Mandom Lucido-L Hair Treatment Water

When I thought hyaluronic acid is just for wrinkles… Mandom says it is good for hair too. Whoa… Must try!

This Hair Treatment Water spray contains not one, but two types of hyaluronic acid to quickly moisturize, straighten dry or bed head hair. Sounds like something my ultra dry, regularly straightened hair really need.

Reading thru the ingredient list, the hyalyronic acids they mean here are: hydrolyzed hyaluronic acid and sodium hyaluronate.

Anyways, I love the spray. It mists my hair nicely. Smells refreshingly good too… a little floral aquatic with dash of powder. Not too strong, just nice to mask the smokey hawker center smell from my hair, but not overriding perfume I wear in the morning.

My hair does feel a little smoother after spraying this. But not to the extent of straightening my bed hair. May be because my hair is extra rebellious… those with softer hair might benefit more. It does make my hair tangle less , even though the moisturizing effect is not so visible after spraying.

This was given to me by my mom, who picked the product mistakenly during her trip to the drugstore. So, I couldn’t really comment on the money-worthness of this product. Nonetheless, a nice addition on my work desk! Better fragrance and benefits than other mists I purchased so far.

Egyptian Magic All Purpose Skin Cream

After hearing and reading so much fuss about this product, I decided to give this a try. After all, an online retailer sells the sample sized stuff of this one.

What’s interesting is the ingredients, the company claimed to use only purest, all natural ingredients. Olive oil, beeswax, honey, bee pollen, royal jelly and propolis. Sounds good. Let’s see if it is worth all the noise.

Texture wise, it looks a little like petroleum jelly, just less glossy. It is not fragranced, but somehow has this faint smell of something sweetish, the kind of sweet that I don’t really fancy. Lucky it was very faint and upon application the smell just dissipates.

Feels firm when touched in the jar, but quickly melt and get absorbed easily upon rubbing. Just like any balm, my skin feels moisturized after application.

Some people suggest using this as make up remover as well as moisturizer. Curious to try it, I swiped my favorite Urban Decay 24/7 Eye pencil on back of my hand and applied the cream after the eye liner sets. Light massaging took off the make up! Not bad. I am not sure if I want such heavy cream anywhere near my already oily lids thou…

For the other miraculous claims, I haven’t used it long enough to see if it improves my light scar or skin texture in the long run.

So far, this looks like promising product, but given the smell, I prefer my Badger Balm much more. Smells better and does the moisturizing job well too. And 37-ish USD (that’s before international shipping) for 4 oz (about 110gr) of product is just too too ridiculous. I’ll stick to my lovely Badger Balm.

Missha Procure 365 Hair Mist in Green Aqua

Missha is more famous for its BB cream than anything else. Since I needed mist to get rid (or more like… mask) the smell of hawker centre / canteen after lunch, I grabbed this one.

All the instructions and notes are in Korean, so I don’t have a clue what other benefit shall I expect from this one other than adding a dash of freshness to my hair. The website, thankfully is available in English…

‘Missha's Procure Hair Mists not only leave the hair smelling great, but have built-in UV protection as well. Get a great-smelling mane with the added benefit of UV protection in one easy spritz. This product is guaranteed to becoming one of your beauty staples.Choose from Green Aqua, Fresh Flower & Sweet Fruits’

UV protection! Wow! But I couldn’t find any SPF number here… the only number I see is ‘10-15’ which I think I could safely assume it is how far I should hold the bottle from my hair to evenly spray the product.

as it is called, ‘Green Aqua’, the product smells fresh and aquatic. Really light and non obtrusive, but enough to get rid of that nasty stink from food court.

It doesn’t do anything to my ultra dry hair; however, if I sprayed it enough, I can feel my hair getting a little beach-textured. You know… that feeling when you spray your hair with a little salt water to make the nicely tousled ‘surfer gal hair’. I don’t think this could replace salt-water spray or other styling product though.

Bottom line, this is nice to use after lunch. But does nothing otherwise. Plus, if you couldn’t get it in retail price or you dislike online shopping, this is not worth it.

Pigeon UV Protection Compact Powder in Pink

Pigeon is one of my favorite baby products brand. I love the fragrance, the logo, everything… and today, I decided to venture to Pigeon’s products for adults.

Pigeon is Japanese company produces mainly baby and mother products… toiletries, pacifiers, diapers … In some Asian countries; I’ve seen some products made for adults, mainly face powders. This one claims to contain jojoba, chamomile and microfine Zinc Oxide for UV protection. No SPF number seen anywhere in the packaging though.

The pressed powder is packaged in pretty standard plastic compact with mirror and puff inside. The puff is so thin and the velvety material tends to shed and stick to the mirror though. The brand offers several shades like ivory, gold, beige, etc… I picked pink, because I think that would be more suitable for me. Unfortunately it is waaaaayyy to fair for my skin tone. That’s what you get for buying without seeing the actual color! Heh…

The product is fragranced, powdery fragrance. Quite pleasant IMO. And it is pretty pigmented, so… don’t get one which doesn’t match your skin tone… you will look ashy! Not the finest powder I’ve tried… but hey… with that price (reapprox USD 3.30) and quantity (20gr) I don’t think I can complain of anything.

Don’t think I will use this, but I love the mirror… So I’m keeping it for the mirror!

@ Anonymous:  I got mine in Guardian -one of the shopping malls of Jakarta.

Makarizo Advisor Hair Recovery Instant Treatment with Silk Protein

Makarizo is one ‘professional’ hair care range that’s rather famous in Indonesia recently. It claimed to have its formulation done in California, however, brief googling couldn’t lead me to American page about this brand. All activities are done in South East Asia as far as I can see. So I think, I would assume this is an Asian brand.

My perpetually dry and occasionally split end-ed hair really needs something to make it appear healthier. So I grabbed this one to ‘repairs & nourishes dry or damaged hair and split ends, adds gloss and sheen, blow dry heat protection and UV protection’. Okay, for the last claim, I couldn’t find any SPF number in the packaging, so I don’t know how they claim the last one.

Moving on to the product, this clear heavy serum is supposed to be applied on your hair anytime it needs extra sheen. Feels siliconey. Too bad I couldn’t find any ingredient list near the packaging.

 It does add a little sheen, but I don’t feel like it saves my dry hair too much. The fragrance it sports is rather strong jasmine scent. Doesn’t bother me at all after applied on hair, as long as you don’t pour the whole tiny tube and use it at once.

the teeny weeny 8mL tube lasts me a good 2 weeks, with about every 2 days use, not more than a few drops each use. I use them when my hair is dry.

A fun add on for your regular hair routine, but doesn’t help much IMO… .

Neutrogena Ageless Essentials Continuous Hydration SPF 25 with Helioplex

Ive been looking for light, moisturizing SPF for my arms for ages by now. For some reason, I keep on bumping into either SPF cream/milk without moisturizing property or those thick gooey smelly SPFs. Until I bumped in to this…

According to the direction, I is supposed to be used for face, neck and chest… but I am using it for my arms and hands, as I prefer to split moisturizer and SPF for face. But too lazy to do the same for my arms…hehe…

The texture of this one is just perfect. Light cream with just enough moisturizing feel. the formula sports fresh fragrance, if you smell hard enough, you might be able to detect the SPF-ey smell. Not as noticeable as other SPFs though.

Doesn’t feel oily too! Perfect for spring/summer!

Another plus… it doesn’t ‘slid off’ / ‘washed away’ when I wash my hands. With that, this has become my desk essential!

Kose Cosmeport Rose of Heaven Hand Cream

I have been a fan of most products from rose themed Kose’s Happy Bath Days brand. The Japanese giant always manages to make cute pink rosey packaging and on some products, the fragrance is simply nice.

Rose of Heaven is another brand from Kose Cosmeport. The brand includes various toiletries, including this hand cream. It says ‘fragrant rose honey and rich organic moisture soothe your heart and skin’. Let’s see if it is up to the promises…

I totally love the texture of his hand cream. It does not feel sticky. It doesn’t feel like you’ve washed off a layer of something after rinsing your hand with water. And, I washed my hands a lot. So… this is really important for me. The cream is consistency is somewhere between your regular light lotion and heavy hand cream (like Crabtree & Evelyn’s). My hands feel instantly moisturized and comfortable.

The bad thing is the fragrance… it smeels like funny rose. Not green-rose, fresh-rose or even grandma style rose… just funny. It might be the honey fragrance they put in. luckily, the fragrance is not that strong, that I still like it enough to grab and use it from time to time when I’m in my desk.

Overall…if you can stand the fragrance and you are patient enough to wait for your parcel to come (I got mine from adambeauty.com), this is a good buy.

Rosette Hello Kitty Cleansing Paste for Normal Skin

I think I hauled everything Hello Kitty and Rosette from sasa.com... That feline charm…ohhh..cant resist!

Actually by the time I purchased this, I have no idea what is cleansing paste. Anything with such a pretty design and that little puddy tat kitty cat on the packaging…I will buy! Look at the box! So pretty! Seems like Rosette really knows what to do to make me buy their products! This Japanese brand offer various cute skincare products.

And the tube… just adorable! I wont throw the tube away after I’m done with what’s inside!

I simply adore the packaging concept. It has this plastic cover inside the tube, which you are not supposed to take off by the way. This cover keeps the paste clean and dry. Just gently lift the stopper to reveal the pale yellow thick paste. Press the plastic cover to push the product out when needed. I say…genius!

Pale yellow paste contains sulfur for softening the skin and preventing chapped skin and acne! How lovely. Gentle for face, but will help a lot with those with troubled skin elsewhere… bacne… arm acne etc…

It has nice clean-powdery smell. I only detected only a hint of sulfur smell. Nothing intrusive really.

The cleansing paste is … well… paste. The texture is like regular creamy Asian facial wash (only thicker) which will produce nice soft bouncy foam and leave your skin squeaky clean. My face is mostly oily (with some occasional dry patch on side of cheek), so this is perfect for me. Cleanse my oily face totally! It might be too drying for others with dry or sensitive skin though.

Is it worth it?

Yes if… you are Hello Kitty fan, you want squeaky clean face, you want to keep your cleanser clean and nice

No if… you hate online shopping

Overall.. I am pretty sure I’m gonna purchase this again! Really good product. This comes in 2 variant; for normal skin (pink) and for dry skin (baby blue). USD 7.8 a pop from sasa.com, I do think this is a good price

Etude House nail polish GR608

Look at that unique neon yellow! I just have to have it!!!

Or not… (as I found out later)

Just like anything else from Etude House, this Korean brand really nailed it every time they design their packaging. This mini nail polish is no exception. Small and cute. And with seasonal colors such as this strikingly unique yellow greenish neon, I think it would be a greater idea not to invest (uh, yes, I ‘invest’ in my polish and make up item = p) in big bottle such as the regular Essies or OPIs.

And with its KRW xx price tag, it doesn’t hurt bit even to grab more colors! Sounds like heaven, right? No…

The color is…as you can see… sheer neon yellow with greenish tint and jelly finish. Etude house seems to consider this one Greens from its color coding (GR608), but I think this is more yellow than green. In the bottle it reminds me of the color of certain type of young unfurled banana shoot… anyways, on nail, I feel like using yellow highlighter… that level of sheerness… even after 2-3 coats. By looking at how sheer this is, I don’t think I would recommend anyone to pick this color. The scotch tape swatch below is single, double and triple coat...

First of, the formula. It is so hard to make it even and nice. And somehow it takes forever to dry. Normally, even the longest drying of OPIs or Orlys, I don’t have to use my hair dryer to work. This one… even the first layer need hair dryer to help with the drying.

Granted, yellows are not the easiest color to formulate in nail polish it seems. If this were not yellow, I would have thrown it away after witnessing the result on first coat. however, I still wanna give this yellow a try , As the color is very sheer, I need to pile more coat… there goes the second coat. And … it dries... forever and a day.

With hair dryer, fan and every single method I know, I still couldn’t manage to make it dry even after 2 hours. Mind you, this is only the 2^nd layer. So I gave up, and sleep with my half dried polish, knowing I would have to remove it and apply fresh polish in the morning. For curiosity sake, I left it on just to know how long will this polish really dry out. 

Surprise me, it hasn’t dry fully even in the morning. Slight knock on the table make dent on the polish.

One bottle goes to the newly opened polish graveyard.

Big Ruby Supercool Nail Tattoos

I am sooo excited upon pressing the ‘order’ button from Big Ruby! I want… no… I NEED… Nail tattoos! Totally! And today, it arrives on my doorstep! Yay!

Big Ruby is proudly American brand and proudly animal lover too! Plus they made really cute and cool designs for your nail. And…they deliver internationally! What’s not to love from this brand?

I ordered 3 designs from Big Ruby: gardens, tweet and sea creatures. With my order, Big Ruby also sent me the really cool skull&crossbones tattoos (available for limited period of time as freebie...I think...)! Just in time for my Pirates of Caribbean fever (yes… I am still suffering from the Pirates fever until now…) Each design comes in individual resealable plastic sheet containing 86 designs… smaller ones for your mani and bigger ones for your pedi.

These tattoos are easy peasy to use. Reminiscent of temporary tattoos from my childhood! Just cut the design you want, peel off clear plastic sheet & press the design face down to your nail (or skin). Then add a drop or two of water and keep on pressing the design firmly for 15 seconds or so. Slowly peel off the white paper backing and… voila! Instant nail art. LOVE…

I really really recommend applying top coat on your design. Else you end up like me… being too excited and touched the newly applied design and make an ugly mark on it. Be patient… and don’t get overly excited… dont forget your top coat!

Second try, I applied single coat of OPI Rapidry top coat. so far it has been 3 days and my tattoo is still sitting pretty and glossy, even though tip of my nail mani has shown wear and tear chipping. I am happppyyyy with this!

Would recommend this cool stuff to any lazy nail art lover. Granted, these doesn’t shimmer or glitter like regular girly girl decal… but this totally has the cool vibe on it. Im not affiliated with Big Ruby, but in case you are interested, they are here -- http://www.bigrubytattoos.com/

Urban Decay 24/7 Eye Shadow Pencil in Morphine

What can I say... the color is amazing, the texture is amazing, the lasting power is amazing

I first fell in love with Urban Decay colourful and creamy 24/7 pencil eye liners. Graduating from the eyeliner, I saw Morphine. The color is simply... amazing... light purple with iridescent glow. It just makes my eyes appear fresher and bigger when applied properly.  

This chubby pencil is so creamy and glides easily without tugging. Easy to work with (as long as you don’t let it set), easy to blend with the 24/7 eye liner pencil. It applies evenly too.

The loveliest thing is... the color stay put and vibrant all day long. My lid is super oily, most shadow wont stay fresh and will migrate by the time the clock hits 4pm. Not this one. 

I am sooo going to buy more... totally recommended!

Innisfree Strawberry Yoghurt Pack

It looks like strawberry yoghurt, smells like one and feels like one...

I am loving the smell, texture and look of this one. This pack or mask, comes from Innisfree, a Korean brand famous for its green, natural, eco-friendly approach.

Don’t read Korean, don’t know Korean too... so i don’t have any idea what is this mask supposed to help my skin for. Anyways, it is housed in small plastic container with foil cover, this is meant for single use. But I find the amount included more than enough for me and mom...

this one is simple to use, just apply on clean face and relax. Enjoy the strawberry smell and try not to lick the mask off... wash off after that episode of Glee or True Blood finishes. Voila ... soft, nicely moisturized face. I don’t use extra helping of moisturizer after this mask, as i feel my skin is moist enough.

Highly recommended for mid-week pick me up! If you don’t have to pay extra for the jacked up outside-of-Korea price...