Kose Esprique Mellow Forming Rouge in PK811

Esprique is another brand from Kose. Its principal is one stroke beauty -user friendly and simple. 

This is not traditional lippie with a firm bullet, but rather one of those 'serum' lippie like Dior's Serum de Rouge. The lippie is very soft and housed in click style 'pen' instead of tube. Dont twist too much, it might not goes back inside as easily as your regular lippie tube... 

PK881 is pretty baby pink with light superfine shimmer. It is super easy to wear. I do think it suits almost every skin tone. 

The texture is melt upon application, very glossy. My lips feels moisturized when I am wearing this. The color itself is super sheer, so dont expect much color payoff here. As with most moisturizing, glossy finish lippies - I dont expect this to last very long. Indeed, it only lasted me 1-2 hours with my regular tea sipping. Frequent application is definitely needed... keep one pen in your pouch!

Bottomline, 

Easy to wear, moisturizing lipstick - just like what Esprique promised. It is lacking in pigment  and longevity department. But the comfortable feel makes me reach for it more and more often as my daily lippie.

Kose Cosmeport Salon-Style Precious Head Spa Secret Knight Repair EX

I’m always up to fun treatments or anything that promises hair repair. Kose Salon Style Secret Knight Repair EX fits the bill.

It promises no stickiness when applied. I agree with Kose, sticky hair during sleep is no fun. The product will moisturize your hair deeply and maintain it.

The product contains wonderful ingredients such as orange essential oil, safflower oil, jojoba oil, olive oil, hot spring water and herbal extracts.

I washed my hair, air dry it and apply. Salon Style specifically mentions to make sure your hair is dry when used. Oh, don’t make my silly mistake – shake the bottle thoroughly before dispensing. Else, you wont get mousse, but milky liquid mess instead. When shaken properly and the bottle held upright, the soft mousse will be dispensed nicely. Somehow the mousse expands in volume a few seconds after dispensing. So, I highly suggest dispensing small amount, ping pong ball sized mousse at a time.

The product was easily absorbed, leaving no residue behind. My hair was soft and silky to touch afterwards. I applied it in the evening after shampooing, leaving it on overnight. The next morning, my hair is still nice to touch, but I don’t feel it as moisture as much as I liked it to be. When I did this test, I skipped my usual leave on hair oils/ LUSH R&B moisturizer during drying process. Nowadays, I am applied Salon Style Secret Knight Repair EX after my regular hair moisturizers.

Bottomline…

Nice to have, but not essential at all. But this might be a wonderful product for those who just want silkier hair. For me and my fried dried processed hair, won’t repurchase. 

Kose Nature & Co. Three Butters Lip Balm

This tiny baby comes from Nature & Co., natural-themed brand from Japanese giant, Kose. Right now, Nature & Co. offers 5 lines of products: Pure White, Vital Purity, Mint & Tea, Three Butters and Honey Blend. Of course, each line is dedicated to certain problem/needs of your skin or hair. Three butters has both face and body care products.

Meant for delicate, sensitive lips, the balm is packed with many natural ingredients like olive oil, safflower, cocoa seed oil and shea butter. Some of these ingredients are organic too.

First, I don’t need another lipbalm…. But I picked this up… since I adore the packaging so much. The small 5.8 gr brown jar is vintage looking and pretty. It is made of light plastic, yet feels hard and sturdy.

The balm itself is hard yet glossy. It melts upon contact with skin, so you don’t have to dig deep to get the balm. I find little goes along way, since it is so glossy. Unlike my trusty badger balm, I don’t think this is suitable for lipstick base… again, since it is glossy. To be used on top of the lippie, it is suitable.

Even though the packaging listed fragrance, I didn’t smell or taste discernable fragrance or taste. There is faint herby smell, but I wont detect it unless I bury my nose in the jar.

I rarely use balm/gloss on top of my lippie. So, I wont use this as much as other more base-suitable balms I own. However, I found that it made excellent cuticle balm and elbow balm. My dry patchy elbow loves this balm! Plus, due to the small size, I don’t feel guilty chucking it in my cosmetic pouch.

Bottomline,

Another nice addition for my pouch. I like it as cuticle and elbow balm, but I don’t like it that much that I would repurchase. 

Kose Cosmeport Rose of Heaven Aquary Gel UV SPF 25 PA++

Another one from Kose’s Rose of Heaven series! This candied rose fragranced line consists of many things… hair care, creams and now sunblock too. I adore the candied rose fragrance in some of the products, while not a big fun in some other. I guess the different formula and intensity of the fragrance makes the lines smell similar to each other but not exactly the same, especially when worn on skin.

(picture from adambeauty.com)

Compared to other sunblock milks or gels from other Japanese brands, the bottle of this one is huge. It contains 90mL in contrast to the regular 30-50 mL.

The product itself is a light milky gel, which feels wonderfully cooling when applied.  My skin feels softer and more moisturized after application. I think this gel might contain a little menthol, as I feel light pleasant tingly coolness after application.

Candied honeyed rose fragrance here is not so intensive, yet it will compete with other fragrance if you are using any.

Bottomline...

fun fragrant and cooling sunblock. perfect for beachy holidays when i just dont want to add extra grammes in my bag for perfume. i wont wear this when i am wearning perfume, though...

Kose Visee Mineral Liquid Cheeks Baby Finish in RD 401 and PK 800

I have been waiting for this product for ages to appear in my favorite e-retailers…but I didn’t see any sign of it appearing… when my bestie, the wonderful Astrid happen to visit Japan. She grabbed me RD 401 and PK 800! Thanks a lot, angel!

Now the product… it is a recent spring 2012 launch which is part of the mineral series. Previously they also offered blusher in compact powder form. I have to say, the compact powder blusher is hit and miss. Sometime they give you wonderful color payoff, sometimes not.

Not so for this baby! This light thin cream packs a lot of pigment. A little goes loooonng way… see here, I blended out a little of the product, and you can still see how pigmented it is. 

The light cream texture is lovely. Easy to spread and blend. But once it sets (after 30 seconds-1 minutes) it wont budge. After swatching this product, I went off and did some cleaning and washing chores. To my surprise, the pigment was still there until I wash it off properly with soap and water.

I am so super loving this product… even though each tiny tube only pack 10gr of the product… considering the pigmentation, these can lasts me long time.

Bottomline…

Instant love…

Kose Visee Glam Pink Eyes in PK 2 Coral Pink

From Spring 2012 release I got myself Glam Pink Eyes in PK2 from Visee, this time Visee doesn’t collaborate with any clothing brand. It kinda reminds me of The Body Shop’s Shimmer Waves…several shades in a palette kind of concept...way cuter packaging thou.

(picture from visee.jp)

 similar, yes? (picture from thebodyshop-usa.com)

The Glam Pink Eyes is available in 5 color combos- mauve, berry, peach, coral and beige. Along with Glam Pink Eyes, Visee also releases black colored Real Extension Mascara. I picked Coral Pink…since it looks like an easy going palette… which I am going to attempt to use as highlighter/blush as well… lets see if that works…

The packaging! As usual, very pretty detailed bow adorn the palette. Making it pop from my collection of other Japanese eye palettes. The color itself ranges from pinkish ivory, pinkish light copper, light pinkish coral and light warm brown- of course, all are shimmery. of course it has the simple how-to diagram...

Pigmentation wise it is pretty good and the product feels silky soft, super easy to blend too.

The color is too pretty to be reserved for eyes only, so I tried using it as highlighter. I used super light hand with soft brush… and it I kinda like the result- soft warm glow. Of course, you have to be careful, as too much product will make you look like discoball here. As a blush, I don’t think it works... need more color to be seen on my cheeks, while it reaches the desired color intensity, the shimmer goes overboard…

Bottomline…

I like this one…easy to use product with lovely structure. But do I need more colors? I don’t think so… one palette is pretty representative of the collection.  

Kose Cosmeport Salon Style Treatment Wax

For my dried, fried, straightened hair, I am always on the lookout for products to keep my hair looking more glossy and tame... this one from Japanese cosmetic giant, Kose, sounds promising...

(picture from adambeauty.com)

Salon Style is wallet friendly hair care line from Kose. this wax promises glorious flowing hair. With hydrolyzed wheat proteins & collagen, the wax is said to repair hair too. not only that, Kose also throw in UV protection to prevent pigment fading in dyed hair. Scale 1 for styling power (1 low to 6 high) and Scale 5 for glossiness. as usual, product claims sound good...

This Salon Style Wax series comes in 6 variants, ranging from low hold (like mine, Treatment Wax) to strong hold waxes.

I adore the packaging, too bad mine arrived dented in several spots. the glossy-borderline gel like product lightly scented. the light fragrance is gone by the time i applied it to my hair. the product is ultra light, doesnt weigh down my hair at all. and it got easily absorbed as well.

my hair does feel slick and look glossier when wearing this. I usually used this in the morning, during styling.

Once I used it prior to flat ironing my hair (i towel dried my hair prior to straightening it with flat iron), and it worked fine! it helps tame frizziness and doesnt make my hair feel dried and rough after the flat iron abuse.

bottomline,
Cheap and easy to use! Definitely will repurchase.

I got mine from adambeauty.com (I am not affiliated with adambeauty, but I shop there often)

Kose Cosmenience Happy Bath Day Precious Rose Rose Enrich Hand Cream

Woohoo… one my favorite line from Kose: Happy Bath Day! This time, I got their hand cream.

(picture from adambeauty.com)

I wont sing more praises on its cute pink, rosey packaging… lets see the product! The cream is thick and glossy. Gets absorbed easily. And … doesn’t make me feel like there’s a layer of film after I rinsed my hand with water! Lovely!

Of course, it is scented with Happy Bath Day fragrance- cheerful fruity rose. Definitely repurchase! too bad it comes is tiny 40g sized tube.

I got mine from adambeauty.com

Things I finished this month...

No doubt I am a self confessed product hoarder. I like to try new stuff and tend not to finish them. Yet, I also buy numerous repurchases of stuff I really like. So, when i do finish something, especially those random purchases, I am so proud of myself... So, drumroll please... These are stuff I finished this month!!!

Sasatinnie magic fairy aloe Vera and tea tree mask

okay, this is not thing I'm proud of, since a box only contain 3 sheets. The mask is traditional Asian sheet mask from non woven material, soaked in serum/ essence. The material in this mask is thicker than my usual My Beauty Diary masks. It smells like tea tree and feels soothing when worn. The mask contains ingredients like moisturizing aloe, blemish reducing-pore minimizing-sebum secretion balancing tea tree and pore minimizing-anti blemish-anti oxidation edelweiss. The aloe and edelweiss is claimed to be of organic origin. As with most oil balancing mask i've tried, this doesn't really help my oily t zone. But I do enjoy the soothing, cooling feeling when wearing this mask.

Cussons first years nourishing stretch mark cream

not like I need stretch mark cream. I got this as part of cussons first years box I purchased during a boring day. I do end up with most useless purchases during boring days... Anyways, it is light and easily absorbed. But not moisturizing enough for me. May be because it is designed for stretch mark, but not moisturizing? I do liked the fragrance in this cussons first years series thou.. Light airy fruity floral. Just enjoyable.

Tony moly red appletox honey cream

another purchase I made just because I can't resist the cute apple shaped jar. The cream contains apple, honey and collagen to Moisturize and enhance elasticity of skin.It is recommended for tired, dehydrated sensitive skin. Don't expect cream here, you are getting gel with honey consistency. It even comes with a tiny spatula to take the product from the jar. I find it too moisturizing, borderline sticky for my combination face skin. Since I don't want to waste it, I ended up using it for my hands. But it is not moisturizing enough for my dry hands. feels like the gel just sits on top and does nothing. I'm glad I'm done with the content and now, i can clean the cute apple shaped jar up and use it to store my tiny trinkets.

Kose Cosmeport Rose of Heaven Hand Cream

Seems like I finished a few creams this month! I still remember this cream being so fragrant, however, the fragrance doesnt last very long, as last I applied it, the fragrance has subdued to light sweetened rose scent. I do like the sweetened rose scent, but I expect longer lasting perfume on my hand creams. The texture itself is enjoyable, easily absorbed and moisturizing. But I wont repurchase this one.

L'occitane Amande Pomme Velvet Face Fluid

Been using this since my lazy days...this light yet moisturizing fluid is suitable for my combination face. Doesn't make my face too oily, yet provides enough moisture. It has SPF of 40 as well. However, won't repurchase, as nowadays I prefer separate moisturizer and sunblock. Right now I am using moisturizer still from Amande Pomme -the non SPF version.

Kao Essential Damage Care Rich Premier Shampoo

I had high hopes for this one, especially that is promises smooth & manageable hair. it contains honey, shea butter and sunflower oil. Sounds wonderful. however... it doesnt work on me as much as I would like it to be. Somehow it makes my hair tangle more- that's the opposite of smooth and manageable . I am so glad I have finished this bottle, surely I wont be repurchasing. I still have the conditioner and leave-on serum from the line which I havent try...lets hope the conditioner and serum works better.

Kose Cosmeport Softymo Super Point Make Up Remover

I honestly dont need another make up remover... Yet I picked this one.

Softymo is another brand from Japanese cosmetic giant, Kose.

Now, I do think this bottle is full of instruction I dont understand... they are all in Japanese! And I dont understand any Japanese. So, I just followed what the illustration is doing... She's wiping her face with cotton pad! And that's exactly what I'm gonna do.

This remover is like light liquid gel. it is not fragranced and feels light on skin. So I put sufficient amount of remover on my cotton pad, and continue on wiping my eye make up (I was wearing Lavshuca eye shadow, Urban Decay 24/7 pencil eye liner and Maybelline waterproof mascara). To my delight, Softymo managed to take off all my make up pretty easily. just dab your eye area a little to make it a little easier to take off the colors, then wipe. Off all the make up! Wonderful.

No oily feeling, no heaviness, not drying as well. litlle warning though, I felt it sting my eyes a little bit when I put too much cleanser on my cotton pad, and opened my eyes before I wiped the cleanser residue properly.

Next test, of course... my favorite MAC Liquidlast eye liner + eye shadows! unfortunately, it doenst work as well with liquid last. It can lift the liner up, but it is not optimal, I still need to do a bit of rubbing, patting is not enough here.

bottomline... Nice cleanser to have during light make up days, but definitely not enough for heavy duty cleansing work.

@Anonymous: I got mine thru adambeauty.com . i'm not affiliated with him, but I shop in the shop a lot. highly recommended, reasonably prices, reliable and fast shipping too. 

Kose Visee meets Blondy in Foxy Midnight

Each year, Japanese brand Visee collaborates with fashion labels and launch limited edition make up collection. This Spring 2012, They are collaborating with blondy, Japanese clothing brand. The collection features 3 new Glam Nude Eyes palette in Foxy Midnight, Classical Bitter Chocolate and Nudish Peach. All three features easy to wear nude palette.

I dont need tad much nude palette in my collection...but the design in the palette really tempts me! I picked up Foxy Midnight the moment I saw it popped in Adambeauty.com (I'm not affiliated to Adambeauty, I just like its excellent service, speedy shipping and reasonable price).

To my surprise, it comes in a pretty thick carton packaging. very pretty and appealing. Even thought it is called Foxy Midnight, I dont think these shades are vampy-bold at all. They are pretty, sweet collection of nudes.

The pearly pale warm beige on the top right has creamy texture. I cant read japanese, but I think this is meant to be used as base. The shimmery glittery pale beige on the bottom right is the most glittery-it also features the most visible glitter-not chunky but visible. The other shades are lightly shimmery, uplifting but doesnt cross to discoball territory.

All has wonderfully soft texture, easy to blend. These shades are sheer-so it is really suitable for day to day use.

Bottomline,
for nude shadow lovers... these are good value in cute packaging! But this is certainly not for high pigment lovers out there.

Kose Visee Glossy Nude Rouge – Visee feat Smacky Glam in Bitter Beige BE 305

I totally adore Visee’s collaboration with Japanese fashion brands! Usually this will result in adorable packaging and pretty, easy to wear make up range! Unfortunately, it is not the easiest to get hold of these collections for me. Not so long time ago, I saw this baby in stock in adambeauty.com, and I just grabbed it!

Visee is a drugstore brand from Kose. Don’t let the drugstore status fool you! Japanese drugstore stuff are actually of good quality and most of the time- totally worth the money!

Now, I have no idea what kind of brand is Smacky Glam. But from the look of it – looks like it has some kind of retro boho feel. See those flowers printed on the gloss tube!

On to the gloss… it is not the most pigmented gloss I’ve seen. And, unfortunately for me, like most nude gloss I’ve tried – Bitter Beige clings to my lip lines-making my lips look wrinkly and ugly. I guess this issue roots from its less sticky formula. Definitely not as sticky/heavy as MAC lipglass (my favorite lipglass- the pink Viva Glam Gaga, which has sticky formula, doesn’t cling to my liplines) and not light as MAC cremesheen or YSL glosses. I suppose applying lip pencil or nude  lipstick will help overcome this problem.

Wear time is very short. The nude color pretty much wears off by the 2^nd hour of wear.

For me, this is not a love. But those who love to wear nude lippies- this will the perfect product to add glossy sheen on your lips!

-          I am not affiliated to adambeauty.com, I just love to shop there. The service is good, fast and reliable~

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.

Kose Visee feat Aula Aila Glam Shade Eyes Limited Edition in BR9 Gypsy Gold

Once I started with Visee I cant seem to stop. Wanted to get 2010 collaboration with Mercury Duo, but the color I am interested in was sold out in Adambeauty.com. Then I saw the recent Aula Aila collaboration and grabbed it!

As usual, the packaging of this palette is just gorgeous. I almost always love how Visee palettes look like. Look at that ‘sequined’ look on the palette... lovely

As usual, Japanese palettes comes with fool proof diagram to recreate the model’s look..

Now the most important thing... the colors! Left-right: ivory, chocolate, dark brown-olive, black-grey and cream textured glittery silvery-ivory. Only the most right is cream, the other are nice easy to use powder with soft lovely creamy feel.

All are shimmery and pretty, except the creamy which doesn’t pack pigments, just shimmer and glitters. They are rather sheer, the most pigmented is the black-grey (second from right).

These gorgeous color are very easy to work with. Simply fool proof. No matter how you combine them, it will still look gorgeous and matched. Best of all... office friendly!

I do think I am ready to grab more Visee and the other Aula Aila palette! Now this... is what I call value for money!

In Summary...
Packaging: made of plastic but gorgeous and well decorated
Color offering: only 2 neutral palettes are available from Aula Aila collaboration
Collateral damage: USD 21.5 without shipping
Is it worth it?
Yes if... you love neturals, you enjoy sheer and shimmery shadows
No if... you want more colourful palette and hate online shopping.

Kose Cosmenience Happy Bath Day Precious Rose Body Powder

Rose overload! These few days I have been spray happy with my favourite rose fragrances, like The Perfumer Workshop Tea Rose or Thierry Mugler Angel La Rose. I love rose and with mood like this, I will grab anything rosey! And I did... Kose Comenience Happy Bath Day Precious Rose Body Powder. As you know, Kose is Japanese cosmetics brand which brings us, of course, Kose line of skincare and make up and Fasio, the drugstore make up line. After some consulting the wise Uncle Google, I figured this product has been around for few years in Singapore. (again, where have I been?!?). In the shop where I got this bay, there was a tiny rack filled with pink colored, rose scented products from Kose. Ranging from hair care to soap to cologne... thanks to the cute packaging, I ended up with the body powder.

Look at that cute pink rose shaped handle on top! The powder comes with pink soft powder puff with pink ribbon on top. Unfortunately the lid is not one of those twist/screw to close. So, if I forgot that and grab the cute pink thing by the rose shaped handle, it will just tumble down... how do I know...I tried... (more like it happen accidentally then purposely trying taking it by the handle...)

The powder itself is so soft and mildly fragranced. When I opened the seal, there is nothing mild about the fragrance. But upon application, the scent softened a lot and gave me soft candied rose smell. Love...

Fallen in love with the body powder, the next natural thing to do is... grab the cologne! But I didn’t. For I don’t fancy the accords in the cologne, it smells of strong alcohol and artificial roses. Nothing like my beloved body powder. How I wish I could buy another product from this range ...

Even though I don’t usually powdered up my body, this rose scented baby is a definite repurchase!

Packaging: cute pink rose themed, be careful with the lid though...
Price: SGD 25
Texture: scented body powder, very pale pink in color. Texture similar to Johnson&Johnson baby powder
Staying power:
Is it worth it?
Yes if... you like to apply body powder, you like the smell of roses
No if... you don’t powder up so much, you simply cant stand roses