Organic Skin Care Blog – Product Reviews & Healthy Skin

Benefit They're Real Double The Lip and They're Real Duo Eyeshadow Blender are the latest products from the brand, and have been out in the market for about a month now. And, I have swatches of both the Double The Lip Lipsticks and Duo Shadow Blenders!

As you can guess from the name, the Double The Lip Lipsticks are a two-in-one product - there is a complementary darker and lighter shade in the same tube, with the darker shade serving as an in-built lipliner, and the lighter shade serving as the filled-in lipstick colour. The They're Real Duo Shadow Blenders also operate on a similar principle - there are two shades, one light and one dark, in a tray, and you use a sponge applicator to swipe and apply both shades at once.


Anyway, if you're wondering how all this works, and what the shades look like, well, here are swatches of both, along with my quick thoughts!
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RMK's Spring/Summer 2017 Color Change makeup collection is officially launched, and I come bearing swatches! This makeup collection also coincides with RMK's 20th anniversary, and RMK's Creative Director, Kaori, selected the two shades of pink and beige to head up the Color Change collection, as they are integral to any make up look. The number of products in this collection is also pretty large - there are 6 eyeshadow duos, 6 lipgloss duos, 7 lipstick shades, and 7 blush shades, and 6 nail polish shades. So you can imagine my arm after all that swatching!


RMK isn't kidding when they say the collection is made up of pinks and beiges - literally every product here is in pink and/or beige, and basically pinks and beiges make up like 95% of the collection. RMK also has a nice quality of makeup, with generally soft textures, and buildable pigmentation, allowing the products to be applied sheerly or packed on for more colour, and this collection does fall quite nicely in line with the quality in the standard RMK products.
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In addition to the skincare empties that I blogged about, I've also actually emptied some makeup! I'm particularly happy about my makeup empties, because it typically takes me longer to use up a makeup item than a skincare item. Anyway,


This time round I've got some staples - like my Coastal Scents loose powders - as well as some new appearances! Most of these are products I love and would totally use again, and as we go through each of these items, I'll explain why.


Makeup empties: Lipstick, liptint, eyeshadow, eyeliner, and powder!
Without further ado, let's get started!
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Estee Lauder's Pure Color Envy Hi-Lustre Light Sculpting Lipstick has launched in Singapore, and if you're a lipstick junkie, you're probably aware of this already. The lipsticks are supposed to offer "lustrous colour" with "brilliant shine" according to the Estee Lauder website, so finally we have a product that's bucking the matte lips trend that I've been seeing on Instagram. I can't say that I have strong feelings one way or the other, though - as far as lip products go, I'm happy with anything that doesn't have huge chunks of glitter!


Estee Lauder's Pure Color Envy Hi-Lustre Lipsticks do have a pretty neat colour range, and in Singapore we'll be getting over 10 shades. I've swatched all 11 of them (yes I know that only 10 shades are lined up below, I found an extra shade to swatch after taking that photo), and I have to say, these are a range of very nice, wearable shades. We have a number of nudes and MLBB (My Lips But Better) shades, as well as some wearable reds and plums. The finish is nice as well, with a texture that isn't too heavy or thick, and feels moisturizing on lips, and a moist, subtle sheen that is pretty sophisticated - there isn't any overtly "oily"-looking shine or chunky-looking glitter.


So without further ado, let's start swatching!
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Givenchy's Rouge Interdit Vinyl Colour Enhancing Lipstick was just recently launched in Singapore, and of course, I had to get swatches of as many of the shades as I could for you! The Rouge Interdit Vinyl is supposed to be a lipstick with high shine, medium colour, and also moisturizing to the lips, with black rose oil. There are 16 shades in all, from nudes to reds to brights to vampy shades, so there is something for everyone here.


Anyway, I have to say, I'm super proud of myself for producing these swatches in less-than-optimal lighting. You see the photo above? Yup, that's basically the lighting conditions I had. But, I think the swatches did turn out pretty nicely given the lighting conditions, and I managed to get most of the shades, so without further ado, let's start on the swatches, together with my commentary on them!
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This is a pretty major empties post, because the last time I blogged about my empties was half a year ago in December last year (it was also a pretty large post, that I split into two parts, part 1 and part 2). This time around, I have even more stuff!


The nice thing about empties is that, for me, using a product up comes with a sense of accomplishment (as in, hey, I actually stuck to something long enough to use it up!) and also a sense of permission (as in, hey, I've used up a lipstick, now I can buy another lipstick)! So for a beauty junkie like me, it's both gratifying and enabling!



Obviously, there's a lot to go through, so without further ado, let's jump right in!
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Laneige recently released their Two Tone Collection, consisting of 4 shades of Two Tone Shadow Bar and Two Tone Lip Bar. If this sounds familiar it's because these are an extension of the existing Two Tone Lip Bar shades (which I've previously swatched here), so essentially, this is an addition of 4 more Two Tone Lip Bar shades, as well as 4 Two Tone Shadow Bar shades. The "Shadow Bar" concept is new, but basically pretty much similar to the Lip Bar except for eyes, and is intended to give a nice gradient effect on eyes.


At a recent event, I was able to get a chance to swatch the new Two Tone Shadow Bars and Two Tone Lip Bars, so without further ado, let's get to the swatches, along with my commentary and first impressions! These are actually in natural daylight, so they should be pretty colour-accurate, hopefully!
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The MAC Flamingo Park Collection is the brand's first Spring 2016 makeup launch, and it was recently launched here. I happened to be at the store during the launch, and I managed to get swatches of the products for you! It was quite an ordeal swatching the products, because it was very crowded in the store, with people buzzing around and swarming around the collection testers, so I'm happy to have swatched everything I could!


But before we move on to the swatches proper, I'd like to mention that the lighting in the swatches might be a bit lacking due to the fact that these were all swatched in-store.

Also, as you can see from the above photo of the Flamingo Park setup, it seems like for some reason the collection differs slightly here in Singapore. Not all the "official USA" shades were displayed in the Flamingo Park Collection display, and some permanent shades were put in the display as part of the Flamingo Park Collection although they didn't appear in the US version of the shade lineup. I'm not too sure why this is the case, but in any case, I've just done my best to swatch everything that was on display, so any incongruency with what was launched in the US is just due to whatever was in the display in the store.
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Too Faced's Christmas in Paris Collection is quite hotly anticipated, and after previously bringing you swatches of the Le Grand Palais set, I've decided to (finally!) post the rest of the swatches! Better late than never, right?


The Holiday 2015 items I have here are the Melted Kisses and Sweet Cheeks set, the Le Petit Tresor set, and the French Kisses melted set. Most of these sets consist of existing shades from Too Faced's permanent collection, so I guess if you're already familiar with the shade range these swatches may not excite you as much, although the Le Petit Tresor set does contain one exclusive shade.


Too Faced Christmas in Paris: Sets featuring some of their most popular products
As with the Le Grand Palais swatches, I also took these photos indoors at a restaurant, and was multi-tasking (eating while swatching makeup is fun, but not easy), so pardon any less-than-perfect swatching! I hope these swatches help, however!
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Givenchy's Le Rouge A Porter Lipstick range has just launched in Singapore earlier this week, and of course I had to swatch them for you! These are a different range from Givenchy's current Le Rouge lipsticks, although Le Rouge A Porter is also clad in ultra-luxe leather. The main differences between Le Rouge and Le Rouge A Porter is that Le Rouge is more pigmented, has a more matte finish, and the tube itself is shorter and chubbier. Le Rouge A Porter, on the other hand, has sheer pigmentation (although you can build it up somewhat), has a shiny, glossy finish, and the tube is very slim and sleek.


The Le Rouge A Porter lipsticks are supposed to also be moisturizing and hydrating to lips - at the event the lipstick was described to me as being a cross between a lipstick and a lipbalm. I was also told that you don't need any lip primer with this product, as it doesn't sink into fine lines or seep out of lip lines. There are 16 shades of Le Rouge A Porter.


If you're wondering, the testers at the display sets are somewhat different from the actual lipstick tube. For one, the actual lipstick itself is encased in leather, with silver metal trim. The testers are encased in plastic (made to look texturized like leather) and have red plastic trim. For those curious, above is a shot of an actual lipstick.

Anyway, enough with the preamble. Without further ado, here are the swatches!
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I'm always discovering new ways to buy more makeup and beauty products from, and recently I was introduced to BonjourHK's onlince website! I'm actually somewhat familiar with Bonjour, as it is a chain of stores across Hong Kong selling beauty products at accessible prices, much like Ulta (if you're in the US), Watsons, Guardian or Sasa (if you're in Asia). When I visited Hong Kong 3 years back, I stepped into quite a few Bonjour shops, although I didn't buy anything (I ended up with the smallest haul ever - sigh!). But the thing I liked about Bonjour is the eclectic mix of brands and products - there's everything from mainstream brands to niche Asian beauty brands I've never heard of before.


I actually never realized that Bonjour had an online website, but they do! And the website has pretty cheap shipping (which is free if you buy above a certain dollar amount threshold), and they ship internationally, too. And of course, the range of brands and types of products are just as varied as ever - there's everything from skincare to makeup to skin devices, and the brands range from fairly mainstream Asian brands (like DHC and Hada Labo) to more niche ones (like Choosy and Yu Mei). I was super excited when the package arrived, right on time within the 7-21 days window stated on the website.


My BonjourHK Haul: Includes brands both fairly well-known, as well as some undiscovered gems
The mass of products above, as well as the fact that I actually want to do a mini-review for each product rather than just run through the haul, means that this post is going to be pretty long (and photo heavy). So if you're going to read onwards, don't forget to buckle up before you go! And if you're all ready, let's just head straight into my product-by-product quick review!
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Etude House's Dreaming Swan collection just launched here in Singapore, and like most Etude House makeup collections, it's as cute as can be, with a very girly ballerina theme, too! I saw it, and I knew I just had to swatch it for you guys. After all, you can't look at a limited edition collection (yes, it is limited edition) without swatching a few things!


The collection is not a large one - there are 5 shades of Dreaming Swan Dear My Wish Lips Talk Lipstick, 5 shades of Dreaming Swan Eye and Cheek, which are products that double both as a blush and eyeshadow, and 1 shade of Dreaming Swan Veiling Pact, which is basically compact powder. There are also 5 limited edition Any Cushion cases, which are cases for the Etude House Any Cushion range of BB cushions. The cases are empty, and you pop a refill for their BB cushion into the case. The collection is also seriously pretty, packaging-wise. I mean, look at the Dreaming Swan Eye and Cheek Blush/Shadow and the Dear My Wish Lips Talk Lipsticks!


Etude House Dreaming Swan Dear My Wish Lips Talk Lipsticks
Anyway, enough of me blabbering about the packaging. Let's move on to swatches! These were taken indoors at Etude House's new store at Vivocity, which has the collection, so the lighting isn't that great, but I think it's good enough to get a sense of the individual shades.
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Clinique's Pop Lip Colour + Primer is the latest lipstick launch from Clinique, and these are marketed as a hybrid lipstick and primer, that doesn't shift or fade, and has a moisturizing sheen. I was told that the lipstick contains flexible polymers that bind together to ensure that the lipstick remains fresh and stays in place, and the ingredients include Shea butter and some other plant oils.


These were launched last month over here at $33 a pop, so I'm a little bit late, but better late than never right? They seemed pretty nice overall, and not ridiculously expensive, either. Anyway, without further ado, let's move on to the swatches! I've swatched them by the same categories they're sold in - Tawnies, Nudes, Pinks, and Violets.
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