Etude House Dear My Essence Lips Talk in EPK002 Bursting Pink Heart and EPK003 Swaying Pink First Love

What a mouthful name! Anyways, this is part of Etude House’s release for Summer 2012, along with the super cute Dear My Lipsticks. This launch of lip essence consists of 8 colors with good mix of wearable pinks, corals and nudes.

(picture from etude.co.kr)

The packaging totally reminds me of Etude House’s lippie from Miss Tangerine Sweet Shower Lips collection from 2011. Here’s  both lippie side by side… same tube design, just different color and design.

I picked up cool toned EPK002 and EPK003. Both colors are sheer and provide glossy sheen. EPK002 is cool magenta pink, sheer yet buildable. When I’m not in the mood for strong toned lips, I wear my trusty Badger Balm underneat and swipe EPK002 lightly on top – the result is glossy pretty pink! EPK003 is MLBB (my lips but better) pretty girly pink. It is sheer, and it might not show up well on beauties with more pigmented lips.

Both has the same feel and formula. Glides nicely on lips, glossy and not drying. I do think this formula is better than Miss Tangerine.

As with most sheer, glossy lippie… these wont stay long on your lips. Carry them on your purse for later touch up. With no tea sipping this last 3 hours on me. But with tea sipping and occasional snack nibbling, it is gone by an hour.

Bottomline,

Pretty colors, easy formula and pretty design. Good choice during uninspired days when I don’t know which lippie to wear. I do think this makes a good choice for lippie beginner or gloss ladies out there- as the formula is light and colors are super easy to wear. 

Etude House Hair Wax & BB Cream for Men

Yes, I don’t need any wax… but I just cant take my eyes of these cute wax packaging by Etude House. Cant believe this products are meant for the boys!

These cute babies comes in 3 variants:

Magenta – Shiny Dandy is glossy wax for short hair

Blue – Natural Two Cut is designed to add volume for medium/longer hair

Grey – Matte Mohican is matte clay for short/medium hair

I am so tempted to get one of these for myself!

Not only that, they also released BB cream for guys: Good Guy -moisturizing BB cream for  natural look and Bad Guy for Sebum control & coverage. Fun!

(picture from etude.co.kr)

Etude If Story Nail Kit Winter 2012

Another winter launch from Etude House! 

I always enjoyed Etude's nail kits. The kits always offer me the chance to get few colors in smaller bottles at once(which I might not wear as often). Good way to experiment new style or out-of-comfort-zone colors!

If story Nail Kit offers 2 colors in each set. Christmas tree snow falls is the one with black base multi color glitter and clear base heart glitter. Melted ice in love is the more cooler toned of the set. Christmas tree certainly reminds me of Deborah Lippman's famous Happy Birthday!

(picture from etude.co.kr)

Majolica Majorca Cream de Cheek Kiichigo Cream Blush in RD 411

Cream de Cheek is part of Majolica Majorca Autumn Winter 2012 launch titled Circus Ecstasy.  This collection contains liquid blush Cream de Cheek, nail polish, new perfume, liquid eyeliner Trick On Liner and hand cream. Of all, I am only interested with the liquid blush.

Majolica Majorca is Japanese drugstore brand from Shiseido. They always come up with pretty seasonal stuff. I have been in love with most of their products...good quality, buttery eye shadow, well pigmented powder blushes and all...

As usual, the packaging is pretty- frosted glass bottle with black cap and golden MJ logo on top. Lovely. It reminds me of nail polish! The brush style is just like nail polish too!

RD 411 is creamy warm red which applies sheer and lovely. It makes my cheek glows nicely – like baby cheek!

The consistency is similar with nailpolish too… minus the nail polish-y smell. Little goes a long way here… a single dot is enough to make my cheek blush nicely. Even though it is well pigmented, Cream de Cheek is easily blended.

Bottomline,

Lovely liquid blush! Pigmented and easy to blend. Just how I want my liquid blush to be! Too bad they don’t come with more colors.

(pictures from shiseido.co.jp/mj/)

Sleek Dip-It Liquid Eyeliner in 268 Forest Green

Sleek is a British brand famous for its wonderful iDivine palettes. Fallen in love with iDivine and their Blush by 3 palletes, I decided to try their liquid eyeliners.

(picture from sleekmakeup.com)

I have chosen Dip-It in Forest Green. Sleek claims it to be long lasting liquid eyeliner with Felt tip applicator. Dip It comes in various colors… from basic jet black to vibrant sky blue and glistening gold.

(picture from sleekmakeup.com)

As a packaging junkie…lets start with the packaging! All I can say is Meh… Unlike wonderful iDivine and Blush by 3, the material they used here totally look and felt cheap. Light matte plastic, plus its forest green color, reminds me of… this:

(picture from disneystore.com)

The color is lovely… matte camouflage forest green, which pairs nicely with a light wash of my favorite Majolica Majorca BE 826 (similar tone to NARS Orgasm)

Applying it…is another story… I was expecting soft nice felt tip like MUFE’s aqua liner. Nope. It is not as soft as MUFE’s. and somehow the product dries so fast, single dip wont even take enough product to make a thin line on my upper lashline. Ho hum…  it also feels clumpy. Meh (again). All of that combined… I cant make smooth, neat, single swipe line as I usually make with my other liquid liners.

(picture from Sephora.com)

Bottomline…

Pretty color aside, I don’t think I want to deal with clumpy eye liner with uncomfortable applicator. 

Philip B Drop Dead Straightening Balm

I am sucker for anything with ‘straghtening’ slapped on… of course, I grabbed this one. When the package arrived, I was more than thrilled.

Philip B says it is a non-greasy, silicone free and water soluble product to give curly and wavy hair straight, bouncy, tangle free finish.  Sounds good to me!

The product is supposed to be used on towel dried hair. work your hair starting from scalp to ends and then style as usual.

One thing you should note is, the texture of this product is definitely not balmy or anything close. It is a gel with medium consistency. Easy enough to work on my hair, yet not runny enough to drip off when I placed the tub horizontally on my desk. I didn’t detect any fragrance here, no oily, siliconey feeling too.

I am using this after my regular hair routine. That’s shampooing with Shiseido Tsubaki shampoo, conditioning Ma Cherie Moisture Treatment, during towel drying I massaged in my current leave on fave: Lush R&B hair treatment… then… I added Philip B Drop Dead Straightening Balm. But not to my whole head… since bottom part of my hair is still pretty much straight. My roots, however (especially those baby hairs around the face) is started returning to curly.

Totally cant believe what I saw afterwards… my roots and baby hairs are way more straight than they usually appeared as. My hair is super dry, stubborn curly wurly – just ask my stylists, my hair is not the easiest to straighten. This is like miracle! I proceed with regular straightening with straightening iron and didn’t set it as usual. Usually I after Lush R&B I would straighten my hair up and set it with Kose Salon Style Treatment Wax.

The next morning, I wake up with straighter hair… my hair didn’t go back to its curly self after a good night sleep. Major YAY from me!

Bottomline,

I am loving this one. Totally will repurchase it! I am even planning to check out other Philip B's products too!

(picture from beautybay.com) 

Pantone Color of The Year 2013 - Emerald

After 2012’s highly successful Tangerine Tango, Pantone has announced 2013 color of the year… Emerald!

I personally find Emerald super easy to work with… it is cheerful enough for spring/summer outfit and makes you get noticed during grey cooler months. To tone it down, pair up with beige or navy. When I feel like adding splash of color, I pair my emerald with a little sunflower. Emerald is one of those versatile colors which make both silver and gold jewelries pop equally.

In my beauty beauty & make up universe, I loved a little emerald eye liner in rotation with my staple jet black – like Urban Decay 24/7 Eye Pencil in Covet. Or, apply little green eye shadows from Lancome’s Color Design 5 Palette in Vert Tendresse.

My personal Asian drugstore pick would be Kanebo Kate’s Eye Blend Zone Eye Shadow palette in GN-1 and Majolica Majorca Jeweling Eyes palette in GR 780.

Nails… ah… there are thousands, if not millions, of gorgeous emeralds out there- in variety of finish too! Like China Glaze Exotic Encounter if you like crème or China Glaze Deviantly Daring for duochrome lovers.  

So, are you going to embrace emerald next year?

(pictures from pantone.com, Sephora.com, chinaglaze.com, adambeauty.com, shiseido.co.jp/mj, head2toebeauty.com).