Shop Review: Pretty and Cute

This week's Shop Review is on Pretty and Cute, a website that aspires to make quality Korean and Japanese beauty products accessible to women all around the world. The company is based in Portland, Oregon and maintains a physical shop there as well. My search for a unique and subtle hair dye brought me there, and although they were out of the color I wanted (Raspberry Brown!), I decided to try out a few other products while I waited for it to be restocked.

My package got here insanely quickly; I ordered it Sunday evening and it was processed by Sunday night. It arrived by mid-day Wednesday, which is really great considering I only purchased Economy shipping. It even had tracking, so I could wait by my computer and refresh my email impatiently!

Beginning with the non-makeup items that I received: Pretty and Cute have very cute, inexpensive contact lens cases. I got this simple pink and clear contact case for only $0.75. Hopefully,
having such a bright case will motivate me to wear my contacts more and take off my broken, thick lensed glasses once in a while.

Uh-oh! It seems that an effect of my not being able to see what my face looks like without glasses is neglected, wild eye brows. Good thing I also got a Holika Holika Eyebrow Shaver! At first glance, it looks like a light purple wand with a heart shaped tip. However, you can take off the heart ( which is actually a mirror) and it reveals a duel sided fine hair comb and razor. Please do not mix up the sides. A handy portable tool for touch ups and a good buy for $5.00. It works quite well for what is essentially a small razor on a stick. Although it tugged on my skin a little, I managed to remove all stray hairs I wanted gone fairly painlessly. It's much more precise and painless than tweezing or waxing, which kind of messes up my sensitive skin.

Before I can begin to put on my makeup, I have to clean my face. I decided to get Holika Holika's Pig-Nose Clear Blackhead 3-Step Kit. I have to admit that I mainly got this one because of the cute packaging. I love pigs. I was a little disappointed to find that the actual strips aren't decorated to look like pig snouts, but what can you do. This took a while to review, because I had to do the steps over a 45 minute period. It really improved the appearance of my nose, cleaning a lot of whiteheads out and making it smoother and softer.

One of the things I like about Pretty and Cute is that they offer samples of several of the brands they carry. Never having tried BB cream before, I decided to go with a three sample piece of Lioele Beyond the Solution BB Cream. The samples come in sweet carriage shaped packages containing about 3 ml each. I suggest getting the samples to find out which BB cream works best for you. They're very affordable at only $2.50 for a 3 sample kit.

Before BB cream: looking tired, pudgy, and a little angry. Under eye circles, freckles, and blemishes visible.

After BB cream: Skin appears much smoother and evenly toned.

Every purchase from Pretty and Cute allows you to receive a free sample product with your order, so I chose BB cleanser from Skin79. You're supposed to spread it on and leave it for a few minutes, while it foams and cleans. After rinsing it off, my skin was very clear and soft.

I am very happy with my purchase from Pretty and Cute. I highly recommend ordering from there if you are interested in try out Korean or Japanese beauty products. The customer service is friendly and shipping is inexpensive and very fast. They also seem to be adding new products all the time, so there's really no limit to how much you can try from them!

Until next week!