♥ raspy~ ®

Friday, April 10, 2015Y

Davines NOUNOU Nourishing Repair Mask

I was running low of my John Frieda Frizz-Ease Miraculous Recovery Intensive Masque, which I liked but I didn’t like it enough to repurchase. So when I came across this Nounou Nourishing Repair Mask on Cult Beauty, I was very curious and excited!

Description: “Davines NOUNOU Nourishing Repair Mask is an SOS gem for dry, broken, brittle hair, especially when caused by chemical treatments. Davines is a family founded brand with distinctive style and spirit. By combining high-grade natural ingredients with first-rate scientific rigour the Bollati family has expanded its Parma research lab into a multi-national hair care business. An inspiring range of original and authentic products so good hair obsessives Victoria Beckham and Jennifer Aniston are fans.”

First, this mask smells funky.. Luckily it doesn’t linger on for long after washing the mask out.

Second, I don’t find this mask nourishing at all. The first two times after I used it, my hair was knotty! Now that’s a problem that I typically don’t encounter.

So when I tried it again, I coated my hair liberally with the mask, spent a few extra seconds massaging, working the mask into the strands, then tying back my hair and left it on for a few minutes more before rinsing it off. After all that extra work, it did nothing special.

Not impressed at all as it works no better than the usual conditioners in my stash.

Labels: Davines, Haircare, Masks

2:35:00 pm.
0 comments

Tuesday, August 20, 2013Y

Empties - August 2013

Instead of throwing the empty bottles away, I have accumulated empty bottles/tubs over the months to do this empties blog post.

So, let's begin!

~H2O+ Sea Salt Body Wash

This is a very thick shower gel that has a mild clean scent. It is easy to wash off and leaves my skin feeling fresh and clean.

Boots Strawberry & Yoghurt Body Scrub

This scrub smells oh-so-good, so good that I wish that I could eat it (but of course I didn't)!! The scrubby bits in the scrub are of different sizes and do not feel rough, thus making it is a gentle exfoliator, which is right up my alley. It is easy to wash off, my skin feels soft after each use and most importantly, it did not dry out my skin.

The Body Shop Pink Grapefruit Body Scrub

This is another scrub that smells absolutely divine! I totally love the scent of this scrub, fruity and sweet but not sickeningly so. Technically, I did not finish using this up as I accidentally overturned the tub over in the bathroom floor. The scrubby bits felt too rough on my skin so I had to use a lot of water and be rather gentle when I was scrubbing, otherwise my skin will feel quite raw and abused.

Kenzoki Sensual Bare Body Cream

This is the most expensive body moisturiser I have ever bought, however, I never regretted splurging on it, as this body cream feels sooo luxurious and smells oh-so-divine!! After application, my skin feels so so so so soft and hydrated. The scent lingers on but it is not too overpowering nor is it headache inducing. This is a you-make-me-feel-so-good-product and I will consider repurchasing it again when I feel the need to pamper myself.

Vichy Thermal Spa Water

Recently, I have incorporated using this facial mist to rehydrate my face after cleansing my face. It helps to refresh and soothe my skin. I really enjoy having the feel of cool water been spritzed over my face, especially in the mornings. I am already on another bottle of this.

Lancome Bi-Facil

A very pricey eye makeup remover but it does its job well. It removes waterproof makeup very easily and does not irritate my eyes. It does leave behind an oily flim but it does not bother me much, as it can be easily removed with clean tissue/cotton pad. I will definitely repurchase this again after I have finish using up the other eye makeup removers in my stash.

Clarins Water Purify One-Step Cleanser with Mint Essential Water

I don't use this on a regular basis, mostly in the mornings or whenever I feel lazy. Just a few wipes and the skin feels clean and refreshed. Even though this product does not require to be rinsed off, I still do so, because, if I don't my skin will feel oily and sticky within a couple of hours. I don't think I will repurchase again any time soon as there are other water based cleanser that I want to try out. Anyways, I think this might be discontinued (at least in Singapore) as I could not find any information on the local website.

Aside to that, Clarins Singapore seemed to have stopped stocking many of my favourite products! My favourite Pure and Radiant Mask and Eye Contour Gel are no longer available in Singapore! It is a good thing that I have one more backup of each item....

Paul & Joe Cleansing Milk N

Previously I had used up a full sized of the older version of this cleansing milk and remembered liking it. However, I couldn't say the same for this new version. I do not like it, my skin feels somewhat sticky after wipping off and did not feel clean.

Kenzoki Cleansing-Ice Jelly

In the bottle, the formula is a cross between jelly and cream but as you massage it into the skin, it will turn watery. The instructions said to chill before you, which I did try but I found it too chilling for my liking. Just like the Paul & Joe Cleansing Milk N, my skin somewhat still feel sticky and did not feel clean.

Matrix Biolage Fortetherapie Conditioner

It has a very strong smell which I did not like, but somewhat still bearable. As a conditioner, it leaves hair soft and smooth, which is my basic expectation from a conditioner, however, beyond that it was nothing extraordinary. It supposedly helps fortify hair to defend against breakage, but I didn’t see much improvement despite using it together with the Fortetherapie shampoo.

Skin Food Moisture Egg Hair Pack

One thing for sure, this hair pack stinks. My friend once told me that she thought that it smells like rotten eggs.. Haha, but I don't think that it smells that bad, as a matter of fact, I prefer the scent of this hair pack to the smell of the Fortetherapie Conditioner. This did nothing special for my hair, it worked for me the same way as a normal conditioner would. However, I will still consider repurchasing it again if I can get it at a cheap price to use a daily hair conditioner.

This is quite a feat for me, since I find it very hard to finish things up (with exception for samples). I tend to get bored with using the same item for months and usually switch them out before they are emptied. Thus, I am so proud of myself for using up so many items!

Thanks for reading! Bye!

Labels: Body Care, Boots, Clarins, Cleansers, Empties, Haircare, Kenzoki, Lancome, Matrix, Review, Skin Care, skin food, The Body Shop, Vichy

8:30:00 am.
2 comments

Sunday, August 04, 2013Y

July 2013 Favourites

Here are my favourites for the month of July ♥ ♥ ♥

Phyto Age-defying Serum

After using this scalp serum for a couple of months, I can feel my hair becoming thicker and I have seen new baby hair growing at the corner of my forehead. I also think that my hair fall is lesser and seems to break lesser.

Benefit Porefessional

This helps to hides my pores and create a smooth canvas for my foundation to glide on. This works very well together with the Chanel Vita Lumeire Aqua.

Chanel Vita Lumeire Aqua

Ever since I have bought my bottle of Vita Lumeire Aqua, it has became my exclusive foundation every morning (totally ousting my previous love, the Burberry Velvet Foundation). It is very light weight, easy to apply, controls my oils but not drying. ♥_♥

Missha Sheer Fluid Blusher in No.3 Sugar Apricot and NARS Sex Appeal

My new favourite cheeks combi for this month! On my skin, its a very natural flush. I apply the fluid blusher with fingers (1 pump for both cheeks) after foundation and concealer then pat on the NARS' blush on top and finish off with pressed powder.

Naruko Tea Tree Oil Out Toner, Balancing Moisturiser, Balancing Serum and Night Gelly

My skin has been misbehaving out of the blue in the mid of July. Overnight, my chin and my cheeks started to breakout really badly and worsen as the days went by. It really bothered me as my skin was getting so much better before this episode, so I switched out all of my night time products and started using the Naruko Tea Tree Oil Cut range.

The combination of these products are my lifesaver or rather, skin saver. Now, the blemishes started to become smaller and less painful. The worst seemed to be over but my skin is still in a mess. >_< With my wedding less than 3 months away, I truly hope it will all get better sooner!

The products I am still loving from the previous months are the NARS Larger Than Life Volumizing Mascara and First Aid Beauty Ultra Repair Lip Therapy.

I have tried out a bunch of new stuff but even though they are good, they don't fall into my ♥_♥ category.

Thanks for reading! Till the next time!! Bye~~~!

Labels: Base Make Up, Benefit, Blush, Chanel, Favourites, Haircare, Missha, NARS, Naruko, Phyto, Skin Care

6:22:00 pm.
2 comments

Saturday, December 25, 2010Y

Review: Bealite Damaged Hair Rebuilder

Just want to do a short review on my current holy grail leave-in conditioner.

Image from http://www.mik.com.sg/products/bealite

Description: Damaged Hair Rebuilder is specially formulated to nourish, hydrate and rebuild dry, brittle and seriously damaged hair.

Directions: Apply required amount to wet or dry hair, massage or comb through to the ends and leave in. Do not rise. This formula allows you daily use and style as desired.

Ingredients: Cetyl alcohol, stearalkonium chloride, propylene glycol, cyclomethicone, peg-40 isopropyl myristate, aloe vera, chamomile, fragrance.

Weight: 250g

Price: $24

Texture: Cream

Pros: Leaves my my hair silky and pretty much tangle free. Occasionally my hair still tangles at the ends. By the way, my hair is half way down my back. I can easily finger comb from roots to the ends.

What I like best was that I could significantly see that my split ends have became much lesser over a period of extended use (I have almost finished up my current tube). I was using the Liese Smooth Hair Cocktail and Liese Hair Cocktail Moistursing Hair Serum (Light) and I had a whole head full of split ends!!

Cons: Use sparingly, too much will make hair feel oily and weights hair down. Hard to find. My hair is still frizzy at times.

Conculsion: Of all the leave-ins I have tried so far, this is the best and not to mention one of the cheapest. This works very well for me but by all means, it is not a miracle cure. I still have quite a lot of damaged hair because I use the hair dyer daily, but just much much much lesser split ends (I can't spot any when I grab a bunch of my hair up to scrutinise).

Labels: Bealite, Haircare, Review

9:45:00 am.
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Sunday, September 26, 2010Y

Pics Galore: Haul from Taiwan

Just what did I bring back from Taiwan?? Well, I bought a lot.. *blush* I haven't really have the time to sort through and crop all the photos yet, below are just an "overall" view of what I had bought. I have taken close-ups of the cosmetics which I will post up at a later date.

Caution: Don't faint from all the photos below..

From Jill Stuart (Yippee! I finally got my hands on some JS stuff!!).

Got two of the mix blush compacts in 06 Fresh Apricot, 07 Lovely Tulip and two Jelly Eye Color N in 02 Gold Light and 10 Vintage Decor.

And from NARS...

I was really lemming for NARS items for a long long time.. I got the 9954 Everlasting Love Palette, Smudge Proof Eyeshadow Base, three Duo Eyeshadows in 3078 Taiga, 3081 Tzarine, 3057 Kalahari, Blush in 4005 Amour, Sheer Glow Foundation in shade Ceylan and Nail Polish 1766 Purple Rain.

From Shiseido, some skincare from the d Program AC and Whitening range.

Now moving on to items I bought from the drugstore (the ones I went to was Cosmed, Watsons and Mirada).

I know this looks silly, I bought 3 packs of sponges from Mirada.. Hehe.. One pack of big round sponges, one pack of small square sponges and one pack of small round sponges.

Three boxes of sheet masks, Neogence Hyaluronic Acid Hydrating Mask, Neogence C+ Mulit-Whitening Mask and My Beauty Diary Platinum Colloid Mask.

Face cleansers... Biore Acne Mild Care Moisture and Kanebo Sour Cream Cream Soap.

Biore UV Aqua Rich Sunblock SPF 30 PA+++ and a box fake eyelashes.

Spring Heart eyelash glue, I still can remember that it cost TWD 99 for two.

Some acne skin care items from Aqualabel.

And finally, some colour makeup!

From Integrate.... Four eyeshadow palettes, a mascara base, a mascara, five lippies, a blush and base makeup.

From Lavshuca, two eyeshadow palettes and a duo, blush and two lippies..

From KATE and Tiffa, two lipplies, a mascara base, eyeliner, eyeshadow palette and a duo.

Some hair styling stuff.. I am trying to learn how to do my hair.. but I am not getting anywhere :(

Ma Cherie Moisture shampoo and conditioner and Tsubaki Head Spa Extra Cleansing and Massage Spa Mask.

Bioderma Micelle Soultion for sensitive skin. It claims to cleanse, remove make up and soothe.

Believe it or not.. On my second day in Taiwan, I already sent back a 8kg package back. Inside the package had lots of cosmetics (mine and a friend of mine), a pair of black wedges and some other miscellaneous items.

From DHC, a box of eye mask and two packets of oral supplement for skin whitening.

Some pouches from Naraya in Dan Shui and a Cath Kidston "inspired" pouch from Shilin Night Market.

Some ribbon hair tie/clips, a Hello Kitty landyard (its a gift from my BF) and three pairs of earrings from Shilin Night Market.

This hair tie and sticker are from a certain shop that spans over a few levels (can't remember exactly how many levels) called Guang Nam which is near Taipei Main Station. This shop sells everything from CDs to stationery, cosmetics to toothpaste.

Queen and Vivi magazine.

Clothes and belts from night markets (Shilin and Shida) and wholesale market (Wu Fen Pu).

2 flowery hangers from Daiso... They cost TWS 39 each !! Which after conversion is cheaper than the local price of $2.

From Eslite Concept Bookstore, I spotted lots of San-X stationery...

I practices restraint and got only one Rilakkuma...... :)

I am afraid to say, these are not all what I bought... I have missed out a few accessories, bags and items from Chic Choc.

Labels: Acne, Base Make Up, Belt, Blush, Cleansers, Clothes, Eye Make, Hair Accessory, Haircare, lippies, Masks, Sun Block, Tools

8:56:00 pm.
2 comments

Sunday, March 21, 2010Y

Gmarket Haul - Again!

Here's another Gmarket haul!

I bought some base makeup... (No, I didn't buy any Isa Knox items.. This was the box my items were housed in).

What I got for myself were IPKIN My Baby Doll Base SPF 20 PA++ (the name is soooo cute~), My Baby Doll Foundation SPF 27 PA++ in shade 21 (which is too light for me! I overestimated the fairness of my skin. Lolx!!) and Fresh Apple Sunblock SPF 50 PA+++.

The makeup base and foundation cost about $18 each, I can't remember the price of the sunblock though.

The sunblock, like its name smells like apple (I think more like the green apple sweet that I love eating) and comes in a squeeze tube. It has a slight green tint to it, but it doesn't show up on the skin nor does it cover any redness. It is easy to spread and dries quickly to a matte finish.

Recently, my favourite base makeup routine is to use this Fresh Apple Sunblock -> Laneige Make Up Primer Sebum Control -> RMK Liquid Foundation ->MAC Prep+Prime Transparent Finishing Powder.

The packaging of the makeup base and foundation are really very nice! The tube of the makeup base is light pink in colour while the tube of the foundation is a deeper pink and the bottle is not the typical soft plastic but hard plastic.. Hope you can get what I mean.. Don't really know how to describe it well... Best of all, it comes with a pump dispenser! Very clean and hygienic! ♥

Even the cap has the words "MY BABY DOLL MAKEUP". So cuteeee~~!!

Here's some skincare freebies I was given..

I finally managed to buy a liquid highlighter in pen form! Also wanted to buy one, but those I found were too pricey. This only cost $12 =D (Earlier this month, I wanted to buy one more for backup but it is out of stock!!!)

I have been using it daily to highlight my T-zone and my under eye area. Really like the way it helps to brighten up face. What should I use once I have finished this?! :~~(

I was running out of the Mamonde Happy & Smart Cleansing Tissues, so I scouted long and hard for some cheap cleansing tissues. And I found these:-

Calmia Natural Oatmeal Cleansing Tissue!

For $8 you get 2 packs of cleansing tissues, each pack has 120 sheets!! I use about 1 sheet a day, so I pack can last me about 3 months and each sheet cost less than 1 cent! I really like these cleansing tissue a lot! The texture of the tissue is really very soft and the size of the tissue is quite big (it is longer than the usual facial tissue). 1 sheet is more than enough for each use.

It is really a great buy! However, I have a minor complain about the lid, it doesn't close well... So I don't know how long these tissues will remain wet. :(

I was very impressed with the Ma Cherie End Cure Milk I bought the other time and since I couldn't find it on Gmarket anymore, I decided to try the Aqua Dew Energy Ex.

While the texture of End Cure Milk is like lotion, the Aqua Dew Energy Ex is more like gel-cream which turns watery once I spread it on my palm.

Even though I only bought 1 product. the seller was generous and threw in quite a few body and skin care samples! ^-^

I spotted Beauty Credit (don't know I didn't see it all this while) and the prices are quite reasonable and further more, there was a 30% discount at the time, so I ordered a few products to try..

Moisture Aloe Skin Lotion
Moisture Aloe Emulsion
Moisture Aloe Essence
Special Pack Washable - 8 Grains Mask
Acnever Teatree Extracts Spot

I really like the packing of Beauty Credit! Look at the cute rocking horse are embossed on the caps!!

I really like the fact that both the Acnever Teatree Extracts Spot and Moisture Aloe Essence come with a pump, hygienic and convenient.

I have been using these Beauty Credit items every morning for the past 1 month (except for the 8 Grains Mask), and sad to say, the Moisture Aloe is not moisturising enough for me, Etude House Aqua Sherbet range works much better. I have combi, dehydrated skin and I work in an air conditioned environment, so I suppose Moisture Aloe stuff isn't "strong" enough.

But looking on the brighter side, they didn't cause me to breakout and this range should probably work for my skin if I don't stay in the air conditioned environment for a long time, so I can use still them on weekends. Either that or I can slather all over my body.

As for the 8 Grains Mask, its a steal at $7 for such a big tub! And I ♥ it! After every use, it leaves my skin feeling soft, moisturised, bright and slighty glowy~! ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ it!!

I also ordered the Grind Pumpkin mask which was unfortunately out of stock.. It must be really good to be out of stock isn't it?!

Some GWPs I got from Beauty Credit.... 2 sanitary pads (lolx!!!) and some skin care samples.

Also bought some belts to jazz up my outfits...

I really like the first 2 belts (brown and black ones), I ♥ ribbons! The clasp of the off-white belt (I actually ordered white, but instead it looked like off-white) was quite badly scratched!!! I didn't realise that until I already posted my review on Gmarket, otherwise I would have made some noise about it. The brown and the off-white belts cost about $7 each while the black one is about $13.

The freebies I got was a black and white shawl and a blue sky with clouds lap blanket (which is very cute and pretty but has holes!!).

I also bought 2 watches... Same design but in different colours... Both came with a free additional battery! They cost W5,400 each, which is about $6.50.

Some miscellaneous stuff that I bought for fun...

These rollers are quite cheap, cost about $6-8 each (I can't remember), some time back I saw similar ones at a Japanese drugstore and each of the rollers cost no less than $17! I also bought two for my mother to try, but so far both of us didn't have time to use them yet. I admit it, I am so lazy!!

Labels: Base Make Up, Beauty Credit, Belt, Cleansers, Gmarket, Haircare, Haul, Masks, Skin Care, Sun Block, Tools, Watch

5:48:00 pm.
4 comments