Hi everyone~ How are you doing with the quarantine? Hope everything is well with everyone. I been kind of just enjoying the time off and going through my products. One of the products is the Klairs Freshly Juiced Vitamin Dropthat I won in a giveaway on Instagram.
This is actually my first pure Vitamin C product and I was quite curious about it. I am not really into Vitamin C products because I don't like how unstable they can be and I don't focus on brightening products often. I actually had my eyes on the Freshly Juiced Vitamin E Mask but couldn't get my hands on a sample of it. So I was happy to get my hands on the Vitamin Drop from the same line as it's gotten some really good reviews. I thought perhaps if this works out well, I may just buy the Vitamin E mask. So let's see what I think of it!
I like Benton and they been introducing quite a bit of new products lately. I was slightly beating myself up for getting the Cacao Moist and Mild Serum because I got the toner and cream. I was just one away from the complete collection! So imagine my surprise when I got the serum in my goodies bag from Skinvestment! Thank you!! 💓
I was lucky to be chosen to be one of the Pink in Blossom from Style Korean. I am so excited because it contained items that I really wanted to try~! So here is the consolidated review of the contents from the box!
The last product from the Skinvestment's Beauty Date x MTL is the Institut Esthederm's Cellular Concentrate Fundamental Serum. This is my last product to review! I can't believe how long it has taken me to get to it. But I wanted to take my time to use this product and review it. So let's get on with the review shall we?
I received the Luna Nectar Moon Boost Serum from Skinvestment x MTL even back in November 2017. It took me a while to try this and now I am finally ready to post my review! But first, let's discuss the brand a little.
Hi everyone~ I am not sure if anyone is still reading here, and it sure seems like I have abandoned it. But I haven't! I have been busy with adjusting to living on my own and trying out different fitness classes. I been keeping a log of things I have tried and hoping to have it posted in the upcoming weeks. I also changed my phone and lost some of the notes I have kept on there so some reviews may be a little vague because of it.
I am just going to do a little update as to what changed with my routine and some mini reviews.
For toner, I am still using The Yeon Jeju Hallabong Ade Energy Peeling toner I got from Memebox. I have been applying it with my hands instead of a cotton pad, and I have noticed it foams up a little bit. I thought it may have been me not washing off the cleanser properly so I have diligently washed off every bit of cleanser and it still foams up. So I guess it's just something the toner does.
After the toner, I use COSRX BHA Blackhead Power Liquid and wait a full 20 minutes before going into the next step. I heard good reviews about the brand and will do a full review on it after I finish trying it for a few months. But so far so good.
After waiting the 20 minutes or so, I apply the Pisteo Bright & Pure C Serum and wait another 20 minutes. These adds so much time my normally short routine so I tend to do it at night. I received the serum in previous Memeboxes and it is no longer available on TesterKorea. The serum has a gauge on the side to show you how much you need to apply each day as it is intended as a 7 day treatment. But I have been using half of the recommended daily dosage as it is enough to cover my face.
Now, after another 20 minutes, I can apply my Elizavecca Hyaluronic Acid Serum 100%. I have been constantly using it and I really feel like it has contributed in making my skin feel softer and moisturized. I have been pouring out at least a loonie sized serum each time so I have a thick layer on my face and my neck, and I am still only a third way through the bottle. I don't think I need a serum for a long time.
Depending if I am feeling like it or not, I will slap on a mask to try and review. In the morning, I have made sure I put on sun screen as it is recommended you do so when using the blackhead solution and the vitamin C.
Right now my skin is happy with what it is dealing with. I don't have any breakouts unless it's hormonal ones. I don't have flakes on my skin anymore and it's warmer out so I no longer need as much moisture as I do in the winter. My primary concern is now reducing the look of blackheads and sebaceous filaments on my nose as well as the freckles and sunspots I inherited from my parents.
We went to Corbeaux for dessert for my friend's birthday. This is where I lost all the notes. The atmosphere was good but the price was about average for 17th Ave restaurants. The pastries looked wonderful but taste wise it could improve.
The lemon tart had a wonderful lemon curd. It was tart with a bit of a sweetness, such that it is not very sour.
The red velvet cupcake was a disappointment, it was basically a plain sponge cake with food colouring. I did not get a hint of chocolate at all. Add the sweet icing on top, it was just overwhelmingly sweet.
The macarons were okay. The shells were not too crunchy and really sweet but the raspberry filling cut through a little bit with its tartness. But the sweetness level has always been a problem with macarons due to icing sugar or sugar syrup being one of the main ingredients in the recipe.
The real star was the chestnut pastry, where we forgot to take down the name. It was recommended by the person behind the till for something soft. The pasty was forgettable, but the filling was wonderful. I can still remember the sweet chestnut flavour hits the tongue at first then a hint of a dark rich flavour that I can only guess to be espresso or coffee. I really think the coffee cut through the sweetness a lot and added a different flavour profile into the filling. This was my favourite dish and I would probably grab it again if I were to ever go back.
I don't think I'll ever go back on my own, perhaps if friends want to go then I'll tag along. Their pastries are just too sweet for me, and I am known to have a sweet tooth. I still remember drinking my tea constantly to cut through the sweetness, only to find the sweetness crawl back within a minute.
Fit Republic:
My friend found a Groupon for Fit Republic and wanted to try. So the three of us went for the anti-gravity class. The downside is if you were to do anti-gravity, you need to purchase the 3 class anti-gravity prerequisite pass for $60 first.
We have attended two classes so far, would have continued but they had a flood and is still in the process of renovating for the re-opening. I found that I really enjoyed the classes! The studio appears to be small from the outside but is more than enough room for about 10 people. The instructor, Alison, is really nice and quite instructive. She made me felt at ease and relaxed. I really liked all the inversion parts of the class and found myself to be so relaxed afterwards. I highly recommend this place if you wan to try anti-gravity. It is just a Ctrain ride from City Hall and across the street from the train station.
Fierce Girl Fitness:
As mentioned above, Fit Republic got flooded in May so my friends and I were looking for another studio to occupy our time. We walked by Fierce Girl Fitness during one of our walks and decided to give it a shot since they have Pole. I called ahead to see which pole class is better suited for beginners and managed to get hold of someone with my second call. I then tried to call them again to see if we can register in person instead of online. But after 4 or 5 calls that went to voicemail, I gave up. I should've known by then that this was not a good place if they have nobody to answer the call at any time of the day.
My friends still wanted to try so we registered online and opted for pay in person. So we went to the studio, which is really nice. They had a huge reception area, including a couch and projector on the side. But again, no one is at reception, so we waited at the couch thinking they must have stepped away. 20 minutes later, still no one at reception. A class has changed classroom and the people just walked by us and still no one to help us. It wasn't until our instructor came in and noticed us that she signed us in, showed us where to go and took our money. Which is also funny because she doesn't know how to work the register or machine so we had to give her cash and let her give us the change out of her pocket. **Big security issue. Their change room just has slots for you to put your valuables in, with the door wide open, with no reception to watch the people coming and going.... That is just bad practice. **
The class... Wow... The instructor is really good at pole but man she sucks as an instructor. She spent 20 minutes trying to figure out the projector, then she split the class into two, beginner and intermediate, then she ended class 5 minutes early because she had to get somewhere. So we paid $19 for 35 minutes of class time instead of 60 minutes. Heck, that 35 minutes was more like 10 minutes. There was also no warm ups or conditioning, she just went straight into doing moves, which is not great for your muscles.
Because she split us into beginner and intermediate, she jumps between the two groups. I have taken pole for a few months before so I know some of the basics, but my friends have never taken them before. The first thing the instructor did was to teach them do a spin, and I pointed out to her, that she need to explain the basics since they never did it before. She goes and just taught them the spin with little explanation. She then proceeds to go to the intermediate area, so I ended up teaching my friends instead of her. She kept on coming over, showing us moves before going back to the intermediate side so I ended up teaching them all the moves. I asked her how to turn, and she just taught me how to do the spin instead. I clarified my question to how to turn in the middle of a spin and she's like yah okay and went to the other side.
Our overall thoughts was we are never coming to this studio again due to the lack of reception and how erratic the instructor was. I think we are going to go to my old studio or a new pole studio.
So that's some of the things I been up to and aiming to do my posts on various masks I have tried in the near future!
Okay, so Memebox broke up with the rest of the world. So why am I still posting my boxes? Well.. I ordered my last two boxes using my review points and would like to post the items I got. So.. I am not helping promote Memebox but rather posting about the items I have received.
This is the Elizavecca Skincare Set Season 2, it was on sale for $48 with free shipping. It's now reduced by $3 to $45 with free shipping. I was slightly sad on missing out on set #1 where they had the snail cream. I was contemplating whether to get it or not as it's only 4 items and it's quite expensive at $48. Plus, I already have the Water Coating Aqua Brightening Mask. But after looking into how much the Hyaluronic Acid and Galacytomyces Essence retails for, and a 10% off value set coupon from Memebox. I decided to bite the bullet and use up all of my review points for this box.
I love skincare boxes, that is pretty much why I started with Memebox. Well, that and cute items. So when they released the Next Best Thing box, I HAD to get it!
The box was $23 + 6.99 shipping. It took forever to ship to me as it was sent to customs for inspection for a while. But I was very happy to receive it! It even included a Mememask as a bonus item!
This is also one of the first boxes that comes with an electronic product card instead of a paper one.
There was such a Memebox drought in November that when they released the Thanksgiving box, it sold out almost immediately. I was bored and wanted new boxes, and I couldn't decided which box to get so I bought the bundle. The box was $26 each + $6.99 shipping.
I had it mailed to my office so I can sign for it without risking the dreaded pick up slip. The package was mailed on November 18th and I received it on the 25th. The box was delayed a day as Canada Post apparently had a problem with the office's postal code. Though the package had the correct postal code so I have no idea why they decided to delay it another day. But whatever. I was very happy to receive the bright orange boxes at lunch time! (A month after the Canadian Thanksgiving but oh wells :D)
