So, I started my journey with asian beauty products around October of 2014. It’s been pretty great so far, I’ve gotten rid of the wretched, dry, flaky patches of skin that have plagued me skin puberty. One of the first two products I added to my “beauty routine” included Skinfood’s Black Sugar Cleansing Oil. The scent reminds me of a favorite lemonade scent, light, sugary and not too strong. I liked it. It was neither amazing nor horrible, but a good workhorse. It didn’t burn if I accidentally got it in my eyes, which was fabulous. That happened more than once while I figured out the best way to oil cleanse mascara and eyeliner. It was great at removing makeup – even the waterproof mascaras that are such a pain to remove. I used both the Maybelline Rocket Volume mascara and the Benefit Roller Lash Curling mascara on my lashes at different times throughout using Skinfood’s Black Sugar Cleansing Oil and it was great at removing both. I’ve worn both brands of mascaras with contact lenses and accidentally rubbed my eyes on numerous occasions and never had either one budge, to give you an idea of 1) the staying power of the mascaras. 2) The cleasning ability of Skinfood Black Sugar Cleansing Oil.

It didn’t break me out, and I have sensitive skin. I also cheerfully used it as part of 50 Shades of Snail’s trick to temporarily shrink pores. Skinfood’s cleansing oil worked, and as it turns out, I really don’t have that many sebaceous filaments. I had 5 grits the first time I tried. The next day, I tried again and had 4. The morning after the trick to shrink pores, I did an oil cleanse with Skinfood as part of my morning routine and got grits. It was an interesting sensation. I’d buy the Black Sugar Cleansing Oil again, except there are cheaper options that are calling to me like The Face Shop’s Rice Water Bright Cleansing Oil, which I bought to replace my now empty bottle of Skinfood cleansing oil.

I’m happy to note the increasing amount of Asian beauty products on Amazon – with prime shipping even! It’s made things so much quicker to get a hold of. Don’t get me wrong, Amazon is unable to beat the prices of the Rose Rose Shop and other great Asian beauty product vendors, if you don’t count shipping for most products. If you count shipping, then sometimes it gets comparable, depending how much you buy in one order. For example, even with shipping, it’s cheaper for me to buy Mamonde’s Rose Honey Sleeping Mask from RoseRoseShop as opposed to buying the same product from Amazon. Plus, when I ordered the Rose Honey Sleeping Mask, I also ordered about 6 more sheet mask and the total shipping costs came out to $12. Altogether, my order from RRS was $25 and I was getting so much more stuff that I wanted. But I digress.

The other product I purchased was Skinfood Black Sugar Foam which was also available with prime shipping. About the only other reason I’m not buying this product again is because it only has a pH of 6. Ideally, a cleanser should be close to skin’s natural pH of 5.5, so that’s on my list next. (I accidentally bought a giant bottle of Missha’s Super Aqua Refreshing Cleasning Foam so I have to use that up first. I can’t justify a new product when I haven’t used up the previous one.) Skinfood’s Black Sugar Foam was a good product, another solid workhorse. It was the first time I’d used a foaming/soapy cleanser that didn’t strip my skin dry. That alone was amazing to me, as every other cleanser I’d used always left my skin feeling tight and dry. Skinfood was good in that regard, didn’t strip my skin of its natural moisture. For being a sugar scrub, it’s surprisingly gentle as is the scent. I used it daily and didn’t scrub my face like I was cleaning bathroom tile grout so I never found it overly abrasive. I was perfectly happy using it. It didn’t scratch my skin at all, and the sugar dissolved easily if I got my hands wet while using it. Bonus – it actually tastes sugary and lemony – I only know this from the times it accidentally got in my mouth as I was rinsing my face. It was an accident, I swear! Really, the only reason I’m switching brands is because I’d like to get a a cleanser with a better pH.

I’ll report my thoughts as new products come my way.