Choosing between East and West Cosmetics

This is basically a review of Asian cosmetics in general:

Whenever I read beauty magazines here in the Philippines, it would always feature these beautiful women featuring makeup from brands well known all over the world such as Loreal, Maybelline, Revlon, Cover Girl and the likes.

I wasn't always the type of girl who goes around wearing makeup. In fact, I used to hate wearing makeup. It is true that I love putting them on and I have fun playing with them, but after wearing makeup for a few hours, I would have a break out. Yikes! ><

I didn't have a lot of self esteem to begin with, Getting a few pimples would break what little confidence I had. Still, i wanted to wear makeup to look pretty.

When the time came where I could afford these fancy named makeup, i got my hands on them only to be disappointed. they don't sit well with me. even the so called "hypoallergenic" ones would break me out.

Local lines weren't all that awesome too. Nice to buy them for practice, but not for actual use.

So, When the Asian lines came out, I turned a blind eye on them but yeah, with all their pretty packaging you can't help but resist them right?

too cute to ignore

Eventually, I started trying them out. I even fell for the BB cream hype (and I still abide by it)  but the first line that I got was Elianto which didn't sit well with me. The next one that I tried were from Etude house, and they too didn't sit well for me. I get break outs and stuff ><

Well idk what up with Etude House Philippines but everything else was much better when I tried out all the other Korean brands. Tony Moly, Lioele, Skinfood, These are the ones that I've tried so far and I do love them! i switch in between brands, and for the lip tint, I use them in combination. 

What is with the hype of these products? A lot would say it's cause of the KPOP and KDramas but personally I think it's cause they're good stuff. Like everything else that's good, if it's good it will stand out no matter what in the market. If not, then it will not clique

Are these just for Asians?

Although these were made with Asian skin in mind, I do think that the Asian lines are great for everyone. Kanebo and Shiseido made it into the western market for a reason.Although not as fancy, one could compare these to drug store brands, but better quality Korean cosmetics are gentler for the skin compared with makeups from the west. 

Maybe that's why I find western women to look older than they actually are compared to Eastern women. it is partly genetics, but I do think it's the makeup that could exacerbate the situation. 

How to store beauty products in sachets

Each skin is different. What could work for me may not work for you and vice versa. I've learnt  this the hard way by buying makeup on what reviews online says is good, wonderful etc, only to find out that it doesn't work for me. I would end up giving those products to my sister or my cousins. It's financially draining.

I can't use western products on my skin since those are the ones notorious for giving me horrible zits and acne. :( So, I'm pretty glad a lot of korean BB creams have their own testers conveniently sealed for us middle class people who can't afford to throw away their money. And they're very generous about it too. Those sachet contains like 1-5 ml of goodness! And as Korean makeups goes, usually a drop or two is enough. Some people would say Korean makeups are expensive, but if you think about it logically, it's not. They're very cheap.

But I do find these disgusting. These sachets aren't shampoos which you could just leave on the bathroom since you wash shampoos off. These is makeup we're talking about, you know, putting something on your face that has been left open is just ew. what if some sort of insect has gotten into it? o.O

I tried closing them, with a tape or paperclip, even tried the fridge, but no. it's very inconvenient, and no way would I bring these with me on a bag since it just spells disaster. I can't throw them away though, since one sachet could last for a week or two depending on how big your sachet is. Quite a waste. I want to use them for that long so i could tell if I should buy the regular size or not.

Our tools:

1. contact lens cases. they came free with contact lenses I bought from the internet. They look cute, and can be bought anywhere from 7-11's to high end department stores. You can get the one with a case like my hello kitty (it used to have a case, but it's gross and broken now) or the one that comes in cute compacts. I would recommend the ones with compacts, since most of them comes with a tweezer and a spatula with a silicon bulb ends

 I plan to give the hello kitty one to a friend of mine, who was asking me for a sampler of  Lioele Pore Solution balm. since my sister bought that, she gave me a generous amount. A week later, I found out our supplier had a sampler pack of it =_=


why I use contact lens? i have a lot of them lying around the house, since they come free with contact lens solution or contact lens themselves. very convenient. They're tough and leak proof so I love them <3

Why I don't use store bought travelling jars/pillboxes: they break easily, I tend to misplace them AND THEY LEAK!!!!!!! X( They're very expensive too :( They usually cost as much as a contact case lens that comes in a compact travelling case.  I'm still dependent on my parents you know. I don't want to be a burden.

2.1 Sachets: Like I said, Korean brands have them made. Very smart of them in my opinion. Western products doesn't have those, only store samples. If you like them there, then buy it. Never mind if it will give you a break out the next day.
or...
2.2 Your Regular-sized Product: Girls are social creatures. we love sharing what we think is great <3 or you can do this for yourself. Since I go home every weekend, it's very inconvenient for me to bring my BB creams back and forth. I refrain from doing this since travelling them tends to scratch their lovely surfaces >< oh shush you I love looking at their clean scratch free surface

Procedure

First we clean our cases, and this is for obvious reason. Some people would recommend using alcohol but, plain soap and water is okay.

drying the contact lens case

air dry or dry the case with a tissue. we don't want tap water in our product

For demo purposes, I'll be using Skinfood's Good Afternoon Peach Green Tea BB Cream

Skinfood Good Afternoon Peach Green Tea smells so wonderful <3

I don't want to waste sachets. Wasting stuff is bad, first-world people! if you're using the sachet, cut it at the corner so it comes out in small amounts

And now time to pour it in!

le pouring <3

This amount is enough to last me a for days. 

I know some of you are thinking ew, how unhygienic, since you have to dip your fingers on that. read on okay?

Replace the cap, put it back in your compact and there you go!

See why I recommend the contact lens case? it has it's own mirror, so you can use it anywhere you want. And most of these cases comes with that spatula thingie. IDK what you call it sorry ^^


Nifty ideas huh? :) Hope you like them :) 

BB Cream Adventure in the Tropics

No, this isn't about the history of BB creams. ^^ I'm sure you know them too, the all-in-one multi purpose creams of magical proportions.

I have been taking interest in them since Elianto came to the country. It's fun to reminisce! I believe I started using BB cream when I first started med school, roughly three years ago.

Elianto was the first brand to come in the Philippines which carried the BB cream line. I was under the impression that Elianto was Korean, but no, it was in fact Malaysian. I have nothing against that, but it did gave me a sense of false advertisement. Their products are made in Korea though, and that is what they usually say, but they never said Elianto was established in Korea. Quite deceiving huh? ^^ It was very timely too because it was the days when KPop was in, and everyone was into the Korean hype.

I do not know about the demise of Elianto here in the Philippines. It was like a shooting star of the market. Adored, loved, brilliant but faded as soon as it came. I haven't seen one now.

When I started med school, my allowance was raised a couple of hundred PHP, to match the standard of living as well as allowance for travel. It was expensive since I travelled across seven cities by bus and train everyday from monday to saturday with a test due the next. But eventually I was able to afford the Elianto Miracle Multiplex BB Cream

Yup it's three years old

It was really expensive. :( almost PHP 1k during that time, but I put my heart into this that this would be like a magical solution for me.

well it wasn't.

Since I traveled for leagues and scores, I could tell this product was just not for me. As a general rule, I wear makeup before I travel. I know it's not good but doing my makeup in school bothered me, so I just do it at home. Besides, it did promise that the BB cream lasts long. But by the time I get into school, all my makeup has melted and my uniform (which was white and had a turtle neck) catching all of the product. 

Also all the travelling made me lose sleep, hence I developed the really terrible acne. This product exacerbated my acne, instead of healing them like it promised. Every week I would develop a really angry zit, that it ruined my face. It would heal up in two weeks only to be replaced by another. So so depressing. It was very runny and greasy for my skin, and made my skin oily instead of glowing and dewy. 

I ended up giving this to my sister. Obviously she wasn't fond of this either. It was left there in our makeup shelf, forgotten. She didn't understood why I like BB creams. Well, the promise it offers theoretically had me hoping. but yeah, only hoping.

I stayed clear of makeup as time went by, but as I love dressing up, I still need foundation and stuff. I stayed with mineral powder. They gave me huge zits every now and then too. I envied my sister who could use Maybelline and not break out, as well as ELF, Loreal and others. It seemed that I kept on buying and buying only to give the things I buy to my sister. Makeup would waste a lot of my hard earned savings. 

It was really sad. I can't wear make up, cause if I do, I would break out. Not because I was allergic, more like cause my skin hates those products.

On my second year, my sister started using Myra VITA GLOW. I know a lot wouldn't consider this as a BB cream, but for me, it was. basically what BB cream claims, this product can also do. Plus it had the same consistency as any other runny BB cream. Looks like BB, feels like BB, works like BB, but under a different name. 

At first my skin liked it but as time passed on, my skin started to break out from it. Maybe it was the mineral foundation I used to matte it or maybe it's the product itself. I really have no idea. 

My cousin then bought her Maybelline BB cream. I knew I react badly to Maybelline, but I did try, I asked her for a sample, and she was generous enough. I didn't like it, it gave me a grey cast, but my sister liked it and bought one for herself. I think that was her first BB cream, lol. It was pretty cheap too. But nah. It's tempting but why bother when I can't even use that. It's depressing. 

Around that time that I started wondering if there is a makeup for me. Something I could wear without ruining my skin.

Around March, a friend of mine from another med school started to remind me bout BB cream. 

This time, I decided to try the korean ones. I had been saving my money to afford Etude House's BB creams but I found out that Skinfood's BB cream are cheaper (in the phil market, it's the most expensive line along with Laneige) . 

sold here

I got the Skinfood Good Afternoon Peach Green Tea in Shade #2 (natural) since it was good in my color. I bought it with my salary working as a freelance writer. It didn't made me break out, although I did get a zit here and there, it would dry up in a few days. 

The zits are from Etude's Green Tea facial wash. =_= I don't understand the rave bout Etude House here in the Philippines. their products dry out quickly, and basically, UH!! whatever

I like Skinfood, although it does tend to look oily on me.  I have combination skin, it's just the hot weather. 

When June came along my sister got us some Lioele products 

I got the last stock for myself. I'm so sorry ><

I got the Triple the Solution BB cream. If I put on too much it makes me look pale. But if I get the right amount, it's perfect :) I don't really buy the all in one stuff of BB creams before, but this one did the job! I've been using this for a couple of weeks now, and wow, it has finally lighten up my pimple scars, and dried out the scars I got from the Etude facial wash. my skin isn't perfect yet but my facial color has started to even out that I wonder if I still have the BB cream on my face. 

Lioele is my now favourite brand. along with Skinfood. :) They are the ones that I've tried (but yeah mainly Lioele) now I understand the rave about Lioele in neighboring countries

Internet Selling

It's pretty hard, but it is fun all at the same time ^^ I'm pretty chill about the business but my sister seems to be really aggressive in getting more sales, while she asks me to figure things out >< Still they're manageable. I do think I would start to panic once my sister goes abroad. ><

 I do hope we get more customers while she's still here =D

A small world with a Lioele Franchising owners

Yesterday my sister asked me to come with her to a small quaint store along the hi-way, called Lioele. I've heard of this brand before but I can't seem to remember where I first read it.

stuff I hoarded. My sister got most of it.

I was kind of wondering if they would allow retailers, since I wanted to make some extra profit specially with med school, I have to spend a lot of money for this semester. We're required to sponsor an Obstetrics and a Gynecology patient who will undergo surgery. Two patients whoa!! It's so unfair! :(

Apparently, my sister had the same idea. she wanted to earn some extra cash too. We went to the Lioele store with a business mind. After chatting with the tenant, we found out that the owner also lives in our village, just a couple of blocks away from us. What a small world! We had a good chat with her, since apparently her and me are the same age, and her husband was my sister's age. They have a two year old child who was conceived out of wedlock, but seeing them now, it's amazing! God has been good to them and I can see that those two would be prosperous. We inquired if she's willing to take retailers, and she's all for it. She told us that she started off as an online seller for mineral make up and next thing she knew her 5000 php has inflated and soon she was able to come up with a store. She told us a long time ago that she used to direct from suppliers, and soon she was hoarding stocks herself and soon, she was tapping on to korean companies as a supplier of her own. The couple told us secrets, about Korean cosmetic companies here in the Philippines as well, and why they're prices are steep and who owns what. Pretty much she encourages us to be the retailers for our city area, since there aren't much sellers here.

Since the store hasn't opened yet, she invited us over for the grand opening. She made a deal with us, that for a minimum of 5000 php of lioele products, single receipt, she will turn us into silver members. SILVER MEMBERS OF LIOELE!! I can waltz in her shop and have discounts on whatever I want. She has candy bags and other cosmetics and just... WOW. So generous that it seems to good to be true. She told us simply, she buys things in bulk, she's a supplier, if we buy in bulk prices we get a discount, and she still earns from us. The both of us benefits.

I did asked her if it's fake and she laughed. She's confident as she told us, her supplies came from  the company themselves, her stocks are fresh, and if they look different from the ones at the Philippine Market, it's simply because those companies uses old stocks o.O (will check if it's true). If you don't believe it's real then she won't waste her time explaining how it's real.

I hope her business prospers. I think it will even if we don't wish them well, with their generosity and kindness. I love being their business partners.