The Face Shop x Kakao Friends - Sun Cushion, Photogenic Sun Blur, Melting Color Lip Creamers and Sheet Masks

The Face Shop recently released a Kakao friends collaboration that had some super cute items. In case you're wondering - Kakao is a South Korean Internet company that offers a variety of services. The most popular being Kakao talk - a free messaging service. The Kakao friends are characters in the app and help to liven up your messages. Each one has a different personality, which you can read about here. The most prominent one in this collaboration is Muzi- a radish dressed up as a bunny. I love bunnies so I couldn't resist getting a few pieces.

Baby Sun Cushion and Photogenic Sun Blur.

A big focus for this collection is suncare. The baby sun cushion has SPF34 PA++ and ingredients that are gentle enough for a baby's skin including organic Sunflower Sprout Extract and a Mineral UV filter. It can also be washed off with water. I primarily got this for the adorable case which is matte and the design is printed on (not a sticker). It is re-fillable once the sunscreen runs out and I discovered that it is compatible with iope cushion refills. 

The puff is so cute; the white tray lifts to reveal the cushion.

 The other suncare item I ordered was the photogenic sun blur which has SPF50+ PA+++ and promises to brighten your skintone and give a soft-focus effect. I was looking to see if this would be a suitable primer under foundations and it seems to work. It does deliver a brightening/smoothing effect. One negative is that it does have a fairly heavy scent - reminds me of a shampoo - maybe pert plus?

Top: right out of the tube; Bottom: blended

There were also some Melting Color Lip Creamer (what a name) shades released. I picked 10 Fresh Muzi (bright orange) and 12 Cute Frodo (peach). They are pretty pigmented and have a hydrating lip balm texture and contains sugar so it will "melt" on your lips.

Cute packaging

Caps twist off. Right: Muzi, left: Frodo, about 3 swipes?

The last item I got from this collection were the sheet masks. They are sold individually or in a box of five (one of each character). I got the box of five and these masks are a bit scary because they do have the character faces printed on the sheet. I had received 2 bonus masks - Frodo (Olive - Moisturizing) and Neo (Blueberry - Resilience) and tested both out. They were ok masks but they were more novelty than anything else.

R-> L: Frodo (Olive - Moisturizing), Neo (Blueberry - Resilience), Muzi (Apple - Soothing), Tube (Cotton seed - Brightening), Apeach (Hyaluronic acid - Hydrating)

It's a cute collection and I think all the products are pretty solid. I do wonder if this was a one-off collab or it will be expanded in future seasons. It would be nice to see a regular cushion or other lip products (personal fave is the ink lipquids). Other types of items in this current collection are concealers, eye shadow palettes and purfume. Hope you liked this post; it's been ages since my last entry but I wanted to share some pics/info on these since they are still pretty new and my next post will be about another cute collaboration that was released last month as well- stay tuned!

Laura Mercier Customizable Artist Palettes Sets

Laura Mercier has released 2 customizable artist palettes sets recently. I had purchased the Laura's Colour Favorites set at Bergdorfs awhile ago and more recently, I ordered the Signature Colour Trend set through the saksfifthavenue website. The mini eye shadows are adorable and the caviar eye liners are one of my favorite Laura Mercier products so I am pretty pleased with both sets.

 Top: Laura's Colour Favorites

Bottom: Signature Colour Trend

 Each set comes with an empty six pan customizable palette

 

 Laura's Colour Favorites palette

Top quartet: Twilight Grey/Pale Pink/Topaz/African Violet

Bottom quartet: Gilded Pines/Cinnamon/Gold Royale/Pink Pearl

Tightline Cake Eye Liner in Chocolate Brown

Caviar Eye Liner in Chestnut

Second Skin Cheek Colour in Sweet Mandarin

Bronzing Pressed Powder in Matte Bronze

Faux Lash Mascara in Black, Lip Glacé in Raspberry and  Crème Smooth Lip Colour in Crème Coral

 Signature Colour Trend Palette

Top quartet: Platinum Pink/Steel Violet/Graphite/Driftwood

Bottom quartet: Tiger's Eye/Baroque/Sandstone/Coffee Ground

Tightline Cake Eye Liner in Black Ebony

Caviar Eye Liner in Cocoa Plum

Second Skin Cheek Colour in Orange Blossom

Bronzing Pressed Powder in Golden Bronze

 Brush bag with Cheek Colour, Eye Colour, Smoky Eye Liner (I haven't tried this one yet but the full size is awesome) and Flat Eye Liner travel size brushes.

Laura's Colour Favorites palette can be ordered through Neiman Marcus and the Signature Colour Trend Palette is available at Saks Fifth Avenue.

Les Merveilleuses Ladurée Cheek and Lip products

Hello! Part of my blogging absence has been due to a vacation to Tokyo! I came back and endured a few days of jet lag. I've finally gotten myself together to share one of my major beauty acquisitions while in Japan.

Les Merveilleuses Ladurée debut in late January with only one counter located in the Misukoshi Department Store in the Ginza area of Tokyo. The parent company for this line is Albion which is also the parent of Paul and Joe Beauté and Sonia Rykiel Beauté. The packaging for this beauty collection is sublime and fitting with the famed Parisian macaron maker.

One of the more intriguing products is the Face Color Rose Ladurée Cheek Color. This item is composed of silk (?) rose petals coated in a colored powder. I bought color o1. The petals are sold separately from the blush holder.

Blush pot (holder) is made of translucent plastic

The lid just sits on top of the base with no actual seal
The Rose Petals comes in a plastic container with a drawstring pouch
So pretty....

In theory, you can swirl your face brush over the petals to pick up the cheek color but the testers at the counter didn't seem to agree....in the end, the most efficient manner was to rub the petal on your skin. I have not tried out the "fresh" petals so there are no swatches in this post for this item.

The other cheek item I purchased was the Pressed Cheek Color in 02. The pigmentation in these cheek colors were definitely stronger than the Rose Petal blushes.

Case on the left and refill in 02 on the right (sold separately)

Refill placed into the case. There is a sticker tab to hold it in the casing.Brush has a compartment underneath the blush

Cheek Color 02 in natural light next to the window

Sorry for lack of a swatch, the sun was setting and I was running out of time. I've worn this blush a few times now and have found it to be lovely. I hope to pick up more when this collection reaches American shores. I've read the estimated time frame is sometime in 2013 :/

The last item(s) I have to share are the lip rouges. They have a soft lipstick feel and subtle shine. I picked up 04 (mauve pink) and 05 (light carmel nude). The Rouges have a Cameo charm on them and have a twist up mechanism. A caveat is that the lip color can be turned up but cannot retract so you will need to be careful how much product is pushed up.

Top: Color 05; Bottom: Color 04
04 close up
05 close up
Swatches!

Hope you've enjoyed the pictures! I will try to capture swatches for the cheek colors soon and share more goods from Tokyo :) For pictures of the Face Color Rose Ladurée in 02, please click here. For counter pictures and more, please see Rouge Deluxe's posts here and here.

Dior Fall 2011~Blue Tie Collection

Here are the additional pics for the Blue Tie Palette in Smoking Blue and Tuxedo Polish. I had also picked up the Vintage Rose blush and Rouge Serum Lipstick in Coral Crystal.

Exterior of the Blue Tie Palette


Interior


With the lip gloss compartment opened



Swatches of the lip gloss and shadows
(Upper left, lower left, upper right and lower right):






The left side shadows were a bit dry and took some effort to build up the color; it may be because they are more matte than the right side shadows which have more shimmer to them and applied much smoother.

Tuxedo polish in natural lighting:



In dimmer indoor lighting, the polish almost looks black. In natural lighting and brighter indoor lighting the blue shimmer color is more apparent.

Vintage Rose blush:

Sorry, I could capture a decent swatch. The left is a dusty pink, while the right is a shimmery peach.

Out of the five or so new Rouge Serum lipsticks, I picked Coral Crystal.



Love the plush moisturizing feel of this lipstick.

I have not seen this collection out other than at Saks; I can't wait to see which items are available at Sephora/Bloomingdales since the selection can vary a bit.

Nars Summer 2011 part 2 and a shiny fing

The sun was out today so I took the chance to take more pics of the Nars summer collection. Here are better pics of Cap Ferrat, Exotic Dance and Dogon.

Cap Ferrat


Exotic Dance and Dogon

The only lip color I skipped on was the Carthage matte lipstick because as much as I liked the color, I couldn't see myself wearing it all that much. Here are pics for Mayflower, Bolero and Wonder.

Mayflower
-Goes on smooth, with a bit of shine.

Bolero Velvet Matte Pencil
-Quite a bold and unforgiving peach color. I prefer it topped with Wonder.


Wonder lip gloss
-Gorgeous glossy and shimmery orange

When I saw the New Order blush, I was afraid the shimmer would be a bit too chunky but once applied, it works as a subtle highlighter.

Swatches:



Top: New Order
Bottom (l ->r): Mayflower, Bolero, Wonder, Bolero topped with Wonder

I've been loving orange/coral lips lately so the Nars offerings were right up my alley and New Order was a pleasant surprise.

As I was looking at the Cap Ferrat trio, I realized the colors were reminiscent of a shiny fing that I recently purchased. I have been a follower of Yasumi's lovely blog and was delighted that she was once again making shiny fings. I ordered her "Principessa Oceano" earrings and they arrived at a lightening speed (2 days from the UK to US-I didn't know it was possible!).

They came wrapped with care:


and safely contained:


I think they go well with Cap Ferrat:

Do visit her emporium here.