Review: TonyMoly Products + Upward-Outward Face Massaging/Washing

I don't have many TonyMoly (English website) products :( I should've bought more while I was in Korea - they really have the cutest packaging ever!  Everything is in the shape of the main ingrediant ^_^ Coincidentally, the products you see below are among their most popular - yah, for being sucked in by adorable packaging!  I can't wait to try the Ice Cream Sunscreen sample I have :) I heard it feels like ice cream (aka cold, refreshing) on your face~

Sadly, I feel like TonyMoly products are getting harder to get in the US :(  Sasa.com just completely dropped TonyMoly from its inventory 2-3 weeks ago! I was SO shocked, I had the Tomatox in my cart and one day it was just gone :(  BUT they do carry TonyMoly at YesStyle so that's good~  I tend to refrain from purchasing from YesStyle though because I feel like they tend to be on the expensive side but in this case, their TonyMoly products are decently priced (though Sasa was cheaper :P).

Translation of commercial clips:

At the beginning: "How old are you?"
At the end: "How old do I look?"

This TonyMoly commercial was advertising some kind of serum that smooths out your skin to make you look younger.  The girl in the MV is Narsha, from Brown Eyed Girls, best known for their sexy Abracadabra dance, and the guy is Song Joong Ki (Sungkyunkwan Scandal), an actor known for his baby face.  The "joke" is that BEG is known for being a "noona" group aka they're "old" as far as pop singers go (ages 23-29) and it's "trendy" in Korea  for guys to date older woman or rather, girls to date younger guys (if such a thing can even be a trend).   Anyway, that's what the MV is kind of poking fun at~ :)

In any case, I think I went pretty in-depth in the review video so I'll refrain from writing too much xD

TonyMoly BB Slim Pact Party Lover

Shade 2: Natural Beige

Super soft sponge!  Very easy to wash :)  I'm a NC25 (max NC30) and Shade 2 is a nice color.  It may seem a little white on application but when you blend it out it's quite natural.  It's not translucent although it is quite sheer.  Texture is creamy and blend-able although it can cake if you add to much (duh) and very moisturizing.  It does crumble sometimes though if you rub the cake too hard with the sponge :P But that started happening only after I hit the pan so it prolly does that since the cake is thinner and more fragile now.   It has Light-Medium coverage but you need to blend well and build up to it.

Overall, I really like this  little compact :)! It's so portable and convenient.  Perfect for touch-ups and has remarkably good coverage~  Recommended :)

TonyMoly Contouring Brush 

Nothing much to add beyond what I said in the video. Overall, I don't recommend it because it's just so typical and there's no way you'll be able to get this for a fair price if you need to import it.

TonyMoly Appletox Smooth Massage Peeling Cream

Ahh...no doubt this is one of the cutest peeling creams eva~!!  Besides the uber-cute packaging, this thing really got famous after a candid photo of a some k-celebrity couple lovingly massaging each others faces with this *sigh* started circulating the net (I searched everywhere for this pic >_< couldn't find it).  Anyway, now green apples are pretty much the symbol for "peeling" masks :P   Anyway, even with all the the hype - for once, imho, this little baby actually lives up to the hype :)!

It's quite gentle yet leaves a refreshing feel after you wash it off.  However, it's a gentle peel for reason - this is a massage cream - not an exfoliater, the exfoliating is just a bonus.  Very moisturizing and smells amazing - like sweet granny smith apples.  It's not a very intensive peel but it's ok because then even sensitive skinned people can use it.   Also the gentleness makes this is great for winter because if you over-exfoliate during winter, it will make most people very dry and flaky instead of silky smooth :P  And remember: this must be used on a dry-ish face!  It's not as effective if your face is soaking wet, so you can't use this in the shower :P

On Face Massaging & Face Washing
Koreans are big believers in face-massaging.  They believe that massaging your face helps circulation in your skin (more youthful complexion) and can even make your face smaller/create a natural face lift over time ^_^  I dunno about the latter but many celebrities swear by "face massages."   They do this by massaging in an outward-upward fashion with massage creams like Appletox.  I'd imagine that you'd have to massage your face every night to get a real effect :P but I don't think that means it doesn't work either. You should also wash your faces like this - splash on water and sweep upward and outward to rinse, never down.  While I don't know if this upward-outward massaging/face washing will really keep my face from sagging forever, better safe than sorry right ^_^?  Plus it kind of makes sense in a way....if you tug your face downward while washing, even for 15 seconds every morning and night - over a lifetime that adds up to a lot of time you spent making your face saggy, neh?

This Japanese lady was on a Korean TV show once to show how she washes her face.  She's famous for her amazing skin - and I must say - it is amazing, very firm and youthful!  Can you believe she's 52-years old?! She did an awesome demo of it on the show, she's tiny and super cute ^_^ I couldn't find the clip of the actual show I watched but the link above shows essentially the same thing.  Notice that she never tugs her skin downwards, she is always looking up, and uses only the gentlest foam on her face :) She also massages in tiny circles to stimulate circulation.  To rinse, she only dabs at her face to prevent pulling.  Both my mom and I switched over to this method after watching the show cuz it sure as hell is working for this lady xD

On the Korean version of the show they did a camera closeup of her face of a water droplet hitting her face.  The way the water drop hits your face demonstrates elasticity.  For example, when water hits a baby's skin the droplet tends to stay as one "drop," while on mature, less elastic skin, water "splashes" outwards when it hits your face.  Basically, this Japanese lady's face is literally soft as a baby's butt ^0^

I also reviewed the TonyMoly eggpore Shiny Skin Soap before.

Review: e.l.f. (on location) Makeup Brushes and Nordstrom Off the Rack

A place called "Nordstrom Off the Rack" just opened in Virginia.  It's basically out-of-season or over stock items from Nordstrom sold at massive discounts.  It's still an upscale store compared to Ross and Marshall's but it's definitely worth a peek if you're into the high-end brand names.  Since it's an "upscale" discount store, it's very well-organized and sells marked-down cosmetics like Stila, Nuetrogena (Walmart has better prices for this one), Stri-vectin, and Chi, among others.  Surprisingly, e.l.f. was among them, although it's more of a "$1 brand."

There isn't a huge variety of each brand but still.  The Stila display had a bunch of eyeshadow palettes, eyeshadow singles, lip glosses, and lipsticks but e.l.f. only had makeup brushes available.  That's what caught my eye though, I thought e.l.f. was strictly an online brand but I guess not! They have a sub division called e.l.f.-on-location and though it's my first time seeing it I'm sure they have these elsewhere.

I've heard of e.l.f. here and there and the only thing I knew about it was that it was sold online.  I was so excited to see e.l.f. "in real life" that I got ripped off :P

$14.97 + tax for 6 makeup brushes.  Right after I got home I went on the e.l.f. website and found out they sold a 12 brush set for $12.  ...yeah :P It has good ratings too.   I thought about returning this 6 piece brush set and buying the 12 set online but what the heck I wanted to know how these brushes worked so I just used them.  Also I was just enamored by the slide-out travel lip brush :)

Close up of 4 brushes: L --> R: Lid Color, Crease/Blend, Smudge, Browline

I must say I like!  The Lid Color Brush and Smudge Brush are my favorites.  Much better than the cheap triangular tipped things that come free with drugstore palettes.

Powder Brush (white)

Very dense, soft and picks up color well but it shed a lot the first time I used this, which really annoyed me. It's a good size for blush and contouring the cheekbones, but it continues to shed :\  I'm not crazy about this brush but I'll prolly use this as I only have two large powder brushes and this one is softer and denser.

Lid Color Brush

This lid brush is really good for depositing color onto your lid via dabbing.  It's a little big for actual smudge/precision work because it's too big to control but it picks up a lot of color well.  Has never shed hairs but got a tad stiff after washing.  It still works just fine though.  Recommended as I use it quite a lot.

Crease/Blend Brush

This is slightly smaller than the Lid Color Brush so it's good for depositing color at the inner corner of your eyes.  It's still too big for precision smudge work but very dense, soft and acceptable overall. Has never shed hairs and retained softness after washing.  This is also good for contouring the nose bridge. Recommended.

Smudge Brush

Oo, this is my favorite brush of the bunch. It's good for smudging edges  I am sure you can find smaller more precise brushes somewhere but this one suits me just fine.  It fits right into my crease and it's dense enough to actually move color around and does not shed hairs.  I sometimes use this to deposit color in tight spots around my eye as well.  Washed easily and retained shape and softness.  Recommended.

Brow Brush

I'm going to be honest and say I have never used a brow brush before.  I don't fill or color my brows, mostly because I'm lazy and I fancy myself as someone who doesn't really have to.  When I want to thicken my brows I use Revlon's Brow Liner which comes with a gel end (it looks like brown mascara) and just use the gel end to comb and thicken a bit.  So, it beats me whether this brush is any good or not.  I tried using this as an eyeliner brush though and it's not all that bad though it's a bit "hard" for my taste. Maybe washing it will soften it up.

Lip Brush

I was so excited about this but I have to admit that it just doesn't work.  The brush just doesn't pick up an lipstick so it's useless.  Also the brush is so narrow and fluffy, you need a flat firm brush for your lips. Not recommended and total fail.

I only liked eyelid brushes.  However, I recommend buying these on the e.l.f website for $1 each instead of being robbed in-stores xD  Also some may find the really long handles annoying.  I think it's pretty and makes me feel elegant xD but it can get in the way if you're leaning too close to the mirror.

But that said I'm going to admit that my experience with makeup brushes is fairly limited.  I've really only used brushes I've come by for free or for very cheap.   I would like to one day splurge and buy Sephora's ginormous powder brush (it's basically the size of my face O_O) but I can't bring myself to drop $40 for what essentially is a glorified paint brush. Not yet anyway.  Until that day comes, I'm pretty content with e.l.f. quality :) They're dense and don't shed much (if at all) during washes nor after.  They're soft but not so soft that they don't pick up color properly.

Even with my positive experience, however, I'm hesitant to purchase non-brush items from e.l.f. because I believe things like brushes and foundations need to be good quality (not necessarily brand name) and from the reviews I've read, you really get what you pay for with e.l.f. - as in just about everything but the makeup brushes and a few select shimmer eye pencils leave much to be desired.