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So.. Do you actually need a toner?

I came across this article from Huffpost that talks about the function of a toner. For me, I never really see the importance of a toner until about a year back when my bridal stylist shared with me the skincare routine that I have to adhere to. I decided to give you a shot and boy, I saw the brown tinge of stains on my cotton pad after applying my toner.. Supposed to be remnant make-up that stayed on my face despite using a proper make-up remover cleansing gel. If I hadn't used a toner after my cleansing step, I would not have seen how much make-up I have built on my skin!

Here's the article to share:
Do You Need To Use Toner? Top Derm Clears Up This Lingering Skincare Question

I am currently using two toners interchangeably: Rose Water from Perfect Potion and MDD Hydra-Infusion Onsen Dew. I kind of swear by the MDD ones. Taken from its website, it says,

Flown in directly from the hot springs of Japan. Used as a toner or skin refresher, this miracle mist soothes, tones, refreshes and plumps skin with rich nutrients and hyaluronic acid. See refined pores as a result. Your skin will thank you for it.

This bottle looks like water, if I am to describe it. I don't know about you but this gives me the chemical-less feel, as compared to other toners I see at drugstore that comprise of a bunch of chemicals dumped together in a bottle.

Imagine, hot springs water on your face everyday! I love the clean feeling on my face after using them after my cleansing step. It makes me feel that my pores are really thanking me.

Have a look of the full range of MDD Products here! I will slowly share with you more of the products that I'm currently using from their range!

This blog post is also posted on http://estherchewyy.wix.com/jollyjosiah#!blog/c254a.

Orbis Aqua Peeling Gel [Unsponrsored]

Firstly, thousands of apologies for the lack of updates for a period of time. I was busy attending to some personal matters and had to put everything on hold for awhile. In case you don't know, we are having our Chinese New Year break now and today marks the third day of this major festival of the Chinese race, when we are busy visiting relatives, doing our yearly catch-up. Prior to this, plenty of preparations happen such as our annual spring-cleaning of our house and also shopping for new clothes. It is a tiring yet significant festival for all of us.

So... Cut the story short, I had wanted to review on my MAC Bronzing powder but something came into the picture instead that made me want to review this before my MAC. There's this brand from Japan that recently hit the Singapore market. What caught my attention was their intensive advertising done at all the MRT stations (Marketing team, if you see this, your advertising effort works!). So what brand is it? It is ..... ORBIS. What drawn me to it then? Well, I am a sucker for Japanese related products/services. Japanese always have this very strong market in terms of skincare and beautifying and somehow, the word 'Japanese' gave me the confidence to try it out.

You may want to check out their Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/orbis.sg.

Their information says:

About
ORBIS Inc. is a leading Japanese cosmetic company who is also involved in markets such as skin care, health food and beauty supplement.
Description
ORBIS Inc. is a leading Japanese cosmetic company who is also involved in markets such as skin care, health food and beauty supplement. ORBIS Inc. is well known for its 100% oil-free skin care and has been voted No.1 in Japan consumer satisfaction index under perceive value category. ORBIS Inc. has proudly sold more than *26 million pieces of our star product, Aquaforce lotion, since launch.

*Total sales figure in ORBIS (From January 2000 to December 2012)

Isn't that fascinating enough? =)

A friend recently told me she purchased collagen from Orbis and I was like.. 'OH GOSH, I HAD WANTED TO TRY THEIR PRODUCTS!' and so, on one fine Sunday evening, she brought me to the counter. Boy, am I overwhelmed by the products that lie ahead of me. I walked home with many products that day but let me just focus on one of the products for today and that is the Orbis Aqua Peeling Gel.

The sales personnel squeezed a sample on my hand and within 5 seconds of rubbing, I could see so much dead skin coming out!

Here's a picture of how the product looks like:

It's a clear gel form and look what happened after rubbing it on my hand for just 5 seconds:

Saw the dead skin? It came out very easily!

I just tried it out on my face and neck while in the shower earlier on and I must say, I'm loving this a lot! This is a very awesome product to use before your facial masks as it removes the dead skin and enables better absorption of your masks. Without removal of dead skin, you won't be able to absorb the nutrients in your masks fully as there will always be a barrier sitting on your skin.

Now, a closer look at its packaging.

The ingredient that I always trusted is Hyaluronic Acid.  It is a very important factor in my daily skincare products. I even read a website that describes Hyaluronic Acid as a 'Fountain of Youth'. Indeed, no dry feel after using and my face felt moisturised and soft. I think I shall mention about Hyaluronic Acid on a separate post and not snatch the limelight off my new-found love - Orbis Aqua Peeling Gel.

This product is very reasonably priced at SGD $26.50 and can be bought at two outlets currently:

ROBINSONS ORCHARD (THE HEEREN)

260 Orchard Road

Singapore 238855

Tel: 6836 2837

BISHAN JUNCTION 8

9 Bishan Place, #01-46

Singapore 579837

Tel: 6334 2768

They do not have a membership scheme yet for the Singapore market as it is a very young market. I'm hoping more can get to know of this brand and soon, I believe a membership scheme will come in place so that not only are we buying the products, but we will actually enjoy some good benefits from supporting the brand! =)

Together with this Aqua Peeling Gel, I've also gotten myself the Sebum Control Essence and Meal Replacement which I will review on a separate post after I've personally tried them out.

Drop by any Orbis counters to understand more. I'm sure the sales assistant will be more than glad to assist you! ;)

Sephora Bestsellers [Unsponsored]

My hands got itchy a little, thinking about what products I should try next so I went to Sephora website and clicked on their bestsellers.

I saw the Benefit, the POREfessional. Well, that's something I really hope to get my hands on and try it. My Tarte primer has proven itself to be my Holy Grail item. Can Benefit take over Tarte? We shall see! Share with me your Holy Grail items!

xoxo,

Pinkcactuslady

Sephora Rouge in Red Tango (Shade R05) [Unsponsored]

I have always love those red, intense lipcolor I often see celebrities putting on. It gives a very sexy and feminine feel and I always wanted to find that perfect shade.

Decided to step into Sephora (Once again), in an attempt to find that perfect red rouge. What attracted me was the Sephora house brand corner where there were just so many different kind of lip colours. Be it highly pigmented colours to those subtle shimmery kind, they had it all.

Took me about thirty minutes to finally zoom down to that perfect one.

Look at that beautiful colour!

I liked that it is matte in finish instead of gloss because I always find it irritating when my long hair stick to my lips cos of the gloss.

I had it on for a day yesterday..

The colour is actually redder than how it appeared in this photograph, mainly cos of the lighting which was directly casting on my face.

My Verdict:
That red colour really blew me away. Many complemented me for my beautiful red lips. I liked the matte finish. It is not drying, unlike those I used to wear, whereby my lips turned up dry and cracky looking after just half a day of wearing. No drying, nothing of that sort. And what's more, this is really friendly to our pocket. No big burning hole after this purchase, which leads me to wanting to buy more?! ;)

The only con, which I guess applies to all intense rouge - frequent touch-ups are inevitable. The fact that they are intense in colour, makes it obvious when just a tinge of it comes off and the only way to continue have that oh-so-beautiful-even-lipcolor look, is to be diligent in touch-ups. For this part, lip stainers win me over.

Price:
SGD $20

Where to purchase:
All Sephora outlets

Cheers to beautiful, sexy lips! *SMOOCHES*

Tarte Amazonian Clay 12-hour Full Coverage Foundation & Clean Slate Poreless 12-hour Perfecting Primer [Unsponsored]

And so I got my hands onto this tube of foundation that is oil-free and made from Amazonian Clay. To me, the word 'oil-free' really matters a lot for the simple fact that my face is of oily type. Oil (or sebum) caused many problems and most frequently linked to acne. Initially, I really hesitated as this tube of foundation did not come cheap at almost $60. Nonetheless, I decided to step into Sephora and grab myself a tube and not look back after making the payment.

You can read more about this product at Tarte's website: http://tartecosmetics.com/tarte-item-Amazonian-clay-12-hour-full-coverage-foundation.

What I really love about it is that it comes in 16 different shades. I was initially overwhelmed by it and had to call for help at Sephora for the assistant to help me choose the best shade. This huge range of shades available made me feel assured that surely one shade can fit me perfectly. I have fair skin and eventually settled for the 'Fair Beige' shade which is the third lightest shade available. 

This is how it looks like on the back of my hand:

It has sunscreen of SPF 15, which to me initially wasn't that high, but I come to realise that I am gonna apply sunscreen underneath anyway, so it didn't bother me that much after all.

I kind of liked its packaging, especially the wooden print cap. I thought it is something unique and it gives the nature feel and since it's made from Amazonian clay, it definitely is from nature isn't it? It comes in this 1.7 fl. oz. packaging size.

Upon reaching home with my new purchase, I decided to keep it aside, go to bed and look forward to waking up the next day and use it before I go to work. I squeezed only a quantity equivalent to pea size and brush it on my face using a foundation brush. Lo and behold.. I was so blown away by the coverage! All it took is one layer for my old acne scars to be 70% 80% concealed and it felt so light on my skin. It did not give me the heavy and thick feel I have with other foundations. Just one pea size and it was enough coverage for my whole face. All I needed after that was just some concealer to perfect the coverage and off I go with just a few puffs of powder on my face to complete my make-up routine.

My face usually requires a blotting at mid-day but my first day was awesome as I only need to blot it towards 2-ish kind of timing. No sliding of make-up and as what I've mentioned, I was fully bought over by the light feeling and its coverage. It stayed looking flawless on my skin for the rest of the day. So is it 12-hour coverage as it claimed to be? I can't say much on that cos I still require some minor touch-up in the afternoon but it is definitely still an improvement over my previous foundation. Thumbs up for that!

The only thing I hope to deal with on top of this are my pores problem. My pores are pretty enlarged at my cheek areas and I always find them disturbing. They are often the thing that caused my skin not to look flawless. I thought to myself, probably a primer might solve my problem and so, I stepped into Sephora again, in hope of finding the primer that will suit my requirement. Unknowingly, I walked towards Tarte section and found myself looking at its primer. The word 'poreless' attracted me. Yes, I am easily attracted to such keywords. Marketing strategies like these work very well on me. (GIGGLES). I decided, since I have my Sephora discount on-hand, why not just try it out? After all, Tarte product with Tarte product, should be pretty awesome right?

Here's the packaging:

 

More product details found here: http://tartecosmetics.com/tarte-item-clean-slate-poreless-12-hr-perfecting-primer .

I kinda love the purple packaging together with the floral designs. It looked very feminine and gave it yet another touch of nature.

When I opened up my product and tried it on my hand.. It's like... WOOOOOO. It is so smooth!

It is clear in colour, and feels similar to my silicone-based moisturizer. I love how it glided on my skin effortlessly.It got to be the smoothest thing that has ever come into contact with my hand! NO JOKE.


I tried it on my cheeks and went on to apply my Tarte foundation on top. It glided on so easily! No stress on my skin, no tugging of my face. I became a happy lady but that's not the wow factor for me. I was fully convinced that this product really works when I came back from my lunch break and decided to give my face a round of blotting. My make-up stayed intact and the smoothness that I achieved that same morning, actually remained. My Tarte foundation rested so nicely on my skin even after blotting and a crazy hot weather outside. If you ask me, I have never felt so good about my skin before!


My verdict:

It took me super long to find something that can give me the sustained look from beginning of the day till I end my day and I'm glad I've found Tarte products. I felt that the foundation on its own is not perfect but together with the primer, the difference is drastic.

Will I repurchase? Yes, I will. Though the price is a little on the steep side, I feel this product is worth investing in for now, till I find a better product for my sensitive face.

Price:
Tarte Amazonian Clay 12-hour Full Coverage Foundation - SGD $60
Tarte Clean Slate Poreless 12-hour Perfecting Primer - SGD $47

Where to get:

Any Sephora outlets. It is usually located nearest to the entrance which could explain its popularity? =)

P/S: I really wish the foundation came with the brush though. I was told in some countries, the brush actually came with each purchase. Not sure how true but would be great if it is true as I really love that brush a lot!

First post!

I have finally taken my first step towards what I've always wanted to do and that is to do beauty blogging! So why of all things, beauty? I love people-watching and I realised that to look good, one has to make an effort but besides that, it also involves a whole string of experimenting to finally come to a product that is able to suit our skin's needs. All of us has skins that are so different. What works for you, may not work for me and vice versa. For me personally, it is comforting to find reviews from people who has the same skin type as me and all I ever wanted is to learn their secret collection of products to make them work around their skin condition so that they can achieve flawless skin.

So here I am, hoping that my reviews will help those of you out there who were just like me, always googling about what works and what doesn't.

If you are also a lady out there who feels very overwhelmed whenever you step into Sephora, I hope you can find some help much needed over at my blog, to help you better gauge what product could work for you.

I have a few reviews lining up consisting of Urban Decay and Tarte products.

Stay tuned!

xoxo,
Pink Cactus Lady