Etude House K-Beauty Korea Travels: Flagship Store Visit and Manicure! (Pic Heavy)

Recently I went to Korea, courtesy of Etude House, the Korean beauty (or, as I've learned, K-beauty) brand that is very popular in Asia for their sweet, girly and fun makeup and skincare items, and if you've been reading my blog you'll have come across my Etude House reviews, which span various products, including nail polish, skincare, and makeup. I was very fortunate to have the opportunity to go on a K-beauty tour in Seoul, the homeplace of Etude House.

The outside of Etude House's flagshiop store in MyeongDong, in Seoul, Korea.

And now that I'm back (I literally landed in Singapore a few days ago), I figure I should share with you some of thei highlights of my visit! I'm blogging about this trip really soon (by my standards, anyway), because I'm so excited to share my trip highlights with you (if you were following me on Instagram, you would have seen some highlights as I went through them), and also because I know that if I put it off, I'm probably going to forget some of what I saw and experienced on my trip. Not because my memory sucks (although it sometimes does), but just because once I get back to work, the post-holiday glow evaporates pretty fast. So I figure I'd better blog about it first! And please be warned that this post is pretty picture heavy, in case you're viewing this on a slower internet connection or a phone!

Beauty Blog Link Love

Jenny reviews the NARS Eye Paints in Mozambique and Iskandar on My Funny Valentine.

Love the Urban Decay Electric Palette but need vegan dupes? Check out Phyrra's UD Electric Palette Dupe List.

Over at theNotice, Rae has a warning about a fraudulent online shop that sells cosmetic supplies... but doesn't always ship them. If you live in Canada or the US, consider yourself warned!

Love cream blush? Then you should check out Musicalhouses' MUFE HD Second Skin Cream Blush swatches!

At Musing on Beauty, Mariella revisits some old favorites: Barry M. Dazzle Dusts. Go down the memory lane with her!

Spring is finally here and FabDiva20 has got some Spring related goodies from NARS Final Cut Collection! Check out her NARS Final Cut Collection Haul!

Are you short on time yet you still want a high-end, results-oriented, and spa-like treat for your skin? See why Pammy Blogs Beauty loves reaching for these Age-Defying Exfoliating Pads from Radical Skincare. From the effervescent feel to the amazing results, these are totally worth checking out!

Jenn from Spiced Beauty shares her L'Oreal Extraordinaire Gel-Lacquer 1-2-3 manicure experience! What do you think?

Lisamarie from Beauty Crazed takes MAC Studio Sculpt Mascara for a spin - check out her swatches and see if a comb really does make a better brush!

Beauty Reflections is in love with Lancome Lip Lover Rose Ballet #313! It's her favourite long-wearing gloss ever!

Whether you're feeling an understated nail or something outrageously sparkly, Makeup Morsels' latest lacquer discoveries have you covered for the weekend.

Kiehl's Clearly Corrective White Hydrating and Clarifying Treatment Masque Review and Ingredients Analysis

Kiehl's has launched its Clearly Corrective White Hydrating and Clarifying Treatment Masque, and this is part of the brand's Clearly Corrective range, which is aimed at brightening and dark spot solutions. Obviously, being your typical Asian girl who wants to be as fair as possible, you can imagine my utter glee when I got my grabby little hands on this. I was like, "YES! Another whitening product!" Nevermind the bunch of other whitening products I already have, a girl can always do with more products, right?

Kiehl's Clearly Corrective White Hydrating and Clarifying Treatment Masque

As a sheet mask product addressing whitening concerns, this is likely to do well in the Asian market over here. Sheet masks are immensely popular, as are whitening products (obviously, I'm not alone), so I was all set to review this, and give it my best shot! And since this is a skincare product, let's begin exactly the way I like it - with a trip to the ingredients list, and let's see how it fares!

Butter London Trout Pout: Pinky-Coral and Springy!

Butter London is one of the brands I've become enamoured with lately - despite their hit-and-miss quality, as well as their high prices, there's just something about those cute rectangular bottles, with their pretty colours and cheeky names, that makes me just want a few more shades. And so here is one of my latest Butter London acquisitions, which I think is perfect for whatever warmer Spring weather is coming up - Trout Pout!

Butter London Trout Pout

I happen to be wildly in love with this colour at the moment - it is so perfect for the season, as we look at all the Spring-themed collections and products the various brands are putting out. Just look at that gorgeous colour!


Butter London Trout Pout: A perfect colour for Spring

Etude House Each Month Cleansing Foam Review and Ingredients Analysis

Etude House has released their Each Month Cleansing Foam, which consists of a collection of 12 (yes, twelve!) different types of foaming face cleansers, each with different plant extracts, for different skin types. You can buy a few, or buy just your favourite, and rotate them around as the weather changes, and your skin's needs change.

Etude House Each Month Cleansing Foam

For this review I tried 5 out of the 12 Each Month Foaming Cleansers: the Number 1 Deep Moisturizing Avocado and Butter, Number 2 Firming Pomegranate and Berry, Number 3 Tone Clarifying Apple and Tomato, Number 5 Fresh Clean Green Tea, and Number 7 Soothing Relief Aloe Vera. These are so typically Etude House, in the best way possible - they have the cutest packaging ever, lots of choices, and they really smell great! The smell of each cleanser actually matches the products - for example, Number 3 Tone Clarifying Apple and Tomato actually smells of apples to me, while the Number 5 Fresh Clean Green Tea has a nice fresh scent. Little details like that really make the cleansing experience quite pleasant.

MUFE HD Blush Second Skin Cream Blush Swatches!

MUFE's HD Second Skin Cream Blush has just been launched, and I am so excited about how awesome these are! I will be putting out a proper review of these soon (and soon meaning the next couple of weeks), but in the meantime, here are swatches of these blushes!

How awesome are these? (Photo from my Instagram)

Anyway, these are pretty good quality overall - they are quite radically different from MUFE's previous HD Blush, the Microfinish Cream Blush. Those were super pigmented, and in liquid form, and you basically used a teeeny tiny bit and blended out a lot to get a rosy glow. These? They're layerable, so you can apply lightly for a wash of colour or use more for an intense flush, and although the Second Skin Cream Blush starts off as a cream, when you apply it to your skin it sort of dries down to a smooth finish. When I was swatching these, the quality reminded me of the Chanel Cream Blushes, with the same drydown effect.

MUFE HD Blush Second Skin Cream Blush swatches

If you want to see my commentary on the individual shades, feel free to read on!

Benefit Lollitint Quick Swatches

Benefit's Lollitint has been making the rounds since its launch, and I'm pretty sure some of the buzz is due to the fact that it is such a 2014-appropriate colour, nailing the Pantone Color of the Year Radiant Orchid on its head. SO for today's post, here are some quick swatches of Benefit's Lollitint!

I'll be brutally honest - I made this at the Vanity Trove event at Zouk, because the Benefit booth there had it, and I was like, "Oooh you guys have it! Can I try?" and of course my beauty blogger impulse was to snap a swatch. So here you go, swatches in club lighting! (Well, I did adjust the colour so it looks more realistic and less, erm, clubby, I suppose.)

Benefit Lollitint Swatches

At first I kept thinking Lollitint was like, lavender, or lilac, or one of those purple-based shades with a hint of pink. Actually, it's more pink than that, which is what makes it wearable. It's a candy-like shade of pink that has quite a bit of purple, making it a magenta colour. It's a shade that's best suited to the cooler-toned ladies, for sure, and on warmer skins, it might look a tad unnatural as the purple tones will stand out. On me, with my olive with slightly cool undertones (you'll have to read my undertones post if you need a refresher), it looks like a rosy purply-pink, which I think is quite flattering.

On a side note, I've reviewed Benefit's previous Cha Cha Tint before, and if this is anything like it, it's going to be pretty long-lasting (and by corollary, staining). I certainly had to scrub my arm a few times before the Lollitint swatches fully came out.

Biore Uru Uru 2-in-1 Instant Foaming Wash Review and Ingredients Analysis

Biore is one of the Japanese drugstore brands under Kao Corporation known for its skincare, particularly cleansers and makeup removers. And in addition to the slew of products they already have, Biore has added a new lineup to their line of foaming cleansers - the Uru Uru 2-in-1 Instant Foaming Wash.

As you know, Biore already has a couple of facial cleansers - there's the Marshmallow Whip Facial Wash, as well as its couple of variants (there's one with extra moisture, among others), so the Uru Uru 2-in-1 Instant Foaming Wash isn't by any means the company's newest foamy facial cleanser. It is, however, somewhat different from the existing foam cleansers, and in my opinion this is better. What do I mean when I say better? Well, now you get to find out!

Biore Uru Uru 2-in-1 Instant Foaming Wash

Pink, Gold and Brown Eyeshadow Look with Etude House Eyeshadows

After swatching the Etude House Play Color Eyes Eyeshadow Palettes, I decided that I needed to do an eye look with the palettes immediately. And here you are!

Gold, pink and brown eye look with my Etude House Play Color Eyes Palette in #2 So Chic Play

I used four shades in all for this look, as I wanted to use both the foil-y glittery shades, as well as the mattes, just to see how well they would hold up. I had previously said that I thought this .

Blush Brush Comparison: Hakuhodo, Real Techniques, The Body Shop

So, after I bought my Hakuhodo Kokutan Blush Brush S from Beauty Asia 2014, I thought some of you might appreciate a comparison between the Hakuhodo Blush Brush S with some other similarly-sized and shaped brushes in my stash, so I brought them out for you!

In my stash, the closest brushes are The Body Shop's Blusher Brush, as well as Real Technique Your Finish Perfected Blush Brush. Here they all are together.

Hakuhodo Kokutan Blush Brush S, The Body Shop's Blusher Brush, Real Technique Your Finish Perfected Blush Brush

While there are some similarities at first sight, they aren't all identical. The blush brushes all differ in in shape, bristle type, and bristle arrangement. And I use each of these brushes in slightly different ways. So, if you want to see a side-by-side comparison, as well as hear my thoughts on each blush brush, well, here you go!


Hakuhodo Kokutan Blush Brush S, The Body Shop's Blusher Brush, Real Techniques Your Finish Perfected Blush Brush

Stuff I've Used Up: Skincare, Nails, Makeup Empties!

Hooray! I've used up more stuff, since my last "I actually use up my beauty products" post. I don't know what it is about being a beauty junkie and a beauty blogger, but it's safe to say that over my more than 5 years of beauty-junkie-ness, I've accumulated more beauty product than I can ever use up in a lifetime. But every now and then I hit pan on things, and I just have to crow about it - because, you know, I actually use things up! (First world problems, I know. It's a little embarrassing, to be honest.) This round, I've accumulated quite a few empties, so I thought it's time I do a collective post for all of them!

Look at all these empties!

Yup, that's quite a few empties right there! So without further ado, let me walk you through them, as well as give you my quick one-liner reviews on each item!