Etude House Giveaway!

It's been quite some time since my last giveaway!
However now you have the chance to win 2 very nice products from Etude House:

-Sleeping Facial Pack Brightening:


Get bright and vitalized skin while you sleep. Special 10 hour sleep efficiency formula.
Full-sized sealed 120ml tube.
Apply at night as last step of your skincare, rinse off in the morning. Doesn't really feel sticky so it's easy to sleep with this on.

-1 box (3 pieces) of Magic Soothing Mask Sheets


My rules:

-Only followers can qualify. Please follow my blog (just scroll down a bit and you'll see the "Followers" on the right side.)

-You also have to leave a comment to qualify. If you're a follower AND leave a comment (only 1 per person, please) you will qualify for the contest. (I took those rules from dear Yumeko from Bittenbefore...I think that's pretty cool lol!)

-Please tell me in your comment how/where you found out about my site.

-I will post the winner here on my blog. The winner should please contact me within 2 days telling me her address or next on the list will get the prize.

-I will use random.org to chose the winner!

-The prize will be sent by airmail within 2 business days after the winner contacts me. Giveaway is open to readers everywhere in the world! Please let me know when you receive your package!

-A few people who won in previous contest and didn't bother to ever contact me about receiving their prize cannot take part! Thanks for understanding but it really annoys me when I do a giveaway and never get any reply about the items arriving safely.

-Contest will close on Saturday, March 28 at 6 PM (my time)

-Thanks and Good Luck!

Etude House Precious Mineral Collection

Etude House usually comes out with new stuff monthly... That's really cool as that means I can constantly try out new stuff but on the other hand it's hard to follow up with all their new cute stuff =) Luckily Etude House isn't a very expensive brand after all (thanks to Gmarket)...


I was quite excited when I spotted their newest stuff on Gmarket as the products come in really pretty boxes and compacts so I picked up pretty much everything available (except for the lip tints, eyeliner and 2 of the powders).

The new items mainly focus on the skin and offer a good variety of powders, BB Creams, a super pretty highlighter, a cream blusher duo and a super cute makeup primer.

Etude House is jumpsing somewhat on the mineral makeup bandwagon but the products are all in no way pure minerals. I think it's more of a gimmick.
To me this looks like a pearl-based collection as the compacts are shaped like shells, the highlighter contains pearl powder and the primer gives a pearly sheen and is made of a clear gel with little powder pearls inside.

The items I purchased are:
-Precious Mineral BB Cream in #1 Sheer Silky Skin
-Precious Mineral BB Cream in #2 Sheer Glowing Skin
-Precious Mineral BB Pact in Sheer Silky Skin
-Precious Mineral Makeup Essence
-Precious Mineral Brightener
-Fresh Cherry Blusher Duo

-Precious Mineral BB Creams:


I was a little hesitant ordering one of the new BB Creams as none of the BB Creams from Etude House and Etude have worked for me so far (color match). However their swatches looked pale and neutral and they were less than US$10/each so I added them to my order anyway.
There are 2 types available:


#1 Sheer Silky Skin comes in a white tube. It's formulated to give a soft matte finish and is more suitable for oily skin.
#2 Sheer Glowing Skin comes in a pink tube and gives a shiny/slightly dewy finish (it's not over the top at all). This is more suitable for dry skin.

Both BB Creams contain Adenosine, Arbutine and Pearl Extract and offer a good sun protection of SPF30 PA++; they are whitening, promise good coverage, are not sticky and supposedly don't turn darker on your skin. Both carry a soft floral scent.


When I first swatched the creams on my arm they looked super pale but when I rubbed them in they turned noticeably darker. I was sort of disappointed but decided to try them on my face using my Banila Co stippling brush (review will be posted shortly).


Actually the Precious Mineral BB Cream in #1 was almost too pale for me which is something that didn't happen to me so far (swatch on top). It blended in perfectly using the brush and offered good coverage. The result was indeed matte and it felt a little dry on my skin thus I am sure this is definitely not for someone with dry skin.


#2 is a little darker but works for me. I think it would be best suitable for a NC20-25 though. The finish of this is glowy but not really shimmery or glittery.
This feels more moisturizing and comfortable for me but the color of #1 is better.

Each tube costs 13500 Won (somewhere around US$9) and all in all I like both BB Creams. #1 will be perfect for the hot sweaty summer if I don't tan at all :P

-Precious Mineral BB Pact (Sheer Silky Skin):


There are 3 new BB pacts. Since there was no English info available I picked the one with the lightest color. Now I figured out that the one I got is for oil control. There is also a slightly darker shimmery one (Pearl Pact in pink compact) and the darkest is the one offering high coverage (dark purple compact).
I chose the one which looked nearly white in the compact (compact is also white) as I was sure it would work for me.


It's a nice finely milled powder which mattifies and keeps my face look fresh all day long. It also offers a sun protection of SPF25 PA++ and carries a weird smell (reminds me of a cross between marcipan and nail polish remover lol).
However since it's a very oil controlling powder it can look dry, especially under my eyes so I make sure I only pat on a little and not overdo application.


All in all a good powder but it can look a little cakey overtime.. my Majolica powder and various other Japanese ones are still better than the Etude House in my opinion (but EH's is cheaper).


The powder contains Pearl Powder, Lavender, Chamomile and Angelica Extracts.
Each of the 3 powders retails for 14500 Won (about US$10)

-Precious Mineral Makeup Essence:


Anyone knows that primer from Guerlain? The one which looks like pearls in a bottle but when you pump it's just a light gel?
I just tried that in a store here and honestly the new Precious Mineral Makeup Essence from Etude House is not much different. Away from the fact that you can probably buy like 5 or 6 or more bottles of EH for the price of one Guerlain :P


Basically this is a clear gel base with hundreds of little skin-colored powder beads throughout. When you pump you first get the gel but after some pumps the gel is mixed with the powder so it's tinted lightly.


The gel is super moisturizing and smoothing and makes my skin really feel perfectly primed for foundation etc. The gel doesn't really cover anything but gives more of an iridescent pearl pink sheen (it contains Pearl Powder).


I really like this product and would recommend it!

It's only lightly scented and retails for 16000 Won (about US$11-12)

-Perfect Mineral Brightener:


This is definitely the most beautiful item of the lot. The pretty shell-shaped compact is made of a light pearly pink colored plastic.
According to Etude House this contains hand-made terracotta pearl powder (it seems to be a baked-type highlighter).


The pressed highlighter consists of various pastel shades (ivory, pale pink, pale green...the arrangement reminds me of a 2-row pearl necklace) and imparts the most gorgeous pearly glow. It's rather soft even though it looks almost metallic in the pan.


The color is a soft pastel pink/white, not really noticeable color so it's the perfect highlighter as it's quite translucent.


This retails for 15000 Won and is really well worth it!

-Fresh Cherry Blusher Duo:


This isn't really part of the Precious Mineral range but comes in a similar box and is a new product so I believe it's part of the collection.
The Fresh Cherry Blusher Duo contains cherry extract (supposedly to improve blood circulation!). Sounds really yummy!


This is a cream blusher duo of rich cherry pink and a warm bright coral color. You can mix the colors to get a softer coral pink.
All in all this is a great blusher duo. Both shades are very pigmented and blend well.


I love the cherry pink more as it's cooler and very wearable and feminine. But I also like the coral mixed with a little of the pink to go with peaches and other lippies (swatch on the right shows the colors when mixed with more coral than pink).
Both colors blend well, stay on all day long and are not disappearing even under a light layer of powder.


This is the most affordable item in the collection as it costs only 7500 Won (about US$5 or so).


All in all this is a great collection and one of the best ones from Etude House that came out in the previous months.

I hope next month will bring us some pretty spring makeup colors!

Lunasol 10th Anniversary Makeup Palette

Lunasol was celebrating their 10th birthday so Kanebo released a special limited makeup palette containing a few best-sellers and shades created exclusively for the palette for less than 10000 Yen so it was really good value for money considering the retail prices of Lunasol cosmetics.


At first I wasn't that excited as the whole thing looked rather blah but I decided to get one for my mum's birthday and after reading Blushed Wombat's review I added another set for myself to my order =)


The Lunasol 10th Anniversary Makeup Palette comes in a chic makeup case made of some lacquered material. The color is a blackened brown. To my eyes it looks like soft black and I can only notice the brown tones under bright light.


Inside the case the following items are presented on a plastic tray:
-Skin Modeling Eyes in 01 Beige Beige (regular size)
-Coloring Cheeks in 01 Reddish Beige (regular size)
-Noble Shade Liner in EX01 Deep Brown (smaller size)
-High Stylized Mascara EL in 01 Black (smaller size)
-Full Glamour Gloss N in EX08 Beige Coral (smaller size)

Hmmmm...what should I say now? I don't like the palette.
The colors are super warm and don't look flattering with my complexion at all.
On most pics it looked neutral but to me it's just too warm.

The Skin Modeling Eyes in Beige Beige is an ok neutral palette, however it lacks depth and intensity.


2 of the colors are skin-toned. However on me they turn out orangey-beige (yep, even the shade on the bottom left!). The highlighter turns into a creamy mustard shade with glitters and the darkest shade is a medium brown. I can understand that for skin-tones from NC25 up these shades will be perfect to create a polished nude eye look. However for me it's just not the right combination of colors.

The Coloring Cheeks in 01 seemed to be the perfect peachy pink but morphed into a rather bright orangey shade on me.


It's super pigmented so applying this sheerly is not easy.

The Noble Shade Liner has a wider brush than the Geminate Liners. The liner brush works really well so the line I can draw is super precise and lasts pretty much all day.


However again the color is a warm medium-dark brown that's just not intense enough for my taste.

The High Stylized Mascara EL gives length but no volume and doesn't hold the curl well. I haven't had luck with Lunasol's volumizing mascara either.


I just think Shiseido makes better mascara's than Kanebo. Integrate, Maquillage and Majolica Majorca offer great mascaras.

The Full Glamour Gloss N in 08 is the only item in the lot I like. It's a sheer muted coral pink which turns more into a light iridescent pink on my lips.


Quite pretty but somehow doesn't 100% go with the blush in my opinion. But this might be the fault of my naturally rather pink lips!

All in all I am disappointed and will probably let this go. No use if it's just sitting here looking pretty and collecting dust!

At least I paid "only" retail but it's not worth it for me. If you're warm-toned this would be a great choice and good value for money. However it's very hard to get hold of this set now!

Small Ichibankao haul (Integrate, Kiss, Sana)...teaser!

I received a cute little haul from Ichibankao today! (small doesn't equal cheap usually when I haul though!...)

I tested a few of the items already and I LOVE them! I will review more for you over the next days..

Btw I am really sorry for my lack of posts these days... I am going through some checkups and stuff and will probably go to the hospital for a surgery soon so my mind is somehow a bit blocked these days so I have no real energy/mood for posting these days. Don't worry, this phase will be over soon and I really have soooo much stuff here to review!

Here's a pic, more about the items soon!

Kanebo Sensai Colors

When I read the news that Kanebo was going to introduce a new makeup line "Sensai Colors" to replace their old and dusty "International" line I was extremely excited!
Shiseido The Makeup and Kanebo International are the only 2 Japanese brands we get here so a revamp and lineup of fresh new products was more than welcome!

Supposed release date worldwide was February 1st but of course lovely Austria (known as the overpriced beauty desert) was way behind so we didn't get the items before the 3rd week of February.

When I called the department store to ask if the line was finally available I was super excited when I heard it was just out so I went there just an hour later to pick up some goodies from the new line.


The new Sensai Colors line includes lipsticks, eyeshadow palettes, blushes, highlighters etc. and a new base makeup line which I didn't bother to test as all colors are too dark for me.

Of course the most exciting item were the eyeshadow quads though I honestly was slightly disappointed with the 4 color choices given.
There are 2 brown-toned palettes (one warmer/orangey and one more neutral one), a purple/pink and a black/silver color.

I ended up with:
-Eyeshadow Palettes in ES03 Shiro Nadeshiko and ES04 Murasaki No Nihohi
-Cheek Blush in CH02 Shirosakura
-Eyelid Base
-Deep Moist Shine Rouge in Usuhanasakura

-Eyeshadow Palette:


The Eyeshadow Palettes come in pretty simple but elegant and heavy compacts. It looks like striped metal covered with clear plastic or so lol.


Each palette comes with 4 colors, with a mirror and applicators.
Honestly the texture isn't the best I found from Kanebo. In my opinion their Coffret D'or and even Kate eyeshadows have a much silkier texture. I find the shadows a little chalky and dry to the touch, reminding me a bit of Lunasol's newest eye palettes.
Considering that I can get about 3-4 Kate palettes and about 2 Coffret D'or palettes for the same price the Sensai Eyeshadow Palettes are not worth it.


The finish and pigment varies from color to color though in general the shadows tend to be sheer.

ES03 Shiro Nadeshiko:


This is a basic silver/gray palette working with pretty much all skin-tones and eye colors.
The colors are a matte white, slightly shimmery silver gray, light very shimmery silver with fine glitters, white and dark satin gray.
All in all you can easily dupe this palette with one of Kate's smokey palettes e.g. Glamtrick Eyes in BK-1.

ES04 Murasaki No Nihohi:


This is the palette featured in the ads and the color combination that attracted me most online however in reality I wasn't sure if it would work for me due to the warm pink-toned purples in the palette.
The colors are a matte pale flesh color, slightly shimmery baby pink, very shimmery pink mauve withs silver glitters and deep warm purple (matte). All in all the palette is a bit too red for my liking =(

All in all the shadow palettes are good but not worth their hefty price tag. Also since it's available here the "special" and "hard-to-get" factor is lost so the whole line is less attractive than the stuff only available in Japan =P (I am weird, I know!)

-Cheek Blush:


The compact the blushes come in is the same as the eyeshadow palettes.
I got the blusher in CH02 Shirosakura which is a pretty cool rosy plum color. The blusher pan actually consists of 3 colors (a plummy pink and 2 mauve pinks) that blend together into a softly shimmery cool plum rose.


The blusher is silky and offers good and buildable color-depth.


All in all it's a nice blusher but again it's not super unique and somehow it's missing the special kick for me.

-Eyelid Base:


The Eyelid Base comes in a heavy glass jar and is a soft cream with a nearly invisible ivory tint and fine pearl shimmer (hard to detect).
It gives a smooth canvas for eyeshadow application and feels very comfortable and moisturizing.
The primer is good in intensifying eyeshadows thus making them more vivid and vibrant.


I think I still prefer my Lunasol base though as it has a little more coverage, more pearl sheen and is not as soft. Furthermore it makes shadows a bit more blendable than the Sensai Eyelid Base. However the Sensai base is more moisturizing.

-Deep Moist Shine Rouge:


To me the Deep Moist Shine Rouge is the best item of the collection (at least the color I picked up is really GREEEEEEEAT).
The lipsticks come in a rather bulky heavy tube (same design as the compacts) which gives them a luxurious feel.


The texture is super moisturizing, soft and comfortable to wear.
The slightly glossy and very shimmery finish makes my lips look more full and plump. The shimmers however are slightly scratchy but not really bothersome.


The color I got (MS111 Usuhanasakura) is a light shimmery pink bordering to frosty. I think if you're very warm-toned or tan this will be a bit hard to pull off.
I really like this color a lot though admittedly I still think Lunasol has much prettier and better lipsticks =)


To conclude my review I'd say the items are solid quality and it's worth picking up a few pieces however I don't feel real love and don't think I'll buy more stuff from the current selection. Maybe a few more lipsticks or so...

I didn't list pricings as this will depend where you live.