BonjourHK Haul and Mini-Reviews: DHC, Hada Labo, Dr Bauer and More!

I'm always discovering new ways to buy more makeup and beauty products from, and recently I was introduced to BonjourHK's onlince website! I'm actually somewhat familiar with Bonjour, as it is a chain of stores across Hong Kong selling beauty products at accessible prices, much like Ulta (if you're in the US), Watsons, Guardian or Sasa (if you're in Asia). When I visited Hong Kong 3 years back, I stepped into quite a few Bonjour shops, although I didn't buy anything (I ended up with the smallest haul ever - sigh!). But the thing I liked about Bonjour is the eclectic mix of brands and products - there's everything from mainstream brands to niche Asian beauty brands I've never heard of before.

My BonjourHK Haul: A whole bunch of skincare and makeup items from various Asian brands

I actually never realized that Bonjour had an online website, but they do! And the website has pretty cheap shipping (which is free if you buy above a certain dollar amount threshold), and they ship internationally, too. And of course, the range of brands and types of products are just as varied as ever - there's everything from skincare to makeup to skin devices, and the brands range from fairly mainstream Asian brands (like DHC and Hada Labo) to more niche ones (like Choosy and Yu Mei). I was super excited when the package arrived, right on time within the 7-21 days window stated on the website.


My BonjourHK Haul: Includes brands both fairly well-known, as well as some undiscovered gems
The mass of products above, as well as the fact that I actually want to do a mini-review for each product rather than just run through the haul, means that this post is going to be pretty long (and photo heavy). So if you're going to read onwards, don't forget to buckle up before you go! And if you're all ready, let's just head straight into my product-by-product quick review!

The Body Shop MoistureWhite Bright Compact Foundation SPF25 PA+++ Review and Ingredients Analysis

The Body Shop's latest compact foundation and part of its MoistureWhite range, is the MoistureWhite Bright Compact Foundation SPF25 PA+++. I guess that's a pretty self-explanatory product name: it's a powder foundtion, it's in a compact form, it has brightening properties, and there is sun protection in the product. With such a comprehensive product name, what more is there to say? The Body Shop essentially succintly summarized what the product does in less than 10 words! Let's end the review here and you guys can just scroll down and look at photos! Yay!

Just kidding. (Aside: I don't know if that joke was funny or not. At least I tried!) I still do have lots more to say, because that's just the kind of verbose makeup geek I am. The MoistureWhite Bright Compact Foundation actually has two different colours in the compact. The main colour, which takes up most of the space in the compact, is the foundation colour. But there is also a little pink, shimmering strip inside, that is meant to act as a highlighter of sorts to brighten your complexion. The Body Shop claims on their website that the product is "infused with light-diffusing fine mica pearls" and that "the illuminating part of the compact is designed to bring multi-dimensional light...so your complexion looks radiant from every angle". Whitening, brightening, and illuminating properties in base makeup (primers, foundations, BB creams and so on) are always popular in Asia, so this is definitely the kind of marketing that people would be curious about.



Right, you say. So the MoistureWhite Bright Compact Foundation has brightening properties. But how does it work? Which ingredients give it these awesome illuminating properties? And speaking of brightening, does this product actually contain anything that will brighten my skin over the long term, like a skincare product? (See, this is why I have more to say!) And to answer such questions, we'll start off at the ingredients list of the products, and take a look there.

Lancome Miracle Cushion Foundation Ingredients Review and Analysis: Is It Similar to Korean BB Cushions?

Lancome's Miracle Cushion Foundation Liquid Cushion Compact SPF 23/PA++ is the first cushion foundation from a Western brand (if not one of the first), and it seems to be launched to much aplomb and fanfare in the West, (it hasn't hit this part of the world yet, though!). I found this entire trend interesting - while Western makeup and beauty trends are still exported to Asia, it also seems like the cross-pollination of beauty trends definitely goes both ways now. From the advertising I've been seeing Lancome do in the Western market, I was slightly amused to see that it was launched in the West to such fanfare and noise, with collaborations with Lisa Eldridge, Penelope Cruz modeling the product, Instagram hashtags, a mini-movie, and a microsite proclaiming the "new technology inside".

Lancome Miracle Cushion Foundation: Launched with guns blazing! (Source)

I had a bit of a "Whoa, Nelly!" moment at all the fanfare, because BB cushions and cushion foundations have been popular in Asia for awhile. And like all beauty products, it is very much a trend-based phenomenon, and more marketing gimmick that actual substantial formulation change. I've written previously about BB creams (and CC creams) and whether they justified the hype behind them, and also BB and CC cushions and whether the product was worth the hype as well, so I thought it would be interesting to take a similar ingredients analysis-based approach to Lancome's Miracle Cushion. (On a totally unrelated side note, I find it interesting that Lisa Eldridge - I absolutely admire her, by the way - is holding the cushion applicator puff the way you would a normal foundation sponge when applying traditional liquid foundation, rolled up in her hand. I've never seen anyone in Asia apply their cushions holding the applicator this way, because you could tear the thin applicator puff over time. Most people I've seen just press the puff flat to their face with tapping motions to blend, rather than roll or rub the applicator across the face.)

Lancome Miracle Cushion Foundation: Collaboration with Lisa Eldridge (Source)

I thought an interesting question to explore would be: From a formulation perspective, is the Lancome Miracle Cushion actually any different from the myriad of Korean BB cushions and cushion foundations we have here already? In fact, since BB cushions and CC cushions are really just souped up versions of BB creams and CC creams, are they even any different from your run-of-the-mill BB cream? Or, for that matter, a more traditional tinted moisturizer or foundation?

I thought this question was worth exploring, although I've already written about BB/CC Cushions before, because there is often a perception that Western BB creams/CC creams are somehow "inferior" to Asian BB and CC creams, although, as I've blogged before, from a formulation perspective, they're not significantly different. In fact, when I first blogged about BB creams and how they weren't really worth the hype a few years back, I got a bunch of feedback from some diehard BB cream fans saying that I was doing the analysis wrong, and that I needed to look at Asian BB creams because those were so much better than Western BB creams (nevermind that 1. I'm an Asian girl born, bred, and living in Asia, and 2. I looked at primarily Asian brand BB creams for that post). I guess what I'm trying to find out here is whether this perception of a Western BB/CC Cream/Cushion/Foundation is really justified by the ingredients, and since Lancome has just launched its Miracle Cushion, it seemed like the perfect time to compare a Western Cushion to several Asian ones, and see if there was really any difference!

Etude House Stay Up Foundation Review, Swatches and FOTD

Etude House's Stay Up Foundation SPF40/PA++ is the brand's latest liquid foundation, and it claims to have a smooth texture and moisturizing properties for a smooth and flawless base. It also claims to have whitening properties to boot. On the product box, it says that it has a "smooth up, cover up, moist up 'Stay Up' formula" - so now you know where the name comes from!

Etude House Stay Up Foundation: Liquid Foundation with moisturizing properties

I found it interesting that Etude House launched a liquid foundation - after all, in the age of BB/CC/DD creams/cushions/what-have-yous, a liquid foundation seems pretty old school. But, Etude House does have some pretty good makeup, so I was interested to see the brand's take on the good ol' traditional liquid foundation - I imagine it's probably good!


Etude House Stay Up Foundation: I have 4 shades of the liquid foundation for review
These come in a variety of colours, and I have four shades for review today - Ivory, Rosy, Beige, and Sand. Without further ado, let's take a look at the swatches!

Elizabeth Arden Flawless Finish Perfectly Nude Makeup Foundation Review and FOTD

Elizabeth Arden's Flawless Finish Perfectly Nude Makeup is one of the brand's new foundations, with SPF 15 to boot. It touts high coverage, a luminous finish, and a formula that moisturizes skin for 24 hours. With that, I was pretty excited to get my hands on this and give it a good whirl!

Elizabeth Arden Flawless Finish Perfectly Nude Makeup Foundation: Good coverage with a luminous finish.

In Singapore we have 8 shades. You have #1 Linen (pale yellow beige), #2 Alabaster (pale neutral beige, less yellow than Linen), #3 Vanilla Shell (light beige with some pink, a shade darker than Linen/Alabaster), #4 Cream Nude (medium beige with neutral undertones, a shade darker than Vanilla Shell), #5 Natural (medium beige with cool undertones) #6 Warm Sunbeige (medium beige with yellow undertone), #9 Buff (medium-deep beige with neutral undertone), and #14 Cameo (medium-deep beige with cool undertone). Roughly speaking, shades #1, #2, and #3 are the lighter shades, with shades #4, #5, and #6 being the medium shades, and #9 and #14 being deep shades. There is also a mix of undertone between the shades, so everyone's covered!


Elizabeth Arden Flawless Finish Perfectly Nude Makeup Foundation in shade #2 Alabaster