Skincare Routine Mondays: April 25, 2016

1. Oil Cleanser: None.
2. Water-based Cleanser: Been switching between Fresh Soy Face Cleanser (which is still my favorite) and SUM:37's Miracle Rose Cleansing Stick. Alternating because something is going on with my skin and I can't figure out what.
3. Toner:  The Face Shop's Chia Water 100 toner from set (on right)
4. Serum or essence: The Face Shop Chia Seed First Essence (10ml sample size) and I "tried" the set's "lotion." 
5. Moisturizer:
    AM: Aveeno Smart Essentials Daily Nourishing Moisturizer SPF 30, though lately I've been breaking out the BIORE UV Aqua Rich Watery Essence because the weather has been so nice and I don't need the grease of my usual Aveeno.
   PM :Mizon - All in One Snail Repair Cream (75ml), which honestly has been the most skin saving, best thing this week!!

RANT:

So my Missha Time Revolution set has finished itself, and I had already started introducing MRCS into my routine.... BUT, something is going wrong!!!

I know starting too many new products at once is bad, but it happens. :( I am out, and so I started the Chia Water set thing and OH NOES, my skin feels smooth-ish, but there are SO MANY little bumps popping up everywhere! Little white-ish ones that aren't white-heads, but aren't normal either!

The MRCS gives my skin a little tightness, I'm guessing it's overly drying my skin, so I've been using what little is left of the Fresh Soy Face Cleanser that I love so dearly (and thank goodness it's Sephora's Birthday gift as well, so I have a little more to live off of). So MRCS is not as "miraculous" as it made to be. However, it's only made worse by the new products that took over Missha's place...

Toner, First Essence 10 ml, Moisture Cream 10 ml, "Lotion" UGH

The most disappointing though is The Face Shop's Chia Water set. Sure, it looks pretty, and it was an impulse buy in duty free, butttttt not pleasing at all. They're in two skinny, but really heavy glass bottle, that I'm always nervous I'm going to crack the sink with (already cracked it once before).

The toner is toner, it's not as watery as the one I just finished from Missha, but it does the job. Unlike the Missha Clear Toner, this is a hydrating toner. The first essence is more gel-like and sticky when I put it on, but the WORST is the "lotion" that came with the set. I feel like I'm just putting hand lotion on my face to the extent where I stopped using it after two days. It felt awful and just ineffective. 

Mizon All in One Snail Repair cream has really saved my face this week. If it weren't for that product, I would probably cry and use face mask after face mask, begging my skin to get it's act together and just pretend that my Missha Time Revolution set did not run out.

Though I do not know where exactly I stand with toner yet, but I do know that I got spoiled by using good products to start my skincare routine, and now that I'm using sub-par products I am really feeling (paying) the difference.

Skincare Routine Mondays: April 18, 2016

It's official, I am OUT of Missha FTE. Also, introducing a cult favorite foaming face soap. More below.

1. Oil Cleanser: None. Should I bother when I'm fresh-faced (a la sans make-up) everyday? Please advise.
2. Water-based Cleanser: Fresh Soy Face Cleanser. Which is nearing it's end, which bothers me because at $15 for 1.7 ounces, that's a lot of money for a product that lasts... less than three months? My first record of it was from February 1st. It's just past the mid-point of April, meaning that it's getting low at the 2.5 month mark, which concerns me for such a luxury product that I actually LOVE using. Starting using SU:M37's MRCS (aka miracle rose cleansing stick, aka cult favorite). It's literally a cylinder of soap and I write more about it below.
3. Toner: Missha's Clear Toner (in the Time Revolution Starter Set), but will be switching over to The Face Shop's Chia Water 100 toner. (From something similar to this set, though my packaging is different)
4. Serum or essence: "First" Essence-- Missha's The First Treatment Essence (in the Time Revolution Starter Set), which I AM OFFICIALLY OUT OF, so I have been sad. However, I will start using The Face Shop Chia Seed First Essence (10ml sample size), but I am not sure how I feel about this set. I will follow with the set's Lotion, which I cannot tell if the consistency is more or less thick than the Mizon Cream I am using now.
5. Moisturizer:
    AM: Aveeno Smart Essentials Daily Nourishing Moisturizer SPF 30.
   PM :Mizon - All in One Snail Repair Cream (75ml), which gets absorbed so nicely that it's not bad at all to layer underneath my greasy morning Aveeno SPF moisturizer.
6. Treatment Sheet Mask:My Scheming 我的心機 L-Ascorbic Acid Whitening, which I actually got individually from Poya (which is where I bought the majority of my individually bought masks from). It's a milky serum, that I have been hoarding and using on my face since I don't have a set serum and my Missha FTE is out.

SU:M37 Miracle Rose Cleansing Stick is not "miraculous" per say, but it is exactly everything else it says it is. Rose, yep!  

It's quite fragrant, so if you don't like the smell of roses, don't even think about this. I bought it at Duty Free in Incheon this past January. Since it's a natural soap, and these things go bad, I decided that I would use it this weekend as I was going to my friend's house and didn't feel like toting around a nearly empty bottle of face wash.

Instructions:

• Wet face.
• Rub stick over face as if your whole face was a pair of lips needing chapstick.
• The label makes it looks like you need to rub on face until foamy but I think
• Rub face with hands after swiping stick over face (it will suds enough itself)
• Rinse

I also tried to method of rubbing it on my hands and then sudsing it up that way, but I felt like I wasted more product that way. It's really up to you.

The first impression I had was concern. Once I rinsed my face, my face felt tight. I think panicked that thought that this is a bar of soap, what if the pH isn't right?!?! Cue mini-internal drama going on inside my head. Why would my skin feel tight? Usually a pH imbalance, too alkali or something. Looked it up, it has an acidic 5.5 pH level, so that should be fine, it's in the right range. So what was it then?

However, I used it several more time over the weekend and it felt nice. I just felt like I was using too much of it, so I worked my way down to wetting my face and giving my face a quick once over before foaming the soap on my skin up. 

I am still not sure how I feel about this, especially after the initial tightness feel. Doesn't seem Holy Grail status, and it seems to be in the same price range as my Fresh Soy Cleanser that I just love so much more. We will see how this goes.

HAUL HAUL HAUL HAUL HAUL HAUL HAUL HAUL

I really should have taken a picture before I squished everything into my luggage, but still, MAJOR HAUL TIME.

MASKS GALORE!
DUTY FREE IS STILL NOT THE BEST PRICE!!
IMPULSE BUYS!

Items purchased in Duty Free (which is cheaper if you can order it online first and pick it up later, which I foolishly did not do):

• Su:m37 Miracle Rose Cleansing Stick 80g Cleanser Stick ($20 USD)
• The Face Shop Rice Water Bright Cleansing Light Oil ($7 USD)
• Tonymoly Egg Pore Blackhead Steam Balm 30g (~$7 USD)
• Nature Republic Super Aqua Max Combination Watery Cream (~$10 USD)
• The Face Shop Chia Seed Watery SET ($24 USD)
• The Face Shop Real Nature Mask Pomegranate 10 Sheets ($8 USD)
• Laneige - Water Sleeping Mask ($21 USD)
• Nature Republic Ginseng Royal Silk Watery Cream 60g which came with an Essence I don't remember what exactly ($44 USD)

Items purchased in Taiwan:

• BIORE UV Aqua Rich Watery Essence - SPF50 PA++ 50ml (~$7.50 USD)
• My Beauty Diary - Imperial Bird's Nest Mask (10pcs) (~$6.25 USD)
• My Beauty Diary - Black Pearl Mask (10pcs) (~$6.25 USD)
• Daiso Japan Reusable Silicon Mask Cover for Sheet Mask (White) x2 (~$1.25 USD each)
• Etude House Collagen Eye Patch (x6) (~$1 USD each)
• Etude House I Need You Assorted Mask Sheets: Collagen, Hyaluronic Acid, Pomegranate, Vita Complex, Coenzyme Q10, Korean Ginseng, Snail , Damask Rose, Korean Strawberry, Silk Cocoon (~$1 USD each)
• Mizon - All in One Snail Repair Cream (75ml) (~$15 USD)
• LoveMore Pearl Barley & Milk Smoothing Mask (~$3.25 USD)
• LoveMore Rosa Hybrida Whitening Mask ($3.25 USD)
• Girls Face Washing Headband, Purple With Ears!! (~$2 USD) Not exactly the same as the link, but you get the gist. 
• Guerisson 9 Complex Cream 20g (~$6 USD) Usually you only ever see the 70g one for $20 or more. Oddly enough they had a small size of it in Taiwan and I thought that would be enough to try it out.
• My Scheming Masks (~$.80 USD each)
• NRK Masks (~1.25 USD Each)
• Esfolio Volcanic Ash (x2) and Snail Essence (x2) (~$.50 USD each)