[Face] – Rohto Koi-Gokujyun

Hi guys…*awkward* I know I’ve been absent for quite a while. Stuff had happened in my personal life that I do not wish to get into, because that’s not what this blog is about. The short of it is that I got a new job, and have been exhausted after work due to longer commute time. But guess what? I am actually writing this blog on my commute LoL. So I will pre-apologize for any typos/errors I will likely make in the post (and probably future posts) because I am typing this on my phone.

Now that’s taken care of…so its been so long that I have actually finished using this product, and moved on to 2 different ones since lol. This was not the first time I had used this gel cream from Hada Labo. To be honest I didn’t like it the first time, and I did not change my mind after this time either. The gel cream moisturizes well and give you that glow people are always looking for. What I did not enjoy about the cream was the stickiness of it after application. It feels sorta thick, almost like a layer sitting on top of your skin. It does however slowly penetrates the skin layers slowly, so the stickiness does go away, but it takes a while.

It does also contain dimethicone, which is something I now try to avoid, so I did not repurchase this product after I had finished it.

list of ingredients:

texture of the cream is gel like and has a milky translucent colour.

after application, you can see the difference in glow with and without the gel cream.

consistency: thick gel like cream, quite a lot of slip to it so it does spread easily.

scent: it is pretty much odorless. I believe all of Hada Labo’s products are fragrance free, one of the many reasons I like them.

claims: so the packaging claims to be hyper moisturizing, keeping dryness away and give you moist and glowy skin. I would say that’s pretty accurate, I just did not enjoy the feeling of it on my face.

The product is made in Japan.

price…I don’t remember I think it was in the $20CND range, not too expensive.

So I am going to try to do this more often on my commute, so hopefully, see you soon!

 

[Unmasking] – Kose Clear Turn Moist Charge Mask

Sheet masks!! They are all the rage right  now! When people say sheet masks I usually think of individually packaged serum soaked sheet of cloth, but this one is a bit different. I’ve actually seen this one floating around on the internet, and was immediately intrigued by it’s more eco-friendly packaging (the environment is just as important as my skin). It’s a big package of 50 sheet masks all in one resealable bag soaked in serum. The instruction states it’s meant for everyday use. I immediately got 2 when I saw these in Taiwan, again it’s been a while and in all honesty I rarely look at pricing when I shop skincare in Taiwan (because no matter how expensive, 99% of the time it’s way cheaper than Canada). I got 2 different kinds, I haven’t opened the other one (I believe it’s a brightening one), this one I’ve been using is more for hydration (or so it claims). It also claims to be the number 1 selling mask in Japan (but a lot of products have this claim lol).

The packaging claims to be 6 step all in one product (toner, serum, lotion, cream, face mask, and eye mask). Well, no…haha. The serum that’s on this mask is super light weight and I would not skip my regular toner, serum, lotion and cream step. It is both a face mask and eye mask though. There are extra patches of the eye (instead of just an eye hole), and you can place this right under the eye or cover the eye entirely and it’ll act like an eye mask, which is nice. The ingredient list is fairly short, although it does contain fragrance, also alcohol. You can actually smell the alcohol in the mask, but it hasn’t done any drying to my skin yet.

Unlike typical sheet masks the 50 sheet are stacked together and you just have to pull one out at a time to place on your face. Sometime the masks stick together and I pull out 2 instead of one, which means I have to put one back, so if hygiene is an issue for you this is probably not the best product. The other thing I was worried about was the serum drying out, because you essentially have to open this package 50 times, and honesty you cant close it right away when you have a wet mask in your hands. But it has been doing pretty well, nothing appears to be dried out. I am not sure how many I have left in there..I want to say I still have 20 or so to go. I really should use these on a daily basis, but sometimes I just get lazy.

Here’s the mask pulled out, I know you can’t really tell what it looks like, but a mask is a mask. The material is fairly thin, and like I said the serum is light weight. With regular masking I usually leave on my face for 30 to 45 mins, sometimes upwards of an hour if I have enough serum left to keep it moist for that long. This mask I can only have it on for about 20 mins and it’ll start drying out. What I found though, if I put a silicon mask on top of it, I can leave it on for 40 mins and it’s still moist, except the silicon mask hurts my ears. Because these masks were so cheap I didn’t really care about throwing them out after 20 mins, so sometimes I use the silicon mask over top, sometimes I don’t

and onto the TL;DR portion of the post…

consistency: very very light weight serum sheet mask, would not suggest skipping your routine in place of this.

scent: the fragrance is very lightly scented, it’s a floral scent with hints of alcohol, if that bothers you, I would not recommend this product

claims: it does claim to be able to replace 6 steps of your routine, which I really don’t think so…maybe 3 steps (serum, face mask, and eye mask). But I still put on my toner, serums before I put this one my face, and end with cream after. It’s more like an addition to my steps not a replacement of my steps haha

packaging: it’s a no frills packaging, it’s literally just a big ziplock bag, but does the job of keeping the sheet masks from drying out

ingredients: there is alcohol and fragrance in this product, and in general people tend to have reactions to these. I suspect the alcohol is to keep the integrity of this product, as I’ve mentioned before hygiene could be an issue if you are placing a mask back into the packaging.

price: I really don’t remember….I think was in the 200~300NT range (8 to 10 dollars)

It is made in Japan.

Overall: it’s by all means not an amazing product. After I take off the mask my face does feel moisturized and plump, but it doesn’t stand out from any other masks I have used. That being said, I would repurchase this, I do like the eco-friendly aspect, and honestly it’s also economically friendly for myself. Not saying I would replace all my masks with this, but at the very least I can cut down on my individual mask purchasing.

Until next time!

 

 

[Toner] – Nihonsakari Skin Lotion

So last week’s post I said that I did end up finding a toner that I liked as much if not more than the Kiehl’s calendula toner, and no this toner does not have calendula extract in it. This was also an impulse buy, I was at a drugstore (in Taiwan of course) browsing around waiting for the time my train would depart, and I saw this and thought, well that’s interesting. I was looking for a toner to add to those compressed paper masks to use as a sheet mask, and when I saw this I was just really happy with the volume and price of it. The masks soak up quite a bit of liquid, so I didn’t want to buy anything expensive. In the directions it also basically say the toner is basically for masking. If I recall correctly this was purchased for $500NT (about $20 CND) for 500ml.

I really like the fact that the ingredient list is literally 11 items, that means there’s not much fillers in there. And yes I see the paraben, but after reading research on it and listening to some Pod Casts (the Beauty Brain to be particular), I am pretty convinced this whole “paraben free” bandwagon is not as great as it sounds. Paraben is a preservative, it helps to keep your skincare/makeup safe for use for a longer period of time. Preservatives are essential, otherwise things (esp if they label it all natural) will just go bad in a very short amount of time, and do you want to put that stuff on your face?? I didn’t think so. So if it’s not paraben it’ll be another preservative, and guess what? that probably has some cancer causing abilities too, we just don’t know it yet. So I’ll stick with the more well researched paraben. Sorry I went on a bit of a rant there…LOL

The product was manufactured in June 2016, and can be kept for 5 years without opening (probably thanks to paraben!). The name of the product literally translates into “Moisturizing Sake” and claims to improve skin dryness, large pores, and other problems caused by dehydration of the skin. It specifically says due to the large volume of this product, you can use it with dry/compressed sheet masks and use as a mask for 10 to 20 mins.

The texture of this is literally just water, cloudy water. Originally I was going to use this after my Naruko one finished, but when I got into the whole acidic skin care thing I took a look at the ingredient list of this toner and realized there’s citric acid in this (an AHA), and decided it needs to be opened, and basically ditched my Naruko one that wasn’t doing much to begin with. I started off using it as instructed with compressed sheet masks, and immediately felt the change of texture on my skin. My skin felt smooth and hydrated, with that dewy glow.  Within a few weeks I also saw the difference in the eveness of my skin (colour wise), where I use to have dark patches seemed to have lightened significantly, and I was in love with my skin. Mind you at the same time I also started using other things that might have aided in that process, but I did feel the toner did what it claimed.

Recently though, I’ve switched to using the 7 skin method (layering 7 layers of  “skin” or toner) with this toner. It uses up the toner soooo fast, I don’t know if I should continue with it, because I feel the masking method does the same, but the 7 skin method is a lot quicker, and less waste. Maybe I’ll do a mixture depending on how much time I have. For the 7 skin method, I personally don’t like using cotton pads for anything (it’s a waste and I feel like it tugs on the skin), so I dumped this toner into a spray bottle and just spray and pat 7 times. So far I am half way done the toner…

I also wanted to mention this toner was made in Japan and also the all important pH level. It came to about a 5, which is around where healthy skin pH should be (4.5~5)

Will I be repurchasing? you bet! I have seen something similar to this at Asian beauty stores in Richmond, but I am not sure if it’s the same brand because the packaging looks the same but the lettering is a bit different. When I was buying this, I saw other ones that had other claims, my main concern was hydration so I got this one, but I’d like to try the other ones too. Next time I go back to Asia I’ll be looking for these.

Until next time!

 

[BB Cream] – Bioré Aqua Rich Watery BB 3D Effect

ok, are you really surprised I have another BB cream review? This one is actually from a while back. So far back in fact, I am almost finished the tube.

Bioré is a brand that is fairly well known in North America as well, but it seems the Asian products are much more interesting. I don’t think I’ve ever bought anything Bioré in Canada, which is pretty odd.

Anyways, I first came across this because I was actually looking for the Bioré sunscreen, this was put together with the sunscreen, and I just had to try it out.

The consistency of the product is pretty thin but creamy at the same time. There’s not much coverage, but it evens out skin tone. I personally really like the fact that it’s on the yellow side for its undertone. I think this has to do with it being a Taiwanese product. Most girls in Taiwan have a yellow undertone, whereas Korean girls generally is more on the pink end. The yellow helps neutralize the purplely colours I have on my skin (dark circles/spots, and veins). It brightens the skin ever so slight, and there is absolutely no colour difference.

Colour swatches:

Closer to the wrist, I have it blended out, you can see the ever so slight brightness to the skin.

To conclude…

Properties: it’s been a long while since I purchased this product, I’ve thrown away the packaging and don’t actually know what it claims. But base on the name itself, it’s most likely claiming to be moisturizing and sun protection. I honestly cannot confirm the moisturization property of this product, it makes no difference on my face.

Sun protection: it is labeled SPF 50 PA +++. As always though, I still put another layer of sunscreen under this, just because I wouldn’t have put enough of this to get the full sun protection.

Consistency: very light and watery, easy to blend out

Colour: there’s only one colour with a yellow undertone. It has basically no coverag and simply neutralizes the dark spots, so I suspect this would sit well on darker skin tone girls as well.

Coverage: minimal

Price: I bought this in Taiwan a number of years ago and I honestly don’t remember how much it was, but I can for sure say it’s under $10 for 33g of product. Pretty damn economical.

Made in Taiwan

Overall: I really like this product 4/5. I mean I would like more coverage but it does the job when I don’t feel like a thick layer on my face but still want a put together look. I especially loved this product when I was in the hot summer like weather in Taiwan (mid 30s to low 40s). It stays on the skin pretty well and doesn’t feel heavy, and that’s what’s important.