IsQueen Miracle Lifting Night Waterpack

This is a pack of 3 cute travel size trio of IsQueen Miracle Night Waterpack line, which I got as a GWP when I bought the full size Miracle Renewal Night Waterpack.



This little set includes the Acne Night Waterpack (left, pink), Lifting Night Waterpack (middle, cream), and Renewal Night Waterpack (right, sea foam green). Since I was already using the Renewal Waterpack and I don't have any use for the Acne Waterpack (actually, it might dry out my skin, even!), I thought I'd try the Lifting Waterpack instead. And what do you know, I ended liking this one much better than the Renewal Waterpack!



The Lifting Waterpack is a milky cream colored gel that's much thinner than the Renewal Waterpack, but not runny. It's also not as heavily perfumed, having a fresh clean scent I preferred over the flowery ones. The biggest selling point for me is that it's not nearly as sticky as the Renewal Waterpack while delivering similar results the next morning. My skin was soft and moisturized without any adverse reactions!

If you are looking into trying IsQueen's Miracle Night Waterpack line, I would recommend the Lifting Waterpack over the Renewal Waterpack.

IsQueen Miracle Renewal Night Waterpack

Recently I grew tired of the sheet masks (finally moving out of that phase, I guess) and busted out my waterpack/sleeping pack arsenal, including a few brand new and sealed items I haven't touched. One of them is IsQueen Miracle Renewal Night Waterpack.



The jar was packed nicely, in a pretty box sealed at top. Although it felt suspiciously light for a 50 mL jar of gel...



This cute little fan brush was inside the box. The instructions in English says to use the brush and spread a thin layer onto to skin. I didn't follow the instructions :P I knew the brush would pile on more than I wanted, and plus it would take away the fingertips massage action which, in my opinion, make applying these sleeping packs much more enjoyable. Perhaps that brush would be more suitable for a clay mask or other wash-off masks that call for a thicker layer, but probably not this. Definitely not in my case since I apply sleeping packs sparingly to avoid going to bed with a sticky face. Urgh.



So I finally discovered the reason why the box was so light - the freakin' jar was half empty when I opened it! The box was sealed on the outside, so I'm pretty sure no one got to it before I did. That means the darn jar was only half way filled when I bought it! What the hell, right? Look at the picture below - doesn't it look like I'm almost finished with it? And it was supposed to be 50 mL! I felt so ripped off! Boo. Hiss.



Anyway, so that half-empty surprise pretty much fizzled the "miracle" for me. The sleeping pack itself was okay, way too heavily scented with a strong floral, old lady perfumy scent that's a mixture of rose and some other flowers I couldn't really distinguish. The milky sea foam colored gel was actually thicker than it looks and I had to use very little or risk feeling like a walking fly trap. My skin did turn out nice and soft the next morning with no break outs or funny reactions. However, the scent and the thickness of the gel prevented me from using it more often, which is really too bad.

Etude House Moistfull Sheet Mask

During my sheet mask phase, I was dying to get my hands on these Etude House Moistfull Sheet Mask but apparently they're not for sale but are given out (by Etude House) as GWP. And then I found an Ebay seller who sold them :D



Been using them off and on since the summer, more frequent during the hot months and much less often now, if at all. These have the same scent as the rest of the Moistfull line, which I really like. However, the masks themselves didn't have the best fit and they were cut funny. I was also a bit disappointed that the serum they were soaked in was runny and watery, and that they only provided very light moisture and hydration. And while that combination worked perfectly in the heat and humidity, they're pretty much useless right now and I might as well skip them.

So yeah, I sort of see why they don't sell these and give them out instead. But then again, during the summer and your skin needs some refreshment, these are awesome chilled!!!

But they're pretty much a seasonal item, limited to usage during the hot and humid summer, I'm afraid.

Etude House Moistfull Gel Cream

The full size 50 mL Etude House Moistfull Gel Cream comes in this Moistfull Special Set, which also includes a 25 mL each of the Toner and Lotion.



I bought this set because I've read that the Moistfull Gel Cream is good and plus I wanted to try out the Lotion and Toner before buying their giant full size bottles. However, it was so humid back then and I had to put the Gel Cream on hold to use the Lotion and Toner first. It has been a while since, I know, but humidity is finally down to a more reasonable 40-something % in my apartment and I finally got to the Gel Cream.



Just a quick recap - I did like the Lotion a lot and I bought the full size. However, I absolutely hated the Toner for being sticky as hell and am sure glad I didn't buy the full size Toner! The thought of being stuck with all 150 mL of something I hate is just depressing.



Quite unfortunately, this Moistfull Gel Cream is nothing but a gel cream version of the Toner. It is so incredibly S-T-I-C-K-Y. If I put as little as I can, then it's fine, but otherwise, the stickiness just icks me out. I can't even imaging using this stuff in humidity. Urgh. And the problem with using so little is that, well, it's not moisturizing enough! Especially now when it's drier, I actually need a gel cream that's more moisturizing, and not only this product totally fails me, it defeats its own purpose. Argh. Such a counterproductive item! A total flop for me.

Scent wise, it smells the same as all the other Moistfull product. Definitely scented but a tolerable fragrant. Too bad it's so sticky...

See my previous Etude House Moistfull Lotion & Toner post.

The Body Shop Pink Grapefruit Shower Gel

I used (and quickly finished) The Body Shop Pink Grapefruit Shower Gel from The Pink Grapefruit Goodness Gift Set recently.



The gift set came with (taken from The Body Shop USA website):
- 8.4 fl oz Pink Grapefruit Shower Gel
- 1.7 oz Pink Grapefruit Body Butter
- 1.7 oz Pink Grapefruit Body Scrub
- 3.5 oz Pink Grapefruit Soap
- Pink and White Bath Lily
- Pretty curved floral-printed card box with magnetic closure (which I'm not so sure what to do with...)


***Picture from The Body Shop USA.

Given my experience with the Naive Grapefruit Body Wash, I was really afraid that the Pink Grapefruit Shower Gel wouldn't be as mild as the Wild Cherry Shower Gel, but to my luck it was even more gentle. I had absolutely no dry or itchy skin while using this I was amazed! And I luuuuuuuuurv the Pink Grapefruit scent so much!!! It was so refreshing and my whole shower smelled good! Ah...



Would I buy it again? Absolutely. In fact, I'll buy more than one item from this range again, like the Pink Grapefruit Body Butter and the Pink Grapefruit Lotion, which I still haven't gotten yet, unfortunately :(



See my previous The Body Shop Pink Grapefruit Body Butter post.

Badger Sleep Balm

I've been curious about this Badger Sleep Balm for a while now but really had no reason to try it. I'm a pretty heavy sleeper and have no trouble falling asleep like a log, well, there are times when it can be a bit hard, but only because I was hungry and a glass of milk usually puts me out cold. And then a while back my friend complained about not being able to sleep well and had to resort to popping pills to get some z's. That stuff scares the daylights out of me, so I gave this to her to see if it would help. She says it really it did help, so that tipped the scale and I bought one for myself too :D



The balm's texture is on the hard side, but a few rubs and you'll have a thin but slightly oily layer to rub onto your temples (I usually put some above my upper lip too). Its texture is similar to Tiger Balm, may be just a tad harder, but very similar. It has this spicy (not hot spicy, but spice-y) herbal scent with just a slight hint of lavender. It's nice and relaxing, but to be honest, I really don't know if it works or not. Like I said, it's usually because I'm hungry that I can't fall asleep quickly and a glass of milk does the job, so...LOL sorry if this review is not very helpful... :D

See my previous Badger SPF 30 post.

Naive Facial Cleansing Foam

Good grief, how long has it been since my last post?!? My apologies. I won't make excuses. Life just got in the way, that's all.

Plus I haven't been wearing any makeup these past several weeks -gasps!- Dunno why but I just haven't been feeling the pretties recently. Is it even possible for me to get lazier? Shoot!!!

This is going to be a review for Naive Facial Cleansing Foam in Aloe. I have another one in Peach too, but I decided to try this one out first. The description on Sasa.com says it's made out of "100% botanical soap base" and aloe extract "deeply moisturizes" the skin. Errm...I don't know about the 100% botanical soap base, but it definite does not deeply moisturize my skin, that's for sure. In fact, if I accidentally use too much, it will dry my face out a bit.



Both hubby and I have been using it for weeks now, and it's an effective cleanser that gets my skin squeaky clean. It is scented, but doesn't really smell anything like "aloe". I found this soapy scent common among a lot of Naive products, like the Naive Aloe Body Wash, for example. They all have this "freshly showered" kind of fragrance, which sometimes can be a bit ugly as in the case of the Naive White Facial Cleansing Foam. Another similar characteristic among Naive products (actually, most Japanese face and body foaming washes) is that they foam really well, and this face is no exclusion!

With all that said, I probably will not buy this Naive Facial Cleansing Foam - Aloe again. It's just too generic for me to stick with. There is such a wide range of possibilities out there for face washes that it just doesn't make sense for me to be loyal to one when it's nothing special.

See my previous Naive White Facial Cleansing Foam post.

Soap Crazy Part II (picture heavy!)

More soaps, wee!!! Obsessed? Very much so :) Again, most of these were given away as gifts, but hubby and I did use up a couple of bars ourselves in record time! Also, although I've occasionally received samples of cold process soaps along with my various purchases, I've only recently bought my very first cold process bar from LOLSoaps below. I've been curious about cold process soaps after reading that a quality bar of cold process soap is milder and gentler than your average melt-and-pour bar.

You see, up until now, the vast majority of the soaps I've bought from Etsy are what they called "melt-and-pour" soaps. These melt-and-pour soaps are handmade, but are not made from scratch:
- They are handmade because the maker bought a pre-made soap base from a supplier, melt them, add in various formulations of fragrance/essential oils and/or colorants, then pour them into molds and made into myriad designs.
- They are not made from scratch because, of course, the soap base was purchased pre-made from a supplier.

Cold process soaps, on the other hand, are made from scratch through a careful and time consuming process that requires lots of patience. To read all about soap making, see the About.com's Soap Making Basics page. As for me, I'm not about to go make pounds of the same soap and would much rather pay for different bars :P

BUT with all that said, unfortunately it turned out that I very much dislike cold process soaps. Stupid me, but I never even tried any of the cold process soap samples I had and only after LOLSoaps' Rose Garden & Thyme Cold Process Soapette did I go back and use all the samples - I wanted to see if whatever it was that bothered me was specific that LOLSoaps' bar or it was something common to cold process soaps. Well, it turned out that what I hated was common to cold process soaps, or at least common among all the cold process soap samples I had.

Beneath the fragrance/essential oils that gave the cold process soap its scent, there was another funky odor that is otherwise very slight until the actual wash, upon which it gets overwhelmingly strong to me and lingers on my hands even long after. It was something like a funky plastic-y foamy smell that I can't really describe. I just know I couldn't stand it and it made me wants to wash my hands again. At first, I thought it was the LOLSoaps' bar as the Rose Garden & Thyme scent could barely mask that odor (during washing). But then when I went back and tried all my other cold process soap samples, they ALL had that same smell!!! Urgh +.+ I don't know what that smell is! Does anyone know? Now I avoid cold process soaps like a plague. It's just me though. You might not share my problem with that smell at all :)

- LOLSoaps: a brand new shop that just started in April 2009 with very few sales so I thought I'd try them out.

Rose Garden & Thyme Cold Process Soapette: before the wash I actually liked the Rose Garden & Thyme scent. It's an flowery herb scent that's nice and soothing, not too overly rosy. And then I went to wash my hands with it, and bleargh, it all went down hill from here. Definitely not the soap maker's fault though as the offending odor was uniformly found in all my other cold process soap samples as well.




- KcSoapsNmore: another relatively new, 9-months old shop that sells a small variety of mostly "fun" soaps in different animal/food/seasonal shapes or just plain rectangular bars. Occasionally though, they'll have a few beautifully layered and cut goat's milk bars that you'll have to keep an eye out for, like this simple but adorable Polka Dot Cherry Goat's Milk Bar, or this triple layer White Ginger and Amber Goat's Milk Bar (I couldn't resist and bought them both :D will review later after use...). Also, their soaps arrive occasion-ready, as in they are wrapped in nice cellophane bags and tied with a ribbon and need no further gift-wrapping!

Peony & Tulip Goat's Milk Soap: this was a gift for my mum in law :) She likes flowers and would cut fresh flowers from her garden to decorate her house, so I thought she would like a nice bar of flowery soap. And it was totally flowery, in fact, a bit too flowery for me. It was pretty though, and pink :D






- Heathen's Hearth: soaps from this maker aren't as aesthetically pleasing as those from Anderson Soap Company below or KcSoapsNmore above, but most of them are made with goat's milk base, which I absolutely love due to its moisturizing factor. Although I must admit their goat's milk soaps could be a bit more moisturizing, but may be that's just me and my alligator hands speaking. I love both Anderson Soap Company and KcSoapsNmore, but I think Dennis (Anderson) tries to keep all his soaps vegan-friendly while I'm not really into the majority of the "fun" soaps from Kasey (of KcSoapsNmore). So yeah, I go to Heathen's Hearth for goat's milk soaps. Plus they have some really nice scents, like these Lavender Mint or Tea Tree and Peppermint Goat's Milk bars.

Rice Petals & Shea Natural Goat's Milk Soap: this is a duplicate for Bath & Body Work's now-discontinued Rice Petals & Shea scent, which I used to like. This bar's fragrance is a bit sweeter, much softer though and not as strong as the original Bath & Body Work's scent.






Baby Bee Buttermilk Soap: this is supposed to be a Burt's Bees duplicate, although I don't know the original scent so I can't really compare. It smells good though :) Has a really strong top note of cherry candy cane and a faint bottom note of baby powder. And the scent lingers for a long time after washing. I will probably buy this bar again!




- Anderson Soap Company: my reliable soap source :D Dennis makes some of the best shea butter-based soaps out there that are even milder and gentler than Heathen's Hearth's goat's milk soaps! Still, I prefer goat's milk soaps and just wish that Dennis would make some goat's milk bars, although I don't think he will :P I haven't asked, but given how wildly successful he is, I'm sure he'd been asked countless times and if he would make goat's milk soaps, we would have seen them by now.

Mystery Fleur-de-lis GWP Soap: Dennis threw this one in for me and it wasn't labeled so I have no idea what it is! It is too floral for me though, so chances are it'll go to another recipient :)




Lime & Cucumber Melon Soap




Strawberry Shortcake Soap: this is an olive oil hot process soap. Huge bar too! And I can smell the strawberry shortcake even though it was pretty well-wrapped. I was really curious about it, but it went to my friend Trangy as a present anyway :)





Coconut Crazy Soap: another bar I was curious about, but ended up giving to Carla as I know she loves coconut. Oh well, even more reasons to go back :P




Poppy Black Cherry Exfoliating Soap: as you can see, I like this soap enough to buy a couple of bars. The soap smelled really strong inside the packaging, so much that when I store this soap together with other soaps, it overwhelmed those bars and they all smelled like this black cherry scent! But then after I open one bar to use expecting a small sensory assault, nothing happened! I mean, the soap had a subtle black cherry scent along with a similarly pleasing musky powder fragrance that are common with many of Dennis's shea butter soaps, but it wasn't anything so emanating that it would scent my sink area like the Exfoliating Lavender Buds bar did.


I did like the soap a lot though. It made my hands smelled nice and clean, with a dash of cherry :) Oh, and the exfoliating poppy seeds were nice, but they gave the soap the same problem the lavender buds gave the Exfoliating Lavender bar above - the soap crumbled as they fall out towards the end.



Didn't stop me from buying multitudes of them though :D




See my previous Soap Crazy post.

Lavshuca Cheek Color Select

I've had these Lavshuca Cheek Color Selects for a loooooong time but didn't quite get around to using them until now. The truth is that I had forgotten about them :( In fact, I kind of forgot about the entire Lavshuca brand! Being as fickle as I am, I don't really follow the current/seasonal collections/trends and whatnot. When rotating my makeup I mostly just pick whatever suits my fancy at the time. That means I can get totally distracted with some things (like L'Occitane earlier this year, or the current obsession with handmade soaps, for example!) and forget about everything else :X

That said, you will definitely see more Lavshuca items in the near future as I'm determined (erh...we'll see how long that'll last...) to carve out several posts for them. These Cheek Color Selects have been discontinued for a while now. Back then, I got mine from Sasa.com, but you can probably find them on Ebay. There were 4 colors available: PK-1, OR-1, RD-1, and BR-1 (or was it BE-1? It's been so long I don't remember +.+). I am only reviewing PK-1 and RD-1 today.



These blushes come in a pearly pink case with a raised "L" for "Lavshuca" logo. The compact has a mirror and a brush, which I don't use. Each blush has 5 different color stripes with the top 2 meant for highlighting. I usually just swirl them all together and don't really bother with picking up each individual colors. These blushes are fragrance free.

- PK-1: this whole blush might as well be a highlighter as it is so very sheer, even on me! With one layer, I get just a slight hint of fresh but cooler pink and that's about it and I assume you can layer for a brighter pink shade. I like my makeup sheer though :) Plus, the sheerness makes this blush very easy to use and you can't really mess it up since it's not that shimmery to begin with, despite the pictures.


From top to bottom:
- Very pale airy pink with shimmers
- Powder pink with shimmers
- Bow pink with shimmers
- Lilac with shimmers
- Bubblegum pink with very few shimmers, almost matte. It is definitely brighter and cooler in natural light than in the pictures.


- RD-1: this one is better pigmented than PK-1. It gives me flushed, but subdued, red cheeks. Very few blushes can actually achieve this so I love it! Again I don't use the top 2 stripes as highlighters and just swirl the whole thing together. I suppose if I concentrate my brush on the bottom 3 stripes, the blush would be even more pigmented.


From top to bottom:
- Warm fleshy pink with shimmer
- Pale peach with shimmers
- Unripe watermelon red with shimmers
- Pale lemony yellow with shimmers
- Muted tomato red with very few shimmers, almost matte.

Etude House Moistfull Toner & Lotion

I wanted to try Etude House Moistfull Toner and Lotion but didn't want to buy the full size, which contains a whopping 150 mL of the product! I mean, what if I hate them, I'd be stuck with 2 giant bottles of stuff I won't use! So instead, I got this Moistfull Special Set, which includes the full size 50 mL Moistfull Gel Cream, and a 25 mL each of the Toner and Lotion.





I read somewhere that the Moistfull Gel Cream is really good and very moisturizing. And because it's supposedly moisturizing, I decided to set it aside for the dryer winter instead. It's still pretty humid outside, so I don't really need a super moisturizer right now.



I'm happy to report that the Moistfull Lotion worked out okay for me (and hubby too!). However, the Moistfull Toner did not. The Toner had an interesting texture. It was like a runny gel instead of your average water-like toner. Of course, it was chock full of alcohol, but that wasn't what that bothered me. I just couldn't get over how sticky it was! Cacaopack did mention this to me before, but I was determined to try it myself, and boy was she right. The Toner was sticky by itself and stickier underneath the Lotion. Yuck!



But the Lotion was quite good. And potent as hell. I could not use more than just dabs at a time, and when I accidentally did, my face was a grease ball by the afternoon (even with the waterproof sunscreen!) or the next morning. Good thing it was not sticky at all though, unlike the Toner. In fact, it felt really good on clean, bare skin. The scent is a fresh/clean type, and I actually like it a lot. But I guess this Lotion is also winter material and not for the humid weather. Hmm...now I have to wonder what the Gel Cream is like. May be I'll try it sooner rather than later...

Either way, I went a bought the full size Lotion. And as expected, it came in this gigantic glass bottle, the whole whopping 150 mL! Wow. This will probably take me and hubby years to finish, especially when all you need is dabs. Sheesh.