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Saturday 24 December 2016

Missha x Line Friends Eye Color Studio Mini in Brown Brownie

I used to use Line a lot so I am aware of Line Friends characters like Brown, Sally and Cony. Though to be honest, I just kind of recognize the characters and not their names. ๐Ÿ˜…๐Ÿ˜… But the collaboration with Missha has definitely made me remember their names. I couldn't resist the Brown cushion when it was first released. Needless to say, that cushion is now in my collection. I also saw the repackaged version of the FTE in Brown.. Trust me.. It took a LOT of control to not snatch that up.

Fortunately, BB Cosmetic had a 40% off sale on the Missha x Line Friends and I just had to snatch up that Brown version of FTE. Along the way I decided to get the Eye Color Studio Mini in Brown Brownie because it was on sale and it was a nice palette for me to use for everyday use.

 When I got this, I was kind of surprised at how small it is. But then again, it is only 7g, so it can't be that big.. Duh! ๐Ÿ˜‘๐Ÿ˜‘ It is quite thin and I want to say it is about 1.5x the size of a credit card. But it is small enough that it fits in my clutch perfectly.
The cover is SO cute! It's got Brown on it! Look at the shadow that Brown pressed into it! Man... I have been avoiding touching him and getting rid of him... Eventually I will have to.. But we will deal with it when I get to that point..
With flash
From left to right, the shades are:
Timid Brown - A shimmery light brown, I think it's best for the inner corner of the eyes and the lower waterline.
Pure Brown - A shimmery dark brown with the biggest sized glitter in the palette. It seems like it would be good to line your eyes with, or the outer corner for a light smokey eye.
Heart  Attack Brown - A shimmery reddish brown, and this was the shade I was most worried about as I was afraid it would be too red. But it ended up being a nice coppery colour that goes well with the rest of the palette. For this I used on the center of my eyelid for a little pop.
Cony Friend Brown - A light brown shade, the only non-shimmery shadow in this palette. I used this as a base on my eyelids before all of the other colours.
Top: natural light,
Bottom: with flash 
The swatches above were done with no primer and with my fingers. However, it took several swipes with my finger in order to get some colour payoff. I found that it was much better when I used a brush, so I think I must have been pressing too light when using my fingers. The glitters and the shades are subtle enough that I can wear it to the office.

I used the palette for the office Christmas party and it was a really nice look for a night out. However, I didn't have time to take a close up picture as I was rushing to get out. I would have taken one after the party, but unfortunately I found the shades to be a lot less vibrant compared to the beginning of the night. So I have to say the staying power for these are kind of... meh. Maybe it would be better if I used primers. *shrug*
This is how it looked when I tested it, using it in the way I described above. It should be noted that I also used the Etude 101 pencil in #77 that I received as from Etude as a giveaway prize. This is a nice shimmery bronze colour and I use it on the center of the bottom waterline. You can see a swatch here.

Like I mentioned in my post here, I have hooded eyes so I have to use a heavy hand and extend it quite a bit past the crease in order to have it show up when I have my eyes open. As you can see above, the colours are there when I look down, but when I look up, they are all covered up.. ๐Ÿ˜ญ๐Ÿ˜ญ
Now, this is two different attempts with a much heavier hand.

The right eye has a thicker tightline and the shadows has been extended a little bit. You can see some of the shadows when my eyes are open, but it's mostly the Pure Brown shade on the outer cover of the eye, and the Play 101 liner.

The left eye was drawn with a MUCH heavier hand. The liner is drawn VERY thick, with heavy emphasis on the center of the eye to give it a rounder look. All of the shades are also very extended. This way, you can actually see the shades when I open my eyes. However, I found the look to be kind of "dirty" and I feel like made my eyes look droopy....

Luckily, I was recommended to try the dome method, which I think is also referred to as the vertical gradient method . This is where you draw the shades over the eyelid in a dome shape, where most of the colour will be concentrated in the center.  A good simple video can be viewed here.

I attempted it this for the Christmas party and really liked it. However, I don't have pictures of it as explained above. But just trust me when I say it looked so much cleaner than the above images.

Overall I really like the eye shadow palette as it provides nice shimmery colours that goes well together and just enough glitter to bring a little shine to your eyes. I already find myself reaching for these whenever I want to do something more than eyeliner and mascara so this was a good buy!

Wednesday 21 December 2016

Tonymoly Super Peeling Liquid Shiny Foot

I have reviewed quite a few peeling feet masks and I am always recommending the Tonymoly Shiny Feet peeling foot masks. Then I realized I have never actually done a review on it. Oops.. (เน‘→‿←เน‘) So here it is!

This is my favourite peeling masks. When I first tried it, it took out LAYERS off of this callus I have on my left foot. I LOVED IT! ๐Ÿ˜๐Ÿ˜ Only downside was that I always get the taste of the chemicals in the back of my mouth at the end of it. But that's okay,  I can deal with that. I have been trying different ones so I thought I would use it again before the masks expires.
This comes with dry booties, the solution liquid, and a pack of lotion. The booties and solution is separated such that there is less risk of the solution being spilled out during transportation. All you have to do is stick your feet in the booties, pour in the liquid and then seal it up for 90 minutes or so. The lotion is to be used after the peeling has stopped, but I always forget to use it.. Oops.. I actually have two packets because I forgot to use it last time. And I totally forgot to use them this time around until I just remembered.. Hahah. Super bad!

To begin, I used the Shiny Foot Scrub Wash to wash my feet. This scrub has a light fresh scent to it, and it's white packed with large granules, it kind of reminds me of a plain sugar scrub. This is to help remove some of the dead skin on my feet.

After I washed and dried my feet, I stuck them in the booties, and proceeded to pour the liquid in. The booties are big for my size 6 feet, and I think it should be enough for up to size 8? The booties has two layers, a thin white plastic outer shell, and a thin mesh lining.
You are supposed to stick your feet in the booties, pour the liquid, tie it up and seal it with the sticker provided. However, I always find that it makes moving around very hard. So I always add a pair of socks on top. This allows me to move around more without worrying about possibly breaking the mask. However, it was a bit weird to be walking around while feeling the liquid moving around my feet.

My feet definitely felt like it was drowning when the socks were on, and it was starting to get itchy from sitting in the liquid for so long. I had it on for two hours, much longer than the instructed ... My feet were super red from sitting in it for so long and was a bit slimy when I took it out. Nothing a little water can't wash away. Weirdest part is that I still got the taste of the chemicals on the back of my mouth even though I never opened the socks during the two hours. Yuck.....

Okay... now... gross feet pictures coming up... I have warned you before, and will warn again... GROSS FEET PICTURES!! WITH PEELING SKIN!!! TURN BACK IF YOU ARE EASILY GROSSED OUT!!! The preface of the blog already mentioned this is a great peeling mask! You are about to see shedding feet!!! Proceed forward only if you want to!!
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 This is my feet right before I started using the mask! You can see it's kind of all gross and the callus is kind of dried up.

My feet were feeling super itchy and irritated after I washed the liquid off and it continued onto the next day. It was really annoying but I just slapped on a lot of cream and dealt with it. However, because of the cream I used and how dry my feet are, it made my feet squeak SO much in flats. It was so gross and awkward. Hahaha..๐Ÿ˜‚๐Ÿ˜‚ So glad it only lasted a couple of days.
 This is day 6,  and you can see the skin is finally starting to dry out. The package said my feet are supposed to start peeling from 4 or 5th day after usage. But as you can see, it is getting there but not quite!
 However, starting day 7, the skin on the sole of my feet starts to shed! I LOVE IT! You are not supposed to peel those skin off, as it can lead to accidentally ripping off more layers of skin than intended. But I am bad and peels anyways. I love peeling those chunks off, so gross I know.. ๐Ÿ˜ฌ
 The peeling continued and continued. The downside to the removal of dead skin is that my feet were SWEATY for days! It sweat SO much that I couldn't wear flats for more than a few minutes. Unfortunately for me, the skin on the top of my feet only started to peel off on day 11. It is also small peels so I had trouble taking it off and had to use scrubs and just let it does its course. I said it's unfortunate for me as I was planning to wear open toed shows for a Christmas party that day. Oh well. *shrug*
My feet were definitely done peeling on day 13! That's twice as long as it is stated on the package. But I don't mind as I really like getting rid of layers of dead skin. The peeling masks actually took off quite a bit of dead skin and it's still one of my favourite items!!!


Sunday 18 December 2016

Etude House - My Little Nut Perfume Set

Oh Etude~ You and your little holiday collection totally got my attention even though I don't have a thing for The Nutcracker.. But that collection name of "My Little Nut" It looks like Etude has changed the name to My Little Nutcracker as per their Facebook page.. But the name has been printed on all of the products so it's a late now... Hehehe ๐Ÿ˜๐Ÿ˜ Oh well. I wasn't going to get anything from the collection but I really liked the description of the smells of the roller perfumes so I snatched it up when Etude Global's Black Friday sale. ๐Ÿ˜Š

Based on the description of the notes, I was really excited for the "Sweet" as it has orange and jasmine. And I was very worried about the smell for "Pure" as its description as its key term is powdery. That just makes me think baby powder. But the notes sounded okay. So I thought, why not? Especially when it was on sale and free shipping. ๐Ÿ˜‰
My first impression was that the set is TINY. Then it turns out each roller is only 7ml. Duh! I used my Posies & Co perfume as a size comparison. (I LOVE๐Ÿ˜ this roller perfume by the way. You can't see it but it has purple flowers floating in the oil and it has the nicest light sweet scent. The scent lasts for a LONG time and I am really hoping the Canadian Anthropologie stores would stock the body oil from the same line. )
How cute are these packaging?
The Pure and Sweet perfumes are part of Etude's regular sets of perfumes, so these are just in special packaging. The My Little Nut is the special scent that is not part of the regular line up.

Okay, let's talk scents. 

Sweet - This is the bottle with the purple nut cracker. This is supposed to have notes of orange, rose, jasmine and amber. This was the one I was very excited for. However, this didn't live up to my expectations. It's a sweet and fresh scent, but I know I smelled somewhere before, it makes me want to say shampoo and body shower. It also hits the back of my nose quite strongly, and I am pretty sure that it's the freesia that I am mostly smelling. 

Pure - This is the one I was least looking forward to as it says white powdery for description. I been burned by Etude's cute Don't Worry hand lotion in Powdery Orange, where it smells just like baby  powder and I cannot use it at all. But this scent are listed to have scents of mandarin, jasmine, vanilla and cedar wood. This is the bottle with the rat king. Surprisingly, this is my favourite of the trio! I can smell the freshness from the mandarin, and the sweetness from vanilla, and just a little hint of musk. But I want to say I smelled something similar to this before as well. 

My Little Nut - This is the special scent for the holiday collection and it has the pink nut cracker.  It's supposed to have scents of peaches, bergamot, rose,  jasmine, and musk. I had no expectations of the scent and it ended up being my least favourite of the trio. ๐Ÿ˜– It's the strongest scented one out of the three, and it kind of overwhelms my nose and the back of my throat. ๐Ÿ˜ซI don't know what part of the combination of the scents is doing it, but it makes this scent that feels like artificial sweetener on my nose.. I don't know if that makes any sense, but it just has this fake, cloying and empty kind of scent that lingers on my tongue after tasting products containing sucrose. I can smell the rose and something else but I can't identify it. Either way, the scent is so strong I don't see myself wearing it. 

Overall, 2 out of 3 is a hit and I will wear, so I guess it's not that bad! The set is still available on Etude's website if you are interested in purchasing it. 

Tuesday 13 December 2016

Samples Samples Samples!

I really do have a hoarding issue. I hoard masks, skincare items, and apparently samples. I went through my stash of skincare items, and found out I had quite a bit of masks, skincare items and samples that are either expired or close to expiration. I don't mind using expired stuff, I know, that's so bad of me when I am running a blog. But I don't want my money to go to waste... T__T

Anyways, samples are the hardest to deal with in regards with expiration dates. There is usually none on there, so I have to remember when I get them. Given how I keep on just throwing them into the pile whenever I get new samples, I have absolutely no idea which are new and which are old. Thank goodness for non-reactive skin! I decided to use a few of the samples all at once to get through them. Today is mostly masks. ๐Ÿ˜

Just want to note that I have non-reactive skin, I only usually get breakouts from poor eating habits or hormonal ones. So I am comfortable with using expired products as they tend to not cause a reaction. That being said, you know what is best for your skin, so use your judgement when it comes to using expired products. Now, shall we continue?

I started off with the Chosungah Original Raw Black Bubble. This is a part of a set that I got from Memebox years ago. Yah.. It's quite expired... Oh well. ๐Ÿ™ˆ
This is a runny, black, semi-transparent liquid. It smells like... um... first thing that popped into my head is my dad's aftershave when I was growing up.. So.. not a good scent association.

This cleanser foams up nicely. Just rubbing my hands together with some water produces really nice fine bubbles, which is quite nice. It leaves my skin feeling a bit more clean than COSRX's Good Morning Low pH Cleansing gel. The COSRX gel is nice but it leaves this slick feeling on my skin like I haven't washed it all off, no matter how much I rinsed. The Black Bubble cleanser feels just as nice as the COSRX cleanser, but without the slick feeling. I like this cleanser but the smell and the association of that smell kind of makes me want to chuck it in the bin. ๐Ÿ˜•

Next up, The Face Shop Mild Papaya Peeling Gel
I have no idea where I got this from to be honest. So I have no idea how old it is.. ๐Ÿ˜–
Anyways... This is a clear gel that has a sweet floral smell to it. It started to ball up as soon as it came in contact with my skin. I honestly think it's not taking off much dead skin if just contact will make it ball up. It's one of those peeling gels that just kind of balls up with itself when rubbed, and takes off a little bit of dead skin through friction. Don't think I will pick up a full sized product for this.

Tonymoly Tomatox Magic Massage Pack

I got this in a pack of 10 samples, forgot about what it is for and never used it. Thank you Google for instructions and purpose of this product! The actual container is super adorable, as it is in the shape of a tomato!

This is a white gloop, which reminds me of liquid white-out. Hahaha. ๐Ÿ˜… Anyways, you are supposed to massage it as you put it on your face, and then leave it on for 5-10 minutes before rinsing it off. It has a sweet smell that does go away after a while. It kind of reminds me of a mud mask but it is a thinner consistency and spreads well. One sample pack was more than sufficient for my face.

I think it made my skin look a bit brighter. ๐Ÿ˜• But I don't think I will continue to use it as I am lazy and don't like to wash my face more than once. So I chucked the rest of the samples out.

Pure Smile Muddy Girl

This is a clay mask from Japanese brand Pure Smile, and I got it years ago. Thing about Japanese cosmetics is that they don't like to put expiration dates on products so I have no idea if it is expired. Most likely it is expired. I am 90% sure it is expired as it now has new packaging. Oh well.  ๐Ÿ˜‘

When I opened the pack, I thought it dried up and hardened. But that's not the case at all. It is super smooth and spreads very nicely. I do find the smell a little funky, something I have smelt before but can't be sure what it is.

I used another Muddy Girl mask before and learned that I should just use it in one go or else it will dry out, even with plastic wrap. So I slapped all of the container onto my face, which resulted in a very thick application.

As the mask dries, my face starts to feel cool. I kind of like that. ๐Ÿ˜„

As per the instructions, you are supposed to keep it on for 10-15 minutes. I had it on for 10 minutes because I was impatient. It started to dry up in the areas that has a thinner layer while the thicker area is still wet. It also started to feel a bit tight on my skin so I washed it off. It made my skin feel sooo smooth afterwards.. ๐Ÿ˜ These doesn't seem easy to find so I am not going to be repurchase.

Tonymoly Gold 24K Mask 

Once again I didn't know when or where I got this sample from. When I squished this out of the sample pack, first thought was ... is this gold ๐Ÿ’ฉ? It also looks like those cheap plastic items trying to pass off as gold coloured items.

Despite its looks, it goes on very smooth and one sample pack is enough for a very thin layer on my face. Does that mean I have a big face? ๐Ÿ˜•๐Ÿ˜• Nonetheless, the gold on my skin makes me feel so fancy! ๐Ÿ˜Ž
Do you see the gold? ๐Ÿ˜‰
The instruction is that you are supposed to leave it on until it is dried, and then wash it off. But due to such a thin layer being applied, it dried off very quickly. I can touch it and it doesn't feel sticky to the touch, nor does it feel tight on my skin.

Once I washed it off, my skin felt a bit tighter. I didn't notice much difference, but when I took flash photography, my skin sparkled a little bit. Yay! I am sparkly~! ๐ŸŒŸ๐Ÿ˜„๐ŸŒŸ

Ettang Modeling Take-Out Cups
I know for sure these are old as I got them from Memebox years ago, when they still shipped to Canada. Another way to tell is that Ettang has since changed the packaging for these modeling cups. But whatever, this is in powder form, so it should be less prone to growing molds and stuff. ๐Ÿ˜

Mixing up these modeling masks is kind of hard because you can either make it too runny or too thick. I somehow manage to add enough water each time I use it. Yay me! ๐Ÿ˜†I would say the consistency you want is that of a thick paste, kind of like a very thick stiff peak.

I like these modeling cups as you can just slap on the paste very thickly, dry within 10 minutes, peel it off and stuff it back into the cup for easy disposal! Anyways, the key to applying the mask is to apply in a thick but even layer! All of the thicker areas came off with ease, but the thinner areas were a bit harder to remove.๐Ÿ˜– I had to use some cleansing water to aid the process.

The modeling mask made my skin feel so soft and plump!๐Ÿ˜ I had similar results from the previous "flavours" I tried from Ettang and I really wish these are a bit more accessible. ๐Ÿ˜–

That's all the samples I got to try this time! I think I am going to do reviews of samples as I try them and see how that goes. Or should I do it on Instagram๐Ÿ˜•❓❔

Friday 9 December 2016

Masks#13: more expired masks!!

Yay!! I seem to be on a roll with expired items.. hahahaha.. ๐Ÿ˜…๐Ÿ˜… But I just want to raise the point that I am only doing expired items as my skin is very non-reactive. You know what is best for your skin, so use your own judgement when it comes to using expired products.

Now, shall we continue?

Foodaholic Gold Energy Hydrogel mask
 I got this from Skin18 when they first started their free mask program last year. I had a pretty bad first experience with the Foodaholic hydrogels so I was very hesitant to try it. This mask has been sitting on the back burner until now, and I am only using it because my hydrogel stash is almost depleted. ๐Ÿ˜ƒ

 Ingredients: As per the package. 


D.I Water, Glycerin, Butylene Glycol, Sodium Hyaluronate, Disodium EDTA, Hydrolyzed Collagen, Locust Bean Gum, Carrageenan, Guargum, Agar, Potassium Chloride, Methylparaben, Propylparaben, Phenoxyethanol, PEG-60 Hydrogenated Caster oil, Ubiquinone, Ceramide-3, Lecithin, Adenosin, Panthenol, Accharomyces, Ferment Filtrate, rh-Oligopeptide-1, Propolis Extract, Aloe Barbadensis Leaf Juice, Synthetic Fluorphlogopite, Titanium Dioxide,Titanium Dioxide, Fragrance.

Hmm.. this ingredients list is pretty much the same as the Pearl Shining hydrogel mask.... Just three variations... ๐Ÿ˜‘

In addition to the ingredients, this mask also have a STRONG perfume smell. However, this smell is much tolerable. It reminds me of something familiar but I can't pinpoint what it is exactly. I don't like it but I don't mind it... So I am not sure how I feel about it.

Similarly, it is a mask that is made with no lining to prevent it from breaking apart. However, this one didn't break on me. Yay! ^o^

Sadly the fit was a bad one. It's like they want me to be a mouth breather, with the super long nose flap. There is also a super large upper lip piece, while having huge cut outs for the mouth and eyes area.

The mask was quite dry so there was no dripping while I had it on. Because it is dry, there was also no excess essence on my skin when I took it off. But I think it must have gotten absorbed as the mask felt much thinner after I took it off.

Overall, I like how the mask is dry and it did make my skin plump up a bit. However, the poor shape of the mask and the strong fragrance makes it a big no for me. ๐Ÿ‘Ž๐Ÿ˜Ÿ

Foodaholic Collagen Lift Up Hydrogel Mask
 This one was a no go as it somehow fell out of the backing while inside the package and dried out. It was hard to even pull it out of the package so I noped out of that real fast. ๐Ÿ˜ž It kind of sucks because it had non-offensive smell so it had a chance to be my favourite out of all four Foodaholic hydrogel masks.

Foodaholic Vita Light On Hydrogel Mask
I opened this right after the failure of the previous mask. Thankfully it was still moist and dripping. However, it has this super strong sweet smell that immediately reached the back of my nose. So... I noped out of this real fast as well. Not going to abuse my poor nose to strong scented items that are expired. ๐Ÿ‘Ž๐Ÿ˜ 

The SAEM Gel Science Mask Sheet in  Yam-Mucin
I was quite intrigued by the SAEM as I haven't tried any of their skincare yet and yam mucin is such an unusual "flavour".
 Ingredients: As per the package. 


Water, Butylene Glycol, Glyerin, Cetyl Ethylhexanoate, Certonia ..., ...., Crispus (Carrageenan), PEG-60 Hydrogenated Castor Oil, Polyacrylate-13, Polyisobutene, Polysorbate 20, Cellulose gum, Allantoin, Phenyl Trimethicone, Phenoxyethanol, Dioscorea Japonica Root Extract, Ethylhexyglycerin, Adenosine, Disodium EDTA, Pottasium Hydroxide, Fragrance

The mask had no discernible smell. Yay! It was DRIPPING with essence. It was dripping as it was coming out of the package, and I still have a ton of essence left inside the package.
This is a two piece mask, with a white and a clear backing. Both pieces are pretty stiff so I am not sure which one I am supposed to remove first. I just removed the white one off first since I can see where the mask is sitting on me with the clear backing.
The fit of the mask wasn't that bad. The nose flap was too long so I had to flip it, but that happens so often I don't mind. The biggest problem I had with it was the upper lip piece keep on drooping and starts to scratch the top of my lips.
I had it on for 30 minutes, while it was still wet, the upper lip piece is all dried up and irritating my upper lip. I just had to take if off before it does any real damage. The result was meh? ๐Ÿ˜My skin felt kind of moisturized, but it wasn't super smooth feeling or anything. Just kind of like "I can get the same result by slapping on some moisturizer".

I think this is discontinued, and I can kind of see why. Definitely not a repurchase item. ๐Ÿ˜‘

Etude House Collagen Moistfull essential massage pack
 This is a sample pack I received somewhere along the way. I decided to use it and it's in here as it is a mask and it does lead to the next mask. Though I do have to point out this is definitely expired as it is now discontinued.
This is a super thick gloopy gel that smells like orange rinds.. ๐Ÿ˜๐Ÿ˜ I actually really like the smell of this mask. I couldn't find instructions on this mask so I assumed you are just supposed to massage it in. So I massaged and massaged and it just wouldn't sink in. It's a super thick sticky layer on my skin, and I am really not sure if I am supposed to wash it off or not. I decided not to because I already put on my essence and didn't want to waste it.

Etude House Collagen Moistfull mask sheet
This mask is a strange one, I think this is discontinued as well, and I think that is a good choice.
 Ingredients: As per the package. 


Water, Cyclomethicone, Alcohol, Cyclopentasiloxane, Dimethiconol, PEG-60 Hydrogenated Castor Oil, Paeonia Suffruticosa Root Extract, Butylene Glycol, Glycerin, Carbomer, Triethanolamine, Disodium EDTA, Squalane, Adansonia Digitata Fruit Extract, Behenyl Alcohol, Cetearyl Alcohol, Caprylic/Capric Triglyeride, Cetearyl Glucoside, Hydrogenated Lecithin, Polyglyceryl-10 Pentastearate, Sodium Stearoyl Lactylate, Caprylyl Glycol, Ethylhexylglycerin, Glyceryl Caprylate, Hydrolyzed Collagen, Methylparaben, Phenoxy Ethanol, Fragrance. 
This mask comes in one piece with the strangest mesh backing, it was very scratchy and stiff. The mask is drippy, and feels kind of oily? It's not serum like, but it's not lotion like either. It kind of actually feels like it's separated. The mask also feels super weird. It is stiff, and kind of paper like. It definitely made me feel like I was suffocating my skin with parchment paper. I had to take it off after 10 minutes as it just felt super strange against my skin. 

The combined result between the two Moistfull masks was wonderful. My face felt sooooo smooth and bouncy. I couldn't stop playing with my skin. ๐Ÿ˜… Luckily I didn't break out from this! I was very happy. Sad these two products are discontinued because I want to recreate this result again. But I am not a big fan of the mask sheet.