Review: Lip Pencils

     After trying out mirenesse's lip color pencil, I finally gave those previously ignored lip pencils another look.

Overall impressions:

mireness- absolutely smooth, and highly pigmented. Slight vanilla scent.
BITE- slighty drying, which is expected of matte pencils
NARS- the satin formula is not drying

One odd thing to note is the lid for BITE's Madeira. It tapers at the top, causing the lid to slip off the pencil easily.

Madeira is basically what I would use for a nude color. It tones down my heavily pigmented lips.

NARS's Biscayne Park is also a nude-ish color. It is, however a bit on the warm side. I don't think this is a color that I will be wearing a lot. It would work excellent for one of those photoshoots where you are looking for a more natural look (but not completely nude)

BITE Cava- a lipstick that has a hint of lilac in it. It makes me look like a zombie (grayed out) or someone who just rose from the dead. On someone else with the right skin tone, it could look stunning.

mirenesse's Glossy Kiss in Quick kiss is definitely a head turning color. It's so bright someone would spot you from across the room. Love the formula, will be looking for another color.

BITE Pomegranate- another one of those colors that would let someone spot you from across the room. This almost seemed too bright, so I hesitated and bought Tannin as well. Tannin is cooler and slightly darker. I wore Pomegranate to go out with friends- the other bloggers were right, you will HAVE to get this shade. Be careful though. Since this is an intense red, it can get pretty messy. Pull out all the tricks in your bag to keep this one on. It wore off as I was eating, and made me look like a crazy clown. After a couple hours, it also becomes a bit drying. 

Try them out and tell me how you like them!

P.S. Have you looked and just stared at yourself in the mirror lately? I did that, and was surprised with how different I look. Almost don't recognize myself anymore.

Review: Eglips Lolly Flower and Real Color Lipsticks + Tint

Hihi! Hope you've all been well. We've just gone through a hurricane. While the power was out, I was super bored and had nothing else to do but make swatches. Lucky you!(Most people have had a week off from work due to no power/ lack of gas).

Today I bring you Eglips/ eglips lipsticks. These always rank as one of first items when you sort the cosmetics by Bestsellers on GMarket. Even after searching the whole internet, there are a very limited number of reviews/ swatches. I'm happy to say that they are well worth the purchase!

They gave me this sunscreen extra, can't wait to try it out (when the sun comes up...). It says non-chemical sunscreen, so there probably won't be a rash.

The Lolly Flower line of lipsticks are extremely moisturizing and yet are able to deposit visible color.

No.25 Brilliant Mandarine- I appreciate the slight pink added to this orange color. It really makes it more wearable. These lipsticks are a lot more moisturizing than the Etude House Miss Tangerine line, and therefore, the finish is a lot more flattering.

No.17 Ylang Ylang Peach- It almost appears neon pink in the tube. Even though it's "peach", this is a pinker color than No.25 Brilliant Mandarine. Like all other scary colored Korean lipsticks, this applies to a much more wearable color. Still very eye catching though. This is dryer than the other two Lolly Flower lipsticks.

No.56 Deep Mir- This is (no surprise) my favorite of the Lolly Flower bunch. It is another fuchsia colored lipstick. For some reason these never photograph very well. It is much more intense in color in real life. It is more pink than lavender when compared with Etude House's LUCIDarling #5, and less brown than the Etude House's Dear My Blooming lipstick that I recently reviewed. I will have to do a comparison swatch of all three sometime.

Now for Eglips Real Color Lipstick in #09 Christine. LOVE. Christine looks kind of yellow in the tube, so I was worried, but applied it looks like my lip color a hint on the pinker side. This one works well as a nude for work (for me). It also has more of a moisturizing balm quality to it, and less color pigmentation compared to the Lolly Flower. I had also planned on purchasing Vanessa, but that one sold out.

The lipstick packaging is kind of cheap looking, very little girl lipstick (Even more than Etude House's). Still at ~$5 each, you really can't complain! Would definitely order again in a heartbeat.

Onto the tint. In photos it seems like the tint makes your lips into a soft pink. It kind of does that here too in my swatches. In reality, it's quite an intense hot pink color. The good thing is that the tint actually does tint your lips, so you don't have to worry about having naked lips after the color wears off. The tint is a gel applied with a doe-foot applicator. Unfortunately, it seems it must have something that I'm allergic to (like the Revlon Just Bitten lip stains) because my lips become slightly itchy. You have to really be careful to apply evenly or you will get streaks- as demonstrated in the swatches. Not really a fan of this product.

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Unrelated Note: I finally got around to ordering photo prints. 1311 photos *faints*. Luckily Snapfish has a coupon for 50% off and free shipping. It seems frivolous to print out photos in the digital age when things look so much better on a computer screen anyways, but there's something quite nostalgic about flipping through photos. Plus, if anyone decides to steal my laptop again, at least I'll have hardcopies (... unless they decide to steal those too...).

Highlighters!: Etude House Golden Ratio #02 Pink & Tony Moly Crystal Light Pink Beam (No.01)

Many of you have probably been highlighting/contouring with your makeup for ages now. I've just begun. We all know of Benefit's famous liquid highlighters, but I wanted to take a look at a couple korean ones.

As you can see, the Etude House one is much much larger than the Tony Moly. It's actually quite huge.

Tony Moly's highlighter comes in a quaint glass bottle. As other bloggers have noted, it does give it a more elegant feel.

Etude House also has another cream highlighter on top. I think someone said this is for the eyes or something.

Comparison: Tony Moly on the top, Etude House in the middle, and Etude House cream on the bottom.

Both have a liquidy texture.

Blended out, the Tony Moly is more visible, the Etude House has a more natural looking effect. The Etude House cream one has the most shimmer though.

I tried this on my face and decided that the Tony Moly was best for highlighting cheek area. It may be because I'm pretty light already, so the Etude House doesn't really look like much. I supposed I could try the cream Etude House instead though. For highlighting forehead and chin, Etude House worked best. The Tony Moly gave it an unnatural sheen that you wouldn't see for those areas.

The swatches are blended out to the left.

Etude House Dear My Blooming Lips Lipstick: Pk005, BE101, Pk008

On the whole, I'm a fan of Etude House lipsticks. The formula is non-drying, and the pigmentation is fairly good. Admittedly their new line wasn't that appealing to me at first, but I thought, "What the heck". The Dear My Blooming Lips line's concept is that there are 24 shades you can choose from depending on your "mood of the day".

I selected PK005 & BE101 which are supposedly their "Hot colors". In addition, I picked up PK008.

Look at the cute logo stamp ^^

The packaging overall is a bit on the teenage childish side. The lipstick however, I find to be very moisturizing.

PK005: Looks a lot brighter in the tube. Applies a bit more subtly, but still eye catching. It can look a little uneven in application if you're not careful.

BE101: Warm nude, good for and autumn color. Wasn't what I was really going for. If this suits you, email me juicedmang0s@gmail.com. $7 shipped in the US.

PK008: It looks rose mauve in the tube, but applies closer to a fuchsia. Most excited about this color. I just lost one of my favorite cool toned lipsticks, so it's nice to have something to hold me over until I get it replaced. I was also contemplating getting Butter London's Primrose Hill Picnic, but I think this is pretty close. 

Sample Society: September 2012

I've updated my September Birchbox post with a quick review and swatches of the Wei to Go.

Sample Society was late again this month (first time I've ever gotten my Birchbox first), but we were all eagerly awaiting it to see what "most glamorous box" means. My UPS guy left the box at the front door with a THUD.

1. Ahava Purifying Mud Mask

• I was itching to try this ever since I saw it on Birchbox. Felt some skin tightening when the clay was drying. 

• Not bad, don't see any major changes

• Full size 4.4 oz $30, sample size 0.9 oz worth $6.14

2. Borghese B Gloss- Fiore

• I haven't been using lipglosses lately, even wondered if this might make me look like a little kid again. That wasn't the case at all. This gloss has a touch of brown, making it reminiscent of that Glossybox gloss by Sierra Cosmetics. 

• Smells like almonds, actually does give off a "glamourous" effect.

• Full size .21 fl oz worth $18.50, sample size .16 fl oz worth $14.10

3. CellCeuticals Extremely Gentle Skin Cleanser

• Clear, runny, smells faintly chemical.

• Definitely non drying, but I felt like I couldn't wash the product completely off. Perhaps the residue is the reason why my skin feels so smooth and soft on the surface.

• Full size 6.7 oz $35, sample size 2 oz worth $10.45

4. Diptyque Fragrance 

• Liking the spray application, smells kind of perfumey, a little fruit, kind of plant like. It's an interesting smell
• Full size 3.4 fl oz $120, sample size .06 fl oz worth $3.14

5. Stila Cosmetics Smudge Crayon- Smoke

• I like the color. It applies smoothly, but becomes very hard to blend. Rinsed right off while I was washing the mud mask off my face.

• Full size .04 oz $22, sample size ?

Overall Box Value: ~$33.83 + stila smudge crayon.

Maybelline Moisture Extreme Lipstick- Toasted Almond

I'm still looking for the champagne nude lip color. I stumbled upon Maybelline's Moisture Extreme Lipstick in Toasted Almond and thought it might do the job.

This lippie is indeed very moisturizing. Really like the formula. It has a scent that fades away after application.

Unfortunately, this was not the color I was looking for. The shimmers are silver and become very prominent. I do, however, really love the transparent top. It's very sturdy and sleek.

Ah well, better luck next time!

Coastal Scents Haul!

I've been in dire need of a new gel liner for months now, and I'd read about Coast Scent's gel liner on a few blogs ages ago. The main thing stopping me from immediately purchasing is $50 needed to get free shipping. I didn't rack up $50 worth of purchases, but I figured this mini lot would make it more worth my while.

Really appreciated how CS just used a box large enough to hold everything. Not like all the other companies that use huge oversized boxes.

CS Divine Line Eyeliner- Black

The packaging is bulky, but I like how there's a brush attached. Unfortunately it is quite thick and my lines become uneven. It has been compared to MAC Fluidline and rated to be similar by other bloggers. The application is extremely smooth and the color is indeed a nice black. Unfortunately it does smudge with a big of water, and gave me panda eyes by the end of 8 hours. If you do check up/ touch it up throughout the day I think it should be no problem though.

CS HD Foundation

I was extremely interested in this product, but if you know me then you know my skin tone is weird. So I purchased 3 of their sample sets. I'm so glad I did get the Fair set after all- at first I thought I wasn't that light. People claim that the stock photos misrepresent the colors, and that the colors are actually lighter irl. I found the opposite to be true. The colors were darker irl for me.

The overall texture is nice, and would work for those with slightly oily skin to slightly dry skin. It does indeed give a nice appearance for photos.

I really don't understand the numbering. And some colors were so red and unfortunate looking.

Left to Right: 01, 02, 03

Left to Right: 3B, 04, 4B, 05

Left to Right: 2B, 5B, 06, 08

Top Row, Left to Right: 01, 02, 2B, 03, 04, 4B
Bottom Row, Left to Right: 05, 5B, 06, 08

I googled to see approximately which color I should be and arrived at the answer ST-4B for NW20 skin. When I first applied, I mentally screamed in horror as the color looked too dark and yellow. However, I'd forgotten that I tanned these past few days! The color is still a tidge too yellow for me, but it's barely noticeable.

I mixed 4B with the pink toned 01 and got something that would work for my winter color.

Coastal Scents Silica Powder Spheres

This product does help is smoothing out the look of the pores, but as you can see, it also has issues with flash. I'm lighter, so the effect is less harsh, but you will want to blend this product in very very well.

Coastal Scents Fragrance Oil- Sweet Musk

I think I must really be unable to detect musk. I do get a "woodsy" and candy "sweet" scent, but they are very faint and I smell nothing else.

Coastal Scents Fragrance Oil- Gardenia

Smells floral =), not the heavy cloying scent.

The other things I will maybe review another time!