Wishtrend Pore Solution - Unboxing

unboxing


In my about me page, I mentioned that I was having minimal whiteheads mainly located on my nose. My current skincare routine minimized the occurrence and blemishes on that area, but I still suffer from this whitehead trouble.  I believe firmly in going to see a dermatologist for any skin troubles instead of trying products which wouldn't maybe suit your skin or troubles. But when I called my dermatologist and was told that I couldn't get an appointment for the next 2-3 months, I saw red (Walking Dead reference anyone ?). Then, this pore solution from Wishtrend came just in time, as if, the devil holding my wallet wished it and made this possible. Wishtrend stated that the causes of our pores enlarging are :
- Not cleansing the proper way
- Heat on the skin
- Excess sebum
- Skin aging
- Lack of moisture
- Dryness of the skin

In our case, whiteheads are defined as : Whiteheads, also known as closed comedones, are follicles that are filled, but have only a microscopic opening to the skin surface. Since the air cannot reach the follicle, the material is not oxidized, and remains white. 

And the cure for whiteheads is stated as (from dermatology.about.com) :
The key to skin care for acne is consistency. An overnight cure has not been found. But using good skin care methods aids in the daily, steady improvement of follicle health. Since acne is not caused by "dirty" skin, excessively scrubbing does not help and can even make the skin more irritated.
The best skin care for comedones consists of once-a-day cleansing with a mild soap or facial scrub to aid in the removal of excess sebum and dead skin cells. Oil-based makeup should not be used since these can contribute to the buildup of oil in the follicles. Water-based makeup labeled as non-comedogenic can be used safely.


Thus, appropriate skincare routine should be applied to overcome this and clearly, what I've been doing helped a lot but isn't enough !

ORDERING ON WISHTREND

 

 

 I chose the Second deal for 59,99$.

Ordered on : November 4th
Shipped out : November 7th
Came to France : November 20th
Came to my post office : November 22nd

As a result, It took a good 18 days to come to me (an additional week could be added as my local post office was kidding me around). All the products came in bubble wrapped.


The Klairs oil bottle had a plastic wrapping around and a stopper but for some reason, the opening of the pump wasn't covered and the oil leaked a bit. When I was opening the package, I had oil on my hands and the whole thing was smelling like the oil, but nothing major.

KLAIRS - Gentle black deep cleansing oil 



 

Quantity : 150 ml
Price : 22.90$

KLAIRS - Gentle black sugar charcoal soap 

 


Quantity : 100 g
Price : 12.90$

KLAIRS - Gentle black sugar facial polish



Quantity : 18 g
Price : 18.99$

SKIN&LAB - Glacial clay face mask 

 

 

Quantity : 100 ml
Price : 18.49$

SKINMISO - Pore Corset Serum 

 

Quantity : 30 ml
Price: 32.99$

COSRX - Blackhead brush

 

 

Price : 11$

I'm From - Face mask spatula



As always, individual reviews and results to come !

 

NARS Chronicles : Audacious Lipsticks in Vera and Audrey - Swatches & Review

makeup




 Ever since I saw the swatches of the new line of lipsticks from NARS on temptalia, I was obsessed. Quite frankly, I was checking out the nars website and the French sephora all the time, I was even in contact with Nars' customer service. That was how obsessed I was for these lipsticks. If there's one beauty product I could collect and keep all the time, it would be lipsticks. 


For it's 20th anniversary, Nars came out with a total of 40 lipstick and I had at least 5 shades I wanted, but fortunately for my bank account, they didn't all come out in France. I opted for the shades Vera and Audrey.


THE PACKAGING



The audacious lipstick line comes in a sleek black metallic packaging with a magnetized closure. Saying it like that make it seem like nothing, but the metallic closure is actually quite amazing : It will close on it's own, in the right way if you try to shut the lid the wrong way. Nonsense, I just wrote but you really have to see it for yourself to understand. Nonetheless, it's a pretty cool trick for someone who can't keep their hands for themselves like me.  

THE SHADES


 Vera and Audrey are quite similar colors in the bullet and swatched but Vera (on the left) is more of a bright raspberry with berry undertones while Audrey is more toned down and tends to have a more reddish undertone.






















Vera on top and Audrey on the bottom

THE FORMULA

I'm going to say it right off the beat : These might be the best lipsticks ever, and trust me I like my MAC's and YSL but, these combine what you would want from a lipstick : They are crazily pigmented, moisturizing, non drying, satin finish, extremely long lasting (they lasted for more than 8 hours) and leave a nice stain. 

THE PRICE

They retail for 30€ in France and 32$ in the United States. It's quite pricey but they honestly worth every penny you spend on them. Personally, even though I'm on student budget, I don't regret buying these lipsticks because I know I don't have to worry about re-applying, nor drying lips or flakiness whatsoever. I'm definitely going to get more shades when I'll get the chance to.

NARS Chronicles : NARS Sheer Glow in Barcelona - Swatches & Review

makeup






Article en Français |   Article in English

I needed a new foundation, I definitely did. Because what I was doing for a while - after realizing that my regular foundation was breaking me out and was definitely not the best shade for me (Lierac's Soin de teint)- was mixing Urban Decay's Naked Skin foundation in shade 7 (6 is too light and 7 too dark) with MAC's prolongwear concealer in shade NC35. Although, it gave me my shade , it was definitely too thick as a consistency (blame it on the concealer) and really annoying to mix every morning.
What I like in a foundation is first, the coverage to be from sheer to medium, anything with high coverage I'd avoid. The second thing is the consistency, I tend to like watery consistency more than any other heavier ones. The third thing : A foundation that is non comedogene, won't clog my pores and break me out. The fourth and final thing : A foundation that would match my skin tone, simple as that on paper, but the hunt was long and I finally found the absolute perfect match with Nars Sheer Glow Foundation in shade "Barcelona".
The Sephora lady (as always, I tend to avoid their color matching) matched me to Syracuse, so I went ahead and bought it, thinking why not, I could return it if it didn't match me. Of course, It didn't, back home I tried it on and boy , I looked like the classic oompa loompa, crazy orange face, it was horrible. So I went for the Medium 4 shade , Barcelona : 

J'avais réellement besoin d'un nouveau fond de teint. Ce que je faisais jusque là est le classique mix de fond de teint quand une personne comme moi à du mal a trouver sa teinte. Je melangeais donc la teinte 7 du Naked Skin Foundation d'Urban Decay (qui est trop foncé et la teinte 6 est trop claire/pas assez jaune) avec mon anticerne Prolongwear de MAC en teinte NC35. Ce mélange était pas si mal comme teinte finale mais le mélange en lui même était beaucoup trop épais et difficile à appliquer.  Sans ajouter que le mélange des deux produits tous les matins commençait sérieusement à m'ennuyer.
Je peux résumer en 4 grand points ce que je recherche réellement dans un fond de teint (je pense qu'on est tous dans le même cas) :
- La couvrance doit être de légère à moyenne.
- Le produit en lui-même doit être léger et être à base d'eau.
-  Un fond de teint non comédogène, qui n'obstrue pas mes pores et qui surtout ne me donne pas de bouton.
- Un fond de teint qui correspond à ma couleur de peau naturelle.

La recherche a été longue et j'ai enfin trouvé la teinte parfaite dans ce fond de teint de NARS qui est la teinte Medium 4 Barcelona.
Évidemment, même cette trouvaille là n'a pas été sans contrainte, comme d'habitude (je n'ai juste pas de chance avec les conseilleres de sephora), la conseillere m'a proposé la teinte Syracuse qui évidemment était beaucoup trop foncée. Je n'ai pas trop réfléchis et je l'ai acheté en me disant que je pouvais toujours le retourner au cas où. Rentrée chez moi, le test est un total échec : J'ai le visage complètement orange. D'où, le changement pour la teinte en dessous, Barcelona :






I bought it at the end of August and as much as the color was amazing, the formula wasn't so much. I would look like an oil slick after a few hours, my nose would be completely shiny and this foundation transfers everywhere. Same for the month of September, which was pretty warm in Paris, so I went back to my old mix. We're now in November, and I'm sporting Barcelona again, meaning that this is definitely a great foundation for the Fall/Winter time. 

The coverage isn't sheer at all, it's more like a medium coverage, the consistency isn't watery nor thick, and it lacks a pump (that I'm going to buy pretty soon). I used to blend it with my Sigma F80 brush but I find it to be more natural looking and easily blendable with my fingers instead. In winter, my normal/combination skin falls to a dehydrated/dry to normal skin and I still need to set my t-zone with powder and blot sheet my nose but it's pretty less than what it used to be in summer. The foundation looks amazing on my skin, NARS offers the perfect yellow based shades ever, it's not too yellow nor is it too neutral. It's absolutely perfect and I can't tell you about how much I'm in love with this foundation just because I found the perfect shade.

Je l'avais acheté fin août et la teinte était parfait mais la formulation du fond de teint ne l'était pas tellement. Je brillais après quelques heures, ma zone T brille énormément et semble grasse, sans y ajouter qu'à cause de cette brillance, le fond de tein à tendance à laisser des marques sur les vêtements si par malheur vous avez touché votre visage. Ce fond de teint n'est définitivement un fond de teint d'été et pourtant je n'ai pas la peau à tendance grasse. Maintenant qu'il fait plus froid à Paris, je porte de nouveau Barcelona. 
La couvrance n'est pas légère mais plutôt moyenne, la consistence pourrait être qualifiée de normal et ce fond de teint manque d'une pompe. Je l'utilisais avec mon F80 de chez Sigma mais je me suis vite rendu compte que comme la marque le précise, l'application au doigt est plus naturelle et estompable. Ma peau est plus normal avec un zone T grasse en été alors qu'en hiver ma peau à tendance a être désydratée/sèche. Je dois quand même poudrer ma zone T et le fond de teint ne tiens toujours pas plus 4h sans commencer à briller. Je dois sûrement trouver une poudre pour contrer ce défaut.  Néanmoins, cette teinte est absolument parfaite, NARS fait les meilleurs fond de teint aux sous tons jaunes et Barcelona n'est ni trop jaune, ni trop neutre. En sommes, la teinte parfaite qui ne s'oxyde pas (pour moi du moins). 



COMPARISON


Here's Nars Sheer Glow in Barcelona compared to : MAC's Prep&Prime Highlighter in Bright Forecast, MAC's Pro Longwear Concealer in NC35 (which weirdly looks the same in the picture but it is way lighter than Barcelona which has more of a yellow tint to it. A good match for NC35 would be Stromboli), MAC's Mineralize Concealer in NC35 and Urban Decay's Naked Skin Foundation in 7 (way too dark, as stated).

Voici le Barcelona de NARS comparé à : MAC-Prep&Prime Highlighter en Bright Forecast, MAC- Pro Longwear Concealer en NC35 (La photo donne l'impression que la teinte est similaire à Barcelona, mais en réalité le NC35 est beaucoup plus clair et moins jaune. Une teinte équivalente au NC35 serait plutôt Stromboli), MAC- Mineralize Concealer in NC35 and Urban Decay-Naked Skin Foundation en teinte 7.


And, if you ever wanted to see how it looks on my skin :


LET'S WRAP UP :

  • Consistency : Normal (not thick and not lightweight either)
  • Price : 41€
  • Quantity : 30 ml
  • Coverage : Medium coverage and buildable
  • Finish : Satin, like actual skin but gets a bit more glowy after a few hours of wear
  • Use : Works better and is seamless with fingers (as recommended by the brand) but is alright with a F80 from Sigma.
  • Suitability : Winter foundation for a combination skin, not suitable for oily skins
  • Shade : Barcelona has the perfect amount of yellow which cancels out dark areas (around the mouth in the picture)
  • Cons : Transfers , gets shiny around the T area, so it requires some kind of powder. The foundation tends to emphasize dry spots. + It doesn't come with a pump.
  • Pros :  Perfect shade, nice balance between yellow undertone and neutral, perfect for Indian skin tone. The consistency isn't thick and it's easily bendable. It doesn't oxidize whatsoever.

This was the first NARS product I ever bought, I liked it so much that since then , a few NARS product entered the collection hence the title ! Part 1 was Sheer Glow in Barcelona, next will be : Audacious lipsticks , Radiant Creamy Concealer, Luminous Powder Foundation.

Other NARS reviews :


HAUL : TesterKorea - The first order

haul
Hi there, you wouldn't actually believe that this order is from a few months ago (April/May) and it was my very first order from TesterKorea as well as my first time using korean products (considering that the Memebox came at the same time too).

Tester Korea


Testerkorea is a global korean website selling Korean make-up and skincare brands. The highlight of this specific website is that they pretty much sell every korean brand you could think of, and even if there isn't what you want on their website, you simply request your item and they will stock it for you. Back when I ordered this, it was on the old website and boy, it was laggy and annoying (Koreans love IE optimized websites) and I even had to finish the order on my iPhone after trying with both a mac computer and windows one. But that's all in the past because they revamped the whole website and there's no more problems whatsoever. The other big points : I find them to have the cheapest prices among other korean beauty shops +  They sell samples making it easier for you to try products before actually purchasing it. How many of you have bought something they barely use or just don't like ? Well, that's exactly what happened to me.


They are nice enough to label your order as only 20$ worth of goods so that you don't get any troubles with customs.


Etude House - Baking Powder Pore Cleasing Foam 


 Quantity : 170 ml 
Price : 6,500 won (approx 4,80€)


SKIN&LAB - C Plus Brightening Cream 

Quantity : 30 ml
Price : 21000 won (approx 15,50€)

 IT'S SKIN - 10 Formula WH Effector Essence

 Quantity : 30 ml
Price : 7840 won (approx 5,80€)

Product link here

INNISFREE - No Sebum Mineral Powder


 Quantity : 5 g
Price : 3,600 won (approx 2,70€)

SHEET MASKS

  • Nature Republic (EXO) - Snail Solution Hydrogel Mask Sheet
  • Foodholic - Cucumber Natural Essence Mask 
  • It's Skin (Nichkhun) - Aloe Calming Mask Sheet
  • Etude House - Green Tea Mask Sheet
  • INNISFREE - It's Real Rice Mask sheet (x3)
  • Holika Holika (Park Shin Hye & Jung Il Woo) - Aqua Water Mask 

 

  Free Samples

I was quite disappointed with the free samples, in the reviews I read before ordering I saw people with a ton of samples and I was quite disappointed. The only interesting stuff were the MISSHA Night Repair sample and ETUDE HOUSE's Cherry Tint. (Spot the Too Cool For School BB Cream samples that are obviously too light for a NC42/Barcelona skintone)

The order got approximately 3 weeks to come to Paris and I was really happy with my order (although I'm not a huge fan of all the products, you'll see that in the reviews to come). 


Disclosure

Wished Chronicles is a PR friendly blog and contains affiliate links. All opinions expressed are genuine and purely my own.
Read the full disclosure and review policy here.