About me

Heya! The name's Crystal and I am an enthusiast when it comes to all things beauty related. Makeup and skincare, I admire them both! This blog is just to assist those who want to make informed decisions before purchasing products that are both makeup and skincare in nature.

When it comes to reading about reviews for products, I tend it find it difficult to fully come to a decision about purchasing a product or not. My skin is a concoction of different types, and these will be brought to light further in this introductory post! Although a product would be suitable for oily skin, it would be difficult to determine whether or not it would be recommended for sensitive skin. The only time that I would know about a product is when I buy it and try it for myself. The goal of this blog is to further inform people who may have a similar skin type to mine (I find that hard to believe because of how finicky and complicated my skin type is) before purchasing products!

Sucky for me, I also have mild sensitive skin! Whenever I use something heavily fragranced, my skin erupts and little bumps form. However, if I continue to use these products, my skin becomes (to a degree) immune to these products. BUT the only time I will continue to use a product that broke me out is as follows.

- It was expensive and I really don't want to waste my money :(

- It's a cult favourite, and I know sometimes it gets worse before it gets better

- It was highly recommended to me by someone whose beauty recommendations I trust

- It still targets an aspect of my skin "issues".

I also find that I have dry undereyes, hence why I find myself using my Mario Badescu hyaluronic eye cream and also avoid wearing concealers that dry those bad boys out! If I do end up wearing concealer, I strive to only wear the bare minimum because I'm not really keen in looking like a dried up prune under my eyes. Even though I have oily skin, I do NOT want to look crusty.

So that's just a brief (less than 400 words is brief, right?) overview of my skin type, my skin issues that you might relate to. If not, all good, thanks for sticking it out and reading all that. If so, great! I hope this blog can assist you, even in the slightest way possible!

-Crystal x

Glow Recipe Watermelon Mask Review

Reviewing the highly coveted Glow Recipe Watermelon Sleeping Mask 🍉

The Korean skin care beauty brand Glow Recipe is, as they claim, the "best natural Korean skin care and beauty" line. Establishing in November 2014, they caught the public's attention when appearing on Shark Tank in 2015 (US edition). Since then, this K-Beauty brand has been renowned and used by influencers everywhere.

Glow Recipe's Watermelon Sleeping Mask is a sleeping mask that was coveted around the globe when it was created on May 2017. This product quickly became a cult favourite, with an average rating of 4 out of 5 stars. Although it was a crowd pleaser, it wasn't until July 2019 that it hit the shelves of Mecca stores in Australia.

I had been subscribed to Kathleen Lights (one of the best influencers in my opinion) for the longest time, and when I watching her videos (as per normal), she kept bringing up the brand Glow Recipe, and at that time, Glow Recipe had already launched so many new things, like their Pineapple C Bright Serum (which was highly recommended by Kathleen). When she started bringing up Glow Recipe, and how she said she loved their Watermelon Sleeping Mask, I instantly took this to Google, and did my thorough research on it.

Reading reviews about how people loved how it made their skin look glowy and soft, I wanted needed it in my life. A skincare product that smelt like watermelon? Done. Take my money. BUT it wasn't available in Australia. I'm way too much of a cheapo to actually pay the extra for the shipping AND the exchange rate for something that I wouldn't even know if I would like.

What is it made with?

- Watermelon: amino-packed, watermelon extract deeply hydrates whilst fighting environmental ingredients to banish fine lines, wrinkles and dark spots

- Hyaluronic acid: quenches even the thirstiest of skin, breathing life into rough, dry skin in an instant

- AHA's: the blend of lactic and glycolic acids gently exfoliate the skin to reveal a smoother, brighter complexion

- Antioxidants: protect against environmental aggressors

- Peony root: brightens and smooths skin.

When applying it for the first time, I couldn't help but fall in love with the scent. Come on, who doesn't love watermelon scented things?! Even my boyfriend was like "okay, I want to eat that", and that's saying something. I applied a decent amount; on the packaging, it states that if you have dry skin, you should apply an additional 50 cent piece-sized amount. But I don't have dry skin, so I stuck with the amount I initially applied.

Upon application, it felt nice and soothing on my skin. And the smell was amplified, but I wasn't complaining. Being a gel consistency, it was easy to blend into the skin. HOWEVER it does say to PAT into the skin, not to RUB into the skin. It dried down after 2 minutes, but did not feel tight or anything of the sort. It being "pillow-proof", it did not transfer while I was sleeping, but I never really had any sleeping masks that I was concerned about it transferring on my pillow.

Washing it off the next day, you could definitely feel the difference the sleeping mask made. My skin, after rinsing off the mask with lukewarm water, felt so soft and supple; a typical feeling with sleeping masks (well, if you've chosen the right one, it should feel like this!).

I kept using this consecutively ever since I got it, and I slowly started to notice that I was getting small bumps on my cheeks. They weren't big enough to make my skin look textured when I applied makeup, but they were big enough to bother me, especially when I wore no makeup. I knew instantly that it was due to this sleeping mask because of two reasons:

- It was the only new product I added to my skincare routine

- It was fragranced.

I have mildly sensitive skin, so when things are fragranced, they tend to irritate my skin, not enough to cause breakouts, but enough for me to notice a difference. Little bumps might not seem enough for a cause for concern, but my skin had just started agreeing with me, so it was definitely bothersome.

My skin did NOT become textured because of the AHA's because I use The Ordinary AHA 30% + BHA 2% Peeling Solution on a regular basis (once or twice a week) and that has never broke me out or caused any bumps on my face.

I would say after day (technically night, right?) 3 of using this sleeping mask, I did notice that the bumps started to get smaller. The texture that I have on my forehead started to become less obvious. Maybe the saying is true; things get worse before they get better?

I haven't used it longer than a week to fully test out how it goes in refining my pores, lighting my pigmention or making my skin more glowy (how can you get more glowy than being an oil slick, amirite?), but I will post another blog once I start to see some results that are outside of the small bumps on my face.

Current verdict?
I, personally, will continue to use this in hopes that I will see results seeing as the claims are pretty promising. If you have sensitive skin (even more sensitive than mine) but still want a sleeping mask that provides that soft, supple feeling in the morning, I highly recommend the Dr. Jart+ Vital Hydra Sleeping Mask. I still have yet to determine whether or not I see genuine results, but for the time being, I do recommend this product to those people with normal, combination, oily and dry skin.

- Crystal x