Etude House Sprout Recipe Calming Mild skincare trio

Currently I am a bit on a skincare kick so a series from Etude House formulated for sensitive skin had to be mine =)


I have to admit that I am really pleased with Etude House's skincare and I own most of the Moistfull collection now (and the Mist is on the way, too!) which is a really great range.

Here's a pic of my current Moistfull stash:


I already reviewed the Moistfull Special Kit some time ago which I am happily using daily but I have to say I am very content with the Calming Mild skincare range, too!

The Etude House Sprout Recipe Calming Mild range consists of 3 products that are meant to be used together. I don't know if there are more items but I could only find the 3 I purchased.

Step 1 - Ready Foam:
This is a great cleansing foam. It makes a lot of very silky dense lather and doesn't feel drying at all on my skin. I think I like this even better than my Skin Food Milk Mania Foam as this one can be a bit drying.


Step 2 - Setting Toner:
I am not really a person who uses toner (since my Clinique 3-step skin fiasko). However I wanted to complete set and this is a nice toner that's not harsh or smells like alcohol.


Step 3 - Finish Lotion:
This is a lightweight moisturizer but still feels rich enough for me. I think this alone is good for normal to slightly dry skin-types, drier skin-types might want to use a richer moisturizer on top.


The toner and lotion come in pretty iced glass bottles. While they look really nice I think glass bottles aren't convenient in the bathroom as they might break easily when dropped. Also I prefer I can squeeze the bottle instead of tapping it over 100 times to get more lotion out.
The cleanser comes in a hygienic squeeze tube.

All 3 items carry a very mild soft fragrance that's very pleasant.

Each item contains 150ml. I am not sure of the retail prices but most Etude skincare items range in the 7000-12000 Won range (About US$7-12). I paid US$7 for the foam and US$13.50/each for the toner and lotion which is a fair price I'd say.

All my Lioele stash

To complete today's Lioele posts I thought of posting a pic with all items assembled.

You can see the 2 kits I purchased plus 2 free items I got: a foundation brush and a mini lipgloss mobile phone charm.


Doesn't this look like a cute happy family? =)

Lioele Water Makeup Kit

Along with the New Premium Package I decided to pick up another nice set consisting of 2 Lioele and 2 Hisuri items (which seem to be under the same company).


The Water Makeup Kit contains the following:

-Lioele Beyond The Solution BB Cream:
This is the same as the one in the New Premium package so please read there.


-Lioele Blooming Shimmer Pearl Base in pink:
This is great stuff! It's a baby pink cream that gives a gorgeous pink pearl glow wherever you want it (face, shoulders etc.). It's actually a waste to use this as a base as it is so pretty it rather should be used on top of makeup


-Hisuri Real Crystal Silky Primer:
Hisuri stands for HIgher SUnshine RIchness. Whatever that should mean it sounds Japanese or so lol. Anyways, Hisuri seems to be a slightly more expensive and a bit more grown-up brand under Lioele. The Primer is a milky gel that smooths out skin really well. I am pretty sure that it contains silicones as it gives this smooth silicone-y finish.


-Hisuri Multi Color Marbling Blusher:
This is actually better quality than the highlighter from the New Premium package as the Hisuri one has more pigment. It's a pretty shimmery peach color with a rather silky and pigmented texture.




This kit retails for around US$36 but I paid just over US$50 which is still a good deal as this is supposed to be worth US$95.

Lioele New Premium Package

When I saw the Lioele New Premium Package I was so excited I had to right away find a source to get my hands on it. I found a seller who CPed it for me and after a short visit to Australia my package arrived today!

You should check out the Lioele website. It's pink Korean goodness! They have cute real photo comic stories even a non-Korean speaker can understand and a lot of helpful pics and videos to demonstrate their products.

Anyway, the package rocks! I have just played a little with the items but so far so good! I love getting kits as they usually contain a good assortment of best-sellers and so it was the perfect opportunity to get into a brand of which I haven't tried anything before.


The items in the kit are:
-Silky Highlighter BB Touch
This is a huge stick with a button to push the Silky Highlighter BB Cream out onto the brush. The brush is a synthetic flat foundation brush. All in all this looks like a freaking oversized Touche Eclat or so.
The Silky Highlighter that comes out is a light slightly shiny beige rather thick cream. I tried it with the brush but honestly preferred to even it out with my fingers. This can be used all over the face or only in the T-zone.


-Beyond The Solution BB Cream
This is a BB Cream that comes in a hygienic squeeze-tube with pump. The tube has a cute white and pink design and the BB cream is light so it's an ok color match for my NW15 skin-tone (I tried it out and still Skin79 and Missha M Perfect Cover are the best color matches). I think it would blend in best for most skin-types from light-medium.
This has a very fine silky texture and gives a dewy finish.


-Marbling Blusher 01
This is a pretty highlighter with a shimmery glow. It's not very pigmented and the powder is very hard but it works as a highlighter. It doesn't have too much of obvious shimmer which is a good thing, too.


-Magic Styling Mascara
I tried this out now and it's a great mascara. The base and mascar work together well to give volume and length. It's a dual-wand mascara with base on the one and black mascara on the other side. The base comes with a regular spiral brush whereas the mascara has a comb applicator (my preferred type of applicators)


-Blooming Tint
This is a pretty raspberry lip tint with medium pigment. Looks quite pretty and the website suggest pairing this with the included gloss


-Blooming Gloss
A light pearl pink gloss. Comes in the usual doe-foot style wand.


-Blooming Liptox
This is a pretty lip plumper that smells like peppermint. It's a pretty iridescent sheer golden coral and has a convenient spatula applicator.
This leaves a tingly feeling on my lips and I am not sure yet if I like that or not.


I haven't really used the items yet so I'll review later on how much I like the individual items.

All items are lightly scented.

I paid around US$64 for my kit (retail is just below US$50) and supposedly the kit has a value of US$137 (approx.) if you calculate the individual item prices.

Etude House Blanc Blanc Cake Fragrance

After being quite delighted with Etude House's Princess Cake Fragrance I was thrilled to see that they have another one called Blanc Blanc.

This is a solid perfume, just like Princess Cake Fragrance. It's a slightly shimmery very hard cream so you might want to swipe the perfume several times to get enough intensity.


All in all it gives just a light scent as you can't drench yourself in solid perfume but I like its subtleness.

The scent itself is really lovely, in fact I like this more than the Princess Cake. Blanc Blanc smells a bit spicier and more special than Princess Cake which is pretty much a knock-off of D&G Light Blue.

The little jar looks like the one from Princess Cake but it comes with a white cover instead of a pink one. Also the box it comes in is blue and white with cute flower, birds and a balloon printed on it.


I paid somewhere around US$10 which is quite reasonable.

This is also available as a spray but due to Austrian customs regulations I cannot receive liquid perfumes

Finally arrived.... a package took a long trip :P

One thing that happens quite often is that mail addressed to here (Austria) is routed to..now guess? Right, Australia!
When my EMS was shipped from Seoul 8 days ago and I keyed in the tracking number on the tracking website I had to see to my dismay that the destination country was Australia!! Damn!

Contacted the seller, seller contacted PO. PO said they'll make it right. And still a day later I found that my package arrived in the Melbourne Customs office *big sigh*

Anyways, after 3 days the customs figured that this package was not supposed to be in Down Under so finally it was forwarded to Austria! YAY!

And today morning the postie rang! Yippie! Package here!
To make it even better I got another small package, too. Day saved!


In today's shipment was my first bunch of Lioele items.
I believe that Lioele is a mail-order-only brand in Korea (at least the seller told me she had to order online and then forward to me so all took a bit longer).
So far I must say that the items seem to be darn good stuff! And quite cheap, too (even with the mark-up!). I ended up paying less than €10/item incl. shipping which is ok considering what makeup costs here (and it's way less cute than the Korean stuff!)

Anyways, above is a pic of the haul, detailed reviews etc. will follow later as usual!

Where to buy?

The most frequently asked question in my comment section is where I purchase my beauty products.
Here I'll give you a small list of shops/seller I rely on. Of course all of them ship worldwide:


Japanese makeup/beauty products:

www.adambeauty.com -
he's always my first choice as he has the most reasonable prices online. His items are most of the time around Japanese retail price or slightly higher. Shipping is free however per package you pay US$2 for registered mail. Ships out very quick, usually within 1 business day.
Accepts paypal payments only.
Based in Hong Kong.

www.ichibankao.com -
I always buy from this site when I don't find the item I want from adambeauty. She's my usual supplier of High-End brands like Lunasol, Jill Stuart etc. There is a mark-up on items but the service is great (very quick dispatch of the packages).
With the current strong Yen the prices are actually quite ok considering the included shipping, paypal fees etc.
Shipping is included in the items' prices but I usually upgrade the shipping to EMS for an extra US$6 (available for order over US$100 I believe) and there is also the option to get registered mail for US$2.
Payment by Paypal only
Based in Japan.

www.gooddealer.com - (click on shopping mall to enter the shop)
Has a lot of stuff but the site is a bit annoying to navigate. They charge shipping fees & on top of that handling fees so I only order here when I am desperate for an item lol
Takes credit cards and I believe paypal, too
Based in Hong Kong

www.x-a-n-a-d-u.com -
I haven't actually ordered here but the prices seem to be just about retail and a reasonable shipping fee on top. I will definitely check this store out soon but right now they only have brands I am quite stocked with already (Lavshuca, Love Clover, Majolica Majorca etc.)
Based in Japan

www.strawberrynet.com -
I think I only ordered some Anna Sui items here before. They have free shipping but I see some quite old products on the site.
The service was good but the selection of items doesn't appeal to me really
Based in Hong Kong

Do a search on ebay to find some good deals, too!


Japanese and Korean makeup:

www.facial-shop.com -
This is the store I probably order most as there are always great deal popping up. You'll also find Western brands like Bobbi Brown, Chanel, Dior and others. She stockes Japanese and some Korean makeup especially Laneige.
From this shop I purchase my CL Sheet masks (listed under Mayblesally).
There is most of the time only 1-2 pieces of a product available so one has to be quick to score a good deal.
Shipping by Registered Airmail is free worldwide and if you buy 3 or more items you'll get 5% off (you'll get a refund after sending payment)
Paypal payments accepted only.
Based in Hong Kong.

www.sasa.com -
Sasa is the best source to order heavier items like shampoos, body care items etc. as their shipping is quite low (and free for order over US$75!) and EMS shipping upgrade is quite cheap, too (I love getting EMS as they're trackable online and arrive here super fast!).
They have an interesting assortments of brands but I'd not order most of the Japanese makeup there as it seems quite more pricey than adambeauty and the other shops listed above.
Sasa does however stock Clio now (they did before but discontinued carrying the line)! It's a Korean brand and not easy to get and the sasa prices are just a bit over the Korean retail price! YAY! I highly recommend picking up a marbled clio blush!
Accept credit cards or paypal
Based in Hong Kong


Korean makeup:
I haven't yet found online shops dedicated to international sales of Korean makeup. Away from Sasa (they also stock dodo club, palgantong and a few other smaller brands) and facial shop (for Laneige and some Etude) I have to order on ebay or do deals with ebay sellers to get a bit discount on larger orders.

Gmarket -
This is a very huge site and offers lots of beauty care and other stuff. Many sellers don't ship overseas but I highly recommend getting your Skin79 stuff from here (seller is skin797979 and I believe this is actually the manufacturer) as there are some really good sets around and all items are retail or discounted.
I had problems with registering at first (it took me like 2 hours to figure out how to be able to sign in as my registration wasn't completed even though I had clicked on the link) and the process of ordering, then sending payment, then waiting for confirmation etc. was a bit exhausting.
You pay an estimated fee for shipping upfront but they deposit whatever you paid too much in your Gmarket account (on the other hand if they under-charged you you'll have to pay the difference before they ship your items).
I really love that you pay retail or even less and actual shipping (by EMS so it's more worthwhile to order more items at once) instead of inflated rates.
You can pay by paypal and combine orders from different sellers that ship international. It seems that all sellers ship their item to the main Gmarket headquarters (most don't charge anything for the local transportation) where the Gmarket staff prepare the packages for international delivery.
It took exactly a week from the moment I ordered until I received it so the service is quite fast.
Be sure to check your Gmarket account to always see the current status of your items (they only email you the order confirmation but not when it's shipped etc.)
Based in Korea/Seoul.

The ebay sellers I like most are:

ipinkorea:
(VERY high mark-ups but always throws in a lot of samples and freebies).

skinfood2you:
Currently my favorite seller as her prices are more moderate than ipinkorea (still inflated though). If you don't see something in the store you can always email for a quote. Also generous with samples.

rumistyle:
She has some nice things listed and you can do the "best offer" feature so you can always save some $ off her listed price.

If you know of any Korean or Japanese sites with reasonable prices and worldwide shipping please let me know in the comments section

I hope this helps someone!