Beauty Favourites Part I: Skincare (Face)

Gonna try and schedule a post for the first time! :D
I've been thinking about doing a beauty post for a while now because I have quite a few of my favourite products that I'd like to share with you! And I think most, if not all girls concern themselves with beauty in some way or another... So here's my 2 cents worth. ;) My skin definitely isn't as ideal as I'd like it to be (in fact, it's in a rather deplorable state now sigh), but these are some products which I find help me to keep my skin in a better condition than it would be otherwise. So without further ado, here are some of my favourite beauty products (in no particular order)!

I've got 8 products to cover, so this is gonna be a pretty lengthy post! Skip this entirely if you're not into skincare, otherwise, bear with me. :)

1. Dior UV Shield in Translucent
How I stumbled onto this awesome sunscreen was by pure accident. My mum does buy quite a lot of Christian Dior products, but I've always viewed CD as some sort of an older ladies' brand... So one day while I was shopping with her and waiting for her to pick her CD products, a semi-bored me started playing with sunscreen testers and decided to ask for some samples since the SAs are usually quite generous when giving my mum samples hehe.
The UV Shield comes in 3 different types - the BB Cream, Translucent, and Pearly White. I tried the BB Cream and liked how it made my skin look dewy and radiant, but it was a little too emollient for my skin. As for the Pearly White, I felt that it leaves a bit of a white cast on my face, but my sister and mother both use the Pearly White one so maybe I'm just weird. :/ The Translucent sunscreen has a pretty thick texture, but just make sure you blend it out well and all will be fine! The finish is somewhat matte-ish and I like how it doesn't feel very sticky or oily like some other sunscreens do. Plus point: If you're anal about hygiene, you will love the pump dispenser! The only downside of this product is its price, which costs something like $79 for a mere 30ml tube. (But it'll last pretty long because a little goes a long way!)

2. Dior Lip Glow Color Reviver Balm
My lips tend to be quite dry, so trust me when I say this lip balm is aweeeesome! Initially, I didn't quite like it because it has a slightly wet texture, but after using this more, you'll find that that is precisely the beauty of this product because it helps to keep your lips super moisturized! The only issue that I have with this is that even though it looks like a clear balm, it actually leaves your lips with a pinkish tint which has resulted in me neglecting my lipsticks. :( But I'd take hydrated lips over flaky lips with nice lipstick anytime! Again, with Dior products, they do tend to be a little pricey. :( (I think this was about $40ish for a standard lipstick size.) But otherwise, I highly recommend this!

3. Biore Cleansing Oil-in-Cotton Sheets
There's been a lot of blog advertorials being done for this product, so the million dollar question is, IS IT REALLY GOOD? And since I'm not being paid to blog, I can give you a truthful answer heh. ;p Well I'm onto my 3rd refill already (if you count the original that came with the box), so you can probably guess what the answer is! I like cleansing sheets because they're just so convenient for lazy pigs like myself, but I like the Biore ones most because they remove make-up well, even around the eye area! And very importantly, it does NOT sting my eye! I must highlight though, that even though this is sort of a drugstore product, it's not exactly a cheap solution to removing make-up because every refill contains 48 sheets which will last you approximately 1.5 months if you wear make-up everyday. Considering that the refill costs ~$15, a normal drugstore remover that costs the same price will probably last you twice the length of what this will.

4. Cure Natural Aqua Gel
This product is a great way to exfoliate the face and other parts of the body! It's not harsh on the skin, and leaves my skin feeling nice and soft after exfoliation. However, the new Amethystory Mineral Aqua Gel seems to be a dupe of this, and costs almost half the price at $20+. (Although, to be fair, I think you get a little less product in the bottle.) I've seen the Amethystory one go on sale at Guardian before for $19.90 though, while Cure NEVER goes on sale. So yeah, if you want to get either one of these, just go for Amethystory!

5. Clinique All About Eyes Serum
I'm not a fan of Clinique products in general, but they do have a select few products which work well for me. This is one of them - it's not a great product, but it does what it claims to do. It keeps the puffiness under the eyes at bay! And I like these eye roller thingamajigs because they feel nice and cooling on my skin. :D Note that this, however, does not help to get rid of dark eye circles even though it is an eye product!

6. Clinique Anti-Blemish Solutions Spot Treatment Gel
This is something that I've been using for a few years now, so it's definitely tried and tested! The gel contains both witch hazel and salicylic acid which are the ingredients that I think help to fight blemishes. I like this because this product is pretty strong, i.e. it WILL STING when you put it on a pimple (especially a raw and inflamed one). If your threshold of pain is really low, then I'd advise you not to try this. If, however, you are open to suffering from short bouts of pain for the sake of beauty, then this will be right up your alley. I love how it helps to accelerate the drying process of pimples! (Y)

7. My Beauty Diary Sheet Masks
Even though MBD masks come in a huge array of flavours to suit different needs, I honestly can't tell the difference in their effectiveness when using them. I just like them because all the masks generally give me softer and more hydrated skin the day after using them! Do stock up on these when in Taiwan/Hong Kong though, because they're cheaper there! They're cheapest in Taiwan and it seems only the mixed flavour box is available in Taiwan, but Hong Kong is still cheaper than getting it locally.

8. Etude House Sleeping Facial Pack (Pore Tightening)
Honestly, I don't find that this product tightens my pores, but it does work like the MBD sheet masks in leaving my skin soft and hydrated! I like this because it's easy to slap on before you sleep, and you don't have to take it off after xxx amount of time. As with all other Korean skincare/make-up, GET THIS IN KOREA! It's easily 40-50% cheaper than what it is in the local stores. :)

So that's it for the first installment of my Beauty Favourites! I hope you enjoyed this despite how much rambling I've done, and I hope it was useful! x