The Saem Snail Lavender Sleeping Pack

It's cute, it's affordable, and the brand is endorse by no other than GD of Bigbang:  This post is about the Snail Lavender Sleeping Pack from The Saem.

The Saem Snail Trio No. 3 Lavender Sleeping Pack
40ml
Regular price 7900 won/ around $8
Got it from Kkochi Pida for P345
Links: Gmarket The Saem/ Kkochi Pida facebook page

I kind of got into the snail bandwagon before but I wouldn't shell out a lot of money just to try it, so I did a little research in finding affordable snail based products and found this sleeping pack which generally promises to make the skin healthy and smooth.

The Saem Snail Lavender Sleeping Pack according to GMarket, the cream will make the face brighter with revitalizing look and gives the skin rich nutrition.  It has 3 main ingredients: snail mucus extract which provides the nutrition, sunflower seed oil for "burnish" skin (I don't know what it means) and niacinamide for bright and clean skin.

I can't understand any text from the pack's very cute box but online it says to apply it thick on the face at the last step of skincare and sleep with it then wash the face the next day.

light lavender or lilac color

Everything sounds lovely and this pack really makes my skin smooth, moisturize and looking healthy the next morning and I can totally replace my emulsion and cream with this but I have a bit of a complain with it's consistency that makes me use this pack once in a while only like twice a week.

I would love a sleeping pack to be on my face on a nightly basis as it gives my skin moisture and nutrition but this pack is just so thick it's like a hair wax in consistency that when I put this on my eyebrows, the hairs on my eyebrows won't budge.  Another issue; which is mainly my own personal taste, is the scent because I'm not a fan of lavender smell.  It's like the pomade that my dad uses, it's smells heavy...it's like a guy smell but because lavender is a flower it became generally accepted that it's a girl's scent (or this is just my rubbish conclusion?).

Sorry but I'm not yet done.  This pack also never fails to give me a zit or a small people.  Yup, everytime I use it I wake up with a nice, smooth, looking fresh and moisturize face plus a zit or a pimple.  But do take into consideration the possibility that I may have a very mild allergy to lavender.

With a cute tub comes a unique spatula

Those who don't want to dip their fingers on the tub, a cute spatula is included in the box which you can actually insert on the neck of the snail so you won't have to lose it.

Thanks for reading. Till then. Bye!

All of a Sudden: Cleansers

All of the sudden, I realized that I have 4 kinds of cleanser in the bathroom.  I don't know how that happen but anyway, I'm sharing them to you (this is not a proper review post).

Let's start with a foam cleanser.  I have dry skin so I should be using cream cleansers but I just can't resist the goodness of bubbles.  The SA in Etude House said the Baking Powder range is good for the pores.

After months of pondering, I finally gave in and tried Etude House Baking Cleansing Foam in Moist because I have dry skin.  I love it's perky citrusy scent and how thick the foam it creates leaving my face thoroughly cleanse.

Come the cold months, using foam cleanser twice a day makes my skin a bit drier than normal (in the first place, I should use a cream type of cleanser because of my dry skin...and that is the second time that I said that, ngek) so I opened the Rice Firming Cleansing Milk from It's Skin.  It's a cream type of cleanser that is light and moisturizing.  Not sure about the firming effect of this cleansing milk though.

Cleansing Oil mesmerizes me, I just like the magic of the oil in the skin turning milky when rubbed with water.  Lacvert Pure Deep Cleansing Oil is the cheapest I can find online and so far so good:  it removes most of the make-up that I use like bb cream, foundation and blush.  I have a bit of a trouble with the eye area because it clouds my vision but I'm working on it.

The last cleanser is the deluxe sample of Olay Regenerist Skin Renewal Cleanser which is a type of cleanser with micro beads on it.  I like the idea of a cleanser which also acts as a scrub.  Unfortunately, I don't like this cleanser from Olay because of its plastic smell and how it gives me small bumps and zits.  Maybe I'll just use it on my feet :)

Thanks for reading. Till then. Bye!

Revlon Colorburst Lip Butter

I think this lip butter is a big leap to my "make-up world" and weirdly, I am raising my hands for that.  Ladies (and gents), the Revlon Colorburst Lip Butter in Fig Jam.

Revlon Colorburst Lip Butter in 030 Fig Jam
Regular Price P525/ more or less $8 outside Philippines
Got it from Bon Marche for P280
Website/Links: Revlon Website/ Revlon Philippines facebook page/ Bon Marche

Lip butter?  My body appreciates me for applying body butter so it would be nice if my lips will shout a thank you too to me for using a lip butter.

Revlon says "SHINY COLOR + BUTTERY BALM 94% of women felt lips were softer smoother and instantly hydrated. Hydrating mango, shea and coconut butter formula boosts lip moisture by 156%. Pampering gel formula provides super charged hydration and glides on lips buttery smooth.  Sheer to medium colour with buttery shine Available in 20 irresistible shades."

And the claims are true:  it's gives an almost lip gloss shine to my lips, it's buttery and instantly makes lips softer, smoother and hydrated.  Going deeper into the effects, the shine will last around an hour, the smoothness will last around 2 hours and the hydration will start to deteriorate after 3 hours and by this time I can feel some bits of grits forming on my lips much like when butter starts to get "cold" on the lips. By the 4 hour mark it's reapplication time because I just probably had my lunch and the lip butter got wiped off of my lips.  Overall, I think it performs well compared to most lip balms. 

Got to admit , I got intimated with the color when I first open it because it looks super dark like chocolate!

the color

See what I mean?  But when worn, it's actually sheer.  It gives this shadow effect that kind of accentuate the natural color of the lips.  Just think of when you eat or drink chocolate or put a very thin layer of melted chocolate on your lips and it seems that your lips look a bit darker but in a good way.  Most of the time, I think that this lip butter "glamorizes" my lips.

swatch, just 1 swipe on my lips

Love the effect, love the color but hated the packaging.  There are some points that are much appreciated with the packaging like the color of the cap represents the color of the lip butter and the top is also transparent so you can see what's inside and I also like how classy the inside packaging looks like (please look at the first picture, agree with me?) but I actually hate the color of the cap, it looks so old and I hate that the bottom part (where the brand name is located) is so thin that I can't get enough grip and I'm having a hard time pulling the cap so when I'm in a hurry, I always drop this lip butter.

I really like the "inside" packaging though.

fig jam in all it's glory!

Not much of a fan of the outer packaging but overall, Revlon Colorburst Lip Butter is a great lip balm butter. Its claims are true and I like how natural and glamorous it looks on my lips.

Thanks for reading. Till then. Bye!

February 2014 Haul: Et cetera

A mixture of everything (nonsense included), that is the theme for this haul post.

I've been worried about my hair eversince I chopped it and just bought this Loreal Total Night Essence for extra nourishment, so far just okay.

Loreal Total Repair Night Essence - less than P350

From the lovely people of KB, I got two awesome products:  KB Vitamin C Peeling Gel Skin Whitening and  Egyptian Magic All Purpose Skin Cream, that my legs are currently loving.

website

Ordered some samples from Ellana because they are free and I'm curious with mineral foundation...used one of the sachets the other day and so far I don't think powder foundation are for me, it just won't properly stick to my dry face...but I love their blushes!

website

Online shopping without Bae Lu?  I'm trying not to order from her but then there's sale here and there.  My friend and I gave a bit of a long list of orders of Missha products but because of the sale almost everything that we liked are out of stock so we only got 2 (Bae Lu, yung eye shadows ko wag mo kalimutan next time ha? hehehe).

Missha Bordeaux Absolute Body Butter - P220
Missha Super Aqua Water Supply Cream - P320

And lookey, I have 5 free masks (the other masks are my order that we're left out before).  Also trying everything to suppressed my mask addiction since I don't use them much now.

more sheet masks

This time around I also ordered these "pies" which are on a buy 1 take 1 promo.  Like that the strawberry filling; sweet with mild sourness, complimented the chocolate covering the "pie".

P220 for two boxes

And because I love to bake, I ordered some baking cups and dragees from Love2Bake.  Transaction was fast and hassle free, will definitely order again...I'm planning to get some almond meal so I can finally make some macarons.

Baking Cups P40 to P65
Dragees P45 to P50

I already tried a variety of flavor from Chef Tony's but I always go back to Creamy Parmesan.  It's a bit sweet, it's creamy and it's cheesy - what more can I ask for?

Chef Tony's Popcorn in Creamy Parmesan - P184

Aside from my fill of buchi, hopia and sweet siopao, I also got some tea from China Town.  I wanted to buy more but I can't understand the text in the boxes of different teas in one of the grocery stores on the street of the town plus I'm also running out of funds.

Green Tea - P180
Korean Ginseng Tea - P200

Notebooks and pens?  Anyone interested?  I used the kraft notebooks in my Recipe Notebooks post and I'm obsessed with cute colored pens and I'm feeling like I'm already "tumatanda ng pabaliktad" (literal translation: growing old bacwards).

Acacia Notebooks from SM - P21.75
Monami pens - Paround P20

Oh, and I also already bought a laptop.  Hooray for that!

Thanks for reading. Till then. Bye!

Etude House Moistfull Collagen Emulsion

I'm trying to eliminate some items (slowly) in my skincare routine.  I started with emulsion and carry on with my life without it for some months.  But come -ber months, my face is drier than ever...and the emulsion must come back.

I'm happy with Etude House Moistfull Collagen cream so it's just natural for me to get the emulsion version when Etude House had their 20% off of all their products as a treat.

Etude House  Moistfull Collagen Emulsion
Regular price P628/around $15
Got it from Etude House kiosk in SM Makati for P502.40
Official Websites: Etude House Global/ Etude House Philippines

And here's the description that I got from the Etude House Philippines website:

MOISTFULL COLLAGEN EMULSION

Moistfull Collagen Emulsion is a moist and rich textured facial emulsion that supplies penetrating moisture and collagen treatment to improve complexion health and look. Active Ingredient Baobab Tree Extract and Collagen combination improves dermal structure and moisture retention.

It has the same smell as the Moistfull Collagen Cream which is on the citrusy side because of it's main ingredient, baobab which is said to be rich in anti-oxidant including vitamin c.

Even if liquidy, this emulsion is a bit sticky and I have to wait for it to settle before I can apply my next skincare product which takes around a minute (enough time to wear my pjs) but it's okay since it does really seals the hydrating essence that I'm using and really helps in keeping my face well moisturize in the cold weather.

Another good thing about it is that it makes my face looking moist and glow-y.

love the glass body and plastic cap

I'm trying to avoid too much massaging and patting to my face nowadays because I saw a video on youtube explaining that these motions stimulates the skin which is actually good but overdoing it will result to hyper-pigmentation which I think I already have so massaging and patting my face more will result to super-hyper-pigmentation to me hehehehe.  But if you do not have hyper-pigmention then dutifully follow EH's instructions in applying this emulsion as it helps in reducing its stickiness level:  Use hands to gather and apply emulsion to skin by gently massaging the face until hydration is absorbed.  Gently pat to finish.

If I still have this up to March (which is the start of the Philippine summer), I'll be replacing my cream with it so I can have a well moisturize face without the heaviness of the cream.

Thanks for reading. Till then. Bye!

DIY: Kid~dish Recipe Notebook

I wanted my recipe book/notebook to be cool like all the pages are in black then I'll use a silver to write the ingredients and procedures.  But I also want it to be practical like even if it splattered with water or oil, there will be significant evidence that will impair the condition of the book.

I hope you are following Estee vlog's at and watched the "episode" where she featured HAM because that's where I got the idea of the cover of my recipe notebooks although mine is unprofessionally done and very childish (I was not rained with a drawing skill, so please understand and just laugh to yourself if you find my pot and whisk very "unbelievable".

back to basic

The pot represent cooking while the whisk baking, it's as simple as that.  To make it more obvious I wrote the words "cook" and "bake" although I argued to myself for days if I should just use the words "make" and "create" and the third notebook (that I'll make in the future) "celebrate".

And to make the notebooks more durable I covered them with adhesive book cover.

very simple but reliable, next recipe on my blog:  beef with broccoli

Thanks for reading. Till then. Bye!

February 2014 Read: The Fault In Our Stars

While almost everyone is preparing for a date or is going crazy over valentine sales, I'm just sitting drinking water with lots of fruits and eating sandwiches and reading a book.

Today is Valentine's day so I'll be a bit cheesy and chose to reread The Fault In Our Stars by John Green.  It caught my attention again because of the release of it's movie trailer which my friend said is a tear jerker.  Hmmm, sorry but I didn't cry over this book but I like it (or maybe I read this with just a so-so feeling, well I'm rereading it again, will let you know if I now have more emotion).

"This is not so much an author's note as an author's reminder of what was printed in small type a few pages ago: This book is a work of fiction. I made it up.  Neither novels nor their readers benefit from attempts to divine whether any facts hide inside a story. Such efforts attack the very idea that made-up stories can matter, which is sort of the foundational assumption of our species.  I appreciate your cooperation in this matter."

source

 It'sreal, I mean John Green didn't cover up some facts in this world so that the book will have a happy ending.  Opps, is that a spoiler?  Anyway, the song that always pops in my mind everytime I remember this book is Wings by Birdy and I suggest that if ever you'll read the book, play the song when you'll already on the last few chapters.

"Hazel is terminally ill. She is going to die. But when her mother forces her to go to Cancer Kid Support Group, she meets Augustus, and her brief life changes as she experiences love and life for the first time. Together, Hazel and Augustus take a look at what life means and what they should do about it. In their own "weird" way - to quote their dads - they seize what time they have left and change it to fit their view of how things should be."

Before I spoil more spoils (like what I did with my friend), I'll just greet you Happy Valentine's Day and leave you with the below quote from the book.

source

Everyone should enjoy this day.  Every person deserves to be love!

Thanks for reading. Till then. Bye!

Secret Key Argan Angel Moisture Steam Cream

I believe steam cream was created and is suitable for those who have winter season but because the weather here in the Philippines became unbelievably cold last January, I decided to put into use these Argan Angel Moisture Steam Creams from Secret Key that I got last year from Gmarket.

Secret Key Argan Angel Moisture Steam Cream (number 3 and 4)
Regular price for two tin cans 8900 won/ around $9
80grams
Got it from GMarket
Link:  GMarket Secret Key

Actually, I just opened one and is saving the other for the rainy days.  It's lovely that Secret Key put together argan oil and steam cream in one.  Argan oil is known to be the liquid gold from Morocco because of it's many wonders like moisturizing, softening and protecting the skin and hair from sun damage without the oily feel.  Steam Cream on the other hand is... I'm actually having a hard time looking as to what steam cream is but it became so popular because it's very moisturizing and you can go to /www.steamcream.eu to know more (I think SteamCream started this kind of cream?).

The tin can attracted me to buy these creams because they just look classic and just wanted to know what is the craze behind steam creams.  Anyway, Secret Key Argan Angel Moisture Steam Cream is a highly moisturizing cream which contains argan oil to make the skin moist and healthy.  The cream is so dense and thick that the cream won't fall to the ground even if flip upside down like the ice creams of Dairy Queen (hehehe).  Nevertheless, it's still not sticky when applied to the skin, it's just like lotion but more moisturizing and just leaves my skin soft and velvety until; of course, I take a shower.  I like that it has a lychee smell to it, it just lightens up my mood because it reminds me of the lychee jelly with nata that I love to snack on.

there's a transparent lid inside the tin can but I threw it

I used this immediately after a bath to make sure that my skin absorbs it really well (I rubbed the cream on my hands first before applying it to my skin).  I never used this on my face though.  I'm a bit intimidated with the thickness and I had a minor breakout the last time that I used a product with argan oil, so I have to spare my face which is more sensitive on cold weather (plus I'm having having skin asthma too).

I think it's a good product specially when the weather is just so cold.  Even if the soft and velvety effect is gone once I take my shower, constant application will surely moisturize my skin without the sticky feeling
(take note that I have dry skin).  The packaging and the smell are the plus(es)!

Thanks for reading. Till then. Bye!

February 2014 Playlist: Let's Fall In Love?

I've been pondering to write a short tragic love story this February for my playlist but after picking up my pen and trying to materialize in a piece of paper the thoughts and ideas and story sequence that has already formed in my head way before, my brain pop like a jack in a box - I'm not a writer, not talented enough to write a piece of simple story (everyone is talented, right?).

So I'll just be sharing in a simple way some of the songs that is on my walkman (old school, that's what my phone call it's player) most are love (in many forms) songs in mellow beats.

Random thoughts:  February is the month of love and love comes in many forms.  There's love for self, love for your partner, there's love for family and friends, puppy love, there's also the nasty, angry and scary love.  The latter is pretty bad and hope you are not experiencing it but I hope on February 14; whether single or in a relationship, you should celebrate a positive kind of love.  Happy Hearts Day!

*Click on the title, it will lead you to either youtube or soundcloud link:

Team, Lorde
I've been listening to this non-stop since Saturday.  It's totally not a love song, it's like a bestfriends' song.

A Quiet Walk Outside, Library Kids
A song that makes my tea time more pleasurable.  A lullaby, an unexplainable hymn that soothes my mind.

Arms, Cristina Perri
An unexpected yet lovely love

Flowers in the Window, Travis
A wedding and a promise of forever song, flowers representing their kids?  I believe so!

Flightless Bird, Iron & Wine
I know you this and have to agree with Kristen Stewart that the original version is better.  I like the "kundiman" effect of the guitar.

Wings, Birdy
Of missing someone and yet, can't do something to be with him/her.

For Reasons Unknown, The Killers
A break-up song, of suddenly losing the love feeling but I will quote what Mr. Brightside said in Royal Albert Hall:

"Any of you people ever loved somebody? Sometimes it comes very quickly, very easily. As easy as the way a beautiful English girl’s hair falls across her shoulder, and sometimes it disappears just as quick. You wake up one morning, the butterflies stop fluttering, but you want it back and you want to fight for it. You wanna breathe that fire again so you call for it, you call out."

Your Song, Paroka ni Edgar
Of having crush and being torpe.

Balisong, Rivermaya
Both happy and sad song.  If you're in the Philippines, you might know who the girl is (I hope I know what I'm talking about).

Come to Me, Goo Goo Dolls
And to wrap it all, a warming happy love song with a happy ending!

The Improper Way: Cheese Katsudon

katsudon?

I don't know why but I always end up ordering a katsudon with a sweet sauce (forgot the exact name) whenever I got to a katsu house.  It's weird because I'm not really a fan of it...it's too sweet for me.

I wanted to try to make it at home and perfectly I found a recipe from pepper.ph that will balance the saltiness and sweetness of the dish because cheese is added to the recipe.

If you want to know how to properly make it then head over to www.pepper.ph because here I'll be showing how to make Cheese Katsudon the illegal/improper let's say the faster and untraditional way?

Cheese Chicken Katsodun

Ingredients:
Chicken Katsu
1/2 kilo chicken breast fillet
salt and pepper
1/2 cup flour
1 beaten egg
1 cup bread crumbs
oil for frying

Sauce
1 cup water
1/4 cup Kikkoman soy sauce
1/2 piece of chicken cubes
*1 tbps or more depending on your level of sweetness but this is optional

Other Ingredients
2 tbsp. oil
1 white onion, sliced
4 beaten eggs
2 stalks leeks, sliced diagonally
1 cup grated cheese
and of course, RICE

How to:
Katsu:
1.  Start with the katsu.  Clean and pat dry the chicken fillets then season it lightly with salt and pepper.
2.  Coat all the chicken with the flour.
3.  Pour over the chicken the 1 beaten egg, then work it until all the fillets are coated with egg. (see how improper this is?)
4.  Next heat the oil in a pan.
5.  While the pan is heating, coat the fillets with bread crumbs.
6.  Then fry!  It'll take a minute or two for each side of the chicken.  Drain excess oil and set aside.

I burnt some because I was headbanging when Jam88.3 played a block party song

Sauce
1.  Boil all the sauce ingredients until the chicken cube is melted.
2.  Set aside but keep warm.

Finally, assembly
1.  Sliced the fillets into long strips, keeping the pieces together though.  Set aside.
2.  Heat oil in pan and sautee the onion.
3.  Add the eggs and when it's half cook, top it with the chicken fillets.
4.  Pour the sauce.
5.  Add on the top of the fillets the leeks and cheese.

melting the cheese!

6.  Cover the pan and let everything cooked over medium heat until the cheese is semi-melted.
7.  Serve with rice.

I'm always in a hurry when I make this because I need to go to work and only have an hour time to cook which explains why I make and assemble everything in one pan instead of fillet by fillet.

the family thinks this is yummy!

Well, I hope this crazy method of mine helps you in your cooking :P

Enjoy!

Thanks for reading. Till then. Bye!

Cold Weather Buddies

The weather at the start of the year is unbelievably cold and even if it's already wearing off and the summer breeze is coming (well, that's the case here in the Philippines), my skin is still super dry and itchy so I still continue to use the these products that helped me get through the nice yet harsh weather.

Secret Key Argan Angel Moisture Steam Cream
I wanted to get out and ran to the nearest grocery when I ran out of the Vaseline Total Moisture Cocoa Glow but I pinched myself and said "Hey, you still have a lot of lotions to get through" so I rumble my mini department store and found two lovely tin cans.  They are from Secret Key and they are steam cream and they have argan as the main ingredient and they are super creamy and heavy so they are perfect for cold weather.  But they are dense and creamy that I have a tiny bit of a problem in spreading it so I use oil to kind of soften the texture.

Moringa O-2 Malunggay Oil
And so I used the malunggay (moringa oil) from Moringa O-2.  Before this, I'm using the dry oil from The Body Shop but it seems like they don't make the surface of my skin well moisturized and velvety and so I switch to something heavier.  Some say that this moringa oil is on the light side, I don't believe that because although it's lighter than baby oil it's still heavier than dry or argan oil and it doesn't sink into my skin immediately which I love for this kind of weather because it prevents the outer layer of my skin from "scale-ing" plus this one doesn't have an unpleasant smell.

Nature Republic Soothing and Moisture Aloe Vera 92% Soothing Gel
I thought that I'll just be using this gel during summertime but I'm totally wrong because this gel just soothe my itchy skin.  Period!

Soap and Glory Hand Food
Almost every hour I do my business in the comfort room and when you do your business in the CR of course washing your hands is a must, right?  I'm very thankful that Eva Nyah of Bunny Kiss sent this to me as a prize because it just makes my hands soft and moisturized even if I already washed my hands twice unlike other lotions that the moisturizing wears off after washing.  I wish I could win another of this thing again.

The Body Shop Born Lippy Lip Balm in Raspberry
Finally have the reason to use this lip balm.  It's heavier than my usual lip balm in sticks and helps in moisturizing my pout throughout the night plus I love the smell!  I have to let it sip it first into my lips though before I get in the sack or else my pillows would totally be sticky (but smelling good) the next morning.

Missha Super Aqua Deep Hydro Cream
My usual creams works fine on my dry skin on normal 30 degrees weather.  Having a 19 to 25 degrees weather is a different case, I need something heavier so after finishing Etude House's Moistfull Collagen Cream, I immediately grab this from my cream pile.  It's creamier than EH's Collagen Cream but not as heavy as the steam cream from Secret Key because it's "hydro" yet it works like a normal cream in a cold weather 'cause even if I wanted my skin to be well moisturized, I don't like to put something on my face that is super heavy.

Renuzit Northern Pine Gel Air Freshener
A bonus to this set of products is this air freshener.  It just makes a gloomy smelling place fresh.  I love the pine scent that's coming from and I love the pine tree design all over it (it's cute, I hope this is available all year round).

Thanks for reading. Till then. Bye!

Innisfree It's Real Tea Tree Mask and Jeju Volcanic Nose Pack

I just have a haircut that makes my brother continuously tease me saying that I can now be part of "that's my tomboy" contest in Showtime.  I showed the hair-cutter the picture below and he/she was shocked and ask me if I'm sure about it and said I'm pretty pretty sure about it (my hair is shoulder length and I think 10 to 12 inches of hair was cut).  But it seems like she assumed that I wanted my hair really really short that the shortest piece of my hair now is in my eyebrows, yikes!  Anyway in 2 weeks time maybe, my haircut will look like what the below lovely girl is sporting.

source

The word "assumed" keep me babbling because if there's one variant of mask that I think can help me get rid of pimples or redness on my face , it's gotta be tea tree.  I always assumed that it can dry out zits and tame the redness and itchiness of my allergies or small bumps on my face.

I tried the Innisfree it's real tea tree mask yesterday and it's time to judge it's efficacy.

Innisfree It's Real Tea Tree Mask
Regular price 950 won/$1
20ml of essence
Got it from Kkochi Pida online store for P35
Links:  Innisfree Global/ Innisfree facebook page/ Kkochi Pida facebook page

It says in the packaging that it has tea tree complex and green complex and has this description that is actually the same with the rest of Innisfree masks under It's Real line but we all know that tea tree variant soothes troubled skin.

For the photo of the mask sheet, you can just go to my Avocado variant post.  Let's just go straight to the smell which is very horrible, it's alcohol to the max.  I have a small bottle of tea tree oil and the essence of this mask doesn't smell like it.

Another horrible thing about this mask is that the essence is sticky and when I pat the excess (when I already removed the mask sheet off my face), it got stickier and my face looks oily and I wanted to wash my face but for the sake of knowing if this mask works, I sleep with a sticky face.

Luckily, this mask somehow helped in soothing the bumps and redness on my face and the pimple that I have on my cheeks got smaller and less angry.  My face is quite moisturized too considering that it's tea tree which usually dries out skin.  Effective mask but I just really hate the strong alcohol smell.

Innisfree Jeju Volcanic Nose Pack
Regular price 500won/$.49
Got it from Bhappywithme for P20
Links:  Gmarket Innisfree page/ Bhappywithme

Moving on to another Innisfree product, I tried just now the Jeju Volcanic Nose Pack that has scoria and green complex.  It's a nose strip but based on the back of the packaging, it can also be used on the chin and forehead and I'm thinking that maybe I can also use it in my cheeks to remove whiteheads.

everything in korean

The strip is quite different with others that I tried; wherein they are shape in a weird way to better fit the nostril area, this one however just have a simple curve cut at the top and just straight with 3 cuts at the bottom (the three extra cut didn't help much though).

and this is how the strip looks like

Since there's no english instruction on how to use this thing on the packaging, I just use it the way I use my regular pore strips that is wetting the nose area and putting the sticky part on it.  After like more or less a minute, I can feel some heat on my nose and also the strip started to harden.  I waited 15 minutes before stripping the strip off.

There are some blackheads that are sticking out and needed to be pluck but overall this pore strip/nose pack removes the majority of my blackheads and whiteheads that almost all the area of the strip is pack with those nasty -heads.

That's it!

Thanks for reading. Till then. Bye!

Trying my luck: Ibuybeauti is looking for 10 Beauty Bloggers

Yes, I am joining this program and hoping that I'll be part of the 10 lucky bloggers to be part of Ibuybeauti's Beautifan which will be the shop's review blog.  It will be awesome not just for me or my blog but also for those who've been lurking or eyeing a certain product in Ibuybeauti's shop and can't decide whether to get it or not because of lack of reviews.

I know Ibuybeauti because I always watch their translated GetItBeauty videos in youtube and they sell lots and lots of korean cosmetics from 60+ brands.

Wanna join too?  Well here's how!
Simply just email beautifanblog@gmail.com with the following information:
Name
Age
Country
Email
Blog Address
Skin Type
Best Beauty Review link
Brief self introduction

Application period is from February 3 to 18, 2014 and the winners will be announce on February 20, 2014.  If you want to know more or wanted to read this good news directly from a blogger who Ibuybeauti sponsors then head over to Marxie's blog at aegyoprincess.blogspot.com (just click the link at it will direct you to the post).

Wish me luck!

Thanks for reading. Till then. Bye!

Cookies in Sugar and Butter

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

It's love month so even if it's cheesy, I still made a heart shape and a girl and a boy shaped cookies and if you want something to give that you made with your bare hands (literally!) to your loved ones this love month then why not bake some butter or sugar cookies.

The one in the above photo is the butter cookies which my family loves more than the below sugar cookies because it's less sweeter and well more buttery, what more can I say about that.  The sugar cookies is more colorful though because I added red colored icing on top of each cookie for a playful touch.

sugar cookies with icing

Both of these cookies almost have the same ingredients and procedure to make, the only difference is the amount in the ingredients.  Oh this is my first time to knead and roll a dough and at first it's really hard take out the cut -out shapes off the table, constant dusting and a good spatula is needed to prevent the shapes from deforming.

Butter Cookies

adapted from allrecipes.com

Ingredients:

3/4 cup and 1 tablespoon and 1 teaspoon butter

3/4 cup and 1 tablespoon and 1 teaspoon white sugar

1 medium egg

2-1/4 cups all-purpose flour

1/4 teaspoon salt

1-3/4 teaspoons vanilla extract

Sugar Cookies

adapted from allrecipes.com

Ingredients:

1-2/3 cups and 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 cup and 2 tablespoonsbutter, softened

3/4 cup and 3 tablespoonswhite sugar

1 small egg

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

cute cookie cutters

How to:

1.  Combine/stir the dry ingredients.

2.  Cream together butter and sugar in a large bowl until smooth.

3.  Beat in eggs and vanilla.

4.  Gradually blend in the dry ingredients.

5.  Roll the dough to half inch thick and then cut into desired shapes.

6.  Bake to a pre-heated oven at 375 degrees F for 8 to 10 minutes or until the edges are golden.

the elephant shape is my favorite

Perfect mate for your tea or coffee or milk :)

Thanks for reading. Till then. Bye!