Oil cleansing

Yes, it was THAT day yesterday. I'm officially 43 years old. Happy Birthday to me.

And if someone had told me just a few years earlier that on my 43rd birthday I'd be posting selfies on them Innernetz for all to see, I'd be laughing like from here to Alaska.

But such is the power of them Innernetz. Sometime last year I discovered the world of beauty bloggers (not only Polish, or rather - also Polish) and suddenly I realized that, hot damn, I don't look half as bad as I had thought.

And all this - thanks to the endless army of women who blog about cosmetics. Thank you so much, ladies! You gave me a much needed boost of self-confidence.

Because if some of you (and I am using the term "you" in general here, without pointing any fingers) are half my age and look roughly my age, then I don't feel so bad about myself anymore.

Because if some of you wear in public and post photos of yourself wearing the style of makeup so beloved by cheap, tranny hookers, yet consider themselves "beauty gurus", then I can sleep peacefully tonight.

Because if some of you don't see your poorly groomed eyebrows, dull skin and zitty complexion, yet can give advice about skin care and makeup, then I feel like a bloody expert.

Because if some of you are so colorblind you can't see that your foundation is about five shades darker/ lighter than your neck, yet still blog about and review color makeup, then I don't feel like an idiot without a clue about makeup anymore.

I could go on and on, but that's no way to win friends and influence people.

Luckily, the blogs that I read more or less regularly are mercifully free of the above-mentioned beauty blogging mishaps. But even then, not always.

Tak, wczoraj byl ten dzien. Jestem oficjalnie stara baba. Mam 43 lata. Sto lat dla mnie.
I jesli kilka lat wczesniej ktos powiedzialby mi, ze w wieku 43 lat bede wstawiac selfies w internetach, to bym go wysmiala po prostu.
Ale wielkie sa sily internetow. Jakos tak w zeszlym roku odkrywlam blogi kosmetyczne (nie tylko polskie, a raczej - rowniez polskie), i nagle do mnie dotarlo, ze jak na stara babe, to wcale nie wygladam tak zle.


A wszystko to dzieki armii kobiet, ktore pracowicie bloguja o kosmetykach. Dziekuje Wam z calego serca, to dzieki Wam nagle proprawilo mi sie moje samopoczucie.
Dlaczego? Ano dlatego, ze skoro niektore z Was (i uzywam tutaj tego slowa w bardzo ogolnym znaczeniu), sa o polowe mlodsze ode mnie, a wygladamy na tyle samo lat, to znaczy, ze wcale nie jest ze mna tak zle.
Ano dlatego, ze jesli niektore z Was uwazaja sie za znawczynie makijazu, ale na fotkach wygladaja jak wytapetowani cross-dresserzy dorabiajacy pod latarnia, to juz nie obawiam sie wlasnego makijazu.
Ano dlatego, ze jesli niektore z Was nie widza swoich beznadziejnie wyskubanych brwi, zlego stanu skory i wypryskow, ale nie przeszkadza Wam to w dawaniu porad kosmetyczno-makijazowych, to ja czuje sie jak kosmetyczna ekspertka.
I jesli niektore z Was nie sa w stanie zauwazyc, ze Wasz podklad jest co najmniej o 5 odcieni za ciemny (jasny) i odcina sie brzydko od szyi, ale wcale nie przeszkadza Wam to w dawaniu eksperckich opinii na temat kolorw, to juz nie czuje sie jak totalna idiotka przy polce z podkladami.
I moglabym tak dlugo, ale w ten sposob nie zyskam nowych przyjaciol i nie zjednam sobie ludzi.
Na szczescie, te blogi ktore czytam regularnie, sa prawie wolne od wyzej wymienionych wpadek ;-)

I to w koncu wprowadza nas do kolejnego selfie.
Bez krzty makijazu.
Z czysta twarza.
Bez filtra, bez kremu i bez korektora.
Bez zupelniego czegokolwiek.
Tylko ja i moja czysta facjata. Pstryknieta w moje 43 urodziny.

And that brings me to today...
And that brings me to yet another selfie.
No makeup selfie.
Clean face selfie.
No sunblock selfie.
No corrector and no nothing selfie.
Just me and my clean face. On my 43rd birthday.

Szczegolny nacisk idzie na slowo "czysta", bo to wlasnie na czyszczeniu chce sie skupic dzisiaj.
Jak oczyszczam twarz, czesc 1.

Po pierwszym bezmakijazowym selfie na IG przyszlo dosc sporo maili z pytaniami o moja codzienna pielegnacje. Wiec choc wyjde na zadufana (tak, to ja!), przemadrzala (tak, to rowniez ja) babe, to postanowilam podzielic sie z blogowym swiatem moim lazienkowym rytualem.

With the emphasis on "clean". Because that's what I want to talk about today.
My cleansing routine. Part 1.

After my first no makeup selfie, I got quite a lot of emails asking me to share my skin care routine with the world. So today, at the risk of appearing self-obssessed (yes, that's me) and utterly self-absorbed (yes, that's me again), I bring you the first installment of my daily evening bathroom ritual.



Ale, od poczatku.
Kiedy zachodnie blogi i fora kosmetyczne z takim przejeciem opisuja azjatycka pielegnacje, zawsze skupiaja sie na fakcie, ze jest to proces wielo-etapowy. Ze jest w nim 7, 11, albo i wiecej krokow, ktore kazdego dnia summiennie wykonuja Azjatki.

Jest to o tyle dziwne, ze pytajac sie o zdanie Azjatek naokolo mnie (a raczej, Japonek, bo z takimi mam glownie kontakt, jak rowniez i Koreanek oraz paru Filipnek), dostawalam odpowiedz, ze kroki w pielegancji sa dwa.
Tak. Tylko dwa. Jak to mozliwe? czyzby te Azjatki nie mialy najbledszego pojecia o pielegnacji? Albo moze guzik ich to obchodzi?
Wiec dla swietego spokoju zapytalam sie zawodowej pani kosmetyczki, co ona o tym wszystkim sadzi. No bo kosmetyczka z doswiadczeniem i dyplomikiem, a do tego Japonka, powinna znac sie na rzeczy, czyz nie?

But first things first...
When reading western beauty blogs and forums, every so often you can spot references to the multi-step cleansing routines of Asian women. Or you can read full-blown descriptions of 7, 11 or however many steps, that Asian women go through as part of their everyday skin care regimen.
That's very odd, because if you ask a random Asian woman, or rather - a Japanese woman, because I just happened to have a few of those around me (and to be honest, I only know Japanese and Korean women, with a sprinkling of Filipinas thrown in for balance), they claim there are just two steps in their daily beauty ritual. Only two steps? Blasphemy! Surely these Japanese women have no idea what they are talking about. Or maybe they simply don't care.
So just to be sure, I asked a licensed esthe specialist (that's a beautician in other parts of the world) about her opinion. As a beauty professional surely she should know, right?

A co ona mi powiedziala?
- Oczywiscie, ze sa tylko dwa kroki w mojej codziennej rutynie:
Krok numer 1 - oczyszczanie.
Krok numer 2 - nawilzanie.

I tutaj cala zachodnia blogsfera puka sie palcem w czolo. A co z olejem, pianka, tonerem i innymi bajerami?


And what did I hear from her?
- But of course there are only 2 steps in my daily beauty routine. Step 1 - cleanse. Step 2 - care.

Insert here the collective groan of western self-proclaimed beauty experts blogging on Asian skincare.

So what about the small steps? The oil, the foam, the toner, emulsion, blah blah blah...

A ona mi na to:
- No chyba zartujesz sobie. To tak jak idziesz do kibla. Najpierw sciagasz spodnie w dol, potem gacie, potem siadasz, walisz kupe, czytasz ksiazke, wycierasz tylek (lub uzywasz washleta). To jest jeden process wykonywany w pewnej ustalone odgornie kolejnosci (tak, pewnie mozesz zamienic to i owo, ale wtedy ryzykujesz obkupkaniem majtek) i jesli powiesz komukolwiek, ze potrzeba 7 roznych krokow aby sie wysrac, za przeproszeniem, to Cie wysmieja.
Tak samo jest z oczyszczaniem twarzy. To jeden proces, ktory odbywa sie w pewnej ustalonej kolejnosci. Robisz tak, bo po prostu nie masz innego wyjscia. I jesli twierdzisz, ze jest tego 7 roznych krokow, to najwyrazniej jestes obcokrajowcem. Lub redaktorem pisma dla kobiet.

- Oh, come on, you can't be serious - she said.
- It's like when you go to the toilet to poop, first you pull down your pants, then your underwear, then you sit down, then you shit, or read a book, then you wipe, or wash (washlets, folks, are the best inventions ever) and so on. It's one process. You go through the motions in a certain order, because you have no other choice (yeah, I guess you could, though you'd risk crapping your pants), but if you say that it takes 7 steps to take a dump, people would laugh at you. It's the same with cleansing. It's one process. You go through the motions in a certain order, because you have no other choice. But if you say it takes 7 steps to cleanse your face, you are clearly a foreigner. Or a beauty editor at a women's magazine.


I tak to, zupelnie rozczarowana i zamieszana, pytalam sie dalej.
I nadal slyszalam te dwie odpowiedzi, ze:
1. umyc i
2. nawilzyc.

Wiec o matko jedyna, pani kosmetyczka miala racje???
Wychodzi na to, ze naprawde, w japonskiej pielegnacji sa tylko dwa kroki:
1. oczyszczanie
i
2. nawilzanie.

A ze na kazdy z tych krokow sklada sie wiele malych czynnosci, tym najwyrazniej sie japonskie kobiety w ogole nie przejmuja.

And so utterly confused and disappointed I pressed on and kept asking.
And the answers I kept getting from women around me were:
1. I clean my face, and
2. I moisturize my face.

So, for the holymotherofbatman! The esthe expert was right.
There are just two steps in the Japanese beauty routine:
1. cleansing, and
2. caring

And apparently, that both of these steps consist of a multitude of smaller actions is of no significance whatsoever to your average Japanese woman.

And here the western blogging experts on Asian skincare sigh and think I clearly have no friggin' idea what I'm talking about. Yep, don't lie. That's what all of you just thought.


I to w koncu niesie nas do dzisiejszego tematu.
Tematem dzisiejszym jest jedna z tych czynnosci wykonywanych w ramach codziennej pielegnacji.
A mianowicie - uzywanie oleju do oczyszczenia skory.

And finally, that brings us to today's topic.
Which is one of those small motions in a greater cleansing routine.
More precisely - we'll talk about oils tonight.

Tak oczyszczam moja twarz olejem. Kazdego wieczora. Po oczyszczaniu olejem, zmywam jego reszki pianka do twarzy. Ale olej to podstawa mojego oczyszczania.

Kiedy przychodze z pracy do domu, zmywam makijaz oka dwufazowka. Przelatuje tez po twarzy micela. I zyje wlasnym zyciem az do czasu wieczornej wizyty w lazience.

Podczas tej wieczornej wizyty w ruch idzie olej. Myje i masuje twarz olejem.
Tak, kazdego dnia. Nie, nigdy nie pomijam tego oczyszczania. To juz cos zupelnie naturalnego dla mnie.

Yes, I clean my face with oil. Every night. After cleaning it with oil, I wash it with something else.
But as far as cleansing goes, this is the foundation of my evening cleansing routine.

When I come home from work, I usually remove my makeup. I use eye makeup remover for my eyes, and a micellar cleanser for my face. Then I can go about my business until bedtime without my face feeling dull and nasty.

And then, before bedtime, it's time for a proper cleansing procedure.
Yes, I do it every night. No, I never skip this step. It's second nature to me now. Just as is washing my hands with soap.
I wash my face with oil.

W chwili obecnej uzywam czterech olejow, ktore mozecie zobaczyc na zdjeciu powyzej.
Currently I am using the four oils you can see above.

- AHA by Cleansing Research Cleansing Oil,
- Shu Uemura Skin Purifier Ultime8 sublime beauty cleansing oil (f*ck them, couldn't they come up with a longer name? juz dluzszej nazwy nie dali rady wymyslic?),
- Shu Uemura Skin Purifier Fresh pore clarifying gentle cleansing oil,
- DHC Deep Cleansing Oil.

Lubie Ultime8, a moj zwiazek z DHC do tej pory byl najbardziej burzliwy. Ale to moze ze wzgledu na obecna pogode - jest parno i goraco, a skora reaguje przeciez roznie w roznych porach roku.

Kiedys tam dawno temu bylam przekonana, ze DHC to dar bogow dla kobiet. Ale to dlatego, ze zbyt wielu olei wtedy nie znalalam i przez to sklanialam sie ku znanym i popularnym markom. Takim jak DHC. Potem sprobowalam Sofiny i myslalam, ze nagle znalazlam sie w raju. DHC przestal dla mnie istniec. Potem sprobowalam Shu Uemura i nagle uznalam, ze Sofina wcale nie byla taka dobra. Potem uznalam, ze wydawanie takiej kupy kasy na olej mija sie z celem i sprobowalam najtanszy olej a linii Softymo.
Wielki blad!!!
Jedyne co mi to dalo, to to, ze zaczelam doceniac lepsze oleje.

Of these four I really like Ultime8, and my relationship with DHC has been the most complicated of the bunch. But that may be due to the current season, in winter my opinion might be different.

Long long time ago, I thought that DHC was the gods gift to women. But that was when I hadn't tried very many cleansing oils and thus stuck to what was popular and recommended. And hot damn, DHC is still popular. Then I tried Sofina cleansing oil, and thought I died and went to heaven. DHC stopped even registering on my cleansing radar. Then I tried Shu Uemura and decided that Sofina wasn't that great after all. Then I thought it's pointless to spend so much money on an oil, for cristsakes, and I got the cheapest Softymo Deep Cleansing Oil out there.
Biiiiig mistake!!! But at least it made me appraciate higher quality oil cleansers.

Teraz mam i selektywna marke (Shu Uemura) i zwykla drogeryjna (DHC) i kto jest czystym zwyciezca??? Niespodzianka!

DHC.

Jest bardzo naturalny i lekki w dotyku. Swiezy. Delikatny na skorze i nie wysusza tak jak potrafi to robic Uemura. Wiem, ze Ratzilla nie zgadza sie z moja opinia, i wiem tez, ze wiele osob uwaza sie za ostatczna guru jesli chodzi o japonskie kosmetyki. Ale sorry, czasem jej wynurzenia mozna sobie o kant czterech liter obic.

Now, that I have both a fancy brand at home (Shu Uemura) and not fancy (DHC), the clear winner for me is.... surprise surprise.... 
DHC.

It feels fresh and natural. It's gentle on my skin, and it doesn't dry me out the way Uemura does. I know that Ratzilla doesn't agree with me, and I also know that many consider her to be the ultimate Asian cosme guru, but sorry folks, her picks are total nonsense most of the time.

Shu Uemura (probowalam wszystkich ich olejow), w porownaniu do DHC, maja one bardzo chemiczna nature. Czuc plastik, czuc chemie, i nie jest to bynajmniej przyjemne odczucie. No plus jest to, ze nie wysuszaja tak mojej cery jak inne oleje Shu Uemura). Ale czy warte sa swojej ceny? Moja opinia? Zdecydowanie nie.
Jedyne co zrobily, to pomogly mi docenic Sofine, o ktorej teraz mam duzo lepsze zdanie i do ktorej najprawdopodobniej powroce jak skoncze obecny zapas.

Shu Uemura (I tried the entire line, not just the two I have at home), when compared to DHC, feels nasty and chemical heavy. It feels plastic. Ultime8 anf Fresh don't dry out my skin like the other Uemura oils out there. But are they worth the price? My verdict is - no. Definitely no.
At least trying them made me appreciate Sofina all over again, and probably I will return to that oil when my current stash is all used up.

AHA olej z sokiem jablkowym byl przymusowym zakupem, kiedy nagle znalazlam sie bez oleju. I po mojej poczatkowej nieufnosci, moge powiedziec, ze sie polubilismy. Pachnie cudnie (jak jablka), zmywa co ma zmywac, nie podraznia, nie wysusza.

Te dwa oleje Shu Uemura zostaly wybrane po wyprobowaniu calej linii i spodobaly mi sie najbardziej.

Nie jestem skladowa snobka, ale tak sie akurat zlozylo, ze ponoc wszystkie cztery moje oleje nie maja w skladzie parafiny.
DHC jest oparty na oleju z oliwek, a AHA ma nawet w skladzie sok jablkowy.

AHA apple oil was an emergency purchase when I needed something to cleanse my face in a hurry. And after my initial apprehension, I have grown to quite like it. It smells divine (like apples!), it does the job competently and it doesn't irritate my skin.

The two Shu Uemuras were selected from a wide range of oil products offered by this firm. Why I picked those two? I had tried the entire line in sample form, and found these two to be the most agreeable.

While I'm not an ingredient obsessed snob, all four of those are supposedly paraffin-free. DHC is based on olive oil, if I'm not mistaken, and AHA has apple juice as one of the ingredients.

Na tym zdjeciu widac ich kolory i konsystencje:

Here's a photo to show you how different their colors and consistencies are:

Jak latwo zauwazyc, DHC jest najbardziej zolty. Potem kolorystycznie plasuje sie Ultime8, potem AHA i na samym koncu Fresh, ktory wyglada po prostu jak woda.

Ich konsystencje sa rowniez bardzo zroznicowane.
Fresh nie tylko wyglada jak woda, ale rozlewa sie tak jak woda, a nie jak olej. Ma najbardziej chemiczny feel ze wszystkich czterech.
Ultime8 jest do niego bardzo podobny.

Nie wiem nawet czy mozna je nazwac olejami. Nie sa ani bardzo oleiste w dotyku, ani nie zachowuja sie jak typowe oleje do oczyszczania. Jak dla mnie sa to bardziej typowe face washe, ktore sa odrobinke oleiste.

Jesli ktos siega po Shu Uemura i oczekuje bogatej, olejowej substancji, to sie gorzko rozczaruje.

As you can see DHC is the yellowest of the bunch. Then Ultime8, then AHA, and Fresh is basically just like water. 
Their consistencies are also very different. You can see in the photo that Fresh behaves basically the same as water - it spreads out and doesn't look one bit oily. It's the most chemical feeling of the four as well. 
Ultime8 is very similar in that regard as well.
I am not sure if they even should be called "oils". They are more like slightly oily face washes than typical cleansing oils. So if you are expecting a rich, textured, oily substance and reach for these two, you might be sorely disappointed.

AHA wyglada jak olej. Zachowuje sie tez jak olej, kiedy rozlejemy go na plaska powierzchnie.
I na koniec Deep Cleaning Oil z DHC - takze zachowywal sie jak olej, ale dawal odczucie duzo lzejszego niz AHA. Nie mam pojecia dlaczego kiedys uwazalam go za "ciezki" i "toporny" olej. Nic bardziej blednego. Chyba, ze w miedzyczasie zmienila sie formulacja tego produktu i ja to przegapilam.

AHA looks oily alright. It actually behaved like a true droplet of true oil on a flat surface.
And finally Deep Cleansing Oil from DHC - it also behaved like oil, but felt a lot lighter than AHA.
I don't know why I used to think this was a heavy oil. Nothing can be further from the truth. Unless, of course, the formula has changed within the last year, or so, and I missed the memo.

Kazdy wie, ze oleje to najlepsze srodki do usuwania makijazu. Ale nie kazdy wie, ze japonskie oleje to nie tylko produkty do demakijazu. To rowniez srodki do mycia twarzy, dzialajace jako cleansers. Choc osobiscie, nigdy nie poprzestaje na myciu mojej twarzy tylko olejem. Zawsze po oleju uzywam rowniez pianki.

People know that oils are excellent make up removers. But what they don't know is that Japanese cleansing oils do much more than that. They are not only make up removers. They are also facial cleansers. Though personally, I would never wash my face with just oil and leave it at that. The next step involves a foamy face wash.

Wiec czy te oleje zrobily cos dla mnie? Czy po dlugotrwalym, sumiennym uzywaniu widze zmiany w stanie mojej twarzy?

Tak. I jeszcze raz tak.
Moja cera wyglada teraz zupelnie inaczej. Lepiej.
Czy mozna usunac blackeads przy uzyciu oleju?
Choc wydaje sie to calkowicie sprzeczne - tak. Mozna.
Czy mozna oczyscic pory uzywajac oleju?
Jestem dowodem na to, ze mozna.

So what have these oils done for me? Has my face really improved since a couple of years ago when I finally (better late than never, folks!) started to use them daily, religiously?

Yes, it has. The quality of my skin is completely different now. Can you unclog your pores using oil? As counter-intuitive as it may seem, yes, you can. Can you get rid of blackheads by using oil? Apparently, yes, you can.

Aby przetestowac ta teorie, na 10 dni odstawilam oleje. Reszta mojej pielegnacji zostala dokladnie taka sama.

Aby nadrobic brak oczyszczania olejem, musialam bardziej gorliwie myc twarz pianka. To z kolei zaczelo wysuszac moja skore. Pierwsze widoczne zmiany pojawily sie po 3 dnia. Poczatkowe przyjemne czyste "skrzypiace" uczucie i napiecie skory zamienilo sie w sucha, sciagnieta, zestresowana cere, ktora domagala sie natychmiastowego tonera (lotiona, softenera, jedno i to samo). Po 7 dniach toner juz nie wystarczal, musialam uzyc sheet maski, aby ukoic skore. Musialam tez siegnac po bardziej tresciwa emulsje i krem, aby nawilzyc twarz.

Skora naokolo nosa stala sie bardzo wrazliwa i zaczerwieniona.
Pomimo starannego mycia, pojawily sie zatkane pory i blackeads. Musialam uzyc delikatengo enzymatycznego peelingu, aby sie ich pozbyc. Choc delikatny, moja cera byla bardzo podrazniona.
Po 10 dniach bez olejow mialam zatkane pory, czarne zaskorniaki, przesuszona skore, podraznione obszary na brodzie i naokolo nosa.
Juz na pierwszy rzut oka widac bylo pogorszenie stanu skory.

I choc bardzo lubie byc wlasnym krolikiem doswiadczalnym, bo hej, eksperymentowanie to frajda, to z ulga wrocilam do mojego olejowego oczyszczania.

To test the theory that oil cleansing is beneficial for my skin, I've gone without it for exactly 10 days. The rest of my beauty routine was exactly the same.

To compensate during the cleansing process, I had to be a bit more vigorous when washing my face with foam. That in turn started to slowly dry out my skin. The first visible results appeared after about 3 days. My skin felt dry, tight and stressed and demanded a toner (lotion, balancing softener, same thing, different names) immediately after washing. After 7 days a simple toner application wasn't enough anymore. I had to put a sheet mask to restore the moisture balance. I also had to start using heavier emulsion and cream to relieve the dryness.
The skin around my nose started to get irritated and became red. 
Despite diligent non-oil cleansing, first blackheads began to appear in that reddish area. To remove them I used a gentle enzyme peel, which even though gentle, further irritated the already irritated skin. 
When the 10 days were over, I had blackheads, dry skin, problematic areas on my chin and around my nose. Overall, the quality of my skin visibly deteriorated.

And as much as I like to be my own guinea pig, because, let's admit it, experimenting is a lot of fun, I was very relieved to return to my oil cleansing regimen.

Ten wpis to czesc serii Moje Kosmetyczne Skarby zorganizowanej przez Hexxane.

This post is included in the Moje Kosmetyczne Skarby series organized by the lovely Hexxana.

Sulwhasoo Evenfair Perfecting Cushion

This was supposed to be a post about SK-II Clear Beauty, but since everyone is talking about this Sulwhasoo EvenFair Perfecting Cushion SPF50+/ PA+++, then of course, like a good, little lemming that I am, I must too. Especially since I actually have the product at home.

Agathblog listed the ingredients in a language that most of my readers can understand (sorry English speakers, but go ahead, give it a try, I think you can manage it) and may fame and glory be forever hers. But as I'm not an ingredients snob, I divide my cosmetics into different, more pedestrian categories:

• - breaks me out, and
• - it doesn't.

If it doesn't, then the additional sub-categories are:

• - delivers what it promises, and
• - it doesn't.

To mial byc wpis o SK-II Clear Beauty, ale tak skoro wszyscy ostatnio o tej poduszce Sulwhasoo, to ja tez.
Agathblog podala sklad po angielskiemu, i chwala jej za to. Ja snobka skladowa nie jestem i dziele kosmetyki wedlug bardziej plebejskich kategorii:

• - zapycha
• - nie zapycha.

Jesli nie zapycha, to dwie subkategorie sa takie:

• - wywiazuje sie z obietnic producenta, lub
• - nie.

Skladami przestalam podniecac sie juz dawno temu, odkad odkrylam, ze cos moze miec najcudowniejszy, najbardziej bogaty w ekstrakty, naturalny sklad, a mnie i tak z twarzy zrobi pizze. Wiec teraz pozostaja mi moje bardziej subiektywne i mniej snobistyczne sposoby na ocenianie kosmetykow.

Fancy ingredients don't excite me anymore. Why? Something can have the most wonderful list of ingredients, full of organic, mystical, mythical stuff, but it can still turn my face into a pepperoni pizza. So now I am left with a lot more subjective and a lot less snobbish ways of evaluating my cosmetic products.

Wiec wedlug moich, jakze nienaukowych kryteriow, jak wypadla ta nieszczesna poduszka od Sulwhasoo?
Ha! niespodzianka! Jest jeszcze i trzecia kategoria, na ktora dziele kosmetyki kolorowe. A mianowicie:

• - kolor pasuje, lub
• - nie.

Ale zacznijmy od poczatku.


So, according to my very unscientific criteria, what can I say about this Sulwhasoo cushion?
Ha! Surprise! There is another category to divide my color makeup:

• - a good match, and
• - the opposite.

But let's start from the beginning...


Zakupione w Lotte Department w Myeongdong. Kosztowalo rownowartosc 60 dolarow (o 15 wiecej niz Hera, o ktorej bylo w poprzednim wpisie).

I bought it at Lotte Department Store in Myeongdong. The price? The equivalent of 60 dollars (American, 15 more than the Hera cushion).

Pudelko wyglada tak:
The box looks like this:

Kolor, ktory wzielam, to najjasniejszy jaki mieli, numer 13 - jasny roz. Brzmi obiecujaco.

Myzialam sie tym w sklepie, wiec wiedzialam, ze nie do konca mi ten kolor pasowal. Ale w przyplywie chwilowego zacmienia umyslowego i tak ta poduszke kupilam.

Dlaczego? Sama juz nie wiem. Byc moze mialam nadzieje na cud.

I bought the lightest shade they had - No. 13 - Light Pink. Sounds awful, right?
I tested it at the counter and I knew it wasn't a perfect match. But during a momentary lapse of reason, I bought this cushion anyway. 

W pudelku znajduje sie kompakt:
In the box, there is a compact:

oraz refill:
and a refill:

i rowniez ulotka.
and a leaflet.

Ale nauczona doswiadczeniem z Hery, nawet sie za ta ulotke nie zabieralam.

Kompakt z wygladu podoba mi sie duzo bardziej niz kompakt Hery. Ale nie kompakt sie liczy, ale to co w nim jest.

But mindful of the Hera leaflet experience, I didn't even touch this one.

I like this compact case a lot more than Hera. Though it's not the compact that matters, but what's inside that I should be paying attention to...

A jest w nim to:
And inside there was this:

Gabeczka ladniutka, mieciutka, tak mila, ze az nie mialam serca sie za nia brac. Wiec do swatchowania uzylam jednorazowej gabeczki z pakietu wielogabeczkowego. W ten sposob Sulwhasoo nie zostal upackany.

The sponge is lovely, soft, gorgeous. I didn't have the heart to get it all dirty. So to swatch the cushion I used a disposable sponge from a multi-pack. That way the Sulwhasoo gem could stay clean and pristine.

Produkt jest zabezpieczony naklejka:

The product inside is protected by a sticky label:

Po usunieciu naklejki mamy przed soba slawetna poduszke Sulwhasoo w calej okazalosci. Okrzyknieta ponoc zostala najlepsza poduszka roku 2013.

After removing the label, we finally can admire the famous Sulwhasoo Evenfair Perfecting Cushion in all its glory. Supposedly, it was voted as the best cushion product of 2013 by the Korean version of "Allure".

Poniewaz ciekawa bylam koloru, czy az tak bardzo by mi nie pasowal jak pamietalam ze sklepu, wzielam do reki jednorazowa gabeczke i nacisnelam nia na poduszke.

Because I was curious whether the shade really didn't suit me at all, I grabbed my disposable sponge and pressed the cushion.

A potem natychmiast usmarowalam sobie palec w celach fotograficznych.
And then immediately, I schmeared it on my finger, so there would be something to photograph. 

W ten sposob mialam moj swatch, a poduszka nie zostala zanieczyszczona lub inaczej skalana.

This way I had my swatch and the cushion wasn't contaminated and the original sponge stayed gorgeous and clean.

Teksturowo bardzo podobne do Hery, ale ciut bardziej tresciwe. Mozliwe, ze to dlatego, ze moja poduszka od Hery to poduszka tonujaca, a nie szpachlujaca.

The texture is very similar to Hera, but a tiny bit richer. Maybe it's because my Hera cushion is not a covering cushion?

Ta tutaj kryla zdecydowanie mocniej:
Sulwhasoo's coverage was a bit more intense:

I jak bardzo latwo zauwazyc, kolor mi nie pasuje. Nie wiem, gdzie oni widzieli ten roz. Ja widze pomarancz. Nie rozmazalam tego do zdjecia, aby lepiej uchwycic odcien.
Po rozmazaniu prezentuje sie swietnie na skorze, wyglada tak jakby nic tam nie bylo. Tyle, ze u mnie obszar z tym nic mial wyraznie inny kolor.

As you can easily see, this is definitely not my shade. And I'm not sure where they saw this Light Pink. All I can see is Light Orange or Pale Yellow. I didn't blend it in, so it would be easier to photograph and show you the true shade.
After blending, it covers the pores perfectly and looks like there is nothing there. Except in my case, that nothing had a distinctly different color.

Gdybym mialam inny odcien, bylabym zachwycona, bo wykonczenie jest naprawde wspaniale. Ni to mat, ni to satyna, ni to glow. Wyglada delikatnie i daje efekt poreless, cera jak u lalki, zero porow. Podobnie jak Hera, ale bardziej tresciwie.

If I had a different shade, I would be singing its praises now. The finish it offers is really natural. It's not matte, it's not satin, and it's not glow. It's a bit of everything. It looks very delicate and gives the famous poreless skin effect. Just like Hera, but with a deeper, more intense color.

Ma SPF50+ PA+++, ale w ilosciach w jakich kladziemy ten produkt na twarz, nie da on nam zadnej ochrony. Filtr pod spodem jest niezbedny.
Co jest rowniez niezbedne, podobnie jak w przypadku Hery, to baza. Inaczej ten podklad po prostu splynie z twarzy.

Being an Asian product, of course it has SPF50+ PA+++, but... considering the tiny amounts we would normally use every day, it doesn't really offer a meaningful degree of protection. A layer of sunblock under it would be essential. Also, just like in Hera's case, a good base is a must. Otherwise this cushion foundation will simply melt away.

No wiec, jaki jest moj werdykt?
Nie wiem czy zapycha, bo nie probowalam wystarczajaco dlugo
Nie wiem czy wywiazuje sie z obietnic producenta.
Ale te skrawki, ktore mialam okazje przeczytac, daja nadzieje, ze tak, robi to co obiecuje na ulotce.
Wiem, ze kolor nie jest dla mnie.

So, what's my verdict?
I have no idea whether it breaks me out or not, because I haven't been using it long enough.
I have no idea whether it delivers what it promises. But from what I've read so far, chances are it just might do that.
But I also know that this is definitely not my shade. Sadly... 


Wiec, szybciutenko, aby nic nie wyschlo, nalepilam naklejke zabezpieczajaca z powrotem, zamknelam kompakt, i razem z refillem i ulotka, wsadzilam z powrotem do pudelka.

So very quickly, I resealed the cushion with the original seal, closed the compact, and put everything back in the box.

Co z tym fantem teraz zrobic? Sama nie wiem.

Jesli jest ktos chetny, to odsprzedam za 40 dolarow, plus koszt wysylki.

So what am I supposed to do now? I have no idea.
If anyone wants it, I can sell it for 40 dollars, plus shipping.

Sold!!! 

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!

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!

There's a sucker born every minute...

One of the ladies I follow on IG, Makie, has a superb beauty channel, but sadly, only in Portuguese and sometimes in Japanese.

She posted such a photo today:

Jedna z moich instagramek, Makie, ma swietny kanal kosmetyczny, tyle ze po portugalsku.
Dzis zamiescila takie to oto zdjecie:

Tak, wyglada jak SK-II sprzedawany ze straganu w okolicach stacji Ueno w Tokio.
Yep, this is what it looks like. SK-II sold from a street stand somewhere around Ueno in Tokyo.

Dlaczego zamieszczam tutaj to zdjecie (za pozwoleniem Makie)?
Bo w ostatnich miesiacach kilka razy czytalam na roznych blogach i forach pytania kobiet przymierzajacych sie do kupna produktow SK-II na ebayu i pytajacych sie internetowych beauty medrcow, czy to aby nie podrobka za taka cene.
Hmmm... zazwyczaj, jesli cena jest zbyt cudowna aby byc prawdziwa, to kosmetyk tez raczej nie bedzie.

Why am I reposting this photo here (with Makie's kind permission)?
Because during the last few months I've been seeing more and more questions to the internet beauty gods on various blogs and forums. Questions asked by hapless women about to buy SK-II products on ebay and not sure whether they can expect the real deal for such a great price.
Well, you know, if the price is too good to be true, then the product won't be either.

Proste.
Ale szokujace jest jak wiele kobiet leci na nazwe marki i zupelnie traci jakikolwiek pozor zdrowego rozsadku i trzezwego myslenia.

Pewnie te same kobiety rowniez bylyby sklonne uwierzyc, ze towary na stoliku powyzej to oryginalne oryginaly. No bo przeciez to Japonia. Tutaj ludzie sa uczciwi. Tutaj nie oszukuje sie konsumenta.
Newsflash, wiekszosc osob obslugujacych takie stoliki to nie Japonczycy, choc pewnie wygladaja na Azjatow.

Stragany takie ustawiane sa w bardzo strategicznych miejscach obleganych przez naiwnych turystow, tak jak w przykladzie powyzej - Ueno.

Simple.
But it's shocking to see how many women can totally lose any semblance of common sense and abandon the ability to think rationally when faced with a bargain priced high-end cosmetic product.

And I suspect the same women would be willing to believe that the goods in the photo above are the one and only real, original SK-II cosmetics that somehow, magically, found their way to the streets of Tokyo. Because it's Japan, right? People here are honest, right? People here don't cheat, right? Everybody knows that, right?
Well, newsflash for you, my dear...
The sellers most likely are not even Japanese, though they certainly do look Asian.
And they are not stupid. Their stands are located in very strategically chosen locations full of naive tourists, like in Ueno, for exmaple (where the above photo was taken).

Wiec nie badz jeleniem.
Jesli cos jest za tanie, czy na ebayu, czy na ulicy w Japonii, Korei, lub gdziekolwiek, to nie tlumacz tego faktu wedlug swojego widzimisie, ale po prostu przyjmij do wiadmosci, ze to podrobka. I nie rznij potem glupa w necie, ze "to byla okazja" i ze "nie wiedzialam".
Teraz juz wiesz.
Jesli nadal nie jestes pewna czy to co chcesz kupic to podrobka, to przeczytaj powyzszy wpis raz jeszcze. Az do skutku.

Nie ma za co!

Don't be a sucker.
If something is too cheap, either on ebay, or on the streets of Tokyo or Seoul, or elsewhere, then don't look for fantastic explanations why, but accept the fact that it's a fake.
And don't act like an idiot later that "I thought it was a special deal" and "I didn't know".

Well, now you know.
If you are still not sure if that wonderful deal on ebay will buy you a genuine product, read this post again. And again. Until it finally clicks.

And you're welcome.

From Korea with love

Ok, Ok, I've been home for a week now, but only now, finally, I'm sitting down in peace to write something about this trip. Because it was a very fruitful trip. But more about those lovely fruits next time. Today I'm just going to say a few things that most people don't want to hear. No, I'm not going to tell you about how toxic and harmful those awful Korean cosmetics are. 

(Note to my foreign readers - this is a running joke in the Polish beauty blogosphere - two Polish women based in Japan love to spew nonsense on their YouTube channel about how Korean cosmetics are toxic garbage and cause everything from cancer to global warming. Ok, I admit, that global warming bit was from me, but you get the idea - two nutcases, who pretend to be experts).

Jah, jah, jestem juz w domu od tygodnia, ale w koncu sie zebralam do kupy, zeby cos napisac o tym wypadzie. Bo wypad byl owocny. Ale o tych owocach bedzie w kolejnym wpisie. Dzis, natomiast bedzie kilka slow, ktorych wiele ludzi nie chce uslyszec. Nie, spoko, nie bedzie o tym, jakie to toksyczne i szkodliwe te koreanskie kosmetyki sa, LOL. (A swoja droga, i tak przy okazji, to jedno dziewcze, ktore znam, jest w trakcie tlumaczen tych filmikow na jezyk koreanski i chce wyslac transkrypty do koreanskich pism kobiecych i prasy, no bo przeciez trzeba jakos ostrzec miliony tych nieszczesnych koreanskich kobiet zyjacych w calkowitej niewiedzy.)

Ok, ale gdzie ja bylam?
Aha, w Seulu, w dzielnicy Myeongdong, ktorej ulice to jedna wielka galeria handlowa - glownie kosmetyczna.

Ok, so where was I?
Yes, in Seoul. In Myeongdong, where the streets resemble one big shopping mall selling mostly cosmetics.

A ile sklepow tych samych firm mozna upchnac na jedno skrzyzowanie? Okazuje sie, ze calkiem sporo. Te same Tony Moly, Nature Republic, Missha, Innisfree, Skin-to-tamto-i-owamto sprzedajace dokladnie te same produkty, sa doslownie co krok. Az mozna sie pogubic, bo ma sie wrazenie, ze juz obok tego sklepu sie przechodzilo. Ale nie, to kolejny sklep tej samej firmy.

And how many stores of the same brand can you stick on one street corner? Many, it turns out. The same Tony Molys, Nature Republics, Misshas, Innisfrees, Skin-something-or-the-other selling the same products are literally every 50 meters, or so. Very easy to get lost, because you always have this feeling that you've just passed this one shop, but no, it's a different shop of the same company.

Nie wiem skad sie wziela opinia, ze te marki sa ekskluzywne. Nie sa. Nigdy nie byly. I nie maja zamiaru byc, bo ich grupa docelowa klientek jest inna. W Myeongdong wydawalo sie, ze te klientki to glownie Rosjanki. Kupowaly calymi kartonami, jestem niemal pewna, ze w celu sprzedazy w ich wlasnym kraju.

I have no idea where the myth that those are exclusive brands came from. Because they are not. Never were. And don't intend to be, because their target customer base is completely different. And in Myeongdong it seemed that this group is mostly Russian. There were Russian women everywhere, buying whole cases of stuff, no doubt to resell back home.

Po moich pierwszych przygodach z niskopolkowymi koreanskimi kosmetykami, bo takimi wlasnie te wyzej wymienione sa, bylam w stanie zgodzic sie z opinia, ze to smieci. Przyzwyczajona do raczej bardziej ekskluzywniejszych produktow, nie wiedzialam skad ta fascynacja zwyklymi drogeryjnymi koreanskimi kosmetykami. Bo oprocz ladnych opakowan, nie mialy one mojej cerze nic do zaoferowania. Oprocz wypryskow, podraznionej skory i ziemistego koloru (tak typowego dla tanich marek koreanskich kremow BB).

Dla scislosci, poniewaz moja cera to prawdziwa bestia, podobne reakcje mam rowniez na pielegnacje chanelowska i kilku innych wysokopolkowych.

After my first adventures with Korean drugstore brands, because that's what they are - your Korean Walgreens and CVS products, I could almost agree that this was garbage. Being used to a bit more fancier department store stuff, I couldn't figure out why the obsession with low-end Korean cosme was so widespread. Because other than cute packaging, they have very little to offer, at least to me. Besides zits, acne outbreaks, irritated skin and a zombieish "I've been dead for a few days already, but at least my complexion is oh-so-dewy" skin tone (so typical of cheap Korean bb creams).

To be fair, my skin can be a nasty beast and gets pissed off very easily at high end brands too - for example Chanel skincare turns my face into a raw pepperoni pizza.

I z tym w glowie, postanowilam dowiedziec sie, jakich to produktow uzywaja przygodnie spotkane Koreanki, w mniej wiecej moim wieku (choc przyznaje, trudno jest odgadnac ile dana babka moze miec lat, jesli stoi sie na ulicy, o zmroku).

Ustawilam sie wiec strategicznie w poblizu budki sprzedajacej lody w czyms co wygladalo jak pokrecona rurka, i wraz ze znajoma koreanska obstawa zaczelysmy zadawac babkom pytania.
Przepytalysmy 30 kobiet, z ktorych 7 okazalo sie Chinkami, wiec ich odpowiedzi nie bralysmy pod uwage.

So, I set out to find out what kind of products Korean women my age (though, granted, it can be difficult to judge somebody's age at night while standing on a busy street corner) use.
I positioned myself strategically right by a stand selling ice cream in something that looked like a twisted walking cane, and together with a friendly Korean helper, we started to ask questions.

We polled 30 women, of these 7 turned out to be Chinese, so we disregarded their answers.


I rezultaty?
And the results?

Z 23 Koreanek ani jedna nie wspomniala o Tony Moly czy It's Skin.
Out of 23 Korean women not one mentioned Tony Moly or It's Skin.

Nazwy, ktore padaly, to te:
Instead, they mentioned these names:

• - Ohui
• - Sulwhasoo
• - Iope
• - Amore Pacific
• - Su:m 37
• - Hera
• - Dior
• - Estee Lauder
• - Chanel
• - La Mer
• - La Prairie

i pare innych, ktorych nie moge odczytac, bo moja znajoma zapisywala je w hangulu po pijanemu.
And a couple of others that I can't read, because my friend was writing them down in hangul, while being somewhat drunk.

Ta pani lubi su:m 37 i Sulwhasoo i byla zdziwiona, ze cudzoziemka o nich slyszala.
This lady likes sum:37 and Sulwhasoo and was surprised that a westerner knew what they were.

Poniewaz ich odpowiedzi pokrywaly sie czesciowo z tym co sama chcialam kupic, potwierdzilo to tylko moje zamiary.
Because their answers overlapped more or less with what I wanted to buy myself, it was that extra confirmation I needed when spending large sums of money on stuff that I am not 100% familiar with.

Pierwsze szesc nazw na tej liscie to marki, ktorych na prozno szukac na ulicach Myeongdong. Nie ta przegrodka i cenowa i jakosciowa. To kosmetyki sprzedawane w departamentach zaraz obok diorow i chanelow. Byc moze dlatego osoby trabiace o szkodliwych koreanskich kosmetykach nigdy o nich nie slyszaly.

The first six, or so, names on this list you won't find in the cheap drugstores lining the streets of Myeongdong. Not that price and quality range. And a different target market, it seems. Instead, you have to go to fancy department stores and look right next to diors and chanels. So it's possible that vloggers preaching about harmful Korean cosme simply never heard that high-end Korean skincare brands also exist and offer quality comparable to (if not higher than) western fancy schmancy products.

Czy wiec w ogole kupilam cos na ulicach Myeongdong, czy tez moze gralam kosmetyczna snobke przez caly czas? Oczywiscie, ze kupilam! Zawsze jestem chetna na wyprobowanie czegos co nie kosztuje 3/4 mojej wyplaty. A nuz sie trafi jakas perelka?

So, did I buy anything on the streets of Myeongdong, or did I act like a cosmetics snob till the very bitter end? Of course I bought something! I wouldn't be myself otherwise. I'm always eager to try something new, especially if that something doesn't cost an arm and a leg and a little bit. Because buying expensive stuff all the time, I'm going to eventually run out of arms and legs and organs to sell on the black market.

Ta firma urzekla mnie swoja nazwa, wiec cos po prostu musialam kupic.
This company's name I simply couldn't ignore. I had to buy something.


A co kupilam, tak ogolnie?
Pokazywalam juz na instagramciu. Ale bedzie i oddzielny wpis wkrotce. Bo

So, in the end, what did I buy, overall?
I showed most of the stuff on IG, but I'll prepare a special post here as well.


Milego tygodnia!!
Have a great week!