Peel-Off Masks: Why They're Bad For Your Skin

Recently, I've been seeing a lot of press about peel-off masks, and how awesome they are. I've blogged about somewhat dubious skincare and beauty product trends when I think the hype gets out of hand (I've always been kind of terrible as a shill that way, LOL), but this is probably one of the more egregious ones I've seen lately, so I'll get to the point - I'm really NOT a fan of peel-off masks at all, regardless of brand, and I highly discourage anyone from using them.

Unfortunately, they're really popular, and seem to be receiving a lot of mainstream press as of late. A quick google search turns up the following:

What a cursory search for "peel-off mask" returns

Why are these masks so popular? In a word, it's novelty. Prior to peel-off masks becoming popular, most masks have been clay or gel masks that you leave on and wash off, and can often get messy and drippy. By comparison, peel-off masks seem so much more fun and easier to use - the mask doesn't drip, and instead of washing off the mask, you get the satisfaction of peeling off the mask like this:

Part of the a-peel (see what I did there?) of the mask is that you peel it off (Source)

And, now brands are adding to the fun and entertainment factor of peeling masks by doing things like adding glitter to them, which while fun, doesn't really enhance the skincare value of the product in anyway. But, damn if it doesn't look like the most fun to apply and peel off though!

And yes, this is a My Little Pony mask collection (Source)

But as I've mentioned (right in the title, too), I'm not a huge fan of peel-off masks. I personally find them really bad for skin, and the general formula of these peel-off masks is such that by their nature, they're rather drying and sensitizing to the skin, and it's hard to escape that fact, no matter how much glitter you throw into them. We'll take a look at the general formula of such masks, and see how the masks work, and then check out the ingredients lists of some of the more popular peel-off masks, to see how much they adhere to the general formula. It's lots of ingredients reading. But it's fun! And worth it for better skin!

Givenchy Rouge Liquide Swatches and First Impressions

Givenchy's Rouge Liquide has just hit Singapore, and this is clearly a pretty big launch here, and is very on-trend with the popularity of liquid lipsticks. All 14 shades are being launched here (yes!!), and the selling point of the lipsticks is that the packing is pretty unique - it looks like an ordinary lipstick when you open it, but what you are seeing is just the flocked applicator. To apply the lipstick, you twist the base, and the liquid lipstick will move up through the hole in the applicator.

Givenchy Rouge Liquide - liquid lipsticks with a flocked applicator

Cool, right? Above is the lipsticks when the case has been opened (you can see the flocked applicator and the hole through which the liquid lipstick is pushed up). The applicators all have the same shade of red, so you can't tell what shade the Rouge Liquide is without looking at the base to see the shade name. Just a note of caution though - the applicators can be a bit tricky to use initially. As with most "twist up to push the product out" products, you do run the risk of the twist mechanism going "click-click-click-click - no product - click-click-click-click - no product - click-click-click-click - a whole globule of product emerges that's way too much for one application". So, twist and wait the first time you're using it! You only need a little bit to cover the lips, because the product is pretty dense and pigmented. This isn't an issue after the first time you use the Rouge Liquide however.

Alright, enough gushing about the packaging, let's get to the meat of the post - swatches!

Makeup Empties: Foundations, Cushions, Primers, Eyeshadows, Lips and Blush!

We did skincare in the last empties post, so today we're doing makeup - and sunscreen! Usually it takes me longer to use up makeup than skincare (probably because there are more makeup products than skincare products under rotation at any one point in time, and I vary my makeup routine more than my skincare routine). So this is sort of an achievement!

Alright, let's start!

Skincare Empties! Serums, Essences, Moisturizers, and All That!

Another few months have passed, and with that more empties! Yes I have been trying to use up my products instead of just accumulating them (because truth be told as a beauty junkie you do accumulate a LOT after a short period of time). Anyway over the past few months, I (with a little help from some of my family members) have managed to accumulate quite the literal pile of products. Behold! My empties!

As usual, I wait for months until my empties pile up to the high heavens before it occurs to me to do an empties post, LOL

Since these are a lot to get through, they're going to be split into two parts - skincare, and makeup. We'll start with the skincare first. Basically every face product you can think of - lotions, essences, creams, masks, eye creams, are all in this post. Except sunscreens, because they're grouped with makeup this time round (mostly just to prevent this post from getting too long).

Alright, let's get to it!

Chantecaille Summer 2018 Swatches: Bronzer, Eyeshadows, Lipgloss, Eyeliner

Chantecaille's Summer 2018 makeup collection has launched, and here are swatches of the entire collection! And close up product photos! I know these aren't exactly the earliest swatches, but I thought better late than never.

The collection is inspired by vacation and beaches, and has an appropriately themed colour selection with limited edition packaging (for the bronzers and eyeshadows). The rest of the collection (Lip Sleeks, Mermaid Eye Matte cream eyeshadows, Les Perles Metallic Eye Liner) are all permanent.

Let's take a closer look at the collection.

Marc Jacobs Shameless Foundation Swatches: All 29 Shades!

The Marc Jacobs Shameless Youthful-Look 24H Foundation SPF 25 has just hit our shores, and it comes in a whopping 29 (!!!) shades! Obviously, I absolutely just had to swatch it - you guys know that I do love swatching things, so I just couldn't resist!

The Marc Jacobs Shameless Foundation claims to be oil-free, and offers medium coverage, alongside a natural finish. I have to say though, when I swatched it, I felt like it did perform better coverage-wise than your average medium-coverage foundation. The Shameless Foundation shade range also boasts a pretty easy-to-navigate shade naming system. Basically, pink-toned shades start with R, and yellow-toned shades start with Y. And the higher the number, the darker shade. So for example, R440 would be a fairly deep shade with red undertones, but Y130 would be a light shade with yellow undertones.

Marc Jacobs Shameless Foundation: In 29 Shades!

Alright, so without further ado, here are the swatches! I have to say, I am also so proud of myself for taking such photos in a club (yes, literally in a disco-loud-music-dancing-strobe lights-type club), and I think patience and searching out for good lighting helped!

Pixi Beauty Glow Tonic Review and Ingredients Analysis

Pixi's Glow Tonic has been a cult favourite skincare product, and if you've heard about the brand at all, then chances are, you've probably heard of Glow Tonic. This cult product has raves from virtually every blogger out there, with people excited over how it is both cheap and effective, so I figured it's high time I got around to review it!

Pixi Beauty Glow Tonic: This is THE cult skincare product from the Pixi brand

In case you're wondering why the Pixi Glow Tonic is such a fabled product, in part it's becuase the 5% glycolic acid, which is pretty rare in a product at that price point. So I do get why it lives up to the hype, with people claiming that it works to give them that glow, even for sensitive skin!


Pixi Beauty Glow Tonic: I've been seeing so many rave reviews for it, so I've decided to see how it stacks up!
So, does the Pixi Beauty Glow Tonic actually live up to the hype? Well, let's dive in and find out! Of course, we'll start right at the ingredients list!

Tarte Shape Tape Hydrating Foundation and Hybrid Gel Foundation: Dupes or Not?

Tarte's Shape Tape Concealer has finally launched to much fanfare and - perhaps not too surprisingly in this day and age - controversy. I'm sure you'll have seen it if you weren't living under a rock. The Shape Tape Foundation - which was released in two forms, matte and hydrating - was very, very eagerly anticipated as the makeup launch of 2018, owing to the massive popularity of the Shape Tape Concealer. The main controversy with the Shape Tape Foundation was the lack of shades for darker skin, which was problematic for a brand that had previously claimed to champion diversity. I won't say too much more because that's not the focus of today's blog post, but should you be interested, you can google it; there are some very articulate and thoughtful summaries of the issue and why it is problematic.

Tarte Shape Tape Hydrating Foundation: Probably the hottest anticipated foundation launch so far this year, but pity the shade range

What today's blogpost will focus on is another issue with the Shape Tape Foundation, specifically the Shape Tape Hydrating Foundation. What's the source of the controversy with the Shape Tape Hydrating Foundation? Basically that Tarte was already re-releasing an existing formulation as a new product. The existing product in question? Tarte's Hybrid Gel Foundation, which has already been on the market for awhile. So, if this is indeed true, it means that all Tarte did was essentially repackage their existing product into a different container, and then tried to sell it as a different product. And that, of course, would be awful.

Tarte Shape Tape Hydrating Foundation is also claimed to be identical to the existing Hybrid Gel Foundation

So, in today's post, let's see how this little kerfuffle started, and take a look and see how similar the two products are, and whether they are really dupes or not!

Etude House Cherry Moisture Lip Glow Swatches

Etude House Cherry Moisture Lip Glow was launched in January this year, and it's a really cool product! Basically its sort of a cross between a lip oil and a lip gloss, offering both shine, as well as some colour, while claiming to moisturize your lips. I think it'll be a pretty popular product, owing to both the nice feel and colour, as well as that uber-cute packaging - check out the cherry on the tube!

Etude House Cherry Moisture Lip Glow: A cross between a lipgloss and lip oil

Well without further ado, here are swatches!

Fancl BC Night Intensive Cream and Essence Review and Ingredients Analysis

Check this out - an actual "proper" skincare review! I know I've not done one of these in awhile, but better late than never, right? Fancl's BC range, according to the Fancl website, provides "intensive treatment for aging skin needs". I'm actually not sure what the BC stands for, but suffice to say it's an anti-aging line. Recently (and by recently I meant "actually a couple of months before Christmas last year because I've been busy like that"), Fancl has added two new products to the BC range in Singapore - the BC Night Intensive Cream, and BC Essence. Existing products in the range include a facial cleanser, lotion, as well as eye essence.

Fancl BC Night Intensive Cream and Essence: The newest additions to the BC skincare range

As you can imagine, the products feature a lot of Fancl's typical brand claims - for example being suitable for sensitive skin, having a gentle, simple formula that works as it claims without any unnecessary frills, and also being what the brand calls "preservative free". Some of you may recall I was previously introduced to the brand's "preservative free" philosophy and have done a review here, where I examined whether it was really preservative-free or not. Much to my satisfaction, my assessment of the concept of a "preservative-free" formulation was retweeted by an actual cosmetics formulator, who called it "long but well informed". I won't deny it's long (if you haven't realized my ingredients analysis-type reviews tend to be), but I was happy that he found it accurate. Colin also incidentally runs the blog Colin's Beauty Pages, which I really value for its take on cosmetics by an actual person who knows his ingredients and formulations, and works in the biz!

Fancl Moisturizing Lotion I Review and Ingredients Analysis https://t.co/RCJmlACbL1 //A long read but well informed pic.twitter.com/683b79lkNk

— beautyscientist (@beautyscientist) March 4, 2017

Anyway, after being retweeted by Colin, whom I really respect and admire for his competency, I don't know if this review will live up to my previous one. But I can try! Or at least just do the best I can.


Fancl BC Night Intensive Cream and Essence: Claims to be formulated for sensitive skin, and to be preservative-free
Anyhoo, that was a really, really long introduction for a blogpost (which, by the way, is also going to be quite long). Let's just dive into the review already, shall we? And of course, we're going to start with the ingredients!

Empties: In With the Old, In With the New! Part 2

And this is the official last empties post from 2017! After the previous empties post part 1, which focused on cleansers, we're going to look at all the other various leave-on products! There's quite a lot to go through here, including masks, lotions, moisturizers, sunscreens, and more!

Aaaand, this is the last of the 2017 empties!

Truth be told, I'm always surprised by how much skincare I use up whenever I do one of these empties posts, especially because I don't think of myself as the kind of person who religiously masks her face every week or even slaps on serum every night! Believe it or not, when I'm really tired after a long day of work, I go to bed with no skincare on! The very horror! But sometimes you just gotta sleep, you know? In any case, I attribute my ability to use up my skincare to my large face, haha. I guess a larger surface area does use up more product!


There's a lot of empties here to round off 2017 - I'm surprised I used up all this!
So, let's get started, and finally wrap up 2017 in beauty on this blog!

Empties: Out With the Old, In With the New! Part 1

Happy new year everyone! First post of 2018 and it's an empties post! What better way to start out than by showing you my last set of empties that I've managed to use up in 2017? I figure all these empties officially give me a clear pass to keep hauling and procuring more makeup, skincare and beauty items in 2018! :P

Last batch of empties from 2017!

Anyway, like the previous empties post, this round of empties also consists mostly of skincare. I do realize that I tend to use up certain skincare items (lotions, sunscreen, serums, cleansers) much faster than makeup, particularly colour makeup. I guess there's only so much blush a girl can apply before looking like a clown, but you can slather lotion on your face until your skin is basically dripping in liquid, oops. (Not that I haven't done that at all, oh no, not me, I mean, that would be so weird, who does that... *looks away and whistles*)


Last round of empties from 2017: Mostly skincare, especially cleansers
So, without further ado, let's start on part 1 of this round of empties. Today, we'll be looking at the various cleanser and makeup remover products - I figure cleansers (what with washing old skin and makeup away to reveal the new skin underneath) are tangentially related to the new year and thus a suitable way to kick off the empties post!