Sofina Jenne Jelly Moisturizer review/ swatch

Sofina 'Jenne" line is targeted at age group of about 18-25- I'm a bit above that age range but am yet to start on much anti-aging care so I pretty much pick any skincare I'm interested in trying it.

It's 50g size in a nice white lace printed pot. With a screw top container. Retails for just a tiny 25-30USD in Taiwan (depending on where you purchase it), which makes it rather affordable.

I like how the jelly moisturizer is filled to the rim for a new pot-

It's not exactly like jelly consistency but rather a really light whipped gel-cream.

It absorbs rather quickly and leaves a lightly moisturised surface- after one minute (below pic) you can barely see any shine left.

It's a very dry and cold winter in Australia this year, I generally do not use any night time moisturiser in milk or cream (and mostly stick with just a serum each night, or very light facial oil infrequently, or a few very specific moisturising creams with the tiniest amount warmed between palms then patted on face). 

I thought given the jelly or gel-cream consistency it should be light enough for me.

It does work ok as a moderate moisturiser for me, feels really nice to use- easily spreadable, absorbs quickly, and a very very faint but pleasant scent that's non-irritating.

For me this ended up being a moderately moisturising product for me- doesn't get rid of flaky skin with a single or even 2 uses, but just replenishes moisture mildly. However I find that if I use it on a nightly basis I do still experience some very minor congestion (which is the reason I do not use any moisturising milk or cream as I'm yet to really find anything that wouldn't cause congestion on my sensitive skin when used on a daily basis).

Those with less sensitive skin in their early to mid 20s, probably more normal skin or slightly dry skin would probably like this.

Overall rating 3.5/5 for me. I will finish my pot up but will continue my hunt for the perfect night time moisturiser anyway.

(p.s. I have far better experience with almost all Sofina UV products, basically SPF30 or SPF50 moisturisers as my day-time moisturising product- they give me no congestion and moderate moisture and are definitely my staple sun protection and day moisturiser).

Nars Hollywoodland / Goddess Soft Touch Shadow Pencil reviews/ swatches (eyeshadow liner)

Nars soft touch shadow pencils are chubby cream eyeshadow pencils with a Nars signature (i.e. disintegrates quickly and attracts a lot of dust) plastic cap. You need a thick sharpener for these as a usual eyeliner sharpener would be too small for it.

Top is hollywood land and bottom is Goddess. The colors match the end of the eyeliner pencils.

Top (or left) is Hollywoodland and Bottom (or right) is Goddess.

Goddess on left two, and Hollywoodland on right two swatches.

Goddess is a peachy pink shimmer, while hollywoodland is a more champagne gold shimmer. I liked goddess much better since it's a softer looking color and hollywoodland is a bit too yellow even for my Asian skintone.

Without flash:

Blended out:

Honestly these look far prettier on smooth skin than on my eyes- any minor skin creases make these look creased as well and the shimmers can look uneven or a bit chunky. I didn't really intend to use them as an upper lid eyeshadow or liner, but rather as a lower lashline highlight or liner for that dewy eyed look. 

Unfortunately I think the textures are just not refined enough to give a totally natural look and any skin lines or creases will make the shades look stark and uneven.

As a cream eyeshadow for upper eyes, it still will accentuate any skin lines you didn't think you had- even with eyeshadow primers like urban decay.  The textures are just a bit too 'thick' to be blended out evenly on eyelids.

Really wanted to love these, but for the price they just don't perform up to expectation. Rating 2/5.

L'Oreal Elvive Colour Protect Protecting Masque review

Sorry some of my posts were published without text- accidentally clicked the wrong buttons!

Quick review of Loreal Elvive colour protect masque. It's rather cheap for a hair masque being a drugstore brand, you get a generous pot for about 8-12 AUD in Australia.

You can see I already used most of it up- I use this more as a normal conditioner (after shampoo, I don't really use a hair conditioner nowadays and just use masques as conditioners).  It's a light peachy pink creme consistency, that is light and not very heavy or oily. Has a nice flowery/ fruity scent, but not overpoweringly sweet.

After the masque- you can see the middle section is rather smoothed, but it doesn't seal the ends completely so it can still be a bit frizzy. It's probably best for normal color treated hair that doesn't have too much damages- it's not super repairing like other Kerastase hair masques but for me it is comparable to other hair masques like Frederic Fekkai's 3 minute hair masque (which is double the price).

I've tried using this both leaving it on for 10 minutes or leaving it on for 3 minutes as a quick rinse, and didn't find too much difference in result.

Overall rating of 3/5 for a drugstore hair masque less than $20. 

Fresh Black Tea Instant Perfecting Mask review

A quick review of Fresh black tea instant perfecting mask- it's probably one of the pricy items from fresh but I was thoroughly impressed.

I'm using a travel sized pot here- which I brought to my trip in the very sunny south pacific.

It's meant to be applied on face then left on (or removed after 20minutes). I finish cleansing my face then apply this in lieu of night creams, then go to bed.

It has a very interesting consistency- like a grounded rice paste- it feels a bit 'grainy' but it's not scratchy, just a soft grainy texture. Has the signature cucumber scent a bit like the soy face cleanser.

On skin:

Spreaded out- it dries rather quickly but does not appear shiny on the skin.

Once applied, it has this amazing cooling sensation, it's not like a peppermint oil sort of minty/ tingly sensation that burns slightly, but it's just very cooling but not icy cool either. This makes it a really soothing mask for hot summer nights. 

Some days I spent the whole day in the sun (with sunscreen of course), but came back with slightly red face  (but not fully sunburnt). I applied this and it's just so soothing and calming. I wake up with moisturised and calmed skin the next day. 

Highly recommended, other than the price tag (which is like 88USD for a full sized pot of 100ml.

Rating 5/5.

Skinfood White Emboss Cotton review

A quick review of skin food white embossed cotton, it retails for about 3-5 usd depending on which country you purchased this from, I think there are 80 cottons per box. 

It has embossed surface ( with skin food logo) which sort of prevents fluffing. Best suited for normal toners since it has a thin and absorbent surface. For nail polish removing it does fine as well. 

Would say its above average but a lot of Japanese drugstore brands probably makes nicer ones and better value for money

Lancome French Absolue Rouge 308 Lily Rose review/ swatch

Lancome french absolue rouge were re-released in 2012. I'm not sure if this one is a full size or a mini size because it certainly looks very miniature to me!

I picked shade 308, I think the color name is lily rose.

Comes in a rather cute silver packaging with faceted surface. The base is gold.

#308 looks like a beige-peach-pink in tube. You can see the shimmers are really subtle and barely getting picked up by camera.

Close up:

A few different angles: 

Swatch:

It's actually a 'creamy' sort of lipstick and not really balmy like I expected. It applies with decent color payoff despite being a light shade. Once applied the beigy tone is not really there and you get a peachy-pink, more pale rose pink than peach though. It has a subtle shine but I would not call it like a glossy lipstick.

On lips I really like how it's just my lips but a shade lighter and more polished looking.

Kerastase Nutritive Bain Nutri-Thermique thermo-reactive intensive nutrition shampoo/ conditioner review

These are probably my second bottle of the Kerastase Nutritive Bain Nutri-Thermique shampoo used, and this time I also tried the conditioner.

They come tin 250ml size for shampoo and 200ml for conditioner. Shampoo comes with screw top and conditioner is a flip-top.

Ingredient list etc:

The Nutri-thermique line is meant to be for hairs that undergo regular heat treatment. I wash my hair daily and blast it with hairdryer plus I use a curling iron every now and then, so I thought this would work for me.

Shampoo on the left and conditioner on the right. The shampoo is a very light colored clear yellow.

BEFORE shampoo:

After shampoo and just random blowdry without hair brush. Hair feels "lighter" in general, but it doesn't really feel ultra smoothed down like what I'd expect from Kerastase shampoos. It's still a bit frizzy at times and look a bit 'ungroomed' while usually with Kerastase oleo relax shampoos my hair looks like it's styled and bouncy even when I didn't use any extra treatment products or had to brush blow-dry.

I went through the first bottle of shampoo before I started dying my hair every 6-8 weeks, and I was generally happy about it since my hair felt clean and it lathers easily and has a nice floral scent. Then once my hair was a bit more damaged, the shampoo felt really ordinary on my hair and even with the conditioner it felt like it did nothing.

Eventually it was a bit painful to use up the second bottle (and I consider the conditioner really useless and weak, compared to the Nutri-thermique masque which is much more nourishing).  The conditioner is definitely not going to be a repurchase for me because for a few more dollars, get the Masque and use it as a conditioner sparingly it'd still yield far better results.

Overall 3/5. Not really great for damaged hair, even though I consider my hair damage to be rather mild...

Shiseido Maquillage True Eye Shadow BR264 Palette 2012 review/ swatches

Maquillage true eye shadow palettes are from 2012 collection. They look like a total revamp in packaging which I'm thoroughly impressed about. 

I purchased my default go-to shade of earthy beige tones first, and picked BR264.

These eyeshadow palettes contain 5 shades and two double ended brushes. One is sponge double end the other is a brush and a very fine firming sponge tip for liner application.

Comes in brand new champagne gold packaging which is super pretty!

Back of box mentions some application tips.

Even the compact has dramatically changed against previous versions- it's a bit like a white lucite surface with a pink base, then rest of the compact in shiny champagne gold. You have to see it to appreciate how well made and pretty these palettes look!

As usual the plastic separator prints the color shade names and suggested use. Top left is 1, top right is 2, bottom left to right is 3,4,5.

Picture below is the most accurate color representation, based on my monitor at least:

Shade 1 (top left): champagne beige, it's shimmery and sparkly but not super glittery. It's a base color.

Shade 2 (top right): is a warm wheat brown. It's shimmery and soft.

Shade 3 (bottom left) is a very finely milled, pale beigy powder, it has a really subtle sheen, not shimmery or glittery. This shade is NOT an eyeshadow shade, rather it's meant to be an under eye highlight (i.e. dust it over your concealer over the dark circles), it really does illuminate well without having that typical fake highlighter look since the shade is so subtle. I also like this for a brow highlight.

Shade 4 (bottom middle) is a neutral brown taupe, it doesn't have enough purple or grey to quite fit into the taupe description, but it's not a full true brown either. Shimmery again but not glittery. 

Shade 5 (bottom right) is the liner shade, it's a very dark cappucino brown shade, can look almost blackened if applied with the sponge tip. It's very pigmented and relatively finely milled compared to shade 2 and 4. It has a subtle sheen, no visible shimmers.

Swatches in same placement order as palette:

Picture here you can see the 'shimmer' factor better for each shade:

Again, bottom left shade is for your undereyes so it really blends into my skin well.

Overall I love this palette- it gives a polished look and I don't think my swatch pictures are bringing out the lustre or richness of the colors as I had to use flash photography to pick up the swatches. It's more vibrant in real life.

I also ordered the VI shade (which is purple series out of the palette colors these year) and can't wait to try that one either!)

Retails for between 35-45USD generally like most maquillage eyeshadows. Overall rating 4.5/5.