A new whitening formula! Organic Rose Skin Conditioner

Organic Rose Skin Conditioner -Whitening formula
Some of you may remember I was raving about Organic Rose Skin Conditioner before. I loved the lotion very much, as it helped balancing my skin and made it stable. While I was using the lotion, my skin didn't break out nor felt dry. Considering the price (I think it was about 1200yen), I thought it was such a lovely product for everyday use. They just came out with this new whitening formula which I received to review. The packaging looks the same as the original, just in blue.

I usually use a cotton round to apply the lotion, but you can use your hands like the most of Japanese people do so. It contains placenta extract to brightens the skin and organic rose water to hydrate. Placenta extract grosses me out, the website does not say what it's derived from but I am hoping it's plant derived placenta (yes that exists, such as melon placenta).

It smells divine just like the original. I love how natural the scent is, it doesn't smell artificial or too perfumy. When applied on the skin, it feels cooling and soothing. Not sure if it's supposed to have a cooling sensation, but it feels very nice on the skin in my opinion. It never irritates my skin, and has got this perfect texture to use in the morning before makeup.

It helps a serum or moisturiser -whatever you apply next- to sink in better, and also balances the skin's pH balance. As I am quite pale for Japanese, I am not keen on whitening, but I have some dark spots I want to erase. I am not sure if this lotion helps, but I am looking forward to seeing the result!

Bored with Black Mascara? Try this! Love Switch Pink Brown Mascara

Love Switch Oil Treatment Mascara / Pink Brown  1,728yen
Recently, I tend to gravitate towards brown when it comes to eye-makeup. I'm not talking about eyeshadow, I'm talking about eyeliner and mascara, that usually I choose ones in black. If you ask me what the best brown eyeliner is, I don't even hesitate to answer that it's Love Liner in Dark Brown. But I hadn't found a brown mascara I recommend when asked the same question about mascara....until now.

Love Switch Oil Treatment Mascara is something I wouldn't have picked up if it was in black. They do have it in black too but what attracted me was this shade Pink Brown. It was when I was flipping through the beauty magazine MAQUIA, one of the photos of this model Moeka Nozaki caught my eyes. I loved the simple makeup she was wearing, and what made it look so natural was this mascara.

I had never been a pink-toned mascara type of girl at all, I always colour my hair in ashy brown with  a hint of blue which is far from the girly image. But surprisingly this mascara doesn't give too much of a femininity to the whole look at all.

The brush isn't my favourite if I am honest, but it's not the worst either. I wish it didn't contain fibres because not only it irritates my eyes but it makes my lashes look wonky. But one thing that I really do not like about this mascara is the smell. It's got this lavender scent which is supposed to be relaxing, but it literally smells like a bathroom deodorant. And the worst thing is that it lingers. For about 15 minutes after applying this mascara, I smell a loo.

But the colour is gorgeous. It's more reddish and brighter than I expected.

This mascara tends to stick the lashes together so I always comb them with a clean spooli after the application to separate them. Because it contains oil instead of water that makes lashes go down as time passes, meaning it holds curl better. Another bonus point is that it's a waterproof mascara that comes off easily with warm water and a bit of cleanser.

It doesn't make my lashes look fuller or voluminous, but it lengthens for sure as you can see in the photo. I love how natural it looks on the lashes, when I don't want my lashes to overshadow the whole eye makeup if that makes sense. You can't really tell it's 'pink brown' unless you are informed so, and it goes well with brown eyeshadow that I wear on daily basis. I wouldn't pair it with blue or green eyeshadow but I assume it looks pretty with most of the eyeshadow shades.

What do you think about this mascara? Do you own any mascara in a unique shade? Let me know!

Out on 24th November! AUBE Essence Lip Colour

Aube Essence Lip Colour / BE01  3,200yen
If you ask me which lip product I've been using the most recently, this is the answer: Aube Essence Lip Colour which will be launched on 24th November in Japan. I was lucky enough to receive it to review a couple of weeks ago, and since then it hasn't left my handbag for once.

This is in between liquid lipstick and lipgloss. They claim it protects your lips from dryness as it prevents water evaporation. I didn't find anything special on their ingredient list, and the 2nd from the heaviest ingredient is mineral oil which doesn't sound hydrating. But for some reason, it does protect the lips and they never feel dry when this one is on.

As you know, I am not too fussy about ingredients. There was time I was checking all the ingredients in a product and judged whether it was usable or not. Paraben, silicone, mineral oil, polymer, sulphate...there were many ingredients I thought I had to avoid. But information online always confused me, that some claims mineral oil destroy the natural barrier of the skin, and some claims that happened a long time ago when mineral oil contained impurities. Some said silicone clogged pores on scalp, and some said the molecules are too big to be clogged inside of small pores. So about 3-4 years ago, I decided to give up on checking the list because everyone dies and being fussy about the ingredients of cosmetics won't elongate my life anyway, because I must be eating tons of food with additives anyway! So you do not need to leave a comment saying how terrible mineral oil is, I know what people say about it and I just don't care because beauty for me is something to enjoy. Not something to investigate and be sensitive about.

Back to the review. It's so dinky that it really surprised me when I opened the box. It's 3,200yen which is about $26 and £17. And is the smallest lip product ever! Considering the fact it's not a lip stain, you reapply it every couple of hours to be realistic, meaning this tiny tube won't last so long. But the good thing is that it's got this 'window' that you can see how much of the product is left. Thank you Aube for the consideration...

The sponge applicator is slightly bent which makes it fit perfectly on the lips. It tends to pick up too much product but besides that it works perfectly.

They have 12 shades in total including the clear one. Just like other Japanese makeup brands, they did not name each shade (boring). The shades with a number ends with 1 (e.g. 201, 401...) are the most natural ones, the numbers end with 2 are deeper I believe, and the ones end with 3 are bright and opaque.

My shade is BE801 which is a perfect shade for any makeup looks. BE stands for Beige, and I usually avoid beigy lip colour because I was afraid it would make me look washed out, but this one instantly brightens up my face and completes the whole look.

Apparently it contains small gold glitter particles but I cannot feel it at all. If it didn't say so on the box I would never have known. But the glitters do make my lips look fuller, so good job!

It doesn't have any scents which is great for those who are sensitive to fragrance. It's not sticky at all and is very comfortable on the lips. The lasting power isn't too good to be honest, I would say it lasts about 3 hours if you don't eat and drink much. It looks super pretty right after applied, and the shine goes away as time passes.

I love the shade, texture and how easy it is to carry around (which has the negative side of it too -I might use it up pretty soon). It compliments any eyeshadow shades, so whenever I am rushing to get out of the house, I grab this and apply on my lips. It always, always look beautiful.