Skincare Empties #1 and a very short review

feels a slight sense of accomplishment when i've collated these empty bottles! i find myself purchasing things at a rate faster than me using them up. so it's a good feeling to finally purge some of the items off my skincare pedestal to make room for the new. :P and it feels right to call my little beauty corner the "pedestal" because it's where i do my daily "skin worshipping".


hadanomy collagen lotion

finally used this up. i couldn't wait to finish it because i find it to be increasing losing efficacy the longer it sits on my desk. it didn't hydrate my skin that well, so i ended up using it for my body instead. the slightly gel-ish formula will turn watery upon contact with my skin temperature. it is mildly scented. everything feels nice about it, really, right down to the packaging, but it didn't deliver the results i was hoping for. not going to repurchase this!


simple kind to skin hydrating light moisturizer

i've run through bottles and bottles of this. if i have to put a number to it, this is probably my 7th bottle. this is everything the name states it to be, hydrating and light. absorbs very quickly, smoothes over my skin easily and i'm able to do some light massages as it's that smooth. keeps my skin well hydrated unless i enter an extremely dry environment (like air conditioned rooms). i always fall back to this whenever my skin turns sensitive as i know this product won't irritate my skin. currently using my 8th bottle, and will probably keep purchasing until i find something that's more effective than this at the SGD$6.50 price point.


shiseido senka whitening lotion (fresh)

it may have brightened my skin at first, but after i cut down the usage to once daily, i couldn't really tell a difference anymore. it's hydrating and affordable, i can totally see myself using this with cotton pads as a instant face mask for intensive moisture surge with whitening effects. i may repurchase this, after i go around trying a few more other whitening lotions. there are a few other options at similar price points that i would like to try before deciding which may be the best for me. even though it didn't brighten my skin the way i wished for it to, it's still a very affordable hydrating toner.

Shiseido Senka Whitening Lotion (Fresh) EMPTIED!

now that i've emptied this bottle of toner, it's time for another entry on it to give you my full thoughts on this. if you haven't seen my partial review on it before, you can read it here, i wrote that after i've used it for 6 months. 

4 months later, i finally used up the last drop of it.



i didn't take a photo of the ingredients because it's all in japanese.

but i found it from ratzilla:

active ingredients: l-ascorbic acid 2-glucoside and disodium glycyrrhizate

other ingredients: sodium acetyl hyaluronate, sodium hyaluronate, royal jelly extract, water, dipropylene glycol, alcohol, butylene glycol, glycerin, methyl gluceth-10, PEG-20, PEG/PPG-14/7 dimethyl ether, potassium hydroxide, PEG-60 hydrogenated castor oil, sodium citrate, triethyhexanoin, polyglyceryl-2 diisostearate, disodium EDTA, benzophenon-5, citric acid, citrus aurantium dulcis (orange) oil, lavender oil, methylparaben.

even though the formula contains alcohol, it doesn't actually dry out my skin. it is acting as a "key" to open up the skin so that the ingredients can enter the skin. moreover, the myriad of hydrating agents (sodium acetyl hyaluronate, sodium hyaluronate, dipropylene glycol and butylene glycol) already countered the drying effect of ethanol.




i took this photo not just to show you the opening of the bottle, which is a small hole which would dispense enough product for your face when you flip the bottle over momentarily. i wanted to show you the yellow marks on the bottle cap.

i have no idea what is it, but i can tell you that the solution in the bottle is actually colourless. my guess is that it has oxidized over time upon contact with air. somehow it reminds me of my vitamin c powder, which turns yellow over time too. this made me think that the vitamin c in the bottle is actually pretty stable, considering they didn't turn yellow unless they are exposed to the outside world!



this was one of the last few precious droplets of lotion i have before i ran out of it. it is watery and does have a slight alcohol scent to it. other than that, there's a slight sweet smelling scent to it, it's very mild and you won't be able to smell it unless you unscrew the bottle cap and shove your nose into the bottle.

IMHO

this bottle of lotion lasted me for a good 10 months. sometime after the 6th month, i cut down to using it just once a day. i assume if i use it twice daily, it'd have only lasted me a total of 8 months.

because it's so watery, getting evenly on my face was a little challenge, as it may drip if i have too much lotion on my palm. 

i've already mentioned my experience with it in the previous entry. and now.. drum roll please..

VERDICT

the whitening and brightening effect didn't amaze me. at first i did notice a slight brightening, but after my skin tanned a little, it failed to return me my original skin colour. :( maybe it's due to me using it only once daily (at night), but the hydrating effects were ok! and i do like the slightly cooling sensation upon applying this and patting it all over my face.

for HKD$89, it's a good hydrating toner to get, but don't expect it to work wonders.

my first ever whitening product in my skincare routine!
i decided to buy this after reading good reviews on both cosme.net and urcosme.com (japanese and taiwanese beauty review portals!).