As I mentioned several times in this blog, although now I live in Indonesia, I once lived in Japan for 3 years from 2013-2016. During that time, I, of course, used Japanese drugstore beauty products a lot. And by doing so, I found several gems that I keep re-purchasing even though now I’ve returned to my country.
So I thought today I want to share with you my own Japanese drugstore beauty products recommendations in case you are traveling to Japan but not sure what to get. Or maybe you are just moved to Japan and not sure where to start since Japanese drugstores are quite huge and potentially overwhelming since everything is written in Japanese!
So if you are interested in, just keep on reading!
Skin Care
Biore UV Aqua Rich Watery Essence
I can safely say that this is the best drugstore sunscreen I’ve ever tried in my whole life (and believe me when I say it, I tried quite a lot!). It’s super affordable, non-greasy, and quickly melt into the skin the second it’s applied. It does have fresh scent but not too overpowering. And I even feel like it adds adherence to my skin so that my makeup sticks better onto my skin when I’m using this sunscreen.
I don’t have any plan to try a new sunscreen anytime soon since I haven’t heard anything that’s close match to this one. If you could get your hands on this, I highly recommend you to try it out. And since Biore is a quite globally known brand, I’m pretty sure you can get this not only in Japan but maybe also in your country, too (it’s sold in select Indonesian drugstores, by the way).
Cure Natural Aqua Gel
Natural Aqua Gel Cure is a remarkable skin care product. Cure is a fragrance-free, color free and preservative free product made from activated hydrogen water that prevents oxidation. General chemical peeling uses strong acids (approx. pH1.3) to dissolve protein. Cure, on the other hand, gently catches dead skin cells on the surface of the skin and removes it.
This one is I think maybe one of the most unique products Japanese drugstore has. It’s not a cleanser, not a facial wash, not a scrub, it’s an exfoliator in a form of gel. The texture it’s like gel but more liquid-y or watery, not as thick as man’s hair gel, for example. I’ve also mentioned it briefly on my post about my skin care routine.
It’s meant to be used only twice a week because it’s an exfoliator. I use it after I double-cleanse my skin or basically after I make sure there’s no makeup left on my face. To use it, you just have to take 1 pump of it on your palm, and then massage it all over your face like when you use your scrub. While doing that, just like its claim, you will find it catches your dead skin cells and removes it. I feel my skin is very soft and clear after using it.
Kanebo Suisai Beauty Clear Powder
suisai Beauty Clear Powder face wash is catching the eye of the worldwide audience with an enzyme-activated formula that whisks away impurities and unclogs pores as it protects the skin’s natural moisture. A popular choice for tourists who desire the Japanese secret to even, finely textured skin.
If you can’t already guess what this is, this is a facial wash in the form of powder. One small jar contains the powder is for one single usage. To use it, you just mix it with water. Adjust the amount of water according to how scrubby you want it to be. The more water you add, the less scrubby it is, and vice versa.
After using it, my skin feels so clean as if all the dirt has been taken off without making my face feels tight. It’s not very expensive, but here in Indonesia, it’s not sold in drugstores, but only in online shop run by personal shoppers so the price becomes quite expensive. So I can only buy it by asking my friends who are still living in Japan to help me buy it when they will have a short vacation to Indonesia. Since it happens only maybe once or twice a year, I use this fairly rarely.
If you can find it with reasonable price, I highly recommend you to incorporate this in your daily skin care routine!
Purequa Face Wipes
Actually, Japanese drugstores offer wide variety of face wipes, but I really love this particular one. It’s really soft on the skin so you won’t feel you rub your skin too hard. It’s really effective in removing our makeup as the first step of our skin care routine. According to my experience, it can also removes my waterproof eyeliner and mascara!
Makeup
Mote Liner
This one is really hyped up by many Asian beauty bloggers/ vloggers and after trying it, I agree with the hype. The tip is not a felt tip but it’s a very fine little brush that can bend. I personally like this type of tip because it makes applying liners so much easier. I’m in no way expert in applying liner, so I think this one is also very beginner-friendly!
Please note that the one that I have here is actually a limited-edition navy blue. They have other options too such as brown (also limited-edition) and of course black (permanent line)! Even though this one is navy blue, if you look it not too close up on my face, it doesn’t really look like I’m wearing a blue eye liner because it’s pretty dark. I enjoy wearing it so much lately!
Canmake Cream Cheeks
First of all, I found that many Japanese drugstore makeup products are too sheer for my skin tone or even my liking. Be it blushes, contours/ bronzers, lip products, etc. That’s because the nature of Japanese daily makeup style itself is usually a no-makeup makeup look. BUT! These particular blushes are exception! They are available in many different shades and formula so you will have some options there. Besides that, Canmake as a brand in general has other interesting products and it’s one of the most affordable in Japanese drugstore! I highly recommend you to check their other products also!
Miscellaneous
Megrythm Steam Eye Mask
I never knew this was a thing before I found it in Japanese drugstore. It’s an eye mask that releases steam that’s supposed to help us relaxing our eyes after a tiring busy day. Try to wear it before bed after a nice warm shower or bath!
‘Ashirira Sheet’ Detox Foot Patch
‘Ashirira’ is an acronym of ‘ashi’ which means ‘foot’ in Japanese and ‘rira’ which was taken from English word ‘relax’ that is read as ‘rirakusu’ in Japanese. This product is a pair of patches or sheets that you stick onto your soles before you go to bed and leave it until you wake up. The next day when you take it off, it’s supposed to absorb all toxic from your body. There are actually some debates surrounding this product. Some says it’s gimmicky and not doing what it claims. Some says it works. I think if we want to proof whether it works or not, we have to scientifically test it in a lab. I personally like wearing it but don’t feel significant changes just by using it daily (which I don’t). But I still think it’s nice to have and recommend you to try it out!
Honorable Mention
Shiseido Senka Perfect Whip
image courtesy: sociolla.com
I actually don’t have this with me right now but I used to use it when I lived in Japan. It’s a very light-weight and gentle facial wash. It cleans but doesn’t feel tight on the skin. It’s available here in Indonesia but I didn’t repurchase it because I’m currently enjoying my Cetaphil facial wash. If you live in Japan and need one that I recommend, it’s this one! It’s one of the most affordable also!
Lululun Sheet Masks
I think I only used it once but I remember liking it, and I know many peple are hyping this sheet masks so much. They have several options such as: hydrating, brightening, and balancing. I also didn’t repurchase it by now because to be honest, I like my Etude House sheet masks more because I feel the Etude House ones fit my face’s size better!
image courtesy: allabout-japan.com
That’s all my Japanese drugstore beauty products recommendation! I hope it helps you in sorting out your list to buy while you’re in Japan. Ah..writing this brings back all good memories and makes me miss Japan even more! I wish I could go back someday even just for several days!
What are products that most intriguing to you? Do you find your wish list here? And do you like if I write more about Japan’s related recommendation? Like for example unusual traveling spots recommendation? Or supermarket recommendation? Please tell me on comment section below!
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.
SK-II Facial Treatment Essence
Missha Treatment Essence
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!
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!
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!
“Sweet Talk” Palette
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!
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.
The whole ‘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.
“what happens at brunch” lip bundle
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.
“give us the goss” lip bundle
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.
“my day ones” lip bundle
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
“group hug” supernova shadow bundle
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!
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.
January Schedule
February Schedule
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.
left: before, right: after
left: before, right: after
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.
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!
