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,

Birthday - Silver EOTD

Happy Monday guys! Wow! another week has passed by very fast..I'm a bit sad today because my job applications are still unreturned but I'm hoping for a good news this week. I'm always trying to think positive hehe ^_^


Anyways, pardon me for a very boring title..I can't think of a better one as of this moment haha..I went to a children's birthday party yesterday. One of my youngest cousins celebrated his 2nd birthday yesterday at Jollibee Ortigas. I enjoyed taking pictures of everyone..it is a small gathering, around 30 guest only including the kids..just family and close friends I suppose. Although my tita's family is quite sad with the news that her dad is like a walking time bomb already because of the condition of his heart (he has aneurysm)..After hearing that, I got quite sad too coz I got close to him after I took care of him for a week before..So please help us pray for a longer life and better health condition for him.


here's an FOTD of me taken outside (actually inside the van beside the open door hehe). I think it is too bright coz my blush didn't show on the pic :(


FACE
- Lioele Waterdrop BB cream (I tried it again today haha and I didn't itch that much)
- Meow pampered puss foundie in Frisky Abyssinian
- Ellana Minerals Sheer Velvet powder
- Meow blush in Claw Your Way to the Top


LIPS
- Petroleum Jelly
- HR lipstick in Wanted Rouge #93


EYES
- SkinFood Salmon concealer on the undereyes
- Ellana Minerals Awake concealer
- MAC painpot in painterly all over lid upto browbone
- and I used the following colors from Coastal Scents 88 original palette:




I applied color A all over my lid up to the crease using my ELF flat shader brush then I blended color B on the crease area using my MAC 217 blending brush. I applied color C as highlight. And I wet my Charm angled liner brush with Aromaleigh eyeliner sealant and used color D as my eyeliner on the upper lashline. Then I curled my lashes and applied Lancome high definition mascara in black.

I applied it around 12 noon and around 10pm it looked like this already..

My lids still has some eyeshadows but they are already the faded version hehe ^_^

I'm gonna leave you all with a picture of our birthday boy. Happy 2nd birthday Edd Benedict!

Left to Right: my sister Mei, birthday boy Ben, me and my cousin Coleen

Till next time! Thank you for dropping by guys! ^_^

Review: Skin Food Salmon Concealer + Lioele Water Drop BB cream

Hello everyone! I know, I promised to post about my review on the latest haul that I got but I was unable to road test each one thoroughly so I was unable to formulate an in-depth opinion about them. I don't want to give you guys a review that I myself is unsure of whether I like them or not..So I used the Skin Food Salmon Concealer Shade #2 and Lioele WaterDrop BB cream for 2 straight days to test them. I think 2 days is enough for me to know if I'm okay with a face product or not because based on my experience, either I will get new pimples on the 3rd day if my skin don't like the new product or I will itch terribly while I have it on. And of course, you will know immediately if a concealer works good or not. So here's my review ^_^

SKIN FOOD SALMON DARKCIRCLE CONCEALER CREAM Shade#2

PROS

- I think the shade is perfect for me. It's enough to even out my dark circles without making me look like a reverse racoon

- very creamy. I can skip my eye cream and it will not make my undereyes drier

- very easy to blend because it has a thin consistency

- buildable..you can build up the product little by little until you reach your desired coverage and it still won't cake

- it doesn't settle on my fine lines

- doesn't cake if you accidentally placed too much product

- this will last me a long time because it has many products on the pot..like the size of a MAC Paintpot (which lasted me more than a year)

- affordable if you buy it from Korea (I got mine for less than Php 500..compared to P1k here)

CONS

- it is sheer so you need at least 3 layers before you can notice any difference

- you can't put it on top of a very moisturizing eye cream because this will slide off easily

- very expensive if you buy it locally

Over-all RATING: 4.5/5 - I love it!

Will you Re-PURCHASE? Yes! As soon as I finished this up..unless I find something better int he future :)

Can you see the difference? I think my eyes look naturally-dark-circles-free (if there's such a word hehe) instead of has-a-concealer-look..This is the main reason I like this product..I don't look too made-up..and it doesn't give me a reverse raccoon eyes even if I applied a brightening concealer on top.

LIOELE WATERDROP BB CREAM

I got this sample for free so I can test it out. I have very sensittive and acne-prone skin so I easily breakout from any products I use (reagardless if they are organic,natural or traditional)..

PROS

- has SPF 27 PA++

- smells good..like a just-took-a-bath smell
- thin consistency so it is easy to blend

- has no grayish tint

- shade looks natural on me..it blends with my skin tone after a couple of minutes

- gives a natural finish..as if your skin is healthy

- lasts 5-6 hours on my oily skin
- did not broke me out

CONS

- doesn't help with my oily skin (because it is not meant to control oil)

- I need to blot every 3 hours or so because I feel oily

- it made me itch the whole time I was wearing it especially if it's hot and I'm perspiring

Over-all RATING: 3/5. I like the performance but it makes me oily a lot easier and also made my skin itch.

WIll I purchase this? Probably not. I'm gonna test out another brand of BB cream after this..I'm really thankful that Clau gave me some free samples of bb creams from diferent brands so I can test them out thoroughly.

After blending..see how healthy my skin glow? I love the finish!

Here's a shot of me wearing Lioele Waterdrop BB cream. I just topped it off with Ellana Sheer Velvet to help with controlling the oilies. Then I used Meow Cat got your Toungue blush on my cheeks. Used my neutrals from my Coastal Scents palette and some mascara (Lancome mascara) too. And my Estee Lauder lipstick in Pink Berry topped with Clearagen lip therapy.

I got the Skin Food Salmon concealer and Lioele BB cream from Clau. You might want to check out her online shop here. She sells very affordable Korean brands :)

Thanks for dropping by! Till next time! ^_^

Korean Products Haul

Hello guys! Just a quick update. I already got my package from Claudia! I joined her pre-order last month for some Korean brands like Lioele, Skinfood and Laneige. I ordered 3 items: Laneige strawberry yogurt peeling gel, Skinfood Salmon concealer and Laneige water sleeping pact..Sadly, the latter was not included in the package she received so i won't be able to try that one..maybe next time :)

The way Clau packaged my items is so cute :)

Here's the content...

The infamous Laneige Strawberry Yogurt Peeling Gel. It garnered a lot of good reviews so I decided to try it..I'm planning to use this one or twice a week to exfoliate my skin. The one I'm currently using can sometimes be too harsh for me so I think this will be better since it does not have any "beads" for exfoliation (I noticed this when I tried this in their store last month). I'll give you all a review once I used this already for a month. I want to see if it will cause me any breakouts or any improvements on my skin ^_^

I got a lot of freebies! thank you Clau! I can't wait to try your recommendation (Lioele Water Drop BB cream)..I hope I will like it too :)

Here's my SkinFood Salmon concealer in Shade #2 (I chose this shade because this is the one used by sis Sutil hehe). This is supposed to be good for covering dark undereyes.

I swatched it on the back of my hand and it is creamy and very easy to blend. I can't wait to try it tomorrow! I'll try to take a picture when I used this to show you guys how it worked for my dark circles :)

Watch out for my post tomorrow! It will consist of my initial review on these two products (maybe 3..coz i'm planning to test out Lioele waterdrop BB cream too!) ^_^

Happy weekend everyone!!!! ^_^