Sofina Kao Sponge Cleaner review

Sofina is owned by the "Kao Corporation" in Japan. While they mostly have the pretty packaged Sofina Beaute or Sofina Aube Couture lines, Kao also sells some Sofina branded random items in drugstores.

This is the "Sponge Cleaner" from Sofina. It's in a 50ml fliptop bottle. The content is a clearish liquid gel, very faint scent that smells like generic face wash.

(It did come in a plastic sealed packaging but I threw that out ages ago)



This is meant to be a special cleaner for your sponges and powder puffs. I'm kind of a hygiene freak when it comes to sponges and powder puffs because ultimately, this is how all the makeup goes to your face.

For sponges I tend to use disposable ones (I buy those round sponges, cut them into 4-6 pieces, each day I use 1 new side and throw it out after day 2 (after both sides are used).

However for powder puffs that goes with pressed powders or powder foundations, they cannot be replaced as often (because sometimes they cost like $5 each especially the nice ones). This is where sponge cleaners become handy.

Here's my powder puff (Laneige one that comes with the Laneige foundations, it's interesting because it's a bit velvet like, and can actually apply a good fine layer of powder foundation). After 2 uses they tend to have either my powder resiue or a bit of foundation on it:

 I don't really understand the Japanese instruction on the back of the bottle, but usually I squeeze a drop like this, and wet the sponge and just massage it until a bit of bubble comes out, and the sponge quickly will go clean:

After rinsing out all the residue or bubbles, my powder puff is good as new! (It's naturally a bit yellow tinted because other than the velvet top layer, the middle bit is a thin yellow sponge layer, which makes these puffs great).

Overall 5/5. You can buy various Shiseido or Sofina sponge cleaner for like $5 or 6 on Ebay generally for a 50ml bottle or so. Very cheap, and really keeps your things clean. They are meant to be anti-bacterial too.

Stila Rouge Pots Cheek Mousse in Amaryliss review/ swatch

Stila was one of my favorite brands (before Estee Lauder bought it at least). I like the girly packagings, and I did collect Stila makeup for a year or two.

This is my recent lost and found love, Stila Rouge Pots Cheek Mousse in shade 'Amaryliss'. Rouge Pots are discontinued from the look of Stila website but you can track them down easily on ebay etc

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Rouge pots have a soft bouncy texture, they are not a hard creme, but not totally airwhipped, but just a nice bouncey semi firm texture that spreads really easily even with finger.

As usual, you should apply creme products below any powder products, so I apply this after my liquid  foundation or BB cream but before pressed powders or loose powders. This means you can apply a little bit more (because the pressed powder will cover some of the color).

Here's the swatch on the skin, the top layer is applied slightly heavier and very sheerly on the bottom. You can see it applies totally smooth, you don't get the lumpy feeling you get with cream blushes normally. 

It dries quickly, to a powdery finish, but the color stays firm and well throughout the day.

Amaryliss looks like a orange in the pot, with some brick red undertone, but on the skin it transforms to a beautiful brightening coral orange, with slightest red undertone. My skin swatch isn't quite picking up the coral so much though.

Overall 4/5. It works well with a creme blush brush too. The only thing I can fault about this is sometimes when it's quite hot or my skin is a bit flushed, then rouge pot has a slight tendency to oxidize and turn a bit orange (but then that happens with me with most cream blushes).

Chanel #203 Miami Peach Le Vernis Nail Colour swatch/ review

Chanel #203 Miami Peach Le vernis nail colour was released at least several times over the last 3-4 years. In some countries you can find it in the permanent collection.

It's one of those mid tone colors I find hard to quite pinpoint. It's a bit peach, a bit coral, a bit pink, a bit orange, all depend on what light you look at it and what skintone you are. It applies quite true color to the bottle.

I would describe it on me as a brightened corally pink peach with average amount of gold shimmers in a gel-creme sort of finish. Not quite creme opacity but not quite see through. I love how it seems a bit jelly-like on my nails.

It's a bit brightening but definitely not garish or neon. Very wearable in summer and spring. Love the pop of color.

Here's the color under sunlight:

Another one under sunlight, this one shows how pale the color could look:

Overall 5/5 . Again I'm wearing 2 coats, underneath seche vite top coat (which is getting a bit gluggy on me and that's why there's some 'shrinkage' on the tip =\ ).

Sonia Rykiel Crayon Yeux WP (Eyeliner Pencil WP) #06

Sonia Rykiel is definitely one of those brands that gets very little review online, probably because it is relatively hard to obtain as it is sold mostly in Japan.  It is sold in Taiwan as well (but there are quite few counters that sells it in department stores).

This was early 2010 color I believe, not sure if it's limited edition. I'm reviewing this because of the unique color. Most of my eyeliners I favor either liquid eyeliners in black (so I can tightline), or various taupes and chocolate browns.

I don't have too many mid-tone colored eyeliners because I suppose they are not dark enough to show through in color. However they are excellent to use as eyeliner once you have tightlined using a black liquidliner, then use some mind-toned eyeliner colors to line again, then blend out with othe eyeshadows.

This is a very complex color, difficult to describe. It's a bit purple, a bit plum and a bit brown, with nice jewel toned shimmers that does not show up as glitters. It wears smoothly, relatively waterproof ( but most eyeliners smudge on me after 5 to 6 hours anyway).

Comes in the standard Sonia Rykiel packaging- even the eylienr pencil itself features the signature striped color. Makes it very easy to find amonst other eyeliners in my brush holder.

Ingredients are in the back...in Japanese mostly.

Here's the swatch on the skin.

An extra little heart swatch below =)

Overall rating 4 out of 5.
It's smooth, non-tugging, applies color easily. I cannot fault it for not being dark enough  (as it is not meant to be). Interesting color choices for sure.

YuSkin Lipcare lipbalm/ Lip Cream review

YuSkin (or Yuskin A) is one of the trusted long running Japanese brands that first started with the Yuskin A cream, which is probably holds the status of like vaseline in normal western households (but a bit more than multi-functional).

The YuSkin series are positioned as the 'cure all' mutli-purpose cream, that can double as moisturiser, relieves minor insect bites, lipbalm, handcream etc etc. 

There are also various Yuskin lipbalm out there, I'm reviewing one of them below:

The full name is YuSkin lipcare. Comes in a paperbox packaging, all Japanese. Says something like for sensitive skin.

Ingredient : (not sure why my picture flipped after uploading!) I got mine from Taiwan so there's a Chinese label instruction in the back. Features vitamin E, Jojoba oil, it also has the English ingredient list.

Here's the tube, it's quite miniature, but similar size to normal lipbalms.

Here it is, it looks a bit solid doesn't it? Well it does feel a bit more solid compared to most lipbalms. But upon touching the lip it does melt and provide a very thin film on application.

Here it is on the skin- you can see it provides a very thin layer, with a tiny bit of shine. It does remind me a bit of a medicinal scent (not much taste), not worse than those Mentholatum lipbalm scents or carmex. So I don't mind at all.

In terms of moisturising my lips, it's now winter in Australia, because I turn my heaters on at night and constantly drink hot drinks, I do have pretty bad chapped lips and sometimes sensitively or irritation. This does help a bit, and seems to soothe minor lip irritations.

However, because of the consistency it does apply a bit too thin (I like something more substantial or rich). That being said, there are at least 4-5 different versions of lipbalms from Yuskin out there.

I LOVE the lip cream version. It's this one below: (yes it's so extra cute!) Yuskin tends to collaborate with Bruna the rabbit and the packaging also features Bruna.

The lip cream version applies a bit more creamy and does sometimes leave a slight white cast, but it heals my lips so well, no complaints at all! (And the product is just plain white stick, as opposed to the tube version in yellow).

Overall 5/5 for the Yuskin lip cream

You can find this in various online stores, but they aren't entirely common out side of Japan.

Regene White Reborn Sheet Mask review

Regene is a brand mostly sold in Hong Kong (in fact it might be the only place where I constantly see Regene around). Features just general skincare products.

As usual, there are a lot of Asian brand masks that boasts their whitening qualities (i.e. provides brightening effect, reduces sunspots or pigmentation etc etc).

Regene white reborn mask is not particularly expensive, I think you can find these online for maybe < $5USD per sheet or so. The back of box says RRP 2100 yen (for the box of 4 sheets).

The main ingredients are Vitamin B5, rice bran extract, Penederm R something.

Back of box, also has Japanese texts.

Here's the English instructions and explanation on how to use, you can click on my photo to enlarge which will be readable.

Overall 2/5. I noticed no immediate hydration afterwards despite 20 minutes application, it fits my face loosely, not very well cut around the nose area. I do not wake up with brightened complexion the next day either (I don't believe in whitening products all that much, but I do expect brightening effects especially from sheet masks that are generally quite hydrating).

Will not repurchase.



Paul & Joe Eye Gloss N #03 Moonlight and #05 Murmur swatch/ review

Paul and Joe have revamped their eye gloss line at least 2-3 times. The ones in 2010 were called "Eye Gloss N", the Japanese brands tend to like to add 'N' behind any revamped series of an older product, N for neo or new.

They come in a soft foam doe foot applicator like most lipglosses.

I got #05 Murmur which is a rich chocolate brown shimmer and #03 moonlight which is a pale lavender purple with shimmers. They apply a bit like a runny cream. But blends out quickly to a dry finish and stays put quite well. I get minimal creasing at the end of the day.

Overall 5/5. Paul and Joe packagings are always pleasant to look at, the handle is a pearly shimmery pink and the tube features the signature orange blossom design. The product has their signature orange flower scent but it's very very minimal and barely detectable.

RMK Nail Color #101 Holographic Soft Pink review/ swatch

RMK has a very complete nail color range, it was ravamped in late 2010, and continues to grow.

Every season RMK tend to release a few more permanent colors in addition to some limited edition shades. The limited edition shades start with the code "EX".

I like the way RMK names their polish shades, they are true to the names. If they say it's holographic soft pink, that's probably how it will largely turn out. Here's #101 holographic soft pink (from 2008 spring collection, limited edition) :

I'm not sure whether Holographic is just the word the Japanese cosmetic brand chose, I would say it's more properly described as 'flashing another color', but not quite duochrome. #101 is a medium geranium shimmery pink that flashes some green. The green flash is very subtle, barely picked up in my photo. However it does add an interesting touch to the color.

Here it is from another angle, where the green flash is far less obvious.

Overall 5/5.

RMK nailpolishes are of high quality, they apply easily, does take a little longer to dry (but nothing a fast dry top coat won't fix).

Shiseido White Lucent Brightening Moisturizing Emulsion review

Shiseido's White Lucent line has been around forever. The line generally features a pink metallic cap packaging and an ivory tube.

I got a few of the White Lucent items in a trial set (that's a lot bigger than normal GWP sets) as I've always been interested in this line.

It's a moisturising lotion consistency, milky and slightly runny.

It spreads easily, seems to absorb quickly too.

However, the major drawback is the scent. Usually Shiseido line is fairly unscented. However I noticed a pretty strong floral scent that smells almost chemical like. I really cannot find it enjoyable to apply this to my face.

In terms of moisturising properties, I've tried this when my skin was raw and peeling from irritation and it did no good. Even when my skin was better, it still seems to be a bit too nourishing for my skin and a bit pore clogging.

Overall 2/5. Probably suitable for those less sensitive to fragrances and with combo or dry skin.

Orbis Moist Lip Essence Review/ swatch

Orbis is very similar to Fancl, both are mail order brands in Japan.

Moist Lip Essence (product code 9476) is probably < 10USD RRP I think, and contains 8ml in a pink squeeze tube.

Applicator looks like this: it's not the most convenient thing because while it's round and smooth, applying on lips still feel a bit awkhard since the nozzle is very small.

Constistency is a liquid gel, pretty transparent once on lips though.

Instruction etc:

Orbis products are sealed in plastic on purchase like this:

Overall 2/5. While it feels nice on the lips, I honestly didn't feel any moisturising properties. Most of my other lipbalms are probably more moisturising than this. That being said I do have really dry lips and they are always chapped. The dry climate in Australia is not helping a bit!.