I've been using this every night for a little over a month now. I got this because while I'm not 'terrified' of wrinkles, I feel like I'd rather be safe than sorry. Plus I was curious about the idea of 'sleeping masks', which was why I picked this up. The Laniege Sleeping Pack EX is a more popular (and expensive) sleeping mask that tends to go for $20+ online; this was my alternative and I'm quite pleased I tried this overall ^_^
Cost: $14.70 @ Sasa. Quite a reasonable price considering it retails for 14000won (~$12.50 USD) in Korea according to Cosmeddicted :)
Description:
Skin Food Fermented Soy Milk Wrinkle Care Sleeping Mask is an anti-wrinkle sleeping mask that contains adenosine and soy milk ferment extract. It forms a protective layer onto skin and provides continuous moisturization overnight, making skin smooth, resilient, and moist by morning. - From Sasa
Leave on facial mask steeps skin in potent anti-wrinkle ingredients, soothing and healing skin while you sleep, to deliver a fresh and youthful complexion, with improved resilience and texture, in the morning. Recommended for aging and wrinkle-prone skin types. Gently massage sleeping pack on skin as the last step of your nighttime skin routine. - From YesStyle
Directions: After emulsion or essence, apply desired amount evenly onto face and gently massage to absorb.
Packaging: Love the hygienic pump! No real complaints, everything is sturdy and pumps smoothly. Honestly, this is definitely one of the best pumps on a beauty product I've tried - it never catches, splatters or leaks ^_^! The cap fits tightly too so this is quite portable. If I had to be super nitpicky though, I'd say that one full pump gives enough for almost two uses so you need to do half a pump if you don't want to use it up too fast. Overall, the packaging is simple yet excellent.
Top: one pump
Bottom: totally absorbed (~15-30s)
Texture: A lovely, milky white watery gel. It soaks in pretty fast but if you put on too much you'll have a slightly oily looking sheen in the morning. No biggie though, this is a sleeping MASK, not a lotion anyway. Super light and I'm quite fond of the gel texture, which is a refreshing change from how gels are usually drying/not moisturizing.
Scent: I wouldn't say it smells like soy milk (the best soy milk product: Silk Whitia Soy Milk mask = LOVE), but it's a fine scent nonetheless. It has a vaguely artificial, fresh, clean scent. I can't quite put my finger on it but it's inoffensive and mild.
Experience: Really nice. I put this on as a last step at night. I usually use about 3/4 of a pump and liberally massage it into my face and neck. It feels a little "wet" when you put it on at first but it soaks in quickly and feels refreshing. Like my face is "drinking" it in :D I don't believe this leaves a residue even though when I wake up in the morning sometimes I'll have a little sheen of oil? on my forehead. I think it's just a sign of hydration ^^ and in any case, it's easily remedied with a swipe of toner or a splash of water. I have never experienced any irritation or breakouts.
Results: I find this to be a very hydrating (but not overly so) mask. As far as I'm concerned, sleeping mask is basically a synonym for lotion/moisturizer, but whatever the name, the results are good. I am a very oily skinned person and strictly in the "It's Impossible to Over-Moisturize" Camp. I find that generously moisturizing at night actually keeps my face fairly oil-free during the day. This neatly ties into the fact that oil secretion increases when your skin is too dry. Thus oily people should actually moisturize more. This philosophy works for me quite well and I have seen a remarkable decrease in oiliness after incorporating sheet masks and a reliable moisturizer into my skincare routine. I would say that this sleeping mask helps too. My skin is always nice and plump in the morning and the fact that it has anti-wrinkle prevention in the ingredients is just a bonus.
Overall I find that this works well for me and will probably re-purchase it in the future. I like the light gel-like texture, the quick absorption, and low maintenance quality of not having to wash it off. It's simply a very convenient boost of hydration + wrinkle care in one. The hygienic pump and fair price seals the deal for me. One caveat: I admit I have no idea if this is actually preventing wrinkles. I suppose it's one of those things where only the absence of something proves your point ^^ For now I am content to just believe I am preventing future wrinkles while hydrating my skin :}
I recommend that everybody try this. Also it seems fairly gentle so even sensitive skinned peeps can use it. For people on the fence about whether chicks in their 20s should use anti-aging products, this mask is a good compromise by rolling a gentle anti-wrinkle and moisturization all-in-one for a good price. It's not an intensive anti-wrinkle cream by any means but still provides a small measure of prevention :)
Fyi SkinFood has a Fermented Pomegranate version of this mask (review from Cosmeddicted). However, the Pomegranate version is a whitening mask, not a wrinkle care one. Also Cosmeddicted says the mask doesn't actually whiten though and we all know how I feel about beauty products that don't do what is promises ;)
As I have mentioned so many times my daughters hair is so fine and difficult to work with that when I start a hairstyle I always hope that it turns out cute.
We started by making a small poof in the front of her head.
Because of how short and thin her hair is we took the bottom half of her hair and secured it upwards with an elastic.
Then all the hair gets pulling into a high ponytail. I put ringlets in her hair using the flat iron.
Once the ringlets were done I used bobbie pins to lay them in place.
Below is the top back view of her head.
This last picture is to show everyone how much fun we have doing her hair. As you can see she is full of it and always a moving target for hairstyles.
Whee~ here's the last Blooming of Beauty mask I've tried. It's probably my second favorite of the three, but in terms of uniqueness...it's my #1 :) And to respond to Joyce, yessss I got the maximum of 7 Zoya polishes (aka I got 14) from the Zoya BOGO promo! I spent so much I even qualified for free shipping -_- but ultimately, 14 polishes for $56 = $4/polish w00t! I plead temporary insanity but lord knows I AM EXCITED. I've heard a lot of complaints about the Sunshine collection's formula but I don't care, I love sparkles so I think I got all the colors except for Rica ^_^v Overall, though I would say I've seen better collections - all three Zoya collections for Spring were so...dupable in some ways. I dunno. For people who missed out, no worries. Zoya does a lot of excellent promos, some are BOGO free on the entire website so this promo, in the big picture, was not actually all that great. Lastly, I've been wrapped up in a lot of stuff lately, hence the ever-so-slow updates and lack of blog-hopping/commenting :(
Experience: I was so excited about this whole "ice cream in a mask" idea. When I opened the packet I got a whiff of a very sweet rose...if that makes any sense. It was a pretty mild scent so even as a not-crazy-about-rose-scented-things person, I liked it. Whilst I had on this mask, the experience was quite nice. Nice fragrance, mask stuck on well, no irritation. Afterward my face looked brighter and more radiant. My face felt moisturized and all in all, it was a good spa-like experience. Downside, I expected some kind of massive cooling effect (ice cream anyone?) and this mask was just cool when I initially put it on and that's it :\ In other words, it was only cool on my face for 5-10 minutes because ....it's just wet. Given, redness did go down but regardless, I was looking for a cooling effect a la Skin Food Vita-A Gel mask. Speaking of, I have yet to encounter a face mask as wonderfully cooling as those SF gel masks (they're a close contender for my #1 mask of all time actually ^_~).
Overall Fit: Cut and size are identical to the MBD Natural Key line masks. 2 slits around the chin and as I've said 100x before, MBD masks happen to fit me perfectly so the fit was excellent.
Scent: A sugary sweet rose. There's really no other way to describe it. Very mild and pleasant; tolerable to even those not nuts about rose scented things :)
Mask texture: Smooth, silky, very absorbent, a hair thinner than the regular MBD Natural Key line.
Excess serum: Mask itself is well drenched but there is only about dime sized amount of excess serum for your neck.
Claims: Brightening, moisturizing, improve skin radiance. I would say this mask does all these things. It mostly temporarily brightens and improves radiance. This mask is moisturizing, yes but it's not SO moisturizing I'd recommend this for dry skinned peeps. As an oily skinned person though, this was just enough hydration. In any case, if you're looking for moisturization in the Blooming of Beauty line, apparently the Sunflower mask is the way to go. Overall, I'd say this mask does what it claims to do.
Overall Results: Quite good, it does everything it promises and the experience of using it is always nice. I have no significant complaints about it other than I wish it had an more tangible cooling effect to play into the ice cream theme. That's just a nitpick though. However, even though this mask is a good 8/10 at least, I probably would not repurchase this. I say this because personally I have enjoyed other masks more and the price tag is too much for results I can get from (ever so slightly) cheaper masks. I literally use sheet masks at least every other day (minimum 3-4x a week) because they have made a huge difference for me. I know this sounds like a nutty investment to others but it's what works for me. Hence I need quite a large hoard of sheet masks to get me through the months and those few cents add up for me fast. While the results of this mask were nice, I just happen to like other masks more (which I will discuss in my Uber-Ranking of Sheet Masks post... which I will finish soon, God willing). This mask didn't blow me away by any means but I don't regret buying a box to try at all :)
Overall, I do recommend people try this mask for themselves. It's a fun, sweetly scented, gentle, effective mask. Price isn't too bad at all either, very reasonable on BonjourHK. Don't expect miracles, but it does the job~
I couldn't get a good picture of this polish for some reason....the sun was being *too* bright. Huh, you don't hear that complaint every day. Except from nerdy dweebs who have pretensions of vampirism and are bleached pale from a lack of sunlight and too much COMPUTER. Oh wait, that's me :)
Seche Vite Base Coat
Zoya Freja - 3 coats
Seche Vite Top Coat
I've said many times that this is my favorite nail polish - and it still is! It's a gorgeous, classic gunmetal that was a fall/winter staple for me; I'll probably put this aside for spring/summer though. The formula of this polish is amazing, even on Zoya standards. These nails are already about a week old since I snapped these pics and absolutely no chipping :D Application is so easy too, super smooth, never patchy, and totally opaque after 2 coats, but 3 is perfect. This isn't just a flat gunmetal, there are subtle silver micro-glitters in that make this polish quite complex. The color is just so versatile and goes with everything, honestly I have no complaints about it. Some may find this color a little boring after the deluge of pastels and hot neon colors Zoya and Nubar have been flinging out, but to me gunmetal is like black and white - totally timeless and never out of style. Very much recommended and my #1 personal favorite.
So, yeah I need to stop myself from raving more about what is ultimately but a bottle of nail polish ;) Speaking of Zoya though, make sure you take advantage of their amazing promo (only for current account holders):
As an ADDED BONUS for taking part in the exclusive account holders only BOGO Offer* standardshipping will be only $2! (Order more than $55 and shipping will be free!). You can BOGO* any colors from our new Zoya Summertime, Sunshine and ModMatte collections! With 15 new colors to choose from you are bound to find plenty of BOGO offer options to love! ENDS 3/25 @ 11:59 EST.
How it works:
* SIGN IN – to your account on Zoya * CLICK on MY ACCOUNT * Once you are in your account go to the left hand side of the page and CLICK on MY PROMOTIONS AND COUPONS * APPLY the code that reads ZOYA SUMMER BOGO*. * Then ADD - Any combination of polishes from the new summer collections to your shopping cart. * (This BOGO* you can buy up to 7 bottles and get 7 FREE(of the new summer collections) * ADD any additional items you would like to purchase * CHECK OUT (BOGO* applies to polish from Summertime, Sunshine and ModMatte collections ONLY!) * Please double check all information IS CORRECT and ALL FIELDS have been completely filled out PRIOR to submitting the order. There is NO WAY to issue a new code after the order has been processed. * SUBMIT – your order.
For more info go here. Here are the collections that are included in this promo.
Sunshine Collection
Reva(ZP546) - A cool toned strawberry red with glowing golden metallic sparkle. A very rich and luxurious looking gilded red.
Kimmy (ZP547) - Gleaming metallic candy apple red brightened by gold sparkle. Not your usual red shimmer- this one has a fiery attitude.
Apple (ZP548) - Luminous yellow-toned apple green packed with gold metallic sparkle. A dimensional green that's clean and bright.
Tanzy(ZP549) - Light, bright tangerine orange with yellow gold metallic sparkle. A sunny orange that's easy to wear year-round.
Rica(ZP550) - Warm light coral with pink and orange tones and heavy gold metallic sparkle. An alternative to flat corals for when you want to shine.
Faye (ZP551) - A bronzed mauve with purple and brown undertones flooded with bright gold sparkle. A unique gilded shade that will work in any season.
Summertime Collection
Sooki (ZP552) - Bright, clean, crisp cool cherry red cream with a subtle jelly finish. For an irresistible, attention-grabbing red nail.
Tamsen (ZP553) - Medium warm brick red with strong orange tones with an opaque cream finish. A special red that is both enticing and mysterious
Areej (ZP554) - Pink with an opaque cream finish. A pink for when you want a bold pop of color but not something neon-bright.
Kieko (ZP555) - Warm, red toned dusty light purple with berry tones with an opaque cream finish. A nice alternative to pure pink or berry, especially flattering on warm skin tones.
Mira (ZP556) - Blue toned medium purple with dusty lavender tones and an opaque cream finish. For a muted yet colorful purple that isn't too dark.
Breezi(ZP557) - Soft, dusty, medium cerulean blue with an opaque cream finish. A super chic high-fashion denim look for nails.
The incredible Zoya modmattes LE* shade collection has been expanded with three new LIMITED EDITION beauties. Get all of the color, none of shine with modmattes LE*, Zoya’s exclusive blend resulting in utterly wearable and truly stylish matte nail polish.
Phoebe (ZP558) - Bright azure with fine electric blue and violet shimmer with a velvety matte finish. The matte finish amplifies the bright color; this is a matte that positively glows.
Mitzi(ZP559) - Funky murky light yellow-toned lime green creme with a velvety matte finish. A new edgy, fun, bright type of matte for a retro mod look.
Lolly (ZP560) - Bold, saturated medium magenta pink creme with a velvety matte finish. A very colorful new matte style for perfect stand-out Barbie pink nails.
On my oldest daughter I would say this style is really easy but with my youngest this can be a trick. Not only because her hair is so thin but she is also a moving target while trying to braid.
First make a small poof in the front of her hair.
Then start above her ear on one side and french braid her sides up until you reach the center of her head. Do this on both sides of her head.
Add the hair from the poof and both braids and combine into an elastic as shown below.
I finished this style by making ringlets in her hair and she wanted a bow added.
Part of the limited collection in celebration of the Taipei International Floral Expo, the Japanese Hydrangea mask soothes and comforts skin while providing remarkable oil control to keep skin matte and shine-free.
Suitable for: Best for combination and oily skin types.
Experience: First impression when I opened the packet - not good >_> I got a strong wave of something that reminded of black tea, a scent I'm not nuts about. The mask texture and fit was good, as all the My Beauty Diary masks are. Unfortunately, as many of you know, one thing I always look for in a mask is that "cooling factor." This is important to me as "cooling" masks are vital to reducing redness and puffiness on my face, something I'm very prone too. In general, all sheet masks have at least a little bit of a cooling effect simply because you're putting something wet on your face. However, some masks have an extra cooling sensation and I don't think it's just in my head because certain masks feel exceptionally cool on my face (w/o refrigeration) and redness goes way down. Sadly, this mask is not one of those. Initially, it was cool but I don't know if my face was reacting to one of the ingredients or what, but my face started getting rather warm after 10-15 minutes. It didn't break me out or anything, but redness did not go down at all. Usually face masks at least temporarily take the redness on my face down at least 90% but this one....my face just looked the same :\ I've tried this mask 3x so far on 3 consecutive days and I haven't been impressed by either the immediate or (slightly) long term results in terms of oil control.
Overall Fit: As all MBD masks, the mask fits me well and has 2 slits around the chin.
Scent: I admit that I don't know what Japanese Hydrangeas actually smell like :P but this mask smells - to me - of black tea. Really strongly. I don't like the smell and this is one of the reasons behind why I wouldn't repurchase this mask.
Texture: Mask texture is nice, smooth and almost silky. Quite nice.
Excess serum: Mask is well-soaked but there is minimal excess serum in the packet for your neck etc. You can usually squeeze out a tiny handful, just enough for your neck but that's it.
Claims: Oil control, soothing. I personally have not noticed much oil control improvement. I used this mask three days in a row and there was no "oil reduction" on those three days or afterwards. So...yeah. As for soothing, not particularly. It didn't irritate my skin per se but I didn't see any redness reduction at all :\
Overall Results: I'm a little surprised how ineffective this mask was on me since the MBD French White Lily and Damask Rose (coming up next!) masks were wonderful. Besides the fit and texture of the mask itself, there is nothing I really like about this mask. It didn't soothe my face nor did I see any oil reduction. And one thing I particularly despise when it comes to beauty products is when something doesn't do what it promises. I don't expect something to fix every problem on my face but if a mask promises oil control, I should see some oil control. Everybody's skin is different so it may just be me so don't let this review prevent you from trying it out if you like, but don't expect great things. On the upside, the packaging is just lovely isn't it ^0^? I have to say I just adore the Blooming of Beauty packaging, it's so floral, feminine, yet not overdone. Overall, I did not like the smell and this mask didn't do what it promised, so I would not repurchase or personally recommend it.
I'm slowly slogging through my face mask reviews but I have a lot on my mind these days so I just felt doing something more *lighthearted* :)
Speaking of face masks, I made a mistake on my MBD Blooming of Beauty Overview post, so I've updated that. Basically, there are actually 9 masks in the series, not 6 >_> The three masks I forgot to list are awfully expensive online because they're "rarer" for some reason - ugh... So I doubt I'll get to ever try them but I did want to let you guys know the proper information. MBD has also just released ANOTHER (arghhhh!!) mask series called Tea Time this month, which Elisa posted about. They sound effing delicious and now I want to try those too -_- However, I'm on a strict mask ban for the next 2-3 months though while I use the ones I have. Also if I keep buying more sheet masks I'll never finish my sheet mask compilation video -_-
Nonetheless, I did find some places that are selling these rare MBD masks. They're awfully expensive but these are literally the only 2 places that ship to the US that I've found so far. So yeah...for people who can't resist:
Buying in Taiwan Ebay Store: Selling the three Blooming of Beauty masks that aren't on BonjourHK website for $13/box. Despite the fact this is literally 2x more expensive than what BonjourHK sells the Blooming of Beuty masks for ($7.60/box), this is the cheapest place I've found that ships to the US where you can try the Moroccan Rose, Pink Rockrose, and Mediterranean Orange Blossom masks.
Zizizaza Ebay Store: Selling not just the Tea Time series ($17.25) but also the adorable MBD Hello Kitty Honey Milk and Strawberry Milk masks ($17.25). The HK masks are 10/box so that's not as bad as the Tea Time series, which come 5/box.
Get a piece of paper and write the answers to the following questions:
1. What's your name/your blogger name? 2. What's your blog's name/URL? 3. Write "The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog." 4. Favorite quote? 5. Your Favorite song?
6. Your favorite band/singers? 7. Anything else you want to say? 8. Tag three to five other people.
Usually I write in a crash of cursive and print that is barely legible. This is my neat, tidy, "I'm gonna fool people into thinking I have nice handwriting" handwriting ;)
And some new bloggers I've started following :D Faye Lu of Faye Lu Review Yelena Kim of Korea Through My Eyes <-- a Korean Russian living in Korea, among the few expat blogs I like reading Choiii of Hooligan Choi Magdalena of I Like Makeup Lena of Mad, Bad, & Dangerous to Know <-- I've been following her for awhile so she's not a "new" blogger to me ^^ aki! of 7% Solution And last but not least, one girl I keep forgetting to tag (I swear it's because we're both "Elle")...Elle of Bitter & Sweet.
Also I did a video tag over the weekend!
Here are the 15 Questions: 1. What do you think you can do but can't? 2. What's a difficult word for you to pronounce? 3. What is a favorite TV show from your childhood? 4. What are your virtues and vices? 5. What's more important: love, fame, power, or money? 6. If you could live in any era/time period, when would it be and why? 7. If you had to redo your entire wardrobe with 2 stores, what would they be and why? 8. Can you recall what you were doing a year ago on this day? 9. Do you have reoccurring dreams? If so, explain? 10. What's your horoscope? 11. What does your dream bedroom look like? 12. What position do you sleep in? 13. Who is your favorite vampire of all time? 14. What are you currently wearing on your feet? 15. Do you have neat handwriting? Show us!
I don't have the energy to tag more people but anyone willing to do this tag (especially via video!) be my guest :D yuuuup also Elisa tagged me for a pretty cool Childhood Pictures tag, which I'm looking forward to doing. I love digging up old pictures but I am the epitome of someone who went through an ugly duckling phase so hmm...retinal scarring anyone ;)? Now onto the second half of this post...
...I wanted to post some intriguing movie trailers that have caught my eyes in the past few weeks. I'm one of those lazy bums who'd rather read recaps than watch a movie in a theater ^^ but I do love watching trailers. Does that even qualify as a hobby xD?
Award-winning director Joe Wright creates a boldly original suspense thriller with HANNA, starring Academy Award nominee Saoirse Ronan (The Lovely Bones, Atonement) in the title role. Raised by her father (Eric Bana of Star Trek), an ex-CIA man, in the wilds of Finland, Hanna's upbringing and training have been one and the same, all geared to making her the perfect assassin. The turning point in her adolescence is a sharp one; sent into the world by her father on a mission, Hanna journeys stealthily across Europe while eluding agents dispatched after her by a ruthless intelligence operative with secrets of her own (Academy Award winner Cate Blanchett). As she nears her ultimate target, Hanna faces startling revelations about her existence and unexpected questions about her humanity.
Hanna - I love movies about emo-bad-ass-chicks! The fact that this girl a young 'un with a traumatic past sounds somewhat stereotypical but the trailer reminds me a lot of the Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest, which is good in my book. That girl's cute as a button too, killer instinct and all. I can totally see her being the next big Hollywood starlet, she has the intense look about her~ I have a feeling she's going to find out her target (Cate Blanchett) is her mom or something and there is some genetic "defect" that gives her amazing speed/intelligence, something like that. Anyway, Eric Bana is smoking up the screen too *sigh* he's so fine ^^ so this is a movie I'm considering actually seeing on movie screen instead of reading the synopsis ehehe~
WHEN HARRY TRIES TO MARRY is a cross-cultural romantic comedy about a young Indian-born bachelor who lives in New York City. Harry's handsome and charming, but he's cynical about love. He's never really gotten over his parents' divorce -- they were a modern Indian couple who married for love and it didn't last. So to improve his odds of living "happily ever after," Harry decides to have an arranged marriage, and asks his uncle back home in India to assist him in arranging the introduction to an appropriate Indian woman. To the dismay of his parents and friends, Harry finds the perfect girl and embarks on a long-distance courtship. But unexpectedly, Harry's friendship with Theresa, a fun and sexy American student, becomes confusing, appealing -- and maybe a little bit romantic. Once Harry, his friends and the entire wedding party converge in India, Harry's plan to avoid romantic risk becomes a recipe for chaos. Can anyone protect themselves from a broken heart by leaving the passion out of marriage? And, when all is said and done, does Harry really want to?
When Harry Tries to Marry - The title reminds of "When Harry Met Sally" (I thought it was a sequel at first). In any case, the recent influx of Bollywood trailers on Apple is very intriguing! This movie caught my eye because it has a k-drama flair with that unmistakable Bollywood signature to it. Don't get me wrong - it's pretty obvious this won't be winning any Oscars xD but come on, who doesn't love BANGHRA ^^!? This trailer really drives home the reason why the Hallyu Wave reportedly even reached India - I see a lot of "East Asian" sensibilities in this trailer that I think K-poppers can relate to. What I particularly like about this trailer/storyline is that it has that uniquely Indian twist of arranged marriages. We don't get that set-up in K-flicks/dramas (at least not quite so bluntly though Koreans do have a love of "dating contract" sort of things :P). Also the premise of the dude "going traditional" in a modern world instead of "breaking free from tradition" is rather fresh if you think about it. This approach is very relevant to not just Indians of this generation, but also all Asians. Personally, I see so many second generation Asians "looking for their culture" after years of happily being a "Twinkie." I also like how this movie shows modern Indian culture as it exists today (aka the parents are divorced, they live in America, they're happily integrated in American society) and come on, the scenes in India look gorgeous.
Plus that dude (Rahul Rai) is kinda cute ;) He doesn't seem to be a "good" actor per se (I say this as someone who judged only from the trailer) but there is something quite quirky and charming about him. Bollywood is still rough around the edges when it comes to producing slick, mass-audience films that Hollywood has down to a fine art, but I already know Bollywood is going to invading Hollywood in the next decade or so and this promises to be a taste of how they might do modern rom-coms. Let's face it, we all know how the movie is going to end and the acting already looks a little awkward but it looks like an entertaining chick flick to me :D!
Inspired by the bestselling novel SNOW FLOWER AND THE SECRET FAN by Lisa See, the film is a timeless portrait of female friendship. In 19th-century China, seven-year-old girls Snow Flower and Lily are matched as laotong - or "old sames" - bound together for eternity. Isolated by their families, they furtively communicate by taking turns writing in a secret language, nu shu, between the folds of a white silk fan. In a parallel story in present day Shanghai, the laotong's descendants, Nina and Sophia, struggle to maintain the intimacy of their own childhood friendship in the face of demanding careers, complicated love lives, and a relentlessly evolving Shanghai. Drawing on the lessons of the past, the two modern women must understand the story of their ancestral connection, hidden from them in the folds of the antique white silk fan, or risk losing one another forever. What unfolds are two stories, generations apart, but everlasting in their universal notion of love, hope and friendship.
Snow Flower & the Secret Fan - I read the book a couple years ago and I remember thinking of it as a quieter, rawer version of The Joy Luck Club, but I re-read the book again recently and it has a complexity to it I don't remember the first time around. I definitely recommend the book, especially for people who've enjoyed "The Joy Luck Club" and "Memoirs of a Geisha." Coincidentally, the director of this movie also directed "The Joy Luck Club" film version. Interestingly, I get a distinct "Memoirs of a Geisha" film vibe from this movie instead, it has that shiny, expensive look to it. I'm not sure how I feel about that but I will say I am very excited to see how the book plays out as a film.
Even more interestingly, Jun Ji Hyun (Gianna Jun, she of "My Sassy Girl" fame), will be playing the role of Lily, a very tragic figure in the book. JJH is one of the few A-list K-actresses who actually seems serious about making it in Hollywood. Her first Hollywood attempt was not good; Blood: The Last Vampire bombed and was critically derided. Oddly enough, her acting was praised and she came out of the mess pretty much unscathed since most of the blame was laid on the director. In any case, "Snow Flower" promises to be a much better vehicle for her - it has that Asian exotica that America is so fond of and she's in the hands of a much better director. I'm curious to see how she'll do speaking both English and Chinese though, she doesn't speak either if I'm not mistaken. "Lily" is a pretty dynamic character so if she does well in this film I can totally see her breaking into Hollywood. As for first impressions, I am pleased to see that she is looking very raw and "into the role." She certainly hasn't lost her round cheeks and while they make her seem a tad chubby, she looks very charming and somehow suited to the role of the emotional, stubborn Lily.
Li BingBing plays Snow Flower and she looks gorgeous! So polished and sophisticated, a great contrast to fierce Lily, who was born poor. Again, I am curious to see how her character plays out on screen. There are so many intense, tragic scenes in the book that would test even seasoned actresses - but I have very high hopes! Maybe we're looking at two new Hollywood stars ^_^ Hugh Jackman is in this movie too so I am seeing at least a decent audience draw :) Fingers crossed!
A special collection in celebration of the Taipei International Flora Expo, this limited-edition face mask harnesses the skin soothing and whitening qualities of the lily for a noticeably radiant and fairer complexion.
Welcome to my new My Beauty Diary source! It's significantly cheaper than Sasa and carries more products. They even have some Holika Holika items :)!! If you want to try HH items, their Bulgarian Rose line is their newest release. I personally find their Strawberry line the most tempting though ^_^ I'm toying around with purchasing some HH items. There seems to be a dearth of HH reviews and I'd like to be one of the first to get on that (eheh that's what she said ;) sorry I can never resist a naughty joke ^^). Anyway, if anyone wants me to reviews some more Holika Holika (some HH reviews I did before), let me know so I can include one or two in my next batch.
Their shipping was quite fast all things considered. It took ~2-3 weeks and everything came neatly bundled. The downside is that their minimum for free shipping is $99 USD and otherwise has $10 S&H no matter how little you buy. Keep in mind everything is not cheaper across the board - just generally. You still need to do some price comparisons and they have no re-stock product alerts (GAHHH), which is really annoying. Also their website navigation is uber clunky, they have no product descriptions (a real hassle when trying to pick new products to try -_-), and you are strictly limited to 2 of each item :P I would say overall, BonjourHK has a slightly wider brand selection and good prices but terrible site design, which really does ruin the overall experience. Nonetheless, I recommend you check out this site out! Their Laniege items are the cheapest I've seen so far and they have a couple Korean brands unavailable elsewhere.
Price: $7.60/5 pieces = $1.52/each + S&H. So yes, these are more expensive than the Natural Key line, which run about .20 less per mask.
Description: Whitening, soothing.
Suitable for: All skin types.
Experience: Lovely scent when I open the packet. I get the cooling sensation that I love with sheet masks (probably b/c of the serum not because white lily is cooling or anything xD). The experience is very nice and what I especially like about this mask is that it does exactly what it promises and does it well. As soon as I take off a mask my face soothed, brightened, and (temporarily at least) whitened (since the redness is down). And just to clarify, by "whitened" I mean "even skintone." My face definitely looks more luminous and it's nice to get such a good result from what seems to be gentle mask.
Overall Fit: The BoB masks I have are the same shape as the MBD Natural Key line masks. It has 2 slits around the chin and while there has been confusion over the number of slits (if anyone knows why let me know), the mask fits well on me. Rinny has said the MBD masks she's tried has 4 slits and I do know that MBD has been changing the mask cut so don't assume your mask is fake or something if it has 2 or 4 slits.
Scent: A very delicate, light lily scent. I'm not crazy about floral scents but it's such a mild, delicate scent I don't mind it at all. It has a very clean undertone.
Mask texture: Soft and silky. It's a hair thinner than the MBD Natural Key line, much like FaceQ masks actually. But these BoB masks seem more absorbent than the FaceQ masks somehow. Anyway, it's nice and sticks to your face well.
Excess serum: *sigh* I know I'm unique in my preference but I like my masks with a lot of excess serum (aka drenched) a la Silk Whitia masks. In that sense, the BoB series has even less extra serum than the MBD Natural Key line. This is keeping in mind that overall, MBD has the least excess serum compared to Silk Whitia and FaceQ. BUT on the upside, all MBD masks are still very wet so don't worry about that :) the BoB series is no exception, it has plenty on the serum on the mask itself and since the masks holds the serum well, all the serum ends up on your face :) As I've said many times before, it's a personal preference thing.
Claims: Like I said, this mask does everything it promises well. Very soothing and gentle. Redness goes way down, no irritation, and the very light floral scent is just...so soothing xD I don't know about long-term whitening but it definitely temporarily whitens/evens my skintone. My skin feel very smooth, plumped, and refreshed afterwards.
Overall Results: I really like this mask. I'm going to say right out that it's one of my favorites and in my top 5 sheet masks overall. Not bad considering I've tried over 15 different sheet masks so far (I know I am insaneee ><). I am surprisingly fond of the French White Lily mask scent; floral usually comes across as heavy and musty to me but this has a very pleasing, clean scent. Overall, I highly recommend this mask. Of the three Blooming of Beauty series masks I've tried this is my favorite.
Start on the left side of her head and make a roll adding new hair each roll similar to adding hair to a french braid. Roll all the way to the right side of her head.
Below shows that I just pulled the right side hair back to meet the roll. Then secure all the hair in an elastic.
Make a messy bun and we added a flower for our accessory.
