Hey, babes!
Happy New Year! I hope you all had a great holiday season. What did you guys get up to? Let me know in the comments 🙂
I’m going kick off my first post of the year by introducing a mini-series of first impressions and calling it The First Five. My five today are the Naturie Hatumogi Skin Conditioner, Senka Speedy Perfect Whip Cleanser, Naruko Taiwan Magnolia Brightening and Firming Cream Wash Cleanser, Dr. Morita Milk Cleanser, and the Missha Lip Oils.
Naturie Hatomugi Skin Conditioner Review
The Skin Conditioner is something that kept popping up on Instagram and /r/asianbeauty, and when I saw that it was fairly affordable here (TWD 249 for a huge 500ml bottle!) I decided to pick it up from Cosmed. What I really like is that this is a multi-purpose product, and can be used in multiple ways, including cleansing toner, FTE, DIY sheet mask essence, refreshing spritz, hydrating toner… the list is only limited by your imagination! I also love that it has a short, to the point ingredients list. Job’s Tears is an ingredient that I’m seeing a lot now that I’m in Taiwan, and it has so many great benefits that I’m not surprised it’s in so many products. I’m quite happy using this as a toner after cleansing, but I’ll definitely try different ways of using it before I write my full review.
Shiseido Senka Speedy Whip Cleanser Review
I purchased Senka Speedy Whip Cleanser as a replacement for my Cetaphil Gentle Cleanser – bit of a mistake, that. The foam is thick and luxurious, but ultimately way too drying for my skin. It left my skin feeling tight and dry, and it began to peel a few days after using this. It’s since been demoted to body wash, which it’s great for and I might actually purchase the proper body wash size of this stuff when I finish it.
Naruko Taiwan Magnolia Cream Cleanser Review
I picked up this Naruko cleanser as a replacement for the Senka as I thought cream = non-foaming. WROOONG. I was super disappointed when this also began to foam, and therefore also dry and strip my skin. My skin was also left peeling and dry after this, much to my disappointment. It’s also been demoted to body wash (which it’s also good at).
The combined use of these ones after another has left me with the biggest pimple I’ve had for SO LONG. It’s just on my left cheekbone and is really only just now coming down. That’ll teach me for not packing a second bottle of Cetaphil Gentle Cleanser!
Dr. Morita Deep Cleansing Lotion Review
It took me forever to decide on what to actually buy instead of Cetaphil Gentle Cleanser (which costs a cool TWD 750 here btw, or NZD 35 on a good Forex day) and I finally picked up this Dr. Morita Milk Cleanser. It’s a pretty basic milk cleanser which doesn’t strip and dry my skin when I use it. It says makeup remover on the bottle so realistically I’m probably not even using it the right way, but it’s not breaking me out and my skin isn’t dry and stripped. The only thing I don’t like is it’s definitely scented and tastes TERRIBLE if you accidentally get it in your mouth… So don’t do that.
Missha Essential Lip Oil Review
Even though I’ve got two colours pictured, I’m counting the lip oils as one product because they’re pretty interchangeable with each other. You may have seen these Missha Essential Lip Oils pop up a few times on my Instagram and that is because I am OBSESSED with these little lip oils/glosses. They are a bit sticky (so don’t wear them on a windy day) but they add the most amazing glossiness to your lips. They’re also super comfortable – if I’m going out without makeup, I love popping on a thin layer of these over some lip balm for some extra lip shininess and hydration. I know that Papaw can basically do that, but I find Papaw doesn’t look as tidy as gloss, as it can melt and slide outside liplines. These oils are thick enough to stay put in a specific spot and look great too.
I hope you liked these quick first impressions! Have you tried any of these?
