Category: Beauty

Beauty

#100empties: Garnier and Oriflame Face Creams.

Post author By yukino
Post date 07/29/2015

If I attempt to be precise, then I have probably used up about 40 products by now. However I could no longer look at a pile of garbage on my windowsill (and what are empties if not trash?) and threw everything out without taking photos and posting. For the sake of documenting, we’ll count these ones as numbers one and two.

Garnier Essentials Hydrating Day Care for combination skin

I can say nothing good or bad about this product. It’s a decent cream, but I’m in no rush to repurchase it. Didn’t provide enough hydration for me, and although it felt like it evened out the texture, I think it was more of how the cream felt when applied, rather than its evening out properties, if any. The scent was gentle. Absorbed quickly, left a bit of a matte finish that didn’t last long.

Oriflame Love Nature Face Lotion for Oily Skin with Tea Tree Oil

Love Nature is one of the simple skin care series available from Oriflame. This cream is nothing special, but I’d probably buy it again because of its scent. It’s slightly medicinal and probably wouldn’t excite most people, but for me it’s just so fresh and calming. I’m currently using another one in the series, Aloe Vera for combo/ normal skin. The cream’s properties are about the same (slightly hydrating, absorbs a bit slower than the one above), but I’d still rank the Tea Tree one higher. I don’t like using it for day wear, even though I can’t say that it leaves much of a sheen or anything. I just prefer it for night. It’s light-weight, absorbs easily, leaves a nice feeling to the skin, and is just overall so fresh. I wish it had better skincare properties, because if it did, I wouldn’t stray to any other product. However it’s a generic cream that doesn’t solve any problems in my case — but it doesn’t create any either.

2 down; 98 to go.

Tags 100 empties, face, face cream, garnier, one hundred empties, oriflame, skincare

Beauty

Scents I Let Go.

Perfume is a very individual thing. Even if you tried the scent more than once, ergo purchased a sample or spritzed it in the shop countless times, you still risk disliking it later on. Perhaps you switched body lotions, or cut meat from your diet, or changed climates. All these can alter how perfume opens up on your skin, and how you perceive scents overall.

My main problem with perfumes lies in falling for top notes. These evaporate quickly, and what remains doesn’t always open up on the skin as I’d expected it to. That’s basically what happened with these four.

MORE by Demi

(Awkward reflection is awks.)

This is one of the more expensive Oriflame perfumes, and I coveted it for the longest time. I loved the sample, and I loved the MORE product line – particularly the hair spray. It was heavily scented, but I really enjoyed this fragrance in my hair. Finally I broke down and bought the bottle… only to find out that it no longer opens up on my skin to my liking. It felt too ‘grown up’, stifling, and dusty. Off to a new home it went.

Dancing Lady Hypnotic Night

I sampled this and totally fell in love. Then I received a full-sized bottle as a gift with purchase, but ended up giving it to my aunt. Every time I’d visit her, though, I’d scent it and feel a bit envious, so eventually I bought another bottle with full intention to wear it and keep it and love it. Sad to report that I’d since then worn it three times max, and every time it annoyed me. This bottle found a new home as well.

London

I feel like the goal of this perfume was to produce something that was both fresh and traditional. The end result, though, was a rather generic soapy scent that did not impress me at all. I bought this with a large discount together with other products. This was a blind purchase, and although it was deeply discounted, I still regret it. Passed it on.

P.S.: My father quite enjoyed the shower gel from this line. 😛

Sparkle in Paris

I only tried this in a dry tester on an Oriflame catalogue page. The scent was pleasant, and it was discounted, so I thought it would be a good every day scent for me. Unfortunately, I was wrong. I tried using it once or twice, but it would cause a headache in me, or at the very least annoy me to no end. It stood on my vanity for the longest time, and eventually I passed it on to my flatmate. It opens up very well on her, and doesn’t cause headaches in me at all. Perfume is the oddest thing, isn’t it?

(Credit for Sparkle in Paris product photo.)

(Everything bought with my own money. This is not a sponsored post.)

Tags fragrance, oriflame, perfume

Beauty

Recent Bourjois Purchases.

Post author By yukino
Post date 05/21/2015

Bourjois Rouge Edition Velvet lipsticks have been on my radar for a long, long time, and at long last I went and bought one. My first impulse was to buy a red, but then I settled on a rather less dramatic, but still bold and bright, pink shade, titled 11 So Hap’pink. I don’t follow new releases as intently as I probably should (bad, bad beauty blogger), but the saleslady told me it’s from the line of several new colours.

I’ve been wanting to try this for so long that the actual product left me just a tad underwhelmed. The product is very good, though. It’s matte, but not at all drying. It’s reasonably long lasting, although eating and drinking do fade the colour. I don’t have to worry about it staying in place in most other situations, though. It doesn’t feather. The application is easy. It smells sort of like a mascara would, which is also a huge plus for me, as I don’t always agree with artificial ‘pleasant’ fragrances companies use in their products.

Overall I’m very satisfied with this. Although they’re not as long lasting as some reviews would make you believe, Rouge Edition Velvet lipsticks are totally worth buying. I plan on purchasing at least one more.

Bourjois Levres Contour Lip Pencil I bought together with the lipstick, as I didn’t know whether the lipstick would feather. It’s always a good idea to line your lips anyway. Bourjois Levres Contour Framboise Exquise 18 turned out to be a perfect match for the Hap’pink shade. It also works good on its own with a bit of a gloss or balm over, but of course it’s better to just leave it for lining and a bit of filling.

These two products are a staple now. I use them in my make-up routine at least twice a week.

Tags bourjois, lip liner, lip pencil, lips, lipstick, makeup

Beauty

Lip Monthly January ’15.

OFRA Long Lasting Liquid Lipstick in Laguna Beach

A lip gloss packaging for a lipstick like product. The doe-foot applicator picks up more product than necessary so it’s important to remove excess lest you end up with a cakey layer of product on your lips. The product takes a bit of time to dry, but retains a bit of tackiness throughout. Not the lip gloss-like tackiness, though, just a bit of presence on the lips.

Longevity-wise, I’d say it lasts longer than Bourjois Rouge Edition Velvet lipsticks. Also, this lipstick is a perfect match for a lip pencil I have previously received via Lip Monthly, and a lip gloss that I own. Rather happy with this item.

Harvey Prince Imperial Gardenia Perfume Sample

Oh this is good. Still can’t talk about scents normally, but this did leave a lasting impression and made me look up the company. I’d call it a head turner, in a good way. It’s a very strong and heady scent, though, so it should be used sparingly.

Eco Lips Ecotints in Rose Quartz

Haven’t opened this product yet as I’ve another tinted balm going on, but if this is as good as the other Eco Lips product I’m using (from Lip Monthly too, by the way), then I’ll be happy with it, because I love my Eco Lips balm.

MICA Beauty Cosmetics Tinted Lip Balm in Velvet Rose

This one was not at all what I expected. For whatever reason — perhaps because it’s potted and because of its name – I was under the impression that this is a balm-like product, or a very sheer lipstick. This is not the case at all. Even a thin layer of this is rather opaque, and the formula is such that you almost forget it’s on your lips. You can build up coverage to make it fully opaque if you like. I wouldn’t call it matte, but there’s no gloss either. It’s somewhere between creme and matte. The colour is a gorgeous deep red – actually, the title ‘Velvet Rose’ is apt.

Swatches of OFRA Long Lasting Liquid Lipstick in Laguna Beach (right) and MICA Beauty Cosmetics Tinted Lip Balm in Velvet Rose (left). Apologies for the washed out photo. It’s still hard to control the amount of light with my phone camera.

(Lip Monthly link is referral link. I will receive a free bag or shop points for people I refer. Subscription paid for with my own money. This is not a sponsored post.)

Tags eco lips, fragrance, harvey prince, lip monthly, lips, lipstick, makeup, mica beauty cosmetics, ofra, perfume, subscription boxes

Beauty

Beauty Challenge: One Hundred Empties.

Post author By yukino
Post date 03/31/2015
2 Comments on Beauty Challenge: One Hundred Empties.

For someone who is not a professional beauty blogger or a make-up artist, I have a lot of products. I don’t even wear make-up daily, which serves to double the ridiculousness. Dozens of shadows and lipsticks sit unused every day, collecting dust and cat fur and shame, so much shame.

(Had to add drama, sorry.)

So on a slow, quiet, delightful weekday evening I decided to do a full inventory of my stuff and institute a One Hundred Empties challenge upon these lands. It is akin to Project Pan that originated on YouTube back in the day.

There are some empties posts coming up about products I finished before I decided on the challenge, so to preserve the accuracy – as we all deeply care – only the products finished on and after April 1 will count towards the challenge.

I’d like to set a specific date for completion, but a hundred products is, well, a hundred products. I don’t want to slather myself in three layers of body lotion or put on five layers of mascara simply because I want to race to complete this before the end of new year, for example.

Which products count towards challenge? All of them, including samples. Now, I could hypothetically ‘win’ this on samples alone, but I’m not going to do that, because I’m an honest person. (You can laugh now, can’t hear you.) Two samples of the same product are going to count as one item. Other than that, one sample = one item. Soaps will count towards the challenge as well.

Which products won’t count? I’m big on dental hygiene, but I’m not sure I’m going to count toothbrushes, floss, and the likes towards the 100 Empties list. Same goes for nail and foot files and loofahs. Brushes that have seen better days will not count towards the challenge either.

When is an emptie an emptie? Ideally an emptie is an emptie when the product is fully used up and the packaging is discarded. However, there are cases where I just let go of products. Most often this applies to nail polishes, shampoos, and mascaras. If I decide to not use the shadow anymore and only keep it for sentimental value, it’s not going to count. An emptie in this case is a product that no longer takes space in my cabinets. I.e., I used it up, let go of it, or threw it out.

Am I allowed to buy things? Yes, in moderation. I can buy replacements for things I ran out of. I can also stock up on my olde favourites on sale. I’m not cancelling my Lip Monthly subscription. If it’s a colour or a product I’ve been meaning to buy for ages, then I’ll buy it within my budget. My ultimate goal is to follow the ‘two out – one in’ approach, but we’ll see how it goes.

Above you can see my skincare stash. It’s a relatively old picture, so it’s changed a bit since then, but I wouldn’t say it lessened any, especially not the soaps (on the right).

Tags 100 empties, beauty, project pan, use it up