(REVIEW) Secret Key Starting Treatment Essence

Hi there!

Today's review is about Secret Key's Starting Treatment Essence (STE), which is a watery essence that some people even say is a dupe of SK-II Facial Treatment Essence (FTE). As long as i know, Secret Key is a korean brand, and SK-II is a japanese brand, so i don't see any hints of copying. I never use SK-II FTE, so here's my honest opinion about STE ^^

The bottle is made of matte plastic material with silver cap, just like SK-II. It has the word, "Galactomyces Contained" on it. I bet some of you know about this already, but if you don't, you can google it :) basically galactomyces is a type of yeast that produced in the process of sake-making. There's no enough proof of the effects on skin, but there's some medicinal journal about it.

Here's one of them:

http://www.mattek.com/574-effects-of-galactomyces-ferment-filtrate-on-epidermal-barrier-marker-caspase-14-in-human-skin-cells

Okay, back to the review :)

The bottle has a quite wide mouth, i found it hard at first to control the amount of product i'll use. But you'll getting used through times.

The texture is watery, and it has a quite strong alcoholic smell, which in my opinion, comes from the fermentation process. Well, luckily i don't have any issues with cosmetics or skincare that have strong smell, so it's okay for me. But if you're a type that will be annoyed with strong-smell-cosmetics, maybe you should think twice before trying this.

Pros:

(+) cheap! I got it for about IDR 150k from local's online shop.

(+) moisturizes my skin well

(+) calming my skin

(+) acne scars gone, and i don't go through any weird purging with this product

(+) minimize blemishes

Cons:

(-) strong alcoholic smell, some people may find it too strong

(-) the bottle could get bulkier through times

(-) the 'mouth' is too wide

Overall:

I use it twice a day, morning and evening, after i wash my face. I slide 5-6 drops on my palm and tap it on my face and neck. I've been using this for about 3 months and quite happy with the result. My acne-prone skin is getting clearer and my avne scars are going away too ^^

Have you use this one? What do you think?

I would love to hear from you! ^^

(REVIEW) Etude House Juicy Cocktail Gradation Nail in #2 Kiss On Fire

Hello!

I went to Etude House couple weeks ago for birthday shopping (they have 50% discount for member on birthday month, as you know! ^^) and picked several stuffs. One of them is this cute nail set! The gradation nails is a hype this year, I have made it several times with my own colors combination, but I think since it will be easier with this kit, so why don't we give it a try ;)

Etude House Juicy Cocktails Gradation Nail is a nail set that consists of 3 different nail polishes with one shade to help us make a gradation effect on nails, each of them has labels on the top of the caps so that we'll know easily which one to use first, second, and last.

It has 9 pretty shades that will match perfectly to your clothes or even your mood (I do it sometimes, matching my nails with my mood kekeke~), and I got mine the #2 Kiss on Fire which is a lovely soft pink shade with chunky pink glitters. Perfect for weekends or birthday party!

The packaging also has pictures that tell us how to use this. If you buy this at local store (not online), the packaging also has step-by-step instruction in your local language.

Price at local Etude House stores is IDR 188k, I got it for about 90k because of the 50% disc. At online stores, it's about 70-150k. Worth the price for 3 nail polishes ^^

Overall, I like this nail set! It's cute and it dries fast, so you don't have to wait for a long time to apply next coat. It's hard to clean though, but all glitter polishes are like that, so I think it's ok :)

I think I will repurchase in different shade, the #4 Mint Frappe looks ubercute! :*