We've all been there. You get caught up in the hype surrounding a particular beauty product and know you must have it. You spend your hard-earned money and take the plunge! However, to your dismay, the product SUCKS.
Well, I'm no stranger to that feeling. Since I review and try a lot of different Korean beauty products, there are bound to be some I don't like or feel was over-hyped. Here are some of those products that I wish I could go back in time and persuade myself to not buy!
*Disclaimer: All of these are my own opinions. I understand there are people who might love these products, but they just didn't work for me... no hard feelings, yeah? ;)*
Let's get to the breakdown of products I regret buying...
I bought this when I was in Seoul, Korea. I was really into the whole "peeling gel" thing because I thought it was such a neat idea! Something that would exfoliate your skin and remove all the dead cells without being too abrasive? Sounds great! I saw this in Nature Republic and saw how cheap they were (around $4!) so I snatched them up without a second thought. Unfortunately, these Skin Smoothing Apple and Lemon Peeling Gels are not even worth the couple bucks I spent on them. They don't remove any dead cells, they smell AWFUL and they just don't work.
I know, I know... I should've known these were too gimmicky to be true. Luckily, I received these in a Mask Maven Box, so I didn't actually buy them. But these Tony Moly Red Cheeks Girl's Patch are just silly, in my opinion. They are too slimy, slide right off your face, and don't have any lasting effects. Fun yes, effective no.
You can pick up capsule packs like this at pretty much every road shop in Korea! I love the idea behind these because you can try different skincare masks without committing to buying a full size. Why don't we have this in the United States?! Anyways, these It's Skin Todak Todak Capsule Packs didn't do anything for my skin.
Now I know some people like this Holika Holika Pro Beauty Bloody Oil Tint. Mine is in the shade "Vampire Kiss". The concept behind this is it's supposed to be a moisturizing lip tint that doesn't dry out your lips. At first, I liked this and the shade itself. But then....something weird happened. One day, I picked it up to use it and noticed it looked weird. I shook it and noticed it wasn't mixing together! I was so confused because before, it mixed together perfectly. I opened it and noticed it had a really ODD smell. Yuck. It smelled like a dirty mop. haha. I don't know if it's just mine but I couldn't even bring myself to use this. It looked gross and smelled gross. Sad thing is is that I've only had this for a couple months. It shouldn't be bad already! Let me know if you had this same issue :(
You can see the "chunks" in it...like it doesn't mix together anymore!
This is kind of silly. But the reason why I'm including these hair velcro things from SkinFood is because they don't hold my hair back when I'm doing my makeup! My hair is too thick and when I use these to pull my bangs back, they slowly migrate back towards my face. Not very helpful when I'm trying to apply my foundation without getting it in my hair.
Another thing that is super hyped in the Korean Beauty World is the concept of cushion products. Cushion foundation, cushion blushers, cushion eyeshadows... you name it! There's a cushion version for everything. I saw this Lock N' Summer Cushion Eyeliner at Etude House and thought "Wow, how great! It's so portable!". Well, I used this thing maybe once and then the next time I went to use it, it was all dried up! So sad. And yes, I had the lid on tight! I think the actual eyeliner formula was just to dry and this was more of a gimmicky product than actually functional :(
These Dr. Mascara Fixer Mascara Primers from Etude House are well-loved by many. But these just didn't work for my eyelashes. I don't have "Asian" eyelashes (meaning pretty straight, short eyelashes) but I don't have great eyelashes either. Either way, these mascara primers were hard to work with for me and almost made mascara application harder for me.
Finally, I did mention the Berrisom Tattoo Lip Tint Pack in my video! I know this one is SUPER controversial... so you'll have to watch the video to see why it didn't work for me and why I don't like it! :D
Well that's it! I'm sure I'll encounter more products I don't like as I try more, so don't forget to subscribe to my channel, The Beauty Breakdown, to get updates on when I add new videos, content, etc! Let me know what you think and products you didn't care for so I can avoid them at all costs! haha.
I was so excited when I checked my mailbox and saw these little beauties! It's the PONY x Memebox Shine Easy Glam 3 Collection! I can't wait to share these products with you so you can get an idea of how the collection is and see if you'd be interested in picking them up for yourself!
*Disclaimer: I was sent these products to review, but all opinions are my own! I wouldn't recommend anything I didn't like :) *
Let's check out the breakdown of the collection!
This collection comes packaged in these very "Spring-inspired" boxes. I'm pleasantly surprised by the quality of the packaging because these boxes are actually really nice! I almost want to keep them and not throw them away! haha. Right off the bat, I can tell that Memebox really made the effort to create a high-quality collection. Instead of just using Pony's name to create all the hype for this collection, they actually took the extra time to create products that are very nicely packaging and high-quality! So far so good!
Now, let's take a look at the eyeshadow quad! I received the Eyeshadow Quad in #01 Brown Bloom.
These eyeshadows are awesome! They're nice and smooth and apply really nicely! Plus, they're super glittery!
I like this eyeshadow quad in particular because I feel like it's an overall great palette for everyone! You can create a very natural look using these shadows, or create a more glamourous look because they're SO sparkly! Plus, don't you love this packaging?! Yes, the palette does get easily smudged with your fingertips, but I still love how pretty and classy the gold and white looks!
Let's move onto the Pony Blossom Lipsticks! I received all 4 lipsticks and again, the packaging is amazing.
Going from left to right, the lipstick names are #01 Rose Garden, #02 Spring Romance, #03 Orange Dahlia, and #04 Blooming Love. All of these lipsticks are very pigmented and apply super smoothly! Love that these lipsticks are vey comfortable to wear and somewhat moisturizing! They don't dry out my lips and again, I love the packaging! Plus, I love the colors because you don't normally see a lot of Asian brands making darker colors. I'm slightly obsessed with burgundy colors on my lips, so it's nice that there's actually a deep, dark red color!
Swatches coming soon :)
Hope this review/haul was helpful for those of you who are looking for more information about the collection! Let me know if you end up buying any of these products and which ones you like!
If you do want to check out the video though, here it is! I also have other videos on my channel, The Beauty Breakdown, that I haven't made posts on yet. So if you want to see more travel vlogs and Korean beauty and fashion videos, definitely subscribe! It would make me so happy :)
The one we went to is located in Hongdae. Now let me tell
you, it was quite the excursion trying to find this place! We ended up walking
into a couple stores and asking for directions! Haha. It’s a little hidden, but
not impossible to find, you just have to know where to look.
I was so excited we finally found it! This place is a great place to take a ton of pictures of course!
I took this map from the Official Website!
Anyways, you walk in and straight away, you see all the cute
Hello Kitty themed desserts and drinks. They have a wide range of cakes, drinks, cookies and more! Seriously, this stuff is too cute to
eat! Just see for yourself!
What you see when you walk in the front door.
Some of their drinks! You can see they had a 40th anniversary drink out when I was there.
Look at those cakes! Aren't they so cool!?
All kinds of goodies!
I ended up ordering a peach tea drink though because I wasn't in the mood for dessert or something sweet. However, my drink ended up being SUPER sweet anyways so I guess this is not the best place to come if you're not craving sugar.
Seriously....diabetes in a cup.
The sugar is getting to me...
If you're looking for souvenirs to take home with you, you've definitely come to the right place! They had a whole wall of Hello Kitty merchandise... everything from tea sets to trinkets to plushie toys!
Now get this, even the bathroom is Hello Kitty themed! I didn't take a picture of the bathroom but I took a picture of the sign pointing to the bathroom. I never knew a toilet could be so cute!
You'll also notice there is writing all over the walls. I assume it's ok to do this since there was literally writing everywhere! haha. I left my own little personal message... if you find it, please take a picture and send it to me! I want to see :D
I wish I'd brought a darker marker! All I had was a blue pen. haha.
Should be easier to find since I wrote right next to that sticker! haha.
This is definitely a place I'd try to visit if you ever come to Seoul and love Hello Kitty like I do. I love that Seoul has all kinds of themed cafes and something for everyone! Hope you guys enjoy these travel posts! More to come :)
Hey everyone! Today, I'm writing about a recent mini haul I received from Memebox. I can't wait to try these products out and review them for you guys! I tried to pick out products that I'd never tried before and that seemed unique to me.
But first....
I wanted to let you guys know my experience with Memebox. First of all, their customer service is FANTASTIC! They're very quick with their responses and truly seem to care about their customers. They're prices are fairly reasonable considering they have an office based out of the United States and right now, you can get free shipping for orders over $30! That's totally worth it in my opinion! On top of all that, they have a nice selection of products, as well as a lot of collaborations with fellow Korean Beauty Bloggers.
Ok now onto the breakdown of my haul :)
I first picked out the Etude House Precious Mineral Any Cushion in Honey Beige W24. This is the first cushion foundation/bb cream I've ever used! When I went to Korea last summer, I didn't buy a cushion foundation because all of the sales associates said my skin was too dark :( haha. But now that I'm a little lighter and with a little bit of bronzer, I think I can pull this off. This one, in particular, is supposed to be really nice! I've heard tons of great comments about it. Plus, I've tried it a couple times and so far, I really like it and it matches my skin pretty nicely! Review anyone? ;)
I've also never tried a CC cream from Korea. So I decided to try the Etude House Moistfull Super Collagen CC Cream. I've tried this one out a couple times as well and LOVE this! It matches my skin nicely and really doesn't look like I'm wearing foundation. It just looks like my skin is really healthy and flawless, which is what I think everyone wants, right?!
Next onto some skincare items I picked out. I got the Too Cool For School Egg Mousse Pack. Eggs, in general, are supposed to improve the elasticity of your skin and make your skin look and feel radiant. I've yet to try a mousse pack like this (or something from Too Cool For School for that matter!) and am curious to see how this works...
Finally, I picked out the Elizavecca Milky Piggy Carbonated Bubble Clay Mask! This is a brand I've never heard of so we'll see how this product is. I've also never tried a carbonated bubble clay mask. We'll see if this is actually different than using a normal clay mask, which I tend to like!
Wow, now that I'm writing this, I'm realizing there are a ton of firsts in this haul. Let me know if you've ever tried any of these products, what your experience was like, and if you want a review on any of them! Thanks for reading :) Don't forget to check out my channel, The Beauty Breakdown, where I talk about Korean beauty triends, products, etc!
It's been a while since I've done a K-pop look! I fell in LOVE with Suzy's look from the miss A "Only You" music video and decided I had to make a tutorial because it was so simple but beautiful at the same time. Also, don't forget to subscribe to The Beauty Breakdown for more tutorails, reviews and everything Korean beauty! So let's get started!
Hope you enjoyed the tutorial! Now on to the products I used in the video.
For the eyes:
-Etude House Proof 10 Eye Primer
-Etude House Dreaming Swan Eye and Cheek in Releve Purple
-MAC Eyeshadow in Blanc Type
-Etude House Drawing Show Creamy Eyeliner
-Holika Holika Jewel Light Waterproof Eyeliner in #11
-Benefit They're Real Mascara
For the Face:
-Etude House Beauty Shot Face Blur
-Holika Holika Aqua Petit Jelly BB Cream
-The Saem Cover Perfection Liquid Concealer
-Etude House Veiling Pact
-Tony Moly Luminous Aura Goddess Goddess Maker
-Aritaum Sugarball Cushion Blusher
For the Lips:
-Etude House Etoinette Crystal Shine Lipstick in JPK004
-Peripera Peri's Ink #2
I hope you guys enjoyed this tutorial! Let me know if you have any other requests for makeup look! Hope you're all well :)
I love this dress! I love the fit because it's so flattering! I love the mesh top, however, it's a little stiff. Hopefully with a little more washing, it'll soften up a little bit. I paired the dress with a necklace I bought from Forever 21!
I love this skirt because the bow makes it so cute! You can tie it in the back or the front and it really cinches in your waist. The blouse I'm wearing is from Forever 21, as well as the silver necklace! You can't really see the necklace, but I show you in the video :)
Hope you enjoyed this tutorial! SheInside has a ton of other cute clothing items and for really affordable prices :) Don't forget to check out more of my tutorials and outfit ideas on my channel, The Beauty Breakdown
It's here, it's here! I was so delighted when I came home after a long week at work and found this on my doorstep. It's the Etude House Dreaming Swan Collection! When I initially saw the promo pictures for this collection, I was so excited! I'd pretty much missed the boat on other major Etude House Collections (The Minnie Mouse Collection, Etoinette Collection, etc) and could never get my hands on the items I wanted. But this time, I pretty much got the ENTIRE collection. It may seem excessive, but hey, I work HARD for my money and like to enjoy it. Plus, I know you guys were probably as antsy as I was. Anyways, I made a video review on my channel, The Beauty Breakdown, so definitely check that out and see if you like any of the products! But here's the blog post, so you can get a closer view of all the products :)
Now on to the items :) Here are the lippies! I unfortunately, could not get one of them because they were sold on the Etude House website, but I got the other four! Also note that these lipsticks are ALL MATTE. I was not expecting this when I ordered, but they are matte. So for those of you who don't like matte lip products, sorry :( But luckily, they're still very creamy and apply very nicely. Also, they're very pigmented, which in my opinion, is always a good thing!
My Blooming Lip-Talk in PK022 in Jete Pink.
My Blooming Lips-Talk in OR225 in Pointe Coral
My Blooming Lip-Talk in PK024 in En Haut Pink
My Blooming Lips-Talk in PP502 Releve Purple MY FAVE!
Next, let's look at the Eye and Cheek Colors. Personally, I consider these mainly blushes (even though you can use them on your eyes) because they're not colors I'd usually use on my eyes. Also, they're not the darkest colors ever. They offer more of a nice wash of color instead of a super pigmented color. They're all shimmery and super smooth. They blend really nicely on the skin as well :) They also come with a super cute puff! I do want to mention the the pictures on the tin are not printed on, they're stickers :/ I don't like that because stickers tend to get a little ratty looking after you use it for a while. oh well...
Eye and Cheek in #01 Jete Pink. This one is fairly light and would probably only show up on lighter skin tones. For tan skin tones, this would be more of a highlight color.
Eye and Cheek in #02 Pointe Coral. This is a nicely peachy color, but again it's more of a highlight color on darker skin tones. On light skin tones, this would probably show up nicely.
Eye and Cheek in #03 Arabesque Rosy. This is one of the more pigmented ones. This shows up as a nice burnt coral/rose color.
Eye and Cheek in #04 Releve Purple. This is a light lavender color and again will probably show up on light skin tones, but not dark ones.
Eye and Cheek in #05 En Haut Pink. This one is the most universally appealing color. It's similar to NARS Orgasm Blush, because it's a nice peachy/pink with a gold undertone. This one is more pigmented.
For this collection, Etude House re-released their veiling pact. I'm pretty sure you can get this at anytime, but they repackaged it for the Dreaming Swan collection. I have never tried their veiling pact, so I wanted to get it to try it :) I haven't used this yet, but I can tell you, it obviously won't work on darker skin tones. Sorry guys, I feel your pain! It's almost a little too light for me, but I can make it work with some bronzer. Love the packaging though :) The picture is actually printed on the compact, so you don't have to worry about it pealing off like the blushes!
It comes with a little puff and also has the Dreaming Swan logo imprinted in the powder!
Next, are the Dreaming Swan Shine Volumer. These are meant for use on both the face and the eyes. However, I would NOT recommend using these on the face. They are so glittery and shimmery, they'd really only be pretty on the eyes. I haven't tried these out a ton yet, but I'm excited to see how they look!
Shiner Volumer in #01 Dreaming Swan. A nice pearly, white color. Has some pink glitter to it.
Shine Volumer in #02 Bright Toeshoes. A beige shimmer. Has some gold glitter in it.
Shine Volumer in #03 Shiny Tutu. The perfect rose gold. A nice combination of the two colors.
Here's a swatch of the colors. Going from top to bottom, it's #01, #02 and #03.
Finally, the nail polish kits! I was close to passing on these, but I honestly love colors like these. I'm a big fan a neutral nail colors because I think it looks so pretty and girly. So I got both kits because I figured I would get use out of them. They both come with sticker decals, but I didn't take pictures of them. I showed them in the video, so if you're curious about those, watch the video ;)
Dreaming Swan Nail Kit in #01 Dreaming Swan. This has a light pink color and a gold shimmery color.
Dreaming Swan Nail Kit in #02 Shiny Tutu. My favorite out of the two I think! It has a creamy, vanilla color and a shimmery beige color.
And that's it! I did get the little bag, since I bought the value kit (which included the bag, lipstick and blush in pointe coral). I got it because it was cheaper than buying it separately and I showed the bag in the video! I didn't get the brush or the cushion compact case because I didn't need a little brush like that and I don't have the Etude House Cushion Foundation.. maybe one day :) Anyways, I hope this was helpful, so you could see what the products actually look like. For me, I know this is important because I have to order online, and sometimes the colors they show are not very accurate. Let me know if you love the collection as much as I do and don't forget to subscribe to my channel and share this post!
