Spring 2011: Kanebo Kate Mineral Liquid Foundation SPF20 PA++ in OC-B

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One of the good things about browsing cosmetics myself in Hong Kong was checking out foundation colors instead of ordering, hoping to get a good match, being disappointed again with a too-dark or too-yellow foundation color.

I found the new Mineral Liquid Foundation from Kate in one of the drugstores and swatched the lightest color OC-B, which usually is a shade that´s too dark for me, but to my surprise the Mineral Liquid Foundation turned out to be a good albeit not a perfect match but all in all it blends in well.

The Mineral Liquid Foundation contains mineral powder, olive oil, jojoba oil and almond oil, furthermore it´s free of parabens and fragrance.
This is a medium creamy liquid foundation with sheer coverage, a bit like a BB cream though not as heavy. Even though the coverage is sheer it´s sufficient to cover slight redness or unevenness.

The foundation feels smooth and rather lightweight and gives a natural slightly satiny (but not shimmery, shiny or dewy) finish.
Lasting power is good, though like most other products, it fades a little if it´s a hot and sweaty day.



Overall a good foundation and a nice color match for the summer for my skintone (I am *slightly* more tan now than usual)... in winter it probably won´t match though.
I don´t remember what I paid for it but I think it wasn´t more than around US$15 or so.

Rating 4/5

My Scheming Silk Protein and Caviar Extract Masks

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My Scheming is a (new?) brand of sheet masks from Taiwan. I got couple of mask packs from Hong Kong (the Double Lifting series which came in boxes of 5 pcs) and recently I got 2 of the 10-pc packs from Sasa as they were really cheap (US$7.60 per 10pcs), however the price has gone up to US$12.60 which is a little weird!.

I got the masks in the Silk Protein and Caviar Extract versions.
The masks are made of super soft and rather thin cloth which is cut to fit excellently. Furthermore each of them is saturated with 30ml of a liquid gel-like essence which is quite a lot but due to the great cut and thin well-adhering material it doesn´t slip.


Like the majority of sheet masks this is a refreshing treat which makes my skin super smooth and soft and gives a certain brightness to my complexion.
The masks are lightly scented but with a pleasant not overly heavy fragrance.
Effect-wise I don´t notice a difference between Silk Protein and Caviar Extract.

Overall these are high-quality masks, are affordable and mild to my skin, brighten my complexion and feel refreshing.

Rating 5/5

Kokubo AddGood Milky Bath Powder Lavender & Rose

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I received the AddGood Milky Bath Powders from Kokubo in Lavender and Rose  with my last Bonjour order.

Each box contains 700g and retails for HK$56 on Bonjour. If you are getting enough products to enjoy free shipping and considering that each AddGood box gives you over 20 pleasant baths this is quite value for money in my opinion.


Each box has an attached scoop for easier dosage, 2 scoops (each 15g) are needed for one full bath.
Both of these powders are subtly scented and tint the water in a milky color. I think these don´t dry out my skin at all but aren´t overly moisturizing either.


Lavender is a really nice relaxing soft lavender scent, the water color is a milky pink purple.
Rose is a very nice muted rose scent which is neither overpowering nor powdery or cloying. The water color is a milk pale fleshy pink.

Overall I really like these bath powders and know that I can enjoy these for quite some time =)

Rating 4/5

Jelly Pong Pong Wide Awake Palette

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Jelly Pong Pong kindly sent me over some new products to test and review a while ago and since I got delayed with my reviews due to my exam it´s time to finally start!

The first item I am going to review is the Wide Awake palette for primp your eyes!
The palette itself is really cute, I love the sweet design and even though it´s a cardboard palette it feels really sturdy and well-made to me.

The Wide Awake palette contains 3 colors of eyebrow powder, an illuminating cream and a highlighter cream. Furthermore there is a mirror, an eyebrow powder brush and a pair of tweezers.

The creams are infused with candellila and beeswax and other good stuff. The items have not been tested on animals.
The illuminating cream is a light peachy slick cream which feels quite moisturizing however it can crease when used on the eyelids. The level of pigment is sheer to medium but still this product makes my eyes look awake and fresh.

The highlighting cream is a bit lighter and with a pale yellow tint. Like the other cream it´s quite slick and miosturizing and can crease when worn on the lids.
I like using this on the top of my cheeks, nosebridge, forehead and chin.
I recommend using both creams with a layer of powder on top for better lasting power.

The 3 eyebrow powders should suit most hair colors, I like using the darkest one as my hair is a deep brown color right now.
The included brush is a good helper in applying the eyebrow powder and the small tweezers get the job done well, too!

Overall this is a good eye-brightening and eyebrow-defining palette very worth purchasing.

Rating 4/5

Bison Rosefull Moroccan Rose bath salt

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I am not so much a fan of rose scents but from time to time I like a good rose scent if it´s not overly sweet or powdery as that way it will give me a headache.

Sasa has a huge range of individually packed bath salts/powders and among them the Rosefull range from Bison which offers 3 different rose scents in 3 different textures (essence, salts, powder) to choose from. I got a package of the Moroccan Rose bath salts as I thought it sounded yummy =)

The package contains 50g which is good for one bath. At around US$3 per pack this is definitely an indulgence but still less than e.g. a Lush bath bomb.

The bath salts actually are a mix of salt crystals and a red-tinted bath powder so the water will show up as a nice bright pink red color.
The scent is really wonderful, a subtle spicy rose scent which is neither heavy nor cloying and absolutely relaxing.

I am not so sure about the skincare properties of this product but my skin felt soft and not dried out when I finished my bath.

Overall one of the best and most authentic rose scents I found so far and I am sure to pick up a few more packs when I order next time from Sasa.

Rating 5/5

Skinlite Intensive Recovery Hair Treatment & Hair Cap VS Lucky Hair Treatment & Hair Cap (Rose)

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There seems to be a new kind of product coming from Korea: intensive hair treatment and special hair cap for intense hair nourishment. The Koreans really come up with "masks" for everything =D

I found 2 of these new hair treatments on Sasa so I ordered a few packs of each and will do a comparsion respectively VS post comparing them.

Products:
-Skinlite Intensive Recovery Hair Treatment & Hair Cap - Made in Korea

-Lucky (Japan) Hair Treatment & Hair Cap Rose (name is written in Japanese so I don´t know the proper name) - Made in Korea

Where to buy/price:
-Skinlite: Sasa (click here), US$2.10 for a single treatment
-Lucky: Sasa (click here), US$6.30 for a single treatment

Contents:
-Skinlite: 20ml treatment and cap (contains some liquid inside, too)
-Lucky: 20ml treatment and cap (contains 7ml liquid)

How to use:
Both treatments work the same way: Wash hair, apply treatment, cover with cap for 10-15 mins and massage hair and scalp, rinse off



Texture/scent:
-Skinlite: A thick dense cream with a sweet honey scent
-Lucky: Medium thick slick cream, much like conditioner, unobtrusive floral scent (but not a rose smell like you might expect)

Cap:
-Skinlite: The cap is made of a plastic and a soft layer (I guess) and is covered with liquid inside. The fit is good, the elastic isn´t too tight nor too loose so all hair stays inside well

-Lucky: The cap is very wet, inside and outside and is made of a soft material (I guess some sort of soft paper cloth similar to the other cap). The fit is poor, the elastic is much too loose so my hair starts to slip out at the back if I don´t keep it up with a clasp.


Result:
-Skinlite: My hair gets soft but honestly most of my Japanese conditioners do a better job and it needs quite some time to rinse off the treatment.
-Lucky: It´s easy to rinse off the treatment and I get soft hair though still nothing so exciting, most Japanese hair masks and/or conditioners do a better job

Does the cap really have any use?
To be honest..I don´t know! To me the overall result isn´t that exciting and the wet cap probably doesn´t add much to the effect of the treatment.
So all in all for me this is a gimmick.

Overall result:
I don´t think either of these treatments is worth it. They are relatively expensive for a single time use and quite wasteful considering the cap and packaging etc.
I recommend getting a tub of Kao Essential hair mask for better results/as a way more economical choice.

Rating:
Skinlite: 2.5/5
Lucky: 2.5/5

My first order from Bonjour HK

If you see this post on another site than lotuspalace.blogspot.com it has been stolen and used without my permission. I only allow reposts with proper credits for my work (please contact me first!)!I visited Bonjour shops in Hong Kong quite a lot as it´s one of the big drugstore chains there but when it came to ordering (mainly Japanese/Korean/Taiwanese skincare, hair stuff and body stuff) online I was sticking with Sasa as they have a great selection of products, really cheap prices (partly up to 70% off of Japanese retail prices, generally at least 10-20% cheaper) and shipping is free if I order products worth a certain amount. Also I have the VIP card so I am getting an extra 5% off and can redeem products with the points I am collecting with every purchase.
But since Bonjour has its own website I decided to place an order there, especially since they have a relatively good variety of bath powders for really cheap and free shipping (so important for such heavy items!) if you order over a certain value so I purchased some items there.

What I noticed negatively there was the amount of products that showed out of stock...really, the majority of products was OOS actually! But I found a good bunch of goodies anyway so was looking forward to receiving my order. I also upgraded my free shipping to EMS shipping for a mere HK$80 (and my box weighed close to 8 kg!)

A day after placing my order I received an email telling me one item was out of stock so I had to cancel it to proceed with my order. I emailed them to cancel it and 3 days later got the same email again. I called the customer service in Hong Kong (the lady was really friendly) and she told me they had not received my reply =(
A few days later I got the information that my order was being packed but they had to cancel another item as it´s a compressed gas can (it was a deodorant)...quite annoying actually. Why could I order it then in the first place?
Anyway, it took around 8 days for my order to be shipped after placing it so that was quite a bit longer than I had expected!

Things came well packed and padded and the value on the parcel was declared correctly so I paid customs fees, too (which I had expected and included in my order value calculations).

These are the items I ordered (I also ordered a 2nd of that orange body oil and couple more Tsubaki shampoo/conditioner bottles but gave them to my mum right after I received the order and before taking the pic below):

That anti-wrinkle serum is a freebie and seems quite nice!

Overall not the best online shopping experience and all in all their order processing is a bit unprofessional for such a famous and big drugstore chain like Bonjour.
For items I can get on Sasa I would always prefer this site over Bonjour but I am happy with the items I ordered so all in all it was a good thing to order there.

Rating for Bonjour:
Site (layout, navigation etc.): 4/5
Item selection: 2.5/5 as so much was OOS!
Telephone customer service: 5/5
Email customer service: 1/5 as my email didn´t even arrive!
Processing time: 2/5
Shipping costs: 5/5 (free shipping and cheap EMS upgrade!)
Packing: 5/5
Item condition upon arrival: 5/5 (nothing old/expired/leaked etc.)