Review - Goodal Camellia Lip Oils

Camellia oil is obtained by cold-pressing the seeds of the Camellia japonica flower. It has a long tradition of use in Asia for the care of skin and hair.  It is an oil rich in linoleic and oleic fatty acids as well as numerous anti-aging antioxidants. It is an remarkable trans-dermal carrier and very effective in enhancing skin's ability to retain moisture. It is no surprise that camellia oil is one of my favorite oils and whenever I see a product containing it I am immediately intrigued.

Goodal recently came out with their own version of increasingly popular lip oils and I could not resist to try them both out and I am glad I did.

Goodal lip oils come in two versions, camellia intensive lip oil and camellia vital lip oil. 

 Packaging: They come in beautiful simple cardboard packaging enhanced by a drawing of camellia flower that contains basic information about product in both English and Korean. Lip product itself is in a round plastic packaging convenient for travel. Applicator is rather big and sturdy but applies the products on lips very easily and evenly. Both come with 5.5 ml of product.

Camellia Vital Lip Oil

It is light pink in color in bottle but colorless on lips and it has a sweet fruity/flowery scent. Main ingredients are Camellia Japonica Seed Oil and Retinol (Vitamin A). This is the lighter of two oils. It is very nourishing and lasts a long time on lips. Even after eating a meal you can still feel it on the lips. It is very shiny, oily even (duh, it is a lip oil after all) when first applied but the shine vanishes after some time. I prefer using it during the day as it is not sticky. You can even use it under other lip products. I like to apply it at the beginning of my skin care routine in the morning and by the time I apply my makeup and lipstick it has sunk in pretty well into lips. I just blot excess with some tissue and apply my lipstick on top. Works like a charm.  

Camellia Intensive Lip Oil

It is yellow color in the bottle but colorless on lips and it has a very light/barely there flowery scent. Main ingredients are Camellia Japonica Seed Oil, Sunflower Seed Oil, Sweet Almond Oil and Macadamia Oil - all  of them oils rich with oleic fatty acids. Oleic acid makes oils richer and heavier, so they are extra-occlusive and can seal in moisture really effectively. This makes this lip oil perfect for use at night as a lip mask. It is of heavier, thicker consistency than the vital lip oil and it is sticky. I like to put generous amount on my lips before going to bed and I wake up with well nourished, moisturized lips. 

Top one is vital lip oil and bottom one is intensive lip oil. Both are colorless on skin.

I like both of these oils and would recommend them to anyone who suffers from dry and chapped lips or just wants to maintain their lips in good condition. 

I purchased them for approx. 10$ each at Jolse. 

Review - Holika Holika Hard Cover Glow Cushion

Holika Holika Hard Cover Glow Cushion 

I've never used any base products from Holika Holika so I decided to give their new cushion a go. Cushion comes in two versions Holika Holika Hard Cover Perfect Cushion and the one I bought Holika Holika Hard Cover Glow Cushion. 

Picture taken from www.seoulcheap.com

Hard Cover Glow Cushion, as the name suggests has has a glowy/luminous finish and is meant for dry, combination and oily skin.  Product description on the box states "Hard Cover Glow cushion makes skin look flawless and luminous with its moisturizing effects and radiant glow finish."  It comes in three colors, I have purchased 01 Warm Ivory.

Picture taken from www.seoulcheap.com

The cushion comes with 14 g of products + a refill. This is the first budget cushion I have seen that comes with a refill. Price depends from seller to seller but it is around  USD 17. 

Cushion and refill 

Packaging is the standard cushion packaging with a puff and a mirror. Design is quite nice and clean with its beige cover. Quite grown up and classy looking. Cushion has SPF50+ PA+++.

Holika Holika states:

Cushion has  whitening, anti-wrinkle and UV protection function.

Strong ampoule moisture, power moist cushion - Contains high moisture double moist serum and aloe vera leaves water ingredients to provide strong moistness on skin and with pollubarrier™ prescription to protect skin from UV rays and external harmful environment. Care for healthy and moist skin without dryness.

Flawless cover lasting, long wearing cushion - With the combination of hybrid clear powder which has gentle application to brightens skin tone and absorbs sweat and sebum, keeping skin glow and moist for long time without darkening and stickiness.

Clear and transparent luminous moisture, water glow cushion - With solid dual effect of air touch powder and glossy up oil to create moist, lively and luminous skin texture for another level of clearer looking skin tone.

Source: www.seoulcheap.com

Ingredients

Ingredients list from the box

The following are listed as main ingredients by Holika Holika:

• Aloe Vera leaves water
• Raspberry extract
• Argan tree kernel oil
• Allantoin
• Centella asiatica leaves extract
• Silk amino acid
• Pollubarrier

Pollubarrier™ - Protect skin from fine dust, city pollution and other external harmful causes.

• EXO-P™ - Block harmful ingredients.
• T-NMF™ - Enhance moisture.
• Cera-Barrier™ - Strengthen skin barrier.

Source: www.seoulcheap.com

Hard Cover Glow Cushion in Warm Ivory

And now to important stuff how does it look on skin and how it wears.

Color is a nice fit for my NC15/20 skin and it did not oxidize.

Swatch of Warm Ivory

Finnish is truly luminous, it gives this kdrama like glow that is on the border of but not crossing into greasy looking territory.While you can definitely feel like you have something on it is not too heavy feeling.Cushion has a  rather strong floral scent which you cannot smell once it is applied.  Despite being glowy and moisturizing it sets fast and does not transfer.It wears for 6 hours or so before starting to fade evenly. Coverage is quite nice, a good medium to full coverage that covers redness and sallowness really well. It is somewhat buildable but not too much because it can turn cakey.

 Sounds really good does it not? Well, we are done with the good part and are moving on to the ugly part. It settles into pores and fine lines like nobody's business. If you take it under the eyes it will crease and gather into fine lines, same around the mouth and nose and god forbid you have proper wrinkles because this base will gather in them like it plans to party. It  also emphasized pores on my cheeks something horrid. Now you can work around this if you use a pore filling primer like Benefit's Porefessional and make sure you use a light hand on parts with pores and wrinkles and if you set it with powder. But you know what, that is a lot of work for a cushion foundation and I don't want to work that hard. This is a form of makeup that is supposed to be convenient and easy to use on the go and this one is not. I assume that on a younger, less textured skin these things would not be a problem but on my ageing skin it was. Shame this, cause I really liked the glow it gave. 

Considering the oil control, my skin is normal but I noticed I got a bit more oilier using this than my other base products, nothing alarming but I am not sure how much people with oily skin would like this. 

You can see how it settles even into tiny lines on my hand

To summarize:

The good:

- affordable and comes with a refill

- nice coverage and luminous finish

- good lasting power and does not transfer

The bad:

- it settles into fine lines and wrinkles

- it emphasizes pores

- not great oil control 

Review - I'm from Ginseng Serum

If you have read some of my posts before you know of my love of Hanbang cosmetics and particularly of Ginseng. Now if you want to enjoy ginseng in your cosmetics best thing is to turn to Korean cosmetics as they really know their ginseng. 

Ginseng is a health benefiting ingredient and Panax Ginseng or Asian Ginseng has been used in traditional Chinese medicine for thousands of years and Korea is famous for the quality of its ginseng. 

Ginseng with its natural antioxidant and antibacterial properties has been promoted to have many skin care benefits among which are anti-ageing as it contains considerable amount of phytonutrients, which stimulate and activate the skin’s metabolism. As an antioxidant it rids the skin of the free radicals from when your skin is exposed to sunlight and environmental pollution. Also reportedly it can increase the production of collagen making your skin firmer.  Here is the Wishtrend video/commercial listing the skin benefits of ginseng. 

I personally enjoy ginseng in my skin care and products I have used so far that contained ginseng had a brightening and firming effect on my skin making it appear more luminous. So when I saw on Wishtrend that "I'm from" has come out with a ginseng serum I could not contain my excitement and ordered it immediately, especially as this is the company that produces one of my favorite masks  - I'm from Honey. 

I'm from Ginseng Serum comes in a 30 ml glass bottle with a pipette. Its outer packaging is a nicely designed brown cardboard box containing information in Korean and English. The serum itself is a thicker, amber/dark yellow colored murky liquid. It spreads easily and sinks rather quickly into skin, leaving a sticky feeling that goes away after a minute or two. If you were worried that it will smell too medicinal or like dirt (as ginseng products often do)  do not worry as it has a rather strong vaguely floral scent. It is not unpleasant, but it is rather intense.  So people sensitive to scent might find it problematic. However, once you put serum on the face the scent quickly vanishes. Looking at the ingredients  its formula sounds promising but it is hard to tell its long term effects after only couple of weeks of usage but what I have noticed is that it leaves my skin supple and nourished and reduces redness. It layers well with other products and looks pretty in my bathroom (that is important, you know!). 

Ingredients: 

Water, Red Ginseng Extract, Butylene Glycol, Betaine, 1,2-Hexanediol, Camellia Sinensis Leaf Extract, Glycerin, Panax Ginseng Seed Oil, Glycyrrhiza Uralensis (Licorice) Root Extract, Paeonia Albiflora Root Extract, Angelica Gigas Root Extract, Rheum Palmatum Root Extract, Angelica Pubescens Root Extract, Schizonepeta Tenuifolia Extract, Phellodendron Amurense Bark Extract, Hydroxyethylcellulose, Cyclopentasiloxane, Dimethiconol, Bis-PEG-18 Methyl Ether Dimethyl Silane, Ethoxydiglycol, Acrylates/C10-30 Alkyl Acrylate Crosspolymer, Tromethamine, PEG-60 Hydrogenated Castor Oil, Ethylhexylglycerin, Hydrolyzed Glycosaminoglycans, Hyaluronic Acid, Glyceryl Polyacrylate, Adenosine, Disodium EDTA, Fragrance 

CosDNA analysis is very clean. 

The star ingredient of this serum is of course ginseng. Wishtrend states:

6-year-old 7.98% Ginseng extractBecause ginseng extract is made with a moisture content of less than 14%, it is possible to store the taste, scent and active ingredients of ginseng in a concentrated state for a long time. Meticulous control of temperature, time and pressure is required until one ginseng is made into ginseng extract. Through this process, a new active ingredient unique to ginseng extract was discovered. The I’m from rejuvenating serum is formulated with the concentrate of high-quality ginseng extract at its purest. 

Besides ginseng this contains some other herbal extracts I love in my skincare like: Camellia Sinensis/Green Tea Leaf Extract which contains EGCG polyphenols that are known for their anti-carcinogenic and antioxidant abilities. EGCG has shown to be an effective treatment for reducing the redness and irritation associated with Rosacea and recent research suggests that EGCG indirectly acts as a sun-protecting ingredient by quenching the body's UV induced free radicals, in turn preventing the breakdown of collagen and reducing the skin's UV damage. Both ginseng and EGCG are used to reduce under eye puffiness and combat dark circles so I like to take this serum all the way under the eyes. 

Also there is Glycyrrhiza Uralensis (Licorice) Root Extract, an anti-inflammatory, antibacterial and antiviral antioxidant used as a soothing ingredient that may benefit skin lightening as it contains liquiritin and isoliquertin, flavonoid containing glycosides which brighten skin by dispersing melanin pigment and enhancing a more even pigment distribution. 

There are other herbal ingredients: Peony Root Extract, a soothing antioxidant rich astringent, Angelica Gigas Root Extract for brightening, Rheum Palmatum Root Extract is an antioxidant, Angelica Pubescens Root Extract an anti-ageing and anti-inflammatory agent, Schizonepeta Tenuifolia Extract an anti-inflammatory agent that is used to counteract allergic reactions, Phellodendron Amurense Bark Extract that is used to reduce skin redness and swelling. All in all a bunch of soothing and antioxidant ingredients. 

If you love ginseng or just want to give it a try this is a good product as it is considerably less costly then some other offerings containing ginseng. I'm from has also come up with a Ginseng Mask which is on my way so expect to read about that in the future too.  

I'm from Ginseng Serum is available for purchase on Wishtrend.com  for USD 28.80. 

Wishtrend promo code

If you have never purchased on Wishtrend before you can use my promo code 126235106 to get USD 5 off of your first purchase. 

Just place the code when asked for in the account registration page. You will then automatically receive 5 USD in store credit once your account is made. 

Photo taken from the Wishtrend site

REVIEW and brand introduction - the Ordinary products

The Ordinary is a brand under the DECIEM or The Abnormal Beauty Company umbrella. They have several skincare brands under them and some enjoy the cult status among the skincare lovers and geeks, most notably NIOD and Hylamide. The Ordinary, I  guess, is their budget brand. It is very, very reasonably priced and no nonsense brand aimed at people that actually care and know a bit about science behind skincare. 

The brand itself states on the site:
"The Ordinary is an evolving collection of treatments offering familiar, effective clinical technologies positioned to raise pricing and communication integrity in skincare. The brand was created to celebrate integrity in its most humble and true form. Its offering is pioneering, not in the familiar technologies it uses, but in its honesty and integrity. The Ordinary is born to disallow commodity to be disguised as ingenuity. The Ordinary is "Clinical formulations with integrity". 
The Ordinary exists to communicate with integrity and bring to market effective, more familiar technologies at honourable prices."

All DECIEM products, across all brands including The Ordinary, are free of parabens, sulphates, mineral oil, methylchloroisothiazolinone, methylisothiazolinone, animal oils, benzalkonium chloride, coal tar dyes, formaldehyde, mercury, oxybenzone. If you have questions about any ingredient that we use, please reach out to us and our lab will provide a response. DECIEM does not test on animals and does not pay others to do so. 

The Ordinary basically gives you an opportunity to use an effective and smart skincare that utilizes great active ingredients and latest technology without breaking the bank. 

Now if you are wondering what kind of company DECIEM is let me quote a few things they say about themselves which are right on the money. 

"We're a humble and happy umbrella of good beauty brands. We're founded on the principle of doing everything others don't do and we are changing the world of beauty based on this principle.
Everything we do is of exceptional quality. Today, quality is no longer defined by merely price points or distribution channels. Quality today means being authentic, being different, being functional, being beautiful and being sensibly priced, even to the wealthy. And we respect these principles. We choose to serve the educated, the curious and the intelligent who appreciate our dedication to this very genuine definition of quality."

Basicly a company that caters to skincare geeks, a rapidly growing category of consumers.

I have dipped my toe in the sea of products that the Ordinary offers and I have to say I like the things I tried so far, and those are:

Niacinamide 10% + Zinc 1%

Niacinamide (Vitamin B3) is indicated to reduce the appearance of skin blemishes and congestion. A high 10% concentration of this vitamin is supported in the formula by zinc salt of pyrrolidone carboxylic acid to balance visible aspects of sebum activity. 

pH 5.50-6.50

Ingredients

Aqua (Water), Niacinamide, Pentylene Glycol, Zinc PCA, Tamarindus Indica Seed Gum, Xanthan Gum, Isoceteth-20, Ethoxydiglycol, Phenoxyethanol, Chlorphenesin.

Price 5.90 EUR (No, really. I am not joking that is the price.)

The product comes in a seethrough, milky, 30ml bottle with a pipette. Pipette works very well in dispensing the right amount of product. The product itself is a slightly milky gelatinous liquid that spreads easily on the skin. I find the best way to apply it (especially if you layer products) is to wait until the product you applied before completely dries on your skin and then also wait for this product to completely dry before layering a different one. When applied in such a way there was no pilling and it played well with all other products. 

As you can see this product is marketed as the sebum controlling product and it does that marvelously.  I've been using this both night and day and my t-zone is so well behaved that it is a miracle. Even with the sudden rise of temperature my T-zone remains balanced and not oily. However the star ingredient of this product niacinamide, a very stable ingredient,  offers so much more than sebum control which it achieves by improving epidermal barrier performance which also results in reduced redness and blotchiness of the skin.

Honestly, this is the first time I see a company claim less of what their product can do instead of making wild claims.

 The thing is, niacinamide is also a very effective skin-restoring ingredient that offers multiple benefits. Like the ability to visibly improve the appearance of enlarged pores, it also boosts collagen production and therefore improves fine lines, it protects skin from infrared heat of the sun, basically protecting the skin from the heat. And if you suffer from hyperpigmentation (dysfunctional tanning as I like to call it, you basically get blotchy pigmentation on skin instead of an even tan) including niacinamide in a routine is a must. What niacinamide does is, it slows down the transfer of melanin to the skin epidermis thus preventing tanning and hyperpigmentation. 

Of all those benefits, sebum control and improved appearance of enlarged pores I have witnessed within the first month of using this product. As the summer is fast approaching I am looking forward to see how this product might help me prevent and fight my constant battle with hyperpigmentation.  

Niacinamide in combination with zinc (which is the formula in question) is used to treat inflammatory skin conditions (eg. acne, rosacea) as I don't suffer from any of those I cannot comment on its effectiveness in that area. 

I love this product and I never want to be without it. I have purchased a backup bottle already. 

Caffeine Solution 5% + EGCG

Formula that is supposed to reduce the appearance of eye contour pigmentation and of puffiness.

This light-textured formula contains an extremely high 5% concentration of caffeine, supplemented with highly-purified Epigallocatechin Gallatyl Glucoside (EGCG) from green tea leaves. Independent studies have shown that topical use of each of caffeine and EGCG can help reduce looks of puffiness and of dark circles in the eye contour. Additional studies have shown that caffeine can also reduce the appearance of cellulite. 

pH 4.50 - 5.00

Notes: 

1. Hollowness in the eye contour as a result of structure of sub-dermal tissues like fat and bone can result in visible shadows under the eyes. This shadow, which is not to be mistaken for dark circles, cannot be addressed with topical skincare including this formula. 

2. Fat deposits under the eye contour can create permanent puffiness in this area. This type of deposit cannot be improved with topical skincare, including this formula. 

3. Supplied in UV-protective packaging as EGCG is sensitive to light.

Ingredients

Aqua (Water), Caffeine, Propanediol, Maltodextrin, Glycerin, Epigallocatechin Gallatyl Glucoside, Gallyl Glucoside, Hyaluronic Acid, Oxidized Glutathione, Glycine Soja (Soybean) Seed Extract, Polypodium Vulgare Rhizome Extract, Cetraria Islandica Thallus Extract, Sphagnum Magellanicum Extract, Urea, Hydroxyethylcellulose, Polyacrylate Crosspolymer-6, Xanthan gum, Lactic Acid, Citric Acid, Dehydroacetic Acid, Trisodium Ethylenediamine Disuccinate, Propyl Gallate, Dimethyl Isosorbide, Ethoxydiglycol, Benzyl Alcohol, 1,2-Hexanediol, Phenoxyethanol, Caprylyl Glycol.

Price 6.70 EUR

The product comes in a dark brown 30ml bottle with a pipette. Pipette works well in dispensing the right amount of product as you need only one drop for both eyes. The product itself is an amber colored formula with a gel like texture that spreads easily and feels moisturizing. Considering how little you need for both eyes this will last a very long time. I like to use this after Arigreline solution and before Hylamide SubQ Eyes Advance Serum or an eye cream of choice. Concealer goes smoothly and does not crease any worse with all these products under it. Formula feels pleasantly cooling under the eyes and sinks in completely under a minute. 

My eyes are rarely puffy but I have dark circles. Also with the switch to summer time I have been missing my hour of sleep badly and I think this helped in making me look less haunted and exhausted. It does not abolish the dark circles completely but it helps in making me look more awake and less run down. Now it's effectiveness was even more evident with puffiness. After working for 15 hours in full eye makeup I woke up with puffy eyes and this really helped in reducing the puffiness immediately upon application.  

Formula contains caffeine which as an antioxidant fights the future signs of ageing, it is also a diuretic (makes skin temporarily appear smoother), and it is a vasoconstrictor (it may reduce puffiness and dark circles by narrowing blood vessels). It also contains EGCG,  a physiologically active polyphenol of green tea.

I will continue to use this as I enjoy the application and the results. I like it, it did not blow me away as the Niacinamide one but I like it just fine. 

Argireline Solution 10%

Lightweight Serum with 10% Argireline Peptide Complex

Arigreline is a trademark owned by Barcelona-based Lipotec. It is a proprietary solution of Acetyl Hexapeptide-3. Controlled studies have shown that Argireline improves the appearance of facial areas prone to developing dynamic folds, including around the eyes and in the forehead area. 

Ingredients

Aqua (Water), Propanediol, Acetyl Hexapeptide-8, Trisodium Ethylenediamine Disuccinate, Gellan Gum, Sodium Chloride, Isoceteth-20, Ethoxydiglycol, Potassium Sorbate, Phenoxyethanol, Chlorphenesin.

Price 7.20 EUR

So what is Arigreline and how does it work?

Firstly you need to know what happens when you frown.

A super lipid (called a vesicle) releases a neurotransmitter to the synapses, sending a signal for the muscle to move. Three proteins, called the SNARE complex, are essential for the final stages of this process (called exocytosis).

And this is when Arigreline  comes to play.

Lipotec discovered that acetyl hexapeptide / Arigreline mimics one of the proteins in the SNARE complex and as a result can destabilize it. Even a slightly destabilized SNARE won’t work. No SNARE equals no muscle movement. No frowning equals no wrinkles. Lipotec does not claim that Argireline works in any other way, such as boosting collagen or repairing skin but claims that simply ensnaring SNARE is enough to have an impact on wrinkles. There is an independent study published  in the International Journal of Cosmetic Science that says that a 10% concentration of Argireline reduced wrinkles by 30% over 30 days. 

 source: www.truthinageing.com

Well this was very sciency and if you got this you deserve a cookie.

Basically it stops your muscles from contracting and forming a frown. I have a tendency to frown due to strong sunlight even when wearing sunglasses, so only visible wrinkles I have are on my forehead. I have been using this for several weeks but not sure I see the difference. But looking at how Arigreline works  it seems to me that this is more of a prevention product than fix what is already there one. 

The product comes in a seethrough, milky, 30ml bottle with a pipette. Consistency of the formula is like water.  Really, it is just like water.  Because it is so watery it is a bit hard to use as you cannot avoid it spilling a bit. I use it immediately after my toner and watery essence step. I put some on my forehead and around the eyes. It sinks in immediately.

I am not sure how I feel about this product just yet. We are in getting to know each other phase. 

So this was my first look into the Ordinary and their products but it will not be a last one for sure, I have already purchased their Advanced Retinoid 2% but I need to use up my Peter Thomas Roth Retinol Fusion PM first before I give this one a go.  So expect to read more about this brand in the future. All products can be ordered via their site http://deciem.com/ and their customer service is superb.

Note: all text in italics is a direct quote or taken from the DECIEM site.