COSRX: Mini review, but lots of love

I am a pretty punctual person in real life (well, most of the time), but when it comes to trends, I have been, and always will be, late to the party.

Okay, I was actually ahead of the curve for the glory and greatness that is/was Gangnam Style, but that was mostly a fluke | Source

Whether it's fashion, TV shows (looking at you, Game of Thrones), or skincare, I only jump on the train as it is leaving the station. Even as I write this now, there are already so many posts and proclamations of love for COSRX that everyone else is already hopping on to the next wave of Asian Beauty pretties (Tosowoong, Goodal, Whamisa, Cremor Lab, anyone?). As I have been slow to come aboard this hype train, and am still contentedly yet belatedly sitting in it as it is leaving the station, I figured I might as well shout my love for COSRX into the dwindling void, because seriously my skin has never taken such a liking to products so quickly.  I'll post mini-reviews on the three COSRX products I have been using, mostly since many others have reviewed them already, and there's only so much new insight I can contribute!

In this post, I'll be providing mini-reviews on my experience using the following three products:

1. COSRX AHA 7 Whitehead Power Liquid
2. COSRX BHA Blackhead Power Liquid
3. COSRX Galactomyces 95 White Power Essence now mercifully changed to COSRX Galactomyces 95 Whitening Power Essence because the COSRX team is truly bae 

I felt like I was taking pictures of a boyband when photographing these.

Additionally, I will also comment how these products, plus their fantastic customer service and relations, will most likely be taking my money for the foreseeable future.

Review: Shiseido Aqualabel Whitening Jelly Essence

I am writing this while wearing a hydrogel mask with my newly purchased Daiso silicone mask cover! Mask + Daiso + glasses = me looking like an overly studious and botoxed serial killer. It is for this reason I have waited until the rest of my house has gone to bed before applying the slippery hydrogel onto the skin, so as to prevent any impulsive 911 (well, 191 here) calls should someone walk in to see me like dis. Anyway. It's been approximately one month since I started my relationship with the Shiseido Aqualabel Whitening Jelly Essence, so I can finally review it!

Apologies for the blurry photo! I only just noticed this after uploading.

The following information is paraphrased from the ever-informative, Ratzilla Cosme: The Shiseido Aqualable Whitening Jelly Essence is supposed to be a 4-in-1 product: an astringent, hydrating lotion, serum, and moisturizer. Its main function is to prevent dark spots. The main active in this is m-tranexamic acid. I became interested in this after this post on Reddit about actual pore minimizing ingredients. The poster mentioned this product as an affordable option for the ingredient, glycylglycine, and what do you know, I managed to find it in stores on sale a few weeks later! So I bought this for the pore minimizing abilities, but became pleasantly surprised at the overall results.