Hera UV Mist Cushion

Today, the first installment of my Korean haul.

The photos are less than perfect, because I had to use my phone. As I've mentioned on IG, my beloved camera is no more (happened in Korea, actually) and a new one will get here in two weeks. And if I wait for two weeks to start blogging about what I bought, I'll never blog about it. Because I'm lazy.

Dzis na blogu pierwszy z moich koreanskich lupow.
Zdjecia robione telefonem, bo jak juz pokazywalam na instagramciu, moj starenki apart odszedl do krainy wiecznego pstrykania. A nowy bedzie dopiero za dwa tygodnie. A jak bede czekac przez dwa tygodnie, zeby opisywac moj koreanski haul, to nigdy go nie opisze. Bo jestem smierdzacym leniem.

Przed wyjazdem do Seulu zrobilam sobie bardzo dokladna liste, tego, co chcialam kupic. Lista byla przemyslana, przeguglowana i zdecydowana. I jedna z pozycji na mojej liscie bylo: cushion.
Napalilam sie na te nieszczesne BB cushions jak szczerbaty na suchary. Mialam ich na mojej liscie kilka: Ohui, Sulwhasoo, Iope, Laneige, Amore Pacific i sum:37. Nie wszystkie na raz, tylko takie, ktore z tej listy by mi pasowaly. Wiec jak to sie stalo, ze do domu przywiozlam cushion marki Hera? (Plus Sulwhasoo, ale o tym nastepnym razem.)

Before my trip to Seoul I prepared a very detailed shopping list of what I wanted to buy. I needed a list to avoid impulse spending, because even though impulse spending is a lot of fun, I don't have a wealthy husband. Sadly. So, my list was very carefully thought out, googled out and decided on. And one of the items on the list was: "BB cushion".
I got such BB cushion fever that in the process I forgot I had only one face. On my list there were cushions by Ohui, Sulwhasoo, Iope, Laneige, Amore Pacific and sum:37. Hopefully not all of them (see the wealthy husband disclaimer above) at the same time, but those that would be a good match for me. So what the heck happened that I'm telling you about a cushion by Hera? (I also got a Sulwhasoo, as an afterthought).

Nie lubie firmy Hera. Sama nazwa mnie odpycha. A ich produkty zapychaja. Wiec po cholere mi ta cushion?
Ano... jak sie okazalo, znalezienie odpowiedniego odcienia dla takiego bladziocha jak ja, nie bylo wcale takie proste.
Pani w stoisku Ohui powiedziala prosto z mostu, ze mi zadnej z ich cushions nie sprzeda, bo widzi jasno i wyraznie, ze nawet najjasniejszy odcien jest dla mnie za ciemny.
Podobnie bylo przy innych stoiskach. W Amore Pacific patrzyli sie na mnie jak na ufoluda. Pani powiedziala, ze jestem chyba najbielsza biala osoba, jaka kiedykolwiek zdarzylo jej sie spotkac.
Bycie corka mlynarza to jeszcze pol biedy. Ja jestem swinska corka mlynarza, zamiast odcieniow zoltych i bezowych, mam rozowe, wiec na co dzien wygladam jak zadowolone z zycia prosie. Ale tylko i wylacznie na twarzy. Moja szyja juz ma odcien zolci. Wiec jakiekolwiek cuda makijazowe musza byc bardzo starannie i neutralnie dobrane.

I don't like Hera. The name itself turns me off and their products make me break out. So why the heck did I buy a Hera cushion?
Ha! It turned out that finding a sufficiently light cushion, even in a white-skin obsessed Korea, wasn't as easy as I'd imagined.
The Ohui lady said flat out she wasn't going to sell me any of their cushions, because they were all too dark. The story repeated itself at other counters. At Amore Pacific they looked at me with utter disbelief and said I was the whitest white person they had ever seen.
I don't mind being white, but being white and pink at the same time is a problem. And while my face has pinkish undertones, my neck is more yellow. So it's easy to imagine how carefully I must consider all makeup purchases. And probably that's why I hate painting my face. It's too much work to match all the undertones.

W desperacji podeszlam do stoiska Hery. Tam dwie panie bardzo sprawnie wziely mnie w obroty i zaczely myziac, najpierw po rece, potem po przedramieniu i na koniec, w akcie rozpaczy - po twarzy. Az w koncu jedna z nich poszla po rozum do glowy i zamiast cushions kryjacych wziela najjasniejsza tonujaca i alleluja! Zaczelam wygladac jak czlowiek.

In desperation I walked over to the Hera counter. Two ladies sat me down and started to swatch, pat, blend and schmear, first my hand, then my arm, and then - because there was nowhere else for them to go - my face. And of course, everything they tried was too dark.
Finally, one of them got a brilliant idea to try a toning cushion, instead of a covering type. And ohmyHolymotherofBatman! It worked.

Kolor, ktory mi podpasowal to N13, czyli naturalna zimna kosc sloniowa, najjasniejszy kolor w ofercie herowskich cushionow.
Seria N to kolor naturalny, seria C to kolory do krycia, i te dziela sie na "Cover Tone" (kryjace) i "Long Stay Tone" (dlugotrwale). Jest jeszcze kolor S22, gdzie "S" znaczy "shimmer", czyli jak ktos potrzebuje blasku 100-watowki na twarzy, to ta cushion bedzie idealna.
Tutaj rozpiska wszystkich dostepnych kolorow:

N13 Cool Ivory Natural is what I have. As you can see, the N series is labeled as "natural". Then you have the C series, of which there are two types: Cover Tone and Long Stay Tone. There is also something called S22 - Shimmery Vanilla. I guess to be used when you need to look like a highlighted lightbulb. 


W sklad zestawu w pudelku wchodzi kompakt:
Inside your box you will find a fancy schmancy compact:

I dodatkowy refill:
And a refill packet:

Jak widac pelna nazwa produktu to "UV Mist Cushion", czyli mgielkowa poduszka, albo jakos tak.
As you can see the full name of the product is UV Mist Cushion blahblahblah...

Ale tworcy ulotki wewnatrz pudelka musieli miec niezly ubaw piszac:
The copywriters at Hera are very talented individuals, indeed, if they could come up with such wonders:

Huh? Clay from frozen sea ice which is finer than fog particles? Biorac pod uwage, ze mgla to po prostu forma wody, czyli H2O, naprawde chcialabym sie dowiedziec czegos wiecej o tej glince, ktora ma byc delikatniejsza niz molekuly wody.
Come again? Clay from frozen sea ice which is finer than fog particles? I was taught (and I even had to check it on wiki, just to be sure) that fog is nothing else but a form of H2O. So I am very curious about this clay that is supposedly finer than a particle of water.

Albo po prostu copywriterzy u Hery zakladaja, ze kobiety sa zbyt tepe, aby sie takimi szczegolami przejmowac.
Or maybe their copywriters just assume that women are too stupid to know the difference anyway.

Jak otworzymy kompakt, to zobaczymy to:
We open the compact and see this:

Jest lustereczko, jest gabeczka z inicjalem, pelen wypas.
There's a mirror, there is a monogrammed puff, all as it should be.

Jak podniesiemy gabeczke i otworzymy wewnetrzna pokrywke, to ujrzymy to:
When we lift the puff and open the inner lid, we see this:

Zawartosc zabezepieczona naklejka.
The contents are sealed for your protection.

Pod naklejka juz to, co nas najbardziej interesuje:
We peel off the seal and finally, this is what we've been wanting to see all along:

Wyglada niesamowicie ciemny, ale na skorze prezentuje sie jasniutko.

I tutaj w koncu widac, dlaczego nazywa sie to to "cushion", czyli poduszka.
Bo to wlasnie co tutaj mamy - miekka, nasaczona podkladem, poduszke.

Aby nalozyc kolorek na twarz, potrzebujemy gabeczke. Gabeczka ta wyglada mi na plaska mutacje Beauty Blendera, i ma dokladnie takie samo zadanie - aby pieknie rozprowadzic kolorek na skorze.

It looks very dark in the compact, but once on the skin, its true shade is revealed. 
And here, we can finally see why this wonder is called a "cushion". Because this is what we have here - a soft, saturated with foundation, cushion.
To apply the product, we need a puff (sponge), which looks like a flat mutation of one of the many Beauty Blender clones. And its task is the same - to distribute the product on the skin.

Przyciskamy gabeczka na poduszeczce i mamy to:
We press the sponge gently onto the cushion, and voila!

No i sru na pyszczek. Poklepac, rozprowadzic i gotowe. Przynajmniej wedlug obietnic producenta.
And we're ready to paint. All we need to do is to dab, blend and look lovely. At least according to the promises of the geniuses at Hera.

A jak sie prezentuje ten odcien na skorze?
Twarzy Wam pokazywac nie bede, bo i tak nie potrafilabym zrobic dobrego zdjecia. Wiec dla ulatwienia sobie zycia, myzialam sie po przedramieniu.

And how does it look on the skin?
I won't show you my face, because I wouldn't be able to take a good photo anyway. So, in order to keep it simple, stupid, I dabbed and blended on my arm.

Celowo nie obrysowywalam miejsca gdzie nalozylam podklad, aby bylo widac granice. Nalozylam tez podklad na ten pieprzyk, ktory w rzeczywistosci jest koloru bardzo ciemnobrazowego. Wniosek z tego taki, ze pomimo oficjalnego braku krycia w serii N, to jednak troche kryje. Z obietnic tonujacych i wyrownujacych wywiazuje sie znakomicie.

Purposely, I didn't draw a line around the area where I applied the foundation, so you can see the border easily. Also, this blemish is in fact quite dark. Dark brown I'd say. Here you can see it covered with a layer of Hera. So even though technically, I shouldn't expect much coverage from my N13, it did a pretty good job evening out the complexion. Those promises of the manufacturer were fulfilled.

Wyglada bardzo naturalnie, tak jak wlasna cera, tylko lepsza. Naprawde nawet przy bardzo duzym zblizeniu trudno zauwazyc, ze cos na skorze jest. Wiec moze te molekuly mniejsze od wody to jednak nie bajka? Ciort wie.

It looks very natural, just like my own skin, but better. Even really close up it's hard to see that there's something on the skin. So maybe that story about particles finer than water is realy true? Who the heck knows...

Wszystko pieknie, tylko niestety nie na dlugo.

Po pierwsze, to dziadostwo schnie tak dlugo, ze juz myslalam, ze sie okoce.
Po drugie, nalozone wedlug wskazowek producenta, wyglada pieknie przez godzine, lub dwie, a potem zamienia sie w nieestetyczna katastrofe.

All is well, but not for long.
First, this stuff dries long enough for me to birth a baby. And second, when applied according to the directions in the package, it survives on the face for maybe an hour, or two.

A jakie to sa te wskazowki producenta? Ano takie:
And what are the directions? Here they are:

Mamy nakladac ten podklad wtedy, kiedy normalnie nakladalybysmy filtr przeciwsloneczny. To juz jest pierwsza bzdura, bo w ilosciach w jakich nakladamy ten produkt, to zaoferuje on nam zadnej ochrony przed sloncem. Pomimo tego, ze chwali sie tym, iz posiada SPF50+ i PA+++.

I chyba zadna Azjatka na ta bujde nie pojdzie, bo wie, ze filtru trzeba uzywac w znacznie wiekszych ilosciach niz delikatne pacanie sie gabeczka.

Ale co mi tam, sprobowalam wedlug zalecen. Utrwalilam sypkim pudrem. Przez pierwsze dwie godziny wygladalo cudownie. W okolicach lunchu po prostu zaczelo mi to to znikac w twarzy. Pod koniec dnia nie bylo juz tam nic.

This made no sense to me whatsoever, because considering the miniscule quantities of this stuff that we are putting on our face, it simply can't offer any real sun protection. That it boasts of SPF50+ and PA+++ is just a marketing gimmick. 
As any Asian woman can tell you, to be protected from the sun's harmful rays, you need a lot more than a delicate pat with a puff. You need to apply sunscreen. 

But, what the heck, I tried according to the instructions. I used Laura Mercier loose powder to set this business. And for about an hour or two it looked gorgeous. Around lunch it started to disappear from my face. And when I came back home from work, there was nothing left on my face.

Nastepnego dnia sprobowalam, tak jak Bozia przykazala, na baze (uzylam mojej ukochanej Chacott). Choc kazdy z filtrow, ktore posiadam, twierdzi, ze dzialaja one rowniez jako baza, to jednak u mnie to sie jeszcze nie sprawdzilo.

Poczekalam az Chacott wysechl i wtedy zaczelam pacac sie Hera.
Calosc przysypalam sypkim pudrem Laury Mercier.

I w takiej kolejnosci twarzy wytrzymala niemal przez caly dzien. Niemal, bo okolo 3 po poludniu musialam sie poprawic, co przy podkladach, ktore zazwyczaj uzywam, mi sie nie zdarza.

The next day I used, just like the gods intended us to do, first a proper base (I used my beloved Chacott), and then on top of that, I applied this cushion foundation. Again, I set everything with Laura Mercier loose powder.
When applied in this order, my face lasted for almost 8 hours. Almost, because I had to touch it up around 3pm, which is unheard of with the regular foundations that I use.

Czyli, jaki jest moj werdykt?

Ciezko powiedziec. Ale chyba raczej za Hera nie przepadam, wlasnie ze wzgledu na nedzna trwalosci.
Za 45 dolarow oczekiwalabym czegos lepszej jakosci. Ale w sumie to srednia polka i dostalam produkt sredniej jakosci.
Ani on zly, ani on dobry. Taki sobie, po prostu sredni.

Mam jeszcze cushion Sulwhasoo, wyprobuje juz wkrotce.

So... what is my final verdict?
Hard to say. But I'm still not a fan of Hera, primarily due to the poor lasting power of their products. For 45 dollars I'd expect something a bit better. But then again, this is a mid-range product offering mid-range quality.
It's not bad, it's not good. Simply, average.

Next week I'll try my new Sulwhasoo cushion. Let's see how that will go...

PS. A co robimy jak gabeczka jest juz cala uswiniona?
Ja swoja "wypralam" w plynie do czyszczenia pedzli z Daiso.

PS. And what do we do with a dirty sponge? I washed mine using the famous sponge cleaner liquid from Daiso. It worked ok.

If you are interested in purchasing this cushion, or any other Korean beauty product, you can order it online from Alice of W2Beauty. By clicking on the link, or the banner in the sidebar and using this registration code: 182991708, you can receive $5.00 off your first order (above $30.00). Free worldwide shipping directly from Korea, and lots of samples and other freebies with every order. Enjoy!!! 

 Jesli chcecie kupic ta poduszke, lub inne koreanskie kosmetyki z wiarygdnego zrodla, mozna to zrobic zamawiajac od Alice z W2Beauty.
Klikajac na ten link, lub w banner w pasku obok i wpisujac ten kod przy rejestracji: 182991708, otrzymacie $5.00 znizki przy pierwszym zamowieniu (powyzej $30.00).
Wysylka darmowa, prosto z Korei, na caly swiat, a w kazdym zamowieniu duzo probek.
Milych zakupow!