Wednesday, January 29, 2014

Dry Brushing



I've been hearing about (reading about) dry brushing lately and decided to try it. There are tonnes of people out there who swear by it. I bought mine at Tokyu Hands for about 500yen.

It feels really nice and has lots of health benefits including improving circulation, minimizing the appearance of cellulite, and is rumored to help with lymph drainage (gross).

The trick is to brush towards your heart. I start at my feet and brush up. Brush before you shower, it will help clean off all the dead skin you've loosened while brushing.

You can also check out what The Beauty Department has to say about dry brushing! It's one of my favourite blogs, and I was so happy to see this post today!

Friday, January 24, 2014

Review: Canmake Lasting Multi Eyebase WP


Canmake is coming to be my favourite Japanese beauty brand. Although the Lasting Multi Eyebase WP's name is a bit questionable side of the Engrish spectrum, the product is great! It's a white paste that turns clear when applied. First we'll get into what it claims to do.

It's waterproof(WP) formulation promises to prevent your eyeshadow, and eyeliner, and even eyebrow makeup from bleeding, fading, creasing, smudging, or running. It promises to boost the lasting power, and colour of your shadows and liners. Basically everything you could expect and eye primer to do, it does. 

Lately I've been having some problems with eyeshadows creasing on me. This is not something I ever noticed until just before Christmas. This base solved all my eyeshadow problems. Seriously. I was not expecting much and am totally impressed. Also, it was only 500yen!

I'm going to put it to the test this weekend with a black MAC kohl eye pencil that smudges so much I stopped wearing it. Results to come! I haven't tried any of the cult eye primers like Urban Decay's Primer Potion or the NARS Smudge Proof Eyeshadow Base, but I'm not going to be in a rush to get either if this baby keeps performing so well.

I highly recommend this, and I will be most likely buying some of these to send home.

Have you tried this? How does it compare to some of the high end eye primers?

Wednesday, January 15, 2014

Review: Minnie Touch Highlighter by Etude House








The Minnie Touch Highligher was a complete impulse buy! I couldn't resist the cute vintage Minnie with her eyelashes out to there, and the tri-colour highlighter within.When I swatched it in the store, I wasn't that impressed with it but HAD TO get it anyway.

I've been wearing it this week and my first impression was wrong. I LOVE this. The only other highlighter I  have to compare it to is the Mary-LouManizer from The Balm. In colour, Minnie is much cooler, more white than champagne, thanks to the purple shade. I like this because it's sort of in between the stark white and peachy highlighters, a nice middle ground. It gives my skin a very natural glow, and applies nicely. It's also a very buildable product. I always swirl all the colours together when I use it. You can apply them separately. The lasting power is good, too! I checked it when I got home from work and the tops of my cheek bones were still glowing nicely.

My one complaint is that this compact has no mirror. It seems very strange to have that empty space inside the lid.

Overall, a great product. The packaging is the reason I bought it but the highlighter itself is lovely!

What's your favourite highlighter? Do you prefer cooler, or warmer tones?

Monday, January 13, 2014

Korean Beauty Haul!


 


Before going to Korea, I did a little research to know what products or brands to look out for. I looked online and asked a few friends who had already been there. I didn't want to venture into anything too expensive, and I'm a sucker for pretty packaging. I'm also drawn to products that advertise as having more natural ingredients, which was lucky since that seems to be trendy among Korean brands. Watch my Korean haul video. Here are the brands I ended up buying from.

Nature Republic


As the name suggest, the philosophy of Nature Republic is to make products from natural ingredients. The base for all their products is what they call "MD water", which is just clean water from different parts of the world with "various precious natural ingredients." 

The Face Shop


Here's another brand wanting to share the best of nature with you, the consumer. In their 'brand story' they talk about the wisdom of nature and its many benefits. Reviews of this brand have commented that their ingredients have room to improve, and contain more chemicals than advertised. However, they seem to be moving in the right direction!

Skin Food


Another explanatory name, Skin Food's products aim to feed your skin, making it healthy for "14 years, not just 14 days." I loved the products here but the sales staff at Skin Foods (I visited 4 or 5) are quite pushy, and followed me around the store trying to up-sell products, which I hate. 

Etude House


Etude House is all about play, and colour. They think beauty should be anything but mundane, and want their products to help you feel like a princess.

Too Cool for School


This brand is newer, starting in 2010, and sports artsy, creative packaging. They are all about being artistic, nonconformist punks.

I will start posting reviews for some of these products this week! So far I am loving everything I picked up and can't wait to go back!

Thursday, January 9, 2014

TMI Tag Youtube Video

Here's a video to help you get to know me a bit better. I get a little silly and let my inner geek out a bit. So, if you want to hear me talk about something other than lipstick, check out my video. Thanks for watching!



Monday, January 6, 2014

Christmas Haul!

Hey guys! I made a Christmas Haul Youtube video. Check it out all my sweet Christmas loot!


What's in my travel makeup bag?

Things to coif, clean, and moisturise.

Things to beautify.

I was feeling a bit artsy while unpacking my suitcase from my trip with Tyler to Korea, so I decided to take a couple photos to show you what I put in  my travel makeup bags. Normally I wouldn't take as much makeup. I like to keep it simple when I travel. Less beautifying, more adventuring! However, I knew we'd be spending New Year's Eve in Seoul and wanted to do a full party/night out look for it which involved some very dramatic eye shadow, and red lips!

What are your travel essentials? If you want to know the specific names of any of the products pictured above, leave me a comment!

A video of my full Korean beauty haul is coming soon!