Nature Republic Honey and Herb Sleeping Pack: Review

Hi guys! In case you missed it, I'm having a giveaway in collaboration with Wishtrend and I am encouraging everyone to join. If you are interested in Korean skin care products, you're gonna love this giveaway. Link HERE.

Today, I am going to be reviewing a product from Nature Republic, my favorite Korean skin care and cosmetics brand. Specifically, I'll be reviewing the Nature Republic Honey and Herb Sleeping Pack. Before I go into that, I would like to ask you one thing. How effective, do you think, is the marketing strategy of giving away sample items after a purchase in a specific store? If you ask me, it is very effective. Honestly, I have found a lot of good skin care and cosmetics because of samples given away by different brands.

Let's take my favorite BB cream as an example-- the Nature Republic Snail Therapy BB Cream. It is, by far, the best performing BB Cream for my skin type and I mainly found out about it because I got a sample of it before. I didn't expect much from the product but because I already had the sample with me, I decided to try it out and fell in love with it on first use. I loved it so much that it's one of the first things I looked for when I went to Myeongdong.

Now, for the second time, Nature Republic has trapped me (in a good way) with another product called the Honey and Herb Sleeping Pack. I got the sample while I was shopping in Myeongdong last December and I just decided to test it out these past 2 weeks.

Celeteque Sun Care Matte Moisturizer: Review

One thing I get asked frequently is what kind of sunscreen I use on my face. Honestly speaking, I never stick to one brand. I feel that this is the part of my skin care routine in which I don't have to be picky, brand-wise. But even if that's the case, there are still some things I take into consideration when choosing one.

Before I get into that, I would just like to dedicate this short portion to explain why sunscreen is needed. Yes, it is. Whether or not you're using whitening/peeling products, sunscreen is very important. If you've never gone out of the house and never noticed it (which I can hardy believe is possible), the heat emitted by the sun is definitely not something you can take lightly. Especially here in the Philippines, a tropical country, direct sunlight for a couple of minutes might result to unsolicited sun burn and wrinkles. So naturally, if you want even and youthful looking skin, then you should definitely wear sunscreen.

So what do I look for in a sunscreen? For one, I make sure that my sunscreen both has SPF and PA properties to provide me with both UVA and UVB protection. I also feel that the minimum number of SPF that I should use is 30. Moreover, I make sure that the formula isn't too sticky. I like those that feels like a light lotion (THEFACESHOP) or one that has a matte finish (this one). It also helps if the product doesn't come with a hefty price tag.

If you're in a budget, I would highly recommend this one from Celeteque as it has all the properties I'm looking for in a sunscreen. It's actually a moisturizer but it has SPF 30 and a PA protection, which they didn't indicate. It just said broad spectrum UVA/UVB protection but that's okay. It has a matte finish (perfect for those with oily skin like me) and it only costs roughly PHP250 or 5.6USD. It also doesn't break my very sensitive skin out. One tube would last for about half a year with continued everyday use. It is also available in leading drug stores such as Watsons, where I got mine.

If you're reading this and you're asking yourself whether you should buy a sunscreen or not, I'm telling you, you should. If you're in a budget, fret not, because Celeteque is a good dermatologist tested brand that's pretty affordable. So for the final question, do I recommend it? The answer's also 'Yes'.

Nature Republic Aloe Vera 92% Soothing Gel: Review

Personally, I don't have much complaints in living in a tropical country. Yes, we don't have four seasons. But that gives us the leisure of having vacation perfect weather almost all year round. But the real problem lies with heat and humidity. Sometimes, these two things hinder some aspects of my skin care choice. I can't just randomly pick a moisturizer as it might feel too heavy or make my skin grease up. There was even a long period of time in my late teenage years when I failed to consider even getting a moisturizer for these very fears! But gone are those days. I am four years over the age of two decades and I now know that moisturization is as important as washing the face. So if I want to preserve my skin elasticity and keep it looking as youthful as it can be, I must find a good moisturizer. This brings me to the previously stated dilemma of skin care choice in the light of Philippine heat and humidity.

 Brand new and sealed. :)

Worry no more folks! Well, at least that's what I do. Because I found the perfect moisturizer for summer which practically means the moisturizer of choice for Philippine weather! And because I can't find any more words to prelude the introduction of this very product, I will just go ahead and state it--  "Nature Republic Aloe Vera 92% Soothing Gel"! There. I said it. Go buy it.

 English descriptions. Yay!

This 300ml of gel goodness is what I consider the product of choice to soothe and moisturize not just my face, but also my hair and nails! It is a multi-purpose product and I love products like these! It has a cooling effect and it locks in moisture very well! What's even better is once you twist the cover open, the air seems to get filled with such an aromatic smell that I can't get enough of. It certainly doesn't smell, not even remotely close, like a real aloe vera plant. And that is a good thing.

I have oily, acne prone and sensitive skin so I really have to watch out for a lot of things when trying out skin care products and this soothing gel has passed all of my evaluation parameters. It does not make me greasy, it doesn't break me out and it does not irritate my skin! I can't even ask for anything more and I probably wouldn't even say anything more if this very product didn't get priced at PHP 245, a shocking revelation that made me love the product even more. So it's not only packaged nicely without skimping on the amount of product, it smells great and works well but on top of that, it is also pretty cheap! I'm not even sure what took me so long to buy this before.

I sure am glad that EXO and Taeyeon (SNSD) was chosen as the brand's faces as it encouraged me to try out their products. And since I owe the liberty of finding about this very product to them, I deem it only fit for me to include a clip of one of their CFs before I end this entry. Oh, and it is timely too! As Nature Republic just released new CF clips of EXO with this very product. Enjoy and make sure to hit me back after trying this product out!

CELLBN Skincare Set: Review

I know it took me such a long time to finally review (or rave on) this product for you but that's only because I want to try the brand thoroughly. Despite the fact that I got the product for free (through a giveaway), I still wanted to give my honest opinions on the product. And I didn't think that rushing would be any good for anyone. So after a good long month, I have finally decided to give my two cents on this skin care set from the Korean brand CELLBN. I have the toner, serum and moisture cream with me. But before anything else, let me leave you this video of my first impressions on this particular product.

 Click on the photo above for the video. Make sure to open it in a new tab/window so you can continue reading this entry easily. And if you're curious, this particular video was taken a month after continued use. I wrote down all my first impressions before to preserve what I first thought of the products. :)

The things such as smell, consistency, packaging, of course, did not change so I won't be going through that any more. My short video above already covered that up. I also won't be digging through what each product promises to do and its ingredients as i have already posted an overview of these three products that touched through those. What I will be talking about in this particular entry is the all over effects of the set after a long use. For reference, I will be talking about the CELLBN Damage Multiaction Toner, CELLBN Damage Precious Serum and the CELLBN Damage Deep Moisture Cream.

 Before using CELLBN

But before I go into the effects, let me take this opportunity to tell you about my skin condition before I used the set. I had oily, acne prone, sensitive skin. Well, actually, I still do. But back then, I had dry patches around my nose brought about some acne-related skin care products. You see, my previous skin care routine was from a dermatologist. It was an effective set that helped control my breakouts and help deal with the scars that are left behind. It had its merits but disadvantages cannot be avoided as well. Most of the products in that set had micro-peeling properties. This resulted in redness and peeling. There were also noted stinging sensations whenever I try to apply my topical antibiotics. In general, I felt like my skin became even more sensitive. But then again, I was scared of trying out other products as there is a possibility that I might break out again, and it's definitely something that I don't aim for.

Then come the opportunity for this particular skin care set from Korea. Honestly, I didn't know anything about the brand but it was organic and it came from a reliable website called WishTrend. So I took a leap of faith and I'm glad I did. One month ago, I had pretty decent skin with occasional breakouts. Now, I still have hormonal acne here and there but I felt like my skin has improved over all!

 One day after

I personally didn't see any improvement immediately after using the products but on the day after, my mom complimented me for having a fresh look, immediately after getting up from bed. I thought it was bogus as I didn't really think a product can have such immediate effects but to be honest, I felt good about myself that day.

 One week after

After a week, I have noticed that my skin condition has improved a lot. There was no stinging sensation at all, no redness and most of all, the dry patches are gone! For a makeup enthusiast, having those dry patches sail away is something to be excited about as makeup application will be much easier. And it did! Gone are the days when most of my makeup would gather around dry patches of skin on my nose, chin and even worse, on my cheeks!

Two weeks after, I felt like my skin looked brighter and healthier. It's quite hard to explain as I didn't really notice my pores getting smaller and the acne scars didn't ultimately fade away but there was something about my skin that made me look fresh and dare I say, youthful! For the record, I am only 24 years old so I don't really categorize myself as old but there has been some rejuvenating effects and I can't deny it.

To date, I still use the same product day and night. I tried going back to my old skin care routine just for an experiment but I couldn't last for more than 3 days as I was getting bugged by my old skin horrors of redness, stinging and patches almost immediately from the start of the study. Needless to say, I really think this set is a big improvement on my previous routine and I'm not even sure if I will be able to let go of these products in the future. I highly recommend these products. Get it through WishTrend!