Review: Althea A'bloom Skincare Series + Meringue Puffs

This month, Althea brought us something new again! This time round it is a series of skincare plus some makeup tools.

Being one of their Althea Angels, I got to try all the items from the series and they are: (L-R in the pic)
- A'bloom Giant Meringue Puff
- A'bloom Baby Meringue Puffs
- A'bloom BHA Blackhead Blaster
- A'bloom Nourishing Avocado Mask Sheet
- A'bloom Moisturizing Watermelon Mask Sheet
- A'bloom Brightening Lemon Lime Mask Sheet
- A'bloom Anti-Blemish Peach Mask Sheet

These meringue puffs do look cute!!

The graphics on these A'bloom masks also look adorable don't they? ^_^

Because recently I had a staycation at Fort Canning Hotel, so I decided to bring all these cuties to the place for a nice photoshoot with pretty bright background. The bathroom is soOOoo beautiful!

Totally loving how bouncy this small meringue puff is~

A'bloom Meringue Puffs Review
So after I soaked meringue puffs with water, they enlarged by about twice the size. Just look at this giant meringue puff in my palm! /*o*\

I've used both the giant and and the baby puffs for various uses with different kinds of foundation and concealers over a couple of weeks.

After using A'bloom Giant Meringue Puff, I feel that it:
- feels very silky smooth and quite slimy when soaked in water
- feels very bouncy and is still dense even after soaked in water
- picks up foundation easily
- applies foundation better if I use the area around the pointy part
- is large enough for me to use different area for different parts of my face (eg, concealer for eyes, concealer for scars, foundation for overall face)
- transfer the foundation on my face in pretty light layers
- requires more foundation than other puffs/sponges do because it picks up and absorbs quite a lot of product
- feels dense thus somehow quite stiff or hard to blend foundation on my face
- its base is a good area to be used to apply powder onto face
- is quite hard to entirely wash off the foundation and concealer because it is dense and holds a lot of product inside it
- requires soaking in some sort of sponge cleanser overnight to entirely remove the product from the puff
I find that it is overall a pretty normal puff but I like its silky smooth puff surface. I only use it when there is foundation that I bare to use a lot as the puff absorbs much more product than my other sponges. It is a pretty good sponge as I love the size and the texture however it's a pity that it is much denser and absorbs way much product yet transfers only little product on my face hence the little makeup coverage I get most of the time.

After using A'bloom Baby Meringue Puff, I feel that it:
- is overall almost similar as its counterpart the Giant Puff but it is much less dense
- is although not as dense as the giant puff but it is still denser than many sponges I use
- can be used for both foundation and concealer too even though it is small in size
- is my current go to puff for concealer application
- also requires soaking in some sort of sponge cleanser overnight as I also find it quite hard to entirely remove the product from the puff
If I were to choose, I would pick Baby Meringue Puff as my everyday makeup sponge for both foundation and concealer.Even though it maybe small but it can still be used for foundation application by using the base side of the puff where it has the biggest area. The pointy part is so perfect for under-eye and corner of nose concealing.

A'bloom BHA Blackhead Blaster Review
I think this is my first time using a blackhead remover in stick form. Usually I always use mask type of blackhead remover or peeling gel.
It was an interesting experience for me to try out this BHA Blackhead Blaster. This product contains the main ingredients of Natural BHA, Charcoal, Apricot Seed Powder and Tea Tree Leaf Oil.
Following is how it looks like when applied on my skin, black because of the charcoal. Sometimes it leaves tiny residues probably because of the apricot seed powder.

When applying on my nose.... I went kinda overboard. hahax.. ^///^v~ The reason I applied onto my head because I always have closed comedones and they are absolutely stubborn, staying within the skin for very, very, VERY long time. ^_^;

So here you see after I applied the BHA Blackhead Blaster, it's my first time seeing these inflammation popping up! I have not have this kind of inflammation for like, 3 months or so already.
After using the product, be it just red spots or inflammation with white pus, they started appearing on my skin the very next day. At first I worried but after that I realised it might not be bad at all. Read more to find out why.

Before & After
Here's the before and after using A'bloom BHA Blackhead Blaster for 5 consecutive days. Nose feels so much smoother and cleaner! (Tap to zoom in and see the very tiny whiteheads on my nose in before pic!)

After using A'bloom BHA Blackhead Blaster, I feel that it:
- is very easy to use as it's in a stick form
- can be used anytime but best after shower and before applying mask/ skincare
- can be used on consecutive days to see maximum effect
- gives a tiny tingly effect on my first use and after a min or two, the feeling subsides
- shows red spots and tiny white puss inflammation on the next day (but not after every single use, it only appeared twice in the 5 days)
- helps in removing all my tiny white heads that are hard to extract as they are on my nose bridge and near eye area
- can be a little bit drying on my skin if overused as it has alcohol ingredient in it
- started to show effect on the 3rd use
- makes my nose and nose bridge very smooth
- helps purge the skin somehow thus that maybe the reason why there's red spots on my skin
- still requires me to do a little bit of extraction as there are white heads that were purged out from within the skin and they didn't drop off from skin surface
So after extracting all the inflammation (those with white pus) the skin flattens back and I realised that previous several stubborn closed comedones were gone! Hence I think it wasn't really that bad to see those inflammation?
This is by far the easiest backhead remover product I've used. Now it's my favourite white & blackhead remover, maybe more so than Althea Milk Peel Cream Mask already now. hehex~ XD~
I shall nickname it the "close comedones purger". ^,^/~


A'bloom Nourishing Mask Sheets Review

Anti-Blemish Peach Mask Sheet
Before I talk about the masks, please note that before I applied every sheet mask, I used the A'bloom BHA Blackhead Blaster.
For this anti-blemish mask, I feel that it:
- gets absorbed into my skin quickly
- enables the sebum on oily areas controlled (mostly my T-zones and corner of my nose)
- is quite a simple mask
- is not very moisturising
- feels a tad dry on skin areas that are normal - dry
- makes my skin immediately look a little bit fairer

Moisturizing Watermelon Mask Sheet

For this moisturizing mask, I feel that it:
- is pretty hydrating, gives my skin a cooling nice moisturised feel immediately
- is a tad sticky and a little glossy feel after use
- also makes my skin look a little fairer
- makes my skin feel smooth and soft
- makes my skin looks dewy
- helps gives extra hydration on top of my skincare and the hydration last til next morning

Nourishing Avocado Mask Sheet

For this nourishing mask, I feel that it:
- feels quite moisturising on first impression
- hydrates the skin even more deeply after sometime
- makes skin look brighter and radiant than other masks (probably becos I also did my weekly facial exfoliation prior to using the mask)
- makes my skin feels smooth
- makes my skin look a dewy and also glossy
- makes corner of my nose feels a little bit tingly (as I did a little bit of extraction of white heads after using the BHA Blackhead Blaster
- makes my skin feels soft, rejuvenated, hydrated until the next day afternoon
- is by far the one mask I like most among the 4

Brightening Lemon Lime Mask Sheet

For this brightening mask, I feel that it:
- is like the other masks, instantly makes my skin looks fairer
- mositurises my skin a little, not as much as the moisturizing and nourishing masks
- makes my skin look a little bit brighter and hydrated
- makes my skin feels soft and smooth

So there's all folks for my reviews!~ ^,~
If you would like me to recommend the products to buy from this series, I would say get the Baby meringue puff, BHA Blackhead Blaster, Nourishing and Brightening Sheet Masks! These are good for my oily-combi and aging skin type. ^_^

Where to buy?
Althea Website

Links
Althea FB Page
Althea Instagram

#AltheaKorea #AltheaAngels #AltheaAbloom.