[TONY MOLY] I'm Real Seaweed Aqua Moisture Lotion

By J
Sample Review I bought the full size and reviewed the packaging here.

So I found out I had three of these samples in my ever growing sample collection so I thought it'd be a good time to do a review of this item, since I have enough to try for a week or two.

It's meant for dry skin, it's supposed to supply moisture to dry and rough skin and contains mineral-rich brown algae and seaweed extract.
It's main ingredients are 

•    - Fair trade Argan oil
     - Natural ingredients 72%
     - Sea water 30,000mg
     - 9 No Added Formula
  (Parabens, talc, triethanolamine, benzyl alcohol, sulfate-based surfactants, propylene glycol, mineral oil, benzophenone, artificial colors free)

Yay, free samples :D

It's step two in your routine so I assume that's after toner, and before cream

It looks like there's a tiny amount, but I used this for well over a week.

The texture is quite light, and surprisingly transparent, if you can see in the picture, It smells of something but it's not an unpleasant smell.

There's a Lioele "version" of this sort of; it's another seaweed gel lotion sort of thing that I've done a comparison to this one. Take a look at it here :D

___________________________________________________________________

Pros:

J It's moisturising enough and yet light enough for me to use on my forehead alone 
J It's a very good second step and moisturises my dry cheeks very well in addition to my cream
J My skin feels a lot smoother
J You don't need a lot to cover your face so the full bottle should last a while

Cons:

L The bottle it comes in has just an open hole, so using a specific amount may be difficult
L Doesn't contain any SPF, and neither does any of their other products in their 3 Step program

Comparing to [Lioele Multi Seaweed Gel
Not sponsored or anything

L Probably harder to use because this comes in a bottle whereas that comes in a pot

J This was much more moisturising
J You get more for your dollar!!! :DDD
J I can actually notice this giving effect to its claim unlike the Lioele one

Overall: 4.95/5 
Verdict: I like it enough to buy it. I'll seriously consider it once I've tried and compared it to the Lioele one. Just gotta wait til I have a bit of spending money LOL and then I'm gonna get this. Only bummer is the lack of SPF :c

Edit: I actually bought it in my most recent haul seen here. 
Here's the full size one, where I just review the packaging.

Full size bottle (200ml) is about $16USD on ebay.

[Etude House] Drawing Eye Brow

By J

I've been using this for about a year, refilled my old pen once, and then bought a new one after I got too rough with my old one and cracked the plastic. I just like it so much because it's cheap and it works pretty well that I want to share with you guys :D

This is a rebuy I bought in my most recent haul from jolse.

Pencil one end, spoolie on the other

Color swatch..? xD

Top: before. Below: after.
Eh, sorry there's a pimple in my eyebrow :c

You can create really natural looking eyebrows or some pretty funky ones too.

The color I have is Grey-Brown, but there's 5 other shades too to suit.


___________________________________________________________________

Pros:

J You can refill the pen, so you can save package wastage :D
J Twist up pen so no need for sharpening
J Spoolie provided so it's convenient for travel
J 6 colors to choose from
J It's cheap ($3.71 USD on cosmeticjolse.com when it's on its weekly sale)

Cons:

L The refills don't come with new lids so if you lose the lid that's it lol
L If you've been sweating, it will come off when you wipe you eyebrows (so no touchy)

Overall: 4.9/5 
Find it here at jolse. (Not sponsored in any form.)

[The FACE Shop] New Zealand Volcanic Clay Black Head Aloe Nose Strip

By J

Woah, so much time has passed already; January came by and went so quickly. o.o

As free samples from Jolse.com, I've gotten quite a few different brands of nose pore strips, and I have to say I like The FACE Shop (hereafter 'TFS') Aloe Nose Strips the best.
They have one that doesn't have aloe but I find that when I use it I get quite a bit of clay (grey stuff) getting around.

As peeps living in NZ, the mud and hot springs have been toted around as medicinal and containing healing properties for plenty of years (as the Rotorua Museum will tell you). I'm not totally sold on it, but I do recommend the hot pools if anyone is ever in the North Island.

So onto the review:

 The good thing about this is that there are instructions on how to use this, shown in a way that non-english speakers can understand. There was this one brand that I tried that had no instructions that I could read and that was a disaster. 

I really like how this actually fits my face. Another brand I sampled had the wings go all the way under my eyes, and it hurt the skin under my eyes when I peeled it off :c

Not sure if you can see, but if you enlarge the picture, you can see the stuff it pulled out :D
It's gross, but it's fun to look at afterwards.

___________________________________________________________________

Pros:

J The shape of the strip is really good for the nose; it doesn't venture into eye area
J Clean and easy to use
J Pulls out a lot of impurities (I wish i had a better picture to show you guys ;c)
J Pain is more tolerable than other strips I've tried
J Price is affordable ($4.78 USD on Jolse, haven't found cheaper on ebay)

Cons:

L If the strip is not completely dry, you may get some residue on your nose (but you can just clean it off)
L It hurts to pull it off (no pain no gain I guess)

Overall: 4.6/5 (for the residue, and the pain)

Mini Haul from cosmetic.Jolse

By J.

So you all know K and I jumped ship to this site. I've been purchasing from this site for a while, but I rarely get more than 2 items at a go.

This time I got 5, so that counts as a mini haul... right? :D

I paid on the 17th of Dec and it was marked as shipped on the 17th. I received this on the 29th of Dec if I remember right. Jolse is always so efficient c:

Yayyy my packageee :D

It was raining the day I received my package, so the box was a bit wet. Luckily everything inside was very well protected from the wet and damage from the amount of bubble wrap c:

Everything you buy is individually wrapped, so there's heapssss of bubble wrap, if you like to collect it like me :D

Things I bought...

...and my freebies C:

Look at the amount of samples they give compared to the amount I bought lol...

I remember this one time where I only bought two items and they gave me that amount of freebies and I was wondering if they got my order wrong.

1. [The FACE Shop] New Zealand Volcanic Clay Black Head Aloe Nose Strip (7 sheets)
   I've used up all the free samples of this sent to me, and I really loved it! I decided to actually pay for some since they're so good. Review here!
2. [Etude House] Kissful Tint Chou no. 2
   I've seen bubzbeauty on youtube use it for her Korean inspired look and I've super liked it since! This is a present for K though, so maybe she'll review it soon :D
3. [Etude House] Drawing Eye Brow no. 2 grey brown
   This is a rebuy; I refilled my old one once but I've been so rough with it the pen itself cracked, so i thought I better buy a new one. I reviewed it here.
4. [Etude House] Oh~ m'Eye Line no. 1 black
   A few friends recommended I try this one, as it doesn't smudge. Review here!
5. [The FACE Shop] New Zealand Volcanic Clay Blackhead Clay Nose Pack
   Since I like TFS's pore strips I thought I'd give this a try, since i can use it on other areas (like sometimes around my lips :c)
6. Tony Moly Live Aura CC Cream sample: supposedly pinker (brightening) and has more coverage. I'm glad they gave me this sample as I'm pretty keen to try it out.
7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. Random samples that I'm not particularly interested in lol... but free stuff = :D

   13. Jolse gives away blotting sheets as long as you order 2 or more items.

Oh and look at all this bubble wrap guys :D I'm sorted for exam periods

Exam stress relief  included in purchase for free c:

I really like Jolse, because of its prices (which are pretty reasonable compared to other places), its delivery speed, its free international shipping (and who from NZ can honestly say they don't like that??) and all those freebies which keeps on sucking me back in sadface :c

Only downside I'd say is that it's a little bit limited in terms of its variety compared to some other places,

So if you want to check it out yourself, here's the link: http://cosmetic.jolse.com/

Disclaimer: K and I aren't affiliated with jolse. But boy do I so wish i was LOL. My poor bank account ;n;

[Etude House] CC Cream - Glow

By: K

Ughh sorry about the resoultion. Left: One pump, Right: blended out.
One pump is A LOT.

Yay I see a bigger difference than the Tony Moly CC cream :)

After I bought this product I found out that "Silky" was more suitable for oily skin types. Oopsies.

This product does even out and brighten my skin somewhat, after looking at the photos. Unfortunately it makes me an oil ball after a few hours (I'm sure anyone who has been stalking reviews of this has seen the oil tests). This will give a white cast if you use flash photography.

The texture is pretty thick and feels thick on my face. I ran my fingers over my skin after using it and it feels like what my skin feels like after I apply a sunscreen (namely the Nivea SPF 50 waterproof one). In fact, it feels thicker than my BB cream while making less of a difference on my face :I 

On a side note, I like using this as a subtle highlighter. :)

Note: I don't go over skincare benefits cause I don't believe in makeup as a skincare product haha :P Also I'm not putting coverage as a factor because this is a CC cream.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Pros:
✓ Evens out skin tone

✓ Brightens skin
✓ Gives glowy finish (as promised)
✓ Travel friendly - has pump mechanism

✓ Affordable - USD$14 on cosmetic.jolse.com

Cons:
✗✗ Quite thick and oily - bad for those with oily skin

✗ Gives white cast if you use flash photography

Overall: 3.6/5 

(still prefer my BB cream over this)

*******************************************************************************************

By J

here's beautiful me using K's amazing eye enhancing technology

___________________________________________________________________

Pros:

J My skin glowsssss (it's much more obvious than the Tony Moly one reviewed here
J My skin tone is a little more even I think. 
J Hygienic since it has the pump <-  I typo-ed "pimp" the first time LOL
J Moisturising for my cheeks and for some reason I find it less oily on my forehead than the Tony Moly one

Cons:

L I find this harder to blend than the Tony Moly one as it's a bit thicker
L It contains shimmer, subtle, but if you aren't a shimmer fan you might be a bit annoyed

Overall: 4/5
I like that it gives a better glow than the [TM] one, but the textures just a little too thick for a higher mark

Buy of the Day :D

By J

So while I hit the supermarket today, I also went by the 'local' jewellery place there called Diva. It mainly stocks stuff for preteens all the way to the elderly ladies (or men if they like sparkly things).

I've been wanting to pick up some cute jewellery and they were having a sale. There was a lot I wanted to get but I've been spending a lot lately so I only got one thing... ;n;

I'm not sad really :D

I found such a good piece that I'm actually super stoked :DD

I saw this other set of rings, three for $5, which I originally was going to buy, until I came across this: 

They're pretty aren't they? O:
They came in a set of 5 as stackable rings. They're about the size of midi rings, but they fit well on the regular places of rings, except the smallest two, which I can wear on my pinkies a bit loose, or as midi rings.

So pretty *O* I really love the one with the large black "stone" and the sparkly halo around it!

The pearl one is another favourite of mine! :D The funny two 'diamond' antler one above it is a bit weird; you can't really wear it on its own but it looks good with the pearly one.

Yayyyyyy~ let's deck out my hand :D
They have a decent weight so they don't feel cheap or anything c:
Oh, the crown one and the little "diamond" one on my ring finger (in between the two eternity style ones) are ones I already owned. They go nicely with the new ones eh? *U*


And the thing that made me the happiest.....

it only costed $3. Three bucks.
:DDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD

So what nice finds or buys have you guys made lately? :D

Maybelline Color Whisper

By J

Back story: 
I've always had (and kind of still have) really chapped lips. Most lipsticks were out for my because they emphasise the level of chapped-ness (for me, boss level) and dry them out.
I'd been eyeing these for a while but they're a little hard to find in NZ and always expensive :x

Item detail:
Colour: Rose of Attraction.

According to the Maybelline Website, this is

• a weightless and translucent gel with pure coloured pigments suspended within
• a formula without heavy waxes or oils
• 'just a kiss of shine'

Despite what the maybelline website shows (which is this coral-ly pale pink), it's a bright, neutral-cool, medium pink containing shimmer.

Regular packaging. Funny story. When I bought this I couldn't see the colour inside the tube so I had to guesstimate the colour by imagining it without the lid. Biggest brain overload ever.

Colour and number located on the bottom. (Rose of Attraction)

Silver tube looks pretty eh? The little knob near the base makes the lid click in place.

As close as I could get the colour to real life. Can you see the tiny flecks of shimmer in there?

c:
My skin is so dry :c but lips look pretty so I've got that going for me.
(If you get that reference you're awesome :D)

_____________________________________________________________________

Pros
J Moisturising; it hid my chapped lips in Winter better than the Revlon lip butters 
J Bright colour without being BAM IN YOUR FACE
J Its neutral-ish tone means it works well for a lot of skin tones
J The gel texture is nice and light 
J Colour can be built up but it won't get to an opaque state
J A bit of shimmer (if it's your thing)
J Stays on your lips well provided you don't eat (just reapply)
J The packaging is quite sturdy and doesn't look cheap (if that sort of thing matters to you)

Cons

L The moisture just sort of 'sits' on your lips, so this isn't a replacement for lipbalm!

L The packaging makes it hard for you to tell the colour of the actual bullet

L Because it's a bit sheer, this works better for people with naturally pale lips

L The glitter stays on your lips after the colour has been rubbed off

L It's pretty expensive in NZ (I bought mine for $12-15, and that was on sale :c)

L Colour range available in NZ is only 1/3 of the range available in the States (really, NZ?)

Overall: 4.5/5 (the product itself I like very much. I can overcome the small issues lol)

I bought this from one of the parallel importers sales, so I can't really direct you to any place, sorry D;