Isqueen Princess Carnival Fuji Sakura Brightening Mask (comes with 5ml olive essence primer)

Isqueen is a Chinese beauty brand which deserves to be tested as there are some really nice products in their lineup.

I reviewed some of their products before and today I am showing you my so far favorite product from this brand.

The Princess Carnival mask series is brand new, featuring a variety of sheet masks with ingredients from all over the world like lily from Scotland, Aegean rose etc.
I purchased a package of the Fuji Sakura Brightening Masks first but ordered more masks so you can expect more reviews soon.

I am a sucker for packaging so I must admit that I LOVE the cute packaging. The princess is so cute and I adore the sweet pink color of the sakura tree!

What makes these masks special is that they come with a primer liquid to be applied before the actual mask. The olive primer essence is filled into the upper right part of the mask pack and should be applied right before the mask as it will help the skin to absorb the mask liquid faster.

The "induction essence" is a clear liquid with a light slip but no oily or heavy feeling at all. The 5ml are plenty for one application.

The mask itself is made of a thicker very soft and smooth cloth with a good cut so it fits snuggly and doesn´t need to be constantly adjusted (something that happens with poorly cut masks).
The sheets are very drenched with a milky essence which feels quite moisturizing and smooth. It has a very non-descript floral scent, not quite like sakura and I can´t describe exactly like what it smells.

The sheet contains 25g of liquid which makes it feel heavy and very wet but it stays in place well nonetheless.
After wearing the mask for 15-20 minutes my skin looks visibly brighter and more even and feels very plump and moist. This is an effect all good sheet masks give to my skin though so the Princess Carnival Fuji Sakura Brightening Mask performs just as good as my other favorite masks.
I am not quite sure how much use the primer really has. I believe the mask would perform pretty much the same with or without primer so for me this is a bit of a gimmick. 
Still I think this is really good stuff and very worth purchasing and the primer after all is a nice little extra.

I got mine from Alphabeautyuk on eBay for around US$11 for 5 pieces. I ordered the value pack of all 4 available kinds a few days ago so reviews for those masks will follow later.


Rating 4/5

Kanebo Kracie Ichikami Shampoo, Conditioner & Treatment

Kanebo Kracie´s Ichikami hair care line seemed to be Kanebo´s direct answer to the super successful Tsubaki line by Shiseido when it first came out.

I tried the older version of Ichikami some years back but didn´t quite like it. The products were alright but not outstanding and the smell reminded me too much of the red Tsubaki line, very floral and a bit cloying.

The Ichikami hair care line got a revamp not too long ago and I think the bottles look now much prettier and more elegant in their glossy bottles.
The products contain now rice bran extracts, camellia oil, walnut (?) and some other stuff I can´t figure out lol.
The line is for damaged and dry hair as it can help repair damage and give a glossy healthy shine. 

What I noticed first is that now the products smell really good. Much fresher, a bit of a fruity apple note and a grain/rice-smell, too.
All 3 products have a rich and moisturizing texture so they will be too rich for normal-oily hair.

I got the big sizes (550g) of the Shampoo (white bottle), the Conditioner (black bottle) and the 200g tube of the Treatment. I purchased all of them on eBay from kawaiikimono.

Performance-wise these products are really great though not as good as my beloved Asience hair care! The Asience stuff is just a bit richer and makes my hair even softer than the Ichikami but it can be too heavy for daily use so the Ichikami hair care is perfect to alternate with the Asience stuff.
The Treatment is to be used 1-2x per week, apply to shampooed hair, leave for a few minutes and then rinse out.


Overall a great hair care series...I love the bottles, the smell and the soft hair it gives me.

Rating 4/5

Kanebo Freshel White C W Cream UV SPF32 PA++ (BB Cream)

I ordered this rather new Kanebo Freshel White C W Cream UV (BB Cream) back in April but never came round to reviewing it. Actually I am terribly behind with my reviews, especially with the non-makeup items (aka skincare etc.) but also some of the makeup goodies I picked up during the year remain unreviewed. 

Anyway, I first picked up the Moist Lift W Cream from Freshel in December or January and quite like it even though as I stated it is a little on the yellow side but since it´s sheer and rather light-toned works quite well for me.
I am using it on a regular basis though as it just feels comfy.

To me the main difference between the first brown-tubed version and the 2nd in gray packaging is the sun protection level and the color. The White C W Cream UV has now SPF32 PA++ wheras the Moist Lift version offers a protection of SPF23 PA++ so I consider the new gray one as a summer version.
The UV version is also a *little* bit darker, about a quarter-half shade. 

Otherwise the texture is the same for me, a lightweight sheer tinted-moisturizer feel without the heavy silicone-y BB Cream sensation. The W Cream UV makes my skin soft and smooth and the light tint evens it out nicely. The color is a decent match so I like wearing this on my no-makeup days. Still my favorite BB Cream is the one from Meishoku!
Can be used right after cleanser and toner, combines the effects of sun protecion, light makeup, beauty essence, emulsion (moisture milk) and cream.


I believe the target group of this product are ladies in the 30ies and 40ies but in my opinion it´s a pretty nice basic product suitable for younger women, too.

The 50g tube retails for 1680 Yen. I got mine from Adambeauty for US$15 which is below the retail price given the strong Yen currently.

Rating 4/5

Kao Liese Iron Make Collection Rich Straight & Multi Arrange

I love using either the flat iron or the curling iron on my hair. I know it´s tough for my dyed hair but so far it survives everything well hehe =D

Back in April I got couple of bottles of spray from Liese´s new Iron Make collection made especially for using with hot iron tools. There are 2 types: 
-Rich Straight for the flat iron
-Rich Curl for the curling iron (I didn´t get this one yet)
-Multi Arrange for both uses

The Rich Straight spray comes in a cute blue-striped bottle. The spray dispenser makes a relatively fine mist so a few sprays are enough to make my hair a little damp but not too wet for styling. It smells nice (floral and fresh) and initially feels a little sticky which is another reason why one shouldn´t spray too much of this on the hair. 
According to Alphabeautyuk on eBay from whom I bought this this contains heat protection, keeps hair in place like a hair spray and makes hair soft, straight and smooth. It contains stretch polymers to help keep the hair straight.

I really love this stuff! It´s really the best styling aid to get my hair completely straight in a few minutes. My hair is pretty straight but with a light wave which can look untidy quickly but a few spritzes of this stuff and some strokes with my flat iron give me super silky soft and shiny straight hair. 
Afterwards I just use a little of wax for straight hair and a couple of sprays of a hair gloss spray (both from Liese, too).

I am on my 2nd bottle now and will repurchase.

Rating 5/5

The Multi Arrange spray in the rainbow-striped bottle however is one of those multi-purpose items that doesn´t work well for either purpose. 
It smells like the Rich Straight but when I try to use this with my flat iron my hair still doesn´t get as sleek as I want. I don´t know why since I use a good flat iron but this spray just isn´t doing the job.
Also for the curling iron it´s not perfect, I very much prefer my spray from Lucido-L which does a much better job.

Rating 2/5

Kanebo MFC haul

The dear Yumeko posted some time ago about this cute small brand under Kanebo called MFC. I believe it´s sold in convenience stores only and I have never seen it before.

Her friend Fumiko has her own sale blog and that´s where I found this brand for sale and snatched 3 goodies from MFC.
She sent my package quickly within a few days after I placed my order and even included the most delicious soft cookies (my bet is green tea and milk flavor or so?). They were yummy and are long gone by now anyway =D I think I must get my hands on more of these! XD
The blush and trio are nicely pigmented and soft but the bigger palette is very very sheer. Will give them a real try and review later on.

Japanese Xmas stationery

I haven´t bought any cute stationery in ages as I am very well stocked with all kinds of cute Japanese goodies. I have 4 drawers full of letter sets, memo pads, sticky tapes, stickers, wrapping bags etc. so I probably can send a thousand packages/letters and still have plenty of cute stationery left over =P

Since I only buy Japanese (and some Korean....yes, the same concept as with beauty products hehe) I thought of picking up some cute and very different Xmas letter pads and envelopes as there is no such thing as truly cute and kawaii Christmas staionery available here.
I ordered from japankawaiiya.com who is also a seller on Etsy but since many things are forbidden there the lady opened her own online shop.

 
I picked up 2 letter pads (3 designs/each), 2 packs of envelopes, a small memo pad (6 diferent designs .... all items from funny! funny!) , a Kireizukin (San-X) memo pad (8 sheet designs inside, very cute!) and 4 Oyasumi Bakura by San-X pencils for my kids (they are 2B pencils, the kids are finishing my cute Korean 2B pencils in no time so we needed some more, this time Japanese ones) =D

Letter pads:


 



Envelopes:


Small memo pad:

LP Sales to be updated...

My sale blog has been on a long hiatus but now I found a lot of nice goodies to find a new home since I just have too many things for this life hehe =)

Hence my sale blog will be updated tomorrow on October 28th at 3 PM (my time zone, Vienna-Zurich). Sorry to those for whom this time is inconvenient but since I have readers from around the globe it´d be hard to find the one perfect time!

This sale will mainly contain Korean makeup and some Japanese.