Review: Mizon black snail all-in-one cream

Snail creams have been extremely recently. Personally, when I first heard about snail creams, I felt a little weirded out. Snails? That's a little crazy. However, after hearing about the amazing benefits of snail mucus, I really wanted to try a snail cream for myself. I ended up choosing the Mizon black snail all in one cream, which I purchased from Jolse last year!

Snail mucus benefits the skin in many ways; it hydrates, firms, softens, and even brightens the skin. This snail cream contains peptides and vitamins that help maintain the skin's elasticity. Lastly, this product is paraben-free and contains no artificial fragrances. Perfect!

 Packaging 

This simple, opaque black jar contains 75mL of product.

 Physical Properties 

The product itself is milky white in color and scentless. The texture is a bit slimy and bit sticky. However, this is unnoticeable after the product absorbs. The cream is not thick at all.

 Ingredients 

Overall, all the ingredients listed are pretty good. There is only one that got flagged red--triethanolamine. This compound is commonly used as a pH balancer for many cosmetic products. It is a mildly basic compound that can cause allergic reactions in some people. Triethanolamine can also be shortened to TEA in some ingredients list.

Snail Secretion Filtrate, Helianthus Annuus (Sunflower) Seed Oil, Niacinamide, Cetearyl Olivate, Sorbitan Olivate, Butylene Glycol, Synthetic Wax, Hydroxyethyl Acylate/Sodium Acryloyldimethyl Taurate Copolymer, Triethanolamine, Coptis Japonica Root Extract, Carbomer, Caprylyl Glyocol, Sodium Polyacrylate, Ethylhexylglycerin, Tropolone, Adenosine, Theobroma Cacao (Cocoa) Extract, Allantoin, Pathenol, Allium Sativum (Garlic) Bulb Extract, Euterpe Oleracea Fruit Extract, Morus Alba FruitExtract, Rubus Coreanus Fruit Extract, Sambucus Nigra Fruit Extract, Black Sugar Extract, Theobroma Cacao (Cocoa) Extract,  Charcoal Powder, Solanum Melongena (Eggplant) Fruit Extract, Sepia, Porphyra Tenera Extract, Polygonum Fagopyrum Seed Extract, Vitis Vinfera(Grape) Fruit Extract, Coffea Arabuca Fruit Extract Inonotus Obliquus (Mushroom) Extract, Mirabilis Jalapa Seed Extract, Piper Nigrum (Pepper) Seed Extract, Fagus Sylvatica Seed Extract, Anona Cherimolia Fruit Extract, Dictyopteris Membranacea Extract, Rose Extract, Cinnamomum Cassie Bark Extract, Aronia Melanocarpa Fruit Extract, Rhus Semialata Gall Extract, Prunus Mume Fruit Extract, Centella Asiatica Extract, Copper Tripeptide-1, Hydrolyzed Pea Protein, Lecithin, Olea Europaea(Olive) Fruit Oil, Phytosterols, Squalane, Butyrospermun Parkii (Shea Butter), Ceramide 3, Rh-oligopeptide-1, Palmitoyl Pentapeptide-4, Beta-Glucan, Disodium Edta, Phenoxyethanol

CosDNA rating

 My Opinions 

I like the cream! It's definitely very refreshing and moisturizing. While the initial application is a little sticky, the stickiness quickly disappears as the product is absorbed into the skin, leaving my skin quite soft and prepped for the day or night. A plus for me is that you only need a little of the product, because it spread very well! 

The only down side I noticed is that this jar packaging makes it very easily for contamination to occur. Unfortunately this product did not come with a spatula to keep the product sanitary. This is one reason why I prefer moisturizers that are in pump or tube form!

 Rating 

    

 Where to purchase 

Cosmetic Love - $17.57
Jolse - $19.99

Amazon - $23.25

Natural products expo west, Anaheim, CA

This last weekend was the Natural Products Expo West in Anaheim! My sister and I decided to attend with my dad, who was already planning to check it out. The tickets was a bit expensive, but luckily they have educational passes for less.

Of course, I went to the expo more so to get business experience and to complete one of my business class assignments than to conduct business deals. Overall, it was a great opportunity for me to see how people market their products/brands to others. I had a lot of fun learning about different foods, supplements, and beauty products! I think the only downside was that people are there to conduct business and not to talk to students, so sometimes, it was quite obvious when they didn't want to talk to me...

Expo West is definitely one of the largest expo's around! There were 71,000+ attendees and 2,700+ exhibitors! That's a lot of people! While I was there, I also noticed many countries represented--there were many people speaking different languages!

 

Of course, there were lots of good foods to try out. One company was celebrating its 20th year, so it was giving out free alcohol and cupcakes! I decided to try some alcoholic drinks this time--I never drink--and my face became so red! I was so embarrassed~~ (Disclaimer: I'm over 21, so no worries!) :)

 

Some of the exhibits were simple, while others were more extravagant. Has anyone had ThinkThin bars? They're actually pretty good--thick and chewy! Unfortunately the bars contain fake sugar, which doesn't always make me feel good. Nonetheless, they're a good on-the-go snack! The exhibit on the right was for a body & skincare products. Their display was so pretty--and smelled great! They had dried flowers on the ground! There's actually a lot more flowers on the ground than you can see in the photos; I guess the photo didn't capture it too well! 

 

 

The photo on the top right was marketing essential oils. Their marketing technique was brilliant, because they got people to interact with them by offering people the chance to DIY their own foot scrubs! Isn't the display so cute?  The top right photo was some of the samples I got to try at the expo! I love the chia pods--great for breakfast and snacks! The bottom two was offered by Chobani. Did you know they have their own cafe in New York City? Well, they came over to LA and made pancakes, granola + yogurt, muffins, cookies, and much more for their audience! The snacks were so delicious! 

I had a great time at the expo, trying different foods and meeting different people. It was also a great opportunity to see how my dad interacts with other business people! I'm so grateful that my professor had us to go see a trade show/expo, and this is a fun and exciting experience for anyone in studying business! Expo tickets can be pretty pricey, but often times, they have discounts for educational purposes! Take advantage of being a student~ :)

Has any of you ever attended an expo before? What was it about? I'm excited to know~

February favorites: dreams

Wow! February passes so quickly! I guess having 28 days actually makes a big difference~

This month, I've been very into inspirational quotes, because they really help change your frame of mind! Reading inspiring quotes from inspiring people really illustrates how a person's attitude and mindset affects his or her actions! Here are two of my favorites for this month!

What stood out to me about these two quotes is the "dreams" aspect. Both state that you can dream for a future, but you must actually go out do pursue those dreams, because your goals in life won't happen just because you want it. It takes passion and perseverance! If you don't have the passion to pursue your goals, you'll end up giving up when things get tough. You need perseverance, because the journey isn't going to be a walk in the park. You must stand strong in the face of difficulties.

Lastly, don't let a "No" discourage you. "No is the first word to success," because you have the courage to continue even when others may not believe in you! When you have this courage, you're bound to succeed. Your dreams are your dreams, so don't let others say you can't do it!

hehe, this last quote was from my professor. She assigned the class a journal entry in which she had us ponder on her ponderings. This was my response to her quote! :)

Weekend food fun at Pikey!

After the difficult and stressful Biochemistry exam last week, I was definitely in need of some friend-time, food, and relaxation. Being in California, my friends and I decided to check out some brunch locations in Hollywood! We went to the Pikey, and the food was phenomenal! I definitely had a great time! The chance to spend time with friends and eat good food was definitely worth the 1-hour traffic each way! hahaha. I'm still a little bummed about the traffic, but at least the experience at Pikey was wonderful. :)

Curry on Toast with fried duck egg

Full English breakfast with fried eggs, sausage, bacon, beans, roasted tomato, and mushroom with grilled toast

Brioche French Toast with seasonal fruit (berries) and crème fraîche

What are some of your favorite foods to eat for breakfast?

I absolutely love breakfast foods, but my favorite would be (good) French toast and pancakes!