Review: Peripera Rouge Pang in PP08 Serious

Korean beauty brands have some of the best lipsticks in the market. I don't know how they do it. High quality lip products with affordable price tags. If you haven't tried any lipsticks from Korean brands, I highly recommend that you try some from Etude House and Innisfree - amazing products with wallet-friendly prices. 

Or, maybe you can try Peripera Rouge Pang! I bought mine in shade PP08 Serious from Qoo10 on a whim and it actually turned out to be quite a stellar product. It's S$10.99 with free normal mail on Qoo10. 

Packaging: The lipstick cover has a similar shade to the lipstick shade, so it will be easy to find the colour that you want to apply if you have many of these in your collection. When you close the cover, you will hear a click to indicate that the cover is secure. A sturdy packaging that will not accidentally dislodge itself in your makeup bag.

Colour and pigmentation: PP08 Serious is a slightly deep berry colour. There's more pink than purple, but you still can see the gorgeous tinge of purple after application. The Peripera Rouge Pang has impressive pigmentation. The swatch below was achieved with one swipe. Great stuff!

Application: This lip product applies so smoothly and evenly and it does not settle to your lip lines. It's like applying lip balm to your lips, but without the unpleasant greasy feeling. It has a slightly glossy finish that will dry to a semi matte finish after a couple of hours. Very moisturizing but not sticky at all.

Longevity: The Peripera Rouge Pang fares averagely in terms of longevity. Actually it highly depends on whether you eat and drink on that day or not. With food and drink, the lipstick faded quite a bit, but you still can see the tint your lips - definitely require touch-ups after food intake. Not something that I will be bothered about since the lip product performed excellently in other aspects.

Will I buy it again? Definitely. I'm interested in getting OR05 Chit Chit but I'm not sure if I can pull off the orange-lip look. I also want PP02 Secret - a gorgeous magenta colour. For those of you who want more glossy and shiny finish, there's also the Peripera Lumi Pang line!

Have a great day guys! :) 

Review: Peripera Peri's Cushion Lips (OR04 Secret Trip and PK07 Mini Dress)

Peripera is a Korean cosmetics brand that I'm highly unfamiliar with. A quick Google revealed that it's owned by CLIO, which is a brand that I associate with high quality products and relatively more expensive prices. So I guess the company is trying to reach out to a different target demography now? 

To be honest, just by these Peripera Peri's Cushion Lips alone, I don't think I'll ever go in to Peripera to buy any of their products. I didn't like these lip products and I would not recommend them to anyone. 

It's not nightmarishly bad (still good for those who are not as fussy and want to support the current spokesperson, A Pink's Son Na Eun) but you can definitely spend less money on other brand's lip products and they will be more of higher quality than the Peripera Peri's Cushion Lips.  

I got mine on Qoo10 for S$11+ each with free normal mail. 

Packaging: Cutesy and questionable. Initially, I thought the packaging was adorable and fitting for the younger customers that Peripera is trying to target, but it's not functional at all! The "cushion" part in Peripera Peri's Cushion Lips is for the application head of the product. You have to squeeze the tube so that the product is dispensed on the cushion/sponge, then you apply it on your lips as per normal. The cushion is designed to aid even application. Well, it's a great intention, but that's provided you can get product dispensed to the cushion! I squeezed, and squeezed and squeezed and squeezed on different parts of the tube, and NOTHING came out. After like my 2856th squeeze, the product was finally dispensed but it was like a volcanic eruption - I had lip product all over my fingers!

I thought okay, maybe it was blocked due to difference in air pressure while it was being mailed to Singapore, so I tried with the second tube, and this time I squeezed gently once and the product SQUIRTED OUT. I think I wasted like 1/3 of the product. ZZZ.

Yes you have cute packaging and all, but can make it a little bit more user-friendly and function or not???

OR04 Secret Trip

PK07 Mini Dress

Left: OR04 Secret Trip
Right: PK07 Mini Dress

Pigmentation and application: After I got some product out of both tubes, I decided to ignore the packaging blunder and try out the products on my lips. Initial swatches on the back of my hand (also called "opisthenar". I just Googled hahaha) were very assuring because at least the colours were intense and both were decently pigmented. The Peripera Peri's Cushion Lips also swatched very evenly and I was glad that the packaging mishap did not affect the product quality. 

I thought too soon.   

As soon as I applied the Peripera Peri's Cushion Lips on my lips, I realised how much I didn't like them. Here is a list of reasons for my dislike:

• Application was streaky. In the photos below, you can actually see some of the unevenness. I tried my best to apply evenly already but still cannot! Why like that one?
• Pigmentation was not as satisfactory on the lips. I had to go over a few times to get reasonable pigmentation.
• Not long-lasting at all. I made myself coffee after applying PK07 Mini Dress and after I finished my cup of coffee, most of the lip product has transferred to the cup. I understand that all lip products transfer but this one too fast and furious already! It was only a cup of coffee gulped down in less than 10 minutes!! 

OR04 Secret Trip

PK07 Mini Dress
The streakiness is very obvious here. 

I was not a happy camper.

After that day of trial, I have thrown the Peripera Peri's Cushion Lips aside. What a waste of my money! :(

Perhaps I got defective products....

Have a great week guys! 

Quick Review: Innisfree No-Sebum Mineral Powder VS Tarte Smooth Operator Amazonian Clay Finishing Powder

Applying finishing powder is a must in my everyday makeup routine because of my excessively oily skin. The oiliness of my skin has somewhat improved because I have been going for freezing non-ablative laser sessions so it's okay for me to lay off the finishing powder application. However, if I don't do that, I feel INCOMPLETTTEEEEE~~ (please adjust the tune to Backstreet Boys' song. Sorry, this song just played on my spotify so....) 

I have two favourites at the moment and I really cannot decide which is the better one if I don't consider the price point. Both are my holy grail products for the finishing powder category. On some days I feel like the Innisfree No-Sebum Mineral Powder is doing a better job, but on other days I'm on Tarte Smooth Operator Amazonian Clay Finishing Powder's team. Very confusing, so I have decided to love both. 

Here are some product specs and claims:

Innisfree No-Sebum Mineral Powder

• Cost: less than S$10 (I got it for S$8.50 on Qoo10 with free shipping) for 5g of product
• Highlighted ingredients: Jeju mineral powder, Jeju green tea and mint
• Claims: Double-sebum control system controls sebum secretion so well that you can forget about using oil control paper/oil blotting sheets.
• Other uses: Dry shampoo, eye primer

Tarte Smooth Operator Amazonian Clay Finishing Powder

• Cost: S$48 for around 8.5g of product (available at Sephora)
• Highlighted ingredients: Amazonian clay
• Claims: Keeps makeup looking fresh without being chalky and can diffuse imperfections
• Other uses: can be used alone as treatment to reap benefits of Amazonian clay

So at first glance, the Innisfree one is definitely a much cheaper alternative - it's more than 5 times cheaper than Tarte. The reason why I cannot judge based on price right now is because I got the Tarte one in deluxe sample size free when I bought the Christmas special set. The deluxe sample has around 2g of product and so it's around S$11.50 worth of product. 

Even though both finishing powders seem to be for the same purpose (control oil, mattify skin etc), both are strangely different when it comes to application outcome. 

Here's a summarised breakdown of what I think about these finishing powders:

Innisfree No-Sebum Mineral Powder

• Slightly more refreshing scent due to inclusion of mint.
• Intensity is doubled when you use the puff - you may look way too white - so I will suggest using a soft all-over face brush instead.
• Controls oil decently. My face looks put together and relatively oil-free for a longer period of time than if I exclude this from my makeup routine. 
• After 10 hours of wear, skin may look a little bit patchy around the nose area. Not sure if it's my foundation or if it's this product.
• Please do not use it as dry shampoo. My hair roots looked....dusty. O_O
• Longevity: 9-10 hours
• Great to use if you have no acne scarrings and are only concerned with oily skin. This will stick to the acne scars and make the dry skin in that area more obvious. 

Tarte Smooth Operator Amazonian Clay Finishing Powder

• No standout scent. Great if you don't like fragrances in your products.
• No given puff, so I used only my face brush and application was delightful. Skin feels smooth after application.
• Controls oil decently as well. Not much difference from Innisfree No-Sebum Mineral Powder.
• Longevity: 9-10 hours
• This finishing powder can be used even when you have blemishes. It will just settle nicely on top of the blemishes and it will not emphasize the dry areas. 

I used both the Innisfree one and the Tarte one interchangeably. If I feel like I have way too many blemishes on my skin, then I will use the Tarte one. If everything's looking okay, I will use the Innisfree one. So, it's great to have both! 

But of course, taking the price point into consideration, the Innisfree No-Sebum Mineral Powder is much more superior because it does almost the same thing as the Tarte Smooth Operator Amazonian Clay Finishing Powder. It's a great dupe! 

So which one do you think is a better finishing powder? 

Review: Makeup Revolution Ultra Professional Blush Palette in Golden Sugar and Hot Spice

Makeup Revolution is still not familiar makeup brand name in Singapore. I think many would think of Sleek Makeup when asked about affordable English drugstore brand. Makeup Revolution has arrived in Singapore and it has garnered quite a following with over 25000 likes on the Makeup Revolution Singapore facebook page. 

The blush palettes that I'm reviewing today are not available in Singapore yet, but I'm quite sure the Singapore team will introduce these palettes very soon because they are BOMB DOT COM. I love these palettes so much, I need to glorify them and spread the gospel! 

I bought them from the English website and they were only £6 each. Super affordable! Shipping was more expensive than one palette (£7.50) but I had a 20% discount code so okay lah, I checked out. Googleland has plenty of coupon codes for Makeup Revolution, so be sure to google first before checking out!

I bought the Makeup Revolution Ultra Professional Blush Palette in Golden Sugar and Hot Spice. I couldn't decide between the two, so I just got both because they were so affordable. 

Packaging: Nothing too fancy and nothing to be wow-ed about. Simple and neat black packaging with a large functional mirror, so nothing to complain about either.

Golden Sugar is too gorgeous. Look at those baked highlighters, bronzers and blushes! I even used the baked gold bronzer as an eyeshadow and it was super beautiful on the eyelids.

Hot Spice focuses more on matte and shimmery shades and it only contains two baked shades. More muted than Golden Spice but still amazing!

Swatches of Golden Spice

Swatches of Hot Spice

When I received both palettes, I immediately took photos for this blog and then I applied them before going out. They are beyond incredible. I love them and I haven't used any other blushes/highlighters in my collection.

Pigmentation: When they used the words "high pay off" for the packaging, they were not kidding at all. These are highly pigmented. All my swatches were the results of just one swipe on each colour. Crazy right?! This also meant that you have to be careful during application because there's a risk of applying too much.

Application: Despite being so highly pigmented, these were surprisingly easy to blend out. Application was a breeze using my usual elf blush brush and the colours glide on smoothly. It does not stick to dry areas and cause unsightly patches (my cheeks are usually quite dry after cleansing).

Longevity: The blushes and highlighters last for a good 8-10 hours. I haven't used the bronzers on my face since I'm not into contouring, but I did use one bronzer as an eyeshadow and it lasted for around the same number of hours also.

Seriously, for 6 pounds each, these palettes are very impressive. I have NO negative points at all.

Here's a the finished makeup look after mixing 3 shades from the two Makeup Revolution Ultra Professional Blush Palettes.

Damn pretty leh, buay tahan. I LOVE THEM.

Will I buy it again? I don't think I will use them up that quickly, but if I really do run out, I will buy again!

Have a good Friday guys! :) 

Review: Laneige BB Cushion [Pore Control] in 23 Sand Beige

I used to think of the BB Cushion concept as "just another gimmick that wouldn't work". Obviously I was very wrong because right now, I can't think of a better way to apply liquid foundation or BB cream. The magic is in the cushion puff used to apply the product. I used up my Etude House Precious Mineral Any Cushion but I didn't want to stop using the puff so I used it to blend out my favourite Bourjois Healthy Mix Foundation. Best decision ever because the puff and the patting motion resulted in a well-blended, no-streaking application. 

I now have purchased back-ups of the puff ONLY because the puff seems to work well with almost all of my base products. 

But of course, that didn't stop me from trying out more cushion products. I'm now more wary of trying out these BB cushions because most of the available ones in the market are targeted towards dry to normal skin users. There are very few that are formulated for those with oily skin, hence when find one, I will get it. 

The Laneige BB Cushion is not a new product - it's probably the most talked-about BB cushion in the beauty industry. It's like the Naked palette of South Korea. Cult product status. However, the original formulation was more for those with dry to normal skin types. I've read a multitude of positive reviews on the Laneige BB Cushion (and very very few negative experiences. Quite a feat!) and I was upset that I wasn't able to try out the product. 

Then, they had a Pore Control version out. It's like Laneige was testing the waters first, then once the product boomed into mega stardom, they released a semi-matte version which will delight those with combination to oily skin types. Similarly to the original version, the Laneige BB Cushion [Pore Control] barely has any negative reviews from users. Very li hai hor? So I also must buy. 

And I did. 

But not the full compact, just the refill. I got mine from Carousell for just S$20. 

I didn't buy the full compact (S$59 in Luxola) because I still had my Etude House compact. Luckily I did some research. Etude House and Laneige are owned by the same company (Amore Pacific), and so some of their products have similar packaging. The Laneige BB Cushion refill fits perfectly into the Etude House Precious Mineral Any Cushion packaging. S$39 saved! 

Random fact: I just did a quick Wikipedia search for Amore Pacific and I'm quite shocked at how many brands Amore Pacific owns. Aritaum, Hera, Mamonde, Sulwahsoo, Innisfree, IOPE, etc. It's like the Asian L'oreal. 

Packaging: I don't have the actual Laneige BB Cushion packaging because the refill is currently residing in the Etude House compact, but I'm very glad that someone in Amore Pacific decided to make the refills compatible across brands. Yes, they are not going to earn a full S$59 from customers, but they are going to earn the refill money from returning customers. Kengyang is in South Korea now, and I have asked him to get me 2 refills of the Laneige BB Cushion (Pore Control). If they only sold the full compact, I wouldn't even ask him to get me one.

Shade: I got mine in 23 Sand Beige. I think there are 5-6 shades available depending on where you buy the product. I searched online and the darkest shade is 33 Coffee (which looked NOTHING like coffee). 23 Sand Beige is an almost perfect match for my skin tone. My skin tone is more on the yellow-olive side and 23 Sand Beige is a little bit pinker than my skin tone. This is great because I always look for foundations with a slight pink in them to neutralise the yellowness slightly.

Pigmentation/Coverage: The Laneige BB Cushion [Pore Control] has incredible coverage. I always forget that it's marketed as a BB cream product because the coverage is almost like a liquid/cream foundation. I would say that one layer will give you medium coverage, and you can build it up to almost full coverage by piling on the layers without feeling like you armed yourself with a thick face mask. It covers my acne scars quite well even only with one layer. I usually apply two layers - one on the entire face, then a second one on the areas that need more TLC.

Come, come I show you pictures!!

First photo: No makeup at all. This was after I applied my day moisturizer.
Second photo: First layer of the Laneige BB Cushion [Pore Control] (as you can see, it has a semi-matte finish, and not dewy finish)
Third photo: Second layer of Laneige BB Cushion [Pore Control] on lower cheeks and upper mouth area.
Fourth photo: Follow up with finishing powder
Fifth photo: Completed look!

Very impressive right?

I show you a more drastic change.

Lai, before and after!

有没有很厉害 !!

Longevity: You definitely need to use a primer before using the Laneige BB Cushion. I tried with and without primer and the difference is quite staggering. Without a primer, this lasted me for 3-4 hours before things started to look a little bit too oily for my liking. With a primer, this lasted double the time. A good 7-8 hours before I needed a powder touch-up.

Will I buy it again? I already have 2 backups, and I'm willing to stick to this BB Cushion till I find another one suitable for my skin type. Whenever I find a product that works for my skin, I will stick to it and I'm quite resistant to product changes. Just like how I have used my ZA two-way foundation for almost 10 years. If there are no better alternatives out there, I will stick with the Laneige BB Cushion (Pore Control). Great, great product!

Have a great day guys! Do let me know if you have more BB Cushions that you want me to try! :) 

Review: Sleek MakeUP i-Divine Garden of Eden Palette

A few months ago, I blogged about my Sleek MakeUP haul and I finally am reviewing the eyeshadow palettes that I bought. 

As blogged 4 months ago, I bought the Sleek products from the Sleek website itself because international shipping was incredibly and surprisingly cheap. Only £1.67. What?! Even some Qoo10 sellers from Korea charge more than that. So yes, I got 2 eyeshadow palettes and a blush.

The Sleek MakeUP i-Divine Garden of Eden Palette costs £7.99. The palettes are really much cheaper than what some local online stores are selling them for. 

I bought 2 palettes, and I'm very proud of myself because both palettes belong to colour categories outside of the nude/neutral category. This Garden of Eden palette still has a few nude shades but the focus is on those beautiful green and purple-pink shades. 

Ingredients List

Great effort from Sleek MakeUP to include some kind of application instructions. But doesn't really help that much lah because I think a visual representation will be much more helpful and impactful. Like skip the many many words, and just put 5 different eyes for the 5 different looks.

But, hey, still great effort! Better than only stating the ingredients list and such usual sections right? I'm really just nitpicking here.

Packaging: Sleek MakeUP products always has very ... sleek (for lack of a better word) packaging. Simple and chic black outer packaging, very reminiscent of NARS product packaging. One more thing that I absolutely ADORE about Sleek MakeUP eyeshadow palettes is the huge mirror. Not just a tiny, bo sim (Eng: no heart/heartless) mirror, but one that is the same size as the entire cover. Excellent!

Pardon the reflection, those are my legs. :P

Pigmentation: 10 out of the 12 shades applied with great and commendable pigmentation. The 2 bottom left eyeshadows (Entwined and Adam's Apple) are just difficult to work with. Entwined is still buildable, maybe after like 5-6 layers, but for Adam's Apple, it's just bad. I can't replicate the vibrant pastel lime green shade at all! It just looks powdery and after you gently rub the area, the eyeshadow disappeared completely. Why like this one??

On a positive note, the other 10 colours are gorgeous. I'm glad they added a few matte/semi-matte shades to this palette. Sleep MakeUP eyeshadow palettes used to be filled with mostly frosty and shimmery shades.

Application: The frosty/shimmery shades apply buttery-smooth. No streakiness and they are really easy to blend out. The matte/semi-matte shades are more tricky, but nothing too challenging if you have the correct eyeshadow brushes. If you have a blending eyeshadow brush, it will take you longer to blend out the harsh edges of the matte/semi-matte shades, but still do-able.

Lighting: Normal cloudy day

Lighting: Normal cloudy day with camera flash switched on

Longevity: You definitely need a good eyeshadow primer if you have oily eyelids. Last weekend, I applied Paradise on Earth on my entire eyelid and a bit of Eve's Kiss in the inner corners WITHOUT an eyeshadow primer despite knowing that I will be out for almost 12 hours (yes, very stupid). I applied at around 1130ish and 6 hours in, I started to see the oily lines forming on my eyelids. 10 hours in (we were having karaoke session), the purple-pink hue disappeared completely and it became more murky and greyish. I don't know what chemical reaction was happening but aiyah just apply eyeshadow primer before these eyeshadows!

Will I buy it again? Of course! Sleek MakeUP is always coming out with new palettes. Currently, they have the Del Mar II palette and this palette packs in some summer-appropriate shades like a hot peach and a canary yellow. Not really up my alley, but usually they introduce more subdued shades in autumn/winter, so I am eagerly waiting. Also hor, I now have 6 Sleek MakeUP eyeshadow palettes, so I don't mind expanding this collection lah. :D

Have a great day guys! 

Review: Etude House Color Lips-fit (PK003 Fantasy Fit Pink)

I'm back, I'm back!! Hoorah! 

A new digital camera really is different. iPhone 5's camera is amazing, but the Canon G7X is still much better for review posts. The problem is I still can't figure out how to use the macro function properly. Like how come always looks great on the screen, but when the photo is taken, there's this strange blurring effect? I read so many forums and I still don't understand. I'm going to meet Chay at the end of the month and she's going to analyse this strange phenomena for me since she's the expert. 

For now, the photos still nice lah, but not as sharp as I want them to be. Hopefully they will get better once we figure out the blurring problem! 

A couple of months back (before my old camera died on me), I bought a lot, a lot, a lot of Korean beauty products from Qoo10 (this post!) and now I finally have the resources to properly review them. First up, the Etude House Color Lips-fit in PK003 Fantasy Fit Pink. I bought PP501 Brave Fit Berry as well, but that was sold out. I'm going to hunt for that shade because I like the consistency and wear of this lip product, and Brave Fit Berry is a gorgeous deep berry pink! 

I bought the Etude House Color Lips-fit for S$10.90 (additional S$0.60 normal mail) on Qoo10. I think it's S$15 in Etude House Singapore stores. 

Expectations:

• moisturising
• easy application ("glides")
• high pigmentation
• lightweight
• dries to semi-matte finish

Packaging: I'm always a fan of lip tints/liquid lipsticks that have clear packaging. This way, I can quickly choose my lip product without opening 10+ other lip products. The Etude House Color Lips-fit has that ideal packaging! Other than that, the product packaging is fuss-free and nothing too special or fancy.

Pigmentation: Well, one expectation fulfilled! The Etude House Color Lips-fit is incredibly pigmented. The swatch photos below were taken only after one swipe from the doe-foot applicator. Very impressive ah. Just like the NYX Soft Matte Lip Creams! Now I'm really excited to hunt down that deep berry colour!

Colour: PK003 Fantasy Fit Pink is a subtle barbie pink. Nothing too loud or neon, but still has that appealing factor. It's suitable for everyday wear, perfect when you want to add a little bit more colour to your lips. I prefer this shade of pink because you don't look too OTT. Pink shades like Barbie pink or Nicki Minaj pink are too flamboyant for my liking.

Lighting: Normal daylight

Lighting: Normal daylight + camera flash

Application: Very smooth and easy application. No streakiness at all! It's quite moisturizing, and yet it's not sticky/glossy. This is the type of liquid lipsticks that I love the most. Some liquid lipsticks are sooooo moisturising and sooooo glossy. Go out of my house 5 minutes and I'll be eating my own hair already. The Etude House Color Lips-fit and NYX Soft Matte Lip Cream have now become my top 2 liquid lipsticks! I need more shades!

Longevity: This product dries within 5 minutes of application and it dries to a beautiful semi-matte finish that I always prefer in a liquid lipstick. The Etude House Color Lips-fit feels lightweight on the lips, and there's no stickiness. The vibrancy and pigmentation lasted for a good 5 hours. It's not as long-lasting as I want it too, but touching up doesn't bother me at all. Some lip products are nightmares to touch up because they feel so caked up on your lips. For this one, touching up feels like no touch-ups at all. Very strange ah, but I like it.

Special mention: THIS SMELLS SO SO SO SO GOOD. If you grew up in Indonesia, you will know of Sugus. It's like the Indonesian version of Japanese Hi-Chew. The Etude House Color Lips-fit smells just like the grape-flavoured sugus. OH MY GOSH. NOMS.

Here is my favourite sugus.

Wait. I just googled and Sugus is actually Swiss. MIND BLOWN! But aiyah, I only had them when I was in Indonesia, so ok lah, they are "Indonesian" to me.

Have a great week guys! :D More review posts coming soon!