Review: TonyMoly Intense Care Snail Cream

I love snail cream. My skin has always looked jaundiced (an unhealthy yellow looking tan). Before I dived into the world of Korean cosmetics, I've tried tons of whitening products (I emptied my wallet and savings to buy the whole Shiseido white lucent line, I've also tried Clarins and Origins before) to attempt to make my face more bright, more vibrant, more radiant, but nothing really ever worked. Then I tried my first snail cream, Missha Super Aqua Cell Renew Snail Cream, which miraculously brightened my face and I have been using this cream as part of my morning routine for the past 2 years. But I've also heard about TonyMoly's snail cream and have always wanted to try it. I finally got to buying some samples.

Review: HERA White Program Biogenic Cream

This is my second product from HERA. Surprisingly, both products are from the same White Program line, which is for whitening. I've actually never come across HERA until getting a complimentary sample of HERA White Program Biogenic Effector. But it's endorsed by Shim Min Ah (a famous Korean actress) so although it may not be as high end as Sulwhasoo or History of Whoo, it's definitely higher end than Skinfood, Etude House, etc.

Review: Sulwhasoo Snowise EX Whitening Line

After trying out History of Whoo Seol Whitening line (I've separated my review for the CC Sun Cream from the same line here), I switched to try out its biggest competititor, Sulwhasoo Snowise EX Whitening Line. I used it for a month. Reading reviews, I've heard better things from History of Whoo, but personally I've had better success with Sulwhasoo products so I still wanted to give it a try. Last year I experimented with my own made up combination of Hadalabo Shirojyun Whitening Essence and The Saem Chaga White Liposome Biocellulose Sheet, which worked, but I'm always into trying new products, especially whitening products. Give me my white pearly skin!

I actually tried out the Sulwhasoo Snowise EX Whitening Eye Treatment first before I tried the rest of the line so I've posted a separate review of that here.

Review: History of Whoo Seol Whitening Line

After 40 days, I'm finally finished trying out the History of Whoo Seol Whitening line (I've separated my review for the CC Sun Cream from the same line here). My skin gets tanned very easily even when I put on sunscreen so every summer I absolutely have to use a whitening line or else I look like potato skin when class starts. Last year I experimented with my own made up combination of Hadalabo Shirojyun Whitening Essence and The Saem Chaga White Liposome Biocellulose Sheet, which worked, but I've been hearing great things about History of Whoo's whitening line so I thought I'd give it a try. Since I'm reviewing a whole line this time I'm going to change the formatting of this post a bit.

Review: History of Whoo Whitening CC Sun Cream SPF46 PA++

I have actually been trying the History of Whoo White Seol line for some time now. I'm almost done my samples so I'll be making a review soon about the whole line but meanwhile I was given these 2 samples and I've tried them already so I thought I might as well write a review now.

CC cream is apparently the new fad after BB cream. CC stands for complete care (I think). I always found it hard to find the right BB cream for me because my skin isn't exactly pale and most of the BB creams (even at their darkest color) is too light for me. For this reason, I never planned on buying any CC cream since I thought it'd just be the same thing but I got this for free so might as well try them!

Review: The Saem Chaga White Liposome Boosting Toner

The Saem is one of the lesser known cosmetic brands in Korea. Its major celebrity endorser is IU. For those who follow korean music will know that IU is a relatively newcomer compared to BoA, who endorses for Missha. In any case, when I first went to Korea last year, I tried out The Saem Cell Renew Snail Snake EGF all-in-one mask and was thoroughly impressed so I bought tons of it. I've also previously tried The Saem Chaga White Liposome Biocellulose Whitening Mask which also uses the Chaga white liposome technology and along with Hadalabo Shirojyun Arbutin Whitening I felt that they helped whiten my skin last summer. So when I got this sample, I had high hopes.

Review: OHUI White Extreme Cellshine Essence

This was another sample that I got when I purchased Sulwhasoo Essential Rejuvenating Eye Cream samples. OHUI is another high end brand and it's the first time I'm trying a product from OHUI. This costs $120 for 45ml so I would think it is more expensive than HERA and around the same price range as Sulwhasoo and History of Whoo.

Review: HERA White Program Biogenic Effector

The grass is always greener on the other side. I tan easily. So when it comes to summer, I simply need to be standing outside for a few hours and the next day I'm tanned. So then it's only expected that I try every way to keep myself as untanned as possible. I've been using Missha All Around Safe-Block Mild Essence Sun Milk SPF45 PA++ for the past month or so after getting back from vacation. For whitening, I usually use Hadalabo Shirojyun Arbutin Whitening Essence which has been the most effective for me so far for whitening after tanned skin. But I guess like everybody else, I'm always curious to see if there is something better, cheaper, more efficient out there. So when I got this sample I was looking forward to trying it!

Review: Etude House Be Clear Moisturizer SPF30 PA++

Finals are coming up so I will be in hibernation, but before that I thought I'd make this post. I've been looking more into moisturizers with SPF because summer is coming along and I don't want to get tanned. I have oily/combination skin, so I really want something light. Last summer, when I went to Asia for a little more than a month, I tried Hadalabo Shirojyun Arbutin Whitening UV Milk SPF20 which didn't really live up to its "milk" name because it was pretty greasy and made my face pretty oily after several hours. I got a sample of the Skinfood Gold Kiwi No Sebum Matte, which was on the other extreme, because it felt like I was putting white flour on my face.

Review: TonyMoly Intense Care Dual Effect Sleeping Pack

I got this as a complimentary sample when I bought my Etude House Drawing Eyebrow Pencil on eBay. This was actually a sample that I wanted because it's one of those sleeping masks that targets both things that I need: anti-wrinkle and whitening. I can already start to see some fine lines on my forehead. I've tried Skinfood Gold Caviar Collagen Serum but it hasn't helped my fine lines at all. I've tried Skinfood Platinum Grape Cell Essence and Cream which had potential but made the pimples on my face at the time get bigger and redder which freaked me out big time.

Review: Skinfood Platinum Grape Cell White Sun Essence SPF50 Pa+++ (sunscreen)

Third product review from the Platinum Grape Cell line. I've also reviewed Skinfood Platinum Grape Cell Essence and Skinfood Platinum Grape Cell Cream. The essence gave me quite impressive results considering it was only a one-time use sample so I was looking forward to trying this one.

Review: TonyMoly Floria Whitening Capsule Essence

I also got this as a sample when I bought TonyMoly Snail Eye Masks in Korea. I've tried the TonyMoly Floria Whitening Sheet Mask from the same line, which actually had impressive overnight results. It's the weekend so I had the opportunity to try this essence as well.

Review: HadaLabo Shirojyun Arbutin Whitening UV Milk SPF 20 (sunscreen)

Brief post before sleep. This is the last product I have from the HadaLabo Shirojyun Arbutin Whitening line. You can read my reviews about the Arbutin Whitening Essence, the Arbutin Whitening Mask and the Arbutin Whitening Lotion and Milk in their respective posts. I originally bought this because I thought whitening + sun block = the ultimate whitening skincare product!

Review: HadaLabo Shirojyun Arbutin Whitening Lotion (aka Toner) and Milk (aka moisturizer)

I've already reviewed two other products from the HadaLabo Shirojyun Arbutin Whitening line: the Arbutin Whitening Essence and the Arbutin Whitening Mask. Since I bought the whole line, I thought I might as well write a review on this as well to give some pointers for those are considering on purchasing this.

Review: TonyMoly Floria Whitening Sheet Mask

If anyone has been to the tourist spots in Korea, you will recall that there are girls outside cosmetic stores trying to lure you in with freebies. When I was passing TonyMoly's store, the girl outside was giving out whitening masks as freebie. Since whitening is one of my top concerns so I'm always interested in try out new products, I took the bait and went inside the store! I ended up buying three TonyMoly eye masks. I used one while I was in Korea and I haven't used the other two yet. Will get to trying and reviewing them another time.

When I use a sheet mask I look for several things. First is, of course, effectiveness. Second is whether or not it can stick on my face and feel comfortable (or even better, I don't feel it being on my face after awhile). This is because I don't have the patience nor the time to sit there for 25-30 minutes. I need to be doing something while I put on this mask and if I need to fix it every minute because it's falling off my face then that's an instant fail. Third is whether or not it absorbs. If I don't feel a difference in the wetness of the sheet mask after 30 minutes.. then there is a problem with the compatibility of the mask with my face. 

Review: HadaLabo Shirojyun Arbutin Whitening Essence

This is not a new product that I've been using but a product that I go back to every so often because it gets me results. Whitening is one of my top concerns and I'm always curious to try different products, such as the Skinfood Omija Whitening Mask, Cream and Serum, but I find that I always come back to this one. I went to Asia for one month this summer. I get tanned very easily so as you can expect, I got a lot darker. I came back and I knew I needed to do some intensive whitening to get my skin a bit lighter (I don't think any product can actually revert my skin color all the back to what it was before summer).

Review: Skinfood Omija Whitening Serum and Skinfood Omija Whitening Cream

 

I received one of these samples during my shopping spree in Korea and another from buying a Skinfood product on eBay. Whitening is one of my top concerns and I've tried products from the Shiseido's White Lucent line, including their Intensive Spot Targeting Serum on my WHOLE face (yes I dumped my whole wallet on this product because I just recovered from one-year stress-induced acne explosion and I was desperate for something to heal my scars) and HadaLabo Shirojyun line (with great results, especially their Arbutin Whitening Essence and Arbutin Whitening Mask).

I bought the Skinfood Omija Whitening Mask to try before and it wasn't too impressive, but I thought I'd try these samples during the weekend so if anything happens I can always hide at home!

Review: TonyMoly Tomatox Magic White Massage Pack

I bought 3 eye masks from TonyMoly back in Korea and they gave me a sample of their whitening mask as a gift. The only whitening masks that I've been using are sheet masks, notably Hadalabo Shirojyun Arbutin Whitening Mask and The Saem Chaga White Liposome Mask. For wash off, I've tried The Saem's Gem Miracle Black Pearl Oxygen Bubble Mask, but I find that gives more of a brightening effect rather than whitening in that it makes your dull skin look more radiant. Whitening, to me, is more like trying to even out the color of your dark spots so your skin looks whiter as a whole.

Review: HadaLabo Shirojyun Arbutin Whitening Mask

Last review of the 3 whitening masks that I tried out this summer! I'm almost caught up with all the skincare products that I crazily bought and tried this summer. Almost.

Sometimes you don't appreciate a skincare product until you use something a lot worse or a lot more ineffective. That was this mask for me. I first bought 2 boxes of 4 of this mask 3 years ago in Japan. I still had 2 masks left and eventually forgot about it. I didn't think much of it because it was the first mask that I've used and I thought all whitening masks do the same.

When I use a sheet mask I look for several things. First is, of course, effectiveness. Second is whether or not it can stick on my face and feel comfortable (or even better, I don't feel it being on my face after awhile). This is because I don't have the patience nor the time to sit there for 25-30 minutes. I need to be doing something while I put on this mask and if I need to fix it every minute because it's falling off my face then that's an instant fail. Third is whether or not it absorbs. If I don't feel a difference in the wetness of the sheet mask after 30 minutes.. then there is a problem with the compatibility of the mask with my face.

Review: Skinfood Omija Whitening Mask Sheet

While I was in Korea, I'd often buy just one mask to see if it's effective and was compatible for me. If it was, I'd go back and buy a whole pack. So I bought one of this to try while I was there.

When I use a sheet mask I look for several things. First is, of course, effectiveness. Second is whether or not it can stick on my face and feel comfortable (or even better, I don't feel it being on my face after awhile). This is because I don't have the patience nor the time to sit there for 25-30 minutes. I need to be doing something while I put on this mask and if I need to fix it every minute because it's falling off my face then that's an instant fail. Third is whether or not it absorbs. If I don't feel a difference in the wetness of the sheet mask after 30 minutes.. then there is a problem with the compatibility of the mask with my face.