Riley Rose: First Visit and Haul

Today, I'm going to write about my first experience at Riley Rose in Glendale Galleria. I first heard about this from  one of my favorite Youtubers, Morgan from The Beauty Breakdown. It seems like she collaborates often with Riley Rose. See her video here. Basically, she gave a tour around Riley Rose and what caught my eye was that this store had a large variety of Korean beauty/makeup products. Being that it’s kind of difficult to find a physical locale that has Korean beauty/makeup products in the Valley, I knew I had to visit this store!

Riley Rose Store Front

If you don’t know, Riley Rose was created by Forever 21's daughters Linda and Ester Chang. I really didn't know about this until after visiting the store. It make sense to me now that this was created from Forever 21 because I would explain the style and aesthetics as a mash up between Forever 21 and Sephora. 

Forever 21 Vibes

The store is bright and quite spacious. There is a ton of things to look at and shop around for, but everything is organized nicely so it doesn’t feel cluttered. There is a little something for everyone including: makeup (both American and Korean/Asian brands), skin care, hair care, stationary, home goods, and sweets/candy.

Super cute vanity set up!

Useful tips and tricks!

Sugar section

Home goods

Hair section

In terms of Korean/Asian brands, they definitely have a great selection with some brand I've heard of and some I'm completely not familiar with. Some brands you can expect at the store include: Missha, Tony Moly, CosRx, Banilla Co, Peripera, Ettang, Elizavecca, etc.

Brands: Tony Moly and Ettang

Loads of different masks: lip, nose, and face masks.

I ended up buying things I've never used or heard before. Here are the things that I hauled:

Haul from Riley Rose

Banilla Co Hi Bye Vita-Peel Clear Pad $21.00

Blossom (infused with real flowers) roll-on perfume oil : Honey Jasmine $7.00

Jay Jun Cosmetic Anti-Dust Therapy Mask $3.20

Jay Jun Cosmetic Anti-Dust Whitening Mask $3.20

Jay Jun Cosmetic Full of Water Cream $36.00

Because I bought more than $50.00 worth of items, I got a free silver cosmetic bag which included a H2O+ Beauty Sea Greens Body Butter and a Lapcos Milk Moisturing Mask. It was a pleasant bonus!

Freebies

I was very happy with my first trip and I will definitely be going back! I usually buy my Kbeauty things online and I will continue to do so. However, I do like the convenience of going to a physical store because I can swatch and look at the products in person. It's really nice to be able to feel, smell, and see an item so I cant get a better understanding if it's something I really wanna spend my money on. It's also nice to get the item immediately and not have to wait for shipping.

If you can, I definitely recommend dropping by a Riley Rose store near you. If you can't they do have a website you can order off of: https://www.rileyrose.com/us/shop/

DISCLAIMER:

This is not sponsored! I bought everything with my own money and I genuinely wanted to write a review about this store.

Skinfood Black Sugar Mask Wash Off

What is it for?

An exfoliating mask that keeps skin hydrated

Active Ingredients:

Black sugar sourced from Brazil

To look at the full list of ingredients, its function for each, and its safety/irritant levels go ahead and click on this website: http://cosdna.com/eng/cosmetic_8d1f106766.html

Directions:

1. Take a pea size to half teaspoon amount.
2. Gently massage onto dampened skin, avoiding eyes and lips.
3. Leave it on for 10-15 minutes.
4. Rinse off with lukewarm water.

Review:

The packaging for this product is a very simple white exterior with cardboard-esque labeling. I'd classify it as a mixture of a rustic/hipster kind of feel. There is 100g of product and I bought this online for about $9. There is no spatula that comes with the product, which as always can be slightly unhygienic because you're dipping your fingers into the product.

Skin Food Black Sugar Packaging

Skin Food Black Sugar Packaging

The scrub is brown  and filled with sugar granules. I find the scent very pleasant. It smells of a sweet mixture of delicious honey and lemongrass. The product is slightly thick and goopy straight from the packaging, so I often use a little bit of water to soften it before putting on my face. I also like to use water to slightly dissolve the sugar granules because  personally for me, I feel it can be a bit too rough when putting it directly on my face.  I love the fact you can adjust/customize how strong of a mechanical exfoliation you want by using water.

Black Sugar

Black Sugar Directly from Package

Black Sugar smoothed out

I use this mostly as an exfoliator and rarely leave this on as a rinse off mask. I use this about 1-2x a week.  It's an effective exfoliator without being super harsh or stripping of my skin. After each use, my skin feels a lot smoother and softer. I find that this has definitely help my skin with texture and dullness.

It's a great product to have in your skin care regimen, I highly recommend it and will continue to repurchase and use this product.

Overall:

Pros:	Cons:
*Effective exfoliator *Does not strip skin *Smells great *Inexpensive	*Can be unhygienic due to constantly dipping fingers into product

DISCLAIMER:

Just wanted to note that the products I review are all purchased with my own money, unless I state otherwise. If you do use any of these products, please do so at your discretion as the results will vary depending on the person and their skin type.  I am in no way responsible for the results or outcome if you decide to try any of the products I recommend. These reviews are my 100% honest thoughts. Please don't be offended if I didn't like a product that you happen to love. What may work or not work for me, may be totally different from you.

Tony Moly Super Peeling Liquid

What is it for?

To improve the condition of your rough and dry feet through a gentle chemical peel.

Active Ingredients:

Salicylic Acid, Glycolic Acid, Lavender Extract, Argan Oil, and Peppermint Extract

To look at the full list of ingredients, its function for each, and its safety/irritant levels go ahead and click on this website: http://cosdna.com/eng/cosmetic_060a295652.html

Directions:

1. Place your feet in the booties.
2. Pour the liquid evenly between your two feet and secure the booties with the ties on top of the booties.
3. Wait for 1-1.5 hours. Try not to walk around too much during this time.
4. Remove the booties and rinse feet with cold water.
5. The skin should start to come off in a few days. It is recommended to let the skin naturally fall off.

Review:

I originally was going to document my feet before and after the treatment, but I changed my mind. I really couldn't go through with posting my nasty feet for it to be seen by the whole world, so I decided to just purely take pictures of the product! Anyways, my feet before the treatment were getting really bad. They were super dry, rough, and cracked. Before this, I would "try" to do maintenance with the Ped Egg and putting petroleum jelly on with socks overnight, but it really wasn't working out very well. I researched about using these chemical peels for your feet and decided on the Tony Moly Super Peeling Liquid. 

Front of box.

Back of box.

I bought a set of 2 for about $10.00 on e-bay. The package is very simple: white with black writing and a picture of feet. Inside, you get two plastic booties, a packet that contains the "Super Peeling Liquid", and a small sample of foot cream. 

Contents inside box

It wasn't difficult pouring the solution into the booties. I also didn't feel like the booties were going to fall off, but I did secure it very carefully over my feet. The solution smelled of acetone and felt gritty against my feet. To be honest, I didn't like the feeling and to have it stay on my feet for at least 1 hr was quite annoying.

After an hour, I took off the booties and washed my feet. 

Booties for the feet.

At first, I was disappointed because for the first few days I saw absolutely NO results. I honestly thought that I wasted my money. BUT after the 3rd or 4th day, my feet started to peel and shed like crazy! It wasn't painful at all, but it was quite unsightly so I was stuck wearing closed-toed shoes for a few days. It is recommended to let the skin fall off naturally, but I really didn't have the patience for it, so I used a pumice stone to gently help speed up the process.

Overall, the entire process took about 1.5 weeks to complete. I was quite happy with the results! My feet became super soft and smooth. The process was a little tedious, but I think it is worth the results. I definitely will be repurchasing and doing this periodically when my feet start to get rough.

Overall:

Pros:	Cons:
*Exfoliates the feet well *Creates soft and smooth feet *Inexpensive at home treatment *More effective than pumice or Ped egg	*Process is tedious/annoying *Shedding is very unsightly *Takes almost 2 weeks to complete entire process

DISCLAIMER:

Just wanted to note that the products I review are all purchased with my own money, unless I state otherwise. If you do use any of these products, please do so at your discretion as the results will vary depending on the person and their skin type.  I am in no way responsible for the results or outcome if you decide to try any of the products I recommend. These reviews are my 100% honest thoughts. Please don't be offended if I didn't like a product that you happen to love. What may work or not work for me, may be totally different from you.