[REVIEW] Purito Unscented Centella Sunscreen

Purito has been one of my most favourite and well-respected brands because they were one of the first brands I worked with and they are a very considerate bunch of individuals that create products from their fans’ suggestions. They’re welcome feedback of all sorts and they’ve expanded their range of products tremendously these past 2 years. I was very intrigued when I heard they released their very first unscented sunscreen and because I enjoyed the original Centella sunscreen, I knew I had to give this a try to see if there were any differences.

Claims

This sunscreen is fragrance-free and formulated with cica extracts that can moisturize the skin while providing effective protection from harmful UVA and UVB rays. It’s formulated with EWG-verified ingredients and free of parabens, mineral oils, ensuring a non-irritant formula that is safe for sensitive skin.

Key Ingredients

Niacinamide is ideal for those with acne-prone and oily skin as it works to minimize sebum production for a more balanced complexion.

Centella Asiatica is a plant-based ingredient that has multiple healing properties. The extract is rich with amino acids, fatty acids and etc that can help treat and prevent acne, calming down skin inflammation and promote collagen growth.

Adenosine is a yeast-derived ingredient that has soothing properties and skin-restoring agents. It also has anti-wrinkle benefits due to its ability to energize the skin’s surface creating a youthful appearance.

Hyaluronic Acid is a very well-known and popular ingredient that has some great qualities and benefits such as it can reduce the appearance of fine lines, wrinkles and also speed skin recovery. It also is fantastic for retaining moisture in the skin.

Tocopherol (Vitamin E) can prevent foreign substances from invading. It also possesses skin softening properties, soothes inflammation, and even shields skin against sun damage.

*bold = nice ingredients, italics = to be aware of.

Ingredient List:

Water, Butylene Glycol, Butyloctyl Salicylate, Glycerin, Diethylamino Hydroxybenzoyl Hexyl Benzoate, Hydrogenated Polyisobutene, Acrylates Copolymer, Silica, 1,2-Hexanediol, Niacinamide, Dibutyl Adipate, Ethylhexyl Triazone, Polyglyceryl-3 Methylglucose Distearate, Cetearyl Olivate, Cetearyl Alcohol, Dicaprylyl Carbonate, Sorbitan Olivate, Glyceryl Stearate, Methyl Glucose Sesquistearate, Sorbitan Stearate,Centella Asiatica Extract(4315ppm), Madecassoside,Asiaticoside, Madecassic Acid, Asiatic Acid, Pentaerythrityl Tetra-di-t-butyl Hydroxyhydrocinnamate, Disodium EDTA, Adenosine, Hyaluronic Acid, Caprylyl Glycol, Ethylhexylglycerin, Tocopherol

My Skin Type and concerns:

Combination | PIE | Congested | Dehydrated | (Occasionally) Sensitive

My thoughts & Ramblings

The first thing I look at before I even use a product is the ingredient list, as you can see here there are a lot of fantastic ingredients in bold and whatever I did not bold, I’m not sure of. I’m not a scientist, folks; just a blogger who does reviews and has some knowledge of ingredients. There is a fantastic blend of ingredients that treat skin concerns from treating dullness, soothing, fatty alcohols, hydrating and moisture-retaining. I absolutely love how this sunscreen feels on the skin, it’s not sticky, there’s no residue or pilling when I use this and it kind of dries into a velvet-matte finish so you won’t have that “grease ball” look that some sunscreens give.

Sunscreen has been around for many years but I started noticing that they started to become more “popular” for the past 2 years or so. I’m sure all of us know how important it is to use our SPF so I won’t get into that, you’re more than welcome to look up articles on it. I didn’t start taking sunscreen serious and started to wear it until I was about 22~23 years old. I noticed my skin started to reveal a lot of age spots so that was a rude awakening for me to turn my life around.

Overall

Texture: 5/5 – I found the consistency and texture for this sunscreen super lightweight and comfortable to wear. The texture reminds me of a water-based moisturizer, it applies beautifully on the skin and wears nicely with makeup. It does not alter the appearance of makeup. Anyone who is afraid of thick textured sunscreens would love this because it’s so lightweight and it feels like a thin layer of moisturizer on the face. There’s no tacky or stickiness to it either so it’s fantastic!
Scent: 5/5 – There is absolutely no scent to this. All skin types would enjoy this, including sensitive skin types who are sensitive to fragrance.
Price: 5/5 – I purchased this product myself and it’s worth every penny. I have another backup coming my way and I will continuously use this SPF because it’s my HG. I cannot live without it. I got mine for 18 CAD on eBay but I know YesStyle and other places will have it as well.
Performance: 5/5 – Amazing, I cannot speak more highly about this. It’s probably one of the first SPF products that do not irritate my skin nor does it make my skin dry and itchy after removing it.
Packaging: 5/5 – Purito isn’t into extra packaging and makes it simple. I find their products are easily identifiable and quite easy to find their products online.
Overall: 5/5 – Bravo, Purito! You scored 100% for this sunscreen, there’s absolutely nothing I dislike about this and the fact I’m buying backups of it, says a lot. The price, texture, and wear is right – I think everyone needs to give this a shot. Stop spending 40-50 dollars for sunscreen and start with this one. I promise you, it’s just as good or if not, even better than the ones you’re using right now.

Available on: Yesstyle

Use code DORKIE1 at checkout to save on your purchase

Disclaimer: I was given this product in exchange for an honest review. All views and thoughts of this product are my own. What may work for me, may not work for you so please keep that in mind.

[REVIEW] NARUKO JING CHENG 60 ACTIVES LA CREME EX

NARUKO’s team kindly sent over some of their products for me to try out and share with you all. They carefully curated a package together to fit my skin’s needs and did a wonderful job. I’ve been a fan of their sheet masks from time now so it was amazing when I was given the opportunity to try out their lovely skincare products.

The first product I will be sharing with you all today is from their anti-ageing line, also known as the Jing Cheng line. The story behind this cream is it’s a combination of Chinese medicine and western aromatherapy all in one. This is created with 60 precious herbal essences that can revitalize the skin, reduce the appearance of ageing and reveal skin’s glow.

Claims

Firms and smoothens out skin texture
Improves skin elasticity
Prevents against signs of ageing
Improves skin’s dullness, age spots and enlarged pores

My Skin Type and concerns:

Combination | PIE | Congested | Dehydrated | (Occasionally) Sensitive

My thoughts

The first thing I noticed when I opened this cream was it’s very subtle rosewater scent and how thick the consistency was. Think of really thick buttercream, this texture resembles that.

TIP: Scoop a dime-size amount out of the container and massage the product in between your fingers, you should start noticing it breakdown and turn into more of a creamy consistency that glides into the skin easily.

Overall

Texture: 5/5 – I wanted a thick cream and NARUKO definitely gave me one. This one is like no other thick cream and I own. This texture is incredible and may require some time for those to get used to. If you’re not a fan of thick creams, I still do believe you can make this work. Follow my tip on how to breakdown the cream and make it easier to apply and you might just enjoy it.
Scent: 4/5 – It’s lightly scented and smells like rosewater. Very clean and airy, I really like it and it gives this “spa-like” feel.
Performance: 5/5 – I’m blown away, guys. I found this cream surpass my expectations and in fact, it does what it claims. The biggest claim that stood out to me and I was skeptical of was the ability to minimize the appearance of your pores and it truly does while deeply moisturizing and nourishing my skin. I can feel a significant difference between using this and my all-time favourite Cerave moisturizing cream.
Packaging: 4/5 – This packaging is quite extra, has this luxurious appearance to it and I like it! It obviously isn’t travel-friendly but you can always transfer it into a smaller container to bring with you.
Overall: 4.5/5 – I love this cream and I would repurchase it, however, the price is hard to get past and kind of makes me grind my teeth when looking at. It’s $109 CAD and will vary where you purchase it from. I’ve seen a couple sources online that are cheaper and around $70 but nonetheless, it is a pricer cream but if you want something effective that can do the job – definitely look into this cream. I would HIGHLY recommend it to those who suffer with dry, combination, dehydration, parched skin issues. This is the ideal cream to seal in all the hydrating products you put on prior to.

Available here: NARUKO | eBay

Disclaimer: I was given this product in exchange for an honest review. All views and thoughts of this product are my own. What may work for me, may not work for you so please keep that in mind.

[ROUTINE] Haircare + Lessons I learned (tips)

Hi friends, as many of you already know – I am very big on makeup and skincare however, I don’t seem to really care for my hair as much as I should. I was blessed to be born with very thick hair, that being said, I never really appreciated as much as I do recently because I notice I started to lose a lot of hair recently; which is normal because that comes with ageing and possibly because of stress. They say the average person loses between 50-100 strands of hair a day so don’t be alarmed if you see that many or approximately. I wanted to come on here and share with you some hair care tips and what has been working for me.

Brush your hair

I recently started to comb my hair more, I know this sounds ridiculous but I honestly never cared much for combing my hair. What combing does it separates your hair strands apart so they do not get tangled, evenly distribute your scalp’s natural oil to nourish the rest of your hair and the trick behind this is to be gentle as possible as you brush your hair. Do not brush your hair aggressively, you will do the opposite of what you’re trying to achieve and you find yourself damaging and breaking your hair by doing that. I really love using the wet brush, it’s fantastic for my coarse hair and gently brushes away tangles. These can be found at your local drugstores, beauty supplies stores and if you’re in a pinch and you got no time to go to those stores – amazon has them and it’s available for amazon prime as well.

Available here: Amazon | Sally’s

Don’t overdo your hairdo, avoid using chemicals and don’t overwash

I am very low maintenance with my hair, I do not care to style it so this is never a problem for me really. When I do style it, it’s likely because I am going to attend a wedding or a party of some sort. Now, onto the unnecessary chemicals part – I don’t like to blow dry my hair, I usually just let it air dry so I don’t really use heat protectants. On very rare occasions, I will skip a day of washing my hair with shampoo simply because it’s very dry for scalp and I find myself losing a lot more hair when I constantly wash it every single day. The only time you will ever see me use dry shampoo is when I have to go out and look professional for work meetings. Overall, I don’t like the idea of using silica-based powder from an aerosol that can temporarily fix my hair because I don’t know exactly what the chemicals can really do to the hair for the long term. I stopped using batiste dry shampoo altogether and have been using the VERB on really rare occasions.

What has been working for me is I would do something called “co-wash”, this stands for conditioner-only wash and I would do this every other day so I’m not drying out my scalp too much by over washing it. Conditioners have a lot of nourishing, rich ingredients to keep the hair healthy and soft, it does contain a small percentage of surfactants to clean the hair. I would wash my hair with my VERB ghost shampoo and then the following day just use my Live Clean Conditioner and this has been working for me. Let me know if you have tried this and if whether it has worked for you as well.

Try not to tie up your hair too often

If you’re going to tie your hair up, try to use the hair ties without any of the metal piece and ones that stretch nicely without feeling too stiff. You don’t want your hair tie tugging your hair. If you tied your hair too tight, then try again but tie it looser. What I like to do is I use hair clips to hold my hair in place and that’s how I avoid from tieing it up. The hair clips I use are stylized ones but you’re more than welcome to use bobbi pins or plain design ones, they work just as well.

Say goodbye to tangles

For someone who has coarse, dense hair, I also struggle with very stubborn and annoying hair tangles. I recently found an amaaazzing product from Cohorted subscription box and they curated this box with a beautiful hair product called Color WOW dream coat. This hair treatment spray separates my hair strands and loosens them up making it comb through easily. I won’t like, I thought it looked quite gimmicky when I first looked at it but man, this is stuff I swear by to detangle my hair. I will be repurchasing this over and over again.

Available here: Amazon

Take your vitamins

These are words of wisdom! I see this as the adult version of telling adults to “eat their vegetables!”. I know this sounds ridiculous but you’d be surprised what happens to the body as we age, we think we’re invincible and aging+illness will never affect us. As we age, our health declines and our bodies are vitamin deficient. The vitamin I’ve been taking a lot to maintain my hair and nail health is biotin. You might have heard of it before but the biotin is fantastic for those who suffer from hair loss, thin hair and there are countless research shows that biotin can improve hair thickness, shine, and quality.

Available here: Amazon | Amazon – Gummies

Wear a hat

If it’s cold out and super windy, I really suggest you wear a hat. Your scalp will get extra dry. Now that it’s winter here in Canada, it is crucial to wear a hat when we’re going out anywhere. It doesn’t have to be a tuque, baseball hat, it can even be your jacket hood.

Well, that’s all, for now, folks, I hope you found this helpful or even some of it because these steps definitely were a game-changer in my hair care routine.

*Some links on this post are affiliate links. This means that I will earn a small commission if you purchase from these links.

[REVIEW] COSRX HYDROGEL VERY SIMPLE PACK

Anyone who followed me long enough knows that I have this undying love for Kbeauty. Kbeauty has been a huge part of my skincare and beauty journey. Cosrx was one of the first beauty brands that I’ve tried and enjoyed. I did try a lot of Kbeauty skincare products when I was a teenager however, they were very irritating and inflamed. This has to be one of the first that did not irritate my skin and they’re super budget-friendly. I would say they’re quite accessible – you can purchase them at a lot of physical Walmart locations, Amazon, Yesstyle, eBay and etc.

Alright, onto the exciting part – the review and my experience with this product.

Claims

These hydrogel cooling mask patches deliver instant skin relief to overheated, inflamed or irritated skin.
These can be applied on cheeks and forehead as they are drenched in essence that contains a gorgeous blend of ingredients that provide moisture, soothing and hydrating results.
The three-star ingredients are ceramide NP, Hyaluronic acid, Centella Asiatica.
There are 60 patches in each container.

Key Ingredients

Ceramide NP – This is one of the types of ceramides. This can improve the appearance and texture of dry skin.

*bold = nice ingredients, italics = to be aware of.

Ingredient List:

Water, Glycerin, Calcium Chloride, Ceratonia Siliqua Gum, Xanthan Gum, 1,2-Hexanediol, Pentylene Glycol, Polyglyceryl-4 Caprate, Butylene Glycol, Phenoxyethanol, Chondrus Crispus Powder, Citrus Grandis (Grapefruit) Seed Extract, Bambusa Textilis Stem Extract, Pinus Palustris Leaf Extract, Centella Asiatica Extract, Salix Alba (Willow) Bark Extract, Ethylhexylglycerin, Citrus Aurantium Bergamia (Bergamot) Fruit Oil, Hydroxyethylcellulose, Disodium EDTA, Sodium Hyaluronate, Ceramide NP.

My Skin Type and concerns:

Combination | PIE | Congested | Dehydrated | (Occasionally) Sensitive

My thoughts

What I enjoy about these are they are excellent as a multi-purpose type of product where it can be used for skincare or makeup prep. I like to use these when my skin is feeling a bit inflamed or dry and usually do the try to give it hydration while calming down my skin. The only thing that turns me away from this product is the bergamot oil, I don’t understand why it’s there and it should be swapped out with a better ingredient. Niacinamide would be a nice replacement.

TIP: After cleansing, toning, apply these pads on your cheeks and leave them on for 10 minutes, when removed – pat the excess essence into the skin and carry on with the rest of your skincare routine.

Sunburn or skin irritation? no worries, refrigerate these and apply the pads on your skin, your skin should feel significantly calming and cool the moment the pad touches your skin.

Overall

Texture: 5/5 – Great texture, the hydrogel pads are not too thick nor are they too juicy where essence spills everywhere on the ground. They also don’t rip easily so that’s always nice. They also don’t slide off that easily like some hydrogel masks do.
Scent: 4/5 – I don’t smell anything when using these but I will remove a mark simply because there is an unnecessary essential oil in this that is just for cosmetic reasons for the product. I think they should really reconsider reformulating this to unscented so that even sensitive skin folks can use this as well at ease.
Performance: 4/5 – It does what it claims, I don’t have any complaints with it. I like how it leaves my skin feeling so soft and supple. It’s definitely something great to have.
Packaging: 3.5/5 – I think the packaging is alright! It comes with a small set of tongs that can clip and great a grip of the pads for you without you digging your fingers in the container. I don’t have any issues with the packaging and how it functions. I think it would be safe to travel with these because I’ve traveled with these a few times and I had no issues with spilling in my bag.
Overall: 3.5/5 – I wouldn’t say you need this in your collection, however, if you wanted this for a while or need something like this then buy it. For me, I can live without these and they’re likely not repurchase but that being said, they are a nice addition if you’re looking for some fun and soothing facial pads that are made of hydrogel.

Available here: Yesstyle | StyleKorean | Jolse