*Milk; Estelle & Thild Ecorganic Cleansing Gel (review)

Product description: A soothing 100% perfume-free certified organic Cleansing Gel that cleanses efficiently without dehydrating the skin. Developed for sensitive and combination skin. 150ml.

Estelle & Thild is a Swedish skincare brand which uses bio-active oils extracts from the purest and most exclusive organic raw materials. These organic raw material are all free from pesticides and toxic residues. I found this skincare brand at Skins Cosmetics several months ago and was immediately intrigued by its unique philosophy.

As most of you already know, I have been using paraben-free products for nearly two years now and have recently taken one step further by switching to natural and organic skincare products. It was difficult at first since most brand do include chemical ingredients, but luckily consumers are becoming smarter and more aware of the harmful effects of these chemicals. New natural and organic brands are popping up everywhere and it has become really easy to find 'pure' products.


The product

I love the packaging of this product! Yes, it is a little bit bulky but the design is so simple yet cute! It comes with a flip-top instead of a pump, but I find it just as easy to dispense the product.


The cleansing gel has a very light almost runny texture. When you add water, it emulsifies a little bit but it definitely does not lather or foam up.

Tip! A misconception that a lot of people have is that cream cleansers are good for dry skin. Now the word 'cream' is very misleading as it is often associated as being moisturizing. Cream cleansers tend to lather a lot and the more it lathers, the more drying it actually is for the skin.

Now the big question is: is it able to cleanse the skin properly? The answer is no.

It claims to remove make-up and dirt, but frankly, I would not use this as a one-step cleanser. Instead I remove my make-up with 'Bioderma' and follow up with the cleansing gel. This cleanser is probably one of the most simple cleansers that you can find on the market and surprisingly, simple is very hard to find these days. I would say that this is what most people think the 'Purity Made Simple' cleanser by Philosophy is like (but then without sulfate, parabens & colourants #themostironicproductnameever lol).

The cleansing gel alone won't cut it, but when used in conjuction with a cleansing water of cleansing oil it is fantastic.



The verdict

I love the simplicity of this product and the fact that it is truly a gentle cleanser for sensitive skin. I used to never care for cleansers as I never felt any difference to my skin or saw any great results, but this is one of the few cleansers that leaves my skin feeling comfortable after cleansing. Although it is not something worth writing home about, but the ingredients list is just brilliant!

I would highly recommend this cleanser to those with sensitive skin. In fact, I think this cleanser would be great in conjunction with the 'Clarisonic'. A lot of people seem to like to use the 'Purity Made Simple' cleanser by Philosophy with the 'Clarisonic', but just make sure that you use something else to remove your make-up first!

Rating: 5/5

Note: You can find your nearest local & online retailers for Estelle & Thild on their website ( here ).

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*Cookiie; Collective Sasa Haul

Holy smokes, it's been a while! Life has been waay too hectic so it was really hard for me to make some free time to blog as well. And to be honest, I haven't really been purchasing much lately since I've become a real typically poor student. *cries* Even this haul post consists of three seperate orders and it isn't even that much! Customs have been more strict lately, so I could only order when Sasa does those $19 free shipping offers. I'm glad Sasa does those offers now, since I really still love them Asian products, hehe.




My cleansers are running out, so I thought it was time to try some new products out. The Kose Softymo White Cleansing Oil sounded really interesting as I read the short reviews on the website. It is supposed to have some sort of melanin-eliminating effects on the skin, but I'm not too confident on that. I've been a fan of the Naive-line from Kanebo, so when I saw the Kanebo Naive Facial Cleansing Foam (Raspberry & Grape Leaf) I just had to get it. It smells really good, but I also haven't tried it out yet. Reviews will definitely come as soon as I've tried them out properly.


Now onto one of my favourite brands for skincare: de herbs! I tried their products out before and despite liking them back then as well, they used to have really sucky packaging. Few years later and the packaging improved so much, that I figured I should try some of their stuff out again. Always having these promotional offers also help by the way. I got this de herbs Hyaluronic Acid Moisture Moist locksas Eye Serum on a BOGO special offer, so I'm all stocked up for now when it comes to eye moisturizers.


Another special offer that I enjoyed was from the de herbs Hyaluronic Acid actif White locksas Toner that came with three full-size au lait-Milky Treatment Masks for free. I don't really feel much for the mask and I haven't tried the toner yet, so maybe a review after I've used it long enough.


These de herbs Rosewater Soothe Moisture Mask were also on a BOGO special offer. I already used a few of these and I have to say that de herbs is very generous with their products. The masks are completely soaked and there would still be some liquid left in the sachet. I'm quite satisfied with these, so I definitely recommend trying them out.

Sasa also gave me a Foot Repair Essence, but I'm really not impressed by it that I don't even bother saying more about it than this. De herbs always having special offers going on, so check the brand out if you plan on ordering at Sasa.


The last two items were picked along for the order because I simply needed to reach the $19 limit for free shipping. I use this Acne Needle to pop my pimples yeah I know gross haha. Whenever I went for a facial treatment I'd see them use this tool to do so as well, so I think this is probably the best way of doing it. Remember to never force it if you plan on using this tool, because then it'll be more likely that you will hurt the skin around the pimple which can lead to scarring.


Last but not least, I got this sample-sized Estee Lauder Pure Color Long-lasting Lipstick. I'm a little greedy when it comes to my lipstick collection because I'm always so in love with the packaging. With this little lipstick I don't really have to worry about finishing it and yet I get the good quality from Estee Lauder. I do like the colour as it seems like a very universal red that will probably look good on anyone.

That's ittt, let me know if you've tried these products already or if you want to see a review of them. Or just anything, because it's been waaay too long that I've talked to you guys.

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*cookiie; sasa haul & milk's souvenirs

Between the previous Sasa haul post and this post, I actually ordered a few more times than I'm actually going to show on this update. It's just that I don't really remember what I ordered before, so it's going to be a bit difficult to collect everything again for pictures. I'll probably write about them later on anyways, so no worries. Sasa haul begins!

No packages shot this time, since they're all the same. I actually had 3 of them coming in this time, because I ordered twice within a month. You will probably think it's a LOT, but most of it was actually for a friend and for my mom. xD You can tell if you continue reading this post~

First product is a hair treatment, called Cosmetex Roland
Hair Repairment Repair Esthe Treatment (300g, $7.70). I don't know if you can tell by comparing my lens holder with the tube, but it's huge! I haven't tried it yet, but hopefully it's good.

The jar on top of the blue box is the de herbs HA MOISTURE MOIST LOCKSAS HA Moisture moist locksas Gel (50 ml, $11.50). This is the moisturizer version of the serum with the failed packaging. I've been using it for a few nights now and I kind of like it so far. I actually quite like 'de herbs' in general, as their ingredients contain no fragrances, parabens, etc. I just think their packaging is poor, as you can tell on the picture with the pink box. There is a special offer going on at Sasa.com at the moment where you get free gifts when you purchase de herbs products. I got the Aromatic Hand & Feet Care F/G: Foot Masque (5 ml) and Aromatic Hand & Feet Care F/G: Foot Refreshing Mist (30 ml) which makes me think I have an awful foot odor..but who knows, I'm considering of trying these stuff out, haha.


From left to right: Sexy Girl Hand & Body Butter Cream (Strawberry Short Cake) (100 g, $12.60), Kanebo Naive Deep Cleansing Foam (Green Tea) (140 g, $4.20), Meishoku Declear Bright & Peel Fruits Peel Peeling Jelly (180 ml, $12.30), Skin Food Nail Top Coat (13 ml, $3) and a Vitacreme B12 Regenerative Cream (3 ml) sample.
The Hand & Butter Cream smells sooo yummy, like strawberry yoghurt. They really did try to make the texture look like whipped cream and I think they've done a pretty good job imitating that. It does contain parabens, so I definitely don't recommend it for people who can't have that on their skin. Other than that, it's really moisturizing and it's not sticky at all.

The peeling gel smells really nice as well, even though it doesn't really matter as you're going to wash it off right after anyways. I'm not sure if the smell comes from artificial fragrances or naturally from the essences that they used for this peeling. I can put out the ingredients list if anyone is interested, but I can't read Japanese to find it out myself. :( No parabens though, so that's a big plus! As for the peeling effect, it is working great for me. I got no other peeling gel to compare it with, but I see a lot of dead skin cells coming off when I use this. Afterwards it feels really smooth, so I'm really liking this.

As for the Naive cleanser, it's basically the same as my previous one. I thought it was going to be a lot more foaming, because of some reviews I read on Sasa's website, but it's not. It smells, feels, lathers exactly the same. So probably all Naive cleansers are the same, despite having slightly different names.

I also read some nice reviews about this top coat from Skinfood. I'll be trying it out when I paint my nails tomorrow night!

That's all I got for Sasa hauling. But it's not everything I got from Sasa to show you guys. :P

My Beauty Diary and Hisamitsu masks! I've wanted to try the Hisamitsu eye masks for a while now, but never got to it to order them myself. Milk was sweet enough to surprise me with them when she got back from Hong Kong, so thank you! ♥

And some more stuff that I got from Milk. And yes, on the make up bag it says "HamburGirl". xD It's totally random, but that's why I like it even more.

She also got me an adorable lenses box and a cute plushie hanger that's looking in the mirror of the lenses box. Oh, and the bow on top of the plushie is actually a clip, and it's really cute. I'm not sure if I'll ever wear it myself though, since I'm not sure if it'll fit me haha~

As you might read from her Hong Kong haul post, she didn't buy much make up, but she didn't forget to buy me some make up related items as well. The powder pad was actually something she remembered Fuzkittie mentioning, so she bought that randomly as well. xD

The earrings are so cute! The first thing I thought was "BLACK JACK!" and I'm sure 2NE1 (a Korean girl group) fans would know what I mean It's their fanclub name. Aand some genius packaged hair pins. I always lose them so this is great for storing my hair pins.

That's all! Barely made it, but I'm done! Ok I cheated by roughly typing it out and published it a minute before 3.28 am but I was basically done As always, don't hesitate to comment and ask/request me anything. ^^

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*Cookiie; A Package from Korea to Sweden to Holland

Three more days to go! E-mail us your entry asap!! Click here to go to the giveaway post.

It's been a while guys! I just finished retaking two exams, which ends my hellish period full with essays and exams. Hopefully, I'll be able to post more often again, because I have quite some posts planned, haha~ I'm actually doing one of those, which I am feeling quite sorry for. A while ago, my friend Mo from Sweden had a pretty long trip to Japan and South Korea. I guess it goes without saying that I had to ask him for some beauty products right? Haha, thankfully, he didn't mind at all (once again, thank you!! I know you're reading this xD).


The package~ I really like the fact that it's green, I don't know why.



And this was what was in it: Etude products! For the Big Bang fans, he also included me a Big Bang phone hanger, hehe.


These are called Etude House Milk Screws. I honestly don't know why they're called Milk Screws (well they all smell a liiitle bit like milk mixed with fruit flavours), but it's a rather funny name. They're basically deliciously smelling lip balms that are quite moisturizing too. They give a tiny bit color off, just enough to make you look alive. I asked him to buy the flavours/colours Lime and Mango, but there are three more flavours called Apple, Berry and Coconut.


And these are the Etude House Fresh Cherry Tints. I read about them at A Beautfyful Sentiment as I was looking for lip tints to try out. I really like the colours, they stick pretty well and just like the Milk Screws they smell really nice and fruity (in this case it's cherry flavoured of course!). Oh, and I got all three colours: Red, Pink and Peach.


Mo was nice enough to ask me if there was anything I wanted to try out in Japan as well. Since I didn't want to bother him too much, I tried to restrain myself from asking too much stuff. I asked him if he could get me the Kanebo Naive Facial Cleansing Foam that supposedly has Green Tea extract in it. I haven't tried it out yet as I still have plenty left of my Zarqa cleanser, so I'll have to talk about this product later.


Samples from Etude House Aqua Sherbet~ There was supposed to be some masks and moisturizer samples from the same line as well, but those got lost during travelling.


It's okay though, since I got these handy travel bags! I think it was a gift for purchasing at Etude House, I love how you can get so much free stuff when you buy so little.

That's all! Here's are some extra pictures that my friend took while he was at the Etude House store:


Isn't it adorable ?! My friend described it as pink, frills, flowers, (birds?), fluffy and shiny... and it's so true. xD The roof thingy at the front (2nd picture) is so cute, I wish I was there myself. ;o;

And before I end this post, I want to thank all of you who have participated in our giveaway and that are following us. Milk talked about passing the 100 mark in her last post and now we have 110 followers! Thank you soo much and even though our first giveaway hasn't ended yet, we'll be preparing another one to properly thank you guys. ^^

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*Cookiie; Somewhat Big Haul Post (part 2)

Hey guys! Today I don't really have much homework to do, so I decided to take the time to post again. A while ago, I posted a haul post and said that there was going to be a part 2. Now, I've received the rest of the the haul for quite some time already, but I just didn't have the chance to post about it. Sorry for the long wait, but here it is~


Two packages from Sasa.com!

As you can see, the products were safely packed.


Some handy tools: False Eyelash Applicator, Mascara Guard and KQ Series Cleansing Brush from Kai. I haven't tried the Mascara Guard yet, but the False Eyelash Applicator is pretty nice! You can easily attach the falsies close to your real lashes with this applicator. The Cleansing Brush is okay, it's an alternative of scrubbing your face with a scrub. If anyone is interested in this product, I can make a post to tell you more about it. :)


Neutrogena Ultra Sheer Dry-Touch Sunblock SPF 50 PA+++ and Kose Point Makeup Remover.
I've tried the sunblock since Milk gave me a sample of it once and I really liked it. I also tried one from Lioele and I liked that one better, but it will take a while before I'm done using this one. The Point Makeup Remover is great! I use it for when I make mistakes while applying eye make up and so far it has done its job well.


Aaand I bought some cotton sticks because I thought the packaging was handy. The headband was actually a promotional gift from Sasa. The more you order there, the better the gifts are. I'm trying to become VIP, but it's so much money lol.


Second package! What could it be?


Yay, my first circle lenses! These are the Geo Angel Brown. The bubble wrap wasn't stuck together with tape but was actually sealed with a machine (I think). Really nice! I love it when packages are packed so neatly.


Unpacked.
You get a free lense case and there's also a little instructions book included. I bought these at HoneyColor.com for US$22.45 (with discount) and they arrived quite fast. I want to try ordering at Ulzzang Style since they offer authentic circle lenses for even cheaper. If anyone still want to try HoneyColor.com, then don't forget to use the coupon code HC15DSC for a small discount!


Two shots of the circle lenses; one shows off the colour more and the other one the print.


And finally, I bought these two products on the forums Soompi.com. Even though it did arrive and it was a lot cheaper to get these two products from that seller, I didn't really like how the seller didn't bother at all to keep me updated. I don't recommend buying stuff at Soompi, unless you're willing to take risks like me.

And there you have it, my big haul~ I won't be buying that much anymore for a while, since I'm saving money for a trip to.. London! Both Milk and I will be going with two other friends of us right after Christmas, so there probably will be some more hauling posts after that again. xD

Just to remind you guys, there are about 3 weeks left to email us your entry for our giveaway. So far we have 14 entries (Thank you guys, we appreciate it a lot!! ♥) and they are all quite detailed! I'm excited whenever I see a new entry, so please keep them coming~ ^^

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