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Post by A F Beauty
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Allow me a moment of comedy:
What do you call someone who speaks three or more languages?
Multi-lingual
What do you call someone who speaks two languages?
Bi-lingual
What do you call someone who speaks one language?
English!
Beauty You (might) Need To Translate!
Yes, so my heritage is English and I speak only one language, to my shame. What this does mean though is that there is a whole selection of beauty products where my purchasing choices are dependent on guess, hint or, if I’m lucky, a translation sticker on the back of the product! So here’s a couple of products I’ve bought on hint or guess which have been amazing:
Hada Labo Tamagohada AHA and BHA Exfoliating Cleanser – Japanese
Luckily for me, this was positioned front and centre in a pharmacy in Singapore with AHA and BHA in the largest letters on the pack, so I was immediately drawn to it. My skin copes pretty well with acid treatments, so I figured that it would also be OK with the cleanser. It’s texture is not dissimilar to Estee Lauder Perfectly Clean – but it is slightly softer and lathers easier. But the exciting part of this product is that the moment you wipe your skin clean, it is C-L-E-A-N – you have properly exfoliated without any abrasion –your skin is smoooooooth and lovely. I use this about once a week almost as a treatment rather than daily – I personally think my skin wouldn’t tolerate it so well on a daily basis – the acids are more powerful than any other I’ve bought in a cleanser. I’ve had the pack for just over a year and it’s still going (even though I bought three on a whim!)
Hwansaenggo Bird’s Nest Pearly Brightening Gel Mask – Korean
This purchase was a pure guess under time pressure – the shop was about to close and I wanted to buy everything, as usual. So I picked up a few bits that caught my eye, and lets face it, Heaven Grade Ginseng – who wouldn’t want this!?
I cracked this mask out of the pack – it’s like an actual mask that sits on the face, you don’t apply it per-se. I peeled off the backing layer and applied to my face thinking it was a bit crinkly with the other plastic layer on it and thought it wasn’t sitting very well against my skin – and then it dawned on me that duh, I was supposed to remove both plastic layers. Genius. I’m here to make the mistakes so you don’t have to!
The mask then sat lovely against my face, felt lovely and soft and smelled good. After about an hour – probably double than advised (I was watching TV!), I peeled off and my skin looked great. Definitely plumper and fuller – this would be a great mask to apply before a big night out.
I totally love the excitement of finding a new product, especially one that hasn’t been translated into English, I feel like I’ve found a secret that no one knows! I’ve got a few more of these in test at the moment, will tell you about a few more next time – but what secret buys have you found?
A F Beauty XXX
Australian Perfume Junkies 
Correction!
The mask I tried was actually Hwansaenggo Bird’s Nest Pearly Brightening Gel Mask.
I did try to find the link to the product but couldn’t – although I did buy it from the Face Shop – same as the Ginseng mask. The packet is almost identical to the one in the picture – hence my error. Apologies for the error. Forgive me – maybe try both 😀
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omg, those Asian beauty shops are so overwhelming and stressful to visit! So many products, so much choice and so few English words to figure out exactly what it does! French and European stores are more reassuring in that the products tend to do exactly what they claim. In Asia, there is so much gimmickry and outrageous claims that you really have to just go by word of mouth. Half the time, the Asian beauty stores don’t even put testers out.
I don’t think I’m stumbling in on a secret – more like entering a marketing minefield!
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Yeah interesting, being that much of the gimmickry I don’t understand, the more I have to take a punt based on whatever I can read or understand – I rarely do any proper research, it’s all pot luck, that’s why those single use masks are a good try. I don’t think necessarily the English based marketing is much more honest – but I am a walking cynic! The Face Shop in World Square in Sydney has some testers – I bought a facewash through trying their sample.
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I don’t put anything on my face unless I know what’s in it. I used to be more adventurous but one allergic reaction cured me of that.
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Hey Poodle, that makes sense!! I recently bought a mask from a small supermarket, applied to my face and wandered off doing some chores – I came back about 30 minutes later and my face was bright scarlet and I had weird stripes where I’d applied unevenly. I was totally shocked – I hadn’t felt anything – but clearly there was something going on – good job it was only a Sunday morning and my skin had time to calm down – so I can totally relate to your point.
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