Missha Christmas Lucky Box 2018

My goodness me, but I have been bad about putting this post up.  I think I've done three posts of things I got later in the year before this one!  Well, though it is late, I figured it would still be worth putting this up so people can see what kinds of things Missha offers in their lucky boxes.  Last year's Christmas box was a smaller one and cost 25.35CAD, therefore it had fewer items than the previous lucky box.  This year the box was heavier on the cosmetics vs skincare and came with 10 items.  

Masks 

Chlorophyl Sheet Mask: This was a nice sheet mask with a good amount of serum. 

OCR Pack tight skin mask: Even after all this time I haven't tried it.  Will put out a review once I do.

Skincare

Vitamin B12 double Hydrop miniature kit: Honestly, I didn't really use this long enough to see any difference.  It has an OK amount of product if you think of it as a sampler, but it's really not that much and the mini dropper isn't the greatest.

Simple Therapy Finish Cream: I'm really not sure where in my routine this is supposed to go.  Once I figure it out I'll try it and see how it is.

Makeup and tools

Matt Paining Rouge in Pink:  Fantastic matte liquid lipstick.  The pink is bright and vibrant, goes on easily, lasts a decent amount of time. 

Eye Painting Shadow in Orange: While the actual product is nice and highly pigmented, the container leaves much to be desired.  It's not convenient to use, it has lots of air inside, it's hard to get the amount of product you want out.  The packaging seriously lets this down.  

All Lasting Eye brow pencil: I'm not sure if it was just me but the pencil is hard and doesn't really do anything.  It may just be old.  

Nail Polish G009 Gold Flakes

Eyelash Curler

Innisfree opened in Canada

Innisfree Opening Special Offer

Innisfree has opened their first Canadian store in Toronto this month.  In honour of that they have released a special discovery set for their Green Tea Seed line. The set costs 35CAD and comes with a full size Intensive Hydrating Serum with Green Tea Seed (80ml/2.70fl.oz) and trial/travel size versions of other products in the line: Hydrating Cleansing Foan with Green Tea Seed (30Ml/1.01fl.oz); Hydrating Eye Cream with Green Tea Seed (10ml/0.33fl.oz); Hydrating Cream with Green Tea Seed (20ml/0.67fl.oz).  It's a nice kit and worth getting while supplies last because you are paying the same as the serum on its own while getting extra products.  I will have a more in depth review of the products after using them for a bit.

Green Tea Seed discovery box.  Left to right: Cleansing foam, Serum, Top eye cream, Bottom cream.

Innisfree App and Reward Program

In conjunction with the store opening Innisfree has also released the Innisfree app which doubles as a rewards card.  The reward system is simple, for every dollar spent you get points and every 100 points = 1CAD off your purchase.  There are three membership tiers Welcome (just sign up), Premium (after spending 120CAD), and VIP (after spending 240CAD).  You can also earn points by returning empty bottles for 50 points a bottle up to 5 time a month.  Each level comes with slightly better rewards.  It's worth getting the app and joining the program because you get a Welcome kit right off the bat.  At the moment it is a free sheet mask, this one is a one time gift.  Premium and VIP members get a birthday voucher, and VIP members get a once-yearly VIP kit.  I don't know what it is right now as I haven't reached VIP status.  The tiers also accumulate more points for each purchase: Welcome gets 2 points for every dollar, Premium 3 points, VIP 4 points.  Points will expire is there is no purchase made within a 12 month span.  For more information on the program follow the link underlined above and for the Innisfree Canada website click here.

Green Tea Real Squeeze Mask

The Face Shop: Dr. Belmeur

Line Overview

The Dr Belmur line is one of The Face Shop’s lines meant to combat different types of problem skin, both oily/combination and sensitive/dry.  This line has three ranges. The first is the clarifying range for those with oily/combination or acne-prone skin that works to clarify and calm the skin. The second is the daily repair range for those with sensitive/dry skin meant to gently moisturize the skin and prevent irritation. The third range is the Advanced Cica range and is a targeted care range meant for protection and more intensive care.   The Face Shop describes the Dr. Belmeur line as “a premium derma-cosmetic skincare line that uses plant-based ingredients that have similar components to our skin. Dermatologically tested, this line provides gentle skincare and barrier-enhancing solution to common skin problems.” 

As the line is a gentle care line there is minimal scent to all the products.  It's a fresh, sweet, cucumber scent that is quite pleasant but it would be better for a gentle line to be scentless altogether as most scents can be irritants for sensitive skin.  Visually, going with the medical theme of the line, all the packaging is reminiscent of medical containers: clean white lines with blue text that look to be written on a prescription pad.  The design makes it easy to identify the three ranges with colour-coded backgrounds: light blue for the clarifying range, light pink for the repair range, dark electric blue for the Cica repair range. In terms of effect the Dr. Belmeur products need time to show results and neither the Clarifying range nor the Daily Repair range have any truly WOW products (I haven't tried any of the Advanced Cica line yet).  The good thing is that the line provides consistent results.  Overall I'd say that this line is best for those in their teens to mid/late 20s.  

The Products

The Dr. Belmeur line encompasses a lot of different products, 29 individual items not counting sets, but the availability of these products will depend on what country you live in. There are also some limited items made in collaboration with Kakao friends that are essentially regular products in cute packaging. As well there is a baby care range with 4 products. 

Clarifying range

Bubble Foam Cleanser

Toner

Spot Soothing Ampoule

Spot Pack Kit

Moisturiser

Centelladerm Ointment

Daily Repair range

Foam Cleanser

Toner

Mineral Salt Toner

Moist Cleansing Water

Exfoliating Pad

Hydrating Mist

Zinc Tone Correcting Cream

Moisturiser

Ato Salt Cream

Soothing Gauze Sheet Mask

Moisturizing Lip Balm

Advanced Cica range

Peptide Ampoul

Recovery Cream

Enriched Cream

Recovery Hand Cream

Hyalourinic Mask

Daily Repair Cleansing Water

This is The Face Shop's only cleansing water.  The current packaging available in Canada has a push-pump top that conveniently dispenses the product onto a cotton pad.  I use two-three pumps at a time.  The products can either be washed off or left as is.  The water is good for mild cleansing in the mornings or in the middle of the day for a pick-me-up.  As with any cleansing water I wouldn't use it as an evening cleanser, it just isn't up to taking off a whole day's dirt.  The products itself is pleasant and doesn't leave any redness or irritation.

Daily Repair Toner

This is a good toner that can be applied both with a cotton pad and just with your hands.  The liquid is viscous enough to avoid spilling too much, but it is still clearly a toner.  Very nice for daily use and leaves the skin feeling refreshed and mildly moisturised.

Clarifying Spot Soothing Ampoule

If I was to pick the most WOW product of the line this would be it.  The ampoule is a targeted treatment for pimples and acne.  If you see or feel a pimple or some acne forming you put this on and it helps to reduce redness, sensitivity, and minimizes the visual effect of any blemishes.  It does help get rid of the blemish faster but I'm not sure if it's because of the product or because the soothing effect prevents you from touching the blemish and it just doesn't get extra irritated.  The ampoule lasts a really long time and has a very convenient dropper applicator that prevents germ contamination from your skin to the bottle.  Just make sure to drop the product onto a finger first instead of touching the dropper to your face. 

Clarifying Spot Pack Kit

This is, to me, the most disappointing product from The Face Shop.  The spot plasters are little circles that stick to the skin and are supposed to fight blemishes but they haven't done anything for me.  I'm not the only one who feels this way so I feel pretty confident in saying that you can skip this product.  It won't do anything except prevent dirt from interacting with the blemish, essentially acting like a small clear bandaid.

Daily Repair Moisturizer

This is a great moisturiser for those who need or want a light touch.  The product has a good consistency coming firmly in the middle between a face butter and an emulsion.  It doesn't leave any sticky residue and has a comfortable skin-feel.  The drawback to it's lightness is that you will want something extra overnight if your skin is prone to dryness or if you have air conditioning or heating.  It's also not up to protecting your skin in the depth of winter, it's just too light.  It's perfect for the summer, though, and works great at promoting an even skin tone and texture. 

Daily Repair Moisturizing Lip Balm

A+ product.  I love this lip balm.  I have very sensitive lips that are prone to infection and almost every lip balm will eat away at the skin along the edges.  This lip balm doesn't do that and actually helps to keep my lips moisturised.  It has zero smell and no colour.  It is on the expensive side but worth it, especially if you have sensitive lips.  

The Face Shop Lucky Pack

This year The Face Shop came out with lucky packs for Christmas.  They were $17.00 so I grabbed one figuring that at such a price it can't hurt.  I was hoping for a nice spread of products, maybe some hand creams, perhaps some make-up, an accessory?  No.  The packs were all random so I don't know what others got, perhaps I should have gotten two to compare them, but this one wasn't very interesting.  The product were good, useful things that I will definitely be using, but nothing very exciting.  On the one hand, it's always good to get stuff that you need, but on the other I like the possibility of getting something I've never thought about in a lucky pack to try it out.  The total value was very much worth it coming in at $70.50 for the whole pack so it was a good investment but I'm still disappointed.. 

And now: Photos!

As you can see there wasn't anything exciting and the spread was pretty basic.  

The Smile Foot peeling masks are pretty expensive at $15.00 each but they work wonders on calloused feet.  This is the mask that causes dead skin to dry and peel away over the course of a week or so.  Do not use it right before wearing open shoes of any kind because you'll be slewing off dead skin and it is not pretty (though it is satisfying).  They aren't useful for anyone who regularly scrubs their feet and doesn't have old skin build-up, though, so if your feet are already callous free, don't bother with one.  

The nose pore strips are very nice.  I like them much more than the cream mask that does the same thing.  I religioulsy follow my cleansing routine (even when falling asleep at the sink or when coming home drunk after the bar) so I don't rally have any black sebaceous filaments on my nose, but a nose-strip is still good for special events when you want to be doubly sure that your face looks its best.  Remember to exfoliate first to get rid of any dead skin cells that may be on your nose. (I like peeling gels myself, they feel a lot gentler on the skin.  Scrubs are just too abrasive)

This is probably the most useless product for me since I prefer to double cleanse with liquid cleansers instead.  The only time I use wipes is to remove light make-up before cleansing so they last forever and end up drying out by the last quarter.  If it had been a travel size it would have been much more useful, but this is the full size so I don't even know what to do with it.  It's still a good product, I just don't use it. 

Misscha Christmas Secret Box Unboxing

This Christmas Missha Canada put out a limited secret box for $45.00.  I've been wanting to try them out so I quickly ordered one, hoping for a good range of products.  After tax and shipping the total came to $61.80, with a total value of $163.00.  Did I find the box worth the money?  Yes, very much so.  There was a good balance between skincare, basic makeup, and other products that are useful for anyone who cares about beauty.  It was delivered within 2 days of my ordering it and was packed well so that nothing got damaged.  I'll be using all the products and I'll write reviews once I experience them.  

And so: Photos!

I just had to take a photo of the package in the box, it was so well packed.

Lets start with skincare

A good spread of products that should work for all skin types.  

Left to right: Defence Sunblock with an SPF of 50, Face Cream, and the Purifying Massage

There were of coarse sheet masks included (what kind of K-beauty box wouldn't have these?)  I'm glad that there was a foot mask, rather than three sheet masks, since I like those the most.  

Top: Foot bootie mask, two Lentil Bean sheet masks
Bottom: two Nose Pore strips

Next we have the makeup

Three more items that should fit a wide range of people.

Left to right: Colour Fit stick shadow in Irish Latte, Pastel Macaron Powder in number 1, A'Pieu Multiple Colour Stick in Brown 2

And the random rest

Back: Juicy Farm shower gel in wild cherry, hand cream
Front: nail polish in clear sparkle and in coral

Plus I got a small bonus bag with two trial-size products.  This was the first thing I saw when opening the box: the daisy bag with makeup inside.  (There product no counted in dollar value total).

Left to right: structured daisy make-up bag, The Original Tension Pact, Time Revolution The First Treatment Essence

Picnic of Pretty

Beauteque Monthly July BB Bag Review

After a reading a lot of reviews and watching many unboxing videos I’ve decided to jump into the Kbeauty subscription box community and the most exciting box to me, of the multitude out there, was the Beauteque BB Bag.

What is the Beauteque BB Bag?  The BB Bag is Beauteque’s themed monthly subscription service that features mainly Korean beauty and lifestyle products.  They promise to deliver a minimum of six full size products with a value of $65-85 every month to your doorstep.

The value of the bag is based on USA pricing and will be higher than the Korean pricing  and may be higher than the pricing on Amazon or other retailers.  The main attraction of the BB Bag, though, is the curation which is usually on point.  The staff at Beauteque are very good at choosing items that stick to the month’s theme and cover a wide variety of products.  A caveat, the items tend to lean more towards skin care as opposed to make up so if you prefer the latter you may not enjoy this bag so much.  Another thing to consider is that BB Bags seem to always include sheet masks as one of the full size products.

Monthly cost breakdown:

Month to month:       $24

Three month:            $24

Six month:                 $23

Twelve month:          $22

The BB Bag ships to most countries for a flat shipping fee:

USA:               $3.95

Canada:          $6.95

Europe:          $8.95

Australia:       $9.95

New Zealand:            $9.95

Japan:             $9.95

Hong Kong : $9.95

Singapore :    $9.95

For more information on the BB Bag and how it works visit: http://www.beautequemonthly.com/bbbag

Onto the July Bag:

This month the theme of the bag was Picnic of Pretty and featured items that you would use “to look and feel your prettiest for a perfect day at the park”.  The products in the bag definitely followed the theme, though I think most of them would be best used after the picnic.

The bag was a nice and cheery yellow rubbery material.  It can be immersed in water and would be perfect for taking to the beach.  Not onto the contents:

Secret Key Aloe Soothing Moist Toner

There really isn’t much to say about a toner, it’s a toner, we all have them (and if you for some reason don’t then go out and get one right now).  This one is great for summer because of the aloe extract.  Aloe extract is fantastic for soothing burns on the skin (goodbye sunburn) and also for moisturizing dry skin.  It’s a great product all around and can also be used in medicine, especially for sore throats.  I’ve added it to my routine because I spend time out in the sun almost every day and I don’t want to ruin my skin.  I’ve been using it in conjunction with my Herb Day Aloe cleanser by The Face Shop. 

As a note, the other option for this toner was Witchhazel which is better for oily skin.

Yeon/Jeju Hallabong Special Peeling and Pack Mini 4 Set

This is a cute set containing four wash-off masks: one Energy Peeling Gel; one Ghassoul Pack; two Energy Live Packs.  These little masks are the perfect size to take with me when I’m travelling so I’ll be saving them for my next trip which is coming up in October.  I’ll try to do a small review on them at that point.

Etude House Milk Talk Body Wash

I was very excited to see an Etude House item in the bb bag since I’ve heard so much about it online.  I got a body wash which I don’t exactly need at the moment but I’ll see how I feel about putting it in the rotation.  It’s a decent sized product, coming in at 200ml, and we’ll see how long it lasts when I start using it.  I got the milk scent which smells like baby powder.  I like it but it may not be for everyone.

Holika Holika Golden Monkey Glamour Lip

This is a three step mask for the lips.  It consists of a scrub, a gel mask, and a honey treatment and is meant to clear up chapped lips.  This looks to be best saved for winter when lips get dry.

Tony Moly Crystal Blusher

I really like this.  It’s just a simple blush but the colour is perfect for my skin.  It goes on very smooth, doesn’t look fake, and has just a bit of shimmer to light up the complexion. 

Blending Brush

Beauteque often includes a lifestyle product in their bags the majority of which are beauty accessories such as eyelash curlers or make-up brushes.  This one is from their own line and is meant for blending the make-up to give it a flawless finish on your face.  I rarely layer my make-up enough to need that so I’ve re-purposed it as a mask brush.  I blatantly took this (frankly genius) idea from Harlot Beauty.  The brush is firm enough to comfortably put on my clay mask and is very simple to clean.  I’ve been doing this for two months now and it’s so much easier and less messy than doing it with my fingers.  I also get a much more even distribution of the mask on my face so I highly recommend using this brush for that. 

I love this bag.  For the first one that I receive it’s exciting, full of large items and things that I would never have known about or thought of trying.  This is why I decided to jump into the subscription pool, the ability to try things I would not have the chance to otherwise.  I’ll be keeping the subscription going for as long as my funds can stand it.

Beauteque Head to Toe Aloe Bag

I got this bag over a month ago, time does fly. Luckily this means that I've gotten to try most of the products in it so I can tell you my thoughts on then. The Bag itself came in a simple linen drawstring pouch which went well with the aloe theme and will be used as a shoe bag in my travels. It's perfect to fit a pair of flats or pumps.  There were seven products in this bag and they were all skin care products. They were also quite large which is nice as they should last me the rest of summer.

My favourite item goes first. It's the Welcos Aloe Vera Soothing Gell.

I am loving the heck out of this gel. It's a pretty big (125ml) container. Slightly tinted green (cause aloe, duh) and perfectly size for my tiny hands. The consistency is a bit thicker than water but the spray still comes out very fine. It takes just a few moments to dry on the skin and doesn't leave any sticky residue. The smell reminds me of cucumbers but all aloe products smell that way. The smell isn't overpowering in the least and dissipates within a few seconds. I'm really happy that it was in the bag as I was looking for a face mist and aloe is just perfect this summer.

Item number two that I've been loving is the Natue Republic Smoothing Aloe Moisture Emultion.

The emultion is quite big as well coming in at 160ml. It comes in a very hard green plastic bottle with a somewhat strange fitting in the neck. The Emultion is actually really hard to get out of the bottle but I've gone around that by placing a pump into the neck. For now it sits in the funny little fitting but when I've used the contents more ill take the fitting out and screw the pump into the neck. It seems that there are standard pump sizes used around the world since the pump fits my British body cream, my Russian shampoo and now my Korean emultion.  The consistency is similar to a runny cream but it's thick enough that it doesn't run through your fingers as you apply it. There isn't much smell to it, which I love, and it absorbes into the face pretty quickly. The description says that it works best when used in tandem with an aloe toner and I have one of those from my BB Bag. I'm glad to have more aloe products for the summer since I spend quite a bit of my time outside either biking or shooting and I always need soothing creams.

Thankfully, for creams I have the Nature Republic Aloe Vera Body Cream.

This is a pretty nice body cream which is 90% aloe extract.  It comes out with a slight greenish tinge and a hint of aloe smell.  The cream glides on very well and absorbs quickly without leaving any kind of residue  This isn't the most interesting of products but it works very well in the summer especially when combined with other aloe products.

Next I have the product I haven't opened yet. The It's Skin Aloe Soothing Gel.

I haven't used this yet because I already have my The Face Shop aloe gel and I'm not going to open a new gel just to try it. This is the smallest product in the bunch (coming in at 75ml) but I don't mind as I can take it on board a plane so it's totally coming with me to San Francisco in October.  With all the sun there this thing will get quite a bit of use.

As always Beauteque has included two sheet masks with their bag and these are both aloe sheet masks. 

I have yet to open the 3W Fresh Aloe Mask Sheet but I've already used the Tosowoong Pure Mask Aloe and been very happy with it. It's got oodles of serum goodness and after it took it off I had just a bit of product left to rub into my neck, chest and upper back (just around my neck. I burn easily so aloe there is needed as well).  I have high hopes for the 3W mask. (Update: I've used the 3W mask and it worked great at soothing my face.  The serum absorbed into my skin really well and didn't leave much on the sheet after I took it off  There was just enough serum to pat a bit onto my neck)

The last product in this bag was a Silicon Massage Pad by a Chinese company called Anna. 

It's very soft but I've used it and I honestly don't see a difference in how clean my skin gets. I've been blessed with pretty small pores so just using cleansers is fine for me.

The Aloe Bag was definitely worth it for me. With fair skin and a love for outdoor sports aloe is my savior in the summer. I even have an aloe cleanser from The Face Shop and an aloe toner from Secret Key to complete the set! As of right now it's still on sale on the Beauteque website so go grab one while you can.  (Beauteque are also doing a promotion where if you subscribe to a 3, 6, or 12 month BB Bag you get the Aloe Bag for free.)