Monday 27 May 2013

Rimmel London phone booth and bb cream review

A few months ago, Rimmel was having this guessing competition where they put a location clue of where they were going to be in mX everyday for a week. The first five people to give the Rimmel girl the secret code word would win a year's worth of supply.

I found the phone booth because it was located where I work (lol). The competition ran from 7.30am until 11am. When I got there at 8am, the spokesperson said she's already given out the prize. Apparently, some girls started lining up at 4am in the morning...


The Rimmel red phone booth! And the freebies in Kleenex boxes haha

Look at that tiny phone booth across the road.

The spokesperson initially only handed me one tiny tube of BB cream. When I asked her about the code word, she told me that the prizes have already been claimed and gave me a pencil tin. I exited the building to go to the post office at round 10am and she gave me another two tubes of BB cream samples. She looked really bored and unhappy because it was pretty quiet during that time.

Rimmel tin and BB Cream



Swatching it on my hand
I tried a thin layer of this on my face.

In my honest opinion... I disliked this BB Cream. I don't think it even has a right to call itself a 'BB Cream'. Sorry Rimmel. I liked your lip products (the Sweet Jelly Lipgloss was done sooooo right), but I would give this a miss.

The texture is too thin and watery. It does not have any coverage at all. I think Garnier and even Maybelline did a better job at re-creating a BB Cream (though compared some of the other Korean ones I've used, they sort of rank... down there).

Rating: .5/5

The .5 is for having different shades. That's it.

TL;DR: Give this a miss. Skip over it and go "NOPE I DID NOT SEE YOU THAR." Perhaps it's just my expectation of what a BB Cream should be like. I would probably be more forgiving if it was labelled a tinted moisturiser.

So uh guys... would anyone like my samples?
-____-

Sunday 26 May 2013

Namie-kun's 2012 phantasmagoria Touhou Project Fanbook vol. 2 review

Ehehe, I'm late to the boat. I think I received this in February. Unfortunately, since I did not check my dA as often as I used to, I missed out on my postal batch. No matter, it just came a few days later from Namie in WA.

She did a doodle on my envelope! T^T 

I was so happy when I received this. I pre-ordered it in November and received it in February. The book had a limited 250 print run (from what I remember, and if you can call it that). The book was $27 + $6 for registered shipping within Australia.

I met Namie last year when she came to Smash. I cosplayed at Blue Reimu whilst she also cosplayed Reimu~ I was was pleasantly surprised she remembered me:D

It's Namie! Look at the height difference:/


Pre-order goodies. I was order #62. The year before I was #4 haha.

She gave me a Reisen doodle:DD

Inside of the book
The book contains full page illustrations as well as WIPs (as shown above), guest art, competition winners, and her trademark humour throughout. I loved the last few pages that introduced the illustrators and contributors. Full of lulz.


Cover of the book

Back of the book

To be honest, I wasn't as impressed by the quality of the guest art this time around. Sure, I liked the artists that were featured, but they just didn't seem as /epic/ as the last book and it wasn't up to the standard as the rest of Namie's book. As much as I enjoyed the idea of the contest in the book, I'd rather see more illustrations from Namie herself (I'm being selfish now aren't I?).

After I got this book, I pulled out her first one and compared the styles. Namie has developed a lot in the last year. When I first watched her in early 2007/ 2008 I thought she had a very unique style and I'm glad to see she has put a lot of time and effort into developing something that is uniquely hers. Unlike a lot of "well-known" dA/ pixiv artists, I can't really see who she's channelling a lot of the time (e.g., Minami --> Pixel Phantom, PeaCh --> Noizi Ito, KD --> Ryohka). Shinkai Makoto in her backgrounds?

Her imagination is really inspiring and it makes me want to pick up my tablet and draw every time I see her rainbow illustrations.

5/5 A +++ to you Namie:)

TL;DR: All in all, another beautiful book from Namie. I remember she said her computer crashed and deleted a few pictures so she had to re-draw them. It was well worth the price. I hope she keeps her passion for drawing for a long time, and continues to strive for improvement.

The Face Shop eyelash adhesive review

I wear fake eyelashes... a lot. Top and bottom at the same time. So it was imperative I found a good glue that doesn't run out on me that quickly. On average, my manicare glue lasts me for a month during cosplay/ Christmas/ New Year's/ going out periods. Not good.


So I've been using this glue for a while now. It's great! I used to only buy the manicare 1ml glue at Priceline (I think it's about $4 for 1ml). The Face Shop glue was about $6~$7AUD for 7g worth of glue (I heard this retails overseas for $3~$4?).



This glue comes out in a blue-ish tint that dries clear.

Pros:
- strong hold
- dries quickly
- good value
- little product goes to waste when you apply the lid back on the tube

Cons:
- can get messy due to its squeeze design packaging
- can pull out your eyelashes due to strong grip
- difficult to remove glue from the false lash

Rating: 4/5

TL;DR: pretty good glue. You should try it:D

Saturday 18 May 2013

Etude House Tear Drop Liner #1 White Tear review

I've seen this product making rounds on the interwebz from Korean girl group members and beauty gurus sporting the look. Here is my take on Etude House's Tear Drop Eye Liner in #1 White Tear. 




What I like about it:
  • the irredescent glitters are blindingly beautiful, especially in sunlight
  • fine brush tip and a long handle for easy application. One dip in the tube should do the trick for both eyes.
  • the formula is glitter dense (i.e., more glitters than clear liner)
  • this glitter liner is uber cheap (6000 won is pretty cheap. I think a product like this would go for at least $15~$20 AUD)



What I dislike about it:

  • there was no security seal around the tube. For all I know, it could have been opened and used before... but the neck of the tube was clean, so it is probably new.
  • the product isn't evenly disbursed in the container. That's not really a problem, but it doesn't look nice in its brand new packaging (you can see what I mean in the above photo ^).
  • it turns flaky after a few hours and you will probably get loose glitter over your face. GLITTER MULTIPLES I TELL YOU.
What it looks like on me (LQ webcam photo -___-;;):


I'm wearing it on the inner corners of my eyes. It's very pretty when the liner catches light because it makes your eyes all *bling-bling* *kira-kira*. It also looks fantastic with aegyo sal style brown shadow under the eyes. 

Verdict: I would definitely repurchase this! It's more of a "special occasion" makeup product but I've been wearing it everyday because it makes me feel pretty^^b

Dolly Wink/ Etude House haul (part 2)

Yay, so a few weeks ago I met up with Christina again and we had a good heart-to-heart chat. She gave me some good advice with things... but I'm a bit too shy and worried about my reputation and what not to take it too literally right now.

This is what she got me~


Dolly Wink eye shadow pallet in #1 Brown (old packaging)

Dolly Wink #1 Dolly Sweet (new packaging)

Etude House Tear Drop Eye Liner #1 White Tear

Etude House Surprise concealer. I think this is in #2? Christina just got it for me as an extra present >__<
She really needs to stop spoiling me gahh.