Revlon Lip Butter lipstick in 25 Peach Parfait review/ swatch

Revlon lip butter seems to be the new "it" lipstick lately as I saw numerous reviews (mostly raves) everywhere on both Asian and western beauty blogs. I finally saw these at priceline in Sydney for a whopping $21AUD retail (ok seriously I think Australian RRP is just getting ridiculous particularly given the strength of AUD for last 2 years).

I ended up getting this from HK for like $8AUD equivalent or something, I looked at most online swatches and the pinks either looks too cool or too dark, some oranges looked too vibrant and the other shades are probably not really my colors either.

Here's #25 Peach Parfait:

it looks like a coral red/pink with gold shimmers in the tube.

Pretty simple tube design.

Ingredient label on the back.

Here are two swatches under different lighting, top one with flash and bottom one without.

On left I swiped about 3 times, the color easily builds up but still retains that moist and smooth look.

Under indoor light without flash, it shows the gold shimmers better.

After a few applications:

You can see it looks really moist and shiny- it's really like a buttery lipstick.

Here's on the lip swatches- I think my picture is showing up a bit lighter than in real life. But the base color is really only 1 tiny tint darker than my natural lip color, so on my lips it really just gives me that warmer coral pink tint look with a gold shimmer finish and evens out my lip color. It will mostly show up a deeper pink coral-red on anyone else with lighter lip colors naturally.

 You can apply this without prepping with lipbalms, but I always do anyway. With a lot of these recent lip butter type of sheer & moisturising lipsticks, while they apply on the lips smooth and slick due to the consistency, not many are actually 'moisturising' on its own. I don't think this replaces my normal lipbalms for me.

Overall thumbs up, given the overseas cheaper RRP price this is well worth it, I just wish they would bring more neutral/ medium shades of pinks and apricots/peaches etc.

OPI Pedal Faster Suzi (Holland collection) NL H60 nail lacquer polish review/ swatch

Here's a review of a more recent OPI polish- from the Holland Collection called "Pedal Faster Suzi". OPI website describes it as a shimmery pink lavender- which is exactly what it looked in the bottle, mostly pink with a touch of lilac.

I actually purchased two bottles from the Holland collection, the other bottle shattered during transit and went all over this bottle so it took me ages to clean this bottle up =(

In the bottle it does look like a shimmery pink, like a candy pink but without the neon factor, it's still rather soft but not too pale to be totally pastel.

On my nails it's a light to medium candy pink with lilac undertone and dense but very fine silvery shimmers (but not dense enough to be a foiled finish in my books), which makes the color rather neutral or cool toned. The underlying color base is a creme finish so it applies quite opaque in 2 coats.

Generally mauve/ purple shades do not necessarily look good on me since I think on Asian skin it brings out a lot of the sallow yellow undertone and it can look a bit dirty/ tacky on the finger tips.

Swatches below all with 2 coats (no top coat applied yet).

OPI Cherry blossom is in picture below which I think is more flattering at least on me. It's still a neutral pink but without the lilac base in OPI Pedal Faster Suzi. However that being said, Pedal Faster Suzi is quite a unique shade- I do not have anything similar in my collection of OPI, Essie, Chanel or most Japanese brand polishes I have.

OPI Cherry Blossom has less of a 'creme' base color and a tinge deeper pink and no lilac or lavender base at all. I do not consider them to be that similar but this is about as close a shade as I can think of. And you can see by contrast my skintone looks a lot more fairer with Cherry Blossom, as opposed to Pedal Faster Suzi.

Overall 3/5 for Pedal Faster Suzi. It's just a touch too candy pink to be an office friendly color for me (especially when I'm in suits and formal shirts).

Fancl FDR Body Milk review

A quick review of Fancl FDR body milk- they come in small bottles of 60ml (as Fancl's product direction is everything have no preservatives added and items should be used within 100 days of opening, the sizing for almost all products are quite small). Usually you can purchase multiple bottles at a discount in Fancl stores. (around $12-15USD per bottle and can go as low as $10 per bottle when purchased in bulk or with more discounts)- which still makes it a hefty pricetag compared to product size.

The FDR line is targeted for those with ultra sensitive skin and sort of the "clinical" directed line within the Fancl product lines.

It comes in a minimalistic semi clear green plastic bottle, with a flip open top.

The body milk is a runny lotion consistency.

When spreaded out- you can see skin has a light moisturised shine. 

The product has no scent to it.

Overall it's a 4/5 for me. I have really sensitive skin which is prone to random hives breakout or eczema particularly during season changes or times of stress. I've learnt to live with it and control it relatively well in the past few years and at most I get a few days of breakouts a year with eczema.

Keeping my skin moisturised has been the key in maintaining healthy skin. During season changes I always switch back to a soothing body moisturiser or something with minimal additives and Fancl is easily one of them. It does dry a bit tacky to touch but it doesn't rub off onto bed sheets or clothing (like the Body Shops Body Butters which have ruined some of my new sheets).

In terms of already irritated skin, this seems fine- it doesn't fix irritations but doesn't worsen it either.

For really bad skin days I do have to bring out my topical treatment creams (usually like 0.5% cortisone contents etc) and revert to using Aveeno body moisturiser with oatmeal (which really does soothe irritated skin).

If this was a bit cheaper and doesn't have such a short expiry date, I would probably use this more regularly. A 60ml bottle probably lasts me 2 months with once daily use. You don't need a whole lot each application.

Kose Visee Glam Nude Eyes N-2 Brown-Beige and N-5 Smoky-Beige review/ swatches

I've been really slow with color makeup reviews since it requires so many more photos and good lightings for swatches, but here it is finally! Again these are purchased during my holiday in Japan last year, "Kose Visee Glam Nude Eyes" eyeshadow palettes. 

I purchased shades "N-2" which is "Brown-Beige" and N-5 which is "Smoky Beige"

N2 on left and N5 on the right. The compacts are brown plastic with nice wavy designs on surface, there's no mirror inside, however I like the clear window which shows you exactly the shades in the palettes. They retail for 1800 Yen full RRP but you can find them in Japanese drugstores for 30% off RRP quite often, which translates to just 15-16USD per palette.

Back of compacts:

Packaging:

There are some basic instructions behind with recommended application techniques. 

Basically shade A is top right corner color, shade B is top left hand corner, (basically anti-clockwise), shade C is left middle, shade D is bottom middle, shade E is right bottom corner.

Again, N2 Beige Brown on left and N5 Smoky Beige on right.

N2 Brown Beige swatches below:

Swathced from left to right A,B,C,D,E (anti clockwise from top right corner)

A is a dry-ish cream base shade, it feels a bit slippery but still dry to touch. It's meant to be an eye primer. It's a very light vanilla beige. You can see it blends into my skin quite well with just a sheen left behind.

B is a shimmery beige, a tiny bit darker than A but still quite light. 

C is a medium brown wheat shimmer shade, it's a warm shade but not overall warm as to turn red on the eyes, it's almost a brown with a tiny touch of plum.

D is a chocolate brown shimmer, it's just dark enough to be used as a liner, but sometimes I still use a separate dark brown liner to give more depth. It is certainly dark enough for a more dramatic crease shade.

E is meant to be a sheer pale beige shimmer that you "dot" in the middle of the eye to add some dimension and sparkle. It is more shimmery than other shades but essentially it's shimmers and does not have too much base color.

Here's what the palette looks after a few uses already- it is not super soft or loosely pressed so it doesn't "dent" that easily compared to like some of the Majolica Majorca eyeshadow palettes.

N-5 Smoky Beige below:

Again from left to right, shades A B C D E:

A is again an eye primer shade, it has a light sheen which just brightens the eye area a bit.

B is a neutral beige-brown shimmer. It's brown enough and not really 'gold'.

C is a brown taupe, neutral or slightly cool toned.

D is a greyed-black shimmer, the shimmers seem more sparkly and slightly larger compared to other shades.

E is again a sheer sparkly shade to be pressed in the middle of the eye after all other colors.

N2 on left and N5 on right:


N2 on top row, N5 on bottom row.

The N5 "A" shade is more pronounced than N2 and for me it felt a bit more slippery and smoother to touch. N5's A shade has more sheen to it.

N2's B shade is more flesh toned beige while N5's B shade is more browned.

Comparatively N2's C shade is warmer and almost seem a bit redder compared to N5's C shade which is more true taupe.
Shade D between the two are quite different, N2 has a true chocolate brown liner shade while D has a smoky grey black shade and certainly darker.

Shade E in N2 is just a touch pinker than shade E in N5 which is more silvery.

Another angle- left column is N5 and right column is N2.

Overall I LOVE these palettes- for a tiny 15-16USD each they are as good as many other high end Japanese brand eyeshadows I've tried. They have a nice texture that doesn't have much fall-out issues, they are so versatile for everyday use, between these two palettes you are quite complete with all neutral brown based shades. 

I'm now really tempted to collect all the other shades in the collection- the Glam Nude eyes are really worth trying. They have a buildable coverage and medium pigmentation (apart from shade A and E which are meant to be base or topping shades and they don't meant to have much pigmentation), I know a lot of people dislike Japanese eyeshadows since they are generally a bit more sheer compared to like MAC, but I love the versatility of these since I can do a total 'nude' no-makeup look eyes or a more dramatic smoky brown.

They are easy to use on the go, there's a dual ended applicator (1 brush side and 1 sponge side), between this and my fingers I can do my eye makeup for everyday office in about 2 minutes.

Apart from shade E which I certainly don't need both shades of, the rest are all well worthwhile.

5 out of 5 ratings for both of these!

MAC Very Important Platinum/ Formidable Nail Lacquer vernis polish reviews/ swatches

Here's a quick swatch of two MAC polishes I picked up in the last year.

MAC Formidable ( from Venomous Villains collection). Which looks like a complex mix of a vampy purple, blackened, reddened and blued and greened tinge mix. 

Then "Very Important Platinum" (not sure which collection, but about 2011). In the bottle it looks like a deep silver, not a shiny silver but more like a metal mercury silver look. 

Here are swatches: Ok they really don't pair well together since they are such contrasting colors lol.  I didn't really wear my nails like this out.

Formidable turns out to be a vampy eggplant purple base with a strangely shimmery/metallic finish, it's like a dirty 'foiled' finish as it has such a complex array of mix of colors, there's some green tinge showing through and some blackened shimmer too.

I'm not sure how much I like the finish- it's sort of uneven, while it's wickedly dark and alluring in a way, at the same time I don't think it's a shade I can sport any day.

Very important Platinum on the other hand, is so not very important in my collection. It's a really streaky frosty dark mercury silver. It has that 'liquid' metal look like real mercury does. However it just has that streaky look to it and it's like a sci-fi movie nailpolish color or something.

Well I think this explains why most of my polish collection are safe colors like pinks and reds and corals, which I shall go back to promptly reviewing soon lol.

Overall 2/5 for both shades. MAC polishes really don't have a very good or flattering finish in my books, my experience always shown that the shimmery shades can go streaky and frosty while metallic shades can have an uneven finished look. (despite being smooth to touch).

Annick Goutal Petite Cherie Eau de Toilette review

I actually have a sizeable perfumes collection- but I never thought there was much point in reviewing it as while my nose is really sensitive to a lot of scents (i.e. they make me sneeze), I can't really start describing scents with the magazine reviews I see so often that goes like 'oh the initial note is a vibrant cherry followed by like a walk in the wood in the spring mist..."

However this is definitely my favorite scent so far in last 2 years and certainly worthy of just introducing to some people.

Petit Cherie comes in a petit bottle indeed- I have the 25ml size which I'm not sure was regular size or a special edition. I generally prefer my perfumes to be no more than 30ml as I never ever really finish any fragrances- however now I wish I had purchased a 100ml size since I love this so much.

It has a rectangular glass bottle with a ribbon print on top. Very cute and feminine without looking too young.

(oh and my nails are Lancome kate winslet le vernis in shade #26, which I reviewed a few posts ago already).

The scent is really quite light, a lot of people would probably complain this has no staying power. I don't really mind that but sometimes do wish it could stay a little bit longer. It has a pleasant cherries and peaches sort of sweet scent, it's very gentle and doesn't have that 'alcoholic' note sting even on initial spray. 

After a while it turns even softer, before it dissipates into thin air (probably 4 hours on me). I never have the issue of perfumes not lasting long enough so I was rather surprised that this fragrance has such a short lasting effect. This also means I can be more generous in spraying this (usually I spray my fragrances in air then walk through it, and that's as much scent as I prefer my perfumes). 

With this one I can actually spot spray with direct skin contact- a bit on neck and wrists.

Here's the actual set I purchased which came with a little mobile phone strap I forgot to photo. I think this was limited set in Asian department stores late last year.

For me this is a bit like Loccitane honey water (original version, not the honey & lemon ones). It is a comforting sweet scent, that makes me happy instantly. Not to mention both me and my bf's sensitive nose haven't minded the scent at all. sometimes stronger scents just give me headaches.

Overall 5/5. Would love to stock up a bigger bottle!