Rainbow Beauty Mini Haul ♥ REVIEW

Rainbow Beauty Sense of Care Hand Cream

I recently purchased two Rainbow Beauty Sense of Care Hand Creams w/ Shea Butter (and Paraben free) from a small vendor at one of my Korean Drama meetings.

I must admit I was initially drawn to the product's cute packaging (as always, I love products w/ cute packaging! ^_^).  Fortunately, the vendor had samples, so I could test the hand cream prior to purchasing it.

I decided to use the lavender hand cream first, and so far, I absolutely love it! Usually I don't care for products with a strong lavender scent, but this hand cream has a very mild pleasant lavender scent.

I also love this hand cream because it's not super thick and creamy. I love hand creams with shea butter, like L'Occitane's Shea Butter Hand Cream, because they're very moisturizing. However, I also find that they tend to leave my skin with a "greasy" feeling for a while afterwards. Rainbow Beauty's hand cream may leave your hands with a slight "greasy" feeling at first, but it absorbs quickly and the "greasy" feeling goes away after a couple minutes.

• PRODUCT: Sense of Care Hand Cream (4 Scents Available: Olive, Lavender, Sakura & Rose). I purchased the lavender and rose scented hand creams. You can learn more about this product at the Rainbow Beauty Website.
• SIZE: 1.18 oz - The perfect size to carry on the airplane and fit in your purse. This hand cream only comes in one size. 
• FUNCTION: Each scented hand cream has a slightly different function/"skin benefit".
• Olive - "The olive extract rejuvenates and moisturizes rough hands creating vibrant-looking hands. Absorbs quickly and protects your skin from dehydration."
• Lavender - "The lavender extract rejuvenates and calms rough hands creating vibrant-looking hands. Absorbs quickly and protects your skin from dehydration."
• Sakura - "The Sakura extract rejuvenates and moisturizes rough hands creating vibrant-looking hands. Absorbs quickly and protects your skin from dehydration."
• Rose - "The rose extract and other flower extracts moisturize dry hands creating soft and smooth hands. Absorbs quickly and protects your skin from dehydration."
• COST: The vendor I purchased my hands creams from was selling the hands creams as a set - 2 hand creams for $10.00 + 1 free facial mask. I looked at various websites on the Internet, and it seems that this hand cream is selling anywhere from $4.20 - $12.00 per bottle. 
• OVERALL THOUGHTS ✯✯✯✯✯: Overall I love this product and I would have to give it a 5/5 - the packaging is cute, both scents that I bought are pleasant and mild (perfect for people who don't like hand creams with strong scents), reasonably priced, quickly absorbs and keeps my hands feeling very moisturized.

My $10.00 hand cream purchase also came with a free brightening sheet mask:

I've never used this brand, but it looks like a good sheet mask =P The vendor was also selling other sheet masks from this line at her booth. I believe these sheet masks were selling for $1.00 - $2.00 per mask. I love how the description and directions are written in English and Korean on the back of the mask - simple and easy to use!

The vendor also gave me free Daeng Gi Meo Ri shampoo and hair treatment samples. I am not sure how popular this brand is in Korea, but it is very popular among the Korean community in Hawaii. I know a lot of people who use this hair care line. I heard the smell of this "oriental shampoo" can be a little strong and perhaps a little strange for some people since it has a strong herbal scent, but I also heard a lot of good things about this shampoo. I am looking forward to trying it! ^__^

♥ Happy New Year / SK II Cellumination Essence EX ♥

SK II Cellumination Essence

After much consideration, I finally decided to give in and purchase a product from SK II at Sephora last weekend.

Initial Thoughts: After reading so many excellent reviews about various SK II skin care products online, I always wanted to try at least one product from SK II. However, I always felt hesitant to purchase SK II products since they are so expensive in my opinion.

Since I have sensitive skin, a lot of expensive skin care products that work well for other people, often times does not suit my oily skin type.

In my mind, I couldn't justify taking a chance and spending $150.00 for a skin care product that might cause my skin to breakout or work only as well as the $20-$30 facial brightening essence I was currently using.

• PRODUCT: SK II Cellumination Essence EX (I found out about this product through a Korean Naver blog. Also featured on Eugene's Get it Beauty, a Korean Beauty Program).
• FUNCTION: According to Sephora - "This hydrating serum with New Aura Bright Complex works three ways to diffuse light reflectance within the surface so that your natural colors radiate a soft, translucent glow from within. It also hydrates and refines the surface to boost skin’s natural tone, and to help diminish the appearance of discoloration for a more even complexion." Although this product definitely helps to even out skin tone, I also found that it functions as an excellent skin whitening/brightening product!
• COST: A 1 oz bottle (as seen above) cost $150.00 at Sephora. The Sephora store in Hawaii only sold the 1 oz bottle; however, Sephora's online store shows that there's also a 1.6 oz bottle selling for $220.00. Fortunately, since I had a $105.00 Sephora gift card, I only ended up paying about $52.00 after tax.
• APPLICATION: In short, a little goes a long way. I usually put one tiny drop on my forehead and one tiny drop on my chin, and spread it evenly over my entire face. The slightly watery and very smooth texture of the essence makes it easy to apply. Since it is quickly absorbed by my skin, it does not leave my skin feeling sticky or oily!
• OVERALL THOUGHTS ✯✯✯✯✯:  So far I've been really pleased with the results. Right now I would definitely have to give this product a 5/5 and two thumbs up! ^_^ Although I am breaking out a little along my jawline (which is nothing new), I think this is due to it being the "time of my month" more than anything else. The first night I used this product, I noticed that it actually helped to significantly decrease the size and redness of a painful pimple on my chin.
  
  As I mentioned above, this essence also functions as an excellent skin whitening/brightening product. After only a week, I noticed a difference in my skin tone color. Although only a minor difference, my skin tone seems to be brighter and lighter. Unfortunately I didn't take a "before" picture so I don't have any proof =P, but I found a couple of screenshots from the Get it Beauty show which shows the "before" and "after" photos of people who used this product:
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  -♥- Wishing all my readers a very Blessed and Happy New Year! -♥-