St Ives Daily Facial Cleansers Review

March 29, 2021

A recap - in December, St Ives sent me their new range of Daily Facial Cleansers to share about its key benefits through Instagram, and 3 months later I have now tried them over a period of time and it's time for a review!

I first got to know about St Ives on or around 2019 when there was a period of time where a couple of my friends on my Instagram timeline received the wooden crate PR package which featured their facial scrubs in which I haven't tried yet - and recently they just launched a Avocado and Honey Facial Scrub where you can check out right here.

My impression then of St Ives was that it was a brand that develops products of many different flavours – mostly fruits, nuts or plants/herbs like tea tree that’s suitable for sensitive skin.

The brand is also rather bold with its colours which really stands out and gives off a refreshing vibe each time I see their packaging. In addition, it is also affordable and available in major pharmacies such as Guardian and Watsons that's accessible easily by both students and adults to purchase.

The Three Variants that I will be reviewing:

🧡 GLOWING Apricot Facial Cleanser - perfect for the refreshed and glowing skin you have always wanted ✨⁣

💛 SOOTHING Chamomile Facial Cleanser - for that soothing cleanse you crave for 🌼⁣

💚 BLEMISH CARE Tea Tree Facial Cleanser - always there for you when you need to fight breakouts and prevent future ones 🌿⁣

First Impression (after trying for all)

The gel form is really soothing on the face and cleanses well - my skin doesn’t feel overly dry and feels refreshed.

Thoughts of each Variant

As mentioned earlier, there are three different variations and I use them accordingly to my skin condition.

Prior to my period where I’m usually breaking out, I tried both the Blemish Care Tea Tree and Soothing Chamomile Cleanser.

I personally find the Chamomile one more soothing for the face at that point in time as compared to the Blemish Care Tea Tree Cleanser (it felt a little "harsh" for those minor pimples) however, it worked well during the time where my period started!

The Glowing Apricot Cleanser worked best after my period where my skin was in its best condition, it was doing a great job in cleansing the dirt away from my face while maintaining the glowy effect on my skin.

Note: I adjusted the usage of each variant according to my skin condition, for best results do trial and error on your own - below I have included a link for you to read up more on how your skin is like during and after your period as affected by hormones :)

How I incorporated the Cleansers into my skincare routine

I use all three variants of the St Ives Daily Facial Cleansers interchangeably and like how it keeps my skin free from dirt after every cleansing routine.

I haven't tried their scrubs so far but would do so when I have the chance to do so – for now, I’m using a scrub cum exfoliator from The Body Shop to cleanse my skin when I feel that there's a need, likely twice or thrice a week or double cleanse whenever I have heavy makeup on.

Depending on my stash of skincare, I also do incorporate cream cleansers into my skincare routine from brands like Innisfree (love the sea salt one!) as well as Laneige.

The St Ives Daily Facial Cleansers does not lather much which is a good sign that it’s suitable for sensitive skin (when you add more foaming agent inside the product, it can be higher in alkaline than your skin; making it harsher and drying for your skin)

I would highly recommend those of you who are looking for a basic yet effective facial cleanser that serves the purpose of cleansing at the different skin “periods” as shared from my graphic below and you can read up more here!

*Graphic Credit to Eminence Organics*

Also, though many recommend cleansing twice a day, I do not cleanse my face in the morning unless necessary to avoid stripping more of the natural oils off but I will do so at night.

Where can I purchase them? Any deals?

The St Ives Daily Facial Cleansers are available on both Guardian and Watsons - (online and in-stores)

I have embedded the links for the online store above on one of the cleansers for your information.

Guardian is currently offering a promotion of 2 for $17.90 which means that if you were to purchase all 3, you would spend less than $30!

As for Watsons, there is currently a 20% off with a minimum spend of $38 across a selected range of products.

Final Thoughts

This range of cleansers has to be my favourite as I was a loyal user of the Laneige Gel Cleanser but unfortunately, it’s no longer sold in Singapore as it is discontinued.

It is convenient that I do not have to look around other brands for cleansers meant for other skin conditions as I can now buy them from just one brand.

I also like how affordable their products are, plus, you can use them for a long time if you were to purchase all three and use them interchangeably.

With St Ives Daily Facial Cleansers being not only Cruelty-Free but also:

Fragrance-Free
Oil-Free
Dermatologically Tested
Bottles made with 100% recycled plastic
Paraben-Free
Non-Comedogenic

I am more than happy to recommend and support them in the long run!

St Ives also has a range of other skincare and body products ranging from masks, scrubs to body wash - you may find out more information on their website here.

Tempted to try out the St Ives Daily Facial Cleansers in Glowing Apricot, Soothing Chamomile and Blemish Care Tea Tree?

Try them out today by getting them from your nearest major pharmacy or online and feel free to let me know what you think of it!

Stay tuned for more skincare reviews both on my Instagram - @thirteentuesday and on the Blog!

Her Tech Reviews

SUDIO NIO - Earphones for the People! (REVIEW + DISCOUNT CODE)

March 06, 2021

If you remembered my last tech review on Sudio's Niva that has long been improvised into another model, then I guarantee you that this review may get your fingers tempted to simply hit the "cart out" button as certain points that I mentioned before -- the latest model has it all!

Introducing Sudio's latest wireless earphones, the Sudio NIO -- Ear Phones for the People -- with that one feature that is exclusive to NIO; its winged tips that would remind you of the Apple Air Pods.

Unboxing video here on my Instagram!

I personally am not a fan of having silicon tips stuffed into my ear canals even though that would mean that the earphones would be noise-cancelling, I am happy to go without them.

For this review, we will be going through the following:

Colours
Battery Life
IPX4
Other Features
Comparison with Apple Air Pods
Price
Final Thoughts

Colours

Most of you would have known that I love pink for my items whether is it my iPad cover or frying pan. Though I was feeling pretty "meh" when the NIO did not have pink colour as part of its collection, the colour Sand called out to me.

And the best part? Sand is an exclusive colour only available at the Sudio NIO; being their newest neutral hue colour that is solid, versatile and light.

In addition, white would just be another Apple Air Pods, whereas black and army green did not seem fitting for me, hence I chose Sand as the colour to go for.

Which colour do you prefer?

Check out their range of colours here.

Battery Life

The Sudio NIO comes with 20-hour battery life and 5.5-hour of playtime from a full-charge (90 Minutes)

In a rush? Then a quick charge of 15 minutes can allow you to enjoy a playtime of up to 1-hour!

However, an observation that I made was that even though I have experimented with the Sudio NIO from the day it was delivered in early February till today, despite not having a single charge of its casing at all, the battery life of the earphones was always 100% upon removing it from its casing and as of yesterday, the battery life of the charging case was around 25% or less as reflected via its yellow/orange blinking light.

Unlike my Apple Air Pods where if it's left untouched for some time, the battery life from both the Air Pods and the charging case would be 0%.

In addition, I would prefer if the Sudio NIO would be similar to the Apple Air Pods where the battery level can be checked on the iPhone and Macbook for both its charging case and the earphones itself.

The Sudio NIO's battery level is only viewable on the iPhone/iPad - with the battery level for its charging case being absent and only "detectable" through its blinking lights.

IPX4

The term IPX4 may seem foreign to some, but according to Vava, the term IPX stands for "International Protection" which is a global standard to measure items on their waterproofing abilities. "X" is a placeholder where it is filled with a number from 1-9 (e.g. IPX1 - IPX9) which indicates how much liquid the item can be exposed to without fault.

So you may ask.. what about IPX4 since it seems pretty mid-level based on the numerical order?

Well!

The good news is, it is water and sweat resistant (the earbuds can handle heavy rain, sweat, and the occasional accidental splash as mentioned on Sudio)

That also means that you can now jog with the Sudio NIO, or need not worry when it's drizzling lightly or so.

However, please note that the IPX4 does not apply to its charging case and you have to ensure that you do not place your wet earphones inside the casing itself as damages occurred from this will not be eligible for replacement through their warranty!

Other Features

Find your Comfortable Fit with its interchangeable wingtips (comes in 4 different sizes including the ones attached to the Sudio NIO when you unbox) that will allow you to create the best listening experience.

Personally, for me, the wingtips that were already attached to the Sudio NIO worked perfectly for me and I haven't tried on the others, but I will definitely update here to see if there is a difference :)

Enjoy Crystal Clear Vocals with its adaptive dual microphone technology which will allow your voice to be clear during zoom calls or Microsoft teams classes!

I have already tried out the Sudio NIO for Zoom Calls/Interviews and so far the feedback's great and the replay from the recording I did via zoom was AMAZING - I sounded clear and my audience feedbacked that the audio was great too.

Apart from those I mentioned above, the Sudio NIO automatically pairs with your devices (the nearest one with Bluetooth turned on) just like your regular Apple Air Pods and even though it claims to have a 10m range when I left my device at my living room and went to the kitchen which should be about 8m max, the reception became bad and the music got cut off.

This rarely happened when I was using the Apple Airpods, so not sure if it's the same for all kinds of locations but thankfully the music came back when I walked backwards ~3m. So safe to say, 5m+/- range would be more accurate for me.

Comparison with Apple Air Pods

I actually did a comparison with the Apple Air Pods with different songs and making use of the equalizer available from Spotify and iTunes to try out the see if the Sudio NIO would be better since its 10 mm dynamic driver offers a thumping bass, different song genres may not sound as good on the Sudio NIO.

I mainly listen to Mando/Thai/Canto Pop and EDM (Bounce etc) so I tested on some tracks to see if there was a big difference between both the Sudio NIO and Apple Air Pods.

However one of the biggest differences would be the volume - the Apple Air Pods wins in this area.

Somehow, the Sudio NIO sounded pretty soft if you were to be outdoors where there’ll be lots of noises, but at home, it works perfectly and the highest volume felt just right.

Whereas for the Apple Air Pods, even if I am outdoors, no issues and at home, the highest volume would be too much.

Here comes the exciting part!

I experimented with it first on my Mando/Thai/Canto Pop via the equalizer on Spotify where I played with Acoustic/Vocal Boost/Treble Boost/R&B/Piano and tried to see if the difference was obvious as I switched from setting to setting.

Equalizer on Spotify

Find out how you can turn on your equalizer settings here for both iOS & Android devices on Spotify.

Sudio NIO (on iPhone/iPad)

The R&B setting doesn't make a huge difference to the Sudio NIO.

- But if your hearing is sensitive enough to tell the difference, you would feel that the R&B mode on Sudio NIO would be more "enhanced" and it does allow you to have a slightly more enjoyable experience as compared to the Bass Booster mode where the Bass would then be too much.

When you choose the Treble Boost/Vocal Booster setting, it sounds like the Apple Air Pods when it's on R&B mode where the vocals are crisper with good bass in the background.

I felt that the Treble is more balanced when I switch to the Treble Boost setting, plus, with the good bass from Sudio NIO, it's the perfect setting to actually prevent the bass from overpowering the mid and the highs.

The Vocal Booster setting highlights the vocals in the song accompanied with the good bass, but the vocals may seem too "loud" in the song itself if you can hear the difference, else, this may be a preferred setting for some songs.

Artistes like Li Rong Hao and Jay Chou may sound a little "muffled" at times so this setting may change your listening experience!

Apple Air Pods (on iPhone/iPad)

The Treble Booster setting doesn't make a huge difference to the Apple Air Pods.

The R&B setting actually resulted in the listening experience of the Apple Air Pods to be similar to the Sudio NIO.

The Vocal Booster setting sounds more obvious with the Apple Air Pods, but definitely too much for any track with vocals.

In order to be fair and to hear the difference between the audio from a phone/computer, I also tried out the Sudio NIO on the computer via iTunes's Equalizer on the Macbook.

Equalizer on iTunes

Sudio NIO (on Macbook)

Tested the Sudio NIO on a Vocalised EDM Track (Spectrum, Zedd) with the Treble Booster setting and it sounds perfect.

The Vocal Booster setting sounded too much when it's on the Macbook. Definitely, way clearer as compared to having the setting on the iPhone/iPad, but overall, it's too much and the bass/treble is then overpowered by the vocals.

The Bass Booster setting made the vocals sound very muffled.

The Treble Booster setting remains to be the most ideal one; tested it on a Thai Song with vocals and its melody accompanied by different instruments such as Piano and Guitar.

Overall, the changes are more obvious on the Macbook than the iPhone/iPad, so perhaps, the Sudio NIO listening experience would be better when you EQ it on a computer instead.

Also, I tried to remove the silicon tips to see if there would be a difference for the Sudio NIO.

Without its silicon tips, it sounds a little muffled and just "too much" for certain genres if you do not EQ the track.

Hence, I do recommend that you keep the silicon tips on plus it actually prevents the earphones from falling off too as compared to the Apple Air Pods that fell off when I was tossing and turning at times.

Price

The Sudio NIO is currently priced at $119 SGD which comes with Free Shipping Worldwide (DHL Express - 5-7 Days) and!

If you were to check out with my discount code, "THIRTEENTUESDAY" you will be able to enjoy a 15% discount on the total bill which will lower it down to

$101.15

And you can now benefit from their latest promotion which will end on 14 March 2021 where every purchase will come with a FREE Sudio Care Kit that costs $39!

Do you know that you actually need to clean your earphones especially those with winged tips as the dirt gets stuck inside?

The Sudio NIO comes with the usual 1-year warranty offered by Sudio, however, if you were to sign up for Sudio Sphere, a membership that gives you early access to product releases and personalized offers, you will receive more benefits such as the extended warranty that will allow you to have 3 years warranty instead.

And....

Membership is FREE!

However, do register within 3 months of your purchase and it is only exclusive for purchases from Sudio's Website.

Find out more information about the Sudio Sphere here.

Final Thoughts

I certainly enjoyed using the Sudio NIO and I'm glad to see that even though its design is similar to Apple's Air Pods, it is not just a replica sorta earphones and has its own unique selling point.

However, in the long run, I would think that it may be good for Sudio to offer protective cases or pouches for the charging case?

So even though initially, my impression was that the Sudio NIO is only suitable to be used to listen to specific genres due to its thumping bass effect or to use it for zoom calls, after experimenting and using it for a period of time with the settings actually helped to enhance my listening experience more.

In addition, my earphones will not be falling off/dropping easily anymore with Sudio's silicon tips.

Plus, the price of the Sudio NIO after the discount would not even take up half the cost of the Apple Air Pods.

Hence, should you be looking for an affordable set of earphones that is similar to the Air Pods' design, hesitate no more because the Sudio NIO is definitely the best choice out there with its competitive pricing and promotions and even the extended warranty.

Check out your very own Sudio NIO today with the discount code, "THIRTEENTUESDAY" where you will be able to enjoy a 15% discount on the total bill!

Till the next review xx.