Circ-cell Skincare ABO +|- Blood Serum

Erhh...what? What do you mean, blood serum? Like a blood oath? Do I need to prick my finger and add a drop of my blood into the serum, and then it'll make my skin flawless?

Ohh, I get it. Blood serum as in it's bloody expensive, costing something like $168/30mL!

[insert expletive]

This 4mL sample of Circ-cell Skincare ABO +|- Blood Serum was part of the BeautyHabit "cult favorite" GWP I received over the holidays. Like everyone else, my first reaction to this product was a whole spectrum of disgust-sarcasm-outrage. Reading the Circ-cell official website and some other blogs did help some, as in they all swear up and down there's no actual blood in this stuff. So I finally opened up the jar to take a look.

***Screencaps from Circ-cell Skincare and BeautyHabit.

Matsumoto Kiyoshi Mild Cleansing Liquid

Almost done with this 250mL pump bottle of Matsumoto Kiyoshi Mild Cleansing Liquid so here's a quick review of it. This is a generic store brand (Matsumoto Kiyoshi is a drugstore chain), although the maker is Kumano Yushi who makes a bunch of other cleansing oils I've used in the past and liked, so I figured this can't be that bad.

And it wasn't bad at all! The texture is a runny, watery gel so I keep expecting it to turn oily at some point during the wash but it never does. It rinses clean but not squeaky clean, and it removes my light makeup and sunscreen just fine. And it was cheap, too! I think I paid something 400yen for it. Not too shabby, I'd say. I won't repurchase though. There are only a million other things to try -.-"

Boscia Restorative Eye Treatment

I received this 15mL/0.5fl. oz. full size of Boscia Restorative Eye Treatment as part of their Surprise Beauty Bag promotion over the holidays, which is super generous as the item itself is $48!

Avene Thermal Spring Water

Stumbled upon a great bundle for Avene Thermal Spring Water sprays, five 50mL bottles for 2,000JPY. For comparison, Beauty Habit offers three 50mL bottles for $18, and here I got five bottles for $16! Scored! So of course I grabbed one set for myself and another for J. who was looking for some sort of hydrating spray for the plane rides.

Lunasol Full Glamour Lips

Finally, a review for Lunasol Full Glamour Lips in 02 Cherry Red!

All pictures taken in natural light without flash.

Three Flash Performance Eyeliner Pencil Swatches

J. and I have been eyeing Three's counter at the Mitsukoshi Ginza, but over the holidays there was always a crowd hovering by it. So we waited to go on a random weeknight and got the space all to ourselves (yup, I got myself a partner in crime, and we're each other's worst enablers...). She was looking for an eyeliner and started playing with Three Flash Performance Eyeliner Pencil. I wasn't looking but figured why not swatch them for the blog too?

Well, BIG mistake. Because by the end of the session, J. went home with two, and I want all of them. Fine, all with the exception of the last color 08 Eye On. Granted I didn't bite the bullet right that night, but my defense won't last much longer. I promised myself I'd wait until next month. Even then, I promised myself I wouldn't get all of them all at once. Three has slayed me, folks. No, slaughtered.

These. Are. Gorgeous. Unbelievably so. And complex with multi-dimensional and multi-colored shimmers. Oh, and while at it they glided on like butter. Buttah!!! I died. DIED.
 

***Screencap from Three Cosmetics JP.

Peek at your own risk. You've been warned.

Lunasol Sparkling Eyes Swatches

On a different occasion when J. and I were browsing Three Flash Performance Eyeliner Pencil (will post that soon!), I also stopped by the Lunasol counter and swatched the newly released Sparkling Eyes. There are 2 quints available, 01 Gold Sparkling and 02 Rose Pink Sparkling.

***Screencap from Lunasol JP.

Maquillage Dramatic Rouge Part II

So I caved and picked up another Maquillage Dramatic Rouge in the 10th Anniversary limited edition color 10 Lady Red. Because I'm a sucker like that. Le sigh.

All pictures taken in natural light without flash. Clickable = zoomable.

Addiction Vampy Lip Swatches

My friend J. is searching high and low for a vampy lipstick. She doesn't want grapey. She wants blackberry. I told her she's in the wrong market for that, but since I was going to spy on Suqqu's 2016 Spring Collection last Thursday, I told her I'd take a peek at the Addiction counter, having seen a dark-ish lipstick on their website before.

Sure enough, Addiction has not one but three dark-ish lipsticks: two Lipstick Sheers in 004 Cassis and 010 Amaranto, and a Lipstick Pure in 008 Tokyo Mon Amour. So I swatched them for J., and figured I'd post them for you too ^.^

Addiction Lipstick Sheer (top row) and Lipstick Pure (bottom) color line-ups.

Murakami Takashi: The 500 Arhats Exhibition

Got a pair of free tickets for Murakami Takashi: The 500 Arhats Exhibition in the Mori Art Museum, so we went on a weekend back in mid December. When we got there, we were greatly surprised to learn all cameras and cam-corders were A-OK! Pretty cool, I thought! I took a ton of pictures, and since the artist is ok with sharing his arts with the world, I didn't watermark my photos of the arts either. Feel free to take and share!

Maquillage Dramatic Rouge

My recent obsession with Coffret D'Or Premium Stay Rouge has nudged my curiosity towards Maquillage Dramatic Rouge. I've mostly resisted, because the formula didn't impress me when I swatched them and I don't like the packaging. But some colors did catch my eyes, and so I picked up PK433 Pink Joker and limited edition RD351 Red Fizz, both released fall 2015, and RD425 Innocent Glamour and limited edition RD454 Red Bloom, both released spring 2015. With the addition of the recently released #10 Lady Red from the 10th Anniversary Collection, these are probably some of the brightest and boldest in the line.

All pictures taken in natural light without flash. Clickable = zoomable.

Coffret D'Or Rouge Essence Part II

Picked up another Coffret D'Or Rouge Essence in RD-204 among the regular line-up, because after playing with the tester I found its texture to be significantly different, a cream-jelly, versus RD-208 and RS-282 I own that are creams. So when I found it on Rakuten JP for a ridiculous price of 1,650yen, I didn't think twice.

All pictures taken in natural light without flash.

Suqqu 2016 Spring Color Collection Swatches

Was at the Ginza Mitsukoshi this past Thursday night and the Suqqu 2016 Spring Color Collection was finally out on display (they weren't last weekend when I was there!), so I swatched all 4 of the eye shadows ^.^ 

 ***Screencaps from Suqqu JP.

Coffret D'Or Premium Stay Rouge Part IV

What can I say, I just can't get enough of these Coffret D'Or Premium Stay Rouge! Including PK-290 and RD-214 below, I now own a total of 9 colors. With the exception of PK-292 that doesn't work for me on a dry-lips day, I love the rest of them to death!

A backup of PK-289, and newbies PK-290 and RD-214 from the same limited edition release spring 2015. All pictures taken in natural light without flash.

So...I think I've figured out why I love these so much--the 9 colors I own are either jellies or cream-jellies! I don't know if all the Premium Stay Rouges are jelly or cream-jelly because I don't own them all (may be one day...).

Here are what I have:
- Jellies: PK-290 below, RD-212, and RD-214 below.
- Cream-jellies: PK-289, PK-292, PK-293, RD-215, RD-216, and RS-333.

Coffret D'Or Party Coffret 2015

Update Tuesday, January 14, 2016.

Did some comparison swatches again, this time for Coffret D'Or Premium Stay Rouge PK-293 below against 3 other pinks: RS-333, RD-212, and Rouge Essence RS-282.

All pictures taken in natural light without flash.  

Next to RS-282 and RS-333, PK-293 and RD-212 appear warmer in the tube, especially RD-212 with its gold shimmers. However, all these pinks lean cool.


The most obvious difference here is the finish: RS-282 is more opaque than the rest. Also, PK-293 and RD-212 look sheerer because they're translucent, but both can be layered to reach the intensity desired.
 

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Original post Saturday, December 26, 2015.

This year, instead of releasing a Total Designing Set like they did in 2012, 2013, and 2014, Coffret D'Or released 3 limited edition makeup sets in early September (which are still available at some drugstores!) and not 1 but 4 different Party Coffrets for the winter!



The Party Coffrets are as follow:
- EX-1: pink zipper pouch, Soft Glamorous Eyes in LE 08 Rose Variation with LE case, Premium Stay Rouge in LE PK-293, and Nail Care Oil N 8mL.
- EX-2: black zipper pouch, Soft Glamorous Eyes in LE 09 Blue Variation with LE case, Premium Stay Rouge in LE PK-294, and Nail Care Oil N 8mL. 

- EX-3: red zipper pouch, Soft Glamorous Eyes in LE 10 Beige Variation with LE case, Premium Stay Rouge in LE PK-295, and Nail Care Oil N 8mL.
- EX-4: white zipper pouch, Soft Glamorous Eyes in 03 Green Variation (in the regular lineup) with LE case, Premium Stay Rouge in LE PK-296, and Nail Care Oil N 8mL.

***Screencaps from Coffret D'Or JP.

I'm a big fan of the Premium Stay Rouge (more colors to come!) and eyed these Party Coffrets pretty much for just the lipstick because all 4 are LE colors. Off all 4 sets, I was immediately drawn to EX-1 and EX-3. However, when I was at the store, the Soft Glamorous Eyes in LE 10 Beige Variation didn't show up on my skin at all save for the 2 liner shades, the 2 horizontal strips one cream and one pressed powder. Even worse was the lipstick, which proved disappointingly sheer and a meh candied peach in natural light and not red at all as shown in the online photos. So I ended up with just EX-1 even though I love the red pouch, the red eye shadow case and lipstick case in EX-3 :(

Nivea Soft Skincare Cream

More creams abound, this time in the form of Nivea Soft Skincare Cream. This is a multi-purpose product suitable for face and body. It comes in a 50g tube, which I have, and a 98g jar, which is nice and big but I'd prefer not to dig into any skincare product with my hands.

I ended up giving this tube to hubby as he was complaining about dry hands. He only uses it for his hands, and I have been "borrowing" some every now and then for my hands too ^.^

I do like it. It has that generic Nivea scent, and it's a nice cream that's not thick but not thin either. I think it's decently moisturizing, although if you live in a super dry climate or if you're thinking of using it on your elbows, knees, and feet, you might need something thicker. For now it suffices. I will probably move on to something else unless hubby specifically requests this again.