Nars X Sarah Moon Holiday 2016: Mind Game Velvet Lip Glide Set Review & Swatch

Ok! I shared my crazy love for Chanel Rouge Allure Ink in my previous post, and I know everyone was comparing these 2 together, so I had to get my hands on these since they are only £32.

First of all, if you are not a dark lip lover, you might want to skip these, this set contains 3 permanent shades( Bound, Unspeakable, Toy) and 3 exclusive shades(No.675, Chez Claude, Plato's). Some of the shades are extremely similar on the lips, so there's a bit of disappointment there, but considering the full sizes are £22 each, I can't complain too much here, very good value if you only want to try the formula out. 

From Top to Bottom, we have :

Bound -- cool, lilac pink 

No.675 -- warm, brick red 

Chez Claude -- warm, fuchsia red 

Unspeakable -- warm, brownish red

Plato's -- cool, wine red 

Toy -- intense, deep plum  

Nars Velvet Lip Glide in BOUND

Nars Velvet Lip Glide in NO.675

Nars Velvet Lip Glide in CHEZ CLAUDE

Nars Velvet Lip Glide in UNSPEAKABLE

Nars Velvet Lip Glide in PLATO'S

Nars Velvet Lip Glide in TOY

The formula is quite strange, darker shades are like whipped cream, lighter ones are like gloss, however they are all lightweight and opaque, it has a slight sweet chocolate scent, sets to satin finish. I can get 2-3 hours wear out of them before they bleed on my lips, yes they do bleed! Darker shades like TOY are impossible to achieve an even look, it looks OK from safe distance, but any closer you can definitely see how streaky it appears, down below is a close up photo of me wearing TOY:

Nars Velvet Lip Glide in TOY close up

My thoughts? Well, I think they are comfortable on the lips, non-drying, the packaging is cute, however they are just not quite there for me, I much prefer Chanel Rouge Allure Ink!

Thanks for reading. xx

Chanel Rouge Allure Ink 140, 142, 148, 154 | Review & Swatches

When I first heard that Chanel was going to release a liquid lipstick collection, I wasn't interested at all, to be honest I hated liquid lipsticks! They are always so drying on the lips, I tried so many different formulas, but they just disappoint me every single time!!

It all happened when I went into my local Chanel counter to check the Le Rouge palette as I was on the waiting list, of course it was still out of stock, but instead they just had these delivered, the lady was kind enough to open the delivery and let me have a good play with them, and that's it, I instantly fell in love with them!

And here we are, I have 4 shades to share with you guys:

140 AMOUREUX -  pinky nude, prefect MLBB shade

142 CREATIF - fresh rose petal pink

148 LIBERE - bright warm red with a little orange undertone

154 EXPERIMENTE - deep red, my favourite!

This collection has 8 shades, retail for £26 each.

Chanel Rouge Allure Ink 140, 142, 148, 154 in natural lighting 

Rouge Allure Ink 140, 142, 148, 154 after blotting in natural lighting 

The packaging is stunning, frosty glass bottle, black with gold "CC" logo lid, it feels heavy and luxurious.

The application is quite slippery, some people find they always end up overdrawing their lips, but I find it easier to use the tip of the applicator to draw your lip line, then use the flat side to pack on the colour, I find lighter shades (140 and 142) require a second layer, but no problem with darker shades, such as 148 and 154.

The formula appears quite glossy initially, but after 4-5 mins I just smack my lips together gently, they matte down perfectly, it is extremely lightweight and comfortable on the lips, once it has dried down, it appears to have minimal transfer, kiss proof, no mark leaves on white mug neither. Reapplies really well, no weird texture problem, no streaky mark, no dryness.

Here's a picture of me wearing 148:

Rouge Allure Ink 148 

After 2 weeks of wearing them non stop, I have to say they have become my absolute favourite lip products. They caused no flaky lips, no dryness. If you are like me, didn't get along with the liquid lipstick trend, or can't find a lip product gentle enough on your sensitive lips, then you have to check these babies out! They are worth every penny in my opinion! Have you tried them yet? Do you love them as much as I do?

Thanks for reading. Until next time! x

Burberry Full Kisses Review & Swatches

This month Burberry has released a whole new lipstick range--Full Kisses. This for me, has to be the most exciting new launch this season. Yes, I have been waiting for over 2 months! 

Official :

• Celebrate the Burberry Kisses collection with new Burberry Full Kisses for bold, long-lasting colour and fuller-looking lips.
• Designed to hug every contour of the lip, the unique flat-top bullet follows every curve as it draws, effortlessly defining, shaping and enhancing from corner to corner.
• Mistake-proof and ideal for on-the-go application, the formula coats lips in one vibrant stroke with a rich veil of bold, luminous colour lasting up to eight hours.
• Infused with active ingredients, the lip-contouring formula saturates lips with hydration, each shade delivering a smooth, intense and creamy finish.
• – Shaped and full lips
• – Bold, luminous colour
• – Lasts up to eight hours

Burberry Full Kisses has 14 gorgeous shades in total, retails for £24 each, you can find them here. I have No.529 English rose which is a gorgeous rosy pink on my medium skin-tone, and after 1 week of trying out, I'm more than ready to share my thoughts(good and bad) with you guys. 

Just like they claimed the formula is incredibly opaque and moisturising! One swipe is enough to provide rich colour pay off, it lasts around 6-7 hours on my lips without the need of touching up, it doesn't dry out my lips throughout the day, it's definitely not lightweight, but it's very comfortable on the lips, it feels like and acts like a heavy duty lip balm, so if you do not like lip balm feeling, you might want to step away from this.

Burberry Full Kisses Swatches

No.529 English Rose under direct sunlight

English Rose against sunlight 

bare lips

English rose in natural lighting

English rose under flashlight 

Next, let's talk about the packaging, the bullet top sticks out quite a bit, which means it's very very difficult to put the lid back on without scratching the bullet itself, especially when you are on-the-go! I made sure to pay extra attention when I used it, but still...well, you can see it for yourself in the photo down below. 

see inside of the lid

Overall, I think it's a great product, if you don't mind the packaging issue, then I'd say you'll love it! I love how nourishing it is, I love how long-lasting it is, I love how opaque it is, and the price tag is not ridiculous, I mean think about Tom Ford. ^-^ 

Thanks for reading. Until next time. xx

 

LET'S TALK ABOUT MASCARAS: DIOR ICONIC OVERCURL, YSL VOLUME EFFECT FAUX CLIS, HELENA RUBINSTEIN LASH QUEEN

I have very specific requirements when it comes to mascara, it has to be able to hold the curl, elongate my short lashes and be waterproof! If one can tick all 3, then I'm all for it! 

Today I have 3 high end mascaras to talk about. The reason I only talk about luxury mascaras is because whenever I use a drugstore one such as Maybelline or Loreal, I find myself constantly using eye drops to relieve the dryness and soreness it gave me, that's when I realised I probably should stop trying them for the sake of my eye health.  

DIOR ICONIC OVERCURL WATERPROOF: £25 
It has a incurved brush, fits perfectly on my eye shape, definitely holds the curl very very well, provides extreme volume if you use the hollow side and lifts the lashes from the roots if you use the raised side which is wonderful!  But it doesn't elongate the lashes much, the brush takes out too much product when its fresh so it can be very lumpy, you end up wiping the excess off which is a huge waste, and it dries out very very quick! It just doesn't worth the money, so I didn't bother to repurchase.

Helena Rubinstein Lash Queen Sexy Blacks: £24 
It's a pain to get hold of!!!!
HR definitely makes the best mascaras in the industry, they tick all my boxes, and that beautiful beautiful packaging! Ugh...I'm obsessed! Its unique 90-60-90 brush is truly amazing, it has 2 sides, i only captured 1 side which is above, but if you turn the brush around, it's flat, so it allows you to reach all the lashes, gives you the prefect control! The one in this picture is actually not waterproof, I ordered the wrong one, I don't love it as much as I love the waterproof version, so make sure you don't make the same mistake!

YSL VOLUME EFFECT FAUX CLIS WATERPROOF MASCARA: £25

This one is my all time favourite, it doesn't have a fancy brush, just a simple tiny brush, but it really does the job, gives me ultimate curl, doesn't provide as much volume as the DIOR OVERCURL, ultra waterproof, safe for crying, sweaty summer and even gym! But it means you have to use oil based eye makeup remover, micellar water won't work on this baby! 

OK, that is all for now, let me know if you have any recommendations you think I will like. 

Thanks for reading. xxx

My 2015 Favourite Toners

If you are like me, love a gentle but effective, packed with good ingredients toner, then this post is for you, keep reading. WARNING: It is a very long post.

We all know toner is very important in our skincare routine, it lifts any leftover grime and prep the skin for whatever you put on your face afterwards, but did you know, repeat this 3-4 times would benefit your skin even more, especially if you have problematic skin!!!  This is a trick I learnt from a Japanese skincare brand, and trust me when I say it is skin changing! 

First, just like what you normally do, use a cotton pad soak with toner to swipe across your face and neck.  This toner is to cleanse and prep, if you can't use acid toner or don't like it, you can use a refreshing or light in texture, non alcohol toner, such as Darphin refreshing toner(available here, and here ); If you prefer acid toner, then REN clarifying toner is great in value and result. 

Here comes the important step, chose a toner is non alcohol, good formula, slightly moisturising/smoothing/whatever the effect you are after,such as HABA pure roots G-Lotion,  Darphin Intral toner, La-Roche-Posay Serozinc(I only use this in summer), take a £1 coin size amount in your palm, quickly spread between both of your palms, then pat into your skin, when it's 80% absorbed, repeat it again, and again! I find it best when you repeat it at least 3 time, if you have the time you can repeat it up to 5 times.  I saw a huge difference in my skin texture within a week. 

So, HABA pure roots G-Lotion, I have to pick it out and give it a special introduction, it is the ULTIMATE toner, in 2014, I have used 4 180ml bottles, and 3 360ml bottles! That's how much I love it! As far as I know, all my friends love it too. A refreshing non-alcohol toner, with bamboo extracts and dead sea minerals, very light-weight, almost water like, it has a very unique softness after it absorbs in, it balances your skin therefore benefits for acne skin and any skin types, removes dead skin cells therefore great as a non-acid double cleanse toner, smoothes any inflammation/irritation therefore great as a toner mask after sun or on red bumpy skin, plumps your skin like you drank 2L of water everyday! HABA suggests you to repeat the pat motion 4-5 times to achieve the best result, and yes, if you don't want to waste your money and then complain it's useless, DO IT! If I have to name one bad thing about it, then it has to be that it's very difficult to get hold of in Europe, only 1 Japanese seller on Amazon,  but I promise you'll love it! I'll drink it if you don't like it. Lol...

Hope you enjoyed it! If you have any more questions, please feel free to comment down below or twitter me, I'm always happy to help. 

Happy New Year!!! Love you all. xx

JASON Natural Care Shampoos & Conditioners

Ok, I'm usually the one that does't mind paying for the hefty price tag if the product truly helps, but as I invested more and more money into haircare products, tried almost all the well known brands to hope they would help my horrible hair situation (itchy, flaky, hair loss, dry ends, etc) , but no, nothing really changed, some even made it worse, but then I realised should try some natural or organic products for a change, that's when I discovered JASON, all of their products don't contain any parabens, SLS or Phthalates. 
好吧，我向来都是只要产品好用再贵我都能咬牙买下来，但是不知从何时开始，我的护发产品越买越贵，尝试了各种知名护发品牌，以求能缓解各种头发的红灯状况（头皮发痒，头屑，脱发，发尾干枯）但是似乎从未有一款产品能真正达到期望，反而有一些让原有的状况恶化，当时真的绝望了，所幸不再浪费金钱，转向天然有机的产品吧，这个时候就发现了好评很多，价格可爱的JASON,所有产品都不含防腐剂，SLS或者邻苯二甲酸盐。

Obviously due to my hair situation back then, the first one I went for had to be ANTI-DANDRUFF TREATMENT SHAMPOO, 355ml £8.99.  It has a medicinal scent which I quite enjoy, light yellow creamy texture and lathers well. The result was instant, at the beginning I washed my hair 3 times a week, within a week, I'd already noticed a significant change, no more itchy or flaky scalp, later on I couldn't wait 3-4 days till the next wash, and that was mainly for the greasy hair root's sake, lol. It truly is a miracle treatment, as even after I stopped using it, those problems never reappeared. 
由于前一任洗护产品的问题，当时头痒头屑问题严重到每天都要洗头，所以第一个买回来的就是ANTI-DANDRUFF抗头屑洗发水，355ml的大个子，售价£8.99。洗发水本身有一股中草药的味道，闻起来挺舒心的，淡黄色的乳液，起泡很容易。见效很快，刚开始的时候我按照说明一周洗3次，第三次的时候已经明显见到效果了，之后就算三四天不洗头也完全没有状况，要不是发根出油，或许懒惰至极的我还会继续等下去，哈哈哈！最重要的是，安全没有依赖性，我至今已停用7个月，完全没有状况！

I ordered SUPER SHINE APRICOT CONDITIONER to pair with the treatment shampoo, 454g  £6.49. With this one, it doesn't repair heat damage or the dryness, but give it a few weeks, it definitely gives your hair the most healthy shine! Just as it says on the bottle, restores brilliant shine. Bonus: It smells exactly like apricot!
我用的SUPER SHINE APRICOT CONDITIONER来搭配抗头屑洗发水，454g，£6.49. 也许这款做不到修复受损的发丝，滋润不了干枯发尾，但是连续几周之后，绝对能让秀发恢复健康光泽，当然我说的健康光泽肯定不比电视广告里油亮油亮的光泽，它能做的只是慢慢的让秀发泛出自然健康的光泽，官方的宣传完全没有夸大！如果你的秀发黯然无光，可以试试！淡淡的杏子味道超好闻。

As my hair improved I went for the LONG&STRONG JOJOBA SHAMPOO, 473ml £6.49. By this point, my hair was fairly healthy, apart from hair loss which to me, nothing can change it anymore, so all I wanted was healthy hair growth. Which it absolutely did its job and more! One day I noticed after showering, there was far less hair for me to clean out, I first thought it was a one time thing, but as the weeks went by, I finally accepted JASON's haircare really did control my hair loss problem! I couldn't say exactly which one helped, but it doesn't matter anymore, I love this line! 
抗头屑洗发水用完之后，我对我当时的头皮状态已经很满意了，就选了荷荷巴油护发素, 473ml, £6.49. 当时的想法是只想要改善发丝的健康程度，干枯的发尾剪掉就可以，脱发的问题当时已经放弃治疗了。这款荷荷巴油洗发水是号称能让秀发健康成长的，买回来就那么用着，只觉得味道特别清新，就算没大效果，就冲着这个使用感也是值得的，直到有一天突然发现，最近洗完澡清理浴缸的时候发现，似乎浴缸里落发的惨状没以前那么惨，我当时以为也许是巧合，下次肯定又给我一拳，脱的我晚上做梦都怕秃头！可是连续几周下来，脱发越来越少，我那个兴奋啊！我不能一口咬定是这款洗发水，也许是荷荷巴油的调节作用起到这个效果，也许是这大半年用JASON的护发配方慢慢调节下来的，但是无所谓了啊，再也不会做梦都梦到秃顶了啊！于是我就这么爱上了JASON这个朴实的天然洗护线！

SMOOTHING SEA KELP shampoo, 473ml, £6.49. I'm currently using this one with BIOTIN conditioner. This is a very smoothing and rich shampoo, designed for dry and frizzy hair, the scent is divine, foams up very well, and weirdly, you can actually feel how nourishing and rich the formula is on your finger tips, although it's very nourishing it doesn't weight your hair down. But if you have really oily hair, perhaps you won't be pleased with this one, you'll find yourself washing your hair every other day. 
舒缓海藻洗发水，473ml, £6.49. 这个和下面的护发素是我目前正在用的一对，这款海藻洗发水是给干枯毛躁的发丝设计的，配方很滋润，香香甜甜的味道，泡沫丰富，很微妙的一点是，洗头的时候，指尖完全能感受的到那种滋润，那种丝滑感让人享受至极！油头皮可能不会很喜欢，后果可能是隔天就必须得洗头！

RESTORATIVE BIOTIN CONDITIONER, 454g, £6.49. Like the name itself, it is for damaged hair, enriched with biotin and B5 and Ginseng. Helps to strengthen and repair weak and  damaged hair, the formula is not very thick, again smells amazing! Since I don't have any split ends, I don't think I should say anything about that part, I only use this because I normally do quite a lot heat styling, and I find my hair is still pretty strong, I like to prevent the damage rather than fix later on.  
生物素修复护发素， 454g, £6.49. 顾名思义，这是款修复型的护发素，含有b5, 生物素（不要问我这是什么意思，我也不知道 －－），人参。 帮助修复并强健脆弱受损发丝，不是很厚重的乳霜质地，还是一贯的好闻，我的发尾没有分叉，对这点没有发言权，但是我经常用高温造型工具来打理头发，对我来说预防的作用大于修复的作用！

Long story short, I absolutely love JASON's haircare line. I will continue to try the other products in this line. And I hope my post will help those of you who are struggling with haircare. 
长话短说，我是深深的爱上了JASON洗护产品，我还会继续尝试同品牌的其他几个产品。希望这篇有帮到那些还在纠结的大家。