Rimmel London Glam'eyes Mascara - Black

Mascara is one beauty product that I'm reluctant to use. I have weird droopy-eyelid, huge eyebags, and long but straight lashes. A cursed combination which made any mascara ended up smudging all over my lower eye area, even waterproof types. So I prefer using false eyelashes for cleaner result, but you can't wear them to grocery store or your chidren school, can you? That's why I prefer cheap drugstore mascara, but haven't found the perfect one.

Rimmel London is an UK cosmetic brand and has many great review for their mascara. I bought Glam'eyes Mascara from ASOS for £7.19. The packaging design is unique but feels cheap. I bought the color black and it's not waterproof.

The bristles are firm, it can separate your lashes nicely. However, the size is too big for my eyes so it's hard to reach my inner eyelashes and impossible to apply it on my lower lashes. Also, when I first use it, the formula were nice, I can apply up to three coats of mascara without getting clumpy eyelashes. But after several uses, I noticed that it got drier and harder to apply. Not to mention it smudged after a few hours. So I don't think I would be getting Rimmel mascara anymore, maybe I'll try Cover Girl next. The good side is this mascara has a 12M life span sign, when the usual mascara is only 6M

This is how it looks after I applied two coats of mascara:

Skin Food Salmon Brightening Eye Cream

The only thing that I love about Korean is their food. I don't really get the K-Pop culture invasion. But I think it's a clever marketing gimmick though, to use porcelain-faced dancing teens as a country promoting tools (way to go Lee Myung-Bak!)

Anyway, when my brother had a quick trip to South Korea, I couldn't resist to try the so-called Korean skin care brand named Skin Food. This brand is very famous in Indonesia, and it has many die-hard fans around here. So I thought, eh why not... Actually Skin Food has opened many stores in Indonesia but the products price is cheaper in Korea, and I mean 50% cheaper (what a rip off).. So I decided to get some of their best-seller items.

Since I'm still looking for a powerful eye cream to vanish my extremely dark circle, I wanted to try their famous Salmon Brightening Eye Cream. It's packed with omega 3 and arbutin to help reduce dark area under your eyes.

Too bad all of the description are written in Korean, so I couldn't understand a single thing. I couldn't find any further information on their website either.

I've been using this cream for more than a month now, from a.m to p.m. I lightly dab this cream under my eyes and also on my eyelid, because the darkness has sneak to all of the area around my eyes.

The eye cream feels refreshing and hydrating. It's like it gives all the nutrition needed into my eyes skin. Too bad it stings my eyes if I applied too much, and it'll look greasy too. So less is more with this one.

Sadly I haven't noticed any improvement on my dark circle, but the skin area around my eyes feels smoother and looks healthier - only dark.. This cream is very huge (30g), so I think I'm stuck with this one for a while before I go off hunting a new eye cream. For it's price I think it's a decent product (my brother bought it for 17.000 korean won). If you don't have a heavy-case of dark circle like I do, maybe it'll work for you

The other good side of this brand? They gave me plenty of free samples to try on, yaay!

Nubian Heritage - Black African Soap

Since Burt's Bee had brutally discontinued my beloved Garden Tomato Soap, I was forced to find another natural facial wash to control my acne.

Introducing Black African Soap (note: there's nothing racist about the name).
Black soap is traditionally made in west Africa, typically Ghana, from secret recipes, and has long been used to heal problem skin including acnes. It usually made from the ash of locally harvested plants and barks such a plantain, cocoa pods, palm tree leaves, and shea tree bark.

I particularly choose this brand because it's available locally from an online sellee for 70.000 idr (US$8), and it has good review on the web. It's also available on iHerb and the websute ship internationally. I've been using this soap for almost a month now, so it's about time to write a fair review.

The soap is black. It's the first time that i see a black soap. The size is huge for a soap bar (5oz), so it can be used as a facial wash and last forever. Or you can also use it for a body wash if you have a body/back acne. I personally stick to my main purpose, cut it into tiny pieces and use it only on my face, twice a day.

The scent is nice, a fruity candy smell. It can be too overwhelming though, as I used it on my face, near my nose. But if I rub it on my palms with water first, and then applied it on my wet face, the strong smell can be reduce. It lathers well, and produce white foam (I thought the foam will be black too LOL).

Overall, I love this soap. It's an good subtitute fot the Garden Tomato Soap. Didn't break me out so far, or dried my skin (maybe because of the shea butter). It didn't prevent acne from appearing, but I notice that my active acne heals faster than usual, and I don't even need to put anything on my blemishes. The only downside is that it sometimes leave a greasy film on my face, so I usually wash my face twice. If I finished this soap (and only GOD knows when), I think I'll try another facial wash.


RIP my dear fellow. Your greatness shall be remembered..