The postman delivered my awesome Illamasqua goodies this morning and I'm totally over the moon with my purchase! In fact I love them so much I'm already adding items to my basket for the next order =P
Placed this order on Tuesday and it was shipped out the following day via first class recorded delivery, not bad at all.
Ooh something from Illamasqua - it's always exciting to see a parcel! It cotains (like always there has to be at least one lip product) -Illamasqua Illuminator in Odyssey -Illamasqua Volume Mascara in Harness (black) -Illamasqua Volume Mascara in Lewd (blue) -Illamasqua Sheer Lipgloss in Electrify -Sirens Collection Liquid Metal in Solstice
I also received a postcard, Sirens product card with price list and Illamasqua The Range Spring/Summer 2009 product book with stunning promo pictures.
Here are a couple of photos of what's in the product book So far I've only really used the Sheer Lipgloss and it is absolutely amazing (review to follow); the Illuminator is really pretty and Solstice will make an excellent multi-purpose product.
I really want to get some Illamasqua foundations, eyeshadows and blushers too, but with these items you can't go by website swatches which are inaccurate (except for the black shades obviously). So next time I'm in London I'll visit their counter in Selfridges and swatch shades in person, if I like what I see I'll hand my card over. I have it all planned out - genius hehe!
Love Clover is a Japanese drugstore brand under B&C Laboratories Inc. which I believe is co-owned by Sony. Their products have a very girly look (awesome for me!) Lip Treatment Butter is the only lip care product they have at the moment. I purchased mine from Ichibankao when buying some skincare stuff. I think it was the word "butter" that spurred me on to adding this little jar to my cart. Whenever I think of butter, I think of luscious, soft awesomeness that insta-melts upon touch. I want my lip balms to be the same, minus the greasiness & calories of course, and I don't have lip balms on toast. The packaging is a cute little jar with pretty pink patterns on its gold lid, housing 8.5g of lip butter. I absolutely love that the Lip Treatment Butter comes with a small spatula in its own plastic sleeve (Western makeup brands take note!) so you don't need to stick your finger in the balm, making it more hygienic. Except I'll probably end up misplacing the spatula and using my fingers anyway, since unless I snap it in half the spatula won't fit in the jar. One small scoop of super creamy lip butter is enough to cover my lips and it literally melts upon application which I absolutely adore. After a while you can feel a slight cooling tingle that lingers and the taste is a very faint menthol - really quite pleasant. It gives my lips a healthy glossy look and sinks in making them smooth and supple; I'll definitely be using this as an overnight treatment and throughout the day too, it's also an awesome remedy for chapped lips.
Although this is a very nice lip care product, I probably won't repurchase as I simply have so many different balms within reach at the moment, and I'm constantly discovering new ones as they're released (I don't buy them all - not that crazy lol!)
I stumbled across Bihada Ichizoku on Hi-Japan; I was drawn by their name (means "beautiful skin family") and the cutesy anime girls on their packaging. Since I couldn't decide on which of their masks to try, and I already had a bunch of lipglosses in my cart, I decided to go for the pink blush to be on the safe side. There's also a beige version but pink is more me =)
I'm normally a huge fan of Japanese makeup packaging (cutesy Majolica Majorca and Lavshuca are firm favourites) but this Bihada Ichizoku blush reminded me of Shu Uemura's plain looking blushers. Not exactly jaw dropping but the pink box it comes in is quite cute.
The blush itself, however, is amazing for its $390 TWD price tag (around $12 USD or £7). It is highly pigmented, finely milled with a subtle glimmer, and is so silky smooth that I want to run my finger through it all the time. No worries if you apply too much and end up like a clown, you can blend blend blend to your heart's content until you get the desired result.
I think this would look good on most skintones, as you can really blend it out for a subtle fresh faced glow, or build it up for more colour.
Launched in 1980 as the USA’s first ‘all 99 cent’ cosmetic line, wet n wild is a sexy, fashionable and diverse range that sells on its high quality and affordable price.
Checkboxes:
[ ] Sexy - Packaging? Really? Nothing out of the ordinary, feels cheap
[/] Fashionable - I've given this a half hearted check; from what I've seen nothing really stands out from their range other than mega cheap price
[x] Diverse range - They do have a lot different shades and different glosses, mascaras, etc
[ ] High quality - Ha.ha.ha.HA. No.
[x] Affordable price - Super cheap; their highest priced items are around £5 with most costing 99p, plus they often have sales where items are reduced to 99p from £1.99, £2.99 etc
That's 2.5 out of their 5 claims... not a great start
A couple of weeks ago I decided to make a small order from WnW after finding a sale thread on a forum - all lip products are reduced to 99p throughout July & August. Being the lip product junkie that I am I decided this would be a good time to try out some of their stuff, but after much browsing on their site, either the products I wanted were out of stock, or they just didn't appeal to me.
In the end I purchased:
- MegaGlo Illuminating Bronzing Powder in Catwalk Pink
- Mascara Primer
- Mega Lash Mascara
- Diamond Brilliance Lip Sheen in Pink Sapphire and Sparkling Diamonds
- CoverAll Liquid Concealer Wand in Fair
- Sponge Applicators x 2
They offer free delivery within the UK when you spend £10+
Normally I wouldn't look twice at this brand, not because I have anything against ultra cheap products, but more often than not it's a case of "you get what you pay for" - I buy some ultra cheap items, end up not liking them and they just go straight into the bin. I'd much rather have spent that money on food (mmm fish...) or something more worthy. Anyway, here are my thoughts on my WnW purchases.
Mascara Primer
I actually don't know what to say about this product. Other than that it makes no difference whatsoever to my mascara application, and stinks like sour yoghurt. Yes that's right. Lovely eh? I don't care if the smell does dissipate after a while; I don't care that this is cheap (99p); if it does absolutely nothing and smells foul it's going in the bin. Mega Lash Mascara
This is supposed to create "thicker, longer, natural-looking lashes that won't smudge or clump" but there's a fundamental problem - 1 or 2 coats of this mascara makes next to no difference (at least not on my already dark lashes) and in order to get thicker looking lashes you have to apply 7+ coats and by then it would have already started to clump and smudge. It does not lengthen lashes either, plus has a super funky smell, and not in a good way; I fail to describe this as it is simply way beyond my senses so the only thing I can say is "not very nice".
Did I mention that the packaging looks & feels cheap? You can probably tell from the picture anyway. Diamond Brilliance Lip Sheen
At first glance both Pink Sapphire and Sparking Diamonds seem great - smooth and lightweight. Pink Sapphire is a sheer pearlescent baby pink with no shimmer, and Sparkling Diamonds is an iridescent clear gloss with tiny shimmer particles, mostly blue and both glosses are very, very pretty.
Unfortunately this is the best I can do with my camera (it looks prettier in person!) I honestly wish I can say I like them, but they make my lips feel slightly uncomfortable, have no staying power, and smells very plasticky sweet (better than expired milk product at least). I don't rate the packaging very highly either, especially not the fake plastic diamond thing at the top of the tube which just adds to its tacky factor.
CoverAll Liquid Concealer Wand
I got this in Fair which is the lightest of 3 shades they have. It's a pretty good match for my NC15/NC20 skin, but it's somewhat difficult to blend. If I use my fingers a lot of the concealer gets wiped off and becomes blotchy on blemishes, so no it doesn't cover well in my opinion. I haven't tried it as an under eye concealer though, since I don't get eye bags. As far as concealers go, this is not good enough.
Sponge Applicators
I actually like these; they're not of superb quality but are soft enough to apply eyeshadow with, fix minor mistakes or remove eye makeup by drenching them in makeup remover. Pretty easy to clean with some warm soapy water. Glad I got 2 packs although I only got them initially to bring me over the free shipping amount.
MegaGlo Illuminating Bronzing Powder Purposely left the best till last :P Catwalk Pink contains 4 shades - light shimmery bronze, pearly baby pink, medium matte red, and a darker shimmery orange bronze; these can be used together or separately as highligher, blush, eyeshadow too, so this is quite versatile.
When used together the 4 shades create a super pretty glow (swatch on the left) that is perfect for my skin. Usually bronzers make me look like a blotchy orange, and it is difficult finding a light enough shade without it appearing over the top, but I don't have problems with MegaGlo because it's so subtle. The only issue I have with this, other than the cheap packaging, is that it takes work picking up the product on your brush - you need some wrist strength, but once I apply it with my MAC 182 kabuki brush it lasts all day. Pretty decent for £1.99 ;)
Very rarely do I repurchase the same product; I mean a lot of the times I say I would, but end up reaching for something else. The fact that this is my second jar of MAC Moisturelush Cream surely has to mean that it's awesome?
According to MAC this is:
A richly hydrating face cream that helps moisturize and protect facial skin. Provides instant, long-lasting moisture. Leaves skin soft while lush formula helps balance skin's natural barrier and alleviate dry skin. Silky to apply, glides on easily. Helps create an even surface for a smooth, more perfect makeup application.
And it certainly lives up to its claim! Although rich and hydrating, this moisturizer is not oily or greasy, spreads easily and sinks into your skin super fast. Initially it may feel like there's a film on your face but this soon disappears after a few seconds.
I have combination skin so I use this mostly on my cheeks which can get a bit dry sometimes, also as a night cream and it works wonders on any flaky & dry patches. If you have extreme oily skin this may not be suitable, so either use very sparingly or try MAC Studio Moisture Fix which is more lightweight. Moisturelush Cream has a nice, fresh smell, but if you prefer fragrance free moisturizers this smell goes away after a short while leaving it baby soft, especially after Chocoable EpiPack.
Packaging wise it comes in a white plastic jar with a black lid containing 50ml of awesomeness. I actually like the jar in this case because with tube moisturzers it's a pain getting the last bits out, and with a pump bottle there's always a lot left wasted at the bottom. I just make sure my fingers are clean before scooping out any cream. You don't need to use a lot of product at all and a little goes a long way.
Will I repurchase (again)? Hell yes. It is already on the list of my next MAC haul :D
The Chocoable EpiPack for face is a chocolate peeling mask which is a top seller in Japan. It claims to be good for removing dead skin, unclogging & shrinking pores, and revealing more even and brighter skin, plus ideal for use before makeup application so that it goes on nice and smooth.
I purchased mine from Zakka24 along with the matching chocolate lipgloss. The mask comes in a squeezy tube with 80g of product
Despite what some of the promo pictures show, it does not remove facial hairs (maybe a few but certainly not all of them) like a wax strip.
A blob of mask squeezed from the tube Only need to use a thin layer like below, spread more evenly of course, or it will take a lot longer to dry and there will be gloopy parts you can't peel off You apply this mask all over your face, avoiding the eye & lip areas (as well as eyebrows and hairline or it will hurt later). Leave for about 15 minutes or so until the mask dries, and when it does slowly peel off from your chin upwards.
It doesn't really hurt that much, but I guess it depends on the person, but it is totally worth it! The results are amazing and it really does leave me with smoother, brighter looking skin, plus my face is so super soft that I find myself rubbing it for hours. I usually use this mask once per week and it really does wonders for my complexion, plus the smell of chocolate is so relaxing...
Sometimes I'm lazy. So lazy that I really don't feel like spending ages cleansing, or just very tired and want to jump in bed ASAP. It is those times when I feel super fortunate for having stumbled upon MAC Wipes while scanning their website.
At £18 for 100 wipes, there are certainly cheaper alternatives, but these wipes are so awesome! They literally remove every trace of makeup, plus leave my face soft, clean, and refreshed. The pack is resealable and has a sheet of silver foil covering the wipes to make sure that they stay as fresh as possible. You can use these to remove waterproof mascara too, but you need to hold them over your eye for a good few seconds before wiping.
Don't need to rub very hard to remove makeup, except with waterproof ones you'll need to work a bit harder, which is great as my skin can be a bit sensitive (Bare Escentuals bareMinerals Foundation gave me not-so-nice rough, pink patches on my cheeks...grr!)
As nice and convenient these are, they are not a substitute for a good cleanser. I love them but don't use them all the time (only for the extreme lazy days) and the packaging is quite bulky, so not really ideal for small handbags or if you go travelling. MAC does have a smaller version, but I much prefer the luxuriously oversized ones.
MAC needs no introduction; they are one of my very favourite brands and I absolutely love MAC Pigment. I currently only have 4 shades, which are Vanilla, Pink Pearl (Pro), Melon and Rose Gold (Pro). They are very versatile, highly pigmented (except Vanilla which I use mainly as a highlighter) and you only need to use a small amount.
I like to dispense my pigments into little MAC Travel Jars (£3 for 4) so I won't accidentally dip the wrong brush into the original pigment pots or bring moisture into them.
Photo taken with flash (From left to right) Vanilla - Great multitasking product. Can be used to highlight cheekbones, browbones, mix with clear lipgloss, add a bit to foundation/moisturiser to make your skin glow... super versatile and has such a pretty pink/gold shimmer. Pink Pearl - Beautiful fuchsia pink with blue/violet shimmer. This is super pretty, but I haven't really used it as I bought it because I loved the colour! Melon- Mix of peach/gold shimmer, looks good on all skin tones. Add to some moisturiser for a sun kissed golden glow, and if you have darker skin you can even use this as a cheek/browbone highlighter on its own. Rose Gold- I don't understand why it's called "rose" when I see nothing rosey about this? It is, however, a very pretty metallic bronze. This pigment is very finely milled, highly concentrated and needs to be applied with a light touch. I mostly use this as eyeliner and it lasts throughout the day.
Swatches on my arm If you accidentally spill any of the pigments on your carpet, cotton pad soaked with makeup remover works wonders. Tried & tested with Pink Pearl and cream carpet (not intentionally!)
