Review | Innisfree Green Tea Seed Serum

Today's product will definitely not be a new one to anyone because it's something that I've talked about in my previous few skin care regimes. Also, I'm pretty sure any Kbeauty blogger has definitely talked about this because this serum is so highly raved everywhere. Today, I'm going to be talking about my experience with one of Innisfree's most popular items, the Green Tea Seed Serum. 

Let's get to the specifics first.

On the box (which I threw away oops, but the same words are featured on the bottle itself) it says that it is "Enriched with fresh green tea seeds and squeezed green tea from the pure Jeju island to deliver abundant moisture and nourishment deep into your skin."

It's a moisturizing & nourishing serum with organic green tea seeds from Jeju Island to fill the skin with suppleness and clarity. This serum creates a dewy complexion, without leaving a greasy, sticky feeling afterwards. One pump of this citrus smelling serum will leave you with supple, dewy and hydrated skin. This serum is part of Innisfree's 6-free pledge: free from parabens, pigments, mineral oil, ethanol, benzophenone and animal ingredients.

This bottle may look small but it packs a whooping 80ml worth of product inside. I've rarely seen any other brands carry serums in 80ml (the norm being around 30ml).

Firstly, I like the scent. It's really light and refreshing and doesn't linger on the skin. It's a bit herby so I know not many people like this scent but it does not bother me at all.

The packaging is definitely a plus for me because I love bottles with pumps in them. It allows for easy dispensing of the product and with this pump, I can properly control how much product to dispense. It also comes with a brown cover to ensure that if you bring this bottle out, you won't accidentally press on the pump and dispense product into your makeup pouch.

The texture of this serum is really light and watery and my skin absorbs it really quickly and it does not leave a sticky residue at all. It also definitely does not cause break outs on my skin at all and I think this may even be suitable for sensitive skin because it isn't heavy on the skin at all.

Overall:

PROS:

• Lightweight & watery
• Non-greasy/oily
• Skin absorbs quickly
• Pleasant scent
• Refreshing on the skin
• Comes with a pump
• Doesn't break me out
• Innisfree's 6-free pledge

CONS:

• Not very hydrating
• Does not do much for my skin

I've used almost 3 bottles of this (I'm almost finishing my 3rd bottle) and I can safely say that this doesn't do much for my skin at all. When I first bought this and tried it on my skin, I really like how it sat on my skin and how it refreshing it feels on the skin. I also really liked how quickly my skin absorbed it and how it does not leave any sticky residue at all. And that was why I made an impulse purchase of 2 more bottles.

Halfway through the 1st bottle, I was forced to accept the fact that this serum did not do anything for my skin. I don't feel that it hydrates my skin well (even though it is supposed to be very hydrating) nor do I feel my skin texture and condition improving with every use. I've used this continuously for a good 1.5 years, and I apply it everyday, both in the day and night, and I still see no difference as compared to my other holy grail serums like the It's Skin VC Effector.

Would I repurchase? Definitely not. It is a good basic serum but I just feel that it does nothing for my skin. However, what does not work for me, may work for you so take what I say with a pinch of salt because my skin type is probably different from yours. So many people rave about this so there is probably something worth loving about this product, just sadly, it does not work for my skin at all.

Korea Travelogue // A Twosome Place, School Food, Sinsa-dong Garosu-gil, O'Sulloc, Yeolbong Jjimdak, & Coffee Prince.

Sadly, this will be the last post for my Korea travelogues because I'm combining the last 2 days we spent in Korea together into one blog post. On a happier note, I do have 2 other travelogues coming up, one of them being my Okinawa trip with my family and my Hong Kong trip with my friends so once I'm done with this post, I can focus on getting up the vlogs done and blog posts done as well.

Also, because I'm finally done with school, I can move on with my next stage in life and whilst I'm applying for jobs, I can also focus on trying more beauty products to review here as well and in general, just focus on what I like to do besides school which is such a relief for me because as much as I loved studying, the last 6 months of my life was insanely packed.

Okay moving on to the actual post itself....

We started the day with breakfast at Coffee Prince which is just around the corner from our Airbnb apartment. We ate this in Gyeongju so nothing new here.

Korea Travelogue // Tosokchon Samgyetang, Samcheongdong, Innisfree House, & Insadong.

For our 6th day in Seoul, I brought my family to Tosokchon to have their very famous samgyetang which is essentially Korean ginseng chicken soup. I've had it 2 times already and I still love it. Everyone says that they serve the best samgyetang around but I haven't really tried others so I'm not the best at comparing.

We ordered 3 portions of samgyetang (15,000 KRW) and a seafood pancake (15,000 KRW) to share.

Review | Aritaum Wannabe Cushion Tints

I have never done a lip product review before because although I have ten thousand different lippies, I don't ever get around to using most of them because I have extremely dry lips that flake all the time so I avoid using lippies on most days to be honest. But I have been on a roll recently because I am determined to put them to good use instead of sitting around in my room in boxes so the first brand I got around to using is Aritaum.

I bought 4 different shades from the range Wannabe Cushion Tints and so far I have been loving every single one of them.

Japan Travelogue // Day 2

On our second day in Okinawa, we woke up really early to grab breakfast in the dining hall before starting off our day. I seem to find myself reaching for Japanese curry and cold green tea a lot during this trip because these were the "safe" items I knew wouldn't go wrong. The rest of the food were a bit... weird. I'm quite a picky eater so if I don't like the taste of something, most of the time I won't even try to swallow it so you can imagine how much Japanese curry I had just to fill myself up.

My mum is definitely the most adventurous of us all so she basically took a bit of everything to try. In Okinawa they have this tray with little compartments every where that serves food buffet style so you can pick a bit of everything to try, or fill a few compartments with the same food if you so wish to do so.

Japan Travelogue // Day 1

Late last year, my family decided on an impromptu trip to Okinawa, Japan. It was a pretty last minute thing and the main reason why we chose to go to Okinawa was because we were looking for a family trip that accommodates all of our clashing schedules. It had to be after my last paper, and before I went to HK and before my sister's school started so the other alternative was to go to Korea again which we didn't want to, so Okinawa it is!

Missha Haul

Missha is one of those brands which I have never really tried before because I didn't do much research on their products before. But my sister has raved about their Time Revolution Essence and I have heard how their Time Revolution range is a dupe for Estee Lauder's Advance Night Repair range so I really wanted to try both of the products for myself.

The first item featured here was actually a free gift and it is the Snail Moisture Soap. I'll add this to my list of facial cleansers just that this is a bar soap, not a cleansing foam. I have never tried bar soaps on my face before but why not try something new?

The only make up product I got from Missha is the Soft Blending Stick Blusher in the shades #4 Pecan Brown and #6 Sugar Glam. Once again, adding this to my stash of contours and highlighters.

I'm not actually sure whether I bought this or whether it was part of the set I bought but I got the Time Revolution Clear Toner here. I've never tried any part of the TR range before so I'm hoping that this toner will boost the effects of the other products from the range.

This is the product I talked about earlier! The Time Revolution The First Treatment Essence Intensive. I have tried the IOPE essence and I really loved it. I'm currently using The First Essence from Nature Republic and after that, this will be the next essence I use. I'm really hoping that this essence and the Nature Republic one will be good because the IOPE one was pretty expensive. What for pay a higher price if you can get the same quality and same effects from a cheaper product right?

I got the Flower Bouquet Cleansing Cream (Maylily) to see if it works well as a makeup remover. I'm halfway done with my Green Tea Cleansing Water from Innisfree so maybe I'll try this next!

The saleslady in the shop recommended the Time Revolution Immortal Youth Blue Essence to me if I wanted something that helped to keep the skin youthful and supple and they had a set with free creams from the same range so I decide to take the plunge and bought it for myself to try. I really hope it's worth the price and that my skin doesn't react badly to this essence!

This is the Time Revolution Immortal Youth Cream that came with the essence. As I slowly approach my mid twenties, prevention of the first signs of ageing is becoming more important to me and I have been on the look out for products which help with that. I know I am not old by any one's standards but anti-ageing products are definitely on my radar these days.

The Time Revolution Borabit Ampoule was a free gift when I purchased the essence and my sister also said it was pretty good. I have never really tried ampoules before so I hope it won't be too rich for my skin and cause break outs.

Missha is definitely one of the newer brands to my skincare stash and I have never tried any of their products before but I know a lot of people who love this brand so I hope it will work well for me as well! It also helps that Missha is one of the brands which we actually have in SG so if any of these products become holy grails for me, I can just repurchase them from the store instead of waiting for my next trip to Korea.

Review | It's Skin Power 10 Formula VB Effector

One of my holy grail serums is from the brand It's Skin and it is the VC Effector. I love citrusy scents and it works amazingly at brightening my skin and lightening my acne scars so the next time I went back to Korea, I wanted to try more of the Power 10 Formula Effectors from the brand. Each of these effectors, or serums, have different active ingredients and target different purposes. The VC one has vitamin C which helps with, well, brightening the skin. The next one I got was the VB Effector which has vitamin B as the main active ingredient.

The VB Effector is said to help control excess sebum secretion which helps in turn to keep the skin clear from acne. I used to have a pretty oily T-Zone so I wanted something to help control shine especially in Singapore when the weather is ridiculously hot and humid all year round.

So firstly, the scent is really light and pleasant with a hint of flowers. I'm really bad at describing scents so this is probably not the most descriptive way of describing the scent but nonetheless, it is light and pleasant, not offensive in any way at all. It doesn't linger on your skin and you don't smell it a few seconds after you're done applying the serum on the face.

It comes in a glass bottle with a dropper like all the effectors which is great at dispensing the required number of drops for your face. If I'm applying this on my whole face, I'll typically dispense 3-4 drops on my palm, rub my palms together, and pat it all over my face. If I'm applying it to a particular area of my face, I find that 1-2 drops is more than enough.

The texture is on the thicker side, not very watery, although I wouldn't say that it's thick also. It spreads really easily on my skin which is why a little goes a long way. It does tend to leave a sticky residue but I'm not bothered by it because I don't usually touch my face after I'm done applying my skincare.

This serum works, which is why I have a love-hate relationship with it. Let me explain.

When I first started using this serum, I applied it on my whole face. It definitely works at controlling sebum production because after 2-3 days of applying it on my face twice a day (once in the morning and once at night), my face started peeling. My T-Zone is a tad oily and my cheeks are normal, leaning slightly to the dry side. So when I started using this serum religiously, my skin got so dry that it started peeling and I stopped using this for a good 2-3 months because I was scarred by it. I didn't expect its capabilities at controlling oil to be this amazing.

When my face started becoming more spotty as my face does every few months, I started applying this serum only on my spots, or if I had a particularly spotty area, I'll apply the serum on the whole area and boy does it work at healing my spots faster and preventing new ones from popping out. Right now, I only apply it on spots and it works amazingly.

Overall:

PROS:

• Light, pleasant scent
• Inexpensive
• Semi-watery texture
• Spreads easily
• Comes with a dropper for easy dispensing
• Controls sebum production really well
• Helps heal spots and prevent new ones from forming

CONS:

• May break easily because it comes in a glass bottle
• Leaves a sticky feeling on the face
• May be drying for people with dry/normal skin

All in all, I think it is an amazingly good product for the price if you manage to use it in a way that suits your skin. I believe that this will work wonders for people with oily skin. But if you have normal to combination skin, this can work for you as well if you only apply it to the areas that require it. This is the second serum that I've tried from It's Skin and both of them have yet to disappoint me. I still have a few other different ones left to try but these small bottles hold so much promise! I can't wait to try the rest of them :>

Everything With Fries

Last month, we hosted a surprise birthday celebration for SH and Renyi. Hui Ping and I told them that we were only having dinner with them but we secretly got all the friends to wait for us at Everything With Fries and we brought the boys there to surprise them. 

It was really amazing to see them both so surprised because they didn't suspect a single thing at all. The look on their faces was worth a whole week of planning and coordinating. 

Review | Tony Moly Cristal Blusher in 05 Sugar Brown

I have been on a contouring kick recently and this was the very first contouring powder I picked up in Korea. It was featured in Get It Beauty, and also in quite a few videos from Pony so I was pretty excited to get my hands on this. This isn't the first bronzer I've got, I tried the one from Wet n Wild but it was too warm for my skin tone and it came out pretty orange so I wanted another one because my skin tone is way too fair for that bronzer. 

Today, I'll be reviewing the Crystal Blusher in the shade 05 Sugar Brown from Tony Moly. I know it says blusher but I actually use this to contour my face instead of as a blusher.

Equinox @ Swissotel

So... a few weeks ago, the bosses gave us a treat at Equinox and I had the loveliest time catching up with all my favourite bakers. I haven't seen all of them in nearly 4 months because I changed work places and I really miss working with all of them every single day at Wimbly. 

I didn't know where we were going initially so when the lift brought us to the 70th floor, I stood at awe at the amazing view. I've never seen the Singapore skyline looking this pretty with my own eyes before.

Equinox serves a semi-buffet lunch with free-flow of sashimi, seafood, sushi, appetisers and desserts. The mains however, are limited to one per person. I opted for the grilled chicken thigh with corn potato mash and truffle shallot jus. It tasted amazing by the way!

Seletar Hill Restaurant

Review | Boots Botanics Radiance Concentrate Serum All Bright

I've always been some one who's all for bright and clear skin. Sadly, I have never been blessed with clear skin and my battle against spots has been going on for a good 4-5 years. But, I haven't given up on my dream of achieving bright skin so today, I'm going to be talking about my experience with the Radiance Concentrate Serum All Bright from the Boots Botanics range.

Even though Singapore has brought in Boots in Watsons (I believe), I haven't seen the Botanics range here yet. So I only manage to snag this whilst I was in BKK earlier this year with my girls. They had a 1 for 1 offer so my best friend and I got one bottle each to try out.

This serum claims to brighten skin in 2 weeks and to energise the skin for a visible, radiant glow. It contains "brightening hibiscus".

What I really like about this product is how fast my skin absorbs it. While I'm not usually particular about whether serums leave a sticky residue or not, this is probably one of the serums which leave close to no residue on the skin at all.

Also, it leaves a semi-matte finish, without any dewiness at all. I'm a huge fan or the dewy look so I wouldn't say I like this fact about this serum very much but I know most people prefer a more matte finish than a dewy finish so I thought I would just put this fact out there.

I'm usually dispense 2-3 drops onto my palm, rub both palms together, and pat this serum all over my face.

Overall:

PROS:

• Absorbs quickly into the skin
• Does not leave a sticky residue
• Matte finish
• Not much scent
• Does not break me out

CONS:

• Didn't do anything for my skin
• Not hydrating

To be very honest, this product was a huge miss and a disappointment for me. I really hoped I would come to love it as much as I love the toner from this range. But it didn't do anything for my skin, besides the fact that it didn't break me out. When I asked my best friend whether it did help brighten her skin, she said it didn't either, so I'm pretty sure it isn't just my skin that it doesn't react to.