Baviphat Urban Dollkiss Snail Teraphy Sleeping Pack Review

Ladies and gentleman, let me introduce my magic apple from Baviphat!
I wanted to try Baviphat's sleeping pack for a long time, originally I was aiming for the lemon whitening one, but the moment I discovered that they have new series and I saw THIS product I just had to HAVE IT.
Why?
First of all: my skin loves snail.
Secondly: this packaging! OMG! Just like ma favourite Nina Ricci's perfumes. I'm instantly in love.
Thirdly: there is not much information about this product anywhere, the descriptions on different seller's pages are very vague and there is no reviews, which makes me want to try it even more. I'm just such a curious creature ;)
Also the price is affordable, so as soon as I ran out of my Secret Key Prestige Snail Cream, which I was using as a night cream, I ordered my apple.

Product description:  Double function sleeping pack, whitening & anti-wrinkle. You will find magically moisturised and elastic skin in the morning. Calming and revitalising stressed skin. Smooths complexion all over the night while you're sleeping. Colourants, surfactants, talc, parabene & mineral oil free. Hypo-allergenic.
How to use: Apply at the end of your evening skincare routine and leave overnight. In the morning wash off with warm water. 

Contains:

• Snail secretion filtrate - protects skin from infection, reduces inflammation, effective in treating acne and scarring, anti-wrinkle.
• Propolis - has anti-bacterial and anti-fungal properties, may be effective in acne treatment. Emollient and antioxidant, helps to restore and maintain skin structure.
• Mistletoe - a powerful antioxidant 
• Adansonia Digitata (Baobab) Leaf Extract - contains high levels of calcium, protein, vitamins A & C. Has powerful anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties.
• NMF (Neutral Moisturising Factor) - Found in the cells of the stratum corneum (horny layer, top layers of epidermis), this complex has significant water-retention capabilities and plays an important role in keeping skin hydrated.
  NMF is actually not a single ingredient, but an expansive group of substances including amino acids, ceramides, hyaluronic acid, cholesterol, fatty acids, triglycerides, phospholipids, glycosphingolipids, urea, linoleic acid, glycosaminoglycans, glycerin, mucopolysaccharide, and sodium PCA (pyrrolidone carboxylic acid). These substances are naturally produced in our skin during desquamation, sweating or sebum production. When the lipid and NMF content of skin is reduced, we experience surface roughness, flaking, fine lines, and a tight, uncomfortable feeling. Incorporated in skin care products this ingredients help to support natural skin functions and improve the skin’s moisture content.

Baviphat's apple arrives in oh-so-cute cardboard box, with clear apple-shaped "window" at the front. Inside the box we will find plastic apple-shaped bottle with generous 150ml capacity. It actually surprised me how big the apple is - I can never imagine the actual size of the product knowing capacity. This bottle is as big as real juicy apple. Yum!

Baviphat Urban Dollkiss vs Nina Ricci Nina L'eau

There is a lot of descriptions around the packaging, unfortunately all in Korean. Sides of the box:

There is also some description inside the box:

Unfortunately the bottle's pump is not protected in any way, so even though my parcel was well packed and product was wrapped in bubble foil it has spilled a little in the inside of the box. So packaging is cute, but completely not travel friendly.

The sleeping pack itself has a creamy and a little bit stretchy consistency. It's basically unscented - if I spread it on my palm and sniff it intensively I can smell some kind of floral scent, but it's very subtle. It spreads easily on the skin and absorbs quite well, leaves a bit of a film on the skin, but I actually like this in my night cream. After application skin is slightly dewy, but again - since it's a bedtime product, I don't mind.
The pump dispenses rather small amount of product: I use 4-5 pumps every night, one for my cheeks and chin, one for my forehead and nose, one for my neck and one for my decolletage. But even though it may seem a lot, I actually hardly used 1/5 of the bottle right now and I've been using it from over a month!

How often should you use sleeping pack? This is a controversial matter: some say it's a treatment and you should use it only from time to time, others that it's equivalent to night cream and can be used every day. I say: use it as often as you like, just see what's works best for you. For me this sleeping pack felt a little bit heavy on the beginning, so I used if for two-three nights in a row and then had one night break. However recently I bought myself Darsonval device (I will write about it soon), which I use basically every evening and it makes my skin absorb all cosmetics like crazy, so I am using this sleeping pack everyday. I have oily skin and even though this sleeping pack leaves a bit of a film it works well for me and doesn't break me out. My favourite part is how soft and well moisturising my skin feels in the morning. Honestly, I don't think my skin was ever so soft since I was a baby, lol!
I actually did a mini-facial on two of my friends using Darsonval device, then applying Hada Labo lotion, Secret Key snail essence and topping up with this pack. One of them has dry skin and she really liked the feeling of it, the other one has dry skin and eczema - she hated the idea of snail on her face, but her skin was moisturised and eczema caused redness on her forehead was reduced significantly.

Are you dreaming to be the Snow White? ^^

Price: from £12 on e-Bay.

Pros:
+ very moisturising
+ leaves skin wonderfully soft
+ a little goes a long way
+ so cute!

Cons:
- the bottle's pump is not protected in any way, so packaging is not travel friendly - pump cannot be blocked/closed, so we are risking product spillage
- the pump itself feel a little bit dodgy, like it's going to break at some point...

Summary: I am really pleased with this product - it makes my skin soft and moisturised. Except of the poor quality pump I don't have any issues with this product and I would definitely recommend it :)

The Urban Dollkiss series contains (from left):
I Love CC Cream Pure Aura - whitening CC Cream
I Love CC Cream Luminous Pure - moisturising CC Cream
I Love CC Cream Colour Change - whitening & anti-wrinkle CC Cream
AC Therapy Sleeping Pack - sleeping pack for acne prone skin
Snail Therapy Sleeping Pack
White Sleeping Pack - skin whitening sleeping pack with rice and ginseng extracts - me want *.*
Galactomyces First Essence - essence with fermented yeast extract to be used as a first skincare step after cleansing. Since I loved Missha First Essence I really want to try this *.*
Hinoki Total Solution Gel Cream - All in one (to replace toner, lotion, essence, cream and pack) type of product with 50% Hinoki extract (skin soothing)
I Love Secret Dress - it's a type of massage cream/mask: massage it on face for couple of minutes, then rinse of
+ I Love Triple Lips (not on the pic) - lip tints available in 5 colours.

Purebess Snail School Recovery Gel Cream Review

Product description: Natural cosmetic science with snail & EGF to moisturise and regenerate your skin. Contains 90% of Snail Secretion Filtrate. No artificial preservatives, artificial colour, alcohol, mineral oil and paraben. Minimum skin irritation while skin tightening and softening, moisturising and regenerating.

Here it goes, I'm about to say the words that will probably appear in many of my reviews: I wasn't planing to buy this BUT... I actually kept my eye on Benton snail line, but then I read Purebess snail gel ingredients analysis on this blog and it made me wanting to try it This budget snail gel, contains not only the secretion filtrate, but also:

• Tremella fuciformis (also known as snow fungus, silver ear fungus or white jelly mushroom) - a species of fungus, one of the most popular fungi in Chinese cuisine and medicine. It provides several skin care benefits: increases moisture retention in skin, prevents senile degradation of micro-blood vessels in the skin, has anti-inflammatory properties, brightens skin. Anti-oxidant. 
• Human Oilgo Peptide-1 (EGF) - known as a "beauty factor" - eliminating scars and speckles by improving the texture and condition of the skin, anti-wrinkle by rejuvenating skin by stimulating cell proliferation.
• Althaea Rosea (common hollyhock) Flower Extract - emollient, antibacterial, and possible anti-inflammatory properties.
• Aloe vera leaf extract - moisturiser and anti-irritant used for it's rejuvenating, healing and soothing properties.

Full ingredients list: Snail Secretion Filtrate 90%, Water, Glycerin, Tremella Fuciformis Sporocarp Extract, Sodium Polyacrylate, Betaine , Human Oligopeptide-1, Butylene Glycol, Althaea Rosea, Flower Extract, Aloe Barbadensis Leaf Extract, Allantoin, Carbomer, Hydroxyethylcellulose, Caprylyl Glycol, Disodium EDTA, Fragrance
Ingredients analysis [HERE]

Product arrives in cardboard box, inside we will find soft tube with 50g capacity. Tube is sealed.
Gel is clear and unscented. It spreads easily on the skin and take a few seconds to absorb, bu once it's absorbed it leaves skin matte. It's very light - too light to be used on it's own, I use it on top of Hada Labo Kiwamizu lotion and Secret Key Snail+EGH Essence. I have oily skin and this set is just about right for me - moisturising, but not too heavy. It's a bit too light for the nightime though, I like to give my skin a bit more to absorb while I'm sleeping, so I top up my set with Baviphat Snail Sleeping Pack (review coming soon).

What I like most about this product is how calming and healing it is - during the first few days after I got it I had terrible cold and blocked nose, that I have to blow every five minutes. As you know the skin around nose get's quickly irritated, so normally everyone can tell at the first sight that you're sick, because your nostrils are so red. Well, not with this product! As an experiment I was applying it few times daily around my poor nose and guess what - not a sign of red, irritated and dry skin! I was well impressed.
This is another product (next to Secret Key snail gel) that in my opinion completely beats famous Mizon Snail Recovery Gel Cream. It costs roughly the same, but has more snail secretion filtrate in it (Mizon - 74%, Purebess - 90%) and performs better - my main issue with Mizon's gel is that my skin is really really shiny after using it, while Purebess leaves my skin matte. Overall gel is rather neutral for sebum control.

Price: from £5 on e-Bay.

Pros:
+ absorbs completely into skin, no residue left
+ leaves skin matte
+ calming and healing for irritated skin
+ simple ingredients list with high snail secretion content
+ cheap

Cons:
- not enough to be used as only moisturiser - has to be backed up with some other moisturising products, for example essence


Summing up: a good basic skin care product. Definitely worth trying if you are looking for some soothing and light day moisturiser - with that price you can't go wrong ;)

Dyeing hair with henna for the very first time - Khadi Henna, Amla & Jatropha

My beauty perfection is having ginger hair, green eyes and freckles. I already have my green lenses  ;) and I'm hardly trying to be ginger from a while now...

Why henna?

Casual hair colourants didn't meet my expectations. I started to dye my hair quite recently, in April. My natural hair colour is dark blonde, but unfortunately with time it started to be darker and mousy, vague - not blonde anymore, but yet not brown either. I was using some lightening shampoos with chamomile and lemon and they helped me for a while to stay more on the blonde side, but with time that was not enough, so i finally started using colourants. I tried couple different ones, but colours were never right (red, while I wanted ginger) and fading away very quickly. The worst dye I have tried was foam dye by Nice&Easy - colour washed away after only a week, wtf! In meantime I came across many positive reviews about colouring hair with henna, so eventually I decided to give it a go.

I bought my henna on Amazon for £7, it arrived from Germany. In the box there were: bag with henna powder, foil cap and gloves.
The powder is very fine and has characteristic smell, like strong green tea + something else.
What's important - Khadi's henna is 100% natural, herbal dye. Before you purchase your henna make sure you know what you're buying, because there is a few companies that are selling "henna", which is really just chemical hair dye + a little bit of henna. Mixed dyes like that give the most unpredictable results, I read so many bad opinions about them. Always go 100% - either completely chemical dye or purely natural, never in between.

The powder is more green than on the picture.

Unfortunately the leaflet was all in German, so I had to research some blogs and Khadi website for instructions. I have chosen the simplest method of preparation: I used some hot (but not boiling!) water to achive thick yoghurt consistency and let it cool down a little when I went to wash my hair with shampoo without any silicons in it. Henna should be acidic, so many henna powders are supposed to be mixed with water and lemon juice, but we don't have to do that with this particular one, as Amla is acidic itself. To my mixture I also added one table spoon of hair conditioner (no silicons!) and one table spoon of turmeric powder - on dark hair Amla and Jatropha give more red than ginger results, turmeric has brightening properties, so I added it to make sure I will achieve ginger.

Ready to use mixture smells like Panoramix's cauldron :P Green tea, herbs, weird smell... but certainly better than the ammonia.

After washing ma hair and drying it a little bit with towel, my henna was ready to use, still warm, but not hot. I found application difficult - it was only the second time I have ever applied dye myself, usually one of my friends would be helping me. During application henna dries out on hair a little bit and makes them sticky, so I ended up with my hair tangled in two dreadlocks. I must admit that I went through real emotional crisis during application, I was sure that I just wasted my time and money as I couldn't get all of my hair evenly covered in henna and I was afraid that the dreadlocks are just going to stay there FOREVER. I used up only half of the mixture for my shoulder blade-lengh hair, while the packaging says that one box "should be enough for shoulder-lengh hair". I was sure that in the best case scenario I was going to end up with spotty hair. Fortunately, henna surprised me positively :)
I kept the mix on my hair for 2 hours, under plastic cap and towel (I was heating up the towel with hairdryer every so often, because it's important to keep henna warm). During rinsing my hair detangled easily, the dreadlocks were gone, yay! My hair was nice in touch, very soft, just the weird smell resembled. After rinsing thoroughly I applied a little bit of hair conditioner (no silicons), to make sure I will comb my hair with no problems. Then I left my hair to dry naturally.
The result exceed my expectations, most of all the colour was even! The colour differs depending on lighting, but I am a definite ging now:

My hair before henna - faded cooper from Nutrisse.

Day after henna - intense artificial lighting (Halloween at work)

Two days after henna - dark room and picture with flash (Halloween with friends)

4 days after henna, artificial lighting + flash from some distance

4 days after henna, artificial lighting + flash, close up

As you can see my hair is in good condition after this colourisation. It was a little bit dry (henna as a herb is a bit drying) and I wanted to put some oil on it soooo badly... but I couldn't, because first 48 hours after colourisation are crucial for colour intensity and lasting and it's best to just leave hair alone, so henna has time to "catch" and oxidise properly. If you can, you should also avoid washing it during this first 48 hours, however because of work I had to wash mine about 12 hours after colourisation. I have very greasy hair that requires  washing every morning - after henna my hair was dryer, so it looked quite all right in the morning, but I knew that in the middle of the day it will be greasy again... so yeah, I shouldn't, but I washed it anyway :P
The herbal scent lasted on my hair for about three days (even though it was washed every day!). For the first couple of days water would get slightly tinted during washing, so I accidentally marked bright towel, but the good news is that post-henna-tinted-water-stains are easy to get rid of - I just washed my towel on 60°C programme with some casual laundry liquid, no extra stain remover required. The stains from actual herbal mix are much worse - during application I splashed some on my trousers and top and even with stain remover they didn't come off completely during the wash. So be careful and keep  any precious clothing away from henna ;)

two weeks after henna, natural light

It's been two weeks now since my first henna colourisation and my hair feels great, it's soft and shiny (on the last pic I got dry shampoo on my hair so it's not as shiny as usual ;)), doesn't fall. Colour looks nice, natural but vivid. I will sure use henna again.

Advantages of dyeing hair with henna:
+ finally perfect ginger
+ colour doesn't fade away and change as quickly as after other dyes
+ hair is soft and shiny
+ henna doesn't damage hair the way chemical dyes do

Disadvantages of dyeing hair with henna:
- dries during application and tangles hair
- weird smell (although I prefer this smell to ammonia smell...)
- the dyeing process takes longer than with chemical dye
- for some time after colourisation hair is more likely to frizz

Conclusion: for sure I'll dye my hair with henna again, but next time I'll do it when I got at least two days off in a raw, so I don't have to wash my hair for at least 24h (preferably 48).

New product from Hada Labo - Kiwamizu lotion review

Recently Hada Labo released new lotion about which I found out from Green Tea Love blog. My toner was just about to run out so I had a perfect excuse to buy it :)

Lotion is a type of product that can be a little confusing - in Europe we mostly think about lotion as a light moisturising cream, in Asia depending on brand and line it can be either a light cream that we would use somewhere in the middle of our skin care routine or a watery product used on the beginning of skincare regime, just like essence. Lotions from Hada Labo are those watery products to be patted into skin just after cleansing. To help us identify type of product a lot of e-Bay sellers offering Hada Labo lotions are describing them as a "toner lotion", however they are not like our European toners. Western toners are more on the cleansing side of skincare, while Eastern ones are more on the caring side - they moisturise and prepare skin for better absorption of other moisturising products.

Kiwamizu is a new product, but it already has a limited edition with Hello Kitty. Unfortunately the cute kitty nearly gave me a heart attack. I saw pictures of limited edition bottles on this blog, but version there differs from mine - there we can see Hello Hitty on the left hand side of the droplet picture, and bow on the right side. My bottle has Hello Kitty on the right and some other kitty and a mousie on the left. I panicked! Is it a fake? Chiao from Green Tea Love blog setteld me down, as I was ordering from seller trusted and recommended by her. Apparently Japanese companies like to change products packaging a lot, lol. All I could do is take a deep breath I test the lotion out.

Product description: mineral amino lotion that balances and hydrates skin. It features a watery and non-sticky formula with blend of 6 minerals and 2 amino acids to balance skin's oil production. Very light and oil free, keeps skin hydrated and silky smooth.
Ingredients: Water, Butylene Glycol, Alcohol Denat, Glycerin, Diglycerin, Copper Gluconate, Magnesium Aspartate, Zinc Gluconate, Calcium Chloride, Potassium Chloride, Sodium Chloride, Arginine, Betaine, Xanthan Gum, Polysorbate 20, Disodium Succinate, Succinic Acid, Methylparaben.
Ingredients analysis [HERE]

Product is a 180ml plastic bottle. There is no extra packaging to it, the sticker of the front of the bottle hides the cap a little bit, the cap itself is protected by foil wrap.

When I got it month ago, I couldn't find anywhere any info about how to use. All the other Hada Labo lotions are supposed to be gently patted into skin:


 
however presence of alcohol in this lotion ingredients list made me consider it more as a toner than lotion. So I tried out using Kiwamizu in two ways: patting into face and smoothing over face with cotton pad. Both ways performed well.

In the morning I'm delicate with my skin, I use only a gentle peeling gel and toner to freshen up my skin. In the morning then I use Kiwamizu as a toner, apply some on a cotton pad and wipe my face with it, to make sure my skin is free from any traces of my nightcream. Used this way Kwiamizu is refreshing and moisturising.

In the evening I cleanse my skin thoroughly with cleansing oil and foam. After this two, I don't need any more refreshment, just miniaturisation, so I pour a little bit of Kiwamizu on my palm and pat it in my face. It's lovely and moisturising, makes skin wonderfully soft. It's really not sticky and absorbs much quicker than my previous whitening lotion, so it'll do better for inpatient people.

Despite of alcohol content, Kiwamizu is very mild, it doesn't irritate or dry out skin, actually it surprised me with it's mildness. Actually you can not feel alcohol in it at all, not in the performance and not in the scent - it smells exactly the same as arbutin whitening lotion.

Unfortunately due to Kiwamizu's light nature it may be not moisturising enough for some dry skins. I like to moisturise my skin in the evening very well, so eventually I use Kiwamizu only as a daytime toner, in the evening I cam back to my arbutin lotion.
 
Product is efficient, I use it every day in the morning and from time to time in the evening from a month time, so far I only used up 1/4 of the bottle.

Price: from £9 on e-Bay.

Pros:
+ lightweight, it absorbs quicker than my previous Hada Labo lotion
+ applied with cotton pad is nicely refreshing
+ patted into skin it's moisturising
+ despite of alcohol in it, it's very mild
+ a little goes a long way

Cons:
- it is moisturising, but if you are looking for a lot of moisture, this may be too light

Overall this is a very pleasant product, I can definitely recommend it for people with oily or combo skin. Moisturising, lightweight, non comedogenic. I know that some people experience pore blocking with "classic" Hada Labo lotions, so I think Kiwamizu may be a good alternative for those who didn't like other lotions. For wintertime it's too light for me to use at PM, but as a daytime toner it performs very well.

Vertical pupils for Halloween - Viper contact lenses :)

I love Halloween and I dress up every year, both to work and for party. This year I'm saving money and I didn't buy a new outfit, just decided to freshen up my old ones with some spooky eyes. I was looking for something that would match both my purple witch outfit (that's my "safe" costume for work) and red&black Jester costume (more party looking one). I couldn't make my mind for a long time, eventually I have chosen white iris with black vertical pupil lenses.

picture from Eyes Bright website

I normally buy my lenses from Pinky Paradise on-line shop, however all their Halloween lenses were sold out by the middle of October, so I made an order from British on-line shop Eyes Bright. It was a pleasant shopping experience and I received my parcel in only two days time. Well done, Eyes Bright!

The lenses are weird in touch, they are very soft and have kind of rubbery feel to them. I guess it's because of amount of pigment of them. When handled they don't stay on finger, they slide and fall, so I struggled a little bit to put them on. Fortunately, once they are in they're doing well, fitting quite comfortably and not stinging (some lenses need time to lay properly on the eye and can sting even up to few minutes after putting on).

I must admit that I was surprised by how well they look on the eye - I was sure that my iris will be visible through the pupil whole, just like it happens with all my other lenses. However in this ones the pupil slot is so small that my iris is well covered. From close distance (like on the pic) they do stand out because my eye's whites are not as perfectly pure white as the pigment on the lens, but from some distance they blend very well and look really disturbing. My friend's and customer's reactions were priceless :D Unfortunately sometimes they turn a little by themselves and need to be fixed every so often.
The small pupil whole is interfering with vision a little bit - it's burred on the edges. The worst part is putting them on, when I have one lens in and on one eye my vision is interfered and the other eye sees fine - that feels really weird. After I put them both in I can get used to them pretty quickly, I didn't have any problems with reading or writing at work. They have 90 days life span, I was wearing them for two days, one day at work for 9-10 hours and next day for party approx. 8 hours. Because of the rubbery feel to them I felt them on my eye all the time.

Price: £14.95 for 90 day lenses. What's interesting prices of daily lenses are similar in Eyes Bright and in Pinky Paradise we would pay similar price for yearly lenses.

Pros:
+ natural iris is not visible
+ a great spooky look

Cons:
- I feel them on my eyes constantly
- they interfere with vision a little bit
- sometimes they spin on their own and need to be adjusted every so often

Overall this are pretty fine lenses, however I wouldn't recommend them to someone who never wore lenses before as they may cause some discomfort. They are not suitable for everyday wear or long time wear (I wouldn't manage 12 hours in them), but they are perfect completion to a wicked costume for Halloween party :)