Review Canmake Stay-On Balm Rouge

I'm sure you've all heard of the Revlon lip butters :) Apparently the Koreans have found a dupe for these. I'm talking about Canmake Stay On Balm Rouge.

Canmake Stay On Balm Rouge

Before I get into the product, let's just enjoy the moment and look at the cute little tube of lip balm. Canmake is known for its cute packaging and I have to say that they didn't fail on that department this time. The simple flower background is a subtle way to make it look more appealing to customers. Sneaky marketeers, those Asians!

As the product itself, I have to say that I freak-ing love this lip balm!
Not only has it a good color pay off, but it moisturizes my lips as well. And I have to say that the color stays on for about 4 hours, which isn't bad at all! I had a meal with this lip balm and it didn't come off until I wipes my lips with a tissue. You don't feel like you have anything on, hence the lip balm, but this one is there to stay.

Another thing worth mentioning: SPF protection. This has a UV shield. It doesn't say how much, but just knowing it has one, makes it more easy for me to reach for this one than for a lip balm that doesn't have SPF protection at all.

The little tube is handy to throw in your purse for touch ups during the day. And frankly, it's one of mine cutest lip balms ever.

Here's a swatch of the balm:

I've swatched this twice on my hand so you could see that the color is actually buildable.
On the top I've swatched it only once, but on the bottom you'll see a deeper color because I went over it for about 4 times.
I don't have the balls to wear a bold lip, but these tinted lip balms are a great try out. They're not translucent but the color isn't as in-your-face as lipsticks.
You can easily wear it sheer during daytime, but when the lights go out...BAM, that's when you and your Canmake Stay On come in and make every head turn your way, haha!

I think it's a great lip balm. I've used the Revlon lip butter before, but you have to admit:
Asians rock at packaging. That little effort convinced me on sticking with Canmake lip balms.

What do you prefer: Revlon or Canmake?

Products I've used up August '13

Welcome back my dear blog readers,

As you've read the title you know what to expect from this blog post. Today I'll be talking about my empties. Let's kick this into high gear, aight?

Koji Dolly Wink mascara

Lately I've been experimenting with mascara's and trying to figure out which mascara will do my lashes good. The Koji Dolly Wink volume mascara sure has done my lashes good :)

It's a simple black mascara that doesn't smudge, gives volume, gives me the natural look and has a cute packaging.

Vichy Normaderm

I've talked about this before. I mostly use this whenever I have a breakout. I have to admit that this worked very good in the beginning when I started off using this, but lately it just hasn't really done much. I'm not sure whether it's because it dried out a little bit. I already purchased another one. If that doesn't do the job anymore, I definitely won't be repurchasing it anymore.

Eucerin sun fluid SPF 50

Every summer my face becomes one big freckle, haha! I've become more aware of my skin condition this year and I started wearing SPF...finally! I saw this sample laying at my dermatologist's office and decided to give it a try. The word 'mattifying' got me over the fence. Don't you have the problem as well that a lot of SPF's leave a rather greasy feeling on your face? I'm not saying this one doesn't, but it's just not as bad as others. You may think the SPF 50 is rather high, but I prefer a high SPF for my face just to make sure no freckle gets through. Admitting that I haven't seen one new freckly appearing on my face, yay for SPF!



 

Signal White Now

I've been using this tooth paste for a few months now, and I must be hallucinating, but it's like my teeth are a little bit whiter than before. I'll be switching to another tooth paste, so I'll wait and see whether it was the tooth paste or not.
I liked the blue gel combined with the white. If you didn't know, if you have a blue sheen on your teeth it'll give the appearance of them being whiter.

Those were my empties of the month. I've been experimenting with a lot of products lately. I'm guessing this year my empties will be accumulating, so keep an eye for it if you like these kind of posts! :)



I've been using tons of goodies the last couple of months, so keep your eyed peeled for more empties posts! :)

Favorite products of the month: July 2013

So, how did we already pass half summer? Time literally flies by!
But you know what the end of a month means, right? Yup, another listing of my favorite products of the passed month! :)

The month July hasn't been very nice to my skin at all. I had breakouts and I needed treatment, not just for the face, but for the entire body. It's been a while since my body was in such a bad condition...

Let's work from the top down and start with facial products:
Lately the oils in my skin have been going out like crazy. I know during summer my skin has the tendency to go all nuts, but I've been on the look out for good mattifying products to keep my oils at bay.
The Bioderma and the Shu Uemura Pureness mattifying moisturizer have been good to my skin, because they're very light moisturizers but they've been keeping my skin fairly matte.

Left:Bioderma Sébium moisturising mattifying fluid
Right: Shiseido Pureness mattifying moisturiser

Besides that, pimples had several parties on my face. Costume parties. As in, they were everywhere and in all forms. Whenever I'm need of a good zit killer, I take out the big guns: my Benzac Gel. This hydrogel contains 5% of benzoylperoxide. If you haven't heard of this chemical, it mainly dries out the zit causing it for it to DIE, mwoehahaha! Honestly, it's THE bomb diggity to get rid of any breakouts.

Benzac Gel

This passed month I had to go to the dentist, and I had to sit there for about 2 hours with my mouth open. This caused the sides of my mouth crack, and believe you me... it hurts like hell afterwards! I've done some research and I found out that Sudocrem appears to be a very good treatment for healing cracks. After walking around with those cracks for weeks, it healed after applying Sudocrem for just 1 day! Holy moly guacemole, right?
It's known to be a do-it-all for several things, such as soothing a baby's nappy rash, treat dry, cracked feet, get rid of red spots from acne, ... A big plus? It's hypoallergenic, so this will be fighting against those annoying allergic reactions!

Sudocrem

This month I've discovered my epilator and my tweezers again, because you know how we girls be, huh? :) I like to get rid of any excess hair that bothers me, and I have my Tweezerman to thank for. I used to use cheap tweezers and I must admit, nothing beats a Tweezerman. They're so sharp that they can get every hair out, yet they're not as sharp they can cut you. Great stuff!

Tweezerman

If you haven't read the recent last blog posts yet, I've been going on and on about how important SPF is. Recently I've discovered a sunscreen that can keep my face matte, and it has a high SPF factor. It's the Eucerin SPF 50. I'm not going into it too deep anymore, if you would like some more information on it, go ahead and give this one a read.

Eucerin sun fluid SPF 50

As for make up, since this is still a beauty blog, I have 2 drugstore eyeliners, and they're both from the brand Essence.
On the top you'll see the waterproof eye pencil that claims to be: waterproof, partyproof, lifeproof, lasts up to 16 hours and it's sharpenable. It's supposed to stay on NO MATTER WHAT. I must say that this does stay for quite some time.
The second eye pencil is a longlasting one. It's a supersoft eye pencil which is good for precise application.
They're both very good drugstore eye liners that's definitely worth the money! They're cheap (I only paid 1€ for each pencil), they're long lasting, they have a good pigmentation, they're easily accessible (drugstore). Worth giving a shot!

Top: Essence stays no matter what waterproof eye pencil: 01 midnight black
Down: Essence Longlasting eye pencil: 01 black fever

During the summer sales, I often have a peek through the sales boxes and this year I found a YSL cream blush. It's pretty pinkish color that will leave your skin dewy. You don't need too much of this: one or two swipes and hello healthy glow! I'm really glad I found this because I've been on the hunt for a good cream blush and I think I found my blush of the summer.

Yves Saint Laurent cream blush no6

As for lips, I have discovered Bourjois' Color Boost Peach on the Beach. It's a coral lipstick in a crayon form. A great color to wear for those who have been wearing lip balm forever and just started to wear lipstick :) A review of this goodie will be coming up soon!

Bourjois Color Boost: 04 Peach on the Beach

I like bright nail polish colors during the summer, especially for my toes! I've been rocking NYX's hot pink for the entire month of July. It's a fun color that will make your feet look more tanned than they're already are, 2 in 1, yeah baby!

NYX - Dance in Havana

Last but not least, I've been using an oil spray to tame those fly aways down and to make my hair more shiny. I spritz this oil in my damp hair and this makes my hair softer and gives it some shine which my hair has been lacking of. I'm not a fan of the scent, although a lot of those beauty bloggers love the Macadamia scent, but I'll keep on using this because it does the job.

Macadamia - Healing Oil Spray

These were my favorite goodies of the month. Mind sharing yours with me?

I can see the sun coming up!

Dear blog readers,

Recently I had a skin scan to determine my skin age, and I must say... the shock did me well. It made me realize I should take care of skin much better. It made me think about all those years I didn't put any SPF (sun protection factor) on my face. *looks disappointed to myself*

The UV scan is called 'Smarter in the sun' and it was an initiative of the Cancer foundation in Belgium. Basically you answer some questions such as 'Do you go to tanning beds?', 'Do you smoke?', ... Afterwards you get in to have the scan taken. The portrait, which is taken with UV light, will determine what your skin age is.
I'm 26 years old, and my skin age is 33.
My wrinkles show up on my face: 3/10 (which is very thin, yay!) The lady told me Asian people don't get bothered with premature aging, so I'm glad I'm scoring good on something.
My pigmentation on my skin got a score of 4/10, which is pretty bad.

As I can't go back anymore, I can only prevent my skin from getting worse.
About a month ago I was "already" determined to take better care of my skin from now on. I bought a couple of sunscreens to protect my skin, but here's a little explanation on the ABC's of UV, abbreviations I'm sure you've heard of before:
UVA = Ultraviolet A, this is also known as a long wave. This will cause the aging of the skin (cause less elastin of the skin, darker melanin, more pigmentation
UVB = Ultraviolet B, or known as the medium wave. This will harm the superficial layers of the skin and mostly causing burning of the skin. (cause the typical sunburn symptoms such as redness and itching)
UVC = Ultraviolet C, or short wave, for which sunscreens doesn't provide any protection. (apparently these rays are so strong they can even kill small organisms)

If you have any trouble remembering what UV stands for, here's a good mnemonic:

UVA = aging, UVB = burning and UVC = carcinoma (common type of cancer) 

Next to UV's, nowadays most sunscreens have an indication of a PA (Protection Grade of UVA). PA rankings are listed as PA+, PA++ or PA+++ with the more plus symbols the more protection from UVA rays. This doesn't protect you from any of the UVB rays. 

SPF rating, on the other hand, offers protection against UVB rays, the rays that causes those nasty sunburns.

Now for the factor.

Do you wonder what the number stands for after SPF?
Well, just apply the '*10-rule' and bye bye to standing clueless at the drugstore! Don't know what the '*10-rule is'? Let me set a few examples for you:
SPF 15: 15*10 = 150 -> This equals 2,5 hours (150/60 minutes) of protection
SPF 30: 30*10 = 300 -> This equals 5 hours of protection
SPF 50: 50*10 = 500 -> This equals about 8 hours of protection

It's recommended that you daily use a minimum SPF of 15, so let's slather on some sunscreen like you've never done before :)

Toxic ingredient, oxybenzone:

I've heard a lot of contradictions when it comes to oxybenzone. Is it good? Is it bad? Frankly, I still don't know...

Some sunscreens contain the chemical oxybenzone. This should absorb UV light, but some research show the chemical can be absorbed through the skin. Apparently it is linked to hormone disruption and can cause cell damage leading to skin cancer.
Others say it is safe because it provides an effective briad spectrum protection from UV rays.

I'm afraid we just have to wait until scientific experiments to show whether oxybenzone  is harmful or not. Until then, I wouldn't use it...

I'm not going to be a hypocrite and tell you one shouldn't go outside and enjoy the sun, but just be careful. Keep on enjoying the sun, just be smart about it. Make sure you put on sunscreen before leaving the house (preferably 30 minutes before getting exposed to the sun) and stay away from those tanning beds! Have fun and make those wonderful summer memories, just be nice to your skin. Your skin will be grateful to you on a long term :)

Fav BB cream

Hi everyone!

I'm back with another blog post, and today I want to talk to you beauties about my favorite BB cream!

The problem with BB creams for me is that these are mostly towards quite pale girls. Since I'm more a light-to-medium-kind of girl, I thought this BB cream was right up my alley!

Cantabile BB cream

It's by the Korean brand called Cantabile.
To be honest, I have never heard about this brand before my friend suggested this product to me. She was raving on how good it was and as a beauty blogger I couldn't restrain myself and I just had to get myself one and give this baby a try!


As you can see the packaging is quite ... ridiculous :)
Can you imagine how the meeting must have taken place: "Oh, let's put a BB cream on the market and let's put an Asian guy on the packaging!"
Please note that there's a quote 'It makes your skin sing'.




Anyway, back to the actual product, shall we?

This BB cream's official name is i.myss Cantabile BB Cream Magic Secret. Quite a mouth full huh? :)

It's a 50ml little tube and has SPF 25 PA++.
(Side note: SPF indicates UVB protection and PA+++ indicates UVA protection. Please keep in mind that both are important to keep your skin healthy looking!)

What I love about this product is that it comes out as a nude colors but applies translucent on the skin, yet covers the little blemishes...AWESOME!

I mostly slap on some of my Benefit Porefessional to smooth out the canvas to work on, then I go over with this baby!


The only downside is that this is only available in Korea, not really sure whether this is being sold in HK. You can find this online, and costs you about 15$ without shipping costs. Unless you have awesome friends who can go to Korea and get this for you :)

I've tried the Skin 79 (pink one) and the Missha BB cream, and I must say that I prefer this BB cream over the 2 more famous ones. Skin 79 and Missha were quite pale on me and I like it how the cream adjusts to my skin color. No fussing, just there to slap on your face without thinking about contouring, lovely!

What other BB creams have you given a shot?

BB VS CC

You've probably already heard of BB cream, or also known as blemish balm cream. It's something between a tinted moisturizer and a foundation. Some well known asian BB creams are:
            

But I've recently heard there'll be new creams coming up: CC creams!
CC creams stands for color control creams. What that means? An improved BB cream! I haven't got the chance to try it out yet, but I'm not sure I want to to be quite honest... Some examples of the CC creams are:
                                 


The CC creams have everything a BB cream has, only it's more moisturizing, gives more sun protection and has a lighter texture. Biggest advantage of CC creams? They have an oil-free formula which sounds quite appealing to that greasy face of mine :)

 I'm sure looking forward to trying it! Are you?