First Lip Love Monthly Beauty Bag review, unboxing

First Lip Love Monthly Beauty Bag review, unboxing

So Susan Cosmetopia Digest   Monday, March 09, 2015

A full-sized, cruelty-free makeup-only beauty subscription!

Beauty boxes generally send out a lot of skincare; very few subscriptions give more importance to makeup, especially full-sized makeup products. For makeup lovers and for those who prefer cruelty-free beauty products, here is a new subscription - the Lip Love Monthly beauty bag from So Susan Cosmetics (see their website here). They ship worldwide!
The company is founded by Susan Chyi, who had also set up Jelly Pong Pong - remember those products in Glossyboxes? She began her first venture into the cosmetics industry aged 19, while at the LSU. The brand is headquartered in Essex, UK, and is paraben-, phthalate- mineral-oil- and 100% cruelty-free. They had a nail polish subbie named Lacquer Love until recently; it made way for Lip Love.
Lip Love features a beauty bag with four products, of which at least three will be lip-based. They may or may not be multifunctional. All products will be full-sized. Best of all, they send you previews so you can skip a month if you don't like the look of the contents. The inaugural number of the bag is themed Red Carpet Stars.

Check out my review of the first edition of the Lip Love Monthly Beauty Bag from So Susan Cosmetics.

Beautyblender Micro.Mini sponge review

Beautyblender Micro.Mini sponge review

Tools Cosmetopia Digest   Tuesday, January 06, 2015

The Micro.Mini Beautyblender eliminates brush marks and gives concealer an airbrushed, flawless finish. 

I am a huge fan of the Original Beautyblender, reviewed here, and consider it my HG makeup applicator for liquid and powder foundations. Both the Black and Pink versions, compared here, give a flawless, cake- and mark-free finish. However, I used to reach for a brush for applying concealer and, on busy mornings, I have wished for a brush-mark-free, easily blendable application method, particularly with thick concealers. Recently, the Beautyblender brand released a Micro.Mini version of the cult sponge, for precision application of foundation, concealer and other makeup.
The fluorescent green Micro.Mini sponges are cute and "squeezable" - at the risk of being labelled weird(er than I already am), squeezing these is as stress-busting as bursting bubblewrap.

Read on for the full review of the Beautyblender Micro.Mini sponges.

IT Cosmetics Bye Bye Under Eye Concealer review

IT Cosmetics Bye Bye Under Eye Concealer review

Swatches Cosmetopia Digest   Friday, September 05, 2014

Finding a good concealer is like finding an oasis in the desert. They are few and far between. Several times, I have had my hopes up and then ended up with sheer, creasing, drying, milia-causing, breakout-inducing, caking rubbish, which would either leave a whitish cast or never dry and reflect every bit of light within a five-mile radius.
The IT Cosmetics Bye Bye Under Eye Concealer has been making waves on the beauty blogosphere for a while now. I picked the anti-ageing version of this concealer in my mid-year makeup haul here. It is always a better idea to opt for makeup with skincare benefits, and you can never begin too early to treat your skin.
Moreover, ever since January, my schedule has become so wonky that I have developed hitherto absent under-eye circles and some dryness. Having the most oily eyelids and face and living in a tropical and humid climate, I am glad this is also the waterproof version.

Here is my review of the IT Cosmetics Bye Bye Under Eye Full Coverage Anti-Ageing Waterproof Concealer.

Rose Rose Shop Secret Box review, unboxing: International beauty box

Rose Rose Shop Secret Box review, unboxing: International beauty box

Unboxing Cosmetopia Digest   Thursday, March 13, 2014

It was the lovely Amanda of  My Pretty Distractions - she is great for a chat about beauty boxes and Korean cosmetics - who showed me her Rose Secret Box from Rose Rose Shop, thus propelling me into ordering one straightaway. For those who haven't heard of it before, Rose Rose Shop is a website that sells Korean cosmetics at wholesale rates. They have a Rose Secret Box for $25, $50 and $100 - each contains two, five or eleven full-sized items respectively, a pair of earrings and various samples, all worth double the value of the box. The $100 box also contains "one clothes". Don't look at me, I didn't order or write it.
No two boxes are exactly alike. Worldwide tracked shipping for the Secret beauty boxes is absolutely free, though if you order something apart from the box, you pay extra, based on weight.

Here is my review and unboxing of the Rose Rose Shop Secret beauty box.

Bourjois Rouge Edition lipstick swatches and Max Factor liquid eyeliner review

Bourjois Rouge Edition lipstick swatches and Max Factor liquid eyeliner review

Nail polish Cosmetopia Digest   Saturday, July 13, 2013

For some time now, I have been thinking about getting the Bourjois 8-in-1 BB cream compact. I'm not a BB cream person after trying out quite a few of them; I prefer the decent coverage of a foundation. But this was a compact, and, more importantly, this was Bourjois. So I asked a couple of bloggers and decided to go for it. I've used it only twice and am loving it already. I shall review it in detail, once I put it through a reasonable trial period. There are only four shades available, but apparently they adapt to different skin tones. This is 22 Beige Dore or Golden Beige, which should suit anyone medium, from NC 30 to 42, according to the SA.