Update: Korean Cosmetic Brands & Animal Testing

Good morning! It's Monday again and I hope everyone will have a good start for the week :)

This will be just a quick update. If you visited KARA (Korea Animal Rights Advocates) website, you will also see a list of Cruelty Free brands just like in PETA...Their list is shorter coz they are still starting but it helps customers like us.  To see their list of certified cruelty free brands, click here and here.

I even hope PAWS or CARA can do this too for local products in our country :)

 

I also have contacted KARA too through email to clarify some Korean cosmetic brands that I love but are not on both list and I already have received their reply so I will share them with you. 

Dear Gale,

Thank you for contacting KARA regarding Korean cosmetic companies and our apologies for the delayed reply due to the waiting time taken to hear back

from each company about the inquiry.

Here is a brief answer to your question.

Tony Moly – still in the process of confirmation

Nature Republic – still in the process of confirmation

Baviphat – has not gotten back to our inquiry.

Holika Holika – has not gotten back to our inquiry

Skin Food – refused our request for further confirmation about animal test on ingredients.

Lioele – do test on animals.

When the companies do not reply to our inquiry, we assume that they may carry out animal test on at some stage of the production or they do not care the importance of checking with their individual ingredients suppliers whether they test on animals.  

If there is a new company added to the list, we will let people know through our Facebook page.

Hope this helps you for cruelty free shopping.

Thank you again for your interest and support.

Kind regards,

Korea Animal Rights Advocates 

In addition to this email, here are some locally available brands that are still on the fence (have not received any confirmation from the company) according to the website home page:

1. Missha - Animal testing done on certain products but not all...They use animal by-products too like deer antlers on a certain line of their products. So personally, they are on the DO TEST and NON-VEGAN list.

2. Etude House - Regular staff says it's cruelty free but since Amore Pacific (parent company) is testing on animals, I can conclude Etude House tests on animals too. 

 

Check out Amore Pacific's statement here about their stand on animal testing. According to them, they are still on the process of researching about alternative non-animal testing but for the meantime, they are doing animal testing to ensure the safety of the products. For the complete list of brands under them, click  here 

I actually commend Amore Pacific for being transparent about their stand on animal testing. Just last month, they explained in their website that they do conduct animal testing for safety reasons but they will do research to find alternative methods. And now, they already changed their statement on the website and had given updates on the progress of their research. I hope before this year ends, they will accomplish their goal of finding a good alternative for animal testing and will declare they are cruelty-free by year 2013. But until then, no Amore Pacific products for me. Personally, I will patiently wait for them because they do value their customer and they have the heart to improve the ethics of their corporation :) 

*** If you want to inquire about a certain brand you love you can email KARA through their website. They do reply to your inquiry as soon as they get info on them.

I hope this post is helpful to all of you who cares about animal cruelty and loves Korean brands. Until next time, bye! ^_^

Thank you for dropping by,

The magic of makeup

Hello! I have tweeted earlier today that I will be doing a makeup tutorial and upload it tonight but something went wrong during the whole process and I decided to try again another day... I really wanted to film a tutorial to see if I have improved since the last I did it so yeah.

So today, I will be doing a post about what makeup can do to improve our over-all appearance for a party, for example. Here's what I came up with. Guess what I did to make it special ^_^

The other half only has light foundation, concealer and a lip balm. It is very natural and good for everyday but the other side is perfect for parties. It still looks simple and not over the top but I added some things to make my assets more enhanced.

Have you guessed what I used? If you thought false eyelashes, eyebrows and circle lenses then you are correct. Grooming my brows and filling in the gaps to make it look cleaner and frame my face better is one of the steps I just learned last month. I never knew that filled in brows looks better haha I thought I don't neet it coz I have naturally bushy brows but I guess I', wrong.

I also chose to use a brown colored contact lenses instead of the blue or green ones because I didn't want to look too fake. Although I love colored contacts because they are fun (if you noticed from my older posts), but using contact lenses with almost the same shade as my natural color makes it hard for people to guess what I did to look prettier and I learned that I prefer it that way hehe. It actually worked because my mom once told me she can't pinpoint what I did but I look different (We went to a formal event that time) and a lot of people complimented me whenever I use my brown lenses.

Adding false eyelashes also opened up my peepers without me worrying of looking like a raccoon.. I usually don't apply mascara if I have a choice because I have very oily lids and I usually ends up looking like an emo at the end of the day because of that. But I don't suggest using falsies everyday because the glue can make your lashes a lot thinner in the long run coz you can sometimes pull out the lashes during removal.

Products used:

FACE:

Holika Holika Petit Clearing BB Cream

Tony Moly Berry Lovely Tip Concealer in #1

Ever Bilena pink powder blush (no shade name on the palette)

Ellana Minerals HD Powder

EYES:

EO contact lenses in honey (grade 3.50 both eyes...I think I needed to upgrade to 3.75)

Tony Moly Berry Lovely Tip Concealer in #1

MOD Minerals in Splendor (all over the lids)

Coastal Scents white eyeshadow from 88 matte palette (as highlight)

Coastal Scents black eyeshadow from 88 matte paletter (for smudging the liner and on lower lashline)

Tony Moly Backstage gel liner in black 01

MUFE star powder in 902 (inner corners and lower lashline)

Generic false eyelashes

Etude House eyebrow pencil in gray

LIPS:

Victoria's Secret lipgloss in Embrace

You see, you don't need a lot of products to enhance your natural beauty. Just choose one part of your face you want to emphasize and concentrate on that. I chose my eyes coz 99% of the time I wear eyeglasses and whenever I have an event to go to I wanted to show them off hehe. 

What about you guys? What part of your face do you want to emphasize more when you do your makeup? Share them on the comment section below. Thank you for dropping by!  ^_^

Review: Holika Holika Clearing Petit BB Cream

Time for another product review! This time, I'm reviewing my current BB Cream, the Holika Holika Clearing Petit BB Cream.

I got this BB Cream online and it cost around Php250-280 only. I got intrigued by it because it is meant for acne prone skin. It comes in a 30ml blue-green colored tube and it also has SPF 30 PA++. I researched online for reviews and it got raves about not breaking anyone out so I decided to try it for myself since it's very hard for me to find a bb cream that would not break me out or at least not irritate me.

Here's a product desription from Amazon.com.. I can't read the Korean writings at the back of the tube so I can't translate them for you hehe ^_^

"Holika Holika Pore Clearing Petit BB Cream 30ML with Tea Tree Oil and Sebum Control Powder

Fresh Texture without oil Tea Tree Oil Extract helps to clean skin by alleviating skin troubles and red spots, make a refreshing baby face with Sebum Control Powder.

Terpine-4 of Tea Tree Oil alleviates inflammations that happen by bacteria and mold funguses.

Sebum control powder helps to maintain fresh and soft skin condition by reducing shine with excellent sebum capturing effect."

I have been using this for 2-3 months now and here's my take on this product.

Note: I have Combination, acne prone and sensitive skin for reference purposes.

I LOVE THIS PRODUCT because:

- This contains Tea Tree oil to fight off acne and I'm happy to say that this didn't broke me out even with continous use.

- Sun protection of SPF 30 PA++ is also enough for everyday use. It also didn't gave me any white cast on photos.

- The color match is great as you can see in the picture. It really gives me a natural look. Plus, it has a yellow undertone so it doesn't give me any grayish or pinkish cast like other bb creams.

- It spreads very easily on the skin. I prefer applying this using my fingers instead of a brush.

- Coverage is light to medium. This won't cake even if you accidentally applied too much at once.

- The size of the product is enough for a good trial. I wouldn't be saddened if this won't work for me because I won't be wasting a lot of product.

- Very affordable. This cost less than Php300 only.

- Again, the size is very travel friendly because it is compact and seals tightly.

- It doesn't have a strong Tea Tree Oil scent.

- I also love the packaging because it has a cute cat drawing in front hehe and I love blue ^_^

I DON'T LIKE THIS PRODUCT because:

- It is said to have a great oil control but I did not experienced it. I normally oil up after an hour or two after washing my face and whenever I use this, I still oil up after 2-3 hours. So it has little to moderate oil control properties.

- Staying power is so-so in my case. I usually look like I don't have foundation on at the end of the day.

- This darkens on me so bad! I have acidic skin and that's the reason why I use lighter foundation and since this is almost the same as my natural skin color, after 6 hours, I already look dark :(

- Not easily available locally since Holika Holika doesn't have any outlet here in the Philippines.

- It only comes in a small bottle so if you decided you like this and want to get a full size one, THIS is their full sized bottle hehe

- I don't think they have any other shade since the label doesn't have any number to indicate if this is shade 1 or 2.

OVER-ALL RATING: 4/5. I am giving this product a score of 5 for the shade, texture, coverage, packaging, price and acne control properties. But I'm giving this a score of 3 for the oil control and staying power.

WILL I REPURCHASE THIS? No. I prefer to have a long lasting foundation with great oil control over price.

So, have you guys tried this bb cream? What can you say about it? Please suggest other brands for me that is good for oily acne prone skin so I can try them out too ^_^