Beauty Progress Report #4. Missha's Night Repair Serum


I received this Missha Time Revolution Night Repair serum a few months back and I took the pleasure of taking some time to see how I would find this serum. Missha is a Korean brand beauty line that has both affordable skincare and makeup. I especially love their Signature BB cream and Signature Concealer so I was excited to try their skincare line.



Before receiving this, I tried their Time Revolution line with samples I picked up while my stay in Korea. I loved using it. I felt my skin really hydrated, especially on my flight back and from NY. You know how your skin gets quite dehydrated up in the high skies? Well, I relied on my little samples from Missha, so when I received a whole bottle of their night repair, I expected just as good results.

I used this at night, after I tone my skin and before I apply my night cream. This rich liquid sinks deep into the skin and helps with the tight feeling you get in the winter. I found that it helped hydrate my skin and also do a little tightening and lifting. It promises to help the skin renew overnight.  Considering the richness of the serum, it doesn't break you out or clog your pores, which is always a good thing.

I am still seeing how it is working on my skin. Because I have so many serums to try out daily, I use this at random nights. So far, I give it a 3/5.0 ranking.

This quite decently sized bottle retails at about $50 but Missha is always doing some kind of sale year around so keep out on the lookout.

Beauty Progress Report #3. NARS Liquid Eyeliner




2013 has been about liquid eyeliners. I've been obsessed with them a bit, and went through several styles but recently I've fallen in love with the Nars Eyeliner Stylo selling for $27 which is a bit hefty compared to something like Eyeko Skinny Liquid Eyeliner selling for $16 which I also enjoyed a lot. But, I wanted to mix it up a bit and try something new. I already went through two stylos of the Eyeko one.

After more than two months of trial, I have to say that this pen is quite worth the money! After having had a horrible experience with the Marc Jacobs liquid eyeliner, I was quite happy that this Nars one was worth the money! It draws on very well with an intense black that doesn't have this fake glossy metal finish. The tip is on the thin side, allowing versatility with the shape of your line.


My rating for this eyeliner so far is: 4.5/5.0 

I just hope this lasts as long as my Bourjois liner feutre eyeliner lasted! 

The Sweetest Facial Masks. HONEY!

I just may have discovered my favorite facial mask. H O N E Y . Real organic honey. But not just the honey that you find at any supermarket but honey that does more than what honeys already do for you. I've got two on my list: Pro Baccari-x Amazon Honey and Manuka Honey




Honey itself is amazing for your skin. It hydrates, moisturizes, and calms the skin. But these two honey jars I've picked up also focuses on killing the bacteria on the surface of your skin. For sure, Manuka Honey is already quite famous as the world's best honey, coming from New Zealand. I first heard of it when I started using the Antipodes Aura Manuka Honey Mask. Loved that mask, and then after I finished that whole tube, I discovered that way before I even heard of this mask, my mother was already collecting jars of manuka honey.



My mother has a nice storage of honey. She's known about the benefits of eating honey, but also for the skin. Though she's never used it on herself, she's always told me to try it out. Why I never listened, I don't know! But once I was done with my Antipodes Aura Manuka Honey mask I was compelled to give the real Manuka honey a go.

Another honey jar that's blown me away was the Pro Baccari-x Amazon Honey. Again, these are actual honey jars meant for eating but I found that they help the skin just so much that I've taken these two jars up to my room for my own personal dermatological use!

The Pro Baccari honey really focuses in on killing bacteria. Unlike the Manuka it is a bit coarser with beads of solid honey that is hard to break down. I take half a table-spoon of the honey. Try to melt it with my fingers and spread it very gently all over my face. I keep the honey mask on as long as I possibly could. I would go about an hour with the mask on, until I have to go wash it off because the honey is melting!

And of course, honey washes off so easily.

But goodness, the aftermath is really visible. Skin is so much softer (I mean, real soft). Skin has calmed down. The overall skin tone has brightened. Itchiness (if there is any) dies down. It's just... wonderful.

I have been trying to use this mask everyday, but with my busy schedule I find it use it maybe three times a week. Each time I use it, I love it more and more. The makeup application the next day is made so much more enjoyable when skin has been prepped with such organic luxury the night before!

Sometimes the best things are closer than we think... maybe even in our kitchen cabinets!

Beauty Progress Report #2. JOUER Matte Moisture Tint


I've been using Jouer's "Matte Moisture Tint" for several months now. This product definitely took the beauty world by storm, and so I joined the crew to find out what the hype was all about. It definitely took me months of trial to come to any real conclusion to even write a review.



Even now, I write a review on this product under my Beauty Progress Report series because I'm still trying it out and seeing how it works in different situations. You can check the last beauty progress report here.

So far, my score on this product is a 4.0/5.0

In terms of the tinted moisturizers I've tried, this is one of the best I've tried. The only reason why I can't score it a full 5 is because I'm generally not a tinted moisturizer kind of gal. I like a good coverage foundation at all times. I don't like risking showing my naked skin around.

However, considering that this a tinted moisturizer, this definitely has one of the best coverages I've seen. What I love is how lovely it glides on the skin. It almost feels like whipped cream. It's so soft and it feels absolutely velvety. I bought the shade 03 Nude and it seems to be a decent match to my skin.

The lasting power is pretty good for a tinted moisturizer as well. When my skin is on the good side of things, I do like to put this on instead of a foundation. It lasts a good half-day. When my skin is excellent, it can last all day. Because it is oil-free and a matte moisture tint, it's perfect for the oily-skinned people like me.

It's nice to have these things around for when you want to slap something on but don't want to fuss so much. I find that this is just a great on-the-go product! For the flawless-skinned gals, I'm totally jealous. You can go so far with just this and not having to wear any heavy foundation.

Sells for $38. Join mailing list and you'll get a 50% off!


Beauty Progress Report #1. Hourglass Ambient Lighting

Yet another series. But, I think these series are better than random beauty reviews. In the "Beauty Progress Report" series, I'll be talking about what I think about a certain product(s) since I've bought it. It's not a conclusive beauty review with a large BAM at the end, but more like, "hey, I'm trying to figure it out and so far..." kind of post.

left to right: Dim, Incandescent, Radiant (palette comes with a face primer)



The Hourglass Ambient Light Face Powder has been on my want-list for quite some time. I am coming to an end with my MAC Studio Fix that I've used for a little more than a year now, and I thought it was time to search for my next good face powder. Because the Hourglass Ambient Lighting has been such a hit, I was always curious to try.

The whole concept of the Ambient Lighting face powders is that without much concealing and caking, it brings a certain lighting glow to your face. Depending on the shade you get, you'll always have this lighting on your face wherever you go. So, depending on the kind of glow you want to reflect, you choose your shade. That also means that these shades are supposed to be fairly sheer, only to cause a certain effect and not necessarily "in-your-face".


Of course, I ended up buying a face palette rather than one shade that I wanted, because those girls at the beauty counters always get to me! I went into SpaceNK thinking I wanted the face powder in "Diffused Light" which is a pale-yellow powder that helps contrast the redness in skin and the oilyness. It's the less shimmery of the other shades. But upon trying it out at the store, I found it to be really pale yellow. It almost looked too pale on my skin.

My eyes was set on the Dim Light which is a more neutral beige without too much red or yellow. It seemed to match my skin quite well.

The limited edition palette that I bought came with three shades: Dim Light, Incandescent light, radiant light

Because it came for a bargain of $58 and since I had a $10 off at SpaceNK, I thought I'd invest.

So far my rating is a 2.5/5

Pretty low you say? Well, here's why.



I have yet to figure out what the hype is about. I found that besides Dim Light the other two shades work as either a highlighter or a bronzer. The shade Radiant Light is much too dark to be a finishing powder. The Incandescent Light is much too pink to be a finishing powder. Both the Radiant and Incandescent lights have much too much shimmer.

And although I knew they came with very little coverage, I felt that all it was doing was adding this shine to my face that did not look natural. And, I have to say that if you do put a lot on, it will look cakey. It isn't those finely milled powders that no matter how much you dust on your face, it'll look natural. It will build.

And for the oily-skinned, I'm not too sure how much of this shimmer looks flattering. For the price that it is, the "subtle effect" that it gives doesn't add up. Not yet, at least. If you do dust on only a little, it looks minutely nice but again, not enough for the price.

Yet, I don't want to give up just yet. The idea seems wonderful and there was one time that I wore Dim Light and received compliments for looking radiant and glowing. So, I will continue to experiment and find a way to fall in love with it. Otherwise, I might have to return this.

Has anyone tried them yet? What have been your experiences so far?
Powered by Blogger.