Organic Skin Care Blog – Product Reviews & Healthy Skin

Etude House Cherry Moisture Lip Glow was launched in January this year, and it's a really cool product! Basically its sort of a cross between a lip oil and a lip gloss, offering both shine, as well as some colour, while claiming to moisturize your lips. I think it'll be a pretty popular product, owing to both the nice feel and colour, as well as that uber-cute packaging - check out the cherry on the tube!


Well without further ado, here are swatches!

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Check this out - an actual "proper" skincare review! I know I've not done one of these in awhile, but better late than never, right? Fancl's BC range, according to the Fancl website, provides "intensive treatment for aging skin needs". I'm actually not sure what the BC stands for, but suffice to say it's an anti-aging line. Recently (and by recently I meant "actually a couple of months before Christmas last year because I've been busy like that"), Fancl has added two new products to the BC range in Singapore - the BC Night Intensive Cream, and BC Essence. Existing products in the range include a facial cleanser, lotion, as well as eye essence.


As you can imagine, the products feature a lot of Fancl's typical brand claims - for example being suitable for sensitive skin, having a gentle, simple formula that works as it claims without any unnecessary frills, and also being what the brand calls "preservative free". Some of you may recall I was previously introduced to the brand's "preservative free" philosophy and have done a review here, where I examined whether it was really preservative-free or not. Much to my satisfaction, my assessment of the concept of a "preservative-free" formulation was retweeted by an actual cosmetics formulator, who called it "long but well informed". I won't deny it's long (if you haven't realized my ingredients analysis-type reviews tend to be), but I was happy that he found it accurate. Colin also incidentally runs the blog Colin's Beauty Pages, which I really value for its take on cosmetics by an actual person who knows his ingredients and formulations, and works in the biz!

Fancl Moisturizing Lotion I Review and Ingredients Analysis https://t.co/RCJmlACbL1 //A long read but well informed pic.twitter.com/683b79lkNk

— beautyscientist (@beautyscientist) March 4, 2017

Anyway, after being retweeted by Colin, whom I really respect and admire for his competency, I don't know if this review will live up to my previous one. But I can try! Or at least just do the best I can.


Fancl BC Night Intensive Cream and Essence: Claims to be formulated for sensitive skin, and to be preservative-free
Anyhoo, that was a really, really long introduction for a blogpost (which, by the way, is also going to be quite long). Let's just dive into the review already, shall we? And of course, we're going to start with the ingredients!
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Su:m37 has finally come to Singapore, with a new outlet in Tangs Orchard, much to the joy of all kbeauty fanatics here! For those who aren't aware, Su:m37 is a luxe Korean beauty brand, with prices that are comparable to other luxe brands, such as SK-II, and the brand's selling point is that their skincare includes lots of natural ingredients, in particular fermented ingredients. The brand has quite the cult following for its skincare items, but I also found that their makeup items also aren't bad.


One of the makeup products the brand has brought into Singapore is the Water-full CC Cushion Perfect Finish, which is supposed to be a hydrating cushion foundation that provides a finish that's more on the dewy side. They have 2 shades, both of which I've swatched, alongside my first thoughts.
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Fancl re-launched its skincare line in Singapore last year, and since then, I've had the opportunity to try quite a few products from the brand, and I'm slowly getting around to reviewing them! One I thought I'd start off with is the Moisturizing Lotion I - because it's one of the foundation products of any skincare routine.


Fancl is known for its simplistic, no-frills approach to skincare, and the brand claims to be free of fragrance, as well as free of preservatives. As you can imagine, a key target of Fancl's audience is also people with sensitive skin, as the brand also claims to avoid ingredients that could irritate skin. Now, that sounds pretty cool, but I'm sure some of you are wondering - is this really all too good to be true? I mean, no preservatives? Wouldn't a product go bad without preservatives, and how does Fancl do that?


Fancl Moisturizing Lotion I: The brand sells its products in small sizes, with the claim that the products are preservative free
Well, we're about to answer some of these questions (and more) in the review, but I gotta caution you, it's going to be a long one. So strap in, and let's start at an obvious place to get some clues - the ingredients list!
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RMK's Spring/Summer 2017 Color Change makeup collection is officially launched, and I come bearing swatches! This makeup collection also coincides with RMK's 20th anniversary, and RMK's Creative Director, Kaori, selected the two shades of pink and beige to head up the Color Change collection, as they are integral to any make up look. The number of products in this collection is also pretty large - there are 6 eyeshadow duos, 6 lipgloss duos, 7 lipstick shades, and 7 blush shades, and 6 nail polish shades. So you can imagine my arm after all that swatching!


RMK isn't kidding when they say the collection is made up of pinks and beiges - literally every product here is in pink and/or beige, and basically pinks and beiges make up like 95% of the collection. RMK also has a nice quality of makeup, with generally soft textures, and buildable pigmentation, allowing the products to be applied sheerly or packed on for more colour, and this collection does fall quite nicely in line with the quality in the standard RMK products.
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Etude House's Play 101 Blending Pencils were launched some weeks back, and I've finally gotten around to swatching them for you! For those who are familiar with Etude House, you'll remember that two years ago the brand had launched their Play 101 Pencils, which I had reviewed at the time. The Play 101 Blending Pencils are a different product, and an extension to the Play 101 line.


Like the original Play 101 Pencils, the Play 101 Blending Pencils are also little pencil-form sticks of makeup that are multi-purpose - you can use them on your eyes, lips, or cheeks. But the difference is that the Play 101 Blending Pencils are thicker and chubbier than the Play 101 Pencils, and are more like lip/cheek pencils in size, than eyeliner pencils (which is what the Play 101 Pencils looked like). Also, the formula and texture of the Play 101 Blending Pencils on the whole seems to be more emollient, making them much more blendable, and more suitable for lip and cheek use.

I've finally gotten around to swatching all 25 shades above, so without further ado, let's get started!
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After the last empties post part 1, here's part 2, where we look at the rest of the skincare products that I've managed to use up over the past few months!


In the last post, we looked at makeup removers, cleansers, sunscreens, lotions, toners, and moisturizers. In this post we'll be looking at essences, serums, eye creams, acne products, and a Vitamin C powder, which is very interesting.


What we'll be looking at today! Serums, essences, acne products, masks, eye creams and the like
Some of these empties were products that I really liked, and some were products that were kind of eh-okay, but ended up getting used up for whatever reasons. As we run through the list, you'll figure out which is which. So, let's get started!
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Etude House's True Relief skincare line consists of 3 products - the Moist Mist Toner, Moist Emulsion, and Moist Cream. As the line indicates, this is supposed to offer "true relief" for sensitive skin, without irritation. This certainly is pretty unusual as compared to Etude House's typical skincare range, which tends to be geared for a pretty young age group, as it seems geared towards a broader age range. So this is actually a fairly unusual step as far as Etude House skincare goes, and I'll be taking a look at how this fares!


If you've read some of my Etude House reviews, you'll probably know that while I do love their makeup products in general, their skincare tends to be something I'm more ambivalent with - in fact, my last Etude House skincare product review wasn't exactly a positive one. This is perhaps because at nearly 30, I'm slightly older than the typical Etude House customer, and a lot of their skincare products are really best for very thick and oily skin. So, I was kind of interested to see if finally, there was a skincare range from the brand that made more sense for my skin type.


Etude House True Relief Moist Toner, Emulsion, and Cream: Slightly different from the typical Etude House skincare products
And as usual, for each of the products - the True Relief Moist Mist TOner, Moist Emulsion, and Moist Cream, we'll start off the review with a look at the ingredients list! We have three products here, so it might be a tad (just a tad, don't worry) longer than the average review, but I'll try and keep it as short and sweet as I can!
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As some of you may know, I do feature reader questions on my blog from time to time, especially when they provide inspiration for science-y posts, like this post on parabens and safety, and this other post on talc and safety. Recently I received a reader question on the Elizavecca Bubble Clay Mask, and it's an ingredients analysis type of question - exactly the sort of questions I love to take a stab at!

Elizabeth asks:
Do you think you could evaluate the "Elizavecca Bubble Clay Mask"? I bought it but I'm not sure if it actually works...it does make my skin feel smooth and soft right after but I'm not sure about any long term effects. I'm afraid this product might be mostly skintertainment because of the bubbles.

The Elizavecca Bubble Clay Mask is something of a niche cult product that has gained popularity among some kbeauty fans over the past couple of years or so, along with other bubble masks. Elizavecca is a fairly niche Korean beauty brand, and their Bubble Clay Mask seems to have gotten popular in part due to the novelty factor. Basically, the Bubble Clay Mask goes on like a normal clay mask, but once applied, quickly foams up with lots of little bubbles when you apply it, like so:


I'm pretty sure a part of the reason why they're so popular is because the foam gives rise to all sorts of really cute, funny, or weird (sometimes all at once!) selfies, like this. I mean, imagine applying a mask and then having it foam and bubble up right on your face! That's pretty fun, isn't it?


That said, bubble masks, despite the novelty value, aren't actually anything super groundbreaking, and masks of this format have existed for awhile. In fact, waaaay back in 2011, I reviewed just one such bubble mask from another Kbeauty brand, The Nature Lab Oxygen Shield Bubble Mask. And more recently in 2014, I reviewed a sort-of-similar product from a Western brand, the Elizabeth Arden Ceramide Boosting 5-Minute Facial, a 2-part skincare product where the first part also consists of a foaming mask. So while the Elizavecca one is more popular, it certainly isn't the first of its kind.

Anyway, since this is a reader question, let's get back to the question, and then we'll talk a bit more about bubble masks in general. What's inside the Elizavecca Bubble Mask, and what makes it bubble? Does this bubbling really help skin? Do bubble masks in general really bring any skincare benefit beyond being novel or entertaining? Let's take a look, starting with the ingredients list!
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Albion's Elegance Face Powder A Poudre Haute Naunce launched a couple of months back, and I was pretty excited about this, because it's just so pretty, and also because this is officially my first Albion makeup product! Albion is a luxe Japanese brand, better known for its skincare, in particular its lotions, but it also has a line of makeup products.


The Albion Elegance Face Powder is basically a pressed face powder with different coloured sections, much like the Guerlain Pressed Meteorites. The Elegance Powder claims to help brigthen the skin, cover pores, and also last on the skin. are three shades of Elegance Powders here: No. 1 (Elegance), No. 4 (Clear), No. 5 (Gorgeous), and No. 6 (Airy). The shade I have is No. 1. All the powders are pretty sheer, however, quite sheer (as we shall see in my swatches), so for the most part, there isn't too much of a great difference between shades to the untrained eye.


Albion Elegance Face Powder: Several different shades of powder combine to form one shade of finishing powder
So without further ado, I'll be reviewing my Albion Elegance Face Powder in shade No. 1, and of course, with most reviews I'll start with the ingredients list!
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Shu Uemura is launching 41 new eyeshadow shades as part of their "Colour Atelier" campaign in July. Yes, you heard it right, 41! This will give a total of almost 100 shades of eyeshadow for you to choose from, depending on your location - I believe Singapore gets 41 out of 43 new shades, to give a total of just under 100, but other countries may get the full 100 shades. Of course, Shu Uemura's eyeshadows are something of a makeup cult product, so this is pretty exciting news. Even back when I first got into beauty, they were already touted as one of the brands of eyeshadow that were a must-try for their great pigmentation, multiple finishes, and smooth textures. So, with that in mind, I knew I absolutely had to swatch the new shades being launched!


So, being the obsessive swatcher I am, I basically spent two hours swatching all the 41 shades that were launching here in Singapore, both for myself, as well as for you guys! (You might have seen some of this on my snapchat - I'm musicalhouses there too.) I'm told the eyeshadows are reformulated as well, although to be honest during the swatching session, I couldn't really tell that much of a difference. Which is just as well, because the old textures were already great as they were.


I'm swatching the first 3 rows of the shades laid out above, and the last 3 rows will be in part 2. So, if you're into bright shades, these are all swatched in this post! I swatched these in indoor lighting, and I've done my best to get them as colour-accurate as can be, and I do think the swatches turned out decently! Anyway, without further ado, let's get down to swatching!
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Sulwhasoo's Snowise Brightening Serum was launched earlier this year as an addition to Sulwhasoo's already very successful Snowise skincare range, which is a whitening range (as you might guess from the name). Sulwhasoo is a niche, high-end skincare brand that hails from Korea, with a focus on "holistic beauty" that is "inspired by Asian philosophy", which in their skincare line, means the use of plant extractsa nd ingredients that are traditionally used in Asian cultures.


If Sulwhasoo's Snowise Brightening Serum sounds slightly familiar, it's because previous iterations of the same product have been released. This version, according to parent company AmorePacific, is the "advanced eighth-generation" version, with "enhanced white ginseng extract, moist and smooth finish and a new packaging design". A whitening serum, punched up one level - what's not to like?


Sulwhasoo Snowise Brightening Serum: The 8th genertion version of the serum was released earlier this year
Sulwhasoo opened a store in Singapore last year, and since then it's been getting quite a lot of buzz. Furthermore, the kbeauty trend is still a pretty hot one right now, and so I was quite keen to review this product. So, without further ado, let's take a look at the ingredients list, and begin our review!
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Etude House's Real Powder Cushion SPF50+ PA+++ was launched just a few weeks back, and this isn't your typical BB cushion - instead of being all liquid-y and dewy like most BB cushions, what's interesting about this is that it claims to dry down to a powder. So essentially, it is a cream-to-powder cushion, which is pretty unique. Certainly there are existing matte cushions out in the market, but as far as Etude House products go, I do believe this is the brand's first attempt at putting out a matte cushion. I'm happy about that - I always love more options.


I've been getting quite a bit of interest in this product, so I thought I should hurry up and do a review on it. Here in Singapore, we have 2 shades, Light Beige, which is the lighter shade, and Natural Beige, which is the darker shade. Online though, I've seen a third shade, Honey Beige, which would be darker than Natural Beige.


Etude House Real Powder Cushion: Starts off liquid, dries to a power
So let's get started with the review. We'll do my favourite thing first and look at the ingredients in the product, and then move on to the swatches and review proper!
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Dr Ci:Labo's Super 100 range is part of the brand's "Special Care" range, and it consists of 5 different ampoule/serum type products, featuring different ingredients, including Hyaluronic Acid, Marine Collagen, Vitamin C, EGF (Epidermal Growth Factor), and Placenta. These serums can be added to your moisturizer, or else used on their own before moisturizer. When mixing it in your own moisturizer, I'm told that you just add a drop or two into the appropriate amount of moisturizer in your palm, and mix before application.


These all come in blue or brown glass bottles of 10ml or 30ml, with a little tip that dispenses the serums one at a time. The Super 100 serums are all unscented, and in my opinion can be used with any moisturizer, although Dr Ci:Labo recommends that you use them with the other Dr Ci:Labo serums. Specifically the Hyaluronic Acid, Marine Collagen, and Placenta Super 100 Serums are meant to be mixed with the Labo Labo Super Moist Gel 5H5C (which I've reviewed before here), and the EGF and Vitamin C Super 100 Serums are meant to be mixed with the Labo Labo Super Keana Gel.


Dr Ci:Labo Super 100 Collagen, Vitamin C, Placenta, Hyaluronic Acid, EGF Serums, with the two Labo Labo moisturizers recommended for compatibility
Anyway, these might be pretty useful as nifty little boost to your skincare routine. And without further ado, let's take a look at the individual serum's ingredients and what's inside!
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Laneige recently released their Two Tone Collection, consisting of 4 shades of Two Tone Shadow Bar and Two Tone Lip Bar. If this sounds familiar it's because these are an extension of the existing Two Tone Lip Bar shades (which I've previously swatched here), so essentially, this is an addition of 4 more Two Tone Lip Bar shades, as well as 4 Two Tone Shadow Bar shades. The "Shadow Bar" concept is new, but basically pretty much similar to the Lip Bar except for eyes, and is intended to give a nice gradient effect on eyes.


At a recent event, I was able to get a chance to swatch the new Two Tone Shadow Bars and Two Tone Lip Bars, so without further ado, let's get to the swatches, along with my commentary and first impressions! These are actually in natural daylight, so they should be pretty colour-accurate, hopefully!
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Fancl has launched in Singapore as of 1st April at Isetan Scotts, and in the run up to their launch, I visited Hong Kong and got to see some of the Fancl stores in Hong Kong, for a taste of what would be coming to Singapore! In the first part of my trip, I learned more about the brand, and saw quite a few product demonstrations, and now, I get to take a trip to the stores!


We went to three stores, and although it might sound a bit boring, each store was different enough for me to get a good sense of the full offerings from Fancl.


Fancl's Harbour City store in Hong Kong
The one you see above, is the concept store at Harbour City in Hong Kong. It's the largest of the three stores we went too, and probably the coolest in terms of display.
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Labo Labo, a subsidiary brand of Dr Ci:Labo, is a Japanese skincare brand, with an emphasis on simple products that give results, driven by science. The brand also believes in minimizing some ingredients that could be perceived as problematic by customers, such as fragrance, colouring, and mineral oil. Recently, they've launched their Labo Labo Super Moist 5H5C skincare range, which is a moisturizing line that also targets the first signs of aging. The Super Moist line consists of the Super Moist W-Washing cleanser, the Super Moist Lotion, the Super Moist Gel, which is basically a lightweight gel moisturizer, and the Super Moist UV Cream, a sunscreen.


As you can tell, the range is pretty much a simple skincare routine unto itself - cleanse, lotion, moistuizer, and sunscreen. You'll notice that there's the tagline "5H x 5C" on the packaging of the products too. That refers to the brand's claim that the products have 5 kinds of hyaluronic acid (Hydrolyzed Hyaluronic Acid, Acetyl Hyaluronic Acid, Hyaluronic Acid Hydroxypropyltrimonium, Hyaluronic Acid Dimethyl Silanol Hyaluronate, and Sodium Hyaluronate), as well as 5 kinds of collagen (Hydrolyzed Collagen, Water-Soluble Collagen, Succinyl Atelo Collagen, AMPD-Isostearoyl Hydrolyzed Collagen, and Hydroxypropyl Hydrolyzed Collagen).

In addition to collagen and hyaluronic acid, the products also contain EGF (Epidermal Growth Factor, which shows up in the ingredients lists as rh-Oligopeptide-1), which is a kind of protein tht is thought to stimulate cell growth, which could be useful in topical applications, and could potentially be useful in wound healing. There are also 3 types of plant ingredients (Brown Algae, which shows up in the ingredients lists as Eisenia Arborea Extract, Glucosylceramide, and Millet Seed Extracts). So between the plant extracts, proteins, and hyaluronic acid, there's something for everyone in this range!


Labo Labo Super Moist 5H5C Skincare Range: With 5 kinds of collagen, 5 kinds of hyaluronic acid, EGF, and 3 plant ingredients
Collagen, hyaluronic acid, growth factor, and plant extracts - it sounds exciting, doesn't it? And of course, you're probably wondering, wht would this look like in the products, and how would they work? To find out, let's take a closer look! This is going to be a long review, with 4 products to look at in-depth, so I hope you're ready!
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Fancl is officially launching (or, re-launching) in Singapore, and in the run-up to the opening of Fancl in Singapore in April, I got to travel to Hong Kong to experience the brand and learn more about it! We got to visit the Fancl offices in Hong Kong, and had some demonstration sessions with the products, and also got to check out the Fancl stores in Hong Kong!


There's quite a lot to cover about my trip, so I'll be splitting my trip posts into 2 parts! For this first part, I'll be sharing on my time in the Fancl offices, and what we learned about the brand - and there's a really nice tutorial on how to use their Foaming Ball (yes, it is exactly as fun as it sounds)! For the second part, I will show you the 3 Fancl stores we checked out, as well as the fun stuff inside those stores!


Well, there's a lot to cover, so without further ado, let's begin!
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Yes, more Kbeauty skincare and makeup goodness! This is the second post on my most recent BonjourHK haul, just because there was too much to blog about in one post without making it super long and photo-heavy. (That said, I do think my previous post on Part 1 of the haul was indeed quite long and photo-heavy, but at least I tried!)


Yes, these all came in one package!
Yesterday, we took a look at the skincare products - there was cleanser, face/body gel, skin analyzers, and masks of various sorts. Today, we're going to be looking at the lip products! One is a makeup product I'm pretty excited about, while another one is a multi-step lip mask pack.


Let's jump right in!
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Some time back I hauled from Kbeauty shop BonjourHK, my second haul since my previous one I blogged about some months back. As always, the draw was the array of Kbeauty items, including both makeup and skincare! And it is quite a haul too!


As with the last time, my haul arrived quite speedily - within 2 weeks, if I recall correctly, and everything was nicely packaged and nothing was broken. The haul includes skincare products from some mainstream Kbeauty brands, such as Holika Holika, as well as more niche ones, such as Berrisom, Secret A, and also other Asian-but-not-Kbeauty brands, such as Cos Beauty. And the products range from


BonjourHK Haul: Holika Holika, Secret A, Cos Beauty, and Berrisom
Since this haul has quite a lot of stuff, I've broken it down into two posts, so that it won't be too long. In this first post, I'll deal with the face cleansers, skin lotions, skin analyzers, and other face and skin stuff. In the next post, I'll deal with the lip products! So let's get started!
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