Etude House Petit Darling Matte Eyeshadows in #1, 2 and 4

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I didn´t own more than a handfull of matte eyeshadows as I just prefer shimmery shadows =) However recently I felt I wanted some matte shadows just for adding definition to my eyes without shimmer....maybe to make a shimmery colorful liner pop or something.

I found some very neutral and wearable colors in the Gmarket store of Etude House (etudegmark for those interested to check them out).
These shadows are really inexpensive (I want to say less than US$4/each?)... and come in cute little compacts.

The texture these eyeshadows sport is very silky and not chalky like you might expect from many matte eyeshadows. The color pay-off is decent, sheer to medium and buildable. These are a bit hard to blend but not to the extent of being un-blendable.

#1 is a pale cream shade which blends into my natural skin-tone so it´s almost invisible but still it brightens my eyes. Makes a great highlighter especially to counteract a shimmery lid color!
#2 is a creamy peachy beige shade great for crease-definition
#4 is a deep charcoal color good as a liner or crease-definition. Btw I don´t think this works well with the other 2 colors, I should have gotten #3 which is a deep brown shade

Overall these are nice little shadows to have around if you appreciate a matte natural eye look.

Rating 4/5

P.S. I am going to our beach house for the next 4 days or so so it´s highly possible I have no internet there. So probably no new posts until Sunday or Monday =(

Etude House Apricot Stick in #1, 2, 3 and 8

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The Apricot Stick lipsticks from Etude House caught my attention back in July when I placed a Gmarket order.
These are very cheap (like US$3 or so), come in an array of 8 bright colors, most of them in the red/bright pink/orangey color scheme.

The Apricot Sticks look like regular pencils from outside but when you remove the cap you just have to twist out regular lipbalm-like lipsticks tinted in the same color as their packaging.

These lippies have a nice unobtrusive fruity peachy scent (or apricot but to me this smells more like peach) and are quite pigmented (at least these are super-bright on my lips).
Wearing #2:

The colors I got are #1 (hot pink), #2 (bubblegum pink), #3 (reddish pink) and #8 (a very bright juicy red).

To be honest again I don´t like any of the colors. They are all super bright and have a slightly dull finish so they look uneven and weird and I just don´t feel comfortable wearing these colors. These are fun colors for younger girls or whoever can pull off brights (think many deeper skin-tones than mine) but for me these just don´t look really sophisticated or wearable.

Overall rating for me is 2/5 as these are cheap, look cute and smell nice but overall I dislike these but as I said, others might just love these!

Etude House Golden Ratio Designing Conté

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The Golden Ratio Designing Conté is a really interesting product, unlike anything else I have seen before.

The Golden Ratio line (which, as I understand, came out at least last fall so it´s not the most recent release) features products to contour and define one´s face to reach a most perfectly balanced facial ratio.

The Designing Conté is a duo of face "pencils" (as EH calls them) that look more like pastel chalks.
They are wrapped in plastic which should be only removed in half as not to stain your fingers everytime you use them.

I furthermore recommend to keep them in the box incl. padding and cover to prevent these pencils from crumbling or staining other things.
You get 2 colors, one is a shimmery light beige and the other one is a deep chocolate brown that´s matte.

The lighter shade should be used for highlighting the cheeks, forehead, ridge of brows etc. whereas the deeper color is  intended to be used for defining the brows, hairline etc. Both could also be used as eyeshadows.
Both sticks have a densely pressed powder texture with a good color pay-off.
The lighter shade has a glowy/pearly finish and can be blended quite nicely. For me unfortunately the warm beige shade is too dark to be of use as a highlighter and I for contouring it´s too yellow on me so I can only use it as an eyeshadow and the color is just not perfect for me. More tan ladies can probably enjoy this stuff really well, though!

What´s interesting about the deeper color is that once applied it stays absolutely put so smudging or blending is next to impossible however this is probably the most perfect brow powder I have ever used. It´s dark, lasts perfectly, doesn´t crumble and doesn´t fade or smudge. I think the idea of using this to define one´s hairline is interesting but I am not really doing that :P
Applied with a thin angled brush this could also make a good eyeliner but I haven´t tried this yet.

The sticks aren´t scented and cost me 8000 Won (around US$7something). I got them from etudegmark on Gmarket (item 193822952). I am sorry but right now it seems this item is out of stock.

Rating 3.5/5... the darker stick alone totally gets 5/5 however the lighter color drags the rating down a bit.

Gmarket haul (Etude House is generous with freebies again!) =D

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 got couple of gift certificates from Gmarket´s Top Blogger Event stuck on my account along with some shipping refunds from my last orders from February and I was in need of some black hair dye so I placed an order last Thursday and Friday =)

My order arrived already as of today as both sellers (etudegmark and 밀려오레) shipped super fast. As a matter of fact I first placed an order for 3 Etude House hair dyes, 2 from Somang and couple of cute stationery sets but the stationery was canceled Friday morning and I got my refund right away... Since I didn´t want to just receive a non-fun package of just a few hair dyes I did another Etude House haul as I noticed they had a cute new hair care range out! =D
Etude House was extremely generous with their free gifts this time around even though only a few were pictured in their "event". I got 3 packs of cotton pads, 2x q-tips, 3 hair mask samples (30ml each, quite generous!), 2 face washs (30ml each), some skincare sets from Moistfull and Moistfull Aloe, an eyebrow razor/mirror/lash comb, a makeup bag, 15 (!!) Moistfull sheet masks and an Acerola face gel (as it was a BOGOF (=1+1 free) offer!). Please note all these gifts arrived with 2 different orders but combined into 1 international shipment =)

These are the items I actually ordered:

Silk Scarf shampoo, conditioner and hair mask, 3 hair dyes in black, Acerola face gel and those interesting Golden Ratio face contouring chalks (or whatever you call them.

Overall this was the best experience with Etude House for long time as they used to be super generous with samples and freebies, then were getting REALLY stingy and now I got really a lot of nice and useful extras!
Totally recommend ordering now!

Etude House Bubble Hair Coloring in #1 Deep Black

Jumping on the Japanese bubble hair dye bandwagon Etude House released their own version offering 4 colors of foaming hair dye. I picked up the red and black ones but won´t be using the red one any time soon.

Currently I love my hair darker, if possible a deep ashy black so the Bubble Hair Coloring in #1 Deep Black looked right up my alley.

Here are the contents of the kit:

You get a bottle, a bigger sachet with the 2nd agent you have to pour inside the bottle, hair treatment (I believe it´s a leave-in type but haven´t tried it), instructions, gloves and cape.

This hair color contains "Micro Bubble Booster" which helps in creating a very dense and fluffy lather and in my honest opinion that´s quite true, this is one of the finest bubble hair dyes I have tried so far, giving me the feeling that the texture of the Prettia dyes is a bit outdated.

This is used like most other hair dyes: mix the 2 agents in the bottle, don´t shake, only gently tilt the bottle a few times, put on the gloves and cape, apply bubble dye to dry hair evenly coating all your hair, leave on for around 30 mins, rinse color, wash with shampoo and conditioner/treatment and dry.

To me the dye feels quite mild, there is no overly pungent smell and my hair feels quite soft and nice after dyeing and washing. Staying power is quite good, I re-dyed my hair with the same color about 5 weeks after the first as my roots started to show.

Overall a good hair dye though honestly there isn´t much a company could do wrong about black hair color! Love the super fine foam and ease of application as there is absolutely no dripping or mess during application.

I got this on Gmarket for around US$7 from etudegmark.

Overall this gets a 

Rating of 5/5 for the #1 Deep Black color

Etude House Sweet Eye Cupcake in #1 Banana & Chocolate, #4 Lavender & Grape and #5 Gray Brown & Smoky Black

The cute Sweet Eye Cupcake baked eyeshadow duos from Etude House caught my eye some weeks ago but the color I wanted most (#5) was not listed on Gmarket but when it was back in stock I ordered it together with 2 other colors.
 
I really love the cute little tin cases the shadows are housed in. The shadows are not scented and feature the typical slightly hard baked shadow texture. The finish is pearly or metallic and blending quality and color pay-off are good though there could be even a bit more pigment in the darker colors in my opinion.

On me these shadows last very well without fading or creasing worn on top of Lunasol Eyelid Base and they don´t irritate my eyes. Not sure about the performance in hot or humid climates and/or oily eyelids.

The color duos are nicely matched however I personally need an additional highlighter for duo #5.

#1 Banana & Chocolate is a safe neutral brown/yellow ivory combo

#4 Lavender & Grape is a really pretty lavender/purple duo, I especially like the metallic quality of the lighter colors which is just gorgeous!


#5 Gray Brown & Smoky Black is a lustrous taupe/deep charcoal combination, definitely my favorite and a great buy for cool-toned ladies.


The Sweet Eye Cupcake eyeshadows are not expensive (somewhere around US$7 perhaps?) and can be purchased from etudegmark on Gmarket or you can check ebay, I have seen them there for a few $$ more.

Rating 4/5

Etude House Touch Touch! Shadow Liner

I am admittedly not a big fan of cream shadows but the Touch Touch! Shadow Liner from Etude House in color #4 looked really good so I ordered it on Gmarket, seller etudegmark.
 
The Shadow Liner comes in a lightweight plastic pot which contains 4.3g and retails for 5500 Won (a bit over US$5) so it´s fairly inexpensive. 

The texture of this is great, a very smooth super-pigmented cream which applies and blends perfectly. The finish is an intense metallic color which stays absolutely put without any creasing, fading or smudging.

I like applying this over my whole lid with a wide cream-shadow brush but the Touch Touch! Shadow Liner is pigmented and intense enough to be used as a liner. 

Color #4 is a nicely intense metallic gray.


Overall I am very impressed with this product and can highly recommend this!


Rating 5/5

Etude House Miss Tangerine Cream Choux Blusher & Sweet Shower Lips

Etude House recently released a tangerine-themed makeup collection which features quite an extensive array of products. Since orange makeup is exactly the opposite of what I like I only ordered a few pieces that looked wearable for me: The Miss Tangerine Cream Choux Blusher in a light pink color and 2 of the Miss Tangerine Sweet Shower Lips in colors that looked like a pearly peach and a pearly sweet muted pink (they aren´t as you will see in the swatches below).
 
I really like the packaging of the Miss Tangerine collection as its quite bright and cheerful. The Miss Tangerine Sweet Shower Lips come in quite heavy metal swivel-up tubes (similar design to e.g. the Extra Silky Lipsticks from Cle de Peau) but please be careful not to twist out too much of the lipsticks as it doesn´t retract.

The price of 8500 Won (around US$7.80) isn´t bad but the lipstick only contains 2.2g which might be used up quickly with regular use. It´s lightly perfumed with a fresh citrus scent (tangerine I guess) and the color is sheer and offers a creamy, slightly glossy finish.

The texture is creamy and the lipstick is comfortable to wear however it´s not the most moisturizing formula and the color can look blotchy if I don´t use a lipbalm underneath.


I got the colors #1 Shiny Pink Shower and #5 Sweet Peach Shower.
#1 is a light bright bubblegum pink which is pretty for a fresh summer look but only when worn lightly as it can look a bit dull and uneven. Not the most sophisticated and elegant color in my opinion. 
#5 is totally not a soft peach, it´s a very bright orange shade so I only sampled it once on my arm but gave it as a gift to someone.


Overall a decent product but since 4 out of the 5 available colors are oranges it might be hard to pull this off depending on your skin-tone and personal taste.

Rating 3.5/5

The Miss Tangerine Cream Choux Blusher is available in 4 colors (orange, peach, pink, lavender), contains 12g and retails for 6000 Won (around US$5.50). It comes in a squeeze tube with a slanted applicator (what you are used to see on lipgloss tubes).

The blush is very thick and not very greasy or slick, on the contrary, it´s more like a dry cream.

The cream blush is quite pigmented so a little goes a long way. It blends nicely, even over a light layer of powder and looks evenly and natural on me. In order to blend this evenly one should be quick as the blush dries down quickly and then it lasts really well throughout the day.

This product is unscented and in my opinion absolutely worth its price. 

#3 Miss Berry is a sweet light pink giving this very nice slightly flushed cheek look. When blended into the skin it doesn´t look as light as it looks straight from the tube.

Overall this is a really great product, one of the best cream blushes I have tried so far..and very affordable, too.

I´d really like to try the lavender one and maybe the peachy one. 

Rating 5/5

I ordered all products along with some other items from etudegmark on Gmarket. Shipping was fast and all items were packed securely as always. I have to add that Etude House is now really stingy with their freebies. I got a purse organizer as I spent more than 50000 Won but there was no sample or other freebies like in the previous years. That´s a little disappointing but the amount of freebies one can get from Gmarket sellers has drastically dropped in general. Really a pity as many were quite generous with samples etc.