Iope Air Cushion Review

Iope Air Cushion XP SPF50+/PA+++ in N21

Cushion Foundations seem to be all the rage in South Korea at the moment, and this is the product that started it all. Since its release back in 2010, the Iope Air Cushion has been the highest-selling cushion foundation on the market. Many brands have been releasing their own versions over the years, but Iope's is still the most popular of its kind.

The thing that struck me first was the packaging. Not only does it ooze luxury, it's also functional. Everything you need is in this little compact: a mirror, a puff applicator with its own tray, and the cushion foundation itself, which is a replaceable cartridge. It's the lazy girl's dream. The package itself comes with a spare cartridge as well, which is great value for money, but makes me wonder how fast the cushions dry out.

The main difference between air cushions and BB creams is sun protection. Cushion foundations are designed to provide superior coverage and sun protection that's easy to apply and re-apply throughout the day. The Iope Air Cushion has SPF 50++, which is enormous considering that many foundations only have a measly SPF15 or nothing at all. The formula is quite light, and doubled with the puff applicator makes it really easy to reapply throughout the day. It doesn't seem to matter how much you build the product up either, it never seems too thick or heavy on the skin. In fact, it looks like real skin.

What I really love about this foundation though, is how it looks and feels on the skin. It brightens the skin and makes it glow. It's also very hydrating. It's not so much of a 'dewy' look like what you'd expect from BB creams, but more natural. I was disappointed by the coverage though. It's very light, and struggles to cover pimples or intense redness. So it may be the lazy girl's dream, but she would need to have immaculate skin. So unfortunately the lack of coverage does kind of defeat the purpose of having convenient, purse-worthy packaging for me.

It's not a cheap product, the price ranges from $50 to $100 depending on where you buy it. It does come with an extra cartridge though. I still haven't used up the first one yet, so it can last quite some time (bear in mind I don't use it every day). It's definitely worth it if the product is exactly what you need, a light coverage with heaps of sun protection that you can reapply throughout the day. If I was more comfortable in my own skin (sigh, maybe one day), this would be the ultimate product.

Iope Essential Facial Oil Review

Iope Essential Facial Oil 30mls

Out of all the products I received in the Iope Super Memebox, this was the product I was most excited to try (I have a thing for facial oils, let’s just leave it at that). The Essential Facial Oil is a lightweight formulation designed to deliver deep nourishment and hydration to the skin.

Ingredients: caprylic capric triglyceride sucrose polycottonseedate, argan oil, macadamia oil, castor oil, dicaprylyl ether, oleic / linoleic/ linolenic polyglycerides, fragrance (check cosdna link here)

This is oil is packed with heaps of essential fatty acids from coconut, argan, and macadamia oils which help soften and repair damaged and uneven skin. And let’s not forget about all those anti-aging properties these oils carry. It’s a nice product to start with for younger users to help prevent and delay the signs of aging. I believe castor oil is the only ingredient that may cause irritation for some, but so far I haven’t experienced any problems.

The texture of this oil is surprisingly silky, and doesn’t feel thick and heavy at all. It does take a while to absorb, but if you only use this in the evening it shouldn’t be a problem. It also has a heavy lavender scent. It’s very calming and relaxing, identical to the scent of the Kiehl’s Midnight Recovery Concentrate. Not a bad thing at all. When I use this, every morning I wake up with a really lovely glow. The skin feels plumper, the fine lines around my eyes and mouth are reduced, and my skin tone looks even. I haven’t suffered from any severe breakouts since I started using this, even when I did get a few pimples, it helped heal them much faster.

I’ve been using this oil for 6 months now, and I’ve only just passed the halfway mark. A little goes a long way with this one, and it’s definitely a product I think I’ll repurchase in the future. However, I have noticed some huge price differences. It’s usually price around $15 to $20. I have seen it as low as $12 on some sites, but I have also seen it as high as $115 on another (I bet you can guess which shameless website that is). Really guys?! In their defense, it definitely doesn’t feel like a $20 product. With the sleek, glass packaging and the results this oil gives, it definitely feels a lot more upmarket.

Iope Essential Skin Boosting Serum Review

Iope Essential Skin Boosting Serum, 40ml

Late last year I was lucky enough to get my hands on the Iope Super Box from Memebox.com for a very reasonable price. Out of all the products I received, I wasn't overly excited about this serum, and wrote it off as moisturising product my skin didn't need. But even oily skin can become dehydrated. I still experience dry and flaky patches of skin around my cheeks and nose, which become blatantly obvious when I wear makeup. All you want to do is just peel it off, but that just makes it worse. When it finally dawned on me that maybe I did need some moisturising products in my skincare, I decided to give this product a go. This serum claims to boost hydration and prevent dehydration. It also works to maintain the right balance on your skin by strengthening its natural healing power and "moisture lock-in capability".

Ingredients: Water, alcohol, butylene glycol, cyclopentasiloxane, dipropylene glycol, glycerin, PPG-17, cyclohexasiloxane, dimethicone, nacinamide, squalane, lactobacillus (soybean) ferment extract, dimethiconol, phenoxyethanol, tromethamine, acrylates (c10-30 alkyl acrylate crosspolymer, carbomer, fragrance, ethylhexylyglycerin, monascus (rice) ferment, saccharomyces, barley seed ferment filtrate, disodium EDTA, alpha-clucan oligosaccharide, witch hazel, soybean.

This serum has a light, watery texture that absorbs into the skin fast, without leaving any trace or icky film on the skin. My skin feels plump and soft after I use this, but what I really love is that it's not too moisturising that I can't use my serums afterwards. It has a light, floral scent on par with the rest of Iope and Laneige products, and doesn't irritate my skin (or my senses!) The pump is absolutely fantastic as well, it dispenses the perfect amount of product, and although it does come in a frosted bottle, it's possible to see how much is left with proper lighting.

Results weren't immediate, but after a week of regular use I noticed a huge difference in the dry patches around my cheeks. They had basically disappeared. When I wear foundations and BB creams now, I hardly notice any flakiness or scaliness anymore, nothing huge I feel obliged to tear away from my face anyway. It also hasn't caused any congestion or breakouts, and although my skin is still oily, I have been breaking out a lot less lately, and I think it's because I've finally lost my battle with sebum-controlling and oil stripping products and moved on to more moisturising products that actually keep my skin balanced and healthy.

| Memebox Review | The Iope Super Box

A few weeks ago the one and only Beauty Wolf blogged about a particular sale they were having at Memebox. For anyone who doesn't know, Memebox is an online Korean beauty-box store. I had never heard of them before but decided to purchase the Iope Super Box they had on sale. The Iope Super Box included 6 full sized products, and all for the price of $80 AUD. Most of these products are around $50-$70 each, so savings wise, that's math I can't do without a calculator. It's about $270 actually, but anyway, this is what I received:

Air Cushion XP SPF50 PA+++ No. 21 (refill included) - RRP $48

This is Iope best-selling product, packed with highly concentrated mineral water and beneficial nutrition such as Vitamin B5, E, and P, this air cushion works to cool and moisturise reddened, stimulated skin. It looks and feels like a very luxurious product, it smells heavenly, and I cannot wait to test this out.

Essential Moisture Relief Cream - RRP $87

A light-textured cream suitable for summer, this product soothes, moisturises, and tightens dried-up, worn-out skin. Scent and texture wise, this reminds me a lot of a the Laneige Sleeping Pack (which I will love until the end of time). So not a bad first impression on Iope's part.

Essential Skin Boosting Serum - RRP $84

This serum boosts hydration, preventing any possible dehydration after cleansing. It also works to maintain the right balance on your skin by strengthening the natural healing power and moisture lock-in capability.

Essential Tone & Wrinkle Care Eye Cream - RRP $86

Enriched with shea butter and jojoba oil, this eye cream will fill in fine lines and wrinkles around the eyes and create a protective layer to prevent further sagging and wrinkle formation.

Essential Facial Oil - RRP $90

This thick, yet quickly absorbing facial oil creates a thick, protective later over the skin for a softer, smoother skin texture. Organic argan oil and macadamia oil delivers deep nourishment and hydration to the skin. This reminds me a lot of the Kiehl's Midnight Recovery concentrate, it has the same heady lavender scent. Because I haven't experienced any severe break-outs yet, I think this is a far superior oil to Kiehls'.

Lip & Cheek 01 in Pink Rose - RRP $42

Last but not least, is the dual lip and cheek compact. The colour is quite strong, but it blends out beautifully. I love the packaging of this one, it feels so sleek! It also has a mirror inside!

Overall my experience with Memebox was really good. As much as I despise shipping costs I found the extra $5 very reasonable, and was pleasantly surprised when this box showed up at my door-step exactly two weeks from the purchase date. A lot of my parcels from South Korea can take between three to five weeks to arrive. Even though this wasn't a mystery box I would love to try one in the future. I used to be a Bella Box subscriber, and although I enjoyed receiving mystery boxes, I was never overly impressed with what I received. Memebox is completely different though. Instead of receiving a mix bag you can choose the box you want: hydration, collagen, whitening, body care, brow care…the list goes on. You can also purchase 'superboxes' that usually contain a whole lot of full sized products (like the Iope one) for a little bit more. So if you're a Korean skincare fanatic like me, and you're interested in trying out new products, definitely check out Memebox.com.

Iope Complete Care CC Cream Review

Iope Complete Care CC Cream in 02, Natural Beige

When I was in Melbourne I managed to pick up my first ever CC cream. I was after the Hera one initially, but after testing it out in store I found it way too moisturising for my liking, so I went with Iope instead, and I’m glad I did! Iope’s Complete Care CC Cream comes in two shades, clear beige (01) for fair pink toned skin, and natural beige (02) for fair ladies (like myself) with yellow tones. As with all CC creams I didn’t expect much coverage from this one (or any at all, really) but I was pleasantly surprised by the results. 

It evens out skin tone, reduces redness around my cheeks and the eczema around my nose and brightens tremendously. It’s not enough to cover dark circles and red spots however, and no amount of building will change that. I like that it doesn’t feel thick or heavy on the skin either, it feels like your skin. It’s also quite moisturising, but doesn’t make my skin look oily until the 3 hour mark, which is when the product starts to break down. So it’s not very long lasting, but a primer would definitely help it last longer. Plus, it has a sun protection factor of 35++. Can’t complain about that.

There is one major thing that really ticks me off about Iope (Laneige are also guilty of this!), they don’t list the full ingredients list on their packaging! For someone who may be allergic or sensitive to certain ingredients this is a huge problem. They do include a pamphlet that takes note of a couple of key ingredients, but how much and in what form?! Gah!

So aside from that, I am pretty impressed with this CC cream. I’m not sure whether I’ll try another one in the near future though. I did start at the top of the market with Iope, so I have a distinct feeling it will only be downhill from here, but if you have a favourite or any you would like to suggest let me know below!