Product Review : Queen Helene The Original Mint Julep Masque

I wasn't intending to review this product so soon, but it would seem like many of you are interested in knowing more about this product. So once requested, we'll try our very best to do it :D

After a grueling day at work, I came home, scarfed down my dinner and took these pictures + edited them immediately! (Watching TV as I go along so it's delayed somewhat)

Proudly presenting...

My two tubes of Queen Helene The Original Mint Julep Masque! Just to show how much I love it, can you see that the tube on the right is almost completely flattened? The white part is yellowing from old age too :( I've had it for nearly two years already so I'm going to trash that and start on the tube beside!

Simple green and white packaging.

The main purpose? Dries up those irritating zits, rinse away your blackheads and shrinks your pores! By that, I have to once again clarify that it only does so for the appearance. For the explanation, please refer to THIS ARTICLE.

The ingredients list for all those who're worried about the contents! Also, I was presented with a question that I did not reply in detail, here it is along with the answer!

"Parabens, harmful on the skin and in the body?"

This is a question that has been raised over and over, not only on Domokie, but on other beauty blogs and basically, everywhere! I'm only answering with regards to Methylparaben here. Methylparaben is actually produced naturally. In fact, they're found in the fruits we consume! Of course, I don't think most of us know that because fruits don't really come along with an ingredients list. The purpose of the Methylparaben is to help kill the unwanted dirties in your skincare / food. Examples of the dirties can be fungi, bacteria and all the unseen things you can think of.

There has been tons of arguments and research done on this ingredient and contradicting results have been found. There are those who will NEVER touch this and describe this as a potential health hazard. There are those who think that this is harmless. Results from different studies have shown that indeed, Methylparaben can possibly cause damage to the skin yet it is still declared safe to use by the FDA. Perhaps that is because the negative impact(s) caused by Methylparaben isn't backed up sufficiently with enough research / results to be known as a fact? However, Methylparaben, if ingested, will be passed out as urine instead of accumulating in our bodies.

The fact about Methylparaben would be that it is actually a non-irritating ingredient that's great for sensitive skin. People who experience adverse skin reactions to this ingredient is because they are allergic to it. According to Wikipedia, this ingredient is "not carcinogenic, mutagenic, teratogenic or embryotoxic; additionally, it is negative in the uterotrophic assay." To know what an uterotrophic assay means, kindly google for yourself as I do not want to lengthen this answer any further! In short, I probably will not be avoiding products that contain Methylparaben like a plague.

The full description of the mask.

Here's what it looks like! A strange, green and grey clay!

This mask is a dream for those zits that have the white pus on the surface! It really shrinks them well and kicks the pus out of them. For those angry red ones, I am apologetic to say that this mask will only soothe the redness instead of purging the entire thing. To use this as an acne treatment, put a nice blob on your zits, like you would do with a spot treatment, leave this overnight and wash off the next morning. xteeener, one of my favorite youtube gurus adores this product as well!

Personally, I feel that this mask only works for extracting very light blackheads. By light blackheads, I'm referring to those that have yet to harden and become a solid form. Those can be sucked out easily with this mask. If your blackheads belong to the hard and stubborn category, a pore strip or a peeling mask would be more advisable. Kindly refer to the article on Pore Problems for more information. To remove blackheads with this mask, apply this over the affected pore areas for about 15-20 minutes to let it dry.

Apply a nice thick layer such as this.

And it should look like this when it starts drying up. It should start looking all crackled and wrinkly. The lightest whitish green is the area that is completely dried.

Really, at the end of the mask, your skin will feel smooth and tight in the good way. This mask has a nice minty scent at the beginning but the smell turns a little wonky as it starts to dry up. You will also feel a slight cooling sensation upon the application of this mask. It will go away in a few minutes as the mask starts to "tighten" your skin while drying up!

Sadly, despite how good it sounds, it is NOT readily available in Singapore. There may be little beauty shops that sell these but at a marked up price. There's one store that sells this in the Yishun Shopping Mall near where I stay. Please note that Yishun Shopping Mall =/= Northpoint! Alternatively, you can spree these in from Drugstore.com.

Scent: ★ ★ ☆ ☆ ☆ (From mint to wonky, not really my kinda thing~)
Effectiveness: ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ (Wonderful wonderful product! Cleans my pores really well and kills those zits!)
Overall : ★ ★ ★ ★ ☆ (One star off simply due to the scent, nothing else to penalize!)

Nothing much to judge on hence there're only 3 factors!

Also, remember to submit your entry for our GIVEAWAY HERE by 23.59 TODAY if you haven't already!

Cheers,
Chiharu ❤

Disclaimer : I bought both tubes with my own money!

Beauty Snippets : Pore Problem?

This is a problem faced by many. I've never addressed it before so here it is now. I hope this tiny article will help those facing this problem :D

Firstly, how does our pores usually gets enlarged?

Image via embarassingproblems

I hope this diagram helps you in visualizing what I'm about to describe. We all start from the pore size we were born with. Without proper care, the above will happen. The opening of the pore can be clogged by dirt or sebum and that will result in the formation of pimples. If you notice, pimples are generally swollen and painful to the touch. That is because all the pus has been building up thus causing your pore to expand AND swell.

Yes, you can burst it / poke it / heal it / squeeze it but what happens is that you'll get the dirt / pus out yet the pore remains enlarged. My main point here? They first key to solving pore problems is PREVENTION. To save yourself from pore problems, you have to keep your skin clear and healthy.

One way to do so is to use deep cleansing clay masks such as this.

Image via Queen Helene Masque

I own this green mask and I love it :D Use it twice a week to suck out all the oilies and dirt in your pores to prevent them from clogging and expanding! This one's hard to get though, I'm lucky the little beauty shop near my home sells these.

But what if, it's too late? 

Not everyone starts a proper skincare regime from an early age. What if your pores are ALREADY clogged? This is the next step to getting rid of your pore problems. If your pores are clogged, UNCLOG them. I call this step, EXTRACTION. You've heard of those pore strips right? Here's an example of a very popular one out in the market.

Image via iOffer

The Biore Nose Strip Pore Pack thingy. You know, the cloth thing that you first wet, place nicely over your nose, wait for it to dry and peel off with a satisfying but painful feeling? If you haven't used it, it's time to get one. But my problem with nose strips are that they're hard to put anywhere else except your nose. You can cut them up but they're not going to cover those hard to get places. The good thing is that these are always easily available at Watsons / NTUC / beauty shops.

So alternatively, one can always use something like this.

Image via hazel-yap

That product in the middle will be your savior. It's the kind of extremely stick mask that you have to slather all over your pores and let it dry before peeling. Personally, I think this extracts blackheads a lot better if you know how to use it well. It will be great if you pair it up with those two little bottles you see at the side. First you "soften" your blackheads, then the mask to extract them and the last bottle to "close" up the pores after extraction.

Imagine your pores being expanded by those dirt / sebum / pus, after you remove those dirty stuff, they'll automatically appear smaller because it is no longer being stretched. I hope everyone understands me till this point because it is really hard to explain without pictures. Imagine a lumpy wet cloth, after you squeeze all the water out, it looks smaller / more shriveled up right? Same theory applies.

This product is harder to find though, I believe Shills has a similar one that I mentioned before HERE.

Minimizing them

After you've done all of the above, your pore should be free of nonsense. Yet it still looks big. WHAT SHOULD YOU DO? This is something I've mentioned over and over again. I cannot stress how IMPORTANT it is to EXFOLIATE. Wait what?! How will exfoliating help in minimizing pores?

Here is an extremely ugly picture I have drawn in hope that it will help all of you better visualize my explanation. Don't laugh okay, I honestly am not an artist and this is the best I could do with paint.

Get it? Get it?! No really, don't laugh. I'm serious. Exfoliating helps in minimizing the APPEARANCE of your pores. When you remove the upper layer of dead skin, the "opening" becomes smaller hence the pores will all look smaller ^____^ A gentle, effective yet affordable choice can be the Meishoku DetClear that I'm using! See the review for it HERE~

Here's the harsh reality. You can NEVER really shrink the pore itself /.\ You can only minimize the appearance of pores. This is why you MUST remember the 3 key points to NOT having pore problems. Prevention, extraction and exfoliation.

I hope this helps those who don't know what to do with their pores. And as always, should any of you have a question, feel free to post it on our Facebook wall or email to Domokie@gmail.com! Also, please understand that you don't have to use the items I've specified, similar items that do the same job will do!

Love,
Chiharu ❤