Shiseido Anessa Perfect Hair Sunscreen

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I´ve wanted a sun protection for my hair for the longest time (sounds like a weird product but it would help protect hair dye from fading etc.).
I finally settled on the one from Shiseido Anessa which I ordered from Adambeauty for US$21 (quite steep but anyways...)...

This product comes in a white 100ml spray bottle which dispenses the sunscreen as a very fine mist (which is a must in my opinion..). It offers UVA and UVB protection however no SPF or PA level seems to be listed on the package.
The Perfect Hair Sunscreen has a light creamy scent which is quite pleasant. What I love about this product is that it makes my hair super soft and smooth for an overall very nice feel.

To be very honest I have no idea how well this is protecting my hair from the sun? I dye my hair every 4-6 weeks anyway due to some stupid white hair so.... hmmmm....don´t know if this actually protects!

I just spray this on my dry hair and comb it through. This product is waterproof so it will only remove with shampoo which is a great thing!

Anyways, I love this product as it makes my hair so soft and lovely so would repurchase for that result alone.

Rating 4/5

Elizabeth Nude Bonbon OL Necessary Gloss in #2

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I reviewed some of the Elizabeth lipglosses a while ago (older Nude Bonbon OL Style Glosses here and here and Pink Bonbon Glosses here) but seems the OL Style Gloss got a revamp and is now being called OL Necessary Gloss (at least that´s what Adambeauty lists it as)...btw an OL is an "office lady" so that should mean the gloss comes in natural colors suitable to wear to work.

The gloss tube comes now with a diamond pattern and retails for 600 Yen/each. There are 4 colors of which I chose #2 as it looked very pretty in the online swatch.

The applicator is a spatula-type which makes it easy to pile on the gloss.
The texture is very nice as it´s not thicky and not too thick, just the right texture to give a long-lasting and highly-glossy finish.
This gloss is unscented and pigmented enough to show up well.

#2 is a pretty semi-bright coral pink with only miniscule shimmer.

Overall a lovely gloss that comes in pretty colors and is very affordable (US$8 on Adambeauty.com).

Rating 5/5

Canmake Bright Up Base SPF15 PA++ in 01 Beige Pink

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Eid mubarak to all those who celebrate =)
I stopped by the Canmake "counter" in one of Hong Kong´s department stores when I was there so I picked up this Bright Up Base as it swatched really nicely.
You get a cute shiny pink box housing a simple light colored squeeze tube containing the Bright Up Base.

This is a makeup base which offer slight coverage to even out your skin and contains ingredients to keep your skin "happy".
Here are Canmake´s claims about this product!

This is a slick cream with a fair beige tint to it. What is a bit weird is that when applying it I get a sort of slightly grainy/scratchy feeling that I don´t like. I don´t know where this feeling comes from but it makes my skin feel slightly irritated.
This stuff is unscented and offers very light coverage to even out my skin. The finish is slightly shimmery but not too glittery in my opinion.

25g retail for 900 Yen so this is one of the more inexpensive Japanese beauty products. This product contains a SPF of 15 and PA++.



Overall this is a decent base but I don´t like the feel of this during application. After application the weird scratchy feeling is gone though.
I wouldn´t repurchase this as there are nicer cheap makeup bases (e.g. Media or Integrate) out there.

Rating 3.5/5

Hada Labo Air BB Cream SPF20 PA++

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As always I couldn´t resist this new "BB cream" from Japan, this time from Hada Labo.
I got a tube in the lighter of the 2 available colors from Alphabeautyuk on eBay who states about this product:

"Features
1. A single tube gives you all-in-1 foundation performance plus skincare benefits from the Hada Labo series
2. It helps depress excessive sebum secretion, cover pores & small flaws, and even skintone.
3. It contains hyaluronic acid and collagen for skin nourishment
4. With effective whitening ingredients like arbutin and vitamic C derivatives
5. No fragrance, mineral oil-free. Alcohol-free. Preservative-free.
6. With SPF20 PA++ sunscreen support"

Sounds quite good but unfortunately this BB cream in its plain white tube is a total fail.
First off this stuff has nothing to do with a BB cream. This feels like a pure silicone cream which means it features this weird powdery feeling once you apply it. Furthermore this has zilch coverage, not even the least bit.

As you see on the swatch pic a bit below this stuff has a color like mustard but once applied it is so sheer that there is no color, no coverage, nothing.
I might give this the credit as a silicone makeup primer...it´s decent in this respect but it´s NOT a BB cream. Sorry, Hada Labo, by just writing "BB cream" on the tube it doesn´t morph into one!

This is unscented and I haven´t tried this long enough to determine if it would cause blemishes like many other silicone primers tend to do.

This was also on the pricier side at around US$20.
Rating 2/5

Coffret d´Or Fast Beauty Foundation UV SPF33 PA++ BB Cream in 01 Bright Skin

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Coffret d´Or whipped up their own kind of BB cream a few months ago so I picked up a tube when I was in Hong Kong.

The Fast Beauty UV Foundation BB comes in a silver squeeze tube...not really and kind of exciting packaging but it is convenient and hygienic.

This BB cream has a very smooth but not overly thick consistence and is very easy to spread evenly. It gives about medium coverage so it evens out my skin nicely and I don´t need another foundation.

This cream is unscented and doesn´t irritate my skin at all. This has an added sun protection of SPF33 and PA++.

01 is a yellow-toned light shade suitable for light but not for super pale skin-tones. For me it´s too yellow and dark but it blends in somewhat well.

Overall a nice Japanese BB cream but the color is a bit too yellow for my liking.
I don´t remember the price I paid for my 30g tube but I think this retails for around US$32 on Adambeauty.
There are 2 more colors available: Natural and Healthy.

Rating 3.5/5

Fall 2011: Maquillage Essence Glamorous Rouge in RS794

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I arrived to Egypt last week hence my lack of posts, sorry! I am quite busy with family duties and other stuff so posting is limited these days *sigh*
Anyways, I purchased one of the new Essence Glamorous Rouge lipglosses from Maquillage a few weeks ago and just wanted to do a quick review now.
I bought mine from Alphabeautyuk on eBay but I have also seen these on Adambeauty now.

The Essence Glamorous Rouge comes in a silvery rounded tube with a very nice slanted doe-foot applicator made of a very soft fuzzy material distributing the right amount of color.

The gloss is creamy and totally un-sticky while feeling moisturizing and just wonderfully pleasant to wear.
This unscented gloss wears very well for a decent amount of time before it needs to be reapplied.

The finish is glossy but not mirror-shine and the color shows up well as this product is relatively pigmented for a gloss (or liquid lipstick).

RS794 is a very pretty cool mauvey rose pink.

Overall I really love this stuff and will say it´s excellent like the majority of Maquillage lipsticks/glosses. I can´t find anything negative about this lovely product.

Rating 5/5

Summer 2011: Lunasol Full Glamour Liquid Lips EX-02 Coral Pink & Eye Pencil N EX-02 Blue Green

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Lunasol released a pretty summer collection but nothing tickled my fancy. The main popular item were/are the summer palettes but they just looked a lot like the previous years´palettes Lunasol put out for summer so I skipped them.

I got one of the new Liquid Lips in EX-02 Coral Pink and the Eye Pencil in EX-02 Blue Green on eBay recently so time to review them before I forget =)

Both products come in Lunasol´s signature packaging/chocolate bronze metallic packaging.
The Liquid Lips is one of the nicest liquid lipsticks/creamy lipglosses I know and wears absolutely comfortably.

As I said above the texture is very creamy, not sticky or goopy and stays on decently. It feels quite moisturizing as my lips are very soft when this wears off.

EX-02 Coral Pink is a beautiful sheer color with fine shimmer. The name coral pink fits the color very well.


Rating 5/5

The Eye Pencil N EX-02 Blue Green is a fat pencil-shaped twist-up pen so it does not require sharpening.

It´s a creamy pencil with good pigment and fine shimmer. It blends nicely and looks really bright as it´s such a gorgeous teal shade. This cream eyeshadow/pencil wears well with minimal creasing but does fade a little over the day.

It´s a bit too thick to use this as a eyeliner but it´s a nice eyeshadow in my opinion.
EX-02 Blue Green is a nice sparkly teal.


Rating 4/5
Retail is around 2800 Yen for the lipgloss and around 2600 for the eye pencil. I believe Adambeauty has them up for grabs.

Elizabeth Nude Bon Bon Lip Care Essence

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Elizabeth is a small Japanese brand that does have some nice products. I reviewed some of their lipglosses and nail colors before (though the latter weren´t that great).

The Lip Care Essence is a new product I believe, I just found it recently on Adambeauty.

It comes in a small tube with a clear plastic spatula applicator. The Lip Essence is a quite slick gloss which is not sticky at all and feels nicely moisturizing.
This gives a glossy finish and lasts decently on me.

The Lip Care Essence is neither scented nor flavored and retails for 600 Yen.

Adambeauty sells this for US$9 incl. shipping (however add US$2 per shipment for registered mail.
Overall a really good product and there is nothing bad I can say about it.

Rating 5/5

PDC Pure Natural Natural Make UV Milk SPF23 PA++

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PDC released a new tinted moisturizer/sun protection recently and since I always fall for those kind of things I ordered one.
The Pure Natural Make UV Milk SPF23 PA++ comes in a small simple white/blue bottle and has to be shaken prior to each use.

The product is quite liquid and spreads easily. It feels a little greasy at first but that feeling settles soon in my opinion.
This milk is tinted in a very fair yellowish shade which works great to brighten my skin and to use as a base for foundation however the coverage is so sheer a variety of skin tones should be able to use this. This seems to leave some sort of sheen on my skin but not really shimmer or glitter.

The sun protection level is fine for doing errands or just hanging out for an afternoon in the city but won´t work for heavy outdoor activities and I am not sure if it´s waterproof (probably not).


This stuff isn´t scented and doesn´t irritate my skin at all.

Overall this is a nice makeup base or a brighening sunscreen albeit the slightly greasy feel bugs me a little.

Rating 3.5/5