The Face Shop Natural Sun Eco Photogenic Sun Blur Review | tashamichaela

The Face Shop Natural Sun Eco Photogenic Sun Blur Review

ABOUT THE PRODUCT 

As soon as my last sun screen ran out, I just had to go out and buy a new one. In sunny Manila, a good sunblock is your skin's best friend. The Face Shop apparently just stocked their new Kakaotalk collaboration products and what do you know, they had some sun screen in the line. There seemed to be quite a few good products but this definitely caught my attention.

The Natural Sun Blur Photogenic Sun Eco is a sun screen with a blur effect. It claims to have a light fitting texture with pore coverage and it's also supposed to brighten the skin. The product contains sunflower seed extracts and does not contain any animal ingredients. There's also 45ml of product.

I forgot to mention that I got this super cute mouse pad along with my purchase.

PACKAGING 

Like a lot of Korean sun creams, it comes in a plastic container which is easy to squeeze and get the product out from the nozzle. It comes in bright yellow with a super cute Kakaotalk character printed in front.

SWATCH

The product is white with a tint of pink which helps to brighten up the complexion of the skin. It has sort of a lotion-type texture to it too. 

APPLICATION 

I placed the product only on the left side of my face while leaving the other side bare. 

The product is very lightweight even if I put a generous amount of it on my face. I found that my skin's complexion on the side with the sun screen on was toned up. The product also wasn't too greasy or oily either. It was pretty moisturizing even as it leaves a semi-matte finish. The moisture was just enough for a slight glowing effect which makes the skin look healthy. It might look dewy in the photo but that's actually really just the lighting. Since it also serves as a primer, it was really easy to put make-up on top of the sun screen and it looked great as well. Although, I find that the product doesn't help in minimizing or blurring pores as well as it should

MY THOUGHTS 

I'm really liking this product! On days wherein I feel a little lazy, I'd just slap this on and I'm good to go. It brightens up my complexion enough to make my skin look less dull. As a primer, it claims to have pore coverage but I find that it doesn't really do much for my pores. I'm happy with its brightening effect though, and the fact that it's very lightweight.

PROS 

– moisturizing

 – looks great under make-up
- not too oily or greasy
- dual purpose
- cute packaging

 CONS 

– not available in all The Face Shop stores in Manila
- does not blur or minimize pores

RATING (4/5 STARS) ★★★★☆

This was actually the first collab line I ever bought from and I'm really happy with it! I recently came from Seoul and there were so many adorable collaboration lines. Hopefully, Korean beauty brands in the Philippines could bring the collab lines here too. I'm super looking forward to it! Until next time!

♥ 

Tasha

Clio Peripera Peri's Ink Review | tashamichaela

Clio Peripera Peri's Ink (Shade #5)

ABOUT THE PRODUCT 

The product is a watery lip tint with a bold and intense color. It's lightweight and supposedly not drying. This product also claims to be waterproof and smudge proof. It comes in five different colors. The one I purchased is shade no. 5.

PACKAGING 

The product comes in a plastic pink container with the product's name in front. It's also pretty small which makes it very portable.

The applicator is interesting because it's a really slim kind of doe-foot applicator

SWATCH

As you can see, this shade (no. 5) is dark pink with a slight hint of red. It's also very very pigmented so be careful when putting it on! It also stains and dries easily.

I tried to test if it was really as waterproof as it claimed to be. After the product dried on my arm, I tried to erase the swatch with water, a wet wipe and some other products but it still left this stain. It's a pretty long lasting tint!

APPLICATION 

Since the tint dries quickly and is really pigmented, you've got to work on it as soon as you put it on because when it's on it's on. It doesn't budge much when it dries and it's really hard to remove once it's on there. Sadly, it's not very moisturizing because it dries very matte.

MY THOUGHTS 

If you don't have much time to touch up your lips throughout the day, this is the tint for you! Since it does stain for a really long time, it's my new daily lip tint. Oh, don't forget to moisturize your lips before applying this product though because it could get pretty drying.

PROS 

– very pigmented

 – long lasting
- travel friendly
- fast drying

 CONS 

– drying

 – hard to blend when dry

RATING (4/5 STARS) ★★★★☆

PS. I'm really sorry about not posting enough lately! I was caught up with school and (ahem) thesis. No worries though! I'm doing my best to plan out the rest of the posts and hopefully, you guys will continue to enjoy them!

♥ 

Tasha

Etude House Play 101 Stick Contour Duo Review | tashamichaela

Hey guys! Welcome back. ♡

This post is going to be a review about about the second product from my mini haul! You can check the photo of the haul a few posts back if you'd like. For now, let's get started on the review!

Etude House Play 101 Stick Contour Duo

ABOUT THE PRODUCT 

The product is a creamy contour duo that's used in shading and highlighting the face to give it a more dimensional look. It's one of the sticks in the Play 101 line that came out not too long ago.

PACKAGING 

It comes in a simple duo stick form with the name of the product in the center.

This is the shading or contouring end...

...and this is the highlighting end.

SWATCH

As you can see, the highlighting shade is white with only a hint of shimmer. The shading/contouring shade is a brown color with the slightest orange tone. It didn't really look as warm-toned as I thought it would be once it was all blended out. 

APPLICATION

Directions: Apply the highlighting color on T-zone, cheekbones and the shade color on sides of nose and below the jaw line.

Personally, I'm not much of a fan of the western way of highlighting/contouring since I'm not sure if it looks good on me. I try not to contour too heavily either since a natural look is what I usually go for.

I focused on shading my jaw down before placing the contour shade at the sides of my nose. I also placed the contour on my hairline to see how it'll work. With the highlighting shade, I placed it on some of the high parts of my face.

I look crazy but that's okay. 

The profile view. 

You can tell which features the Korean style of contouring wants to emphasize. It's minimal and strives to be very natural looking.

The one thing you should note about this product is that it's so creamy. You'll notice that it slides onto your skin like butter. With it being that creamy, one can easily use the product up quickly since it seems to melt away onto your face.

I used my brush from The Saem to blend it all out.

 Actually, I had to go back in with another layer of contour for my jaw and the lower part of my nose because it was such a humid day so the product slipped around a lot. With this, I realized that the contour stick might perform better in colder weathers. If you're living in humid areas such as myself, it would be best to place a light layer of powder-type bronzer on top of this product. 

I believe that the contour stick helped in giving an illusion of a slightly slimmer face and a smaller nose. Since it's really easy to blend out and buff into the skin, the outcome is very natural looking. It's as if you're not actually wearing any contour or highlight. 

MY THOUGHTS 

This product would be great for those who are just starting out in contouring and highlighting. There's very little room for mistakes or harsh looking lines because of the fact that it's so easy to blend. It's sad though that there isn't much product. It's so creamy that it's quickly used up. Where I live, they sell this for a bit more than they do in Korea so that's kind of a bummer.

PROS 

– easy to use

 – easy to blend
- great for shading and highlighting beginners

– build-able shading and highlighting
- 

 CONS 

– not a lot of product

 – product slips around when humid

RATING (4/5 STARS) ★★★★☆

RECOMMENDATION

To contouring beginners, this is probably one of the safest cream contouring and highlighting products you'll use! Of course, experts can also opt for this product to achieve a very natural contoured look.

PS. I wish this would come with more product. There isn't that much left after I used it, ㅠㅠ

♥ 

Tasha

SEOUL TRIP 2015 | tashamichaela

BACK TO SEOUL

This trip was my third return to Seoul and I don't think I'll ever get enough of this magical place. I only traveled here with my mom and sister the first few trips but this time around, my dad came along with us. The trip was to celebrate my sister's 18th birthday with the whole family. Who doesn't want to go see oppa's country for your birthday, right?

Just a warning! This post will be very photo heavy.

This was taken by my mom at the airport just before we left. That day, the airport felt like a church because it was so quiet and barely anyone was at our boarding gate area. It was honestly a first. Airports are usually crowded with people when I travel.

It was pretty late in the evening when we got to Skypark hotel. We had a quick dinner before calling it a night.

I wanted to show my dad the N Seoul Tower and we chose to take the bus to get there. For me, it's much cheaper than the cable car but if you're in it for the experience, go for it. 

Here we are waiting for our ride. 

If you want to know how to get to N Seoul Tower via. bus, you can contact me and I'll help you out! I know how difficult it can be to find your way around unfamiliar places. This was honestly the first time I ever tried taking the bus in Seoul so it was a pretty confusing experience. Nevertheless, we got there!

Ah, the famous love locks.

It was a very bright and sunny day. The perfect weather to go walking up towards the tower. 

Please don't be like me. Wear comfortable walking shoes. I honestly don't know what I was thinking wearing platform sandals.

Once we headed down from the tower area, we had lunch then left for Garosu-gil. I've never been to this particular street before so I thank the internet for fueling my adventurous needs.
This street is lined with pretty cafes and stores as well. Everything appears so 'instagram worthy'  if I do say so myself. 

A+ for visually appealing establishments.

There was a Line store with a HUGE teddy bear inside! So cute~

We were so hungry when we got back to Myeong-dong from Garosu-gil! We took this opportunity to munch down on some Korean street food. My personal favorite? The egg bread also known as gyeran bbang.

The next day was shopping day! This is seriously one of my favorite things to do in Korea especially during the sale seasons. We head off to Ewha Women's University first.

This is one of my mom's favorite stores. She particularly likes the quality of the clothes they sell here.

We kind of get a little crazy when shopping around these parts so we bring a small luggage bag with us. We don't have to carry the shopping bags from our purchases. Instead, we stuff them into the luggage and roll it around. It's much easier that way! Pro tip for ya.

Lots and lots of cute socks.

Walking down the streets of Edae. 

This is the entrance to the university. I feel like I'd go flat broke if I studied here. There's just so much temptation waiting for me outside. 

We took to Hongdae for even more shopping. There were a quite a lot of people that day.

Take time to appreciate the pretty murals too!



My parents felt a little tired from walking around so they stayed at this small ice cream store.



My sister got a pair of graded colored contact lenses from a store at Hongdae as well.



My dad owns a Yakitori place so he wanted to try the Korean street food version.



It was getting dark when we got back. We had a change of clothes and went out to get street food. Yep. More street food.



While my parents rested, I went out for some more shopping and found this amazing store. I'm seriously coming back here when I return to Korea this July.



One of the last few things we did was to visit the Hello Kitty Cafe in Myeong-dong.



You've got to admit... these are pretty dang cute.



Pink. Pink everywhere.



Well my mom seemed to like it.



It was sad that we had to leave the next day. This was our last meal at Myeong-dong before taking off to the airport.



I consoled myself with some fries and quesadilla at the airport.



Here we are back at Manila's airport. After a fun but also exhausting journey, we headed straight home to rest.

Basically those were the highlights of my 2015 trip! Not too long ago, I booked another flight to Korea... but this time, I'm going with a bunch of friends. I can't wait to come back again!
♥
Tasha