The Beauty Wolf

Category: Makeup (Page 10 of 10)

NYMPH AURA VOLUMER BABY GLOW BALM REVIEW

December 23, 2013 /

NABBBrThis is one part review, one part explanation of a trend in Korea that goes against a long held cardinal rule for North American makeup; shine.
First I’d like to start by addressing the dewy skin trend of Korea. Actresses and Idols in Korea popped up everywhere with this ultra dewy, smooth, new baby skin sheen that was almost plastic-like it was so flawless. People went nuts for it and a major makeup trend was born. Every company came out with products to produce this glowing dewy skin. Liquid facial glow, bb cream boosters, highlight products, and even powders flooded the market. I’m going to do an in depth comparison review of many of them as soon as a package I’m waiting for gets here but in the mean time I’m going to show you the easiest and most subtle way to test drive this trend for yourself.

 Etude House released it’s Nymph Aura line which was a huge hit and my first introduction to the look. I first saw the Nymph Aura Volumer on one of my favourite Korean cosmetics YouTube review channels and ordered one a couple of years back. A “Volumer” is just a liquid you mix with your bb cream or apply alone as a highlighter to achieve the dewy look. I loved the stuff and when I saw Etude House released a bb cream balm with the volumer already swirled in I knew I had to try it out. I’ve always loved the balm type foundation and lord knows that as a busy person I love a shortcut. If you grew up anything like I did you spent your life covering yourself in powder trying to get the mattest skin possible and living in fear of any oily sheen. Shine was a bad word. The aim of this trend is to enhance and celebrate the youthful glow of young skin. After drilling it into our heads that shine is bad this may be a big leap for you. Instead of covering every inch of your face in powder, adding a product that will create more shine seems almost crazy in theory, but it’s really beautiful in practice. The trick to this look to get the glow without looking greasy is how you do it. What keeps it from being overboard is that you only add this sheen to key areas of the face (T zone, cheeks, cupid’s bow, and middle of the chin) and then boom, instant glowing ‘baby skin’. The Volumers and booster products are highly concentrated, however, the Nymph Aura Volumer Baby Glow Balm is much more subtle so it can be applied all over. It’s mixed in a ratio of 8 to 2, where as the straight Volumer should be a 3 to 1 ratio, so this is suitable for all over and not just the key areas. As you age (ugh) you notice that your glow starts to fade, by mimicking the glow of younger skin, this is a perfect way to add a more youthful look to your face.NAswatch4I love the packaging of the balm itself. As you can see it comes in this compact with the product in a compartment and a little permanent divider that keeps the sponge from just sitting in it. And the sponge! That just may be my favourite part! They call it the Aura Air Puff and it’s a silicone sponge that feels almost like one of those neoprene knee braces (lol I can’t think of anything else this texture). It’s so soft and awesome and is such a genius delivery system! You can pat on the bb balm with the air puff for a heavier coverage or if you want to go for the ultra subtle thing you could apply this with a brush. I’m hooked on the air puff though. It’s so fast and has such a luxurious space age feeling, I love it. The bb balm has a rich creamy buttery consistency when swiped. Like I said before I’m partial to this texture. It has the volumer swirled in as you can see in the picture so you swipe it in a circular pattern to mix the two products on your puff/brush. What I really appreciate about the volumer is it’s not just a throw away skin product, this has actual good stuff in there! It contains my ultimate skincare homegirl argan oil and amino sugars, so we have antioxidants and skin nourishment all up in there actually doing something instead of just being purely cosmetic. Another great thing is the bb balm is a whopping SPF42 PA+++. Awesome.naswatchI have this in shade #1 and #2. As you can see in this swatch #2 looks too dark on me but once it’s blended out it actually melts right into my skin colour.
NAAswatchThe super fair skinned who have trouble matching up shades will love #1. Even in winter it’s just a touch too pale for me but it looks good used on the T-zone and cheekbones when utilizing the contouring application technique. As with most bb creams due to the way it blends in with your skin #2 would fit a pretty large swath of fair skinned folks anywhere between NC15-25 I’d say. They also offer a #3 shade that’s a tad darker. Since this is a Korean brand they don’t really have any shades for the dark skinned ladies out there unfortunately :(My one complaint with this is the same one I have for all Etude House bb creams, this really clings to dry dead skin. Make sure you’re thoroughly exfoliated and hydrated if you’re going to rock this stuff. You’d think that with the inclusion of the argan oil and the consistency of the balm it wouldn’t, but it really does pick up on any flakes you might have. Other than that this stuff is pretty wonderful and an easy, fast, and understated way to dip your toes in the Korean dewy baby skin look!
Available on ebay
http://www.ebay.com/itm/ETUDE-HOUSE-Nymph-Aura-Volumer-Baby-Glow-Balm-/351127129071?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&var=&hash=item51c0cecbef

and amazon
http://www.amazon.com/Etude-House-Nymph-Volumer-Natural/dp/B00N1CP6X0/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1433881663&sr=8-2&keywords=ETUDE-HOUSE-Nymph-Aura-Volumer-Baby-Glow-Balm
I give Etude House Nymph Aura Volumer Baby Glow Balm four out of five turtles. If you can find a shade for you and want a super quick  and easy ethereal glow from your bb cream, try this out.turtle-fullturtle-fullturtle-fullturtle-full

ETUDE HOUSE PLAY COLOR EYES PALETTE REVIEW

December 19, 2013 /

PCEYesterday was a white wintery day and I wanted to put some colour into it. Luckily, I received a package earlier in the week that I had been looking for an excuse to try out. It was judgement day for the Etude House Play Color Eyes palette.

Big eyeshadow palettes like this are fairly new offerings from the Korean collections. Etude House had a huge hit this Fall with their limited edition Flowering Eyes palette from the & Rose collection. I was lucky enough to score one but soon after they were sold out everywhere and some price gougers were trying to sell them for upwards of $100 on ebay!  I really enjoyed the Flowering Eyes palette and how it kicked off the whole rosy trend, so I had high hopes for the Play Color Eyes.

Play Color Eyes comes in two different palette shades. I went with 01. While 02 looked gorgeous, I just felt that 01 was a little bit different. 02 has more rose shades and I already owned the very rosy Flowering Eyes and knew the Naked 3 was going to be rose oriented as well. It also caught my eye because 01 contains that brilliant burning red colour. Another thing that swayed me away from the 02 palette was I noticed a lot of shades with a big chunky glittery finish that I had some apprehension toward, more about those later.
PCESMy camera really doesn’t do these swatches justice, they are swatched here with no primer just straight onto the skin. If you google, the swatches the company provided are really a lot closer to how they actually look. I’ve swatched them here according the finish, not in order (because far be it from me to do anything the easy way haha). I was happy to see the inclusion of some matte shades and they performed wonderfully. The shimmery shades are not quite as pigmented but they blend very nicely and are easy to work with. They’re extremely wearable, especially when you want some colour for daytime but don’t want to go all out. These are softer shades, don’t go into it thinking they’re colour heavy payoffs like say a Kat Von D or Urban Decay (except for the red shades which we’ll get to in a second).  The nightmare for me were those chunky glitter shades, I knew I was right to not be thrilled about them. Even over an eye primer it was fall out city. Thankfully there are only two shades with that finish so it wasn’t too big of deal. There is a shade called Naked that I can’t vouch for either because it is literally the colour of my skin and does not show up on me at all. I’m sure it would be a nice matte highlight or blender shade for someone of a different skin tone and colour than me. The big standout shades for me are Military Khaki which is a really pretty brown green, Modern City a shimmery warmer grey, and Ponytail which is a shimmery golden brown. The two red shades are really the stars of this palette, there’s Temptation which is a lovely matte burgundy and Burning Red which is a knockout true lipstick red colour. They’re so pigmented that after swatching without a primer, I had to break out the cleansing oil to totally remove them from my arm. When used with a primer and applied to my lids I had no fallouts from any of the shades aside from the aforementioned nightmare chunky glitter highlighters.
 PCEFLOWERSome people have wanted to know if the reds in Play Color Eyes are different enough from Flowering Eyes to warrant a purchase. For those curious to see how similar they are I swatched them next to each other. The middle shade is Blossom from Flowering Eyes and it’s sandwiched between Temptation and Burning Red. As you can see I’d say they’re definitely different enough that if you’re into reds you could feel justified in picking this up, especially since the reds are the most outstanding part of the palette.
PCENAKEDThe palette itself looks tiny when you first see it, especially if you’re used to the big monsters that are hot right now. Here’s a picture of it next to the behemoth that is the Naked 3 palette. However once you open it we see that there’s not that big of difference between the actual eyeshadow pan size. Also as you can see from the pictures if you already have the Naked 3 some of the shades here are complimentary to them and could make for some interesting eye looks.
Overall I’m going to give the Etude House Play Color Eyes palette a 3.5. At $22 it’s a great value and different enough from a lot of things out there this season that it would make a nice addition to your eyeshadow collection.
A quick edit: I see that RoseRoseShop currently has this palette on sale for $17.60

INNISFREE MINERAL MOISTURE FITTING BASE REVIEW

December 15, 2013 /

 

IMMFBRBackstory for this review; I might have stayed up late the night before drinking champagne and creme de cassis with friends, gone to bed slightly drunk, and forgotten to plug in my humidifier before passing out. That last thing might not sound like a big deal but I live in a high rise building that is extremely, extremely dry in the winter. Your skin feels like it’s had the moisture and life sucked out of it if you don’t have the humidifier running. On top of my little misstep the hell meter was cranked up to it’s maximum because the next morning we woke up to -24c temperatures with strong winds. My skin was unhappy, dry, and about to get assaulted by jack frost.  I needed to do some errands that required about a kilometers worth of walking outside in the city so I figured this would be the perfect opportunity to try out something I had heard good things about.
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That brings us to Innisfree Mineral Moisture Fitting Base. Despite what it sounds like, is not a foundation, it’s actually a primer. In addition to that it’s also a moisturizing skin treatment. Unlike most primers this one isn’t clear, it’s a white lotion that blends invisibly into your skin. Out of the tube it just looks like any generic cream. It’s white and has a pleasant faintly herbal scent. Innisfree is a brand that’s all about being natural and using naturally derived ingredients. I would say it’s the hipper Korean cousin of like, an Aveda type brand. Actually, that’s a perfect description because a lot of their products really do remind me of things Aveda would sell. They are especially similar fragrance wise, but overall they perform much better and are a about half the cost.
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Keeping in line with their natural ingredients identity, Mineral Moisture Fitting Base (MMFB from here on out) contains mineral powders from Jeju island to help your makeup have more staying power. And remember how I’ve talked before about plain old water being used as the main ingredient in most moisturizers? Well, Innisfree has used 100% organic green tea water in lieu of distilled water, pretty nice! It’s also formulated free of six different bad guys. It’s free of parabens, artificial colourings, artificial fragrances, benzophenone, ethanol, or silicone. You have no idea how happy that last one makes me. I hate silicone in skincare and makeup products, I just cannot stand it. It feels gross, like my skin is suffocating. It also breaks me out to an insane degree almost immediately. But because of the slip it gives, a lot of companies use it, so I’m usually the grumpiest of grumpy bears when reading ingredients lists. The green tea water and silicone free formulation already had me excited but I wasn’t exactly sure what it was really supposed to do. According to a badly translated description it “replenishes your skin with moisture and the enwrapping-final touch enhances the adherence and long lasting effects of the make-up that follows” So basically it nourishes and moisturizes your face and so that it makes a good surface for your makeup to adhere to. So, like I described above, truly straddling the worlds between between a skin treatment and a primer. 
 
The way you traditionally apply this product is after your skincare routine and sunscreen, just before you put on your foundation or bb cream. Exactly the same way you would apply any foundation primer. As nasty as the weather was I decided to just mix it in with my bb cream and use it that way. I used about 1 part MMFB to 2 parts bb cream ratio. Now, the reason I did that was I knew that the bb cream was not going to be enough protection given the extreme temperatures and wind. If I wore the bb alone it would just exacerbate my already dried out skin. So I added it all together and it mixed really nicely with my bb cream (which was Innisfree eco natural green tea bb cream). Applied to the face it was not heavy or greasy at all. It actually made my bb cream blend even easier and it was already very nicely blend-able so that’s saying something. If you apply it the traditional way, although it offers no coverage, it does give your face a nice even glow before your foundation goes on.
 
So, if you’re wondering if it stood the harsh condition test it actually did! After walking into the wind both ways (way to troll me, Mother Nature) I didn’t emerge wind chapped or a desiccated mess. My skin stayed hydrated and comfortable all day. Once I thawed out enough to take stock of myself I discovered my bb cream was still as flawless as when I first applied it that morning! I think this would be the absolutely perfect thing to use on a ski trip, or a weekend trip to a chalet, or the much less glamourous Christmas shopping in the freezing cold like I did. This would be best suited to a drier skin type since it is actually moisturizing, not just in name only like some products are. An oily skin type would most probably find this to be a bit much.

I’m going to give the Innisfree Mineral Moisture Fitting Base a 4 out of 5 turtles. It’s a good value and it really does offer much more benefit for a drier skin than a regular old primer. If you’re already going to use one, why not use one full of good, actually beneficial ingredients instead of something that’s just going to sit on your face and offer nothing in return.
Overall:
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HOLIKA HOLIKA AQUA PETIT JELLY WATERY CHEEK REVIEW

December 13, 2013 /

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Holika Holika Aqua Petit Jelly Watery Cheek is quite a mouthful, but let’s see if it’s worthy of a cheekful.

Holika Holika is a brand from South Korea marketed toward the younger set. The name Holika Holika is supposed to be a magic word you say to get your wish, something akin to abracadabra, and the wish is for you to be beautiful. Yeah. I know. But, the Aqua Petite Jelly Watery Cheek is a cute little tube of liquid blush. I would say this is a thin cream rather than a straight up liquid blush like the name Watery would suggest. It’s nothing like say, Benefit’s Benetint. This has a consistency close to that of a bb cream, but in blush form. It goes on very smoothly and blends really nicely without much effort. This is perfect for a quick application when you want some colour on your face before you head out the door. Since it is in a little tube it’s also great to take along with you! You don’t need to worry about a powder blush shattering in your purse or having to carry a bulky brush that takes up valuable bag real estate. You can apply this with a sponge or even just your fingers. The sponge of course has a more refined application but blending with your fingers will do just fine and give you a nice flush of colour. The colours I have tried are 02 Peach Pink and 03 Watery Pink.
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Peach Pink is more of a coral I’d say. At least that’s how it shows up on my NC15 skin tone. On me it definitely leans more toward the orange but I’ve seen a video review of the same shade and on that particular girl it read more pink (and looked lovely too). I don’t out and out dislike the 02 Peach Pink but I find myself neglecting it in favour of other things. That’s not to say it’s not a nice shade, it’s just not right for me. A medium skin tone would like this I think. The real standout for me is the 03 Watery Pink. It’s a light baby pink cotton candy shade that looks like a really sweet dolly flush on my skin. It may translate as ashy pepto bismol on a dark skin shade as most super light shades do, but for the pale folks out there this little treasure is for you. In addition to the colour what I like about this product is the texture and how it feels once it’s applied. I’ve used some cream blushers that have had a more silicone like slip and I really disliked them. This goes on more like your moisturizer would, speaking of which this actually does feel moisturizing on. A drier skin or a skin currently experiencing winter would especially appreciate this product. It’s definitely not oily feeling but it’s creamy texture feels like it’s adding a little something. I wish I had the ingredients list to see what exactly is in it but unfortunately there’s nothing listed on the tube.
You don’t need very much product to get the full effect. I use a small squeeze for both cheeks. The only downside there is for me is that the staying power isn’t that great. You would definitely need to touch up throughout the day, but since it’s portable that’s not a deal breaker for me. I can slap some on whenever I’m touching up my lipstick. It would make a good staple to keep one dedicated to your purse’s makeup bag.
Holika Holika offers 5 shades of Aqua Petit Jelly Watery Cheek ranging from a true lipstick red to a white beam highlighter. They also suggest that you can use the white highlighter shade both on it’s own, and mixed with other shades to adjust the colours. It might be fun to get creative with it if you’re inclined to do so.
I would rate the shade 03 Watery Pink 4 turtles for the fair skinned beauties out there but overall this offering gets a 3.5 out of 5 turtles. I’m only deducting points for lackluster staying power and it’s smallish shade selection. That being said I will most likely repurchase this product. Because of it’s portability and ease of use I do find myself reaching for it frequently.

Available on ebay here
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Holika-Holika-Aqua-Petit-Jelly-Watery-Cheek-10g-/350836554935?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&var=620147340658&hash=item51af7cfcb7

and Amazon here
http://www.amazon.com/Holika-Petit-Jelly-Watery-Cheek/dp/B00DVHL0XK/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1434121020&sr=8-3&keywords=HOLIKA+HOLIKA+AQUA+PETIT+JELLY+WATERY+CHEEK

OVERALL:
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