Review: Etude House Skin Mal:Gem Toner - Smoother

It's been a long time since I've changed toners. The Etude House Wonder Pore Freshner has served me well. It got rid of the pimples I kept getting from clogged pores, and it's been in my morning and night time skin routine for the past 3.5 years. But around half a year ago, I started getting pimples again. Nothing big, maybe 1-2 clogged pores that turned into pimples on the sides of my face, but there was always one there! I was hoping Etude House Wonder Pore Freshner would save me, but unfortunately, it didn't do anything this time. And then I remember one of the previous commenters (sorry, I forgot which post it was or else I'd write your name here!) suggested I try Etude House's mal-gem line of toners.

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.

My Night Skincare Routine

And here is my night skincare routine. For those who are interested in my morning skincare routine, you can check that post out here. Basically, in this post I'll be talking about the skincare products I use at night and summarize how the product is effective for me. If you're interested in getting more details or to look at the product description, I've already written a separate review for each of these products and I will provide their respective links below.

And if you're wondering...the green elephant at the bottom of the photo is to hold the yellow sample up :D

I should mention that this is my skincare routine during fall, winter, and spring. During summer, I need to use a whitening line to try to revert my tanned skin back to its original color so my night routine is totally different.

Before I delve into my routine, let me tell you a little bit about my skin as these products are targeted towards my skin's problems. I have oily/combination skin and large pores. If I ignore my large pores, 2-3 of them like to transform into pimples especially when it is that time of the month. In addition to the pores on my cheek area, I have some dark pigmentation and little bumps from the crazy acne I had 3 years ago. My skin color is very dull and has this jaundiced, unhealthy yellow tan. I also have very dark circles under my eyes and many fine lines under my eyes. As a result, my eyes look much older than the rest of my face.

Review: Skinfood Lemon Tea Salt Mask Foam

I was sick for the latter part of last week so I didn't get much blogging done on the weekend. But after sleeping 17 hours out of a possible 24 hours (by skipping class ha ha ha...), I feel much better so here I am! I usually don't buy things I haven't tried before in full size. The reason I made this an exception was because I've had great success with Skinfood's Black Sugar Scrub Foam, and somehow I thought that since the sugar worked so well, maybe salt would work just as well if not better! Yes, it makes no sense..I know.

Review: Skinfood Rice Mask Wash Off

I bought this along with my Skinfood Black Sugar Scrub Foam (one of my two favorite products from Skinfood currently) when I was in Korea (as you can see with the price tag on top). I read some reviews and it said this mask brightens the skin and contains some small beads for exfoliation so I thought, why not?

Review: Royal Honey Mask (peeling mask)

This was an unexpected find. I got this sample along with my Skinfood purchases back in Korea. I have tried the Skinfood Royal Honey Eye Cream from the same Royal Honey line and I wasn't too impressed so I didn't expect much from this either. But it's the weekend and I like to try out samples during the weekend because if all goes wrong and my face becomes a swollen potato, I can just hide away at home :)

When I first read "Royal Honey Mask," I thought it was just going to be a nourishing moisturizing mask for people with dry skin. Then I read that it was an exfoliating peeling mask! Ever since trying Missha Super Aqua Detox Peeling Gel and getting unsatisfactory results, I've been wanting to try out other peeling gels. The Saem Dr. Beauty Micro-Peel Soft Gel was more effective, but this brand is still quite new so it's impossible to find it on eBay. For those who may not know, peeling gels are basically exfoliators without the beads. I used to use the Origins Modern Friction but I found the beads were too rough for my skin and didn't really get rid of all my blackheads or anything despite the roughness.

Review: Skinfood Black Sugar Scrub Foam

The black sugar mask has long been a best-seller for Skinfood in both Japan and Korea. At the time, I ran out of cleanser and was in need of one so I decided to buy this over the black sugar mask. I use this at night because I feel that I need the mild scrub to get rid of all the dirt and oil that I've accumulated over the day.