Targeting eyelashes: DejaVu Tiny Sniper Mascara & Kiss Me Heroine Make Impact frame & curl mascara

 I have been trying out two new types of  mascaras lately.

They have both a different purpose. Eyelashes are eyelashes, but the brush and formula can make the difference. So I have a under-row lash mascara for review and a 'standard' mascara.

I start off with the special one. I spotted the DejaVu Tiny Sniper on sasa, and it was the name that got me.

Sniper, according to Wiki:

A sniper is a marksman who shoots targets from concealed positions or distances exceeding the capabilities of regular personnel. Snipers typically have specialized training and distinct high-precision rifles.

So the name is a bit...violent? But I get the idea that the sniper mascara is so good it targets the smallest lashes:

DejaVu Tiny Sniper lower lash mascara

That brings me to Sasa's description:

One of the hottest makeup items in Japan, DEJAVU FIBERWIG Tiny Sniper is a paint-on false lash that instantly transforms into wrapping firm and multiple fiber to lengthen your lashes.

Lengthen the tiny lash at the corners of eyes and lower lash

It contains the ultra-soft fiber which is specially for tiny lashes, resulting in separate lash look.

Light and smooth mascara does not cake, resulting in long and natural-looking makeup finish.

The tiny brush and long handle enable convenient and accurate application.

No “panda eyes”

It instantly transforms into adhering firm to resist sebum, water and sweat. No smudge.

Convenient removal

It could be removed by warm water. No damage to lashes

1. Comb eyelashes with eyelash brush. Curl up eyelashes with lash curler.
2. Take out the mascara brush. Brush your eyelashes outwards and horizontally. Brush the outer side of eyelashes first then the inner side for curly eyelashes.  
3. Apply the second layer if necessary. Reapply after the previous layer dries.  
4. Tidy up with eyelash brush.

I really like and enjoy the mascara for the tiny lashes of my under ánd upperlashes. That is right: I use it as a upperlash mascara as well. It is so precise that I get this wonderfully long and defined look. It only takes a bit longer to obtain the look, but it works.

It does wash off with warmer water. People who know the wash-off formula know it crumbles down to black tiny balls, and you can wash it off.

Overall, a wonderful mascara for a lengthening (not so thickening) and precise application of mascara.

I purchased the Tiny Sniper on sasa (here) for $12.20

To give away the clue, I have not been so enthousiastic about the next one: Kiss me Heroine Make Impact Frame & Curl Mascara.
But it is a question of preference...I will explain further.

Adambeauty has this description up on the Lash & Curl (the black, new one)
Google translate translated the Chinese into this:

Ying Xian Feng exceptionally strong long mascara. III design with a round brush to create his best eyelashes, like wearing false eyelashes, Fung Ying effect of 80% over the same series. 。 Plant wax components with triple, so lasting curl mascara all day.

 Lasting waterproof formula, anti-sweat, tears, and grease.  Repair plant components, protect the eyelashes break. 

Yeh, I never said Google translate is perfect...

First, the Frame and Curl is the one in black on top, and the other one in red is the Kiss Me Heroine Long& Curl one.

I basically like the red Long & Curl for the formula, but most importantly because of the brush. The formula leaves lashes curled and black, but not too stiff.

The stiffness is the biggest problem of the Frame & Curl one. But it has other downsides I dislike:

1. The brush is not precise enough. It is one of those plastic brushes with both sides, one with hardly any brush and the other side with longer, comb-like pins. One coat left my eyelashes overcoated, and my upper eyelids as well!
2. The formula leaves lashes like a thick coat of Superglue. Horribly stiff and unconfortable.
3. That makes it a B%&@# to take it off. It rivals the notorious Majolica Majorca mascara times 10....
4. So, I gotten irritated eyes the morning after because of the almost impossible way to remove it all. Yeh, I have tons of Japanese mascaras so I know how stubborn some can be (Majolica Majorca??), but this tops them all.

On the plus side, it is the most black and glossy formula ever...

I am suprised this mascara is so different than the red long & curl one of Kiss Me Heroine, because I really like that one and I rotate it on regular basis.

Still, it gotten some raves on other blogs, so it might not work for me but it could work for you.

I bought the Kiss me Heroine Frame and Curl on adambeauty over here for $15.50

Now I am curious for the Kiss Me Heavy Rotation Long Volume Dynamic mascara. I wonder how that one will work...

Did you have any new mascara discoveries lately?

Comb-i-nation

One of my necklaces I like to comb-ine...

(I Puchased this one on Etsy over here. I love their quirky variety of necklaces)

Shiseido Integrate Mineral Foundation in OC 30

I finally have a review of a Japanese cosmetic brand!

I'm happy to get back to the track I blog the most about. Although I consider myself to be a multi-flexible blogger, I often like to review beautyproducts that do not get that much love in the English language, but are still noteworthy...And...getting more popular as well in the so-called Western world: NY times has even published an article about it (here), featuring the most popular 'Westies' blogging about Japanese cosmetics...Kathi from Lotuspalace and Muse from MusingsofaMuse.

Fab thing is that the Western cosmetic brands learn and 'borrow' from Japanese brands. The foam hair dye brands is one of the most popular examples, but the Western version often gets lower reviews so, yeh, L'oreal and the likes just have to perfect their bubble dyes a bit more.

Oh, and BB cream is a funny one. Almost everyone knows they started making BB in Germany for post-operation people, and it gotten really popular in Korea (afterwards the whole Eastern part of Asia) and now it is getting popular in the West again.

Sticking to the subject: my review. Mineral foundations are another thing that has been popular in the West for a couple of years, starting out with Bare Escentuals and transferring into a million of etailer brands and larger drugstore versions.

So some Japanese brands jumped upon this bandwagon as well. Kanebo Kate has issued a Mineral powder, and Integrate suprised me with a fluid mineral foundation.



Shiseido Integrate Mineral Foundation in OC 30: 'be happy with the power of mineral'

I often prefer fluid versions over the loose powder forms. It is claimed that powder versions are often more pure and with less additives, but I like the fluidity and control you can get with fluid foundations. Oh, and they often add more moisture to dehydrated skin.

Most Japanese brand add their SPF's in their foundation these days. This foundation has a SPF 23. The PA ++ is added too.

The bottle is a squeezable plastic one and has a little opening. No pump:

 

I picked colour no. OC 30 ---> the darkest one. It starts with OC 00, OC 10, OC 20. I picked the darkest colour for when having a (self)tan.

To my suprise, it is quite a dark tone! My colouring was a NC 30 to 35 after a couple of self-tan sessions. The formula was quite the match. Normally, a Japanese OC 30...for example the Lunasol Water Gel Foundation in OC 30 (one I still have to review!), is so much lighter.

On NC30-ish skin:

LOL, it looks like a weird omelet my skin and the swatch like this!

As you probably can see, the formula is quite runny, if not watery. a little dot like this blends out quite a large part of the skin:


Shiseido Integrate Mineral foundation in OC 30- red line is line between bare skin & foundation



The arm is even more tan...ugh, I am not getting that tan again, but you can see the contrast.

For such a lightweight product, it really covers up a bit of imperfection.

It is not a glowy foundation like Lunasol Water Cream Foundation. It is quite a matte one.

That makes it a more suitable foundation for the oily and combination skintypes.

For me, a notorious shiny t-zone-y person during warmer seasons, I had about 3 hours of longer matte-ness compared to a non-oil controlling foundation (even with Jurlique Rose powder, which is not that great agaisnt the oilies, afteral). Quite reasonable, I believe.

Scent: none! Always a plus for the scent-sensitive and less-tolerant skintypes.

Summing up:

The positives:

* Colour range goes up to mid-tone or NC 30/35.

* Scent-free

* Mineral foundation

* Little bit covers quite some area

* fluid texture (might be a negative to some people...I'm quite neutral about it, but in the summer month I love a lighter texture)

* slight yellow undertone covers little bit of redness (also a negative if you are really cooltoned)

* Mattifying

* portable little bottle in not-easy-to break plastic

* mid-range price

* No personal breakouts and skin reacted tolerant

The negatives:

* Perhaps too matte for some people, which brings me to the next:

* not really moisturizing

* limited colour range, and not really suitable for cool toned skins

* not a real luxury level with the packaging that you will get with, e.g. Jill Stuart or Lunasol Water Cream    Jar

* Difficult to track down the totality of ingredients in English.

I bought it over (here) at adambeauty for $19.

Mid Weekly Quirkologies

This quirky wednesday I have....

1. Enjoying blood red lipstick KISS from Gosh...

Lately, I frequently step outside my makeup confort zone  and have been trying some brights: among them my latest Gosh in Kiss, but also a colour like MAC's Girl About Town.
It is so effortlessly when you do not want to apply a whole face of makeup. but want to say 'hey, I'm wearing some makeup'.

2. Quirky facial blotting sheets...

This odd chicken has some red lips as well, but it is for oil blotting...Oil-blotting season is coming, or Summer...so to keep the oilies at bay I will be toting around the LUCKY Gender Bender Chicken Komanech Oil Blotting Paper.

I have no idea why it is Gender Bender, because chickens are mostly females, or it would be a rooster, right? But right, perhaps it connects to Lady Gaga or so.
(from sasa over here)

It suits me...

I have been stumbling upon this gorgeously vintage suitcase in a second hand haberdashery:

Quite original, lovingly vintage, and the price...



A fab deal: It suit(cases) me...

Something Shu about Catrice

In one of my  last drugstore visits I noticed something slightly familiar in the makeup department.

Yeh, I love my more-difficult-to-get cosmetics that I have to order from outside Holland a lot, especially the refined technologies in Japanese (and Korean, and Taiwanese) cosmetics, but I do like some brands that are available over here as well. Especially when they are quite good.

To continue, I noticed that makeup brand Catrice had something quite Shu Uemura about their new packaging:

Ok, the Catrice is a tad bigger than the Shu Uemura, but the design is quite copycat!

And the quality is quite good: Shu ME Brown 885 on the left and Catrice Swimming with Dolphins (Loooove their names):

I haven't swatched the far right one with the gorgeous decoration. It is from their Wonderland Collection and is called C01 Fairy Dust, because I might add this one in a near future giveaway (Watch this space). But this Dutch blogger made a fab swatch of it, so check it out! (here)

So, imitation is the highest form of flattery? Well, if the quality is really good and the price is right, for me, yeh, sometimes...:D

Goin' for the real deal?

I have a mini Alexa...she is my babe...

Her leather is fine yet sturdy. You can fit enough necessary and unnecessary stuff in there and she wears like a breeze.

But she is not the real deal...

She is not a Mulberry...

I normally steer away from faux-brands, but I really wanted to try out if I like the dupe before venturing on the real deal...

btw, one of my gmarket purchases under $70:
EDITED: I got this one over here  or itemno. 192385458, from seller 뮤즈백 and it is bag 타입 : 알렉사 미니-브라운.


Besides of the lock, she looks quite like the real Alexa.

So, should I buy the real deal, as I planned to? What do you think?

Mid Weekly Quirkologies

My quirkies for this week:

1. Gone the original DIY route with a IKEA drawer in RAST...

My friend helped me, btw, but I did quite some building myself. Afterwards, I prettified and personified the bottom of the drawers with some Liberty inspired fabric with flowers...I might try to find some drawerknobs with a more vintagy feel, so my standard IKEA will be a personilised Birkie-esque one.

2. Looking out for beach-worthy weather....

You  can say that every type of weather is beach-worthy, just as it depends on your original taste. But I mean the temperatures above 20 degrees celcius and preferably a sea that is not too cold...;D. The weather forecast for this weekend in Holland is rather good, so....perhaps...

Kobuku Bath Powder (Little Twin Stars) & Bison Rosefull Bath Salt (Morocco)

Bathing is one of my favourite ways of winding down...

Blissfully, I am not alone among the fans of taking baths. Japanese culture has dedicated a whole cult around bathing and let's not forget the different kinds of ballistics from Lush. This is a plus for me because there will be more goods on the market that make bathing even a more hedonistic experience.

Although I must say that bathing is not simply for relaxation or hedonistic pleasure. Different types of baths are able to detoxify, induce sweating, for loosing weight, or stimulate. Lush lovers will know what I mean. And Japanese bathing experts even have more experience on the powers of baths when adding a specific ingredient to it.

So I added a couple of Japanese bath salts in my latest sasa order. They added a couple of newbies on their site which looked rather tempting to me. I once tried their sweat-inducing bathsalts, and yeh, although they were not bad, I prefer to sweat during exercise and not during bathing.

First, for the Kawaii factor: Kobuku Bath powder in Little Twin Stars:

This is what sasa has to say on the bath powder:

KOKUBO Bath Powder (Little Twin Stars) is a medicinal bath powder for babies whose skin is delicate to take a hot bath. The chlorine-free product contains oryzanol to moisturize skin.
Without any perfume and colourant, it is also suitable for adults who have sensitive skin.

For a medicated bath, I do find the bath salt to be rather fluorecent yellow.

It looks cute, though, but are these extra colorants beneficial for overreactive skin? Mmmm...

When I pour something in warm water, the proces looks like this:

It takes such a long time to dissolve, and it does not dissolve fully at all. Look at my wobbly red arrow I tried to draw (yeh) and see the film that stays on the water:

The water and powder is completely scentless, and it did not irritate me. But it did not add anything extra either, besides of the yellow colour and the film on the water.

Although cute for its packaging and fun yellow colour, I would not rebuy this one.

But if you want to, you can buy it over here for $ 2.20 on sasa.com

I had a more blissfull experience with Bison Rosefull Bath Salt in Morocco

This is what Sasa has to say about it:

Bison Rosefull Bath Salt (Morocco) is mineral salt-based. It is added with rose essence, a beautifying ingredient. It lets you moisturize your skin while bathing. Natural rose extracts include the hydrating ingredient of Provence rose, the firming ingredient of rosehip essence, and the moisturizing ingredient of wild rose essential oil.

Moroccan-style beautifying ingredients including Damask rose water, liquid yogurt and lactic acid.

• Argania spinosa Kernel Oil, Germanium】hydrate.
• 【Rosemary Leaf Extract】firms skin.
• 【Capsicum Fruit Extract】an hot ingredient.

Wow, what a potion for the skin: bath salt, liquid yogurt, argan oil and lactic acid.

I already adore rose-scented products. I do not use it a lot in perfume because I might up smelling a bit too girly for my liking. Think: I wear one of those on-trend girl-meets-boy outfits and I smell like Marie Antoinette times three...not quite the match.

When wearing floaty dresses, absolutely, I pop on one of my rose-based samples I like.

But I like it when bathing at home or in a product for relaxation.

What I enjoy about this product is that it is more than just bath powder: see the salts in it!

I like taking baths with seasalts for detoxing and desensiting the skin. But honestly, they can be a bit boring scentwise. So, this combination has the pleasure of rose-scent and the perky colour of rose, AND the healing properties of bathing salts!

Here is the freshly added product in warm water: the salts are still on the bottom of the glass:

After a minute everything has dissolved and it looks like Tang or other lemonade:

Not the most natural colour, but there are no claims on the package that would say it is completely natural or suited for allergic prone people. I like the change of colour, and the rosy red is such a good match to its strongly but beautifully scented rose...

I felt really relaxed after bathing in this salt, and I believe the added yogurt/lactic acid and/or argan oil was also quite softening on my skin (compared to bathing in salts only).

Overall, it is love and I will rebuy this one. I still have a satchet of Bulgarian rose and French Rose to try, but this first one is absolutely delightful.

The Bison Rosefull Bath Salt in Morocco retails for $2.40 on sasa.com (link).

Pretty packages

I had a celebration of pretty packages this week.

First, my Zuneta order...

I love how they decorate their boxes with ribbons...it gives out such a decadent feel to it...

I finally ordered the foundation from the highly raved brand Edward Bess. It is not my first Bess purchase, as I have an eyeshadow in a supernatural hue from his brand.

And some Butter London nailpolishes...Zuneta had a deal of buy 2-get one free. I think that the one over here is Yummy Mummy...

I received a lovely necklace from Tiffany from a friend of mine....

What kind of necklace?..I will keep that for myself because of the personal symbolism of it.

But don't you love the bag they give out...MINT and Silver...so beautiful.

Always lovely for its stamps: a Adambeauty package...

I ordered some new type of Kiss Me Heroine mascara that, I believe Kathi from Lotuspalace, gave a A+ to it. I always feel less guilty about ordering mascaras because they only last for 3 months so you HAVE to replace them ->excuse for another purchase. And yeh, most women have mascara in their face-wardrobe so it is a basic!

And a fluid Mineral foundation from Integrate. I wonder how it will perform. I still like mineral foundations because they are tolerated by the most sensitive skins. So, those are some test products for the future :D

Yeh, I feel really spoiled now: I' ve spoiled myself and a friend spoiled me :D

Mid Weekly Quirkologies

Last couple of days...

.

1. Neglecting my blog...
Sorry peeps, I have been neglecting my blog due to a bit of a break on the writing front...hehe, I will do a proper post soon!

2. Comida  española
 I have had such a brillant dinner in a Spanish restaurant! I ordered a fantastically spiced tuna (not on the pic)  and a superb paella and it was a fiesta for the tastebuds...I love spanish food as it reminds me of childhood holidays and I like the relative originality of the Spanish cuisine. So it is one of my favourite foods!

Ps. What is your favourite type of food/nationality/fusion?

Mid Weekly Quirkologies

The last seven days had a Regal note...but not only the Wedding between Kate & Will:

1 & 2 Dutch Queensday

The funny thing is that Queensday is not even about celebrating the Queen's Birthday, because her birthday is in January. It is her mum's birthday, and they celebrate on this day because it has a high potential for good weather (unlike January))

Queensday is about celebration, lots of revellers on the streets, and just everything orange (like the nailpolish on the right, which, ironically, is named L.A. Sunset).

So yeh, a bit of info on the Dutch culture...not beauty-blog related, but a bit as well because all that orange paint takes some skills (or not, because the weirder decorated the better, LOL)