Easy and Quick Skincare Routine to Look Young in Your Late 20

Hey, everyone!

I think it’s really the first time I talk about skincare on this blog. I always talk about makeup while actually I care about my skincare as much as I do about makeup. For me, skincare is even more important that makeup, and I was interested in skincare first even long before I was interested in makeup.

I mentioned briefly how I was first interested in skincare on this blog post. And since that time, I have tried so many skincare products and have gone through so many trials and errors in skincare routine. Gladly I don’t have sensitive skin, so I rarely (or almost never) had a bad experience when trying new products. However, there were several products I felt really did something on my skin, while some others did almost nothing.

These past 8 months, or to be precised since August 2018, I’ve been using the same skincare routine. And just recently I realized that my skin has never been this clear, supple, and elastic. My makeup also sticks better onto my skin effortlessly. And countless times when I didn’t wear any makeup, I was mistaken for a college or even high school student by people I met on the street, while actually I’m a 28 year old married woman with one kid XD But it actually has some drawbacks, too. For example, when I was browsing through a makeup display in my local drugstore, the BA wasn’t even trying to recommend me any product. Maybe because she thought I was a student so I wouldn’t be able to afford any product she recommended anyway XD

Oh and first of all, just for transparency, I wasn’t sponsored by any brand I mentioned here. I purchased everything with my own money. I’m (sadly) just a small blogger, those brands don’t even know that I’m existed in this world XD So don’t worry, what I wrote here is based on my real and honest experience 🙂 But, I mean, in the future even if I was sponsored to make this kind of post, I’ll always stay honest with my review!

So, if you want to know my skincare secrets, just please keep on reading!

Prolog

I adopted this skincare routine actually from the infamous 10-step Korean Skincare Routine. Let’s admit that we, average women in late 20 with all of our everyday routine activities, ain’t always got time for that, right? Just thinking of that and watching beauty bloggers apply that 10-step skincare routine already makes me headache. So, I made my own version of it that is easier, quicker, and more realistic!

First of all, even though the name is “10-step Korean Skincare Routine”, doesn’t mean we must use ALL Korean skincare products. The most important thing is to understand why those steps are implemented. When we understand the purpose of each step, we can clearly eliminate some steps or alternately change some steps so that the phrase “10-step” is no longer overwhelming. And along with it, we can freely choose which product we want to use in each step, as long as it fulfills the purpose of that step.

10-Step Korean Skincare Routine

When talking about “steps” in skincare routine, generally people will ask “why this step is after that step” and vice versa. Actually, the answer is easy. We want to apply products from the ones that have lighter consistency to the ones that have heavier consistency.

Here I will give you a quick explanation of each step, along with the label of which step we can completely skip and alternately change. I will also mention which products I’ve been using for each step.

Oil-based cleanser

I’m sure you are aware that oil can’t be mixed with water. Now let see, what does our skin produce during the day? It’s oil. Even if you have (relatively) dry skin, your skin still secretes oil everyday (it’s just less amount compared to other people). So, what happen if you wash your face with water-based cleanser only? It won’t be able to get rid off oil-based dirt that our skin has produced.

So clearly, this step is a MUST and the first step that you want to implement on your skincare routine. Only oil can help pull out other oil-based impurities, for example sebum.

Products that I’ve been using in this step are Banila.co Clean It Zero and Garnier Micellar Oil Infused Cleansing Water.

Banila.co’s consistency is kind of like balm, but as soon as we apply it on our face, it melts even the most waterproof makeup easily. But, this feels uncomfortable on the eyes. It doesn’t stink, but if it exposed to our eyeballs, it’s going to be like there’s a kind of layer on top of them and it’s slightly obstructing our view.

That’s why on the eyes, I prefer to use the Garnier one. This works perfectly for waterproof makeup, too.

Water-based cleanser

The same principal to the previous step, water-based cleanser helps draw out water-based impurities that aren’t picked up by the oil-based cleanser, for example sweat.

This step is obviously a MUST, too. And I’ve been rotating between Garnier Micellar Water, The Body Shop Tea Tree Facial Wash, or Cetaphil Facial Wash. I use the Garnier one when I’m too lazy to wash my face with facial wash. And I love the Body Shop and Cetaphil ones because they are so gentle on my skin. Even though I feel completely clean after washing my face with them, my skin doesn’t feel tight.

Exfoliator

To make it easier to understand, generally exfoliator comes in a form of scrub, because, exfoliator is used to clean clogged pores or remove dead skin. Therefore, we need a product that contains small grains to make it possible to enter our pores and clean them.

This is a step that we can ALTERNATELY CHANGE with other steps. Actually it’s better to NOT do this step every day because it could scrape not only dead skin but also moisture or other important properties that our skin has. I personally only do this step twice a week, and the products I’ve been rotating to use are Freeman Charcoal + Black Sugar Gel Mask + Scrub, Skinfood Strawberry Black Sugar Mask Wash Off, Kanebo Suisai Beauty Clear Powder, and Cure Natural Aqua Gel.

The Freeman and Skinfood ones are clearly scrubs, so you know how to use them and how they feel.

The Cure one looks like a normal facial wash with jelly-like consistency. Even though it looks like your typical facial wash, it removes dead skin like magic. And the Kanebo one can be used as scrub or gentle facial wash depending on how much water you add to it. I’ll write more detail about the Cure and the Kanebo on another post I’ve planned so make sure to follow this blog if you don’t want to miss it!

Toner

Toner helps restore moisture to our skin after cleansing and exfoliating. It also helps balance our skin’s pH because cleansing our face with facial wash increases our skin pH (remember, soap is an alkaline so it has high pH). However, actually if we use gentle facial wash, it’s not as harsh as usual facial wash that is made of soap, so toner can be skipped. But toner also helps prepare our skin for the next products that are going to be applied to our skin. Therefore, for me this step is also a MUST.

For this past months, I’ve only been using The Body Shop Tea Tree Toner. I never use a cotton pad to apply my toner because I feel it absorbs a lot of liquid so I think it’s a waste of product. I always use my hands to apply my toner.

Essence

The one common question about essence is “what is the difference between essence and serum?”. Generally, essence is liquid product that has consistency between toner and serum. If you know SK-II Facial Treatment Essence or Missha Time Revolution The First Treatment Essence, both of them have the similar liquid-y consistency, which is a bit thicker than a toner, but not as viscous-y as a serum.

In terms of composition, according to Fashionista on their article here, technically essence and serum are actually the SAME thing! Both of them have key ingredients that are formulated to resolve certain skin problems. I mentioned about texture above, but recently (according to Fashionista also) essence is getting thicker while serum is getting more lightweight, so the consistency line is getting blurry.

In summary, since both of them don’t have distinctive difference, IMHO, if you’re on a budget (just like me!) you can choose only one of them. I personally completely SKIP essence, and go straight to serum after my toner.

Serum

As I mentioned briefly above, serum is a liquid product that has key ingredients that are formulated to resolve certain skin problems, such as acne, hyper-pigmentation, dark spots, wrinkles, etc. For me personally, I’ve been using this same serum for 8 months, which is The Ordinary Niacinamide 10% + Zinc 1%, that has brightening effect and also reduce the appearance of blemishes and balance sebum activity. For more detail information about this product, please refer to this link.

I started to use this serum because before I was using them, I had severe acne scars problem. Before, I always broke out during menstruation. And after that, it left acne scars every where on my skin. Although it is said on the website that this doesn’t have direct properties to reduce acne, after using this (and other products I mentioned and will be mentioning here), I rarely break out these days. And my old acne scars is getting disappear!

So clearly, this step is a MUST, and you can use any other serum that suits your skin needs! I do recommend checking out The Ordinary, though, because they are fairly affordable, cruelty free, and a lot of their products are paraben free, gluten free, and vegan!

Again, I’m not sponsored to say this XD I truly am in love with this product and will keep repurchasing it in the future. Now I’m already on my third bottle, by the way!

Sheet mask

Actually, sheet mask is just a mask that is soaked into an essence or a serum. The natural way of using it (by putting it onto our face and leave it for a couple minutes) is able to prolong the contact of that essence/ serum to our skin, thus enable our skin to fully absorb the ingredients and moisture. So actually, we can ALTERNATELY CHANGE the usage of sheet mask with our essence/ serum. When I use my sheet mask, I don’t use my serum, and vice versa. I only use sheet mask once or twice a week.

I’ve tried so many sheet masks from different brands, but recently, I’ve been using and keep repurchasing these sheet masks by Etude House. It has very thin layer and it sticks well onto my skin so I never feel it slips off my face whenever I’m using it. It also has perfect size for my eye and mouth holes.

Eye cream

Our eye area is the most gentle part of our skin. When we’re getting older, this is the part that gets wrinkly first, so taking care of it as early as possible is a MUST. Eye cream is formulated to hydrate eye area, reduce the appearance of wrinkle, and prevent dark circles or puffiness.

I used Innisfree Orchid Eye Cream for months before completely running out of it just a month ago. For now, I’m using Safi Age Defy Eye Treatment because I wanted to try more affordable eye cream. The Safi one definitely is more lightweight thus it’s suitable for using on AM routine underneath our makeup. The Innisfree one is much more thicker, and I must say it’s better to be used on PM routine only.

When I run out of my Safi one, I think I will buy both of them because I feel the Innisfree one is more hydrating, thus I need it on my PM routine much more than the Safi one. Of course currently I can’t say many related to the long time result, but I’ve been enjoying the two of them so far, and I rarely had a problem with dark circle or puffiness!

Moisturizer

Moisturizer, just like its name, is mainly used to provide extra moisture to our skin. There are many kinds of moisturizer on the market, so my advice is to choose one based on the ingredients or the consistency that suits your skin needs. For me who have normal to oily skin, I chose the one that has lighter consistency, so that it won’t add too much moisture to my skin that is fairly hydrated.

This step is a MUST for PM routine, and I’ve been using Laneige Water Sleeping Mask as my moisturizer since it’s very lightweight and absorbed pretty fast. But according its manual, this sleeping mask is not for everyday use, so I just use it three times a week.

Sun protector

You know what it is, it’s to protect our skin from damage caused by UV rays. This step is clearly a MUST for AM routine. Don’t forget to apply it not only on your face, but to all skin area that is exposed to the sun light during your daytime activity.

Sun protector or sun screen was the first skincare product that I owned, long before I know toner, serum, etc. And believe me, I’ve tried so many different ones, from Indonesian brands, to Korean brands, to western brands, but the best one yet is the one that I’ve been using now, which is Biore UV Aqua Rich Watery Essence SPF 50+ PA++++.

This one is perfect to use underneath makeup. It’s absorbed fast, not greasy, and not sticky at all but still helps add more adhesion to our makeup. 10 out of 10!

Face Oil (Additional)

I add an additional step to my PM skincare routine which is face oil. Having oily skin doesn’t mean we don’t need face oil. By adding face oil, it helps decrease the secretion of our natural oil during the night. After I incorporate this step as my very last step of my PM routine, I feel my face is less oily now, and I suppose that’s why I also don’t break out as much as before.

The face oil that I’ve been using is The Ordinary Organic Cold-Pressed Rose Hip Seed Oil. I only use it three times a week and a little goes along way. I’ve been using it for eight months but still have 2/3 left. This step is an ADDITIONAL step but I highly recommend you try it out!

Summary

So, to summarize all of the things I mentioned above, here are my AM and PM skincare routine for the past eight months that helps me reduce my break out, makes my face less oily, and brighten up my face, thus help my face look younger (according to the people I met on the street):

AM

Water-based cleanser (everyday): The Body Shop Tea Tree or Cetaphil Gentle Facial Wash

Toner (everyday): The Body Shop Tea Tree Toner

Serum (everyday): The Ordinary Niacinamide 10% + Zinc 1%

Eye cream (everyday): Safi Age Defy Eye Treatment

Sun protector (everyday): Biore Aqua Rich Watery Essence SPF 50+ PA++++

This AM routine only has 5 steps!

And if you want to see me applying this routine, check it on my video here!

PM

Oil-based cleanser (everyday): Banila.co Clean It Zero or Garnier Oil-infused Micellar Water

Water-based cleanser (everyday): The Body Shop Tea Tree or Cetaphil Gentle Facial Wash

Exfoliator (twice a week): Rotation between Freeman Charcoal + Black Sugar Gel Mask + Scrub, Skinfood Strawberry Black Sugar Mask Wash Off, Kanebo Suisai Beauty Clear Powder, and Cure Natural Aqua Gel.

Toner (everyday): The Body Shop Tea Tree Toner

Serum (everyday when I don’t use my sheet mask): The Ordinary Niacinamide 10% + Zinc 1%

Sheet mask (once or twice a week): Etude House

Eye cream (everyday): Safi Age Defy Eye Treatment or Innisfree Orchid Eye Cream

Moisturizer (three times a week): Laneige Water Sleeping Mask

Face oil (three times a week): The Ordinary Organic Cold-Pressed Rose Hip Seed Oil

This PM routine has 5 steps that I do everyday, and 4 other steps that are alternately change with each other.

I’ll make sure to film this routine also in the future, so don’t forget to subscribe to my Youtube channel and follow my Instagram account!

Final Advice

Thank you so much for you who made it until this part! Such a long post, isn’t it, but I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I love sharing it with you. My final advice would be:

It’s important to know the “why” before actually implementing a particular skincare routine.
Choose products based on your skin needs. Check the ingredients and don’t buy/ use something just because the hype of it. Just because we’re on our late 20, doesn’t mean we ONLY need to use products that have anti-aging properties in it. If you, for example, have severe acne scars or break out, fix that problem first, because clearer skin looks healthier thus makes you look brighter in general.
Choose products based on your skin condition. For me who has more of a normal-oily skin, I tend to choose products that is not really thick, not greasy, and absorbed fast.
Apply the products from lighter to heavier consistency.
Be consistent! I’ve been implementing this skincare routine for eight months before sharing it with you as now I can see clear result on my skin.
“You are what you eat”. Recently I also have been trying to eat “okay” (I want to say “healthy” but I don’t think I’ve reached that level as for now) . I’ve been drinking 2 L of water everyday, and also avoiding processed food as much as I can. I believe what comes from inside is also important to maintain what is seen from the outside.
Be happy! Surround yourself with positive people and positive activities!

So yeah, that is all for today’s post! I hope you don’t feel overwhelmed by so many products I mentioned here. That’s just because I love trying skincare products, so I try to rotate them as much as I could to be able to finish all of them. But, among all of skincare products I’ve tried, the ones I mentioned here are the ones that have clear positive impacts to my skin.

I hope this post is somehow helpful for you and don’t hesitate to correct me if I’m wrong.

What is your current skincare routine? Will you implement this routine to your routine? Did you find your holy grail products here? Let me know on the comment section below!

‘Till next time!

Reading sources:

10-Step Korean Skincare Routine

The Difference Between Essence and Serum

Be Grateful

Hey, all.

Today’s post is actually very short, but I just want to give you a quick update.

So, just recently I got new job! I can’t thank God enough for this! Well, actually it’s not ‘new’ new, but here’s the thing.

From the beginning of this year, I want to give a shot once more to this blog. I have this blog since 2012 but I never write it regularly with a specific theme, so I always ran out of idea of what to write in this blog. So, on January, along with the start of my low-buy year project, I revamped this blog, and actually set a designated schedule to write. I’ve been enjoying writing in this blog, updating my Instagram account and Youtube channel, and I was able to meet new friends from all over the world, all because of this new blog that I have.

Besides that, teaching Japanese has always been my passion also. So, in the beginning of this year, I also posted some advertisements on some local medias here in the city where I reside about me opening a private Japanese lesson. Since then, several people contacted me, but none of them finally became my students. It was like this until March, so I just focus on this blog, my Instagram account, and my Youtube channel. I tried to not have high hopes for my Japanese class.

However, in the beginning of April, suddenly two people contacted me about my Japanese class, and both of them finally decided to study from me! I am so grateful and couldn’t be anymore happier than these days. Three days a week now I have my teaching schedule for these past two weeks.

Therefore, consequently, I have less time to update all of social media accounts. Because of this new schedule that I have to add to my previous existing schedule, I couldn’t finish some drafts that I have prepared for this blog. I need to re-arrange my schedule ASAP!

So, I hope you don’t mind that there will be no beauty-related content this week. I have prepared two posts for the next weeks, but I need more time to do my research related to those posts. I don’t want to upload a blog post just for the sake of uploading every week. I want the content to be comprehensive and actually helpful for you who read it.

Regardless, I’m so grateful for my new job, and also for you who have followed me and read my blog posts. I hope I can sort everything out quickly and have a normal schedule again!

Thank you for bearing with me, and see you on my next post!

Things I Would’ve Bought: Feb-Mar 2019

Hey, everyone!

It’s another end of the month again, which means it’s time for me to give you an update about my low-buy year project! It feels just like yesterday I wrote my January “Things I would’ve Bought” and in fact it’s already the end of March. Can you believe how fast time flies!

So, if you haven’t followed me since before, then first of all, welcome to this blog! I’m glad that you came all the way here, and I hope you stick around!

In this particular blog series, I will be documenting my journey on my low-buy project this year. Before, I’ve written my rules here, and my January “I Would’ve Bought” here. On February, I didn’t have many things I wanted to buy, so I decided to merge my monthly “I Would’ve Bought” list to this post that covers my February and March list all at once.

What I Bought

Before sharing my list, I want to share what I have bought during these two months. I still managed to not buy anything new, so all of the items here are refills or necessities. But, I did receive one thing as a gift from my husband. I’ll show you a bit later in this post!

The first thing I bought was three packs of cotton pads. Each of them costs USD 1. I also bought two bottles of Garnier Micellar Oil-Infused Cleansing Water, which costs USD 10 for both. And then I bought Safi Age Defy Eye Contour Treatment because I ran out of my Innisfree Orchid Eye Cream and was looking for a cheaper alternative. It costs USD 6.

And lastly, I bought a small tube of hair conditioner that costs USD 1. This was a new product I didn’t have before but I bought it because recently my hair feels so rough and dry so I thought I might need a hair conditioner. I never took care of my hair properly because I rarely had problem with my hair (thank goodness). So I never had any hair care product except my shampoo. Now I realized I should’ve taken care my hair more.

All of my February & March haul, except the cotton pads are 3 packs and the Garnier ones are 2 bottles.

In total, these 2 months I spent only USD 20! This might looks so cheap for you to spend in 2 months, but here in Indonesia, it’s a decent amount of money!

Besides these stuffs, I also got a gift from my husband. He bought me a brush storage made from acrylic material that I’ve been eyeing for months but couldn’t pick up because of my low-buy project! Now I can store and display my brush collection prettily and without having to worry about them getting dusty!

What I Would Have Bought

Now let’s move on to the more interesting part which is my wish list! I don’t actually like to call this wish list, but rather “things I would have bought if I wasn’t doing a low-buy project”. I prefer call it like that because I tend to do an impulsive buy >< So by doing this low-buy project, it helps me restrain my bad shopping habit and not buy something immediately ><

So far, I must admit that the temptation to break my rules is getting harder and harder. As the season changes from winter to spring (although we don’t have that season-changing here in Indonesia), all makeup brands starts competing to release new spring items every other day. Recently, not only the products are getting innovative, the packaging is also getting cuter, and I’m such a sucker for cute packaging.

Before I continue to my list, I want to give a disclaimer first XD I apologize in advance that you might be bored of me mentioning this particular brand. If you’ve followed me for a while, you might be able to guess it by now. Yes, it is none other than Colourpop XD I’m sorry in advance that there will be a lot of Colourpop products mentioned here. It’s just simply because Colourpop ships to almost every where in the world so I find it cheaper and easier to shop directly from their website.

Okay, without further a do, here are some products that caught my eye and almost made me break my low-buy rules these past months.

Colourpop BFF Liners

Not stopping after colorful mascaras, Colourpop released yet another colorful product, which were colorful liquid liners. The second they announced it, I know right from the bat that I will buy one or two to pair with the purple and red mascaras I wanted to buy since January. But, I was a little bit disappointed when I found out that there was no purple liner! I was so heart broken because purple is my favorite color and I have planned to buy the purple palette and purple mascara together. It would’ve been perfect if there was a purple liner too! I do hope they add the shades in the future. It is Colourpop we’re talking about 😉

For now, I’ll settle with only the red one. So, if I wasn’t doing a low-buy year, I would’ve spent USD 8 for this liquid liner.

Colourpop Overtime Lippie Pencil

Colourpop released a bunch of new lippie pencil shades as well as renew the packaging. I wasn’t a type of lip liner girl. Can you believe that I only have one lip pencil until now? So I thought why not try a new one? I happened to need a red one anyway. Among all red shades on Colourpop website, I find this one called “overtime” is the most basic. So,I would’ve spent USD 5 for this lip liner.

Colourpop Spring 2019 Collection

If you can’t tell already, pastel pink, coral, and peach are my color, hence the logo I made for this blog. I made this logo even before I knew that this year’s pantone color is living coral. How happy I was when Colourpop released their spring collection this year and the main color was living coral!

This collection is the hardest collection to resist for me during this low-buy. To be honest, I almost break my rules. But, I still can hold on until I wrote this post.

All items in this collection is so pretty. There are no shades I dislike. But, since I’m always on a budget, I must select just a few things from this entire collection.

From this collection, I definitely would love to pick up the palette, the “sweet talk” palette. This palette is so special. Not only because the packaging and the coral color scheme that really scream spring to me, but also because it contains one super shock shadow which was reformulated to be able to not drying on the pan, and two pressed glitter. This is such a good deal for me who wouldn’t bought a single jar of glitter since I wouldn’t get a lot of use out of it anyway. But, since it’s on a palette, it’s a good chance for me to try it out!

And then, I’d also love to pick up the blushes in “get leid” and “growth flirt”. They are the ones on the first and third from top on the picture below.

I also love the jelly much eye shadows recently. They are easier to work with than my initial thoughts. And I like how foiled they look on my eyes. Among the jelly shadows, I probably would’ve picked up the ones called “doves n roses” and “wisthlin’ pixie”. They are the first and second from top on picture below.

And lastly, of course I would’ve picked up the lipsticks. I’m glad that they included the creme lux lipsticks in this collection, because they are my all time favorite finish among all Colourpop lip products. If I had unlimited amount of money, I would’ve picked up all of them. But since I didn’t, I probably would’ve picked up three of them, which were “ur thriving”,
“spring roll”, and “tea thyme”. They are the first, third, and last respectively from the top on the picture below.

So if I wasn’t on low-buy, I would’ve spent 18 + 4 * 8 + 3 * 7 = USD 71 for this collection only.

Colourpop Disney Villains

And yet another big collection from Colourpop, which was their second collaboration with Disney, the Disney Villains Collection. I was so hyped up when I first heard about this launch because I LOVE my Disney Princess’ palette and lipsticks. But, after all products were revealed, and I saw swatches everywhere, I feel a little bit underwhelmed.

First, the price. Almost all items in this collection retail more expensive than any similar products Colourpop has released before. Usually their 15 pan palettes retail for USD 20, the palette in this one retails for USD 22. The lux lipsticks that are usually USD 7, retail for USD 8 here. And the super shock highlighters that are usually USD 8 is USD 10 in this collection. Lastly the lip glosses are USD 7, which is usually USD 6.5. Only the jelly much shadows that remain the same price as usual, which are USD 8.

I understand about the lipstick, though. They have special “villains” emboss on it, which means Colourpop has to make a special mold for these lipsticks only. And the highlighter is super shock but stored in a heavy duty cardboard, which means it has to be specially formulated to non drying on the pan, unlike their usual super shock highlighters that are stored in a closed jar.

And then, usually in a collection, I would’ve been interested in the shadow palette. But the palette in this one, I feel the color scheme is sooo similar to “Perception” palette by Shayla. I don’t have that palette, but many have said that that palette was a dupe for Urban Decay “Born to Run” palette which I have. I don’t want to have palettes that are to similar in color scheme, so I am still unsure whether I want to pick up this palette or not.

And then the lipsticks. Almost all the colors look similar to their current existing shades, especially the Disney Princess’ lipsticks. Among all lipsticks, I would probably picked up only “Maleficent”, which is the second from the right on picture below.

Besides that, I probably would’ve pick up the Maleficent highlighter, and the blue jelly much shadow since I don’t have any blue jelly much shadow yet.

Maleficent highlighter “Mistress of all evil”

Ursula jelly much shadow “Just your voice”

If I wasn’t on low-buy, I would’ve spent USD 26 on this collection.

So, that’s all my imaginative haul. In total, I would’ve spent USD 110 in these two months if I wasn’t doing a low-buy year! Glad that I am!

If you’re currently doing a low-buy like me, how is your low-buy so far? What’s your biggest temptation, and how you restrain it? Please share your experience on the comment section below!

Thank you so much for reading today’s post and I’ll see you next week!

Zoella x Colourpop Collection: Buy or Bye

Hey, everyone!

In today’s post, as you can see from the title, I want to discuss with you about a new launch from Colourpop (CP), which is a collaboration with a British Youtuber, Zoella, called Brunch Date Collection.

I don’t usually write this kind of theme on my blog, but this one is, I don’t know, worth to discuss? There is some sort of controversy surrounding this collection. However, if you come here expecting some kind of bashing or shady comments toward the collaborator, I’m sorry in advance that you ain’t gonna get it here in my blog. This blog is a place where only positivity is allowed. With that being said, I’ll try my best to review this collection as objective as I could.

Of course since I don’t live in the US, and CP doesn’t even know that I’m existed in this world, I haven’t got my hands on this collection. So I’ll be reviewing this collection solely based on pictures, swatches, and videos I’ve seen online floating in the internet ever since CP teased about it on their Instagram account.

Speaking about the teaser, I remembered being so shook when CP first posted Zoella’s photo on their IG account. It was like in the middle of the night here in Indonesia and I was about to sleep when suddenly it popped on my IG notification (and yes, I turned on notification for CP IG new post and story). I know right away that the comment section of that post would be full of people questioning CP’s decision to collab with her. It was just so sudden.

Just for a little background, I know who Zoella is, of course. I subscribed to her channel around 5 years ago, I think. I even bought some of her beauty products back when I was still living in Japan. Yes, I got them sent to my door all the way from the UK to Japan. And I remembered liking them! So, I don’t have any bad feelings or disappointment toward Zoella in particular. I just stopped watching her for almost around 2 years now. Not because I hate her, I just found more informative and entertaining contents from other Youtubers.

As far as I remember from the time I subscribed her and still watched her videos, I rarely heard she mentioned CP’s products. It’s true that she mentioned CP a couple times (CP even made a kind of their timeline with Zoella (maybe) to emphasize that Zoella did mention CP products sometimes on her channel). But she was not like some other Youtubers such as Kathleen Lights, Thatgirlshaexo, Mesijesibeauty, Andrea Matillano, Amanda from makeupjustforfun, or even Judy C that resides in New Zealand, that keep reviewing CP’s products on their channels. That’s why I found it’s so sudden and unexpected that CP chose to collab with her, not because of her controversy.

Of course I understand that CP wanted to expand their business scoop to the UK, and maybe they saw Zoella is still one of the most powerful influencer from there. Since it’s been a long time since I watched her, I’m unsure whether this is true or not. However, despite her controversy, I must admit that Zoella has a thing for product’s design. The first time I saw the collection’s packaging and color selection, I know right from the bat that it is very Zoella. I’ll talk about this more a bit later on this post.

Ok, I think it’s enough for the background. Now let’s talk about the collection itself!

This collection has been available on Colourpop website since February 27th. It consists of an eyeshadow palette, 3 ultra matte lips, 3 lippie pencils, 2 supernova shadows, 2 pencil gel liners, 1 pressed powder blush, and 1 pressed powder highlighter. Let’s discuss the items one by one!

Brunch Date Eye Shadow Palette

It’s the first time CP released a 12-pan eye shadow palette with this kind of layout. Usually they went with 3×4 layout. It retails for USD 18, the same as their usual 12-pan palettes with mirror.

Packaging-wise, it’s CUTE and very Zoella. She always has this kind of 70s or retro vibe, and TBH I like it. But, I rarely bought something just because of the packaging. The actual product itself must be worth buying.

The first time I saw the palette, I wasn’t very enthusiastic. To me it just looks neutral with a pop of literally one blue shade. Some shades even look similar to each other. And that pop of blue is just out of nowhere. However, after I watched swatches from Thatgirlshaexo, Ourbeautycult, Dupethat, and CP official Youtube account, I can see that those shades are not exactly similar. Some shades even look prettier and more unique than my initial thought, such as ‘skinny latte’, ‘cinnamon sugar’, ‘sundae funday’, and ‘sunny side up’. And about that one blue shade, based on the palette packaging that resembles blueberry waffles, I think they want it as a representative of the blueberry.

Formula-wise, based on reviews from those links I mentioned above, I think they are as good as any other CP eye shadow palettes. I have tried 6 different palettes from CP and none of them are disappointing. So I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t be disappointed either if I bought this palette.

Do I have similar shades already in my collection? I think so. Are four unique shades out of 12 with a pop of blue enough for me to buy a palette? Absolutely not. If I took out the cute packaging and replace it with plain white for example, would it still be look extraordinary? I doubt that. But…

If you are new in makeup and you don’t have any eye shadow palette and you want to try playing with eye shadow for the first time, I think this palette is good for you to start. Do the shades look pretty? Yes. Is it cheap? It’s indeed fairly affordable. Is the formula good? CP has one of the best eye shadow formula among other affordable brands.

If you decided to buy this palette, you would be able to create some neutral looks as well as a couple colorful ones. If you are a beginner, this palette is definitely for you!

Ultra Matte Lips and Lippie Pencils

They released these items in 3 bundles consists of matching ultra mate lip (UML) and lippie pencil (LP). Each bundle retails for USD 11.5, but if you buy the UML and LP separately, the UML retails for USD 6.5 and the LP retails for USD 5, so you actually don’t save any penny by buying them in a bundle, but you do get a cute milk-box packaging.

The first bundle called “what happens at brunch” consists of a previously-existing LP called “oh snap” and a new UML called “@me”. This bundle has a dusty pink mauve color vibe.

The second one called “give us the goss” consists of also a previously-existing LP called “bossy” and a new UML called “self love club”. This bundle has a true red color vibe.

The last one called “my day ones” consists of a new LP called “little one” and also a new UML with the same name. This bundle has a nude color vibe.

Again, these three bundles are very typical in any CP collaborations. Almost all of collaboration that has lip products offers this kind of color selection: nude, mauve, and red; as this kind of variety seems to be appealing to many people.

I can safely say that you might already have these colors in your collection, even though it’s not from CP. And so do I. Therefore, I don’t have any intention to pick any of the lip bundles.

However, let’s say I didn’t have similar colors like these in my collection, I might pick up the mauve one, because that’s the color I can get a lot of use everyday. The nude one is a bit tricky for me that has medium skin tone. It’s hard for me to find nude color that doesn’t wash me out. And the red one, I might pick it up because red is a color that sometimes I need in a special occasion.

Supernova Shadows

They released two new supernova shadows, from left to right are “OG” and “bellini”. They also have them in a bundle retails for USD 14, and each of them retails for USD 7.

On the bottle both of them look so similar, but based on real swatches (again from links I mentioned above), “OG” is more of a golden champagne with silver sprinkle and “bellini” is more of a metallic rose gold. The “OG” one clearly has bigger sprinkle of glitter while the “bellini” is more of a metallic sheen.

I think both of them look pretty. I personally never tried CP supernova shadow and don’t have any plan to try them soon since I still have so many shadow palettes and super shock shadows I want to use up. Based on the color itself, I’m pretty sure CP already has similar color before, maybe from Kathleen Light’s Zodiac collection.

Pencil Gel Liners

from left to right: “xoxo” and “sincerely yours”

They released two new creme gel liners, “xoxo” and “sincerely yours”, retails for USD 5 each. On CP website, “xoxo” is described as pearlized black and “sincerely yours” is describe as pearlized chocolate brown. So they suppose to have some pearly flecks on the formula. If you swatch them on your hands, they might appear quite clearly, but honestly once they’re on your eyes, I don’t think they’re visible enough.

I personally think these products are not necessary. Even if CP creme gel liners were great, they already have black and brown existing in their collection. You don’t necessarily need these particular two if you want a black or brown gel liners.

I personally don’t have any plan to pick up any of CP creme gel liners, this collab or not. I read some reviews about their creme gel liners that said that they are easy to fall off the pencil. Moreover, here in Indonesia we have similar products with great quality and much cheaper price. So, I’m not particularly interested in this product.

Pressed Powder Blush and Highlighter

from left to right: “swipe right” and “soul mate”

And finally, last products in this collection, the pressed powder highlighter called “swipe right” and blush called “soul mate”. Each of them retails for USD 8.

Based on the swatches above, I think the color is pretty and universally flattering. For the blush I think I have similar color already in my collection. But for the highlighter, I’m currently don’t have highlighter with pink sheen like this product.

However, for me personally, CP blush and highlighter’s price is a little bit expensive compare to the amount of product contained in one container. There are other products from other drugstore brands which are cheaper and have the same great quality and amount of product.

For my personal circumstances, I have several consideration before buying a product: what I am looking for, my budget, and what I already have in my collection. If I really had to buy, I’d probably pick up the highlighter and the lippie pencils in “boss” and “oh snap” because I don’t have those colors in my collection. If I really had to give recommendation, I’ll recommend the palette for sure because CP palette is the best among other affordable brands, the lip bundles because CP lip products are also great, and the pressed powder blush and highlighter.

With that being said, I do think it’s a pretty collection overall. I’m sure the quality of the products are as great as any other CP products. However, I don’t think I need any of these stuffs at the moment. Especially because I’m doing a low-buy year now, I must be very selective on where to invest my money on. Therefore, I don’t have any plan to buy anything from this collection.

Okay, that’s all I want to say about this collection. I hope you found this somewhat helpful in your decision making about buying these products or not.

Will you pick up anything from this collection? Or maybe have you? If yes, please share some thoughts about the actual products themselves based on your experience!

See you on my next post!

Life as A Blogger

Hello, everyone!

First of all, thank you so much for supporting me by reading, commenting, liking, and following this blog. I can’t believe it’s been two months since I revamped this blog and mainly focus on writing about beauty, traveling, and life style. And by this short time span, I learned a lot of new things which I believe will be beneficial for my self-improvement. And I hope this blog is someway beneficial for you who read it too.

In today’s post I won’t be talking about beauty-related stuffs. I just want to write casually and share with you things I unconsciously learned by focusing my life as a blogger for a solid 2 months. I said ‘unconsciously’ because at first I decided to do this to push myself to become someone who is more productive in a way besides doing my duty as a housewife and a mom. But after doing it with all my heart, I realized that there are so many things I suddenly am able to do, that I couldn’t do before I’m doing this ‘job’.

Doing a ‘job’ that doesn’t have a boss or a designated time and place is really challenging. I knew it from the start, therefore I made myself a very tight schedule that I must follow to be able to do it smoothly. First, I made a list about things I wanted to achieve each week or each month. And then, I arranged my schedule daily for a month according to that to-do-list. This way, I knew what I will have to finish by the end of each day.

However, doing a self-employed job needs flexibility. For example, sometimes I swapped blog posts I wanted to publish on that week. That’s why I wrote my schedule in a way it could be moved easily. I wrote them on sticky notes so I didn’t have to scratch my planner when I need to reschedule something. In a day where I have a lot of things to do, I also made a detail to-do-list for that day. Here are my monthly schedule for January and February look like.

Following those schedules I made by myself is really hard. I need to push myself real hard and restrain my ego to rest or to have fun. Sometimes I need to film until 1 AM. On the other day, I need to edit my YouTube video early in the morning before my son woke up (and by early here I meant before 5 AM). I also had to bring my laptop every time I was out of town because I need to write or to edit. This makes traveling harder than before because no matter where I go, I will always have to work.

Writing a blog post means I need to provide pictures to support the content I want to deliver in that post. In my case, not only this blog, but I also update my Instagram and YouTube account regularly. Therefore, learning to take picture and film video properly becomes necessary. I haven’t invested in a good DSLR camera, though, because my biggest focus for now are doing this continuously and giving meaningful content. But, during this 2 months, I was able to learn object arrangement, photo editing, and also video editing!

I took photos for my Instagram using my phone camera. I find it easier that way because I can directly edit the photos with an application installed on my phone. The application is called ‘Snapseed’. This application not only has variety of different filter, but can also edit photo manually, selectively, and also add some watermarks. Here is example of before-after of my Instagram post.

I film my videos and take photos for my YouTube channel with my old trustworthy Canon G15 camera (I bought it back in 2013!). Even though it’s only a pocket camera, it can be set manually too. But obviously, it can’t create a soft focus blurred look for the background. But, I’m okay so far since the most important for me now is delivering good contents to you regularly. I can always slowly upgrade my YouTube background later.

After doing all of this for 2 months, I realize now that I never feel as lively before. I always look forward my next schedule and the time where I get to learn to make my contents more attractive. I am 100% aware that I’m no way near perfect. But I enjoy the process I’m going through now. It’s been a long time since I feel like I achieve something, even though it’s a just a negligible achievement compare to other people.

If you did read until this point, I once again want to say thank you. What do you want to see more from this blog? How do you think I can improve the content of this blog? Please leave your advice so that I can become a better person. I’m more than happy to hear your constructive criticism.

See you on my next post!

Try High-End Products while Saving Money

Hello! In today’s post, I am going to share with you a trend in beauty community that I saw in my country, Indonesia. I don’t know whether this trend is actually happening in other countries too or not, and as I’m writing this post, I haven’t done any research about that. But, if you do know something similar like this in your country or in other countries, please do let us know in the comment section below and I’ll update this post when you do!

So, what is the trend actually?

As beauty community grows rapidly in the past years, new products are released almost every single day. And by how fast information can travel these days, it’s so easy for us to know what’s going on ‘everywhere’ in the world. We can immediately get updated when a certain product is released and learn more about the product not only from the official brand but also from beauty influencers from across the nation.

Buying stuffs from overseas has also never been easier. Many international brands has open their official retailer outside their country of origins. There are also those who are called ‘personal shoppers’ or ‘online shop’ that ‘in some ways’ can help us getting products that have no official retailer here in our country. And even many more indie brands have offered an international shipping service.

Consequently, the desire of trying new products every time gets higher and higher. Sometimes we buy things because it’s a new necessary one, or because it’s a unique product that we don’t have yet. Or we buy things just because many people like them and they look nice?

However, sometimes, after we try them, they don’t work on us as good as they work on others 😥 So we end up not finishing them until they gone bad >.< And in the end we are just wasting our money on products we don’t even finish.

The thing is, money doesn’t grow on a tree! How do we fulfill this desire?

Here in Indonesia, there’s a system where we can buy products without having to pay a lot and buy the full sized. It is called ‘shared items’. So in this system, the seller stocked on several full size products and we as customers can buy only a few ml of it and the seller will store it in a small container. Just like the picture below.

For example, a seller sell shared items of Estee Lauder Double Wear Foundation in several different shades (let’s say: sand, tawny, rattan, etc) and sizes (usually: 2 ml, 3 ml, 5 ml, 10 ml). When it comes to expensive product like this, if we try it for the first time, there’s a possibility that it doesn’t work for our skin or the shade doesn’t match, so buying the full size is a bit risky. Therefore, ‘shared items’ is actually a good solution. We can even buy some different shades to test which one works best for us.

Another example is Urban Decay All Nighter Setting Spray that was sold in a spray bottle like this.

Also Too Faced Peach Perfect Powder that was sold in a jar with shifter like this.

And there are also other products that I’ve never purchased, such as Nars Liquid Blush in a small jar, Benefit Hoola Bronzer in a small eye shadow pan, and even Anastasia Beverly Hills Dipbrow Pomade in a small jar. Sorry I can’t include the picture of these products because they belong to the seller.

Actually, we can buy not only high end products, but also basically any products that can be shared, such as primer, liquid highlighter, toner, essence, etc.

Here are all products I’ve ever purchased. Some I purchased because I want to try them but unsure about the shade, and some others I purchased because I’m afraid it won’t work on my skin.

What do you think about this trend? Do you think it’s necessary and helpful? Will you try buying shared items if you ever had any chance? Or will you stick to buying the full sized products? Let me know your thoughts!

Until next time!

My First Colourpop International Shipping Experience

Hey, everyone! How was your first week of 2019? Do you have long term and short term schedule you want to follow? Me personally, I decided to post on this blog once a week every Monday. I hope I can be consistent with this target, though. It is hard, these days, being consistent. But, let’s believe in our self first!

This time, I want to share with you my first ever shopping experience on Colourpop website. You might think ‘what is so special by shopping on Colourpop website’, but as an international buyer like me, it is actually quite an experience. So if you are interested in Colourpop products and planning to shop directly on their website, I hope this post can give you some insights of things that might happen to your order.

I will breakdown this post into several parts, so you can easily skip on part you don’t want to read too detail.

Shopping Experience

This was actually not the first products I’ve ever tried from Colourpop. Back in August 2018, I was looking for a good affordable eye shadow palette. And from many recommendations, I decided to buy Colourpop’s ‘Give it To Me Straight’ palette. I bought it from a local personal shopper here in Indonesia. And soon after that, I also bought their ‘No Filter Concealer’, also from a personal shopper. I love these two products from Colourpop, so I decided to try more products from them. I then started following their social media account to get more updated about their products and promos.

On the last week of November 2018, around Black Friday and Cyber Monday sale time, they had a ‘free global shipping with no minimum purchase’ promotion (FYI, normally it is free global shipping with minimum purchase of 50 USD), so I decided to take a look on their website whether there are some stuffs I want to pick up.

At that time, I’m really interested in their collaboration with Disney, which is the ‘It’s A Princess Thing’ palette, so I immediately put it in my shopping cart. I wanted to pick up the Disney Princess creme lux lipsticks also, but they were all sold out at that time. So I picked up some of their best selling items because I want to try as many different products (that have good reviews) as possible. After some considerations, my total order was more than 50 USD, so I was actually eligible for free shipping even without the promo. Without much thinking, I immediately checkout my order. This was on November 20th.

The next day, November 21st, I got notification email that my order has been shipped. In my opinion, it was extremely fast considering there might be a lot of international orders during the promo.

However, the next day, November 22nd, they announced that they were restocking the Disney Princess lipsticks on 23rd, AND all other lip products are on sale up to 30% (if I’m not mistaken)! I was tempted to place another order and rather regretted my decision to check out my stuffs three days prior this promo. Long story short, I placed another order on 23rd that included the Disney lux lipsticks and some more lip products.

But, my regret didn’t stop here. On 26th, since it was Cyber Monday sale, they had an up-to 40% off site wide!! I should’ve picked up all my stuffs during this time!! What a good marketing strategy to give different promotion at different times so it makes people tempted to buy again and again in the name of ‘promotion’. At that time, I wasn’t aware what and when Cyber Monday was, so I fell for their sale promotion ‘trap’ severely >.<

Shipping Experience

Ok, so my first order, which I checked out on 20th, was shipped on 21st, and my second order, which I checked out on 23rd, was shipped on 26th because 24th and 25th were Saturday and Sunday.

They gave us our tracking number immediately after they shipped our order so we can trace our order easily. My second order tracking history was pretty normal (it changed status every 1 or 2 days), while strangely, the tracking status of my first order wasn’t updated at all from 21st until 27th. And on 28th, finally the status was updated but it was still in LA.

The tracking status of my 1st order. It stuck with the same status even until now when I write this post.

The tracking status of my second order (1/2)

The tracking status of my second order (2/2)

After the status of my second order showed that it has arrived in Jakarta, I was a bit panic about my first order that was still stuck in the US. I tried to read on FAQ section on Colourpop website about ‘stuck package’, and they told us to wait until 21 business days after it was sent before contacting their customer service. So for now, there was nothing I could do except waiting patiently. I even marked the 21st business day on my calendar so that I won’t forget.

Now, let’s talk about my second order that has arrived in Jakarta on Dec 2nd. FYI, I bought something from overseas quite often. Typically, 3 to 5 days after my package arrived in Jakarta, it arrived at my local post office (I don’t live in Jakarta btw), and the staff from there would contact me to pick up my package. Here we don’t receive our international package right in front of our door, instead, we have to pick it up at our local post office. However, 1 week after it arrived in Jakarta, I still haven’t heard anything from my local post office. So I decided to go there by myself to check, in case it has arrived but haven’t been examined by the staffs.

On Dec 9th, I went to my local post office and asked about my package. They checked all the arrived package, but they told me my package still hasn’t arrived there. So me and one of the staff decided to exchanged our whatsapp number, and he promised to contact me if my packaged arrived.

One week after that, still there was no news from them, so I decided to chat the staff first and asked about my package, and he said he will check it again. And the next day, finally, he told me that my package has arrived!! So on Dec 19th, I finally went to the post office to pick up the long-awaited package!!

Ok, back to my 1st order. Dec 21st was the 21st business day after it was sent, so I sent an email to their customer service. Not long after I sent it, I got a reply from them and they gave me option to resend my order or to refund it. I chose refund because I wanted to re-order some items when it was on sale next time (I learned from my mistake!), and actually I wanted to cancel some other items that I realized I don’t really need after I gave my second thought. Thank goodness, they refunded me right after I replied their email.

Haul and Review

After so much trouble, finally, this is my 1st haul directly from Colourpop website!!

‘Belle’ collection set, consists of ‘Last Petal’ ultra glossy lip, ‘Be Our Guest’ super shock shadow, and ‘Belle’ creme lux lipstick.

‘Belle’ collection set and ‘Snow White’ creme lux lipstick

The ‘Belle’ lux lipstick is shockingly and unexpectedly stays through a greasy lunch! So, I went lunch on the first day I wore this. I ate a bowl of udon that day. I thought my lipstick would’ve been completely wiped off after eating. How surprise I was when I looked into a mirror after I ate, the lipstick was still there. Only a tiny bit on the center of my lips that were wiped off. It looked like it stained our lips, that’s why it wasn’t completely wiped off.

I don’t usually wear lip gloss, but I decided to purchase this set because the lip gloss (until now I’m writing this post) isn’t sold individually, so it’s only limited to this set. And I thought it’s good to try different type of liquid lipstick’s formula Colourpop has, that’s why I finally picked up the set. The gloss is just as expected from a lip gloss. There’s not much I can say about it since I’m also not a big fan of lip gloss. I’d still wear it, though. But it suits really well on top of the ‘Belle’ lux lipstick.

The super shock shadow (SSS), since it was the first time I tried the SSS formula, was a bit of learning curve for me. I must say it’s not as easy to apply as their usual pressed powder shadow for a beginner. According to Colourpop website, the best way to apply a SSS is by using our fingertip, and it’s true. When I picked it up using my finger, the color showed up really well on my eyelid. But when I tried to use a brush, there was almost nothing picked up. Also, since this particular shade (‘Be Our Guest’) is a satin finish, in my opinion, it is not as vibrant as glitter or metallic finish.

‘Snow White’ and ‘Liquid Courage’ creme lux lipstick. When they arrived, I just realized that these two lipstick have very similar color, so I decided to give one to my mom (actually, she bought it from me XD). If you want to buy this particular color, I think there’s no need to buy both of them.

‘Lost’ and ‘Frick n Frack’ ultra satin lips. ‘Lost’ is a red brown color, and ‘Frick n frack’ is a rosy terracotta color. Both of them look really good on my medium skin.

‘Fly fi’ lippie stix. This is a rather new experience for me. I never tried a lip product quite like this before. The finish is called matte-x. It dries down to a matte finish but it’s not drying and doesn’t emphasize my lip lines. It looks so smooth like a velvet. I want to say it’s like a powder finish, but it’s not accurate either. I love LOVE love this and will definitely but other colors soon.

‘No Filter Setting Powder’ in translucent. It smooths my skin and blurs my pores, just like the claim says. I wish it was in a thinner but wider container because I can barely dip my powder brush onto its small diameter cap.

No Filter Setting Powder in shade ‘Translucent’

And ‘Flexitarian’ super shock highlighter. It came broken, but since it’s in super shock formula, it can be easily repressed into its jar. This shade is so blinding, I can see why it is so popular. But it looks a bit silvery on my skin tone. I like it, but not LOVE LOVE it. I’d still wear it, though. I know there are people who don’t like silvery highlighter on their face so I think I have to mention this.

‘Flexitarian’ super shock highlighter before I repressed it

‘Flexitarian’ super shock highlighter after I repressed it

Summary

Overall, I am really satisfied with my haul. Even though it took almost 3 weeks to arrive, it worth the wait. I am also impressed by their customer service who refunded my un-arrived order right away.

After this experience, will I ever buy again from their website? Of course! By the time I wrote this post, actually I have placed 3 more orders on their website >.< Now I can relate to those who say ‘Colourpop addiction is real’. Oh and by the way, I placed these 3 orders (technically) before I started my ‘low buy year 2019’ so I didn’t brake my own promise. These 3 orders from Colourpop was my very last haul before I started the ‘low buy year’, and actually they were the main reason I started this project. I’ll update more detail about it when all of my hauls arrive.

Thank you for reading and until next time!