Lavshuca BB Lip Essence SPF21 PA+

Had these Lavshuca BB Lip Essence SPF21 PA+ since our Tokyo days but totally forgot to post about them. Woops. Actually, now that we're settling down a bit and I have some time to slowly unpack (still... =.=") and go through our things, I found I've neglected to post on a bunch of stuff even though I've been using them here and there. So you'll see more woops-I-forgot posts.

Anyway, this lip gloss generously comes with 8g of product and in two "colors," 01 Princess Pink and 02 Queen Red.

All pictures taken in natural light without flash.

'Tis the Season of Giving - Asian Brands

Updated Friday, February 24, 2017.

Blog sale for charity final update.

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Long post ahead. 

Hubby and I are going to move again in eight months' time, this time just across town, at least that's to my knowledge. We've learned to *not* double down on our words because every time we say we're staying somewhere for a while, we ended up moving the next year.

The biggest reason for our next move being:

Yes, there's a tiny one coming and we now need a shoe-box for three.

So I'm letting go of a substantial portion of my collection.

After moving so many time, I've realized I've missed out on the vast majority of my collection because I can only take so much with me. Since I haven't been around to enjoy them, I thought someone else might be.

IMPORTANT:
1. All sales are final. No returns or exchanges.
2. All proceeds will go to charity:
- The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). See their ratings.
- The National Resources Defense Council (NRDC). See their ratings.
- Doctors Without Borders, aka (MSF, Médecins Sans Frontières). See their ratings.
3. Paypal payments in USD only.

ORDERING DETAILS:
1. To order, please leave a comment and spell out your email address (to avoid spam). I will contact you privately.
2. All orders will be sent via USPS Flat-rate boxes with tracking and insurance. I hold no responsibilities for lost packages.
3. Shipping fee varies.
- Domestic: Small ($6.80), Medium ($13.45), Large ($18.75).
- International: we'll work something out privately.
4. My home is smoke and pet-free.
5. My collection is housed in a wooden craft cabinet placed in a cool and dry corner of my bedroom.
6. All items will be sent in a cosmetic bag chosen at random.
7. Eyeshadow palettes and face powders are without applicators, brushes, or puffs. I use my own brushes and have long given away the others. If you need them, please indicate so and I'll include new/unused ones at random.

Let's get on to the good stuff. Click on images to zoom. Follow links for reviews and swatches.

Lavshuca Light Mix Eyes Part II

Having been surprised with the Lavshuca Light Mix Eyes palette GN-1, I very much looked forward to this BR-2 as it looks like a neutral taupe palette online. I got it for a really good price too, because it's quite old ^.^ It certainly looked very pretty and promising when it arrived.

The gradation of softness is slightly different with this BR-2 than with the GN-1 palette. With this BR-2, the base/highlighter at top left is still the driest, then the sparkling top wash at bottom right, then the liner shade at bottom left, and finally medium crease shade at top right is the softest. However, despite the high hopes I don't enjoy this palette. There's not a metallic shade, which is probably the biggest disappointment for me. And individually, the colors are pretty but they don't work well together at all as a palette. More details below.

All pictures taken in natural light without flash.

Lavshuca Aqua Drops Rouge Part II

More Lavshuca Aqua Drops Rouge in the colors OR-2, PK-3, and RD-1. 

All pictures taken in natural light without flash.

Lavshuca Aqua Drops Rouge

I was really tempted to try a few colors among the new incarnation of Lavshuca Dramatic Memory Rouge, only I read that they were reformulated on top of being repackaged, and the new formula is a mere shadow of its former self. Sad, sad, sad. So I went for these Aqua Drops Rouge instead.

Lavshuca Aqua Drops Rouge OR-1, PK-1, and PK-2. All pictures taken in natural light without flash.

Lavshuca Light Mix Eyes

Update Wednesday, February 18, 2015.

Redid the swatch photos for this palette as well, in better lighting and with a slanted shot to show the sparkling top wash's opacity when seen from an angle.

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Original post Sunday, February 1, 2015.

This Lavshuca Light Mix Eyes in GN-1 was on clearance at Adam Beauty and ended up as a cart filler along with a recent order. I didn't care for these palettes much when they first came out. The color combinations just look so... boring! Thankfully, when the order arrived both the compact and the colors look much better in person.

All pictures taken in natural light without flash.

Lavshuca Girly Whip Cheek

These Lavshuca Girly Whip Cheeks were results of me getting bored and frustrated with the Japanese cosmetic scenes last summer (as with the Visee Glam Shade Eyes...). Out of the 4 colors available, I picked OR-1 and RD-1, because they look the most pigmented among the various online swatches.

Lavshuca Girly Whip Cheek OR-1 and RD-1. All pictures taken in natural light without flash.

Lavshuca Rouge Essence Bar

Since getting my hands on the Lavshuca Moist Melting Rouge, I also started hunting for their predecessor, the Rouge Essence Bar. This is the product that got everyone's attention to begin with, and I wanted to compare the two, to see if there's any difference. Thanks to Rakuten JP and E(vil)bay, I was able to track down 9 colors that were still floating around despite the line being discontinued several years ago. I know there's a huge risk in buying cosmetic so old, but I was willing to bite the bullet. Fortunately for me, all the lippies I received were still fresh and perfectly usable ^.^"

From left to right: Rouge Essence Bar BE-1, BE-3, PK-1, PK-2, PK-3, PK-4, OR-1, RD-2, and RS-1. All pictures taken in natural light without flash.

Lavshuca Dramatic Memory Rouge Part II

Since my last Lavshuca Dramatic Memory Rouge I have found 2 more colors RS-2 and RS-3, both in the old discontinued packaging. I have already reviewed these in details so I won't repeat again. All I'll say is that if I ever come upon a color I don't have in this same packaging, I will buy it without a second thought :) I absolutely LOVE these!

Lavshuca Dramatic Memory Rouge RS-2 and RS-3. All pictures taken in natural light without flash.

Lavshuca Moist Melting Rouge

Along with the Lavshuca Dramatic Memory Rouge (old packaging), these Moist Melting Rouge are more presents to myself prior to leaving Japan last fall. These two lipstick lines are some of the best rated drugstore lipsticks, and I figured I've been staying away from Japanese lipsticks for long enough ^.^ Not to mention I've read from several sources that these particular Moist Melting Rouge are better quality dupes for the much higher end Cle de Peau and Dior! That can't hurt ^.^

There were 12 colors available at the time, and again I picked up all 12. If the Dramatic Memory Rouges were tough for me to pick, these were almost impossible to choose from! See the very last swatch picture and you'll see why -.-' Unfortunately, these lipsticks have been discontinued since 2010, although I was able to buy from Rakuten JP sellers when I was still in Japan. You can almost certainly find them online still. 

From left to right: BE-4, BE-5, BE-6, BE-7, OR-2, OR-3, PK-5, PK-6, PK-7, RD-3, RD-4, and RS-2. All pictures taken in natural light without flash.

Lavshuca Dramatic Memory Rouge

These Lavshuca Dramatic Memory Rouge were a goodbye present for myself before I left Japan last August ^.^ I've read over and over how great these are, and I know I'd regret it if I leave empty-handed (well, I hardly did, but that's an entirely different story...). 

There were 10 shades available at the time, and I picked up all 10 because I just couldn't decide which was better. Japan likes to make its lip colors super wearable, which is very nice and user-friendly and all. However, this wearability can be a double-edge sword - the colors can look frustratingly similar and they can be difficult to tell apart in the tubes. You will see an example of this below as I had to swatch 5 similar-looking colors side by side just to compare. In my case, this wearability is a triple whammy because, well, I want them all LOL!

From left to right: BE-1, BE-2, OR-1, PK-1, PK-2, PK-3, PK-4, RD-1, RD-2, and RS-1. All pictures taken in natural light without flash.

Lavshuca Pure Blossoming Eyes Limited Edition Set

So I'm a bit upset with the Japanese cosmetics makers. They say one thing, but they do something else. The release date for these Lavshuca Pure Blossoming Eyes Limited Edition Sets is just one example. This screen cap clearly says May 1, and prior to this, the new release on Lavshuca's website also said May 1. It makes you think that these items are going to be released, i.e. going on sale starting May 1, right? Wrong.

***Picture from Lavshuca.

Friday night was N.'s birthday party in Shibuya. So while hubby was in class up in Ikebukuro, I went around Yokohama shopping for a bday present for N. As usual, in trip include perusing my favorite drugstore stops and foreign food shops, just to resupply our Twinings and jams. Then lo-and-behold I spotted the display for these Pure Blossoming Eyes Limited Edition! I checked my cellphone, thinking I'd been a vampire for so long I'd lost track of my time and date. Nope, it was friday April 27. And yet these limited edition sets were already on sale. The worst part? The displayed were completely empty - they were already sold out! My next rational thought was that this particular drugstore is somehow "special" in that it gets "first dibs," which explains why it got the merchandise so early on in the process that it had time to sell out the items! I went on to check out my other usual drugstores, only to find that they too had the same freakin' exact same emptied out display! Garrhhh!!! What is this, a bizarrely warped reverse Asian time continuum in which instead of being 30 minutes late to the agreed time you're a week early?!?

Pure Blossoming Eyes Limited Edition Sets PK Pink Variation and PU Purple Variation. All pictures taken in natural light without flash.

Lavshuca Star Decoration Eyes Part II

Here are the rest of the Lavshuca Star Decoration Eyes and I am now the proud owner of all the palettes in this line, including the 2 limited editions sets ^.^ I haven't been so giddy about an eye shadow palette since T'estimo Layered Impact Eyes, and I think I know why. Of course it's because they both have a gorgeous sparky top wash xD

In my last Star Decoration Eyes post, Julia commented these all seem to have a brown liner shade. After swatching, I can confirm that the liner shades for GN-1 and PU-1 are not brown, at least not on me.

BR-1, GN-1, and PU-1. All pictures taken in natural light without flash.

Lavshuca Melting Eyes

Encouraged by the Lavshuca Star Decoration Eyes, I gave the Melting Eyes a try despite the horror movie title. Melting eyes? Eeeps. At least the compacts are lithe and pretty ^.^'

BE-1 and BR-1. All pictures taken in natural light without flash.

These are available in 5 colors, PK-1, RD-1, OR-1, BR-1, and BE-1. As the color names suggest, they are all warm with the exception of BR-1 that is more or less neutral. I'm not sure why Lavshuca would do this, as warm palettes are not for everyone and most eye shadow ranges will include at least one cool combo. The funny thing is, while I am warm myself, warm palettes usually turn very red on me. So I tend to stick with neutrals and cools unless I really love something enough to venture into the warmer spectrum. 

Lavshuca Eye Jelly

Update Friday, April 6, 2012.

I know the BE-1 looks very sheer in this swatch, but that's only because it blends in with my skin pretty well and isn't as sparkly as the others. And plus you're seeing it next to BR-1 and PK-2, both of which are pigmented and opaque. Even the GD-1 looks more opaque next to it.

Top row: BE-1 and GD-1.
Bottom row: BR-1 and PK-2. Picture taken in natural light without flash.

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Original post Sunday, June 19, 2011.

Given my love for Laura Mercier Metallic Creme Eye Colours, don't ask what took me so long with these Lavshuca Eye Jelly. I take my time playing with my toys, so some things slip through my memory crack, only to be "rediscovered" some time down the road until something else come along that reminds me, hey, I have those, and then I would proceed to dig them out! And perhaps it was a good thing I didn't start using these until a couple of months ago, after having had ample time experimenting with cream shadows in general. Because, what do you know, I love them!

All pictures taken indoor with flash unless otherwise noted.

Lavshuca Eye Jelly Part II

Finally had some time to swatch the rest of my Lavshuca Eye Jellies. I have 5 other colors I haven't touched, BU-1, GN-1, PK-1, PU-1, and SV-1, and I figured why not. Oh yeah, while at it I re-swatched the other colors too since the last swatches were crappy. Will update the original post with better swatches next.

BU-1, GN-1, PK-1, and SV-1 are all super sparkly and metallic. They also feel gritty due to all the shimmer particles, big and small. PU-1, on the other hand, is more similar to BE-1 in that it has finer shimmers and therefore not as sparkly. Over all, these are all light colors and make good base/highlighter colors. And as mentioned in the last post, they do not budge once dried and need eye makeup remover to be taken off completely. 

BU-1. These 6 pictures were taken indoor with flash.

GN-1 and PK-1

PU-1 and SV-1

Lavshuca Star Decoration Eyes

After falling in love with Lavshuca Star Decoration Eyes Limited Edition Sets in 01 Pink and 02 Brown Series, I went out and got 2 more palettes. Out of the 5 palettes available in the permanent lineup, I went for PK-1 and BR-2 then, as BR-1 looked a bit warm and at the time I still wasn't in the mood for the cooler GN-1 and PU-1. 

PK-1 and BR-2. All pictures taken in natural light without flash.

Lavshuca Dual Prism Eyes Part II

While using Kate Dual Carats earlier in the year, I got nostalgic and went to hunt down some more of these Lavshuca Dual Prism Eyes, if there were any left since they were discontinued a couple of years ago. There was a particular color, PU-2, that I was curious about, but things were a little chaotic with my living (or rather moving) situation back then so it wasn't exactly my top priority get a hold of it. Luckily, I found it, along with another color I don't have, BR-1. I couldn't wait to play with these, but I actually haven't use either of them, only swatched, so this is just a preview post. 

BR-1 and PU-1. All pictures taken in natural light without flash.

Lavshuca Star Decoration Eyes Limited Edition Set

So this has happened a few times now, that the limited edition for an eye palette has gotten me to go back and check out the permanent lineup that I didn't much attention to in the beginning. For example, the limited edition Visee x Smacky Glam palettes got me to grab another Glam Glow Eye palette in the permanent lineup, and the limited edition Visee x Royal Party palettes got me to buy a few other Glam Nude Eyes, even though they didn't all work out too well. 

And now, these Lavshuca Star Decoration Eyes Limited Edition Set has got me to go back and picked up 2 more Star Decoration Eyes palettes in the permanent lineup (and I'm currently considering the other 3 too!) xD Holy crap, these are probably some of the nicest drugstore eye palettes I've ever used! They are freakin' fantastic and I love them!!!

01 Pink Series. All pictures taken in natural light without flash.

02 Brown Series.