Rilakkuma Body Lotion

Another one from Simply, a Taiwanese brand. I picked this body lotion up together with Rilakkuma Moisturizing Face Mask. Too bad I cant remember the exact price, but i know for sure, it didnt break me bank! Actually, I have just finished this tub recently. The lotion was so thin, I managed to finish this rather big tub in no time.

One of the main ingredient the lotion advertises is shea butter. so, I was expecting this to be moisturizing. unfortunately, it was not as moisturizing as i expected. Dont get me wrong here, it is still a pleasant lotion to use!

the texture is slightly runny lotion with sweet chocolate smell. however, I do feel the smell is slightly artificial. nice thing is, the lotion got absorbed in to skin easily. but as I said before, the level of moisture it offers is not enough for my perpetually dry skin.

bottomline,

cute addition to my closet, but I wont repurchase, even if I can get it easily- the artificial fragrance and merely lightly moisturizing property is not enough for me.

Oriental Princess Beneficial Magic Eye Colours in 05 Mist

Look at that pretty butterflies! Aren’t they pretty, nesting on top of the eye shadow palette?

This time I am trying Oriental Princess’ mono eye shadows, which is also in baked formula. Made in Italy, the container offers 2gr of product ...plus a big mirror inside the pan! The packaging somehow reminds me of Bourjois’ famous blushes.

Oriental Princess is a Thai brand which offers variety of beauty products. From skin care, perfumes, hair product to ... of course, make up!

05 Mist is cool magenta pink with iridescent sparkle. When applied, the sparkle is not so obvious that you look like a disco ball. Looking at that pretty magenta pink, I am so tempted to try it as a blush... guess what, when applied lightly, it does make a good rosy blush. Looking at the result, most likely I will use this baby as blush than eye shadow.

Bottomline,

Nicely pigmented eye shadow with the little-est hint of sparkle. I am using it mostly as a blush – it gives me fresh pinky cheeks. If The product is more readily available, I will definitely purchase more.  

Rimmel Lasting Finish Lipstick By Kate Moss in 101

(picture from rimmel.rimmellondon.com)

It was love at first sight with… the packaging of this Rimmel lippie. Yes, it was the regular plastic tube from Rimmel… but something from the Kate Moss collection somehow called me. May be it was Kate’s cute signature on the tube? I don’t know.

For those not familiar, Rimmel is drugstore beauty brand from the UK. Most of its products are available in Singapore’s Watson. This year (or was it last year?) Rimmel launched Kate Moss lipstick collection. There’s regular lipstick and the matte lasting finish lippie, like the one I bought here. Just like other Kate’s collection, the line promises vivid colors and comfortable wear. The Lasting Finish collection offers 5 super wearable color collection.

101, is matte natural pink, very creamy and glides easily on my lips. The color is super wearable, especially for those with paler skin tone. One me, it is a pretty MLBB (my lips but better) pink-nude. The color is super similar to my own lip color, hence it just make my lips tone appear smoother and more even. I find the color and texture smoother than the regular Rimmel matte lipstick. The lipstick is scented with Rimmel’s signature fruity-ish fragrance.

Not surprisingly for mattes, this product is pretty drying on my (already) dry lips. But it doesn’t feel as drying as the regular Rimmel matte lippie. The color is pigmented, single swipe is enough to give you full coverage. The finish is more velvet than matte. My lips doesn’t look dry and it is still creamy enough to give the comfortable feeling when applied. Nice thing is, as it wears out, it doesn’t settle on my lip lines. It fades evenly in 3-4 hours (with my regular tea sipping and almost constant snacking).

Bottomline,

Pretty color for everyday use with perfect pigmentation. It also features comfortable texture for matte lipstick. I will definitely buy more if they offer more colors.

Oriental Princess Concentrated Cuticle Hair Treatment for Fluffy Hair

For fluffy hair... that’s a product made for me! Woots!

This baby was part of my haul from a Thai brand, Oriental Princess. Easily found in Thai malls, they are affordable yet offers plethora of products.

The serum contains vitamin E acetate and jojoba oil to strengthen and moisturize. It also promises to strengthen my hair and to give more body – not that my thick hair need extra body, but, I do need stronger hair.

The serum is thick and glossy, easily absorbed and non sticky. It has no fragrance. I can strongly feel the presence of silicone ingredients here – as it feels that signature silicone slipperiness. My hair becomse softer and more shiny after application. Just like other silicone based products, this doesn’t add moisture on my hair at all, just softness.

Bottomline,

I love moisturizing products, this is lovely, but not moisturizing enough for me. I’m not going to repurchase this one... even though I do think it will make great product for those looking for softness and shine alone. 

Illamasqua Lip Twin Set in Obey & Plentiful

With the entire cult following stuff, I am very curious about Illamasqua’s products. The brand started as cult British make up line famous for brave colors and crazy pigmented products.

 As a novice to the brand, I decided to try more subtle colors first… so I picked up their lip twin set which contains Intense Lipgloss in Plentiful and Matte Lipstick in Obey.

Nothing fancy in the packaging here… plastic lipgloss tube and simple-but-cool square lippie tube with curved sides. I do love the simplicity and the cool factor of the lipstick tube.

Now the product… I was expecting Plentiful to be one of those milky gloss which settles on my lips. But I was wrong… it somehow manage to stay nice while showing off its pretty color when worn. Plentiful itself is a borderline neon milky pastel peach. Worn alone, it doesn’t show super neon color, but subtle yet noticeable milky peach. The color stays on me for about 3 hours before starting to fade (I sip my tea a lot). It didn’t just disappear, but leaving soft peachy tint by the end of 3 hours. You can easily wipe off the peachy tint with plain tissue if you want to. I didn’t taste anything, but it is lightly fragranced. What can I say… I am loving this color right now…

Obey on the other hand is more difficult to pull off. Mainly because of its matte formula. My lips are naturally dry, and applying lipbalm underneath doesn’t help. In an hour or so, I can see my lips feeling drier.

Obey matches perfectly with Plentiful, hence most of the time, I wear them in layer. Layering gives me pop of color with healthy gloss thrown in. perfect! For colors which are beyond my comfort zone (the neon-ish factor), the duo is surprisingly wearable and lovable for my skin.

Bottomline,

I totally would buy more colors from the lipgloss range. But for the matte lipstick, I don’t think my dry lips agrees with the formula. I am planning to try lipstick from other formula.

The colors are surprisingly wearable. Pigmentation is perfect too.  

Sleek Wonderlast Lipgloss in Purity

Guess who had a twin sister?

Don’t you agree Sleek Wonderlast totally look like dupe of Make Up For Ever Aqua Rouge? The moment I saw it, I know I have to try it!

The lipcolor formula is more liquid than MUFE’s but still creamy. Very easy to manage and spread. The lipcolor has light vanilla fragrance; no taste was detected when I wore this. Just like its twin sister, the lipcolor is super opaque in single swipe. On me, it feels like this baby requires longer time to set properly compared to MUFE’s. It dries down matte and even. Purity is creamy, almost nude-warm pink in color.

After it sets, I applied the supplied gloss. Unlike the lipcolor, the gloss is tasteless and fragranceless. The gloss is light and non sticky. I am loving it.

But… Gotta say I don’t fancy the brush that comes with it. I will prefer sponge applicator like the lipcolor’s. The brush is stiff and basically not helpful. 

This baby is rock solid. It doenst budge at all the whole day... it does fade a little along the way, but then again, it was a rosy nude lip color, which look really similar to my original lip color- therefore i wont notice it as much when it does fade out. The gloss on the other hand, just slip off very easily. May be an hour or two.

Bottomline,
good one if you like rosy nude color. the formula is nice and it does stay all day. I am definitely going to try more colors from this line. 

Oriental Princess – Body Cologne Cream in Story of Happiness Oriental White Flower

I totally feel intrigued with the name of this product... “Body Cologne Cream”... is it a light refreshing cream? Is it cologne in cream form?

Oriental Princess is a Thai brand, easily found in shopping malls. Usually their products are sold in concept boutiques. Oriental Princess covers pretty much all your beauty need... from cutesy hand creams, various hair care and stying products, make up, perfumes... you name it, they got it. not to mention that the products are pocket friendly!

(picture from orientalprincesssociety.com)

I am loving the packaging. Look at the pretty box and frosted glass tub... this is the perfect gift for a friend! Sure it is not travel-friendly, but I’m sure it looks pretty on top of the vanity table.

The “Story of Happiness” series belongs to their perfumery line. Beside this Cologne Cream, the line also offers hair cologne and body cologne. The cologne cream promises velvety, well moisture skin with long lasting fresh yet soft fragrance.

The cream is thick and rich. It glides nicely on my skin, unfortunately, it doesn’t get absorbed that easily. I feel like the cream is sitting on top of my skin. Even though the cream is thick, it doesnt feel  super moisturizing. It just make my skin feel comfortable, but it doesnt improve dryness.

The fragrance itself is not as white-flowery as I expected. It was more like floral-rose infused baby powder.

Bottomline,

Pretty addition to my cream collection, but not moisturizing enough for my dry skin. 

As Seen On ...Bond Girl Severine - Amplified Louboutin Nails

Seen Skyfall yet? Two thing I remembered the most from the movie were Adele singing the theme song and... Severine's make up and nails. 

Remember those days when the beauty equation was like this:

dramatic eyes + bold lips = disaster?

Those days were over! Bond girl Severine proves that it is okay to do both eyes and lips….

(picture from opi.com)

Lovin' her look!

And look at that nail! First we have the Louboutin trend – black on top and red on underside of nails- just like those covetable Louboutin shoes. Then now we have this gold Louboutin as seen on Severine.

Granted, it won’t make a big difference for those with short nails… plus it makes cleansing the polish pain in the arse… but I do think it adds extra oomph when done on fake nails (means no messy cleaning the undersides of my nails…yay!)

Palmer’s Cocoa Butter Formula Skin Therapy Oil

I’ve got this bottle for a while already, can’t believe I haven’t done anything with it yet! I think most of us are familiar with Palmer’s. The brand pretty much offers everything hydrating for the skin.

 Palmer’s claims that this oil is good for scars, stretch marks, dry, damaged skin, uneven skin tone, aging skin, fine lines and wrinkles. They also say this is good not only for your arms and legs... but also your face. That’s a lot of claim thrown in there!

You know me... first, I am going to try it on my hair! The oil is thin and easy to get absorbed. It makes my hair feels softer. The oil has faint fruity rose fragrance. It doesn’t bother me at all, as it dissipates very quickly after hair or skin application.

On my dry skin, it gets absorbed nicely as well. Dispense carefully, as just a little too much oil will give the oily skin stickiness.

One thing I really really hate from this oil is the bottle! The small plastic bottle size is perfect. But the nozzle is pain in the ass. It is too small and somehow I cant dispense it cleanly, without spilling some on the sides. Hate it.

Bottomline,

Practical product for those who wants skin and hair oil in one. But, I just detest that plastic bottle. Please, change the nozzle!

Kao Liese Designing Jelly 1 Tidy Straight

I am always amused by the level of differentiation Japanese hair styling products presents to us. They pretty much have one type for every single hair style. Sometime the vast choices overwhelms me, but most of the time, it’s all fun.  And Liese is not an exception... it is one of the biggest brand of hairstyle in Japan, which offers pretty much everything you need for your hair styling routine. 

 As usual, I picked up the one which promises me pretty, tidy, straight hair. That leads me to number 1, tidy straight. It promises natural, sleek look by keeping frizz at bay and flyaways tame.

 I don’t think I will ever bring this during my travels, but the bottle is just too cute. It kinda reminds me of nail polish bottle. The cap, which makes it cute, also makes it travel un-friendly... it simply will take too much space in my luggage.

The product itself is light runny liquid gel like, which get easily absorbed by damp towel dried or fully dried hair. It is lightly perfumed with light fruity floral fragrance, which dissipates when applied. Nice thing is, it doesn’t feel silicone-y or weigh down my hair.

On regular day, this is a nice styling product. It does exactly what Liese says about it. But don’t dream that it will straighten your wavy hair. Tidy Straight tidies up your hair, but it will not straighten it.  I love to use it to tidy up fine hairs which frame the face.

Bottomline,

Nice styling products to tidies up a little frizz and flyaways, but it is not suitable for heavy duty straightening. 

Beauty 911 - Beauty Oils

One item which I never ever leave out from my travelling pouch is, obviously, beauty oils. I always have spot for a tiny bottle of baby oil. When I have extra space, I squeeze in dry oils such as Nuxe Huile Prodigiuse or The Body Shop Beautifying Oil.

  

(picture from johnsonsbaby.com)

Not once or twice did one of my oil collections safe me from beauty 911. 

Let’s start from the top: hair. I applied baby oil on my split ends when once I ran out of conditioner. Just beware, baby oil overdose will make your hair appear greasy, apply one little drop at a time. I find dry oil to be less greasy to the hair.  Work it always from tip, allowing each oil drop to get absorbed before adding more. I never apply oil nearby my scalp, for simple reason, I don’t want to look like a wet rat.

(picture from fr.nuxe.com)

Not a surprise here, oils are fantastic 911 moisturizer. I like to use it after bath before towel drying my skin. Apply generously over wet skin; then dry your skin with towel as usual. This will make skin feels less oily, but just nicely moisturized- especially when you are using baby oil.

(picture from thebodyshop.co.uk)

I love a little dry oil for my cuticles too. Little goes long way here, unless you fancy oily fingertips. 

Last but not least, my favourite way to use oils... as make up remover. Of course; don’t slather your face with it. Dip your cotton ball or Qtips and wipe... voila... make up gone! For more stubborn stuff, like waterproof mascara or MAC liquidlast eye liner, apply the oil lightly and let it rest for 5-10 seconds, then slowly massage to dissolve the pigment residue. Wipe with tissue paper to absorb the oil, then wash with facial cleanser as usual.

One thing I wont use my baby oil for is... face moisturizer. I don’t think baby oil is as easily absorbed by facial skin than body skin. Moreover, some might find the main ingredient, mineral oil, might be irritating for more sensitive skin.

Bottomline... always have a tiny bottle of your favourite beauty oil in your luggage!