REVIEW: Everything inside Althea’s sweet K-beauty collection – A’bloom!

Korean skincare products never fail to amaze me. Albeit the super cute packaging, each product from their holy grail never fails to pack a powerful punch of moisture and exfoliation on the skin. This reason keeps pushing me to experiment on new collections in hopes of getting the best for my combination skin type, so we recently got our hands on the new A’bloom collection from Althea (perks of being one of the Althea Angels)!

This may just be the sweetest line that we’ve got our hands on so far. Other brands just smell sweet, but A’bloom took it a notch further by infusing their masks with fruit extracts and making their puffs look like actual meringues. Too cute to use, TBH.

Before purchasing these, here’s a quick look at each product, together with what it’s for, and our thoughts about it:

A’BLOOM MASK SHEETS

There are four types of masks available in the collection:

Water-Me-Long: Moisturizing Watermelon Mask: Helps skin keep calm, hydrated, and moisturized with its watermelon fruit and lavender extracts. This is highly recommended for combination skin as it does not dry out your skin nor make it feel too oily after.
Avo-Cuddle-Me: Nourishing Avocado Mask: Known as a superfood, avocado extracts within the mask provide antioxidants that help nourish and protect the skin while preventing wrinkles to form. It also has Hibiscus Sabdariffa flower extracts that make the skin become supple. It’s best used on dry skin.
Ac-Me-Peach: Anti-Blemish Peach Mask: Best used to regulate oil, this anti-blemish mask soothes irritated and sensitive skin. Peach and Tea Tree extracts work together to balance moisture and combat oiliness on the skin. It works great on oily skin.
Sparkle-Me-Bright: Brightening Lemon Lime Mask: Recommended for people with dull or combination skin, the lemon lime mask is packed with double doses of Vitamin C from Citrus Lemon and Lime that helps lighten dark spots. It also contains Green Tea for an extra boost of skin brightening.

Suitable for: All skin types

Price: P20 per 25g pack

How to use: After cleansing and applying toner, remove the mask from the pouch and apply it on the face – avoiding the eye and lip area. Leave the mask on for 10-20 minutes. Remove the mask and massage remaining extracts on the face.

What I love the most about A’bloom’s mask sheet is its thinness. My skin can still breathe through, unlike other masks that are too thick to the point that I feel suffocated by both the essence and the scent. Despite how thin it looks like, each sheet made out of Natural Eucalyptus carries 25g of high concentrated moisture essence that is proven to increase our skin’s moisture rate up to 78%! It doesn’t disrupt the pH balance of the skin so my pores didn’t develop acne or rashes after use. My skin’s quite sensitive but this works just fine! Plus, there’s a specific face mask for every occasion. Avo-Cuddle Me remains to be my favorite. This sheet saved my face from dryness after getting exposed to a super cold temperature in Japan. I also used Water-Me-Long after I returned to the Philippines to help my skin recuperate from the sudden changes in my environment. Tried and tested to be effective!

For those who are wondering, each sheet comes with instructions at the back. It’s written both in Korean and English so you won’t have a hard time researching about how to use it.

MERINGUE PUFFS

Made with high density latex-free foam, the A’bloom Meringue Puffs offer a smoother way to blend makeup while ensuring maximum coverage. It comes in two sizes:

Giant Meringue Puff: 48*46 mm (1 pc per pack)
Baby Meringue Puffs: 30*28 mm (3 pcs per pack)

Suitable for: All skin types

Price: P100 for the Giant Meringue Puff and P140 for 3pcs of Baby Meringue Puffs

How to use: In applying makeup, use the narrow part for the eyes, nose, lips, and curved parts of the face. In applying liquid foundation or in blending makeup, use the wide part to cover a bigger area easily. Makeup artists use in in two ways – they soak the puff in water before use to create a dewy finish or they leave it dry before use for a matte effect.

These puffs look too cute to use, to be honest. They really look like small meringues in a box! In terms of usage, I’d admit that I use puffs on a case-to-case basis only due to it being high maintenance. As someone who’s always on the go, cleaning puffs every single time I use them just seem to be counterproductive for my lifestyle. I also struggle a bit in using it in small areas, but I love how it’s very easy to use when blending makeup and applying foundation. Makeup artists use these with ease, though, so I won’t be shutting my door completely on this.

BHA BLACKHEAD BLASTER

This BHA stick promises to help remove blackheads and whiteheads, especially on the nose area, without taking up too much time. It contains white willow bark extracts that remove dead skin cells, charcoal to absorb oil and dirt, apricot seeds to scrub away impurities, and tea tree leaf oil for skin protection. Instead of pulling out blackheads, the BHA stick melts away dirt for a hassle-free process.

Suitable for: Oily skin or combination

Price: P200 for 8g

How to use: Cleanse your face and apply the BHA Blackhead Blaster on areas that tend to be oily throughout the day. Then, massage the product in circular motion to help release trapped oil and dirt. Rinse it off with lukewarm water. All this can be done in just a few minutes.

Based on experience, my nose tends to be dry (to the point that the skin appears to be flaky) for a day or two after using a nose pore tape for blackheads. It has been effective, but I always hated the drying part after. This is the main difference with the BHA Blackhead Blaster – it keeps your skin moisturized throughout the process. The only downside is that you won’t be able to see how much blackhead you get to remove through time.

Aside from exfoliating the face, this small stick can also be used as a body scrub on your elbow and heel to remove dead skin cells.

Will you be getting your own sweet set? Let us know and don’t forget to follow Manila Millennial on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram for instant updates on our latest K-beauty finds! For more details about Althea, visit and order your boxes at:

ph.althea.kr

Address: Ansun Building 213, Yeongdong-daero, Gangnam-gu, Seoul, Korea

Facebook: Althea

Instagram: @altheakorea

#AltheaKorea #AltheaAbloom

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