Secret Key Lemon D-Toc Peeling Gel

My summer is all about the Secret Key. I have already reviewed for you some of Secret Key's Snail Products, now it's type for my favourite type of Korean product - peeling gel.

 

 

Product description (from the front of product): Fresh lemon leaves rich in vitamin C moisturise the sensitive or problem prone skin caused by external environment or imbalance between moisture and oil to keep it soft, supple, refreshed and healthy. Lemon D-toc peeling gel removes dead skin layer and helps skin turn over.

5 Free System: No paraben, no mineral oil, no Benzophenone, no Phenyoxyethanol, no artificial colour.

Main ingredients:

• Lemon extract -  a natural source of Vitamin C and antioxidants, protects skin against sun damage and works anti-inflammatory, recovers fatigue, brightens skin
• Centella (also known as Gotu Kola) - an effective anti-photoageing agent, mainly due to enhancement of collagen, which amount in skin decreases with age
• Hibiscus - has anti-oxidant properties, contains  flavonoids that are helping to maintain the skin's elasticity, contains acids that are one of the best natural peeling ingredients, also improves skin tone (rich in vitamin C)
• Aloe vera leaf extract - moisturiser and anti-irritant used for it's rejuvenating, healing and soothing properties
• Witch hazel extract - a strong astringent & antioxidant, has antibacterial & anti-inflammatory properties, effective in acne treatments
• Chamomile - soothes skin

Product arrives without any extra packaging, just thermo-wrapped in foil. Tube is secured with a piece of foil as well. The tube has 120ml capacity.

How to use: apply certain amount on dry skin, then massage until it rolls up with the impurities from your skin, then wash off with warm water.

This gel has a smooth texture, without visible cellulose bits like in Skin Food's Pineapple peeling gel, but it's also not as jelly-like as Ginvera Marvel Gel.

To check if product is really taking of impurities from my skin, not just rolling by itself I did a little experiment with clean plate and rubber glove:

I've squeezed a little bit of product on the clean plate...

...and massaged product into the plate for good couple of minutes.

As you can see gel didn't roll up on the plate - which proves for me that it indeed reacts with my skin impurities and dead skin cells.

The product is very efficient, as I use it every day from over 2 months and still have good 1/3 of the tube. You can also use it to remove you make up, but I like to use it in the morning, when my face is only a bit oily, to make sure it targets my pores. After use pores are minimised, face brightened and feeling fresh. In long term of regular use I can see improvement in my skin clarity - my nose used to be covered in blackheads, now they re-appear only on the nostrils.
Products has a bit chemical lemon scent, but it's not unpleasant and doesn't bother me at all.

Price: £6.66 on e-Bay.

Pros:
+ very efficient and generous capacity - good value for money
+ minimises pores
+ helps to fight blackheads
+ refreshes and brightens up skin

Cons:
- a bit chemical scent

Summary: I am very pleased with this product, from all the peeling gels I used so far, this is definitely the best value for money - it offers twice the capacity of Ginvera Marvel Gel for half the price. There is still few brands I want to try after I use up this one, but so far this is my favourite :)

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 :)