To say I am excited for the beauty and non-beauty products I got last month in October is probably a very big understatement. Another Sephora order was made, surprise surprise. But there is an explanation for the madness! My Aunt also came home from an almost month long trip to China and Hong Kong which meant souvenirs galore!!
Sephora is making it's regular appearance in my monthly haul posts. Here is my explanation justification for the recent buying frenzy from them. I had set my mind on making a very big purchase from them but in order to get the best deal possible I needed to reach that VIB status for the annual holiday 20% off in November. I know...I am playing into their tactics. But it will be the best price then and I tried my best to only buy the stuff I needed from Sephora in order to reached VIB. Anyways the wait is almost over since the 20% VIB code starts in about a week from Nov. 11-14 this year. I can't wait!
Anyways...back to the haulage. The thing I needed from Sephora this month was the Urban Decay All Nighter Makeup Setting Spray Duo that recently came back into stock online. Their setting spray has been a part of my morning routine for years! I love how it makes my face look less powdery after spraying and how well my makeup holds up throughout the day. When it came time to repurchase the duo a few months back, I was surprised to not see it sold at Sephora anymore. Who knew it was one of those "Limited Edition" Sephora things that has really been offered a long time...until recently. I held off on buying it again since 1 spray sells for $30 and I remembered paying ~$30 something for the duo in the past. It also gave me the chance to retry the MAC Fix+ setting spray.
The non-necessary purchase of the haul was the Captain Blankenship Mermaid Dry Shampoo. Since I was trying to buy as little as possible but still $11 shy from Free Shipping, I decided to give the travel sized dry shampoo a try. The Glamglow Supermud Clearing Treatment, Guerlain Kiss Kiss Creamy Satin Finish Lipstick in 325, and Hourglass Veil Mineral Primer were all either promo code items or deluxe samples I finally used my Beauty Insider Points for.
Before my Aunt left the country, I requested a few things that could either 1) be bought for a better price than what I could get online and 2) be only found in Hong Kong and/or China. She came back with a ton of other stuff and offered some to me so who am I to say no?
With the major acne breakout issues I had this year, I was majorly regretting the small amount of Nexcare Acne Dressing Patches I got myself whilst in Korea. My Aunt finalized her tickets to Hong Kong a few months ago and the patches were the first thing I requested. I used to be very indifferent towards these kind of acne treating methods. Apparently I had just been using them on the wrong kind of pimples. FYI The little buggers need to be the kind that are ready to pop and full of puss in order for the patches to work it's full magic.
The second item I was really excited for was Taikoo Red Sugar. I am not 100% sure if it is the same thing but it seems like it may be. I had some really good Doufuhua or Tofu Pudding when I was in Hong Kong and Guangzhou. But the one thing I noticed they did differently from what I was used to was the sugar component options they offered me. In New York City, doufuhua is usually served with a simple syrup. In Hong Kong and Guangzhou, it was served with my choice either bright red-orange sugar crystals or simple syrup. I gravitated for the sugar crystals as it was a completely new concept to me. Sweetener is sweetener is sweetener but the redness made the doufuhua look so nice! I tried to find anything similar in the Chinese supermarkets near me in NYC. But red sugar here translated to something akin to molasses-y brown sugar. If this is what I had in Hong Kong, then I may ask my Aunt to help me get more the next time she goes back.
A trip to Hong Kong, or anywhere in Asia, for the matter isn't complete for beauty junkies without buying tons of masks. My mom isn't into beauty products but my Aunts are. I just wasn't expecting her to come back with a suitcase full of goodies since she always claimed to be a "buy as little as possible" kind of gal. I opted to take a couple of each to try since I still have a rather large stash of sheet masks of my own to use up.
Dr. Jart and Korean beauty products have come a very long way since I first became really interested and invested in how my face looked. I remember when the only Dr. Jart things I could get my hands on were their BB Creams, from indie (re)sellers on the Soompi marketplace. Am I dating myself a little here? Who knew K-beauty would blow up in the past couple years and become so mainstream in the American and Western beauty world.
Now Dr. Jart is sold at Sephoras nationwide and their brand even releases new products regularly. Colored makeup hasn't been on my radar lately. But I was intrigued by the new sunscreen options available now, especially with all the new Asian brands being sold at Sephora. Why Asian brands specifically? Well, to me, Asians are known to avoid the sun and its rays as much as possible. For those that aren't into beauty things, hats, umbrellas, and long sleeves anything are always a must. For those who are beauty-enthusiasts, sunscreen plus all the stated above are necessary before heading out. Asian beauty brands must do something special for their research and formulations, right? At least I can hope.
I can be pretty picky when it comes to sunscreens. It generally has to be SPF 50. Between the physical and chemical versions available on the market, I will almost always lean towards the physical ones. Not that I am against chemicals or anything like that. It's just that I have read with physical sunscreens or sunblocks to be more precise do a better job of blocking the actual UV rays than chemical sunscreens do. With that said the choices for physical/mineral/natural sunscreens are very limited at major beauty stores. Which is why, more often than not, I am pretty tolerant of the downsides of natural sunscreen: white casts and being heavy in texture.
But after swatching a ton of products in Korea that claimed to be natural or had either Titanium Dioxide and/or Zinc Oxide in the ingredients, I had hope that lightness in texture and less white-casting physical sunscreens existed somewhere on the market.
Before settling on the Dr. Jart + Every Sun Day UV Sunscreen Broad Spectrum SPF 50 for $34 at 1.7oz, I made a list of all the mineral sunscreens available at Sephora that I was interested in and had a swatching field day one afternoon. Most of them were as expected in terms of white casts. Since the Sephora I went to either didn't have this Dr. Jart one in stock or I missed it in the store, I decided to go on a whim and order it via their online shop. Let's just say it didn't turn out to be what I was hoping for but kind of close.
Dr. Jart describes this Every Sun Day sunblock as:
lightweight and non-sticky
offers SPF 50 protection
provides a natural looking tint
leaves skin fresh and moisturized
doesn't leave skin white or clump.
Of the main points, the brand says this product is, I generously agree with maybe a half of them.
As the main sunscreen components of Dr. Jart Every Sun Day UV SPF 50 is Zinc Oxide, it is more akin to typical physical sunscreens in texture: creamy. But true to its claims it is light, non-sticky, and very spreadable. Thick and clumpy this product definitely is not. Maybe the lighter texture is due to the 2 chemical sunscreen components in the product since those tend to offer more options in terms of color and runniness.
This sunscreen says it has moisturizing, hydrating, and soothing properties because of Candula, Aloe, and Oleracea extracts respectively. I can't attest to just how effective those would be since I tend to moisturize also before putting on the sunscreen, but it definitely doesn't make my skin feel or look any drier. Although I would probably say it might not be very moisturizing or hydrating since the extracts are on the bottom of the ingredients totem pole.
Scent-wise this sunscreen isn't heavily fragranced with an artificial perfume scent. Yet there isn't a blaring sunscreen smell either. It is barely noticeable after it is applied.
Now onto the biggest gripe I have with this particular sunscreen: the white cast and/or pink tint for brightening. I want to say it is just the abnormally high percentage of zinc oxide, 12.66%, that is in this sunscreen which left a white cast. But Dr. Jart does also market it as a brightening sunscreen slash makeup base. I admit that it was probably my mistake for not reading the description clearly to see that it was marketed that way. Maybe if I saw it, I might not have bought it since my skin got pretty tanned over the summer. If I was less tan the "brightening" property wouldn't have been as big of an issue. But on my tanner skin, my face was clearly a different shade even when I put a light layer of foundation on.
The "brightening" powers led to the second issue I had which is applying much less sunscreen that I normally would. Now some people might say, isn't using less product a good thing? A little goes a long way, ya? I would say of course, for anything but sunscreen. The proper amount of sunscreen is supposedly 1 tablespoon, tablespoon! There is already no way I am using anywhere near that even with sunscreens that don't leave as bad a white-cast. But still, I try to use as much as I can handle without feeling like I am drowning in sunscreen. However, with this Dr. Jart sunscreen, I apply half as much as I would typically use (2 finger lengths worth versus 4 fingers) and there is already a pretty prominent color difference to my face already.
I really do love the spreadability and physical sunscreen components of this product. I have worn this out for long walks on sunny days and have come home without burns or a drastic tan on my face. It also hasn't caused any major breakouts for me, from what I can tell. But the white cast/brightening factor isn't the most ideal for my skin tone right now. Perhaps if I tried this when I was less tan. I wouldn't have minded it as much.
My Korea Diary series was supposedly completed two months ago with the TY giveaway. But I found a bunch of footage in my storage and remembered it was always my intentions to stitch something together with it, eventually. Keep in mind I am definitely no vlogger.
I finally mustering up the courage and time to look through hundreds of video clips and man does my video work need improvement. Two-thirds (if not more) of it was too shoddy to incorporate. In other words, shaky, moves from subjects too quickly, and just not very interesting. At least I can say I tried my best to condense 50 days worth of memories into something a little intriguing and quick to watch.
Basically to sum up all the posts I have made and the video...I learned a bunch of stuff during the study abroad (inside and out of the classroom). I saw a lot of different things and met many great friends from around the world while eating a ton of delicious and indulgent foods along the way.
