Banila Co's Clean It Zero is pretty much a cult product in South Korea now. I'm sure you've all seen it online before (if you're into asian beauty), so I am here to give you my review of it!

So the Clean It Zero is basically a solid oil cleanser. It reminds me of the texture of coconut oil when it's solid, but less solid. If I press on the oil with my fingertip, it will cave inwards easily. I use this as a makeup remover, so I just take a little bit into my palm, massage to turn it into a oil, and then rub all over my face. 

The ingredient list is in Korean, but there are translations of it online. 

This is what it looks like when you open it up. Banila Co has provided a little spatula thing in that plastic cover, which is super nice and helpful for hygiene reasons. 

So I was a religious user of Shu Uemura's cleansing oil (the purple one), but the larger sized one (15.2 oz) was $92 and I had already gone through two bottles of that in approximately two years. Not a bad value, but I had heard good things about Banila Co's Clean It Zero, and it was much cheaper (but smaller in size) so I figured, why not try it out. Shu Uemura also changed the cleansing oils. I'm not sure if they only changed the formula or not, but the one I used to use does not exist anymore. 

The one I own is 100mL worth of product. There is a larger size at 180mL but I wasn't sure if this product would perform as well as my Shu Uemura cleansing oil, so I decided to just try out the 100mL first. 

I find that this removes all my complexion makeup pretty well. A little goes a long way with this one, especially if you only do BB cream/complexion makeup. However, I wear eyeshadow and gel eyeliner, and I find that even after double cleansing, there are still some residual traces of eyeliner left over. The Shu Uemura cleansing oil was able to remove all my makeup (I usually use two pumps) without any residual left over. 

What I liked about this one more than the Shu Uemura one, is that the oil does not drip into my eyes easily. With the Shu Uemura, sometimes there'd be a film of oil clouding my eye and I'd have to take extra effort to rinse it all out, while this one doesn't drip into my eye as easily. Being a solid oil, this one also does not drip onto my arms as I wash my face. Also, this product is more travel-friendly, I'd say. It's solid, so it will not spill everywhere into my luggage. I've had problems travelling with the Shu Uemura cleanser before, where even though I had "locked" the pump, it would unlock itself and spill oil into the Ziploc bag I had placed it into. 

All in all, I'd say that both the Shu Uemura and Banila Co are pretty good oil cleansers. If you wear a lot of heavy eye makeup, and you've got cash to drop, I'd go for the Shu Uemura over the Banila Co. If you're a light makeup user, or on a budget, the Banila Co will work for you. They both remove makeup really well, but come with their cons. 

Would I repurchase this? Banila Co's 180mL version is about $17.55USD (as of writing), not including shipping, whereas the Shu Uemura is 450mL for $92CAD (without tax). This makes the Shu Uemura one about $0.20CAD/mL, whereas the Banila Co is about $0.10USD/mL. The value can be seen in the Banila Co's cleanser, but because I'd probably have to give up my first born to pay for shipping, I'm undecided. If I was making a large order on testerkorea with friends, I'd probably repurchase. I wouldn't just make an order for this though.

Banila Co's Clean It Zero is available here on TesterKorea for 14,400 won and you can buy Shu Uemura's cleansing oil through Sephora here, or here through their main website. 

Disclaimer: Not a sponsored post.

I'm back with a foundation review! This time it's the Chanel Perfection Lumière Velvet Foundation (retails for $52CAD). I have the shade Beige 30. Chanel also has "rose" shades available too, if you are on the pinker side (my friend bought this foundation in the Beige 20 Rose, for example).

Now the one that is available on Chanel has SPF15 in it, but the one I have does NOT have SPF in it at all. When I bought it in stores, the SPF label was blacked out, so I'm assuming the batch that I bought from either had faulty SPF issues, or Chanel was testing something out. 

I'm also testing the Maybelline Baby Skin Instant Pore Eraser Primer as well in this post. 

I got mines in Canada, so it has French on it, whereas if you bought yours in the States, you'll just have the English subname on it.

It is worth noting that I normally do not put primer on. I don't feel the need for it, my makeup/foundation holds up pretty well without it (my foundation doesn't slide off my face), and it's just money wasted (for me at least). I got this primer while it was on sale (I don't like purchasing drugstore items for full price).

So prior to any face makeup, this is what I look like:

Excuse the weird lighting... I couldn't get a photo to look nice and ended up with this

As you can see, I have slight discolouration on my cheeks (that are more noticeable/visible in real life) and some pores all over the face. I also just realized through this photo that my face and neck are two different shades...

Primer applied on my left side

The primer made my face feel more "smooth" and less bumpy. I can't tell if it did a good job of hiding my pores or not as mines are not very large to begin with. But this primer felt smooth. Smooth to the point it was slippery. It also had a fake glossy kind of texture to it. I've tried a sample of the Smashbox primer before (the most basic one, I can't remember the name of it) and it did not have the same or similar texture. The half of my face that I put the primer on, actually felt as smooth as baby's skin (so Maybelline picked the right name for this product lol).

Foundation applied on my left side

You can see immediately that the foundation evens out my discolouration and looks to be an alright match for my skintone based on this photo.

But from this angle, we can see that Beige 30 is unfortunately, not the right shade for me as it does not blend into my neck. It is also too pink for me. As this is just the regular Beige 30 shade, I'm thinking that Chanel's foundation shades all run slightly more pink undertoned than any other foundations I've tried.

I also find that this foundation likes to pick up on my dry spots and cling to them. All the whiteheads on my nose as well... this foundation clings to them really badly. I appreciate the matte-ness of this foundation, but it's just slightly too drying for my skin.

As for the primer, I found no visible difference between using it and not using it.

At night (12am-ish)

Excuse the horrible lighting. This was around 12am, so I was only left with the yellow light in my room and my flash wouldn't go off for some reason. It's difficult to tell in this photo, but my foundation did not slip and slide off on either sides. The left side still felt baby skin smooth whereas the right side felt like my usual skin.

The Chanel foundation is thin, but is buildable for heavier coverage. If I rub my face (which I did many times that day) I don't feel foundation coming off onto my fingers. However, its undertone is pink, and my undertone is yellow. It also clings to dry spots and made my skin feel more dry. For a high-end foundation though, I feel that the $52 price tag is quite reasonable. The YSL Le Teint is $62CAD and the Armani Maestro foundation is $66CAD. Keep in mind as well, Chanel prices rise every year.

Verdict: Not for me. The pink undertones don't match my yellow undertones and it's also quite drying to my skin. The range of shades for this foundation are also quite limited. As for the primer... it's not a necessary step for me, so I think I'll just be skipping this until I reach an age or point in my skin's life where my foundation starts slipping off all the time.

I'm hoping to try the new MUFE foundation soon, as I can't be wearing this foundation everyday and looking like a mismatched pink loompa.

I'm finally back! After coming back from my 6 weeks vacation, I didn't feel any motivation to update even though I have tons of things to review and test. But I finally got off my ass, and here we are.

This is Skinfood's Steam Milk Mask Cream. It comes in the same standard jar packaging as their usual wash-off masks, but with the addition of the most adorable milk carton packaging.

Skinfood's description:

A steamed milk-infused cream that immediately melts into skin, transforming dry skin into a soft, firm, smooth texture, like a facial mask does.

I forgot how much this costs in stores, but it retails for about $11USD on Amazon.

I got mines in Hong Kong, so the ingredient list is in both English and Korean. As a general note, my skin rarely reacts to products, so I usually don't care for the ingredient list, but I provided for those who may have allergies or sensitive skin.

The product itself is a thick white cream. Skinfood says to put the cream on after your night routine, so I went and did that. I was surprised by its thickness as it is a "mask cream", so I assumed that it would be as thick as my night moisturizer. It's much much thicker. It doesn't immediately set into your face, so you go to bed with a face full of white cream. The thickness of this mask cream made it difficult to get an even layer, so I just kinda spread it onto the spots where I felt like I needed more moisture (skipped my forehead because of my bangs). I would definitely recommend using a spatula to spread out this mask cream to achieve a more even layer.

Waking up in the morning, I was surprised to find that it had all sunken into my face and that none of the white cream was left (I slept from about ~2am-9am). I went to wash my face and my face felt very moisturized. There wasn't a lot of excess cream left on my face that I could feel from washing my face.

The smell of this mask cream reminds me of... cream. Generic hand/face cream scent from Aveeno or the other basic/drugstore products that claim they're "unscented". I'm not sure what milk is supposed to smell like, as there as so many different milk brands out there and I'm not actually a fan of milk.

I recommend this products to those of you who are looking for an instant moisturizer (ideal for nights before big events or are suffering from the harsh effects of the winter weather, for example) or cannot be bothered with a moisturizer that's specifically for night time.

None of the links provided are referral. I bought this product with my own money in Hong Kong.

This retails at Sephora for $29CAD but the one I am showing is the travel sized version. I own both the full size and trial/travel sized and there are no differences in product performance.

I originally saw one of Claire Marshall's monthly fave videos where she had featured this product and raved about it. She said that it smelled like mangoes, and I love mango scented products, so I just had to get this. I bought this in one of those value sets Sephora had a while back (the charcoal and 10 minute mask for troubled skin were part of the set), figuring it couldn't hurt to try.

The mask itself is a very thick cream. You have to squeeze it out of the container and it spreads evenly over your face.

This is what it looks like spread into my skin. The shiny area is where the mask is.

As this mask is more like a heavy duty night cream, it sits on top of your skin at first but slowly absorbs into your face as you sleep. It has a creamy texture, meaning it will not smear all over your pillowcase or sheets if you turn in your sleep.

I love this product. It has a nice scent to it, and I wake up feeling very moisturized. When I go to wash my face, I am not washing off excess product, which is a generally what I'd want from a sleeping pack/mask. The trial/travel sized is also very convenient for weekend/night trips, where I don't want to be bringing my entire night routine around in a duffel bag. This one will also be coming with me in my carry-on when I fly to HK*, as airplane air is very dry and bad for my skin. Imagine suffering through 16 hours on a dry plane. My skin cries.

Would I repurchase again? Definitely. Although I wish I could just buy the travel sized version. As usual, it'll take me forever to use up the full sized and the travel sized is more convenient for the amount of travel/night/weekend trips I take.

*At time of writing (April 21), I am still in Toronto; I leave for HK in 10 days. I have queued posts to be published while I am disconnected from the internet.

I believe this was a 100 points perk from Sephora. As Fresh products are relatively pricey, I figure I could drop some points on trying this. This retails for $72CAD at Sephora and comes in 3.4oz

Fresh claims that this is "a hydrating and toning mask with a cooling gel formula infused with pure rosewater and real rose petals". 

What it is formulated to do:
Historically romantic and classically fragrant, the rose flower yields a precious oil brimming with nutrients that naturally soothe the skin and stimulate the senses. Infused with 50 percent pure rosewater and an average of two-and-a-half roses per jar, this unique mask restores radiance and suppleness to all skin types. The addition of cucumber extract and aloe vera reduce inflammation and calm the skin, while green tea helps brighten and protect. 

It looks like this:

It's very liquidy - to the point where I had to take this photo straight down instead of tilting the jar slightly. Trying to focus the camera with this mask threatening to spill out was not what I wanted. There are also little rose petals(?) bits in the mask as well. They're very soft upon the skin.

It has a watery consistency on my hand but did not slip as much as it did in the jar. 

This is what it looks like when smoothed out over my hand.

What I like about this mask is that it absorbs very quickly. Just by spreading it on my hand, and in the time it took for me to spread it, take photos, turn the camera off, and head to the washroom, it had already started absorbing itself into my hand. Fresh says you're supposed to leave it on your skin for 15-20 minutes, but I think you could just leave it on for longer and just have it all absorbed into your skin. It has a very strong rose scent. Not your typical floral perfume scent. It's a strong rose scent.

It's also very moisturizing, but in a way that's only instant and superficial. This is something you'd have to use long term to see permanent or long lasting results. If you are looking for a quick moisture boost though, this works perfectly. I'm just not sure you could justify spending $72CAD when there are cheaper moisture wash off masks/mask sheets everywhere else.  

Would I purchase a full size of this? No. 

My RSS haul finally came in a few weeks ago, after being shipped out to the wrong province and chasing down Canada Post. Now I have new things to test and play with, yay! So onto the first review of the haul.

This is 3W Clinic's Placenta Sleeping Pack. I was very intrigued by this when I first saw it, as I've read a few articles about women who use placentas for beauty effects and whatnot. I also got it just so I could say I have placenta on my face... #priorities.

This mask supposedly does this:
"Placenta protein makes the loosen skin smooth and firm. Also, the pomegranate extract and royal Jelly extract in this sleeping pack nourish the rough skin to make shiny and vibrant skin."

The ingredient list is as follows:

It doesn't seem like placenta itself, in its raw form, is on the ingredient list, but if I'm wrong please let me know! I don't understand scientific words very well... 

edit: The placental protrin on the ingredient list is probably the placenta. 3W Clinic misspelled protein... #awks.

The mask itself looks like this:

Very brown in the jar. It's kinda springy to the touch as well and not liquidy to the point where it would start spilling out if I turned it on an angle. It didn't move much when I was taking the photo and I was holding the jar slightly on its side. 

On my hand it looks like this. It's has a gel-like consistency and feels cool to the touch. 

This is what it looks like spread out on my hand. The brown colour disappears into a light colour. It's very sticky once spread out. 

As this is a sleeping mask, I put this on after I shower and skip my usual night routine. Because it has a gel-like consistency and it's so sticky, I sleep on my back, military position, in order not to stain my pillow case or sheets. Wake up and wash it off.

I noticed that this sleeping mask doesn't absorb fully into my skin by the time I wake up. I usually go to sleep around 1am and wake up around 10:30-11am. The first time I had applied a moderate layer and noticed that there was still a very thin layer on my face when I woke up. The second time I applied a thinner layer and it had mostly disappeared into my skin but not completely. It was still sticky where I had applied it and I could feel it washing off my skin as I washed my face. 

But this placenta sleeping mask works. I have this red pimple thing(?) on my cheek (tbh I'm not 100% sure it's a pimple as there's nothing to pop. It's just a small red bump). I used a charcoal mask and it made it smaller but it was still there and noticeable. This placenta sleeping mask has diminished its size so much. Before the bump was noticeable and raised; now it is very small and not as raised as before. My skin also feels firmer than before. 

I wish it came in a smaller size, as it'll take me forever to finish this jar. Other than that, I would definitely repurchase this. 

Also, ladies and gents with long hair. Tie up your hair and pin back all stray hairs before sleeping. I woke up and all my stray hairs were stuck to my face. 

Don't be afraid of the placenta! It's strange and sounds weird but it works!

I was in the market for a new hair brush a few months ago, and I saw this on Sephora's site so I figured why not? It's only $15CAD, relatively cheap compared to the last hairbrush I bought so I bought it.

What it is:
A lightweight hair brush for wet and dry hair. 

What it does:
This portable Daily Detangler combs through tangles with ease and is great for brushing out extensions. Complete with a soft-touch handle and nicely cushioned bristles, it is comfortable to use and helps bring shine to life with each stroke.

My verdict is as follow:

Cons:
- Worked beautifully for a month or so, and then the bristles started sinking into the brush, making it pretty useless
- The bristles are quite weak; I ripped out a couple just by doing my usual brushing while blow drying with wet hair
- The handle is flat; this makes gripping it weird. It cuts into your palm if you hold it too hard which is a problem for me, as my hair is so thick and tangled that I really have to tug on it with a firm hand
- It gathers dust really easily and refuses to let go of it... I'll be ripping out the hair in the brush and the dust would not come off with the hair. I had to individually get rid of the dust on each bristle
- Pulls on my hair --> might be a cause of my really thick and tangled hair though...

Pros:
- Cheap
- Vibrant color
- Detangles well; I have really thick and long hair and my hair tangles easily. This brush gets rid of all the tangles
- Doesn't hurt your hair/scalp when you pull to detangle

As you can see, the bristles are uneven, even if you take into account the natural dome shape of the brush. I originally filmed a short video to demonstrate better what I mean but I couldn't turn it into a gif without Photoshop crashing on me so I gave up. 

Verdict: Terrible and useless after a few months of use. Bristles are sinking into the brush and they're quite weak. The fact that it catches all the dust is also quite nasty. This is not a brush for people with thick and long hair. 

Please comment below if you have suggestions for a new hair brush!

Finally, a product review from that RRS haul from months ago. I incorporated this into my night routine and have been testing it.

Skinfood Lettuce and Cucumber Water Drop Line

Skinfood's description: Water-based, it relaxes tired skin with water-rich lettuce and cucumber extracts, collagen and vitamin ingredients. Provides long lasting hydration and moisture retention on the skin.

This is an essence, so I use it after my toner but before my moisturizer. I usually just squeeze a little bit onto my fingers and just rub it into my skin. A little goes a long way with this essence.

Moving on to what I liked about this product. The scent. I loved this scent. It smelled like cucumbers and as a result, clean. It wasn't a floral scent, medical scent or weird funky scent. It was just clean and crisp. This essence is also water-based, so it's really thin and gel-like. It is not sticky on the face or fingers afterwards. I also liked that it's in a pump packaging. Hygiene points!

But that's it.

This product did not work for me and in fact it did the exact opposite. It removed moisture from my skin and made my face drier. Initially, I thought it was just the cold wind and air making my skin drier than usual, but I took this essence out of my routine for a few weeks and the flaky skin disappeared. I attributed that to the (slight) warmth in temperatures over those few weeks and put the product back into my routine. Nope, didn't help at all. The skin around my mouth was especially dry and began to start flaking slightly again.

For a product that's supposed to help with moisture, I'm disappointed. I've read other reviews online and a large majority of them love this product so I think I'm the minority here. I wanted to love this product so much, as I love it's scent, but since it doesn't work, I think I'll have to sell it to someone online.

Verdict: Did not work; did the exact opposite from Skinfood's claim; smells amazing.

I'm back with another review! My friend picked this up for me in Hong Kong during our summer break, and I've been using it ever since Sept. 

So here is the ingredient list, along with its purpose and how to use it. Pretty swell.

I mainly use it when my skin is having problems or when I feel like my skin's in need of a deep cleanse. It works pretty well, as it is easier to extract white heads/pimples afterwards. The mask feels hot, the instant I put it on my face. It's a weird feeling, as none of my other masks do that, but it feels nice. It also smells immensely like black sesame when I have it on, but my skin does not smell like black sesame afterwards, which is good.

This mask feels thick, and that made it difficult to slather on an even layer on my face. I usually just go for the trouble spots and layer it on there, and just put some on everywhere else.

As you can kinda tell, my cheeks have been giving me problems lately, along with my forehead/t-zone area. The thickness of this mask makes it difficult to get an even layer like my other masks, but I like the aftereffects. Would I buy this again? The answer is no. I like skinfood products, but this mask is kind of annoying to use, alongside the huge granules of black sesame inside, which I'm scared will do something to the overall ecosystem, as they seem kind of hard to break down.

Skinfood's Black Sesame Hot Mask is a cool product, and it's relatively cheap so it wasn't too bad. It works well enough, but there are better products on the market. I feel like it's more of a quick fix instead of a long term solution for my troubled skin.

Hello! I am finally back, after this unplanned hiatus from blogging. School has been getting me, and I hadn't tried anything new in a while, so I thought I'd try incorporating this essence into my skincare routine.

Mizon Pore Refine Silky Essence "gently clears out dead or dulling skin cell debris and helps to tighten pores and firm skin giving skin a silky feel. It immediately makes pores look visibly smaller by filling pores with nutritive silky essence. It adequately controls oils for a clean and refreshed complexion all day!" (source)

For the record, I use the Skinfood Thermal Water toner before using this essence. This essence is quickly absorbed into my skin, leaving it dry and tight before my night moisturizer. The silky feeling is real. My skin feels so smooth after putting this on. As for "making pores look visibly smaller".... that's debatable. I don't notice my pores becoming smaller but my pores are not very "big" to begin with. 

There's no discernible scent from this product, which is a big bonus. It's thin, but not as thin as some aqua products, and not as thick as a day moisturizer either. 

I like this essence, compared to other essences I've tried in the past, but the "pore refine" part... I don't know if that actually works for me or not. I will continue using up my sample to the last drop, try some other essence samples, and see which products I will incorporate into my skincare routine. 

Mizon Pore Refine Silky Essence is available at Urban Outfitters, Amazon.com, and eBay. None of the links are referral links, I do not make money by putting these links on here.

I have used Shu Uemura's eyelash curler religiously ever since I got into makeup. I don't think I've ever replaced the one I first got so it's probably over 5 years old now. I recently indulged in Shu Uemura's New Generation S Curler, because I had seen reviews of similar shaped eyelash curlers and thought, why not.

Firstly, the old model allows for a one time curling. All the lashes are curled at the same time, and that cuts down on time. The new one requires you to curl one section and then another. So if you are looking for something quick, the New Generation S Curler is probably not for you.

The New Generation S Curler, I find, allows me to get closer to the base of my lashes. By angling the curler for specific parts of my lashes, I could curl them tighter whereas the old model hurt my eyelashes if I curled too close to the base. This meant that my shorter lashes (near the tearduct) were usually not curled as well. For my short Asian lashes, the New Generation S Curler is much better.

Both of these curlers do not suffer from the problem where cheaper curlers do. The black rubbery part that protects your lashes from the metal does not get cut from the upper portion. The ELF one does that after a while, and that is nasty. 

Now this is where my review will become more muddy. The old model I have is about 5 years old versus the new one, which is only a few months old. I found the New Generation S Curler to be much tighter (in terms of how much strength I would have to put in to open the curler), and my old one to be much looser. I cannot guarantee that the old one is just as tight when it is new, because I no longer remember. They're both lightweight though.

I did find that the New Generation S Curler kept my lashes curled longer than the old one did. I don't know if that's contributed to how "tight" the curler is though...

Overall, is the New Generation S Curler worth the increase in price? Not particularly, especially if you find that the old one works just as well. I do find myself reaching for it more often than the old one though, but I see the benefits after having used it on my short Asian lashes. 

At one point in time, I bought some sample pack from a Korean beauty website and I got a buttload of skincare samples. I'm slowly working my way through them (might take me over a year, that's how lazy I am). So now for one of the first skincare samples - Tony Moly's Aqua Aura Moisture Cream.

Tony Moly generally has really cute packaging, aimed to lure the younger crowd I guess. This sample had nothing of their standard packing cues though, but that doesn't really mean anything to me. I received two of these (as a note, I received twos of everything), so I depotted both of them into a little container I bought from the dollar store.

This moisturizer was on the thinner side as it appears to be made with water (hence aqua). It disappeared into my skin quickly, but I did not feel like my skin was any more moisturized after I used it. My skin felt kind of sticky afterwards, but that feeling went away quickly as I put on my primer and foundation. It felt kind of like a gel moisturizer, but it did not move around as easily in the container as most gel moisturizers. It also had a pleasant scent, but that may be a turn-off for some people. I liked it, but not enough to purchase the full sized version.

Amazon lists this products for $8.93CAD, but there are other Korean beauty websites that ship overseas that probably have this in stock.

This month's Ipsy kinda sucked. Out of all the things I received, I'd only use one of them and that would be the Bare Minerals eyeshadow. In this month's Ipsy, I received a lip tint, a blue nail polish, a tanning oil and a bronzer.

The bronzer is a joke. It's heavily discounted at Target so I'm not sure what Michelle Phan and her team were thinking when they included it into this month's Ipsy. It's also got tons of microglitter in it, so I can't use it as a contour. I don't bronze my face because I'm rather pale for an Asian, and I prefer to not have that tanned look.

As usual, my phone wouldn't focus properly

The tanning oil is just ridiculous. Firstly, it has SPF 8. For something that I'm supposed to wear out in the sun, this thing would provide absolutely no SPF protection. Additionally, in an email someone sent to Ipsy about this product, they advised her to only wear this product under clothes because the SPF was so low. That makes no sense. It's supposed to be a tanning oil. What was Ipsy thinking?

I swatched the nail polish (no pics sorry!) and it was okay. It was a brand I've never heard of before, and it doesn't look like it's available in any stores in Canada, meaning that I will not be purchasing anything from this brand in the future. Nail polish is too vulnerable to breaking during shipping. The blue was not as dark as I was expecting however. But overall, the nail polish itself was okay; not on par with OPI or Essie or Revlon, but higher than that $2.99 Sally Hansen nail polish.

Now the lip tint. It's a red shade, which I do like but the tint factor does nothing for me. I like my lipsticks to be completely opaque, not some sheer colour. I have not opened this, because I will probably swap or gift it away, but I've read comments from others saying that it has a very heavy cherry scent. I'm assuming it to be the medicinal cherry scent (or fake cherry candy scent), which I do not like at all.

The Bare Minerals eyeshadow is pretty good. I haven't worn it yet, but I have swatched it and the color payoff for the darker shade is really nice. The light pink probably won't show up on my eyelids as well, so I might use that as a inner corner kind of color. According to the Ipsy site, this weighs 0.03oz compared to the full sized 0.1oz according to Sephora. For a sample, a difference of 0.07oz is on the okay side (to me at least), and especially as this is eyeshadow and it takes a while to hit pan on eyeshadow regardless, I don't mind.

So this month's Ipsy was kind of a bust, but I'm going to stick it out for a bit longer, as I've only been subscribed for two months in total. It kind of sucks having random summer items thrown in (like the tanning oil, even though I specified in my quiz somewhere that I didn't like tanning products).

I bought eopenmarket's lucky box for about $10 and it came with a crapload of samples. I'm never going to go through all of them T^T There's just that many. But anyways, onto the first of many Asian cosmetics/skincare samples!

eopenmarket was kind enough to give 2 of each sample (except for a select few), so I depotted (well, they weren't really in a pot/container, but you know what I mean) some into containers for easier containment. I really dislike samples sometimes, cause you know you'll get more than one use out of them but you can't zip them back up and then they'll just dry out before you finish using them. Anyways! 

This is the Etude House Nymph Aura Volumer. Essentially, it gives your face that dewy/glowy look that Koreans love. 

I actually had no idea how to use it at first, so I referred to the instructions above. What you're supposed to do is take some of the volumer and mix it with your foundation. The image tells you to use your hands, but I used a brush because I am not a clean person...

I use the Armani Maestro foundation, so it's a bit watery/runny hence the trail running down my hand. There's more volumer but it's covered under my foundation. I used a smallish amount, because I wasn't sure how much to use but I guess you could play around with it.

After I mixed it and started putting it on my face, I noticed that it made my face feel more oilier/greasier. My foundation feels pretty matte, but by mixing it with the volumer, it felt stickier going on. Even when I touched my face afterwards, my skin felt pretty oily, but I suppose that's a side-effect from the volumer. 

Left side: with powder on
Right side: no powder

I made the mistake of putting powder on one half of my face, but I guess it just shows the contrast between a usually matte foundation vs a dewy foundation base. I used the flash, and the glowiness was really contrasted. I looked like I had oily skin. I did not like it. 

In essence, the volumer is really good for those of you who want to take part in the Korean trend of "dewy" skin, but in my opinion, "dewy" skin is NOT AT ALL dewy and more like oily. In endorsement photos or celebrity photos, you can see the idols all have this oily shine to their face. That's the volumer/dewy product they put on. 

Imagine living in a humid climate and having all this "dew" on your face. Someone needs to powder down these bitches seriously. This "dewy" skin trend to me looks like you've been sweating throughout the day but couldn't wipe down your face or something. 

But anyways, the verdict of the product. It made my face feel oilier/greasier and that was not a feeling I liked. However, the product works well and there are no faults with it. I would not purchase this product though. I prefer my foundation to be matte.