Beauty and Fashion Tech

All Entries Tagged With: "Etude House"

Etude House USA

Etude House is a Korean cosmetics company that has a number of lovely products, including a good blemish balm (read review). For the longest time, it was difficult to obtain their products in the United States. The company did not retail in the U.S. and was limited to a few Asian markets. I used to buy the products on Ebay.

Now there is are some online retailers selling in the U.S.: Amazon.com has a few items and COSME-DE.COM (who also usually has free shipping) also carries a couple of items, along with a great selection of other Asian brands. then, there is EtudeHouseUSA.com. A note on the site does say that orders are currently a bit delayed because of overwhelming response. Personally, I think this brand is worth waiting a bit for though.

Popularity: 2% [?]

Etude House BB Magic Cream SPF 30 and Foundation Review

Update! Look for Etude House, especially the BB Magic Cream on COSME-DE.COM. There isn’t a lot there, but there but there are a couple of COSME-DE.COM (who also usually has free shipping) shopping boxes at the end of this post, along with a few Amazon links.

Etude House is a South Korean cosmetics brand that sells out of stores fashioned as adorable princess type houses. If you are able to get it at regular price, the Etude House line is one of the best bets out there for very affordable quality. Unfortunately, however, it is pretty hard to get Etude House outside of Korea and a few other Asian countries. You can purchase the brand from several excellent Ebay sellers, but will have to pay a markup. I actually think it is still of such quality that it is worth that markup, but still, it would be nice to be able to get their items at a better price.

I recently gave a number of Etude House items a try. Today’s review looks at the popular Etude House BB Magic Cream and their foundation.

Etude House Magic Cream is essentially a makeup primer. The BB in Magic Cream stands for blemish balm, which is meant as a soothing treatment balm that also covers redness and blemishes, but it is not really an acne treatment. The Blemish Balm is lightly tinted so as to provide a bit of coverage and evening of the skin tone, but it also provides a good base for foundation. Overall, this is one of the better and more interesting makeup primers that I have used. I provides a nice base, and I particularly find that it works well as a light primer for mineral makeup or powder foundations. Between the tint in the blemish balm and that in the makeup, it covers my areas of redness and melasma very well without making me look way too overly made up.

Etude House’s regular Blemish Balm formulation is a bit on the oily side. I have had no problems with it breaking me out, but if you have oily skin, you might prefer one of their formulations for that skin type. The added SPF 30 to the product is a big bonus, and actually is what I think makes it seem initially oily because the oily feeling goes away after it absorbs.

There are a couple of downsides to the Etude House Magic Cream. First, it has a pump tube, which I really don’t care for all that much. Those tend to either break or they leave too much unused product when the tube gets low. Second, although labeled as a blemish balm, Magic Cream doesn’t really conceal quite enough to be used alone. It is better as an overall tinted base for foundation or powder unless you want particularly sheer coverage. Etude House does make a heavier blemish Etudbalm though that covers more.

Etude House Dream On Foundation is wonderful stuff and is my new favorite in the area of liquid foundations. Etude House foundation has a moisturizing feel to it, but it is not at all oily. I wear it just fine on my currently oily skin. It sits on the skin quite well, without sinking into pores, which makes me wonder if it has some silicone in it—something that I love in a foundation. Because they are in Korean, I can’t read the ingredients to tell, but it feels like it does. Coverage is sheer-medium. Use the blemish balm under it, or a mineral powder over it for a bit more coverage. Use it alone for the most natural look if you are lucky (I’m not so lucky) and don’t have pigmentation to cover.

Right now Ebay is one way to get Etude House outside of a few Asian countries, but Cosme-De, linked above can be a good option. They also are a great source for asian beauty products in general.On Ebay, I have purchased from both iabsolutefashions and rumistyle. Both gave great service and included some samples with my package, which was nice.

I will be reviewing more Etude House makeup items in the future as I purchased quite a bit in order to maximize on shipping costs. So far, I love everything that I have ordered!

At Amazon:

ETUDE HOUSE BB Magic Cream
ETUDE HOUSE VIP Dear Darling Lips PK007

Another Update: Also look at Etude House USA for items. They are rather new and I have not purchased from them, but they seem to have a decent selection.

Popularity: 8% [?]

All Entries Tagged With: "Etude House"

Etude House USA

Related posts

Etude House BB Magic Cream SPF 30 and Foundation Review

Related posts