What I got from The Face Shop’s Oil Free BB Cream

Last Monday, while shopping for a client’s order from The Face Shop (TFS), I chanced upon TFS’s sale rack. Their Clean Face Oil-Free BB Creams were 50% off! A BB Cream for only PHP 150.00 is a hard thing to resist. So I got one!

This BB Cream is supposed to contain Chamomile extract to calm irritated skin. The main ingredient is something that’s codenamed as “Quick n’ Clear Complex” which treats oily skin quicky and effectively.

I was excited to try the BB and thought that if this turned out to be good, well, I’d push this to clients who are in need of oil-control BBs below the PHP 500.00 price range.

So I used this for four days straight, with no change in my skincare regimen. And this is what I have to say:


The only thing I got from TFS’ Oil Free BB Cream is a bad case of breakouts. Okay, so that might be an overstatement. But I have not had a pimple for quite a few months and my skin is far from oily. It's winter here, which means my skin is at its driest and most behaved condition i.e. not much oiliness. So when I suddenly get two, big, cystic pimples three days after using this BB cream I cannot help but curse myself for being such a cheapskate and falling for the 50% discount thing.

Too bad, because, honestly, the coverage is pretty good. It definitely had more coverage than the Lioele Waterdrop Aqua Makeup that I normally use (the Lioele Waterdrop is more like a tinted moisturizer than a foundation/ BB cream). But there is something in the TFS’ formulation that’s making my skin act up. Vitamin E, perhaps? After the two pimples popped, I tried the BB for another day and I noticed that my cheeks were starting to get itchy too so I stopped. Sad, it would have been great if it worked ---Another good BB Cream at an extremely affordable price. But it was not to be ☹

For me at least, this BB does not live up to its promise.

P.S. Do not misunderstand, I am not saying pointblank that TFS Oil-free BB Cream causes pimples. It might work for others, but there is something in it that has triggered my long dormant acne. As is always the case with cosmetics, different strokes for different folks. In my case, this supposedly oil-free BB triggered the oil and acne machine in me and now I have to wait for the two pimples to dry out and be gone :-(

FIVE: Comfort Foods from my Neighborhood

The best thing about Bundang is I can go on for days without cooking and still survive. No, make that thrive. My neighborhood has a slew of groceries, restaurants, pojangmacha (streetfood stalls), pizza shops and french-inspired bakeries with reasonable prices that there is no excuse for me to go hungry at all.

These are the top five eats from my neighborhood ☺

EGG TARTS from Paris Baguette. Paris Baguette is an ubiquitous Parisian-inspired chain of bakeshop in Korea. They sell French inspired treats –baguettes, choix, beautiful petit cakes plus a slew of Korean-adapted goodies. While all their products are consistently good, this is my absolute favorite treat from Paris Baguette.

Egg Tart: A buttery-salty crust enclosing a soft, wiggly delicious, creamy mound of eggy goodness with a slightly burnt top lending a sort of faint bittersweet burnt sugar counterpoint to the custardy flavor of the filling. Yum-O! In the Philippines, I remember there's a Lord Stowe Bakery, the Macau-based chain specializing in eggtarts, in Market, Market! at the Bonifacio Global City.

TWIGIM from my neighborhood Pojangmacha. Korea, if you do not yet know, is a haven for streetfood. Fried, boiled, barbequed, baked,sweet, salty, spicy and yucky(they sell roasted silkworm larvae by the cupful!). One can get by from soup to desserts just by eating at streetfood stalls (known here as pojangmacha).

My neighborhood pojangmacha sells yummy Twigim:

Twigim is the Korean Streetfood version of the Japanese Tempura. These are batter-dipped goodies made of veggies, mandu, squid, shrimp, sweet potato, sweet pumpkin, kimbap etc. Basically most food can be turned into Twigim! Just dip them in batter then fry! Twigim is to be dipped in light soy sauce (like tempura!).

My favorite twigim are the shrimp, sweet potato and sweet pumpkin variants. A pack of five freshly fried assorted twigims is only about 100 pesos here. Not bad for a cheap snack or even a light dinner fare.

Imagine a thin shell of bittesweet chocolate enrobing a hazelnut flavored milk ganache with a candied hazelnut in the middle. That’s how a GIANDUJA CHOCOLATE COROLLE from Jacquot tastes like. Sweet and small, a perfect and not too guilt-causing indulgence.

A box of these Jacquot Chocolate set is priced regularly at about 800 pesos for 12 Corolles. Too pricey even for good chocolates. But once in a while, the grocery carrying these gems slashes the price in half and places a few Jacquot boxes on the sale counter. I, the inveterate bargain hunter, regularly checks the Sale Bin for these☺

RICE FLOUR DONUTS from Mister Donut Korea.Totally different from the soft, light as air donuts from KK, Dunkin and Doughnut Plant. I want my donut chewy, glutinous, and oh so delicious. Pictured below is the regular Rice Ring Donut.

It is made of rice flour, thus the slightly chewy consistency and that unmistakable, yummy cereal-y flavor. Plain, slightly sweet and very comforting. Think mochi, made into a sweet donut form. This is my donut of choice.

OKONOMIYAKI from the food hall at the neighborhood mall. If you are a takoyaki addict like me, then you will most probably love this. Okonomiyaki is a Japanese savoury pancake filled with veggies, pork strips, squid and seafood bits genererously topped with a sweet brown sauce, bonito flakes, green bits of nori, and mayonnaise.

There is that flavour profile – a starchy yet light pancake feel, the savoury flavours of vegetables, the tang of the seafood and the pork strips, and the salty fish flavours from the bonito flakes all tempered by slashes of creaminess from the mayo. A full order of this from the shop near my flat just about fills me up for dinner.


Sure, these are not the healthiest food on earth, but that is the point of comfort foods, right? Something you eat irregardless of calories because they taste and make you feel good ☺

Confessions of a Grocery Store Addict

Grocery Stores are on the top of my to-go list when I am in a new place. I love going through rows and rows of goodies and reading through labels of snacks, cookies, and what-have-you's hoping to stumble upon discounts and promo packs. There is something soothing about walking through the aisles, comparing price points, imagining the food that one can make from these items. Or if you're like me, walking off the day's stress at the grocery shop and finally settling on a bag of one's favorite snack and a yummy fizzy drink called Ambasa. For me, the bigger the grocery store, the better.


In UK, I lived in a building with a giant ASDA shop on the ground floor. ASDA is Britain's Walmart. It is owned by Walmart Corporation, same cheap everyday prices, only a different name :-). After work, I often dropped by ASDA and walked through the aisles, checking out items, thinking of meals to make out of the produce on sale. Back then, I still cooked and baked regularly and brought packed lunches to work, so I
had an excuse to splurge on groceries.


I now live in Seoul where it is far more cheaper to buy lunches than cook for one. Most of the time, we eat dinner at the office canteen (it's free :-)) so I have no reason to stock up on food. The only staples in my ref are yoghurt, eggs, celery (I love munching on celery sticks!), butter and a variety of juices.

It still hasn't stopped me from passing by the grocery stores daily :-) There are two small groceries within walking distance from my flat. Another, bigger grocery, Homeplus, is a train station away. A few days a week, I go down at the station near Homeplus and roam around the endless rows of products. Homeplus has a handful of British/European goodies because of its tie-up with Tesco (a British grocery chain like ASDA) and has a wider selection of goodies than the two groceries that are nearer my place, so more often than not, this is where I buy my groceries.


I guess you're wondering, if I don't buy food for my meals at all since I eat at the office most days what do I get from trawling through these groceries' aisles?

I don't really know :-). I suppose the sale hunter in me is always on the lookout for product sales. I bought cans of caramel-flavored coffee even when I don't personally drink coffee because they were 50% off! I buy Choco Pies when they are on sale even when I don't really like them. Plus I love checking the spices and seasonings area. Looking for hard to find spices ~ perilla seeds, thyme, coriander.Amd yes, if I see some new spice I like, I buy them. Thankfully, my younger brother is more passionate in cooking (and eating!) than I am, so I send my purchases out to him and my mother in Pinas in the hope that he'll be able to use them in his cooking.


I am happiest though when I am able to score goodies, usually snacks and chocs, that are new to me. Mostly, I get them from the periodic Snack Sales at Shinsegae or Lotte, two chi-chi stores with a lot of foreign, premium goodies. These goodies are often overpriced but during the snack sales, the prices are often slashed with 20-60% discounts, so this is the time I pounce :-)


Here are a few of my latest snack buys from my trips through grocery aisles. Most of the goodies here, I sent to Pinas for my mom and brother since I can't really tolerate too much sugar intake or wheat products. Still, the fun of scoring these good buys was more than enough for the deal hunter in me :-)

Good Finds: Uncle Al's Peanut Butter Cremes~ yummy! Also the Muesli Cookies! Trolli's Chocolate -filled Banana candies were too sweet for me. The rest, I have sent to Pinas for the family :-)

Ambasa: my favorite carbonated drink. It is described as a milk-based soft drink. If you ask me how to describe it, it's like Yakult in softdrink form.

Hello Kitty Cream Sandwiches: bought them for my nieces :-)

Fan Cookies from Spain, aptly (and uncreatively) named as Fan&Choc ;-)

Hawaiian Host's Macadamia Nut Crunch Singles Pack~this is my favorite from Hawaiian Host. Reminds me of Nestle Crunch:-)

Chocolate Chip Cookies from Poland: Good but a bit too sweet for me. The slight tartness of the dried fruits balances the creamy sweetness of the chocs a bit. But I like my cookies more buttery than sweet.

Blueberry and Banana-flavored Milk: yummy but a bit expensive at 1,200 won (about 50 pesos) for a small bottle.

Popcorners ~ these are basically made from popcorn and nothing else. Just popcorn in chips form.
Great for someone like me who wants chips but can't eat too much wheat-based snacks.

These are the most buttery, yummiest chocolate chip cookies I've tried to date. Unlike most chocochip cookies that are either chewy or crispy, these ones are shortbread based, so they're very buttery and flaky. And yep, they're made in France.

My Facial Wash Reviews: The Face Shop vs. Missha vs. Skinfood

I do not splurge on facial washes. I find no meaning in using an expensive facial wash (such as Obagi or SK-II, which I've tried both. Not worth the price!~) when what one really needs is just a facial wash that cleanses well and smells good :-)

The only thing I check when I buy a facial wash is if it has Vitamin E in the ingredients list. Vitamin E breaks me out, so I steer clear from any topical products with this as ingredient.

The Missha Latte Foaming Facial Wash in Green Tea has been my facial wash for nearly six months.
It's pretty cheap (about PHP 250.00 at TLCShop, so of course, I get it cheaper here in Korea) and very yummy flavored (everything green tea to me is yummy~). It is foamy and does a good job with cleansing.I've stopped using cleansing oils for a bit, so in lieu of a cleansing oil, I do double cleansing~washing my face twice to ensure total removal of the bb cream from my face. This one works because it is non-drying and is very creamy so it does not irritate the skin even if you do double cleansing.

I bought a tube of The Face Shop Rice Water Bright Cleansing Foam (PHP 495.00 at TLC Shop) because a client, who hoarded three tubs in one go, was raving about it. TFC's Rice Bright Wash supposedly has face brightening properties~ thus the promise of brightening the face while cleansing. I must first say that it smells really nice~ like cereals with a sweet twinge.
Of the three facial washes, this one is the most moisturizing. But for me at least, I felt it has the weakest cleansing ingredients because though it smelled nice and felt gentle on the skin, there was a slick feel, like a thin layer of oil that was left behind even after washing with water. I guess this wash will work for those with drier skin and those who want a moisturizing facial wash.

A month ago, Skinfood released their Tea Salt line of facial washes. There are actually three variants - Green Tea, Lavender, and Lemon. I always liked Skinfood facial washes, so despite it being a bit expensive (PHP 565.00 at TLC Shop), I bought the Lemon Tea Salt Mask Foam.
Oh wow! The first time I used this, I beamed. It is a lemon milk flavored facial wash (the lemon variant is for pore tightening :-)) with fine salt granules. Think St. Ives' Apricot Scrub, only with finer scrub particles and yummier flavor. It's the scent that will make one a fan here-- citrusy with a milky, vanilla undertone. And yes, the scrub grains are really fine sea salt! A few particles strayed near my mouth, and yep, these were salty! It is my current facial wash (though I still have the opened tube of TFS' Rice Bright Cleansing Foam). What's nice is that this serves both as a daily facial wash and a mild facial scrub. Only thing is, if you have irritated skin or you have a cut or a wound, do not use this. The salt in the scrub will make your irritated skin and your wound throb. This product seals my belief that Skinfood excels at making value for money facial washes and masks.


Of the three, the Missha Latte Foam has always been my staple-- it's cheap and creamy and works well during the colder months in Seoul. I also like Skinfood's Lemon Tea Salt Wash because even if it's a bit more expensive, you do get basically a daily facial scrub and a facial wash in one. I also like that they used something simple and natural like salt for the scrub grains. As for The Face Shop's Rice Water Bright, though it's actually pretty okay, it didn't wow me with its brightening promise and is not something I will repurchase soon.



What about you? What's your favorite facial wash?