L'Occitane Bonne Mere Gentle Body Wash Part II

After the last success of L'Occitane Bonne Mere Gentle Body Wash Milk I caved and gave the Honey one a try too. 

It's just as gentle as the Milk one, although doesn't smell anywhere as nice and soothing. This Honey one smells like perfumed honey, very flowery and cloying at the same time. I don't hate the scent, but I much prefer the Milk. I'm glad I bought backups of the Milk body wash as well as the Gentle Cream. Love that stuff!

See my previous L'Occitane Bonne Mere Gentle Body Wash post. 

HanSkin World Foam Cleanser

After a month of use, including a road trip a couple of weeks ago, I'm almost done with this 25mL tube of HanSkin World Foam Cleanser. It was from the HanSkin Travel Set, which also includes 25mL each of Hyaluron Skin Lotion and Olive Essential Cleansing Oil, 10mL tube of Super Light Touch B.B. SPF30 PA++ (will review soon), and 5g pot of Super Collagen Gel.

I didn't have high expectations for this as it is a foaming cleanser, but to my surprise it's really quite mild! It's lightly scented with the same fragrance as the Hyaluron Skin Lotion, which I don't mind at all. It's nowhere as foam-crazy as a Japanese foaming cleanser, but it still foams decently well. It rinses well but doesn't leave my skin squeaky or taut dry afterwards. I'm enjoying it now but I don't like it enough to buy a full size. I have too many foaming cleanser lining up to try next.

HanSkin Hyaluron Skin Lotion

I'll confess: I bought this HanSkin Travel Set just for that tube of Super Light Touch B.B. ^.^ But then hubby and I were taking a road trip and I figured having some travel sized toiletries would be helpful. So I brought along the Hyaluron Skin Lotion and the World Foam Cleanser, which I will review next.

The HanSkin Travel Set includes 25mL each of this Hyaluron Skin Lotion, Olive Essential Cleansing Oil, and World Foam Cleanser, 10mL tube of Super Light Touch B.B. SPF30 PA++, and 5g pot of Super Collagen Gel.

Stila Convertible Color Part II

I love Stila Convertible Colors but I don't want to pay $25 for a full size compact that I will never be able to use up. So over the holiday season 2013 when Sephora releases this Stila Collage of Color Lip & Cheek Palette for $10, it was a must-have for me. Even better is that three colors Peach Poppy, Coral, and Roseberry in the palette are all limited editions and are not in the permanent line up. Even better!

Stila Collage of Color Lip & Cheek Palette. All pictures taken in natural light without flash.

Hakuhodo Brushes

So, Hakuhodo (白鳳堂), been lemming these brushes for ages but stayed far away until hubby and I settled down a bit from all the moving (more on that later). There are some really excellent resources out there on these brushes, so I'm not going to be redundant. Below are my personal pros and cons for investing in these brushes.

PROS:

- One word: craftsmanship. 

- Big collection. By no means all encompassing but still a huge variety of hairs, shapes, sizes, and handles to choose from.

- Big price range, anywhere from $12-100+ a piece.

- All brush heads are made equal - 2 identical brush heads of the same hair, shape, and size will be of the same hair quality and craftsmanship, regardless of the standard black handle or the flagship vermillion red handle. That means a lot to me.

- Fast order turnaround, fast shipping, excellent and knowledgeable customer service. Knowledgeable is also important to me, a good indication that a company respects its customers. Just the other day Shiseido tried to pull a fast one over my head, but this is another story for another post. 

CONS:

- Time investment in care and maintenance. Nothing lasts if you don't take care of it, my reason for having "make-do" brushes while moving around.

- Mostly natural hair, which I'm okay with but others may not be. I have read that Hakuhodo obtains their natural hair via cruelty-free methods. While I very much want to believe this, I will refrain from touting until there are pictures, videos, etc., that back up the cruelty-free claims. Let's face it, when it comes to animal rights and welfare, Japan isn't exactly leading the charge. 

Aqualabel Moisture Emulsion R (Softening)

The last of the Aqualabel Moisture Kit is this 20mL bottle of Moisture Emulsion R (Softening), with the rest of the kit being the 20mL Lotion R (Softening), 20g each of Milky Mousse Foam and Creamy Oil Cleansing.

Unlike the Lotion, this Emulsion is only available in S (Refreshing) and R (Softening). For something richer and thicker, you would have to go for the Special Gel Cream or the Moisture Cream instead. In fact, they do recommend that you apply a thicker cream after this emulsion at night, so seal in the moisture.

Philosophy Shampoo Bath & Shower Gel

This 30mL travel size bottle of Philosophy Shampoo Bath & Shower Gel in the Amazing Grace scent was super convenient to take along on the road, because it's a multi-purpose product that works on hair and body. At least I thought so.

In reality, not so much. With sodium laureth sulfate as the 2nd ingredient on the list, surprisingly it doesn't foam very well at all, either as a shampoo or a body wash. Even more surprising is that despite not foaming well, it's rather difficult to rinse off, as if it's really concentrated or something. Overall, I found this product to be tricky business, because I would start off with a small amount, which doesn't seem to do much, which causes me to use more, and then comes time to rinse, it takes for freakin' ever and a half to rinse clean. Argh!

Aqualabel Moisture Lotion R (Softening)

Been using this 20mL trial bottle of Aqualabel Moisture Lotion R (Softening) after having finished HABA G-Lotion (*sniff* really enjoyed that stuff, but no, will not buy again...). This lotion comes in 3 types, S (Refreshing), R (Softening), and RR (Rich), and thankfully I have the R (Softening) because I'm not really fond of either S (Refreshing), it being not moisturizing enough, or RR (Rich), it being too moisturizing ^.^

This Lotion is part of a trial Aqualabel Moisture Kit, with 20g each of Milky Mousse Foam, Creamy Oil Cleansing, and 20mL of Emulsion R (Softening), which I will review next.

Phytomer Rosee Visage Toning Cleansing Lotion

Started using this Phytomer Rosee Visage Toning Cleansing Lotion a month ago, after finally finished the disastrously perfumed Suisse Programme Cellular Revitalizing Toner. Let's just say after all that perfumy gag I very much welcomed this Phytomer toner mildly scented with rose. In fact, I like it enough to bring with me the 50mL/1.6fl oz. travel bottle I got from the Phytomer Moisturizing Face Gift Set.

The original Phytomer order I purchased from Le Spa USA (not affiliated!), from whom I received a boat load of samples I'm looking forward to try ^.^


Phytomer Moisturizing Face Gift Set also includes the full size jar of Hydra Original Thirst Relief Melting Cream for hubby, and another full size tube of Doux Visage Velvet Cleansing Cream that I haven't gotten to yet.

Aqualabel Moisture Creamy Oil Cleansing

On the road for the past week and been using this 20g tube of Aqualabel Moisture Creamy Oil Cleansing from the Aqualabel Moisture Kit, which also includes the Moisture Milky Mousse Foam, 20mL each of Lotion R (Softening) and Emulsion R (Softening), both of which I will review next.

I purchased my kit from Adam Beauty for USD16.50, which is actually not bad considering Japanese retail for the kit is JPY1,200.