I know, I'm a sucker for cute packaging. Who isn't though?! I saw Etude House's promos of this cushion and I was smitten. Call it love at first sight? Yes, I think so. This is the new Etude House Any Cushion Cream Filter so...

Let's get to the breakdown.... 

Wanna pick one up too?! Here's where I got mine! 

Packaging
I REALLY like the packaging of this cushion. Personally, I'm really liking what Etude House has been doing lately. I've noticed they're really slimming down their cushion packaging. Not only does this make it more compact, but it just looks so sleek. And can we talk about the holographic cover?! I'm obsessed. It's so beautiful and eye-catching!

The back of the box and compact

Coverage
The coverage of this is low. This does not cover a lot of imperfections and you would definitely need to use a concealer with this cushion. If you have great skin already, you could probably get away with using this alone. For me, I like my pimples, dark circles, etc. to be perfectly concealed so I would've liked this cushion more if the coverage was higher.

I have a dark, little freckle on my wrist. I use that to demonstrate the coverage :) 

Blend-ability
The formula of this cushion is extremely blend-able. It's very effortless and in no time, you're perfectly blended. The formula of this is also a bit sticky upon first applying this. This helps with the adherence to the skin, therefore, making it very easy to work with. Also, this cushion has a "net" aka, the filter. This helps the foundation smooth over the puff more evenly. In turn, making it easier to work with as well.

Shades
Shades. Shades. Shades. This is something that, for most, is an immediate "yes!" or "deal-breaker!". Fortunately, Etude House came out with 5 shades for this cushion foundation! Thank goodness. I personally feel like more Korean Beauty brands need to come out with a higher range of shades. There's vanilla, petal, beige, sand (the one I got!), and tan. I included the promo swatches in my video, but if you're still unsure, I would definitely recommend checking out other live/blog swatches online. Always super helpful, right?!

Lasting-ability
This lasting-ability of this is.. meh. I felt like a lot of it wore off by the 4-5 hour mark. Although, this isn't necessarily marketed as a long-wearing cushion. I feel like a little primer and powder would make it last a lot longer. However, on it's own, it doesn't last spectacularly long.

Finish
This finish of this is another win for me. I love how natural this looks. Now, when I heard this was a "moisturizing" cushion, I was torn. I loved the packaging, but I know myself... I usually don't like moisturizing or dewy cushions. I just don't like the look personally! Although, this is always a battle because I do have dry skin. To me, this cushion was the perfect balance. I LOVED the glow, didn't find it overly sticky or wet, and loved that it kept my skin hydrated.

Overall: 3.5 out of 5 stars
This is not going to make your skin look perfect... unless your skin is already really nice. I do find this is a nice, light cushion but I love me some coverage (like most people I think!). I just wish the coverage was a little higher and that it lasted for a bit longer. Do I think this is a bad cushion? Absolutely not. Is this a must-buy? Absolutely not. Worth a shot if you're curious but keep in mind the notes I made above :) For more information, swatches, and a demo, don't forget to check out the video review I did of this! Also, check out my youtube channel, The Beauty Breakdown, for more Korean beauty, travel, etc!

xoxo,
Morgan

Jini Beauty Korean Beauty February Subscription Box Service Review

Hello gems :) Today I'll be reviewing a beauty box subscription service called Jini Beauty. They sent me one of their boxes so I could check out the products, service and give you my overall impression of them. The biggest thing that makes them different from other Korean Beauty Box subscription services is they curate boxes for different skin types. So you can choose a box based on whether you have dry/mature, normal/combination, oily/acne, and sensitive/trouble. Neat right? Every month, you'll receive 1-2 full sized produces and 3-5 deluxe samples. Anways...

Let's get on to the breakdown...

Packaging...

Everything I got in my box was packaged very nicely. It came in a sturdy box and had a bunch of crate paper cushioning all the products. It also came with a card that had all the products listed and some other facts. 

 Products...

I got the box for Dry/Mature skin. Inside there was a 

-Sulwhasoo Overnight Vitalizing Mask

-Illi Ginseng Firming Mask

-Missha Time Revolution Night Repair New Science Activator Ampoule

-Etude House Moistfull Collagen Cream

-IOPE Super Vital Cream Bio Intensive

-Tony Moly Delight Tony Tint in 02 Red 

Pricing and Shipping...

These boxes are $24.95 a month. If you subscribe for 3 months, you get a 5% discount. For a 6 month subscription, you get 8% off. For a 12 month subscription, you get a 10% discount.  As for shipping, they only ship in the United States right now!

My thoughts...

When I opened this, I was kind of confused because I couldn't figure out which product was supposed to be the full-sized product since they all seemed like deluxe samples. I ended up emailing the company and I was informed that the sheet mask was considered the full sized products. I was a little surprised because in my head, I don't feel like a sheet mask is considered a full sized product? I don't know if I'm the only one who feels this way so it could just be me!! I'm assuming this is because there's a Sulwhasoo deluxe sample in this box. Its a VERY generous size and would probably last a while. I looked up how much the full size retails for and it's around $50. I couldn't find how many oz the sample in the box was, so I can't breakdown how much the sample is worth. This whole topic is subjective though so you'll have to judge for yourself whether you think it's worth it or not :) 

If you want to see what was in the other boxes, check out their blog post. I saw the full-sized products in the other boxes and they seem fairly reasonable! :) 

Anyways guys, that's my review of this Korean Beauty box. I always love Korean Beauty subscription services and think it's a great way to try products that you might not have gotten for yourself. Plus, it's like Christmas every month :D

xoxo,
Morgan

[Review] Etude House Lash Perm All Shockara Mascara Review

I LOVE mascara and boyyyy am I picky with them. On top of that, we all know my deep love for Etude House and their makeup products. There are very few makeup products from Etude House that I don't love. So when it came to trying the Etude House Lash Perm All Shockara Mascara, I thought it would be a home run. Well was it? You'll just have to read on :)

Let's get to the breakdown...

Packaging...

I love that a lot of Etude House's makeup products match. Notice that the cap of the mascara has a similar design to their lipsticks! I love that. 

Wand...

I was actually really excited to try this wand because I was thinking I was going to be blown away by its separating powers. However, I was sadly let down. Since this wand is plastic, it doesn't carry a lot of the actual mascara on it. So when I use this wand to apply the mascara to my lashes, it takes forever to actually coat my lashes. It does separate my lashes really well, but I just don't like how long it takes to try to build the mascara up. Also, notice in the picture of the wand by my eye, the wand doesn't have any bristles on the end. This makes getting the lashes on the outer corner of my eye almost impossible! Not a fan...

 Formula...

On top of having a hard time applying the actual mascara to my lashes because of the wand, the formula of this mascara is SUPER dry. This is actually probably one of the driest mascaras I've ever tried. So that makes building it up on my lashes very difficult. 

 Results...

You can see in the pictures below that my lashes look... almost the same. Like I mentioned above, I actually do like how this mascara separates my lashes. However, it doesn't add volume, length, or darkness to my lashes. Can you tell a difference? Lol. 

 Overall...

I was SUPER disappointed by this mascara. Honestly, I'm surprised Etude House is still able to sell this mascara because it just doesn't do what it's supposed to do. It's not shocking at all... in fact... this mascara is shockingly bad! Too harsh? Well, at least I'm honest right ;)

Packaging: ****

Wand: *

Formula: *

Lengthening: *

Volumizing: *

Overall: *

Also, if you'd like to see me use this mascara in a video, I used it in the video below. While you're watching, don't forget to subscribe to my channel, The Beauty Breakdown, and follow this website for more reviews, travel posts, tutorials and more!

xoxo, Morgan 

[Review] Etude House Big Cover Concealer BB and Cushion Concealer + Monkey Wish Eyeshadows

In this month's Pink Bird Ambassador Box from Etude House, I got some exciting goodies! In my pink box was the Big Cover Concealer BB in Beige, the Big Cover Concealer Cushion in Peach Pink, and 3 Eyeshadows from the Look at my Eyes Monkey Wish Eyes Collection. I was sure to show you guys these in my recent First Impressions of the products, but let's get into a little written review :)

Let's get to the breakdown...

Etude House Big Cover Concealer BB in Beige

The concept behind this BB cream is to be a high coverage BB. I believe it designed with oily skinned people in mind. The tip is a multi tip, so it has different sides and surfaces so you can apply the BB cream is several different ways. You can use the side to apply a thin layer everywhere, you can use the curved side along your cheeks and nose, or you can use the tip for spot concealing. This concealer is very high coverage and set very quickly! When I apply it, I work with one section at a time. I find that this does ok on my dry skin, but I really think this would be excellent for oily skinned people. Also, I wanted to note that this seems to run a little light. Usually in Etude House shades, I'm always shade 3. However, the shade 3 of this BB cream is a little light. It's not crazy light, but it is a bit lighter than normal. Oh, and there are 4 shades altogether. 

 Etude House Big Cover Concealer Cushion in Peach Pink

I am in LOVE! I love this concealer. This is a color-correcting concealer so it brightens any areas you apply it to. They do have 3 other "skin-colored" shades, which are designed for covering pimples, under eye areas, etc., and 3 color correcting concealers in total. This one is not necessarily for covering pimples but I love using this under my eyes! It really does brighten my face and it blends so nicely! I really do like this and find myself reaching for it a lot. 

 Of course, my only complaint of this concealer is the applicator. I really don't care for these sponge tip applicators. How I use this is I just swipe it onto the back of my clean hand and then apply it on my face from there. 

 Swatches

Below are swatches of both the Concealer BB and Concealer Cushion. The first picture is my hand with no makeup. I use this area for my swatches because of the freckle of my wrist! haha. It's a great gauge to see the coverage and how it looks in general. To see it on my face and see how it blends/the application, check out my first impressions above!

The swatch on the left is the concealer BB in beige. The swatch on the right is the concealer cushion in peach pink. 

 Look at My Eyes Monkey Wish Eyes 

I received 3 different eyeshadows. Etude House brought out these eyeshadows in celebration of the Lunar New Year and the Year of the Monkey (Fun Fact: I was born during the Year of the Monkey!). The packaging of these eyeshadows are limited edition and each eyeshadow has a little monkey imprinted in each eyeshadow! 

 From left to right, the eyeshadow shades are BE109 Pay Day, PK013 Cheer Up, and GR707 Exam Passed.

 Swatches

The swatches below are done without an eyeshadow primer and with my finger. Overall, I'll be honest. I'm not impressed with these eyeshadows. These actually swatched a lot nicer than I thought they would! On my eyes, I don't think they look particularly nice. I feel like these fall short of the quality Etude House usually has for the eyeshadows. My favorite color is Exam Passed but the one that is the smoothest is Pay Day. Unfortunately, Cheer Up is just too chunky and not very smooth.

Alright, so that's what I received in my last Pink Bird Ambassador Box! Hope you guys enjoyed and don't forget to follow this website for more reviews and subscribe to my youtube channel, The Beauty Breakdown! I'll love you forever :) 

xoxo, 

Morgan 

[Review] Etude House Tint My Brows Gel in #1 Brown First Impressions! Tattooing My Eyebrows?!

Ok, so my eyebrows are something that are very important to me. I feel like eyebrows really make your face look complete, so I'm willing to try anything to make my eyebrows look...well...on fleek. haha. When I heard about Etude House Tint My Brow Gel, I thought "YES! Eyebrows for more than one day and I don't have to fill them in?!". So you bette believe I went straight to the internet and bought myself one.

The concept behind this brow tattoo is it's supposed to last for up to a week, despite washing your face, applying makeup, and touching your eyebrows. This is a great concept for those of you who might like to have "no makeup" days, but still want to look put together.

You can pick one up HERE (affiliate) 

So let's get to the breakdown...

Process...

With your face cleansed and dry, you want to apply the gel onto your eyebrows/where you want to dye your hair (or more, the skin underneath). After that, let it sit on your face for two hours. Yes, you will look insane... I know I sure did! It's also advised on the side of the box that you leave it on overnight and remove it in the morning. However, ain't nobody got time for that! I was already shocked I had to leave it on for two hours! Talk about a time commitment. Once the two hours are up, you remove it. It should peel off in one piece. You're supposed to peel it off from the tail of the eyebrow (oops). I didn't do that and lost a couple eyebrow hairs in the process of removing it (which I showed in the video below!). However, I have since tried removing it from the tail as well and STILL lost a couple hairs. So I don't know if I have sensitive eyebrows or what, but I say just remove cautiously and if anything, scrape it off. 

Packaging...

The packaging of this product isn't anything fantastic. Although I will say, I wish the applicator was a little bit different. When applying this, I did manage to be fairly accurate but I think a sharper tip would've made applying this much easier. 

Shade...

I LOVED the shade of this product. I got mine in shade #1 brown and I felt like it was a prefect match for my eyebrows. However, I have heard that the other two shades, light brown and grey brown, are a bit of miss for some people. I've read really mixed reviews on how these shades look. Some people say the light brown is too orange and the grey brown is too grey, while others say they like the look. So definitely check out some swatches and decide for yourself if you think you'd be happy with the colors. I personally think the shade I have looks the most natural.

Results...

I have really mixed emotions about this product. This is supposed to last for about a week and I do have to admit, it did! I really liked how it looked on day 2-4 because after it had faded a bit, it looked super natural.  Personally, I felt like it looked a little too "painted on" on day 1 for my liking.  Now this is where my mixed feelings came in. Besides the first day, I still found myself filling in my eyebrows despite them being colored in more. I just felt that with a full face of makeup, the tint wasn't quite apparent enough for my liking. I also just generally like having my eyebrows held in place by some type of wax or gel as well. I will say that when I didn't have any makeup on though, they looked great and I obviously didn't feel the need to fill them in. Since I wear makeup almost everyday, this just honestly isn't that useful for me. I do like the concept but 2 hours?! 2 HOURS?! For something that I'm going to end up going over anyways? It's just not that practical for me. So take it as you will. This would definitely fit the needs of some, but for me, it just doesn't make much sense to repeatedly buy and use this. 

Day 1

Day 2

Day 3

Day 4

Day 5 

Overall...

I'd say I could see the tint on my eyebrows for about 5 days. On day 6, it was completely gone. Keep in mind, I carried on with my normal cleansing routine and wasn't going to tailor my skincare around my eyebrows. On the instructions it does say to avoid pressure (haha), makeup remover, oil, and cleansers in this area while you have it on. That's a bit much in my opinion so I didn't really follow that. By the way, I'm aware I forgot to take a before picture for the website, but you can see in the video what my eyebrows looked like before very clearly! So just refer to that :) Also, I know the lighting is also a little different in each photo but I was traveling and using my phone to take pictures. But, you get the point! lol. Anyways, that's my written review of the Etude House Tint My Brows Gel! Hope you guys enjoyed and don't forget to follow this website and subscribe to my youtube channel, The Beauty Breakdown, for more reviews, travel posts, and more!