Review: My Beauty Diary Japanese Cherry Blossom Mask

Purchased at: BonjourHK

Price: $9.70/10 masks = .97

Description:

• Whitening and refreshing.  Japanese Somei-Yoshino Cherry Extract perform triple functions including whitening, soothing and firming. Blended with Extracts of Lemon and Kiwi, it refreshes and softens skin. Soaked in thread of Sakura aroma, skin appears pinky white.
• Brightening and soothing.  Extracts of Arnica and Aloe soothe, repair and nourish skin. After use, skin glows with freshness.

Suitable for: For all skin types, especially tired or dull skin.

Experience: Smelled delectable.  Like slightly citrus-y flowers :)  Sweet and quite nice.  This mask had a faint cooling effect (love!).   With the pleasant scent and cooling effect, the experience was very spa-like and nice.  There was no irritation.  After removing the mask, redness was down (as usual) and my face felt nice and plump. 



Overall
Fit: Good, good :) As usual (see previous MBD reviews).

Scent: A lovely sweet, floral scent - cross between floral and fruit I think without the floral muskiness.  I really liked the scent of this mask, so delicate, sweet, and lovely.

Mask texture: Thin, silky, holds serum well, sticks to face well

Excess serum: A little palm-ful enough for your neck :)

Claims:

• Whitening and refreshing.  Japanese Somei-Yoshino Cherry Extract perform triple functions including whitening, soothing and firming. Blended with Extracts of Lemon and Kiwi, it refreshes and softens skin. Soaked in thread of Sakura aroma, skin appears pinky white. <-- Whitening = temporarily took down all my redness (which is an issue of mine).  Soothing = yes, no irritation and my skin felt refreshed.  Firming = ...I dunno.  I don't have much of an issue with this but my skin did not feel "tighter" or anything.
• Brightening and soothing.  Extracts of Arnica and Aloe soothe, repair and nourish skin. After use, skin glows with freshness. <-- My face certainly did seem brighter :) I had that nice healthy glow in the morning.  It's a temporary glow but it's one the reasons I love about sheet masks :)



Overall Results: I happen to like this mask quite a lot.  Something about the scent just appeals to me.  The envelope is so pretty too!!  However, I wouldn't say it's the most effective mask ever in terms of results.  Nonetheless, the results are there and I like it all the same.  I may or may not repurchase for myself because winter is coming and I prefer more moisturizing masks in the winter - but I would recommend this for others to try.

FYI this mask is not drying, just not as moisturizing as other sheet masks that I prefer for winter use - but this isn't a con since the mask's description didn't list hydration as one of the expected results.

I'm Alive!

I'm alive!


*crickets chirp*


^_^;;;

It's been awhile since my last 'real' entry - between work, play, and being really lazy busy - I took a bit of an impromptu sabbatical.  But I feel much more refreshed now and I must say that I have definitely missed blogging - there's nothing quite like plastering one's life on the the net to get the blood pumping ;) I haven't been reading comments or reading my usual blogs but I look forward to catching up on that (famous last words) :}   I have such a ridiculous backlog of reviews/photos and judging by the rate that I am writing my Korea Trip 2010 posts (yes, 2010, not 2011), lord knows when I'm gonna be able to get all of them done -_-;;

ANYWAY.  How has everyone beeeeennnn?

As for me, I just finished watching the Swedish film, The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo and it was pretty good!  I liked the book a lot and I'm glad they didn't lose the gritty, dark atmosphere in the movie.  The chick, Noomi Rapace, who played Lisbeth Salander was ON POINT - she looked and acted just like I imagined :D!


 
They did chop out some of the juicy bits, mostly Blomkvist's playboy-ing antics but they kept fairly close to the original story so yah!   The editing was a little choppy but I thought overall it was a nice take on the book.  Rapace is going to be in Sherlock Holmes: Book of Shadows (US release this weekend!) too and I can totally see her fitting into the gritty, rough world of the first SH so that should be exciting! Per Hollywood's love of remaking things that ain't broke - there is an American version of TGWTDT (...that's a lot 'T's) coming out too.  Daniel Craig is playing Blomkvist, a role I think he'll fit into quite well actually.  I'm curious to know how much Hollywood is going to water down the many acts of violence towards women in the book tho - I hope they stay as dark as the Swedish film and book - after all the original title of the book is "Men Who Hate Women."



Another flick I recently watched was Horrible Bosses.  My take?

1.) Jason Bateman is definitely Hollywood's new "not-conventionally-hot-but-still-attractive-nice-super sweet-guy you wanna bang for some reason" star.   He's just so fun to watch on screen :}  I must watch The Change Up coming out with Ryan Reynolds AND Jason Bateman -- gosh so much cute/hotness I don't know if I could take it!
2.) Jennifer Aniston = smoking hot as a brunette and I like seeing her acting the "bad girl" for once!  Pretty interesting nudge at how sexual harassment can go both ways.  It's very true to life in how guys/people in general seem to think a dude could never actually be harassed by a hot chick.   In fact, I believe the opinion usually is "You're so lucky to have a hot nympho throwing herself at you."  I think JA did a pretty good job is being both extremely hot yet totally insane and creepy. 
3.) Kevin Spacey quite possibly stole the spotlight from Jason Bateman.   Definitely the definition of the worst boss in the world.  God he was cool.
4.) Colin Farrell...omg...he's almost unrecognizable.  Hideous - which was awesome xD  His comb-over was excellenttttt.
5.) Jamie Fox - always colorful and cool but definitely not his best character I think.  He got kind of lost among all the other greats in this movie I think.

The other people were rather lukewarm compared to the rest of the star-studded cast.   But whatever, it was a fun movie and an amusing satire of today's workers in this crappy economy.   The premise, despite being played out to the extreme, strikes home.  I recommend :)



Last thing in this utterly random post: 2NE1's new song Ugly!  They were a little heavy on the slo-mo and the MV was a little boring...but I think the sad atmosphere fits the lyrics.  Not my favorite 2NE1 song tho fo sho.

Unsurprisingly, there's been a lot of whining about the full English hook -- but I like it!  I'm almost phobic about English in Kpop songs too.  YG Ent isn't that bad and JYP Ent (of course) is flawless but SM Ent seems to make it their business to butcher the English language often enough for 3 entertainment companies put together.   In any case, since 2NE1 are YG and CL and Park Bom are native English speakers, thankfully the English is flawless if not a little depressing:


I think I’m ugly
And nobody wants to love me
Just like her I wanna be pretty
I wanna be pretty
Don’t lie to my face tellin’
me I’m pretty
I think I’m ugly
And nobody wants to love me
Just like her I wanna be pretty
I wanna be pretty
Don’t lie to my face cuz I know
I’m ugly


- Full lyrics & Credits to Sovikpop

My thoughts:
I see a lot of hate about how sucky the hook is and how it doesn't "mesh" with the rest of the song lyrically.  I'm guessing that's because the lyrics make you feel uncomfortable.   The words run counter to what everyone preaches - "girls should embrace their looks/no plastic surgery/don't be shallow" - but the fact is that those words are simply ideals.  The reality is that every girl (and boy!) no matter how conventionally pretty, has once felt "ugly."  It's life to have ups and downs and it's human nature to long for more than what you have.

I don't think this song is meant to be overtly girl-power-ish but it still ultimately is because it's about how every girl has once felt "ugly."  Acknowledging the occasional (or constant) feeling of inadequacy over one's looks is the first step to addressing why you feel that way and eventually accepting who you are both on the inside and outside.  I don't think this song is meant to preach as much as simply acknowledge that "feeling ugly" is universal and to remind us that even in our darkest thoughts we are not alone. 

And who's looking for glow-in-the-dark paint now? CUZ I KNOW AM.

*yawn*

Also I finally installed Disqus!  After much debating between CommentLuv and Disqus, I have settled for the latter.  Now I can actually reply to comments in threaded form and you guys can leave more comments *nudgenudge* ^_~

Review: My Beauty Diary Bird's Nest Mask

Purchased at: Sasa

Price: $12.70 / 10 pieces = $1.27/mask

Description:

My Beauty Diary Bird’s Nest Mask whitens, nourishes and renews the skin.
Bird’s nest extract, a precious ingredient, and corallina officinalis, the so-called “bird’s nest from the bottom of the sea,” intensely enhances skin’s moisture level, and nourishes strongly.

Hydrolyzed soy and rice protein enhance skin’s defense, elasticity and transparency. They also relieve discomfort resulting from dryness.
Suitable for: It is suitable for normal skin. It is especially recommended for dry, rough and dull skin.

Experience: I must admit that I did not like this mask very much for one particular reason - the scent.  I dunno what a "bird's nest" is supposed to smell like but to me it smelled of "old jelly"...or something rather unpleasant.   There was no cooling effect for me and while there was no irritation at all, the lack of a cooling effect and odd scent made the overall experience not that great.  After I took off the mask, my face did look brighter (redness was down) and my skin had that taut bounciness to it. Makeup application was smoother the next day. The mask had a nice result, however temporary, but it wasn't better than the other MBD I've tried.  I had been really excited about this mask (maybe too excited) since I'd heard bird's nest is supposed to be very good for you and I have rough skin (see "Suitable for"); compared to my excitement the results weren't as good as I expected :\



Overall
Fit: Fit pretty damn well~ I feel like a broken record saying that in every MBD review but yep, post-2009 (or was it 2010? whatever, the newest MBD mask shape) MBD masks have fit me like a charm.

Scent: I have read plenty of positive reviews of this mask but for some reason this mask smells awful to me.  Like musky jelly or old herbs.  I can't quite put my finger on it - I don't know what bird's nest is supposed to smell like, but if it smells like this mask it will make me nauseous.  I would say this odd scent is probably the biggest reason I wouldn't repurchase this mask.

Mask texture: Nice and silky.   Sticks to face well and as usual, no complaints.

Excess serum: The Natural Key line always has a generous amount of serum - much more than Flower Expo line at least.  You always get a nice quarter sized amount of serum.

Claims:

Whitens, nourishes and renews the skin. <-- It does brighten my face and take redness down, though not as much as the Silk Whitia Soy Milk Whitening or MBD Cooling mask (a true summer favorite of mine!).  Not 100% sure about the 'nourishing' and 'renewing' though since I only tried 1 box of 10. 

Bird’s nest extract.....intensely enhances skin’s moisture level, and nourishes strongly <-- Yes, I did feel that my face was much more hydrated. Nourished? Perhaps. It certainly didn't hurt :)

Hydrolyzed soy and rice protein enhance skin’s defense, elasticity and transparency.  <-- My skin was indeed more taut and elastic-y.  And one of the reasons I'm addicted to sheet masks in general is because my skin always gets that translucent look right afterward, this mask is no exception. 
Overall Results: While the mask works just fine (though not exceptionally well), I really dislike the bird's nest scent so I will not be repurchasing it personally.  It does do what it claims, however, so it's not a bad mask - just not for me I suspect.  On the other hand, I have read plenty of positive reviews about this mask so I hesitate to tell people not to try it.  In the end I'd say it mostly comes down to scent and if you don't like musky scents, this one may not be for you. 

Positive Reviews: Musings of Muse (for a bit of perspective ^_~), Clover Beauty Inn