Review: Etude House Kissful Lip Care Lip Concealer

I bought this out of curiousity. What a lip concealer would do, I wonder? Does it work like an eye primer? Wouldn't a regular concealer be enough? It was cheap anyway (IDR 58K), so I didn't think twice to purchase this. Pardon me, I don't mean to sound so snob.

 

 

This tube comes in a tiny nude colored plastic tube, looks like a lip balm, with a creepy smiling girl illustration. Yeah, I think she's creepy. >_<

 

 

If you glide it on, you'll find this pale odorless stick that almost look like a regular concealer.

 

 

The ingredients and directions of use.

This product claims to even out the color of your lips and make your lipstick color look more vivid. But how they'll look on my lips? I've prepared some examples.

 

 

My bare lips is actually very pale and light colored. Note that you'll need an extra lip balm application before wearing this. I don't feel that heavy sensation on my lips like when I'm wearing a regular concealer stick on my lips. It is very light and not sticky.

 

 

Here are a few examples using lipsticks:

 

Do you notice that my lipstick color is lighter on the area applied with this concealer?

 

This example is more obvious. I tried to do that gradient look, and my neon pink lipstick changed into baby pink.

 

 

I tried a lot of lipsticks using this primer but I just took pictures of those two. Do I like it? I would answer, no. Not at all. This product really keeps its promise to lengthen the staying power of your lipstick color but at the same time also soften up their intensities. Many reviews I read claims the opposite effect though. I think this will work best for those who have natural dark lips and wanted to make it lighter, or when you want to make that Geisha or creepy doll look! Hahaha.

 

 

Verdicts:

• Odorless
• Works best for dark lips
• Non sticky formula
• I don't think this product will make your lipstick color pop out
• Doesn't make your lips dry like a regular concealer, but lip balm usage is suggested
• Maximize your lipstick staying power
• Price when I bought this: IDR 58K (USD 6)

 

 

Repurchase?

Curiousity about one thing happened only once.

Have you tried this product before and have the opposite sentiment? Why don't give me your thoughts? Thanks for reading my review. ^^

Review: Melanox Face UV Protector SPF 30 PA++

To be honest, wearing a sunscreen, especially on my face, is not my favourite activity. They felt greasy. But thanks to many health and beauty articles I read, now I consider this as an important item other than my eye concealer. Before, I only wear sunscreen on my body when I wanted to take my swimming lesson as a child. LOL.

My skin type is normal to oily combination, so it's really important to find a sunscreen with oil-free formula. I used to wear Loreal face UV protector for about a year, really liked the matte formula, but still it felt sticky. So I decided to try other sunscreen products. This is what I grabbed 6 months ago from a local drugstore in my area.

It comes in a small white tube packed in a carton box with the same design as the tube. This product was lined along with other face sunscreen brands, but the word oil-free formula and non-comedogenic catched my eyes. Many sunscreen would cost you with black pores in long term usage. So I grabbed it and kinda surprise to know the brand was Melanox. As far as I know, this local Indonesian brand is famous for its whitening ointment (yes, ointment, not cream) with a very dull-looking tube. More like a presciptioned ointment. 

The SPF 30 PA ++ is more like an average or medium protection a sunscreen could over, so I don't mind with that. Moreover, SPF above 40 have more risk in skin irritation.

And so I bought it. The price was around IDR 50K, almost IDR 60K (USD 6). The content was only 25 g.

The cap was swiveled shaped. Not very practical. I dropped the cap a lot when I wanted to apply this, especially when in hurry. 

The ingredients:

When reading the ingredients one by one (I'm very carefull about this one, paranoid maybe) I noticed that some of them are still among controversies in health and beauty products. So, for a couple a months I doubt whether to use it or not. It took a lot of courage for me to wear this. But my final verdict is like consuming MSG in instant noodles, right? It is actually dangerous if you consume it in a very large amount, isnt't it?

This is the application on my hand. The bottom picture is my hand after the application. And just like all sunscreens, it will give you that white cast appearance, especially under camera flash.

The cream was odorless and in a fleshtone color, it was actually pretty thick and dense, looks like BB cream, but very, very thick. Oh, don't worry, although it's fleshtone, but the result on your face is colorless.

Wearing this on my face, it felt very sticky. Gosh, how I hate this feeling! You need a lot of product to cover your whole face because of its thickness, so I think 25 g is not generous enough. I waited for about 5 minutes to let my face absorbed it, before setting it with my other makeup routines. And although I hate its stickiness, it actually gives you that matte look for the next 4 hours after the application. Of course I also wear this along with other oil free formulated makeup and skincare for its maximum performance. I've been wearing his for 4 months and so far it doesn't give me breakout whatsoever. And as for its protection effectiveness against UVA and UVB, well I guess it'll take further medication research in long term usage, so I'm not able to provide you with that information.

Oh, by the way, don't forget to apply this at least 30 minutes before leaving your nest. ^_^

Remember, sunscreen contained in your BB Cream or cake powder is not enough to protect your face from sunburn. Use a freaking sunscreen, kay.

Verdicts:

Matte look up to 4 hours after the application, more or less

Good staying power

Sticky feeling on your face

Thick cream

Odorless

Fleshtone cream, but colorless result on your face

SPF 30 PA ++

Price: IDR 50-60K (USD 6)

Where to buy: supermarkets, drugstores

Repurchase?

IDK. I just bought this non-local Banana Boat face sunscreen. Can't wait to try it out once I finish this tube!

Have you ever tried this sunscreen before? What's your experience with this?

Tutorial: How I Draw My Eyebrows

In most occassions, I llllove drawing eyes. This is how I do my eye sketch:

Dreamy, kinda? Heheh. Almond structured eye with curly long lashes and big eyeball, and especially: a perfectly arched eyebrow.

Most people say, you tend to imagine things you don't have. It's pretty much true. Because this is what my eyebrow actually look like:

Not a very flattering sight, huh? LOL. Except for the circle lens, everything you are witnessing now is a reality. You must thank me for trimming them, though. Because I was actually born with very thick and flat eyebrows, and... They were connected to each other. Aaargh...

So far, this is probably what you have in mind: 

Okay, okay, enough with the creepiness. Let me show you how I do my tricks to camouflage them.

Here are the tools I use:

• Etude House eyebrow drawer (light brown)
• Inez loose eye shadow (aztec gold). Review here.
• Viva eyebrow pencil (brown)

First, draw your eyebrow with eyebrow drawer on your whole eyebrow area. What I like about an eyebrow drawer is that it combs your eyebrow as well as coloring them.

 

Define the area you just draw with gold eyeshadow.

 

Draw the dotted line area with eyebrow pencil to make it more defined and looked more natural.

Final result.

 

 

See the difference? At least now my reality is not too much far from my expectation, right? LOL.

 

 

Oh, here are a few tips from me:

• The tools I use here comes in light shades, the result is somekind of light brown or strawberry blonde eyebrows. So, make sure to find suitable shades for your skin tone.
• For darker complexion, you can use dark brown eyeshadow instead a gold one. Brown mascara is a great substitute if you do not have an eyebrow drawer.
• Using powder eyeshadow is a bit tricky since the powder might fall on your eyelids. Use pressed ones instead. I use this shadow powder because the shade is similar to the etude eyebrow drawer. Once I found a pressed eyeshadow with similar color, I'd definitely move on.

Actually this is the photo I submitted for IBB MUC March 2014, but the eyebrow shade I present here is pretty much like that. Link here.

Well, there are so many ways to draw your eyebrows. This is how I do it. How do you do it?

Artinya: 

Banyak jalan menuju roma. Kalau kamu mau ke roma, jalan mana yg kamu pilih? 

 

Hihihi. 

Mulai ngaco.

See you!

 

 

Tutorial: Simple Red & Black Eye Makeup

Red and black are aaalways good together. Let's see how they'd look on your eyes.

Please enjoy the tutorial!

First of all, start with clean eyes. Define your eyebrow and apply eyeshadow base. Then you can move on to these:

1. Apply black eyeshadow on all over upper eyelids.

2. Apply red color on your crease and V line. Blend.

3. Line your eyes with black eyeliner.

4. Put a little silver shade near your tear duct.

5. Line your lower waterline with white pencil and apply mascara.

6. Apply black eyeshadow on your lower lashbed then smudge.

All done, you crazy people!

Final result:

Full face view? Nah.. I don't think so. I was kinda lazy putting on my hijab.

Instead, I'll just give you this.

Haha! Good luck, girls... And boys!

Comments or suggestions are always welcum ^_^

Review: Lip Ice Sheer Color "Bubble Gum"

Back again to budget beauty review ^_^

Hey, I've been using this Lip Ice thing since college, and ever since then I've bought dozens (maybe a hundred) of it because this lovely pink thing has become one of my everyday makeup routine.

To be honest, Lip Ice variant had multiplied into numerous items which kinda confused me. Lip Ice this, Lip Ice that. I kinda lazy reading each one of its variant (I always buy this while doing my monthly expenditure: enpagrow, mamih pokoh, bimolih, kecap bango, rinsso, odol, etc), it would be too much hassle reading one by one. So I usually will just pick any item with a pink color >_<

 

Let's see what I just grabbed:

 

 

I think most girls are very familiar with this, but for some of you who don't know what Lip Ice is, well, basically it's a tinted lip balm.

 

According to the backside of the packaging:

Goes on clear, then, changes to a subtle shade of sheer pink

 

So, when you glide this on your lips, the color won't change, but after a few minutes your lips will change color into a nice sheer pink shade. Already familiar with bunny lipstick (the green lipstick with golden chinese letters which your relatives usually brought from Hajj?), well, it's more or less like that. LOL

 

Nothing changed much in the packaging since the very first time I bought it: Pink plastic glide-on tube with baby pink plastic cap. The stick inside is white with a sheer fragrance of bubble gum (for this variant).

 

The ingredients and directions of use:

 

 

The result:

My bare lips and after the application. Actually, it changed a lot pinker than that, I glided too much XD

I've been using this for more than 10 years, from the time when Maybelline lipstick is an enormous luxury for me, and spending IDR 25K for makeup is an insane useless improvidence (but I spent USD100 for Marilyn Manson hardcovered autobiography!). Okay, it's out of topic... 

So far, for the last 10 consecutive years, I love the effect on me. It really soften up my lips but also give a sheer pink shade. At least I won't look too pale, compared to the time when I wear my colorless petroleum jelly. I think, this product is suitbale when you don't want to show too much effort to look pretty. Hischoolers, hello... ^^

 

Verdicts:

• Moisturize your lips
• Sheer pink shade after a few minutes application
• Matte result
• Easy to apply compared to lipstick
• Nice fragrance
• Price: Less than IDR 20K (USD 2)
• Low staying power (in colors and moisturizer effect)
• Easy to get
• Where? Drugstores, convenience stores, supermarkets, traditional markets, everywhere! XD

Repurchase?

Always. How about you darlings?

IBB Make Up Challenge March 2014 "Natural Glow"

Yay! Another makeup challenge! You know what I like about blog challenge? It's not the competition itself, but it gives me the idea of my next blog article. LOL.

This March 2014, Indonesian Beauty Blogger community, sponsored by Menard, presents another makeup challenge with the theme: natural glow.

Here's the banner. You can read further info on IBB official site.

It's not very hard to find the idea of natural makeup, because that's the look I always do everyday. It's almost like 'no makeup' makeup. The key for this look, besides using the shades similar to your flesh tones, is: by not applying eyeliner on your eyelids.

Let's check out the tutorial, it's very simple.

1. Define your eyebrow and apply eyeshadow base on all over your upper eyelids.
2. Apply flesh tone eyeshadow on all over upper eyelids.
3. Cut your crease using dark brown eyeshadow.
4. Line your upper waterline with waterproof eyeliner pencil. Remember, your upper waterline only!
5. Curl your lashes and apply black mascara on your lower and upper eyelashes.
6. Line your lower waterline with white pencil.

For the face:

Contour your nose, apply blusher and highlight (I use Etude House nymph aura volumizer) on your cheek, then apply pink tinted lip balm/gloss (I use Lip Ice in pink).

And you are done! It's as simple as that!

Oh, actually you can skip the step #2 which I usually did. So basically I just need one eyeshadow: dark brown.

Final look:

See how a single smile can really change a person's face shape? LOL

Why did I choose all the same three angles? Boring....

And by the way, I was listed as the top 5 finalists on IBB MUC last month. Sheesh... The only look I submitted XD

Kindly spare your precious time to vote, yaaaa. Vote for me... Errr I mean, your favorite! Hahahah. 

Have you submitted your masterpiece for this month challenge? Well, what are you waiting for?! Go create one already! You can submit up to three looks!

See you then! ^_____^

Review: Sariayu Marshmallow Creamy Blush On

I was looking for a cream blusher when I found out that Sariayu--a local Indonesian cosmetic line--just launched one in 2014. I was eager to try it out. Let's say, if your local brand has it, why try others?

 

Because I'm lazy to go outside, I bought it from its official online store which costed me around IDR 50K (USD 5). And that blusher arrived inside this beautifully painted white box:

First I thought, whoa, the box is pretty bulky.

But when I opened it, I was like... say whaaaaat?  

 

The treasure hidden inside that beautiful white box was a super duper mini tiny plastic transparent jar which I pressumed as the blusher itself.

 

 

The jar somehow reminds me of The Body Shop lip balm series, so I took it as a comparison to show you how tiny this blusher is. TBS lip balm even has more generous content. 6gr vs 8.5 gr.

 

The ingredients:

This texture is pretty solid for a cream blusher.

It only comes in one shade, thus I would assume this reddish orangey shade is suitable for any kinds of skin tone. No weird smell, in case you're wondering.

Here's the swatch on my inner hand which has similar skin tone with my cheek.

 

Above picture is a raw swatch and below is after I blend it. It's not the pinkish shade you look for, more of a pretty red/orange shade that's suitable for most Indonesian complexion.

 

I've been using this for about a month, and the staying power is actually pretty good compared to my Revlon powder blush. I would suggest you to apply this between foundation and face powder application for a matte result. Or apply this after foundation without face powder for glowy result.

 

The formula is like this:

• Foundation/BB Cream - blusher - face powder => matte result
• Foundation/BB cream - blusher => glowy result

 

 

Okay, move on to verdicts:

• Super tiny content (only 6 gr)
• So the price of IDR 50K is a bit pricey for me
• No weird smell. Instead, it has no smell at all
• Solid cream formula
• Matte result
• Reddish/orangey shade
• Medium staying power

 

That's all for now. Anyone tried this cream blusher before? Please tell me what you think. Until then! ^_____^