Tag Archives: Korean

Jeju Volcanic Lava 3-Step Blackhead Remover Nose Strips

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So whilst I was browsing my local TK Maxx store the other week I noticed something in the reduced section that caught my eye, ‘The Face Shop Jeju Volcanic Lava 3-Step Blackhead Remover Nose Strips’. I’ve tried many different pore strips in the past, but these strips really stood out to me as it was 3 step process which is not something I’ve come across before. I’ve always suffered from blackheads, meaning I’ve pretty much tried every product on the market! But priced at only £2 (reduced from £5), I couldn’t resist and purchased them. The Face Shop is a Korean brand, and in the past I’ve had many good experiences trying Korean makeup and beauty products, with many products on the Korean market being superior to those available on the western market, so I had high expectations for the Jeju Volcanic Lava 3-Step Blackhead Remover Nose Strips.

Step 1 

This step involves a soft wet nose patch, which softens the sebum on your nose and allows you to remove it. The patch had a pleasant mint smell, and felt quite tingly and cold after application. Once the patch had been applied for 20 minutes I removed it to find that all the sebum had been lifted up and it was quite gross to see the amount that had actually been lifted from your pores! I washed off the exposed sebum and proceeded to the next step, excited to see the end results, due to how successful the first step was. 

Step 2

This step is the same as your standard blackhead removal strips, where you wet your nose and apply the patch, which after 15 minutes becomes hard and you peel it off. The strip for this step was no different to others I have purchased in the past, however after waiting 15 minutes for the strip to harden and carefully removing it, I was disappointed that it didn’t really pull out any blackheads.

Step 3

Hoping that after the disappointment with step 2, that in this next step, step 3, the product would be able to redeem itself. Step 3 was a similar patch to step 1, however this step is for tightening your pores. The patch itself had a nice floral smell and felt very moisturising, soothing any redness that occurred from step 2. Once I waited 15 minutes and removed this patch my nose felt incredibly soft, but my pores did not look any smaller.

Was it worth it?

I was very disappointed that after spending 50 minutes carrying out this 3 step process that my pores looked no different afterwards. I took a before and after picture to compare the results, but my pores looked exactly the same. This product boasted to remove blackheads and tighten pores, and it did neither. I’m glad that I brought this product at the reduced price of £2 instead of paying £5. Although the first step did seem to lift the sebum, the overall results were disappointing and the whole process was time consuming. There are definitely many more products on the market that are a lot cheaper and considerably less time consuming which I’ve had better results with.

What’s your favourite product for blackhead removal?

Laura 
♡

Korean BB Creams – Are they worth the hype? 

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Bb creams may have been a recent development in the western beauty industry, but in South Korea these wonder creams have been around for decades.
Bb creams revolutionised the makeup industry when they were first brought out, and the marrying of skin care benefits and makeup proved a great success. Having the benefits of a moisturiser, anti-ageing cream, SPF, primer and foundation all in one allowed makeup addicts young and old alike to save money and buy one product instead of 5 different products.

This all sounds amazing right? Well on personal experiences I never found a BB cream that was perfect for me. Either the coverage was too light for my spot prone skin, it didn’t last all day, or the colour was too orange. I had given up on UK drugstore BB creams for a while until I read about Korean BB creams.

After some research I purchased Lioele – Triple the Solution BB Cream, and I have never adored a BB cream as much as this one!



Packaging

It comes in a long, pink and white tube with a pump dispenser. The pump is brilliant because not only is it hygienic, but the lid allowed you stand the tube upside down so all the product moves down to the pump so you can get the most out of it. I’ve found most UK BB creams come in the standard size of 30ml, however Lioele Triple the Solution comes in 50ml, so you get more product.

Application

I found that this was BB cream easier to apply with my fingers, rather than using a brush or beauty blender. It blended really well and did a great job at hiding my pores. On the first application it is a medium coverage, but a great thing about this BB cream is that you can layer it up, and apply another layer to give a full coverage look. A small amount of product goes a long way, and I found one pump was sometimes too much for one facial application. My skin tends to be oily, but I do get occasional dry patches, and this BB cream did not cling to them like some of my other foundations do. One down side to Lioele Triple the Solution is that it only comes in one colour, so it’s not suitable for everyone.

Left to right: Mac NC15, Mac NC20, Lioele Triple the Solution BB Cream

Lasting Power

With all other BB creams I’ve tried, the lasting power was a big disadvantage for me. I have very oily skin and found that the BB creams I have previously purchased from UK brands seemed to go patchy after a few hours, but I was pleasantly surprised that Lioele Triple the Solution had far superior staying power. For a BB cream I was really impressed with how long it lasted, and I only needed to touch it up once in 7 hours, where as with the other BB creams I was blotting excess oil every hour or so.

The Benefits

Lioele Triple the Solution boasts to ‘make your skin moist as yoghurt’, which is something I’ve definitely not heard before, and has ‘hyaluronic acid supply moisture and nutrition’. I think with this statement there was a slight translation error as you can see the statement doesn’t sound right, but my skin certainly does feel more moisturised after wearing this BB cream. The Triple benefits it contains are anti-wrinkle, whitening, and SPF 30. I was a bit concerned about the whitening benefit at first, but this is not a product that bleaches your skin or makes it lighter. The whitening refers to how the hyaluronic acid and tangerine extracts helps to fade acne scars to give you an all over even skin tone. I did not notice any change in my skin tone, but the SPF in this BB cream did work perfectly and protected my skin.

So what is my parting view on this product?

Lioele Triple the Solution BB cream is a winner for me! It’s constancy is far superior too any UK makeup brand BB cream I have tried so far, and it is also better than some high end foundations I have tried too. The only bad thing about this product is it’s availability in the UK; I found it difficult to get, and purchased it via amazon for £22.00. Buying this BB cream has opened me up to trying makeup products from the Asian market. I always presumed that makeup from Asian would be lower quality compared to western brands but oh how I was wrong! Next on my list to try is the Korean IOPE XP Air Cushion, which is a BB cream in a compact form, with claims that one sells every 30 seconds in Asia. Can’t wait to try it and see how it lives up to Lioele Triple the Solution! If you’d like to try it out for yourself you can purchase it here.

Have you found a BB cream that you love?

Laura 
♡