'Tis the Season of Giving - Non-Asian Brands

Updated Friday, February 24, 2017.

Blog sale for charity final update.

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.

Click on images to zoom. Follow links for reviews and swatches.

Revlon ColorBurst Lip Butter Part III

Ulta offered a decent GWP back in May, just the right excuse I need to pick up the 4 new Revlon ColorBurst Lip Butter as well as the Nivea Lip Butters I spotted from Citrine.

Ulta GWP May 2013. All pictures taken in natural light without flash.

Revlon ColorBurst Lip Butter Part II

I finally finally got to the rest of my Revlon ColorBurst Lip Butter ^.^ So far, I've collected 18, with the exception of 30 Fig Jam (too brown) and 60 Gumdrop (too pale), plus the 4 new colors, which I will post next.

I have already reviewed 001 Pink Truffle, 025 Peach Parfait, 045 Cotton Candy, 050 Berry Smoothie, 070 Cherry Tart, and 085 Sugar Plum in detail, along with their texture and wear, etc., so there will only be color descriptions in this post. I will say, though, that there are many colors in this batch that are just utterly unwearable for me. It's too bad, but I expected this, sort of. After all, it's a range of 20 colors and some are bound to clash, but I guess I was hoping to be able to wear more. Oh well.

Revlon Just Bitten Kissable Balm Stain

Long post ahead!

Among the travel friendly things I brought with me to Taipei are the much gushed about Revlon Just Bitten Kissable Balm Stain. After reading all the reviews hyperventilating over how fantastic they are,  thought I'd better not miss this bandwagon. They fit my Taipei criteria just right, although I didn't expect how long it would take to review them properly (making excuses for the post's delay here...). It rained, and rained, and rained throughout my last 3 weeks in Taipei and sunny days were hard to come by. After racing against daylight for weeks (my classes didn't end until 1:30PM, and by 3PM it started to get dark!), I gave up and put the project on hold until I'm back in the sunny stateside visiting my folks. So please excuse the gloomy product pictures below and enjoy the brighter and clearer swatch pictures!

From left to right: 001 Honey, 005 Crush, 010 Darling, 015 Cherish, 020 Lovesick, 025 Sweetheart, 030 Smitten, 035 Charm, 040 Rendezvous, 045 Romantic, 050 Precious, and 055 Adore. All pictures taken in natural light without flash.

Revlon Luxurious Color Diamond Lust Eye Shadow Part II

Back in February when mum in law sent me a care package, she so kindly threw in these Revlon Luxurious Color Diamond Lust Eye Shadow since she knows I have a bit of a soft spot for pretty sparkly things ^.^ So now I have the American version of 110 Starry Pink to compare with the Japanese release I bought back in late December. I haven't actually worn these, so this is a preview post.

- Left picture: top row, left to right, 100 Celestial Silver, 105 Plum Galaxy, bottom row, left to right: 110 Starry Pink, 115 Neptune Star, and 120 Night Sky, all are US drugstore releases.

- Right picture: 110 Starry Pink US version. All pictures taken in natural light without flash.

Revlon Luxurious Color Diamond Lust Eye Shadow

Boy I feel like a complete doofus. After returning to Japan I went back to Plaza to pick up the newly released Kiss Kiss My Eyes Glamorize Shadows palettes (yes, 05 Bordeaux Beige and now 06 Pink Beige!), and there I spotted these Revlon Luxurious Color Diamond Lust Eye Shadows on display. Of course their megawatt sparkliness got me all googly-eyed and drooling.

110 Starry Pink. All pictures taken in natural light without flash.

Revlon ColorBurst Lip Butter

The last installment from my swap with Citrine is the Revlon ColorBurst Lip Butter. After drooling over all the pretty swatches online for a few months, I decided I must try these and thank goodness Citrine was willing to spoil me. These Lip Butters are relatively new to the drugstore tinted balm market, having been out only since the fall (September I think?) of 2011. However, it seems they are quite on demand. There are in some 20 shades available but it seems many of those shades, if not most, are constantly sold out. That could very well be the result of all the hype on the internet, but monkey sees, monkey does, and that's me ^.^ 

These come in a lipstick tube with translucent plastic caps. And despite the plastic-y feel of their caps, I was surprised to find the inner twist tube a lot more substantial and may be even sturdier than many other lipsticks I own! I especially like it that when you twist to lower the balm stick, it actually clicks in securely at the base. I rarely sees this clicking feature with my lipsticks, if at all, so on this point alone its packaging wowed me!

My swap with Citrine. All pictures taken in natural light without flash.

Revlon! ...I've gone mad...

No, no, I haven't gone mad for Revlon. I've gone mad because I actually bought some Revlon!

I mean, what was I thinking? Revlon is utter crap! Hubby's mum was once loyal to this Revlon lipstick she'd worn for some 20+ years. And then when I started dating her son, I gave her a Lancome Le Rouge Absolu and she's never looked back since. And here I am buying Revlon. Shoot me. Now.

I first spotted these from a magazine. I don't remember if it was Allure or Elle, probably Allure. And then I saw several ads for them from some other magazine spreads. Blame the marketing, but I went out and bought a few, out of curiosity or whatnot. I guess sometimes stuff disappoint you in 3D, but these actually don't look so bad. I haven't tried any of them yet, so we'll have to see how they fare quality-wise later. For now, they're pretty to look at.

I got Golden Affair Sculpting Blush in 2 out of 4 shades available. And even though they're "limited edition," they're available still online even though they were out more than 2 years ago. They feel okay, not too silky but not rough to the touch either.
- Rose Rapture: A nudish tawny color and pigmented I'd say. The gold is sprayed on though. It would have been nice if it was actually embedded, but it's also Revlon, of course.


- Berry Daring: I don't what got over me when I bought this shade. It's a pretty deep berry color but it might be too harsh on me. And it's very pigmented too, so we'll see...Who knows, it might work out. If not... 9.9


I also got all 4 shades of the Floral Affair Sheer Powder Blush. The reviews say these are very sheer, but I think they're just right, not too sheer, not too pigmented like the Golden Affair Sculpting Blush. I like how these look in the pan. Very pretty. And I could also use them on my eyes :D Oh, and these are much softer than the Golden Affair blushes too.

- Peachy Keen: A bronzy peach with gold shimmers.


- Hushed Blush: I like this one the best because I can use the lightest shade as a highlighter too and it doesn't seem to be too pigmented.


- Honey Bunch: probably the most pigmented one out of the lot.


- Pinking of You: As you can see, this one is actually matte! And I usually don't like matte blushes, but it looks interesting and the pink is really bright and fresh. I'll have to try it out and see...


I also got 1 Make a Sheen Lustrous Shadow in Olive it Up. The other palettes didn't interest me at all but this one has the most beautiful olive and gold, both of which I love. Again, they feel average, not the most satiny eye shadow you've tried, but not crap either. Gotta see how they perform though, especially on my oily lids.