Showing posts with label exfoliators. Show all posts
Showing posts with label exfoliators. Show all posts

Friday, February 13, 2015

SPOTLIGHT: Skin Food Black Sugar Scrub and Mask

I rarely get to mention this but one of the first Korean brands I have ever bought make-up from was Skin Food. Their Mushroom Multi-Care BB Cream was the first BB Cream I've tried and I loved it for two straight years, using it almost everyday even when I wasn't going out. Since then I've tried three cleansers and one mask, which were all great except one, which I mentioned in my last post. Today I wanted to talk about two of their bestsellers from the Black Sugar range - the Sugar Scrub Foam and Mask!


These both contain Brazillian Black Sugar which, according to Skin Food, helps give the skin a glow and a moisturized feeling. It's also packed with minerals that are good for the skin, so you can say that it's nourishing as well. Because of the sugar particles, it also helps in softening and smoothing the skin. From that alone I can say I'm sold!

For anyone that's skeptical about sugar as an ingredient though, you should know that sugar is a humectant, meaning it draws in moisture from the air and brings it into the skin. It also has glycolic acid, which helps promote cell turnover by removing the dead skin cells on the top layer on your skin. I've also read that it was used to treat wounds, but I'll have to look more into that!

Heh, I snuck in a little science lesson again!

Skin Food Black Sugar Scrub Foam

I got this in my Korea April 2014 Beauty Haul and I'm happy to say I still have quite a bit left! It's a  yellow-coloured physical exfoliator with sugar crystals in the formula, which melt immediately when you massage the cleanser into your skin. It leaves everything nice, smooth, but still moisturized, which you don't get from a lot of cleansers in this category. 

I like that because my skin has been exfoliated, my makeup applies better throughout the week. I found that I only need to do this once a week since I changed my skin care routine, but it was a life saver prior to that!

Skin Food Black Sugar Mask


I got this recently and use it once a week as well, about half a week after the scrub foam. It's a wash-off mask that I leave on for 10-15 minutes as instructed. Like the scrub foam, it also has sugar crystals in it that melt whilst you massage it into your face. It's a little stickier and much darker in colour than the foam, but I suppose that's so it can stick to your face for longer.

The sugar particles are much larger than that of the scrub foam. I wouldn't encourage working this in too much or pressing it too hard against your skin as it makes it a little red afterwards, so just some really light massaging motions would do. This is so much easier to remove compared to my Innisfree Volcanic Pore Clay Mask, so I look forward to using this more!



You don't need much of either product to achieve the effects it claims, and for the price of both, I'd highly recommend you try them out as additions to your skin care routine, or even just to swatch them in store to see if you like them. They're quite hard to get if you're not in Seoul, but online you can get them from iBuyBeauti.

What about you guys? Have you tried any of these products, or anything from Skin Food for that matter? Feel free to leave me a comment below!


Friday, August 22, 2014

SPOTLIGHT: Cleansers and Exfoliators

Hi, everyone!

I wanted to share with you all the cleansers and exfoliators that I use! Just to clarify, I don't use this all in one day, but they all serve different functions and I use one of them at least once a week. To me, it's essential to have more than one cleanser since your skin can get used to the one you're currently using. Also it's nice to switch things up once in a while!


Left to right: Shu Uemura High Performance Balancing Cleansing Oil, Skin Food Egg White Pore Foam, Skin Food Black Sugar Scrub Foam, Pond's Acne Clear White Multi Action Facial Foam + Scrub, Cure Natural Aqua Gel

Shu Uemura High Performance Balancing Cleansing Oil

This is what I use to remove my makeup, and its easy to see why this is considered one of, if not the best cleansing oil out there. It removes everything, even my mascara, without too much effort. It also leaves my skin soft and smooth, which is refreshing since a lot of cleansers can be very drying after use. I've also noticed that my pimples have reduced quite a bit since using this, but that might be due to the other products that I'm using as well. There are different variants to this; the one I have is the most basic one. 

You can get this here or if you're in the Philippines, check here for store locations. :) I would recommend buying in Japan as it is much much cheaper there.

Skin Food Egg White Pore Foam

This is what I use as my day cleanser, and it claims to deep cleanse pores, minimize their appearance, and control sebum. I would say that the effect of this for me is quite minimal, but I wouldn't say it is totally ineffective. It definitely lessens the oil on my face without completely stripping my skin of it, but it doesn't make my face feel tight afterwards which worried me a bit with purchasing this cleanser. There might be more of a difference for those with oily skin, but I still recommend you check this out!

From what I know, we don't have any Skin Food stores anymore (because it was ridiculously overpriced) but you can easily get anything from Skin Food from online sellers specializing in Korean products.

Skin Food Black Sugar Scrub Foam

This is Skin Food's bestselling cleanser, and for a very good reason. It uses Brazilian black organic sugar to remove dead skin cells but at the same time, deeply moisturize the skin. I've been really liking this for a night cleanser every other day because it is not harsh in any way. True to its claim my skin does feel hydrated and smooth afterwards. Highly recommended!

Pond's Complete Solution Acne Clear White Multi Action Facial Foam + Scrub

This is probably the most surprising of all cleansers because I personally didn't think it would work. I got this as a recommendation by my sister, and it claims to control sebum, whiten the skin, and clear pimples. Easily my favourite cleanser and it is very effective especially for pimples! It definitely calms them down (since I get cystic acne very often) and reduces their size in 3-5 days which I have never gotten from another cleanser. It does reduce oil but I'm not all too sure about whitening. I personally think no skin care product is capable of whitening. Anyway, this becomes my day and night cleanser whenever I have breakouts, and after my acne has calmed down I just switch back to the Egg White Pore Foam and Black Sugar Scrub Foam. 

This is readily available in Watsons and most department stores. 

Cure Natural Aqua Gel

Finally, this product is what I use to exfoliate my face twice a week. Unlike most exfoliators that contain micro beads which could reduce skin elasticity and strip the skin of its natural oils, this uses hydrogen water (though as a science major, I see this as a gimmick since I have not heard of hydrogen water ever) that when applied, brings out the dead skin cells while leaving the skin moisturized. This is easily my favourite out of all and I find this very satisfying to use. A word of caution, it can break you out as it did to my friend, Danie (I recommend you check out her awesome blog as well!). 

This is now available exclusively in Beauty Bar or in select online stores.

So there you have it! If you have any questions, comments, or even recommendations for cleansers and make-up removers, please leave a comment below! I'm always on the lookout for new cleansers and I would love to hear which ones worked for you.

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