Price: RM128 on Althea
Verdict: 10/10
Repurchase: NA
Repurchase: NA
(Box is sold out and unlikely to return)
Price, Shop & Product
I received this box in exchange for an honest review from The Butterfly Malaysia and Althea Malaysia. They were looking for someone with troubled skin who could put the products in this box to good use and I raised my hand because I fit the bill perfectly. Thank you to both Butterfly Project Malaysia and Althea for sending this to me! :) All thoughts are honest and my own, as always.
I had been suffering from a product-testing related breakout that just would not go away, turning my forehead into a constellation of red spots, bumps, and cc's only after just one use of the product. :( It's really heartbreaking since my forehead was my saving grace, with it being the only part of my face that's not filled with acne scars and breakouts. The product is a little known brand that I won't drag through the mud just because it wasn't for me.
Gone are the days of good skin.
As you can probably tell, this box came at just the right time to help me fix the disaster that's plagued my skin.
Althea is an international Korea-based Beauty store that has a a low RM99 minimum free shipping requirement to Malaysia. The prices for the items in the store are all honestly great, and every once in a while, they come up with Althea Boxes that has prices that're just amazing. This particular trouble breaker box is worth RM485 but is discounted to RM128, at 73% off, but I'm getting ahead of myself.
Althea Korea is available in Malaysia, Singapore, Philippines, Indonesia, Thailand, US, and pretty much anywhere in the world and offers free shipping once a certain treshold is made. I did a mini writeup of them here.
Althea Box #18: Trouble Breaker Box
This is box number 18 in the line of boxes Althea had realeased. These are available internationally, so do take a look. Some of the boxes are available, but most boxes sell out really quickly! The boxes, once sold out, don't come back for sale, so if you see one that you like, it's best you grab it before it's gone. I reallike like the themes they have for the boxes. There's boxes for makeup magic, total brightening, exclusive skinfood, and so on, each focusing on the themes.
This particular box, as you can probably tell, is aimed for troubled skin. It's aimed for fixing the troubled skin.
Inside the box are the following six items:
- Swanicoco AC Care Skin Toner priced at RM130 after discount
- Innisfree Jeju Bija Trouble Lotion priced at RM60 after discount
- Keywis Icy White Cooling Massager priced at RM69 after discount
- The SAEM Healing Tea Garden Tea Tree Cleansing Water priced at RM21 after discount
- Missha Anti Trouble Patch (not available on Althea Malaysia)
- Aromatica Tea Tree 53 Blemish Spot priced at RM46 after discount
As you can see, even at the discounted prices on althea and without adding the Missha patch, the items add up to RM326! Even if you just want one or two items from the box, it's already worth the price. ^^
Since my routine isn't doing it's best to fix my skin, I've decided to just go 'Eff it!' and nuke my routine, replacing my steps with everything here instead. Here's my result after 1 1/2 week of using everything in the box. :)
1. Swanicoco AC Care Skin Toner
This toner is actually not new to me. I've been using the toner for the better part of the month ever since Swanicoco sent it to me earlier. Swanicoco goes through stablizied systems and numerous tests before releasing their products. They use herbal and natural ingredients that encourage long-term skin health care.
This particular toner is good for adjusting balance of water and oil while containing plenty of organic ingredents for the skin. It has 120ml of product that's kept in a solid glass pump bottle that dispenses product easily.
Notable Ingredients: The main ingredient in the product is tea tree, which is good for healing and controlling skin blemishes. Notable ingredients include tea tree, hydrolyzed algin, cinnamon, oreganoc, white willow bark, ceramide, jojoba seed oil, peony root, ect. There's plenty of ingredients here that aims for fixing and healing skin blemishes naturally, which I really like.
Texture: The toner is super watery. I've taken to dispensing a pump on my palm, then patting it on. Sometimes, I use two pumps, but that causes the liquid to spill out of my palm. That's how watery it is. The scent of tea tree is fairly heavy, but goes away upon application. :) It dries really comfortably and quite quickly.
Result: This toner, on it's own, isn't really enough to provide enough hydration. I do use another toner over this prior to using the emulsion of the same line. As I mentioned earlier, I've used this for more than a month already. While I love how this dries on my skin, and how it smells, I don't think it's helping control acne at all, seeing as I've continued to break out even after introducing this to my routine. While it's not to blame for causing the breakout, it didn't really help much either. I love the product and the ingredients and it's a decent toner, but not really all that magical. Still, I'm really glad to have a backup, since I really do enjoy it as a toner. It's not too heavy and is non-clogging, and there's so many beneficial ingredients in the product that I think my skin is just being super fussy by not getting fixed.
2. Innisfree Jeju Bija Trouble Lotion
Innisfree is a great brand and with many wonderful products, so when I saw that there's a product in the box from the well-known korean brand that's aimed for troubled skin, I was underfustandably excited.
The Bija Trouble Lotion is a Facial Moisturizer that works well for those with acne as it has been tested to be non-comedogenic. It contains Jeju oil, which works effectively to care for troubled skin and protect it from aging. There's 100ml of product for the price of RM60 on Althea, which is fairly resonable.
Notable Ingredients: In addition to the Jeju oil, it also has salicylic acid, which can help control and heal acne. In addition, it has extracts of Camelia, Opuntia, Satsuma, and white willow. It also has niacinamide for brightening.
Full ingredients Here: Water, Butylene Glycol, Squalane, Cyclopentasiloxane, Cyclohexasiloxane, Torreya Nucif.Era Seed Oil, Salix Alba (Willow) Bark Extract, Niacinamide, Camellia Sinensis Leaf Extract, Camellia Japonica Leaf Extract, Orchid Extract, Opuntia Coccinellif.Era Fruit Extract, Citrus Unshiu Peel Extract, Beta-Glucan, Olea Europaea (Olive) Oil Unsaponif.Iables, Dimethicone, Cetearyl Alcohol, Glyceryl Stearate, Inulin Lauryl Carbamate, Cetyl Alcohol, Di-C12-13 Alkyl Malate, Octyldodecanol, Silica, Peg-75 Stearate, Sucrose Polystearate, Hydroxyethyl Acrylate/Sodium Acryloyldimethyl Taurate Copolymer, Polyacrylate-13, Steareth-20, Ceteth-20, Peg-100 Stearate, Polyisobutene, Glycerin, Polysorbate 20, Propanediol, Disodium Edta, Phenoxyethanol, Ethylhexylglycerin, Abies Sibirica Oil, Juniperus Communis Fruit Oil, Juniperus Virginiana Oil, Fragrance
Texture: The texture of the product is creamy and applies really nicely onto the skin. It smells somewhat like an old herbal medicine that my family used to treat woundw, Minyak Batu Sai Kong, which some Chinese Malaysians might be familiar with? Everytime I apply this, I feel like I'm applying something to heal my skin. Thankfully, the scent goes away pretty quickly.
Result: The cream applies very smoothly, sinking into my skin and leaving behind super soft and soothed skin. I was quite surprised by how nicely this sinks into my skin, since normally cream products just tend to sit on my skin without being absorbed. I think it has to do with the alcohol in the product though. It has Butylene Glycol, Cetearyl Alcohol, and Cetyl Alcohol. I don't have trouble with having alcohol in my products, but people sensitive to that should do well to avoid it.
In terms of healing acne, I think it works somewhat? It's not helping them disappear completely, but I noticed on days I skipped this, my acne are more inflammed and my skin is more bumpy. :( Might repurchase! :)
This Keywis Icy White cooling massager is quite possibly the most interesting item in the box. It's a cooling massager with a reusable and permanent Ice cartridge. that can help to relieve swelling, minimize pores. It's also used before makeup to make it set better, and to calm down pimples.
Instructions says to put it in the freezer for more than 1 hour to get up to an hour of coolness. The weather in Malaysia can get particularly hot though, so it doesn't exactly last a full hour for me. The blue cartridge goes into the freezer while the white plastic tube is used to make sure I don't get frostbite while handling the tube.
This is so lovely and cooling. I use it on super hot days and particularly on my puffy eyebags. The massager is 'semi-permanent' because there isn't exactly a use-by date, and it really shouldn't break down or anything.
Other than the beauty usage, it can be used for swollen areas, or as something suddenly super cold to wake me up. XD
I've used this a couple of times since I got it, which is more times than I expected to, since I originally thought this would be one of those gimmicky items I won't use at all. It's been great for calming down pimples, keeping me awake, and just being utterly and wonderfully soothing.
The only other things in The Saem brand that I've used before are their masks, which I find average. Therefore, I didn't really have high expectations for this product. It's only RM21, so it's not fair to expect it to work wonders either.
The Seam's Healing Tea Garden Tea Tree Cleansing Water is a gentle one-step cleanser that removes dirt and residue from skin (including makeup). It's infused with Australian tea tree extract and is supposed to keep pores clean and sebum production at bay. It's made without any artificial pigments, fragrances, parabens, mineral oil, or talc.
There's 300ml of product, which is sure to last a long time.
Instructions: Instructions says that this is a one-step cleansing water, which means no additional cleanser is required! On the other hand, I'm rarely satisfied with just one-step cleansing, especially at the end of a long day. I've taken to using this on a saturated cotton pad and applying it on my skin in the morning. Directions suggest leaving it on the sin for 5 - 10 seconds before wiping to really remove makeup and repeat as necessary.
Texture: The texture of the cleansing water is understandably very watery, which means a cotton is definitely necessary while using this.
Result: I don't use makeup much, but I applied makeup to test this. Lol. It stung a little when it got to my eye, so I suppose I wouldn't recommend using this for sensitive areas of the face. XD It's quite wet. and it washes off makeup really well, as promised, even waterproof eyeliner. Though again, I'd recommend a cleansing balm that wouldn't drip into the eye and cause pain.
5. Missha Anti Trouble Patch
I couldn't find this for sell on Althea, sadly, but it retails for about RM20 on Amazon. It reminds me immediately of the Cosrx Pimple Patch that I reviewed earlier, so I was excited to compare how it does compared to the Cosrx.
This is basically a band-aid for zits. Unlike the Cosrx pimple patches, it's transparent. In addition, instead of 24 patches, there's only 12, that's half the number of patches at the same price, but for good reason, since it contains loads of ingredients.
It contains tea tree oil, grape seed oil, and hyaluronic acid to help soothe, calm and clean. The Cosrx Patches is made of only cellulose gum, whereas this contains Acrylates Copolymer, Propylene Glycol, Water, Alcohol Denat., Sodium Hyaluronate, Salicylic Acid, Vitis Vinifera (Grape) Seed Extract, Melaleuca Alternifolia (Tea Tree) Leaf Oil, Allantoin, Phytosphingosine, Polysorbate 80, Methylparaben. It's more expensive, but I suppose it's because it's made of all these benefitial ingredients.
I've only used one of the the twelve patches so far and it's pretty good! the staying power is on par with Cosrx, maybe even better, since Cosrx won't attach that well if I applied lotion before using it, but this stayed throughout the night. It also successfully draws out gunk and gross stuff from the acne. ><
I find myself liking this a lot to be honest, which surprised me since Cosrx is my HG. The packaging is also more environmentally friendly, in my honest opinion. The Cosrx patch comes in a bag that's 3 times it's size. It's not resealable, but that's easily fixed by tossing this together with my cosrx package. XD
6. Aromatica Tea Tree 53 Blemish Spot
Notable Ingredients: It is made of 20% natural tea tree essential oil and 33% natural tea tree leaf extract which help treat troubling spots. It has low stimulant salicylic acid for healing blackhead, whitehead, and troubled skin.While there's only 10ml of the product, you really only need a few tiny drops to spread around, so this will last a while.
After 5 days, the redness was contained, though the spots remain. At first, I tried applying using the cotton bud, but I felt like the cotton was soaking up all the product, so I've taken to using clean fingers instead. The real changes began after I stopped using the cotton bud.
On the 8th day and most of the active spots are completely gone, leaving behind the tell-tale scars that accompany all my breakouts. This, sadly, is as good as it gets. I've yet to find products that work to fade these scars completely. It's an amazing product for making breakouts calm down though and hopefully it'll continue improving my skin texture with longer use.
With prolonged use (twice a day as recommended), this actually broke my skin out in rashes. :( So I have to be careful about using too much of this.
Overall Impression
Phew! I'm finally done! There's really so much in this box that it took a while to try them out and decide what's a hit and what's a miss. I'll be returning the items individually once I've had more time with them. :)
There's no misses in this box for me (for now). I loved that I got to try everything here. Some of the brands were new to me, like the Aromatica, and Keywis, while others were familiar brands and products I've never tried. And then there's the Swanicoco that I loved to have a backup of! I'm still in awe that the bottle is for sale for RM130 and the whole box is RM128. Lol.
Althea boxes are great value, but as I mentioned before, they don't get restocked. So if you see anything you want, best grab it before someone else does!
Price: RM128 on Althea
Verdict: 10/10
Repurchase: NA
Repurchase: NA
(Box is sold out and unlikely to return)
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