Review : KATE Liquid Touch Powder Foundation

From the website : The KATE LIQUID TOUCH POWDER FOUNDATION formula in this foundation spreads smoothly and gives a moist finish. It stays put. It's super lustrous. The secret to irresistible skin.

I have been using this for almost 6 months now. I love it! It really does apply on smooth. It might seem a bit cakey at first but it will melt into your skin. My dry areas are also nicely covered and aren't highlighted like it would with other powder foundations I've tried.

I use the OC-D shade and it fits my skin tone pretty well. This also has SPF20++ so that's a plus. I notice that it doesn't oxidise and turn a darker shade during the day. I definitely recommend this for someone who can't be bothered with liquid foundation but wants an awesome finish to the skin.

Price: ￥2000(+tax)

Review : K-Colly Sweet 17

I've never been interested in trying out supplement products because I am big believer of getting vitamins and other nutrients through a healthy and balanced diet. Until one day when a friend of mine started talking about how K-Colly had helped her tremendously with her skin issues. Her problems started after trying out a local skincare brand that caused her skin to go crazy resulting in huge pimples that were not only uncomfortable but also painful. Of course, she immediately stopped using the skincare products and decided to try out K-Colly. K-Colly helped her skin clear up and in about a month, her skin was drastically better with about half of the pimples and irritations gone.

Because she wasn't trying to sell K-Colly to me and didn't pressure me at all to try it, I wasn't turned off. After reading a few blogposts about K-Colly reviews, I decided to give K-Colly a try.

Here is what I noticed after consuming K-Colly for about 2 months :

- my skin felt softer

- I was having some acne issues around my jaw area and the area is now completely acne-free

- my backne had reduced a lot; the acne that were already there dried up quickly and I hardly got any new ones

- my skin is less oily which results in products staying longer and better on my skin. I wear less foundation and hardly any concealer now yay!

You can consume it just as it is, 1/2 a scoop in the morning and night but it is too sweet for me so I usually mix 1 full scoop with a glass of water and drink this before I sleep.

I will probably continue consuming K-Colly but I am on my last bottle and I haven't found a stockist in Japan so I might have to stop for a while until I buy more in Malaysia HAHAHA

Anyways, if you have also tried out K-Colly, please feel free to leave your experience in the comment section below.

Review : Clarins White Plus Pearl-to-Cream Brightening Cleanser

Photo from Clarins SG

The claim : The first beauty step towards immaculate skin. This cleansing cream takes the form of a fine, abundant mousse that combines a pleasant texture with the high efficacy of a formula rich in purifying and clarifying plant extracts.

My thoughts : I love this cleanser when it starts to get colder here because my skin starts to go from oily-combination to dry-combination. This cleanser won't leave a tight and plastic feeling on my skin like some cleansers do. My skin feels soft and moisturised after using this. My dry spots become smoother and softer too. It's also pretty good at getting makeup off, though I've never tried washing off waterproof makeup with this. 

I can't say I noticed any brightening(or whitening) effect while using this but that was never my intention when I bought this, anyway.

I definitely recommend this for normal to dry-combination skin. I feel like it would be too creamy for oily skin but that's a personal preference. It also smells lovely, not too scented. This is a high-end product so the price is a little steep but this will last you for at least 4 months, easy. You only need a small pea size of product to get a beautiful creamy foam.

Price : RM115 at Parkson

Review : Rice Milk Soap and Tokyo Love Soap Premium

*Thoughts are my own. What works/doesn't work for me might have different effects on other people.

I wanted something new as my body soap so I decided to try the Tokyo Love Soap Premium and K Brothers Rice Milk Soap.

My experience with the Rice Milk Soap (RM5~10 depending on seller) :

First of all I want to say that I love the smell. It smells, well, like rice but with a floral hint to it. Whenever I use it, my whole bathroom will smell of it. Free perfume for my bathroom hehehe. When I first started I using it, I liked the effects. My skin became smoother and smelt nice for quite a few hours. However, after a week of using it my eczema started acting up (I get eczema on and off). This soap made my eczema worse. The area of skin with eczema would sting when the soap bubbles touched it. So, of course, I had to stop using it.

The fancy box

What the soap looks like

My experience with the Tokyo Love Soap Premium (RM65~90 depending on seller) :

After I stopped using the Rice Milk Soap, I started using this. This soap did not aggravate my eczema at all. There was no stinging or tingling sensation on the area of my skin with the eczema rash. This also smells awesome, it smells of roses! This didn't dry out my skin. I also noticed that my skin became a bit fairer and really smooth. The scent would last almost throughout the day. No need for deodorant! 

Review : Revlon ColorStay (Oily/Combination Skin)

I've heard a lot about the Revlon Colourstay from Youtube gurus that I follow. For example :

1. Saaamage's review

2. itsjudytime's review

3. MakeupGeekTV's review 

So I wanted to try this out but Japan only carries 6 shades while in the US they get like 20 shades. Unfortunately I bought a shade that was way too dark for me on the first try, which was the 07 Toast. The lighter shade next to it seemed too pale for my skin which is why I grabbed the 07 instead. Then I had to go out and buy a second bottle, this time getting the 06 Medium Beige. As I expected, 06 was too light. 

It made my skin tone look off. I know that Malay girls sometimes like to buy foundations in a lighter shade to give the effect of having whiter/brighter skin but if you go too far off the scale it just looks hella weird. More so when your neck or arms don't match up to the colour of your face. 

What I ended up doing was mixing the 2 shades to get something that would match my skin perfectly. This was really tricky because 07 really is a strong brown shade so if I mixed in too much I'd look like I'd just come back from the beach or something. I would say that I mix in 3 parts 06 and 1 part 07. I'd mix in more of the 06 during Winter because I get a bit paler then. 

Such a big gap in the colour range. Drives me mad

I should also point out that the Revlon Colorstay comes in 2 types; normal/dry skin and oily/combination. I think this is great because these skin types make such a difference to the type of finish that you'll get.

06(top) and 07(bottom). The colour when I combine the two

As you can  see in the photo above, the consistency is pretty thick and it's not watery or runny.

Even though this foundation is catered for oily/combination skin types, it didn't keep my face matt through out the day. What it did do was stay put from morning till night, so +1 point there. Setting powder is important unless you like the dewy look.

Also, this foundation sets pretty quick so you might want to pick up your speed while blending this on to your skin. I use a M.A.C 190 brush. The brush is dense and the short bristles give me a better control of how I want the foundation to glide on. The brush doesn't leave any streaky lines after application.

I also love the fact that this foundation came with a pump, a really good pump I might add.

The awesome pump(left) & the M.A.C. 190 brush

I would say that since this is a full coverage foundation it is thick and quite heavy so if you know that you prefer foundations that feel lighter then I wouldn't recommend this for you.

Blush and bronzer looks so beautiful on top of this. It really enhances the colours, so use blush/bronzer with a light hand.

Price : ￥2150 (RM70+-)

Dealing With Winter In Japan; Face Care

I'm pretty sure it happens to everyone. When the temperature starts dropping, the winds start howling and the days get shorter, our skin starts acting up. I don't think you have to call it being vain. It's just annoying when the skin gets itchy and the need to scratch it builds up like crazy. It's also painful when the skin is so dry that it starts to crack.

My skin type : During the colder seasons, I go from being oily-combination to dry-combination. My T-zone is still a bit oily but I can feel that the skin there is a bit rough. The rest of my face gets dry patches and I tend to even flake at the sides of my temples, no idea why specifically there though.

Face Care
I wash my face using Clinique's Liquid Facial Soap in Mild. This cleanser is not drying and it doesn't leave my skin feeling taut after a wash. I'd suggest avoiding harsh, drying cleansers even  if you have oily skin because the cleanser is just going to make your skin oilier. Go for something that is mild and gentle.
Price : ￥3675

I use toners occasionally but when I do use one, I use Clinique's Clarifying Lotion 2. I find toners to be too drying for my skin sometimes but I'll use it if I've been wearing heavier than usual makeup or have been exercising on that day.
Price : 100ml ¥2500, 200ml ¥3400, 400ml ¥5600 

The next step is 化粧水(keshosui). Translated it means face lotion but I wouldn't call it a lotion because it looks like water. Like the SKII facial Treatment Essence, that looks like water and not like lotion, right? Anyways, I use HadaLabo's Whitening Keshosui. I haven't noticed it making my skin any fairer but it is moisturising. I prefer this over their milky keshosui. This is probably the secret to Japanese women's exquisite skin. Look at any Japanese beauty brands and they will definitely have a keshosui in the regime. Seriously, you should really consider wearing keshosui, if you haven't already. I think it costs RM30ish in Malaysia.
Price : ￥1080

Finally, I finish off with a moisturiser.
Day : Cosmoderm Vitamin E Cream 1,000 I.U. with Rosehip Oil. Started using this a year and a half ago. Helped tremendously during the winter especially. Besides providing moisturisation, it doesn't do much else but that's all that I wanted from it so I'm happy. If worn at night, I'll get slightly oily when I wake up the next morning  but nothing serious. Wouldn't recommend this for oily-skin types.
Price : RM20+-

Night : Clarins Multi Active Night Youth Recovery Cream. I've been using this for about 2 weeks now. It hasn't broken me out. I don't wake up feeling like I have grease slabbed all over my face and it smells awesome. It has a lavender/aromatherapy type of scent. Personally, I enjoy the scent especially since I wear it before I go to bed. Leaves me feeling relaxed and calm. Those of you who are sensitive to strong scents may want to steer clear of this product.
Price : ￥6500+- (depends on where you get them)

Additionally : Neutrogena Ultra Sheer Dry Touch Sunblock SPF50++ Sunblock whenever I go out. Applying this has become a habit. The sun damages your skin in so many ways and doing this one tiny thing helps out loads. I've been using this for more than 2 years now. It's not thick, oily and pore-clogging. Also a great base for makeup(powder and liquid foundations).
Price : RM25++

It might seem like a long list but applying all this doesn't take me more than 5 minutes every day. Better the 5 minutes spent on this regime than hours of dry, flaky and annoying skin if I don't do it.

Hope this helps.

Rimmel Happy Bags

I finally caved and bought a Happy Bag or as some places call them - Lucky Bag. In Japanese it's 福袋. The one I bought wasn't like a complete surprise because they had a sample out so that we could see what we would be getting, although colours might not be the same but the item will.

There were only 2 left! Good thing I didn't miss out

I got myself a Rimmel Lucky Bag. The total worth of all the things in the bag is ￥6985 but they sold it for only ￥1995. Such a good bargain. I don't have a lot of of Rimmel products anyway so I was keen to try more of their stuff. 

Eye shadow & cheek colour

 Out of the four colours in the eye shadow palette I already have something similar to the top two colours but the bottom light shimmery grey and metallic brown I don't have yet so I consider this not a total fail. I love the shade of the cheek colour but I think it'll be more wearable in the warmer seasons.

Mascara, two bottles of nail polish, liquid eye liner, and a plumping nude gloss

 I don't really believe the hype with plumping gloss or lipsticks so I'm definitely curious as to how this one will fare. I really like the purple nail polish, so vampy.

There were also Lucky Bag offers for Maybelline and Canmake.

Get products worth ￥5985 for only ￥1995!

Canmake blushes are a total delight. They're not overpowering and because the have a little shimmer, they bring a bit more life to a dull face. Their eye shadows are a bit powdery so consider yourself warned.

Happy Lucky Bag hunting next year!


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The Body Shop Seaweed Ionic Clay Mask Review

I have oily-combination skin so I'm always eager to try out any products that'll help out with my problems. Those problems being my super shiny T-zone, minor bumps all over my face and the occasional zit. I love pampering myself anyways, so taking time out for a facial is such a no biggie to me.

This time I decided to try out Body Shops's Ionic Clay Mask from their Seaweed line. 

I use this once a week and maybe twice a week if I'm going through an especially rough time. When I first apply it, I'll get a cool and tingly sensation. Leave it on for 10 to 15 minutes then wash it off. When I wash it off, it also instantly turns into a scrub because the hardened bits turn into scrubbing beads. I like the smell of this mask. It's a kind of minty and medicinal type of smell.

Looks like your average clay. It's not.

I love this! I think it really has helped reduce my oiliness and when I use it on top of zits, those zits get smaller and go away quicker too. 

My dry/normal spots like my cheek area, don 't get dried out or feel stretched after using this, so that's also a plus.

I've had this tube for a few months now so I think it's not expensive for how much product you're getting.

Price : ￥2940

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Kiss Me Already

I just bought what must have been heaven-sent lip goodies. It's the ettusais lip essence (deep moist). I wiped a thin layer onto my lips last night before going to bed and woke up to puckers with no visible dry skin, wrinkles and dry flake in sight. I feel like my vaseline needs to get chuck out the window or something.

Love at first kiss :)

Definitely recommended for those of you who have dry and chapped lips. Yes, guys, should buy this too if you suffer from dry lips. Chapped lips is not a good accessory, no matter how hot you may look everywhere else.

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