BUD FRESH CHINESE FLORIDA WATER

Curiosity got the best of me when I saw this obscure Chinese Florida Water called Bud Fresh Florida Water 《昕蕾花露香水》 going for S$2.00 (about US$1.60). I have been wanting to get the classic Two Girls brand Florida Water but this was cheap and just... there.

Florida Water is an American cologne water, with a sweet orange, spice and floral scent, created in the 1800s by Robert I. Murray. Florida Water from China was created since the early 1900s, with Two Girls brand (Hong Kong) being the most famous. You can read more about Florida Water here. 

The liquid is emerald green, which is a little uncommon. I always thought it was green glass. It contains alcohol, perfume, water and colouring, CI19140 is a synthetic lemon yellow and CI42090 is a synthetic brilliant blue.

The packaging: See the floral image rolling towards the right? Yea it's pixelated...! They probably stole it off the internet, and the chinese-style water lily with western-style floral painting... no comment lol.

The scent: I find it strange, at my first whiff was it reminded me of a sweet smelling Johnson's baby shampoo with a chemical undertone (on my hands, not from the bottle). From the bottle the alcohol and chemical-ish smell is pretty strong. Also maybe baby powder with a chemical undertone. Also reminds me of medicine, or the smell from a clinic trying to mask the medicine smells. It says 'high quality aromatic materials', which could be anything!

I'm not quite used to it but will give it one good point: when I left my room and came back the lingering odour (the milder the scent the better) was a bit like the Sam Fong powder. I asked my mom to sniff it slightly and she actually liked it for some reason. Oh well. It is too sickly sweet for me and my choice of scents are usually pure florals... since this has alcohol in it I might use it to clean my toilet floors and counter-tops instead.

With my curiosity is now piqued, my mission is to try out the other Florida Water on the market, both Chinese and western. Stay tuned!

CYBER COLORS C'KIN MAKEUP REMOVER REVIEW

I just purchased this makeup remover from Sasa, one of their inhouse brands: Cyber C'kin EX All-in-1 Moisturising Cleansing Water.

My previous brand was Haruhada Collagen Moisture Cleansing Water and I was planning to purchase a replacement bottle but Haruhada's one was so large and took up too much real estate in my travel luggage. I never got to finish it despite using it to the best of my wastage abilities lol. That's not a bad thing though, but since Cyber C'kin had a promotional offer at 40% off (making it a dollar more expensive than Haruhada... I paid about $18.90 compared to $29.90) and the sales promoter was pushing it, and it was a better size, and the ingredients looked ok, I decided to try it out.

First off this is a non-oily cleansing water, so it will not remove waterproof make-up. I use this primarily to remove foundation mineral powder and maybe sunblock. No rinsing is required but I do it if the humidity irritates my mood. It does not have parabens but contains other chemicals which you may be sensitive to. It is perfume-free, so it has a typical scent you get from perfume-free products... I would call it a waxy smell with a hint of chemicals?

Made in Japan, it removes powdered makeup easily, I seldom use thick layers so one to two cotton balls are enough to rid my face of gunk. It doesn't tighten the skin nor make it oily or sticky, depending on your climate. It has a humectant feel if you have ever used hyaluronic acid products, you will know what I mean... so one of the positive thing about this remover is its hydrating properties.

Ingredients: Aqua butylene gycol, PEG-6 caprylic/capric glycerides, 1,2-hexanediol, caprylyl glycol, allantoin, sodium citrate, PCA ethyl cocoyl arginate, citric acid, sodium hyaluronate, magnesium ascorbyl phosphate, chamomilla recutita (matricaria) extract, sodium PCA, saxifraga sarmentosa extract, rosamarinus officinalis leaf extract, aloe barbadensis leaf extract, glycyrrhiza glabra leaf extract.

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To remove waterproof mascara and eyeliner, I use the Cyber Colors Gentle Eye Makeup Remover:

As you can see, this is not a new bottle as it is more than half gone, I have had it for some time. This is effective at removing waterproof makeup (probably better ones out there but this satisfies). The most important thing is, it does not sting even if it gets into my eyes! So soak a good amount into a cotton and leave it on your eyelashes for a while to dissolve the mascara, and wipe/dab off. It rids eyeshadow and non-waterproof eyeliner easily. For waterproof mascara (note I do not use a lot of mascara) I usually do a second round to completely get it off. My first eye makeup remover in the late 1990s was by Fasio, and boy did that burn!

Cyber Colors remover is blue & clear, you'd have to shake it before using as the oil & base solution separate if left unshaken. It is moderately oily but nothing that bothers me since I wash my face right after.

Ingredients: Water, cyclomethicone, isohexadecan, dimethicone, poloxamer 184, ginko biloba leaf extract, dipotassium glycyrrhizate, cucumber extract, angellica archangelica root extract, camellia oleifera extract, hexylene glycol, phenoxyethanol, sodium chloride, sodium citrate, butylene glycol, benzyl alcohol, citric acid, benzalkonium chloride, disodium EDTA, green 6

SASA'S COMBO SKIN PORE REFINING MASK

Hey folks, just want to do a quick review here on this set of mask I bought a few weeks ago. So I'm a fan of Lovemore's "New Zealand Kiwi Acne All Out" mask and my neighborhood Watsons stopped stocking them so I went to Sasa to see what else was offered, and saw this product that claimed to do a similar job.

Sasa's Color Combo series: Combos Skin Pore Refining Mask Set.
This post is a comparison with Lovemore's product, for Lovemore reviews just google and you will find many reviews by cute girls. This is not a paid endorsement.

They are almost identical, with the main difference being the strawberry scent. The sebum softener smells very good. I love strawberry scents lol. I wanted it on my face longer so spent more time rubbing it into my skin which probably makes it so much more effective. Just squirt a bit on areas you want to apply the mask on to. The 2-3 drops instruction is a lie I tell you.... just squirt however much you need, and it will dry from massaging so I add a few drops of water on the face as I go along.

The bottle design of the mask is slightly different with a smaller opening. The Lovemore one has no additional cap so the liquid usually glops out. This one has a better control on the amount you need. The consistency is slightly thinner than the kiwi version so I needed a thicker layer to cover the pores.

It smells alright. It does smell slightly of chemicals masked over with a strawberry scent but I can live with it. After rinsing the softener off, leave your face slightly wet and apply the mask on areas of blackheads/whiteheads/rough spots. I usually avoid applying on pimples. Apply a good layer till the skin cannot be seen... not too thin a layer (unable to adequately cover the pores) nor too thick (takes too long to dry).

It dries pretty evenly and feels like I got the mask dried tightly too so the gunk will affix to the mask. This is the disgusting whiteheads/blackheads/microhairs after peeling the mask off! I would say a good percentage of gunk is out.. 85-90 percent! And I've been having acne breakouts and using this sulphur cream that makes the plugs rise to the surface making my skin really rough so this mask just makes my skin soft again... by extracting it all out ahaha.

The last bottle is the essence to minimise open pores. It has a thicker consistency compared to Lovemore's, pretty much like what one would describe as 'serum'. Actually it became sticky as I pat it in but it absorbs quickly.

Well that's it. I recommend it. I think it was cheaper by a bit since it is an in-house brand. Both are made in Taiwan and pretty much the same thing. If you don't mind a pink alternative to Lovemore's mask then use this.

SAM FONG POWDER

The super old school Sam Fong Hoi Tong powder by Sam Fong Cosmetic Co. Hong Kong. I like the packaging, it's so cute! It's amazingly still around without any changes to the packaging. And it only costs S$1.00 (about US$0.65). Our grammas and great grammas used these cuz as my mom said, they didn't know how to use western cosmetics (liquid foundation). This together with paper rouge. Actually it's just a white slab of calcium carbonate. And they say it makes your skin white (by that I think they mean fair but it makes you geisha white too). You can add water and use it as a mask. Some people use this to polish silver like how some people use baking soda to clean sterling silver.

I have 2 boxes at home. Not too sure if one is illegitimate or a parallel import but the differences show. The left one is the Hong Kong one which I bought from a Chinese medical store (Chinese instructions) and the right one is Indonesia/Kuala Lumpur import (English instructions) which I got from a makeshift store in a bazaar. The left one looks nicer of course. The side papers are gold shiny papers.

Check out the ingredients:

-Hong Kong: Calcium Carbonate, Talc, Fragrance

-KL: Magnesium silicate, Calcium carbonate, Talc, Methyl Paraben, Propyl Paraben, Aquademin, Fragrance

That's a whole lot of difference lol. The Hong Kong one is much smoother than the other one (which is grainier), and slab sizes are different. This may not be important unless you are allergic to the parabens? It's effective at keeping your face less oily in humid climate, but wear it at home lol. Or wait till the white is absorbed before you go out if you don't want to look like having flour on your face. I googled it and found places mislabeling it as rice powder... I wish it were! Unless calcium carbonate is rice powder... neh. And these sites are Ebay stores: some sellers probably copy-paste without verifying.

 

Edit: Well I have been getting a lot of emails and views on this post, thank you! Yes there is a pink tinted version although it is very pink so I did not bother to try. I think they are the ones that come in the pink plastic cases. Ingredients and country of manufacture are unknown, maybe I'll update this post if I come across any.  I currently don't use this anymore, though they are more readily available in Singapore stores. I think talc clogs pores and so have changed to something better - silk powder.