Sample Sundays: feat. Etude House, Skinfood, Tony Moly and more!

Hi friends,

Whaddaya know, Sample Sundays is back 2 weeks in a row! How’s that for consistency?! In all seriousness, I’ve been working hard to plan posts in advance so that I don’t leave you guys for so long again. Also, in case I contract another appetite-killing, joy-destroying virus, at least you won’t have to know about it (until later)! So it’s a win/win really. Which brings me to today’s Sample Sundays, and boy do I have a big one for you!

I seem to be on a rampage to finish and use up and throw out everything in sight, and the first port of call is my sample stash. I’ve been pretty ruthless/obsessed and have a lot of used up samples (and opinions) to show for it. So let’s jump right in!

Etude House Hello Wash Raspberry & Cranberry Body Wash

I received this one with a birthday gift from a friend and was quite excited to try it. I don’t really go to Etude House much (well, especially not these days, but I never really did) so it was something a bit different for me. Plus, a body wash is always useful and who doesn’t love showers? Only thing is, this one has a sickly sweet scent that was a bit too much even for me, pancake-lover extraordinaire. I wouldn’t purchase this full-sized, but I’m glad I tried its fruity explosion.

Tony Moly Dr. Tony AC Control Acne Cleansing Foam

I found it! I was supposed to review this for a single product-focused Sample Sundays a while back, and then time passed, and I couldn’t find it and… yeah. I can be a bit of a mess. But the good news is it’s here! The even better news is… I liked it! It’s not too harsh on the skin, despite being targeted for acne. The guy gave me these samples once when I was breaking out and I took it as a not-so-subtle hint. My skin’s been fine recently, but I would be curious to try this again when hormonal flare ups occurs. A decent product IMO.

Cremor Lab Essence Tonic

I received these freebies in a previous Memebox and set them aside for… no reason in particular. I hadn’t heard of Cremor Lab before I purchased Memebox, but that’s the whole point. This essence is thin, light and absorbs quickly. It has a pleasant scent too and didn’t irritate my skin. There’s nothing too crazy to report, but I never feel that essences are too different, anyway. Thumbs up from me!

Skinfood Tomato Whitening Cream

When it comes to whitening products, Korea knows no bounds. However, I do believe that they don’t really whiten/bleach the skin; rather, it’s meant more as a ‘from within’ glow. The Wanderlust Project did a post on this if you’re interested. This cream is one I stashed away and finally tried recently, and… it was a nice cream. Am I whiter? No. Is that possible? No. But still, if you want to get your glow on and feel nourished at the same time, give this a whirl. Everybody wins.

Skinfood Egg White Pore Foam

Now this product is something I was really hoping would be good… and I was sorely disappointed. As it says, it is a foam cleanser, although I thought it would be more of a mask. It was thick and fun to apply, but it left my skin feeling that too-squeaky-clean feeling and that ain’t good. Sorry, Skinfood, I’m not a fan!

Missha Time Revolution Night Repair

This one is a blatant ripoff of Estee Lauder’s Advanced Night Repair, and is part of the reason why I love Korea so much. They can just rip anybody and anything off, and do it with such flare and panache. In fact, the copies are often better than the originals, and that is how they have turned it into an art form. Anyway, I haven’t tried the original but this one seemed nice. It’s an apricot-coloured, thick ampoule meant to fix your skin overnight and rewind the years (who doesn’t love a good year-rewind?). The only thing I wasn’t keen on was the scent. I just couldn’t get on board with it. Otherwise, this is a nice product – but there are a bunch of other ampoules that would do the same thing (such as Estee Lauder’s?).

Holika Holika Good Cera All in One Master: previously reviewed here

Innisfree Green Tea Pure Cleansing Oil: previously reviewed here

Laneige Water Bank Essence: previously reviewed here

Skinfood Black Sugar Strawberry Scrub Wash Off: previous reviewed here (AMAZING)

And that’s it for now! I told you it was a big one, I just barely got through that without getting up for another snack – and trust me, I’ve had many snacks this evening. Of course, I can’t repurchase these because I’m trying to only purchase cruelty-free items. However, I wanted to use them up and these are my honest opinions. Let me know your favourite Korean products and what you liked the sound of!

As always, thanks so much for reading. Until next time,

Steph x

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