SKINCARE | MaskerAide Pineapple Brightening Jelly Mask

In the summer of 2020, one of my favourite sheet mask brands, MaskerAide, decided to add something new to their line up - wash off masks! I have been sitting on this review for awhile not for any particular reason, but this is the year I finally catch up! A detoxifying Matcha clay mask was also released in addition to the Pineapple Brightening Jelly Mask, but I will save that for a separate review because it's pretty awesome too!

Press samples

SKINCARE | Ole Henriksen Banana Bright Vitamin C Serum

I didn't think I would do more than my Instagram review of the new Ole Henriksen Banana Bright Vitamin C Serum, but over the 7 weeks of use I came to really enjoy how versatile this serum was. In general, I don't give into the hype of "trendy" skincare brands and while I get excited just like any other skincare lover when a flashy brand releases a new product, I look beyond what other influencers say as I am finding that more and more people just say "OMG, thank you Brand X for this amazing product" and are "so grateful" without actually doing some critical thinking. Either they are afraid that they won't receive PR anymore or merely read the marketing jargon that's given to them or better yet, don't realize that they are already 90% sold on the product because it looks pretty on their Instagram feed. Taking all this into account, I was VERY excited when I was selected to review this for Influenster back in March because the ingredients list was a lot more impressive than I thought it would be! This was a REAL vitamin C serum that also had PHAs and I was READY.

 Product provided by Influenster

SKINCARE | My Beauty Diary 2 Step Asia Brightening Pack #LunarFebruary

How is there only one week left of February?! Granted the last two weeks after I got back from my staycation have been a whirlwind at work and where I have felt only a few days have passed, it has been two weeks. I look back and I don't even know what I have been doing. I haven't had much time to play with my beauty babies and even though I held onto my blogging streak for 15 days straight, I finally crashed around Chinese New Year and allowed myself to go down the #VirtueMoir rabbit hole.

SKINCARE | Avon Anew Brightening Sheet Mask with White Pearl Essence

One Korean beauty products I can't believe I have loved for so long are sheet masks. I probably used my first one 10 years ago and it definitely wasn't as nice as the sheet masks now. The masks fit better and the ingredients seem to have improved as well. Sheet masks have made a HUGE comeback recently with masks being made of different materials, patterns on them and with good ingredients tso you have no idea how excited I was when these new Avon Anew Brightening* and Firming Sheet Masks* landed in my mailbox!  

SKINCARE | Guerlain Blanc de Perle Essence in Lotion Review

Oh my has it been that long since my last skincare review? I had wanted to do week by week reviews of the Guerlain Blanc de Perle line, but work is still kicking my ass when it comes to fatigue so I haven’t been able to write all that much. If anyone has tips to gain energy (other than caffeine) please enlighten me!

I need to admit that I didn’t quite read the instructions when it came to this skincare line. I assumed that I was skincare savvy enough to figure out what all of the pieces meant, but for the first week I was using the White P.E.A.R.L. Essence in Lotion*(200mL/$78.00 CDN) almost like a moisturizer if you can believe it! It does say “Brightening Lotion” on the bottle so I figured lotion = hydration. Then when I looked at the side of the box, I saw the phrase “facial toner” which after experiencing the consistency of the product, made MUCH more sense as a HYDRATING toner. Although it actually did work as a moisturizer too when applied after serum!

SKINCARE | *Cleanser Wednesdays* with the Guerlain Blanc de Perle White Pearl Cleanser Cleansing Foam Review

In a galaxy far, far away, I was fortunate enough to get an opportunity to try out the latest in skin brightening from Guerlain in the form of the Blanc de Perle collection. With the high Asian population in Vancouver, brightening has always been a hot topic with the ideal Asian skin being porcelain white and blemish free. Terms like “whitening” tend to conjure up thoughts of harsh bleaching treatments, but the Blanc de Perle is far from that. The Blanc de Perle routine consists of three basic steps: Clarify, Treat and Hydrate. Within each step are 2-3 products essentially creating a 7 step skincare routine. I will showcase each product separately as I feel like most people will not often feel comfortable purchasing a whole new routine in full as it can be quite an investment. Oftentimes, we purchase bits at a time starting with a product that speaks to our current skincare concerns ESPECIALLY when it comes to a luxury price point such as Guerlain.

When it comes to skincare, people are often hesitant to change things too drastically and when using a new line, a cleanser or toner is usually the easiest product to incorporate into a current routine in terms of skin adjustment and price. Guerlain’s White Pearl Cleanser*($65.00 CDN) is the first step to brightening in that skin is cleansed with gentle micro-pearls and a luxurious creamy texture to reveal freshly radiant skin.