Imomoko Haul!

Yessss! FINALLYYY!!! I have been waiting for this package to get to me for a MONTH! Usually, my orders get to me in 10 days! But for some reason, this package took an entire month!!! But I think it's worth it! :) I'm pleased with the products I got (so far, huhu. I will have to do reviews later!)

*big heart eyes*

• 3 Concept Eyes (3CE) Honey Face Chiffon Fluid #002 (There were two colors available and I got the darker/warmer tone)
• 3CE Creamy compact Foundation in Light and Medium Beige
• Mediheal Kiwi Apple Face sheet x 2
• Leaders InSolution AC- Dressing x 2
• Leaders In Solution Coconut Gel Mask with Blueberry/ with Tomato
• Hanaka Black Rose Mask x 2

*3*!!!

hehe I am so excited about everything!! 

Close up Pictures!

Hanaka Black Rose Mask. I think this is used for getting rid of black heads. This is the back side with ingredients in case you are curious about that.

 Front

Leaders InSolution Coconut Masks. I can't wait to try these!

I bought the Mediheal Kiwi Apple sheets because although I did not like the pumpkin one, I wanted to try these out! I might like the smell better and these ones are for cleansing your pores. I bought more AC Dressing sheets for acne as well.

  

Back of Mediheal Package

My super favorite part! The foundations! So Since using the Maybelline Cream Foundation I have been in love with cream foundations! That foundation makes my skin look so smooth. It doesn't even look like I have foundation on! I hope I get the same results with these! And I hope the colors match!

Medium Beige & Light Beige

The cute puff has a purple side! It's so soft too! ^3^

So it is hard to tell the difference between the two, but once you rub your finger in there you can tell the difference because the color changes.

#002 Chiffon Fluid! There was one other color (#001) and it was much lighter.

(left to right) Cream foundation Medium Beige, Light Beige, Chiffon Fluid #002

 Flash

So cute! *3*

So for the foundations, I have done a little test on my chest for each one and the #002 Chiffon Fluid matches me the best! The other colors I could still use though. I was thinking of using the lightest one for highlight under my eyes.

What do you think of any of these items? Would you try any of these? I plan on doing reviews soon!

My Favorite Sheet Masks!

Since being here in the desert I've taken such great lengths to ensure my skin maintains its condition and prevent it from getting worn out and damaged from the weather and environment. I've tried quite a variety of masks while here and wanted to share with you what I have tried and what my top 3 masks are!

Here is my collection right now:

I've used soo many in the past few months though so this is what my box looks like currently (and I have some more on the way!)

And here are all the different brands I have right now:

Left to Right Top Row: Otaku, Leaders Insolution, Beauty Clinic Mediheal, Innisfree, My Scheming
Bottom: My Scheming (again, oops), Dr. Morita, Pure Smile, Tsiao

Here is a full list of all the masks I have tried (not in any order):

My Beauty Diary
Pure Smile
Dermal
Freeman
Otaku
Leaders Insolution
Beauty Clinic Mediheal
Innisfree
My Scheming
Dr. Morita
Tsiao

I've tried a lot of different masks as you can see. But! I do have a top 3!! I didn't want to do a top 5 or top 10. Just a top 3 that I would definitely keep purchasing!

1. Leaders InSolution
- My skin feels great and looks great after using these! When my skin went a little crazy a few days ago (break out and redness) I put one of these on and my skin cleared right up the next day!

2. Tsiao
-Feels good and smells great! My skin looks so good the next day. I was glowing and my skin looked so calm and smooth. The one in the picture is the Firming Mask. How cute is the packaging?:)

3. Innisfree
-Love the variety this brand has and again, my skin just loves this brand.

Runner Up: My Scheming. This is a runner up because although I do like them (and will purchase them again) my skin feels like it can not breathe with the mask on for more than ten minutes! My skin looks great afterwards but it's such a waste for me when I can not use it for that long and the masks are drenched in serum! I am pretty much wasting most of it. I feel this brand would be great for the winter and for those with really dry skin.  So oily skinned people, be aware of this! (And I also wanted to add that this brand is similar to the My Beauty Diary  masks. Just food for thought if you do like the MBD ones! Go ahead and try these!)

So that is my Top 3! I do like a majority of the masks in the list above, but there are just a few that my skin just really works best with and I would keep repurchasing!

What are your favorite masks? Would you recommend any to me? My skin is currently oily and acne prone here in the desert. In the U.S. it is very dry and sensitive. (Depends on the environment, really)

Unwind with me! [On my day off! Deployed]

Hello! I was in a picture taking mood today! So I thought, "Why not share what I do on my day off with the world while away from home?"hehe I only have one day off a week and on my day off, I normally sleep the majority of the day away. I can't help it. I don't get a lot of sleep during the week so my body makes up for it on my day off. So I can't really blog about what I do through the entire day because the majority of the day is spent sleeping. haha! So I though an unwinding blog would be more reasonable.

I decided to go for a run, jump rope, and flip tires tonight so I was outside at the track and got super sweaty from the humidty. So fun...e_e

 Sorry it's dark. There was only one light at the track. e_e This was after my workout. Drenched in sweat!

In the community bathroom brushing my teeth. hehehehe I actually wore makeup today! I don't normally wear a lot of makeup because I don't have the time and I don't feel like it when it's so hot! But today, I wasn't going anywhere and was in the mood to play with make-up. ^_^

My face wash stuff! I use the baby oil to remove my eye make up. I'm still using my Shiseido face wash as always and the Innisfree jelly softener I have had for two months now and I only use it maybe once a month, so that is why I never featured it before. I just felt like using it tonight.

Goofing off in the bathroom. My roommate was giving me this look like, "what an idiot." LOL!!!

I only wash my brushes on my day off and when I actually use them (like twice a month at most LOL!)

I just use a regular bar of soap. Nothing fancy lol

The community shower. I use a specific one that isn't all moldy and gross. LOOL! I get upset when someone is using it. hahaha! The showers were just cleaned tonight before I went in the bathroom. hehehehe

This is my caddie. Full of junk. I don't know why I took a pic. hahaha! Like my dirty looking towel? I put it in the same laundry as my colored clothing in the washer because there was only one available. Now, it's fabulous. lol!

I hand wash my clothing that I can wash really quick in the shower and just hang dry overnight. The only clothing I take to the laundry room is my uniforms and towels. 

After showering, I will do my night time skin care routine (softener, face masks, moisturizers, etc.) And then just chill on my little bed until I fall asleep! ^___^ So to the left of the image are the clothing that I hand washed and hung on the bunk bed over me. lool I feel like I live in a little cave. LOL!!

That's it! I just wanted to share that! I though people would be a little interested on deployed life, so here is a little snip of it! I don't want to talk much about my work life. Work is work. So yea, time for bed for me!! :)

My Acne Story (Long Post with Pictures and Advice)

So I have been waiting for this post for a while! It's been about a whole year since my acne began and I think that now would be an appropriate time to write a post. :) I just wanted to share my story with everyone on how it started and what I have done to take care of my skin and have clear skin again.

**Note: This is going to be my experience with my recent acne experience. I have struggled with acne when I was in high school, but that is a completely different story! And that was about 7 years ago, soo...but if anyone is interested in that story then let me know!**

So let's begin!

Last summer, on 01 July 2013, I was put on birth control by a doctor at Women's Health because she said that I had a hormonal imbalance that was affecting my mentral cycle. (It was really off, I must admit.) So, on July 1st, I started the pill. (I have no idea what brand I was taking. Sorry! I can't remember which one I was given.)

The very next morning, I had a break out on my chin. When I say break out, I don't mean a little pimple. I mean it was a huge, throbbing and angry pimple! And this continued every single day for the entire month. I had a new pimple on my chin and along my jaw line for the entire month. After I finished that one month, I stopped taking the birth control completely; however, my breakouts did not stop immediately after stopping the birth control. My hormones took a while to get back to normal. I would say it took between3-5 months for my hormones to finally get back to normal and my break outs to calm down.

So you can imagine that I had constant breakouts for a while!  Not only did I break out a lot, but the acne was big, they throbbed, and my skin was very, very sensitive! I did not like touching my face!

Once I started getting the acne, I wasn't quite sure what to do to take care of it! Mainly because there wasn't much I could do to prevent the breakouts because the cause of my breakouts was mostly hormonal and not because of any outside sources (such as my diet or products I use on my face). I just had to wait it out, basically.

Although there wasn't much I could do to prevent the breakouts initially, I didn't know of a way to calm down my acne and an effective way to get my skin to heal faster. (When I break out and the pimple finally goes away, it leaves a red spot that takes about two-three months to disappear.)

Here is a timeline on what I did to take care of my skin:

July- Aug 2013

The first couple months were the most sensitive months.I had a simple skin care routine. I did not include any heavy exfoliating in my routine because my acne hurt too much for that to happen! At the time I was using H20 products on my skin because it was nice to my skin. I used the liquid cleanser and the gel moisturizer day and night. That was pretty much it.

*By the time I stopped the birth control, my acne moved from my chin/jawline area to my cheeks! They never made it up to my forehead.

July 25, 2013

 Aug 02, 2013

The photos are only one week apart! See how badly my skin got in such a short time?

At this time, I was vlogging about my skin, but I didn't take any pictures with my camera. So these are screen shots from my vlogs.

September 1st, I bought a microdermabrasion system. I felt that it was time to have an exfoliant for my face because my skin wasn't as sensitive and did not hurt to the touch. And because I was wearing heavy foundation, my face felt so clogged by the end of the day! I really needed to start exfoliating! I decided to buy the Neutrogenia Microdermabrasion System. I used it about twice a week. It left my skin feeling so soft! Immediately after using it, my skin was so smooth and I saw my acne calming down. I actually kept using it up until April 2014. (I didn't bring it with me when I deployed.)

November 2013

I think this was the time that I discovered face masks. I bought a face mask out of curiosity from Ross one weekend. I was skeptical to try anything new on my face for fear of my skin breaking out. But I thought I would give it a shot. The results turned out great! My acne wasn't as red after using my first face mask and my skin looked so much calmer.

After this discovery, I decided to do research and bought asian face masks. I still use face masks to this day. I started off with My Beauty Diary Sheet masks. Now, I just try anything. haha! (If you're curious though, I have found the best results from the Innisfree It's Real masks. hehe. I might just do a review on my favorite sheet masks in the future. ;) )

**By this time, I still had a lot of acne scars but a lot less acne and the acne was mostly on my cheeks. The acne was still big and angry looking too. I no longer had any on my chin but had the ocassional pimple on my jawline.

**At this point, my skin care routine included the face masks, the same H20 cleanser and moisturizer and the microdermabrasion system. And honestly, I did see the scars going away faster, but I was still breaking out! Something was missing! Although I wasn't breaking out like crazy as I was at the beginning, I was still breaking out often enough to make me wonder what was wrong. Because by this time, my hormones were pretty much back to normal. I needed something to completely stop the breakouts!

April 2014

By this time, I decided to take a chance and start a whole new skin care line. I went to Ross one day and bought the Shiseido Pureness line and bought the Foaming Cleanser, Balancing Softener and Matifying Moisturizer. This is what changed my skin drastically. My acne was literally shrinking before my eyes within a few days! The change was amazing! The cleanser cleans my pores so well, especially since I was still wearing heavy makeup. I think I would have to give majority of the credit to the Softener though. This product balanced out my skin (my skin was never dry and flaky ever again!) and the more I use this stuff, the more my acne just disappears! My skin loves this stuff!

**My acne scars faded significantly by this time! And I just had a small clutter of pimples on one of my cheeks.

May-Present 2014

My skin care routine still includes the Shisedo products, the face masks, and I decided to buy a face scrub to exfoliate my skin. I have completely switched from the H20 line to Shiseido (Mind you, H20 is a great brand as well! It was good to me for the past three years! But I needed a change due to my acne crisis!) I don't want to get too indepth in my skin care routine because I did a separate blog on that. :-)

**The results? Right now, I have one pimple randomly appear on my temple a couple nights ago (I think I was really stressed at the time and didn't get enough sleep), and I have one by my ear. So two pimples?! That's amazing!  My hyperpigmentation is almost gone! Right now, it's just about time. My hormones are back to normal and my skin care routine is on point, so now it's just about waiting it out and sticking to my skin care routine! I noticed I still have one or two random pimples appear on my face around my period, but it's expected and not a big deal to me. For the most part my skin texture has stayed smooth and even and I have a nice glow to my skin. I have gotten quite a few compliments in the past couple months at how nice my skin looks. Such a big boost to my self esteem!

November 07 2013/ January 27 2014/ August 08 2014

Right Side

November 07 2013/ January 27 2014/ August 08 2014

Left Side

My feelings throughout the experience?

At the beginning, I didn't care too much because I knew it was a result from the birth control, but once it started to hurt and left so many scars, that was when it really affected how I felt about my looks. It was such a hassle just to buy foundation too that would cover up well enough and for a long time. I never wore foundation every day until I started breaking out like this. I did not feel good about myself and my joy for playing with makeup turned into being a chore for me to do every morning getting ready for work and anytime I wanted to leave the house. I did try to make it fun for me though by trying different kinds of foundations and reviewing them, but still it's not very wallet friendly.

I became very self conscous about my skin and my looks once I started breaking out. I don't like that at all because even though my skin has gotten a lot better over the year, I am still self conscious and still will not go to work without foundation on my face. I have taken some baby steps since being deployed because I actually do not mind walking around outside without makeup when I'm not going to work, but still need that comfort when I do have to go to work. Baby steps, though! I am working on it!

After seeing how far I have come, it has boosted my confidence significantly. And since experimenting with skin care products, I did finally find a routine that works for me! So those are the good things about this experience!

My Advice:

• Know your skin type! That is the first thing you need to find out! You can do some research online on the different skin types and just pay really close attention to how your skin reacts throughout the day and in different environments.
• Don't be afraid to try new skin products. Once you know your skin type, many products will describe what skin type they are suitable for.
• Do research. I did A LOT of research on EVERYTHING that I have tried before really trying it on my face. I look up reviews to see what skin type the products are more suitable for and what other people think about the products.
• When trying a product, once you see a breakout or if the product irritates your skin or you don't see any significant change (in a good way), get rid of the product! I never gave products that did not work out on my skin a second chance. I bought a product before by the Body Shop (I did a review on it already. It was tee tree foaming cleanser.) and it broke me out and I immediately returned it!
• Do not pick your face! I know it can be disgusting to see a huge zit on your face about to pop but don't break the skin intentionally! Let it dry out on it's own and it will less likely leave a nasty mark on your face.
• Have a skin care regime that includes the following:
• cleanser, exfoliant, balancer/toner and moisturizer. Your skin will love you, especially when you include the moisturizer! 
• Get to know your skin. This step will take a while. You will really have to pay attention to what your skin's needs are on a daily basis! I don't do the same steps every single day because my skin feels differently each and every day! That is why I have a couple different moisturizers and buy different sheet masks.
• Never be rough with your skin! When I exfoliate my skin I am extra careful when I scrub my face. I only scrub hard enough to get the dead skin off my face without irritating it and having my face turn red. I also stay away from products that burn my skin.
• Massage your face. I do this when I wear face masks and applying moisturizer. I do this step before bed. Your skin will feel so relaxed. Be kind to your skin. :)
• Be patient. Your skin takes time to heal. You will be happy in the end! :)
• Stay confident! It isn't permanent!

So, that's it! I would be surprised if anyone actually read this whole post! hahaha! I hope you got something out of my story. I don't know if it will help anyone, but I've waited a long time to write about this post because I thought my advice and experience and an example of my skincare routine (Check out previous post!) would help someone out there. That is my hope! I want to help someone out there! If anyone has any questions though, don't hesitate to ask! I won't bite. :) And if you have your own story you would like to share, I would like to know! :)

Skin Care Update

Hello! It's been a while! For the past few months, I haven't been playing with make-up or buying much of any because I don't have the time and there isn't any reason for me to wear any here! But, I will do an updated makeup routine (just be aware that it is pretty basic) but I thought I would share what I am using out here in this hot weather! But anyways, back to what I wanted to talk about in this post. I have been more focused on my skin care since being out here for many reasons:

I work long hours and I do not get enough sleep! My schedule is pretty exhausting and I get only about 4-5 hours each night until I finally get a chance to catch up on my rest on my day off. And I just sleep the entire day away! So because of that, I know my skin is taking a beating and I don't want to look so tired!

The heat, dust and wind here is brutal! When I'm outside for a while my skin will begin to burn just by how hot it is outside. The sun doesn't bother me much though because my hat protects me from the sun as well as my foundation. So that's no issue! But everything else does take a toll on my skin. Some days when I am outside for only 10 minutes and come back indoors and look in the mirror, my cheeks are bright red and look irritated.

Because I only have one day off, I wear foundation 6 days a week for up to 17 hours each day. I know it's not a good thing for my skin but like I said, I work long hours, so that's why I wear foundation for so long. But by the end of the day, a good majority of it has already sweated off my face anyways. hahahaha!

So I feel pretty bad about my skin after a long day at work. When I get home the first thing I want to so is of course take care it! 

**I just thought to add this! My skin type is dry, sensitive skin. Well, since being here, my skin has been a little oily but just around my T-zone and it's really not that bad. It's just from this heat and occasional humidity. Okay, back to the routine!**

This has been my routine since I've been here (with new additions!). 

**Note: These are the products and steps I take at the end of the day. In the mornings, i just rinse my face with water and then apply the Balancing Softener (mentioned in Step Two). :-)


Regular Routine:

Step one: Cleansing

Shiseido Pureness  foaming Cleansing Fluid: This has been my face wash for a while now (about four months). I have posted about this line before. I am still using it and love it! I am currently using this liquid form, but once I run out of this bottle (which will be soon) I will use the foaming cleanser (which I already have in my locker. Ready to go!) I can't go a day without using this stuff!

Miu Color Facial Cleansing Exfoliate Brush: I use this with the cleanser. This helps to make the cleanser foam up really well and is so soft on the skin! It just feels so nice. I wouldn't say it exfoliates my skin. It just
does a good job at cleaning your face from debri and makeup.

Step Two: Toner

Shiseido Pureness Balancing Softener: After patting my face dry with a towel or paper towel, I put two pumps of this liquid in my palms and pat this all over my face and neck.

Step Three: Moisturizer

Depending how I feel, I will then put on a face mask. I normally use a mask up to 2-4 times a week, depending on how dry or tired my skin feels. I use a variety of masks! I buy a lot my masks from imomoko.com. If you would like me to write a separate job on reviews on different masks, let me know. ;)

Last step: Shiseido Pureness Matifying Oil-Free Moisturizer. I don't always put this moisturizer on. usually after using a face mask, my skin is pretty hydrated, but sometimes my skin needs a little more moisture. It really depends on how dry my skin feels, but more often than not, I do have to put this on before bed. And I have to use a lot! My skin is just so thirsty before bed!



Days I Exfoliate:


I don't exfoliate my skin that often. Maybe once a week and just when needed. When my pores feel so clogged  up or I just feel a build up of dead skin on my face, these are the products I will use:

Freeman Facial Charcoal and Black Sugar Polish Mask: for removing dead skin
Freeman Feeling Beautiful Facial Clay Mask, Chocolate and Strawberry Mask: for deep cleansing

The sugar polish mask is great for exfoliating your skin! I enjoy it because of how effective it is as well as the fact that I don't break out and my skin does not get irritated. 

The Clay mask smells amazing. It smells like chocolate. No, I have not actually tasted it so I can not tell you if it does taste like chocolate or if it just tastes gross. haha! You will have to try it yourself. hahaha! But I will use this when I need a deep cleaning. It is cooling on the skin and I do not experience any burning. It does clean pretty well and I would recommend using this when you are about to shower to make it easier to wash off. If you don't want to do that, just be very careful when washing the mask off because it is a bit messy and you wouldn't want brown spots on your shirt. hahaha!

So that is my routine! That is everything I have been using for the past three months! I do have two new additions to my skin care family and have started using the products just yesterday!

New Additions:

Left: Shiseido Aqualabel Whitening AC Emulsion (when I bought it, I thought it was a toner. oh well.) I decided to buy this and use it for days my skin decides to break out (usually only around the time I get my period.)

Right: Shiseido Aqualabel Gel Cream. I actually only use this on my eye area. hehe It's super thick!!

I will do a review on these when I have used them for a while. :)

So, what do you think about my routine? Any recommendations? What does your skin care regime consist of?:)

BHCosmetic Haul!

I received my bhcosmetics haul May 30th! I was very excited to have

cosmetics with me again! I ordered seven items:

Makeup bag

Two lipsticks

Liquid eyeliner

Waterproof pencil eyeliner

A set of brushes (I already played with them before I took the picture LOL)

A palette

The first item I am pleased with is the makeup bag! It is big enough for me and it has two sections. The top section have pockets for brushes and smaller items, and the bottom section is much larger for palettes, etc.

I like how the bag looks and it is nice, but the zippers are hard to move and tend to get stuck. So that isn't good. The top zipper is extremely hard to open! I think it gets caught on some material on the inside but its hard to tell. Stupid zipper! >:(

The next items I bought are two lipsticks (Foxy Gold and Sweet Mango). I was bummed when I opened the package and they melted! But what do you expect? It is over 100 degrees over here! So I keep them in my fridge in the room so they won't melt while I'm away. Hahaha!

I like how they feel on the lips and the pigmentation is good! They are not matte and look glossy. They are also moisturizing. They do come off easily however. I did notice that the Mango color does leave a stain on the lips,

because the next morning, my lips had a tint of pink to them. I did like that and that the lipstick isn't patchy.

As far the liners are concerned, I have only used the waterproof pencil liner. And  it is quite waterproof and does not budge! At least, when I had tested it on my hand, it did not budge! But it is a different story actually wearing it on my eyes! Maybe because it is the fact that it is so hot here that it does not stay put on my eyes. I am guessing that is the reason, but I can not say that it is definitely budge proof in cooler weather. The liner did stay on but not on my entire waterline. The outer corners did come off and I had to wipe those areas of my eyes to clean them up. Even though this liner is waterproof, it's not heat or sweat proof.

I can't say much about the liquid liner because I have not had the chance to try it.

 Swatches

And well, the rest of the items, I may have a review on them! But we will see! I don't have much time to really wear makeup and with this heat, I don't know if I want to deal with it melting off my face! Let me know what you think about the items I have bought! Have you tried/would you try any of these items?

What is in my Deployment makeup Travel Bag:

Hello, everyone! I know it's been a long time. I wanted to do a "What's in my travel make-up bag: deployment edition" for you guys! lol!

So, well, obviously, I am not going to carry a lot of make-up, but here is what I brought (basically, the essentials):

My bag is a bit dirty but it had a rough trip. lol

This is what I decided to bring! 

• one blush brush (I'm using it for powdering my face
• Covergirl advanced radiance powder
• Maybelline Superstay foundation in Classic Beige (I brought Sand Beige as well, but I am already tan and got too dark for that shade. eek! Always a good it
• dea to bring a darker shade with you!)
• Mac Studio Moisture Cream
• Wet n Wild eyebrow Kit
• tweezers and scissors for mainting my eyebrows

I really kept it simple due to the fact that it is HOT. And I didn't want to bring so much stuff while I was here. I could always order everything else that I would want to use! I didn't bring eyeshadow or anything else because I didn't think I would want to be wearing any of that here.

So I did bring skin care items as well! But I wanted to show you make-wise what I brought! And I may just do another post on what skin care products I brought as well! And hygiene items in general is anyone is interested!

Flashback Friday: Makeup look 02

TGIF!!! I've had such a busy week! Anyways, Here is a drag look I did a year ago. Unofortunately, this is the ONLY picture I have left of this makeup look I did on my computer! I don't know what happen to the other pictures I took. I did take some pictures of my eyes open and smiling but this will have to do.

Have a great weekend everyone!