K-Beauty Haul! (COSRX, Mizon, Benton, Banila Co)

banila co

So I was really fascinated by the results the 2 snail cream samples I was given with one of my orders had on my skin. Therefore I went on a small (ok maybe more like long and detailed) tour through the net to find some good products. I decided I'd buy different products to find out which one was my favourite and went the best with my skin.

The products I am talking about- forgive me for the amateur picture ^-^

Mizon

I immediately saw that the Mizon All in One Snail Repair Cream had very good reviews and was purchased a lot. It's also not too pricey and has 92% snail secretion filtrate.

Benton

The next one I saw was Benton's Snail Bee High Content Essence which had gotten really good reviews prior to/apart from the scandal of contaminated batches (which was because the shipping by air etc. exposed them to a lot of heat and cold so the natural preservatives they used weren't enough).
I did a lot of research on this one because I really loved how simple and good the ingredient list of this product was, but I didn't want to risk anything. Since Benton only recently opened up a new global website, I went onto their FAQs and saw their statement of having a slightly different formula in their products since January 2016 which contains a bigger amount of natural preservatives and another ingredient that boosts the performance of said preservatives. *
So I decided to give it a go and put it into my basket as well, but did contact the customer service of the store to personally ensure that their products were produced after January 2016.

COSRX

After that I saw the (good!) pages of Holysnails and Fiftyshadesofsnail which were saying that the COSRX Advanced Snail 96 Mucin Power Essence and Advanced Snail 92 All in one Cream were great. The store I was purchasing from coincidentally had both of those items as a combined offer at the time so I decided to take those as well. Also, COSRX has very good ingredient lists and I already use their AHA/BHA Clarifying Treatment Toner daily so I figured using more products from one label might be good for my skin.
Because I needed about $10 to reach the minimum amount for free shipping (and the shipping would've been $15), I chose another COSRX product based on the price and what I still needed in my routine. The Ultimate Moisturizing Honey Overnight Mask with 85% propolis convinced me.

Store – Wishtrend

I bought those five products at Wishtrend, which was a very good experience with the shipping, packaging and customer service!

banila co

At the same time I was looking for a second cleanser. I already have the Innisfree Green Tea Cleansing Oil, but it leaks a lot and is a bother to travel with because everything gets oily and I have to wrap it up in paper -_- The performance is great nonetheless!
But since I basically live at my boyfriends every weekend and stay over at least once during the week, I started bringing over things I need which includes my skincare. I always double cleanse when I wear make up during the day so having only one cleansing oil which I have to take with me every time and which leaks sucks big time lol.
So anyway I saw the very popular banila co Clean it Zero (Purity) Cleansing Balm in some Youtube videos and thought that would be the perfect cleansing product to travel with and keep at my boyfriends place.

Store – Amazon

This product wasn't available on Wishtrend and other sites without shipping fees either didn't have it or it was too expensive so I bought it on Amazon for about $18 ^-^


–> I'll post individual reviews for them soon, I just need to use them for longer to actually give a good review. They arrived last week and as of now I'm really happy with all of them! <–

– Maya


* Benton statement: http://bentoncosmetics.com/article/FAQ/3/3113/

L'Oréal Paris – True Match Lumi Cushion Foundation (US) / Nude Magique Cushion Foundation REVIEW

beauty

L'Oréal Paris Cushion Foundation Review


Packaging:

The packaging is really cute. I like the colour and despite being thrown into and staying in various bags of mine, the outside still looks new. It is not heavy nor bulky and the applicator doesn't touch the mirror inside, so no product gets on it. The only downside is that there isn't a refill option as there is with many Korean cushions. It would be more ecological and also less pricey for us.

Important: Due to hygienic reasons you should clean your applicator at least once a week, depending on how much you use it and how acne prone your skin is! Cleansing oil works very well.

Application:

The included applicator works well for me, it takes me very little time to apply a whole layer and I can reach every nook and cranny on my face. It says on the packaging that you should apply it by tapping lightly on your face, and that's what also works best for me.
The cushion application is especially practicable for when you don't have much time to do your make up or you don't need much but want to look put together anyway. Or for those like me who are late a lot and do their make up in the car (not while driving myself- safety comes first!!) or sometimes on the train when it's less crowded. I totally didn't go to the toilet to put it on because it was still too embarrassing for me lol

Foundation:

First off, this cushion foundation has sheer to medium coverage. So anyone looking for full coverage for whatever reason: not recommended at all. ( I rather recommend you search for good Korean cushions which provide full coverage). But for anyone like me who usually only has a few small spots, normal to combination skin, and doesn't want or need full coverage it's perfect. It is buildable but only to a certain degree, rashes or big spots won't be covered well. For such things I apply a separate concealer under or on top of those.

The intended finish for this foundation is a quite dewy look, which I personally like a lot but if you don't then this foundation won't do it for you. (You could set it with powder and use anti-sebum products, but it kinda isn't worth the effort if you could just buy another foundation with a matte finish).

Now to the colour: There is a huge difference in colour range between the cushions that L'Oréal Paris sells in Europe and the ones they sell overseas. In Europe they only have between 3-6 shades in the stores which go from 01 to 03, 06, 07, 09 to 11. I have the shade 09 which fits my darker Asian skin tone now because I didn't get a lot of sun this year and they didn't have the shade 11 in the stores I checked. But the thing that actually bothers me more is that in the US they have like 4-5 shades for 2 different undertones and 1 line which should provide more coverage (looking at the reviews there is hardly more coverage btw). Now why I am bothered is because all the shades sold in Europe have a pink undertone. Imagine this on my Asian skin which has an olive/yellowish undertone. Yeah, doesn't go too well. Without any tan I can blend it on my neck and ears so it isn't too obvious. But as soon as I got a little tan, it looked ashy. It was quite disappointing for me as otherwise I love the finish and feeling of this cushion foundation. So now I'm considering getting a US one in a yellow undertone from Amazon- I'll keep you updated if I buy it!

The other difference is that the European version has SPF 29 and the US version doesn't have any SPF, so you'd have to apply your sun protection separately. I believe the versions sold in Japan/Korea/China have SPF too, but they only have 2-3 shades for very fair skin. 

Ingredients:

coming soon!
Promise!!!          ˭̡̞(◞⁎˃ᆺ˂)◞*✰




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