Kanebo Prettia Elegant Ash Bubble Hair Dye swatch/ review

It's very interesting when you read the blog statistics, seems like I get a few hits because people were searching for the Kanebo Prettia Elegant Ash hair color reviews.

Well here it goes- I won't bother with reviewing the kit because it's impossible to take photos when there are all these bubble dyes on my hair and there are plenty of bloggers who reviewed already.

Here's what the Elegant Ash shade looks like on my hair after dying immediately. My hair looks really silky because I really slapped on a lot of hair masque after washing off the hair dye (Kerastase nutri-thermique hair masque).  Otherwise the bubble hair dye will still leave hair a tad dry after application.

There isn't much point in showing the before photos because everyone really gets different fading with their previous hair dye. Mine was prettia ash brown but faded a whole 1.5 shades lighter and started to look a bit orange brown.

As with hair colors it can look like a multitude of shades after coloring, so here it is under slight different light.

Overall I LOVE the finish of the Elegant Ash shade. I've tried Ash Brown (which looked nice for about 2 weeks afterwards but fades really quickly and turn orange), also the Royal Chocolate and Dark Brown from Liese shade. After all the tries I always go back to Prettia's Elegant Ash.

It dyes my black hair into a natural deep cool brown. I hate too much orange or yellow or red tones in my hair, so this is the true perfect balance.

However as with all bubble dye (or at home hair colors), they tend to fade a bit after 4-5 weeks. I probably re-do it after 6-10 weeks.  I've been using at home hair dye for a good year or two, and I find while the ends will require more regular trimming to reduce split ends or brittle ends, the overall hair structure is still reasonable in tact.

(I used to have those super good natural hair, I could literally run a fine toothcomb through my long hair when it's still wet, and not get any tangles). However as you turn past 25 and have recklessly done bad things to your hair like perming or hot curlers, the hair condition will deteriorate gradually).

Overall 5/5 for this shade. I wish it would fade slower though, and also wish it covers grey hair. (I have a few grey hair and this does not cover it much, so I alternate between the Salon de Pro bubble hair dye in 4A which is called Ash but still looks like natural Asian black hair once you apply!). The salon de pro one will cover my grey slightly better, while elegant ash is my desired color later.

Salon de pro covers grey hairs better, but you will not get full grey hair coverage still. However I find using Salon de pro then re-dye it with Prettia Elegant Ash maybe 3-4 weeks later gives great color results, because the Elegant Ash can have a good black canvas to go over.

A final close up- this is about as dark as it would look under any light.

Agnes B Lacque 7 Days nail polish ROSE LIGHT review/ swatch

Agnes B. is a fashion brand that seems to be testing its waters in makeup in 2011. There are a few random items out, from foundation to eyeshadow to nailpolishes, seems like availability is probably limited to HK and Japan right now.

I grabbed the new Laque 7 days nail polish in shade "Rose Light" below.
It comes in a flattened looking glass container, contains 10ml. Based on the bottle color I thought I was going to get a rich pink or magenta sort of shade.



Hey but you never know! this turns out to be a jelly shade!

It's translucent jelly color, but does have some pigmentation. Probably need a good 3 coats to get more opacity. I applied the coats on one of the fingers on the right a bit more sheerly and you can see under flash photography it'll still be a bit see through.

The overall color and finish, is a glossy shiny translucent magenta without any shimmers. It looks very pretty and 'clean' on the nails and not tacky at all. It's not quite fuschia, but like a darkened fuschia/ magenta, I can still wear this to the office.

The wear seems decent, I'm on day 3 right now and still going strong. It applies smoothly and dries in reasonable time (However I always use a quick dry topcoat like seche vite). 

The swatches below are without topcoat yet, so you can see how naturally glossy it is! Love jelly shades.

Here it is after topcoat- I got some shrinkage on the tips with seche vite =\ which is a bit annoying! However you can see the glossy factor is still the same which means the polish never needed that topcoat for extra shine or gloss =)

Overall 5/5, cannot really fault this at all.

Jill Stuart Nail Lacquer N #44 Sweet Venus swatch/ review

Jill Stuart Nail Lacquer N comes in a pink crystal studded cap bottle, with beautical carvings along the bottle and a silver cap. It's typical Jill Stuart ultra romantic packaging.

As with most Jill Stuart shades, almost all the nail polishes are predmoniantly variations of pinks, beiges, nudes and occassional shimmers or bronzes.

I'm reviewing color #44 , "Sweet Venus" which is from 2010 series I think. In the bottle it looks like a shimmery white with a pink flash.

It's very difficult to photograph this shade, from a distance it's a shimmery white, but if you look closely in real life the white base is almost clouded by a slightlyy yellow tinged white shimmer together with loads more shimmers that flashes pink. The shimmer is fairly dense, 1 coat you can get a decent opacity and the color to show up.

While indoors, the pink flash is fairly strong, it's not just a faint pink flash.

This is outdoor, sunglight flash. You can see it looks a bit whiter under the sun.


Overall it looks fantastic in photos, like such a pretty moonlight shimmer with pink flashes. However I do think in real life because of the complexity of the flash and base color and the shimmers embodied, it can look slightly too busy on the nails, as in the undertone just looks a tad yellowy-white which is not too flattering.

This is probably one shade I would recommend trying at the stores before purchasing (which is difficult as Jill Stuart is mostly sold in Asia currently..)

Overall 4/5 for wear and application. It applies relatively smooth, I did feel this shade was slightly thicker.

3/5 for the color, just not too fond of it on myself.

OPI Yokohama Collection Full review/ swatch (Cherry blossom, Pinkerbell, Super Bright, Swirl etc)

OPI Yokohama was a really limited edition collection in Asia in around 2009? or 2010 thereabouts.

I was so excited to see the collection that in the first time in ages, I actually just ordered every single color in the collection! It contains the following 12 bottles of shades:

Y01 Baby Blue
Y28 Pinkerbell
Y31 Super Bright Sparkles 2
Y32 Penny For Your Thoughts
Y33 Blush of Adrenaline
Y35 Vintage Violet
Y36 Swirl of Euphoria
Y43 Bay Bridge Sunset
Y44 Cherry Blossom
Y45 I Love Yokohama
Y46 Sweet Love At Ferris Wheel
Y47 Yokohama Twilight

 Here are most of them lined up (click on picture to enlarge).

Some comparision between Baybridge Sunset and OPI Design Series DS Vintage (they are virtually the same, even though DS vintage seems more rainbowy in the bottle, they are about the same on the nails. You really don't need both shades). It's a sparkly corally red bronze that flashes all different lights at different angles, holo finish.
 

I also threw in OPI Design Series DS Chiffon and swatch as a comparison:

Then my FAVORITE color from this collection! "I Love Yokohama" swatched below. How pretty is this!  It's a very fine foiled finish beigey pink, that makes my nails look so clean and elegant.

This is "Cherry Blossom" swatched below, again it's almost a foiled finish, sparkly shimmery cherry blossom pink, very feminine. It reminds me of a few Chanel softshades (other than Chanels don't do the foiled finish in any pinks as far as I can remember!).

OPI Vintage Violet below: this was slightly meh for me. It's a frosty, very pale silvery lilac. From a distance it can look almost just a washed out silver, the lilac tinge is very light. I don't like frost finishes as any brush strokes show very easily. For an OPI frost finish I prefer OPI Tutti Fruitti Tonga , which is more like a pearl/ frost and much prettier and softer looking than Vintage Violet, other than it's a pearly pink tinge.

Here are close up pics of the other shades:

 Overall 5/5 for this collection. They are such an interesting mix of different finishes and my favorite soft colors with a twist.

 Obviously this particular post has taken a ridiculous amount of time so would love to hear any comments! I will gradually upload other swatches for other shades when I get around to it =)

As to availability of this collection, sorry I really don't know- it seems some websites are selling it or on ebay, I asked a friend to buy it in HK for me when it first came out. For a while it was selling in Australia too (David Jones) but I suspect it's now gone.



Kiehl's Amino Acid Shampoo and Conditioner review

Kiehl's Amino Acid shampoo and conditioner features protein, amino acid, coconut and jojoba oil as the key nourishing ingredients.  They are fairly light shampoos and conditioners, basically what I would call as 'daily' shampoos/conditioners for regular use.

The shampoo is a light liquid consistency that is semi-clear, the conditioner is a soft creme consistency without being thick nor runny.

They both feature a light coconut scent that I love, feels very tropical and summery, without being cloyingly sickening.

I've been using both shampoo and conditioner for a month or two and adore both of these. They would easily become my preferred daily shampoo / conditioner (while alternating with occasional moisturising shampoo or hair masques from Kerastase or other brands).

Overall they leave my hair feeling very refreshed, soft yet with the right volume and not look frizzy. They won't give me super smooth glossy hair like after a Kerastase hair masque, but it just feels so clean as a daily shampoo/conditioner and leaves my hair feeling lightweight and soft (and with a faint trace of that yummy coconut scent).

The shampoo is particularly mild and light, it foams well if your hair is not too greasy, but when you get extra oily hair on certain days, this could become a little bit more difficult to foam up.

Overall 5/5. It's probably suitable for those with normal hair without much damages, or for those with slightly greasy hair who needs a daily shampoo that doesn't strip away all the moisture. I dye my hair regularly and do not find these to be color stripping. It's just very mild.

Dior Addict Ultra-Gloss Flash #886 MAUVE ACCENT Lip swatch/review

Dior #886 Addict Ultra-Gloss Flash 'mauve accent or in french, Mauve Accessore, was released in late 2010 as the new and expaneded Addict Ultra-Gloss line. "Flash" indicates the finish to be glossy and lightly shimmery generally.

Personally I'm not a huge fan of how Dior has renamed/ introduced the Addcit ultra-gloss or lipsticks, they are named similarly, they are packaged about the same, it's just really difficult for me to tell which ones are new and which ones are old.

Comes in the super glossy and shiny green/blue packaging.

The tube embossed with 'Dior' color. The tube is relatively luxurious looking and slightly heavy, almost feels more like lucite than plastic.

Comes with an easy to use brush applicator, it's sort of short and dense bristles. Much better than those Bobbi Brown lipglosses.

A very quick lip swatch. My lips were a bit pinker today, but you can see how close it is in color to the skin swatch. While looking dark in the tube, it aplies as an understated (i.e. not loud and bright) berry pink.

I also like how the gloss is a bit moisturising and almost plumps up the lip a bit and remove the look of any obvious lip lines.

There are very tiny shimmers inside in about the same raspberry pink family. It is very fine and will not leave a grainy feel on the lips and wears off evenly.

Overall 5/5. I can't wait to try all the other colors I have.

It's unscented and not too sticky. It also applies quite evenly.