Etude House Bling Bling Eye Stick Review

Friday, January 30, 2015
Going into Etude House always manage to turn a stressful day into a happy day. Perhaps it's the soft, powerful floral signature scent that wafts around or its sweet, pink, girly decor. There's just something about Etude House. Usually I head straight towards the new collection to check it out. They always have new things but other times when I've been in Etude too many times, I wander around to their permanent collections lines. That is where I found today's reviewed product.


Sometimes Etude House has the cutest packagings and sometimes it also has the most boring packaging and sadly this falls into the latter but never mind that because the actual product inside is pretty cool.  The Etude House Bling Bling Eye Sticks are simply eyeshadows in the form of a stick. There are around 5 or 6 colours from the permanent line although availability depends on each individual store.  I think the price was around 4 200 Won each.



I picked up two colours: #08 Ivory Baby Star and #10 Little Bear Star. They're both very wearable colours with a bit of shimmer and shine. I can wear these on a daily basis without people wondering if I'm going to a party. They're quick to apply in the morning or on the go. I'm not too fond of touching my eyes while I'm outside so these are perfect. Because they're sheer but buildable I can easily control how much colour I want to show up. They're great used on their own, as a base or to soften up a harsh eyeliner.

#08 Ivory Baby Star is a cool champagne colour with shimmer. I like to use this to brighten my eyes. The shimmer in this one is quite noticeable.

#10 Little Bear Star is a neutral bronzy brown colour. The shimmer in this one is not as noticeable as the shimmer in #08. It's a very easy to wear color.

Judging from the name of this product, you may think this is a very sparkly item. It's not. Despite it being called Bling Bling, I find that it's actually just a pretty shimmery item. The Aritaum Wannabe Longwear Shadow Sticks are much more sparkly. As you can see in the swatches above, these can be built up to a pretty opaque level. You may rest assure that no matter how much you apply, you won't look over done. 


Performance wise, these last pretty well on my oily eyelids. I see a bit of smudging by the end of the night but it's nothing serious as the colors are so wearable. I keep these two in my purse and I already have a backup :)


The Good:
  • affordable
  • easy to take on the go 
  • very natural color range
  • buildable
  • long wearing
The Bad:
  • boring packaging

If you have any questions about this product, please let me know! Thanks for reading ^^

Recent Empties and Tossed Outs: Mini Reviews - Korean Cosmetics and Skincare

Wednesday, January 14, 2015
One of my favourite types of videos to watch and posts to read is recent empties. Although there is value in first impressions and mid-way reviews (which I do on this blog as well), there's something incredibly honest about an "empties" review. I have to admit they are quite difficult to post about because they take time and - I don't know about you but I always feel so satisfied throwing out an empty container. 

Anyways, over the last two months, I've been able to collect up quite a lot of empties as well as a few items that I will be tossing out. 

EMPTIES

SU:M37 Miracle Rose Cleansing Stick: I enjoyed this cleanser up to the very last bit. It's definitely worth a repurchase but as of the moment, I've found something I like better. You can read the full review here.


Tony Moly Floria Nutra-Energy Essence: I really loved the serum (reviewed here) in this line and but this essence was just mediocre in my standards. It's thicker than most essences out there and provides light moisture. I love that it's in a pump bottle but it didn't do anything special for me.



Laneige Water Sleeping Pack_EX: Most of you who are familiar with Korean cosmetics have probably heard of this one. It's got a light, watery consistency with a very relaxing scent. My skin felt moisturized and bouncy in the morning after but that's all. The results I received from this product is pretty standard compared to the other cheaper sleeping masks I've tried. 

Innisfree Green Tea Pure Sleeping Pack: This sleeping pack gives me glowy, moisturized, and bright skin in the morning. It comes as a white, almost translucent gel with white beads in it. The white beads break apart as you apply the mask on the skin. Two things I didn't like about it was that the scent was very strong and that it's slightly sticky. For the results that it gives me, I'm willing to put up with that.



Etude House Moistfull Super Collagen Ampoule Essence (Trial Size 25mL): Applied on its own will not give you much result. It's of a thin, gel-water consistency and feels like water when applied to the skin. However, it still adds slight moisture. I find that this product really prevents moisture from escaping my skin when I apply this over my daily moisturizer. (In the photo, the bottle is reused so I can bring my toner to the gym).

Etude House Moistfull Super Collagen Cream (Trial Size 10mL): I really liked the consistency of this cream. It's not too thin, nor too thick. It applies easily like a gel and absorbs right away and it has the same fresh scent as the Collagen Ampoule Essence. However, it doesn't provide as much moisture as I like. My skin still feels a little bit dry after the cream as sank in.

TOSSED OUTS
When products changes colour, gives off a bad smell, or starts separating - it's time to throw it out. Expired makeup can be really dangerous. It's better to protect your skin and your health than continue to use something that can harm you.



Aritaum World Glam Coating Tint in Seoul and London (reviewed here): I really loved these two tints. However, after neglecting them for a few months and coming back to them, I've discovered that the scent has changed. It smells really chemically off and not at all like how they were when I first purchased them.



Etude House  Color Lips-Fit (reviewed here): I've also neglected this tint for a few months now. When I went through my makeup, I notice that the liquid has separated from the solid. Thank goodness it's in a tinted clear plastic tube otherwise I wouldn't have noticed. It's instructed on the box that this expires 6 months after opening.

That's it for today! Thanks for reading.



Fresh - Dare to Bare Sugar Lip Ritual Review

Wednesday, January 7, 2015


Over the holidays a group of my friends generously gifted me the fresh Dare to Bare Sugar Lip Ritual. I've never tried any fresh products before but I've heard many good things about them. I know that back in 2012 Sephora's birthday gift was a set of fresh lippies but I missed out on that one so I'm so happy to finally be able to try them in this limited edition gift set.




This set comes with five items (They're all half or close to half size of the full size items):


  • Sugar Lip Polish (8g / 0.28oz)
  • Sugar Lip Serum Advanced Therapy (5ml / 0.16 floz)
  • Sugar Lip Treatment Advance Therapy (2.2g / 0.08oz)
  • Sugar Rosé  Tinted Lip Treatment (2.2g / 0.08oz)
  • Sugar Shine Lip Treatment (3ml / 0.1floz)
I have to say that the name Sugar Lip Ritual is really apt. I usually use this set in the order of 1. Polish 2. Serum 3. Treatment and it does really feel like a spa ritual. My lips are left feeling plump and moisturized.



fresh Sugar Lip Polish

Honestly, how cute is this little tube? Seeing how neat the contents are packed inside I was definitely the most hesitant to use this product out of everything in the entire set. I just wanted to keep it in its pristine condition - all clean and neat. I just take a half pea size amount of this and massage it onto my lips. The sugar in it gives it a very grainy feel while the oils in the polish prevent it from being abrasive. After rinsing this off, the fingers that were in contact with the polish feels like they're coated in oil (like washing off Vaseline without soap) and my lips feel super smooth like a baby's behind with no dry skin in sight.



fresh Sugar Lip Serum Advanced Therapy

I love how the contents are housed in a miniature pump bottle. I've never used a lip serum before so I wasn't sure what to expect. I thought it would be like a lip balm but I'm completely wrong. This applies on easily like a thin lotion but sinks in right away and leaves my lips matte. I don't feel that my lips are especially moisturized after using this. This could be one of those products that take a while for effects to show but sadly there's only 5ml in this trial size and I'm don't think I'll spend $41 CDN to buy the full size (10ml / 0.3floz).




fresh Sugar Lip Treatment Advance Therapy

I really like this lip balm! It provides instant dry lip relief once I apply it on and it doesn't make my lips look oily. I can apply my lip products over this without fearing that they'll slid off. It keeps my lips really moisturize but it wipes off easily as well.




fresh Sugar Rosé  Tinted Lip Treatment 

This was the product that I missed out on back in 2012.  The Sugar Tint Lip Treatments are pretty popular. Rosé provides a slight pretty and natural rosy colour. However, because my lips are quite pigmented, it doesn't really show up. It definitely feels thicker than the Advance Lip Therapy and also less moisturizing. It lasts a pretty long time as well, I can still feel it on my lips maybe 5 hours later. 


fresh Sugar Shine Lip Treatment

I'm more of a matte or semi-gloss type of girl so I don't really have all that many lip glosses. This lip gloss really impress me with its shine. It applies on thinly and one layer is all you need for soft glossy lips. I love how the gloss is not sticky at all but I'm really disappointed in the amount that I get with this set. It's only 3ml and it really seems like I use about a 1/4 of it every time I put it on. I can see the product disappearing from the tube. (The full size of this item is 6ml).

It has a doe foot applicator. Because of the size of the foot, I find that it applies on just the right amount of gloss. 


left to right: fresh Sugar Tinted Lip, fresh Sugar Shine Treatment, fresh Sugar Lip Serum


fresh Sugar Shine Treatment over the fresh Sugar Tinted Treatment

All in all, this is a very  luxe and pricey gift that is amazing on the lips and definitely worth giving to someone who you know won't splurge on it. I received it just in time to fight the dry winter. My favourites from this set has to be the Lip Treatment Advance Therapy, Sugar Shine Lip Treatment, and the Lip Polish. 

Thanks again girls! I know you're reading this :)


And So... Another Year Begins

Saturday, January 3, 2015

Hi everyone! How have you been? 

I know that I have been MIA for a while now but I do plan on coming back with some reviews real soon. 

There has been many changes in my life during the past few months. One of the major changes is that I am no longer living in Seoul anymore (you may have already figured this out from my Instagram). It's been quite a journey adapting (or readapting should I say) to my new environment. 

I started this blog with the intent of providing people with English reviews on Korean products because there aren't really that many online. After moving away from South Korea, I really needed some time to think about whether or not I should continue blogging.  I don't have the same access to cosmetics as I did before and I won't be able to get to new releases right away. 

While taking some time off blogging, I realized that I still have many products that I've taken with me that I can review in the future - which I will soon AND that providing people with information is something I still enjoy. I may not have the same readily access to Korean cosmetics as I did in the past but there are still many online shops that will ship to me and while this blog started as on a Korean focus, it will have to change accordingly to me. 

I hope that 2015 will be a good year and I hope that you'll all still find my blog helpful to your shopping decisions :)

Sincerely, 

Chrissie.
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