Archive for July 2009
Shiseido Sun Protection Creams
Posted on: July 31, 2009
Image from Shiseido
Given samples of Shiseido Sun Protection Cream in my previous sunblock haul. Based on common understanding, cream version should be more moisturizing than lotion version and more suitable for dry skin. Err… not really.
Shiseido claims the creams maintain vital moisture with no feeling of heaviness, no trace of stickiness…… yet I found them sticky. Both are formulated for face only, frangranced, water-resistant, perspiration-resistant, dermatologist and ophthalmologist -tested.
I tested both creams after toning and a lightweight moisture base, no idea why the skin feel kind of sultry. While using both creams directly after toning, still feel heavy but slightly better, not kind of moist feeling. For your info, the temperature is about 32oC, humidity 63- 70%, normal room temperature. May be I am used to milky sunscreen.
Shiseido Extra Smooth Sun Protection Cream SPF38.PA+++
The consistency is slightly thick and heavy. Spread easily, no noticeable white residue, leaving skin shine free, matte and a little tacky after the cream dry out. The fragrance is rather strong to me, somehow my sensitive skin didn’t feel comfortable with it, possibly because of drying and stingy sensations. At the end, I washed it off in an hour. I tried again in another day, the feeling is much better, not oily and quite drying.
Ingredients:
Water, Cyclomethicone, Butylene Glycol, Octyl Methoxycinnamate, Dimethicone, Dimethicone Copolyol, Methyl Gluceth-10, Polybutylene Glycol/PPG-9/1 Copolymer, Disteardimonium Hectorite, Polymethyl Methacrylate, Talc, Trimethylsiloxysilicate, Glycerin, Hydrogenated C6-14 Olefin Polymers, Xylitol, Glutathione, Sodium Glutamate, Zinc Myristate, Dipotassium Glycyrrhizate, Thiotaurine, Ectoin, Scutellaria Baicalensis Extract, Ononis Spinosa Root Extract, Dextrin Palmitate, Isostearic Acid, PEG-15, Calcium Stearate, Aluminum Distearate, Aluminum Hydroxide, Alcohol, Silica, Trisodium EDTA, BHT, Phenoxyethanol, Methylparaben, Ethylparaben, Fragrance, Zinc Oxide, Titanium Dioxide.
Shiseido Ultimate Sun Protection Cream SPF50.PA+++
The consistency is very similar to Extra Smooth Sun Protection Cream, slightly thick and heavy, spread easily, no noticeable white residue, settles easily, leaves skin shine free and smooth but a little bit tacky. H.o.w.e.v.e.r, the fragrance is not that strong and my face is feeling much better compare to Extra Smooth Sun Protection Cream. Even in air-conditioned environment, skin also feels comfortable.
Ingredients:
Water, Cyclomethicone, Octyl Methoxycinnamate, Butylene Glycol, Dimethicone, Polymethyl Methacrylate, Dimethicone Copolyol, Polybutylene Glycol/PPG-9/1 Copolymer, Disteardimonium Hectorite, Trimethylsiloxysilicate, Dextrin Palmitate, Glycerin, Hydrogenated C6-14 Olefin Polymers, Xylitol, Methyl Gluceth-10, Glutathione, Sodium Glutamate, Zinc Myristate, Dipotassium Glycyrrhizate, Thiotaurine, Scutellaria Baicalensis Extract, Ononis Spinosa Root Extract, Ectoin, Cyclopentasiloxane, Acrylates/Dimethicone Copolymer, Isostearic Acid, Aluminum Hydroxide, Strearic Acid, Trisodium EDTA, Silica, Alcohol, BHT, Phenoxyethanol, Methylparaben, Ethylparaben, Fragrance, Zinc Oxide, Titanium Dioxide.
Overall I would prefer Sun Protection lotions that are more runny on skin, the thicker protective coating is feeling more moisturizing, but will not dry out as quick as cream version, which also most likely to cog pores. While cream version is more drying, absorbed faster and perphaps more shimmers. Anyhow, either version I surely dislike the strong soapy fragrance.
DHC EGF Series Brief Review
Posted on: July 29, 2009
I was quite exciting when the EGF series has been launched in Thailand in July 09. I received the samples together with the July Olive Club Magazine mailing.
EGF (Epidermal Growth Factor) discovered by Dr. Stanley Cohen from USA in 1962. It is composed of 53 amino acids with a molecular with of 6,200 Dalton, illuminating the dynamics of cell growth. Its INCI (International Nomenclature of Cosmetic Ingredients) name is Human Oligopeptide-1 and produced by bio engineering technology.
DHC EGF series is classified as premium anti-aging line for mature women. Enriched with Coenzyme Q10, Hyaluronic acid, Placenta and Imperatorial leaf extract, EGF series also fragrance free, additive color free and paraben free. My brief reviews here are giving you a rough idea of the series.
DHC EGF Lotion (2600 baht/80ml)
The consistency of the lotion is liquidly and has hint of peachy color. Either used with cotton pad or hands, I only needed little bit of it, which was enough for face and neck. Like some others of DHC skin care, I guess it contains silver as I noticed some glitter-particles under lighting, but unnoticeable under normal day light (I tested the samples on both face and hands). I also dislike the sticky feeling when the lotion completely dry on skin.
Ingredients: Water, Glycerin, Butylene Glycol, Sorbitol, Pentylene Glycol, Phenoxyethanol, Alcohol, Salix Alba (Willow) Bark Extract, Glycerin, Rice Ferment Filtrate (Sake), Allantoin, Hydrolyzed Collage, Ubiquinone, Sodium Hyaluronate, Peucedanum Ostruthium Leaf Extract, Mannitol, Soluble Collagen, Placental Protein, Human Oligopeptide-1.
DHC EGF Essence (2800 baht/30ml)
The consistency of this essence is unexpected watery like the lotion, it looked and felt almost identical to the EGF lotion. Although the essence is very liquidly, but it won’t absorb instantly after the lotion, take 1-3 minutes to be fully absorbed. This might contains silver too as I noticed few glitter-particles under lighting, but unnoticeable under normal day light. Good points is, there is no sticky feeling of the essence once it completely dry on skin. Skin was obviously more moisturizing (I tested the lotion+cream on left cheek, lotion+essence+cream on right cheek) before I putted on the cream, unfortunately the moisturizing effect was temporary for 2-3 hours.
DHC EGF Cream (2700 baht/35g)
This is emollient but not really heavy. Due to the runny consistency, I only used small amount to spread onto skin easily. This has no sticky feeling at all, skin felt smoother, quite moisturizing (but not as good as quality hydrating serum), comfortable and gave soft glowing complexion, served as pretty glossy makeup base for a matte drying powder foundation, however my skin felt slightly tingle in mid day, most probably caused by the dryness of the powder foundation.
When used this with my other toner at night, it kept my skin soft, moist and non-greasy in air-conditioned room. This contained glitter-particles as well, I noticed some shinning glitter-particles on skin under dim lights where I was very sure the toner doesn’t contain any glitter-particles. But those shinning particles only noticeable within very close distance.
I love the cream most in the series, too bad my combination skin got blackheads from the series and I think the series is more suitable to mature women.
Ingredients: Water/eau, Caprylic/capric Triglyceride, Butylene Glycol, Glucose, Olea Europaea (Olive) Fruit Oil, Stearic Acid, Hydrogenated Palm Oil, Crambe Abyssinica Seed Oil, Theobroma Grandiflorum Seed Butter, Butyrospermum Parkii (Shea Butter), Dipalmitoyl Hydroxyproline, Glyceryl Stearate SE, Glycerin, Glyceryl Stearate, Behenyl Alcohol, Batyl Alcohol, Phenoxyethanol, Tocopherol, Salix Alba (Willow) Bark Extract, Arginine, Serine, Ocotrienols, Retinyl Palmitate, Pyridoxine HCl, Glucosyl Hesperidin, Arachis Hypogaea (Peanut) Oil, Ascorbyl Tetraisopalmitate, Sodium Chloride, Magnesium Sulfate, Hydrolyzed Collagen, Tricalcium Phosphate, Ubiquinone, Sodium Dilauramidoglutamide Lysine, Potassium Hydroxide, Peucedanum Ostruthium Leaf Extract, Elaeis Guineensis (Palm) Oil, Sodium Hyaluronate, Olea Europaea (Olive) Leaf Extract, Sodium Polygamma-glutamate, Mannitol, Pyrus Malus (Apple) Fruit Water, Polysorbate 20, Placental Protein, Silica, Zinc Oxide, Carbomer, Silver, Soluble Collagen, Palmitoyl Tetrapeptide-7, Palmitoyl Oligopeptide, Human Oligopeptide-1, Citric acid.
Although DHC claims the series suitable for all skin types, but I think the cream could be too greasy for combination to oily skin, and lotion and essence not exactly moisturizing. In short, please try the sample before purchase if you are interested in it.
Skin Food Potiron au Lait Eye Cream
Posted on: July 28, 2009
Since I was satisfied with Skin Food Black Raspberry Eye Cream, so I grabbed another eye cream from Skin Food. The consistency of this eye cream is very alike to the Black Raspberry Eye Cream, creamy, emollient, concentrated and I found a better word to describe it now, magerine. The scent of Potiron au Lait Eye Cream is lovely sweet, enriched with vitamins, carotene-rich pumpkin extract, milk and honey to nourish and moisturize skin.
I do agree it’s great to moisture, my fine lines look invisible for first few hours, but after 8 months every AM and PM use (took ~2 months break for Clinique Repairwear Intensive Eye Cream), the fine line and puffy eye bag didn’t visibly improved, in fact, nothing seems improved. Perhaps I should happy it was functioning for prevention?
I always consider both repair and antioxidant formulated eye cream at my age. Realistically, none of the eye cream can comparable with Clinical treatment, regardless premium or budget. So, I was into a puzzle of “eye cream or not” sometimes. Therefore, I do think the Potiron au Lait Eye Cream is a good value product for those who have very dry eye zone for nourish purpose with no much concerns of signs of aging, dark eye circles and puffy eye. Yet it only costs RM 56.90 for 25g in Malaysia and able to last for 8 months, sells more expensive for 770 baht in Thailand.
Rating: … ))) 
Satisfied. Will not buy again.
- In: Budget Skincare | Mask | Product Review
- 4 Comments
Do you love sauna mask?
Pale blue clay of the Garnier Pure Self-Heating Sauna Mask is to remove impurities and excess sebum in order to unclog pores and refine skin texture. Face will be deep-cleansed, looks shine-free and feels purified for up to 7 days, according to Garnier. To use, leaves for 3 minutes on cleansed face, then rinse off.
test
With 6ml generous amount for each application, I can simply apply a very thick layer on face. Skin will be feeling warm without irritation, wait for 3 minutes, then rinse off easily with water, follow by a gentle facial wash to make sure proper cleanse although skin could be drying due to the double cleansing.
The warm sensation will disappear after 1-2 minutes, but the face will sense the warm again when I rinse it off with water. Please don’t do any sauna mask whenever the skin is being sensitive, else it stings. When my skin prone to dryness, I will pat a little water on face, then only put on the sauna mask, the warm sensation will quickly wear off upon application in this way.
My pores have been instantly refined and brighten after the sauna mask. Blackheads on my cheeks have been clear off, or at least I didn’t see them visible, but no much help to the stubborn blackheads. For me, those stubborn one seems like only can be removed by extraction.
I had used self-heating clay mask from few brands, some stingy, some lack the self-heating function after several usage, some don’t clear the pores effectively, some simply too expensive, but Garnier Pure Self-Heating Sauna Mask doesn’t has these problems. Unfortunately, Garnier sauna mask is the only one that caused me breakout! After the mask, I found few oil zits or red bump here and there. I have totally no idea whether there are caused by purification or simply I am allergy to the mask. Tried few times, all gave me the breakout in very short time. Accepted I’ve no luck with any L’Oreal drugstore brand, both in the past and present.
Garnier Pure Self-Heating Sauna Mask contains 2 packs with 6ml each for 2 applications, and it retails 82 baht.
Rating: …. ))) 
So-so. Will not buy again.
Ingredients:
Glycerin, Kaolin, Propylene Glycol Dicaprylate/Dicaprate, Ci77891/Titanium Dioxide, Aluminium Starch Octenylsuccinate, Montmorillonite, Aqua/Water, Propylene Glycol, Allantoin, Lactic Acid, Lauryl Aminopropylglycine, Lauryl Diethylenediaminoglycine, Salicylic Acid, Serine, Tea-lactate, Urea, Zinc PCA, Acrylates Copolymer, Alcohol Denat, Isobutane Propylene Carbonate, Silica, Sodium Chloride, Sodium Lactate, Sorbitol, Stearalkonium Hectorite, Sodium Benzoate, Ci42090/Blue 1, Ci77007/Ultramarines, Ci77947/Zinc Oxide, Parfum/Fragrance, Benzyl Salicylate, Limonene, Linalool.
- In: Mask | Product Review
- 4 Comments
Spent a whole day at outdoor theme park in a very sunny day, admittedly my sunblock did prevent me to get sunburn but not protected from pigmentation. I used this mask on the third day after the theme park outing, regret that I didn’t use it on next day of the outing.
mask sheet texture
The cotton sheet mask can be moderately stretchable, multi-layer design helping active ingredients deeply penetrate into skin. I found the eye cutting is a little bit small, and the sheet mask is a little bit too large for my face. But since the sheet mask was fully loaded with the essence, so it was sturdy adhered to the face.
sheet mask
Direction for use: Use after cleansed face and toning. Wait for approximately 15 minutes, then remove the mask and let the remaining fluid lightly blend with the skin.
content
After leaving the mask on for 15 minutes as advised, I removed the mask and massaged the essence gently into skin, followed by moisturizer. The clear liquid-gel consistency essence was non-tacky and absorbed quickly. The sheet mask remained damp after I used on neck and body, for hygiene reason, I still discarded the mask after each usage. However I keep the remaining essence in the packaging inside the refrigerator for less than 12 hours to be used as body whitening essence on next skincare routine.
This mask gave me instant luminous complexion after the application and the translucent complexion could last for two days, yet this was gentle to my sensitive skin, making the skin soft and moist as the pitera has hydrating effect too.
For the expensive price, I reserved this for important days only, or intensive whitening program for a week if budget allowed. Perhaps I should try SK-II Whitening Source Derm Revival Program which includes this mask and Whitening Source Melting Essence Film for intensive dark spot treatment next time. Paid special price 2000 baht for 6 pieces of the mask, normal retail price is 3300 baht in Thailand.
Rating: …))) 
Excellent. Willing to buy again.
Ingredients:
Water, Saccharomycopsis Ferment Filtrate, Butylene Glycol, Niacinamide, Glycerin, Pentylene Glycol, Ascorbyl Glucoside, Inositol, Sodium Hydroxide, Acrylates/C10-30 Alkyl Acrylate Crosspolymer, Benzyl Alcohol, Methylparaben, Disodium EDTA, Hexapeptide-11, Phenoxyethanol.
I’ve been using eyebrow pencil in black for more than 15 years now even though I dye my hair to cappuccino once in a while. Recently I found out black-brown will look better on me, so I keep my eyes searching for a right browny shade all the time. There are so many kinds of brown shades to choose from, picking the right shade might require trial-and-error, even roaming from brand to brand.
swatch (under shadow)
I got the SkinFood Black Bean Eye Brow Pencil #6 (dark brown) as recommended by the sales girl. It looks pretty right browny when I tested on my hand at the store, thus I was immediately sold plus I was in rush.
swatch (with light)
Agreed that the brown appears softy dark on me, happy with it until I saw the brown under sunlight. The brown appears crimson-brown that contrast to my natural black brow. I feel it looks very unnatural on me because I don’t have any red of my hair. To solve, I blend it with black shade brow pencil for unevenly black-brown that I was intended looking for. The method is too tedious, I give up after trying for a month, now I reserve this Black Bean Eye Brow Pencil strictly for night only. Later I got another perfect black brown shade brow pencil (Coffee Brown) at half of the SkinFood’s price for day use.
Despite the incorrect shade, the flat-oval shaped brow cartridge is simply awesome! It is soft-medium, crayon-textured, draw on easily, the pigment remains the same regardless you are heavy handed or light handed, very long-wearing and can be easily remove by facial cleanser. The pencil casing itself is also weightless, classy design that I like it to exist in my makeup pouch. The capped medium-hard brush is easy to use, but I seldom need it at all because the finish already looks good.
The original length of the cartridge is 2.4cm, can be tune in and out, but it’s not refillable. I truly love the convenience of cartridge type of brow pencil, sadly they aren’t long-lasting compare to sharpening required brow pencil. The Black Bean Eye Brow Pencil estimated lasts for 6 months with single application daily.
Bought this RM14.90 in Malaysia. I degraded the rating for the wrong shade. According to the sales girl, No.6 is their most popular choice and it gains rave in Thailand as well.
Rating: … ))) 
Good. Unlikely to buy again.
Test, test, test…
nude brow
with SkinFood black bean#6
I can omit all type of makeup except brow. It just so important to make me look more awake. Hence I always use an eyebrow pencil to fill my sparsely brow hair in order to make it looks fuller and defined.
swatch (with light)
swatch (without light)
Maybelline has many great products in my opinion. The Unstoppable natural brow liner is flexibly pigmented, you can light-handed to create natural finish or heavy-handed for darker shade. The grooming brush embedded on the transparent pencil cap is straightly hard, quite useful to comb the brow, but I didn’t use it more of the time.
light-handed
heavy-handed
The finish quite depends on application skill, which means it has error-making tendency. Water-resistant but the brow tail might disappears a little bit at the end of the day if you have very oily T-zone. Drawing on the base makeup will definitely help it stays all day because sunblock or base makeup usually has certain degree of sebum-controlling ability. BUT, this also possibly leading the brow looks unnaturally heavily, waxy and mushy.
- test
The Unstoppable brow liner costs me 179 baht and I’ve using this brow liner for 16 months now, only get it sharpen few times, still have about 70% left.
unsightly brow pencil
Anyhow, I must rant the poor packaging. The pencil paint was flaked off itself after 2 months use, leaving the brow pencil unsightly ugly, I swear I never ”abuse” it. This is pretty good eyebrow pencil but my rating went down due to the poor packaging.
Rating: …))) 
Satisfied. Unlikely to buy again.
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