the box and the actual tube

left: the cream right: after blending. you can notice the glow after applying it.

have i told you that in the past 2 weeks i was depressed due to my tesis progress? or no progress to be exact.. my professor was difficult to understand and moody. and he didn't give me any nodding for the proposal test. *sigh* and while i was depressed, i needed something to keep me sane, so i was reading about korean skincare. trust me when i said that stress really affected your skin. i had combination but more on oily side. i've been using loreal hydrafresh moisturizer icy gel for the third tube now, but sometimes the skin around my nose got flaky. i did use facial scrub, but somehow i noticed that my skin was dull and my freckles was increasing in number. *sigh* and i noticed that my foundation was heavy and sometimes cakey.. but i still had a lot left, so i had to finish it. though on daily basis i prefer my bodyshop bb cream. okay, back to skin care regime. i read a lot about korean skin care regime and i realized that probably i should put more consideration to spend more on my skincare regime than my makeup. recently, i postponed my elf and nyx haul because the dollar kept increasing. so, i got my eyes now on several korean skincare. now let's talk about the regime.

thanks to kpop wave, korean culture was widely known to the world. and the world now realized how smooth and delicate their skin! okay, probably their food and climate helped too, but korean were famous for their skincare regime. they put around 10-15 types of product on their face religiously everyday! i'm sure i didn't have the patience to put all that stuff, but i sure could put several more stuff on my face if it could improve my skin. i'm on the verge on age 30, so i had to put extra care for my skin. and probably more anti aging regime.

okay, usually here are the steps of their skincare regime:
1. cleanser: the famous terms of their cleansing routine was double cleansing. at first, they cleansed their face with makeup remover or face milk or face oil and then followed by another face wash or foam or soap. the extra cleansing was to make sure that all the dirt, pollution, makeup and everything else was washed away.
i had my eye on some cleansing oil and face wash:
innisfree apple juicy cleansing oil or the face shop oil specialist pore clean cleansing oil. for face wash, etude happy foam series or the face shop phytopowder charcoal facial wash (today i visited the face shop counter, and the face wash was huge compared to my bodyshop, no wonder it cost more).

2. toner: even though i had a combination/oily skin, toning my skin was important. i was using my toner as a part of my cleansing routine, but i found out that toner should be in the skincare rountine. i had be careful in reading the ingredient. i'd probably had to stay away from toner that contained alcohol. and the most important thing in applying toner was it was supposed to used max 10 seconds since you washed your face. probably i should put my toner in my bathroom.
the toner that i wanted to try: missha aqua pore clarifying toner, or the skin food sparkling apple toner. actually i wanted to try laneige, but in full size it was expensive *sigh* or probably i should try etude since it was cheaper, either malgeum fresh or wonder pore freshner.

3. essence/serum: probably this step was missing from western skincare routine. the difference between serum and essence was the consistency. essence was lighter and more like liquid in consistency, while serum was thicker. probably i should use essence in the morning and serum at night. both were aimed to treat spesific skin problems such as wrinkles, enlarged pores, dryness, etc. due to my oily skin, i was looking for something that suitable for oily skin and large pores, but i also wanted to start anti-aging treatment and whitening too.. they said that whitening was famous in korean because for asian, sun damaged our skin in forms of freckles. i never tanned, but i burnt easily. and i had freckles. so asian tend to use whitening products to prevent freckles and sunburnt.
for essence, i wanted to try missha first treatment essence or innisfree soybean energy essence (both were dupe for SK-II, and both were expensive T.T) or innisfree green persimmon pore essence, but i couldn't find any online shop that sold the last one. for serum, i wanted to try the infamous skin black sugar perfect first serum or peach sake pore serum. i read that the peach sake smell was quite strong, so i probably tried the black sugar.

4. emulsion/ moisturizer: both were similar, though some people differentiate emulsion and moisturizer. moisturizer was thicker in consistency than emulsion, and it was the last step to lock in hydration. probably for oily skin, many used only emulsion and skipped the moisturizer. but for dry skin, you'd probably wanted to use both.
for moisturizer, i wanted to try the face shop chia seed sebum control moist cream or laneige waterbank gel cream. well, laneige was expensive, but so did chia seed. probably one or two laneige products won't broke me.

5. eye treatment
okay, you had to understand that your around eye skin and your face skin was different so it needed special treatment. i had the bodyshop vit c eye cream and roller gel, so i wanted to try it first, though i read in some blogs that skinfood salmon eye brightening cream was great. probably if the vit c didn't suitable for me, i would try it.

6. lip treatment: this was important for me. i had dry lips. i wanted to buy lip scrub but i kept postponing it. and lip balm was number one. i was loyal to my bodyshop vit e lipbalm. i've tried the choco lip balm and lip butter, but vit e was better for me.

7. night regimen : mostly it was same as the morning regime, but you could change the moisturizer with night cream for extra hydration. i wanted to try either laneige waterbank sleeping pack or firming pack. it was their best seller.

8. extras:
a. sunscreen: okay, probably my freckles shown because i've been skipping sunscreen since i dumped my erha sunblock. so i just bought the faceshop natural aq sunscreen spf 50++ PA, and i will review it later.
b. mask: korean were crazy about face mask. they had face mask sheet, sleeping pack, wash off or peel off mask. recently i ordered innisfree jeju volcanic pore clay mask but the seller told me that they changed it into supervolcanic pore clay mask which was stronger, so i hope it was as good as jeju volcanic. i wanted to try it on my husband too, since he had bigger pores and more blackheads than me.

okay, i asked my sister to order some tester from testerkorea.com, but i haven't heard again from her, so i will tell you later which one i decided to try.

i bought this almost a month ago, and i forgot to review it. well, i recently dyed my hair since i won a giveaway from the hair salon i last visited. at first i was planning to get a glossy, but then, the assistant told me that glossy won't change my hair much. i wanted a lighter color, with red hue. i always interested in redheads. so i decided to dye it. a bit lighter. but unfortunately, unless i was under the light or the sun, you couldn't see the difference. probably it was too subtle. hahhaa.. anyway, since i straightened my hair last august and dyed my hair last january, i had to take care of my hair more. i used shampoo and conditioner for colored hair, and my liss smooth mask. but when i saw the advertisement for this oil, i instantly grabbed it. though loreal already had the professional version of this oil (myth oil and many more), but it was more expensive. for smaller bottle it cost me more than this extraordinary oil.

what they said about it: a unique oil formula that transforms dry hair into silk. inspired by the extraordinary power of 6 rare flower oils, it provides incredible nourishment for all hair types and won't weight your hair down.

the packaging: glass bottle with pump. while the high end oil only came with plastic bottle. i don't know why the cheaper one got the better packaging.

the product: the oil was pretty runny.. almost like water than oil. it smell good and not sticky like oil at all. and it absorbed quickly into damped hair. the problem caused by the runny texture: when you pumped it, it was like sprayed all over than dropped the oil. so you'd better cover the opening of the pump with your palm if you didn't want it to spill everywhere.

the result: i had a dry hair but oily scalp, so i didn't apply from the root. i got problem with my frizzy hair. though i already use the shampoo and conditioner, i still applied the oil every time i washed my hair. and tadaaaa... after my hair dried, it was shiny and smooth. and smell good! but if i put too much oil, my scalp became oily fast.. *sigh*

overall result: i was happy with the result. with that price, it was satisfying to got this hair oil. definitely repurchase!

left: the front of the bottle right: the ingredient list at the back

it wasn't the birthday that i wanted, but it was just another day. well, i got a birthday present from someone who probably would be my sister in law. she got me the body shop chocomania kit. it consisted with chocomania body butter, body scrub, lip butter and body shower. all in travel size. actually, this gift was kind a savior.. i had an allergy attack couple days before, and my skin was so dry so it gave me more itch. and my usual body lotion couldn't help. so the body butter was a savior.

the body butter: this decadently chocolatey body butter gives extra long-lasting hydration. it leaves skin sweetly scented, and feeling softer and smoother. that's what they said about it. they didn't say about the skin condition, whether it's for normal or dry skin. usually they put information about it. but i guess it was for dry skin since the normal chocolate body butter was designed for dry skin. this body butter was thicker than the usual body butter that i had. a bit hard too pick the product since it was a bit dense. but it dissolved quickly to my skin and leave my skin chocolate-scented.

the body scrub: this exfoliating body scrub has a decadently chocolatey scent and leaves skin feeling softer and smoother. it contains real cocoa butter and organic cane sugar. removes dead skin cells, stimulates skin microcirculation, leaves skin feeling softer and smoother, indulgent chocolate scent. the scrub was easily dissolved, so i was hard to do the scrubbing. not as hard as the usual scrub that i used though. but it was okay.. i needed a good scrub, so this was okay. the downside: it left moisturizing feeling afterwards, so it was a little weird since i always used to clean and fresh feeling after scrubbing.

the shower cream: haven't used it so i had no saying about it. but i had a weird thought, showering with chocolate scented shower cream? pretty weird... hopefully it didn't leave sticky feeling afterwards..

the lip butter: this buttery balm melts onto the lips for instant hydration. it contains real cocoa butter and has a delicious chocolate flavour. instant hydration, buttery texture, leaves lips feeling softer and smoother, chocolate flavor. i never used lip butter before, so i had no idea about the consistency. but it was hard to pick the product just like the body butter. it was quite dense. and the chocolate flavor? no flavor at all. just chocolate-scented. update: it was bitter.. i licked my lips the other day, and it was bitter.

if you loved chocolate so much, you would probably love this gift. unfortunately, the chocomania line was an exclusive line on the body shop, and i wasn't sure it will stick around..

top left: the bunch of chocomania (actually there was this heart-shaped tin, but my son snatched it away) top right: the chocomania body scrub middle right: the lip butter bottom left: the consistency of the body butter, pretty dense. bottom right: the body butter

sorry for my forgetful mind. i forgot about the other naked. i got this naked nail polish kit for my birthday last year. i took some photos, but i transferred them to my laptop and then i forgot to write about them. without any further ado, let's get naked!

naked nail polish kit

top (L-R) : naked - sidecar middle (L-R): toasted - smog bottom (L-R) : hustle- creep

my nyx felt tip liner started to annoy me. the tip wasn't as sharp as before, so it made the application more difficult. and then there was this loreal ad, about their new gelmatic eyeliner. i was hooked. and i always wanted to try colored eyeliner. i had one in gold from nyx retractable eyeliner, but i wanted a navy blue eyeliner recently. unfortunately, no new felt tip eyeliner from loreal. the nyx counter was also out of stock for the felt tip. so i decided to buy the loreal gelmatic eyeliner instead.

loreal gel matic eyeliner:
what they said about it: this is loreal first gel eyeliner in a pen format. quick, precise and easy application combined with intense matte color pay off for just a stroke of audacity. it's an automatic crayon with precision tip for easy application. microgel pigments formula for intense color pay off. 24 hr wear, smudge proof, matte finish.

so far they were available in 6 shades here in indonesia: black, brown, gold, silver, blue, turqoise. i bought the black and blue. i wanted the brown also, but for a 150rb eyeliner, it would be too much.

the color: it does what it was claimed to be. the color pay off was great. just one stroke and the color showed up pretty nice.

the performance: it was really smudge proof. the BA said that it was waterproof also. i tried to wash my hand after swatching it, and the water did nothing to it. i used my usual eye makeup remover and it worked just fine, no residue.

the application: the automatic pen was easy to use, not like revlon's that make my sister had some difficulties twisting it.

overall, it was a great eyeliner for that price. well, for colored eyeliner, i hoped they lowered the price, so we could buy them all. don't you think? hehehe.. as for now, i'm happy about it, and it was a good substitute for my felt tip.

left to right: loreal gel matic black and navy, nyx retractable in gold

top: nyx retractable eyeliner in gold middle: loreal gel matic in navy bottom : loreal gel matic in black

left: swatch (L-R) black - navy - gold right: i tried to smudge them

now about nyx retractable eyeliner:
what they said about it: twist and shout. renowned for its exteme lasting power, this creamy liner delivers intense pigmentation and precise application in an easy, twist-up tube that never need sharpening.

the color: it did show with just one swipe, and it was creamy just like the gel matic.
the application: another easy twist up application. but the pen was thinner than the gel matic, so it felt a little bit wobbly.
the performance: their lasting power was not as good as loreal. i tried them both this morning, and when i got home, some of the gold eye liner was vanished due to my oily eyelid. but my navy eyeliner stayed. and you could see above on the picture, when i tried to smudge them, the gold one vanished quickly than the other two. when i washed my hand with water, the gold one was also easily removed.
the price: nyx was cheaper.

overall: for the price, nyx was okay. but for performance, i prefer loreal. i really wished they didn't charge that expensive *sigh*

okay. this was one of the tester that my sister brought me from sephora singapore. and i almost forgot i haven't try them. now i had spare time, so i wanted to share my review.

what they said about it: coverage without compromise. our weightless formula blurs imperfections for a flawless finish that feels invisible, but looks professionally retouched.
Whoever said 'you can't have the best of both worlds' never tried Naked Skin. Not only does our new light-as-air foundation give you the buildable coverage you desire – it also looks and feels like you're wearing absolutely nothing. Naked Skin uses light-diffusing spheres to 'blur' imperfections for a luminous, demi-matte finish that feels invisible but looks professionally retouched. Naked Skin is oil-free, paraben-free, fragrance-free, and loaded with nourishing ingredients:  Matrixyl 3000-Anti-wrinkle and lifting peptides restore and maintain skin's youthful appearance while increasing elasticity. Litchiderm (derived from lychee fruit) – Protects the skin from dehydration, oxidative stress and accelerated aging, resulting in a brighter, more radiant complexion.  Green Tea & Vitamin E – These anti-oxidants neutralize free-radicals and promote collagen production for smooth and supple skin.Sodium Hyaluronate – Holds and attracts water for optimal hydration, circulation and nutrient absorption, making skin smooth, soft and youthful.  Our range of 18 meticulously calibrated shades use a numbering system to help you choose your perfect match. Shades ending in '.0' are warm (yellow/olive undertones). Shades ending in '.5' are cool (rosy/neutral undertones).For professional results, we recommend you apply, buff and blur your way to a flawless finish with our Good Karma Optical Blurring Brush. Designed specifically for Naked Skin, the densely packed shape of this amazing brush distributes makeup evenly and perfectly buffs out the light-diffusing spheres for a soft-focus finish. Don't have the brush? You can also apply using your fingers or sponge – Naked Skin always blends beautifully. (copied from urban decay website)


the color: my sister's friend picked up the shade 1.0. i've told my sister to told her friend to pick the lightest shade they had, so she picked the shade 1.0. i didn't know about the shade ending. if i'd known before, i would've told her to pick both 0,5 and 1.0. but i wasn't about the availability. i tried the swatch twice. once under my room lighting, at night. and once under sunlight this morning. yesterday i thought 1.0 was a good match. i swatched it on my jawline, and it blended perfectly, but i didn't do full face yesterday. this morning i did full face, and i noticed a slight difference between my face and my neck. i didn't sure which undertone i had, but reading from pinterest and other website, i thought i had cool undertones, since my veins were blue and purple.. but i wasn't sure.

the smell : no weird smell, but don't trust my olfactory sensor for this one. i had anomalies toward smell. i couldn't smell bad smell pretty well, but i couldn't stand strong fragrant too. soooo if it smell bad for other people, probably it would be true, since probably i couldn't smell it.

the coverage : weightless yes. but coverage without promise? hell no. my face skin problem was redness. and as you could see in the picture, they didn't cover my redness that well. although i had layer it over and over again. i used sponge FYI..

the performance : i had oily skin, and today i used it without powder to set it. and i wear it for almost 4 hours, and i noticed i only had shine on my nose, which was typical. it was pretty standard. even my max factor did the same.

overall : i had to say, this was a bad liquid foundation. why not change the name into BB cream? then people won't judge about the coverage. i assumed when people bought foundation, they wanted at least medium coverage. but this one was very light. even my bb cream could cover my redness better! for that price, i would definitely pass it.

left: with flash right: without flash (under sunlight)

left: my bare face: you could see some redness middle: left- bare face, right - with several layers right : full face (you can notice there's a slight difference between my face and my neck)