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DIYed headband from excess ts' fabric cuts (it's old, from a DIY project long, long ago, maybe it was pre-pandemic, even); vintage, thrifted crocheted sweater; one of many 58 Php (1 USD) dresses from a batch order from Jhewel Shop PH on Shopee PH; necklace gifted by an aunt; earrings from grandma; rings from good old Aizilim and Bagel Girl in SM Downtown CDO
Pictured in the middle are my current favorite skin care finds and 1 pair of sunglasses from a local store that's just opened in Divisoria, Cagayan de Oro City---along Pabayo-Hayes sts, to be exact. Let's look into those in this post!
iWhite Korea has an ongoing promo where if you spend 500 Php in one or order or more, they send you a gift bag of thing other than those you ordered. The promo is ongoing on both their Lazada and Shopee PH official stores. I got some freebies from them this way. Some of these are not available on their official Lazada and Shopee stores. Those that aren't there aren't also in stores a Watson's Pharmacy/Drugstore. It's that South East Asian and national chain of pharmacies/drugstores, yes. Anyway, going back, my theory is that they may be new products yet being tested on us who like their brand and they've yet to produce them and market them to more people en mass. iWhite Korea has a wide range of affordable products. They're made for the filipino budget, yes. And their skin care products are great to pair with or alternate with the usual Human Heart Nature and their fellow South Korean skin care brand here in the Philippines, Face Republic. The latter's sun gel I tried in the deep green sachets is pretty good and right up there with the sole sunscreen in this post. They've phased it out though, it seems, and replaced with an all-around BB cream that, I feel like, can compete with iWhite Korea's that's been my favorite since I started using it some 2 or so years ago.
If you follow this blog since I it from Livejournal to here in blogger/blogspot, you'll know that I'm a huge Human Heart Nature fan. I'm technically an advocate of theirs. I'm a consistent, heavy Human Heart Nature user and someone who recommends other people their stuff, but I have yet to buy more from them soon to reactivate my membership.
And now, we have iWhite Korea. I use other skin care products, too, aside from my usual go-to very local brand, yes. So let's go back to the subject of the other skincare brand I'm into, iWhite Korea. This brand with products you can find at your nearest Watson's Pharmacy/Drugstore is the focus of this entry, anyway.
iWhite Korea BB Holic cream, light, in 4mL sachets | iWhite Korea BB Holic cream, light, in 25mL tube
If you've been following this blog and my socials closely, you'll know this is my favorite BB cream from some 2 to 3 years ago or so. Nothing has changed and it still is my favorite since I quit using foundation some time ago. This BB cream is what got me into the whole iWhite Korea brand.
I'm not entirely sure how I got into this one. It may just have been me being my usual self who likes to hang around my 2 nearest Watson's Pharmacy/Drugstore branches to randomly pick stuff up from their shelves and kill some time reading the ingredients of products that strike my interest there. I remember picking this up to try it because it was free of harmful chemicals. Little did I know it would be a staple in my skin care routine applied right before I put on very light makeup and color to my face.
I've just gotten myself into the 25 mL tube ones so we'll see how this goes...
I still would keep sachets around for when I'm on the go. They're convenient to have in makeup bags so you can just pull them out when you need to freshen up makeup and more.
My favorite of two existing shades of this product is light. But I don't mind the beige one from time to time.
The freebies bag from my last Shopee PH order from their official store there came with the mocha shade with niacinamide. I'm not one to get into beauty trends but I'm interested with this one. I think it's a new product to add to their existing line of BB Holic creams and they need some people to test them out before selling more of them online and offline.
I have yet to try this mocha bb cream that you see in the photo collage above. I'll let you know how it goes later for me. ....probably in an update blog post after this one.
New favorite alert!
iWhite Korea Glow Booster Vitamin C Serum in 6mL sachet | iWhite Korea Glow Booster Vitamin C Serum in 40 mL tube
I very rarely use face serums. The last serum I used was buckthorne serum from a not-so-well-known brand I got from Marshall's or some other on my last trip to the USA to see family. This was back in, around late 2015 and very early 2016.
I can't even put on my day and night creams every night, consistently, you expect me to put this serum on every day and night? Hah. Seriously, I'm not good at keeping skin care routines so things like the South Korean 7 to 10-step skin care routine just don't jive well with me.
Anyway, I've used this one a few times after my Human Heart Nature day cream and some night cream and it's not bad. I can't really say if it has any effect on my skin though. If it has improved its condition or not. I'm not prone to break outs, for one. I only have hormonal breakouts so I wouldn't really religiously apply this thing every day and every night. I'd only probably do so when I feel like.
I follow the Nerdy Derma on twitter and other minimal skincare advocates. More than being a skincare junkie (I still am, anyway), it's important to at least have appointments with dermatologists at least once in a while. They know better how to fix your skin problems with prescribed medicine and more.
I'm not saying to abandon all your skin care stuff outside of your cleanser. What I'm saying is to just use skin care in moderation and know that you only really need to cleanse at least once a day and once before sleeping and you're good. And dermatologists can help with skin problems more than those products in the market rn but if those make you feel good, then, like no one's stopping me, no one's stopping you from getting into them either!
So the sachet for this is affordable at 24 Php that's almost a quarter of the USD. The 40 mL tube is 235 Php and I think it's a good buy from the brand. The 6mL sachet can last about a week plus of use if you're as lazy as I am in my day and night skin care routine that you forget to put and pat this on your face on some days or nights of the week. Haha.
Like the BB Holic cream in Mocha, I believe this gentle morning gel wash is new to the brand. I've only used it once yet and it's not that bad. It's actually pretty good and quite similar to the Human Heart Nature nourishing cleanser I like.
I'm not one to jump from one cleanser to another but I'll definitely be using these two interchangeably over the next few days. iWhite Korea products are quite pleasant, gentle and not harmful to my skin so I don't mind using these things often.
An 8mL sachet of this one is just 22 Php (almost a quarter of a USD here) and it's buy 1 take 1 right now so go and get multiples of this, like, NOW!
There are many products iWhite Korea has that I have yet to try. This gel mask is one of them. This is also buy 1 take 1 on their official stores on both Lazada and Shopee at only 25 Php. Definitely get this one if you're curious about this as I am.
I hardly see another brand's peel off mask I like on Watson's Pharmacy/Drugstore now so it's good iWhite Korea has this and other face masks I could default to when I feel like pampering my skin and my self more.
Anyway, I will let you know how this goes once I've tried this thing for more than 3 days or so. I rarely use face masks. I only use them on weekends, mostly, when I'm in relaxed or lazy mode...or mood, whichever works.
It seems they don't have a tube of this yet so this must be fairly new in their products' lineup.
This time, let's look into the goodies that came with my first and only iWhite Korea online official store purchase via Shopee PH:
This is how it looks like when my order of tubes of the Vitamin C serum and the BB cream came to me here at home. I got one of each and 3 sachets of the Glow Booster Vitamin C Serum. This purchase came with the cutest pink paper bag below that contained all the fun freebies!
These are the freebies:
Opening the paper bag and emptying its contents for the photo above here made me feel like Christmas came here REAAALLLLYYY EARLY. I'm not even a fan of Christmas much. Haha.
Okay, so here are other things from the goodie bag's lot of freebies I have yet to try from this skin care and beauty brand are the:
Matcha Ice Cream Wash-Off Mask in 8mL sachet
Aqua Moisture Bomb Face Mask
Both of these are face masks and as mentioned earlier, I only use them on weekends. Or more like, some weekends. I get lazy with added skin pampering sessions like this, too. I haven't tried these two but I'm dyyyyiiing to try them! I'll try some of them this weekend. Maybe. If I'm not too lazy then. Haha.
These two are not available on both their Lazada and Shopee official stores. I have a theory these two are still in the trial phase, too. They probably want to see how people like these ones before they release it in tube form or some other... Hmn...
Before I go into another new product I'm obsessed about, here is one iWhite Korea product I'm looking into. I don't really have it yet but I'm curious about it even if I think Niacinamide is another beauty trend that may just...I don't know...not be that good for the skin. I'm skeptical about beauty or especially skin care trends until many start saying or raving about how good they are. So this is the:
iWhite Korea Whip Pro-Niacin Moisturizer in 6mL sachet | iWhite Korea Whip Pro-Niacin Moistrurizer in 60 mL tube
I still have some moisturizers or day and night creams that also double as moisturizers so I won't get into this until I probably consume those I still have rn. I am curious how this one is but until then...I'm staying put and not buying anything lest I want more unused or very rarely used skincare stuff in my drawer.
And...
....here's another new favorite skin care product alert! Number 2 for this post. It's a sunscreen that I'm obsessed about atm:
Okay... This is not by iWhite Korea but it's, I believe, a local brand or it's owned by a local.
I just discovered this last week while looking for sunscreens with minimal to no white casts after application and I've been hooked since I started using this back then, too.
The packaging or the bottle is just in the cutest color and shape. It's very easy to slip this in your bag as it's compact and tiny. And you're good to go! A side note before we go back into the original track of this post but I think Happy Skin, another local? (I'm not at all sure...?) skin care brand here but pricier just copied this one. You can check out their sunscreen...s to see. I avoid HS because of how expensive their products can be but I definitely see some pretty affordable things in there... Hmn... Yep, most of their stuff is still not the most practical for the typical working Filipina's monthly budget or so. Okay, let's go back now... And the few times I've used this Fairy Skin sunscreen also tells me I like that it's the easiest and the most fun to squeeze too. It's easy and fun to apply and like, there's just no white cast at all once it's on your skin! It just blends right in which is my favorite thing about this one.
This sunscreen usually costs between 180-190 Php. You can get it via Lazada or Shopee PH online.
If you want to buy this in person here in Cagayan de Oro City, here are other local sellers (resellers) of this sunscreen here:
- Lyns Fashion Selection - this is across Lourdes College and along the way to the CDO Post Office
- The Cube Bazaar Strip in Ayala Centrio - also has some stores, stalls, rather, selling this around 180 to 190 Php a piece. This is at the 3rd floor of the said mall
- a stall in the LimKetKai Mall rotunda bazaar also has these. This bazaar of sorts is going on until October 9.
As a side note: I will be blogging about this bazaar this week or over the weekend so stay tuned! (If bazaars like this are your thing as they are becoming mine, too.)
Fairy Skin's SPF 50 sunscreen is, like, everywhere at this point. Yes.
Before you say I got into this sunscreen because it's a trend among skin care enthusiasts in tiktok... I'll have to stop you there and say that's not the case. Tiktok and tiktokers who are into trendy local Philippine skin care and makeup isn't how I got into Fairy Skin's sunscreen at all.
I've actually been into similar products like Kath Melendez's Her Skin (the Glow Maintenance set) because of a youtube vlogger I follow who's based in Vancouver, Canada, Hey It's Fey and I noticed that Fairy Skin's sunscreen shows in my searches of this skin care brand on Shopee PH. I was considering getting into the Glow Maintenance set by Her Skin because I've been listening to and watching my favorite vlogger rave about how good the sun defense gel is on her vlogs but I think my eyes and interest were drawn to Fairy Skin's in the end and the rest is history. I jumped the gun when I was looking into another pretty affordable multi-use tints cosmetics brand, Dear Self Beauty at Simply Hue, Juicy Tushie Store (Everyday Essential) and that was it! I got my Fairy Skin sunscreen from this shop with some Dear Self Beauty stuff I have yet to try. I'm going to review them in this blog one day soon, of course! This space is slowly turning into a skincare and beauty/cosmetics/makeup blog. Haha.
So I got this for 190 Php (close to around 4 USD) at the said Shopee PH store and I've been pretty obsessed with it since I've started using it some days ago.
If you are looking for a good high SPF sunscreen for the face with no white cast whatsoever once applied and one that's super affordable, it's this one, Fairy Skin's 50 SPF sunscreen.
Anyway, it's been sales after sales after sales here and there lately. Online and offline, both. You can clearly tell Christmas is drawing nearer and nearer. They're even doing the Christmas countdown on the national news already. With a lot of sales happening here and there---there's the 10.10 sale soon in Lazada, Shopee PH, and Zalora in 4 days!---you can pre-load your cart with all of these on the post then check all of them out on that day for humongous savings.
....or so says someone who hardly buys stuff on 9.9, 10.10, 11.11, 12.12 sales here and more. I don't really buy stuff on sales because I feel like there's always a sale somewhere almost everyday. Haha. Or I just buy the ones I can easily afford these days when I can anyway.
That's it for the main post. I will post a follow-up on how I find some of those here I haven't tried one day, the soonest I can so stay tuned for that one.
Let's go into some things I feel like...rather, you feel like I've ignored and didn't touch on in this post like whitening products. iWhite Korea has them, too. And in case you're wondering, I did receive a couple of whitening products as freebies on the online order from the iWhite Korea Shopee PH flagship/official store.
So let's get started on one. On whitening products:
I've never really been a big fan of whitening products and often wondered why we have a lot of those in our pharmacies/drugstores, grocery stores, supermarkets, etc. here. I think this is because, 1, I like my skin the way it is. And 2, I find people here who bleach their skin (I had one high school classmate who did this and he is a guy) or whiten it just...downright weird. But the second one is normal to most. Filipinas just really like to be white or like the yellow-skinned in east asia when I think our normal skin color is the best. I know the white women in the US and others would love to have our skin color (just enough melanin to keep us from having skin diseases and stuff somehow) so yep, I have always thought there's no point to trying to whiten it with store-bought products or periodic procedures like skin bleaching.
When I got into Human Heart Nature some years back, maybe almost a decade back when they first started, I was soooo glad and soooo relieved they didn't do whitening skin care products. They just don't advise it for their clientele to use and because of this, they've got me as a loyal customer/client since.
iWhite Korea included 2 sachets of the same whitening product in the freebies goodie bag that came with the 500+ Php online order. I separated those two from the products I like from the goodie bag that aren't for skin whitening at all. iWhite Korea has whitening products but if you're like me and are proud of your Filipina, Philippine islander skin color, then I seriously advise not to even look into the whitening products they have there. Everything else they sell but those are alright to get and use almost every day.
On my very simple skin care routine:
Sometimes I just really get lazy to follow through it every day and I only have, like, maybe 4 steps that I do of it daily. Like...hmn...I just cleanse, tone, put on day or night cream (which are also moisturizers, by the way), and then the serum, sunscreen (during the day, I also alternate this one with Belo's 10 mL tinted 50 SPF sunscreen---it's buy 1 take 1 on the Belo flagship store in Lazada here, just click on the link to get it---or just the iWhite Korea BB Holic cream) and that's it. I apply makeup during the day when I feel like or when I'm going out or doing some shoots for this blog and my instagram, @kristagraces_17, and at night. I don't put any makeup at all at night and just stick to the usual skin care application steps unless I have some parties to go to or so.
I very sparingly or very rarely use face serum so when I get really, reeeaaallllyy lazy, I omit that from my skin care routine. I only use it when I have it or when I have a face serum I like on hand. I also don't use the day and night creams often. I think I started using less skin care products since I started working and of course, over the pandemic lockdowns. Simple is best, as they say and that really works well for me. Usually just cleansing when I have nowhere to go during the day or night is enough. Or cleansing and tonight is enough. I would tone and moisturize when I'm going out or doing something else, like, maybe, working from home that's ofc, other than staying home and doing chores. I work from home since the pandemic lockdowns, yes. I only need minimal makeup for wfh stuff so I hardly overdo and stuff on this, too.
Anyway if you follow the Nerdy Derma on twitter, you'll know more why simple is the best-est when it comes to skin care. I think she's also on youtube now. Or if you'd like to know more about active and inactive ingredients in skin care, you can also check this blog out here: active vs inactive ingredients at gopicky blog. Oh wow. I just learned SLS is an active cleansing ingredient. I only use it probably from safeguard soap for night cleansing, occasionally, but I know it originally as a harmful chemical to the skin and body in general. The Nerdy Derma on twitter actually talks about this too, at times.
When it comes to skin care, it's best to just periodically see a medical expert on this from time to time especially if one has very sensitive skin. Or if one has a skin condition they want checked out. I don't advise self-medicating. You can definitely try out different skin care products to see what works for you but it helps to have guidance from an expert, still.
So far, I think my skin is alright so I don't really need to go to the dermatologist yet. I've seen one when I had severe bouts or cases of sebhorreic dermatitis (something we commonly know as dandruff or flaking on the scalp) and it has done me well so far. I only have skin breakouts when it's close to my period, during or after my period. I've also had facials once or twice done by a dermatologist that's a family friend---I have yet to try the other one my mom and brother went to some time ago, before the series of pandemic lockdowns---so yep, my skin is fine so far. I would definitely run to the dermatologist, check with them if something goes wrong with it and would not self-medicate. (I am interested in retinoids though...hmn...I have yet to get into that one...) So that's it.
Oh, before I forget, the sunnies/sunglasses are from Zea Picks Mini Mall along Pabayo-Hayes Sts. I got this for like, just 150 Php. That's just...around 3 USD converted. I actually found Positive Kalyca there. It's a new ish, local to the region cosmetics brand I'm starting to like after my dearest bff, Michi, alerted me about it and consequently got me into it. Do check out this place, too, if you're local here in my city of Cagayan de Oro. We got stuff that are buy 1 take 1 on sale there including this pair of sunglasses so I'm pretty sure you'll like looking around what they have there, too! They like linking up with pretty cool, local brands and makers so there are definitely a lot of things to find there if you're like me and my closest friends who like supporting local.
I will be blogging soon about the bazaars and some other new cosmetics brands I'm into lately starting with a local one in the Bisaya region here, Positive Kalyca! I think they started out where I was based from for grad school for Literary Studies, in Dumaguete City in Negros Oriental/Island, before I moved back here in Cagayan de Oro and it's pretty cool that they are everywhere now. You'll know more about this one in the next blog. Feel free to check them out at the bazaar in the LimKetkai mall rotunda if you're a local! They will be there until October 9, roughly 3 days from now.
Until the next blog!
K
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