First Impressions // Black Friday Soko Glam haul + a rave

I put my order in on Friday. Granted close to 12am because I was on a Thanksgiving buzz. But that isn’t the point. Point is, my package was waiting for me when I got home today! Thanks SG and thank you 2-Day Priority Mail. You’ve changed the lives of consumers everywhere.

I took advantage of the 30% sale they were having and snagged a couple of their 2015 Beauty Award winners. This was actually my first order from them ever but I’ve definitely been eyeing their products for awhile. I almost jumped the gun and bought a couple of things a few weeks ago but then remembered Black Friday is a thing. So I sat tight until now.

First Impressions // November 3B Box

[Happy post-Thanksgiving to any US readers out there!]

I was minding my own business this afternoon, enjoying the four day vacation I got, and then my postman arrived with my 3B Box!

It seems I’m among the last wave in the month to get this box.. so many others before me have unboxed it. But better late than never! I’ll take it since a) I’m on the east coast so these things naturally take awhile to get to me, and more importantly b) I’m just really really glad to have gotten off the waitlist back in September.

I really love this subscription box. (Fellow A-Beauty rookies out there! – I highly recommend getting this box. They’ve been known to have a long waitlist but I was able to get off it in three weeks, so not too shabby. But still, sign up now!) This box is a great way to see a bunch of other brands and definitely helps me figure out what things could be good for me or not, and to try things I wouldn’t have thought to try. It’s affordable ($12 per month) and gives a great sample of products. And this month’s no different:

(I got way too excited I just pulled it out of the box and threw it on my computer for a picture)

I’m not really sold on the Etude House Cleansing Oil Moisture. The note from 3B said it contains coconut oil. Since I’m acne-prone and my face is still recovering from testing other samples, I’m going to stash it for awhile and test it another day.

Same goes for the RA & Gowoori Whitening UV Sun Cream. I’m still slowly easing myself into that next step in my routine. I know a lot of beauty bloggers out there would curse me out for not using any, but my work days are spent far from a window. There’s also some word that computers emit some UV light that could tan but I’m still not sold on that claim. I probably also relying on my naturally tan skin to fend off any sun damage to come in the winter. But who knows, I might have a change of heart. I might start putting my Vitamin C into my morning routine so there may be a need for it after all…

Definitely going to try a A’Pieu Nonco Tea Tree Spot Patch tonight. I just got a new breakout and would love to see how this works.

The Secret Key Starting Treatment Essence would be next on my list, without a doubt. I received a 10 ml sample of the infamous SK-II First Treatment Essence that’s almost done so it’ll be fun to see the differences, if at all. That’ll be a tiny review in the future!

Lastly, I’ll find a way to test the Rohto Hada Labo Toyko Skin Plumping Gel Cream. I have so many moisturizers and creams to sample so I’m not sure how/when I’ll try it. But I might move it to the top of the list since I can already see its re-purposing potential: cute, tiny container to decant other samples of creams/emulsions? Yes yes yes.

Looks like another fun month of samples. It’s been such a nice way to end the month 🙂

xx Snuffy

Reviews // CosRX Snail Essence and Mela14 Ampoule (the dynamic duo for breakouts)

I have a bad habit when I breakout: as soon as I see a head form, I will pop or scratch it. Deep or shallow, it will be a victim to my antsy fingers. As I see it, the quicker it scars, the quicker it’ll fully heal.

Of course, that also means my face has fallen prey to post-inflammatory hyperpigmentation (PIH)- dark brown spots from old acne. They would stay on my face for months. My face was far from flawless but I didn’t mind them because it beats having a huge painful raised pimple on my skin.

I visited oo35mm in Chinatown when looking for a toner to replace my Origins one that was running low. I was given a CosRX Advanced Snail 96 Mucin Power Essence sample and was excited! From all my Reddit + blog trolling, anything snail was like the proper introduction to Korean beauty. I was a bit creeped out but after reading all the wonderful reviews, I figured it couldn’t hurt to try. It was a sample after all.

I had a newly formed red zit and thought with all of snail’s wonderful properties, it should do something to it.

Which it did. The next day, my zit wasn’t as red anymore. I stared at the little packet with disbelief. No effing way. Was this the wonder of snail? I needed to know more so I bought a bottle off of Amazon.

cleansing and toning! the essential steps

In a very basic Western skincare routine, there’s a cleanser, a toner, then a moisturizer. So for the longest time, I thought cleansing and toning were the simplest steps. Cleansers just gets rid of whatever’s on my face and toners were supposed to take off anything left over… that’s about it right?

Oh boy oh boy was I wrong.

An tiny anecdote
When I was a teenager, I dabbled with numerous cleansers. Anything that would help my awkward acne-ridden face. If it smelled nice, extra brownie points. But none of them helped. As soon as I grew out of those teenage acne days, I just used water to clean my face out of sheer frustration.

Until I got a complete regimen from Origins (as mentioned in my last post). My face was relatively the same. With the exception of a new tiny whiteheaded zit that would show up randomly on my face. Most of the time it was my forehead. Then a random one on my nose. Or my chin. It seemed like I got a new one every day. I didn’t understand why. I was doing everything right. I followed the regimen so carefully. What was going wrong?

I later learned about how I should have patch tested to see how my skin would react to each product. Since I was months into this routine, I didn’t think it would make sense to individually patch test everything. So I troubleshooted and stared at the first thing that would hit my face- the cleanser.

But how could a cleanser affect my face that much? It just stays on my face for maybe a minute and then I wash it off. It shouldn’t change a thing.

And then it hit me: I read on numerous blogs about how the face has a natural pH is around 5 – 5.5. They explained it more eloquently and scientifically, but as I understood it anything more than that can disrupt the face’s skin barrier.

I remembered I had some pH strips from old middle school science projects. I tested my cleanser and it showed up as a 9. WAY. TOO. HIGH. It can’t be. It has to be the old pH strip’s fault. So I did what any other millennial would do: I Googled reviews about it. And it was was right: it’s been tested to be very alkaline. That clean but very, very drying feeling proved it was too basic for my skin.

The same went for my toner. It was evidence enough that my skin felt tight after using it. I didn’t bother testing the pH since I already felt deceived.

All about hydration
It’s been slightly ingrained in the Western skincare world that the more drying a product feels, the more effective the product is. “It strips all the dirt away.” Nope nope nope. Giant stop sign.

Eastern skincare is all about hydration. In order to have healthy skin, you need to have it properly hydrated. Just like we should be drinking 8 glasses of water a day, we need to give our skin a good amount of love too. And that starts with cleansers.

Tip #1: Find a cleanser that has a pH close to 5 – 5.5
^ You’ll read that almost anywhere when learning about Asian skincare, but I really can’t stress it enough. It’s an important tip that I wish I knew before going gung-ho into a routine.

Tip #2: Get a toner that hydrates
^ Double the hydration, double the fun. Now that your skin is clean and at the right pH level, using a hydrating toner will prepare your face to be ready and willing to soak up all the treatments you have in store for it in the essences/serum/ampoule step

There are also pH adjusting toners out there that will lower your face’s pH on application. I don’t have one in my arsenal, but they are very handy if you don’t mind having a high pH cleanser and/or you don’t have the time to wait when you use an active.

And yes, I intentionally left out the wonderful world of oil cleansing. It deserves a post on its own. I’ll save that for another day, with a review on one of the first Korean skincare products I ever bought.

Until next time (very soon!),

xx Snuffy

how it all began

My skincare journey started only in March of this year (I wasn’t kidding with being a rookie). My routine up until that point was simply wash my face with water, then apply generic drugstore brand moisturizer. Whenever I had breakouts, I had Retin-A on deck. That was it. Surprisingly, my skin cooperated despite my spartan choice. Sure, I would have dry patches in the winter and I’d have hormonal related breakouts… but nothing too disastrous. It was normal to me.

But I had just turned 25 and I, like I’m sure many others out there, found it as a significant milestone. I thought starting now, I’d need to be more proactive with establishing a sturdy foundation of good habits now so it would stick for the rest of my life. Dramatic, I know. But it was the dead of winter; it had the right amount of bleakness to it.

And then I saw this article from Yahoo! Beauty on my computer.

It intrigued me. This company turned 25. I turned 25. But what’s a serum? Oh well, I might as well get that thing since it’s for people like me!

hi hi hi! / introduction

Hello to anyone who stumbled here!

I’ve been on the fence for awhile if I should or shouldn’t create a blog. I have an awful habit of rambling so I wasn’t sure for the life of me how this would work. But practice makes perfect and this will be a my work in progress.

For now, this blog will be following my journey to better skincare with the help of Asian beauty products. I’ve been inspired to track my progress, impressions, and reviews after trolling the Asian Beauty reddit and numerous ABeauty beauty bloggers.

I’ve attended a few KBeauty events in the past few months and it’s a bit discouraging that girls like me- who just have a skincare hobby, and who don’t have affiliates or sponsorships or other blogging perks- aren’t getting as much attention as those popular beauty bloggers who’ve been at it for a few years. I think rookie girls need a voice too! Not to mention I don’t see many bloggers who are NC35-40 who are in demand! *

* I may not have searched hard enough, so to any readers out there: please direct me to any US-based A-Bloggers as I’d love to find more resources! Also, I have a post idea for this for another day. Don’t want to get on any potential soapboxes on my first post..

From there I’ll see how this blog goes. Maybe I’ll do a few posts about my Pilates habit. Or random thoughts of a mid-20 year old. Who knows!

Happy reading/blogging,

xx Snuffy