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!.

Paul & Joe Hand Cream review

Paul & Joe hand cream features the signature Paul and Joe orange flower scent, in a white creamy whipped texture, housed in a beautiful metal tin (that could be reused for other things once you are done with the hand cream!) 

It's 80g and about the size of my palm.

The cream is beautifully velvety and soft. Melts on contact with the skin. It really does feel like doing a mini hand spa treatment on something when using this cream.

Ingredients and instructions, click to enlarge:

Consistency:

Spreaded out:

Overall 4/5. It's fairly moisturising and nourishing on the hands, and cuticles. However even though I like their signature scent, the thing with handcreams is usually our hands got a certain heat and is warmer than rest of the body at times, once you apply hand cream and massage in, any scented handcream tend to have the scent even more amplified with the heat from the hand. So the scent may become a lot more noticeable and stronger. Wish the scent for this was just a bit fainter, since I tend to like a very very subtle skincare scent only.

(It's kind of annoying when you are doing work and all you can smell is the orange blossom from your hands for the next hour!).

Cosmedicine Medi-morphosis Self-Adjusting Exfoliator review

You know your reviews are lagging behind when you get to finally writing something and realise the product is actually discontinued!

Unfortunately this is it- this is probably my HG facial scrub in 2010.

Cosmedicine is one of those cosme-ceutical brands that doesn't seem to have a huge name anywhere. The medi-morphosis self-adjusting exfoliator is basically just a granular facial scrub.

Comes in a  soft squeeze tube with 100ml or 3.4 fl. oz, retailed for around 30USD or thereabouts.

Closer look at ingredient list and instructions. It says use once or twice a week on wet or dry face. Massage until the crystals seem to disappear and rinse.

Comes sealed initially- just a squeeze tube nozzle.

Here's what it looks like, slightly spreaded out without adding water.

It looks creamy, but if you look closely there are some tiny granules, they are about the size of beach sands.

Adding a little bit of water- you can see the exfoliator does not foam, the granules are extremely gentle (yet quite effective), while the crystals do seem to dissolve a bit, I do not find that it completely dissolves on me? Usually I massage as much as I feel my face needs that exfoliation then rinse off (without actually waiting for all the granules to dissolve) as I feel that is sufficient enough for me.

After rinsing away, I get clean, supple face, not dry and not taught or raw feeling like a lot of physical exfoliants tend to leave my sensitive skin.

I've strayed away from physical exfoliants in 2011 as I had a slight change in skincare regime and plus with age I do feel my once young, acne prone skin is now definitely getting drier and a lot more sensitive.

I still reach for this a few times a month though. Sad to hear it's discontinued because it's nothing like I've experienced with most other physical exfoliators (e.g. Peter Thomas Roth botanical beads, St Ives apricot scrub, Chanel's pink bead scrub (the name escapes me), Origins Modern Friction...
it's not as subtle as the jojoba bead scrubs, yet not as 'harsh' as those crystal scrubs that boost their likeness to microdermabrasion.

Overall 5/5.

Cellbone Peptide XS for Under Eyes Dark circles/ Puffy Eyes prep serum review

Cellbone Peptide XS for Under Eyes Dark circles/ Puffy Eyes prep serum

is one of those cosmeceutical brands which boasts powerful ingredients to give you skincare that really makes a difference.While the brand website says it's a US company, I've only ever seen it sold in Hong Kong (and perhaps Malaysia given there's a distributor listed on their website).

Comes in a medicinal looking drip bottle. Personally I think dripped bottles are the worst designs ever, who wants to squeeze in and out the same liquid and expose their skincare to constant air and other contaminants?

Here's the ingreident list. from the website it's also listed:

Ingredients:

Water, Glycerin, Hydrolyzed Rice Ban Protein, Soybean Protein, Oxido Reductases, Palmitoyl Pentapeptide-3, Melon Extract, Butyleneglycol, Hexapeptide-9 (Collagen Peptide), Centella Asiatica, Cucumber Extract, Phenoxyethanol, Sodium Hyaluronate

 

I don't know why any company wouldn't at least spell check their ingreident list, on a quick scan, "Hydrolyzed Rice Ban Protein" really means rice BRAN protein.

Hrrm...for 15ml that sells for 46USD RRP in the US website, isn't that odd!

It's a translucent looking serum, that's slightly tacky. Not quite clear on the skin.

Spreaded out (sorry my camera couldn't focus well ).

Overall for someone like me with massive dark circles and constant puffy eye, this did just about nothing despite use for 3 months. I've tried using it alone, or under other eyecream, nada.

Overall 1/5, save your money please.

Majolica Majorca Honey Pump Gloss lipgloss PK130 swatch/review

Majolica Majorca is a drugstore brand in Japan, it features whimsical designs and a bit of that magic and fairies theme. This is the honey pump gloss I'm reviewing, in shade PK130. They are 6.5g in size and only retails for 480yen (which is like 5USD?).

Here's the applicator' I tend to find these completely round tip applicator to be a bit awkhard to apply, they goop the gloss around your lips instead of spreading them smoothly.

Here's the swatch on skin, you can see it's pretty much clear! it has the faintest pink tint and minimal shimmer. Honestly very boring for my liking.

On my lips it's pretty much clear anyway- the shimmer only shows up under direct sunlight. It evens out my lip color a bit that's all.

Overall 2/5. It's cheap, but nothing special at all.

The texture is average, not sticky but a bit on the more runny side (but will not drip). I don't find this that moisturising for my super dry lips either.

Manicare Nail Polish remover review

Manicare Treating Nail Polish Remover comes in a plastic bottle with blue cap, 125ml is the largest size I could find in Priceline and retails for about 5-6AUD.

Ingredient list:

It removes polishes fairly well- however the proper way of removing a polish is still to use it on some medium with enough grip, like a cotton ball or cotton pad (instead of using tissue). Just put cotton ball on the bottle, tip bottle over a bit and soak the cotton ball up slightly, then press cotton ball against nails, wait for 5 seconds then swipe off. It takes me around 2-3 minutes to remove all polishes off my tips. Would be even quicker if it wasn't for me wearing topcoats with all my polishes.

A tad longer is needed when removing any polishes with more shimmers or glitters.

You can see I've used about 85% of the bottle already =) One bottle lasts me maybe 2-3 months which is fairly cheap consider I do wear on average about 1 -2 different color poilshes each week. 

Overall 5/5. Until I try and find something better it's unlikely I will switch anytime soon!

Essie Sold Out Show #390 Nail Polish Review/ Swatch

Essie Sold Out Show (code #390) Nail Polish was definitely one of my earlier Essie polish purchases from a while. Using this I was definitely reminded when I first got into nailpolishes, I often felt the (older collections of) Essie formulation in sheer/ french shades were generally inferior to OPI in terms of colors and finishes.

However, Sold Out Show was a pretty decent one in terms of color and finish. It does has a stronger nailpolish smell that is slightly irritating for the nose, the smell has obviously improved over the years with Essie.

This is probably as good as I could capture the Sold Out Show shade. You can see in a predominantly ivory base (with a tiny hint of pink), there's this pearly/ opal glow. The glow is slightly lavender and slightly silvery. Very very subtle.

Here are many nail swatches- Sold Out Show is basically an ivory french color with a slight pink touch, but it is way more ivory than pink. The ivory is also a soft ivory, not a stark white base.  The finish is a sheer transparent pearl with an opal flash (which makes this a neutral or cool toned shade) that can be built up for more opacity, but never completely creme.

Here under a slightly different lighting it's clearly more ivory/white than pink.

Overall 4/5. It's a pleasant, safe ivory pearly shade with an opal flash. It is one of those 'clean' looking shades. However would require a good application of 2-3 coats to ensure no streakiness. Would like more opacity in this shade as a true ivory pearl with opal flash in more opacity would certainly be stunning.

I love french shades and pastel colors but would not say this is on my 'must have Essies' list.

Chanel Ombre Essentiel Soft Touch Eyeshadow 66 Candid / 69 Black Star swatch/ review

Chanel makes eyeshadow singles every now and then in their various makeup collections. Personally I much prefer their quads since the single eyeshadows cost an arm and a leg anyway.

Here's #66 Candid and #69 Black Star, both are limited editions.

#66 Candid looks like a soft velvet pale beige with a pink tint, I thought it would make a wonderful eyeshadow base shade. It has very very fine shimmers close up. however on hands it shows as just a sheer powdery pale pink beige.

 #69 Black Star looks like a shimmering charcoal greyed-black in the pan, thus I was rather excited about this shade:

#66 Candid swatch:

 (yes it barely shows...) On my eyelid it's not enough to create a perfect canvas as I do have some pigmentation.

#66 and #69 swatch

You can see black star does apply shimmery, but not as intense as it looks in the pan, and the color is still sheer. Overall 2/5, a bit disappointed with the quality paritcularly given the prices Chanel charges.

MAC Undercurrent Pearlglide Intense Eyeliner

MAC Pearlglide eyeliners are shimmering eyeliners with a medium tip, it's hard to do a fine line with these, but they are richly pigmented and shimmery, which is refreshing as a lot of so called shimmery eyeliners often barely shows any shimmers once on the eye.

Undercurrent is a rich forest green with shimmers, very gorgeous. The pearlglide eyeliners apply without much tugging, I do find depending on the weather they can sometimes be a bit soft and crumbs on my eyelashes, which is a bit hard to clean and affects my mascara application.

Overall 4/5. Wish the consistency would lead to less crumbiliness.

Fasio Point Make-up Remover with white lily extract review

Fasio Point Make-up remover is in a 100ml, silver capped blue bottle. It's a 'point' makeup remover which in the terminology of Japanese brands means point makeup (as opposed to base makeup like foundations), which generally means eyes and lip makeup.

Fasio is a drugstore brand, this probably retails for below 10USD. Very cheap, very effective.

Comes in a pour out cap:

The instruction says apply the remover on a cotton swab or cotton pad, then gently press against the eye, wait a few seconds, then gently wipe off your eye makeup.

Here's what it looks like on the cotton, it's a cloudy thickish liquid consistency (without being a gel).

Here's my test swatch of MAC black swan liner on top, and Shu uemura shimmer eyeliner in black on the bottom. Both have shimmers so we can test to see how Fasio performs with eyeliners which tend to leave shimmer particles behind when removing your eye makeup:

Wiped over skin without too much effort:

Here- clean skin afterwards. I didn't recleanse with soap cleanser or anything. Just rinsed with water and pat dry.

As with most eye makeup removers, it's best to put enough on the cotton pad (but without being dripping wet otherwise the makeup remover gets into your eye easily), the trick is to let the remover work its magic by being pressed against the eye to allow it to melt away the eyemakeup first. Then swipe.

If you apply, swipe straightaway, you will have to go back and reswipe a few times to get everything off, which is always bad when you have to tug the delicate skin around the eye.

Overall 5/5. I'm on my 3rd bottle over the last 3 or 4 years. I think lancome Bifacil is better (but cost a few times more than this obviously. However this works wonders with most Japanese mascara (can be quite stubborn to remove) and general eyeliner or makeup.

I always double cleanse with soup to get any last residue off.

This can make your eye a little bit cloudy if the liquid gets in, but generally I've never found it to irritate my eyes.