OOTD - Outfit of the Day - Valentine's Day

Hello! I hope everybody had a wonderful Valentine's day shared with lots of love with your loved ones! Just wanted to quickly share my outfit from yesterday.

H&M Sweater Dress, Express Flyaway Burnout Cardigan, H&M Foil Scarf, Steve Madden boots, Coach wristlet

The BF took me out to my favorite Japanese restaurant and we finished the night with a super yummy red velvet cheesecake from Junior's!

Review: Fresh Sugar Lip Treatment SPF 15

There's probably a bunch of Fresh Sugar Lip Treatment reviews online since Sephora has been giving these out as birthday deluxe samples to all Beauty Insiders. But I'll like to review them nevertheless.

Compared with a full size lipstick

This is a deluxe sample size product, not full size. But they didn't skimp on the packaging at all. Comes in a hardy metallic twist lock tube to ensure the cap doesn't fly off. The inner tube turns separately to twist the product out. I'm definitely very impress with the packaging. =)

The Fresh Sugar Lip Treatment is a clear lip balm retailing at $22 for the full size. It leaves your lips super glossy without feeling heavy despite the beeswax and other oil ingredients. I don't think it has the 6 hours lasting power as Fresh claims but it stays on long enough and doesn't make any lip color or gloss slip and slide too much. Also comes with SPF 15 which seems to be the new standard for lip balms nowadays.

You can see that the side of the tube nips at the balm stick

It has a citrus scent that smells sweet but not overpowering. Actually it was the scent that jogged my memory and made me consider the Blistex Complete Moisture as a very close dupe. Very close dupe except the Blistex isn't as glossy, but it has the same melt on your lips texture.One huge con with the Fresh Sugar Lip Treatment is that the balm is too soft that the product breaks and smears all over the tube. You have to make sure you don't twist too much product out at once and be mindful of the amount of pressure you use to apply, otherwise the whole tube can break off with application. This is probably my biggest pet peeve with lipsticks. Don't think I'll repurchase, although I have read that the full size is a lot better in that aspect.

Did you get yours at Sephora? What did you think? I haven't tried the tinted one yet. Will see how that works out.

Project Pan 5 - Update

Here's an update to the Project Pan 5 that I started 2 months ago. Refer to the original post for my short reviews on these items.

Project Pan 5 - Jan 2013

1. Physician's Formula Powder Palette Multicolored Blush - Blushing Peach
Looks like I barely touched it! These palettes really do last a very long time, I've been using it every other day now hoping to finish it up, but it looks exactly like it did 2 months ago. =P  It's going to be part of the new Project Pan 5.

2. philosophy on a clear day oil-free foaming acne cleanser
Done! Used up all the cleanser, kind of sad that it's discontinued. On the quest for a new lightweight cleanser again (AFTER I'm done with the rest that I have now. ) 

3. qiora Face Cleanser DH Cleanser
Still working on this right now since the philosophy cleanser is out. Should be done soon!

4. Clinique Take the Day Off Makeup Remover
Done! Trying to compare it with the Neutrogena Facial Towelettes, I think I still like the Neutrogena ones more.

5. Nivea Age Defying Q10plus Hand Cream
Didn't touch it at all! I accidentally tucked this away since I've been renovating my room. Hopefully I'll remember to use it soon.

Since I'm only done with 2 products, here are the next 2 contenders (I don't want to add another 5 to create a never ending list). 

L'oreal Colour Riche Balm lip color in Rose Elixir

L'oreal Colour Riche Balm lip color in Rose Elixir

I don't think I can recollect any one time when I've actually finished a lipstick, hopefully this would be the first one. This lip balm/lipstick came out last year causing a lot of hype along with the Revlon lip butters, but these didn't get as much spotlight as they apply with such a sheer color and really works just like a balm. But they are truly very moisturizing, it leaves a nice moisturized glossy finish. Because of its super sheer color I can apply it very liberally, haha maybe that's why I can actually put it in a project pan. I only have it on this color, I'll want to try the other ones.

Nivea Soft Moisturizing Creme

Excuse the dry hands!

Nivea Soft Moisturizing Creme

This was part of a Nivea set from CVS, I believe it only retails for 99 cents alone. It has a almost non-greasy, souffle-like texture, very similar to the First Aid Beauty ultra repair cream. Excuse the dry hands! But you can tell that the creme hydrates the dry skin immediately. It does have a perfumed fragrance though. Not super great but I like the fact that it is in a small flat container so I can just slide into any compartment without taking up too much room. I might repurchase it later on but not going to sort it out specifically.

Ok, Project Pan 5 will return again in 2 months! Hopefully, I can knock them all out! 

Swatches: Essie, Revlon, Lancome, Laura Mercier

Happy New Year everyone!  I've been itching to post these nail swatches up, but have been too lazy gazy. So here they are!

Essie's Muchi Muchi with Revlon's Stunning

Essie's Muchi Muchi with Revlon's Stunning

Here's I have 1 coat of Essie's Muchi Muchi, which is quite sheer and streaky in 1 coat but I really love the pale pink shade, spiced it up with Revlon's Stunning Nail Lacquer only on a few fingers to make it more unique. The Revlon Stunning polish is top coat of silver glitter with bigger sphere shapes. It is absolutely stunning! (no pun intended ;p ) Only complaint I have is that it was quite hard to pick up the bigger circular glitters with the brush. And as with all glitter nail polish, this was horrible to take off. But it's just so pretty!  What do you think?

Lancome's Vernis in Love in Gris Angora 407N

Lancome Vernis in Love in Gris Angora 407N

No flash

Saw Raeview's review of the new Lancome Vernis in Love and I fell in love with the colors. Picked up this greyish violet color and I was dancing! Perfect fall/winter shade. It's a beautiful creme finish with 2 coats. (1 coat leaves it very streaky). These nail polishes are $15 a bottle and smaller than the regular full size but it makes it a little more affordable to play with. Not like I've ever finished a bottle of nail polish. Plus the polish was quite long lasting (almost a week.)

Lancome's Vernis in Love in Rose Plumeti 300M

Lancome's Vernis in Love in Rose Plumeti 300M

No flash

Here's another Lancome Vernis in Love that I purchase in Rose Plumeti. Color is a neutral pink with a shimmery sheen. Here I have it on with 1 coat. It was a little weird, this dried out to a matte finish. I was slightly disappointed that it didn't have the same jelly like finish as the Gris Angora.

Laura Mercier's Cabana Nail Lacquer

Laura Mercier's Cabana

Here's a throwback from the summer collections, Laura Mercier's Cabana. This was a highly sort after polish when it first came out. The perfect coral red/orange you can find! Perfect jelly creme finish. You have to apply 2 coats for the coral red to show up. I have only 1 coat on my ring finger in the picture and the color looks very washed out. Very long lasting and no chips at all. You can see that the tip wears off first.

Since spring is coming up, what do you think is the new "it" color for spring?

Review: My First GlossyBox (November 2012)

After numerous posts and reviews from the beauty blogosphere, I was very excited with high expectations of my very first Glossybox. Glossybox is one of the many monthly beauty subscriptions that ship to you a selective number of beauty deluxe samples. A monthly subscription to Glossybox is $21 plus tax. In the past, they had included samples from Burberry Beauty and even a full size Missha Perfect Cover BB creams! (You can see why I was so tempted. )

I ordered my first Glossybox which is their November box. They had a promotion code that brought the price of the box down to $18. The box arrived on Black Friday actually. I was so excited to open it! And also got so disappointed! =( 

Here is what is included. Like every other reviewer, I fell in love with the representation of the box. A hard sturdy gift box that you can most definitely reuse! Inside was the nearly wrapped samples with a small pamphlet magazine.

First thing, the Glossybox didn't include any impressive brands that I've heard of except for the Illmasaqua lip pencil. I would have much prefer to try out their nail polish though. It did also include a full size Incoco nail polish strip in a pretty holiday red. I'm guessing Glossybox is planning to come out with their own makeup line because I've seen something from their own brand in all of the past boxes, which is ok if this is how they want to branch out to the public. But it is NOT ok if they send you broken/defective products. 

The Glossybox lipstick was rattling before I even open it. The color actually doesn't look bad at all, but this is ridiculous. And on top of that the Skin & Co Truffle Serum was completely dried out when I unscrew the cap.  When I squeeze the tube, it spit out the very last drop of moisture and that was it. I understand that these are just deluxe sizes that you would probably get free from Sephora, but if I have to pay for them than they should at least make it worthwhile!

I did contact customer service and their Twitter, both responded within a day or so assuring me that they would send me replacements. But now 3 weeks later, I still have not receive anything. Even worst calling and emailing their customer service line is like talking to a black hole. Nothing comes back. I am seriously disappointed at their service now and don't want to bother with them again. Even Skin & Co contacted me regarding the bad sample and offered a replacement. We'll see if that really happens. Their Twitter rep told me to let their main customer service know, but I haven't heard back then either.

I don't like the fact how they are so ambiguous with their subscription descriptions. Last week I realize that they charged me for another box, for full price. That's when I realized that even though I only paid for one month, they claim they are selling subscriptions hence they will automatically charge you full price monthly. No where on their website could you find the exact time period they would begin charging for future boxes! And even more annoying, in order to cancel the box, they purposely put in multiple pages and buttons that have double negative meanings to trick you into NOT canceling your box! This probably ticks me off the most because I'm in the IT field and we emphasize on website user-friendliness.

All in all, as soon as the last Glossybox shows up, I'm done with them!