Elizavecca Milky Piggy Carbonated Bubble Clay Mask Review: Tested & Detested

Mid-week is the perfect time for a mini-review of the famous Elizavecca Milky Piggy Carbonated Bubble Clay Mask.  (Update: my word counter tells me that "mini" review is a lie.  Eh, everything's relative!)  This mask is old news; it's a classic example of skincaretainment, and the product is more well-known for its entertainment value than the actual effects on the skin.  That's partly why I've avoided it until now, but it's summer and my skin is a slimy mess in this humidity so it's very ready for an occasional clay mask.  Why not one that inflates into a comically wide cloud of foam while on your face, making you look like a pixar character while doing double duty of first cleansing and clay mask style deep pore cleansing all in one go?

There is an inner jar lid/seal to keep air from reacting to the product.

Sounds too good to be true, right?  Plus, lots of people have used this mask, including fellow Snailcast podcaster Fifty Shades of Snail, so I purchased a jar of it and give it a try.  Then I dropped all irritants out of my routine and tried it again.  Sometimes, you have to just have to hurt yourself twice to confirm something is bad news.

In this post:

• Product details
• Ingredients
• What it did to my face
• What I'd rather use instead

Before using this mask the second time, I skipped anything that would compromise my moisture barrier for at least a week: no acid exfoliants, no manual exfoliants, no tretinoin, nothing to weaken my skin barrier or make me more sensitive.  I wanted to make sure there was no chance the culprit was just piling clay on top of sensitive skin.  Unfortunately, it still left my skin screaming for mercy and I smothered its cries with snail gel to recover.

Milky Dress Vita C+ Powder Review & It's Time to Get Nerdy About Vitamin C

I'm a fan of acid.  For someone who used to view chemical exfoliants with fear and distrust, I've certainly done a complete about-face on the subject; if I was at a cosmetics convention and you slid up to me whispering "Pssst hey Snow, I've got a new form of BHA derived from a kind of tree in northern steppes of Europe, and it's got twice the efficacy with half the irritation of Salicylic acid.  It's the coolest thing to happen since Mandelic changed AHAs.  It's under this trench coat, meet me outside if you wanna see it." I very well might blithely follow you, excitedly chattering about whether it's also pH dependent and whether it's commercially available yet, trench coat notwithstanding.

In addition to having AHA (Alpha hydroxy acid) and BHA (Beta hydroxy acid) in the "actives" category of my Skincare Wardrobe, I also have in my stable of acids a form of Vitamin C, called L-AA (L-ascorbic acid) and if you're a skincare fan, you've probably heard of the anti-aging powers of Vitamin C.  You've probably heard of the ridiculous $160+ price tag of some serums and expensive creams, the warnings to keep them away from light, air, and heat, making them difficult to use and prone to spoilage.

The version I use is a tenth of that cost, but it's just as annoying to use-- shuttling back and forth to the fridge, decanting small portions into other bottles, forgetting to use it for days on end because I do both my AM and PM routines half asleep, it's all aggravating.  It's tempting to latch onto other forms of Vitamin C which promise to provide the same effects but in stable formulations that won't have you pondering a mini-fridge for your skincare.  Lured by a demonstration on Korean beauty show Get It Beauty, I snatched up this powdered Vitamin C (SAP, aka Sodium Ascorbyl Phosphate), amazed at how convenient it looked.  A powder that could be mixed into any, yes any, current skincare product without worrying about pH dependency, wait times, or oxidization?  Yes please!  Get in my cart!

Except that it sucked.

On the left, the watery serum in which I mixed the powder, and on the right is said powder displayed on the spatula.

(By the way, if you are wondering what that gorgeous bottle is, you can read more about it here: The Bottle That Stole My Heart: Sooryehan Hyo Biyeon Concentrated Brightening Essence Review.)

In this post:

• Product Details
• What's the fuss about Vitamin C?
• What I'd rather use instead

Like many things that seem too good to be true, this powder was highly disappointing although I'll freely admit that it may work really well for others.  Sadly I wasn't able to test it's long-term hyperpigmentation fading abilities vs a traditional L-AA serum, and while I certainly quickly formed an (irate) opinion on the product,  I felt so grumpy toward it that I wasn't ready to devote the time to research it properly.  Now that I've spent several nights squinting at PDFs and getting cockblocked by paywalls, I'm ready to get this off my to-do list.

Is K-Beauty for Everyone? Perspectives on Appropriation and Marketing

I have a confession: I've been in a bit of a skincare funk.  For a long time, I've blamed it on overwork-- working 60 hours a week has left me little time for luxuries like brushing my hair showering daily sleeping more than a few hours a night an elaborate skincare routine, but I've come to realize that it's much more than that.  I'm in a K-Beauty funk, meaning that I've been feeling conflicted and troubled every time I go to wash my face.  It's time for some soul-searching.

As K-Beauty has become more and more mainstream in the west, it's gone from being an ignored niche interest to a widely-marketed source of $$$ from all levels of the beauty industry, shifting from hipster-y hobbyists to an oversaturation of US-based resellers cannibalizing ideas while mega retailers like Sephora and Target stock sheet masks and snail creams.

You might think this is another one of those tired tropes of aforementioned hipster grumpy over their obscure finds becoming mainstream, but nothing could be further from the truth.

Actually, I'm absolutely thrilled that K-Beauty is in such international demand that Sulwhasoo recently launched a whopping 7 shades ranging from #11 to #33, a move which completely shocked a Korean friend of mine as she pointed out that most Korean brands feature only two shades (#21 and #23) and don't address [in her opinion] the shade needs of Koreans in Korea, let alone anyone outside of Korea.

Image from Sulwhasoo's KR site

I'm quite happy that K-Beauty has grown so much in the 4 years that I've been blogging about it, because it's seen exponential growth and it's a totally different scene since the days where I had to use Google Translate to figure out what I was buying.

What troubles me is how it's being marketed, talked about, and presented.

In this post:

• The trouble with K-Beauty marketing
• Why I write about K-Beauty
• 5 Korean women share their thoughts about K-Beauty on the global stage

There's nothing wrong with a little soul-searching to examine one's own motives and reasons for doing, well, anything.   But more important than what I have to say about it, is what the Korean women I know have to say about it, and I'm fortunate enough to have several sources just an email away for me to ask!

A Quick Note: Something Fun is Coming!

Don't panic, I'm not on hiatus; I'm going through some massive real-life changes that resulted in me being extremely overworked the last few weeks, as well as having a lot more free time for the rest of the summer.  Woo hoo!

In addition to having more free time after I emerge from catching up on 5+ years of lost sleep, I'll have the time to finish working on a serious post with several sources and some delicate topics, and I want to do it justice.  But first, sleep.  Lots of sleep.

What could it beeeee?

In the meantime though, I wanted let you all know that are some exciting things upcoming, so if you aren't following me on Instagram, I'd recommend doing so -- even if (or especially if!) you're outside the US.

As always, you can also connect with me on Facebook or Twitter; I tend to be the most active on the latter when I have nonsensical things to say, so be warned, heh.

All the best,

-Cat

Ciracle Pimple Solution Pink Powder Review & What I Should Have Used Instead

I admit it; I've been procrastinating on reviewing this Ciracle pink powder for weeks months a long time.  It's a spot treatment, so it doesn't get consistent daily use, and that makes it difficult to test it to my usual standards.  I'm now almost done the bottle, though, and it's time for me to just throw in the towel and admit this product doesn't measure up to its predecessors.

I managed to snap this before it rained, go me!

As you can see, I'm almost done this bottle so it's time to review this and get it off my To-Do list!

In this post:

• What is a pink powder/drying lotion?
• Product details
• Why I didn't like it
• What I'd rather use

This is my second pink powder product, and when I'm done writing this review, I'm going to run right back into the acne-thwarting arms of my first.

Sheet Mask Reviews & Empties: a Month of Getting #Sheetfaced

I like sheet masks.  I like them so much I use them once a day (also known as 1일 1팩) or even twice a day.  Some days, I might even #doublefistmasks-- aka using two masks back to back, coined during a discussion I had with fellow Snailcaster Fiddy of Fifty Shades of Snail, which I shamelessly borrowed from the rich tradition in Canada (and elsewhere) of having an alcoholic beverage in each fist to ensure one can more efficiently imbibe without pesky interruptions like having to get up for another drink.  Hmm, I'm seeing a theme: #doublefistingmasks, #sheetfaced, drinking wine with a straw while masking ... well, considering the alcohol in some masks, clearly I need to write this review with a drink in-hand, eh?

This means I go through a lot of sheet masks, and it occurred to me that people might like to see the wreckage left behind after a month or so of rampant sheet masking.  Once a day, twice a day, or if it's prepping for a special occasion, even more?

Mmm, sheet masks.

In this post:

• 47 empty sheet masks
• 24 mini reviews
• Assorted inebriated jokes

As someone with chronically dehydrated skin that hates occlusive products, I have to spend a lot of time sloooooooowly restoring hydration to my skin.  Too many layers results in a build-up of product residue on my face once it's sucked the water out of  any essences, serums, and creams I apply.

So, I combat summer heat, winter dryness, stress, and laziness by doing the slow cooker Korean beauty equivalent: sheet masks.  20-60 minutes of slow, sustain saturation replenishes my thirsty skin and lets me relax from the long and stressful hours of my day job.  Here are my thoughts on this giant pile of mask empties!

A Rant on Reformulations: Stop Breaking the Things I Love!

You know the saying "if it ain't broke, don't fix it"?  I get that it's not always economically feasible to continue producing a product as-is, but I'm getting really tired of my HGs being taken away or worse, causing skin disasters.

Has it always been this bad, or is the popularity of K-Beauty causing a spike in bait-and-switch style reformulations/cheapening out on formulations and ingredients, or shortcuts in formulation to meet demand?  I don't know, but I'm seeing an uptick in products being reformulated for the worse, to the point where I'm immediately suspicious that differences in experience are not always YMMV but surprise reformulations.  And I'm really grumpy about it.

Seriously, just knock it off! [image credit giphy]

It's an ongoing hazard of cosmetics in general; you fall in love with a product only to have it discontinued.  You wail, you gnash your teeth in rage, you stock up on backups.  You're prepared; you allow yourself to go through the stages of grief: denial ("no, it's just a rumour!"), anger ("It's a top-selling product, what the hell are they doing?"), bargaining backup hoarding, depression (self-explanatory) and acceptance ("I guess this means I need to shop a bunch to find a replacement.")

Even so, you know it's coming/it's happened.  You've braced yourself.  You've stockpiled.  You're resigned to the day that you shake the last precious drops onto your palm.

But what if they reformulate it?  As in "we're going to discontinue your favourite product and replace it with hot trash but not tell you so you don't realize the danger and thus stockpile the good stuff."

And supposedly it's totally OK (not to mention legal?) for them to say it's the same product. RARGH!

It's totally the same product, just new and improved! [image credit giphy]

Sometimes, even more  frustratingly, they will reformulate an existing product without telling you.   No warning.  Just poof, one day you're using a tried-and-true sheet mask on your face from a supposedly legitimate seller, and the next thing you know your face is swelling up with red, angry welts.

In this post:

• Ranty rage about reformulations
• Products I've loved and now lost to reformulation
• The worst skin reaction I've ever had to a 'safe' product

Thankfully there doesn't seem to be any lasting damage from said skin reaction, but I am quite annoyed.  Ironically, I had just written a post about how YMMV differences may actually hide reformulations, and then wound up with a nasty reaction to the reformulation of a product I'd previously used and loved.