b.liv: Clearing Pores, Diminishing Dark Circles & Lightening Pigmentation

Hi everyone!

It’s been awhile, yes? I was travelling and had to settle some paperwork and so on in preparation for my graduation. Yes, I’M OFFICIALLY A GRADUATE. I’m uber relieved and grateful for everyone’s support throughout the years and now, I hope that I can use that free time and do something productive for my readers. I’m going to do a heck lots of reviews for you gals and guys. Let’s get started!!!

A representative from b.liv contacted me and sent me a box of goodies for me to try, taking into consideration my skin type (combination skin, hormonal breakouts with blackheads and whiteheads on my T-zone area) and skin woes (pigmentation, blackhead and whiteheads) that I need for them to disappear.

So how I’m going to do this is to tell you about the products, my review, then some comparison photos for you to see. You might see difference in colors for the photos as all my photos were all gone as my SD card went bonkers. The photos below are whatever I could recover and some of them are new thus, the differences in lighting. The lighting differences are also due to the amazing rainy weather. And so, let’s begin.

Off With Those Heads (RM99 – 15ml)

Basically, this gel helps with blackheads and whiteheads extraction without the need for painful squeezing as it’s supposed to soften clogs at open pores. DO mind that you would still need to manually extract it after 14 days of using this product. Other claims is that it has powerful antiseptic, anti-fungal, and anti-bacterial properties which helps in preventing acne formation, controlling oil, skin softening, soothing, and hydrating. So does it really work?

Summary: Works well and softening clogs but gotta use it religiously for 14 days. It doesn’t really prevent breakouts as my face broke out more! It could be due to hormonal (UGH, period!) and my skin was getting used to a new product. I will update you after using this for more than a month.

Texture: Light, clear, cooling gel that mattifies and smoothens the face

During the first week, my skin was about 80% in the fabulous scale with a tiny bit of breakouts on my forehead, some blackheads on my nose, and some textured whiteheads near my nose-cheek area as you can see. I had a particular bigass whitehead on the right side of my nose and it had been there for MONTHS and it was still stubbornly there. I used this every morning and night after cleansing without using any of my usual skincare products as I wanted to see if this really works after all the hype. After about 7 days, I tried extracting and it was surprisingly, fairly easy and there was SO MUCH GUNK that I wanted to PUKE. In fact, I didn’t even put on makeup during the entire weeks I was testing this. However, that BIG ASS whitehead? It was still there.

During the second week of trying this, I noticed the area around my nose was dry and peeling so I decided to add my moisturizing serum into my skincare routine. Once second week was over, I tried extracting again. AND THAT BIG ASS WHITEHEAD just popped out! Gah! You have no idea how happy I was. However, the amount of gunk was still basically the same. I would recommend this to people who has trouble extracting the yucky thingy on their face as this made it sooo much easier.

Before: Left Profile

After: Left Profile

Before: Right Profile

After: Nose Profile – Definitely much cleaner pores

Unfortunately, my forehead became a warzone due to hormonal breakouts but this time, the breakouts were much worse than before. Below are the pictures for your judgement. PS. It’s super disgusting, YAY!

Before: Forehead

After: Forehead (Lots of texture)

b.seen I’m dark circle reliever (RM99 – 15ml)

 

Ah, dark circles, they’re such a pain in the ass. This product claims to fade dark circles and eliminate eye puffiness by using active ingredients such as n-hydroxysuccinimide (activates the elimination of blood originated pigments responsible for the dark circle color and local swelling), hesperidin methyl chalcone (helps reduce capillary permeability to prevent leakage that leads to dark bruise-like discoloration), dipeptide-2 (smoothes the eye contours and reduces bagginess), and palmitoyl oligopeptide (reinforces the elasticity of the skin and tones the eye area).

I know right? It sounds absolutely fabulous! However, I did not see a difference after two weeks but it could be due to a wide variety of reasons; travelling aka sleeping late and waking up early, stress, diet, so on and so forth. I will insert the comparison photos down below and will update you all once I have a more stable schedule and using this for a month or so (I apologize for the inconsistency of the color in the images as I took the ‘before’ photos in natural lighting, it has been super inconsistent for weeks! It was always cloudy and raining. I’ll update the photos again after a month or so).

I’ve used this in the morning and night for two consecutive weeks. It’s HORRIBLE under makeup aka concealer as it creases like mad and made streaks! Totally wouldn’t recommend this under makeup, do use a clear, moisturizing eye gel for a smoother surface.

Texture: Creamy gel with bits of shimmer-like particles (what’s the purpose of the shimmer?)

I believe the texture and color of the product makes it look like your undereyes are a tad bit brighter

Before: Right Eye

After: Right Eye

Glow and Shine – Skin Smoothening Mask (RM99 – 15ml)

According to the claims, this mask scrubs away imperfections and help the skin to glow from within by using key ingredients such as lactic acid (an AHA exfoliant that’s super gentle, soaks up excess oil and sebum, as well as stimulate cell renewal for vibrant looking skin) and papaya enzyme/papain (digests dead skin cells as it softens and brightens the skin without affecting the surrounding skin tissues). All in all, it’s supposed to normalize sebum output and reduce skin oiliness which in turn will tighten enlarged pores and prevent future large pores formation.

The verdict? I FREAKING LOVE THIS SO MUCH!

Texture: White, creamy like custard texture with granule particles

The granules can be seen in the above image

I like the thought of enzymes and acids on my skin as it’s proven to brighten the complexion. After usage, I can immediately see a difference in my skin.

The scent smells amazing, a combination of papayas and yogurt (YAAASSS!) which smells quite natural, actually. The moment you apply this on your face, you’ll feel a cooling, tingly feeling on the face which is pretty amazing, making me feel like it’s doing its work and calming the skin (especially after extraction). The after effects are to die for. The skin is uber smooth as it really does smoothen the texture of the skin, flattening the inflamed pimples and so on. It also brightens the skin and reduced the pigmentation marks maybe about half a shade lighter. Genuinely, this really works wonders.

I’ll post an update on the photos in about a month.

Immerse Me – Utmost Moisture Original Japan Silk Mask (RM11.50 – 1 piece)

As what I said in the beginning of the post, I lost a heck lots of pictures but I managed to recover only this photo of the mask ☹, all nestled between its siblings.

It’s a cloth mask, just like any other basic sheet masks with claims of giving the skin the most needed hydration and moisturization with a boost of HA (hyaluronic acid) and HA+ that penetrates deeply into every skin cell and Imperata Cylindrica Root Extract that optimizes and reinforces collagen synthesis and moisture absorption in the skin by providing long term moisturization.

It does what any basic sheet masks do but needed hydration? Not really. I used this at night and in the morning, I don’t see any suppleness of the skin. I would say that it’s good for the skin as it acts like a barrier from the dryness of an air-conditioned room but it didn’t necessarily hydrate my skin as I could still see my cheeks flaking (I’ve exfoliated my face with a gommage and yet, my cheeks are still flaking after using two of these).

From the range that they’ve sent me, my top two picks are…

I would only use this around my nose area since my forehead doesn’t seem to like this very much.

Best acid, enzyme mask I’ve ever tried!

Have you tried any of these products? Do let me know in the comment section and if you have the same skin woes as me, what products would you recommend?

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Additional Info:

Go to https://www.bliv.com/my/index.php/ for value packs and discount. They have tons of them!

Also, you can sign up for a shopback account at http://www.shopback.my/?raf=VexDrt to get 9% cashback which is so worth it. *The shopback link  is a referral link which would support me in doing what I do 🙂 If you’re uncomfortable with that, just sign up to shopback via the usual way 🙂