Korean goodies: Osho Whitening Cream review

I don't know much about this Osho Whitening Cream. The leaflet says it whitens the skin due to presence of high concentrates of  rice bran extracts. After experimenting with this cream for a while I must say that it whitens strongly, but temporarily as if it was not rice bran extract, but rice powder that was the main whitening ingredient. 

The note on the packaging said that this is a day/night cream, so I slapped on a considerable amount on my face before going to bed and scared Mr Hubby with what he believed was my new take on Halloween make-up. This thing looks as if you've smeared toothpaste onto your face. Of course I wiped this off cause no one wants to sleep with white make-up on their faces and was about to dump this vile thing, but the beautiful white pears spoke to me and I resisted the strong temptation to part with this cream.

The next morning I used it in less than a moderate amount and it actually did work. I would never recommend wearing it on its own as it makes your face unnaturally white. I'm pale and this turns me white, and I can't even imagine what it would look like on darker skinned people. But this makes a nice base for my make-up, it even brightens the undereye area nicely. 

I don't think this is a particularly good quality cream. When I used a larger amount it felt heavy and pasty on my skin and turned it greasy. When I just patted on a small dollop, I felt it didn't  moisturise enough.

I will use this up, but I don't like it. I'm not sure who this is for. Too heavy for oily skin, too drying for dry, turns pale complexions white, darker and olive toned would most probably look ashy. This is a day cream with strong white cast, but has no SPF at all. 

It looks like the only thing I like about this cream is the packaging.

Korean goodies: Yni Picture Eyeliner review

Being masters of caligraphy, Asian people know how to make a felt tip liner best. As a Memebox addict I got a number of unbranded products which surprised me with their quality and stayed with me until today. One of such products is this Yni Picture Eyeliner.

This represents a weird concept of an eyeliner, which is not unknown to the Western market, as years back it was intoduced by some highend brand like Lancome or Stila. What we get is a tip which looks like a pitchfork and can be used in multiple ways. It was designed for beginners in the art of make-up who struggle to make a line straight. The tip is meant to be some kind of dotting tool that will fill in the lashline without the need to draw a line at all.

However, if you just drag this tip along the lashline, it'll give you a beautiful, opaque black, straight line, the width of which will depend on the angle at which you hold the pen. 

This tip is not my favourite, I find the conventional ones more faff-free, but the overall result is undeniably pretty and I keep returning to this pen quite regularly. 

But what I like about this eyeliner the most is that it resists the passage of time and is just as good as new. My European drugstore liners dry out within months, if not weeks, and this one goes on beautifully in spite of the fact that I've had it for good couple of years.

Elemis Pro-Collagen Advanced Treatment review

I have undereye wrinkles and I willingly reach for different concoctions that promise to reverse the damage that time has made to my skin.

My latest pick was Elemis ProCollagen Advanced Eye Treatment. I went for this one because the reviews were good and collagen products, say what you may about how useless collagen is in skin care, have always done a world of good for me. 

The product comes in a classy, but not fancy flat gray bottle, which definitely protects the product from sun rays, but it also makes it impossible to tell how much product is left. The cap contains a glass dropper, which helps you carefully measure a drop or two of this precious liquid. 

The serum has a consistency that is half way between water and gel and it's also sort of cloudy. It distributes nicely under the eyes, leaves a kind of film and doesn't feel tight even if I forget to follow this with an eye cream.

I'm writing this review after having used this thing religiously day by day in conjunction with various high quality eye creams and I must say that while it was a pleasure to pamper myself with a product which I consider luxury, I must say that the entire bottle of this serum did not iron out my wrinkles and I don't notice any difference now that I've stopped using this. Let me rephrase that, Elemis Pro-Collagen Advanced Eye Treatment proved itself to be a totally unnecessary addition to my skincare routine and quite a lot of money wasted.

Make Up For Ever Ultra HD Invisible Cover Concealer in R30 review & swatches

I'm always on the lookeout for a concealer which would work on my dry undereye, so when I heard of the new Ultra HD Concealer by Make Up For Ever I thought I'd give it a go.

Here's what it claims to do:

Rare as it is in the make-up industry, all the claims are true. This concealer hides imperfections and brightens the eye area , feels comfortable and doesnt turn dry or cakey during the day. The consistency is super smooth, applies like a dream and blends incredibly well. It offers medium coverage, which is just enough for my needs.

The shade I got after being mismatched by a Sephora consultant (R30) is not brightening nor highlighting, but it blends in with my foundations seamlessly, but if I were to repurchase, I'd go for a lighter and more yellow shade.

The product comes in a convenient squeezy tube. The size of the tube made me suspicious of the amount of product and indeed it contains 7ml of product only, which is less than a half of a standard eye cream tube, but then I compared the amount to some more bulky concealers (eg. Urban Decay Naked, 5 ml) and discovered that this actually presents a good value for money. 

Now, why am I not raving about my newly found holy grail concealer?

The thing is that this concealer never sets and remains wet and tacky all the time and it makes my mascara smudge badly and thus ruins my makeup.

This concealer is too good to be ditched, so I kept experimenting with it and figured out the perfect way to use this. I mix it with my Urban Decay Naked Skin concealer, which is too drying and too pale for me on its own, but blended with my MUFE Ultra HD concealer it achieves the desired consistency and comfort, while making the Ultra HD one set beautifully without the need to use powder on top. And my mascara doesn't melt any more.  

Korean goodies: Nature's Friend SaeHaneul Eye & Nourishing Cream review

I loved my Memeboxes because they were always full of surprises, the ridiculous ones and those that offered incredible quality and value for money.  Nature's Friend SaeHaneul Eye & Nourishing Cream is one of such amazing finds. Made by an unknown brand which clearly has never had any intention of going international as apart from simple slogans they placed no information about the product in English, the cream turns out to be one of the best I've ever used. And trust me, I'm an eye cream connoisseur. 

The info card doesn't say much about the cream. Free from all the cosmetic baddies like parabens or mineral oil etc. this cream contains extracts of 10 organic plants to promote skin regeneration and youthful appearance.

My experience shows that this cream offers an incredible boost of moisture under my eyes, which smooths out my fine lines and the result lasts all day. This cream has a lovely consistency which goes on smoothly and leaves a kind of slippery film on my skin throughout the day, which I believe prevents the return of dryness. 

This cream works beautifully under concealers, which tend to leave my undereye parched and dry.

What's more the convenient squeezy tube contains 40 ml of product while normally eye creams are sold in 15ml containers.

Words cannot express how much I love this cream and I've already started worrying what I'll do without it. I'm pretty sure it'll be hard to find a proper replacement.