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.

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*

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?

Sarah and The Mary Kay Look

I'm a whore for free stuff, I'm not going to lie to any of you.  It's why I've shared reviews of stuff I've gotten from Bzzzagent and Influenster in the past.  But this time, Influenster sent me a box that was filled with stuff from Mary Kay.  This was like, the holy shit motherload of free stuff, you guys, and I'm nearly giddy.

Mary Kay is a brand I've never really played with before; it seems to be marketed toward a demographic a bit older than I am, and I honestly don't know anyone who sells it.  But now that I know I can buy it online, my mind is changing in favor of grabbing some more products.  Here's what Influenster sent me.

LOOK AT HOW CUTE THE INSIDE OF THE BOX IS!

Holy shitballs, Batman, that's a lot of stuff!

Well, naturally me being me, I went to open up the cream eye shadow first.  I use a lot of loose eyeshadow, and pressed eyeshadows, but not so much creams.  Color me intrigued!

That was just one swipe of the cream shadow; it's a very dark purple that I'm hoping will build up to something even prettier.  I also got a brush with which to apply cream shadow.  I LOVE BRUSHES.

I will always take mascara.  I don't know if it'll be able to dethrone my current Holy Grail mascara, Tarte's Lights, Camera, Lashes!, but we'll see.  And lash ... primer?  Ohhhhkay.  I haven't tried one of those since Origins' Underwear For Lashes didn't do anything back in high school.  But like I said, I'll try anything once!  (I'll review it once I've given it a go.)

Lastly, I got a lipstick in Pink Cherie.  This pink isn't the sort of color I'd usually go for - it's kind of bright on me - but the forumla feels nice.  Not too gloopy, almost balm-y, not too waxy either.

All things considered, the cute packaging and the pretty colors are convincing me to give Mary Kay another look.  I hope the eye shadow and mascara live up to the hype, and I'd love the lipstick in another color.  The lash primer I'm not holding out much hope for, but that's a bias against the idea of lash primer in general, not just Mary Kay.

Do you use Mary Kay?  How's your day goin'?

Disclaimer: This product was provided by a third party for reviewing purposes.  No compensation was received. All opinions are my own.

Nail MADNESS - Julep "Joy"

Here's a quick stamping manicure I threw together using Julep's "Joy", a dusky, nude-y pink, Konad black stamping polish, and my Nailz Craze NC02 stamping plate.

Kind of jacked up my ring finger, but whatever - this was my first try with this plate, and it's gorgeous.  Some plates just don't pick up the stamping polish very well, but these work like a dream.  Very, very happy.

Disclaimer: This product was purchased by me.  No compensation was received. All opinions are my own.  I am not affiliated with this seller.

My Holy Grail BB Cream - Skin79 Hot Pink

I haven't talked a lot about BB creams here before now.  I have a smallish collection, both Korean and US brands.  But honestly - and this is just my humble opinion - Asian BB creams are where it's at.

If you're a beauty novice, you may be wondering what in the world a BB cream is, which is understandable.  They're pretty new here Stateside.  Basically, it's a multitasking cream that was invented in South Korea for people post cosmetic surgery (or at least that's what I gather after reading Wikipedia).  It's shorthand for any cream that's going to do at least triple duty.  Most BB creams offer light to medium coverage for imperfections, sunblock, and moisturize.  Some go further and whiten (for dark spots and/or acne scars) or have anti-wrinkle properties.  BB creams are perfect for lazy people like me who maybe want to shave five to ten minutes off of their get ready in the morning routine.

Sounds awesome, right?  Sold you, yeah?  Well, American BB creams... don't seem to do this.  At least not that well.  They seem to just be tinted moisturizers - crazy light coverage, some moisture, maybe some sunscreen as an afterthought.  Fffff, whatever.  So, what BB cream do I use?

 This is my HG BB cream, my Holy Grail, my sun and stars - Skin79 Hot Pink Super+ BB.  It whitens (and I have noticed a reduction in the dark marks acne leaves behind on my face in the two or so years I've used this product), it has SPF 25, and it allegedly helps with wrinkles.  That last claim, I don't know - it's not like I take photos of my face on the daily.  But what I do know is that it also does help with oily skin.  This is a BB cream meant for people with oily skin and/or acne, and it really does help with shine.  And the coverage is far better than any other BB cream I've ever tried, and that includes most Asian ones.

Here's my left hand.  I've got a mole and a freckle there.  Let's see if we can't cover 'em up some.

 This is the approximate amount I'd use to cover my whole face,  just one pump of the BB.  I know what you're thinking - dear god, is it ever grey!  That's nobody's skin color anywhere!

You're still thinking it, huh?  How is this ever going to match my skin?  Well, most Asian BBs are like this - they oxidize a bit, eventually matching your skin tone.  If you've ever used a complexion matching foundation - Almay and Josie Maran make them - it's the same thing as that.

Here's what it looks like blended.  The mole would need a little concealer, but overall, this is what I use on my face on a daily basis.  Instead of doing primer + foundation + concealer + powder, I use primer + BB cream + concealer but only if I need it so not very often + powder to set.  BB also lets me skip moisturizing my skin in the morning so I can just use a face wipe if I overslept like woah.

And there we go!  My first BB cream post.  I've got like, five other ones to review, but I wanted to let you guys know about my favorite one first.  And if you're cringing at the 30.00 price tag - I've never bought mine direct from Skin79, and this is my third bottle.  Right now, I'm digging KoCo Mall who has it for 20.99 USD, but pretty much any Asian reseller will have samples for two to ten dollars depending on the size.  Get a generous sample before you get the huge size, make sure you like it.  Most of the big samples have enough for a week or two of use.

Disclaimer: This product was purchased by me.  No compensation was received. All opinions are my own.  I am not affiliated with this seller.

Nail MADNESS - Coco and HexNail Charms

Quick post today!  Just a lazy mani with Julep's "Coco" and a snake nail charm from Hex Nail Jewelry.

I liked it, and got more compliments over it whilst in hospital than I've ever gotten over a mani anywhere.  You can get Hex Nail Charms over on their website for around 1.75 a pop.  They're reusable and hella fun.  This is the Small Snake, and I just love it to bitty pieces.

Disclaimer: This product was purchased by me.  No compensation was received. All opinions are my own.