Review: Laneige Balancing Emulsion (Sensitive)

Branding is not everything. This is my rule for all the things I buy.

But there are rare exceptions when I do feel adventurous and splurge on products that will cost me more than a thousand pesos. Weeks ago, I ran out of emulsion and since I was in a hurry to buy ANYTHING, I ended up going to a Laneige shop in SM Megamall. Since I have had weirder skin since pregnancy (which remained so after a few months after loss), I thought I should buy the "Sensitive" variant of Laneige's Balancing Emulsion.

Micromini Reviews (and I am back)

Hi everyone. I'm here again posting a bunch of teeny tiny reviews of some products I have used since my last review, because I feel bad for not making use of my experience to help other skin care addicts.

And yes, even if I got too busy, I was able to continue taking care of my skin!

Here are the various items I used from October 2014 til today:

Nature Republic Bulgarian Rose Emulsion - If only my nose was not that sensitive to fragrances, this emulsion will be a holy grail day moisturizer. It is cheap, moisturizing, and it works well under the hot and humid Manila weather. If you have a very tolerant sense of smell, I highly recommend this emulsion.

Olay Regenerist Night Resurfacing Essence - a very easy to find AHA exfoliator in the Philippines, which works as intended. It made my skin plump, soft and smooth, although it did not make my pores look refined. It looks expensive at a price tag of more than 1000 pesos, but this 50 mL bottle will last a while. The only problem with this AHA is it warrants a bigger obsession for sunscreen as it is quite strong (glycolic acid), and it made my face very irritable against the sun. I had to abide by sunscreen reapplication, or else.

The Face Shop Herb Day Cleansing Cream (Green Tea) - I used to LOVE this line, now I totally hate it. Although I used the Mixed Fruit variant before, I noticed that the main ingredients between my Green Tea and Mixed Fruit aren't the same. Reformulation? Highly probable, which is why I will not repurchase.

Etude House Real Art Cleansing Oil (Sensitive) - typical cleansing oil with a very runny texture and strong but tolerable scent. Cleans well but it left my skin feeling dry immediately after use.

Innisfree Apple Juicy Cleansing Oil - the apple aroma was weird and seemed very synthetic, but the texture is glorious! Ah, but it did not clean my face properly and was too gentle, it left my sebaceous filament sticking out and begging for extraction (which I still left alone).

Missha All-Around Safe Block Waterproof Sun - it may not have titanium dioxide, but I do not recommend this sunscreen. Unless you're a fan of very thick creams and all lined up for a geisha makeover.

Aaaand that takes care of the 8 months worth of skincare hits and misses.

I realized I CAN update this blog, although not as vigorously as I did prior to my freelancing work. So I am back and will check in from time to time, especially in cases like this - I just couldn't bear it!

I was lost, and still am

Hello! It has been a while and I'm sure some of you are wondering where I have been. A LOT of things had happened since I last wrote anything here. Some may be rearing to see a random review from me, but let me preempt you: I want to, but I cannot.

During the later half of 2014, I had a spike of demand for my work-at-home engineering gig. It was exhausting and fulfilling, but it was taking a lot of time. I am still engaged with this work, happily at that. And while it has stopped my blogging, it is expanding my knowledge of my craft and it is paying for the bills. Yay!

But while my career is gaining some good ground, my personal life, unfortunately, is not. I got pregnant last November but I miscarried a month ago. It was my first pregnancy too, after a year of trying. My husband and I were traumatized, to say the least. I am afraid of getting pregnant again, because the gory imagery that night of my baby's unfortunate demise is still with us. It would have been slightly easy to accept if we had a chromosomal problem during that pregnancy, but we lost the battle due to a ruptured placenta. The fact that such incidence is quite unusual does not help, too.

This is where I will take a leave from Pas Sosyal.

I will probably still update this blog from time to time to reply to comments and mail, but currently my work is owning my time right now. I've overloaded myself with projects so I won't even have time to cry too much, plus this working-horse-mode gives me some motivation to cope up with our loss.

In case you've seen all this blog has to offer, you can find a variety of good blogs being recommended within reddit. /r/AsianBeauty and /r/SkincareAddiction are two skincare related subreddits packed with tons of information - from linked blogs, to helpful FAQs, databases (check our /r/AsianBeauty's spreadsheet on cleanser pH!), progress pics and many more. The people there are quite giddy about it, too, so I highly recommend visiting those.

Anyway, thank you guys for the follow, link, reads, comments, and mail. Blogging about girly stuff was fun - but I think my experiences, both from highs and lows, shifted my priorities that I now want to just focus on my husband (but not kids - I'm not going to try to conceive ever), career, and my personal healing.

See you wherever, and don't forget your sunscreen!

xo,
Vanessa

Korean emulsions: My new moisturizer choice

Remember when I raved about my improved skin and attributed it to switching to a different moisturizer type? One of the new elements I've added to my regime was switching from a normal, heavy moisturizer to an emulsion for my morning skin care routine. So what is an emulsion, and how is it used?