Saturday 29 November 2014

Korean goodies: Memebox Special #56 K-style 4 unboxing


Before my fourth K-Style Memebox arrived here I'd read some reviews of this box and noticed people call it a joke. I don't quite understand this because ever since the release of the first K-style box Memebox have been strangely consistent with the contents of these make-up only boxes. While these boxes are of a tiny size indeed, this is understandable as they contain much smaller items than body washes or face masks or creams. I must say that even though this is not the first time I've received a Korean mascara, an eye pencil, or a lip tint I still feel pretty satisfied with this box. There are 4 products that that are staying with me and two I'm going to give away, mostly because they don't suit my complexion.  


1. The first product, which I quite surprisingly liked, is the ideeB Real Triple Rouge in 02 Shine Pink. 
I like its muted shade of pink for everyday wear. And more interestingly, this product is not only a lip gloss, but it also tints my lips nicely! 



2. I was lucky to get my Beauty People eye pencil in Glam Brown, which is a lovely, cool-toned brown with gold specks. It glides on beautifully, is fully water and smudge proof and comes in this cute white twist-up packaging with Snow White on the cap and a built-in sharpener on the other end. 



3. Shara Shara's  ugly lady raises her head again and again. Twice in one box! But this time she looks more like a lego figure than a nightmarish figurine. Regardles of that, this product is very nice and the shade I was lucky to get is absolutely gorgeous. Petite Friend Matte Lip Crayon is a fully opaque lip crayon with satin matte finish.  



4. And the last product I'm fully satisfied with is the Revecen Volumising Mascara. I haven't tried this one yet, but I love Korean mascaras on my bottom lashes. They're waterproof, they neither smudge nor crumble and their slim wands are perfect to use in areas that are hard to reach.  


5. And now on to two product I didn't quite enjoy. I have nothing to say about the quality of the Shara Shara Triple Shine Color Eyeshadow as I haven't even swatched. The shade selection didn't look like my cup of tea, so I'm planning to offer it to someone else in my upcoming Christmas giveaway.    





6. And finally, the Revecen Face Control Foundation in #002 Violet is definitely a product I'm not even going to try. I've used its white counterpart and while it served it's purpose on Halloween night, texturewise it's not a foundation I would use on a daily basis. 



Friday 28 November 2014

Korean goodies: Sally's Box Friendly Collagen Eye Patch review


I though the best way to review these Sally's Box Friendly Collagen Eye Patches (from All About Eyes Memebox)  would be in the form of pros and cons. 

What I liked about these was first of all that these are eye patches. I have very dry and wrinkled eye area and I'm always on the lookout for new eye products. 
They are individually packed, each pad is marked as left and right, the instructions also say how to position these under my eyes (call me a moron, but I never know which side up).
The gel texture felt cooling and comforting under the eyes.


What I didn't like about these is that I was unable to dig the gel pads out of the blister packaging without tearing them.
They did absolutely nothing to my eye area, it didn't feel moisturised, there was no excess fluid to pat after taking the pads off, my eye area looked exactly like it did before. 
Using these was unnecessary fuss. 

Thursday 27 November 2014

Korean goodies: Memebox Princess Edition #4 The Little Mermaid unboxing


When I was ordering my Mermaid box I was convinced water would be the main theme of the box, and I was right, to some extent, but as always Memebox managed to surprise me by including some products that would suit the Eath & Sea box much better. Nonetheless, this is an excellent skincare box that balances my recent negative feelings towards Memebox offer. There are 6 full-size products in this box, each of which I'm going to use as they seem to be right up my alley. 

1. I'll start with the product which fits in the theme best. Nothing can associate with the ocean princess better than Pure Smile Original Mask Sheet, mine in Pearl. Love sheet masks and will use this one with pleasure, even though I've got some other masks by the brand waiting to be used. 


2. Mizon Hyaluronic Ultra Suboon Cream  contains 30% hyaluronic acid and other natural ingredients to lock moisture in the skin. Great!
I suppose being moist associates with being wet or immersed in water, hence the appearance of this product in the box.


3. Grinif Collagen Aqua Peeling Gel is an interesting product. It promises to peel the skin and remove impurities with the help of enzymes without drying nor irritating. Spray it on the face and massage in circular motion, rinse well. I find the method of application more interesting than the product itself! 
The relevance with the theme hides mostly in the word 'aqua' . 


4. DD'ell Extra Vitalizing Serum made its way to this box because it's formulated using algae extracts and galactomyces ferments. Offers moisture, and strong anti-oxidant and anti-allergic properties. 


5. And now for the two slightly random products. The first one os dearberry Pure & Popular White Clay Pack, which I'm sure is a lovely product, but Amazonian clay is nowhere near what I associate with Little Mermaid. This aside, I love all sorts of clay masks, so I'm positive this will be great as well. 


6. and Pureplus+ Bentonite Cleansing Soap is even more remote from the sea theme as it not only contains clay from France, but also cocoon silk. I don't use bar soaps, but this one has caught my attention and it's definitely staying with me. It promises to enrich my skin with the 66 minerals contained within the Bentonite clay and to remove dirt without causing dehydration. 
I like the shape of the bar and it smells quite nice.

Wednesday 26 November 2014

Korean goodies: Memebox Princess edition #5 Tinkerbell inboxing



For the first time in the history of my relationship with Memebox they did deliver exactly what I expected. When I saw their Tinkerbell on offer I knew I would be covered top to toe in glitter and I wasn't mistaken.
I'm not a great fan of glitter and shine, but what I got in this box is something nice and festive, perfect for the upcoming holiday season.    


1. I really liked the Revecen Moisture Shine Lip Gloss. Mine came in the shade 01 White, which is a clear gloss with tons of silver sparkle. I didn't have anything like this in my collection, so I welcomed this new arrival with pleasure.


This gloss wears perfectly on top of any lipstick, a lip stain in particular. The particles don't feel gritty on my lips and they give this incredible festive shine!



2. Tony Moly Crystal Teat Glitter Eyeliner in 01 White is another new product in my stash. It's a lovely, long-lasting water and smudge proof eyeliner. Looks great on top and bottom lashlines and in the inner corner. 





3. Mizon Oh! Shy Glow On Shimmer Light is a gorgeous liquid highlighter. It's a perfect dupe of Benefit High Beam. 


4. Vivito Blues Shiny Primer is an interesting product. The leaflet describes it as a shimmering primer, but try as I might I don't notice any shimmers in it once it's applied. But it does prep my skin, by making it silky smooth and increasing the adherence of make-up. I think it's better suited for dry skin types, though. 


5. Body-Net Clavi-S Cream is a cream you apply over your collar bone  to glamourize your look. Perfect for the New Year's party, though I personally would prefer to wear the liquid highlighter mentioned above instead of this because this is too glittery and sparkly while I would prefer a bit more sheen. The packaging is an asset!


6. Rire Pigment in Peach Peach is the only product I didn't like. On one hand it's a highly pigmented powder that turns creamy upon application. It offers incredible party-perfect metallic sheen. On the other hand it's crumbly and I don't like the peachy golden bronze shade at all.  


But I've found an alternative use for it in my home decor design, I use it to fill in the cracks in crackle varnish and it creates this perfect antique gold sheen I sometimes need.




Tuesday 25 November 2014

Tanya Burr lip glosses in Chic, Afternoon Tea, Let's Travel The World and Vampire Kiss review




There are a couple of reasons why I got these Tanya Burr lip glosses. Curiosity was of course the main cause, but what really pushed me to make a purchase was that they were on 50% off or buy 1 get 1 free kind of offer, which rendered them even more affordable than they normally are and created a now or never situation. I was also looking for a nice nude lip colour so I thought a couple of shades from Tanya's collection might be the ones I was looking for. 


These glosses come in very nice, simple and elegant tubes made of good quality clear plastic with a black cap. The applicator is a typical flat and fluffy gloss wand which picks the right amount of product and guarantees effortless application.


Qualitywise they're a very decent drugstore product, but there's nothing out of the ordinary about them. Their formula is quite thick and not sticly or gloopy. They feel very nice, comfortable and moisturising on the lips. Some of them are opaque, some sheer, some streak-free, some go on a bit patchy. They aren't particularly long-wearing, but they don't claim to be. And they have this weird scent which seems strangely familiar, but I can't put my finger on it. Not sure whether I find the scent pleasant or not either. 


The shades I picked are:

Afternoon Tea is a pale pastel pink that is rather streaky, accentuates lip lines and fails to blend with lipstick colour. Worn on its own it's too light for my complexion and washes me out. 

Chic is one of those nudes I was hoping to like. But it turned out to be too light and peachy for my taste. It's a pastel colour on the lips which goes on streaky just as pastel nail polishes tend to do. This shade is lighter than my natural lip colour, and washes me out terribly. Worn over a darker lipstick, it reveals its patchy nature and refuses to blend well.

Let's Travel the World is a shade I didn't like at first but ended up using almost every day during the holiday. It's less opaque and pigmented than I normally like, but it proved so casual and unobliging that I carried it in my bag all the time and reapplied during the day.
The shade is a warm orange red which, being so sheer, offers mainly shine with a slight tint of colour. This is the shade I was looking for when I wanted to enter the realm of reds but was afraid to go for something bold and daring. 

Vampire Kiss is my favourite of the bunch. It's a cool toned red, with much more pigmentation than Let's Travel the World but devoid of the milky, pastel opacity which makes Chic and Afternoon Tea so unnatural and patchy. Again, it's a great shade for all red-lip newbies who want to embrace the trend.


The selling points of these lip glosses are the shade selection, affordable price and the personality and the enthusiastic attitude of their creator but they definitely aren't any kind of major breakthrough in the history of make-up.

Vampire's Kiss

Afternoon Tea
After rummaging in my stash I discovered that Vampire's Kiss is a very close dupe of Milani Brilliant Shine Lip Gloss in #12 Red My Lips. 

Dodaj napis
The packaging, the wand, the shade, the consistency, the formula and shine are all very similar, the main differences are that instead of a black cap we get a gold one and it's got a much nicer caramel-vanilla scent. 


If you're wondering whether to get this one or that, Milani is more true red and warmer and it's about half the price of Tanya Burr's gloss.

left: Milani, right: Tanya Burr 

Monday 24 November 2014

Korean goodies: Memebox special #51 Citrus Care unboxing


Before I go on with this post I'd like to express my concern about Memebox condition. I have been experiencing severe delays on shipping of some boxes, there are hardly any boxes on currently offer, most of which are collabs. Many boxes which come out these days are clearly leftovers from unsold boxes just randomly swept into boxes which previously carried some exciting high quality stuff. It looks as if the company is winding up, but I hope it's only a change of their policy. 
This said, I must say my new arrival, Memebox Special #51 Citrus Care may not be the most fancy box in history but it certainly doesn't disappoint. It contains 6 high quality full size products. If I could say anything negative about this box, it would be that it lacks a good Vitamin C face cream and that sunscreens and lip balms keep reappearing with too much regularity, but if you look at the box without the context of your own stash, this one is pretty decent.





1. Mizon Refresh Time Grapefruit Body Wash is one of the products I started using straight off as I'd happened to run out of my previous shower gel and needed something new. I'm not particularly fussy about body washes and the most extravagent ones I've bought so far were those by The Body Shop, but I must say this one by Mizon is pretty good. The opening in the cup is rather small, which prevents the product from splurting out each time I open the tube. The gel inside is thick and foams incredibly well, so as you must have guessed, a little goes a long way. I don't usually trust the moisturising properties of body washes, but I must say that this one wraps my body up in a moisturising film which makes my skin feel silky soft. 
I only wish this had a more refreshing scent.


2. Tony Moly Clean Dew Red Grapefruit Foam Cleanser is another grapefruit product in the box. Not much info about it except that it promises to remove impurities without over-drying.  


3. The Yeon All Day Sun Cream SPF50+ PA+++ is yet another sunscreen I got in my Memeboxes. My unscreen stash is bulging, especially that I don't use any in winter. I know you are supposed to, but trust me, there's no sun these days in Poland at all and I spend most of my days indoors, so this will have to wait till spring to be tried out. Apart from filters, this contains aloe vera leaf, broccoli, orange peel, kiwi, lemon grass and avocado extracts.


4. Vivito Make-up Starter Intro is probably the most exciting product in the box. The packaging is great and I've been using this daily for the past week or so and I haven't noticed any improvement in my skin condition, but it definitely added to the pleasure of my morning pampering routine. It's non-greasy and very refreshing in the morning.


This product is a set of pads soaked with essence. They have a corrugated surface, which helps exfoliate the skin and a smoother side which replenishes the skin with moisture.  It's recommended before make-up application. 


5. Unni Recipe Vitamin Recharger Essence enriches the skin with 6 different vitamins, lemon, orange, grapefruit and lime extracts. Looks lovely, I'll pair it with the mist I've received in some earlier box and wait for a cream from the same line, which will appear in some box for sure. 


6. And finally a lip balm. If it hadn't been for the fact that my stash is brimful of lip balms, this one would have caught my eye because of its gorgeois tin packaging. 
Vivito  Painting Sweet Lip Balm Orange Farm is formulated with orange peel, grape and blackberry extracts.





Disclaimer: I bought the product myself for my personal use and I am not affiliated with any company. I am not paid to do this review and everything I said here is my genuine opinion.