OPI - Tickle My France-y

I wear nude color nail polish once in awhile but not all of them look good on my fingers. It either doesn't match my hands or make my fingers look darker. OPI Tickle My France-y looks alright with my hands. Here's the bottle:

I painted 2 coats of the nail polish and added some nail stickers. I think the color looks a bit darker in person. Didn't take this with flash though. For top coat, I used Seche Vite Dry Fast Top Coat.

HadaLabo Gakujyun Moisturizing Cream

A friend of mine sent me a HadaLabo gakujyun moisturizing cream. HadaLabo is one of top Japanese drugstore brands and their products are good for moisturizing. My friend has the same sensitive dry skin as me and said it's working well on her skin, so I give it a try. Packaging is pretty simple. Nothing fancy and the price is very affordable, around $13. It doesn't contain any fragrance or mineral oil, so which is a plus. This can be purchased via Sasa in case you wonder where to get it.

This moisturizing cream is quite light and moisturizing. However, with the weather here in the US, it's probably not enough when use alone. I put a serum before using this and works pretty well.

Dior Eye Essentials Set

A good friend of mine got me the Dior Eye Essentials set for my birthday. So generous of her!! It comes with a notebook, a sample size Diorshow mascara, and an eye shadow palette. Here's the box:

The box contains the Dior 5 Colour Designer Eye Shadow Palette in 508 and the Dior Diorshow mascara:

Here's the back of the eye shadow palette with ingredients and instructions on how to put it on. One thing to notice is that this palette is made in Japan instead of France. Either way is cool coz personally I own a lot of Japanese cosmetics products.

Inside the box, the shadows come with a velvet case cover as their usual packaging and a colored written instruction in different languages.

Here's the case for the palette. I only own one other eye shadow palette from Dior and the case looks different. Anyways, I kinda like the CD logo hidden as the background.

Once you open it up, a plastic film showing what each compartment is.

Took a picture with flash. Notice the top right hand corner color is very shimmery. I love. I love.

Here's a swatch of each color without flash and in natural light. Keys are in reference to the plastic film as shown earlier:

The texture is very silky and smooth; different than the other Dior palette I have which feels relatively dry. #5 is a gel liner and it glides on well. I can't say much about staying power because with my oily lid, I always use an eyeshadow primer to make the eye shadows stay longer. I use NARS eye shadow primer and stayed all day. This palette probably is good for folks with lighter skin tone. Looks pretty natural because most colors blend in with my face.

Lavshuca Melting Eyes BE-01

Summer is here. Finally got a chance to update this blog. It's been awhile again...

Lavshuca has a new line of eyeshadow palette. It's called Melting Eyes. They are all in neutral color tone. Packaging is cute. Why can't the drugstore brands here offer cute packaging like this? Here's it is showing the front:

Here's the step by step instruction on the back:

Wonder how it compares to its other palette. Here's a comparison between  Eye Color Select BR-2. This new palette seems to contain more than before. But how many girls would actually use them all up?? I like the square shape eye shadows rather than irregular shape. Easier to use with sponge tip applicator and with a brush in particular.

Here's a pic with flash:

#1 is not a shimmer white color. It has a golden tone to it. I use it for highlight and inner corners of my eyes.

#2 is the base color in light orange. This line has a hint of shimmer but not sparkly. Just very subtle.Blends well with #1.

#3 light brown color to use for lower eyelid. 

#4 is used as eyeliner or for smokey eye effect.

Here's a swatch:

All colors are pretty pigmented. They feel very silky and easy to blend; quite long lasting. But I feel the BR-2 one lasts longer than this one. Nonetheless, my eyes don't crease at all after using Too Faced Eye Shadow Insurance. I guess it's always good to prime your eyes when you use eyeshadows, especially during summer time.

Essence Nail Polish - 33 Just In Case

I was at Ulta the other day and saw a new display from Essence. It's an European drug store brand and surprisingly, their products are inexpensive. They have a bunch of colorful nail polish, so I picked this golden bronze color in 33 - Just in Case. Their nail polish is 5ml; about 1/3 of a regular size nail polish. The price is $0.99 and best of all, it's Made in France. So, why not give it a try.

The color looks a bit lighter than the bottle. I had two coats of nail polish and I like the consistency. The brush is quite good for the price you pay. And I added some flower nail art stickers, so I needed to put 2 coats of top coat to secure them. The color is very nice and this lasted for a week. If I didn't do dishes or chores, this nail polish probably would have lasted longer.

My Current Lip Balms

I think every woman should wear lip balm no matter whether she wears makeup or not. It's a basic necessity. Your lips probably are one of the first things people would look at; as you talk, laugh, or smile. You don't want your lips to be chapped. Don't even wait until it cracks and bleeds...... \(><)/

I like trying different lip balms because my lips tend to be dry and I like to have it on all day. I have a lot of lip balms and they go very fast. Usually can finish one in 2-3 months. My ideal lip balm would be something in a tube, not in a tin because I don't like using my fingers to touch all over the lip balm and put on my lips. It would be nice if it's organic or with natural ingredients because it's very likely they all go to my stomach... Tried to search for an answer on the web about how much we consume lipsticks and women consume 4 to 6 lbs of lipsticks in their lifetime. I guess I am on the higher range or perhaps more...lol

Above are the ones I currently have:

1. Weleda Lip Balm (0.17oz. Got it at Whole Food. Around $5. Ain't cheap though.)
2. Nivea - A Kiss of Moisture (0.17oz; Got it from Rite Aid for $0.99 @ clearance)
3. H&M Fresh Vanilla Lip Balm - with organic jojoba & bees wax (0.5 fl.oz; Got it @ H&M for $4.95)

Out of the 3, I like Nivea the best. Partially is because I got it for $0.99 but normally this would cost around $2.49. It's very moisturizing because of beewax and shea butter and has a hint of sweetness. Normally I don't like lipstick with a taste to it but this one is tolerable.

The best value out of the three probably would be the H&M lip balm. Even though it says Fresh Vanilla, you can't really taste it but you can smell it. I like this better than the Kiehl's one because it comes out thicker than the Kiehl's and not as oily. Let me show you the back for the ingredients:

It's organic certified by ECOCERT. and Made in Sweden. 99.3% of the total ingredients are from natural origin. 14.1% of the total ingredients are from organic farming. This lip balm is quite moisturizing and doesn't need to reapply it all the time like some do.

Weleda lip balm is not really my love. It's scented with rose oil and I don't like the smell. But because I spent about $5, I just keep putting it on. It doesn't glide on well and I have apply a few times to make my lips feel moisturized. Oh well, almost finish it. Probably won't repurchase again.

Something Sweet

Hello everyone. Long time no see. So sorry for those who stopped by here once in awhile but didn't see anything new. :( I have lots to share but didn't have the time to write... I will write more frequent as time permits. Here's something I would like to share. China Glaze's Something Sweet is a very pretty pastel pink nail polish. Good for the Spring and Summer time. I like China Glaze because it's very long lasting, doesn't chip as much as the other brands and it's very good for my fragile nails.

On my nails, I have OPI base coat, 2 coats of China Glaze Something Sweet, nail stickers from Skin Food (Rose Bay 03), and 2 coats of Seche Vite dry fast top coat. 

That's all for now. Have a good week!!