Hey guys. The next few posts are going to be focusing on Korean makeup. This is the first in three posts dedicated solely to Korean makeup and where I purchase it from, as well as swatches and thoughts on the products. The posts will be as follows; lips, eyes and face. So keep checking back if you are interested in a particular type of makeup. This first in the series is all about lips. I will put the prices for each product (in USD), and where I got the products from. Some of these are from memebox and I don't have the cards detailing their price point - but I have found the exact product elsewhere online. Clicking the links will take you to the exact site where you can purchase these items if you like. Where I have products that I received in memeboxes, I have found them online if you want to buy them. My friend Savanna over at The Cat's Meow, recently did this tag and I thought it would be a fun one to do. Go check her blog out for awesome tips, reviews and tutorials. What is your favourite drugstore makeup brand overall? This is easy for me - without a doubt it is ELF. I love the majority of the products of theirs I have used, they are cruelty free and SUPER affordable. They also have an amazing range of all sorts of products. What are your favourite face, cheek and lip products? My favourite face products are ELF's flawless finish foundation, their mineralised primers in green and pore filling. I love the foundation because it keeps my dry skin looking dewy and it doesn't dry my face out. The primers are amazing at covering my redness (the green primer), and filling in any gross pores (the pore filling one). Cheek products... I LOVE my Sleek highlighting and bronzing duo in light and my ELF blush and bronzer duo in Saint Lucia. The bronzer in both are gorgeous and the highlight in the Sleek palette is incredible. The blush in ELF's St Lucia palette is pigmented and looks really natural and glowy on my skin. In terms of lip products this is a tough one... I LOVE Chi Chi's Viva La Diva lipsticks - they are perfect matte lippies. I also love NYX's soft matte lip creams as well as their butter lipsticks. Least favourite product? I don't like MUA's matte liquid lipsticks. I enjoyed them when I first got them but now I strongly dislike them as they mate my lips very, very dry. I also am not a fan of Jordana's liquid eyeliner - when it dried it went very crumbly on my eye and looked patchy and horrible. What is the best makeup bargain? This is a tough one... probably my ELF items which I got for 50% ages ago. 50c for an amazing eye primer?! What is your favourite underdog product? (something you love that gets overlooked) Hmmm... I feel like ELF's eyelid primers are often overlooked because they are SO inexpensive. In my opinion it is just as good as my Too Faced Shadow Insurance. A drugstore product that is over priced? Everything is over priced here in New Zealand! I think everything Revlon and Maybelline is ridiculously priced here for what it is... Show your best drugstore dupes? ELF's poreless primer is an incredible dupe for Benefit's Porefessional, and Collection Cosmetics' Does it All mascara is also an incredible dupe for Benefit's amazing They're Real mascara. Drugstore product that isn't worth the hype? Maybelline's Baby Lips. I like them but they aren't anything groundbreaking or amazing... I think chapstick is just as good ;)
I may possibly have a slight addiction to memebox... For those of you who don't know, memebox is a Korean based beauty box service. It isn't a subscription service, as you pay for only the boxes you want - and memebox evilly send you emails when a new box is in store (I say evilly because I WANT EVERY BOX!). Stila's in the Light Palette is a 10 shade neutral palette that has both matte and shimmer shades. It comes with one of Stila's waterproof smudge stick in the shade damsel. Heaps of different looks can be created with this even though it is a neutral palette. Also included is a look book detailing different looks that you can create using this palette. I paid NZ $46.65 for this and got it from Beautybay. You can buy it in New Zealand from Mecca Cosmetica for NZ $81.00 Today I have a haul of more adorable Korean products, as well as a review about the sellers Beautynetkorea, f2plus 1 and rubyruby76. In this haul I talk about Tonymoly Egg Pore set and Tonymoly - Panda's Dream Brightening Eye Base as well as [THE FACE SHOP] Lovely ME Mini Pet Perfume Hand Cream. A few weeks ago, I bought some products from Cosmeticmarket2012. They are an online store where you can purchase genuine Korean products for unbelievably inexpensive prices. Today I received a Tony Moly Red Appletox Honey Cream and a Skin 79 mini BB Cream set, as well as some free samples. My first review is going to be on NYX's Soft Matte Lip Creams. I have five of these in my collection. The colours I have are Amsterdam, Addis Abba, Prague, Ibiza and Antwerp. These cost US $6 from NYX's website, or NZ $13 from here.
These are unique to the liquid lipstick market. They aren't a regular lipstick, nor are they completely a liquid lipstick. These truly are a soft, matte lip cream. Unlike a lot of matte lipsticks, or matte liquid lipsticks, these aren't super drying and when dry they look velvety on your lips. They apply like a lip gloss with a doe foot applicator and feel extremely soft and creamy upon applying. They don't take a long time to dry and are really comfortable to wear all day. The pigmentation is really decent, though I found this varies slightly with the shades. You can wear a lip balm under this to make them feel a little more comfortable if you want, although I don't. If I am not eating or drinking I have found the lasting time is around 4 hours - so you do want to take this with you to reapply throughout the day or night. Last of all, these smell like cupcakes! Onto the individual reviews; Amsterdam. This is a gorgeous deep red with slight orange undertones. This is one of my favourites as it is bright, really red and looks amazing on my yellow undertones. This is really creamy and pigmented - one swipe is all you need for amazing colour. Addis Abba. In the tube this appears as a super bright fuchsia pink. Upon application, it is still super bright and pink - just a little less so than it looks in the tube. I find this one not as creamy as Amsterdam, and the formula is slightly thinner. Because of this I like to apply two coats to make it really pigmented. Although this isn't as pigmented or creamy as Amsterdam, one coat is definitely enough to make it look like you are wearing lipstick. Prague. This is a deep rose colour that has shades of pink and purple in it. It is quite difficult to describe, but the colour is beautiful. Like Amsterdam, this is super creamy and heavy in pigmentation. One coat is definitely all I need although you can always put more on. Ibiza. I love this as an everyday colour. This is like 'my lips but better'. It is a deep rose pink that is absolutely gorgeous. It is slightly thinner in consistency than Amsterdam and Prague, but not as thin as Addis Abba. I usually wear one coat of this as it is very pigmented. Antwerp. Last but not least, is Antwerp. Antwerp is quite similar to Ibiza, but more peachy as opposed to rosey. It is still pink and is another beautiful every day shade to wear. It looks great with either a natural or heavy eye and is incredibly wearable. Its consistency is the same as Ibiza, and I usually use just one coat. Overall I absolutely love these. I definitely want to purchase more - and I am absolutely going to get a backup of Amsterdam. For the price these are super amazing - I would happily pay double as the quality is that good. These get4/5 brains (it would be 5/5 but for the consistency of Addis Abba). |