Mia's Review: Skinfood Pore Fit Cushion Bottle

It's been a while since my last update. I've been busy tying up loose ends at work before I fly off to Taiwan for 9 days of holiday! But before I move on with my series of travelogue, let me put up another beauty related review first!

First it was the BB cream craze, then it went on to CC creams, then the BB cushions. And now, you have a cushion bottle, which is in fact, a BB spray! 

 Skinfood Vita Water Pore Fit Cushion Bottle, retailing at between $22+ to $28 online at qoo10 or althea. 

I've got this for quite a while back, but I didn't want to put up a review with just a few times of using it, hence dragged on until now to put up this post. 

  

With SPF50+ and PA+++, it will give you pretty decent sun protection. Being the usual No. 2s in all the Korean make up line, I stick to the usual and it was a pretty good fit. 

The cooling effect of the product was the main pulling factor that made me want to try it out despite the fact that Skinfood bb creams break me out like some miracle breakout causing product for me back then. 

It comes with an extremely small puff that still does its job decently, with an equally small sized mirror that really serves not much purpose. It's impossible to rely on such a small mirror to do any sort of make up, be it just touch up. 

Using the product is really quite fun, as you have to shake it vigorously with the cap turned to OFF for a good 10 to 20 times before you twist the head to ON and pressing down on the cap for 5 times to spray the product directly onto the small puff. Only after you're done with the recommended 5 pumps, open up the cap and start patting the product soaked puff onto your face.

And the cooling effect is no myth. I'll even say it's an icy feeling at first few pats, which is the main reason why I enjoy using this product. 

Scent wise, there is a slight chemical-alcoholic aerosol spray kind of strong underlying smell, which the light fragrance of the product is unable to mask. It doesn't really bothers me much though it might be something unbearable for those with really sensitive sense of smell.  

Coverage wise, I will say this is really light and barely covers anything at all. Let me show you with the trusty eyeliner test!

 This is how much it can cover when I directly pat on 2 thick layers without much blending. 

And after proper blending with a thin, 3rd layer. 

Due to the spray nature and with cooling effect, I feel that the finishing is more to the matte (and very very natural looking) side, but yet not very suitable for oily-skinned ladies due to pretty poor oil control, which results in low staying power. 

And after using it continuously for a few days, I did develop these tiny bumps (I like to term them clogged pores) at various spots of my face. So if Skinfood make up products tends to break you out, this probably will, too. 

So to sum it up:

1. very light coverage with minimal coverage

2. strong underlying aerosol-spray chemical smell

3. poor oil control

4. low staying power

5. fun way of putting on makeup

6. nice cooling effect during application

7. will most probably break you out if you're 'allergic' to skinfood make up products

If you've dry skin and has also tried this BB cushion bottle, do let me know how did it work for you!

If you do not have a Skinfood retail store near you, fret not! Skinfood Pore Fit BB Cushion is also available on amazon.com or Qoo10.com.sg now!

Till then,

Mia Foo

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Mia's Review: Nature Republic Super Origin CC Cream

I've actually started out on this CC cream at almost the same time as my Maybelline Watergel BB cream back then, but I was so into the watergel bb that I've totally neglected this product! So after using up my entire tube of the watergel bb cream, I've finally started using this cc cream on a daily basis for more than a week now and I guess it's now a much better time for me to do a proper review on it! 

If anyone is interested, you can click HERE to go to my Maybelline Watergel BB cream review. :)

If you're still unfamiliar with the term CC cream (which I don't think you should since I've heard they've already moved on to DD or EE creams? Yikes!), it stands for Colour Control or Colour Change... etc. It's created in Korea (as opposed to BB cream which originated in Germany) and as the name goes, it actually serves more to even out skin tone than to cover and conceal blemishes. Oh well, we will get to that later on. 

Nature Republic has 3 types of CC Cream in this Super Origin collection, namely: Brightening (SPF25, PA++), Colour Change (SPF30, PA++), and Tinted (SPF30, PA++). After doing some research on my own, it seems like Brightening serves more as a primer than an actual CC cream, so I was left with 2 out of the 3 choices. Out of novelty (of seeing the white cream changing into tinted colour due to bursting of the colour capsules) sake, I've decided to try out Colour Change. 

I've forgotten how much it retails in SG stores, but you definitely can get them much cheaper at qoo10 or gmarket. 

It comes in a pump head tube as shown, which IMO, feels more hygienic as compared to a squeeze tube. However, makes it a little more tricky to control the amount of product you get from each pump as compared to a squeeze tube. I usually use 3/4 pump for my entire face.

Here's a hand test to see how it blends out. As you can see the cream is white in colour and relatively creamy and thick, which gradually turns orange-beige upon rubbing (and bursting the colour capsules within) and then gradually evens out with your skin tone and blends into the skin. I didn't complete the blending hence the obvious streaks of orange-beige on the back of my hand where the product was dispensed. 

I'll say the product is relatively thick and isn't as spreadable if compared to the previous product I've reviewed, the watergel bb cream. And due to the nature of this product, rubbing is required to burst the colour capsules to get the white cream to change its colour to suit our skin tone, so patting the product to minimise tugging on our skin will not work. Some suggested of rubbing it out on the back of our hand to change its colour first before patting in on our face. But sorry to say, nope that won't work as well. By the time the product changes colour, it is already on the brink of setting and it's impossible to even it out on our face by mere patting. Plus, imagine the high wastage of product by rubbing most of the product (and setting it) onto the back of our hand instead of the intended area, our face. Nevertheless, just keep reminding yourself to go light with the blending (no furious rubbing no matter how rushed you are in the morning, babes) hand and you shall be fine. :) You don't really need the force of Xena the Warrior Princess to blend it into your skin, really.

And here's the back of my same hand, with the product fully blended in. The white cream changes colour to fit my skin tone perfectly, and pretty quickly too. No worries of it leaving any unsightly white cast on your face every rushing mornings. 

I hate to say this, but the eyeliner test was pretty much a flop because I couldn't get the cream to change colour just by patting. So by the time I managed to pat-rub it to change into my skin tone, most of the eyeliner has been rubbed off hence it appears as if it has been concealed. 

In terms of coverage, this cc cream doesn't do much. As it's so with most cc creams (i assume), it only serves to even out the skin tone and make your skin looks (overall) flawless, if you know what I'm saying. It doesn't help to conceal any specific spots or flaws, at all. 

On to the blotter test, and comparing with both the previous control of Skinfood Aloe Sun BB and the reviewed Maybeline Watergel BB, we can see that Nature Republic's CC cream has performed on par with the watergel bb cream, with a significant amount of oil surfacing in 30 minutes. Unlike SF bb, which the surface has dried up, the cc cream remains relatively moist, almost like how it was when it just got dispensed from the pump head. 

Overall, I feel that the Nature Republic CC Cream gives a finish that is in between matte and dewy. It definitely is not as matted as the watergel bb, but is not too dewy for me either. It gives off a really nice, flawless and natural look to the skin. Coverage wise, is pretty much a 'flop' for it isn't really meant to conceal. It gives almost no coverage to spots and blemishes, so a concealer is a must. I find that my skin does oil up pretty fast when on this cc cream (as compared to watergel bb) so the oil control is pretty mediocre as well, although it didn't break me out at all. But I'll prefer to attribute it to the product being really light and mild. 

I find it especially frustrating to have the product reverting back to white (somehow) and leaves an unsightly patch of oily white film on my glasses and at two spots on the sides of my nose where by glasses were sitting on. Pretty embarrassing to have anyone seeing it whenever I remove my glasses to clean the lenses.

Nevertheless, I still find this a pretty decent product and is worth trying for ladies with relatively blemish-free skin and is facing uneven skin tone issues. 

Till then,

Mia

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Mia's Review: Maybeline BB Watergel

Was tweeting briefing with Airmeli about my blog and she asked me to hurry up with the beauty products review. I was too engross in doing food review, so much so that I keep pushing these reviews back even though I've had the pictures ready since I started up this blog.

And so, this entry shall mark my first ever beauty product review, on Maybelline BB Water Gel.

It's a pretty small tube, 30ml, going for $20 ish at Watsons. As stated, it gives SPF 35 and PA+++ sun protection.

Packaging wise, it's a very simple twist-cap opening, which helps to keep the opening clean as the product itself is more liquidy and runny as compared to many other BB creams selling in the market. It also gives the user a better control of how much product to squeeze out as compared to a (supposedly) more hygienic pump head.

 

 And for a hand test, you can see that it blends in very well on the right side of the back of my hand (when applied by rubbing) and has minimal coverage. You can't see the blending line at all, this is how light the coverage is and also how easy it blends. 

The product is of a watery gel like consistency and spreads by itself very easily, Hence, there's no worries of over-tugging on our skin in order to blend the product out, which may give us premature wrinkles. I wonder if it's just me, but the product gives me a slight tingly/cooling sensation upon application, just for that 3 to 5 seconds. I stopped experiencing it after I paired this product up with a primer (maybelline's baby skin pore eraser, going for $19.90 at Watsons). I somehow attributed it to the water bubbles released by the product when I applied it on my skin.

 

(credits to clicknetwork.tv - tried & tested episode 30)

Yes, you didn't see it wrong, those are water bubbles, hence the name watergel. The whole idea of this is to keep our skin hydrated and also create a dewy finish. 

As said previously, the product is extremely lightweight and spreads on our skin effortlessly. I use my fingers to apply the product (directly squeezing out from the tube and slapping them onto my face) and still wouldn't face a problem of streaking even with my haphazardly slipshod blending efforts. The product simply melts into my skin and dries up into a non-sticky dewy finish. This is yet another stark difference from the usual BB cream that gives an extremely sticky after-feeling, which render the application of loose powder necessary in order to set it. With the BB Watergel, I see no absolutely need to set it with powder. Nevertheless, I still do out of habit.

 

And now for the eyeliner coverage test.

As you can see, it pretty much covers nothing, even though I had applied 2 coats of the product by dabbing & patting. In other words, this is the most concentrated amount I can create over the eyeliner (Dollywink liquid eyeliner pencil). 

So, this product will work better for girls without obvious blemishes and just wishes to even out the skintone and brighten up dull skin. For the less fortunate girls with blemishes and horrible undereye circles (like me), pairing this up with your usual concealer is highly recommended.

And now for the oil blotter test. SF stands for SkinFood Aloe Sun BB (Control) and MB stands for Maybelline. Both were left standing for 30 minutes.

As you can see, the skinfood one has significantly less oil as compared to the watergel! Yes, I'm really surprised! Because to be honest, I didn't quite like the Skinfood one as it causes my face to oil up really quickly, and clogged up my pores pretty bad. I developed many tiny bumps while using the Skinfood BB on a daily basis, and it only cleared up after I stopped using it. I've been using the BB Watergel for about 2 months till date and it hasn't given me any significant skin problems. My skin also doesn't oil up as quickly as when I was on other usual BB creams. 

On another note, when I observe both cream samples carefully, I noticed that the skinfood sample has pretty much dried up to a matt surface. The BB watergel, on the other hand, remains dewy and watery. I reckon it's the releasing of water bubbles that has done the trick. It may also be this water releasing technique Maybelline has adopted for this BB Watergel that has kept my skin more hydrated throughout the day and hence, stopped me from oiling up too quickly. Simply amazing! 

So to conclude, the Maybelline BB Watergel pretty much resembles a tinted moisturiser in the aspect of consistency, spreadability, blendability, and coverage, as compared to our usual BB creams. It gives a dewy skin finish instead of a matted one and has the amazing water bubble releasing technique that will help to keep our skin hydrated throughout the day. And so, for those girls who prefer a matt finish and required higher coverage, yet is lazy to pair this up with a concealer, this product is not for you. 

However, just for me, who breaks out at anything 'too rich and thick', this lightweight product shall remain as one of my favourite make up products for quite some time. 

Till then,

Mia

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