Review: SkinFood Omija Whitening Skincare

Hello Princesses!

Today I'm going to be reviewing Skinfood's Omija Whitening Skincare! If you haven't already read My Skin Story, please do read it because it will give you a better understanding of this review! ^^

I'm really interested in Whitening and Brightening products because I have a lot of acne scarring and hyper-pigmentation. Personally, I like being pale, because I think that I look weird being tan, but this doesn't mean that I think everyone should be pasty pale like me, it's just my personal preference!   

I bought most of these samples from RoseRoseShop, with the exception of the Omija Whitening Serum, which was a free sample. I really wish that the Omija line came with a cleanser or exfoliater to complete the collection. It does have a mask that I didn't purchase, I'm not sure why I didn't purchase it though!

The first step is to use the Omija Whitening Tea Toner.

A toner with a cold-brew dry Omija tea bad and active contents that brightens skin using a patent awarded Omija herb complex and ingredients producing skin-lightening effects
To Use: After washing face, dispense an ample amount onto a cotton pad and wipe face in outward motions, or use palms and pat skin gently

The full size version of this Tea Toner actually has a tea bag that requires you to brew in the toner to make the tea toner! I don't find this Toner too moisturizing or drying, which is perfect for someone like me who has combination skin! I don't end up feeling greasy and oily, or tight and dry after using it so I would consider it quite successful. It's just right!  

The next step is to use the Omija Whitening Emulsion.

An Emulsion that brightens skin using a patent awarded Omija herb complex and ingredients producing skin-lightening effects.

To use: After toner and/or serum application, apply an ample amount onto the face with gentle strokes and leave until it is completely absorbed.

I think you can actually use the Emulsion and Serum whenever you like, as long as they're between the Toner and the Cream. The instructions aren't very specific on the order! This is a lovely Emulsion which isn't overly sticky, watery or creamy. It absorbs fairly quickly, and doesn't leave a sticky feeling on my face like some products do. I quite like it as a gentle day moisturizer because it isn't too heavy.

The next step is the Omija Whitening Serum 

A serum that brightens skin with a patent-awarded Omija herb complex and ingredients producing skin-lightening effects

To Use: After toner and/or emulsion application, apply an ample amount onto the face with gentle strokes and leave until it is completely absorbed.

I was only able to use the Serum three times, but it was really lovely! Fast absorbing, non sticky and very moisturizing, I did find that this serum gave me a lovely glow the three times that I was able to use it. Serums are usually the most concentrated of all of the skincare, so i wouldn't be surprised that this one would whiten and brighten the most, but with only three uses, I definitely cannot say for sure. 

The last step is the Omija Whitening Cream 

A cream that brightens skin with a patent-awarded Omija herb complex and ingredients producing skin-lightening effects

To Use: After emulsion application, apply an ample amount onto the face with gentle strokes and leave until it is completely absorbed.

I really liked this cream, but it is quite thick and it takes a little while to absorb. I used this cream morning and night for about 20 days for the trial, but I think it's more suitable as a night cream rather than an everyday cream, as it did tend to make me a little greasy in my T-Zone though the day. It works great as a night cream, my skin was plump and moisturized in the morning!

Effectiveness

This is labeled as both whitening and brightening skincare, and I think to a certain extent it does whiten and brighten. I found it really effective to brighten and fade my acne scars around my chin, as well as get rid of some of the redness around my cheeks and nose.

Things I Love
- Lovely sweet slightly floral scent throughout the range
- Mostly fast absorbing and not sticky
- Very effective in brightening
- Moisturized my skin very well without being too greasy
- Not too pricey
- Fades acne scars and hyper-pigmentation


Things I Don't Love
- Whitening cream is slightly too heavy for a day cream
- Not available in New Zealand
- Doesn't really help acne (doesn't claim to either)


I did some before and after shots, but they failed slightly! They weren't taken in the same lighting, so the after shots are a little yellower than the before shots.

Chin

Side of Face

Full Face
Final Thoughts

Before I started this skincare, I had around 8-10 pimples on my cheeks and chin, and after the 20 odd days of trialling this skincare I had less than 5 pimples. This skincare didn't break me out or cause allergic reactions, but it didn't really help with my acne either. It did help fade some of the scarring on my chin, and get rid of some of the redness in my face, so I think it did brighten and whiten my face to some extent! My skin also looks a lot healthier and hydrated, especially around my eyes, and it made the application of makeup so much easier and smoother!

I definitely would purchase the full sized products when i don't have any acne problems (fingers crossed it'll be sometime soon!) because it made my skin look so glowy and healthy!

What do you princesses think? Would you try this skincare line?

Manicure Monday: OPI Bond Girls Collection Review

Hello Princesses!

Today isn't one of my normal Manicure Mondays, but actually a nail polish collection review!

Over the Christmas holidays I finally completed the OPI Bond Girls Liquid Sand Collection. I'm such a fan of textured polishes, I just had to collect them all! All of these polishes were bought second hand, with the exceptions of Tiffany Case and Honey Ryder which were on a Buy one get one Free deal. I love bargains.

I'm a little late to the textured polish party, but I still really love most of these polishes!



Honey Ryder

Honey Ryder is a super pretty chunky gold texture, which is really nice for everyday or office wear. I really love this polish because it suits my skin tone really well and doesn't look too extreme or out there! I love pairing Honey Ryder and Pussy Galore for a cute girly manicure. 

Jinx

Jinx is an ultra gorgeous coral with gold glitter, and it's almost my favorite polish out of this collection! It reminds me of the Zoya pixie dusts because it's so sparkly! I created a super cute gradient with Jinx and Honey Ryder.

Pussy Galore

This was love at first sight! I'm a huge fan of anything pink, and Pussy Galore is especially gorgeous. It's a beautiful pale pink with a fine fuchsia glitter, that's opaque in 2 coats, and is my go-to lazy manicure colour when I want to look feminine and cute. I think it's slightly unfortunate that it's called Pussy Galore, because it makes me feel really awkward when people ask me what my polish is called >< Other than that, I love it! ^^

Solitaire

Solitaire is a white based silver glitter which looks a little like magical Disney snow! Unfortunately it's not the best colour for me, but I like to wear it with other colours (like Pussy Galore) to minimize the yellow tone it gives me.

Tiffany Case

Tiffany Case is a stunningly beautiful blue with silver glitter. I absolutely adore this polish, but unfortunately it stains really badly, even through multiple base coats :S

I managed to get pretty much all of the staining off by scrubbing my nails with baking soda as soon as I took the polish off, (thankfully), but I will definitely be wearing it again, this time with a glue base coat to avoid staining. It's such a gorgeous sparkling polish and definitely one of my favorites of the collection!

Vesper

Ok, I have to admit that my swatch of Vesper is pretty gross looking. I'm honestly not sure how it turned out this uneven and icky :S I love the dark eggplant purple colour of this polish with black glitter, but the texture reminds me just a little bit vomit!

 Overall, I really liked this collection! My favorites are Pussy Galore, Jinx and Tiffany Case. ^^ Do you princesses like textured polishes? 

My Skin Story

Hello Princesses!

Today I'm going to be telling you my skin story! This post will include my bare face, gross photos of acne, and a lot of talking. So if you're not up for that, feel free to skip this post!

I decided to make this post because I've been testing skincare for about 6 months! I thought it would be useful for you guys to see what my skin is like and what I'm looking for in my skincare, so that my skincare reviews will make more sense.

What's my skin type? 

• Combination skin, with an oily T-Zone and dry cheeks. 
• Prone to blackheads and have large pores. 
• Lots of acne scars and hyper-pigmentation.
• Hormonal breakouts and mild cystic acne 
• Allergic reactions (possibly Cetearyl Alcohol, Cetyl Alcohol, and Steareth 20)
• Fine lines, wrinkles and redness

What am I looking for in my skincare regime?

• Acne treatment
• Allergies
• Whitening/Brightening
• Anti-Aging

Acne

As a teenager I was never plagued by pimples and zits, however, blackheads and enlarged pores have always been an issue for me. I was on the contraceptive pill at a fairly young age for extreme PMS, which was very successful until my second year on university when i ran into problems with migraines and visual disturbances, and had to come off it. Ever since I stopped that pill, my skin has gone from; oh yeah, pretty good, to, ohmygod what happened to your face. 

My main problem is my chin. I get a few pimples on my forehead and cheeks (never really my nose, that's where the blackheads dominate) but my chin is really just a landmine. This photo shows my chin on a really good day. There are like, 3 small pimples, sure, but what we're really looking at there is the scarring. The cystic pimples scar the worst, even if they don't come to head they still leave a huge hyper-pigmented scar. 

I try not to take photos on days where my skin is absolutely disgusting, because it means a lot less work editing the photos afterwards, and it just makes me feel sad to look at my skin in such a bad state. I can't show you how bad it gets, but it does get pretty bad, so finding skincare that helps me banish the acne is always first on my list!

Allergies
One morning, after having a lovely calming face mask the night before, I woke up to find my chin covered in small pus filled bubbles like this. (Enlarge if you're brave)
 

It took me months to figure out that it was caused by a skincare allergy (although it really should have been obvious). I suspect that I'm allergic to Cetearyl Alcohol, Cetyl Alcohol, and Steareth 20, which are common acne triggers. I first noticed the disgusting chin allergy after I was using one of my favorite face masks. After I took off the face mask and let the serum absorb into my skin, I found that my chin was SUPER itchy, so instead of being intellegant and washing the serum off, I scratched at it with my long nails. In the morning I found that the places I scratched (aka: everywhere) had erupted into tiny yellow pus bubbles, and I cried for hours. 

The first time it happened was the worst, (the above photo is pretty mild, I don't want to make you guys vomit) and it was all over my chin. It was so itchy, painful and humiliating for a grown up 20 something year old to have! It took 3 weeks for the allergy to go away. If you want to read a similar story, but on a horrifyingly large scale, check out BunBunMakeuptips Facial Story. (WARNING this post is incredibly graphic)

Whitening / Brightening

Many people are quite disgusted when I say that I use Whitening skincare. This is a common misconception where people think I want to bleach my skin to make myself look whiter! Whitening skincare actually brightens your complexion, and lighten scars and hyper-pigmentation. I do not bleach my skin.

Also, I'm not a vampire! My pale skin comes from my fathers English heritage, and my warm/yellow tone comes from my mothers tanned Olive skin. If I tanned for long enough, I would have Olive skin too! So why don't I "just get a tan" instead of complaining about not being able to find pale foundations? Four Reasons.

1 - Tanning darkens scars and hyper-pigmentation. No thank you!

2 - I have a facial birthmark that tans faster than my face. I take great pains to make sure that it's hidden 99% of the time, like leaving my hair down and taking photos from one side only etc. If you guys are curious I can make a separate post about it, but for now I'll just leave it here.

3 - One time at the beach, I was very badly burnt on the tops of my shoulders. My back was protected by my hair and my face was away from the sun, so I was very fortunate that it was only my shoulders that were burnt. It's the worst burn I've ever had, my shoulders bubbled and blisters in the most horrifyingly disgusting way and it was the most pain I'd ever had from sunburn. I was left with freckle covered shoulders (which I think are actually pretty cute now thankfully) and an obsession with sunscreen on my shoulders. Unfortunately this didn't spur on an obsession for sunscreen for my face, so whenever my body saw the sunlight, my shoulders were protected by sunscreen, neck and chest was protected by hair, but my face was left to fend for itself.   

That, resulted in this. My face is a totally different colour from my neck, chest and shoulders. It's crazy, and it makes it hard to get Foundation and BB Creams to match, because they have to be quite full coverage to cover the redness and tan. Now I'm religiously using facial sunscreen, and am looking for brightening skincare to undo the damage I've already done. If I could go back in time, slap myself and then tell myself to wear sunscreen everyday, I would.

4 - I like being pale! 

 Anti-Aging

Excess sun damage results in a sped up process of aging, and I'm not keen on that. I would rather use Anti-Aging skincare before I get substantial wrinkles and fine lines. Once the wrinkles set in, it's much harder to fix, than it is to prevent.

At the end of the day, I can buy as much expensive makeup as I want, but if the skin underneath hasn't been taken care of, then it's never going to look good. Here is un-edited proof of lovely makeup on bad skin. Don't judge me too harshly.

I'm not ashamed of how I look without makeup. I'm making this post for the benefit of my followers who may have the same problems as I do, and as a preface to further skincare reviews that I will be doing, so that I can reference back to this post.

Everyone has problems and nobody is perfect, so if you feel like you want to judge me for the way I look, take a look at yourself first, and make sure that there's nothing that you feel insecure about too. 

*PHEW* If you guys got to the end of this, I have a huge hug and a hi-five for you! If you have any product recommendations for me, I would absolutely love to hear them!

Fail Pale Products: Foundations / BB Creams

Hello Princesses!

Today I'm going to be talking about some of my foundation and BB Cream fails! 

I've tried a lot of Foundations, BB Creams, CC Creams and Concealers since I started blogging. I usually try to ask for testers or samples before buying foundations since my colour is not a "standard" colour. Sometimes I cannot get samples, or they don't have testers, but are cheap enough that I just buy them without trying, so I end up with a lot of products that are not quite right.

At a rough guesstimate, I would say that I have tried about 80 odd foundations, BB Creams and CC Creams. This may seem like a lot, but if you think that at least half of those have been in tester or sample form, then it seems a lot less insane! Out of all of those foundations, BB Creams and CC Creams, I have found under 10 that are the right colour.

Sometimes there are some products that I cannot really review, because they are too dark for me to wear for a whole day. If I can't tell you about how it wears, (oxidisation, oil control, lasting power etc) all I'm going to be telling you is what colour it really is! So I thought that I would show you guys some swatches of products that I couldn't review, aka, Fail Pale Products!

(Click on the images to enlarge)

First up is Kleancolor's Velvet Moisturizing Liquid Foundation in Translucent Beige.

This was a very cheap buy, ($6NZD) for what looked like a super light coloured foundation. But when I came home to wear it, it turns out that it really is translucent! It doesn't cover pores, scars, redness or any veins. It's literally a tinted moisturizer that doesn't really moisturize or provide any benefits for my skin.

Next up is L.A Girl's Perfecting Liquid Makeup in Ivory.

This was another cheapie, ($7NZD) that looked so promising, but turned out to be the wrong colour and with an awful consistency! It just kinda moved around my skin without sitting, or absorbing, or doing anything but looking flakey and horrible. Urch!

Here are the arm swatches from Kleancolor and L.A Girl. You can't really see anything in the last picture because they really just disappear. How am I supposed to review products that just disappear? *grumblewasteofmoneycheapproductsgrumble*

The next set of swatches are from one off samples and the Rimmel and L.A Girl, which are in there for no good reason at all really.

L-R; 
Laura Mercier Moisturizing Foundation - Warm Ivory
Rimmel London BB Cream - Light
Lioele Dollish Veil Vita BB Cream
Etude House Precious Mineral Cotton Fit BB Cream - W13
L.A Girl Perfecting Liquid Makeup - Ivory

The next set of swatches are from my semi-recent ASOS haul, where I bought some Rimmel London products that turned out to look a lot different to online swatches.

The Rimmel London Match Perfection in Light Porcelain is a pretty good match in paleness for me, but is quite pink-toned and therefore not very suitable. The other products are laughably dark considering that they are the lightest colour in their range. The BB Cream is the darkest out of the three products.

Left; Rimmel BB Cream, Light. Right; Rimmel Stay Matte, Ivory.

My last set of swatches is from my latest destash of Foundations and BB Creams. I tried to order them from lightest to darkest, but some are a little out!

L-R
Kleancolor Velvet Moisturizing Liquid Foundation - Translucent Beige
Rimmel London Match Perfection - Light Porcelain 
Maybelline Fit Me - 115 Ivory
Maybelline Mineral Powder - Ivory
ChiChi Real Minerals - Fair
Skinfood Peach Green Tea BB Cream

L-R
L.A Girl Perfecting Liquid Makeup - Ivory
Maybelline Dream Fresh BB Cream -Fair
Revlon Photoready BB Cream - Light 
Rimmel Stay Matte - Ivory
Natio Young Camoflage Spot Cream
Rimmel London BB Cream - Light
Shiseido Dual Balancing Foundation I20

L-R
Kleancolor Velvet Moisturizing Liquid Foundation - Translucent Beige
Rimmel London Match Perfection - Light Porcelain 
Maybelline Fit Me - 115 Ivory
Maybelline Mineral Powder - Ivory
ChiChi Real Minerals - Fair
Skinfood Peach Green Tea BB CreamL.A Girl Perfecting Liquid Makeup - Ivory
Maybelline Dream Fresh BB Cream -Fair
Revlon Photoready BB Cream - Light 
Rimmel Stay Matte - Ivory
Natio Young Camoflage Spot Cream
Rimmel London BB Cream - Light
Shiseido Dual Balancing Foundation I20

*Phew!*

I still have a lot of Foundations, BB Creams and CC Creams to photograph, catalogue, so I'm sure there will be a part 2 to the Fail Pale Products! I hope this was helpful for people looking for moderately pale foundations and BB Creams!