Skincare Empties! Serums, Essences, Moisturizers, and All That!

Another few months have passed, and with that more empties! Yes I have been trying to use up my products instead of just accumulating them (because truth be told as a beauty junkie you do accumulate a LOT after a short period of time). Anyway over the past few months, I (with a little help from some of my family members) have managed to accumulate quite the literal pile of products. Behold! My empties!

As usual, I wait for months until my empties pile up to the high heavens before it occurs to me to do an empties post, LOL

Since these are a lot to get through, they're going to be split into two parts - skincare, and makeup. We'll start with the skincare first. Basically every face product you can think of - lotions, essences, creams, masks, eye creams, are all in this post. Except sunscreens, because they're grouped with makeup this time round (mostly just to prevent this post from getting too long).

Alright, let's get to it!

Empties: In With the Old, In With the New! Part 2

And this is the official last empties post from 2017! After the previous empties post part 1, which focused on cleansers, we're going to look at all the other various leave-on products! There's quite a lot to go through here, including masks, lotions, moisturizers, sunscreens, and more!

Aaaand, this is the last of the 2017 empties!

Truth be told, I'm always surprised by how much skincare I use up whenever I do one of these empties posts, especially because I don't think of myself as the kind of person who religiously masks her face every week or even slaps on serum every night! Believe it or not, when I'm really tired after a long day of work, I go to bed with no skincare on! The very horror! But sometimes you just gotta sleep, you know? In any case, I attribute my ability to use up my skincare to my large face, haha. I guess a larger surface area does use up more product!


There's a lot of empties here to round off 2017 - I'm surprised I used up all this!
So, let's get started, and finally wrap up 2017 in beauty on this blog!

Skincare Empties Part 1: Cleanser, Makeup Remover, Lotion, Toner, Sunscreen, Moisturizer

Yes it's another empties post! And this post is pretty mega, hence the two-part split. And that's just for skincare - the makeup empties post is a separate post too, to make sure the individual posts aren't too long. So yes, I have indeed been a good girl and using up my products and not wasting them (a perpetual beauty junkie problem it seems)!

Tons of skincare empties this round to share with you guys!

Above you can absolutely see the mess of empties, running the gamut from sunscreen to serums. I could probably do all those empties in one sitting, but the post would just be very long. So this time, we'll just be focusing on oil cleansers and makeup removers, normal cleansers, face masks, sunscreen, lotions and toners, and moisturizers! In other words, we'll just be looking at the stuff in the photo today, which is still quite a lot.


Empties: cleanser, makeup remover, lotion, toner, sunscreen, and moisturizer
I realized that quite a few readers seem to like my empties posts (and you can see all of them here) - perhaps, it's because with all my science-y skincare reviews, some readers are curious to know what exactly remains in my stash and gets used up at the end of the day. I suppose the idea here is that if I used up something, then it must be really good! The truth is that it kind of depends - some of these empties I've had for a long, long time, and for various reasons take longer to use up, and some were very quickly made favourites or staples and get used up much faster. As we go through the products, you'll see which is which!

The Face Shop Around The World Character Sheet Mask and Hand Cream

The Face Shop's Holiday 2015 Collection is called Around The World, and I've already reviewed the Rice Water Bright Cleansing Foam and Real Nature Face Mask Rice set, and I'll be reviewing the rest of their Holiday products today! While I wasn't a fan of the Rice Water Bright Cleansing Foam and Real Nature Face Mask Rice set, I have to say, the rest of their Christmas collection has been pretty great so far!

The Face Shop's Around The World Christmas 2015 Collection consists of various gift sets

In addition to the Rice Water Cleansing Foam and Real Nature Face Mask set, there are also super-cute Character Masks with special Christmas designs, as well the Protect Me! Hand Cream set, with 3 little cute adorable tubs of hand cream. So clearly the focus of these sets is on skin and bodycare.


Part of the Around The World collection includes seasonal Character Masks and the Protect Me! Hand Cream set
Without further ado, let's get around to reviewing all these sets! Of course, it's a given that they make cute gifts (for yourself too, not just for others), but what's in those products? We'll take a look!

The Face Shop Rice Water Bright Cleansing Foam and Real Nature Face Mask Rice Review and Ingredients Analysis

The Face Shop's Rice Water Bright Cleansing Foam and Real Nature Mask Rice are some fairly popular products from the brand, and this year, they are banded together as a set for The Face Shop's Christmas 2015 Around The World collection! I have a few items from the Around The World collection, but I thought that I'd split my review of the collection into 2 parts, so that the post wouldn't be too long. In particular, I've noticed that the Rice Water Bright Cleansing Foam seems to be quite widely used, so I thought that this set deserved a little more attention on its own!

The Face Shop Rice Water Bright Cleansing Foam and Real Nature Face Mask Rice

Although both products are rice-themed, and thus actually quite compatibly packaged together, they don't actually come from the same skincare range. The Rice Water Bright Cleansing Foam is one of several Rice Water-themed skincare items, including a cleansing oil and a cleansing milk. The Real Nature Face Mask Rice, meanwhile, comes from a range of Real Nature Face Masks - in addition to Rice, you have Real Nature Mask Aloe, Real Nature Mask Green Tea, Real Nature Mask Kelp, and quite a bunch more. In the Around The World gift set, you get one cleanser together with two of the sheet masks.


The Face Shop Rice Water Bright Cleansing Foam and Real Nature Face Mask Rice: Comes in a set as part of the Around The World Holiday 2015 Collection
Anyway, without further ado, let's start our look at both the Rice Water Bright Cleansing Foam and Real Nature Face Mask! Of course these are super cute and very gift-able as a set, but let's look at the ingredients in the product, and see how they work!

The Face Shop Oil Control Water Cushion Review and Ingredients Analysis

The Face Shop Oil Control Water Cushion SPF50+ PA+++ is the latest BB cushion to come from the brand, and it seems to have been advertised just for this hot weather we've been having - two of the key features being marketed are that it is waterproof, and has oil-control properties. That's gotta be good for hot weather, right?

The Face Shop Oil Control Water Cushion: Waterproof, and Long Lasting

The Face Shop Oil Control Water Cushion comes in two shades, V201 Apricot Beige, which is the lighter shade, and V203 Natural Beige, the darker shade. I have V203 Natural Beige with me, and although it isn't the best match for my skintone because it was too dark and orange, but it was the "default" shade that was sent to me. Which is a pity, because the Water Cushion does have a lot to recommend it! So if you see me looking kind of Oompa Loompa orange in my FOTD or swatches, don't worry, it's the result of a less-than-optimal shade match!


The Face Shop Oil Control Water Cushion: Perfect for hot weather and summer days
So, now that we've gotten that out of the way, let's start the review - by taking a look at the formula and ingredients list!

The Face Shop Sunscreens Review and Ingredients Analysis: Natural Sun Eco Sebum Control and Long Lasting

The Face Shop's Natural Sun Eco Sunscreens consists of two sunscreens: the currently existing Natural Sun Eco Power Long-Lasting Sun Cream SPF45 PA+++, and also the new addition, the Natural Sun Eco Sebum Control Moisture Sun SPF40 PA+++. These sunscreens are something I've had on my radar for a long time (ahem, a few months, if you look at how long ago this Instagram post and this other Instagram post were), and I kept vacillating on whether I should review these, since summer is kind of almost over. But since the weather is still pretty hot right now even in August, I figure I'm still not too late to the party with this review! In any case, since I live in a hot and humid climate with sun all year round, it's always summer here, and correspondingly, sunscreen is a year-round must-have!

The Face Shop Natural Sun Eco Sunscreens: Sebum Control and Long-Lasting

But even if you don't live in a hot sunny environment, it's always a good idea to wear sunscreen if it's a sunny day out, regardless of whether it's hot or cold. After all, even when it's cold or snowy outside, it's possible to get sunburned if the snow is reflecting sunlight. And, in my humble opinion, since sun damage is a huge contributor to skin ageing, sunscreen is really one of the cheapest and most efficient forms of anti-ageing products everyone should get! It's certainly cheaper than an expensive anti-ageing cream, and also probably more likely to actually do what it says on the packaging. The Face Shop's Natural Sun Eco Sunscreens are just one of the many sunscreens available that you can check out.


The Face Shop Natural Sun Eco Sunscreens: Sebum Control is the newer addition
As you can probably guess from the name, the Sebum Control version of the Natural Sun Eco Sunscreen is meant more for oily skin, and to help control oil, while the Long-Lasting Sun Cream is meant for normal skin types. But I'm sure you have some questions: what is the difference in formulation between the two? Is it worth getting both, or just one? And what are the sunscreen filters, anyway, and is this sunscreen going to be sticky on my skin? To do that, we'll take a look at the Natural Sun Eco Power Long-Lasting Sun Cream SPF45 PA+++, which is the original sunscreen that first came out, and then we'll take a look at the newer Natural Sun Eco Sebum Control Moisture Sun SPF40 PA+++. From there, we can compare the two and get a sense of the differences between the two formulas.


The Face Shop Natural Sun Eco Sunscreens: Sebum Control and Long-Lasting actually have very different formulas

The Face Shop Character Mask Review and Ingredients Analysis

The Face Shop's Character Mask is a new launch from the Kbeauty brand, and it is a sheet mask with cute animal face designs printed onto it. As the name indicates, when you wear the sheet mask, you are also wearing a "character mask" of sorts, and The Face Shop has 5 masks for you to choose from - panda, fox, sheep, dragon, and tiger.

The Face Shop Character Masks: A pretty good example of "skincaretainment", where your skincare is fun to use

Of course, the benefit is more aesthetic than functional. After all, a sheet mask is a sheet mask, whether it has a cute animal face printed on it or not, and the fact that it has a panda face printed on it doesn't change its function. Still though, in the vein of "skincarentainment" (a term I've seen thrown around with respect to Asian beauty, particularly Kbeauty products), this is pretty novel to use - you put on the sheet mask, and boom! instant panda face! It does inject some fun into your skincare routine, which I guess is the concept behind "skincarentainment": it's not just about the product, but also the experience, fun, and novelty of using it.


The Face Shop Character Mask: A new launch from the Kbeauty brand, with cute animal designs on the mask
That does sound pretty cool, right? And The Face Shop is certainly not the only brand catching on - there are a few other Japanese and Korean brands having such sheet masks too. Nevertheless, as an old fogey of a beauty blogger (more than 5 years, which is sort of like forever in internetz time), I'm really more concerned with how the product works, than whether it entertains me or not. I mean, I go to the movies to be entertained, but when I choose my skincare, I'm not looking to have a good time, I just want to know if it works, and if it's within my budget. If it does happen to be fun to use, then that's a bonus, but evidently I'm a cranky old grandma who doesn't bother too much about whether my mask looks cute or not. And does The Face Shop Character Mask work? The only way to find out is to start by looking at what exactly is in the product, and take a trip to the ingredient list!

The Face Shop Ink Lipquid Review and Swatches

The Face Shop Ink Lipquid (with the really cute portmanteau in the product name) is the Kbeauty brand's latest lip product, and it is marketed as a cross between a lipstick, lipgloss, and lip stain/liptint. The selling of the Ink Lipquid, according to the Face Shop, is the combination of moisture and staying power. I don't have the website, but reading off my phamplet, the Ink Lipquid promises "moist lips with 70% water base", and a "vivid color lasts on lips for 12 hours" (gotta love that slight Engrish over there, but you get the idea).

The Face Shop Ink Lipquid: Advertised as a cross between a lipstick, lipgloss, and lip stain

There are 12 shades in the range, and like most Korean brnds, the colours range from brights to pastels, and cover a fairly good array of colours. I have 3 of the shades today, PK03 Shah Pink, OR02 Orange Some, and RD02, Red Sing.


The Face Shop Ink Lipquid: Gives a long lasting stain, while not drying out the lips
Alright, let's get on with the swatches and reviews! I've got both arm and lip swatches, as well as an (accidental) staining test!

The Face Shop Myeonghan Miindo Heaven Grade Ginseng Whitening Emulsion Review and Ingredients Analysis

The Face Shop's Myeonghan Miindo Heaven Grade Ginseng range has launched in Singapore, and as the name suggests, the range contains "Korean herbal extract" and "heaven grade ginseng", and is supposed to draw on traditional Korean knowledge to help improve the skin's condition. The Face Shop's English site claims that there are "brightening ingredients in white ginseng extract help to improve dull skin and brighten your skin tone", and also that it uses "traditional herbs grown in Korea". So I guess for all the Korea-philes (what with the popularity of K-pop and K-drama nowadays), this would be pretty intriguing!

The Face Shop Myeonghan Miindo Heaven Grade Ginseng Whitening Emulsion: With "Korean herbal extract"

The product I got from the range was The Face Shop Myeonghan Miindo Heaven Grade Ginseng Whitening Emulsion, which, again as the name suggests, is an emulsion - a light moisturizer - with whitening properties that also contains the heaven grade ginseng. Interestingly, Myeonghan Miindo supposedly means "land of the beauties", which I guess adds to the traditional feel of the product, along with the very classical-looking bottle. The price range for the Myeonghan Miindo range varies from $12.90 for the sheet mask to $75.90 for the eye cream or moisture cream, so depending on what you buy, the impact on your wallet can vary quite a lot! This particular product, the Whitening Emulsion, costs $46.90.


The Face Shop Myeonghan Miindo Heaven Grade Ginseng Whitening Emulsion: Part of the Myeonghan Miindo range, with multiple products from eye creams to face masks
Of course, for this review, we're also going to take a look at whether the Myeonghan Miindo Heaven Grade Ginseng Whitening Emulsion really lives up to its claims of whitening. And to do that, we'll start right at the ingredients list!

The Face Shop SMIM Fermentation Concentrate Treatment, Toner, Emulsion Special Set Review and Ingredients Analysis

The Face Shop, the Korean brand known for its skincare and makeup, has released a few sets for Christmas, and one of the sets (which I predict is is going to be pretty popular, if it isn't already!) is The SMIM Fermentation Concentrate Special Set ($69.90), which consists of bottles of The SMIM Fermentation Concentrate Total Treatment, The SMIM Fermentation Concentrate Toner, and The SMIM Ferementation Concentrate Emulsion. If you're wondering what SMIM stands for, it's apparently a shortened way of the Korean phrase "seu-myeo-deul-da", which means to absorb and penetrate, which is what the products are advertised to do. The SMIM product line consists of Yeast Ferment Extract, which apparently is the feature ingredient here.

The Face Shop SMIM Fermentation Concentrate Special Set: Just in time for Christmas, too!

And apparently, I've been told by other bloggers at a previous Face Shop event sometime back (and documented on my Instagram) that apparently, The SMIM Fermentation Concentrate Treatment is very similar to the fabled SKII Facial Treatment Essence, although I've no idea if that is true or not. I suppose that is where all the similarities to SKII come about - after all, SKII has their story about Pitera too (I have to file that Pitera thing for another post - I've been getting some friends asking me whether pitera really works).


The Face Shop SMIM Fermentation Concentrate Special Set: With Treatment, Toner, and Emulsion
But in any case, you can see why the product set is going to sell well - aesthetically speaking, these are lightweight, lotion-formula products that feel great on the skin, and the Yeast Fermentation concept, are definitely attractive to consumers. The comparisons to SKII can't hurt either! So, I thought it's high time I did my review on this, seeing that Christmas is approaching. I've been so caught up this holiday season that I haven't been blogging about the Christmas things as much as I'd like, but I thought this was worth a review!

And of course, we're going to review this my style, and start at my favourite part of the product - the ingredients lists!

Happy Chinese New Year!

Wishing you all a very Happy Year of the Horse! 新年快乐! I don't have any exciting posts for today, so it's just me wishing you all the best! 恭喜发财, 万事如意, and 心想事成!

Happy Chinese New Year! 新年快乐!

In case you're curious what products are in this post (I just randomly assembled a bunch of red nail polishes and lipsticks), the names are after the jump :)

Haul: Two Pretty Neutral Eyeshadow Palettes

Oh yes, it's yet another haul post! I know that I've been hauling lots recently, from the Illamasqua sale, the KATE sale, a Sleek haul (no sale, though). So why am I still hauling? Because it was on sale, duh!


The Body Shop Smoky Moonstone Palette - Gorgeous Metallic Frosty Neutrals

Stuff I Tried And Didn't Like: Face Shop Top Coat

Don't you just hate it when you do your mani and it looks great at first, and then ding it hours later because the topcoat takes too long to dry? It's so frustrating. Well, now you know which topcoat to avoid if you don't want this to happen to you!

Face Shop has a few topcoats, and the offending one I used was the Face It Nails 04 Long Lasting Top Coat. There seems to be two types of top coat with this name (Korean brands, particularly Face Shop, do this sometimes - remember my Face Shop PP409 which had not one but two other polishes with the same name?), a pink one, and a clear one. I used the pink one, shown below.


Source
Anyway, let me proceed to complain about how this lousy topcoat ruined my manicure. The other day, I decided to paint my nails - just a quick, two-coats-and-I'm-done thing. It was awesome, by the way. China Glaze Westside Warrior. Military olive green, deep but not so dark you'd mistake it for black, and a totally chic edgy neutral.

I had used another Face Shop Base Coat, the Lovely Me:ex Nails No.2 Base Coat. I didn't really have all that much to say about it. It was okay-I-guess.


Source
So base coat, two coats of Westside Warrior, and that lousy topcoat. I waited for a few minutes, and then carried on with my day. With other topcoats (Seche, Nails Inc, Sally Hansen Insta-Dri) this hasn't been a problem, but with the Face Shop topcoat, the next thing you know, the surfaces of a couple of my nails got dulled and roughened, just because I was doing things like typing at my computer and getting cash out of my wallet. That was a first sign things were bad. The best topcoats I've used are dry to the touch (though still dentable) within the first half an hour after application, so typically I expect that a good topcoat will allow to do most everyday activities (gently and cautiously), and then be fully dry (or at least no longer dentable unless you use force) an hour or so after that. This one felt like it was soft and dentable the entire day. Look at the photo of my nails below, after one day. You can see all the surface scratches and smudges. And this is already the better looking hand. SIGH.

Anyway, I figured that since I painted my nails in the afternoon, when I went to bed at night, I shouldn't get sheetmarks. Right? Nope, WRONG. I woke up the next morning with more dull nails and a couple of dings. Because, y'know, more than 12 freakin' hours isn't really long enough for a good topcoat to do its job and dry completely. HAH.

So now you know. I tried out a sucky product so you don't have to! Would I recommend this? Well, if you're looking for a topcoat that's still not fully dry and still dentable after 12 hours - be my guest. Else, save the money, and thank me later.

Face Shop Face It PP409 Nail Polish: Total Glitter Gorgeousness!

I've been seeing photos of The Face Shop's PP409 nail polish online, and I finally decided that I absolutely HAD to have it. I mean - it's purple, and it's glitter, AND the glitter is multi-coloured and multi-sized! Awesomesauce! Turns out this is one of Face Shop's newer releases, perhaps for the upcoming season (I don't really keep track of Korean nail polish trends, I gotta admit...)

So I ran down to my nearest Face Shop store, and prompty bought up this little baby! There were only two left in the display when I went down, so I felt like I had really scored, LOL. I am proud to say I am now the new owner of my very own bottle of PP409! PP409 is from the FaceIt series of nail polish, so if you're buying online, take note that it's not this other Face Shop PP409, or this other OTHER Face Shop PP409 - do check the nail polish range in addition to the colour name! (If you want to know how some Asian brands name their nail polish and why this makes for confusing names sometimes, you may wish to check out the last paragraph of this post.)


Face Shop Face It PP409 is a gorgeous glitter polish - it's got a mix of lilac and blue glitter in various shapes and sizes, so if you're a glitter lover like me, this is totally right up your alley. There's larger hexagonal lilac glitter, normal darker purple glitter, and normal blue glitter, all mixed up in a clear base. The glitter isn't very thick, though, so this is really more of a layering polish - if you want to wear it alone, I imagine you'd need 4-5 coats for full opacity.


I layered mine over Barry M's Vivid Purple, which, while stunning on its own, really brings out the gorgeous glitter (I've previously tried out a combination of layering Barry M Vivid Purple with Orly Fantasea, and the results were fantabulous). I think a deep purple polish is the perfect base for PP409 - although I'm pretty sure deep blue (like navy) or black would also rock. Actually, you know what, I think a lighter lilac or even white would be reallly pretty, too, for a more ladylike, subtle look.


So there you have it - my current favourite nail polish at the moment! And it was less than S$10, too, so it was a great deal. Knowing The Face Shop, these may or may not be permanent (the shop assistant I bought the nail poish told me she thought that this shade was limited edition, but I could tell she was pretty clueless herself, so make of it what you will), so if you're keen to get a bottle, don't hesistate.

Chanel Graphite Dupe Search: Comparisons with OPI and Face Shop

Chanel's Graphite nail polish, one of their Fall releases, has been making the waves, with its stunning shade and foil finish. I suspect part of the hype is just that it's Chanel - few brands just have that je ne sais quoi that cause such a frenzy everytime something new is released.

As usual, I ooh-ed and aah-ed over the new Chanels, but was less keen on the price point. So I swatched Chanel Graphite next to other existing polishes I already had, just to see whether I really needed it or not. *Sighs* Oh well, what's a girl on a limited budget to do?

The first polish is OPI Brand New Skates. Now this has been established by other bloggers to NOT be a dupe, but I thought I'd just swatch them side by side for anyone who was still curious about the differences between the two.



L - R: Chanel Graphite, OPI Brand New Skates, Chanel Graphite, OPI Brand New Skates

Both OPI Brand New Skates and Chanel Graphite have the same greyish, slightly green leaning base, but the shimmer in both polishes is totally different, despite the same base colour. Chanel Graphite is obviously a lot more blingy - the foil finish is very strong, and the foil glitter is very dense, while Brand New Skates isn't a foil - it's more of a grey-green base with dispersed gold/bronze/silver glitter. Also very pretty, but not a dupe.

Another difference is that OPI Brand New Skates is really sheer. What you see applied is 3 coats of medium thickness. Graphite, on the other hand, is fully opaque in 2 coats.



L - R: Chanel Graphite, OPI Brand New Skates, Chanel Graphite, OPI Brand New Skates

Brand New Skates is a gorgeous colour, to be sure, it isn't a dupe. Perhaps for someone who liked the base colour of Graphite but not the foil finish, Brand New Skates may be a better pick. For me, the best part of Brand New Skates is that I got it for a cool S$8 from my friend Luna in a blogsale, so to me, that's a total steal!

The next polish that I thought looked similar to Chanel Graphite in the bottle was a really random Face Shop polish I had purchased sometime back. This is The Face Shop's Face It! nail polish range, and the colour is GR502. It's absolutely gorgeous, and I'm ashamed to say I've only worn it once! Here's a comparison with Graphite:

L - R: Chanel Graphite, Face Shop GR502, Chanel Graphite, Face Shop GR502

Since I wasn't really expecting the Face Shop one to be a dupe, I was surprised to see that it was actually quite similar to Graphite! Granted, they aren't exact dupes, but they are pretty close. Both Graphite and GR502 have the same green-grey base that looks a little olive in certain lights, and both have that intense gold foil.

The only difference is that Chanel has a more intense foil finish than Face Shop. This difference in foil finish is more obvious in some lights than in others - in stronger lights, GR502 looks quite convincingly similar to Graphite, but in low lights, it doesn't. The photo above shows the two in sunlight, where they look similar. The photo below shows a shot of both in lower lights, where you can see the difference in foil finish.



L - R: Chanel Graphite, Face Shop GR502, Chanel Graphite, Face Shop GR502

So although Face Shop GR502 isn't a dupe for Chanel's Graphite, I do think they are close enough to kill my very expensive Chanel lemming. And for our ladies in Asia, this is so much cheaper, and more accessible too. If I remember correctly, in Singapore the Face Shop Face It! polishes are around S$8 or so, making them less than a third of the price of Graphite.

If all three of them were the same price, though, I'd spring for Graphite in a heartbeat, just because it's the bling-iest of the lot, and you know I love me some bling on my nails! But I guess since I'm not willing to pay exorbitant prices for bling, I'll have to settle for the lesser blinged out alternatives, and just wait until the drugstore brands put out their dupe versions. Are you a dupe-lover? Or would you prefer to spring for the original?

Chinese New Year Nails: Year of the Rabbit KOTD!

I know I just posted a Chinese New Year NOTD just awhile back, but hey, since Chinese New Year comes only once a year, why not do another one? This time, I have cute little rabbits on my mani, you know, because it's the year of the rabbit!



The absolutely adorable kawaii rabbit imprint is, of course, thanks to the wonders of Konad! I'm using plate S10, and it's full of kawaii animals. There's a rabbit, a cow, a cat, a bear, a dog, and so on. Very cute, if you ever want to do a zoo-inspired mani.



The polishes were different this time, because after the glitter of the last CNY (Chinese New Year) NOTD, I decided I wanted this one to be a creme. So the base was a colour from the Face Shop's Nail Talk range, RD302. The first coat produces a pinky-red colour not unlike Benefit's Benetint, but in nail polish form. The second coat produces the primary straight-up red you see in the photos. It also comes in a very kawaii bottle, although the bottle is quite tiny.

The konad colour was China Glaze Hi-Tek, a gorgeous orangey-gold chrome that is absolutely beautiful for konading. I love the China Glaze Khromes, and if you're a konader, you need the entire Khrome collection, since they all konad very nicely.



As you can see from the photo, my konading skills are obviously quite lousy - there's a konad fail on some of the fingers. Oops. But still, my mistakes don't detract from how cute the rabbits are!

And just so you can really see all those rabbits on my nails up close, including my mistakes:



Since the year of the rabbit comes once every 12 years, I may as well get a kawaii rabbit on my nails while I still can, right? Happy Chinese Year, everyone! :D

Face Shop Illuminating Cushion Blusher Swatches!

Even if you have only a customary knowledge of Asian beauty brands, you would probably have heard of The Face Shop before. It's a drugstore brand of makeup hailing from Korea, and in addition to the requisite cute, girly, and drowned-in-pink packaging that Asian brands seem to be fond of, it's also pretty well known in Asia for engaging hot Korean stars (both males and females), and putting them in very girly, pink advertisements. Yes, girly and pink, and kawaii. Even the guys.

Case in point: an example of a typical Face Shop ad that just ran for Christmas 2010 featured some Korean star (Kim Hyun Joong, but I have no idea who he is because I don't follow Kpop) for the following ads:



See? What did I say? Pink and girly, and he's a guy!

Now, here's kawaii:



(Images are courtesy of http://fangurls.blogspot.com)

Having lived in the West for 4 years, I am always slightly bemused by these ads, because these are the kinds of ads that would sell products to people in Asia, but not necessarily in the West. I mean, I can already imagine the reaction some of my American friends would have to ads like these: "Oh my gosh, is he gay?!", "Wait, you mean, this is normal advertising in Asia?" "So noone in Asia thinks this is too effeminate for a guy?" "Wait, are these ads targeting the gay segment?" "Ewwww....that's so gay." Ah well. But just as the West has its on advertising idosyncracies, so does the East. After all, if Paris Hilton can sell false lashes and perfume, I'm sure we can wrap our male stars up in pink and make them look all girly. You know, whatever sells.

Anyway, yes, this post was about the Illuminating Cushion Blusher. Not much to be said about it really - just like those ads pictured above, it rides more on it's innate cuteness and girly packaging instead of actual product quality. The packaging for these blushes is absolutely adorable - they come in little round paper pots with a little ribboned powder puff in them. As the name suggests, it's a Cushion Blusher because you use that little powder puff (which they have called the cushion) to apply the blusher. Cute, right?

By request, I've updated the post with an actual product picture. It's a pretty last-minute update, so I took the liberty of plucked off from another website, a Thai makeup selling forum. (Picture courtesy of 212cafe.com)



Here are swatches. These are my own, of course:



L-R: 01 Pink, 02 Orange, 03 Violet.

01 Pink is a candy pink shade that leans slightly cool. 02 Orange is a similarly candy-looking orange shade, while 03 Violet isn't actually violet, but a very pale pinky-white with a hint of violet. I personally can't imagine wearing either the Orange or the Violet colour, but I can imagine that some girls might like them. The colours have some shimmer, but nothing too OTT for work. I personally like the pink best, for that naturally-flushed-cheeks look.

That said, when I swatched these, the product was a little disappointing. For one, it was quite sheer, and you really need to layer these on for them to show up. My swatches reflect a heavier application. But I guess as far as Asian cosmetic brand blushes go, this is pretty alright. For some reason, Asian brand blushes tend to be pretty sheer, probably because sheerer blushes seem to sell better in Asia. Also, I'm dubious about the efficacy of using a powder puff to apply blush. I mean, wouldn't you need to blend it out with a brush anyway? I guess it adds to the kawaii factor.

So these blushes are decent, but they aren't perfect. But for anyone who wants a piece of kawaii, you know which brand to start looking at!

Face Shop Color Nuance for Cheeks Blush Swatches!

Today's swatches are from The Face Shop. The face Shop is a Korean-based cosmetics brand, and they don't really have counters in drugstores although they're a drugstore brand. They tend to prefer having standalone shops instead. They get a lot of traffic though, because they're pretty reasonably priced. They're cheapest in Korea though, so if you ever go there, do be sure to stop by and pick up some!

The Face Shop has a few lines of blushes, and today we're looking at one of the more lauded lines, the Color Nuance for Cheeks. This is a line of powder blushes, and they have garnered some awards in a local Singapore magazine, so I thought they'd be good to swatch. That, and the fact that they only have 8 colours. LOL.

Anyway, I found these to be lighty pigmented, as is common of Asian brand blushes. They're also quite blendable, so they'll be good for anyone looking for a hint of colour. These blushes didn't have anything weird, so that's good - no weird smells, no weird chunky glitter, and I think overall these aren't bad at all, especially considering they're drugstore.

And as usual, here are swatches!



L - R: PK101, PK102, PK103, BR803, OR201, OR202, OR203, BR802

PK101 is supposed to be the colour that won the award, but it's just a normal light pink. It's a nice basic neutral pink colour, but you know, every brand already has a colour like that.
PK102 is also pink, but darker and less pastel.
PK103 is a pink with a hint of magenta in it, but it's by no means dark.
BR803 kind of reminds me of a less pigmented NARS Sin. It's that kind of plummy colour with some pink.
OR201 is a light peach.
OR202 is an orange colour.
OR203 is a pinky peach colour.
BR802 is a ruddy brown.