Guess what? I think we could be coming near to the end of my Japanese drugstore series. I have exhausted most of the categories for cosmetics and have eyeshadows left as my last entry.

However, I haven’t covered every single thing, e.g. concealer, but I haven’t really heard much buzz on them and even in Japan, Bobbi Brown, MAC, Cle De Peau, and Shu Uemura reign supreme in that category. And as you can see these are not drugstore brands. But if you have a Japanese drugstore concealer to recommend, please do so! Or any other type of product you would like me to review.

Here’s a line up of Japanese mascaras from the drugstore that I think are worth getting (from left to right): Dolly Wink Long Mascara Black, Dolly Wink Volume Mascara Black, Dejavu Fiberwig Extra Long, and Majolica Majorca Lash Expander.

I need to throw in a little disclaimer that I have very oily eye lids so I need mascara base to make any mascara smudge-proof, except the Dejavu one.

The Dejavu mascara, 1575JPY, is smudge-proof only up to three months of using it and then it would start to get smudgy but three months is about time to toss out a tube of mascara. This in itself is a miracle for my lashes. For me, I prefer lengthening mascaras though I do have to warn you that you need to really work this mascara to get any decent lengthening effect.

The Dolly Wink Long Mascara Black, 1500JPY, has amazing lengthening effect without much effort so I like to use this if I’m in a hurry. For the Dolly Wink Volume Mascara Black, I like the fact that it gives my lashes some oomph without being too clumpy. For both mascaras, I use Kate Mascara Base, which I have to warn you that past the three-month mark, these would still smudge even with primer.

In terms of results, I still like Majolica Majorca Lash Expander, 1260JPY, that is a cult fave among Japanese cosmetics fans. It thickens and lengthens in a flattering way, but my only gripe is that it still needs a primer and it is extremely difficult to remove.

But in comes the Heroine Make Mascara Remover, 882JPY, which removes stubborn mascara like a charm. The ingredients list is impressive – tsubaki oil, rosehip oil, and royal jelly essence are in the list, while being free of alcohol, fragrance, colouring, and parabens.

This mascara remover has seriously saved my poor lashes from being ripped off and all you need to do is to swipe the wand under your lashes and then press gently with a cotton pad. Then I spread a cleansing oil all over my face, including my eye area, and everything comes off easily.

What is your fave Japanese drugstore mascara? Do you think drugstore mascara works just as well, if not, better than high end mascara?

If you are interested in the other posts in my Japanese Drugstore Hunt 2000JPY & Below series, here are the links: eyeliner, pressed powder, nail polish, lipstick, blush, and lip gloss.

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Hello my lovelies, how are you? I’m blogging from NYC and taking a break to just chill and be still for a day. I wouldn’t say I’ve been having terribly action-packed days but I have been shopping quite a lot and catching up with friends here. I’m surprisingly keeping up with my workout regime plus I’m walking around a lot which is a good thing because I’m eating way too well in this city. 

Just a picture of my delicious brunch of eggs florentine in the East Village on a Saturday morning with Mr BB. So you can see why all this walking and shopping are absolutely necessary.

Anyway, onto my real purpose for blogging today – I would like to show you the contents of my emergency beauty pouch after an “ugly day on the go”. I have morphed into one of those ladies who put on makeup on the train. I really think it’s the best solution when I’m running late because not only would I be on time but I would be made-up! 

This is obviously a work in progress and the main theme I found in the products I chose were either drugstore makeup that I wouldn’t mind trashing around in my handbag, makeup that I hardly reach for and would like to use more of, and reliable staples that would never go wrong in any situation.

Back row from left to right: 

Hada Labo BB Cream in Natural Ochre; Paul & Joe Cream Cheek Butter 03; Nivea Lip Balm; Majolica Majorca Lash Expander; Esprique Mellow Rouge 422; Urban Decay Primer Potion

Middle row left to right:

Canmake Eyebrow Kit; Revlon ColorStay Pressed Powder; Visee Blondy eyeshadow palette; Maquillage Single Eyeshadow Trio Palette

Front row:

Hair-ties; Shu Uemura Face Brush

The Hada Labo BB Cream is a great match for my skin tone and has medium coverage so I won’t have to bother with blending or concealing. The Paul & Joe blush is a pretty peachy coral that is an excellent everyday shade, while the Visee Blondy palette gives a delicate neutral eye and you can’t put on too much of it so great for nervous hands and a stressed brain.

The ones that I’m valiantly trying to use are the Revlon ColorStay Pressed Powder and the Maquillage Single Eyeshadow Trio Palette. The pressed powder is not very finely milled as my other ones so I really don’t tend to reach for this but I would use it if I had no other choice. The Maquillage shadows actually have a lot of fallout so I think it wasn’t out of convenience that I stuck it into my pouch but I hope to reach for it more though this might stress me out more if I had to deal with fallout on the go.

What type of products do you pack in your emergency makeup pouch? And why do you choose them?
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Of all the Japanese drugstore brands, I would say Majolica Majorca has a way with stirring up beauty fanatics into a tizzy with their prettily packaged limited edition collections. I think Visee does a fine job, too, with their collaborations, but Majo Majo does it with a lot more flair and pomp.

This winter, Majolica Majorca released their limited edition collection that has a magical theme, wands and poker cards and all. In the range, there are three products: a lip and cheek gel, Blood On, a new mascara Lash King, and Sweet Joker Perfume Concentrate.

I wasn’t too impressed by Blood On at first but I nabbed it anyway because of the rave reviews I read online. I dislike it on the lips as is but it works well on top of a lipstick — on its own, the red shade looks a bit thin so it’s like a very sheer tinted lip balm. I also find the texture to be a bit on the oily side. For the cheeks, however, it is brilliant. It gives a very gorgeous, healthy flush that you get when you’re wind-blown. I like using this on top of a BB cream for a casual, semi-madeup look.

With a name like that, I expected a lot from this mascara but the Lash Expander is still tops in my books. Whoever says this mascara is fabulous must be blind! There are so many rave reviews on this mascara — weird. Lash King is more of a lengthening mascara, but you really need to apply several coats to make your lashes look more dressed up, and it smudges like no tomorrow after just a few hours of wear.

If I wear this, I would definitely use my Kate mascara base before using this to prevent smudging. I’ve used way better lengthening mascaras so I wouldn’t bother with this, if I were you.

Finally, the perfume was also quite similar to their original Majoromantica perfume which I have sadly fallen out of love with. The latest one is just a lighter version of the original and so I didn’t get it. If you are not a fan of musky perfume, I would say stay away from this. There is a hint of “sweatiness” to this perfume that I can’t seem to stomach.

This review is a little harsh but I was quite disappointed with this collection as I’m normally a fan of Majolica Majorca. I still love the brand for its Lolita-ish edginess and I always have fond memories of picking up their products when I first landed in Japan because they were so eye-catching!

Have you tried this limited edition collection? What do you think?

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For the Japanese mascara-obsessed, you’ll be glad to know that today’s post is about two mascara primers that are from respectable drugstore brands and they both enhance the performance of mascara in one way or another. I think everyone has a few must-have pre-requisites for their mascara and mine are: smudge-proof, lengthening, not clumpy, and easy to wash off.

Unfortunately, I have an insatiable hunger for eyeshadows, blushes, and foundations, so I tend to skimp on my other eye-related beauty products. I was glad to find Majolica Majorca’s Lash Expander mascara which is an excellent black mascara that is very affordable (plus it’s a cult fave amongst Asian cosmetics fans out there) and it also has an amazing mascara primer, called the Lash Bone Black Fiber In (the name doesn’t make sense!), that will not budge under any circumstances (the true test are unbearable humid Tokyo summers). However, the Lash Expander on its own is hard to remove, let alone combined with the primer.

Thanks to K from Cosmeddicted, I tried her recommendation of Kate’s Mascara Base.

How do both of these compare? I’ll break it down right here:

♥ Texture:
- MM is thicker and oilier which tends to clump if you brush your lashes with it more than twice.
- Kate is more liquidy like a thick serum and doesn’t clump.

♥ Effect:
- MM actually helps to lengthen your lashes even more, so if you use this with the Lash Expander, you can get pretty amped up lashes easily. But if you put on too much, there will be that “spidery” effect though I would save this for a big night out.
- Kate has no visible lengthening effect at all.

♥ Smudge-proofness:
- Both performed excellently with the MM Lash Expander, but unfortunately, the Kate one didn’t prevent smudging for my Lancome L’Extreme mascara but granted it was quite old and should be tossed out. However, the MM one was perfect with the Lancome mascara so maybe MM is quite a life-saver if you are using a mascara that is still okay to use but nearing the end of its efficacy. I also tried the Kate primer with the Dolly Wink Long Masacara and I was pleased with zero smudging at the end of the day.

♥ Ease of removal:
- MM is very hard to remove with any mascara. I usually need two cotton pads soaked with dual-phase remover for each eye. I try not to tug on my eye area so what I do is I press the soaked cotton pad onto my eye for up to 20 seconds and then I wipe it downwards to get the mascara off and then I repeat with a second cotton pad. I tried not to wipe and used more remover but it was impossible.
- Kate is much easier to remove but I still need a dual-phase remover to get everything off. I have to wipe my eyes much less, too, and need just one cotton pad instead of two.

♥ Cost:
- Both are 1260JPY and thus very affordable.

♥ Repurchase potential:
- For the MM I won’t repurchase simply based on the fact that it’s so hard to remove. Even though it provides a great lengthening effect, I think other mascaras can do the job just fine without such a base. For Kate, I would recommend it and would re-purchase it but I would keep in mind that this is only for waterproof mascara which I always opt for anyway. I know that I didn’t test this on non-waterproof mascara but just based on the assumption that it didn’t work with my smudgy Lancome waterproof mascara, it would not really work on non-waterproof mascara. But please feel free to tell me otherwise!

Do you have other mascara primers to recommend? Or if you don’t use primer, tell us about your fave mascara!

Hey my lovelies, thanks for the great response to Part I of this post. I think Asian skincare/cosmetics lovers (like me) have an endless fascination with Japanese drugstore brands.

Let’s continue with the reviews, shall we?

Kose Sekkisei Facial Soap

I really wanted to like this product but it was too heavily fragranced to make me feel at ease. It was also extremely drying and from an aesthetics point of view, a piece of navy blue soap with dried foam marks is not the prettiest sight to see daily. After this short foray into facial soap, I decided I still prefer liquid or powder cleansers for the face.

Shiseido Inicio Body Creator EX

I was very hopeful that this product would help my KP (read here for what KP is) when I watched one of Fuzkittie‘s videos (she said it completely banished her KP) , i.e. goosebump-like spots on the back of my arms that are clogged hair follicles. I did see an improvement to my right arm but my left arm has remained the same so I’m not sure if it was really due to this product that the bumps decreased. It also feels extremely cooling when you apply it so my guess is that it has a lot of alcohol in it which I dislike. Despite having reservations, I really did give this a fair go of two months (I used it almost everyday), but alas, into the bin it went.

Revlon Top Speed Jaded C-28, Canmake Colorful Nails 105A & 9021, and Integrate Base Coat.

I really love the Revlon light blue-green shade but the manicure only lasted two days before chipping — and mind you, that included base and top coat. The Canmake nude sparkly colours are very pretty in person and it lasted about four days before chipping which is not too bad considering it’s such a cheap product. But you know, I’ve had OPI manicures done at a nail salon and it chipped the same day! I’m open to getting to know brands that have good quality polish – do drop me a note in the comments section.

Geruma Black & White Bath Salts

Thanks to a great post on bath salts that make you sweat by Nic Nic from bangbangsheshoots, I am now in love with these Geruma bath salts. I’m not sure if I feel any significant differences between the various types of bath salts under this brand but they all have the same effect — tons of sweating and I always feel tired after a bath and I sleep very soundly. I hope that this will help me sweat out the toxins, clear clogged pores, and decrease water retention.

Pictured above is another one I tried and it was awesome as well. They look different, e.g. the black salts made my bath water dark grey and the white ones made it milky, while this one was also cloudy but not as much as the white ones, but they all smell the same — a subtle scent of sulphur which is reminiscent of real onsens (hot springs) in Japan. They also fizz and pop when you add hot water — fun!

Bihada Plus Rose Champagne

This smelled nice and sweet but I didn’t sweat much with these bath salts and they made the water a bit slimy which was strange for me. I much prefer the Geruma ones.

Majolica Majorca Lash Expander Frame Plus & Lash Bone Black Fiber In

I finally gave Majolica Majorca mascara another shot after swearing off them for a few years. When I first arrived in Japan, I bought a Majolica Majorca mascara and it was so clumpy it drove me crazy! My Lancome mascara just could not hold up in this heat and humidity and I feel naked without mascara so I decided to change it up a little. I thought perhaps to reduce the clumpiness I should use a mascara base and it worked! But it is so hard to remove this masacara which leads me to my next product…

Mandom Beauty Cleansing Express Eyemakeup Remover

This is not a bad choice for removing stubborn mascara but it’s still not super powerful. I shake the dual action formula, soak a cotton pad with it, and then press it gently on my closed eyes for a few seconds. I do need to swipe a few more times to get all the mascara off but it’s way better than a usual makeup remover and I can keep my lashes intact.

Majolica Marjorca Jeweling Eyes GR791

I always love how creative Majolica Marjorca combines colours for their eyeshadow palettes but there is a lot of fallout but at the cheap price of 1,500JPY I can’t complain. I tend to reach for this palette when I’m super casual and wearing something blue or green. The turquoise shade blends well with the dark olive shadow and after oxidizing, it becomes more grey-green. Definitely not for folks who hate products that oxidize.

Dolly Wink Liquid Eyeliner (Black), Heroine Make Liquid Eyeliner, Majolica Majorca Perfect Automatic Eyeliner

I bought the Dolly Wink eyeliner three months ago and I LOVE it. I’m not very good at putting on eyeliner so the stiff pointed brush is practically foolproof. Prior to that, I was using the Heroine Make one and I think it’s too soft for me but I still use it once in a while in a bid to finish it up. Lastly, the MM one is quite a disappointment. I like the dark brown shade which suits me very well but the “automatic” part of the liner, which is a twist mechanism to get more eyeliner to ooze out and it’s always way too much but if you don’t twist it, there won’t be enough product to line your eyes. I have to dab it with a tissue to make it just right but I’m definitely switching to a brown shade by Dolly Wink soon.

Majolica Majorca Jeweling Pencil (White & Black)

Michelle Phan is a big fan of highlighting the inner corners of her eyes with a white eye pencil which I thought is such a refreshing way to do your eyes so I bought one to test it out. I like it enough but I realized I could use the lighter shades in my eyeshadow palettes to do the same job so I tend to forget about this eye pencil. The black one is pretty good for lining eyes if you don’t like liquid liners — it’s soft even after you sharpen it but I have to say that I’m not the best expert on eyeliners. I must add that if you want to do a “wing” at the outer tip of your eyes, then a liquid liner would be much better than a pencil one.

Whooooooo, that was a mouthful. Thanks for going through my reviews and I’m in Taipei as you’re reading this. Will be back to report on my beauty finds in Taiwan.

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Hello gorgeous ones, I know I haven’t been publishing non-Beauty Box News posts recently but I promise there is something very special coming up. I’ve still got to put the finishing touches on it and here’s a little pre-launch flash: it’s close to my heart and the first e-book I have ever ever ever written (!!!). I’ve been working on this for a few months and it’s finally almost ready.

In the meantime, I’ve got something to show you. By coincidence, I bought two black-and-red things that I love….

This is the fall limited edition Majolica Majorca perfume. It comes in a cute red goth-inspired bottle with a stick applicator, instead of a spray. The fragrance is much like an essential oil type so it’s a little bit viscous and not extremely liquidy like spray perfumes.

Can I say it’s very lovely. The more I wear it, the more I like it. It’s got an intoxicating blend of citrus, berries, vanilla, rose, and sandalwood. For a drugstore brand, I would say this is pretty good quality. I was a bit hesitant buying it because rose accents in bargain products are something I hate because they end up smelling so cheap and nasty. Alas, this was not the case for the new MM perfume because you can hardly smell any rose fragrance at all!

Conclusion: Great for everyday fall wear but probably too heavy for summer.

Next up, I couldn’t resist nabbing this cute Agnes B. eco bag and the magazine, Steady, had a bonanza puchipura (affordable) cosmetics spread so I was curious to read it.

Look, the back comes with a pretty heart-shaped hook for your desk…

It makes me almost want to be an OL so I could use this in my cubicle – lol!

Steady is obviously for women in their early 20s or even teens because there were some Sanrio-related editorials that were a wee bit too cute even for me.

How is your Monday so far?

PS: Don’t forget to shop till you drop at our Christmas Sale — spend USD200 and get 10% discount off your entire bill!!

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When I pick up household products like washing powder and toilet paper at my local kusuriya (pharmacy), I would be irresistibly drawn to the cosmetics aisle.

I picked up a Majolica Majorca eyeshadow palette, 1575JPY (USD17), last week. I had been thinking that I don’t really have smokey shades in my makeup bag, so I thought I would get this to create darker looks:

(more…)

When it comes to cosmetics, I tend to be drawn to those with pretty packaging, like Paul & Joe, Anna Sui, Stila, and Jill Stuart. But the sad thing is that these gorgeous gems are too expensive to indulge in on a regular basis, so I was thrilled to discover Majolica Majorca (MM).

Other affordable brands like Maybelline and Revlon don’t excite me because their colour palettes don’t really offer a wide range of shades and the textures do feel a bit rough as you glide on their products.

But MM is pretty smooth for a pharmacy brand — obviously it is not in the same league as Chanel in terms of silkiness — and I sampled almost everything except their eye pencils and foundation products. The lip gloss was pretty okay, not too sticky, while mascaras are better than L’Oreal in terms of lengthening but it still clumps, so you would have to clean the little comb applicator they provide everytime you use it. I never had to do this with Lancome or Clinique.

1,400JPY

What really caught my attention were their eye shadow compacts. The hues were subtle and wearable, which you might assume otherwise due to the goth packaging. The texture was very smooth and the colour fairly long-lasting. I could go for a lighter look, or choose to have a smokier blue-grey effect — what’s not to like?

500JPY

These lil’ babies are awesome for gals like me who love MANY different shades of eyeshadows. They have a wide range of colours to choose from and they’re so affordable.

I did consider selling MM in Beauty Box but the margins are just too low. When MM was launched in Oct, I got a friend to nose around the counter at Takashimaya’s Watson’s — she took down the prices and they are so cheap in Singapore. I won’t have a competitive edge at all and the Japanese yen climbed yet again this week. Bleah.

Anyway, I’m glad I have a cheap option for cute makeup during these hard economic times. A girl’s still gotta look good no matter what.