Skin Food Black Raspberry Eye Cream

Hello!
After over 9 months of use I finally used up Skin Food Salmon Eye Cream. I loved it and decided to try other eye cream from the same brand. Black Raspberry cream caught my attention as it looks just like pot of homemade jam!

Note: Black raspberry is not the same thing a blackberry. Black raspberry is type of berry native to eastern North America. Here is an article on how to tell it apart from blackberry.

Product description:  This herbal medicinal anti-wrinkle eye cream contains black raspberry extract, and jayangboeumdan and cheongyeondan extracted from 12 kinds of oriental medicinal herbs that have traditionally been used by women to treat rough, dry skin. It provides deep miniaturisation to skin in eye areas. Anti-wrinkle adenosine adds resilience to skin, keeping it healthy-looking. 

The original product is a cute looking, glass jar, containing 25g of cream. I ordered from e-Bay set of 10 sample sachets. One sachet lasts for 4-5 applications.

The first thing that I noticed about this product is it's weird smell. In general Skin Food is a little bit unpredictable with scents: Peach Pact has gorgeous smell of peaches, but Pineapple peeling gel doesn't smell like pineapple - but the scent's have always been nice, like Tomato serum or Salmon eye cream, that have lovely floral scents. But this cream is neither the raspberry nor anything floral. It has quite strong, earthy scent, hard to describe. I have very sensitive nose, so I could smell the weird scent all the way from opening the sachet, through application and the moment after. It is bearable, but not very pleasant. However after couple of uses I got used to it and now it doesn't bother me at all.

Cream has lovely, rich consistency, which I really like in eye creams. Immediately after use I can feel that my eye area is well hydrated, soothed and smooth. The cream is thick, but glides easily on the skin and what's really good - it absorbes into matte finish (the Salmon cream I was using before, was leaving skin shiny). Even though it's rich, it's not greasy.
 As for the results - I am using this cream for just two weeks now, twice a day and skin around my eyes is in excellent condition - smooth and nourished. When I apply cream in the morning I don't experience any dryness of the skin during the day. When I apply in the evening skin still feel lovely in the morning.
Because I use it only from two weeks or so, it's hard to tell about cream's anti-wrinkle properties. I have only one wrinkle in eye's area - it's "smiling" wrinkle under the eye, starting from inside corner of the eye and stretching horizontally. It is there from always (I got it there even on the pictures when I was like 14 yrs old), so it's more part of my feature than sign of ageing, but when my skin area is irritated and/or dried out it appears much deeper. During the usage of this cream it appears neat and small ;)

Price: from £10 on e-Bay, I paid £3 for set of 10 samples.

Pros:
+ nice, rich texture
+ well moisturising
+ leaves skin smooth
+ reduces appearance of wrinkles by keeping skin moisturised and nourished
+ a little goes a long way 
+ non-greasy

Cons:
- weird smell
- it doesn't do much about puffiness - but it doesn't promise to do so, so it's only like half-con ;)

In general I am very pleased with this product and I am seriously thinking about getting full size :)

Balance Active Formula Vitamin C Elixir Serum

Hello!
Today for a change I got a review of European product - my first Vitamin C serum.
Vitamin C is a popular ingredient in skin care products as it has many positive properties:
- brightens and evens out skin tone
- as effective antioxidant fights free radicals and supports UV protection
- works anti-inflammatory and can speed up healing process
- stimulates production of collagen is skin, making it smoother and firmer.
So if you have acne and scars or spots and would like to take care of them without resigning from anti-ageing products, Vitamin C is what you should look for in cosmetics!

Product description: Brighten up your day, starting with your skin! Balance Active Forumla Vitamin C Elixir is a concentrated and fast absorbing Pro-Radiance "Serum-Powder Mix" that contains active levels of Illumiscin* and Stay-C 50**.
How to use: Before the first use, pour the content of the vial in the Serum bottle, reclose the bottle and shake well in order to dissolve the Vitamin C powder in the liquid. Apply the Serum-Powder mix by gently smoothing it over face and neck. Use within 1 month from mixing and shake well before each application.

*Illumiscin® - patented complex of stabilised Vitamin C, Zinc PCA and Oleuropein, the most powerful plant active from the olive tree. Illumiscin has been proven to reduce the appearance and size of age spots, for brighter and more even skin tone.

**Stay-C 50® - is form of stabilised Vitamin C.

In the packaging we will find 20ml of serum in plastic bottle with pipette applicator (also plastic) and plastic vial with 1.8g of powder. Both bottle and pipette feel rather cheap, but well, we don't buy the product for bottle, do we? :D
Powder and serum are mixing up easily into smooth, runny, opaque liquid. Mixture has a little bit chemical lemon scent, like washing up liquid :P I am using the whole pipette content for my face, it takes a moment to absorb, but it's a good chance for some face massage :) In theory this serum is supposed to be followed by some cream, however for me it feel moisturising enough, so I just use it on top of Hada Labo lotion and follow by BB cream only. For more dry skin you may want to top it up with some moisturiser, for my oily skin this serum is enough, sometimes even too much for the am use.

Because the mixture has only one month life (in theory), I can't remember last time I was using any product so religiously, without any breaks to try something different. I use the product in the morning and in the evening every day, the month time is about to pass next week and the serum is almost done, so the capacity of product is well measured to it's short life.
I must say that I'm quite happy with how the products works on my skin. Used with whitening Hada Labo lotion helped me to brighten up my acne scars, took away redness of the troubled areas of my face. My skin is in good condition, maybe not especially radiant, but for sure not dull and brighter.

Price: I bought the product in TK-Max for £4.99, and the label says the RRP is
£10.99, however on Amazon it's £4.99 as well and on e-Bay we can find it in range of prices from £5 to £12.

Pros:
+ it does brighten and even out skin tone
+ easy to apply - cool pipette applicator
+ cheap, considering the result

Cons:
- only one month product life
- cheap feeling of the bottle
- chemical smell

Summing up, I'm quite glad I came across this product. It worked out quite well for me, probably if I would use it longer it would give even better result, however I have some other products waiting for their turn, so I don't plan to repurchase so far. But I definitely would be looking for some Vitamin C products in the future, perhaps famous It's Skin Effector.

Serum Ingredients: Aqua, Glycerin, Neopentyl Glycol Diethylhexanoate, Caprylic/Capric Triglyceride, Phenoxyethanol, Cetearyl Glucoside, Chondrus Crispus (Carrageenan), Tocopheryl Acetate. Carbomer, Ascrobyl Glucoside, Olea Europea (Olive) Leaf Extract, Zinc PCA, Sodium Hydroxide, Ethylhexylglycerin, Disodium EDTA, Parfum.
Powder Ingredients: Sodium Ascorbyl Phosphate, Aluminium Starch Octenylsuccinate.
Ingredients Analysis [HERE]

Rohto Hada Labo Arbutin Whitening Shirojyun Lotion

Hello ^^
Today I would like to review for you my first Japanese product: Hada Labo lotion. Hada Labo products have great opinion across many reviewers and are well know to everyone interested in Asian skin care products.
Hada Labo products are available on-line on e-Bay and Amazon, however be careful as many of them are offered by sellers from Thailand. As I said in my What you should be careful about when buying on e-Bay post, I always make sure I buy cosmetics from country of origin. With that particular product I've been lucky, as one of my colleagues was on holidays in Japan and kindly agreed to buy Hada Labo for me :) He said that Hada Labo lotions are so popular that they can be bought basically everywhere, not only in drugstores, but in places like railway stations as well! 

Product description: Fulfil your dreams of a white, perfect skin with Hada Labo Arbutin Whitening range that contains Arbutin to help fight dark spots and brighten up skin tone. Also contains Vitamin C to enhance skin fairness and reawaken dull skin caused by exposure to UV rays.

Hyaluronic Acid is a powerful anti aging ingredient in skin care. It is naturally occurring in the skin, but as we get older it's level decrease causing our skin to age and sag. It has ability to absorb water up to 1000 times its weight, what makes it one of the best moisturising substances known. Arbutin brightens up skin tone and Vitamin C

protects skin cells and skin's support structure from UV-related damage, improve the appearance of sun-damaged skin, reduce inflammation and promote collagen production. 

How to use: Use twice a day after cleansing face. Apply on palms and gently pat onto skin until thoroughly absorbed.



The lotion comes in 170ml plastic bottle. It doesn't have any other external packaging, the top of bottle is thermally wrapped in plastic.

The lotion has very watery consistency, whitish colour & subtle, hard to describe scent. I must admit that I find application a bit problematic, I'm very clumsy and always spill a little :P But even though I waste some of it one the floor, the product is very efficient. I use if from over a month and used up only 1/4 of the bottle.

Tapping lotion in the skin brings an immediate relief to skin dried out after cleansing. Depending on how much you use the application may take longer - on the beginning I was using too much and had to pat my face for a while. The amount shown on the picture is just about right for me - moisturises well whole face, I have to pat for a moment, but not too long. Straight after application skin is a bit sticky (both face & hands), but this feeling fades away after a moment or as soon as we top it up with another product.
What I really like about this lotion is the weightless feeling of ultimate moisture. Before I started using light moisturising essences like that (I was using Missha First Treatment Essence before Hada Labo) I often had problem with dehydrated skin - in the middle of the day under the sebum (I have oily skin) I would feel that my skin is tense, dehydrated. With Hada Labo I don't have this problem any more.
As for it's whitening properties - I definitely can see improvement in my skin, my acne scars faded. It's not a dramatic change and it takes a while to notice it - if I would use other products from line it would probably be more significant.

Price: from £13 on e-Bay (incl. postage), my friend payed for it in Japan approx. £8.

Pros:
+  moisturise skin
+ weightless
+ it does brightens a little
+ a little goes a long way

Cons:
- easy to spill during application
- a bit sticky after application

In general I'm really pleased with this product. Even if it wouldn't brighten my skin I would still be happy with it, thanks to it's moisturising properties. I am tempted to try other Hada Labo products :)

Ingredients: Water, Butylene Glycol, Glycerin, Arbutin, Sorbitol, PPG-10 Methyl Glucose Ester, Methylparaben, Disodium Succinate, Styrene/VP Copolymer, Sodium Hyaluronate, Succinic Acid, Magnesium Ascorbyl Phosphate, Hydrolyzed Hyaluronic Acid

Hada Labo Lotion is available in three versions: original Hyaluronic Acid one (white), whitening one with arbutin (blue one, my choice) and anti-ageing one with Retinol (red). In general all of them contains Hyaluronic Acid, so all of them are good for giving your skin extra moisture :)

Korean skincare routine: Layering

When you first start to browse for some Asian brands skincare products you may notice that each line has quite wide choice of products. In Europe we stick to approx. 3-5 step routine, ie. cleanser, toner, eye cream, day/night cream + eventually make up, in Asia skin care routine can take even 10 steps. It's called "layering" and the main idea is to go from the most light and absorbing into skin ingredients, to ones that stay on the top of skin creating protective layer.

Missha Stem Cell Line: Toner -> Serum -> Eye Cream -> Emulsion -> Defending Cream/Recovery Cream

Here is an example of steps with short explanation of each step:
1. Cleansing - in Asian way of beauty this is almost the most important part of a skin care routine, often extended to a "double cleansing" - first we are supposed to remove make up, sebum etc. with cleansing oil/cream/milk/butter and then follow with cleansing gel/foam/soap, we can also add some peeling gel. Remember - the cleaner you face is, the tighter pores are, as usually they are widen as a result of sebum/dirt stuck in them.
2. Toner - in Europe most of toners are astringents, supposed to make sure there is nothing left on our skin after cleansing, in Asia toners are usually more caring, moisturising and packed with goodness. Sometimes it has thicker consistency than a typical water-like toner. Some of them are containing alcohol, but they still aren't as harsh as some of European ones.
3. Essence - it's moisturising product, but with very watery consistence, sometimes as watery as toner. It's supposed to absorb completely into skin without leaving any residue. In some lines it may be recommended to use despite of toner.
4. Serum - Korean serums differ from what we know as a serum in Europe. When in Europe serums are often richer than creams and can be an alternative to cream in Korea they are rather light, non-greasy, supposed to absorb completely into skin. In some lines it may be used despite of essence.
5. Emulsion - it's another light moisturiser. It absorbs quite well and as I noticed from careful lecture of different reviews, some people like to apply a few layers of it. It may have milky or gel texture. In some lines it's supposed to be used straight after the toner, especially if line doesn't contain essence, in some lines it goes before serum, in some after serum.
6. Cream/Gel Cream - in some lines gel cream is supposed to be used first and then to be followed by cream, when in others they are substitutes of each other, so we can choose according to which one we like more. Both of them are supposed to leave a protective shield on the top of our skin, to prevent water loss etc. BUT it's not very common that creams would contain SPF.
7. Sun screen - sun protection is extremely important in Asian beauty care (read why [HERE]).
8. BB Cream/CC Cream/Foundation - as a last step of skin care and first step of make-up at the same time, BB Creams are also containing SPF; BB Creams offers some care + medium coverage, CC Creams are more caring, but with only light coverage.

Mizon Snail Line: All in One Cream -> Ampoule -> Eye Cream -> Recovery Gel -> BB with SPF -> Face mist

There is also a few steps that are either optional or depending on line, are supposed to be used in different order:
- eye cream - in some lines they are recommended to use after essence and before emulsion, some before cream, some don't specify.
- lotion - another type of fully absorbing light moisturiser, in some lines it's watery and used as a substitute of essence or toner, in some it's supposed to be used after essence or serum.
- mask sheet - it's a piece of material cut into a face shape soaked in product, which we put on face for some time. Depending on line, it's supposed to be used before or after toner or just whenever you like. There are also small "moustache" shaped masks specifically for nasolabial fold.
- patches - many variants of gel shapes or foil "stickers" designed to target certain skin concern - the most popular are acne patches and eye patches.
- ampoule - usually appears as a substitute to serum.
- primer/make up base - may be used as a make up product or instead of sunscreen if contains SPF.
- pact/powder - to mattify and/or add SPF.
- facial mist - usually there are two types: moisturising one, which can be used as a essence and during the day, whenever we feel we may need some refreshment and moisture or finishing one, working as make-up fixer.

Secret Key Snail Line: Face Soap & Face foam -> mask sheet -> Toner -> Essence -> Eye Cream -> Emulsion -> Gel Cream/Cream -> BB with SPF

As you can see order can be a bit different according to particular line, so it's always worth checking with particular product. You are also welcome to create your own routine, using product from different lines. The only time when I was actually using products layering was when I was testing out Skin Food Royal Honey Gift Set. The only problem with using so many of steps is that you can't see exactly what influence each product has to your skin, so I prefer to try only one/two moisturising product at once, to see how they work and be able to create my own perfect skin care routine one day.