Review: Dove Essential Nutrients Protective Moisturising Lotion SPF15

Unless you've been living under a rock, you are probably aware that the royal wedding is going down right now. But what am I doing? Blogging, catching up on my GFC follow list, uploading photos... At least I'm doing something that's kinda British - watching Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone lololol! No offense, but I'm not terribly interested in watching the ceremony. Not even to find out what dress she's wearing, although I will no doubt be bombarded by photos of it in the media during the next few days.

The fact that I also DON'T HAVE A TV RIGHT NOW might also have something to do with it.
Ahahahahahahahahahahahaha hurray for the analog signal being turned off in my area. :( And no, I don't have a digital tv. :(((((((

So instead of that, I did a review post! Yay!

What they say:

Dove Essential Nutrients Protective Moisturising Lotion is a light fresh lotion that is designed to help give your skin what it really needs to stay younger looking and beautiful. With essential nutrients, this lotion will leave your skin nourished and hydrated. At the same time, UVA & UVB filters protect your skin from the sun's harmful rays, helping to prevent premature aging.
The result is beautiful, younger looking skin - so healthy it glows.

Essential Nutrients complex: 5 essential nutrients.

Suitable for normal and combination skin types.

To use: Smooth this light lotion evenly onto your face and neck. Reapply the lotion every two hours or more frequently, if in contact with water or perspiration. Store below 30 degrees C.
Suitable for all skin types.

Okay. I bought this a while back as I'd finished my usual moisturiser, Biotherm Aquasource gel cream for normal/combination skin. I wanted to try this since I'd read a couple positive reviews about it, and I was looking for a cheaper alternative.
I tried it for maybe 3 weeks? before I gave up and switched to the Nivea one that was in my last haul post.
It wasn't terrible, it didn't break me out, and my skin didn't become terribly dry or oily. But I noticed that the texture of my skin felt rougher, thicker, not as soft as it used to be, even though I was exfoliating as per normal. And it wasn't as moisturising as I would have needed it to be.
I also did not like the texture of this lotion, it felt quite thick and heavy, and I felt my skin wasn't able to absorb it very well. It left quite a tacky feeling after application, which lasted for longer than expected.

Maybe it was the texture, but the more I used this, the more I felt like I was applying sunblock and not a moisturiser.

Would I repurchase this? No. And this particular bottle is going into the use-up-as-hand/body-cream pile.

Ingredients:
Water, Ethylhexyl Methoxycinnamate, Glycerin, Isohexadecane, Ethylhexyl Salicylate, Triethanolamine, Butyl Methoxydibenzolymethane, Phenylbenzimidazol Sulfonic Acid, Sorbitan Stearate, Myristyl Alcohol, Cetyl Alcohol, Glyceryl Dilaurate, Stearyl Alcohol, PEG-100 Stearate, Sucrose Stearate, Stearic Acid, Cholesterol, Sodium PCA, Linoleic Acid, Sodium Lactate, PEG-4 Laurate, Methylparaben, Propylparaben, Methyl Methacrylate Crosspolymer, Carbomer, Fragrance, Phenoxyethanol, Disodium EDTA, Iodopropynyl Butylcarbamate.

Active ingredients:
Octyle Methoxycinnamate (5.5%), Butyl Methoxydibenzoylmethane (2.0%), Octyl Salicylate (3.0%), Phenylbenzimidazol Sulfonic Acid (2.0%

I was also quite bemused/horrified to see that this contains methyl methacrylate (albeit a crosspolymer, so probably a little different to what I'm thinking of). I'm pretty sure that we use it in the lab. D: I won't go into the gory details, but it's an ingredient in our resin recipe that we use to do microvascular casts. That particular technique isn't part of my project, so I could be wrong. /whistles innocently

Beauty Craze giveaway contest!

The lovely ladies at Beauty Craze have an amazing $500 worth of cosmetics to give away to one lucky reader!
Read their post for entry details~ and join! There's a Giorgio Armani Eyes to Kill shadow in there, and a Chanel Rouge Coco Shine! /grabby hands.

Haul post: Priceline sale/Tokuya

Hope everyone is having a good Easter! It's a public holiday today in Australia, and I've taken advantage of my day off and been productive - I repaired the broken eyeshadow in my Urban Decay Book of Shadows this morning! But that's a post for another day.
Today I'm sharing what I got during the 20% Priceline sale a few weeks ago.

I had just finished up my face and eye moisturisers so this sale came at a really good time. I was using Biotherm's Aquasource gel for normal/combination skin for my face, and their Hydra Detox moisturiser for eyes. I've been using both for some time, and felt like trying something new. And cheaper, lol!

I've had fairly decent results in the past with Nivea Visage moisturisers, so I decided to get something from their range again. I picked up their Aqua Sensation Invigorating Day Cream for normal/combination skin. I've been using it everyday since, and I quite like it. It smells nice, like cucumbers! But I think it's not quite as hydrating as I need, so I'll probably get something else next time.

I also picked up the Anti-shadow Eye cream from the same range. I don't like this as much as the face moisturiser, my skin doesn't seem to absorb it as well, and I don't think it really does anything for dark circles and puffiness (as it claims to).

I also recently ran out of spot treatment, so I got this Neutrogena Rapid Clear 2-in-1 Fight & Fade Gel as well. It works pretty well, any pimples that I treat it with go away much quicker than before.

And finally, I'm looking for a new HG mascara, so this was a perfect opportunity to pick up the Maybelline Falsies Volume Express mascara. I haven't used this yet, so no opinions on it.

I also stopped by the local zakka store on Bourke Street, Tokuya! I really like that store, it's like a smaller Daiso, but closer.

I picked up another hair conditioner, since nothing seems to work for me! Neither did this aloe one as it turned out. :( Doesn't condition, and it irritates my scalp, causing itchiness and dandruff, yuck! (I've since discovered that Clairol Herbal Essences conditioner and a more expensive one from the Face shop work, phew!)

Random hand soap, peach scented! The fragrance is pretty strong, and lingers for a while. But I don't really mind. :p

Well, that's it for this haul! Tonight I'm heading off to do one of my favourite activites - social dancing at the Conga room! We've just finished week 7 of the ladies footwork course, and I really want to see if I've improved any. I already feel more stable, although I still have problems spotting turns. Can't wait for tonight! Maybe I'll do a strong eye look for tonight. XD

Happy Easter weekend!

First FotD!

Watching Dexter makes me want to learn Spanish.
But anywayyyyy....! Here is my very first face of the day!

This was from last week. Sorry about the weird expression, I'm still not good at taking self shots, and this was the only one where I wasn't wearing my glasses that wasn't blur.
I was going for a neutral, my-face-but-better look. This was Attempt No. 1. I think I sorta kinda succeeded? lol

Products used
Face: Lioele Blooming Shimmer Pearl Base, Lioele Beyond the Solution BB cream, MAC Mineralize blush in Dainty
Eyes: Urban Decay Primer Potion, Urban Decay Naked Palette (Virgin, Naked, Buck), Urban Decay 24/7 liner in Zero, Bourjois Paris Volume Glamour Ultra Curl Mascara (black), Daiso eyebrow liner in black.
Lips: Just Body Shop's Vitamin E lip balm.

One more, cos I thought this shot was cool hehe!

Review: Lioele products

Finally getting round to posting about the Lioele products that I got in my Pretty & Cute order!

I love love love the packaging! So pink and girly! Hahaha... Swatches near the end btw!
About Lioele (from the website):

The Lioele line will change you into a 21st century Cinderella with its large array of fresh spring colored cosmetics that will give you a cute and sexy feeling. With the large variety of products, it will satisfy any needs of the many different customer styles while maintaining an air of individuality for each particular taste.
We will protect your skin while allowing your true beauty to blossom forth like a spring flower at the same time with the many existing products to create a new and lovelier you.

First, the Lioele Gel Eyeliner. I'd never used a gel type liner before so I was a bit nervous about getting this.

What they say about it:

This cream gel type of eyeliner is soft and smooth as butter. It presents clear color with sophisticated eyes and last long without running.
As the container includes brush, it helps to do speedy and convenience makeup.

How to use:
Combine brush heading toward upside to container by pulling out the longer side of container. Open the opposite side of container and put adequate amount of contents to draw eye lines following eye. Be cautious to close the cap after the usage to prevent contents hardening.

Amusing Engrish aside, the packaging design is really cool! I've been having a bit of a thing for chrome finishes, so this really appeals to me. The deeper purple tone is also more cool and sophisticated than the hot pink packaging used for the other products.
As you can see, the liner comes in a little pot, with a brush that detaches from and can be reattached to the lid. Personally, I'm not a fan of the brush. As I said, I don't have much experience with gel liners, and I found it a little hard to use this brush because of the shape. I think an angled liner brush would have been easier.
As for the liner itself, I'm not sure I like it. The pigmentation is good, and it doesn't crease much or smudge. But it felt a little gritty, and it set really quickly, not ideal for a noob like me. The grittiness could possibly be because the product was a little old, not as 'fresh', or could be just the surface layer.

Ingredients:
Iron Oxide Black (CI 77499), Isododecane, Cyclopentasiloxane, Polymethyl methacrylate, Polyethylene, Trimethylsiloxysilicate, Disteardimonium Hectorite, Mica (CI 77019), Polyisobutene, PVP/Hexadecene Copolymer, Zinc Stearate, Phenyl Trimethicone, Barium Sulfate (CI 77120), Propylene Carbonate, Buthyl Paraben, Triethoxy Caprylyl Silane, Hydrogenated Lecithin, Phenoxyethanol
May Contain [+/-]:
Iron oxide Black (CI 77499)
Iron oxide Red (CI 77491)
Iron oxide yellow (CI 77492)

Lioele Blooming Shimmer Pearl Base. I don't usually use makeup bases, I generally don't find that there's any difference. But I was curious about this one after reading about it on From Head to Toe.

What they say about it:

Unlike common makeup base that corrects skin tone only, luster and texture can be gorgeously enhanced by the light diffusing color system containing pearl for a radiant look.

How to use:
Softly apply adequate amount on your face.

The packaging is a pump type, so pretty easy to use. The base itself is a light pink with sorta purple/fuchsia shimmer. On its own, it does give a nice sheen, almost irridescence, but very gentle, to the skin. But I tried it under the Lioele BB cream and I didn't really see any difference. But to be fair, I only tried this once, maybe I didn't use enough? I generally use a very light hand the first time I use anything (scared, hee hee hee), so I'll keep trying it out. I didn't really notice a fragrance.

Ingredients:
Water, Cyclomethicone, Mica, Titanium Dioxide (CI 77891), Butylene Glycol, Dipropylene Glycol, PEG-10 Dimethicone, Dimethicone/Vinyl Dimethicone Crosspolymer, Betaine, Isononyl Isononanoate, Dimethicone, Disteardimonium Hectorite, Magnesium Sulfate, Triethoxycaprylylsilane, Synthetic Fluorphlogopite, Palmitic Acid, Methylparaben, Chlorphenesin, Propylparaben, Butylparaben, Tocopheryl Acetate, Squalane, Carmine, Iron Oxides (CI 77492), Sodium Hyaluronate, Fragrance

Lioele Beyond the Solution BB cream. I was probably most excited about the BB cream. Like I said in my haul post, I really wanted something to replace foundation, that's quick to apply, and gives decent coverage.

What they say about it:

Smooth application allows clear absorption for expressing a natural skin tone. Speedy application of makeup is possible since there is no need to apply makeup base of foundation.

How to use:
After last step of skincare, softly apply adequate amount on your face and make it absorbed with tapping.

I got the 30 ml tube because I wasn't sure about the colour match (it also comes in 50 ml and a mini size version that I just saw). I really like this, the finish is quite matte, and it blends well. A little goes quite a long way. Once, I used a little too much, and there was definitely a whitish cast, so you really don't want a heavy hand in application. I found that the coverage is a little on the sheer side, I have some hyperpigmentation from old acne scars, and this didn't quite cover them up completely. I wasn't too bothered though. I also didn't really need to set with powder, but my skin is a little on the dry side, so those with oilier skin may still need to do that. What I liked best about this was its staying power. I had a cold for the last week, and I found that this didn't rub off onto the tissues I used to blow my nose. Serious! How good is that! This wouldn't be possible with the foundation that I normally use (Paul & Joe).
Colour wise, I felt it was a touch lighter than my skin tone, but not by much. It seemed to have a slight whitish cast initially, but this went away after a while.

Ingredients:
Water, Cyclomethicone, Titanium dioxide (CI 77891), Glycerin, Dipropylene Glycol, Talc, Hydrogenated Polydecene, Butylene Glycol Dicaprylate/Dicaprate, Cetyl PEG/PPG-10/1 Dimethicone, Macadamia Integrifolia Seed Oil, Polyglyceryl-3 Diisostearate, Sorbitan Olivate, Simmondsia Chinensis (Jojoba) seed oil, Squalane, Betaine, Magnesium Sulfate, Dimethicone, Disteardimonium Hectorite, Polyglutamic Acid, Iron Oxides (CI 77492), Iron Oxides (CI 77491), Tocopheryl Acetate, Iron Oxides (CI 77499), Bisabolol, Stearyl Glycyrrhetinate, Polymethyl Methacrylate, Allantoin, Hydrolyzed Collagen, Sodium Hyaluronate, Phenoxyethanol, Methylparaben, Propylparaben, Butylparaben, Fragrance.

The liner was US$18.50, the base $20.40, and the BB cream was US$12. But I had a 10% off code from From Head to Toe (you can go there to grab the code, it's in the sidebar somewhere), so it was slightly cheaper. Yay for discounts!

Swatches! The second photo was taken roughly 20 minutes after the first. Oops, forgot to label! But I think you can tell what's what, right? ;)

Size comparison against a MAC lipstick and Shu Uemura eyelash curler. I included this because I was surprised by how small the liner and the base were. After seeing photos on From Head to Toe, I imagined them to be a bit bigger. 

Omake~!

Lol! I saw the bunny at my local Asian grocer, it had little individual serves of jelly pudding in mango, orange and strawberry flavour. I couldn't resist! It's so pink and cute. I thought it matched the Lioele colour scheme really well, hence the photo.

Phew! Long post! I've switched to trialling the Skin79 BB cream (gold type), so look out for a review on that soon too!

And now it's time for bed. Heh. ;)

Haul: My Beauty Diary and Face Q masks / Casual review: Sunnanz

I just love it when I forget that I've ordered something, and when it arrives it's like getting a present. I placed a pre-order with Sunnanz for the My Beauty Diary x Hello Kitty collaboration face masks, and they arrived yesterday! I totally forgot about them because I had to wait for about a month lol.
But today's post is about my previous order, from their standing stock of My Beauty Diary and Face Q masks. I pretty much got one of whatever they had available. Ah hahaha, I love my masks.
You can read a bit about Sunnanz here.

Gigantic package! The whole transaction was pretty smooth. They have a shopping cart system on their site, after I finished picking what I wanted, I filled in my details, and hit the submit order button. Because I'm not in Singapore, I had to wait for an invoice email from them that included postage costs but it didn't take long, within 24 hours? They also sent email notifications when they sent my package out.

My Beauty Diary face masks!

Face Q masks!

I really can't wait to try these out! I haven't yet, because I've been using the Face Shop packs, but I'll get round to these soon. I've heard so much about them, really hope they live up to the hype. They certainly seem to be always sold out on Sasa, which was why I chose to order from Sunnanz instead.
I'll definitely be ordering from them again, in addition to MBD and Face Q masks, they also have other brands of Taiwanese masks, as well as various Korean skincare products in stock. They also do preorders for a lot of Korean makeup/skincare brands and clothing items - more shopping! Omg! 

I'm wayyyyy behind on haul posts. Would also love to do some swatch posts too so look out for that too!

Review: The Face Shop Fresh Cucumber pack

Last week I wrote about the Hydrating Milk pack from The Face Shop, this week, it's the Fresh Cucumber pack (AU$17)!
Pics:

It has a flip top lid just like the other mask pack, and it comes foil sealed which you have to remove before use.

My first impression of this was the scent. The 'cucumber' fragrance is really really strong! My whole makeup/skincare drawer stinks of it. I don't really mind, because I quite like the scent and my sense of smell is not the greatest anyway. But those who are sensitive may want to stay away from this.

That said, I really like this mask. It is my favourite of the two. I find it really cooling and refreshing, and very hydrating. I usually have some redness around the nose, and cheeks, but this disappears completely after using this mask. From the pic below you can see that it contains these jelly-like granules. They don't dissolve, and are actually quite firm. I'm not sure what they are, cucumber bits? lol

Again, I did not moisturise my hands for about 3 days before taking these pictures. Probably hard to tell from the photos but skin texture is improved, and softened. <3

Unfortunately, the label is all in Korean so no ingredients list this time. :/ I think the instructions are pretty much the same as for the Hydrating milk pack, I usually leave it on for 15 minutes sometimes slightly more though. Wash off, then follow with the usual skincare routine.

^_^ I really love this mask! Would love to try more masks from The Face Shop. So far they are fairly cheap, they haven't broken me out, and they do their job.

Edit: I forgot to add that this has an anti-acne effect for me. Not so much on existing pimples, but on ones that are just starting to come up. Yay!

Review: The Face Shop Hydrating milk pack

I love love loooovve masking, I used to not do masks at all but they really make a difference in improving skin texture and dullness. I've been using two from The Face Shop recently, and I love them both!

First up: Hydrating Milk Pack (AU$17)

From the back:

Lavish parched skin with hydration

This wash-off milk pack provides the concentrated care of a salon facial from the comforts of home to hydrate and soften dry, rough skin.

The benefits of milk: A natural nutritional food containing various proteins, minerals and vitamins that help improve skin elasticity and brighten lackluster skin.

Directions: After washing and applying toner, spread evenly over face, avoiding eye areas. Leave on for 10-15 minutes and rinse off with warm water.

Caution: For external use only. Avoid contact with eyes. Keep out of reach of children. Discontinue use if signs of irritation appear.

Ingredients:
Water, glycerin, mineral oil, butylene glycol, squalane, trehalose, butyrospermum parkii (shea butter), sodium hyaluronate, polysorbate 60, betaine, water (and) butylene glycol (and) nonfat dry milk, sodium acrylate/acryloyldimethyl taurate copolymer, (and) isohexadecane (and) polysorbate 80, dimethicone, cetyl alcohol, glyceryl stearate (and) PEG-100 stearate, stearyl alcohol, glyceryl stearate, phenoxyethanol, carbomer, cetearyl alcohol, methylparaben, sorbitan stearate, triethanolamine, allantoin, perfume, disodium EDTA.

So it actually contains skim milk! 

Foil sealed



Flip top lid





Swatch!

The texture is smooth and creamy, but light at the same time. I usually use this after a shower at night, and leave it on for 15 minutes, then follow with my usual skincare routine. I don't find it as immediately hydrating as the Fresh Cucumber pack, or the Hydra Intense Gel mask from Lancome. But my skin feels much softer, and looks brighter the next day!

After shot!

I actually didn't use hand cream for about 3 days prior to this. Don't know if it's really visible, but my skin is definitely more moisturised and softer, and texture is improved. This mask is actually not my favourite, as I feel the Fresh Cucumber pack is more hydrating, but this still does the job. Definitely recommended!

Edit: Forgot to mention that this has a milky smell, like powdered milk or baby formula.