Last Beauty Buy for 2011: Missha Time Revolution First Treatment Essence

If you do not know yet, Missha released its most expensive product to date in mid-2011:

It's the Missha Time Revolution First Treatment Essence. It is Missha's version of SK-II's banner product, The Facial Treatment Essence.

While The First Treatment Essence is expensive (TLCShop Regular Price: PHP 2300.00), it is still at least 1/4th the price of SK-II's treatment Essence( PHP 9000.00).

What are these pricey essences for? The yeast based extract in these essences are supposed to moisturize the skin while improving its texture and clarity. Thus the promise of supple, brighter skin.

Hope in A Blog compares the two in detail here. From a cursory look at the product specs and price points, Missha looks like a mighty contende because:

1. It is cheaper~ by more about US $150.

2. While both product's star ingredients is the fermented yeast extract ( pitera in SK-II is sake-based, while Missha's yeast extract is cerevisae-based, the yeast used for beer making), Missha added a lot of other good for the skin ingredients such as: Niacinamide, licorice extract and lactic acid.

3. Unlike SK-II which lists down Methylparaben in its ingredients, Missha's First Treatment Essence is paraben fee, mineral oil free and alcohol free. In theory then, this would be "purer" than its more expensive counterpart.

The Missha Winter Sale in Korea (which runs until Dec. 31) and my need for a really light moisturizer/essence egged me to get one. It's currently 30% off the normal price ( TLCShop Sale Price: PHP 1670.00).That's a sizeable discount! So more than a week ago, I bought myself a bottle.

How to use, according to the directions on the Product Box:

1. After cleansing, use cotton pads to apply enough quantity of the First Treatment Essence to face. Pat face mildly to ensure total absorption of essence.

2. Follow with moisturizer if required.


The Product itself:

It's basically just like water: liquidy and without any discernible scent.
It does not sting or redden the face despite it containing lactic acid.

Effect: Because I use M2 Skin Refinish every other night. I only use the FTE in the morning and every other night. Since I have been using it only for more than a week. No effect yet except for the fact that my skin is not as dry as before. I do wish it will turn supple soon haha!

Unlike SK-II, Missha's First Treatment Essence did not break me out. So I do hope it works well in the long run! Will make an updated entry after a full month of using it :-)

MAC LADY DANGER is Fierce and Lovely

It is described as a bright orange-red lipstick. Something that's only for the fearless.

Not entirely true.

They are however correct about the color~ it is equal parts orange and red. Something that is extremely hard to find in lipsticks.


Unlike the Lava Lipstick #1 which is really bright red with a hint of orange, Lady Danger is well, a beautiful mix of orange and red. (Lava, if you still don't know, is the the Korean lipstick brand made by Samsung Cosmetics that's been touted as having the best, lowcost dupes of MAC lipsticks. More info about Lava Lipsticks here).


The thing about Lady Danger is that despite the color being bold, brazen and yes, utterly beautiful. It is also very wearable. It certainly is not one of those cutesy, barely there lippies. You wear this and your lips certainly get the attention. However, do not fear, as the matte finish makes it not too shiny ( I do not really like glossy or shiny finishes in lipstick) . Though it is not as longwearing as the MAC Longwear Pros, the Lady Danger stays on my lips in full color for about three hours, after that the shade recedes into a more understated but still pretty tangerine-red color.


If you read the reviews, some would say that Lady Danger is suitable only for those with light skintones.

I am NC30 (light to natural beige) and I think it goes well with my skintone:-) So do not be afraid, I think this color will do for those who are pale to light morenas. Darker skintones might bring out the orange-y shade of this lipstick more.

Don't mind the face haha. But see how pretty yet still office-appropriate the Lady Danger lippie is? :-)


I use it at the office almost everyday mainly to brighten up my winter mood. When everything at the office is a bit gray and gloomy, a fierce lip color is my form of rebellion haha.


What's not good about it?

I have experienced some color bleed-off to the outer edges of the lips :-(

The red color of the lipstick might not show up on those with darker skintones.

This is a hard to find lipcolor. I got hold of this only through my US Spree Partners as this is most often available only through the MAC Online Shop and not on MAC Counters.


***Yes, TLC Shop does offer this and other MAC Lipsticks but on a pre-order Basis only. From PHP 865.00 each. We order them directly from the MAC Online Store in the US. If you want to join our MAC Sprees, add us up on Facebook to get updates on our US Sprees.

AMAZON KINDLE FIRE : What One Should Expect from a $199 Tablet

People have been harping about the Kindle Fire being the David to IPAD's Goliath. How it will eat a big piece of the apple (pun intended).

That's a piece of bull. If you believe in the hype and you get a Kindle Fire while dreaming of the IPAD's capabilities, you are bound to be dissapointed.

Fortunately, I bought my Kindle Fire for all the right reasons. :-) I was not looking for the IPAD's cheaper sister. All I wanted was a good full color ebook reader that has internet and multimedia capability. Something where I could:

1. Buy and read ebooks conveniently.

English books in Seoul are expensive so buying ebooks from Amazon is the most convenient and cheapest way to satisfy my reading need. This is where Kindle really shines. If like me, you have an amazon account and you enrolled your Credit Card and PayPal account to the Amazon One-Click, it’s so easy to purchase books from your Kindle Fire. As long as you’re connected to the internet, it’s a matter of browsing through the Store and clicking the books you want. The books are automatically downloaded to your Kindle.

2. Buy and Read US magazines at better prices .
The prices for Western Magazines in Korea are atrocious! Through Amazon’s shop, I can buy magazines electronically and get them in full color.

3. Surf the internet.

Kindle Fire uses Amazon’s Silk Browser. It works pretty well for me. Aside from the wifi connection tabs, if you have an iphone with a 3G Data Plan, you can use the iphone tethering capability with your Kindle Fire. I do this at times when I’m out and there is no wifi available.

4. Read office files (pdf, MS Word, MS Excel)

Preloaded with the Quick Office app, it is easy to read and review MS Office files.

5. Watch video streaming when I want to from youtube and ,ehem, pinaychannel.com ( Flash files work with Kindle, yay!). One can also save music files or videos but because it has a smaller memory than my iphone, I keep my music and videos on my phone.

6. Email

Kindle Fire’s Email App allows me to check my emails FROM DIFFERENT ACCOUNTS fast.


I like that it's small, only half of IPAD's size and does not have too many complicated apps or options, because really, my primary consideration was to get a multimedia reader that I can bring to the bathroom or coffee shop, basically anywhere ~ I am not much into viewing photos, playing some songs and watching videos on the Kindle Fire, but it’s nice to know that if I want to I can do these things too.

Yes, the Kindle Fire for me is a great bargain! But for those who have dreams of getting an IPAD clone for $199, these are things that might dissapoint you:

Limited Applications~ As of the moment, except for the pre-loaded applications in your Kindle, if you are outside the US, you can’t download extra apps. The Kindle Fire App Store is currently only available in the US.

This is okay for me as I was not after getting apps for all my whims ~ I can get that through my phone.

No memory card slot~ You cannot expand the memory (8 GB compared to iphone’s 16 GB and 32 GB) which means you cannot save too many movies or songs in this thing.

Limited Customizable Options~ If you are a customization freak ~ wanting to customize the front page, the font, the wall paper of your Kindle Fire, well, you might not like the fact that the you can’t. Or at least not yet.

It’s unfair to compare the Kindle Fire to IPAD when there’s at least a 300$ price difference between them. Kindle Fire will never trounce the IPAD2 but for the basic things it does ~ one-click access to Amazon’s books, magazines and music stores, decent email apps, multimedia capabilities, web browsing and video streaming, I say it does them all pretty well. For a badass less than 10k pesos price tag.


P.S. Other things you might be interested to know:

1.You can upload stuff to your Kindle using the micro-USB slot. I bought a micro USB to USB adapter cord for this. (Cheap too, only about 200 pesos in Korea)

2.Battery time is decent. Mine lasted for two days on standby. Amazon promises at least 7 hours of continuous reading. Pretty decent I think.