Wild Ferns New Zealand Manuka Honey Soothing Lip Balm Review

This is one of the many lip balms I own.

It is probably one of my least favourite out of the bunch, let me tell you why...

Firstly, this Manuka Honey Lip Balm comes in a cute small plastic pot.
It is cute, but I do not like sticking fingers into a pot, so it sits around in my room and I only use it when my hands are clean.

It is made in New Zealand.

The Active AAH 650+ rating found on the pot is a measure of the anti-oxidant and anti-bacterial properties of this product. Not sure if these properties does anything for my lips....

The smell of this lip balm is absolutely wonderful, so fragrant, definitely reminds me of honey!
I usually do not like heavily fragrant products but this is an exception!

The texture is okay. 
It is not sticky, kind of like putting Vaseline on your lips but it lasts longer.

As you can see in the swatch it comes out clear as expected.

Now I'll get to why I don't particularly like this product....
It is labelled 'soothing', but for some reason every time I use it my lips get this tingly feeling and slightly swells up!
Great for me if I want Angelina Jolie lips but I do not like the tingly swelled up feeling!
It may be because of my sensitivity to products (I am allergic to SPF in lip products), and might not affect everyone else.

All-in-all, it is a great product if you don't have sensitive lips and is looking for something that smells great and moisturizing.

Repurchase? No... this tub is gonna last me a long time...


By Ai

Missha Time Revolution White Cure Real Expert Serum review

Introducing the Missha Time Revolution White Cure Real Expert Serum...

I have been using this whitening / brightening serum for the past couple of months as part of my summer skincare regime.

It comes in a 40ml glass pump bottle.

I love the pump dispenser as it keeps the product clean and hygienic, no need to dip fingers in any jars or pots.

It smells of very light flowers - after all, it does have 20% white flower extract.
It is very pleasant and doesn't bother me.

One pump to get a slightly larger than pea sized amount is enough to cover the whole face.

Spreading a bit, my hands feels quite cool

It doesn't look it but my hand is much smoother than before, same goes for the skin of my face after I do this :]

The texture is between a gel and cream, and very easy to spread.

After applying, it disappears quickly into the skin and leave a smooth canvas behind - quite similar to the feeling you get after applying a make up primer to your face.

It is very light, and it doesn't feel like I am wearing anything on my face.

I have been using it twice a day, after toning and before moisturizing day and night.

I do see a brightening 'glowy' effect on my face, but this is only after months of using it religiously, and combining with other whitening products like a whitening day cream and night cream.

No it hasn't miraculously made my freckles disappear, but it has faded my pimple / zits scars and lightened some freckles.

So yes, it does do what it claims to do. Hurray...

I will continue using this and once I run out of it I will probably move on to other brightening serums as I like to experiment with face care products haha....

Repurchase? Maybe, after I get bored trying out other whitening / brightening stuff.

 By Ai

Missha Time Revolution White Cure Blanc Sun Protector SPF50 Review

Say hello to the Missha Time Revolution White Cure Blanc Sun Protector SPF50+ *waves hello*

This Missha product is a must have for me this summer in New Zealand.

It is essentially my holy grail day cream!

And why is that you ask.....

...It is because it has SPF50+ in it!

I am very prone to freckles.... 2 minutes spf-bare-faced in the sun will earn me a few new freckles + darken all my existing ones. This HG of mine will stop all these from happening.

It comes in a plastic 50g tube. This is a lot of product, and will last me through the summer months.

I love the dispenser nib top.

It keeps my product clean and hygienic.

The opening of the nib top is small and it is very easy to control how much product you can squeeze out.

The product smells pleasant, also quite sunscreen like - could be due to its high SPF. 
 The smell doesn't bother me and once applied on the face it disappears.


I use it as the last step in my daytime skin care regime, on a make-up free day.
It goes over my toner and serum.
I apply it over my entire face, neck and any exposed decolletage area. 

Easily spreaded

After rubbing it into skin a couple of times for a few seconds

After about 30 seconds, no streaks left!

As you can see, even though it is 'tinted' transparent beige, once blended into the skin it disappears.

I.e skin colour will stay the same

The texture is not too watery, but still very easy to spread.

Even though it has a high SPF content, once blended into the skin there is no shine left behind. 
After 6-8 of it, my skin still stays matte, which is good, as I don't want to look like a greasy doughnut at the end of the day.

The only downside of this product is even though it looks matte, I can 'feel' the product on my face. Also when I touch my face it 'feels' greasy, even though it doesn't look it.

Ultimately, I don't mind these downsides because I really do like the high SPF this product offers.


Repurchase? Yes, for every summer, unless I can find a product with an equally high SPF and doesn't leave my face feeling greasy.


By Ai

Skin79 Hot Pink Super Plus Beblesh Balm Review

Hai all! Long time no see!

Apologies for my disappearance and lack of review updates and posts as I was so busy with work throughout the Holiday season!

Anywhoo... Since Natalie did a post on her all-time favourite go-to BB cream in her last post HERE, I thought I would do the same too *copycat*.

My all-time favourite BB cream must be the Skin79 Hot Pink Super Plus Beblesh Balm.
 
I know so many people have reviewed this product already but this is just my 2-cents... so read on... if you want....

It comes in a 40g pump bottle. So cute, shiny and pink!
I love pump dispensers as they keep the product hygienic.

I've had this for a good few months now, as you can see the wording is starting to fade thanks to my greasy hands rubbing it off.

Mine is made in the late 2013, so there is no authenticity sticker on it.

Unlike Natalie, I have oilier skin and am prone to the occasional zit(s). This BB cream is not too oily on my skin and gives me just enough moisture. 

I can wear it alone for 5-6 hours before turning into a greasy doughnut, this is with just plain moisturiser underneath, no primer and no finishing powder over the top.

If I combine it with primer and powder, it will last me the whole entire day, about 10+ hours.

Mind you though, weather in New Zealand isn't overly hot or humid unlike asia.
So if I wore this in Asia, I would expect the same outcome if I were to spend the day indoors with air conditioning, like a shopping mall etc.

It has SPF25 in it. I often wear it with a day moisturiser that has SPF in it to 'add' to the SPF.
If I am to spend more time outdoors then I make sure the total I wear is over SPF30.

Easy to spread, not yet blended

Texture-wise it is like any other bb cream, easy to spread and blend into the skin.

blended in for about 10 seconds

Blended in for about 1 minute, colour begins to oxidise to match my skin tone

The colour is kind of similar to my face but not really to my neck.
So what I do is spread it halfway down my neck, and powder my whole neck.
This gives a gradient effect and there is no line between my original skin tone and the bb cream colour. This way, no one will point at me and ask why I am wearing a white mask haha....

One thing to note about the colour is it comes out of the pump greyish looking, and when you put it on your face you will feel like smearing grey paint all over.
BUT..... it will later oxidise into the right colour!
So don't worry and just let it sit there for a few minutes.
It the colour never changes for you.... then too bad.... the bb cream colour is just not your colour then... hurhur...

Plain black eyeliner on bare back of hand

BB cream blended on hand over the eyeliner mark for about 10 seconds

BB cream left to oxidise for about 1 minute or so

As you can see in the 3 pictures above the coverage is medium.
It half covers up the eyeliner mark (and my mole.... hurhur....).
So it works well on small marks, half faded acne or zit scars, evens skin tone. Well, for me anyway.

Oh and lastly, the smell. It resembles very light sunscreen yet has some flowerly notes it to.
I can hardly detect it at all.

Repurchase? Yes!

By Ai.