April Skin Archives | My Women Stuff

Cushion Foundation Commentary: Western brands vs Korean brands

September 21, 2016 Paris B 23 Comments

After trying cushion foundations from both Western and Korean brands in recent times, I thought I’d share some quick thoughts on how I feel about how they stack up against each other. They are by no means comprehensive, as the market is quite saturated with cushion foundations and I do not claim to have tried all the brands out there. However, I believe what I’ve tried represents a reasonable cross-section of what’s on offer out there.

For a more detailed insight into the brands I tried, I’d suggest you run through Cushion Foundation Week 1 (Western brand cushions) and Week 2 (Korean brand cushions). I’ve shared in there my thoughts on each of them in greater depth and how they compare to each other.

But for those of you wondering just how similar or different the Western brands have recently approached cushion foundations, which were made popular by the Korean brands, this is what I think.

Cushion Foundation Week 2 – The K-Beauty Edition : Round up and Comparison

September 19, 2016 Paris B 18 Comments

Ok tell me now, which day of Cushion Foundation Week 2 (the K-Beauty edition) did you miss?! LOL I’m sure not everyone was following every single day, and honestly I don’t blame you. It was quite a challenge for me as well, as it does involve a lot of work, as you can imagine. But I hope you found it useful, one way or another.

A problem I faced when compiling CFW2 (the K-Beauty edition) is the lack of information. I discovered very quickly that Korean brands update their cushion foundations very often, and have confusingly similar names, and a confusing lack of clarity in their product names and description. So, I was operating with a handicap right away. This was further borne out when I realised while doing my research, that a couple of the cushions I had, had been reformulated or repackaged and even renamed by the time I featured them. It was very frustrating for me because I bought most of the cushions this time around, and I just didn’t know about the changes when I got them just a few months back.

Due to the avalanche of requests from the last Cushion Foundation Week, I focused on Korean brands this time around. I was very fortunate this time to have been gifted with the Laneige (Pore Control and Whitening), Sulwhasoo and Mamonde, which was really why I decided to do this back-to-back comparison, just to see how they all fare against each other. With these therefore, the information I have is current. With the others that I bought online, I only have whatever online information I have to go by and as it turned out, it was out of date. I found that very frustrating, and that will be your frustration when you too, try to buy online.

So, I’m done with cushion foundations for a while, but as I have received so many queries on Instagram about how they stack up next to each other, here is my round-up and final thoughts on the Korean cushion foundations that I own and that I’ve featured here on MWS. You can chime in too of course!

Cushion Foundation Week 2 Day 6: April Skin Magic Snow Cushion SPF50+ PA+++ comes highly raved!

September 17, 2016 Paris B 9 Comments

Anyone still here for Day 6 of Cushion Foundation Week 2 (The K-Beauty Edition)? Let’s hear you! Oh yes, we have T-1 more to go before we’re done! Go here to see what’s been featured so far.

Naturally, I will not have ALL the brands in the market for this head to head comparisons – Korean brands aren’t all that generous at providing samples, unlike the Western brands I worked with before this – but I have enough to take you through 7 (yes, count that) SEVEN days of Cushion Foundations. This time, we will have a whole WEEK of cushions and then on Day 8 (if I have not yet collapsed from exhaustion), I’ll give you a round up, and on Day 9 (Yes, I’ve thought this through) I’ll do you a quick comparison of Korean vs Western brand cushions based on what I’ve tested so far. Whew! There’s a lot to get through so, fasten your seatbelts, here we go!

When I did my first round of Cushion Foundation Week, I was told by so many people that I had to a) please try all the Korean cushions (what? sponsor me? 😛 ) and b) please try this April Skin Magic Snow Cushion SPF50+ PA+++ because this one was THE BEST IN THE MARKET!

I raised a sceptical brow. You know me right? I couldn’t resist the challenge 😀

But when momentum gathered for Cushion Foundation Week 2 (the K-Beauty Edition), and I had a missing slot, I hunted around online for a site to buy this one to try, that wouldn’t scalp me and that I didn’t have to wait till I was 80 before it got here. Happily I found it on a local website (Hermo) and now I know what you’re wondering. Is this April Skin Magic Snow Cushion deserving of all the manic raves out there? Is this truly THE BEST CUSHION?!

The fun and previews happen on Instagram @parisbmws