Kakao Friends Collection Review Pt. 2 – The Face Shop

Hello everyone! I was originally going to make this one post but decided to split it into two as it started to get quite long. This second and last part is The Face Shop portion of the review. I’ll be reviewing their setting powder, as well as their (horrifyingly amazing) face masks! Part 1 of the review with more information on the Kakao Friends themselves can be found here.

As this is my first time reviewing products from The Face Shop I would like to talk about some recent changes they’ve gone through! Not too long ago they went through a complete brand overhaul, tweaking their image and concept into something completely different. The photo above shows their previous logo…

And this is their new logo and concept! They’re now using a sort of an ancient Greek/Roman feel to promote a “natural” image. I appreciate the change as before I felt they were one of the only Korean roadshops that lacked a unique colour and thus they were one of my least favourite stores. On to the review!

Image credit

Like VDL, The Face Shop is under LG Household & Health Care, so they also own the rights for Kakao Friends cosmetic collaborations. However unlike VDL, The Face Shop came out with a ton of products at once, ranging from palettes, lip products, and foundations, all the way to sunscreen, perfumes, and skin care!

•○ Oil Clear Blotting Powder ○•

As the colours of makeup they released were quite basic (nothing I don’t already have), I decided to go with a product that is both adorable and affordable! Since hearing that Etude House is discontinuing their Zero Sebum Drying Powder, I’ve been looking for replacements and figured why not try one of The Face Shops new formulations?

…which is the excuse I told myself, because honestly I got it just because of how cute it is.

Apeach’s little butt is impossible to resist!! So here I am, 8,000 KRW later, with a new blotting powder 🙂

Ingredients

Upon taking it out of the box you are greeted by this giant Apeach face. The packaging is solid and light, with a powdery matte finish appropriate to the product inside.

As you can see above, this product is quite a lot bigger than the Zero Sebum one (6g for 6,500 KRW vs 12g for 8,000 KRW). The packaging has a similar feel when touching it, but higher quality in that the Etude House design is just stuck on with a sticker and the The Face Shop one is actually part of the plastic, which I prefer!

Inside is a big powder puff with adorable Apeach detailing on the ribbon.

I’m pleasantly surprised with how good the quality is of this product when you consider the low price point. Every detail has been attended to, so I’d say The Face Shop is really stepping up their game!

Once you remove the sticker you pat the powder puff on the surface of the holes to get product out. I like to swirl my puff around for more of an even coverage, because I find that patting it makes the hole pattern stick on my face just like that! Unfortunately I haven’t opened the product yet to test it since I am waiting to finish my Etude House powder, but once I do I will update my Instagram with my thoughts.

•○ Face Masks ○•

Now onto the long-awaited part of this post! I will review each mask one by one so if you’re looking for a specific mask you can search the Kakao Friend’s name to go straight to that mask’s review.

These masks come in 5 varieties (with an upcoming unreleased 6th mask). I’ll be reviewing the unreleased mask on my Instagram whenever it comes out 🙂

MUZI

First up is Muzi, a pickled radish disguised as a rabbit! (I’m not making this up)

Each mask has a customized description based on each character’s personality. This mask claims to use the power of Apple Extract to sooth irritated skin.

The masks are the cotton type, and quite thin. The design on the mask matches the design on the packaging. At first it looked quite promising and cute…

…But once it was on I felt like I had walked straight out of a horror movie!!! I placed a little picture of what the mask is supposed to look like in each picture so you can compare what it’s supposed to look like with how it actually looks in real life (・_・ヾ…

The mask is also annoyingly large and the nose hole fit more over my mouth than the actual mouth hole did. Once I flipped up the eyes and removed the mouth cover I found myself having to fold over the mask in several places in order for it to line up somewhat properly. Despite the folding it was still very uncomfortable around my mouth because the nose hole kept sliding down my face and resting on my lips 😦 I had some skin irritations this day which is why I decided to do this mask in particular. It is full of serum and still felt very moist even after 20 minutes. As for the effects, it made my skin feel quite soft and moisturized for quite a while after using it! While it was on it did feel soothing and cooling, but that’s an effect I find most sheet masks to have. Not bad!

APEACH

Next is everyone’s favourite, Apeach! This is another “food brought to life” character so I had high hopes for the cuteness factor of this mask.

This mask claims to use Hyaluronic Acid to moisturize your skin. I didn’t mention it with the previous mask but these masks all have a similar, very faint scent. I don’t like scented masks so I was glad to find that the fragrance was barely noticeable.

More like a giant fly than a cute peach!

Here you can see the issue with the nose hole hanging down towards my mouth.

This one isn’t nearly as horrifying as the previous one when you flip up the eyes! As for how well the mask worked, I liked this one a lot! The moisturizing effect worked great and my skin felt hydrated after. I feel like the mask not smelling like peaches was a missed opportunity, but this is my second favourite of the line due to its long-lasting hydration effect.

NEO

Neo, the fashionable cat, is in charge of “resilience”!

I understand the use of masks for long-term wrinkle prevention but I can’t imagine using a mask once would make a difference for wrinkles so it’s a little difficult to review this one!

The eyes and lack of mouth made this one somehow spookier than the others 😛

But it’s almost cute with the eyes flipped up! Truthfully I had to take this mask off after just 7 minutes of use because it started to itch and burn my skin. My friend used this and didn’t have that problem so I believe it’s just my over-sensitive skin acting up 😦 If any of you have sensitive skin I don’t recommend this one because the itching and burning sensation lasted until I was forced to re-wash my face 10 mins later! This was my least favourite of all the masks by far 😥

FRODO

Seeing as this mask is for “moisturizing” and the Apeach one was for “hydrating” makes me wonder the difference between moisturizing and hydrating…does anyone know?

I guess the biggest difference between these masks are that the Apeach one contained acids and this one contains olives.

………

Hannibal Lecter?????????

No comment

If I had to choose between this mask and the Apeach one for hydrating factor I’d say the Apeach one definitely wins. This one wasn’t bad at all, it worked fine, but the Apeach one was better in that my skin felt hydrated and soft for much longer than this one.

TUBE

Finally the last mask, based on the easily angered duck, Tube!

This mask’s main ingredients are cotton seed and niacinamide for a brightening effect.

It’s also the least scary! It’s actually a little cute with the eyebrows and nose XD This one came with the eye and mouth covers already removed so I don’t have a before picture 😦

Despite fitting as badly as the rest, this mask was my favourite! My skin felt sooo nice after. I can’t really say if it brightened my skin or not as I only used one of them, but it might have that effect over time with continuous use. I feel I will be picking up a few more of these because I loved the pore smoothing effect and moisture it gave my skin! Thinking back to my Toning White C review, I guess I just have good luck with brightening products 🙂

•○ Final Thoughts ○•

These masks are filled with serum and didn’t come close to drying out despite leaving them on for the full 20 minutes! However I found the large size uncomfortable and had to constantly adjust it the whole time I wore it. These run on the “pricier” end at 2,500 KRW per mask, so I think the only one I’d repurchase is the Tube one, as that was the one that had the most lasting effect. As for the one I wouldn’t recommend, it’d be Neo as I saw the least effect and it irritated my skin 😦

This post ended up being longer than I expected! Maybe I should try getting out shorter posts more often by dividing content instead of creating long essays like this? Let me know if you have any thoughts on what you’d like to see most in the future! ❤

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