Mac MatchMaster Cushion Foundation Review and Comparison

Today I wanted to post my review on the Matchmaster foundation from Mac. This was just released December 26th, 2015 and is a cushion style foundation. If you are curious what a cushion is, I would read here! Since the release of the famous IOPE cushion, many western brands have attempted to create their own version of this iconic Korean product. And yes, I say "attempt"! L'Oreal just released a drugstore version here and brands like YSL, Dior, and Maybelline will be launching their cushions early in 2016. 

So...on with the review....Mac is calling this cushion "Matchmaster Shade Intelligence Compact" and comes in 12 shades. Mac's website states that this is a sheer to medium buildable coverage foundation. The color I purchased is 1.0 which is the lightest shade available.

Stats:
Oil Free
Provides hydration and controls oil
Instantly blurs lines and wrinkles
Instantly reduces appearance of pores
8 hour wear, sweat, humidity and water resistant
Non-caking, non-settling, and non-streaking
Won't Oxidize
Made in Japan - Nothing against Japan, my fiancé is Japanese :) However, if you are trying to compete with a iconic Korean product that has been extremely successful, wouldn't you have it manufactured in Korea?

December Mask Maven by Beauteque

December's Mask Maven arrived and I was happy to see that this month's theme was an assortment of different sheet masks. Don't get me wrong, the themed monthly sets are nice but not all people have the same skincare concerns.

As always, this month came in a mesh bag and this time it came with a description card unlike last months fiasco here! 

L'Oreal True Match Lumi Cushion Review and Comparison

The Korean cushion style foundation craze has definitely sparked big western cosmetic companies here in the US and Europe to stop and take notice. In order for these company's to remain competitive against the strongly established "cushion" category in the Asian Beauty world, I think we are going to see the rise of US and European brands releasing their versions of the cult classic cushion foundation. Cushion foundations are beginning to pop up lately everywhere like the Lancome's Miracle Cushion, Pur Minerals' Air Perfection Compact Cushion and brand store brands like Physician's Formula All-In-1 ABC Cushion and the new L'Oreal True Match Lumi Cushion.

*No Affiliate links

The Display:

Here is the display for the new L'Oreal cushion at my local store here in Portland Oregon

Seattle Meetup

Today I wanted to post about the Reddit Asian Beauty Meetup in Seattle that I attended a little over a week ago. I drove up to the Seattle area to spend a much needed weekend getaway. I also got to meet some incredible ladies!

If you are unfamiliar with Reddit, it is a forum site and one of the sub's is devoted to all things Asian Beauty. It is a fantastic community full of great information and support. The community is a lot of fun so if you love asian beauty products, I would highly recommend you check it out here.

The group decided to meet up at the Hmart in the suburb of Lynwood just north of Seattle. This Hmart is pretty big and has an Amore Pacific store, a store devoted to brands under the LG umbrella and has a super cute bookstore. We also went to the Daiso store across the street located in the Alderwood Mall.

Here are a few pictures of the Amore Pacific store!

Skincare Update #2

I wanted to update you all on my progress using Curology and Korean skincare! I first did a post regarding my recent battle with hormonal, cystic acne here. Although my progress has been slow, my skin is healing and showing great improvement.

For those of you who do not know about Curology let me tell you! Curology is an online dermatological service. Once you sign up, you will fill out a lengthy questionnaire, upload photos and are assigned a practitioner and they will prescribe a prescription based on your skincare needs. The cost is $19.95 per month and this monthly fee includes your personalized Curology prescription, unlimited refills and unlimited access to your assigned practitioner. You communicate with them on your progress, upload more pictures and together you can change your prescription if needed. My practitioner is amazing.  I have sent her tons of messages and she has been patient and very helpful :)

If you use this link here you can get your first month completely free! Yep, free! You can try it risk free for a month.

November Mask Maven

It's a gloomy and stormy day here in Portland Oregon but my day quickly turned around with the arrival of the November Mask Maven in my mailbox.

This month contains 9 masks, two wash off and 7 sheet masks. My monthly subscription did not come with an info card because Beauteque is "going green". They did say that the info would be emailed but I still haven't received that email! Once I do receive information, I will update this post accordingly.

To begin I am SO FREAKIN EXCITED to see not one, but two by a company called Nohj.

My Scheming Bulgarian Rose Whitening Mask Review

So...awhile back, my local Asian beauty store was having a great sale here on My Scheming sheet masks. I had never tried this brand before so I decided to get a few flavors to try and review. I ended up going back before the sale was over to purchase a few more varieties. I had heard great things about the Bulgarian Rose Whitening Mask so I decided to buy a full box. 

COSRX Snail 96 Mucin Power Essence Review

Awhile back, after reading rave reviews on the COSRX Snail 96 essence I decided that I wanted to give snails another shot!! Years ago when the snail hype first began, I purchased the Elisha Coy's Snail Cream here but wasn't too impressed with it. But then again, at the time I wasn't having the skin issues I have been dealing with recently! After debating and doing a ton of research,  I did a little birthday haul here which included this essence and I've been using it essence ever since!

What is the product and what does it actually do? 
Well...where do I start!! This product has become a stable in both my morning and evening skincare routine and I would be lost without it!! Yes, it's that good! The CosRX formula contains 96% snail mucin aka snail slime which is quite an impressive percentage! And btw, no snails are harmed in collecting the slime! 

Jolse Haul

Today's post is of a recent haul from the online store Jolse! To be truly honest, I do not often purchase large hauls because I am more tempted to try everything on my skin all at once! When you have sensitive skin like mine that is a big no no! 

Here is what I got:

One product that has been on my wish list for months now is the Joseon Beauty Cream! 

Acne and Curology

If you have been following my blog for the past year or so you will know that for the past 6 months, I have been really struggling with my skin.

In May, I began to openly write about my experience about "going green", my daily battle with fibromyalgia, and my recent struggle with acne here! Although I continue to eat healthy, going green did not bring any relief to my fibromyalgia symptoms. Plus, using all natural/and or organic skincare also began to cause my skin to break out...these pictures are so hard to publish so please be kind! My skin just kept getting worse and worse :(

Banila Co Clean It Zero Purity Review

Hello Everyone!! I am so sorry I have been MIA!! Life got crazy plus I went on a much needed vacation :-) With my son starting high school and me starting my graduate program, I haven't had much extra time lately for blogging. I do post pretty regularly on Instagram so don't forget to follow me there.

Today I do have a review for you!! Awhile back, I posted a haul that I purchased from BeautynetKorea here! I wanted to review the Banila Co. cleansing balm as I have been testing it for awhile now and want to share my thoughts.

My Scheming Bird's Nest Collagen Hydrating Mask

I posted last week that my local Asian market was having a weekend sale on all My Scheming Sheet mask. Needless to say I purchased a few :) Today I wanted to review the Bird's Nest Collagen Hydrating Mask....

My Scheming Sheet Mask Haul

A few days ago, my local Asian market announced they were having a 20% off sale on all My Scheming Sheet Masks! I had never tried this particular brand and after posting a "what's your favorite type of My Scheming mask" on Reddit's sub, I decided that I needed to try this brand. Each box was around $12 on sale and the single sheet masks were a little over a dollar a piece. Bonus: some of the boxes included a bonus mask!! WOOHOO :)

Aritaum Fresh Essential Aloe Sheet Mask Review

While up in the Seattle area for work, I stopped inside a local Hmart to do a little Korean beauty hauling :-) I popped into the Hmart in Lynwood (just north of Seattle) which has a few little shops inside that carry Korean cosmetics! One shop carries brands owned by LG (Su:m37, Sooryehan) and they also have an Amore Pacific store that carry brands such as Sulwhasoo, Laneige and Aritaum. One a side note, they also have this little shop that has some super cute stationary and Korean music cd's! 

First, the prices on products are a little high (higher than buying the same items in Korea) so I mainly went in to test some products, color match, swatch colors etc....However, the sheet masks were a decent price so I grabbed a few Aritaum sheet masks to try out and review! I did post a picture of all the sheet masks I got on Instagram here!

L'Oreal Cushion Foundation

Photo from L'Oreal Japan website

I wanted to let you all know that L'Oreal has recently released a new cushion foundation called Lucent Magique Cushion Lumiere to the Japanese cosmetic market. I do have a friend who lives in Japan and she confirms this product is currently being sold in Japan! I have another friend in Hong Kong and this product is also being sold there too! The link included in this post is from the L'Oreal Japan website. As indicated on the website, it comes in only two colors and has an SPF 29 PA+++. The cushion in Hong Kong is also sold in two colors but they have different numbers and color names here!

Memebox Haul

Last week was my birthday and I decided I was going to order some stuff and treat myself!! I ordered a few goodies from Wish Trend here and these products from Memebox. 

I must admit that recently I have been struggling with my skin. There are many factors that are contributing to this recent skin flair up. I am currently working on posting about this experience soon. Unfortunately, my skin has become very angry and rebellious and I have had to back off all of my actives :( For the past several weeks, I have only been using the bare bones when it comes to skincare.  

I have been experimenting with various cleansers from Cerave and Hada Labo and after several months reading all the rave reviews on Su:m37 Miracle Rose Cleansing Stick,  I caved :-) Memebox was also offering this cleanser at a great discount so it was the perfect time to purchase! If you are new to Memebox you can save 15% off your first order by clicking here and use CODE: WELCOME

Wish Trend Haul

I wanted to post a haul that I received yesterday in the mail just in time for my birthday! Wish Trend was having a decent discount promo code floating around and after some intense research online and on Reddit, I decided to make a purchase to try out the Vitamin C serum C20!

To start, this was my first time ordering from Wish Trend. I remember clearly about 3 to 4 years ago when Wish Trend launched their site that qucikly became all the rave on Youtube. Until recently, I never had any interest in ordering from this online retailer as most of their products I had never hear of before. Yet, until recently and after researching Vitamin C serums, people rave so much about C20 (OST) serum, I finally decided to purchase. Plus, even better Wish Trend had a great value set that included two serums and a face cream. I also needed to replenish some HG products from CosRX so it was a great time to order!

Review: Holika Holika Wonder Drawing Skinny Eyebrow Pencil

Today I wanted to review the Holika Holika Wonder Drawing Skinny Eyebrow Pencil! Wow...that is a mouthful :-)  I recently purchased this eyebrow pencil from BeautynetKorea. It was around $6 and comes in 4 colors.

Aritaum Honey Melting Tint

Today's review is on the Aritaum Honey Melting Tint. I know I know....there are so many reviews out already on these but I thought I'd share my own opinion and experience. I feel it is always nice to read product reviews from different perspectives, especially being an almost 40 years old...I will definitely have a different opinion on a product then say someone in their early 20's! 

Ok...so on with the review....I will mention they have already released another set of these in a different formula here but I haven't had the change to try those out yet! 

Memebox Cosrx Box

If you are a lover of Asian Beauty (Primary Korean) you need to be on Reddit...period!! It is an amazing forum and support system but it's also very informative. It's users also post from time to time special deals on asian beauty products. After reading a post regarding a CosRX box being sold on Memebox, I jumped at the chance to try out more of this raved about brand. I also was able to use a discount code that made this box an even sweeter deal!

CosRX is a prescription strength cosmetic brand that develops the best quality products for over 10 years now! These products are affordable yet have amazing ingredients that help to transform skin with precise PH balanced formulations. CosRX offers these high performing products that have minimal ingredients that could cause side effects. Above is the information card including in the box explaning what each item is and how to use them correctly.

Here are the product included in this box!

Korean Beauty Haul

I was so excited this week as my two orders I placed a few weeks ago arrived from Korea!! I purchased from both BeautynetKorea and Jolse. This is my first Korean beauty haul in years :) After taking several weeks to put together a wish list, read reviews and from reading posts on Reddit, I finally came up with a list of a few product that I think would be best suited for my skin type and skin condition. Here's what I purchased :)

 From BeautynetKorea:

Banila Co Clean It Zero Purity....this is a cleansing balm to oil to remove makeup and sunscreen. This is mineral oil free and fragrance free.

Mizon Snail Recovery Gel Cream....This moisturizing gel is a huge favorite on Reddit plus itt was buy one get one free too!!

Memebox Haul

I just wanted to post a recent haul I did for a few key Korean skincare products. I purchased these items on Memebox.

Items purchased:

Missha Time Revolution Night Repair New Science Activator Ampoule
Missha Time Revolution Clear Toner
LJH TeaTree 90 Essence <- Found this amazing product in another Memebox here!

Shipping was super quick, about 6 days and everything was packaged very securely! The only thing that I do not like about ordering from Memebox is that they do not give you any sample :-( But the shipping is super fast and the is always good coupon codes out there to save 15-20% off!

Have you tried any of these products??

Current Lip Balm Stash

I freely admit that I am a lip balm addict! I have been obsessed with Burt's Bee's, both the Honey and the Original balm for years. However, back in 2007 Burt's Bees was sold to Clorox for millions! It is hard to imagine this small little company grew to be a million dollar business only to sell out to one of the largest corporations here in the US. It is very sad because the integrity of Burt's Bees was once of good character, doing what is right for the environment and the consumers. I do not buy anymore Burt's Bees products because I will not support a company that continues to pollute the environment and tests on animals! How cruel!

Ok, so stepping off my soap box, here is the review!

Although I will not purchase Burt's Bees products, I have several lip balms still unused. I will be using them up and moving away from this brand. However, the Honey and Original lip balms are fantastic. I especially love the Honey as it is thicker without the heavy waxy feel and hydrates so well. Too bad :( But I have found better options that work even better!!

Innisfree Mineral Cream Shadows

I was recently gifted a few items from Innisfree, a very popular brand in Korea.  As I had mentioned in a previous post here, Innisfree has launched their global website, bringing Innisfree to the US market. Although I have turned a new direction in beauty products to more natural and organic, I wanted to share my opinion on these cream shadows.

Number 3

Number 2

Number 4