Swagger With Swag!: Korean Beauty Products Giveaway from Lizz Buenaventura

* I don't claim to be a beauty product expert, I just share personal recommendations of products which work best for me. :P What works for me may not work for you, so please proceed with caution, thanks for understanding! ;3


While I understand that Korean beauty is ulzzang/best face style and notably different from gyaru, I have steadily realised that the styles share notable similarities, including the following:

1. Prominent eye make-up - this is one of the biggest things they have in common, because fans of both styles often wear much eyeliner, mascara and eyelash extensions. They also practise face contouring, which aims to make the eyes look bigger. I'm not sure which style promotes the use of contact lenses more, but I am sure glad that eyeglasses have been incorporated into the gyaru wardrobe now! As many of you already know, while I like contact lenses for their high style quotient, I am loathe to use them because my eye area is extremely dry and sensitive, and I'm deathly afraid of going blind. 
2. A certain way of hair styling and colouring - both styles promote coloured hair and the use of bangs, although they rotate between straight, curly and wavy styles in different times. 
3. Face contouring - both styles aim to make the face look really good, with the nose looking less flat and the cheeks looking more prominent. However, gyaru goes for a more natural over-all face look since the eyes are already the star of the make-up style, and ulzzang goes for a polished face look with the works. 
4. Focus on optimum face care - you cannot fake good skin, so every Japanese and Korean magazine I own have skin care product features and demos to ensure you look fresh and flawless every time. But because I have more Japanese magazines (granted, one is a Chinese edition, but still!) and only 2 from Korea, I am not sure which country/fashion style puts more steps into its beauty routine.

This is why I make use of Japanese and Korean (and Chinese - from Hongkong and Taiwain) make-up and beauty goods extensively in my daily (meaning 24/7) wardrobe. In fact, there are four(count 'em!) products which I cannot live without:

1. BB cream - blemish base cream, THE ultimate all-in-one cheat especially for the gal-on-the-go, like me. Thanks to the rising number of Koreans invading investing in the Philippines, their make-up "cheats" have become popular with Filipinas as well.  Instead of piling on the concealer, foundation and contour powder, which takes so much time and effort, all I have to do is apply concealer (to my pimple scars which refuse to go away), and then use this to cover my face, and then apply eye make-up and run out the door! (As it's a 30 to 45-minute trip from my place to my office, I simply put on my lip and cheek make when traffic stops, and I don't really use face contouring anyway, hahaha. :P) Voila, fresh and flawless face in a flash! ;3 My current brand of choice is Elianto Miracle Multiplex BB Cream, which was one of the first Korean make-up brands to be locally available in department stores nationwide. However, I am still looking for one in a lighter shade as this makes my face look darker than the rest of my body... v^^000
2. Loose powder - the perfect tool for keeping the oil at bay. My skin was combination skin originally and during that blissful time I never, EVER used face make-up (foundation, concealer, etc.), but after I returned from a winter vacation in the USA back in 2007 it became more prone to breakouts and became, simply put, super oily. D: I am currently enamoured with Etude House's Dream On loose powder because it's got that perfect coverage I'm looking for. Sadly, this is contained in a HUGE (HUEG! As in Clarins HUEG, and I should know because my mum has sworn by Clarins for over 10 years now!), heavy glass-type case which I am scared of lugging around, so I bought the huge compact and then got a container of my own to transfer some of the powder to, in order to make it more portable for daily use. XD I wish Etude House would sell a lightweight compact of the loose powder soon! (PS it helps that Etude House looks so hime. XD ♥)
3. Make-up remover -  I cannot stress this enough: REMOVE YOUR MAKE-UP, no matter how late you end up sleeping because of it! Once, I slept with make-up on and my skin broke out spectacularly the next day, so I promised myself never to do that again. =_= My favourite make-up remover bar none, although this is an exception because the brand is wholly Filipino, is Human♥Nature's Honey Facial Cleanser & Make-up Remover, which is made of wholly-organic honey from the Philippines. Applying it is quick, and it really gets into your skin deep. Best of all, this is one of the few products I have never developed an allergy to - and I am hoping I never do! (PS, I've met some Human♥Nature staff personally, and the darling Reby owns hard at gyaru. She's one of my style icons now. ♥ I'm too shy to get a photo with her though, and she's really shy in person too!)
4. Foaming cleanser - It makes you look, feel and be fresh any time of the day (and in my case especially after a fitful sleep, or a night out). Of course, the fact that it has foam helps make me feel secure that it is, indeed, cleaning my face (my college professor in advertising class would beg to disagree though XD). My current favourite is the Shiseido White Lucent Brightening Foaming Cleanser, which evens out the spots and skin colour of my face 24/7. I got a trial pack from my mum, and I swear, the whole White Lucent line-up totally works for me!

Ack, I hate it that my skin is gaining expensive taste! T.T Gone are the days when I would go to PCX (Personal Care Express)... I mean, look at that line-up, it's Shiseido and organic products now!

Anyway, I am open to trying new beauty finds (Shiseido, I love you so much but you are way beyond my budget T0T), so when I found this post by Health & Beauty Geek (who I am following because she is made of awesome, and you should follow her too!), I decided to hop in and join this Korean beauty product promo by Filipina blogger Lizz Buenaventura. Because I feel like spreading the love and cuteness, here are the goodies you can win:

Etude House nail polish; Etude House Total Age Repair Toner, Emulsion and Essence in travel sizes; Innis Free Green Tea Pure Essence and Serum, 2 vials each); Innis Free Green Tea Cream and Cleansing Foam, 1 trial pack each; SkinFood Wipes; a Nature Republic 2010 calendar (for fans of the Korean entertainer Rain, he's on every page!); an Etude House fan; 2 packs of Tony Moly BB Cream; 2 packs of Missha BB Cream remover; and 3 packs of Sooyohan face cream. 


And wait, there's more! The lucky winner also gets 4 travel-sized bottles of Johnson & Johnson lotion, a full-sized bar of Glutamax soap (not that I am personally keen on this) and Emotibiles earphone charms!

There's still a few more days left before the giveaway ends, so hurry up to Lizz's blog giveaway post and join today! ;3