Savvy long lasting matte lipstick Review

I only had one product from Savvy and it was a baked eyeshadow. I bought a while back when they had a sale and it cost only $3 other than that, I really didn’t think much of the brand. One of my friend at work raves about their lipsticks. Savvy is an Australian brand cosmetic which affordable price. Priceline was having a sale where you pay 3 products for the price of 2 so I decided to go and get a few to test out.

I ended up getting 3 of their matte lipsticks out of either 8 or 10 shades. Usually they are $6.99 AUD but because of the 3 for 2 deal, it works out to be less than $5 each. The colours I picked are:

• Bali
• Morroco
• Vegas

The lipstick is slim and slightly taller than other brand of lipstick. Above you can see the comparison between the Savvy, MAC and Rimmel.

I accidently dropped one of the lipsticks on the floor and the end where it shows the colour fell off. I can be easily placed back on the lipstick. I found it’s interesting how they put some of the product in the bottom cap. If you run out of your lipstick and you really need want to use that colour, you can get some from the cap hehe.

Usually I won’t go for a matte lipstick because my lips are quite dry. Hence, I was a bit hesitant in buying them. I did a swatched when I was at Priceline and they weren’t too bad on the hand. During the winter months my lips are dry so I applied a light layer of lip balm on my lips first before I apply the lipstick.

The lipsticks have good pigmentation and leave a good matte effect without making the lips feel dry and cracked. My favourite colour out of the three is Vegas. I love the light red/orange shade and it doesn’t make my skin tone looks dark like some colours do.

VERDICT:

4/5. These matte lipsticks have amazing pigmentation and last on the lips for a while. I had lunch with a cup of coffee and it still stayed on nicely. The colour faded a bit but not so much that I had to re-apply. I don’t mind the packaging, it’s nice and slim. And for the price you’re paying, cheap plastic will have to do. The down side is the colours range. As I mentioned before there are about 8 to 10 shades but half of the shades are either nude or very light. For someone who has medium tone or dark complexion, there aren’t many to choose from. I couldn’t pick a nice natural colour for my lips and I always judge lipsticks by that hence minus 1 mark.

Have you tried these lipsticks before? Let me know what you think of them. 

Kiehl’s creamy eye treatment with Avocado review

Today I will be reviewing one of my favourite eye creams from Kiehl’s. This avocado cream has a thick texture but provides a nice hydration for your delicate under eye area.

Below is the list of ingredients involved in the formulation of this eye cream. They are in descending order of predominance by weight. That is, water is the heaviest ingredient in the formulation followed by Shea butter and so on.  

Ingredient	Function/s
Aqua/Water	Solvent
Butyrospermum Parkii/ Shea Butter	Skin conditioning/ emollient
Butylene Glycol	Humectant / solvent
Tridecyl Stearate	Skin conditioning/ emollient
Isodecyl Salicylate	Skin conditioning
PEG-30 Dilyhydroxystearate	Emulsifying/ surfactant
Tridecyl Trimellitate	Skin conditioning/ emollient
Persea Gratissima/ Avocado Oil	Skin conditioning/ emollient/ stabiliser
Isocetyl Stearoyl Stearate	Skin conditioning/ emollient/ viscosity controller
Propylene Glycol	Humectant/ emulsifier
Dipentaerythrityl Hexacaprylate/ Hexacaprate	Emulsifier
Sorbitan Sesquioleate	Emulsifier
Magnesium Sulfate	Viscosity controller
Phenoxyethanol	Preservative
Hydrogenated Castor Oil	Emollient/ emulsifier
Sodium PCA	Humectant
Ozokerite	Binder/ emulsion stabiliser
Methyl-paraben	Preservative
Tocopheryl Acetate	Antioxidant
Disodium EDTA	Chelator
Isopropyl Palmitate	Binder/ emollient
Copper PCA	Humectant
Ethylparaben	Preservative
Butyl-paraben	Preservative
Isobutylparaben	Preservative
Propylparaben	Preservative
Zea Mays/ Corn Oil	Emollient/ Binder
CI 75130/ Beta-Carotene Fmla 685179/3	Light green colour

As you can see from the list, there are numerous ingredients used to retain moisture (humectant) as well as to sooth and soften (emollient) the skins. 

As you can see from the picture, it has a high viscosity (very thick). It doesn’t smell like anything, which is good.

The majority of chemical elements are metallic and form aqua ions in a formulation. These ions can cause deterioration of the products whether it is cosmetics, skincare or personal care. Therefore, formulators tend to add a chelator (in this case, Disodium EDTA) to binds these metal ions and inactivate them which prevent the product from deterioration as well as rancidity.

I used this eye cream at night due to the thick texture. When it is applied on the eye, it may feel annoying because it takes a while for the cream to absorb. I find it hard to apply concealer under my eyes after I applied it because it’s too “wet”. Therefore, I recommend using this cream at night and use another eye cream during the day (a light one that is!). Remember to use your ring finger when applying it guise.

VERDICT:

4/5. I deducted 0.5 for the packaging. I’ve seen better packaging on other eye creams such as the Origin one. Another 0.5 is reduced due to the viscosity of the cream, I know the cream gives wonderful hydration but do they have to add so many emollients? Other than that it’s a great cream. My under eyes areas feels very nice and soft.  

You can purchase this cream at the Kiehl’s counter at Myers or DJ (if you are in Australia) or their website. It’s $39 for 14 mL:

http://www.kiehls.com.au/face/eye-area-preparations/creamy-eye-treatment-with-avocado

Have you tried this product before? If so, what do you think of it? If not, what is your favourite eye cream? Sorry about the long post but I hope you find it useful and informative J 

Lazy Sunday - Weekends re-cap

It’s Sunday down under and sadly the weekends had come to an end L Just wanted to share with you guise what I’ve got up to.

I caught up with an old high school friend on Friday night and we attended an event called Friday Nights at Monet’s Garden which took place at the National Gallery of Victoria (NGV). My friend is a fan of Vance Joy and he was playing at the NGV so she invited me to attend. Great arts and good music? How can I resist?

Claude Monet was a very talented man, he had created beautiful paintings. I’m no artist but I can see all the details been put into each of his paintings. Amazing, amazing, amazing!! I wish I have some knowledge about art. I see people just standing at one painting and staring at it for a good 15 minutes. It only takes me about a minute to look at it hahaha.

Vance Joy is very talented himself. At first I didn’t know who he was until I heard his last song called Riptide. I heard it on the radio before I think? I heard it from somewhere. We get to hear his EP (extended play). He has a very unique voice. I like the unplugged version of riptide better, check it out:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YQmyQqbQlFA

Oh! At the bar, all the bartenders are French. Or they had a really good French accent, melt my heart. If you live in Victoria, Australia and are interested in attending this event then check out the NGV website:

http://www.ngv.vic.gov.au/whats-on/exhibitions/exhibitions/monets-garden/explore/friday-nights-at-monet

Here are all the photos I took that night. Sorry if they are all blurry. I took them on my phone and I don’t know how to adjust the setting yet (noobs to the max haha).

Good music/ amazing ceiling/ great atmosphere

Monet's House

Vance Joy

A little cosy restaurant on Degraves St with cute décor

One of the printed painting I bought ($14.95 AUD)

I worked on Saturday so nothing exciting happened. However, this morning I went to one of the Supre (clothing brand) outlet and bought a few items. I will be doing a collective haul so I will show you what I purchased in that post.

What did you get up to on the weekends?

Review – Mirenesse cosmetics

One of the regular customers at my work is a representative for a company called Mirenesse. I haven’t heard of this brand before but I think it’s like a higher end version of Avon. I asked her what products the brand sells and she said they sell cosmetics and skincare.  She kindly gave me 2 eyeliners and a lip gloss to try.

The lip gloss doesn’t have a name but it has 06 stated at the bottom. Both of the eyeliners have sparkly glitters in the formulation which I don’t mind. One of them is 1. Atum which is a beautiful khaki colour. The other one is 12. Osiris which is a black colour with glitters.

I don’t like the lip gloss because a) the colour is too light for me, it doesn’t suit my skin tone and b) it’s sticky. It has a good coverage but the stickiness put me off. I didn’t take a photo to show you what it looks like on my lips because it looks horrendous (no joke).  

After I applied the eyeliner on my hand, about 10 seconds later I rubbed it to see if it will smudge. It doesn’t smudge at all which is very impressive. It can be easily removed by using eye make-up remover.

Here’s a picture where I have 1. Atum on my right eye (your left) and 12. Osiris on my left eye. My face is taken at a weird angle lol, selfie failed. Also, sorry for the blurry photos of my eye closed up, I took them myself. It was so difficult haha.

I went onto their website to check the prices and they are quite expensive, even when they have sales. The eyeliners cost $39 AUD each and when they are on sale it cost $23.50 AUD The lip gloss also cost $39 AUD

http://www.mirenesse.com/boutique-m/451-inside-out-27hr-eye-kohl-metals-15g.html#pa_726

http://www.mirenesse.com/lip-gloss/238-lip-bomb-glossy-lacquer-stain-nudes-31g.html#pa_395

VERDICT:

3/5 for lip gloss. It’s pigmented but is way too sticky for my liking. The packaging looks unique and it has an okay scent. Expensive as well.

 4.5/5 for eyeliners. I love the colours and how it’s smudged free but had to take 0.5 off for the price.

Have any of you guise heard about this brand or even tried any of their products?

What’s New?

Hello lovely friends.

Remember how I wanted to exchange my Clarins exfoliater for the toner? I finally had the chance to go to DJ to do so. They were very nice about it and didn’t question me why I want to exchange like some places. I didn’t have to bring everything along (better safe than sorry) so I get to keep my gift pack (yay!).  The toner is actually $45 AUD not $55 AUD so same price as Myers plus you get a gift pack if you purchase two or more items from Clarins J

I can’t wait to try this highly raved product. Would you like me to do a review on it?

Anyway, for those who live in Australia, Priceline is having an amazing cosmetic and skincare sale. The Rimmel Apocalips are now $7.95 AUD. All Rimmel range is half price. I got two scandaleyes eyeliner. One is 005 nude and as the name stated, it’s a nice pale nude pink which is great for applying in the inner corners of your eyes to brighten up. I have mentioned this eyeliner before in my May favourites. The other colour is 012 Bronze. It’s such a beautiful colour and I think it will further enhance my brown eyes. 

I also bought 3 Savvy lipsticks from Priceline. Technically, I bought 2 and got the third one free (sale 3 for price of 2). I will be doing a review on them so stay tune.

Check out the Priceline’s catalogue to see what they have on sale:

http://www.priceline.com.au/e-catalogue/

Chemist Warehouse also have a sale on cosmetics and other things;

• Buy any Revlon foundations and get a free colourstay pressed powder or new complexion cream powder.
• Buy any Rimmel foundations and get a free rimmel bronzer
• Maybelline FIT ranges are all $10 each

Their sunglasses are also on special for $5. They have a few nice designs and you get 100% UV protection. What a bargain right?!

To see more sale at Chemist Warehouse check out their online catalogue:

 http://catalogues.chemistwarehouse.com.au/home.html

Disclaimer: I’m not affiliated with Priceline nor Chemist Warehouse. I just want to let Australians know about the great deals available at the moment. 

June Favourites

I know everyone says this but really….wow! We are half way through 2013 already! This month, my skin is quite problematic where I broke out all over my face. Due to this, I haven’t been using many products. However, I did manage to use a few things religiously. Let begins:

To dry my pimples and maintain my break out, I depended on Mario Badescu Drying Lotion (spot treatment). It has a solid pellet at the bottom with calamine lotion on top. Without mixing them up, I just dip the cotton bud/ Q-tip straight down and slowly pull it up. I then apply it on individual pimple on my face. It’s a strong chemical smell and can sting but it works amazingly in reducing the size of my pimples.

Another skincare product that I’ve been using to help reduce my break out is La Roche-Posay Effaclar Duo. It has a textured that feels and looks like a mixture of gel and cream. This product reduces redness of my skin and calms it as well. It leaves a matte finished on the skin which prevents my face looking oily. I usually use a primer before I apply my foundation but when I use this I don’t. It holds my foundation on my face quite well.

If you seen photos of my hand, you can see that my hands are extremely dry. It’s winter down under so skin de-hydration is common. Plus, I’ve been really lazy with drinking lots of water which isn’t helping (maybe that’s also the cause of my break outs?). The Neutrogena hand cream has added moisture to my hand and smoothed out my crackled skin. It’s doesn’t have a scent and is sticky. It may be uncomfortable at first after but using it various times, it doesn’t bother me.  

Since it’s winter, I like to wear a darker more pigmented blush to add colour to my face. I’ve been loving the Sleek blush in pomegranate. Sleek blushes are amazing. They are extremely pigmented and last on the skin for a while.  You need to blend it well to give it a nice effect.

Because I have been wearing the bright blush regularly, I used a lighter shade lipstick. My go to lipstick for this month is Revlon colourstay ultimate suede lipstick in 005 iconic. It’s a light/medium redish pink colour which suits for everyday wear.

I don’t really get a chance to touch up my make up as much as I like at work. My face tends to become oily half way through work. Thanks to Rimmel Stay Matte pressed powder in translucent, I managed to maintain my oiliness. I’m a happy camper.

 A quarter way through writing this blog, I realised I have left out two other items that I have been using frequently in the month of June. Due to my eye lash extensions, I find it hard to clean my eye areas without damaging the lashes. Bioderma micelle solution had come to the rescue. It doesn’t dry out the glue on my lashes and it cleaned the make-up around my eyes wonderfully.

The scent I’ve been wearing nearly every single day of June is J’adore by Dior. It’s a nice classic smell which a touch of sophistication. Love, love, love this smell J

Have you tried any of the products I’ve mentioned? Let me know which products are your favourite in June. 

Review - Rimmel London APOCALIPS

Rimmel has just launch the Apocalips in Australia recently. They are lip lacquers which are like hybrids, crossed between lip gloss and lipstick. They are much more pigmented than a lip gloss yet still provide a nice shine. However they don’t stay on the lips as long as lipsticks.

This line came out in the UK since last year and I’ve heard various good raves about them from UK youtubbers. Priceline is selling them for around $12.20 AUD as an introductory price and Chemist Warehouse have them on special for $7.99 AUD.

We have different colours compared to the UK. I bought one last year on a UK website lifesandlook called 301 Galaxy which cannot be found in Australia. If you are interested in purchasing them online here’s the link:

http://www.lifeandlooks.com/Models.aspx?ModelID=17126

I got three altogether:

• 101 Celestial
• 201 Solstice
• 301 Galaxy

It has the same application as a lip gloss

As you can see I've weird pigmentation lips, the top is darker than the bottom lip. It’s genetic but maybe drinking coffee regularly has so affect as well. Therefore, I always have to put on a lip product to even out the tone of my lips.

Solstice is a neutral lip colour for my lips which I love. It’s a nice everyday colour. 

Celestial is a light pink colour. I really like this colour.  Usually I can’t wear lighter colours because it doesn’t suit my skin tone but this one does. I think it is suitable for spring and summer.

Please excuse my problematic face. I’ve been breaking out a lot lately L

Galaxy actually is darker in person than photos. It looks nice in autumn and winter.

Don’t know how my hair got so messy hahaha.

VERDICT:

4.5/5. It’s super pigmented and has a nice gloss. It has a fruity smell? Kinda like a grapefruit? *shrugs* I don’t mind the scent. The gloss comes off straight after you eat food but the colour still stays on for around 2-3 hours. And the packaging looks cool.

They have an amazing range of colours so go and check it out J