Review: Pure Beauty Cleansing Liquid

One of my favorite brands to check out at Watsons stores is Pure Beauty, which is exclusively available there. I was able to try their Super Brightening toner awhile back, and I'm actually wondering now why I didn't repurchase! Every now and then Watsons holds promos for the brand, and I jumped at the chance to try out the Pure Beauty Cleansing Liquid when it was its turn to have a price break. Originally available for Php289, I was able to purchase it for Php239.

Review: Etude House Happy Teatime Line (Milk Tea)

I love milk tea! I've loved it even before tea shops started sprouting around the metro, but it was rather hard to find. Sometimes the 7-11 I went to back in college would be out of bottled Mineshine milk tea. Now I don't have to go so far to get my fix; I can just use my cleansing cream and facial wash from Etude House's Happy Teatime line. It's a different kind of craving. ;)

Let's tackle them one by one after the jump.

Review: Clean & Clear Morning Burst Facial Scrub

Photo credit: Walmart

Description: Clean & Clear Morning Burst Facial Scrub is specially formulated with effective clenasers and bursting beads, which burst with energy and vitamins, and help nourish skin. It also contains scrubbing beads that gently exfoliate away dull, tired-looking skin to reveal softer, more radiant skin. With an invigorating citrus fragrance that will instantly enliven your senses, Clean & Clear Morning Burst Facial Scrub leaves you looking and feeling energized for the day ahead!

• Won't clog pores
• Hypoallergenic
• Oil-free
• With Vitamin C & ginseng

Price & Amount: I got this in Duty Free but I can't remember the price. This goes for $5.40 for 141g in Amazon.com, and is unfortunately not available locally. I wish it were!

Packaging: Semi-transparent bright orange tube, so you can see how much product you still have left. The tube is huge, around as big as Etude House's Happy Teatime Cleansing Foam (which I have and will review soon!). The flip-top cap is clear and pretty secure.

Review: I picked this up on a whim because the "wakes you up" claims got me curious. I love Clean & Clear's range of products here so I figured I wouldn't go amiss with this purchase. The cleanser itself is a clear, runny gel with lots of little grains, which are white and pale yellow, and orange beads. It has a nice citrusy scent which reminds me of their Daily Pore Cleanser (which is apple-scented, I think). Less vigorous scrubbing is needed with this because the cleanser does the job for you anyway. It claims to have "bursting beads", but I don't feel them burst either because they're too small or they really don't. Either way they do a good job of exfoliating.

The cleanser really does wake you up. My face feels fresh after use, and for a non-cream cleanser I'm impressed because I don't feel any tightness in the skin despite the weather. I love using this on early mornings or times when I haven't had enough sleep, though I only use this every other day or so since too much exfoliating is bad.

If you're able to find this abroad or on a trip to our Duty Free, I don't think you can go wrong unless you break out from Clean & Clear cleansers. I'd repurchase if it were more readily available! When I run out of this and I miss it, I'll probably pick up the Daily Pore Cleanser as an alternative. :)

Review: Muji Cleansing Oil (Normal Skin)

Photo credit: Muji Europe

Description (also from Muji Europe): In Japan, oil based cleaners are generally recognised as superior. This highly effective combination of olive oil and jojoba oil blends in quickly and completely removes make-up. Gently massage 3-4 pumps onto your skin. Rinse with water after use.

Price & Amount: I bought the 200ml bottle (red label) in Singapore for $13, which is a little less than 450 pesos. The sensitive skin variant (blue label) in the same size is available in Muji Philippines for 395 pesos according to Project Vanity, so presumably this version is cheaper here. I didn't see it when I visited the store, though. There are also 50ml and 400ml versions.

Packaging: Clear plastic bottle with a pump and a no-spill clip for the pump, which is super useful especially if you have lots of bottles on your shelf that you can easily knock over with one swipe. Save it! :) I also love the simple design of the bottle. I tried translating the Katakana front label using my very rusty Japanese and came up with "mairudo oiru kurenjingu" which roughly translates to "mild oil cleansing".

Review: On a trip to Singapore, I came across the Muji store in Paragon and was super excited. I had heard of this cleansing oil online and it was the only thing I walked out of the store with. I have no regrets. :) Since the labels were all in Japanese I did a bit of Google-fu and found this ingredient list on the Muji Europe website:

Hydrogenated polyisobutene, PEG-7 glyceryl cocoate, ethyl oleate, sorbitan oleate, olea europaea (olive) fruit oil, simmondsia chinensis (jojoba) seed oil, healianthus annuus (hybrid sunflower) oil, dipropylene glycol, citrus aurantium dulsis (orange) flower water, water, butylene glycol, propylparaben, butylparaben, tocopherol, prunus armeniaca (apricot) juice, glycerin, prunus persica (peach) leaf extract.

One of the big points for Muji cleansing oil is that it does not use mineral oil, which can apparently clog pores. This does, however, have parabens, if you are avoiding those.

To use, pump out your desired amount and massage it on your face, taking care around the eye area. Dampen your hands with water and rub it in to emulsify the oil, then proceed to completely wash it off. I've heard that warm water is better with cleansing oils but cold water is just fine as well.

The oil has a faint oil-y, herbal smell that I actually quite like, but would probably not want to sniff more intensely. One pump is enough to clean off everyday makeup, and I add a half pump more if I'm using waterproof mascara. My eyesight gets somewhat blurry during use, but it's gone once I wash the oil off. It removes everything pretty well and does not leave my face feeling too greasy, but I still follow up with a facial cleanser out of preference.

Overall I'm impressed at how easy it is to use cleansing oil, and how well it removes makeup. Plus, it's cheap compared to other known cleansing oils in the market. I hope Muji restocks soon because I need backups and travel sizes. ;)

Review: Daiso Charcoal Cleansing Cream

What? Cleansing cream? Not mask?

Image by me, please do not save or use without notice.

Why yes, I meant cream. This is not the famous Daiso charcoal mask, which is the bottle in the middle of this picture:

L-R: Charcoal cleansing foam, mask, & cream. Image from Saizen Philippines

Thankfully the cute stickers on top and English lines at the bottom help us tell the difference. The packaging can be confusing when you're faced with these in-store.

So, on to the proper review!

Description: Small tiny halls of charcoal absorb dust or pollution. It helps to clean dust from skin pores and to make up.

Amount & Price: 85 pesos for 80g of cleansing cream.

Packaging: Fat squeeze-type tube with a screw-on cap. The nozzle is covered with foil which ensures product freshness and sanitation, and dispenses a decent amount of cleanser depending on how much you squeeze. However it does not feel very hefty, as though the packaging size did not merit the amount of product inside.

Review: I chanced upon the Saizen Multiply while browsing and quite literally made a list of things to look for when I visited the store. The cleansing cream made it to my list because my skin started becoming terribly dry in November, and I had to stop using my usual facial cleansers and/or supplement them with cleansing creams & moisturizers. Ironically, this  included Pond's Pure White Deep Cleansing Facial Foam with activated carbon (gosh what a mouthful), and essentially charcoal is carbon. :) I needed something that had decent cleansing power and moisturizers to keep my skin from feeling tight after washing.

Enter the Daiso Charcoal Cleansing Cream. At 85 pesos I had little to lose by trying it out, so I grabbed a tube. The product itself is a gray cream, and if you look closely enough you will see little black specks of (presumably) charcoal. The product has a sweetish, perfume-y, unimaginative smell, which you can still sniff during and after using the product, so sensitive noses may want to stay away. I take two pea-sized amounts and that's usually good enough for my face and a bit of the neck, and I give it a good rub/massage before wiping it off with tissues or cotton rounds. There is, unfortunately, an oily film left behind, which is a bit greasier than I would like but is not as bad as Pond's Cold Cream. I always follow up with a facial cleanser so it's not much of a problem to me.

In terms of cleansing power, it easily removes the usual face makeup, but I found that it's not as effective in removing mascara. You'd really have to rub it in, and even after using this + a facial wash I still found black specks under my eyes the next morning (!!). Best to use a lip & eye makeup remover before this. For the price, though, I'd still recommend this product, and I wouldn't mind repurchasing.