Body: Etude House » Milk Talk Choco Body Wash Mini Review

I'll admit it. Chocolate is one of my weaknesses. It took about two seconds for me to get excited over the fact that Etude House chose chocolate milk as one of the scents for their Milk Talk Body Wash line. I am unlucky enough, though, to live in a city that doesn't have an Etude House store and despite the cute packaging I couldn't bring myself to purchase this body wash online without first knowing what it truly smelled like. So, you can imagine how I couldn't wait to try this when I received a sample!

FLASH FACTS
Brand » Etude House
Product » Milk Talk Body Wash (chocolate milk)
Size » 200ml
Cost » $10 USD
Website » www.etudehouse.com
Would I purchase the full product? » Yes, but just for fun!

The Milk Talk Choco Body Wash smells just like hot chocolate and I couldn't help but wish that it was the middle of winter when I opened the package. There is something so comforting at the thought of cozying up with a steaming cup of hot chocolate as snowflakes drift lazily outside your window. And that's exactly what the smell reminds me of!

With a name like milk talk, I was rather surprised that the body wash isn't more of a creamy texture and is rather quite watery. As it is so fluid it was difficult to get it to foam properly and that left me wishing I had more than the sample size to spread around. There is a matching chocolate themed sponge you can purchase additionally and I think this might be a necessary add on to create enough foam.

The milk talk line is formulated with milk protein extract and is supposed to leave your skin feeling smooth, elastic, and moisturized. On a first use I would say my skin felt slightly moist, but it wasn't very noticeable. Perhaps with consistent use there would be more of a difference, but it doesn't seem to do a whole lot. It is certainly not one of those instantly refreshing body washes, but if you love chocolate the smell alone might be a reason to buy.

One last note about the smell; it doesn't last long! Right as I dried off with my towel the smell faded away. Some might find this disappointing, but I kind of like not having to smell like chocolate all day long. That way the smell won't clash with my normal perfume and won't leave me craving chocolate bars for hours on end. If this item ends up in my online shopping cart it will be purely for the fun of it and not really purchased for the purpose of skincare. Also, as it is summertime and way too hot to think about hot chocolate, I'll hold off on getting this body wash until the wintertime.

Love,

First Look: The Face Shop » Face It Aura CC Cream » Mini Review

Photo credit to The Face Shop :)

I've been waiting to fall in love with a CC cream and have been trying out samples as a sort of CC cream speed dating, if you will. On my last trip to The Face Shop in downtown LA, I was overjoyed to find a sample of their FACE it Aura CC Cream in my bag! That being said, keep in mind that this is not an in depth review of this product, but rather my initial opinions on it.

FLASH FACTS
Brand » The Face Shop
Product » FACE it Aura CC Cream 02 Natural Beige
Size » 20g
Cost » $20 USD
Website » international.thefaceshop.com
Would I purchase the full version? » Leaning toward a yes!

This is the size of the sample I received. It contained enough cream to apply the product for three days!

The Aura CC Cream comes in two shades: 01 Radiant Beige and 02 Natural Beige. The one I tried is 02 Natural Beige, so keep that in mind! My skin is pretty pale and I think that the lighter shade 01 would probably work best for my skin, but especially since it's summer time, those of you who are a little tanner (naturally or not) could probably go for 02. I try not to tan though, so it's 01 for me!

This CC cream is almost as thick as some of the BB creams I've tried and provides a medium coverage (maybe even between medium and full). It has yellow/peach undertones and does a pretty good job of covering up my blemishes! You can also build coverage without it looking caky. My face feels soft and moisturized immediately after applying and lasts all day.

Sorry for my messy hair! I just woke up in this pic! lol

The Aura CC Cream is aptly named as it gives my face a glowing brightness after applying! I would agree with its claim that it gives you a fresh faced look in the morning. It is lightly fragranced and is supposed to "color change" to match your skin tone. When I first applied it, it looked WAY too orange for my face, but after a minute or so it did indeed adapt to my skin tone (although 02 is still a little too dark for me). The Face Shop says it is supposed to last 12 hours. I don't particularly agree, but it's hard to tell because it wipes off so easily! The other downside I found is that it does accentuate any flaky patches of skin. So if you have dry skin, this probably won't be the best CC for you.

Overall, I really like the FACE it Aura CC Cream and am definitely considering buying it on my next visit to The Face Shop. The only thing I worry about is how easily the cream wipes off, but I love the way it makes my skin glow and appear natural looking!

Thanks for visiting my blog!

Love,

Body: Skinfood » Coffee Body Scrub Mini Review

I think it's because I absolutely love the smell of coffee shops that I was so excited to try the Coffee Body Scrub from Skinfood. Not to mention, Skinfood is high on my list of favorite skincare brands. So when I received a few samples on my last visit to their store I couldn't wait to try them out in the shower. But when I actually did, my excitement slowly faded away. (-_____-)

FLASH FACTS

Brand » Skinfood

Product » Coffee Body Scrub

Size » 100g

Cost » $12 USD

Website » www.theskinfoodus.com

Would I purchase the full product? » Probably Not

I absolutely love pampering myself in the shower because, well let's face it, it feels pretty nice! Skinfood claims that their Coffee Body Scrub exfoliates dry, rough, skin with coffee bean powder, leaving skin soft and moist. The coffee acid element adds resiliency and the honey and sugar make skin smooth.

Now, on to what I think! The coffee bean powder actually contains pretty decent sized bits that would seem to do a great job at exfoliating. However, I would say this product exfoliates only a little and it doesn't leave my skin feeling refreshed or smooth. This scrub does not lather at all and is the consistency of moist sugar.

The Coffee Body Scrub smells like sweetened coffee (which it basically is) and at first it smelled amazing. After a while though, the smell became too much. I'm not sure why, as I mentioned earlier I love the smell of coffee, but I just don't like the smell for a long time. You don't come out of the shower smelling strongly of coffee, but there are faint hints of the smell throughout the day.

Warning; this product will make a mess of your shower! The coffee bits get absolutely everywhere! I wouldn't mind dealing with this if the product was amazing, but since I wasn't too impressed by this scrub, having to clean the bits after each shower just felt like working for free. Also, a little does not go a long way with this product, and I feel I would need to use so much of it each shower to do the job that I would run out of the scrub way too quickly.

My overall feeling? It was okay. I think sensitive skin types could use this and if you are a huge fan of coffee you might enjoy this scrub. In my opinion, there are much better products out there to exfoliate and soften your skin in the shower.

Thanks for reading!

Love,

P. S. Love it? Hate it? What do you think of Skinfood's Coffee Body Scrub?

First Look: Tonymoly » Luminous Pure Aura CC Cream

First off, I'd like to say that this is not a full review of this product. It's simply my initial thoughts on it as I have only tried samples. The photo above is from the Tonymoly website. The photos below are the size of the samples I've tried.

That being said, I'm sure many of you are already familiar with CC creams, the sort of "advanced" versions of BB creams, as you will. They've been extremely popular in the blogosphere as of late and I've also heard that CC creams are pretty famous in Korea right now!

From my understanding, CC creams are quite similar to BB creams except that they offer less coverage, but are packed with more skincare benefits. In my opinion, as long as I have my BB cream I don't feel that a CC cream is absolutely necessary (which is why I still haven't purchased the full version), but would be great for use on those days where your skin is looking particularly flawless.

FLASH FACTS
Brand » Tonymoly
Product » Luminous Pure Aura CC Cream
Size » 50 ml
Cost » $13.99 to $18.99 USD
Website » www.etonymoly.com
Would I purchase the full version? » Maybe...

This is my skin on a pretty bad day. As you can tell, I have a lot of dark spots from a recent outbreak and my dark circles are looking pretty bad (っ˘̩╭╮˘̩)っ

On the bright side, my skin being so horrible today means I could get a pretty good test out of this CC cream!

The Luminous Pure Aura CC Cream from Tonymoly is pretty watery compared to the BB creams I've tried. It spreads quite easily on my face (in a good way) and feels slightly cool when you first put it on. It has pink undertones and a satin finish and only comes in one shade. It smells really good, too!

The Luminous Pure Aura CC Cream comes out white and "color changes" to beige. It takes several minutes for this baby to oxidize on the face, and probably isn't suitable for quick touch ups.

What I like:
This CC Cream keeps my skin extremely moisturized throughout the day. My skin also feels firmer when it's applied. It contains SPF 30 PA++! It evens out my skin tone and smoothens out my pores. My skin looks brighter and feels firmer all day.

What I don't like:
You can't tell so much in the photo, but I felt a little like a ghost when I first put this on. Even though the cream changes to a beige color it still seems too white on my face, and I have pretty pale skin to begin with. This CC cream creases easily and makes my face feel sticky the entire day! It has been pretty hot in Cali lately and that might be why, so I'm curious to see how this product fares in colder weather. It definitely does not cover all of my flaws or dark circles. I can't necessarily blame it for that as it is supposed to be light coverage, but I would probably use this as a primer instead of a replacement for BB cream.

I have not ruled out adding a CC Cream to my collection, but I think I might try Etude House's or The Face Shop's version before I make my purchase.

I'll leave you with a commercial for Tonymoly's Luminous Pure Aura CC Cream simply because the kpop band JYJ is in it! Kim Jaejoong is such a hottie (clearly he's my favorite member)!

Love,

P. S. How do you feel about CC creams?