My Dessert Box revealed and reviewed

12:03 PM Moi Sanom 0 Comments

I have had a few meh boxes recently and have been disappointed with Memeboxes curation as well. After these past few months of unexcitment from the Memeverse I was nervous to receive this box with the fear of having wasted my money once more.
When I got the box it was quite heavy which to me is always a good sign.
I did not squeal when I opened it like I have done before but I didn’t sigh and shut it immediately either.


The first product that caught my attention was the largest one in the box.
It is the Skin juice Ampoule which is quite gigantic to be honest.
Besides being the least fluffy of all the products contained I don’t really understand why it is in the box.
It doesn’t look cute or have anything to do with desserts.
I am not sure what the ingredients are but it gives the impression of being a solid ampoule, nothing spectacular but decent nonetheless.
It smells like those orange flavored vitamins which dissolve in water.
A smell that I personally don’t like but some of you might enjoy it.
It is watery in texture and absorbs fast.
I am not sure how I feel about it since I don't know what is in it or how it would perform on my face, but I am willing to give it the benefit of the doubt and hope it is great!

I doubt that the bottle of ampoule would fit into this scenario...

The next thing I noticed was this little soap, I assume it is supposed to be cute but in my opinion it looks tacky and cheap.
I have seen some spectacular soaps around and this is not one of them.
I can understand the inclusion of it in the box since it is supposed to look like a Japanese pastry.
If the packaging wouldn’t be so cheap looking the whole soap would look much better.
It smells medicinal which is something that I didn’t expect.

The little yellow box caught my attention due to it’s tiny size and cute packaging.
It is a Pore stick by Shara Shara.


I am not sure what I am supposed to do with a pore stick yet, but both the box and the stick itself look very adorable.
Unfortunately, this doesn’t smell like delicious lemon tea, like the name makes us believe, but bathroom cleanser.
For you German peeps out there it smells like a mix of Scheuermilch and Gallseife.
I am still unsure if this stick is used to hide pores, remove/clean them out or remove/prevent sebum.
The text on the box is not in English and my goggling hasn’t really enlightened me much.
I might not know what it is for exactly but at least I understand why it was included in the box.

That explains everything!

The little pink box looked promising to me, unsure of what kind of ice cream wonders might be contained in it.
The blush looked a little less cute then the box but who knows maybe it is a really really good blush! I haven’t tested it yet but I hope to read some reviews on it before I do.
I actually  have too many blushes and haven’t used a pink one in about 3 years.
I am curious about the dome shape so maybe I will try it out anyway in the future.

Now onto my two favorites of the box!
I immediately recognized the It’s Skin Cookies and Cream pot.
I have been into It’s skin products for a few years, not really owning many of their products due to few reviews and little money.
I have been eying that cream for a while but since I prefer hand creams in tubes and the fact that I need to use up the ones I have at the moment first made me leave this one on my wishlist only.
To Johnnys happiness I received the Mint flavored one.
He really loves Mint choc chip flavored ice cream but never buys it since I am not a fan.

Johnnys dream come true!

The one time he did, it took him an entire month to finish the jar!
The cream has a very cute packaging box and jar, and there is ingredients in English huzaaahh!
When I opened it, I was shocked since it looked half empty.
Even Johnny commented on how much I used in 5 minutes!

Does not look freshly opened to me

I can only assume that It’s Skin decided, for some strange reason, to make a pot much larger than the contents :(
Otherwise I can not explain why it would come only filled half way since there was a seal sticker on the box.
It looks just like mint chocolate chip cream and smells like it too! The texture is creamy yet the cream is quite light and sinks in fast while still moisturizing. It has a cooling effect and the scent lingers for a few hours in a very subtle way that you can only smell if put it directly to your nose.
I really liked this so far and so did mint choc chip fanatic Johnny Clyde!

Even though this last product was my favorite off the bunch it was also the least desserty.
Yep, even less than an ampoule in a glass jar!
This Petite Prince themed gel cream has very pretty packaging. 
It is the kind that would speak to me and I might possibly try to purchase it for Johnny.
There is honestly no reason for it to be inside this box since neither the theme, the packaging nor the ingredients reflected anything dessert like.

Rose = dessert, clearly!

After a quick read of the (English!) ingredients I have determined that it has a surprisingly large amount of good ones and that this might be a nice quality gel.
It has a weird texture since it is almost like jello but melts into the skin immediately when rubbed in. Johnny really liked this even though he doesn’t like gels if they are too gelly.
He said it is really wet but in a nice way and I have to agree.
Besides the fact that I disagree with the choice of putting it into this box I am happy to have received it since Johnny is currently looking for a good moisturizer and he seems to have taken to this one already!



All in all this box was good in terms of content but questionable if you consider the type of products it is suppose to contain.
I was expecting a box filled with dessert themed items, and to be honest there is plenty in the Korean beauty market!
Even though this box was not a disappointment per se, it did not restore my faith in Memebox itself.



 Memebox is currently having a Black Friday sale with a lot of restocked boxes and some pretty good deals in their store.


$5 coupon code on $30 or more: P2BJ9H
AFFILIATE-3072-Z2LSR-ABPC $5 off on orders above $100
AFFILIATE-0243-5D7MP-OLHQ $10 off on orders above $150
Free shipping on orders above $70 from Memeshop: FREESHIPPING

Disclaimer: This post contains affiliated links and codes. That fact does not alter my review or opinion in any matter For more information read my Disclaimer page.

Woeful Windsdays

12:25 PM Moi Sanom 0 Comments

Genora Covington in 1961, Monroe, North Carolina, photographed by Declan Haun

Klairs Gentle Black Deep Cleansing Oil and Gentle Black Sugar Facial Polish review

2:36 PM Moi Sanom 0 Comments

I have read a lot of reviews about Klairs product which made me very curious about the brand.
I wanted to know if they are as nice as everyone said and when Wishtrend sent me a Klairs sugar scrub as a sample in my first order I was more than happy to try it out.
A couple of months after that, I got the opportunity to try their new cleansing oil in conjunction with the full sized cleansing scrub.
So thank you Wishtrend for enabling my skin care obsession and sending me these wonderful products to try.
The timing couldn’t have been more perfect!
I had a horrible week of being sick on and off every other day of the week (can someone explain to me how that even works?), I had just run out of my cleansing oil without any replacement planned. My regular exfoliator was finished up the week before and the post lost my replacement twice!
So you can imagine how happy I was when I opened the mystery parcel containing the exact products I was in need off.


Klairs Gentle Black Cleansing oil (150ml)
KLAIRS’ Gentle Black Deep Cleansing Oil is composed of various vegetable oils that are helpful for skin care. Easily washable texture allows mild yet effective cleansing of dirt and makeup without causing any trouble or irritation. Gentle Black Deep Cleansing Oil is the best cleanser to maintain skins moisture even after cleansing. Gentle Black Deep Cleansing Oil is composed of natural oils extracted from Black bean to control sebum production and provide skin soothing. Black sesame oil with antioxidant effects and Black currant seed oil that is rich in minerals and vitamins. Experience the hypo-allergenic formula for sensitive skin.

It comes with a protective cap

I am not a cleansing oil connoisseur ( I know you are out there!), I have tried about 5 different ones so far and the differences haven’t been huge to be honest.
So I thought that I would test this oil by passing 3 basic requirements:

1 It should help me clean out my pores.
This might be a secondary requirement for some, but the main reason I use oils is to be able to reduce my sebaceous filaments.
This oil performed wonderfully in this department. I can even go ahead and say that in terms of how many “grits” were formed it was a surprising amount!
I usually do an oil massage on my porey areas 2-3 times a week.
Just a few days earlier I did so with the Etude House Real Art Oil in Fresh and the amount of grits was pretty mediocre. I immediately wanted to test the Klairs oil and to my surprise both me and Johnny got the best pore cleanse with just oil yet.
Score!
In case anyone was wondering, I have tried the famed Holika Holika Soda Pore oil and it did not perform as well as this.

Haven't we all been there at least once?

2 I want it to clean my face and remove make up.
I only use cleansing oils to remove my make up when I am traveling, since I try to bring less items with me.
That means that I want the oils to remove my make up well and also clean my face in the same go.
I thought I would make a comparison with two other popular oils to see how well this one actually performs.
Remember that doing a test on your arm does not result in the exact same results as on your face.
For one, the cleansing started about 5 minutes after the products where applied and usually in thicker layers than on my face.
That being said, I had no residue on my face after cleansing with the Klairs oil.
On the arm swatches, it is still clear that it has the best cleansing powers of the three.
Since a little bit of the eyeliner and lip tint were left though, I thought I would try to remove it with my Bioderma Micellar water.
The cotton pad picked up a bit of tint but was not able to remove the rest fully.
If you double cleanse with a foam it will leave your face perfectly clean of course!
It isn’t as good as some cleansing creams but I never expect oils to cleanse my waterproof make up 100%.


3 How does it make my face feel and will it dry it out?
I want my cleansers to be gentle, efficient and make my skin feel better than before and not worse.
I am happy to say that this is gentle enough for both me and Johnny (he has notoriously picky skin!) and besides not drying our skin out, it also made it feel super duper soft while washing off clean.
The oil is see-through and smells very lightly like something that I can not pin point.
Maybe soap Marseillaise?
It is on the liquid side but not completely watery and is thick enough not to splatter everywhere.


Little is needed so I believe this bottle will last me for a long time!
All in all I am very happy with this oil!

Ingredients: Here


A cleansing oil that suits every skin type that is gentle and cleanses, what more can I ask?
Rating: 1.Blegh  2. Pff  3. Meh  4. Oohh  5. Awwyeah 6. Wooh


Available on Wishtrend 


Klairs Gentle Black Sugar Facial Polish (60gr)
This sugar scrub for face contains an abundance of black sugar. Black sugar aids
in the removal of dead skin cells and blackheads. It exfoliates of dry skin with
ease and adds a glossy smooth look to the skin. When the seasons change,
the skin tends to become a bit uneven with dry patches. These dry patches and cause makeup to apply unevenly and look “caked”. By using the Klairs Gentle Black Sugar Scrub for Face once a week, you can achieve smooth soft skin that is perfect for makeup application. 



Now lets get to the scrub.
Unlike cleansing oils I consider myself a little bit of a scrub aficionado.
My mom loves the stuff, my husband loves the stuff and so do I.
The only issue is that I have sensitive and reactive skin which means scrubs are not really something I should use.


The reason why I need to use them is that my skin is so dry and flaky that even when I use acids I still need to scrub my skin to be able to wear any kind of foundation.
That means that I try to use scrubs as little as possible but still need to have one on hand for makeup days.
Since I have this wonderfully fussy skin, I have tried many a scrub in my day trying to find the perfect one.
So far I have not succeeded to find any really good ones after trying the hyped about popular ones, the high end ones or even the cheapest drugstore ones.
I tried several Asian scrubs as well with mixed results that vary between, it-did-nothing-at-all to it-was-so-harsh-I had-red-streaks-down-my-cheeks.


So how did this one perform?
Right in the middle!
It is a thick sugary scrub that is reminiscent of lip scrubs in its texture.
It smells lovely, a little bit like Tamarind or Turmeric, to be honest the scent is very faint and doesn't linger at all.
I like that the sugar granules are suspended in oil since it makes this scrub quite hydrating.
The particles are medium sized, smaller than the Skinfoods black sugar scrubs but not as small as lip scrub particles.


I tried to use it on dry skin but found that it was a little too harsh for me.
My skin wasn’t bright red but it wasn’t super comfortable.
Johnny, on the other hand loved the dry method and his skin looked wonderfully fresh afterwards.
No redness what so ever.
I then moved on to the wet method.
I moistened my clean face with water and proceeded to carefully rub the scrub (yey rhyme) over my skin.
It felt a lot gentler than the dry method but it still exfoliated my face.
It wasn’t red when I was finished and felt soft and velvety.
My skin also looked and felt very fresh.
I think this is a lovely physical exfoliator that can adapt to several different skin types and preferences. It removes dead skin cells while cleaning the skin without stripping it at all or leaving it oily.
I think it is lovely as a once or twice a week kind of scrub and works wonderfully with the cleansing oil.

Ingredients: Here



Rating: 1.Blegh  2. Pff  3. Meh  4. Oohh  5. Awwyeah 6. Wooh



Available on Wishtrend

The good news is that some Asian beauty stores participate in Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales!
Yeyyy, I am quite happy about it since I have to stock up on some of my favorites like the C20 Vitamin C Serum (will review this wonder potion very soon!) and I love me a sale!

Tonymoly I'm Real Tea Tree Sebum Pore Lotion review

11:05 AM Moi Sanom 0 Comments

Tonymoly I'm Real Tea Tree Sebum Pore Lotion
Refreshing sebum controlling lotion. Controlling sebum and oil balance. Tea tree leaves extract ingredients tightens and refreshes pores.


I received a bunch of these samples and knew that they would be the perfect product for Johnny.
He has relatively sensitive, normal skin that is very acne prone when left alone.
Unfortunately it is also acne prone when the wrong products are used.
At the time I received these he was going through a very bad patch.
Before the summer, his skin was great and his old PIH were improving greatly but somehow during his most hated season his skin started acting up.

Johnnys summer motto

I tried a lot of different products and methods but even good old trusted ones like the Holika Holika Soda Pore Cleansing Water didn’t do the trick.
I decided to give this a try and see if it would help.
It did indeed!
It wasn’t a miracle product that made him spot free overnight but for the two weeks he was using this emulsion his spots improved significantly.
It is a gentle whiteish surprisingly liquid emulsion that also hydrates quite a bit.
It smells faintly of herbs and tea tree, a smell Johnny reported to liking a lot.

The right side is only partially rubbed in

When applied it sinks into skin very fast and leaves it velvety soft.
I liked it for its lightweightness but yet hydrating abilities.
I am not sure if it was the tea tree or another ingredient that worked so well with Johnnys skin but I am not one to question it.
This is a solid product for all you acne prone peeps out there.
I find it suitable for all skin types, even sensitive ones.
If you are looking for a miracle pimple disappearing product, I would recommend the LJH Tea Tree essence but this emulsion is a nice addition to your routine.

Ingredients: Here
PH: 5.5



Rating: 1.Blegh  2. Pff  3. Meh  4. Oohh  5. Awwyeah 6. Wooh



Available on Beautynetkorea
Available on Ebay

Dear by Enprani Moistfull Booskin review

9:56 AM Moi Sanom 0 Comments

The full size comes in a glass bottle, this smaller versions is made out of plastic

 It may or may not be common knowledge that I find toners a very boring product that I usually don’t purchase because I just can’t be bothered paying money for a meh product.
Luckily, due to travel sets, Memebox and awesome friends, I still get to try a few toners.
The overwhelming average of them under perform so much that I usually can’t even be bothered to blog about it since I don’t have much to say.
Thanks to the lovely Ladymoonlight from Unfade what Fades I got to try this little cutie when she put it into one of our cosmetic swap boxes.

Besides loving the packaging and the text that is on the bottle, I really wanted to try this out since I had a lot of success with Dear Enpranis Bounce Cheese cream in the past.
At the same time I didn't have many hopes of being wowed, so I kind of put using it off a little while.
I have to say that the bottle is not only attractive but very practical, the toner is made out of plastic so it won’t break but still manages to not look cheap.

The text on the bottle taken from the box

The aperture is the perfect size and even though the toner is very liquid it won’t splash all over your hand.
It is incredibly difficult to pin point the smell of it since I have never smelled anything like it.
I am not even going to attempt it but if you own this, I would love to hear your take on the smell.
It is not very strong, doesn’t linger and is not really that noticeable unless you stick your nose into it.
The texture is watery but with a weight to it.
There is a bit of a stringiness without it being sticky.
I have noticed that a lot of Asian skincare has that quality but I have never seen it in western products.
It might sound kind of gross but it is not at all, especially since it is only noticeable if you start playing around with the product.
Something I only do to be able to describe textures better to all of you.

Its a little hard to see but it goes from stringy to liquid

Now you are probably wondering why I like this toner more than any other.
It actually does what I hoped the Hada Labo lotion would do.
It hydrates!
If you apply it by itself you might not notice much of a difference, or the awaited moist effect isn't noticeable.
When I use this product though, my skin feels definitely better and more hydrated.
It is not anything immediate and I suspect it takes place a couple of days after regular usage.
It seems to boost all my other products and also gives me that big dose of moisture I always crave. During the duration of using it my skin was not dehydrated at all!
That is amazing to me since I haven’t been able to fight dehydration for a long time.

Watery

I have tried it with different combinations of pre and post toner items in my routine and it always increases my skins hydration.
I have also used the same routines without this toner and my skin felt better with it every time.
This is the first toner that actually made a difference and didn’t just do its job of, well, toning.
If there is any toner I would purchase full size it would be this one!
I can’t wait to try other products by Dear Enprani and see if they are as wonderful as this one!

20.11.15 Update
I still haven't found a toner a quite like this one. I have tried a lot of toners in the past year and some have been nicer than others but Moistfull Booskin still stands out!

Ingredients: Here
PH:5
Available on Koreadepart


 Rating: 1.Blegh  2. Pff  3. Meh  4. Oohh  5. Awwyeah 6. Wooha
 A toner that does what it promises suitable for every skintype.

Woeful Windsday

11:29 AM Moi Sanom 0 Comments

Today is an Edward Gorey kind of day.
While searching for some of his art to add to todays Woeful Windsday I found this short little intro videos instead!

Koreadepart revealed and reviewed aka the Haul of Doom!

7:56 AM Moi Sanom 0 Comments

The never ending wait!

Ordering this parcel was such a ginormous ordeal!
My suspicion is that this package was cursed and I can't believe that it was even worse than my Testerkorea experience!
I have to say that it was not really Koreadeparts fault, well a little bit but mostly the post.
I ordered this package for the sole reason of getting some decently priced Chosungah 22 products. Included in this package were also two items that were supposed to be reviewed for Octobers Halloween extravaganza.
Needless to say, they never arrived in time.

Look at them! *gasp*

I ordered from Koreadepart before, it was December 2013 and the parcel was sent to Spain.
It arrived in a timely order and had a few samples as well.
Nothing special happened so I was completely fine ordering from them again.
I find the shipping cost a bit steep but since the other items were on sale and difficult to find I was Ok with it.
I ordered on the 19th of August and the package didn't arrive until the 29th of October.
Yep, you read that right!
It took 2 and a half plus a lot of worries and heart ache to get this order to my house.
Lets not forget the money of course, this turned out to be my most expensive order yet!

Probably the saddest episode in cartoon history!

It was shipped on the 21st and I thought everything was going well.
What a fool I was!
By the 29th I realized something was wrong.
I called the post office about a million times and every single person gave me a different answer.
All I knew was that my package was in customs and I was not getting the notification I needed to pick it up.
After calling for two weeks every other day, the package was of course sent back.
I wrote Koreadepart that the parcel was being sent back because of some postal issues and that I can not get my shipping money back since the sender would have to talk to the post to get the costs refunded, since I, as the receiver had no rights to the package yet.
They answered fast but told me that I can either pay for shipping again or get the money refunded, sans shipping cost of course.
After a bit of back and forth they agreed to give me a 50% discount for my shipping cost.
By that time I agreed like a fool being so tired of this drama and decided to go for EMS so I can get this over with fast.
 
Oh boy, was I wrong again!
I asked Koreadepart to write certain things on the customs form so it wouldn’t get stuck there again, I had suspicions that whatever they wrote on the form was the reason I was not getting my package. First they refused and then they agreed to write nothing at all and send it again.
I did not ask for that of course, since I know that like that it will get stuck in customs for sure.
By the time I received the email it was already too late and the parcel was sent.
After 3 days it got stuck in customs again!


I called since after waiting a whole week I was still not receiving my pick up paper.
For another week I had issues with the postal service people telling me different stories each time I called.
Finally I talked to a lovely lady who actually helped me when I was all panicky since I was about to leave on a holiday.
I knew that if I wouldn’t get it before leaving, my package would be sent back again.
The day before I left I got the pick up number at 2 pm and had to rush to the customs office which is one and a half hours away from my house.
So instead of packing and dying my hair I had to spent 3 hours in a train, 2 hours in customs and had to pay money on top of it since apparently shipping money has to be taxed too.
Well you can imagine I was not happy!

This whole ordeal was very exhausting and draining to me.
I am broke and very introverted, so spending money for skincare already makes me feel guilty enough, but spending 40$ for shipping (more than the products themselves) is not something I can really justify.
Besides the fact that talking to people on the phone, complaining to companies and strangers is very hard for me.
It gives me anxiety and in the end I just pay or hang up even if I feel I am being treated wrongly.


As the cherry on top, Koreadepart used my pseudonym instead of my real name, which very probably lead to the paper never reaching me.
To be honest, my apartment number was on the box and the post man could have just dropped it in anyways.
So I don’t really know whose fault it was. 
You can imagine that when the parcel arrived I was not very exited about the contents.

Yey :(

On top of that I received a wrongly advertised item.
I ordered Wonder milk and got Celeb milk.
At least Koreadepart handled this situation well!
They answered me very fast and offered me three solutions to this.
I chose to get the right item sent to me free of charge.
Lets hope it arrives!

Everything was well packaged

I have to say that besides everything being well packaged one of my product boxes got dented and a little dirty, which is no big deal, but as a Blogger I want my product boxes to be pristine!

On the bright side, I received a decent amount of samples, even though it is more or less the amount Koreadepart usually gives out.
I got a sheet mask, which a lot of people seem to get as samples regularly, but this was actually my first time.
The other sample sachets were nicely coordinate by pastel shades, possibly a coincidence, and one of them was by a high end brand.
I also received a deluxe sample, which I always appreciate.
Unfortunately, I was not very pumped about samples anymore, it would have taken a bunch of deluxe samples and other trinkets to make me feel like they did an effort to pay me back after this whole trouble.

I always like some color coordination!

I won’t be ordering from Koreadepart for now.
Not because it is a bad store but simply because I feel like if they or the post make a mistake they should treat their customers better until they are completely satisfied with the ordering process.
I have had other issues with online companies, be it their fault or someone elses, if they treat me with respect and try to make up for what happened I will not hold any bad feelings.
Things can go wrong and I understand that very well.
I ran an Etsy shop for years, and even if it might have been on a  smaller scale the principles are still the same.
If your customers aren’t happy they wont return.


Products I ordered:
Shara Shara Oz pumpkin hand cream
Chosungah Wondermilk
Chosungah Viva Pep Souffle Triple Kit
Skinfood Charcoal Gonyak Cleansing Puff
Etude House Silky Cotton Pad

Samples:
Etude House Baby Choux base in green
Etude House Nutrifull Shea Butter cream 2x
O Hui The First Cell Source
Beyond Aqua Bloom Moisture cream
The Face Shop Mango Seed Glow Date prep Butter
Lioele Sunscreen
AC Care Essence Mask in Red Solution
 
What was your most traumatizing online shopping experiences?

Cleanse off aka Johnny Clydes triple knockout review

3:48 PM Moi Sanom 0 Comments