HG Alert: HolikaHolika Jewel Lights Waterproof Eyeliner Review!

Disclaimer: This is my fifth post, do you really think anyone sent me stuff for free yet? Nope, paid for by yours truly. This is my honest opinion about every product featured in this post.

HolikaHolika Jewel lights Waterproof Eyeliner

I could write sonnets about you. Well, probably not sonnets. I’m not that good. A haiku or limerick, definitely. (Jewel lights eyeliner, never be discontinued, I am so obsessed.)

These eyeliners are just… ugh. I can’t even. Someone get me a PSL, because I literally can’t even.

Okay, I’m good. I really love these liners. In general, I love eye makeup (even though palettes are expensive!). I’m particular, though. I prefer gel liners, and not the ones in the pots. Pencils are okay, as long as they’re smooth, and liquid liner is a huge turn off. My eyesight is poor, and I don’t have contacts, so I can’t commit to precision.

Here are the liners and swatches! Sorry in advance for any poor picture quality. They were taken with my Kindle Fire tablet.

Right now, I have: 08 Pink Topaz, 09 14K Gold, 03 Lapis Lazuli, 14 Mystic Blue, 12 Olive Jade, 06 Olive Peridot, 16 Black Plum and 10 Choco Citrine. Swatches below in that order, right to left. Also, the actual liners, not in that order.

On reviews and /r/AsianBeauty, I’ve compared them to Julep and Cynthia Rowley, due to the high quality, the pigmentation, and the ease of use. The color selection for the Jewel lights is much better—Cynthia Rowley only had 3 different colors when I made my purchase last year, and Julep has about a dozen, and they’re mostly neutrals. There are currently 18 shades of the Jewel lights. Right now, I’m waiting on 1 more shade from a group haul on Jolse (13 Poison Red) and 1 from a swap on /r/AsianBeautyExchange (1 Carat Diamond). Every single shade (except 01 Black Gem) is on my wishlist.

Here are some images of how I wear the Mystic Blue (with tightlining and undereye liner):

Other products used: Clio Kill Black pen, Innisfree Waterproof Skinny Microcara, HolikaHolika Magic Pole Mascara, Rimmel London Scandal Eyes crayon, Etude House Bling Bling Eyestick.

Face products: Etude House Beauty Shot Face Blur, Etude House Baby Choux base (mint choux), Tonymoly BCDation (still testing), Skinfood Salmon undereye concealer, Etude House brow pencil, Too Cool for School Dinoplatz Cushion blusher, and Urban Decay Matte Revolution lipstick (bittersweet).

They’re waterproof and last all day, but they aren’t hard to wash off. I used Innisfree Apple juicy Lip and Eye remover on my wrist. Everything came off. I also use it on my eyelids and I never have a problem.

Price-wise, they’re about $3.75 on Tester Korea, and around $3.50 on RoseRoseShop. The price varies on Amazon, but about $5.98 to $6.98 Prime. Nearly every AB-e-tailer I’ve checked out carries them, but the selection widely varies between shops.

I really can’t recommend these liners more highly. The next Jewel lights I want are Purple Amethyst, Burgundy Garnet and Ballerina Pink. The only complaint I have is that Purple Amethyst and Burgundy Garnet are sold out almost everywhere.

What are your Holy Grail eyeliners?

I’m also active on /r/AsianBeauty as aleebsi!

Amazon Haul (a week late, lol)!

Disclaimer: Everything featured here, I purchased. Nothing was provided. Also, this is really just bragging (with a bit of review about the things I’ve tried since actually writing this post).

This arrived about a week ago. I’m really just lazy. But really excited!

I got:

• MISSHA Time Revolution The First Treatment Essence (Intensive) – VERY highly recommended on AB blogs and youtube. HG status for a lot of people.
• Elizaveccca Milky Piggy Carbonated Bubble Clay Mask – I had to choose between this and the Innisfree Volcanic Clay mask, and I chose this one, for both the lower price point, and because I wanted to try something ‘carbonated’ or ‘bubble’. So far, I love it! It bubbles up once applied to the face. Turns kind of blue. Then, you massage it in, and wash it off. It is a bit of trouble to wash it off, but my skin feels very soft and smooth afterward. Worth it.
• MIZON Collagen Power Firming Eye Cream – I have really bad dark circles, and I needed something for that. This had some good reviews, and I like the Snail Recovery Gel Cream I have. It was also cheap (like $11 prime). Also, purple. I love purple. It does seem to be helping, my circles are a bit lessened.
• Peripera Peri’s Milk Tint – Milky Pink – I wanted to try some Peripera stuff. This is nice, not as milky on my lips as I would have liked, but it’s good.
• HolikaHolika Honey Sleeping Pack – Blueberry – I freaking love blueberry anythingggggg. Unfortunately, it’s kind of rare in beauty products. I also really love the HolikaHolika brand. I have not been disappointed with any of their products, and this one is no exception. It’s very thick, but looks and smells just like honey, and is very moisturizing.
• The Face Shop Herb Day Cleansing Tissue (70ct) – I bought this to compare to my Almay cleansing wipes. This is oil based, and very soft. Much softer than the Almay. It’s also thinner, but just as effective, and slightly less expensive (Almay is about $5 for 25 or 30).
• MISSHA M Magic Cushion in 23 – I bought this to try out another BB cushion. I don’t like it as much as my Etude House Precious Mineral Any Cushion. At first, it applies great, and makes my face bright and glowy… but it oxides and turns a much darker color within an hour or two. The packaging is simple and nice, though. I won’t throw it away, but it won’t be replacing my Etude House or HolikaHolika.
• Tonymoly Tony tint – 3 pack – This is colors 01, 02, and 03. For the price, could not beat it. Haven’t tried them yet, because I have so many tints and lipsticks.

That’s all for this haul! What HG products have you hauled?

I’m also active on /r/AsianBeauty as aleebsi!

Ipsy October 2015!

Ah, ipsy. I bought into ipsy because I found Michelle Phan on youtube and liked her. She’s very helpful and warm. Also, it sounded like a really good deal—deluxe samples PLUS a make-up bag for only $10/month shipped? (Considering that I’ve paid $10-$15 for deluxe sample of UD, Tarte and Too Faced, this is a reeaaaally good deal.) At least one of the products is full sized, too!

This month, the glam bag was extra cute and reversible! This will be perfect through Fall and into the New Year! Also, it had some very promising samples.

• AURORA Gel Polish
• Ayres Hand Creme
• Coastal Scents Wood Eyeliner Pencil
• The Balm Meet Matt(e) Hughes Liquid Lipstick
• Peter Lamas Exfoliating Pumpkin Scrub

I was super excited to see the Meet Matt(e) Hughes liquid lipstick. I think almost everyone got that product this month.This has been something I’ve wanted, but could not justify the price. And, let’s be honest, who ACTUALLY goes through an entire tube of lipstick? No one. Nothing is that good, and people get bored. You need some color. I also loved the deep blue of the AURORA gel nail polish. Gel nail polish is another thing that I’ve wanted to try.

The Coastal Scents eyeliner pencil and Ayres hand crème were meh to me. The thing I was most excited to try was the Pumpkin face scrub. How foolish of me. This made me face red and hot! Even my Nature Republic Aloe vera gel and Elma & Sana Rosewater couldn’t cool my face down! Finally, I slapped on a My Beauty Diary Mexican Cactus sheet mask (after another redditor kindly reminded me of how amazing they are) and my face started to calm down. It’s still not back to where it was, though… Another redditor had this same issue, so if your skin some sensitivity, I would stay away from this. Even if your skin is not sensitive, I would patch test. I severely regret not doing it. I can say that the scrub smelled good enough to eat.

I will probably keep the Ayres hand crème for when I go out of town. The Coastal Scents was swatched on my hand, and it will probably sit in my drawer until the next time I clean it out. It wasn’t a bad pencil, I just don’t see myself using it (Coastal Scents can blame Clio and HolikaHolika—those two are now my go-to eyeliners).

Ipsy has always been hit or miss for me. They used to send me a lot of skincare samples, when I wasn’t really into them. I appreciate them more now. They also have a terrible habit of sending me hand cremes, of which I already have too many! Some of the bags are kind of ugly, and I end up giving them to my daughter. I have received some great things from them before, such as an Urban Decay 24/7 liner and a POP Beauty bronzer, as well as a few good nail colors.

I rejoined so I would have something steady to post for the blog, and some more cute makeup bags (I also use them to give gifts. I end up with looooots of samples and like to give them away). However, after that terrible face scrub, if my next box has anything that makes me break out, I’m cancelling and I’m going to get something nicer.

Pretty lil Face Review!

Here it is, the not-so-long awaited review of www.prettylilface.com!

As I mentioned in my unboxing, I love this site. I’m really excited to write this review.

I actually heard about this site from The Beauty Breakdown (Morgan is lovely—more on her later). I wanted to purchase from a US-based site… I hate paying for shipping, and some beauty and skin care products are heavy! Heavy = expensive shipping = DO NOT WANT.

Pretty lil Face being based in Canada didn’t bother me – I live in North Dakota and grew up in Maine. I’m close to Canada, and aware of the exchange rate. For people who don’t interact with Canada on the reg, the rate is currently USD$1.00 = CAD$0.77. This can change daily, but it usually hovers around that much.

The shipping is free for orders over CAD$50.00. This is equivalent to roughly USD$38.00. Not bad, a lot better than most US retailers.

Their prices are… wow. Yes, I bought a lot of things on clearance, but there was a LOT on clearance. Clearance shopping is my jam. It’s where I reside. Fire sale announcements are the song of my people. Here’s a quick price comparison of a few products I bought from Pretty lil Face:

Etude House Baking Powder Pore Cleansing Foam – 3 in 1 Type

• Pretty lil Face – C$7.99 (USD$6.15)
• com – USD$7.67
• W2beauty – USD$12.34
• TesterKorea – KRW$5,525 + 208g shipping (the cheapest shipping is KRW$32,320 for 1700g, which is about KRW$3,955. All together, equivalent to roughly USD$8.51)

TonyMoly Red Appletox Honey Cream

• Pretty lil Face – C$12.99 (USD$10.01)
• com – USD$10.99
• Jolse – USD$11.98
• eBay – USD$9.99

Skinfood Premium Lettuce and Cucumber Watery Essence

• Pretty lil Face – C$12.80 (USD$9.86)
• com – USD$17.96
• W2beauty – USD$20.10
• TesterKorea – KRW$10,200 + 130g shipping (using the above formula for the cheapest shipping, roughly USD$11.37)

HolikaHolika Jewel Lights Waterproof Eyeliner

• Pretty lil Face – C$6.40 (USD$4.93)
• com – USD$5.97-6.98 (varies based on color)
• Jolse – USD$5.80
• TesterKorea – KRW$4,165 + 10g shipping (using the above formula for cheapest shipping, roughly USD$3.91)

They also have AMAZING customer service. They send personalized notes with the invoice, attach their adorable business card (it’s cute without being TOO cutesy), and they respond to customer messages right away. Here’s my message with them:

“Hi! I just received my order today, and it’s fantastic, thank you so much! You have such reasonable prices, and the shipping was faster than I expected.

I wish you guys had a bigger selection! It would be great to see you carry some products from The Face Shop, Too Cool for School, or even the Tomato Cool Jelly Lip Tints from Skinfood. (I’m also really surprised that you guys don’t carry any Mizon products, or the Black Sugar Wash Off from Skinfood, or the Clean it Zero from banila co.)

Anyway, thanks again! I’ll certainly be reordering!”

Their response:

“Hey!

Thanks for the awesome review and for your insightful message. We are proud to offer reasonable prices for Korean beauty and skincare products – because, we too, are customers ourselves!

Yes, we are definitely going to be carrying a broader selection. Our motto is that if it’s on the shop available to purchase then we probably have tried and tested the products out ourselves! We like to be a part of the experience and want to share our experiences of products with our customers.

We are currently looking into carrying more brands and are anxiously awaiting some great new arrivals and you have been bang on – it’s like you’re psychic too

Expect to find some new products from Innisfree, Skinfood, Too Cool For School, Mizon, Banila Co and Holika Holika

psstt… you may find more shades for the jewel eyeliner from Holika Holika and the black sugar mask from Skinfood

Again, thanks for the great feedback – We love hearing from you guys!

All the best,

Minh

Pretty lil Face Co.”

So great. Also, the orders come with samples, but I think I covered that in my unboxing.

I don’t have a formal review structure yet, still winging it, but here we go!

Site design: Clean, easy to navigate. Prices are in CAD, but the conversion isn’t hard. Other international sites do usually have an option to view USD or put the conversion rates on the site. 8/10.
Selection: There were a couple of instances of listings remaining up, but the products were out of stock. A bit disappointing that it wasn’t displayed before I clicked on the listing. Some products did not have the full range of color choices available. It’s still very good for a beginner, though, and I found plenty to buy. Their selection does appear to contain a lot of ‘drugstore’ brands, and certain staples (such as the Nature Republic Aloe Vera Gel, the MISSHA Time Revolution First Treatment Essence, Skinfood Black Sugar Wash Off Mask and Mizon Snail Recovery Gel Cream) were not present. If you’re looking for higher end products (DHC, su:m37, Sulwhasoo), this site is probably not for you.**I would like to note that they are currently in South Korea, and will likely be updating their stock soon.** 6/10.
Ease of purchase: The products have great images, it’s organized, and easy to pick from different color choices. The prices are clearly displayed. Adding to cart and checking out is quick and functional. My card went through without a hitch. 9/10.
Customer Service: Fantastic. They respond very quickly, and really pay attention. They have a great focus on keeping their customers happy. 10/10.
Shipping: The estimate they gave for my orders was 6 to 10 business days. My first order took 10 calendar days (about 6 or 7 business days), and my second order took 3 business days. Very fast, and it was free. The only strange thing I found was that my first order shipped from Canada, and my second order shipped from Washington state. Odd, but not really a big deal. 8/10.
Packaging: Their packaging is very economical. They seem to prefer bubble wrap and bubble envelopes, and they’re tasteful, not plain. The first order arrived in perfect condition. The second order had a few things smushed. Nothing was actually damaged, and it did not bother me, but I could see things easily becoming damaged or customers being off-put by larger orders packaged in a large bubble mailer. In the case of my second order, I do wish they had used a box, but I really appreciate that they don’t use fillers like shredded paper and do not include tons of advertising material. Sending just the business card and a personal note is very professional. 7/10.
Prices: They have amazing deals! Granted, most of the things I purchased was on clearance, but half the site was on clearance and I will not apologize for liking a good bargain. Comparatively, they beat out Amazon.com on a few things, and after approximated shipping based on weight, beat out koreadepart.com and w2beauty.com. 9/10, if you don’t like to purchase overseas. 7/10 if you don’t care about shipping waits/international purchasing.

For me, Pretty lil Face gets an 8/10. For you, it might be lower depending on your preferences for prices, shipping, and selection.

I’ll definitely be purchasing from them again as soon as they update their selection.

I am also active on /r/AsianBeauty as aleebsi, so you’ll probably see me there!

Pretty lil Face Unboxing #1!

First post! I guess I have to start with a disclaimer (I’ve seen other bloggers do it).

Disclaimer: Everything in this post was purchased. Nothing was provided in exchange for review, and this is my honest opinion.

(I am also active on /r/AsianBeauty as aleebsi.)

Okay, that’s out of the way. Now, onto the unboxing!

Do you see that adorable packaging? It matches their business card!

I also love how efficiently they package things. It bothers me greatly when beauty e-retailers over-package stuff (Amazon, I love you, but I am talking to you and Julep, yes, specifically you guys. Is it a Seattle thing?).

I made this purchase from Pretty lil Face (www.prettylilface.com) on October 8, 2015. It shipped on October 12, 2015, and arrived October 15, 2015. This is my second purchase from the Canada-based website. They have a decent selection, great sales, and their customer service is fantastic! The layout of their website is very clean and easy to navigate. The only downside is that the prices are in CAD (Canadian Dollars). This wasn’t so much of a problem for me, because I grew up in Maine and I currently live in North Dakota, so I’m always aware of the exchange rate. This is becoming a review about their site and service, so I’m going to put a pin in that and do a full review later. Onto the goods!

These are the purchases I made:
**NOTE: C$0.00 means CAD (Canadian Dollar). The current exchange rate is C$1.00 = USD$0.77. Orders over C$50.00 ship for free! (Canada and US only.)

Holika Holika Heartful Moisture Lipstick CR3O01                                  C$7.60
Holika Holika Jewel-light Waterproof Under Eyeliner #9 Gold               C$6.40
Etude House Surprise Stick Concealer 02 Natural Beige                      C$6.20
Innisfree Apple Juicy Lip and Eye Remover                                          C$8.40
Etude House AC Clinic Intense Pink Powder Spot                                C$14.20
Etude House Fresh Cherry Lip Tint PK002                                           C$6.90
Etude House Fresh Cherry Lip Tint RD301                                          C$6.90
Etude House Fresh Cherry Lip Tint OR201                                          C$6.90
Etude House Precious Mineral Any Cushion – Refill #24 Honey Beige C$9.99
Etude House Proof 10 Waterproof Eye Primer                                      C$8.69
Etude House Sweet Recipe Baby Choux Makeup Base #1 Mint Choux C$11.90
Tony Moly Red Appletox Honey Cream                                                  C$12.80
Etude House Baking Powder Pore Cleansing Foam – 3 in 1 Type          C$7.99
Etude House Lovely Cookie Blusher #6 Grapefruit Jelly                         C$7.10
Etude House Lash Perm 3 Step Lash Volumecara                                 C$11.95

Total: 15 items                                                                                        C$133.92

That means it’s an average of ~C$8.93 (equivalent to USD$6.87). Great deal.

I know there’s a lot of Etude House in there… but I’ve noticed that they are the most available K-beauty brand internationally.

Every order also comes with free samples. Mmm, freebies~

Unfortunately, some of the boxes got a bit smushed. The products inside were still perfect, and we just throw the boxes away, so… not a big deal.

I will definitely be reviewing some of these products, like the Etude House Fresh Cherry Lip Tint (already took photos of the boxes for posterity), and the Proof 10 Eye Primer. I previously purchased the Etude House Precious Mineral Any Cushion in W24 Honey Beige (the darkest shade—I really wanted to try this cushion compact craze), so I wanted to get the refill while it was on sale.

I’m really excited about this purchase, and can’t wait to try all of the products! In my previous purchase, I got samples of the Tonymoly Red Appletox Honey Cream, the Etude House Baby Choux (in Mint and Berry), and the Etude House Baking Powder Cleansing Foam. Clearly, I liked the samples. xD I still have some lingering redness on my face, so I hope the Etude House AC Clinic Intense will help clear up my skin, and the Etude House Mint Choux base will help tone it down in the meantime. The HolikaHolika Heartful Moisture lipstick is more matte than I expected, so that might end up being my new nude matte! And I got another HolikaHolika Jewel Lights Eyeliner (this is my fourth one—no regrets, they are amazing and there will be a review).

Expect reviews of Pretty lil Face and some of these products in the near future (if you check the Reviews pages, they’re already on the roadmap)!