Hada Labo Arbutin Lotion Campaign: Behind The Scenes

A few months back, I was approached to be part of the Hada Labo Bright Skin campaign for their Arbutin lotion. The campaign is finally out, and as part of the campaign there's a little page that shows my experience with the Hada Labo Arbution Lotion. For those who prefer Youtube, the video is also uploaded there too! I thought I'd just share a bit of some of the cool stuff I experienced being part of the campaign!

Screenshot from the Hada Labo website (Source)

The campaign celebrates 5 years of Hada Labo Arbutin Lotion (which I've reviewed before), and in line with that, the brand was looking for 5 real users of the product who had used the lotion for 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 years respectively, and also 5 different types of people (e.g. corporate types, active types, creative types, and so on). I was approached because the brand actually found me through my instagram profile because I uploaded some photos of their products, and had tagged the brand. Since this was a campaign featuring real users, I was not paid for my participation in the campaign, and my part in it was not scripted either.

Behind the scenes: With makeup artist Danny Kong at the photoshoot (Disclaimer: This particular photo has a filter from my iPhone because it was on the wrong filter setting when I took it, but all other photos in this post are not filtered!)

I was approached to be the 2-year user, and the corporate warrior/office worker type, which I am in real life. But because I was also uncomfortable with talking too much about my job in real life, we also discussed focusing on my personality as a fairly analytical person, with my blog as an example of that analytical ability extended to evaluating products and skincare. I do mention my field in brief in the video, but it's not the focus of the video. So I was very happy that I wasn't shoved a script in my face and told to recite it, and that they were able to take into consideration my concerns and desire for (some) privacy.

Behind the scenes: With makeup artist Danny Kong at the videoshoot

After that, I was brought on to do the photoshoot and videoshoot for the campaign. And I took some behind-the-scenes photos, which I thought I'd share with you guys. They're all taken with my iPhone, and I didn't take that many, because I didn't want to interrupt the work that was going on, or get in anyone's way, so for the most part, I waited until there was some downtime, then quickly took a shot or two on my iPhone. But, I think I took enough photos to give you a sense of the entire process!

About My Undertones Advice and Skincare and Ingredients Analysis Services: HAPPY APRIL FOOL'S!

Yesterday, I shared that for a small fee, you can now get Undertones Identification and Skincare and Ingredient Analysis from yours truly!

I realized I had forgotten to include one tiny little detail, so I thought I'd add it on now:

(Source)

Hehehe. Did you guys fall for it? Don't worry, I won't actually be charging you guys for anything! I've always valued the people who read this blog, and the people who bother to contact me, and I could never ever even think of charging people for something as trivial as emailing me or contacting me! So yes, email correspondence, including asking about undertones and skincare products, remains free! Yay! :P (And for the people whose undertone questions I haven't responded to yet - I'll get back to you soon, I've just been busy! I don't intend to charge you either!)

On another note related to this prank, it seems like monetization of blogs is such a common thing that we don't even blink an eye when we hear another blogger attempting to turn his/her blog into a money-spinning venture. I guess we're so used to it that noone really cares, or is surprised anymore. And to me, that's a little sad, because there are still tons of bloggers out there who don't make money off their blog, but still keep blogging for the love of it (including yours truly!). And I honestly don't feel good inside when I hear of bloggers who try to make money off their readers. I wouldn't say that's unacceptable or off-limits, because some bloggers seem to find a working model for it that keeps their readers happy, but personally, I could never ever do it. It would just feel so crass and money-grabbing to demand that the people who are supporting you (or at least reading what you write!) pay for the pleasure of knowing your thoughts. And, in this day and age where the internet pretty much pulls up whatever free information is there at your fingertips in a couple of seconds, I don't personally think it ever makes sense for a blog to charge its audience to read its posts, or to interact with its authors. But that's just me.

So yes, reading the blog will remain free, and no, I'm not planning to charge anyone for emailing me or asking me questions. I'm happy to answer them, and flattered that anyone thinks my opinion is worth seeking! And, I'm always happy for the relationships and interactions that I've been able to make as a result of my blogging hobby, and that definitely includes my readers too! (But if I do take a while to respond, I hope you can bear with me - real life really can and does get in the way of online activity!)

And since we're on the internetz, I thought this was relevant, too!

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Hope you had a good one yesterday!

Get Undertone Advice and Product Ingredients Analysis For Just $5 and Up!

Edited to add: I've gotten some shade from people who thought this post was for real, so in case it isn't clear, this post is an April Fool's joke, and is not a serious post. This joke reveal post that I made the next day also explains that, but it seems like some people only saw this post without seeing the joke reveal and so they got the wrong idea. This April Fool's joke was inspired by the fact that I get a lot of undertone and skincare/product advice requests from readers (and also by the fact that I don't always manage to clear my inbox!), but I love interacting with my readers and would never ever charge them for it! I guess this year's joke was just too believable which I guess is a good thing for an April Fool's prank!

I've got some pretty big and exciting news I want to share, that I think you guys will like! As you know, I'm somewhat known for my undertones for Asians post, which is one of my most popular posts, and still prompts people to send me comments and emails to this day. I'm not kidding, I really mean this literally - I have a couple of emails from readers in my inbox asking me about undertones that I have yet to get around to! But beyond undertones, I'm also known for my skincare analysis and general ingredients geekery, which you see and love in basically all my ingredients analysis posts. These posts also prompt a lot of interaction from readers - sometimes very long emails, going into their skincare conditions and histories, often from people who are just confused and feeling at their wits' end, wanting guidance on their skincare products and routines.

Launching: Personalized Undertone Identification, and Skincare and Ingredients Analysis Services! (Source)

You guys know that I love my readers (you!) and I'm always willing to help make your lives better in any way possible, in my small capacity as a humble beauty blogger. So, as a result of this response from my readers, I've decided that I could do more to help you guys, in these two areas of expertise - undertones (not limited to Asians), and ingredients and skincare analysis. So, I've decided to launch two analysis services, that will be personalized to you! You can opt to receive these services either via email, or live via Skype sessions. The services are:

1. Undertones Identification and Advice:
If you are not sure of your undertones, or how to classify your skintone (cool, warm, olive, neutral, etc.), I can help to identify your undertone for a small fee, e.g. I can tell you, "You are a pale olive with cool undertones." This is the most basic service I offer, called "Undertone Identification".

For an optional, minimal fee, I can also offer extra "advice" (hence the "and Advice" portion mentioned above). By "advice", I mean that in addition to just helping you identify your undertones (e.g. "You're a pale olive with cool undertones"), I can further help you understand your undertone (e.g. What exactly does being a "pale olive with cool undertones" mean) also answer related questions, (e.g. Given my undertone, what colours would suit me, how do I choose an appropriate eyeshadow or lipstick colour, and so on).

Although the original undertones post that prompted me to start this service is about Asian undertones, you don't have to be Asian to use this service - I can also identify and advise for all sorts of races with different undertones!

2. Skincare and Ingredient Analysis and Advice:
You've seen me work my ingredients analysis skills on this blog, and you like what you've read. But I'm not superwoman, and I can't covered every product on the planet, and I haven't covered the specific product you're wondering about. Now for $5 per product, I can offer my ingredients analysis of the product! E.g. I can tell you, the key ingredients of this moisturizer are mineral oil, an emollient, glycerin, a humectant, water, rhamnose, a form of sugar that functions as a humectant, and ascorbyl palmitate, which is a form of Vitamin C that is fairly stable. This is the most basic service I offer, and is called "Skincare and Ingredient Analysis".

Again, like my Undertones Identification and Advice service, for an optional, minimal fee, I can also offer extra "advice". In this context, I mean that if you're wondering how to choose between two products, or if you're wondering what ingredients you should look out for given your skin type, or if you have specific concerns about your skin, I can offer more advice and answer more questions. For example, if you have blemished skin and want to know out of your current regime which products are likely to be contributing to the acne, I can help to run through your regime and pinpoint which are the most likely culprits, and advise you on how you can choose better products.

Of course, this Ingredients Analysis and Advice service is not just limited to skincare product. If you have a makeup product (eyeliner, foundation) or a body care product (body lotion, body scrub) that you want to analyse its ingredients for, then feel free to use this service as well!

Does this sound interesting to you? I figured this is something a lot of my readers would be interesetd in, since I do get quite a lot of emails and other correspondence on these two topics! If you're keen on knowing more, click on to see the rates and fees for these services (they're really cheap, I promise, nothing's more than $15!), as well as a handy-dandy FAQ to get you started! The registration and enquiry form is also below the jump, so do click on if you want to formally register for a service, or put in an enquiry!

Finding Skincare Dupes by Ingredients Analysis, and My SCA Post on Creme De La Mer Dupes!

Edited to Add: Due to shady dealings by the skincare-addiction.com website owners and previous subreddit owners, I can no longer recommend the skincare-addiction.com website. I've edited this post to remove all SCA links, and have republished the Creme De La Mer Dupes post here on my own blog instead.

I've recently been asked to contribute an article (or a few articles, depending on what I feel like) to the Skincare Addiction blog, which in turn is a blog written by and for the /r/SkincareAddiction subreddit. My guest post, "Skincare Dupes and Analysis: Creme De La Mer" is up on the SkincareAddiction blog. It's got my usual ingredients analysis, and some skincare science thrown in! So my skincare geekery is hanging out on that post in full force!

My first SCA blogpost is on skincare dupes for Creme de La Mer (Image source)

When the SkincareAddiction people approached me to write a post, I readily agreed, because skincare science was right up my alley, and I always love exchanging views and interacting with such people. (Coincidentally, I had just gotten a Reddit account at the time and was a lurker on the SkincareAddiction subreddit, as well as a few other beauty-related subreddits - because I'm creative like that, my Reddit username is also musicalhouses.) They were open to whatever I wanted to write, and stylistically, their blog accommodated quite a few different writing styles. In fact, other than standardizing things like formatting, my blog post was published as-is.

For this post though, rather than just do a "go read my post! XOXOXOXO" and a link and that's it, I thought I'd explain how we can find skincare dupes through ingredients analysis. I've been getting some questions from real-life friends and acquaintances on how you can find skincare dupes (or if not dupes, similar products) through ingredients analysis and ingredients comparisons of skincare products, so I thought I'd just outline what exactly we're doing when we do ingredients analysis below. So read on if you're interested, or if not, go ahead and find out what La Mer dupes there are. (You can also view the accompanying thread on Reddit with more comments from readers and responses from yours truly.)

Top 10 Most Popular Blog Posts of 2014, and 3 Honourable Mentions

2014 is ending, and I thought it would be appropriate to do a recap of some of this year's popular blogposts! After making 2013's list of most popular blogposts, there were some unexpected results, so, just for fun, I thought it would be great to do one for 2014, too!

Some of my Top 10 most popular blogposts, as well as the 3 honourable mentions!

Just like in 2013, this year, I have also picked the top 10 by raw number of blogpost views, because it's the simplest way to go about doing things. I've written last year that I feel this method isn't totally ideal because it disadvantages posts that are popular but were written at the end of the year, or "evergreen" posts (like posts on classic topics like skincare, foundation, etc., such as my post on parabens in skincare, as opposed to a more trend-based post, like the latest MAC makeup collection) that may not garner as many initial views, but tend to do very well over a longer period of time. I always feel like counting the raw number of views tends to overlook the evergreen posts and the posts written towards the end of the year. Nevertheless, this seems to be the simplest way of doing things. Of course, if you wanted to be really particular about it you could pro-rate the number of views to the length of time the post was up, but this seems to present its own problems, because not every post follows the same viewcount trajectory - some (like the trends-based posts) do really well for a short time, and then quickly taper off, while others tend to follow a steadier growth trajectory.

But in any case, since we are using raw views, let's get to it, and here's the top 10 posts of 2014! I've also included 3 honourable mentions, which are posts that did well views-wise, but didn't get into the top 10 because they were written in the later part of the year. So let's check out the top 10 posts!