A year of lip products #42

I have recently discovered that I own an obscene amount of lip products. In an effort to downsize without having a blog sale or burning all the makeup in my possession in a bonfire, I thought it would be a neat little idea to take inventory of my lipsticks, glosses and stains.

Pictures are taken in natural daylight with no color correction or manipulation.

Canmake Stay-On Balm Rouge in 01

This has to be one of my very favorite lip products, ever! It's so well used that what you see in the picture is all that I have left, rolled up all the way! Initially, I was quite skeptical as it appears a strange purple in the tube and I wasn't sure if it was something that I could pull off. But once applied on the lips, would you just look at how beautiful it is? As a balm rouge (I'm assuming this is Canmake's version of a tinted balm), I find it sufficiently pigmented as it's so easy to build up the opacity. On the swatch, it took me about 8 swipes to achieve that sort of color density. It may sound like a lot, but when it glides on so easily you don't really need to put your mind into it. I've worn this to work almost everyday in summer as it also has UV cut (Japanese speak for SPF haha) and I absolutely love that my lips looks perfectly soft and kissable with a juicy looking shine. It's so comfortable and keeps my lips moisturized in the hot weather, too. So, so much win!

A year of lip products #41

I have recently discovered that I own an obscene amount of lip products. In an effort to downsize without having a blog sale or burning all the makeup in my possession in a bonfire, I thought it would be a neat little idea to take inventory of my lipsticks, glosses and stains.

Pictures are taken in natural daylight with no color correction or manipulation.

Clinique Long Last Glosswear SPF 15 in Kissy Fit 

I like this. I really, really do. I'd even wear it regularly if my hair didn't fly around all the time and get stuck on my lips. First of all, pink is not in my usual list of picks for lip color as I believe the ship may have sailed and I'm a little too old to be sporting bubble gum colors. Of course, I am wrong, since this is right up my alley and didn't make me look like a pre-teen. In the tube, the shimmer is glaringly obvious and the color stands out as a pretty bold pink (not loud, just bold). Even on the skin swatch, the shimmer particles are quite evident, but like with other lip products that I own, they're not in your face once applied onto the lips. I love, love, that it fills out my lips and smooths out all the fine lines. I don't even need to worry about flaky lips as I find that the product spreads out so evenly to camouflage any dryness that I might have. One coat of this (no double dipping, yay!) and my lips are perfectly juicy and luscious. It is, however, a little thick and sticky so I definitely have that something-is-on-my-lips feeling.

A year of lip products #40

I have recently discovered that I own an obscene amount of lip products. In an effort to downsize without having a blog sale or burning all the makeup in my possession in a bonfire, I thought it would be a neat little idea to take inventory of my lipsticks, glosses and stains.

Pictures are taken in natural daylight with no color correction or manipulation.

Revlon Super Lustrous Lipstick in Kiss Me Coral

I know many bloggers love coral shades in summer and it's something that I'd love to try, really. In all honesty, this is a really beautiful wearable shade that is considerably less bright than what most women half my age are wearing. Warm toned, almost red, but not quite. On my lips, I swiped 2 coats on and due to the fact that I'm generally too chicken to wear bright lips, I didn't manage to do a good job so I had to even it out with a brush. Although it's supposed to be a creme finish (which I assume is a little more moisturizing?), my lips were a little dry and it highlighted the flaky bits. I really like that I don't have that dreaded inner rim of color on my lips which I sometimes get with other lipsticks. It feels light and I can't say much about wearability since I had lunch an hour after I put it on. It did, however left a little stain on my hand after I wiped it off. Overall, not something I'd be brave enough wear on its own (shame, really!), but I'd love to sheer it out with some balm.

July '13 empties

Another month, another empties post. Seems like all this blog is about is just the garbage that I accumulated, eh?

This month brought me tons of disappointments, but as is my OCD nature to finish up everything right down till the very last drop/dollop/sheet, I think I did pretty damn well.

One more finished lip product this month!

Shiseido Senka Perfect Whip Face Foam

Hates it. Even with my oily skin, I always feel like my face is stretched beyond limits after I use it. And don't get my started about the itching that came with that crazy dry feeling. On the bright side, I use it with my Clarisonic and I love how it really foams up.

Repurchase: No

Cleansing wipes from 100 yen store

I don't use these on my face, ever, but I keep them on my vanity for wiping my fingers off after using cream shadow, BB cream, before dipping my fingers into anything etc. You get the idea. Somehow this box must be either a really old one or the seal sticker inside doesn't really seal. They were pretty dry by the time I got to the third sheet. They don't seem to clean very well. either. I usually have to press hard on the dirty spot and swipe a few times before anything comes off, especially cream eyeshadows.

Repurchase: No

Bifesta bi-phase Eye Makeup Remover

Went on a crazy buying spree during my brief period of insanity and bought 3 bottles of these. I didn't even really start wearing eye makeup regularly till I started working in April. Must've been some demon possession going on there when I clicked purchase, I'm sure of it. This bi-phase eye makeup remover does its job well and lasted me a very good 4 or so months before I got to the last drop. Doesn't sting my eyes and never left me with cloudy vision either. Some of my eye makeup can be a little stubborn to remove, like my Bobbi Brown gel liner and waterproof mascara, but all they need is 10 seconds of this stuff on a cotton pad on my eye, and a few very gently swipes. All clean. Even in between my lashes. My only gripe is that it doesn't smell like garden flowers and babies, but I guess that's alright.

Repurchase: Already have 2 backup bottles

Etude House Lemon sheet mask

So I went trip happy at Incheon Airport during my many flights between Shanghai and Kuala Lumpur and I bought, like, 10 of these. Which is a lot, considering I don't use sheet masks. So, what did this do for my face? Absolutely nothing. It claims to brighten skin and is supposed to be great for acne skin types. But, well, nothing happened. Smells great, though. And chilling it in the fridge 10 minutes before applying it onto my face felt pretty awesome in this summer heat. I do, however, hate the sticky feeling that the essence left. I don't care what anyone says, it does not absorb into skin. It just stays on the surface no matter how much I try to massage it in. I ended up rinsing a second time just so that I could apply my moisturizer after. Oh, I have to say that it's a pretty good fit for my face too. And they weren't skint on the essence because there was plenty left in the packet even after I took the mask out.

Repurchase: No

Etude House Pearl Extract sheet mask

Bought 10 of these as well on the same day I got the Lemon ones(!). Nope, didn't like them, either. Claims to brighten skin, hydrate blah blah blah. Whatever. This one didn't even smell nice. I had the exact same issues I did with the lemon one. But I do love the feeling of slapping one on when the summer heat is unbearable and taking a short nap with the air conditioning on. Not sure if it's just me, but my face itched a little after.

Repurchase: No

The Body Shop Pink Grapefruit Shower Gel

I'm one of those devoted lifelong users of The Body Shop's shower gels. While I won't particularly pick this one first out of the many other scents they carry, this one's apparently manly enough for Mister Homebody. I like how foamy it becomes and how the scent lingers in the shower. However, it contains SLS which I'm trying to cut down and eventually out.

Repurchase: No

Kose Softymo Speedy Cleansing Oil

I first tried this one out when I was in Hong Kong and everything sells for cheap there. It removes my makeup very well and doesn't leave my skin feeling tight or dry. Now, I have a very complete cleansing routine whenever I'm wearing makeup (which is pretty much almost everyday now that I have a job) and it involves what most people would call "tedious". I start with the Bifesta eye makeup remover to remove all my eye makeup (obviously) and I use the cleansing oil for the rest of my face. After I've rinsed off, I always follow up with my regular cleanser, which may be whatever I'm using at the moment as I've not been loyal to any particular brand since Biotherm. I've been doing this for ages and it seems to work best for me out of all the other methods I've tried, from cream cleanser to makeup wipes and everything in between. It's slightly runnier than other types of cleansing oils that I've used previously but I don't see how that makes it inferior or work any less than other more expensive types. Although I have sensitive skin and really should stay away from fragranced products, I do sometimes wish this had at least a teeny bit of fragrance in it to spice things up.

Repurchase: Already have 2 backup bottles

Clinique Long Last Glosswear SPF 15 in Clearly Pink

I've never had a Clinique lip gloss before and I'm clearly blown away by this one. It fills out all the fine lines and gave me smooth silicone looking lips while not making me look like I used a lip plumper. The formula is awesome and glides on easily. I never needed to double dip because somehow, the doe foot applicator always picks up the right amount of product. The SPF 15 is an added bonus too, though they're chemical sunscreens which I randomly get allergic reactions from. While I love almost everything about this lip gloss, I don't think I'd repurchase simply because I'm currently trying to phase out buying products with ingredients that I'm iffy about.

Repurchase: No

DHC Eyelash Tonic

I used this for the recommended 6 months because apparently that's how long it takes for some people to see results. I did miss a few days in that span of time but I don't think it's supposed to make a difference to the results I was supposed to get. Because it did absolutely nothing for me. If anything, it annoyed me that I had to apply this to my lashes everyday and sometimes I somehow manage to poke my eye with the wand. It started out as a clear gel but in time it grew cloudy and I think it's due to the fact that I always moisturize beforehand and it's the moisturizer that's making the product cloudy. In the beginning I felt that I had less falling out of my lashes but after 6 months, it was just another extra 2 minutes that I had to spend every night which yielded zero results. I even tried using this on my eyebrows because mine are so sparse. Nothing. Just a waste of my time.

Repurchase: No

Muji cotton pads

Not sure if these cotton pads are organic cotton but I find that they tend to shred less than the ones that I usually get from the 100 yen store. They even withstand removing glitter nail polish, and that is really saying something. I don't feel like they work any better or any worse but I do like that I don't get bits of cotton stuck on my face and fingers all the time. They feel smooth enough on my face, yet rough enough to remove nail polish easily. Slightly more expensive than my regular 100 yen cotton pads, but since I live in Muji land and prices here are cheap-to-reasonable, I don't see why not?

Repurchase: Yes

So out of 10 empties, I ended up with no to 7 of them. Not sure if I'm just too picky or I buy all kinds of crap products because of my no-loyalty personality. I do, however, like seeing my stash get smaller after I've used up/thrown out stuff, though.

On to more product discovery!