Latest Posts

COMELYCO 95% Aloe Gel Tub

BNTGirls Review: Comelyco Jeju Organic 95% Aloe Gel*

Published by

Hey everyone! This may be the last wave of BNT Girls reviews for a while, so get ready! I picked this product to review first as it is one that I’m most familiar with. I didn’t realize how much of a staple aloe is to Koreans until I stepped foot in Myeongdong and saw shop after shop selling tubs of this stuff.

The Comelyco Jeju Organic 95% Aloe Gel is one of the many iterations of aloe gel out in the Korean market, but it also has a very high concentration of aloe with only 5% of it made from other ingredients. (The Nature Republic aloe gel I have is only made of 92%.)

COMELYCO 95% Aloe Gel Tub

For the uninitiated, aloe is a plant that many have used for its moisturizing properties. It can also be ingested. I personally like having aloe with my fresh teas instead of boba or tapioca pearls.

The benefits of aloe feels like a laundry list, but most are related to moisture and hydration, as well as soothing irritated skin. I’ve mentioned that I was in Korea for about 9 days earlier this month and experienced the onset of winter. As someone from a humid country, I often take for granted how I’m not so dependent on external skin hydration, but I see now how a tub of aloe could have soothed my super irritated skin and helped with the dryness. Read More

Unboxing: BDJ Box for November 2014 (Benefit exclusive)

Published by

The day I got back from Seoul, I was surprised to see a very welcome blue box that I’ve been accustomed to expect BDJ Boxes hiding within. I was correct! Thank you to the BDJ Team for always thinking of me. 🙂 I really, really appreciate it, especially because I think I’ve witnessed a real substantial growth of the company as a really supreme sub box service.

Benefit x BDJ Nox 2014 - Benefit Sweet Shoppe

The November 2014 BDJ Box* is a Benefit exclusive, which means that all of the products from the box are from Benefit Cosmetics. There have been quite a few Benefit exclusives, and of the two I’ve received so far, I think I like this one more!

The box is an “early Christmas gift” from BDJ Box—a selection of items from Benefit’s Sweet Shoppe! There is a mix of skin care, makeup items designed to bring out your natural beauty, and end-of-the-day sloughing off of products. There is even a body oil mist—something I’ve never tried from the brand. Read More

Cutting down on baggage

Published by

Sometimes, I’m a total dimwit when it comes to packing my makeup, which is strange, since I’ve used makeup long enough to figure out what I use regularly and what I don’t.

I brought way more than this when I went to Seoul, and I wish I didn’t, because this is honestly all I needed. I brought things like mascara and an eyelash curler, which I used maybe 2 days out of the 9 I was there.

Cutting down on baggage

My Necessities for a Basic Face

  • K-Palette 1 Day Tattoo 24H Real Lasting 2-Way Eyebrow Liner in G101* — This is my absolute staple! When I sleep in accidentally and have no time for makeup, I just draw on my brows!
  • Ellis Faas Concealer in S204* — I love this concealer more than my NARS one, I think. It’s less fussy and it doesn’t cake even after a long day out.
  • Urban Decay Primer Potion — To make my eyeshadow long lasting!
  • NARS And God Created the Woman Palette — I must admit, I brought along another palette and wished I just stuck with this one, because it has everything I need for an everyday eye.
  • K-Palette 1 Day Tattoo Liquid Eyeliner* — A forever favorite that I sometimes used instead of just eyeshadow.
  • Le Métier de Beauté Peau Vierge Anti-Aging Pressed Powder in Shade 2 — a light powder base that I don’t have to worry about blending.
  • Kjaer Weis Cream Blush in Abundance — Still my favorite blush. Still.
  • Dior Addict Lip Glow — a light, hydrating, SPF-laden lip balm for the dry weather and icky airplane rides.
  • NARS Sheer Lipstick in Vendanges — it’s the lipstick I was planning on using up this month, a nice “sheer grape.” I’m making a bit of progress!

As you can see, I only brought one lipstick, but I realized that, on trips, it’s easier to “change up your look” with different lip colors and keeping the rest basic and simple.

I also don’t like bringing along makeup that’s hard to take off at the end of the day (i.e. mascara), because I get too lazy for face-cleaning when I’m pooped from a day of sightseeing and going around.

What are your travel essentials?

* PR Sample

Follow me: Bloglovin' • Twitter • Instagram • YouTube • Facebook

Unboxing & First Impressions: Glossier Phase 1 Set

Published by

OK, so I think it’s kind of obvious that I’m a sucker for great visuals and aesthetics. I am a total slave to “things that look nice,” and so I was suckered into getting the Glossier Phase 1 Set, despite not really needing anything from the set. If you are not familiar with Glossier, it’s the off-shoot beauty brand of beauty blog Into the Gloss, which I used to read very regularly. Sidenote, but I find their content a little “off” and different these days. Anyway.

Launched just a couple of months ago, Glossier’s Phase 1 Set is comprised of 4 products: a face mist, a priming moisturizer, a tinted base, and an all-around salve.

Despite my disappointment at the fact that “Glossier” is pronounced “glossy-yay,” I went with it, because… well, why not? I’d seen many glowing (and not-so-glowing) reviews and—STICKERS! It looked so sleek and so much fun at the same time.

Glossier Phase 1 Set Unboxing
A gif, because half the fun of this experience was the actual unboxing!

Though the items can be purchased individually, I went for the set for the “full experience,” like an idiot hoarder packrat.

Glossier - Products

Inside the super cute and sturdy white box are two pink bubble wrap pouches, a sticker sheet, a welcome card, and a free Glossier tote. I’ll pretend it says “Glossy-er” and feel better about myself. The four products are divided into the two pouches. Read More

One Brand FOTD: Le Métier de Beauté

Published by

Le Métier de Beauté is probably one of my most blogged about brands on here, so it’s kind of funny that I haven’t done a one-brand Face of the Day for it. Truth be told, I’m missing a lot of their “iconic,” famous products like the crème fresh tints, and up until recently, I didn’t even have any of their base products. Thanks to the Beauty Vault VIP subscription, I got to try products that one would hesitate to buy at full price.

Here’s a look I made using mostly Le Métier de Beauté products. I hope you guys like it? Haha but it’s okay if you don’t.

One Brand FOTD - LMdB - Face 1

BROWS: I don’t have an LMdB brow product, so I mixed two of their eyeshadows, Noir and Tamarack to fill in my eyebrows.

BASE: I used the Peau Vierge Anti-Aging Complexe in Shade 2 as my primer and moisturizer, topping it off with the Ellis Faas Skin Veil in S104L* since I don’t have any “fuller coverage” LMdB base products. For concealer, I used the Peau Vierge Eye Corrector in Medium and set it with the Eye Brightening and Setting Powder in Refresh. I set the shiny parts of my face with the Peau Vierge Anti-Aging Pressed Powder in Shade 2.

CHEEKS: I used the Velvet Underground and Ondine from the Cheeky Chic Kaleidoscope Face Kit, as well as Electra from the same kaleidoscope as my highlight.

One Brand FOTD - LMdB - Face 2

EYES: I primed my eyes with a MAC Paint Pot (Painterly) and used the Goldfinger Kaleidoscope Eye Kit (all colors) with Tamarack (the eyeshadow) on my crease, then I lined my lower lash line with the Dualistic Eye Pencil in Tamarack. I lined my upper lash line with the Indelible Ink in Artemis and then curled my lashes and slicked on the Anamorphic Lash Mascara in Midnight Blue.

LIPS: I used the Hydra-Crème Lipstick in Cashmere on my lips, topping it off with Silhouette, a lip crème from the Bauhaus Kaleidoscope Lip Kit, to add a touch of purple.

LMdB One Brand FOTD 2

And that’s it! Anyway, I have an inordinate love for the brand, even though it’s sometimes obviously overpriced. I do like their skin care range, though, and I love the Peau Vierge line for their skin care and base products. I swatched the liquid foundation at an actual counter (!) but I have way too many to finish up to justify a purchase. I do like it, though, and will probably get that in the event that I run out of foundation (highly unlikely). Still, they make some of my favorite products, including eyeshadow, which is so good and pigmented with barely any fallout. And I mean this. Next to no fallout, even for the dark shades.

Later this week I think I’ll do a “favorites from the brand” post. Have you tried Le Métier de Beauté?

Follow me: Bloglovin' • Twitter • Instagram • YouTube • Facebook

Unboxing: Le Métier de Beauté Beauty Vault VIP November 2014

Published by

Hey everyone! I just got back from Seoul last night, and came home to a bunch of beauty stuff that came in while I was away. (Oops.) First up in this accidental series of unboxings is the Le Métier de Beauté Beauty Vault VIP sub box for November 2014—essentially an LMdB makeup bag with two Dualistic Lip Pencils (Nudité and Rouge) and two sample packets, the Revitalizing Anti-Aging Day Crème and the Rejuvenating Anti-Aging Night Crème.

LMdB November

I already have the lip pencil in Nudité, and I was happy to get another one of it. Rouge is also an interesting color to have. As far as lip pencils go, these are two pretty standard shades that will get a lot of use from me.

As for skin care, I generally have had really, really great experiences with Le Métier de Beauté skin care. It introduced me to retinol, which is something I swear by now. That said, I will probably pass on these items to my mom, as I already have a bunch of great skin products and she will probably appreciate the anti-aging aspects more. 🙂

The sub comes out to about $29 in cost, and the value of the pencils is $36 each. The sample packets are hard to “price,” but the full sizes come out to $285 for the day creme and $350 for the night cream—roughly coming to about $28.50 and $35.00 for these teeny samples, respectively. The total cost of the November box is $135.50. I’m counting the bag as a GWP.

Le Métier de Beauté Beauty Vault VIP sub sign-ups open back up in July 2015. I’ve gotten 16 months worth of products, having signed up last year, and I have to say that I love most of what I got, extremely thankful for the skin care items particularly.

Follow me: Bloglovin' • Twitter • Instagram • YouTube • Facebook

5 Product Face No. 6: All Hands on Deck!

Published by

My friends, it has been a while since my last “5 Product Face” post, and this time I thought it would be nice to use products that don’t require any tools besides my hands. I picked out these products before checking my last post… and realized that they are actually quite similar in method. Oops.

5pface
K-Palette 24H Real-Lasting 2-Way Eyebrow (G101)* // Ellis Faas Concealer (S203)* // Happy Skin Cosmetics Eye Am Here to Stay Gel Liner (Chic Brown) // Illamasqua Cream Foundation (CF 320) // Addiction by Ayako Cheek Stick (Rose Bar)

So, I just used the concealer as a base—the Ellis Faas Concealer* has great coverage that isn’t dewy or wet-looking but can forego the use of a setting powder—with the Illamasqua foundation as a contour product. I bought it on extreme sale for that purpose. Rose Bar, again, on my cheeks and lips, and a pretty brown creamy liner for eye definition.

P.S. CHECK OUT HOW DIFFERENT MY FACE SHADE IS FROM MY NECK. Ridiculous. If your face and neck don’t match, which shade do you follow? I tend to follow my face shade; discrepancies with my neck tone, be damned!

* PR Sample

Follow me: Bloglovin' • Twitter • Instagram • YouTube • Facebook