Daiso Charcoal Mask - Personal Review

As we all know, when you go to Daiso, chances are you might not be able to resist the temptation for buying anything. Here in Australia, everything is AUD$2.80 which I think is rather expensive comparing to Malaysia at MYR 5 (AUD 1.60) and in Singapore its a SGD$2 (AUD 1.60 +/-) as I recall. So you can do the math, its quite a rip off at times.

Anyway, there are heaps of this Charcoal Mask in shelves of all Daiso's that I have every been to. At least 15 different branches. I decided to give it a try. I think I might have made a rather lousy purchase on some points.

 This is what the product looks like. Cute in a tube. Fairly simple to use, just apply on your face and avoid your eyes and eyebrows, parts with hair if possible.

My own review:
1. This mask smells like 'STINKY ASS PEE' like what you smell on the staircases of carparks, lifts, alleyways. Freaking hard to take in. I do not know if I have bought a defect product. It FUCKING STINKS.

2. My poor husband was my test subject and he had to sacrifice his smelling senses and he was complaining all throughout the time. Usually we just 'get used' to the smell but this mask...NO! It follows u even after you have washed it off your face...your nails smell too.

3. It does it's job of stripping off black/white heads...and it also give u a free hair removal on your face...Saves the trip for threading. It hurts! even more on a men who shaves and never plucks any hair.

4. Easy to peel off.

5. Very very drying product. I have read other people's reviews and alot of people have said that it does dry out the skin and thank god we didn't get an outbreak.

6. After removal of the black mask, your skin will feel tingly and a bit itchy. Maybe due to the stripping of dry skin, hair, dirt, gunk and so on.

Will I use it again?

Only in emergencies...which I am not sure of what sort. OR a great punishing tool if your man pissed u off.

Hair off 

Left a red patch on the side cheeks. Very dry.

Laneige Water personal review

Pretty much done with Kiehls products. Stuff started smelling weird and turning a different colour...

Randomly walked pass the Laneige counter. I was looking for water based moisturisers and eye creams. I hate seeing oil seeds on my face. Bloody annoying. But anyway, this brand is not too expensive and I am comparing it with brands such as Estee Lauder, Kiehls, Vichy and some other stuff you see in shopping malls. This is a Korean brand and apparently is much cheaper if you buy it in Korea...duh!

I am not gonna go on about what's in it and stuff just gonna state how this product reacted to my skin and stuff.

Skin condition pre Laneige:

Dry

Blackhead visible

Inner cheeks reddish 

Pores kinda enlarged

Laneige - Water Sleeping Pack approx RM100

Slap it on your face before you sleep after toner. It leaves that silky smooth feeling on your face alike the Estee Lauder Idealist. Price is 3x more. Works overnight. When I woke up to wash my face, I can still feel that my skin is soft and a bit more hydrated than before and a bit brighter. Washing feels like you are washing a layer of gel from your face. No oil as you can feel when you brush your fingers together it isn't oily.

Used it twice a week and sometimes more. Lasts a long time. Don't really need much at a time unless your face is bigger than you butt. After 1 month, skin feels much softer, blackheads are easier to extract but skin is still a bit reddish inner cheeks. So I guess it only helps hydrate.

Laneige - Water Bank Eye Gel approx RM120

I don't have much to say about this product other than it is water base and does dehydrate the eye area. As long as your eye area is hydrated you won't look like you have saggy rice sacks under your eyes. Good enough for maintenance purpose. Not oily and smells awesome. Refreshing!

Laneige - Water Bank Hydro Gel approx RM150

For an overall face moisturiser during day time. I would say this works awesome. No oily skin. Pores remain the same as they were in the morning. Not sticky. I would say it works better at oil control than Kiehls or Vichy. I would recommend this for people with combo skin. Smells good as well and easy to wash off.

An update in 2013, I am currently in Summer season and since my skin is dry ass from all the flights, strong winds, different temperatures. Throughout my laziness I have been sticking to the Water Sleeping Pack_EX every morning and every night just cause I can't seem to find my Water Bank Hydro Gel.

It works perfectly, my skin is not oily or sticky at all, moisturised without that glucky feeling.

Bio-essence personal review

Bio-essence Deep Cleanser with ATP and Bio-cell repair rejuvenating serum

Bought this as a set for a tragic call to my very dry face as earlier posted due to over drying facial wash. This is the one endorsed by Vivian Hsu. I bought it not because of the much hyped about V shaped chin. I bought it cause I needed an alternative soap-free product for a face wash.

Verdict: Lasted me quite a while as you only need a little to work up a foam. Smells quite good and has all the good stuff that is written on their packaging ''with ATP'' and also says you will feel refreshed without the tightness. ATP according to their official site.

Whatever it is, this face wash has been calming for my flaking skin and yes it has definitely reduced the red marks on my cheeks from overpeeling. However my skin becomes oilier faster maybe because it is not water-based. So I used maybe 80% of cause when I came back from a long holiday of 2 weeks, whatever came out of the tube smelt a bit funny. Chucked it away.

Good product, gentle on skin, gives you that shine.

Bio-essence Bio-cell Repair rejuvenating Serum 

Smooths out your face. Love this product. Not oily.  Perfect for dry and flaky skin. Really good before all the make up you're gonna put on your face and it smells good too!

Enough said, if you want to try this product, Go ahead, nothing to stop you. It is affordable.

Me and the use of Vichy!

In the past one year, my skin has been going thru this manic cycle where every few months I would be in a different country braving extreme weather changes from extremely hot summer daysss (16 hours of daylight) to maybe 8 hours of sunlight on a winter. Some days you get the crazy wind and some days it just rains without a warning.

I am not a beauty expert but right now I am in Malaysia for a good few more years (hopefully shorter) and the weather here as we all know is humid in a sticky icky way. To those like me, I understand your pain when you step out of a fully air conditioned environment and walk towards the carpark, mamak or just across the road to take away your lunch or to buy a bite. Sitting under the shade which still doesn't really block the glare and then the smell of delicious char kueh teow on your hair is really very very yucky.

Anyway, my skin is not really oily but it just gets really sticky and there is a layer of oil or rather a layer of shine which I can feel if my hands were to wipe across my forehead. My nose would be spurting oil ahhah okay not that bad but yuck again. Okay, so my skin is the type where if you attempt to put BB cream, you are asking for it. I don't know why but it doesn't really sit well with my skin cause it probably isn't smooth to begin with. Have open pores and its been there for the longest time. Facials area really painful to a point I have teared and jumped up from the bed.

One of the brands and ranges that I started using was Vichy. You can get it from leading pharmacies.

As in the photo, this is the Normaderm range. Not in full but enough to make your pockets light for a while. It is not cheap.

I started with the Vichy: Normaderm Deep Cleansing Gel (not in pic). I finished up like 2 tubes of these. It's quite a good facial wash and keeps the skin less oily for the 6-8 hours even if you forgot the toner and moisturiser. ( I am always in a rush). Makes the face feel clean and not too tight. Would recommend this to people with normal to oily skin.

Then the Vichy: Normaderm Imperfection Prone Skin lotion which acts like a toner. This toner once again, good for what it says, tightening pores but please ladies, unclog pores before tightening them if not you will have a bigger headache. The toner still leaves the skin smooth and supple and a fresh smell too.

Next, the Vichy: Normaderm Anti-Imperfections Hydrating care, this I would call a moisturiser that controls oil productions all over the T-zone. Put these 3 products together, you will definitely feel that your skin is less oilier during the whole day at work. It worked for me.

And, the Vichy, Normaderm Resurfacing Essence, this I guess I have not used long enough to see the effects. I used half the tube and still everything looks just as big and broiling with black stuff and grime. Maybe use this once you have done a nose mask or some extractions in order to heal and tighten the pores. (Wasted some money on this but oh well!)

Also, the Vichy, Normaderm Anti-Imperfections Concentrate. Supposedly just put it on your pimples, breakouts and whatever's growing. I would say, my pimples come and go pretty quickly but sometimes when I use this product, it sorta quicken the drying up process so that I can (peel them) hahaha! But I guess OXY 10 can do the same just that it has harsher ingredients in it.

Last but not least, the Vichy, BI-White Anti Dark Circle Whitening Corrective Eye Cream. This is kinda weird. I am not dissing the product but somehow in the morning, my eyes look just as tired as times I didn't put it on. I don't really know how useful this product is but if works for some people it might work on you. So don't give up.

And Recently, I have replaced my face wash to the NEW Vichy: Normaderm Anti Imperfection Deep Cleansing Foaming Cream with Salicylic Acid. This is way tooooooo strong for my skin and yes sometimes we love that pull which makes us think our skin is clean, but after a few weeks my skin was just drying out and red patches started appearing. Must be the Salicylic Acid. Recommended for people with really oily and blemished skin.

Maybe my entry this time will confuse you with what the Vichy marketing department has done. Somehow all the names of the products have changed slightly or totally. Sometimes when I walk to the Vichy counter I don't even know what I am reading. Too much technicality for attraction purposes.

Anyway, I have totally stopped using Vichy cause my skin became too dry and I had to find a real cream cleanser which was not too harsh.

This brand is so heavily marketed in Malaysia, but in Europe, this brand is stashed at some corner. Bummer!