Review: Innisfree Eco Safety Perfect Sunblock SPF 50 PA+++

Summer is here and that means it's time to try out new sunscreens! I have naturally somewhat dark skin (not the Asian pearly white skin I'm afraid), and I get dark without even trying. I've tried a million sunscreens, and none have prevented me from getting darker. Granted, that's not the point of sunscreens either. A girl can dream, right?

Anyway, so my goal for sunscreens is that its ingredients are safe (doesn't get absorbed into the skin) and effective. My second goal is that its in a consistency that I can tolerate putting on for the whole day. I was extremely impressed with Innisfree Eco Safety Aqua Sun Gel SPF 30 PA++ in that it didn't feel like a sunscreen at all. It wasn't even greasy! The only thing I didn't like was the ingredients. It didn't use the two "barrier" sunscreen ingredients, titanium oxide or zinc oxide, which is good for UVA protection (more on that later). So I decided to give this one a try.

Review: HERA Sun Mate Leports Sunscreen SPF50 PA+++

Since it's summer (for those of us in the northern hemisphere anyway), I think it's a good time to be using my sunscreen samples in case anyone is thinking of buying these products. I don't even remember where this is from. I've only tried two products from HERA, the HERA White Program Biogenic Effector and Biogenic Cream. I was extremely impressed with their White Program Biogenic line because I was results with just one sample. So I was pretty happy when I dug my sample pile and saw another HERA sample lying around.

Review: Etude House Face Conditioning Cream Light SPF25 PA++

It's been awhile since I've posted this many reviews in 2 days. This is what happens after you disappear from civilization for one month to study for exams. But it's all good, now I've got summer holidays to catch up on everything. This is the third and last free sample that I got from my order of Etude House Goodbye Pore Ever Pore Primer Essence.

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: Innisfree Eco Safety Aqua Sun Gel SPF 30 PA++

This is the second sunscreen I bought this summer to try. My first one was the full version of Missha All Around Safe-Block Mild Sun Milk but I got a few red bumps right below my nose recently so I thought might as well give my face a "break" and try out the sunscreen from Innisfree since this brand is known for the "6-free" (as shown on the box in the picture): free of paraben, talc, artificial colors, animal derivatives, mineral oil, and artificial fragrances.

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: Missha All Around Safe-Block Mild Essence Sun Milk SPF45 PA+++ (sunscreen)

School has been getting busier since finals are coming up and since I've decided to enroll myself in all sorts of extra-curriculars because I just love to torture myself ha ha... Anyways, this is a sample I got from one of my internet purchases. [Update Jult 7 2013: Also bought the full version]. The only other UV/sunscreen "Milk" that I've tried is the 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! Let's see how this fares

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: Skinfood Tomato Wrinkle Sun Cream SPF 36 PA++

After trying out the Skinfood Gold Kiwi No Sebum Sun Matte SPF35 PA+++ last weekend, which turned out to be a nightmare, I was a bit hesitant to try this. But I didn't have anything to do until the afternoon, so I thought I'd have adequate time to wash my face if anything goes wrong.

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: Skinfood Gold Kiwi No Sebum Sun Matte SPF35 PA+++

I don't live near the equator, but I understand the importance of wearing a day cream with a small amount of SPF protection because UV rays lead to wrinkles, and also darken your scars. I've got acne scars from a year ago that haven't completely gone away and I definitely don't want those to go darker or slow them down from brightening. And since I'm almost a quarter of a century old, which is the age you start using anti-wrinkle products, it sounds reasonable to protect myself from the cause of these fine lines and wrinkles: the sun.

I already forgot how I got this sample. Either from my Skinfood purchases back when I was traveling in Korea or when I bought some Skinfood products on eBay. I love to try out samples during the weekend because I'm not as pressed for time and if anything horrible happens to my face, I can always just hide at home.

That strategy was put into great use with this product...unfortunately.