Kosé Nature & Co Vital Purity Lift Mask

Kosé Nature & Co released a new Vital Purity face care line (4 products I believe), supposedly a more advanced skincare (whatever that may mean)... I don´t know for which skin-type the products are actually made but my guess is aging and more mature skin.
 
The products contain organic lavender and chamomile extracts, furthermore collagen, GABA and Vitamin E (taken from Alphabeautyuk´s auction description).
I first ordered a sample pack of the Vital Purity Lift Mask as the full-sized tub is a bit pricier so I figured out I´d rather pay a few bucks for a sample before tossing a big jar because my skin can´t take the mask or gets irritated. I am actually usually sensitive to cream or gel masks so I generally use sheet masks as they are mostly suitable for my skintype.



Anyway, I tried the sample pack and liked the mask so much I finally ordered the full size!
The mask comes in a pretty square light purple plastic jar with a black cover containing a generous 180g (this will last quite a while!). I don´t know the retail price but I paid around US$25 plus shipping from ebay seller Alphabeautyuk.

This is a very thick off-white paste which reminds me of a clay mask. I am not sure if it contains clay though as I am usually extremely sensitive to anything containing clay!

The scent of the mask is really nice, it´s a fresh herbal smell, mostly coming from the lavender and chamomile extracts.


I apply a thick layer till my face is white (excluding lips and eye area) and leave the mask on for about 5 minutes until it´s dry. Initially the mask really feels refreshing and cooling (no burning or tingling sensation at all!) but when it dries down it feels very tight and stretching the skin thus giving a lifting sensation. Honestly this is quite an uncomfortable feeling but once the mask is dry you are supposed to remove it anyway.

The auction description calls this a peel-off mask but also states that this stuff should be washed off and honestly there is no chance to peel this off, no matter how thick the applied layer is... so I wash it off, also because I am sure my skin couldn´t take a peel-off mask.
After washing the Vital Purity Lifting Mask off my skin looks absolutely glowy and radiant, it´s clear and revitalized. This is not a moisturizing mask but it´s definitely lifting, softening, refreshing and refining my skin. 
I am actually pretty amazed of the results this mask can give. I totally expected to get an allergic or irritated reaction to this product but actually it´s really fantastic!

I think most skin-types can take the mask except maybe super dry skin as the mask might be not moisturizing enough. Anyway, I´d say this is a great product for tired skin.
I use it around 2x per week or when I feel my skin looks tired and dull.

This totally gets a Rating of 5/5

Shills Whitening Oxygen Mask (Anti-Sensitive Formula) & a few Egypt pics

Since I wanted to take many new things to Egypt to have plenty to review I tried out the Whitening Oxygen Mask from Shills which has been sitting in my backup shelf for some time now.


There are 2 versions, a green one for acne-prone skin and a pink one for sensitive skin. Naturally I got the pink one as my skin is quite sensitive.

Shills is a brand I am inwardly split about.... on the one hand it has some amazing cool stuff on the other hand there are quite a bunch of seriously useless products available.


I really love Korean oxygen masks...they start out as a gel which you apply to your face, then leave it on for a few minutes... Within this time the gel foams up and stays foamy all the time, tickling my skin a bit and leaving it glowy and soft afterwards. Even if you wipe off the foam it will magically come back until you wash this stuff off.

Here are Shills´ promises regarding this product:


This comes in a rather pretty pink pump bottle containing 50ml. When you push the pump a light pink gel with a strong rose scent comes out.

This mask only foams up when I apply it to my skin. Right after I stop massaging the foam disappears and the mask starts to dry down to a tight sticky film on my skin. Not really comfy but I wash it off after a few minutes anyway.
It totally lacks the fun experience of foaming up and tickling and all that but it feels rather taut and weird and not fun at all!


I also feel my skin feels a little stressed or something like that afterwards. Not really an irritation but just an uncomfortable feeling overall. Away from this there is no effect I can see when using this mask. My skin looks the same, no bright or smooth result I can detect whatsoever.


So unfortunately this is totally useless for me and I doubt I´ll use up the bottle I have since it´s a rather uncomfortable thing all in all.


I thought of sharing some pics of my trip, it´s just a few really!

Here are couple of pics of a small part of Alexandria, taken from the balcony of one of my husband´s aunts. It looks rather beige and depressive to be honest though I still consider Alexandria to be one of the prettier Egyptian cities, especially the older areas that still radiate some charme from more glorious decades of this city (think 30ies-50ies).
My biggest pet-peeve about this city or Egypt in general is the overload of junk on the streets. Seriously, someone from Singapore coming to this city would probably die from a heart-attack seeing all that junk!


Oh, yesterday we were invited to a really cool villa (or should I say palace?) for barbecue and this cute little furball is the newest member of the owner´s family.. so tiny and so cute! She purred all the time when I had her on my lap and she fell asleep quickly!

Sasatinnie Strawberry Balancing Yogurt Mask

Hmmmm...look at that picture right below...does this product remind us of a certain Korean brand? Yes? Exactly like Baviphat. Maybe they are even the manufacturer of this Sasatinnie Strawberry Balancing Yogurt Mask? Could be as this mask is made in Korea but no company is named (Sasatinnie is Sasa´s own brand, manufactured in various places of the world).


The Strawberry Balancing Yogurt Mask comes in a cute strawberry-shaped jar, as mentioned above the same kind of design like used for Baviphat products.

I think Strawberry Yogurt Masks are extremely popular in Korea as many Korean brands have one in their range. I think the one from Laneíge is probably the most known one and one of the first Korean products I ever tried years ago.


While I am not usually interested in Sasa´s own brand Sasatinnie I liked how this specific product looked like and it was up for auction for cheap on eBay (and you can get it from Sasa for around US$12) so I got it anyway.


The mask is a very smooth strawberry-scented milky gel-cream with tiny red beads spread throughout. I am not sure what exactly the use of the beads is as they pretty much don´t dissolve even with rubbing..but oh well, they look cute hehe =)
Just apply this mask to your cleansed dry face ...you don´t need much so the jar should last a while.


The mask feels very nice and refreshing and doesn´t irritate or burn/sting on my skin at all. I leave it on for a good 15 minutes before washing it off.
The mask delivers very soft and bright skin so I am very happy with it and would repurchase it anytime. This is so far the mildest strawberry yogurt mask I tried as the one from Laneíge, VOV and another brand stung a little on my skin.


Overall very recommended. It´s not a miracle mask but it delivers smooth and bright skin and is a good basic face treatment.

Baviphat Mango Magic Brightening Mask & Apple Soft Lipbalm

I ordered a few more goodies from Baviphat last week and the first 2 arrived just after a few days (shipping from allover Asia is really fast these days!).

This time I got the Mango Magic Brightening Mask (US$9.89) and the Apple Soft Lipbalm (I paid US$5.89), both from eBay. The mask came with a free trial size of the Apple AC Sleeping Pack (which I reviewed along with the Peach Waterfull Cream here).


The Mango Magic Brightening Mask supposedly deeply cleanses and brightens your complexion with the use of super fine oxygen-bubbles.
It comes in a cute bulky shiny yellow jar (not as cute as the peach one though) and contains 100g.


I actually expected a gel which would foam up upon contact with my skin (though I wasn´t sure how it would work to have this filled in a jar as my logic told me the mask would create bubbles as soon as it comes in contact with air like other oxygen masks) but this is a very thick hard, almost waxy cream with little orange spheres spread throughout.


My skin doesn´t tolerate cream and gel masks well in general...I can use the majority of sheet masks but just not cream masks for the most part.


I tried the Mango Magic Brightening Mask couple of times now and really like it. I spread a layer on my skin so it looks white at the beginning but after 3 minutes (the mask is recommended to be left on 2-3 minutes and then to be rinsed off) the mask looks mostly clear with some white streaks where I applied it extra thickly. It doesn´t tickle like other oxygen masks though as those create bubbles and this mask doesn´t.


The mask has a light fruity scent..it´s not really that good but since it´s light it doesn´t bother me. It also has this typical oxygen-mask smell which is hard to describe... but it´s there.
Anyway, the mask doesn´t sting or burn on my skin at all, it feels actually nice and my skin feels very soft and looks bright and clear after using this.
I really like this stuff and will continue using this 2x or so per week.


The Apple Soft Lipbalm is filled into a cute little matte red apple jar and is lightly tinted with a soft red hue. It smells really yummy like a sour apple candy but it doesn´t really taste good...very soapy and the balm itself is waxy and hard. It gives a semi-glossy finish with a light tint which is pretty but overall this isn´t really worth purchasing.


I am giving away 3 sample sachets of the Mango Magic Brightening Mask to the first 3 readers (1 sachet/reader) to email me. All gone, sorry! =D

Shills Aqua Shaking Mask Hyaluronic Acid

Uselessness thy name is Shills Aqua Shaking Mask... if you are interested in trying a total nonsense-product I highly recommend checking out the Aqua Shaking Mask Hyaluronic Acid from Shills. The interesting thing about this product is that it does...well...nothing at all!


Shills is a gimmicky (but cute and adorable and definitely check-out-worthy) brand in my opinion. They have some really decent items but they also have stuff that just doesn´t work at all!

Sasa listed a big bunch of Shills products within the past 3 weeks or so and I hauled quite a bunch. So far I only reviewed the Black Angel Bamboo Charcoal Whitening Masks and quite liked them!
So my next review is for another type of mask: an Aqua Shaking Mask!
The concept looked really interesting to say at least! You get a bottle of a gel which you shake until the gel turns liquid, then apply this to your face, leave it on for 10-15 minutes and then rinse it off.


Also US$6.50 for 100ml of face mask seemed a good deal so I got the bottle of the Aqua Shaking Mask in the Hyaluronic Acid version (for all skin-types, especially dry and delicate ones). Other available types are Azelaic Acid (oily, acne and combination skin) and L-Ascorbic Acid (all skin types, especially combination).

Anyways, you get a bottle filled with gel (and there are some tiny white beads spread throughout the gel). Shake the crap out of it and it turns *slightly* more liquid. I apply a big dollop of this to my face and massage it in. It´s a very lightweight gel which dries down a little to an almost powdery film giving my skin a slightly tight and firming feel.
When I wash this off I can hardly even feel that I wash something off at all! My skin doesn´t feel any softer or moisturized but doesn´t get irritated at all either. I just feel the mask does nothing! I still use this stuff to see if miracles might happen but away from nice pink cheeks there is no effect whatsoever.

The scent is weird but not unpleasant. Somehow like a mild flowery scent mixed with the smell of new band-aids. Yea strange I know but this is the image I get when I sniff this stuff.

I think the bottle lasts easily for 20-30 applications or more so it´s good value for money if it does anything for your skin =P


The ingredients list is short and good, among them being Hyaluronic Acid, Allantoin, Licorice and Aloe Extracts.
According to Sasa this can relieve sunburnt skin. Might be it could be of good use for that but I am not going to test that as I am avoiding sunburns like the plague.

This is what Sasa says about this stuff:
"Shills Aqua Shaking Mask Hyaluronic Acid adopts the Double Kinetics Technology. The first Kinetics fluidizes Hyaluronic Acid and inserts deep inside skin. The second Kinetics form a moisture binding firm on skin surface to prevent moisture loss caused by air-conditioning. It also enables cool sensation that helps soothe sun burnt skin."


All in all I am a bit ambivalent... I kinda like this stuff but on the other hand it doesn´t do anything really.
Anyway I will probably not consider repurchasing this!

VOV Daily Fresh Sheet Masks & Wash Off Packs

I believe I read somewhere that VOV's Daily Fresh Sheet Masks are the most popular ones in Korea. No idea if that's true but they looked darn cute so I ordered a box of them for myself. And since VOV decided to get more money from me they released Daily Fresh Wash Off Packs in some yummy flavors so I decided to get 2 of them in addition.


The Daily Fresh Sheet Masks come in 10 different kinds right now, 1 specially formulated for men.
You can purchase the sheet masks individually or in packs of 10 for about 11000-14000 Won (about US$10-12) depending on where you buy them from.
Each sheet mask comes in a cute bottle-shaped plastic packaging.


I purchased the Strawberry Yogurt Collagen ones (I believe the most popular ones) and they're really good, make my skin super soft and smell delicious. The sheet masks are quite saturated (25ml/each) with a slightly jelly liquid. It leaves a slightly sticky feeling after taking the mask off after about 15-20mins but if you pat the emulsion a bit into your skin the stickiness disappears quickly.

Other kinds available:
Mineral Water, Coenzyme Q10 Original, Whitening Coenzyme Q10, Green Tea Collagen, Pomegranate Collagen, Blackbean Isoflavon, Tomato White Collagen, Pumpkin Cool Slimming, Energen for Men


The Wash Off Packs come in smaller sachets, 10 pieces in a box (retail about 6000 Won/US$5).
There are 6 different kinds available.

Unfortunately I couldn't find anywhere which mask is supposed to be used for what so I just ordered Green Tea Collagen and Lifting Berry & Berry as they sounded like they would be compatible with my skin-type.
Each sachet contains enough gel for 2-3 masks so you'll get about 20-30 usages out of 1 box.


I really enjoy the lightly scented Lifting Berry & Berry Pack. It's a clear pink gel with little pink beads (they probably contain some sort of goodies for the skin). It feels cooling and refreshing and my skin feels firm and soft when I wash it off after about 15-20 mins.

The Green Tea Collagen Pack has a very faint fresh scent and a transparent green color but it seems to be a bit too harsh for my skin. I get small red bumps when I use this and a light burning sensation upon application. I will not use this anymore.

Other kinds available:
Purity Seaweed Pack, Honey Lemon Pack (sounds yummy!), 17 Cereals Pack and Volcanic Pack.

All in all my skin never reacted negatively to any sheet masks so far so those seem to work well for me but Wash Off Packs are more tricky and can irritate my skin (not on the VOV one reviewed here, it's a problem I encountered several times). However the Lifting Berry & Berry Pack is quite good.

Etude House Magic Enzyme Pack Peeling (Nutrient Rich Yogurt Gommage Peel)

As you might remember (or if you don't you can read here) I was very disappointed with Etude House's Magic Crystal Pack Peeling as it is way too harsh for my normal-dry and sensitive skin.
Someone pointed out in the comments section that it was meant for oily skin and that the Magic Enzyme Pack Peeling would be more suitable for drier skin-types.


So I decided to try this out as it looked like an interesting product.
The Magic Enzyme Pack Peeling is a liquid milky solution you apply on your face and leave on till it's dry (took about 5 minutes maybe?) then you rub your hands over your skin and you'll notice little pieces of the product start balling up since this is a gommage peeling. Rinse off the rest and enjoy smooth skin =)

My skin gets super silky when I use this but the drawback is that the peeling is a bitch to remove. I really rub and wash about 2-3 minutes to get all off. And still I will find some little pieces stuck to any super tiny facial hair (no, I don't have a mustache).
I think the pretty smooth skin is worth the removal hassle so I will continue using this weekly or so (I use a black sugar scrub every other day, too).

The heavy glass bottle contains 115ml and retails for 12000 Won (about US$9.25 right now).


Contains yogurt and enzymes. Etude House recommends using this 1-2x a week.

I received a pack or 3 Magic Soothing Mask Sheets along with this: