Missha Super Aqua Refreshing Cleansing Foam

Good afternoon!
Today I would like to introduce you to Missha's Refreshing Foam.

Product description: Super Aqua gives your skin radiance with a help from three revitalized water from nature. Containing Sweet Flag Extract and Willow Bark Extract which gives a massage effect with its minute and rich bubbles, Super Aqua cleansing foam gently and completely removes makeup and impurities.

 The full size product is a squeezy tube with 200ml capacity, I was testing out a 3ml sample.

The foam is not a foam itself, rather a pearly white cream, which turns into a foam after massaging into skin. It reminds me my dad's old fashioned shaving cream ;) A little goes a long way - it takes only a pea size to create loads of thick foam and the 3ml sample lasted me for three applications, how good is that?! Another great advantage of this product is very pleasant usage - it has nice and fresh smell, doesn't irritate eyes and leaves face sqeaky clean. Morover - the foam doesn't dry out my skin. I absolutly love it!

Price: from £7 on e-Bay

Pros:
+ nice smell
+ a little goes a long way
+ leaves skin sqeeky clean
+ dosn't dry out my skin

Cons:
NONE!

I really, really want a full size version of this product :D

Ingredients: Water (Aqua), Myristic Acid, Glycerin, Potassium Hydroxide, Lauric Acid, Butylene Glycol, Stearic Acid, Ceteth -20, PEG -40 Stearate, Glycol Distearate, Lauramide DEA, Sea Water, Salix Nigra (Willow) Bark Extract, Rosa Damascena Flower Water, Amethyst Powder, Pearl Powder, Tourmaline, Acorus Gramineus Root/Stem Extract, Fragance (Parfum), Phenoxyethanol, Methylparaben, Ethylparaben, Propylparaben, Butylparaben, Isobutylparaben, Disodium EDTA, Butylphenyl Methylpropional, Linalool, Blue 1 (CI 42090)

Mizon Multi Function Formula Snail Recovery Gel Cream

It's time to review "the classic" - a skincare product, that probably everyone interested in Korean cosmetics has tested. It was my first Korean skincare product and it's influence on my skin trigged my interest in Korean cosmetics.

The phenomenon of Mizon's gel is snail secretion filtrate (74%), which has shooting and regenerating properties and can help skin heal. It also contains hialuronic acid, well known for it's moisturising properties and adenosine, which helps to keep skin elasticity. This gel-cream is recommended for people with various skin concerns; irritation, pigmentation, acne. I realise that putting something coming from snail on your face may gross you, but trust me, there is nothing disgusting or snaily about gel's consistency or smell. And it contains snail secretion filtrate, which means that secretion is processed (so it's not like someone squeezes the snail straight into the tube xD).

Product is a pink squeezy tube with 45ml capacity. It comes in pink cardboard box, sealed with Mizon's "genuine product" sticker. Capacity may seem quite small, however a little goes a long way - the amount shown on picture is well enough for the whole face, so one tube easily lasts for two months of everyday use.
The product is much closer to gel, than cream. It's whitish and semi-transparent with gel-like, light texture. It absorbs into skin a bit longer than some creams, but quick enough to not be annoying. It absorbs completely, doesn't leave sticky film on skin.

I used up two tubes of this product and on the beginning I was absolutely delighted, BUT after some time and when I started to test other Korean products I felt that Mizon's gel is missing something. But first I will focus on it's good sides.

It moisturises quite well, however we may feel some lack of moisture - putting two layers of the product helps and doesn't feel too heavy, which is good. The biggest pro of this gel is that it covers any dry patches very well. Currently I am using the second tube of the product and it's hard to tell if it helped with my acne, as I just started antibiotics treatment, but in general my skin condition improved very much and I think it's partly thanks to Mizon. After-spot redness is disappearing quicker and I'm sure it's thanks to this gel, as I haven't been using any other anti-acne, anti-scar or brightening products (now I just started Skin Food Tomato Whitening Serum). I certainly can recommend this product to anyone with acne-prone skin, oily, combination or normal complexion.

Now as it comes to cons of the product. Mizon's gel is supposed to be used with the whole line of products as the last step of skincare. It means, that other products from the line (the ones that we would put before the gel) are supposed to absorb and moisturise the skin, when the gel is supposed to stay on the top and protect the skin. The gel doesn't leave the feeling of film on the skin, however after some time of using it I started to feel that may skin is smooth and good looking on the outside, but underneath still feels a bit dehydrated. So for long term Mizon's gel is not good to be used as the only moisturising product, we need something else to support it. The gel contains silicon, so it's best to use it as a last step of skin care (the way it's supposed to be used). For people sensitive to silicon the good news is that silicone in Mizon's gel is Cyclopentasiloxane, kind of light silicone that evaporates from the skin.
Another downside, that causes my main issue with the product is that it leaves skin really shiny. So even if I decide to have make up free day I cannot bear leaving the house without at least a little dab of mattifying powder on my nose. The gel doesn't make me more oily, just more shiny...

Summing up: Mizon's gel is definitely worth trying, I think it's a great product to start the adventure with Korean cosmetics. It is also worth trying the rest of the line (reviews yet to come), like very popular All-in-one cream, which samples can be easily bought on e-Bay. But it's not perfect, so after using two tubes I am moving on to try some other snail gels :)

Price: from £4 on e-Bay.

The whole Mizon's Snail line.

Ingredients: Snail Secretion Filtrate, Butylene Glycol., Cyclopentasiloxane, Glycerin, Bis-ped-18 Methyl Etherl Dimetyl Silane, Polysorbate 10, Sodium Hyaluronate, Carbomer, Glycolsyl Trehalose, Hydrogenated Starch Hydrolustate, Triethanolamine, Dimethicone/vinyl Dimethicone Crosspolymer, Dimethicone, Hydroxyethulcellusole, Caprylyl Glycol, Ethylexylglyceriunm Sodium Polycarylate, Centellia Sinensis leaf Extract, Nelumbo Nucifera Flower Extract, Betula Platyphylla Japonica Jucie, Tropolone, Copper Tripeptide-1, Allantoin, Panthenol, Olea Europea (Olive) fruit oil, Heliantus Annus Seed Oil, Palmitoyl Pentapeptide-4, Denosine, disodium Edta.

Tony Moly Red Appletox Honey Cream

Hello :)
Today I would like to review delicious looking product: Red Apple by Tony Moly. I received sample of this product with my e-Bay shopping. 1ml of sample lasted for three applications. 

 Main ingredients with manufacturer description:

Manuka Honey Extract: Immunity and anti-bacterial effect.
Royal Jelly Extract: Cooling down skin trouble, good for sensitive skin.
Propolis: Antioxide Effect.
Black Honey: Rich minerals and amino-acid. Moisturized and nourish skin effects keep your skin elastic and moist.
Apple Acid Ingredients: Smoothing skin. 

Product got yellowish colour and has gel consistency. It's quite sticky in touch, bringing honey to mind. It has beautifull apple scent. Applied to skin doesn't absorb immediately, however does it quick enought to not annoy user. Even though it's quite sticky in touch it doesn't leave skin sticky. Gives the skin nice feeling of deep moisturisation. In general product is pleasant in use and worth trying, however as a person with oily complexion I wouldn't use it everyday, but rather as a therapy when my skin needs more moisture (eg. after intense acne therapy with drying out cream). I have to admit that cute packaging does excellent job as a marketing tool - I am well tempted to buy full size product, even though I know I would use it only occassionally.

Price of full size product: between £5 - £7 on e-Bay.

Ingredients: Water, Glycerin, Butylene Glycol, Ethanol, Cyclomethicone, Sodium Polyacrylate, Dimethicone, Cyclopentasiloxane, Apple, Sodium Hyaluronate, Sunflower Oil, Propolis Extract, Honey, Royal Jelly Extract, oluble collagen, Ginkgo Biloba Leaf Extract, Allantoin, PEG-60 Hydrogenated Castor Oil, Hydrogenated lecithin, C 12-16 Alcohol, Palmitic Acid, Sorbitol, Malic Acid, Phenoxyethanol, Trideceth-6, Methylparaben, PEG/PPG-18/18 dimethicone, Carbomer, Triethanol amine, Spices, Propylparaben, Disodium EDTA, HC yellow no. 4, HC yellow no. 5

What are BB Creams? Missha M Perfect Cover BB Cream Review.

Hello :)
For a good start I would like to introduce you to probably the most populat asian beauty care product - BB Cream.

What is a BB Cream?

BB stands for Blemish Balm. It was first invated for people with post-surgery marks on their faces. Product was meant to hide imperfections and taking care of skin at the same time. Idea was catched by asian cosmetics companies and hit the market, quickly becoming a must-have. Asian beauty philosphy is slightly different from our European vision: in their view perfect skin is bright, clear, smooth and glowy. They don't value dark and tanned/bronzed skin like we do. According to that a lot of BB Creams comes in light shades with promise of lightening your skin tone and all of them are giving your skin glow effect* and thy always contain a SPF. BB Creams also always promise you care for your skin: according to what you need, you can find versions for moisture, oil control, acne prone skin, wrinkle care, pore tightening etc.They are also coming in various levels of coverage, however the main idea is to keep natural look.

* there are some matte versions available, however I find them still a little bit more glowy that European mattfying foundations. 

Missha M Perfect Cover BB Cream

The reason why I am starting with this particular review is because that was my first asian product ever. And I loved it! Also I think it's a great example of classic, asian BB cream.

Product Description: Missha M Perfect Cover BB Cream offers a novel skincare concept with BB cream, which lightens skin tone by healing visible wrinkles and blemishes with excellent skin-cover ability, and prevents skin aging through effective whitening and anti-wrinkle properties.

I've come along this product accidentaly - couldn't find the right foundation I just gave up make up completly. One day my friend told me about great effect the BB Cream gave her - didn't really know what is it, i just typed "BB Cream" on e-Bay and a lot of results came up with this particular brand. It was quite cheap so I decided to give it a go, as I wouldn't loose much in case it wouldn't work for me. I had to wait a while as it was shipped from Korea - around three weeks.
The product is avaiable in two sizes - 20ml trial size, which I ordered, coming up in squeezy tube. Full size version, 50 ml is tube with little pump.
I am quite pale person (my skin just don't do taning, and I don't like fake tan), so I usually pick up the brightest available versions of foundations/powders. This BB Cream is available in five shades - that's really a lot for BB cream, since most of them got one or two shades - from #13 Milky Beige to #31 Golden Beige. I went for a #13 of course and suprising discover that... it was too bright for me! Honestly, I never supposed it is possible. In general I don't use blusher, but with this BB I had to - otherwise you could take me for some Twilight parody character lol. Because of not matching shade I gave up on product quickly, until I oredered darker shade - #21 Light Beige. And this time it was perfect.

Now to the results: opposite to the name it doesn't give you the best cover in the world. But covers enough to hide blackheads and pores and it does beautiful job making your skin shade even (as an acne harassed person I got all shades of reds and purples on my face, so I know what I am talking about here :P). It makes skin looking smooth and give it a little, healthy glow. It has very nice cosmetical-flowery scent. The consistency is good for both hand and brush applications. However with BB Creams you must be aware of smudges - they will appear a lot - BB Cream likes to be delicately pated into skin. It makes your dry patches visible... but which colour-containing cosmetic doesn't? Fortunately it is not drying itself, I would even say it's moisturising. As for oil control - my skin becomes oily and shiny after 2-3 hours - but that's standart time for my extremally oily skin. Unfortunately this cream seems to dissapear from your face after approx. 6 hours, but at least it dissapears evenly, so you don't look patchy.
Contains high filters: SPF45 PA+++.

Price: between £4-6 for 20ml and £7-13 for 50ml on e-Bay.

Pros:
+ big choice of shades, which contains my perfect shade
+ lightweight and naturally looking
+ good priced
+ two sizes available
+ high SPF and PA filters

Cons:
- disappears after some time
- highlights dry areas
- rolls up a little bit in deeper wrinkles
- smudges during application

Summing up: it's not a perfect BB cream. But it is different than foundation, certainly worth trying. What I like most is that it's weightless - if you don't like to feel your make up on your face, you should give the BB Cream a go.

Ingerdients: Water(Aqua), Cyclomethicone, Ethylhexyl Methoxycinnamate, Zinc Oxide, Caprylic/Capric Triglyceride, Mineral Oil, Phenyl Trimethicone, Talc, Arbutin, Hydrolyzed Collagen, Dimethicone, Macadamia Ternifolia Seed Oil, Squalane, Adenosine, Cetyl PEG/PPG-10/1 Dimethicone, PEG-10 Dimethicone, Polyethylene, Beeswax(Cera Alba), Glycerin, Propylene Glycol, Caviar Extract, Algae Extract, Rosa Canina Fruit Oil, Simmondsia Chinensis (Jojoba) Seed Oil, Fagus Sylvatica Bud Extract, Ceramide 3, Rosmarinus Officinalis (Rosemary) Leaf Extract, Chamomilla Recutita (Matricaria) Flower Extract, Sodium Hyaluronate, Sodium Chloride, Fragrance(Parfum), Methylparaben, Propylparaben, Disodium EDTA, Hydroxyisohexyl 3-Cyclohexene Carboxaldehyde, Butylphenyl Methylpropional, Benzyl Salicylate, Hydroxycitronellal, Alpha-Isomethyl Ionone, Hexyl Cinnamal, Linalool, Citronellol
May contain: [+/-; Titanium Dioxide(CI 77891), Iron Oxides(CI 77491, CI 77492, CI 77499)]