What I used up this August - Vichy Rehydrating Thermal mask/ Peter Thomas Roth botanical buffing beads/ Ren Jojoba Micro Bead Purifying Facial Scrub/ La Cure dead sea mineral salt soap reviews

Still on my quest of reducing amount of skincare in my bathroom cupboards. Here's my effort for this August.

First Vichy Rehydratin Thermal Mask. It's meant to be a light creamy mask that is applied for cleansed skin, leave for 10 min then rinse off. It's supposed to be lightly warming when on the skin.

Comes in a no-fuss squeeze tube, flip open cap, and a pretty small size of 50ml. 

It looks like this...almost like a light moisturising cream. It's easily spreadable and rather light, does not leave an oily residue so doesn't really require a super through rinse off. It does go on lukewarm, has a very typical skincare scent which smells a bit artificial for my liking. 

Honestly, it's a very boring mask- after rinsing off it hardly does anything for the skin. There is no visible hydration. I've tried to leave it on overnight but it seemed to be slightly pore clogging and left my face shiny the next morning (while not intensely hydrating either). Definitely a pass and will not be repurchasing.

Rating is 1/5.

Next item is La Cure Dead Sea Mineral Salt Soap, which is a Jordon company. No idea whether it's a big brand or not, but it's stocked in a few tourist shops and hotels during my trip in Jordon. (and given we stayed in quite nice hotels and western resorts, I expect the brand to be at least up to the standard of those hotels).

It's meant to be consisted of palm oil, palm kernel oil, dead sea salt, glycerin, and some perfume. 

(Sorry, again blogger flipped my image)

Inside it's just shrinkwrapped like below.

Add water - you can see it's slightly foaming.

Overall I think it's clearly a body soap, not for the face. While it says recommended for dry skin, I think that's definitely a climate thing. Yes if you have dry skin while living in Jordon this might be hydrating enough. However when used in the winter cold Sydney, it's very clear there's enough salt in this to be a bit drying. That being said, it's good as a body soap for the back and chest area where you get some congestions or zits ocassionally, and that's what I've been using this soap for. 

It's especially good after I use a hair masque, and the masque residue leaves a slippery feeling on my back (which cannot be good for the skin), I double cleanse with this soap quickly and my back has been congestion free this season and generally smoother to touch.

The soap is a smooth soap, no granules or anything. It's quite nice for what I'm using it for, but I'm sure  a lot of soap brands out there can do similar things as I usually find soap to be a bit more drying than body washes for me.

Rating is 3.5/5. Nice product for my purposes, but entirely replaceable by probably a dozen brands out there.

Next is Peter Thomas Roth Botanical Buffing beads. It's for face and body , supposedly with sebum emulsifying jojoba beads, whole leaf aloe vera  and botanical nutrients.

When I first got really interested in makeup and skincare a few years ago, this was one of the highest rated products on www.makeupalley.com for a scrub (mainly for face).

I used a very small travel sized bottle and decided to buy a full sized bottle. Which is 250ml and comes in a really no-frills looking plastic bottle.

It comes in a click open cap like this- which is always clogged when product dries inside. Not the best mechanism- they need something with a bigger opening.

Product looks like below. It's a lot of super smooth, small jojoba beads suspended in a light blue gel. The scent is light, slightly cucumbery sort of scent. It's a pretty neutral scent so I'm sure guys won't have problem using it either.

Add a bit of water: you can see it spreads really easily, it's non foaming.

Massaged in and rinsed off:

It leaves the skin polished and not overly drying. It really was a staple for quite a few years for me, not too abrasive on my thin skin, yet sloughes off dead skin lightly and gently. However it's very similar to other products such as Ren Jojoba Micro Bead Purifying Facial Scrub or the Laneige Multiberry Yoghurt peeling gel which I reviewed before. In fact out of all 3, Laneige Multiberry Yoghurt peeling gel may be the better of it all, because the Ren Jojoba Micro Bead purifying facial scrub is similar to Peter Thomas Roth, while there's jojoba beads inside, the base is a usual cleanser base. The laneige base is an enzyme cleanser so not only do you get a light physical exfoliation with the jojoba beads, you also get a mild exfoliation overall with the enzyme in the Laneige cleanser.

Rating for Peter Thomas Roth is 4/5. It does the job, comes in an extremely generous size (honestly I had it for 2 years and used at most about 60% of it, even after using it as a body scrub occasionally). Personally I think it's too mild as a body scrub.

While I'm at it, here's the Ren Jojoba Micro Bead Purifying Facial Scrub. I quite like the Ren product concept and range in general, so this was a quick purchase on a whim.

It comes in a 150ml squeeze bottle. You may notice the bottom of the bottle seem a bit odd- basically most of Ren products come in these pump bottles which are refillable, the product itself is actually in like a plastic bag, which you pop into the bottle. While I think the whole refillable idea is nice, but honestly this isn't something like handwash where you would go through bottles constantly, so the refill idea isn't exactly super practical. (in addition it's inevitable that the bottle gets damaged or the pump gets blocked at some point, so it's hard to see the bottle lasting more than a year or two).

Active ingredients is jojoba oil, juniper oil and peppermint oil.

Ren says it's a deep cleansing scrub formulated with microbeads of jojoba oil. Apply on damp face, gentle massage then rinse.

Comes in a squeeze pump, which is easy to use and no blockage yet occurred.

You can barely see the jojoba beads below, but basically any white bit is the jojoba beads. The more gel bit is the cleanser base. There is a lot of jojoba beads and they are very small and round, it's pretty much like Peter Thomas Roth botanical buffing beads.

Added a little bit of water, massaged out. You can see it's a bit grainy looking, which is the jojoba beads. 

The jojoba beads do not melt or anything, it just rolls around the skin gentle as you massage it in.

Overall it's exactly like PTR botanical buffing beads. The Ren product has pretty minimal scent, but also rinses off just as easily. Like both products, the jojoba beads sometimes do get trapped slightly between eyelashes  as you rinse off, so just rinse off a bit more carefully. 

The Ren product has peppermint oil which means it has a very, very slight tingle/ cooling sensation and a very slight minty scent. It must be a very low concentration because after using it for a while, it's almost un-noticeable.

Rating is 4/5. It does what it says. Mild exfoliation.  For those needing a more serious scrub like those microdermabrasion type of scrubs (e.g. Dr Brandt or the Lancome version), this is probably too mild for you . But again, suitable for those with sensitive skin who only need a light scrub (more like polish actually) once a week. 

My Beauty Diary: Peach Soda Eye & Lip Makeup Remover review

I can't believe I've almost used this bottle all up- but here's a review of My Beauty Diary Peach Soda Eye & Lip makeup remover.  It's a bit like Lancome Bi-facil, it's a bi-phased eye makeup remover, there's a slightly oily layer on top and a clear layer on bottle. (As you can see from picture below, the top layer is a clear pink shade and bottom is clear).

As you can see I literally used the bottle all up already.

 

You are meant to shake the bottle before using (like Lancome bifacil and most bi-phased eye makeup removers.

I doesn't have much fragrance inside.

Comes out pretty much as a clear liquid:

Here it is on a few stubborn eye and brow makeup items. From left to right it's Eyeko london Curvy brush mascara , then Shiseido Dramatically eyes long mascara, then Maquillage eye brow wax pencil (forgot shade name). They are all waterproof makeup.

Here it is, just melts off the mascara:

You can see it leaves a slightly shine/ oil residue finish like Lancome bifacil.

All clean below with a few swipes.

It's a great cheap alternative to Lancome Bifacil eye makeup remover, you use about the same quantity, and for stubborn eyemakeup just soak the cotton pad and press against eye for a few more seconds before swiping makeup away. 

In terms of mildness, this is as mild as Lancome bifacil- it doesn't really sting the eyes when some accidentally gets inside my eyes.  Any residue rinses off easily after you use a normal foaming cleanser all over face after makeup removal.

My Beauty Diary is a Taiwanese brand which is owned by one of the largest corporations there, these removers are in 130ml bottles and retail for just 10-12USD depending on which country you bought it from. The bottle lasted me 2-3 months with about 5 times a week use.

Overall rating is 4.5/5. It removes as well as Lancome but probably just a tiny bit less potent, you just need to swipe a few seconds extra compared to Lancome, but they are extremely similar.

Kao Japan Curel Makeup Cleansing Gel review/ swatch

"Curel" is a Japanese drugstore brand, it's a product-line under the Kao Japan group (which is a major cosmetic/ skincare group, also owns various famous brands including Kanebo/ Sofina/ Asience hair line/ Biore, Goldwell (haircare), John Frieda/ Molton Brown etc.

I've read about the Curel line for years on various beauty blogs. It's sort of a low- key and low advertising brand in Taiwan for many years, until it was introduced one or two years ago.  It has a really simplistic packaging featuring usually white bottles with blue accents, which is in-line with its brand philosophy/ target audience - a line tailored for dry, sensitive skin, and ceramide as the key active ingredient (not so much advertised so in cleansing items but more in terms of moisturisers).

I'm reviewing the Makeup Cleansing Gel first. There is surprisingly no cleansing oil in the product line (at least in Taiwan), this is the main makeup remover product from the line. The only other cleansing product is the mousse cleanser which is a normal facewash rather than a makeup remover.

The full size is 130g. (Retails about 18-25AUD depending on which Asian country). You can often find Curel skincare kits to try out before you buy any item in full size. The travel kits are great prices and I highly recommend you trying to buy a travel kit from online before buying any full sized products from the line. 

The cleansing gel comes in a squeeze bottle. It says suggested application is 2cm diameter dollop. (even has an indicator on the back of the tube to show suggested size).

The box below does say at night time, after the cleansing gel, follow with foaming cleanser. 

Flip open packaging. 

Here is my standard test- trying to use it to remove makeup based on my existing makeup bag.

I'm using the below, Shu Uemura blush in M Pink 33E, Armani Designer shaping foundation in shade #4, MAC Brow finisher in shade "Wheat", and Eyeko London curvy brush mascara curl & hold in black.  (The eyeko mascara is ok, not worthy of a good or bad review. The Armani foundation I'm still testing it and will write separate review, MAC brow finisher in wheat is quite nice and so is Shu Uemura blush in M Pink 33E).

Swatches:

Applying a dollop of the makeup cleansing gel as per instruction. (Use on dry skin, then massage in small circles for a few times until makeup melts, then rinse with water). It's a bit like the cleansing oil concept other than you don't really need to gradually add water to emulsify.

The gel also sort of melts slightly once in contact with body temperature. It's a nice gel consistency, not oily but has great slip and spreadability, yet doesn't drip easily like most cleansing oils.

Massaged in: you can see how it almost slightly emulsifies just with the massage and melts the makeup. I did not add any water.

Rinse with water and pat dry. You can see it removes all traces of makeup other than waterproof mascaras. (Which is expected- mascaras nowadays are getting really tough, I'm yet to really come across many makeup remover products that is mild enough and can do the whole face without needing a specific eye makeup remover).

When using on the face I usually follow with a foaming cleanser (either by Curel or other brands) just for double clean. However, this cleansing gel does not seem to leave much residue or oily feeling even if you just rinse with water. The trick is to use on dry skin though (if you use on damp skin it does not cleanse as well and may leave a residue sort of feeling).

I used to never really believe the whole thing about cleansing oils causes congested skin which I've read repeatedly on various Asian newspapers or beauty magazines. I think usually only either bad quality cleansing oil products or oils that doesn't suit your skin or bad cleansing regime (e.g. not emulsifying and rinsing off properly) would cause congestion.  However, during my recent holiday abroad for a full month, I forgot to bring a cleansing oil and bought a Curel skincare kit which included this makeup cleansing gel, I actually found my skin to be clearer overall (less blackheads, less random small bumps under the forehead and less irritated/ sensitised looking skin after cleansing). 

It's a very slight improvement, however the improvement is there so I'm sticking with it.

I do still use cleansing oils occasionally when I'm lazy or when I'm wearing heavier makeup, but for usual light makeup days, this Curel cleansing gel is fantastic and I think I will be sticking with this for a while. (It reminds me a bit of Philosophy purity made simple cleanser- excellent makeup removal property yet easy to rinse off).

Rating is 5/5. The full retail size tube would last a few months easily, which means this doesn't really cost more than using a normal cleansing oil.

Isa Knox Deep Cleansing Water & Kawaii Tokyo Promising Aqua Quick Wipe off water (micellar cleanser) review

I'm a pretty compulsive shopper when it comes to buying and trying new skincare and makeup items. Sometimes I open a particular bottle of skincare and uses it a few times and just sort of forget about it. So after opening my bathroom cabinet and found literally about 30+ bottles of opened products, I decided it's time to do a clean up and go through each item and review things I like and throw out anything that's expired or where it's just not worth keeping.

While I've been using a cleansing oil to remove makeup for the last 4 or 5 years, I finally realised they are not fantastic for my skin. During my recent overseas trip, I forgot to pack my cleansing oil and instead bought a cleansing gel and some other random cleansing water and used it for makeup removal for the following 3 weeks, and realised my skin was so much better.  Now I'm continuing that trial and see if I can move into non cleansing oil makeup remover for a few months and see how much skin goes.

Here is a review and comparison of two cheaper makeup cleansing waters. Isa Knox is a korean brand and Kawaii Tokyo is a Japanese drugstore brand. Both are probably under 20USD for a 200ml bottle.

Kawaii Tokyo:

Comes in a white semi clear plastic bottle with flip top opening. The cleansing water is a clear watery consistency, it's definitely scented, a bit citrusy/ lemony scent. 

Instruction on the bottle says recommended to use with cotton pads, saturate cotton pad with liquid, then apply to makeup and remove. Repeat until the pad comes off clean.

Here it is on cotton pad, you can see it's just like water:

Here are some usual makeup pulled from my daily makeup bag. Kiss me mascara on left (the one in the pink tube), Maquillage eyebrow wax pencil (BR shade), Lancome french touch absolue lipstick in 308, then MUFE lift concealer (I think shade 2 or 3).

With cleansing water, it works more effectively if you press the cotton pad against skin for a few seconds before wiping off (same idea as eyemakeup removers). 

Unfortunately, it removes just about everything other than waterproof mascara. Kiss Me mascaras are really oil and waterproof- the only eye makeup remover I use to remove it efficiently is Lancome bifacil (reviewed earlier in March 2013). So I don't think it's really an issue- when you use a micellar water cleanser, you should really use a separate eye makeup remover for the eye area.

Overall as a makeup remover it's quite effective. However it's not completely clean and refreshed feeling, maybe due to the scent, so I always wash my face with an ordinary foaming facial cleanser afterwards. 

p.s. this stings a little bit when used as an eye makeup remover.

Next up is the Isa Knox deep cleansing water. Which boasts it's a "waterproof eye and face makeup remover". 

Unforuntately as the bottle is clear plastic and all the words printed on the back cannot be photographed properly. But the instructions for use is the same.

Again, clear watery consistency. There's a generic cleanser scent. 

The same makeups on my other arm:

Wiped off:

You can see it's a bit more potent than the Kawaii Tokyo cleansing water, it removes waterproof mascara fine on the back of the arm, but it doesn't really work on the eye since there's too much tugging and wiping involved and probably still some traces will remain. Again, it's stings a little bit on the eye area so I would just use a normal eye makeup remover instead.

Overall both are fairly cheap options, though with cleansing water you cant really skimp on the quantity used so you would easily go through a bottle every 2 or 3 months (together with a lot of cotton pads). It equally leaves a slight uncomfortable feeling on the face (feels a bit like you used a stickier toner), so I always follow with a foaming cleanser.

I should say my current staple micellar water is Bioderma Sensibio micellar water. It's a lot more gentle but equally effective as these two I reviewed above, and also leaves the face more supple. I shall review the Bioderma one later.