[Lips] – Peripera Lip Tint Water

Hi peeps~ sorry for the absence of 2 weeks, life has just been a bit stressful, but I got stuff lined up!

If you haven’t noticed yet, I tend not to review much lip products, mainly because I don’t really use lip products. Why you ask? I have pretty full lips and while some people like to draw attention to it, I’ve always liked the thin lips look, so I don’t tend to put anything on my lips to draw attention to how full they already are. Every time I put anything other than lip balm I feel like my head is just a big giant lip. I sometimes put on colours that are “my lips but better” and that’s about as much colour as I can handle on my lips.

So when the whole gradient lip look from Korean (in Chinese we call it the bitten lip look) got really huge and popular, I was quite excited. I remember when I was a little kid sucking on a lollipop would always leave my lips looking exactly like that. I tried a few times to achieve that look with regular lip stick/gloss, it never turned out the way I want it to. So I decided I just had to look into this lip tint thing that Koreans are so obsessed about.

And you can’s spell lip tint without Peripera! Correct me if I am wrong, but I believe they were the first Korean brand to come out with the lip tint and everyone else jumped on the bandwagon. So I actually didn’t do much research before I went out and bought these, it was kind of on a whim (I was in Taiwan, it was cheap, I got confused). I knew Peripera is a popular lip tint brand, and I’ve seen images of this particular one floating through the internet so I was determined to get these. Later I found out Peripera also made lip ink (creamier version of a lip tint), and those apparently have much better staying power. All well.

Now when I purchased these 2 I was actually looking for a more pinky shade, but that was not available at the  store I was shopping at, probably because it was the most popular.

The colours I got was in no1 (cherry juice) and no3 (orange juice). I was looking for no2 (pink juice). In any case, as the names would suggest, no1 is a red and no 3 is an orange.

The consistency of these tints are very watery (I guess that’s why they call it tint water). You can see that it spread into the fine lines of my hand. I would say if you have a lot of texture on your lips, these are probably not the best. It definitely will accentuate the fine lines on your lips. Right out of the bottle it seems a bit over whelming. What I normally do is dab it with my finger, and focus the attention on the centre of the lips in order to achieve the gradient look.

Once the stain sets, the colour is much softer and gives a very nice healthy appearance to the lips without it being “BAM! here are my lips!”  (if you know what I am saying…) I personally prefer the red colour over the orange one. The orange just seems a bit unnatural.

One thing I have to note though, I put on lip balm/vaseline on my lips like there’s no tomorrow, because it’s actually painful when my lips chap. This tint does not mix well with oils (lip balm/vaseline), so I actually have to put this on dry lips, and then top it with lip balm, but that ends up moving the colour around a bit (because oils can remove makeup), so to be honest, I am not really sure what I should do with these, because I can’t live without my lip balm, and these are definitely not moisturizing. I kind of wish I bought the ink ones because they seem to be more moisturizing, or at least be able to mix better with oils.

In conclusion…

consistency: very watery, very liquidy, will settle into lines

scent: Both of these have a different scent, but both very fruity. I can’t exactly say the cherry one smells like cherry and the orange one smells like orange, but I am guessing that’s what they were going for. Aside from the fruity scent, it also has a very strong alcohol smell, so I suspect this probably is an alcohol base product.

colour: I’ve only noted 3 colours here, I believe there are a total of 5

Price: I honestly don’t remember how much I got these for…may have been around the $6 to $8 range. On jolse.com they are going for 6.98USD, which would be about $8 CND with the exchange rates now (so sad).

And as always, like all Korean branded cosmetics, these are also made in Korea.

Overall: I’d say this product is a 2/5. The performance of these were quite disappointing. I did like the colour, and it did help me achieve the look of the gradient. But, what I am suppose to do with my dry painful lips? I mean yes, I get that alcohol doesn’t mix well with oils, but I mean really what girl goes around without any lip balm/chap stick of sort? This will teach me to never just go buy things without doing research first.

I did try mixing this to vaseline to see if I can make it into a tinted lip balm, but that did not go well. It was a pretty big mess, and the water and vaseline mixture never really mixed. The colours became little dots in the vaseline and the tint was just very splotchy.

 

[Missha] – M Magic Cushion Moisture

Permission granted to squeal about how CUTE these things are!

Hi all, sorry for the long absence (seems like I am always apologizing about that). Life stresses has gotten to me, I am not going into much details other than that. But with stress, I shop, and when I come across something worth blogging about, I will certainly share.

If you don’t know these characters, they are from a phone app call “LINE.” The phone app allows for international free text messages, phone calls, and video chats. The app has a whole set of characters call “Line Friends.” They are a pretty big deal in Asia.

Recently I found out that Missha has a whole line based on these characters, and I just couldn’t resist. Though I would have liked to have purchased everything in that line (mostly make up with some skin care items), I controlled myself and only got these two. The Brown bottle (the bear’s name is Brown) is the Missah Time Revolution The First Treatment Essence – Intensive. This has been compared to the SK II Facial Treatment Essence, and according to the reviews I’ve found, to be comparable at a less expensive price tag.

The main focus of today’s post is not the essence though, its the yellow/orange Sally compact (the duck/chick’s name is Sally).

The whole cushion foundation thing is big in Korea, and I have noticed it has crossed over to the North American side as well. With Korean make up becoming more of a big deal in North America, it seems the Korean make up trends are crossing over quicker than it ever did. Anyways, I purchased both of these items off of Ebay. My seller was Korean, but they still jacked up the price to about double. The compact was about $20 CND and the essence $48 CND. On a side note, both of these also come in the other character’s packaging. I am not sure if there is a difference with the essence, but the Brown version of the compact is not “moisture.” According to the description Brown has more  of a matte finish then the dewy finish of the Sally version. I opted for the Sally version because I am not a big fan of matte make up. (Ebay seller: 7market)

So I’ve used this for about a month now, and I absolutely LOVE it. I am pretty much obsessed with cushion foundation now and want to try all the different brands. From my research HERA and IOPE seems to be the brands people really like. That being said they are the higher end make up brands and as such the price tag is not as appealing. From a quick Ebay search, the HERA UV Mist Cushion ranges from $45 to $50 CND, and IOPE $37 to $47 CND. If you ever see one under $20, just be aware that’s probably just the refill. Why I chose Missha over HERA and IOPE? It’s not just the price tag, it’s the packaging!!

I mean look at it!! Isn’t it just the cutest thing ever???

I was pretty surprised when I opened the package and it had a refill and an extra puff. I had originally thought it’d be just the one compact. $20 was a STEAL!
 Here’s the actual compact opened up. I purchased no.23 for the colour, the other option was no. 21 and it was the lighter of the 2.

I think colour choice is the only downfall of Korean make up, though I understand why they do that. In Korea, girls generally have pale skin and not much of a colour range is needed. I’d say about 80% of the girls in Korea have similar skin tone. With no. 23 being the darker of the two, it’s still a bit light for my skin tone (but I am not Korean). That being said not much colour difference can be noted after I put it on. Koreans are really into the no make-up, make-up look, and so am I , especially when it comes to foundation. Who wants to look all made-up with a cake layer of foundation on your face?? For me, a good foundation is one that covers major flaws but not necessarily covers all flaws. I think that’s the key to the no make-up, make-up look, having minor flaws show through to give the illusion of no make-up. I have some sun spots on my cheeks that nothing but a thick layer of concealer + foundation would cover, so I don’t try to cover it.

So the whole idea of these cushion foundation is that they have all these beneficial ingredients in there, and you pick it up with the special puff and pat it onto your skin. Simply put, it’s a light BB cream in a different packaging. Now, you all know (if you’ve read my previous blogs) I was obsessed with BB cream, that was the only thing I have been using since the discovery of it, I have tried multiple brands and reviewed them all ([BB Cream] – MOAR BB Creams! [BB Cream] – Innisfree Eco Natural Green Tea BB Cream [BB Cream] – Skinfood Red Bean BB Cream…many many more).

I am stressing light, because the product is definitely not a cream. It is more fluid which allows for layering. If you like to cover all your flaws, there’s no issues with this foundation to keep layering it on. It keeps the dewy look and doesn’t look cakey. After all the good things I’ve said about this, my first impression of this product was actually negative, but it was because I had used it wrong. The first time I used it, I pressed the puff into the cushion too hard and it picked up too much product and was just a big glob on my face. It felt greasy, and the “dewy look” was looking more like the “oily look.” So I will still warn against layering too much of this stuff on your face. I’d imagine the Brown version (the non-moisture version) would look better if you are wanting to layer, without the oily look.

So what is too much product? Take a look at the picture of the puff, that’s how much you want on your puff, where you can barely see anything. If you press hard enough, the product will soak through the puff and you will be able to see it, you DO NOT want to do that. Press into the cushion, pick up product, pat onto face, and repeat as needed. You’ll find even with the little amount of product on the puff, coverage is still there. It was able to cover most of the red on my face (around the nose), and lighten up the darker areas (around the mouth and under my eyes). It wasn’t able to cover my sun spots completely, though did fade it out. With a few more layers my sun spots would not be noticeable, but like I said, I don’t like layering that much.

The other thing that surprised me with this product was the scent, or the lack there of. Korean brands tend to be heavily scented. But this product had just the normal foundation scent to it, I mean it’s not the best scent, but it’s not the most horrifying either.
 I will also note, with my vast experience with Korean brand (drugstore), I’ve never tried any Missha products. I am not sure why, but I’ve never been swayed that way, probably because their packaging is never as cute as Etude House/Holika Holika or as sophisticated as Innis Free/The Face Shop. Missha packaging tends to have a very princessy feel to it, and I am not big on the princess thing.

Anyways, here are some swatches of the product. No. 23 is on the more yellow side, no. 21 is just super light pink. I had actually patted on the product on the bottom of the swatch, but as you can see, you can’t really tell there’s anything there.

To conclude…

Colour: not much of a choice. No. 23 the darker of the 2 is a yellowy/pinkish beige. No. 21 (by picture) looks to be a very light pink beige. Edit: after looking it up on Missha USA website, they have a 3rd choice of colour in no. 27, which seems to be darker than the no. 23.

Texture: super light weight, almost water like with a bit of a gel like consistency. I’d say comparable to the Makeup Forever Face & Body.

Coverage: decent. Covers most major flaws in a layer or 2, more coverage can be obtained with more layering, but watch for the “dewiness”

Scent: nothing overwhelmingly bad or good, just normal foundation scent

Sun Protection: SPF 50+/PA+++ Probably won’t be able to get the SPF 50 protection with one layer of the product though

Properties: as most Korean make-up would claim, this is also a multiple product in one type of deal. UV protection, moisturizing, and anti-wrinkle are among the functions it claims to have.

Price: With the actual compact plus a refill and additional puff, I’d say $20 is a pretty good deal.

Made in Korea.

Overall rating: 4.5/5 It’s pretty much my go to foundation nowadays, even though I still have like a million tubes of BB cream to use up…If it didn’t become greasy looking after more than 3 layers, I’d give it a 5/5. I may or may not try the non-moisture version. But I am more incline to try the HERA or IOPE brand, wonder if the refill might fit in my Missha compact…

 

 

[Tony Moly] – Luminous Pure Aura CC Cream

When I got my The Face Shop Lovely Me: Ex Pore Ghassoul Mask from Ebay, I got a few samples, one of which was this CC cream from Tony Moly. During my trip down to San Diego I decided to take this sample and try it out. To my surprise I actually really liked it. (The short and sweet version is at the bottom of this blog if you don’t feel like reading through my rants)

I have to bite my tongue because when my friend asked me if I am going to try the CC cream, I told her that colour correction base/foundation have been out for a long long time, and I am not ganna fall for the gimmick. That being said, this was trying because it was a free sample. But this CC cream was totally not what I was expecting. The old school colour correcting bases/foundations, if you are old enough you should remember, they are usually one particular colour, and it’s suppose to contrast, therefore, take away the things you don’t want. For example the green takes away redness of your skin. Purple brightens and takes away yellowiness of the skin. Yellow takes away olive, and pink gives a bit more complexion to people who are ghostly pale.

CC cream, other than Colour Correcting, also goes by Colour Control, but has the same idea: evening out skin tone, taking away unwanted colours of the skin. CC cream is supposedly similar to BB creams, but lighter in texture and feel; which holds true for this particular CC cream.

Now I haven’t seen/looked into many CC creams, but the Tony Moly version, comes out white, and blends into a pinky peach colour. It does indeed even out skin tone, but has pretty much zero coverage for any more obvious blemishes. I would say this is more suitable for people who do not have trouble skin, perhaps just a bit of uneven skin tone (too much pink, and dark circles).

From my research, the Tony Moly cc cream have colour capsules, in black, yellow, and red, that bursts open as you blend it into the skin. If you look at the cream closely you can see little specks of black in the cream, I suppose these are the colour capsules.

 Here it is blended out a bit, Sorry about the picture quality, I don’t know why there are black streaks…Hopefully you can tell the patch on the right is a pinky peach colour while the smaller patch on the left remains white.

And here it is fully blended into the skin. There is almost no colour difference, except the right side is a bit dewy and slightly brighter. This is the same case as my face, though, as I have mentioned many times before, my hand is whiter than my face.  You can also notice how little it covers. The blue vanes on my hand are still clearly visible.
In conclusion…I am loving this product. The texture is super light, so light in fact, I can with stand it while being on a plane. Mind you it was a short plane ride (5 hours with transfer), but I never like anything, including BB cream, on my face while on plane rides. Mainly because the air on a plane is super dry, and usually makes me very very oily, which is very uncomfortable, even for short rides.

Colour: White out of tube, pinky peach after blending. One of the properties is that it’s suppose to match every skin colour, by some sort of colour matching via the colour capsules, I find this hard to believe. Perhaps it can match MOST of EAST ASIAN skin colours, as most of us have a beigey yellow skin tone, and not many are dark skinned.

Texture: It is indeed very light, and not very oily. I find my forehead tend not to get as oily as when I use BB cream, after a long day of work. It feels very comfortable on the skin, and stays matte on my cheeks after 8 hours.

Coverage: virtually none. If you are looking for something to cover up blemishes you may have, this is not the product for you. I myself don’t have much blemishes, as most of my pimples are white heads that sit under the skin, and really only bothers me, because I can feel it. But even so, I still find the coverage lacking. Though I do enjoy the colour correcting aspect of this cream.

Scent: It’s a light floral scent, doesn’t linger very long, and is pretty pleasant if you are not allergic to scents

Sun Protection: There are 3 versions of this. The Luminous Pure version, the one I have, has SPF 30 PA++. The Luminous Bright version, is a smaller bottle, has SPF 20 PA++. And the Luminous Live version, has SPF30 PA++

Properties: It claims to be a moisturising base, with whitening, anti-wrinkle, brightening cream. It also claims to be free of mineral oils, use organic colour additives, so it doesn’t stress the skin. The one thing I found was the Luminous live version is for people with more oily skin, where as pure is for people with normal skin. I am still not sure what the difference is for the bright version.

Price: I bought mine off Ebay for about $14CND. I’ve seen it on Sasa.come for $29.50USD. I’ve learned that ebay is much cheaper. The seller I bought from sent it over from Korea, and I am fairly happy with my purchase. The product is obviously made in Korea, as all Korean cosmetics are.

Overall Rating: 4/5 for lack of coverage, but generally I do like the product. It’s not oily like my innisfree BB cream, nor is it as dry as the ZA BB cream. More like Skinfood, it’s in the middle, but at the same time it’s very light and wears comfortably though the day, whereas Skinfood becomes a bit heavy and oily at the end of the day.