Review: Skinfood Sweet Potato Hydra Liquid SPF 20 PA+

I have another review I meant to write awhile ago, but I totally forgot that I had this. I got this in shade #23, which I believe is the darker version.. they have shade #13, and #21. The one I have is equiv to NC25-30 I think. Skinfood is a brand from Korea but they seem to be pretty popular in Asian countries. I haven't seen a stand alone store in the US but I have seen some of their products in Korean supermarket kiosks.

It's a pretty big bottle with 45ml/1.5oz of product. 

Easy to control pump dispenser, and you can do the twist cap thing if you don't want to use the pump.

The shade is very peach toned, and very yellow. It doesn't match my skin 100% but it's blends in after a few minutes and looks fine. The peach tone really warms up the face although it doesn't brighten the skin tone... which is unfortunate because it would be so much better. It just looks matte, but very natural.

Natural Lighting

Sunlight

The foundation has medium coverage and sits on the skin pretty comfortably. I didn't feel it was heavy or anything. The scent of this foundation is pretty strong and reminds me of Asian hair conditioners. It's sweet smelling with floral accents. The smell doesn't bother me, but it is unusually stronger than most foundations I've tried. 

Pros

1. Lots of product! 45ml/1.5oz of foundation in a dispensable pump

2. Glass bottle for aesthetics 

3. Matte finish

4. Infused with sweet potato, with the belief that topical effects of food is better for skin

5. Very natural finish 

Cons

1. Shade selection is limited

2. Scent is strong

3. Hard to find in the US but easier to buy online

This is how it looks like blended. 

I really like this foundation but I don't think I'd repurchase simply because I'll probably never use this up! =p While this foundation has nice coverage, it makes my skin look flat and boring. By that, I mean that it doesn't have that dewiness that most Asian foundations have. Their bb creams are much better and makes my skin look more radiant. I also think this foundation is a bit too orangey on me... not that it doesn't match eventually, but it's not something I'd use in the winter when I'm a few shades lighter. Right now it's nice for summer with a bright shimmery highlight.

This product is bought by yours truly :) Runs for around $15-20 on eBay and various sellers online.

Have you tried anything from Skinfood? Thoughts? :)

Weekend in Pictures and Anastasia Brows

Hello everyone! I hope you all had a pleasant weekend. I was extremely busy the entire week o_o I took a road trip down to LA over the weekend to attend a wedding and had a blast :) I never realized how much I hate packing travel necessities. I have an arsenal of samples and stuff, but it can be such a pain to put them together =p Know what I mean?

Here's some pictures from over the weekend. I was so lame and forgot to pack my camera so I had to use my iPhone to snap these.

The wedding cake for the lovely couple :) It was a Taro cake from Van's Bakery in San Gabriel for those of you familiar with LA. It was delicious!

This was the pier at Marina del Ray where the wedding took place

This was the deck of the restaurant Shanghai Red's :) The other side of the bridge had a whole bunch of gorgeous koi fishes! :)

The table where I sat at :) Asian weddings are all about the food. This place had a buffet!

This was the best photo I found o_o I didn't realize I left my camera at home until we were in LA... 6 hrs later! Driving. My hair's crazy, I know.

This is Muffin... the couple's 12 yr old cat :)

How is it that super markets can sell ice cream like this? LOL Ridiculous huh?

I've noticed that one of the things I don't really pay attention to are my brows o_o I don't know what it is but I never seem to make it shapely yet it's the one feature that really defines the face. That's all going to change in a the next few days! I was contacted recently to review the Anastasia Beauty Express Brow Palette (really excited!). I'm really going to make an effort to see how a higher end product works compared to my cheap ELF Studio Eyebrow kit. And also to see how it compares in terms of color match. I always find that it's hard for Asians to get the "ideal" brow color because it never looks good to have jet black eyebrows yet it can look unnaturalish with brown brows. At least that's with my ELF one... maybe the Anastasia one is somewhere in between? ;) We shall see.

It's curious, isn't it? I've never tried anything like that and it looks really luxe with thoughtful packaging. What I like most about it is the brow stencils. I'm really excited to try it out and will def give guys you my thoughts on it. 

Will post again tomorrow. Night all! 

Dior Amber Diamond, and other fancies

Hey everyone! I finally got around to taking pictures of my new Dior Amber Diamond. I was so excited for this and wanted to get it for the longest time. I was lucky enough to find it on a blog sale so I didn't have to pay full price for this. This is such a gorgeous highlighter, but I haven't used it yet. I am just admiring it for the time being ;) Don't tell me you guys don't do the same! =p

Isn't it gorgeous!? =p I am in lust with it! LOL :) I think I was too influenced by Tiff from Will Work for Makeup. She looks absolutely gorgeous with this highlight.

Homemade sushi on a weeknight :)

Tried and True: Aloe Life skin gel

I know aloe is the purest form of treatment for sunburns and post sun care, but I think it's so understated nowadays with all the moisturizers and lotions with some form of aloe in it, but not the real stuff. The skincare market is full of mumbo jumbo stuff that claim to lighten scars and discoloration but the real stuff is what works although rarely mentioned. Why? Probably because it's not sexy to pluck a piece of aloe from your backyard and use the gel on your face o_o

2 months ago, I got a blistering burn from cooking porridge. The rice in the water burst out landed on my wrist for less than 10 secs but the blistering was inevitable.. It started as a red spot, then an itchy red spot, and then a very itchy red spot with an angry red ring around it. I could go into details but it's probably best I didn't =p Basically, it was blistering and my skin kept boiling even with the ice pack on =/ Luckily, one of my coworkers had an aloe bush at home and she gave me some to use. I applied the gel topically onto my skin everyday and the scar got lighter and lighter. I was then on a search for real aloe without having a bush. I don't have a garden since I live in an apartment and I know many people can relate :)

Aloe Life Skin Gel from Whole Foods $9.99/4oz

I'm not a huge fan of the packaging because the aloe can dry up and get stuck in the crevices of the cap.

Inside of it... total darkness, I know! o_o It's unscented if you're wondering. There is still a smell, but there aren't any added smells.

It's a gel, and there aren't any chunks of aloe in it so it's easy to spread onto skin and tries relatively quickly. The one thing about aloe is that it will dry out your skin since it promotes healing by shedding off layers of old skin. Do I make sense? =p

Here's my skin now. I don't have any pics of the before but it was reaaally bad. This is after 2 months and I'm using the aloe gel every couple of days.

The ingredients: 99% Certified Organic Whole Leaf ALoe Vera Juice Concentrate #5-215-365 TDA, Seaweed - thickening agent, Palmitate (Vitamin A), Tocopherol (Vitamin E), Azulene (Chamomile Extract), Allantoin (Extract from Comfrey), Ascorbic Acid (Vitamin C), Citric Acid, Potassium Sorbate. NO WATER ADDED!


People swear by honey and tumeric, sugar and mayonnaise... ! Do you believe in going natural for your skin? What are your recs? :) 


In other news, I finally got the Dior Amber Diamond highlighter!!! :) I bought it on a blog sale and will def show pics of it in my next post! :)

Coral themed May and June Favorites

I've been trying to keep consistent with these monthly favorites but I'm really bland when it comes to new things... I tend to stick with products I use over and over because of its familiarity =p Plus, getting ready fast means more time for breakfast and the morning news. God, I'm old.

So here are my favorites for May and June, I hope you find these to be some of your favorites too!

Giveaway Wins and Saturday Stuff

Hi everyone! :) Happy Saturday! What are your plans today? I just cleaned the apartment and getting ready for a friend to come over for movies and food. I feel like a kid again! ;)

Over the past few months, I've been really fortunate to win some very awesome giveaways from my favorite bloggers :) I wanted to make a collective post about it and show some of the goods these generous bloggers presented to me.

The first one is from Rinny at Rinny's Beauty Diary :) I won her "With Love" giveaway and she sent me a very cute pair of earrings I'm planning to wear soon.

And she sent me a Silk Whitia mask!!!!!!!! :) I've wanted to try these for SO long. I've been frugally saving it to use before a special occasion ;)

Aw, Rinny, thank you!!! :) If you haven't checked out her blog, do so now! She is a gorgeous model-esque gal w/very classy taste in fashion and accesorries :)

I also won a Youth Corridor Serum from Diva Debbi :) I was SO excited to try this. I recently started using it and I'm loving it so far. I'll do a proper review after a few more weeks.

Check out her website! She has quirky comments on life, and very awesome reviews!

And lastly, I won Mishi's giveaway from Mishi a La Mode :) I got a nice hearty package this morning and i was stocked!! Here's what it is:

Lashes, eyeshadows, lash glue, eyelid primer and there was a lash guard/comb that's not pictured.

Do check out her blog, she is adorable!! I just found out we're practically neighbors! We live in the same city!! LOL :)

These gals are all so sweet... aww. Thank you so much!

So today while cleaning my apartment, look what I found....

My Mighty Aphrodite blush from Mac's Wonder Woman collection..... Oh no =( I'm still going to use it. I'll do swatches and a review soon. It's so pretty although I hate the ugly packaging =p

Alright everyone, have a good rest of your day. Door's knockin'! :)

Oldies but goodies

I think I've been doing pretty good with keeping my makeup addiction at bay =p Everytime I review something new, it's really not new new. I've usually had it for awhile and in queue to be talked about. I haven't actually hauled much things lately, but it doesn't mean I'm not thinking about it, compulsively or otherwise ;) My current want is Dior's Amber Diamond. But since that's not happening... $44 is a little steep for a bronzer (or is it..?)

I've been a little more than obsessed with highlighters lately.  I'm not normally a huge fan of MAC,  but I think their MSF's are aweeesome.  I'm going to do a full post of my MSF collection in the coming days :) I mostly like their LE ones and I've just discovered them not long ago so I had to hunt down many of the discontinued ones o_o