I'm loving BB Cream, and so will you!

I found out about this beauty miracle called BB cream when I moved to Asia four years ago. Back then, no one in Europe that I know had ever heard of BB cream, but in Asia every girl was raging about it. It didn't took me long before I gave it a go too. I LOVED IT. I still kept my foundation, which I planned to use for special occasions when more coverage was needed, but little by little I stopped using my foundation at all. It's not only that I love how my face looks with BB cream, is that I can feel my skin loves it too. I think my skin got better after using BB Cream for a while, which is why I never had to go for the deep coverage of foundations anymore. My skin is far from flawless but I believe BB Cream has improved it a lot {or at least stopped damaging it as foundations used to do!}. Foundations usually clog your pores making the skin become dull and full of blackheads. The great thing about BB Cream is it's so light it can't possibly clog your pores!

But... what exactly is BB Cream? BB Cream stands for Blemish Balm Cream, and it originated in Korea. Well, strictly speaking, it was first developed in German laboratories to heal the skin after surgery, but the formula was adapted by the Koreans and turned into BB cream, an instant hit among Korean women that spread rapidly throughout Asia. BB Cream is an all-in-one cosmetic replacing serum, primer, moisturizer, foundation and sun-block. This basically means that BB Cream is all you need to apply to your face in the morning before doing your makeup (eye-shadow, eye-liner, blush, etc.). I personally prefer to use moisturizer before applying my BB Cream because it blends way more easily and my skin feels more hydrated, but most of my friends don't. There are hundreds of BB Cream brands, specially since western brands discovered this secret weapon and started manufacturing their own. There are also thousands of BB Cream styles, with different functions and coverage levels. What suits me will not necessarily suit you, so I encourage you to do some research on different BB Creams and see which one could benefit your skin the most.

As for me, when in Taipei last July, I bought Dr Wu's Extreme Hydrate BB Cream because I tried it on in the store and it looked gorgeous. Dr Wu is a Taiwanese brand, but their BB Creams are manufactured in Korea. Before this I was already using Dr Wu's Perfect Cover BB Cream and I was happy about it but it was not my perfect cup of tea. Now after having been using Dr Wu's Extreme Hydrate BB Cream for almost half a year, I can tell you I'm a big big fan. It does to my skin exactly what BB Creams are supposed to do: give you a natural, no-makeup look while still covering minor imperfections. 

So tell me girls, are you going to give BB Cream a try?

L'Oréal Hydrafresh Review

I have been using L'Oréal Hydrafresh range for over a year now as my daily moisturizer. Hydrafresh comes in two versions: Hydrafresh for Normal and Combination Skin (green one), or Hydrafresh for Dry and Sensitive Skin (pink one). I have a normal to combination skin, which is why the one I always use is the green version. Once in Spain though, I run out of daily moisturizer and could only find the pink one, so I decided to give it a try. I'd say both of these moisturizers are great value for money. This is specially true in Europe where they cost around 7 euros. The price here in Asia is about doubled, as with most of the products imported from Europe.

Hydrafresh Aqua-Essence (green one) is a really good product. Thanks to it being a gel, it feels extremely light and it provides a soothing feeling immediately after application. I love to use it under my BB cream (I almost never use foundation, but let me tell you more about that in another post). BB Cream is like a tinted moisturizer, so you don't really need to use a base before applying it, but my skin has always felt much better with some sort of protection from it. I've been reading some people's reviews on the Hydrafresh for Normal and Combination skin, and a lot of them seem to complain about this product not being hydrating enough. I'd like to point out that this is a gel moisturizer specially designed for combination skin. The words gel + combination combined, should already make you notice that this is going to be a very light moisturizer. It is definitely not recommended for people with dry skin, or even for people with combination skin during cold winters.

The pink version, for Dry and Sensitive Skin, it's a cream rather than a gel, and it's a bit too oily for me. I guess it will be better in winter, but as for now I don't really use it. This is in fact my 3rd bottle of the green version, but I wouldn't repurchase the pink one. I guess it's my fault for buying a product that is not for my skin type!

Overall Quality: 4.5*

Price: HK$125-$139

Value for Money: 4.5*

Would I recommend it? Yes, I've repurchased the green moisturiser about three times. It's a very good option for an affordable daily moisturiser. If your skin is dry, go for the pink one!

Shiseido Night Moisture Recharge Review

I have been using this nighttime moisturiser for about three months now. It may not have been the best time to start using this, since it feels more appropriate for winter, but I still love it! Instead of using it daily as I probably will during the cold season, I now use this about three times a week.

This moisturiser is a dream come true. I wake up with an even complexion and glowing, velvety skin! It hydrates deeply, yet there is no greasiness whatsoever. It has a very lightweight texture that gets instantly absorbed by the skin. In fact, if you're going to stay at home for the day, or feel like you don't need sunscreen, this can totally be used for daytime.

Besides from hydrating, I've also noticed the littles lines around my eyes and mouth are going away, so it's a wrinkle corrector too!

As for the packaging, the pump bottle is very convenient and sanitary, and I like that you get to see how much is left thanks to the glass bottle. I love the scent too, it's a light fragrance that feels calming and refreshing.

This is my favorite night moisturizer at the moment, and I couldn't recommend it enough!

Besides, we Hong Kongers are so lucky when it comes to cosmetics. This same moisturiser sells in Europe at more than 50€, and in Australia at 75$. This is more than double the price in Hong Kong!

Price: Official retail price in Hong Kong HK$310. In Sasa: $235. In Lung Shing (龍城大藥房): $219 (cheapest in town)

Overall Quality: 5*
Value for Money: 5*

Would I recommend it? Hands-down!

For your info, in case you don't know Lung Shing, it's a cosmetics store with the best prices in Hong Kong, and it's always PACKED! It's located in 28 Granville Rd, Tsim Sha Tsui.

Origins Never a Dull Moment Face Polisher Review

I've had the Origin's Never a Dull Moment Face Polisher for about 3 months now.

I've been a bit disappointed by this product in the sense that I was expecting a scrub, when the product label always made it clear that this was a skin-brightening face polisher. I unfortunately was not aware of the difference between the two when I bough this.

After doing some research, I can finally tell the difference between a face polisher and a face scrub. A face scrub has bigger and thicker granules, and is to be used once a week as it provides a much deeper exfoliation, rubbing off a thicker layer of dead skin. A face polisher, on the other hand, is way softer, with finelly milled granules, designed to invigorate your skin by leaving it soft and glowing, but not to slough off dead cells in the way a scrub does. Face polishers will never be as effective in removing dead skin as a scrub, so this may be a good choice for very sensitive skins that get irritated with scrub. For the rest of us though, since a face polisher will never have the effects of a scrub in getting rid of impurities, if you really feel like using one, you need to bear in mind that its effects are basically softening and brightening, and that you will need to buy a scrub to keep up with the exfoliating work.

How do I feel about this product after all? This product smells yummy, with all the mango, papaya and apricot enzymes combined, even if I'm more into "clean" fragrances for my skincare. I rub it on my wet face, neck and sometimes décolleté, and rinse it with warm water after a minute or so. You can immediately feel the softness in your skin. It's really impressive, the skin feels like a baby's. I'd say it brightens my complexion too, but then I'm not 100% sure about that, since I think I'm too young to actually have dull skin. The downside here is its effect being way too short. The softness disappears from my face in about an hour. I use this once to twice per week, and twice seems like enough. A good thing to point out is this tube seems to last forever. I still have more than 80% left!

Price: HK$280

Overall Quality: 3.5*
Value for Money: 3.5*

Would I recommend it? Not really. The effects are not that obvious, so I would avoid spending that much money on this product. At this price, there are better choices for your skin out there!

There are currently 15 Origins stores in Hong Kong. Find out their location here.

Korea UGB Peeling Gel Review

I got the UGB Peeling Gel when in Korea in January 2011 and a couple of months ago I asked a friend who was traveling to Korea to repurchase it for me, it is THAT good.

This Korean peeling gel is a combination of algae and the famous Korean ginseng. It is a totally different concept from the regular peelings we are used to. This one doesn't come with any granules (how can a peeling peel anything off without granules?!). Rest assured, it is possible with UGB Peeling Gel. When you first take a bit of gel out from the container, the texture feels like a moisturizer. Once you start rubbing it though, the gel turns into small flakes. These rubber-like particles are a combination of the peeling gel and your own dead cells. Keep rubbing until you've covered all of your face. The effects are immediate and VERY notorious. You know all those dead cells you can sometimes feel just by touching your skin? How the skin is not soft and has obvious impurities? The UGB Peeling Gel gets rid of all these in a minute, and the effects are very long lasting. Depending on the level of pollution in your city, kind of make-up and skincare routine you use, the effects of this peeling can last for up to a week. I recommend using this peeling weekly for a drastic improvement of your skin.

You can find this almost everywhere in Korea, and its retail price is KRW37,800 (HK$260). When I purchased it by myself though, I went to a duty-free shop with a group tour, where they had an amazing group discount thanks to which I was able to buy this for around HK$100. Should I've known the retail price was SO different and this product SO good, I would have bought at least three bottles! If you're interested in this tour to Korea, it's Morning Star's 5-day Korean tour. In my case it was the tour including one ski day, obviously not available now during summer, but I guess any of their Seoul/Korea tours will have this visit to the duty-free store with group discount.

In Hong Kong, I haven't seen this product in retail stores, but you can buy it online via Beauty Net, Purple Words (apparently they have two stores as well in MongKok and Causeway Bay), and Yobuy (here for HK$198 on a special promotion. I just ordered my 3rd bottle from them!).

These are just websites that I found online and claim to sell the product in Hong Kong. I'm not responsible for any of them and cannot guarantee their reliability.

N.B. The UGB Peeling Gel is to be used with DRY skin. Do not wet your face before using this or else no flakes will come out.

Price: HK$260

Overall Quality: 5*

Value for Money: 5*

Would I recommend it? Definitely. This product is made in heaven!