Sweet magazine June 2011 & Rilakkuma Fan 2 mook

This has almost become a monthly ritual for me, buying a pile of magazines from Books.com.tw. They offer really fast international shipping (at quite reasonble prices in comparison to other stores) via either DHL or Fedex; my order was sent out on the 3rd from Taiwan and arrived today :D

* Rilakkuma Fan 2 mook
* Sweet June 2011
* Popteen (Taiwan edition) July 2011 - I really like Popteen for its detailed makeup tips, but I haven't had a flick through this issue yet.
* Queen 女人我最大 Summer 2011
* Best好用 森林系無添加保養品 - puts a lot of emphasis on its featured natural skincare products, but I was very disappointed with the content as most of the brands/products mentioned are European. I'm not at all interested in the likes of L'Occitane, Crabtree & Evelyn, Origins, The Body Shop and Lush (where most products contain parabens). The descriptions are also rather vague and feels more like a product catalogue than an independent publication. A big let down & I certainly won't be trying any more books in this series!

Sweet June 2011
I'd been eyeing up the June issue of Sweet prior to its release date but it was always out of stock since the freebies seem to be very sought after. This month's freebies are an 18ct gold plated Jupiter heart bracelet with pink tourmaline, and a pink Jupiter pouch. They're a special Jupiter x Rinka (the cover model) collaboration for Juipter's 5 year anniversary, exclusive to Sweet magazine.

I mainly purchased Sweet for its freebies, but I have enjoyed flicking through it looking at the pictures.

The freebies are packed separately and very well protected.

I don't think gold is my color but I do like this kawaii bracelet, worn in pic below.

I like the pink pouch too, I'm not sure what it's made of but it feels soft to the touch and not plasticky. Best of all it's such an awesome shade of pink!

Even the lining is pink :D

Definitely my favorite Japanese magazine freebies to date. I highly recommend picking up a copy if you can before it sells out or is discontinued!

Rilakkuma Fan 2 mook
I'm a huuuge fan of Rilakkuma and unfortunately missed last year's Rilakkuma Fan, so when I discovered this year's mook I had to snap it up. The mook comes with a 25 page booklet of kawaii Rilakkuma products ranging from bags to kitchen utensils, a Rilakkuma Honey tote and file holder/calendar.

The tote material is polyester, and it's sturdy and of good quality, though I may perfer the look of last year's Rilakkuma Fan tote which looks like it's cotton. I will probably use this to store some of my skincare products.

This file holder is cute but pretty useless for me since it can't hold a lot of paper, and I don't see the point of the calendar at the back either.

Who doesn't like these kawaii Rilakkuma stickers?

The summer 2011 issue of Queen 女人我最大 came with a transparent tote bag and while its various cat designs are cute, I can't see this being very useful because I don't want to have the contents of my bag on display when I'm out. However, it's pretty handy for toting magazines around in the house :P

And here are some pics of a few pages in the Rilakkuma booklet for you to enjoy/drool over.

(If I ever go to Japan I will want to bring back this extra large Rilakkuma plush...don't think it's practical to send through the post :P)

CandyDoll Powder Foundation review and some beauty magazines!

I've always felt Japanese beauty magazines blow the likes of Glamour/Cosmopolitan out of the water, but not being able to read Japanese other than kanji it's a bit pointless for me to buy magazines to look at pictures. Having said that, I do buy Ageha now and again for the pretty makeup photos :P Plus Japanese magazines have far more actual content unlike Glamour & Cosmo which consist of ≈60% adverts on flimsy paper.

So when I discovered some Japanese magazines had been translated into Chinese, I couldn't pass up the opportunity to try them. I'm sure there must be some content lost in translation and the Chinese versions are always a month behind, but they're still better for me than the originals.

I think these will keep me entertained for the rest of the month! It's great that they're all individually wrapped in cellophane to keep them pristine, because I can't stand creased up magazines or books (I'm odd like that lol)

Quisy April 2011 (quarterly Taiwanese beauty magazine)
S Cawaii June 2011
Popteen June 2011
Body May 2011 - not really a beauty magazine but it has some diet/exercise tips :P and comes with a bunch of freebies.

I ordered from Books.com.tw on the 3rd, and they arrived today via Fedex - if that's not speedy international delivery I don't know what is! I used to buy from Kingstone but had to wait 2-3 days before my order was even sent out, however Kingstone's shipping charge to the UK is a bit cheaper for 3 magazines or less.

P.S. If you know of any other good beauty magazines, please leave a comment!

And now for the powder foundation...

CandyDoll Powder Foundation 01
I previously reviewed CandyDoll Liquid Foundation and to summarize, it is a little too yellow/dark for me and gives quite a light coverage.

The CandyDoll Powder Foundation comes in a little pink compact with black stripes and is only available in shade 01. I personally like the pink compact, but not those black stripes.

The powder itself is velvety smooth, but the quality of the included sponge isn't great and can make some areas look blotchy, so a decent brush or sponge applicator is a must. Using my egg shaped SUQQU foundation sponge gives a much more even result.

What I really like about this foundation is that I can either use a powder brush for a very light coverage, or a sponge when I want more coverage. One sweep and blend (with SUQQU sponge) covers up my pores, reduces the appearance of blemishes/any redness and gives a perfectly smooth "my skin but better" poreless finish. It doesn't make my skin look powdery or dry it out, and hasn't given me any breakouts so far.

It's a bit lighter compared with the CandyDoll Liquid Foundation, and is therefore a much better match for my skin tone (swatch below). As for the shade depth I think it's suitable for NC15-NC20, maybe NC25 but I'm not sure how good of a match it will be.

I must say this is possibly my favorite (paraben free too, hooray!) powder foundation to date, and one I fully recommend. One minor annoyance is that when worn on its own after a few hours my tzone area (particularly around my nose) can look a bit shiny as I have combination skin, but this is easily fixed with some touching up.

Retail price is ¥2100 (≈$26) for 10g and I got mine through FromJapan.

List of ingredients from the official product page.

My KORA skincare products

Recently I made a "5 out 1 in" rule for my beauty products, where for every 5 items I use up or throw out I'm allowed to buy 1 new product (it started off as 3 out 1 in but that wasn't getting through my stash fast enough). It's absolutely necessary as I have far too much stuff :P and here's one of the contributing reasons.

KORA Organics is an Australian line of organic skincare by one of the Victoria's Secret supermodels, Miranda Kerr. Miranda wanted to create a range of organic products with ingredients she loves and uses, so after 3 years of development KORA was born. The products contain "antioxidant rich noni juice, essential fatty acids, various herbal extracts, essential oils and vitamins A, C, and E" and are designed to "nourish, replenish and re-hydrate the skin."

Of course, all products are free from parabens, sulfates, synthetic colors & fragrances etc. There are also different products targeted at different skin types.

KORA's web store is in Australian Dollars, and international shipping costs AU $30. My order arrived in the UK very quickly via DHL complete with customs charges, though at least DHL's extra handling fees were far more reasonable than some other courier companies.

Anyway, this is what I picked up - I really like the turquoise packaging too!

From left to right
A sample size of Smoothing Day & Night Cream
Tinted Day Care Cream
Soothing Day & Night Cream
Balancing Rose Mist
Foaming Cleanser
Daily Hand Cream Treatment
Organic Rich Body Lotion

I've since used these products for more than a couple of months and therefore feel I can accurately review whether or not they have worked on me.

Foaming Cleanser

125ml (oily/combination skin)

My skin can sometimes get a little oily in the tzone area, though it's not so bad right now. This soap free cleanser smells wonderful but doesn't lather up too well whether I use fingers or my Clarisonic. It's not great at removing makeup but when used after Fancl Cleansing Oil it leaves my skin squeaky clean and comfortable.

A good cleanser overall but in my opinion it's nothing particularly special, and not worth its AU $44.95 price tag. I prefer boscia Clear Complexion Cleanser, which does a better job of calming my skin when I get the odd breakout.

I also don't like its pump as one full pump dispenses too much product, and you only need about 1/3 of the amount.

Balancing Rose Mist

100ml for all skin types

Currently one of my staple products! It contains organic rose, jasmine, noni and hibiscus to provide the skin with antioxidant protection and supports the skin's collagen production.

Its smell is a little similar to MAC Fix+ Rose, but in comparison MAC's mist smells a little synthetic/plastic. The MAC mist smell fades away very quickly (a good thing) but this KORA mist leaves behind a lovely rose jasmine scent that's not at all overpowering. It feels very soothing on my skin, and I like to spritz my face with it after cleansing (and before moisturizer) to feed my skin some extra nutrients, and sometimes during the day for a quick perk me up.

Soothing Day & Night Cream

60ml (sensitive/normal skin)

Like the other KORA products, I adore the natural fresh smell of this moisturizer. The texture is light & easy to spread but very hydrating. Used after the Balancing Rose Mist it leaves my skin soft, dewy, and nourished. Since I've been using this cream, the occasional dry patches I used to get on my cheeks have more or less disappeared, and it also made my skin tone look a little more even :D

As the name implies you can use this moisturizer either during the day or at night. It absorbs quickly and is not at all sticky unlike some moisturizers, so I don't have to wait for too long before applying sun cream or makeup. I most probably will repurchase this unless I find something better.

Tinted Day Care Cream

"Suitable for all skin types, effective light coverage & replaces the need for foundation."

While it may be suitable for all skin types, it is not suitable for all skin tones and definitely cannot replace the need for foundation if it is a complete mismatch. This is way too dark on me even if applied sparingly that I look unnaturally orange, and it also gives my skin a slight dull grey cast. It's also not waterproof and the color rinses away easily with water.

Actual product

Rubbed into my arm

The Tinted Day Care Cream contains UVA protection, but if I wanted to wear it I would need to mix about 90% moisturizer with 10% of this cream, which defeats the point because when used in such tiny amounts, I'm not convinced there will be any UVA protection at all.

On its own it is too sheer to be used as foundation, too dark as a standalone moisturizer for me and somewhat pointless to mix with a moisturizer - unnecessary effort when I'm just going to slap on sun block after. But since I have it, I may as well mix it with moisturizer to use it up...

If you find this to be a decent match for your skin you may like it, but it gets a thumbs down from me.

Daily Hand Cream Treatment

When I was little I was bit of a nail biter and, to make up for the years of bad hand treatment, I now try to use hand cream daily. However as I use the keyboard and my iPad a lot, it's important that hand creams cannot be too oily because I can't stand leaving a trail of oily marks.

This hand cream is rich, but it absorbs very quickly and I only need to use a pea sized amount for both hands to keep them soft. Like the rest of the KORA range the smell is divine ♥ and I'm always sniffing my hands after using the hand cream.

Definitely repurchase worthy but this big tube will last ages, so it won't be for a while!

Organic Rich Body Lotion

Unlike some body moisturizers I own, this is very rich, non sticky and absorbs very quickly. 200ml isn't a big size for a body cream but its rich consistency means I only need to spread out a small blob, otherwise it leaves streaky cream marks indicating it's not fully absorbed. Again the smell is gorgeous and this keeps my skin soft, smooth and lightly scented.

The only downside is it doesn't contain any SPF, therefore it doesn't quite top Juice Beauty Green Apple SPF 20 Antioxidant Body Moisturizer which offers both UVA and UVB protection. It's more nourishing than Juice Beauty though, and better for drier areas.

Overall I really like most of the KORA products, they use great quality ingredients, look after my skin and smell great! Prices are reasonable but when importing from the UK you need to take into account the AU $30 shipping charge + 20% tax on top, which make the products a little more expensive.