March 31, 2017

Masque Maison Kefir Mask Review

Hey guys! The product I'm about to review today is 'masker kefir' a.k.a. facial mask that is made from fermented goat milk. If you're into beauty products (or simply exposed to Instagram online stores on daily basis), I'm pretty sure you've heard about this kind of mask because it's pretty popular right now.

Kefir masks from @masque.maison


The Product

The ones I've tried and am going to review are these two:
the charcoal kefir mask & the original kefir mask.

Bubble wrapped..

..and sealed for your protection! 💋
P.S. Since they're made of fermented milk, you gotta keep them refrigerated always, ok!


My Review

Let's start with the Original Kefir Mask! I wrote a mini diary for both masks actually haha, here's the original one's:
May 2nd (night)1st time wearing it. Skin condition: super bad with small acnes, especially on left cheek. First impression of the mask: smells like cheesecake. After rinsing it off, skin becomes pretty red (similar to sunburnt skin), maybe because the mask also acts like a scrub when you rinse it off.
May 5th: After religiously using it morning and night, this morning I skipped using it because I got to run to campus for group assignment. When I washed my face, my skin is really in super super bad condition. At night when I washed it, there's this underground(?) acne on my left cheek (the painful one that's gonna stay for a pretty long time wth) & small acne on top of my lips. Keep calm and use the mask again at night.
May 6th: When I washed my face this morning, the left cheek's acne became smaller already, and by nighttime, the upper lip's acne is totally gone. To be fair, I always use on-the-spot acne cream as well, but still, normally, the acnes won't dry out this fast.
May 7th: The cheek acne is getting smaller, skin texture is nicer, smaller pores..
May 8th: Nice skin texture. Smaller pores, acne scars look better. Every time I wash my face after using the mask, my skin would always feel softer, bouncy, moist, less oily.

Moving on to the Charcoal Kefir Mask!
June 21st (morning): 1st time wearing it. Skin condition: oily, a bit dull with some small acne / whiteheads on forehead, cheeks. Btw this mask has super strong unpleasant odor. T_T
June 23rd (morning): 2nd time wearing it. There's a pustule (acne with white centre) on the chin.
June 24th (night): All zits are dried out, seriously no bumps at all. But skin is still oily.
- - -
August 23rd (night): 1st time wearing it again, there are acnes.
August 24th (morning): Use the mask again. Btw the acnes got better already and skin became more matte.
August 26th (morning): After religiously using it morning and night, last night I fell asleep with it! When I washed my face this morning, I was really shocked because my skin looks so much better hahaha. Smaller pores, a lot less bumps, dry skin (too dry actually).
August 27th - 29th: Acnes keep coming back, no matter how many times I use the mask. I think this time it's out of the mask's league because it's hormonal acnes.


CONCLUSION 
Not bad, huh? I'm actually loving the result from both masks, especially the charcoal one because I think it works better than the original, and every time I used it, my skin became less oily, even though the effect doesn't last that long (damn you oil factory skin). They do work for my acne-prone skin, but last time after I came back from Europe (end of August 2016), I got horrible whole-face acne situation and as you can read up there, even the charcoal mask couldn't help it. Maybe it doesn't work for hormonal acnes (I'm guessing the Aug '16 acnes are hormonal, triggered by hours in the sun with full make up on during the trip), but well, the masks work when they work, as I mentioned on my mini diary. 😁
Anyway, if you're interested to try them, you can order here:

Thank you so much for reading and see you guys on my next post! 

X
Jessica Yamada

December 28, 2016

How Well Do We Know Each Other? (Challenge) | Elle&Jess


FINALLYYY, NEW VIDEO!!!

We are sisters who have been living together for more than 20 years, but do we really know each other? It's time to find out! ;)

Click to watch:

We had lots of fun filming and editing this video, so we hope you'll enjoy it!
Any suggestions are welcome!

Love you and happy holidays, guys! :)

XOXO

October 12, 2016

From Paris with Lux: Creating Our Own Perfume at Givaudan Perfume House!

 Bonsoir, mon amour!

A while ago, we had the pleasure to visit the city of love with Lux and other influencers from around the world to enjoy some perfume-related experience! Let's get into it! :D

DAY 1
After a 15-hour long flight, we finally landed in Paris and arrived at our stylish hotel, Hotel Bachaumont. This is the view from our room :)

Greeted by this cute purple box from Lux on the bed! What's inside: a box of Ladurée macarons, Lux body wash, notepad, mini Eiffel, and a robe with each of our names embroidered on it!
 Jess took the opportunity to pose with the robe immediately! I wanted to but couldn't because I had menstrual cramps, you know that pain in your lower tummy? Ugh.
So, instead of taking insta-worthy pictures, I just laid in bed all afternoon nomming my macarons. Such a shame though, because the weather was so nice that day:
Look at the clouds! They looked like a pack of cotton balls <3
 Here's Jess with her OOTD picture wearing sweater from GOWIGASA and holding a bouquet of flowers from Lux :)

Around 7 PM, we all went to dinner which was held at this restaurant called Maison Blanche.

From this trip, we learned that Parisians love to take it slow, especially when it comes to food.

Before our actual dinner started, we sat down for like 15 minutes chitchatting with everyone over wine and Amuse-Bouche* like this:
This is super yummy by the way, make sure you get your hands on it when you visit Paris!

*)Amouse-Bouche is a little bit of food which is served before the meal to stimulate the appetite. The difference with Hors d'Oeuvre is that an Amuse-Bouche is not ordered by the customers. They are brought to the table free of charge. Everyone in the restaurant gets the same amuse-bouche. (Source: http://www.yourdictionary.com/amuse-bouche)

 It happened at almost all restaurants we went to. I think they wanted us to sit back and relax before we enjoy the meals, which is totally different than our Asian culture where everything is "chop-chop"!

So, after a short time of mingling, we were seated right away and here's the menu:

The most spectacular aspect of this restaurant was the Eiffel view from the balcony:
This was taken right before the sunset. Sooo pretty with the cotton candy sky!
And when the sky gets dark, it's just as magical. 

DAY 2
On the second day, we visited the famous Givaudan Perfume House or Givaudan Perfumery School! It was quite far from our hotel, took a 45-minute ride on a mini bus. And for me personally, this is my most favorite and memorable activity during my trip with Lux, you'll see why in a bit! ;)
(Image credit: https://twitter.com/CEEVO95)

Givaudan has a long history of innovating scents and tastes (over 250 years!), and some of the world's most famous scents were created by their perfumers. No wonder there are thousands of applicants from all over the world each year, yet they only accept 1-3 applicants! Imagine how proud you are if you got selected!

Welcomed by foooood! <3
Anyway, in the USA, Lux is branded as Caress.

First session: Theories!
We were gathered at this meeting room, seated, and listened to the moderators and perfumers like good students, but it was anything but boring!
Here are the examples of what we learned:
↑ How our nose works. How the odours get translated into smells in our brain.
 ↑ The three parts of perfume: Head (top notes), Heart (middle notes), and Base (base notes).

For those who are interested to know:
Perfumes are a blend of different levels of scent, also called “notes”. When you spray a fragrance on your skin, it moves through these notes in the following order:
- Top notes are what you smell first. They are also what disappear first, usually within 10 to 15 minutes.
Middle notes appear as the top notes die off. These are the fragrance’s core, determining which family the perfume belongs to — for example, oriental, woody, fresh, or floral.
- Base notes accentuate and fix the fragrance’s middle notes, also known as its theme. They comprise the fragrance’s foundation, making the scent last up to 4 or 5 hours on your skin.
(Source: wikihow.com)

↑ Perfume trends over the years.

Besides watching slides, we also got the opportunity to compare A LOT of fragrances or 'notes' from well-known brands, such as Versace, YSL, Chanel, Prada, and so on.
Sniff all day long~

Next: Lunch Break!

 The lunch itself was a unique experience because all the meals had a touch of edible flowers. YES, you can eat the flowers! This was the first time we tasted flowers, and it was quite nice actually!

↑ Our absolute favorite:
Pan-Seared Scallops with Herbs & Fennel Mousse

 ↑ Dog filter FTW!

On to the main session aka LAB SESSION (Wheeee!!)
  Before we went to the lab, we were shown three of Givaudan's students' creations. They created not only perfume, but also various types of beauty products, like body lotion, candle, and shower gel.

Seemed fun and easy, right?

Ok, now it's our turn!
 All ready with our lab coats and safety goggles!
 Our task was simple: we were given Lux Magical Spell fragrance to smell (which smelled so good, btw) and we had to RECREATE it by mixing the Head (top notes), Heart (middle notes), and Base (base notes)!
 The challenge here was the RATIO. We had to do a lot of trial&error to find the correct ratio of the fragrance!
 Just keep sniffing~ (Candid by Pratama Eka Dharma)
 When you realize you just messed up. 

Geez, I'm telling you, it wasn't easy at all! Well, unless you have a very sharp nose that can differentiate and identify each scent easily like Jean-Baptiste Grenouille from the movie Perfume!

We all failed btw, but the whole experience was all that matters. We felt so happy for learning and experiencing new things! That's what makes us feel alive, don't you think? Never stop learning :)
Posing with our own creations!
Another sweets at the end of the day: Meringue and Pierre Hermé macarons! :D

 The cherry on top?
Givaudan surprised us by giving each of us a bottle of perfume that they thought were in accordance with our characters haha, so cute right!
Thank you, Givaudan, for being an amazing host.
Thank you, Lux, for being so thoughtful the entire event and for this unique experience.
Thank you, YOU, for reading this post.

Stay tuned for our Grasse trip!! :)

XOXO