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Saturday, July 20, 2013

Skin Care Saturdays - The Face Shop Vitamin B Hydro Gel Mask Sheet

I'm a fan of sheet masks, but I was unfamiliar with the "hydro gel" mask.  So what the hell, I figured, let's do it and try it out.


The packaging is also adorable as fuck.


Okay, so I could handle this.  Basically, it's a sheet mask that has this plastic backing on it.  You stick the part that had the backing on your face, just like a sheet mask, only the mask itself is made of a more plasticky material.  One thing I did like about this mask is that it came in two parts, so it seemed to fit a lot better on my face.


It also makes you look like a serial killer.  But that's fine!  It smelled pretty decent, not fruity like you'd expect from a star fruit product, but just the sort of clean smell I've come to expect from Face Shop products.  After twenty minutes, most of the essence was absorbed into my skin and I didn't have much left over.  It also seemed to help with my dark circles, somehow.  The only downside to this is that it was more expensive than other sheet masks I've gotten from The Face Shop.

If you're a serial killer on the go who wants a little extra hydration, these are a must.  I guess if you're a normal person, it's good for you too.

Thursday, July 18, 2013

Makeup Time: Urban Decay Haul

Urban Decay's been around for like, fifteen years.  When I say that, it makes me feel really old, which I suppose I am in terms of bloggers, but sheesh.  They've been around since '96.  I was sixteen then, and Urban Decay had colors and their colors had names that were absolutely up my alley.  I used to wear Asphyxia and Pallor lipsticks at the same time, and I eventually owned every single one of their nail polishes.  That's right, UD used to make nail polish.  Recently, to celebrate their 15th, they released two nail polishes.  I couldn't justify the silver holo to myself, but I sure as hell got the purple shimmery one because yes, even though I've got fifteen purple shimmery polishes, I need more.  Dammit.  And that lead to a minihaul.


Fishnet, the closest thing I have to a "signature" eye color (I've gone through four of them) is on sale for four dollars.  It's a gorgeous shimmery purple color.





I also got Vice, the aforementioned UD nail polish.  I haven't worn it yet, but I'll snap a photo when I do!  They're 15.00 USD right now, and I believe only on urbandecay.com.







The fucking topper has a skull on it.  I could die.  I also snagged one of the Revolution lipsticks, since I'm kind of leaning more toward lipstick than lipgloss as I age.  I'm just lazy nowadays.  These are 22.00 USD.



That for some reason I forgot to swatch.  Derp.  And because UD reformulated their De-Slick compacts, they're selling the old stock for 16.00 USD.  So I grabbed one of those too because one can never de-slick enough when they live in Houston in summertime.

I wish UD would do more nail polishes.  Maybe sometime soon?

Saturday, July 13, 2013

Skin Care Saturdays - The Face Shop Real Nature Sheet Mask in Kelp

I love skin care.  I wasn't blessed with good skin, so for me, it's honestly less about vanity and more about 'how do I avoid painful cystic acne outbreaks that will take a month or so to resolve'.  Emphasis on the painful.  So doting on my skin, lovingly putting on toner and masks and creams - that's just me hoping that pimples won't happen.  But they always do, because life is cruel and unfair and likes to smash your dreams.  (I'm still waiting to become a vampire lawyer, world.  Four year old me is disappointed this never happened.)    But we'll still always try new stuff.

Which is why I snagged this sheet mask.


Protip for the non-beauty inclined: if you see "purifying" on face stuff, it's good for oily skin / blackheads / pimples nine times out of ten.


I'm sure one of you guys reads Hangul, so have at!


Some of you may be wondering what a sheet mask is.  It's basically what it sounds like; it's a sheet of fabric that's soaked in whatever awesome essence that mask is gonna help your face soak in.  Some of them will fit well, most of them won't, because we all have different faces.  They're way more popular in Asia than here in the US, though.

The first thing I liked about this mask was that it was hella saturated in the mask.  Some sheet masks give you a puddle of essence in the package but not much on the mask itself. So I felt I got my three bucks' worth.  As for fit, well.


For a sheet mask, this is the best fit I've ever seen.  It actually gave me enough room to get it on all of the blackheaddy parts of my nose.  (That's a word now.  I say so.)

It smelled really good too, which I like.  If something's going to be on my face for fifteen minutes, it'd better smell good.  I left it on until it dried out, so about thirty minutes, and noticed no ill effects.  My skin felt soft and not greasy, and a pimple that had been threatening to surface came to a head - a sure sign that the mask helped extract some gross nasties from my skin.

If you're cursed like me, I highly recommend these.  Don't be scared of kelp!  It's in your toothpaste, you know.  I've seen these for 1.50 each at resellers; I paid 3.00 at The Face Shop directly.

Thursday, July 11, 2013

Haul - The Face Shop

It comes as no surprise to people who read my blog with any amount of regularity that I adore Asian makeup brands.  They're just good, and resellers have their stuff on the cheap.  But sometimes I don't want to wait three weeks for my stuff.  Sometimes, to quote Veruca Salt, I want it now.  I'm lucky enough to live in Houston where I can actually do that.  There's a Face Shop store about twenty minutes from my house.  Instant.  Gratification.  I love it.  What I don't love is that the prices are ridiculously higher; masks that you can get from Roseroseshop or Kocomall are 3.00 each instead of 1.25 (all prices mentioned are USD).  One of the items I paid 40.00 for in store, I saw on Amazon from a reseller for 17.00.  So, instant gratification does have its price.  However: I'm guaranteed that these are all 100% authentic, and oh yeah - NO WAITING FOR A MONTH.  Here's my loots!

It's like a beacon of hope!

So.  Much.  Stuff.

As you can see, I got a metric fucktonne of sheet masks.  I also got my beloved Herb Day Cleansing Tissues in the big 75 count size because they tingle and smell awesome.  When it's balls hot in Houston (as it always is), it's just the thing for when I've come in from outside.



So these are some of their Real Nature Masks.  I just snagged one in every kind they had available because I'm a weirdo and do things like that.



These are Hydro Gel Mask Sheets because that just makes it sound all spiffing and technical and awesome.

How can I live without you, Herb Day Cleansing Tissue?  I want to knooooooooow~.  Whoops, sorry.


It's hand lotion that's shaped like a cat in a flower pot and smells like baby powder.  I don't think I have to say more than that.


And here's a really blurry picture of the CC cream I got.  Still - I can cross something off of my covet list.  Yay!

Because I spent over a hundred dollars (because boo, retail is expensive!), I got free cotton pads (... yay, I guess?) and an AWESOME sample kit.


The sample kit has a whole sheet mask in it by itself, and some generous face wash / moisturizer samples.  All in all, I'm super stoked, and I hope you are too, because you're going to get craploads of sheet mask reviews.  YOU'RE WELCOME.  *drops mic and leaves*

Tuesday, July 2, 2013

Things I Desperately Want

I've seen them called "lemming lists", but for me, they're just things I desperately want right now.  This list is partly for you to go 'ooooo' at, but it's also for me for future shopping reference!

1) Tony Moly Floria Active Peeling Gel

















2) Etude House Moistfull Collagen Eye Cream



















3) Chanel Nail - Taboo




















4) Too Cool for School - Smoky Nude Lipcolor




















5) Too Cool for School - Max Pack Bag


















6) The Face Shop - Face It Aura CC Cream




















There'll be other posts like this in the future, but this is all what I can think of off of the top of my head at the moment!  What are you guys coveting?