REVIEW: Etude House Play 101 Stick Contour Duo #1 Highlighter & Shading

Etude House Play 101 Stick Contour Duo #1 Highlighter & Shading

I finally broke down and bought the contour duo stick from Etude House. I have been meaning to buy a highlighter/contour duo package for awhile now but I was thinking of getting one in a pressed powder format instead. However, after seeing quite a few good youtube reviews of this product, I decided to try the cream product instead. 

 

The stick is quite compact, holding 1.7g x 2 of product. I was a little unsure of the colour once I actually opened it as the shading colour looks quite dark and the highlighter looked white. The lids snap on and the product twists up, quite user friendly.

Below is a picture of the highlighter fully twisted up. The amount of product there is just a little bit longer than my thumb nail. The size of the contour shade is exactly the same. It's not a product that would last very long if used often. The product is super soft and creamy! It literally just melted onto my skin with one gentle swipe, like butter.

Swatches of the colours in natural lighting. I have to admit, I found the highlighter colour to be... completely NOT what I expected it to be. With the word "highlighter" I was thinking of something more glowy, shimmery or... high lighty? Instead, it looks and blends very much like a concealer. After being blended out, there's a little bit of sparkle, if you squint real hard.

The highlighter blends out very nicely. The shading colour on the other hand was a little hard to blend. I rubbed pretty hard and you can still see the original shape of the unblended swatch in the picture below. The shading colour has no shimmer, by the way.

Overall, I'm not sure how I feel about this contour duo. It is definitely not a face contour stick since the crayon parts are small and I imagine it would be quite frustrating to not be able to blend out the darker colour. I think this is a good choice for nose contouring, but I don't think I will use it on my cheeks or jawline. I also don't think I'll get much use on the highlighter end either. 

REVIEW: Etude House Blend for 4 eyes eyeshadow #03 Pink Up!

Etude House Blend for 4 eyes eyeshadow quad in #03 Pink Up!

I was really excited to try out this eye shadow since it would be the first Korean eye shadow that I've tried. According to what I've seen online, Etude House eye shadows are quite popular and the single color shadows seem to have some pretty good pigment. I didn't want to purchase a bunch of individual colours, and seeing the Blend For 4 Eyes had some good reviews, I decided to go for it! 

I chose #03 Pink Up! because I've been wanting a peachy, coral color in my collection and it didn't seem as shimmery as the others. The case is nice and sturdy, the hinge part seems strong too, so I'm not afraid of the lid falling apart as these types of plastic shadow containers tend to. I do like how the cover is clear, so it's easy to pick it out from storage if you have a whole bunch of shadows.

There are four colours, starting from the upper left is a shimmery orange. To the right is a velvet coral pink and in the bottom we have a matte taupe and another shimmery, copper brown shade. The shadows are each around the size of a quarter, and soft. I've only experienced fall out from the shimmery copper brown colour, so be sure to tap the brush before using. I'm kind of sad there's no sponge tip applicator supplied with the quad. I know they are kind of useless but it would be nice to throw this into a purse on it's own and be able to touch up here and there when needed throughout the day. 

Here's a snap of the back of the quad for another interested. I can't read it, but perhaps each shade actually has a name since there's a legend included. Also a how to for applying it that I don't follow, lol.

Swatches on my bare arm. From top to bottom: the shimmery copper brown is first, then the matte taupe, then the coral pink and on the bottom is the shimmery orange. 

I have to admit, pigmentation isn't that strong. For the swatches above I smudged the colours a few times with my fingers for it to show. When I used a brush to apply it on my lids the colours were definitely fainter. The shimmery orange shade looked so vibrant in the pan but it's quite faint on the skin. The coral pink is more peachy coral than pink, but I don't mind. The matte taupe is awesome for contouring the eyes and nose, so I considered this a worthwhile buy.

These colours are definitely okay for daily wear since they appear so soft and they all blend well with each other. I've worn it the last few days to work and it lasted well on my oily lids without primer. I wouldn't re-purchase if I ran out, and I definitely have shadows with more pigmentation... but the colours are so soft and easy to use for any outfit that I find myself reaching for this quad that my previous daily neutral palette. So, I guess I like it.

REVIEW: Iope New Air Cushion Moisture Lasting N21

Iope New Air Cushion Moisture Lasting 2016

Today I'll be reviewing the brand new 2016 Iope New Air Cushion, Moisture Lasting version in N21. SPF 50+ / PA +++

The new 2016 line has four types of Air Cushions, The Natural Glow (black) for a mix of everything, the Intense Cover (orange) for higher coverage, the Matte Long Wear (silver) for long lasting adherence and the Moisture Lasting (blue). Note that I don't read Korean so I could be mixing up the covers here, but I can vouch that Moisture Lasting is blue at least, since that is the one I have. You can see the blue rim around the compact: 

Speaking of design, I really like how simple and clean it looks. It's a soft pearly white compact with just the words IOPE on the cover. The coloured rim around the casing denotes from which air cushion line it is from, for mine it is blue. It's smooth and easy to hold in hand.

If I was shopping for myself I have to admit I would have picked up Natural Glow instead, but this was a gift from my (future) mother-in-law from her trip to Korea. She got me Moisture Lasting in N21. The color selections come in C for cover and N for natural as the previous Iope Air Cushions did.

The case itself is smaller than the old Iope Air cushions by a little. This makes it more compact and easier to tow around in your purse. Each refill still has 15 grams of product so even with the slighter packaging we aren't missing out on the product itself - which is most important!

I tried to get a better picture of the cushion itself, because it looks very interesting. However, every time I got in closer with the camera the mirror in the compact kept reflecting and made the image darker and blurry so... sorry! The cushion itself is, how to describe, harder than the previous Iope cushions. There is an interesting honey comb design with a mesh holding it in. It could be all in my head, but I feel like this design helps dispense product more evenly. With previous cushions, the soft spongy ones, it's easy to get the product all over the case itself if you press too hard, but with this honey comb cushion, I don't get that mess.

The product itself applies very evenly and smooth. It feels very refreshing and cooling on the skin and I can definitely see the hydrating properties. It is not super dewy like I was afraid of, and actually wearable for days stuck in a dry office. Of course, being that it is marked as natural coverage rather than high, the cover pay off is sheer. It still blurs out imperfections and hides away redness quite easily. You can also layer up if needed with no fear of cake-face since this is the Moisture line. 

It feels more like a watery lotion going on the face rather than foundation, and with that in mind, it is hard to pair it with a proper primer to make it last. If I wear a silicone based primer to hide skin unevenness the cushion product will not sit on top properly. If I use a moisturizing primer underneath, than the cushion will adhere better, but not cover up any large pores. I think this suits people with already great skin tones better.

Lasting wise, the product did not last long on my face. Right now it is summer and I am more oily in the summer time. After around 4 hours I think all my make up melted off and the wet look from this product became quite prominent. I'm not giving up on it though, I think I will have better luck using it in autumn and winter when my skin goes super dry.

REVIEW: Iope Air Cushion XP Matte Finish M21 Vanilla

Iope Air Cushion XP Matte Finish in M21 Vanilla

This was the third cushion foundation that I have ever bought. The first two were from Hera and Innisfree. Considering Iope was the first to come out with the air cushion and to win so many awards, I don't know why I waited so long before purchasing the Iope one. This, obviously, isn't the original but the Matte version. The colour I choose was M21, M for matte. It does not offer the usual C for cover or N for natural like the other Air Cushion XP line.

Here's a picture of the ingredient listing for anyone who reads Korean:

I bought the full set. It comes with the compact and a refill. The pact itself is a simple and elegant looking design with a pearly white cover and a  silver, reflective lining on the side. It looks blue in the photo before but that's just the lining reflecting the blue background it is on. There's 15 g of product in each refill.

The compact comes with a nice blue "air puff." Is it air puff? I can't remember the actual name for them, but at the end of the day it's pretty much just a polyurethane material, similar to most sponges.

The colour looks a bit yellow in the photo, but it blends in perfectly to my skin.It's actually a bit on the sheer-er side, so you can easily layer on another layer over areas that need extra coverage. It doesn't have the pink tone that is often found with Korean brands, thankfully.

So, how does it perform? For me personally, I've never had a cushion foundation that truly lasted the whole day and I define a "whole day" as a full 8 hour shift at work including the one hour commute there and back. The Iope Air Cushion XP Matte Finish, surprisingly, held up for a whole work day. In fact, I had started wearing it exclusively to work and at work I run around between patients the whole day so it's not exactly stress free. It does start to wear off a little around my nose where I am the oiliest but that's not something that some blotting papers and a little touch up can't fix.

The coverage is decent. It covers most of my imperfections and blurs out any redness on my cheeks. So far, I don't think I've felt it oxidize on me yet, but I've been wearing it mostly inside, away from the sun.

How matte is it? With Korean brands, I don't think the word matte means the same as it does in the Western beauty world. It does not make your skin look dry or dull. The formula goes on clean and does not feel tacky like other Korean BB creams usually do. There's none of that extreme wet or dewiness but it isn't at all matte in the western sense either. It looks like... a dewy foundation with some finishing powder over it. If anyone gets my meaning? People with dry skin can easily wear this as well as those with oily skin. There's no need to actually layer on another layer of finishing powder unless someone wants their skin to look super matte.

Overall, I really like how this cushion makes my skin look!

REVIEW: Peripera Oil Capture Pact

Peripera Oil Capture Pact

I have been using this pressed powder for the last six months and just recently purchased another one so I figured, it's probably the right time to write a review on this product. I tried my best to get a clear picture but the colouring on the box and that pact itself made it hard for the pink words to show through. The Peripera Oil Capture Pact:

It comes housed in a nice pale green, plastic container holding 8.5 grams of product. It's small and slim, easy to slip into a tiny purse to carry around for touch ups throughout the day. There's a mirror inside the compact and it comes with the usual Korean powder puff that's usually found inside their compacts. 

There's no scent. The pressed powder looks white but it goes on pretty translucent if you are powdering on with a fluffy brush. The puff is alright, but I find it can cake on the powder compared to a brush.

Now, onto the important part that everyone is probably wondering. Does it work? The answer: Yes, yes it does. Amazingly so! 

A bit about me: I tend to get quite oily on my t-zone and because I wear glasses, I find my foundation in the area under my glasses rims where it occasionally touches my cheeks to rub off so putting on a setting/finishing/anything powder over my foundation is a must! 

Previous to finding this pact I had been using the Innisfree No Sebum loose powder and that one lasted me a good 4-5 hours of oil free freshness. However, it dried out my under eye area terribly. 

With Peripera Oil Capture Pact, I find myself looking oil free for around 6 hours. More, if I'm inside somewhere with air conditioning and no stress. It also does not dry out my skin or look cakey at all. (As long as I don't use the puff anyways). After 6 hours when my oils peek through, I still look fresh and not like an oil slick. Some blot papers or a bit of touchup with the powder and I'll look clean like I freshly applied my make up. As a bonus plus, this pact is cheaper than the Innisfree pact.