Kanebo Coffret D'or Jewelite Nail Color Polish PK148 review/ swatch

Kanebo Coffret D'or Jewlite Nail colors are released since early 2010, with new colors added constantly to the line (and occassional bottle revamps).

I'm reviewing "PK148", which is a light shimmering pink pearl, it's like cherry blossom pink, very pretty and dlicate.

You can see the soft shimmers infused in the polish:

Comes with average sized bristles, not as great as OPI Pro-wide brushes, but works fine for me.

Here it is, 2 coats on nails. The shimmers are extremely fine which really makes this a pearly finish instead of shimmery. However it is not frosty at all. It's relatively opaque for a light color like this.

 

Overall 5/5. A very pretty feminine pink, I actually cannot think of an Essie or OPI dupe for this. (Though the Japanese brands tends to release a lot of similar colors to this).

Fancl Lip Cream (lipbalm/ stick) review

Fancl Lip Cream comes in a cute plastic pink slim tube packaging, it contains very ltitle product though- about 2.3g which means for those who uses lipbalm 4-5 times a day, you could use this up within weeks!

According to Fancl, it's meant to be: A daily lip care formulated with rose hip oil, Vitamin E to protect against dryness, and achieve soft and healthy lips. Use it alone, or under lip color.


*Free of preservatives, sterilizers, petroleum surfactants, fragrances, mineral oil.
 

Overall it's a very easily applicable, thinnish lipbalm (not the " it's not doing anything" type of thinnish but just the nature of the product itself), applies clear on the lips.  It never interferes with my other lip makeup, allows them to glide on. It helps with minor chapped lips, is extremely mild, however will not treat active lip irritations.
 
Sometimes I feel this is not quite enough, but for those people who frequently apply lipbalms it's very handy. I leave a tube next to my work desk and apply throughout the day, as I drink a lot of hot drinks like tea or coffee etc and reapplying this helps.
 
Overall 5/5. It's the most mild lipbalm I've used for my ultra sensitive lips apart from Yuskin lipcream. It will not cure accute chapped lips but it's so mild it's good for times of any lip irritations.
 
Probably retails around 10-12USD, which is hefty given the size.

Kiehl's Creamy Eye Treatment with Avocado review

Kiehl's Creamy Eye Treatment with avocado (often also just called the Avocado Eye cream) is probably one of the cult Kiehl's products out there. People either love it, or hate it.

I belong to the love it category, this is my second pot and you can see I'm 80% through it already. Each pot lasts for a good 6 months plus. (I also use other eye creams here and there so it stretches out how long most skincare lasts me for).

It's in a sturdy plastic white jar, 15ml content.

Ingredients are printed on the cap: 

Comes with a plastic separator- I recommend keeping this because it seals the product off from air contact quite well. (However it's really fiddly every time I use the pot).

Here's the avocado eyecream- it really does look like smooshy avocado, it has a light yellow/green tinge but applies clear on the skin.

It has a thickish cream consistency.

However, the really interesting thing about this eye cream, is that it almost 'emulsifies' a little bit and just melts slightly on the skin, without being fully absorbed in. This is where I see majority of the negative reviews.

Once you pat into the under eye area it sort of looks like below, there is still clearly a layer left on top of the skin. This is what I love about this eye cream though, it provides a very good canvas and stops my concealer and undereye makeup from looking dry. 

My concealer simply glides on top of this, no matter what consistency it is- from stick to liquid concealer to just powder foundation. It totally stops and undereye lines or creases you didn't think you have from appearing underneath your foundation or concealer.

Overall 5/5. In terms of effectiveness as an eyecream, it is pretty no frills- does what it claims to do. It light moisturises but I would think of this more as a 'barrier' type of eye cream (i.e. it seals whatever's underneath in and provides a protective canvas). So you can try to layer this on top of other eye serum.

It will not diminish your undereye circles or reduce puffyness (hence I avoid using it on top of my eye which tends to get puffy). However when I use this it just seems to 'plump' up my undereye skin area which makes it quite good for concealers.

No complaint about this at all given it's retails for like < 30 USD and 15ml eye cream really lasts a good 6 months.  If I could change anything about it, I suppose would be the packaging- I just hate any skincare in an open tub.

OPI Nail Lacquer It's a Doozi says Suzi A41 swatch/ review

OPI It's a Doozi Says Suzi (code A41) is a shimmery jewel toned red with some gold touch. It's not a gold shimmer or gold flash but there is a very subtle gold shimmer base which makes it more neutral or slightly warm than cool.

It's not a dark red, but like a ripened red cherry. The overall finish is slightly shimmery or pearly. The shimmer is very very fine.

Overall I think it's a classy red- without looking cheap or tacky. Prefer this on me when I'm a bit more pale.

Overall 4/5. I know it's a bit hard to find in some countries, I do think there must be a lot of similar reds out there, it's pretty but not a must have.

Covermark Deep Cleansing Oil Review

Covermark is a premium Japanese brand which focuses on foundations and base sort of products. They also have skincare and color makeup like blushes, eyeshadows but the foundation bases are their primary product line and also what they are renowned for.

The Deep Cleansing Oil comes in 140ml ( RRP2800 Yen) , 210ml (4,000Yen) or 420ml (7,000 Yen).

They are probably on the more pricy side. I'm reviewing the 210ml which is probably around equivalent RRP of 45-55USD.

The cleansing oil comes in a very pretty, pearly pink paisley print paper box. It looks very classy.

Back of box with ingredeitn list, I noticed mineral oil is under the ingredients.

Here's the cleansing oil in a pump dispenser design- there's a safety cap there so you can bring that for travel to avoid spillage.

Instructions:

Instructions- it says use cleansing oil, face cleanser, toner, seum then moisturiser.

I use 1 full pump for the full face, massage onto dry face for 30sec to 1 minute until I can feel most of my makeup melts away, then I gradually add a bit of water then massage more until the cleansing oil emulsifies on the face, then finally splash with a lot of water to remove any residue. It rinses clean very quickly and easily.

Overall this is a super high quality cleansing oil- if not for the price and lack of access I would have purchased another bottle. The 210ml bottle lasted me a good 4-6 months (with some other makeup removers used occassionally). It takes away all traces of makeup, personally I think it cleanses better than Fancl, and leaves no dryness behind. It is also minimally scented.

It's a slightly cloudy cleansing oil, not as cloudy as Fancl, but also slightly more runny than Fancl.

I've never had any irritation with this despite mineral oil being listed as one of the ingredients. I have ultra sensitive skin as well- any cleanser which is too drying will leave my face instantly red and irritated.

Overall 5/5.

RMK Nail Color EX20 Shimmery White review/ swatch

RMK Nail Color EX20 (I forgot the color code's actual English name, sorry! so I'm just calling it shimmery white. It was released in 2008 as part of the limited edition items.

It's basically is what it looks in the bottle- a shimmery ivory white. It's really quite "white" in color, it's not stark white just yet, but indeed very borderline to that unless you have really pale skin.   I would say it's a moonlight white.

It's shimmery with 2 coats and probably full opaque in 3.

 

Overall 3/5. In certain angles and when I'm particularly pale, this looks really clean on my nails and pretty. However under other lights or when I'm a bit more tanned, this simply looks a bit too white a color and not natural enough.

MAC Soiree Nail Lacquer swatch/ review

MAC Soiree Nail Lacquer is from 2011 collection (limited edition shade). It's looks like a foil finish polish from the bottle so I was rather excited to try this.

To my surprise, it applies on the nails like a very metallic, high shine liquid metal- it's quite metallic so it's not so much a foil finish anymore. It applies exactly same color as from the bottle, it's shimmery cocoa brown, under some lights it looks like a lighter gold.

Not my favorite color as it is really very metallic in real life and a bit too much for work.

I'm wearing 2 coats above. Sorry for slightly chipped bits because I only remembered to photo this on day 3. I suppose this also shows it's not ultra long lasting given chipping started on day 3. I'm wearing seche vite topcoat with this already.

Redken All Soft Velvet Whip Thermal Softening Treatment for Dry/ brittle Hair Review

Red Ken's All Soft line is targeted for those with dry hair and some frizziness.  While my scalp is probably healthy bordering slightly oily, my hair is a bit drier especially given I now dye it regularly.

The Velvet Whip Thermal Softening Treatment is meant to be applied to towel dried hair before you blowdry, as a genearl leave-in hair treatment. You can also use this on dry hair to tame away flyaways or light frizziness.

It's in a 150ml pump bottle. Unfortrunately sometimes after you don't use it for a day or two, any remaining product tend to dry a bit at the pump opening so you get some lumpy bits.

Product looks like this- the seemingly shimmery bits are actually just air bubbles in the product. It's a not too firm and not too thin light cream consistency. I use this much which is about 3 peas size. I tend to apply only to the ends of my hair rather than roots before blow drying.

It quickly disappears into hair, barely feel like I actually applied anything. It has a rather nice scent, a bit soft and flowery but not cloying.

Here's the before and after- I applied some on damp hair on one side of my head and didn't apply any on the other side, and blow dried.

I know you are probably thinking, hey the left side looks better, did I mis-label this? No. Actually there is very little difference between using this before blowdrying or not. Verdict is, I feel very little difference blowdrying whether with or without this.

Understably it's meant to be a bit of a heat protectant so maybe the effect is not immediately there, but I've gone through about 120ml out of the 150ml in the past year (Only use this because I'm trying to use it up) and really feel it doesn't do very much.


I know that this is the 2nd generation 'velvet whip' product - I've previously used the old velvet whip in 2009 and it was a lot better than this new version (actually felt like it treated my hair and left it soft).  So not impressed.

This retails about 25-30AUD in Australia depending on which salons you find.

Overall I generally only use it on dry hair in the mornings, use a far less amount and rub between my palms then lightly pat on flyaway hair, then smooth down to the ends, to tame the flyaway on my hair and it seems to work fine. However most of my other hair treatments would easily do just as much but leave me with considerably better feeling and softer hair.

I've also gone through a bottle of the All Soft shampoo and conditioner, and find them rather disappointing. I'd rather spend a bit more and get Kerastase instead.

Overall 2/5.

Shiseido Hada-Senka Moisturising Cream Lotion review

Shiseido Hada-Senka line was released in 2010, it's sort of just priced around drugstore brand, if not maybe a mere 10-15% higher, but boosts quality to be very similar to department store brands.  ( RRP is around 1900 yen which is 20-25USD? It's a 200ml pink flip-top bottle, the plastic bottle is not completely hard so you just tip it over and squeeze to get the right quantity.

The English name is non existent on the bottle, both the brand name or the product name- which is fairly rare for Shiseido I thought. However on the back of the bottle it says Shiseido Hada Senka .com so that's how I figured out the English name for this line.

It comes in 2 versions, normal and rich (rich being more moisturising). The pink cap one is the rich version.

A few places also translate it as 'light' version vs 'moist' version. Same thing. I'm reviewing the moist version (aka rich version).

Basically this is a hydrating/ moisturising toner.  Also boasted to be able to be used as a moisturiser on its own.

You can see it is not a runny lotion like how you'd imagine a toner to be- instead it's like a liquid gel that melts slightly on contact with the skin, but it more feels like applying a runny GEL moisturising on the skin.

Massaged in: you can see it leaves a moisturising layer on the skin. It sinks in completely after 30 seconds, despite slight stickyness when still damp.

 Overall I use this as a toner (it does seem to also help remove last trace of makeup, but it's not abrasive). It seems to provide extra moisture for whatever skincare you apply following this. It supplements my other face serums quite well, as I generally cannot use much liquid or cream moisturisers without getting congested skin.

On its own being a moisturiser it's slightly weak. Not enough for Australian dry winter. However underneath other moisturisers it does help to supplement that extra boost of moisture (as the active ingredients are hyaluronic acid and royal jelly).

It readily sinks in after about 30-40 seconds on the skin though. So you can either apply your other moisturiser while this is still a bit damp on the skin, or wait for the dampness to go away before applying other things.

I've tried applying with both cotton wool and just by hand, and both works fine. For extra dry skin days, I apply a layer by hand, massage in, follow with moisturiser, then the next day any peeling skin is gone.

Overall 5/5- This is definitely a very basic- but effective product. I believe in simplistic skincare if you could help it, this feels very non irritating and really does it job on the skin. Don't expect miracles like it will fix up your skin and make it radiant or whatever, it just does the very simple job as a supplemental moisturiser.

If you have any serums that you find is effective, but too drying on the skin on its own, try layering with this.

I understand why it's a Japanese drugstore best seller this year, thumbs up and will repurchase.

Here's the light version (on the left). In Japan they also sell 'refill' packs which you can refill the bottles with, pretty neat.

The moist version is on the right.

Fancl White Essence Review

Fancl White Essence was released in 2010, and the product is also still current for 2011.

This is my 3rd bottle of Fancl White essence, I also have 2 more unopened bottles, so which means this must warrant my review!

As can be seen from my skin swatches I'm quite pale, however the problem with being pale under the Australian sun is the sunspots, moles and freckles!  Not to mention the usual pigmentation from minor zits or skin irritations.

Fancl White Essence is about 30-35USD RRP or thereabouts (at least in HK). It's in a very sanitary 18ml pump bottle.

Product code is 3435-21 (for ease of order if you are a Fancl mail order member).

This is the label with the HK Fancl White Essence (they name it differently between Taiwan and HK). The key ingredients roughly translates to concentrated Vitamin C and Olive leaf extracts, SVTC something and jojoba extract.

The instructions says 2 pumps and apply over face, and massage lightly into places of pigmentation or acne scars/ freckles etc. Usually I just use 1 pump for the full face.

Again, very clean pump bottle mechanism:

There's a display window which shows how much is left- when the window turns white, you will only have about 7-10 days amount left. The design will be able to use up every  last drop in the bottle.

Here it is on the skin- it's a milky serum, not completely clear. It has virtually no scent.

Massages into skin very quickly, absorbs quickly too. It's sufficiently moisturising for me in summer!. In winter I might need something lightly layered on top.

So why do I love this so much? Well it's all after my last holiday where I spent 4 weeks in the middle east during the hottest time ever- I was regularly out under the sun for about 5-6 hours a day (when it's around 38-46 degrees celcius, or 100F~115F).  Yes sometimes in the middle of the desert.

As I was on holiday, I really used quite minimal skincare- it was Fancl White Essence day and night, during the day I apply Sofina Beaute SPF50 sunscreen on top of Fancl (I hardly get a chance to reapply sunscreen during the day), then at night often just Fancl White essence and nothing else (unless my skin was peeling then I'd massage in some Sofina Beaute moisturising cream on top).

Honestly I came back from my holiday with the best skin ever, for the first time in 3 yrs I actually didn't feel like I needed to wear makeup to work. Even work colleagues commented on how ridiculously better my skin looked.

I mean I used Sofina Beaute SPF50 sunscreen for the past 18 mths so the only thing new was Fancl. It truely kept my skin at very good condition even during the hectic travel plans. On top of that, I barely had much tan despite 1 month under the sun (which was another story for my body).

I've consistently then used it since, I haven't noticed as miraculous change since (possibly because I'm more well rested during the holiday? ) but it is definitely quite fabulous with keeping my freckles at bay and keep my skin radiant looking (I dont' think anything will really lighten existing freckles or sunspots short of laser treatment) but I get far less new freckles. Also my easily congested skin haven't ever hated this.

Only thing is sometimes I take a break from this during very cold dry winter- (or layer moisturising cream on top of this), I find when the skin on my cheek is sometimes very thin and irritated from the winter wind and blast of heater, applying this could feel a little bit of sting.

Overall 5/5.