Cleansing Oils: Fancl, DHC, Origins, Boscia

Hello lovelies!

It’s been a while!! I’ve been wanting to post this since forever but never really had the time to really sit down and blog.

I’m sure most of you are already familiar with cleansing oils – oils that claim to remove your makeup much better than other regular makeup removers. I’ve tried a few brands that are popular for their cleansing oils, so read more for the reviews!

First of all, when I wanted to try cleansing oil for the first time early last year, I had decided that I wouldn’t opt for the mineral oil based, e.g. Shu Uemura cleansing oils, as I’d prefer more natural products. Coincidentally, my then-colleague gave me a sample of DHC cleansing oil! The tiny bottle is so cute :3

This olive oil based cleansing oil removes my makeup pretty darn well. After cleansing, my skin feels smooth and there’s no tight feeling on the skin. However, after several uses, I find it quite drying on my skin and gives me a breakout, not a major one though, but still. I think because after using cleansing oil I still wash my face with my regular facial cleanser so it over cleanses? So yeah, if you have a dry skin, you may not want to use this every single day. One more thing is that it stings my eyes so bad! This concludes that I won’t purchase this product, sorry DHC!

Next is another sample! Haha. I visited a Fancl outlet and asked whether they had a smaller sized bottle for the cleansing oil, they said they didn’t but gave me a sample instead. This one has thinner consistency compared to DHC Deep Cleansing Oil, clear in color and does just as great job in removing my makeup. It also doesn’t sting my eyes as bad. I personally like Fancl Mild Cleansing Oil better than DHC’s. It doesn’t have scent either, while DHC one has a slight chemical scent.

While I quite liked the Fancl Mild Cleansing Oil, I decided to try other brands just for the sake of exploring different options. Fancl also closed down its stores in Singapore not long after that so I couldn’t go back to purchase. I did my research and listed a few brands. One of them was Origins Clean Energy and after trying this cleansing oil, I knew I had made a right decision!

The consistency is just nice - not too thick but not too thin either. It removes makeup well and has a slight flowery scent since it has sunflower and safflower oil in it. It stings the eyes a little if you really work the oil to remove the waterproof eye makeup. It’s free of parabens, mineral oil, synthetic fragrance and color, petrolatum and not tested on animals. Love it! The only minus point is the packaging since they don’t sell the bottle with a pump and we need to buy the pump separately. I know other countries may sell the pump packaging but not in Singapore.

Finished til the last drop!

Last but definitely not least, it’s the infamous MakeUp-BreakUp Cool Cleansing Oil!

This one has the lightest consistency by far, I was so surprised of how watery it was at the first time. The color is greenish and has a hint of minty eucalyptus scent and it’s literally cooling on the skin. The oil is derived from various kinds of plants such as eucalyptus, olive, safflower, jojoba, eggplant, turmeric, henna, basil, rose hip, green tea, and many more! I LOVE this cleansing oil and I actually see an improvement in my skin that the whiteheads are lesser than before. I thought Origins Clean Energy was the best, but I guess I may give the title to Boscia Makeup-BreakUp Cool Cleansing Oil =)

I’m aware that Boscia has another newer product of cleansing oil – Tsubaki Cleansing Oil-Gel, I’m guessing that the consistency is thicker since it’s gel. By looking at online reviews, many people still prefer the MakeUp-BreakUp Cool Cleansing Oil. I’d love to try it though! Anyone tried it before?

Which is your favorite cleansing oil?

xo, Jo

Benefit They’re Real Push-Up Liner & Remover Review

I went to Benefit They’re Real! Push-Up Liner launch in Sephora Singapore a few weeks back, just because they had appealing promotion. At the end I got my hands on their sunscreen “Dream Screen” as well. I might do a separate review on that.

The promotion was that if we bought 2 They’re Real! products, they would give a free They’re Real Mascara in mini size and a cosmetic pouch. I got the pouch (and really liking it), but not the mascara because it was out of stock when I arrived there as it was limited =( the staff only told me that it was out of stock AFTER I paid the products, in which I got a liner and a remover – because I thought I would get the mascara so I thought I’d just get the remover. Quite disappointed as I really want to try the mascara and I’m not even a mascara person. Heard good reviews about it, so perhaps next time!

Opening up the liner.. Upon opening the cap, you will see this tiny orange plastic protector at the AccuFlex tip. Just take it off and twist the base for the gel to come out. I was really excited to try this liner, as it’s quite a breakthrough for a gel liner.

For the first time, you may need several twists to get the product squeezed out, but after the first use, you only need one twist and it allows you to draw up to 5 thick strokes.

This liner is designed for those who like their eyeliner thick, as it’s quite tricky to work it for thin look. Consistency wise is pretty smooth and very black, but it may get flaky when you do layering. I don’t know whether it’s because my eyelashes are rather long, but when I blink, I can see flakes from the product fallen on my upper cheeks and the roots of my eyelashes clump together.

Natural look vs winged look

They’re Real! remover is described as gel remover, however it’s more like a lotion-based to me. I personally like the packaging because it’s very slim and sleek. I guess it would not last very long if I use it everyday since you need a pretty significant amount of product to saturate the cotton pad to completely remove the They’re Real! eyeliner. It still does the job though.

Verdict:

They’re Real! push-up liner:

+ Handy, no brush needed
+ Good for thick and winged eye look
+ Waterproof
+ Dries quickly

- Flaky
- Can be a little messy
- A little tricky for thin natural look
- Not very smudge-proof

Will I repurchase – probably not, I still prefer the conventional gel liner in a pot with a brush. I just find it easier to control, has better consistency and more smudge-proof. But if you’re curious to try and you’re a thick eyeliner person, I think it’s worth the try. Price wise I think it’s still reasonable, around SGD38.

They’re Real! remover:

+ Does a decent job
+ Light consistency
+ Nice packaging
+ Not drying

- Tube hole is too small
- Require a generous amount of product to completely remove eye makeup

Will I repurchase – maaaaybe. It’s an okay remover, but I still prefer water or oil based type of remover though, since you don’t need a lot of product to completely remove the makeup. I’d feel cleaner as well.

 

Have you tried Benefit They’re Real! products yet?

xo, Jo

Curing chapped lips: DIY Natural Lip Scrub

Hello lovelies!

Just want to share with you a simple beauty DIY that I’ve been wanting to share for ages.

I made this in attempt to save my dry, chapped and painful lips. They were so horrible that the edges of my mouth were also swollen. I couldn’t wear lipsticks as they would only make my lips worse. But thanks to the goodness of nature *plays Lion King song*, this has made them so much better now.

All you need is:

• 2 tsp of honey
• 2 tbsp of sugar – I’m using normal refined sugar, but you can use brown sugar too if you want
• 1/2 tsp of multi-purpose cream, e.g. Vaseline. I’m using Egyptian Magic
• 1 tsp of lemon juice (optional)

For those who’ve heard or known of Egyptian Magic cream before must be thinking, “wow such a waste to use pricier all-purpose cream for a DIY”. But the thing is, this is the only multi-purpose cream that I use as it’s made of all natural ingredients: olive oil, beeswax, honey, pollen, royal jelly and propolis extract. I bought it to help ease my eczema last time. Didn’t really work so well on the eczema but it’s a great moisturizer (apply at night and your skin will be bouncy with glow in the morning) and lip balm.

Mix all ingredients together.

If you add lemon juice, you need to add more sugar to add consistency. I personally like it more liquidy so that after scrubbing off the flakes I can just leave my lips masked with the scrub overnight.

Store it in a small container and voila! You’re done!

I was amazed by the first time I applied this overnight. I could totally see the difference the next morning. After several times of using this, my lips returned to its moist flake-free state! But of course, this alone wouldn’t help. I drank gallons of water and sealed my lips with lipbalm at all times. The best lipbalms for me, hands down, are the Burt’s Bees. I’ve tried many other brands and even pricier ones are not as good as these bad boys. I’ve finished the original and the Kokum Butter and using the Mango Butter at the moment. Yum!

Oh, and one important tip is no biting! Ugh this is so hard, I know. But biting off the flaky lips would just make them worse.

Hope this helps to get your luscious lips at its best state, especially bright neon lips are so on-trend right now. Pucker up!

 

xo, Jo

ASOS Haul + First Impressions

Hello lovelies!

Finally a haul post! It’s been waaay long overdue. Hope you enjoy!

This was my first batch of purchase ever from ASOS, after hearing so much about it from a British fashion Youtuber, FashionRocksMySocks. When I lightly browsed the site for the first time, I got hooked and in a blink of an eye I added tons of items on the wishlist!

Now that I look back, I think I was pretty crazy on the impulse buying. I spent over SGD200, which very rarely happens!! Because it was over SGD175, I was entitled for a free express shipping. I felt good at that time but now it’s like meh it’s just about a week difference. My money… Was it all worth it? You’ll see.

Clothing:

ASOS Sleeveless Smock Dress - Spice, UK 6

I’ve always wanted to own more dresses, but since I’m more of a top-bottom kind of person, I’m rather picky on my dress options. When I browsed on ASOS dresses, smock dresses are everywhere, they’re sort of replacing the skater dress popularity.

ASOS Smock Dress With Short Sleeves – Navy, UK 6

I’ve decided to go with the simple ones first. So I picked these two plain casual smock dresses, which were pretty affordable. I wanted to choose grey color for the sleeveless one as shown on the model but somehow it was not in the options, hmm.. They turned out to be really comfy, the material is good and the length is just above my knees. Casual modest dresses on the go!

ASOS Skater Dress in Vintage Floral with Tie Back, UK 6

Then I picked another dress that is more dressy and I had been wanting a floral dress for a really long time. Plus, it was on huge sale! I think it still is right now, you can click the link above.

The length is perfect for me. It’s just slightly shorter than the smock dresses. The material is a little coarse but it’s pretty thick for chiffon. There’s also another layer of fabric from the waist line till below. Also, I LOVE the details at the back. It’s perfect for those who don’t wanna show too much skin. At the front it looks really modest but there’s a surprise at the back ;) I wore this for my birthday dinner and will be wearing it again for my brother’s graduation!

Accessories:

ASOS Ears Boyfriend Watch

Finally I own a gold boyfriend watch! Even better, it’s got ears! Haha. The strap is kind of light, which kind of gives the impression of a “cheap watch”, but the overall look is still great to me! I think it’s pretty well-made for SGD54.80. I needed to remove about 3cm of the strap because it was too long. I wore it for a random photoshoot last month.

ASOS Rope Chain Hand Harness

This chain hand harness is also too long and I have yet to adjust the length. Wish they had sizes for this!

ASOS Mixed Finger Tip Ring Pack

I love stack rings! Simple yet so cute. Probably will get more of these from various places :x

ASOS Grecian Leaf Hairband

Isn’t this pretty? Well, perhaps less pretty on my head, but I think it looks great on dark hair! There’s a stretchy band to wear at the back so it’s not loose at all.

Beauty:

Korres Exfoliating Body Scrubs 150ml
Korres Rice Proteins & Linden Shampoo for Fine Hair 250ml

I’ve always wanted to try Korres! So I was really excited when I saw several Korres products being sold in ASOS for a cheaper price compared to Singapore retail price! I’ve tried the scrub and it was GOOD! I use it on my back since somehow I get a little back acne these days. I can feel that the bumps got smaller and eventually got rid off after using this! I have yet to try the shampoo. Will update it as soon as I try it! :)

Summary:

I’m satisfied of ALL of my purchases and I think I’m a big ASOS fan now. I will definitely repurchase their clothes (only at reduced price though!) and Korres or other beauty products that are cheaper online, but I’m not sure whether I will repurchase the accessories, except for watches.

It’s because I don’t know whether they’re really worth it? I feel that I can get rings, bracelets, or headband else where that offer better deals, e.g. Forever 21 and H&M. Also, they normally don’t have sales on the accessories, they focus more on the clothing department. It’s just for this case, I didn’t have time to go physical shopping so I chose whatever most convenient haha.

Have you ever shopped in ASOS before? Do share your experience! :)

xo, Jo

Freeman Sexy Review + First Impressions

I was UBER excited when I saw this at my local drug store, because it was out of stock for a long time, and surprisingly, it seems like only this particular branch sells them.

At first I only saw the travel size ones, but when I was paying at the cashier, I saw the actual size products. I still got the sachets though, since this is my first time trying this brand after hearing so many good reviews about it.

The pictures below shall explain my experience using the Cucumber Peel-Off Mask!

Disclaimer: Yes, this is how I normally look like after my evening shower. Wet messy hair (not even bothered to blow dry it), towel on my neck, pyjamas in action, and my pinkish complexion (will go away after 15mins or so). So EXCUSE ME :) In fact as I’m writing this, I’m pulling off this look haha!

The time when I applied this, my skin was really dry for some reason, so it was more patchy and flaky. The consistency of the product was really thick, in fact it’s like a glue! A little tricky in application but it was all good. The fragrance was not that heavy, it was actually like fresh cucumber, but more to “formulated” cucumber, if you get what I mean.

How long the mask takes to dry out depends on how thick the application is. Mine took around 10-15 mins. Then you could start peeling it off, which is my favorite part.

It’s really like a thin soft paper. Reminds me of Vietnamese rice paper! Lol.

Having too much fun.. I showed this to my bf and he was completely grossed out haha.

I feel like a snake! Bye bye impurities! I tried my best not to tear the peeled off mask and I did it! It looks like a panty LOL.

My skin felt refreshed, rejuvenated and plump! It was so soft to touch and I LOVED it!

Few tips to take note when applying peel-off mask:
- Tie your hair
- Avoid application on eyebrows and sideburns
- Make sure you do the 2 things above because I obviously didn’t and had a hard time removing it from my hair and brows!

As for the Apricot Creamy Scrub, I’m as satisfied. It’s SO soft and creamy, very gentle on the skin (even sensitive skin like mine), plus, it smells so yummy!

I definitely recommend these 2 products! They’re made of natural ingredients, great for skin and so affordable! I can’t wait to try other Freeman masks and scrubs!

Have you tried Freeman products before?

xo, Jo