Nature Republic Coenzyme Q10 solutionmask

It's been a while since I've applied sheet mask and I figured it is about time.  It's been raining everyday in the afternoon or evening and today's no exception.  I'm holing myself in my room and with the wonderful breeze, I really want to enjoy myself now.

So I went to my fridge to grab my Nature Republic Coenzyme Q10 Solution Mask.  It's written that it is formulated with MD 202 Water.  I did a search on it and found no returns, except for Nature Republic products.  I kinda assume that it's for hydration purpose.  Anyway, I tend to skew myself to Nature Republic's sheet masks cause I find them a better fit for my chubby face.

Like most korean products, their descriptions are in korean and because I am not korean nor am I brought up to know the language, I have no idea what's written.  One thing though, they have a few pictures to show you the sequence of order:

The first thing that hit me when I open the package is the smell.  It carries a tinge of smell that's kinda cloying.  But it's for a split second though.  Thank goodness, for I cannot imagine having to smell that cloying smell for 20-30 minutes whilst the mask is on my skin.

Hydration wise it looks good.  I do find my skin well hydrated throughout the day after using the mask.  Mind you, this is without putting any moisturisers on my skin after the mask.  At the end of the day I do find my skin feeling a little oily.  But it's okay since I am at home and if I were to use this on normal days, it will be used at night rather than during daytime (today is kinda like an exception).

Will I rebuy?  Typically, I find Nature Republic's masks fits me snugly as compared to the others, so I would still buy and explore others.

This one costs about RM7.90-RM9.90 if my memory serve me well.

p/s: Good news! My friend updated me that Nature Republic will soon be open in One Utama.  For those who are staying in PJ, you don't have to drag yourself all the way to KL (as they are only available at Fahrenheit88 and Berjaya Times Square) to get them.  As for the dates, I have no idea =p

Shills Deep Cleansing Black Angel Bamboo Charcoal Whitening Mask

I requested from Only Beauty this particular mask and thought that it would be interesting to give it a try.

(picture taken off the internet)

The mask is supposed to help in the following manner (description found from the internet): 

Angel Bamboo Charcoal Whitening Mask is an ultra-fine particles technology embed in bamboo charcoal with the capacity of anti-bacteria with excellent absorption that can draw out and decompose the impurities such as sebum and dirt inside pores. The far infrared ray released from bamboo charcoal can facilitate the essence infiltrate deep into skin. 

The special blend of Hawaii seaweed gel can facilitate your skin metabolism and regulate sebum secretion, to fight against signs of aging. The Hyaluronic acid enhances your skin hydration, which can quench your skin. Arbutin, Chamomile extract and peppermint extract, which can not only calm and relax your tensed skin, but also brighten your skin in a wink of an eye. Your skin will look luminous with irresistible charm! 

I'd have to say that havent the black mask over my face looks weird and definitely feels weird.  I doubt we ever put anything black onto my face, save for the healpharm nose pore cleaner.  One thing that kind of put me off was the smell of the mask.  It smells odd.  It's not yucky smelling, but it smells a bit like watery airy kind of smell.  Can't actually describe it but it is something that put me off though.

How does it fair?

In terms of cleanliness, it does fair well.  I skin feels more purified, if you know what I mean.    I massaged the remaining lotion into my skin and it felt rather nice.  However, after a few minutes, I felt a tingling on my skin and touching it, it felt warmer.  I guess it may be the ingredients of the mask lotion working.  I left it as it is for a while, till I felt a tightening of my skin.  Worried that my skin will get tighter and drier, I quickly applied some moisturiser onto my skin.  It felt better that way.  I guess since this is considered a purifying mask, we need to remember to apply moisturiser once we are done with it.  This is so that our skin won't get too dry and have some misgivings.

Even after shower at night, my face still feels clean.  I quite like the feeling.  Then again, this is definitely not a regular mask for me to use because I doubt my skin can tolerate it well.  Maybe a bi-monthly affair.

I might re-buy, however, that would be after I am done with all the masks that I have in my drawer! 

My Beauty Diary Mask: Arbutin Whitening Mask

A revisit to the mask land for me! Hasn't been really sleeping well and my skin was looking rather dull.  Figuring it was high time for a round of pampering to my skin, I rummage my bag (yes, a paper bag full of it) of masks and found this!

My Beauty Diary Mask ~ Arbutin Whitening Mask.  I guess this would help me to brighten up my skin and so I proceeded to it.  This time round, I didn't fridge it but left it my air-cond room for a bit (went to wash and scrub the skin so that it can absorb the mask session better, tee hee).

When I opened it, I was rather intrigued by the mask.  Usually, the paper masks are white in color and slightly think.  A little paper-y feel, if you know what I mean.  This mask is rather different and unusual.  Compared to other masks, this is a see through mask.  It's rather thin, but yet not flimsy.  In terms of thickness, it's pretty much the same as the other paper masks that I've used.  Nonetheless, it's quite easy to manipulate to ensure that it fits the face.  I think the uniqueness of it is the fact that it's rather smooth! It's like putting a layer of jelly onto your skin.

I remember staring at the mirror after applying it and I could still pretty much "see" my face, if you know what I mean =D

However, I find that it's kinda shallow on the forehead size, maybe it's cause I have high forehead?  Other than that, like any of the My Beauty Diary Mask, it fits my face quite well.

After 20 minutes or so, I removed it and yet it still feels like that mask is full of juice! Haha... I used it along my arms and legs, just to fully utilise all those nutritious (I guess they are?) juive =D

Did it make my skin instantly fair?  Nah, my skin do look brighter though, giving me that perked up feeling that I like.  Like any other masks, one must continue using it for a period of time in order to see the effect.  It's rather hydrating I would say, and that does make me feel good too.

Will I rebuy?  I guess? Cause I find that the see through feeling was kinda awesome. haha... It does perk my skin up so that's a pro to it.

DIY: Mung Bean Yoghurt Mask

I don't remember if I've ever mentioned that since the beginning of this year, I've been having breakouts non-stop.  It's really bad honestly, for a person who barely has breakouts in the past few years.  I was wondering whether it was due to a change in my hormone or if it's just purely due to the hot weather.  I guess there is a possibility of both, along with the work stress that came my way (Oh my! so many reasons eh!).

Well, I didn't really want to pay a big fortune to go to facials due to a bad experience whereby my skin got even worse after spending thousands on facials thus I started scouting online for alternative!

I chanced upon an entry by Viva Woman on the use of Mung Bean and yoghurt as an anti-blemish mask.   This piques my attention and created the desire for me to experiment.  The thought of using natural day to day available kind of ingredients for beauty is quite an interesting thought, don't you think so?

So, roughly a month or so, I started hunting for Mung Bean here in the stores.  Okay, I know you can blend it on your own, but because Sesame from Viva Woman was able to find the powder form of it, I'd figured it won't be that hard right? Well, I was wrong! It's super hard to find it here.  The only type that I found was actually used by Indians to cook their special curries or ingredients.  I was hesitant to buy it at first because it the Mung Beans were roasted before it was grind.  But desperation calls as my skin gets much worse and I bought it!  


Well now, it's just very easy to do.  All I need to do is mix the powder and yoghurt together.  As for me, I prefer to have more yogurt in the mixture as it seems to be smoother on my skin. I tried mixing more of the mung bean powder and it seems quite harsh on my skin when I wash it off.  I don't actually have any measurement, just by instinct =p


How did it turn out?  Okay, the pimples did not disappear overnight, that's for sure.  What I realise was that the pimples seems to have calmed down a bit everytime I use the mask (every alternative days, when I am not lazy!).  That's good cause I don't want the pimples to go bursting on me, honestly.  After a couple of weeks of doing it, I realised that my freckles/pigments have also lighten! Woah! Now that's something that I didn't imagine would take place.


So all in all, this is a good try and me likey very much.  I just bought another tub of yoghurt so that I can make the mask =p

Halfway Thru the Month & My Purchases are increasing!

I usually pace myself with my purchases, but this month, it's on an overhaul! They aren't that exhorbitant, but still! Woah, I'm going nuts with shopping eh.. and it's only half a month passed, there's another half to go. I seriously need to go slow =.=

Review: Argan Nutrixer Mask Sheet by Nature Republic

This is actually a long overdue entry!  I've mentioned before that Nature Republic was giving out free masks as part of the launching.  It went on for a while, I guess they were trying to pass those masks out for people to sample it as a few later when I went over to the shop with a few colleagues to make purchases, they were still giving out those masks.  However, it's only if you purchase something in return.

For those who aren't familiar with Nature Republic; it is similar to Etude House and The Face Shop.  Nature Republic is also originated from Korea.  This is what they have to share about themselves:

"Nature Republic", based on Mother Nature's law, is a new cosmetic brand, created by combining both state-of-the-art technology as well as natural substances of the utmost quality.  It includes such substances as various medicinal plants, flowers and seawater from around the world, and natural prescriptions from ancient times.

I've actually used one of the free masks months ago and intended to blog about it, but I guess I failed in that account eh.  Totally forgot about it until today.  Well, since I used it again, I decided to quickly do a review on it.  Like Etude House and The Face Shop, they used an artist as their ambassador.  However, here's the gung ho part.  They did not use just anybody, but Rain!  For those of you who do not know, Rain is a famous and now an International Artist from Korea.  He has recently penetrated the US market (for Asian, I guess that's good achievement) and is one of the hottest selling Korean artist around.  Here's a picture of the masks (check it out, Rain's face on each of these masks ok)

Rain aside (well, not literally raining eh); so how did the mask fare?

Fitting: Well now, I have to say that it does not fit well with my face.  It's not so much of the width but the length of it.  It does not cover the full of my forehead, but as for chin downwards, it's so long that it can cover a quarter of my face =.= That's quite an odd feeling, considering that I was pulling the mask to make it fit my face.  Kinda dislike that fact.

Hydration level: Of the mask of course.  Well, it's rather "juicy" I would say.  Even after 20 minutes to 30 minutes or so, the mask is still kinda wet and I actually went and rub in all over my arms as well as my legs.  Beat that.  Haha... it's good I presume.  Oh, upon opening the mask, rest assured, it didn't drip all over the place.  Nonetheless, a slight run over the plastic bag which holds the mask does produce probably half a teaspoon of the "juice".  Quite well.

Stickiness: The mask's a little sticky, as in, when you touch it, you feel that the stickiness is on your fingers.  I was a little irritated by it because I was having to adjust the mask and I kept needing to rub my fingers around to get it to dry.  Overall, once it's on and if you don't move it as much as I did (I think it took me like3 to 5 minutes to get the mask to settle on my face), it'll fair well.  After the mask session, I did find my nose area and my forehead being slightly sticky still, whereas the cheek's area pretty well hydrated and not as sticky.  Probably because of my combination skin (T-zone oily, cheeks area dry).

Brightening: Okay, to be honest, I don't what's the benefit of this mask.  Nonetheless, I find my face looking brighter and fresher.  I can even feel my skin having a bit of the "do-ing, do-ing" feeling to it.  I'm quite beat recently and looking rather dull, so this mask does help to brighten my complexion.  The colour's quite even and I look refreshed.  Good plus point to it.

Overall: It's a good mask; however; although this is not a re-buy item, I may still not re-purchase it even if it is because I dislike the mis-fit of the mask.

My Beauty Diary Mask

A couple of weeks back was quite a stressful period for me, as work was continuously piling up and there were a lot of demands here and there for me to hand in stuff.  A colleague of mine noted of the number of late nights that I was staying in the office and being such a darling that she is, she gave me two masks which she bought from Taiwan (just got back from Taiwan)!!  Oh my gosh!!! I was so stunned when I got it as it was another late night and I was caught in a rather late meeting on a Friday night too! Such blessing =D

Ain't the note she gave me sooo cute???  Aw... such a darling! Winn darling, thank u soooo much for this gift u gave me.  U cannot imagine my surprise and gladness when I saw it on my table =D

I couldn't wait to use it and comes Saturday, I totally rip off one of the masks after snapping the pictures to enjoy it.  I was feeling rather hot (heaty I think) and I thought it'll be good to try the cooling mask.  Okay, no pictures to show, but woah, I totally love it.  Not only does it make my skin feels cooler as I use it, it seems to do good with moisturising my skin too.  I totally turned haggard due to the amount of stress I was facing, and this mask makes me feel lifted, both physically (my face) as well as emotionally.  It totally eases me =D

I like the fact that it's light enough (some masks feels so heavy on your skin, well, mine at least) and the cooling effect was there.  It also leaves my skin feeling moisturised without that heavy feeling too.  Neither did my skin feels sticky after that.

However, one thing I don't actually fancy was that there were a lot of the balance of the liquid in the bag, and when it's poured out, it was rather watery.  I almost spilled some onto the floor @.@  Well, lucky it didnt go to waste =p  I poured it onto my cupped hand and applied it all over the neck.  Feels good too!

All in all, it's good!  No wonder it's such a HIT in the market.  Nonetheless, I do find it a little pricey here in Malaysia.  I'm currently eyeing a friend who is going to Hong Kong next month to get me some back dee... woo hoo.. Different ones to try.  I still have the cherry blossom one with me =D