Asian Beauty Products On Trial

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The rise of Korean beauty has shone a spotlight on Asian beauty products meaning we now get to play with all manner of oriental, innovative goodies. Beautymart, found in Topshop Oxford Circus, Harvey Nichols and online, have brought a few new goodies in on the back of the trend which I have taken the chance to have a play with.

First up we have the Bioaqua egg face maskz  (£4.00). An egg face mask makes sense. When I was around fifteen I read in Sugar magazine (guess my age!) that putting egg white on my face daily would deliver killer skin. As a result I asked my mother to buy a tonne of eggs and walked around dripping egg white on various soft furnishings. Most surprising of all, it worked. As a result I have always extolled the virtues of eggs, bar their messy qualities. This means I’m on board for the idea of an egg mask.

It’s a tissue based sheet mask rather than a gel one, and happily, it doesn’t smell of egg. It bunches up a bit around the chin, but fits like a standard face mask. While its pleasant enough, it doesn’t do anything out of the ordinary from most other sheet masks – hydrate and cool. It didn’t slip as I padded around the kitchen doing chores which is more of a bonus then you’d think.

Next up we have the Holika Holika Golden Monkey Glamour Lip 3-step kit (£8.50). A bit of a mouthful, but perhaps an essential one with the current trend for rather drying matte lip paints. My lips could do with a bit of TLC so I’m excited to give this a whirl. Step 1 is an exfoliant. Well it says it is. However it seems to be a damp slip of cotton wool that doesn’t do very much. However the premise is that it’s a peeling patch infused with gold and cellulose to massage away dry skin. I don’t see much evidence of this but I’m prepared to soldier on to step 2, a volumising gel lip mask to plump lips up with moisture. I was nervous it would cause a break out but nothing has happened a week later in that regard. It doesn’t seem to introduce excessive moisture, but the final step, a post treatment balm with Manuka honey and royal jelly, is sweet and soothing, and locks in anything from the previous two steps.

Ok, so I wasn’t wildly keen on that one, but I was bemused and intrigued with the next offering: Romantic Bear long lasting lip colour (£8.50). Don’t worry, the bear has no further role in the process. The idea of these lip colours is that they are a gel which you apply in a thick layer to your lips. You leave it on for around 3 minutes until it sets and then peel off the set gel. This leaves behind a flush of colour, and since it’s a stain it’s long-lasting and mess free. Sounds pretty good right? It works well, turning my lips a light pink after a few minutes waiting for the gel to set. It takes a little getting used to but it’s certainly interesting and innovative.

I also love the Korean fringe stabilizer (£3.50), which is basically hair Velcro. The reason I like it is because it’s the kind of thing you can keep in your travel washbag to keep your fringe back to wash your face on weekends away. Easy and portable for those who like me are failing to convince people they are Jane Birkin.

I also give another lip mask a shot – Bioaqua’s hydrating lip mask (£3.50) – which is basically like the second stage of the 3 step kit although it makes my husband laugh slightly more. Like the other mask it’s slippy and slimy, and doesn’t seem to be as moisturising as layering lip balms up.

Finally, I try a DHC foaming mesh (£3.50), which is sort of like a plastic shower puff for the face. The idea with this is that a foaming product shouldn’t go straight on the skin but have the foam made first and then use that to cleanse the skin. Why is not clear, but I’ll roll with most marketing stories and it’s sort of a fun idea. It’s most effective in the shower for your face wash. However the biggest issue is that most of my face washes don’t lather since lather is drying. If you do like a lather however, then it’s a fun step to add in.

On a final note, Beautymart have also just launched Pokemon sheet masks (£5.00) from Tony Moly. Damn the effectiveness, it’s got to be the easiest way to win at PokemonGo!