Review: History of Whoo Qi & Jin Essence

I actually bought this essence by mistake. I wanted to buy History of Whoo Qi & Jin Eye Cream but ended up buying this essence instead. And I didn't get around to using it until now. I've only tried 3 products (including this one) from this brand so far, the last one being History of Whoo Hwa Hyun Cream which wasn't too impressive. But clearly that didn't influence me because I just bought 14 different samples from History of Whoo today!

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: Skinfood Black Sugar Cleansing Cream

The pin is for size comparison because this photo makes this tub look small. This is a cleansing cream for removing makeup. I actually bought this back in January but didn't get a chance to use it until when I went on vacation in June because I don't usually put foundation on (I usually only put on eye makeup which I remove with Skinfood Milk Shake Point Makeup Remover).

Review: History of Whoo Hwa Hyun Cream

I think I got this sample when I bought 60 samples of Sulwhasoo Essential Rejuvenating Eye Cream. I hadn't had much experience with higher-end brand Korean cosmetics, except for the eye cream I just mentioned and History of Whoo Qi & Jin Eye Cream. I don't have visibly aging skin yet, but I can definitely see fine lines on my forehead which become wrinkly when I'm frowning.

Review: Sulwhasoo Essential Rejuvenating Eye Cream

My 12th eye cream since starting this blog! Who knew finding an eye cream for my dark circles and under eye fine lines would be this hard. Good thing most Korean products have samples that I can buy so I can try so many without being broke.

If I were to summarize my eye creams until now, for my dark circles, Skinfood Salmon Brightening Eye Cream has been the most effective (doesn't remove it completely of course..for details you can read my review here). For fine lines, nothing has really helped consistently. The Face Shop Smim Fermentation Concentrate Eye Cream has been the most effective, but I have recently realized that the sample I've tried may have been just the normal face cream and not the eye cream (lost in translation).... I have since bought the full size of the eye cream which I will be trying next. That's when I started thinking maybe Skinfood's relatively inexpensive eye creams are not strong enough for my aging eyes (sad, I know) and that I needed to explore the higher-end brands like History of Whoo and this one, Sulwhasoo.

Review: Missha Super Aqua Refreshing Cleansing Foam

I've tried another cleanser from the same Super Aqua line, Missha Super Aqua Oxygen Micro Visible Deep Cleanser, and was very impressed with its truly "deep" cleansing compared to the other cleansers (details in my blog post here). However, the only problem was that you needed to wait for this cleanser to bubble, which is impossible for me because I'm always in a hurry in the morning. So when I got this sample with one of my orders, I thought, maybe this will give me the deep cleansing without the wait time?!

I'm back (from exams and vacation)!

First of all, many apologies for not replying to your comments. I finished exams and got on a plane the day after. I think I've replied to all those who asked me a question, so if you're still checking this blog, please check. If I haven't replied you, please let me know.

This is a photo I took when I went on vacation.. I wonder if anyone who reads this has been here too? I went there with absolutely no expectations and didn't research much because I had exams but was absolutely blown away. It's a beautiful place.

Meanwhile, while I was gone I made two orders while I was on vacation and was lucky enough to get a bunch of samples. Since school is out I'll have more time to try and review them here. I've just finished using one today and I'll be trying them each one by one so stay tuned!

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.