Wednesday Night Skincare Routine

Hello dolls. Did instagram bring you over? :) I get a lot of pleasure and fulfillment out of pampering myself and taking care of my skin, which is why I like a long, layered routine.

So let's go over my routine for tonight.

[ Cleanse ]

I tend to go for a heavy eye with my makeup, so I always pre-cleanse with an eye makeup remover. (Not pictured) The one I used tonight is from Beige, and it's the 3 Seconds Perfect Eye Makeup Remover. This is one of those makeup removers that has two parts that you need to shake together. This stuff works. I literally hold the cotton pad with this on my eye for maybe 5 seconds (instead of 3) and my eyeshadow, eyeliner, and mascara come right off. I swipe once more over my brows and voila! Eye makeup is no more. You can get it here if you want to buy yourself one.

For my first oil cleanse, I used Re:cipe Rose Petal Cleansing Oil. This cleansing oil has the faintest smell of roses. Its really nice how faint the smell is actually. Super smooth and glides on my skin. I spent about 1-2 minutes massaging my face with this. Face massage + getting rid of all my excess makeup? Heavenly. I splashed my face with lukewarm water and because this oil emulsifies easily with water, it came right off.

Second cleanse was with Missha Near Skin pH Balancing Cleansing Gel. Nothing too special about this one other than it's nice and low pH. I did a pH test on this earlier in the day and found it at a . It lathers up okay. I still get bubbles. I'm just a huge fan of super soft foam but I found foam usually comes at the price of a high pH :(

[ Active ]

I wanted to bring the pH of my skin lower than 5 just because I planned to use an active tonight, so this is where Mizon's AHA&BHA Daily Clean Toner came into play. The pH is around a 4-4.5. Quick swipe of this before, and I actually did a quick swipe after just in case to get rid of anything excess.

I've been trying to incorporate an active into my routine slowly, as I've noticed theres a couple of closed conedomes on my forehead :/ My skin is usually clear and smooth naturally, so for these little guys to be around really annoys me. I'll do anything to get rid of them. Papa Recipe White Flower Clear Up 8% AHA it is. I sat around for 30 minutes while I waited for this to do its work.

[ Essence ]

Missha Time Revolution The First Treatment Essence. This is my baby. I'm almost half-way through with this! I take a couple drops between my palms and press this all over my face. It sinks in quickly. I only need to tap in a few times before its completely absorbed. Since I've used this, I've noticed a huuuuge difference in how my skin feels. I want to try other first essences though, see if theres any difference.

Next is actually another baby of mine, and not really an essence. The Face Shop Rice Ceramide Moisture toner. This thing hydrates my skin like a motherf. Instead of putting it on a cotton pad however, I did the same thing I did with the Missha Essence. A couple drops into my palms and pressed it in to my skin.

Once the toner was all soaked in, it was time for me to add some snail goo. COSrx Advanced Snail 96 Mucin Power Essence. To be honest, it took me a while to get used to putting this on. I've used other snail products, but this one has PURE snail mucin and my goodness you can tell by the string-y texture. Spreading this can still somewhat feel really gross, but I know it's doing right by my skin and it goes away so I put up with it.

[ Ampoule ]

**MY HOLY GRAIL!** Manyo Factory Ultra Moist Spa Ampoule. Two words: I. Love. This. Stuff. (That was actually four) This is a very runny and liquidy ampoule, so it soaks in very quickly. I always reach for this in practically every routine I do because it's so hydrating and provides my skin with so much moisture. For tonight, I used this all over my face.

Scinic Propolis 95 Ampoule. Ahhh propolis. This serum is so-so. Gel like texture. Haven't noticed anything super benificial to my skin. I put this on my forehead and a little on my chin just cause thats where I tend to get hormonal pimples. Might as well do what I can to keep them at bay.

Yuri Pibu Artichoke Power Essence. It's name says essence.. but this is the thickest of my ampoules/serums. I used this on the tops of my cheeks and nose where my pores are the largest. This is still very new to me so I can't say much about it.

After all this I decided on doing this blog post so I put on a sheet mask. I didn't leave it on for too long though, about 10 minutes.

[ Moisturizer/Occlusive ]

For my final steps I start with my eye cream. Tonight I used a new one, Secret Key Starting Treatment Eye Cream Rose Edition. Since its new, I have nothing to say other than.. such cute packaging.

Next I took the Mizon Snail Recovery Gel Cream and added in three drops of the Tatcha Gold Camellia Beauty Oil. Mixed it up on my finger tips and spread it on my face. More snails, and some camellia oil for that extra hydration because its cold af and I know I'm blasting the heater tonight.

Oh and to keep it all sealed in I used Botanic Farm Black Soybean Milk Pudding Sleeping Pack. I like the jelly texture of this and how it smells. I love the smell of this.

My eyes are getting really heavy and I've sort of skimped on the extra details for the last steps. But I'm tired and I did my best. So there you have it, tonight's long evening routine. I'm off to dreamland now. Goodnight!!

xo ciana

[Review] J. One Jelly Cushion Foundation

Hello loves :) Today I'm giving a review of the J. One Jelly Cushion in no.23. I ordered this beautiful cushion compact from memebox when I was going through my emails and one of memebox's subscription mails had a picture of this cushion along with the new hana cream. I had a vip coupon so I threw it into my e-cart :) Shipping from memebox is quick.

Before we begin, here is a description of the cushion, taken straight off the memebox website:

J.ONE introduces a premium Jelly Cushion that is specially formulated to be lightweight and easy-to-blend while giving the skin full coverage. It seamlessly covers skin imperfections in just a single layer. This makeup cushion is infused with lemon extract, royal jelly extract and sea buckthorn extract to nourish and protect the skin from harsh environmental elements. It also provides superior sun protection with its SPF50+/PA+++ which allows you to enjoy outdoors without worrying about sun damage!

This also came with a refill, so heres hoping I like this foundation! On to my experience.


[Packaging]

The packaging for this is minimalistic, all white with black typing and the J One logo on the front. It pretty much matches the packaging for the Jelly Pack, just compact version. I adore the packaging. And like I said, this comes with a refill!

[Shade]
I think this shade is almost perfect for my skin. Out of all the foundations I have, this one matches me really nicely. For reference, I'm in between NC25-30 in MAC. It is slightly lighter than my natural skin tone, but nothing too crazy. I actually prefer my foundations to be on the lighter side so when I contour it evens everything out.


[Coverage]

Before I put it on!

I found that this is definitely light/medium coverage, but that may be because I don't use a lot of product. I also don't have any blemishes that I need covered however I do have a bit of redness on my cheeks, so I needed to add a second layer to these spots to cover them up.

After! Do you notice a difference?

[Wear]
So for wear, I tried this out in three different ways.

The first day I decided to try this with the J One Jelly Pack underneath as my primer :) I know the actress who created the brand, Ha Ji Won used it as a primer on Get It Beauty so I wanted to test the two products together. This method was definitely my favorite way to wear this cushion. It went on really smooth. I also found that the foundation lasted all day, even through-out my work day. I work in a restaurant, so I can get pretty sweaty as I run around. It held up pretty well until about 10:30 pm, when I finally took it off.

The next time I used this, I was going to try it without any primer. Uh.. that was an awful idea. I wouldn't recommend using this without a primer if you have dry skin. After about 30-45 minutes, the patchiness around my dry areas was RIDICULOUS. It looked so disgusting, and I had to take it off. I still wanted to wear it however, so I tried it with one of my favorite hydrating primers, Marc Jacobs Invisible Under(cover) Perfecting Coconut Face Primer. Again, this cushion went on very nicely and smooth and I didn't need too much. It wore okay, but I noticed after about 5 hours that it wore off completely around my nose.

I wish I had a korean primer to also test this with, but alas I do not have any that has yet made its way in to my collection :/



[Overall]
Without any primer, this cushion sucks terribly for my dry skin. I have never used a foundation that emphasized my dry patches so badly. But somehow, I like this cushion. So far in my korean cushion collection it's my favorite. The only thing is however, I'd probably only wear it with my J One Jelly pack as that seemed to work out best for me.

Friday Morning Skincare Regimen

I'm hesitant to call what I do for my skin a routine, because its always changing depending on how my skin looks or feels. Thats the beauty of the Korean Skincare Routine. You can change it up and there aren't any "rules" really. 

So Friday mornings I can take my time doing my routine, just cause I don't start work until evening time! I have a couple hours of down-time to pass today, and I haven't had much time to mask this week. So I decided I'm going to triple mask! Yayyy. And I also have the time to blog about all my steps in detail, as oppose to instagram, haha.

Starting off with my morning cleanse! Today I used:

The Face Shop Rice Water Bright Cleansing Oil. This is my first overseas cleansing oil! And so far, it's nice. One of the things I enjoy about this, is the light scent. Very relaxing when I massage this into my face. It's very light weight in comparison to the Burt's Bee's Cleansing Oil I also use. Emulsifies with water and rinses off easily. 

COSRx Low pH Good Morning Gel Cleanser. Low pH life is the life for me. Ever since I switched my cleansers to lower pH cleansers, my moisture barrier was able to heal. Still a work in progress, but every day I can feel my skin getting better. Initially when I started using this, I wasn't a fan of the tea tree smell, but now I quite enjoy it. Lathers up into soft bubbles if you work it into your palms first, so I definitely didn't have to give up the bubbly foam I enjoy.

Nooni Spring Water Sprout Smoothing Toner. To be honest, I have only used this toner a handful of times since I bought it. So I can't tell you whether or not I love it or hate it. I'm trying to use it more though so I can review it :) Said to be made with naturally carbonated spring water, this stuff is rich in minerals for your skin. Another ingredient in this is a Sprout Complex (Broccoli, Cannola, and Bean Sprouts) which is BHA/AHA and helps in removing dead skin cells. Also, no alcohol in here!  

With my skin clean and prepped, I'm ready for my triple masking!

Mask #1 

Eliza Vecca Hell-Pore Clean Up Mask. I. Love. This. Mask. This peel off mask really cleans out your pores and takes off any lingering dead skin cells that are sitting on your face. My pores feel clean and sort of "open" and ready to take on anything I layer on top of it. Which is why I chose to use this as my first mask, hehe. 

Mask #2 

Anskin Premium Snow White Modeling Mask. I got this modeling mask from a beauteque subscription bag. The type I got is Purifying and Anti-Blemish. I can't find anywhere what this is supposed to do for me, but through the name I can make a guess. I don't have a huge problem with acne or blemishes, but I do get the occasional pimple and lately a couple of closed conedomes on my forehead. I tried this on Monday night, and I really like the smell and how it feels on my face. It's really cool peeling this rubbery stuff off of your face! I definitely want to try more of these modeling masks that are more suited to my skin needs.  

Mask #3 

Ciracle from Jeju Citrus Sudachi Whitening Mask. I wasn't sure what sheet mask to use today. I went through my stash and had a lot of contenders, but ultimately I chose this one from Ciracle. I wanted to test out a new sheet mask, plus I wanted to skin tone to look bright and even. The packaging claims to also be moisturizing, and I can always do with some of that. This definitely has a strong citrusy smell with a hint of floral. I'm not too sensitive to smells though so I don't have a problem with it, but if you want to try this note that the smell lingered the entire 20 minutes I had this on my face. When it came time to take off this mask, the essence that was left on my face was a teensy bit sticky. I pat it in, and let it sit and soak in and the small stickyness is gone. I'm not noticing too much of a brightening effect, but my face does feel pretty smooth and moisturized. I look pretty dewy.

Look at that sheen! 

I gave my face a few minutes while I drank my morning coffee to let all the masking goodness to sink in before I completed the rest of my routine. You'll notice I layered quite a bit of products on top of the masking I've already done. The weather where I am is rainy and, and let me tell you.. Boy is it cold. Storm weather has not been kind to my skin. I've slept with the heater on the past few nights because without warmth I can't fall asleep. So the skin on my face definitely needs and soaks up all the added moisture.



As for my serums/ampoules I layered on 3 different ones. 3 is the magic number I guess. Haha. Yay for triple everything in this damn cold.

dear Klairs Freshly Juiced Vitamin Drop Serum. I got this yesterday. But ever since I placed the order on wishtrend I've been excited to use it. It quickly soaks in after gentle patting, so I was able to layer on top of this without much wait time. I'll probably do a more in depth review once I've used it a bit more, but for now. Me gusta. (I like.)

Manyo Factory Ultra Moist Spa Ampoule. I am so grateful to Margaret from Melodycosme.com (@melodycosme on IG) for introducing this into my life. I LOVE THIS THING, its my holy grail. It's loaded with ingredients from the ocean and my skin DRINKS this ampoule up. It's super light and watery, almost like an essence! Great for layering with me because just like the Vitamin Drop serum, it soaks in pretty quickly with gentle patting. Along with providing moisture, this has ingredients for brightening and also plenty of antioxidants which help in fighting free-radicals.

itS SKIN Hyaluronic Acid Serum. This is a thicker serum, the consistency is almost like a light moisturizer. Spreads easily and you tap it in. I love layering this on top of all my other serums to give me that extra moisture from the hyaluronic acid, and to seal everything I put underneath in.




My last steps are my eye cream, occlusive moisturizer, and even though theres no sun I'm still applying my sunscreen. Does UVA/UVB penetrate through clouds? I don't know, I'm not risking it. LOL.

Radical Skincare Eye Revive Cream. I rotate my eye creams so I don't really know if this stuff helps me with anything. I just like how easily this cream sinks in. It does provide my under eye area with moisture. How many times in this post have I used the word moisture? Anyway, I lightly tap this in with my ring finger and lightly pat it up onto my eyelids.

Mizon Snail Recovery Gel Cream + Tula Hydrating Day & Night Cream. I mixed these together before I spread this on. Makes the consistency perfect. Right in-between gel and cream. Not too thick, not too watery. Just right. ^-^

NeoGen Lab Day-Light Protection Sunscreen SPF50/PA+++. I've posted about this sunscreen on instagram, so theres not much more to say other than I really really really love this sunscreen. I want to branch out and try new ones however cause this little guy is expensive! If you have any recommendations, I'd love to hear them!! Comment down below!

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And that's it for today's routine! It took a while, as expected, but also because I was typing this while I was actually putting everything on my face. Plus making sure I took nice pictures. I still have a good 5 hours before I start work though, haha. I guess its time to put on some makeup on and get dressed. So thank you for reading, and until next time!!


- ciana ♥