in Sunway Pyramid and one in Berjaya Times Square. I only tried few samples from Tony Moly and It's Skin.

As I've mentioned before, Korean beauty regime has several stages which are:

First stage is Cleansing. It's very important to cleanse your face before putting on any product especially when you're layering several products in the morning and at night. It's normal to do double or triple cleansing because as of right now, I wearing CC cream and light make up after skin care. I usually do double cleansing, starting with Cleansing Cream to take off all make up residue, then I'll proceed with Cleansing Foam. Thrice a week, I'll use Massage Cream to promote better absorbent of skin care products onto my skin. I also use different Cleansing Foams for morning and evening as we don't need much of cleansing after waking up in the morning and I chose a Cleansing Foam with beads (but not as much as exfoliating scrub) that I use in the evening after all those activities we had throughout the day.

Exfoliating. Exfoliating is a must at least twice a week. You can go for a Scrub Foam or Exfoliating Wash-Off Masks.

Nose care. I usually use nose strip but I do sometimes use Nose Sheet that has two steps to remove blackheads and whiteheads. Another option is Nose Pack that's usually either have charcoal or clay ingredients in it. 

Optional stage: Special care. For this stage, you can go on and treat yourself with Masks. There are two types of mask that I currently using right now, Daily Paper Masks and Wash-Off Pack. If you intend to use Daily Paper Masks, use it after toning and follow up with your skincare routine. As for Wash-Off Mask, use it before toning. I love Wash-Off Masks more cause I can really feel the texture of the product in my hand while massaging it onto my face. There are many types of Wash-Off Masks out there so find one (or more) that suits your concerns right now. Do aware of the active ingredient and suit your skin condition. Example, Rice and Kiwi can help brightens up your skin complexion.

Next stage is skincare. Or course, there's several steps in this stage before we can wrap up and call it a day.
  1. Toning. Toning should be the last step of the cleansing stage. Clears out all residues (including your facial foams and whatnot in case you didn't rise properly. Choose a toner that suits your skin and fills your desired effects. Make sure to use proper cotton pads cause you don't want your products being absorbed excessively instead of your skin.
  2. Serum or Essence. Usually the most expensive product in any range of skin care. Why? Because it has the most concentrated of goodness in a single bottle to please your skin.
  3. Emulsion. This functions as moisturizer. Don't take this for granted just because you have oily to normal skin. This is very important to avoid our skin secretes more oil in result of the natural skin oil being stripped away after deep cleansing. Emulsions are usually being used during the day.
  4. Night cream. Like emulsion, night cream acts as moisturizer too. Usually it has multiple functions in one tub.
  5. Sleeping Mask. On those days where I'm too tired to do deep cleansing and put on my skin are products, I'll just wash my face properly, tone and put on my Sleeping Mask. You can also use Soothing Gel as sleeping mask to soothe down your flamed skin.
There are other products that can help you in battling the weather throughout the day and one of the products that has become a staple in my skincare routine is a Facial Mist. Ask any South Korean, this is one thing that all girls have in their bag. .

Alright, that's all for today. I'll tell you guys about the products that I am currently using right now on my next post. It's been 2 weeks since the semester has started and so far, my skin hasn't died on me yet. *Horror with the image of myself last semester). 

Until next post!


RANDOM | OMG! WHAT HAPPENED TO YOUR FACE??

Monday 2 September 2013


That's the first thing my girlfriends asked about my face the moment they saw me during our little reunion recently. Sure, to be fair the photo above was taken last year but I'm darker than that I tell you! Okay, fine. I admit. I went outdoor like crazy as I was helping my mom running tasks here and there while completing construction projects.

I was babysitting my nephew for about 2 months and Adam is not your typical toddler. He ran and played outside the house every morning, in the afternoon and around 5 in the evening.

.... And I didn't even bothered to get sunscreens.

So early this month, I decided to improve my skin condition and hence I bought some beauty products, from cleansing to skin care and of course some makeup items with SPF in it. But then, I was thinking to write down my journey while testing out these products and share my future experiences with the world. So, what are better ways to do just that other than blogging?

For a start, I picked some products from THE FACE SHOP, Etude House, Skinfood, and Nature Republic or in general, Korean beauty products.. I'll be doing reviews on them so do let me know if you have tried or tested the products mentioned in this blog and let's share our knowledge on how to get the most out of these beauty items.

Oh, feel free to drop comments so I can improve myself by the way.

All products are bought by my own money, unless its stated otherwise, like samples and whatnot.

I'll see you guys next entry. Annyeong!

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