Reviews and Other Stuff

Sulwhasoo First Care Activating Serum & Snowise Brightening Water Review

April 26, 2017 / FASHION & BEAUTY / 0 comments

Setting my personal SK II beauty regimen aside, I embarked on two new facial products that I’ve been constantly using for more than a month now. I’ve been putting into test the Sulwhasoo Snowise Balancing Water as my facial toner, and the Sulwhasoo First Care Activating Serum as my daily facial serum. I know that the First Care Serum is the bestselling product of Sulwhasoo and a lot of people swear by it, so I was naturally intrigued and wondered just how good the product is, or if Sulwhasoo’s skin care line warrants a cult-following given the price of their products.

Sulwhasoo is high-end Korean skin care brand owned by Amore Pacific, and it’s much loved by a lot Koreans. The brand’s philosophy believes in the concept of beauty and harmony of energies, combining traditional medicine with modern science. The main ingredient of most of their product is Ginseng, but it’s not just any other Ginseng, it’s the best kind of Ginseng thought to be found only in the Korean Peninsula. Ginseng, when used as a skin care, has a lot of potential benefits. One being good in the anti-aging department and it also has brightening properties.

As a general observation of the two products I purchased, they both are in heavy glass containers that depicts a whole authentic Korean aesthetic vibe. The bottles are not necessarily too big or too bulky, and they’re both opaque, so you won’t be able to see how much product is left inside. Both the Sulwhasoo First Care Activating Serum and the Snowise Brightening Water smells very herbal-like, but it’s not overwhelming to the senses, instead, it’s pretty invigorating.

Sulwhasoo Snowise Brightening Water (4.22 oz: $63) – This slightly hefty toner is meant to be applied with the palm of your hands and pat starting from the center of your face. With Broussonetia Kazinoki, a Mulberry extract known to brighten and soften rough skin. The toner is meant to prepare skin for other Snowise products like the Snowise Brightening Cream and Brightening Serum. However, I didn’t plan to use this toner for that purpose, instead, I just wanted a good toner that can help brighten my dark spots or post-acne marks. So far, in my experience, this toner feels like a gel and it’s tricky to use a cotton pad with this, as the consistency seems a bit too thick for a toner. You might really need to use your palms when applying this, but I prefer to still use a cotton pad because I want my toner to take off excess makeups that didn’t rinse away after washing. Fortunately, the formula spreads very easily and it feels very soothing. As far as the benefits and changes I’ve noticed, this product did not irritate my skin and it keeps it plumped. Didn’t notice any brightening effect so far, but my acne scars seemed to have not darken further.

Suwhasoo First Care Activating Serum (2 oz: $84) – With Milkvetch that promotes skin circulation and Dwarf Lilyturf with Licorice to restore skin’s radiance. This bestselling product is meant to restore the skin’s moisture and nutrients. The serum has golden brown color and smells like Ginseng with some other herbs. It feels like a gel and it spreads easily onto the face, which then the skin absorbs easily and also has a relaxing feel to it. I truly love the consistency of this serum and a little bit goes a long way, perhaps 2-3 pumps will work per application. I also love the cap since it’s very easy to take it off or replace it whenever you use the product. When it comes to its effect, I do notice an overall evenness of hydration on my face throughout the day. I no longer have dry patches around my mouth and my skin’s not secreting too much oil. It’s still oily-prone, but not as much, and it looks my skin’s regulating the sebum production well. This serum seems to work to balance the skin’s chemistry, no wonder a lot of people have fallen in love with it.

Bottom line, I like Sulwhasoo a lot and I’m planning to try more of their products soon. They’re really pricey, but you could sense that they put a lot of value and effort on their products. They feel luxurious, soothing, traditional, and there’s an element of care and wisdom to it. Compared to SK II, I definitely feel like they’re neck and neck with each other. I also like SK II a lot and will always be using them, but these two products from Sulwhasoo would be great add on.

The Snowise Brightening Water is available at: Nordstrom, Neiman Marcus & Bergdorf Goodman

The First Care Activating Serum can be found at: Nordstrom, Bergdorf Goodman & Neiman Marcus

For more skin care stuff, follow moi on Instagram: @reviewsandotherstuff

Alex Marwood’s “The Killer Next Door” Book Review

April 25, 2017 / OTHER STUFF / 0 comments

“Everyone who lives at 23 Beulah Grove has a secret”.

Hi Bookworms! here’s a bone-chilling novel that I recently finished, it’s called “The Killer Next Door” by Alex Marwood. Yes, the title is as intriguing and gruesome as the story. It circles around the lives of the six residents, namely;

Cher: A teenage runaway with attitude issues.

Vesta: An elderly woman who seems to have lived in the boarding house for forever and has monetary issues.

Collette: The main character who’s running away from someone or something, and whose real name is Lisa.

Hossein: A middle eastern refugee who just wants to forget.

Gerard: A recluse and a former music teacher.

Thomas. Another oddball who also likes to keep to himself and is currently occupying the attic.

Together with their creepy landlord Roy Preece, this is a story of a harrowing life in the city of London, where the residents live in a Victorian-style but dilapidated boarding house. All of them have secrets to hide, and all of them seem to be running away from their sordid past. Preferring to forget and remain incognito. Most of the time, they like to keep to themselves and are always wary.

The residents seem to enjoy the anonymity that the building has offered, yet things aren’t always what they seem. There will be a terrible accident that will unite them together, and one of them is hiding a very deep dark secret. Much darker than what each of them already have. This is a tale of life, secrets, friendships, love, reality, wickedness, obsession and murder. This aint’ a tale for the faint of heart, not even for someone with a weak stomach. The details of the story are lurid, grotesque and almost scary.

Even though the story was intriguing and had a pretty satisfying ending with a good twist, this was a slow read for me. I like the whole concept of the story but it transitions from one event to another very slowly. The audiobook was the same, even though I kinda like the reader because she has different voices for each character. Yet still, the book was told in the third person being from the point of view of each character, and I still find that to be kinda hard to connect. Just not a fan of the third person narration, and it was also hard to follow as to who was who in the story. The first half was quite monotonous and the story starts to take hold almost at the end of the book. There’s few twists, but they weren’t so mind-bending. Some arguments were already expected and the overall pace of the book could need a little more push.

Overall, the book is riveting enough and the author truly captures the thoughts and struggles of each character while depicting the plot as realistic as can be. A good series adaptation would be great. I heard James Franco might be starring on it. I really hope so.

Have you read this book?

To purchase this book on paperback, click HERE.

To read via kindle, click HERE.

To listen to this novel via audible, click HERE.

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OLEHENRIKSEN Balance It All Set. Oil Control Hydrator, Toner & Cleanser Review

April 21, 2017 / FASHION & BEAUTY / 0 comments

Having an oily skin or even an oily T-zone is really cumbersome to deal with. Most likely you have a blotting paper, an oil-free moisturizer, and a very potent face mask in your arsenal. You probably even shy away from facial oils or avoid places that are too hot or too humid. Trust me, I’ve been there, done that. While I’m still on the process of dealing with my own oily-prone skin by trying out different products to control excess sebum, I find that there’s not a lot of products to choose from or that could actually work.

In my latest adventure of trying out products that control oil, I discovered the Olehenriksen Balance It All products. If you’ve read my previous “Samples Of The Week” review, found HERE, you know that I love one of the products in the said oil-control line. So, I decided to purchase the entire set to see if the products could control my oils to a whole new level.

Here’s what I found:

Find Your Balance, Oil Control Cleanser (2 oz: $10, 5 oz: $25)– Has AHA, Glycolic and Lactic Acid, this cleanser smells like eucalyptus or peppermint candy and a little bit like DEET (you know, the mosquito-repellant) or insecticide, due to the neem oil as its added ingredient. It’s not bad, in fact, the scent is very interesting, if not invigorating. This cleanser really takes off the excess oil in the face and unclogs pores. It has a minty or cooling effect once applied and it leaves your skin thoroughly cleaned and soft. It’s also very foamy and quite exfoliating. I love the overall refreshing feeling whenever I use this, and personally, and I would buy this over and over again.

Balancing Force, Oil Control Toner (6.5 oz: $26) – Also has BHA, AHA, Salicylic Acid, Glycolic & Lactic Acid, this toner is meant to refine the pores and controls excess oil without stripping the skin. Well, this toner seems a bit too harsh for me, for some reasons. First, it smells really strong, like a strong anti-mosquito or insecticide. Even a lot stronger than the other two products mentioned here. It’s hard to even discern the peppermint scent. Second, it feels really more like an astringent when applied. In fact, whenever I apply this, my face turns red, and it does feel quite a bit harsh. I personally prefer a toner that feels and smells mild, yet packed with very good and non-irritating ingredients.

Counter Balance, Oil Control Hydrator (1.7 oz: $34) – I first tried this product when I received a sample of it from Sephora. I loved it immediately and is the reason why I decided to purchase the entire Olehenriksen Balance It All Set. This smells minty, like a peppermint candy with a hint of tea tree. It feels very cooling but not harsh on the face. The product gets absorbed by my skin easily and mattifies it. The formula is very lightweight and it didn’t cause any break out. This is a very good moisturizer for us with oily-prone skin, and I honestly think that this is the best product of all the entire Balance It All Set.

Verdict: I definitely like the Olehenriksen Balance It All Set. They do work and each product is more affordable compared to some other cleansers, toners and moisturizers out there. But there’s a few caveats. Whenever I use the entire set of products all at the same time, there seems to be some sort of a rebound effect, wherein my skin gets even more oily in just a few minutes after application. It’s like my skin became extremely dry and it has to produce even more sebum in order to compensate. But, whenever I just use one or two of them, I find that my skin is mattified and it lasts for 4-6 hours. With that being said, I really love just using either the Oil Control Cleanser or Oil Control Hydrator (or even both) for my face and skipping on the Oil Control Toner.

The Olehenriksen Balance It All Set is limited edition and available exclusively at sephora.com

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