Browsing Tag

Christmas

beauty Cosnova PR Sample

Review: Essence Winter? Wonderful! Collection

17. December 2015

// PR SAMPLE / BEAUTY / MAKE-UP //

Another post to bring you into the winter and Christmas moods! After yesterday’s Etude House Snowy Dessert Collection today it is all about the latest Christmas/Winter collection by Essence called “Winter? Wonderful!”, which was kindly sent to me for reviewing purpose.

Essence Winter? Wonderful! Collection

Essence is a european drug store brand, which is easily available here in Germany, but also in many other countries around the world. Their brand philosophy is against animal testing and their products are really affordable, providing a reasonable quality. The new Essence Trend Edition “Winter? Wonderful!” is available from mid of December until January 2016 and will be perfect for those of you who love winter-themed products. The color range of these products reaches from white, grey and iceblue to warmer, nude shades like light pink and apricot. The key piece of the Essence Winter? Wonderful! Collection is definitely the eyeshadow palette, but also the four nail polishes from this collection have each different effects like “frosted”, “crystallized” or “iced”. 

Essence Winter? Wonderful! Collection

Let’s start off with two of the lip products from the Essence Winter? Wonderful! Collection: the Essence Winter? Wonderful! Tint & Oil No. 01 “if kisses were snowflakes” and the Essence Winter? Wonderful! Lip Balm! The Lip Balm comes in a clear plastic container, so you can see the bullet inside. The bullet looks like ice, since it is a clear balm with shimmering particles. It gives a soft, shimmery finish to the lips. The moisturizing property of the lip balm is okay, but not overwhelming. Nevertheless, if you are looking for a simple lip balm with shimmer particles this product might suit you. The Lip Balm retails for 1.99€. The Essence Winter? Wonderful! Tint & Oil caught my attention because recently oil tints are gaining more popularity. I was hoping for a tint similar to the Tonymoly Shaking tint Delight. No.01 is a light pink color, almost clear with a strawberry scent. It comes in a silver container with an included applicator. Compared to the Tonymoly Oil tint the Essence Tint & Oil is much more similar to a gloss, which means it is kind of sticky and not watery/oily. Unfortunately, I’m not a friend of sticky lip products, especially not during cold and windy seasons, so this one is not my cup of tea. The Tint & Oil is also available in another pink shade called “02 …I’d send you a blizzard”. They retail for 2.99 € each.

Essence Winter? Wonderful! Collection

The Essence Winter? Wonderful! Eye & Inner Rim Pencil comes in two shades aswell: 01 cold as eyes and 02 eye candy. I will show you shade 01, a white highlighting pencil, which you can use under your eyes, in the inner corner of your eyes, or in the water-line. The pencil has a harder texture, which means it is good for precise lines, but not suited to be used for eyeshadow, since it is not creamy enough. The color payoff is nice and visible. It doesn’t come with an included sharpener, so make sure to have one at hands. The Essence Winter? Wonderful! Eye & Inner Rim Pencils retail for 1.99 €.

Essence Winter? Wonderful! Collection

The last face makeup product I will show you is the Essence Winter? Wonderful! Eyeshadow Palette in “All Ice On Me!”. This palette comes with five different shades: white, grey, light pink, light brown and darker brown. The grey and the light brown color contain shimmer particles, whereas the other shades are matte. The packaging design of this eyeshadow palette is eye-catching, too, since it is illustrated with snow crystals all over. I really love the design of this palette!

Essence Winter? Wonderful! Collection

The backside of the palette contains some description and how to use the eyeshadow palette. The palette doesn’t come with any applicator or brush. The color payoff of the colors is not very pigmented. Even with a primer the colors are very soft. The palette also creates some fall-off, when I’m using my brushes. I would say the colors are more suited for a very natural and soft eye makeup. It will be hard to create any bold makeup though. Also the shimmers are very soft and almost not visible when swatched. The palette retails for 3.79 €. Below you will find the swatches for all the face makeup products:

Essence Winter? Wonderful! Collection
The Essence Winter? Wonderful! Nail Polishes are available in 4 different shades, plus one Top Coat. The nail polishes are available in 01 the frosted, 02 the semi matt, 03 the iced and 04 the crystallized. The top coat is an ice-topping called 01 a winter’s tale. Below, I used No.01 and No. 03 on my hands. 01 “the frosted” is a white matte nail polish which, which looks like sugar icing. With two coats of that nail polish you can achieve a nice opaque layer on your nails. It dries very quickly, so it is also super easy to apply in several layers. 03 “the iced” is a shimmery, rough effect nail polish. I used it on top of the white nail polish, but it can be used on its own, too. This one needs a bit longer to dry than the frosted nail polish, but they look both very pretty and winter-y on the nails. The nail polishes retail for 1.79 €. The top coat which I didn’t show retails for 1.99 €.

Essence Winter? Wonderful! Collection

And in order to have nicely hydrated hands the Essence Winter? Wonderful! Hand Balm is ideal! The packaging of the tube is beautiful and fits perfect to the season. The balm feels nourishing but not too heavy. It absorbs fast into the skin and has a nice scent, too! It retails for 1.99 €. Last, but not least, the collection also includes two hair ties with an attached fake fur pompom! I bet it looks super cute on a ponytail. The hair tie is available in white and in pink/apricot and retails for 1.49 €.

Essence Winter? Wonderful! Collection

How do you like the Essence Winter? Wonderful! Collection? What is your impression, or did you try any of the products already? My favourite is the frosted nail polish and the hand balm. But I also like the eyeshadow palette despite the natural pigmentation. The design of the collection is really pretty in my eyes, too!

Just as a short reminder: All products mentioned and reviewed on this blog are of my personal opinions. This product here was sent to me for reviewing purpose by http://www.essence.eu/ which doesn’t influence me in providing my honest opinion on the products.

Fell free to join my giveaway with Japan Candy Box, too! Did you see it already?

Japan Candy Box

asian cosmetics beauty beauty boxes Etude House PR Sample review

Etude House Pink Bird Box November “Snowy Dessert Collection”

16. December 2015

If you follow me on instagram or facebook you already know that I was offered to be part of the Etude House Pink Bird Program and I’m really honoured and happy to present to you my first Etude House Pink Bird Box today! The theme of Etude House November Pink Bird Box is “Snowy Dessert Collection”, which is the name of Etude House’s Christmas Collection 2015 on the same time, and as the name already reveals, this box contains products of that collection! If you are curious about some of Etude House’s newest product continue reading, but be aware that this post is picture-heavy :D

Etude House Pink Bird Box

First of all, some words about the Korean brand Etude House: Etude House is one of the best known Korean brands for cute packaging. If you are a lover of cute, girly and pink packaging, reminding you of being a child and the princess you always dreamt to be, THIS is your brand. Their packaging is usually so adorable that you cannot keep yourself from impuls-buys – only because you saw the packaging… Etude House is having a blogger program called Pink Bird. Selected blogger will receive a monthly box for a defined period of time packed with selected products for reviewing purpose. Since I’m really a huge fan of Etude House I’ve always looked up to other bloggers who were part of the program in the past and read their posts of previous Etude House Pink Birds eagerly, and now, having a pink bird box in my own hands, makes me really proud and also ashamed, since some of the past pink birds are people I could call blogger-idols :D (please check out bloggers like for example HelloPrettyBird, MangoBeautyTips, or BeautyJunkie…there are many, many more of course!).

Etude House Pink Bird

Opening the Etude House Pink Bird Box November was super exciting! I was so curious about the products of the Snowy Dessert Collection, but also about the other sample kit of the new Honey Cera skin care line, which was part of the Etude House Pink Bird Box, too. Inside the box there was also the Etude House magazine and some advertorial flyers of the two lines which are part of the box. The Etude House magazine is really cute and contains some how-to instructions and makeup tips. Are you interested in some pictures from the magazine? Let me know in the comments!

Etude House Pink Bird

The products of my Etude House Pink Bird Box November were Etude House Snowy Dessert Play 101 Pencils in shade No. 71 and No. 73, Etude House Snowy Dessert Pudding Tint No.3 Grapefruit Tint, and Etude House Snowy Dessert Ginger Cookie Blusher. Moreover, there was a Honey Cera 4-in-1 Kit, containing the Etude House Honey Cera Nourishing & Elasticity Cream, the Etude House Honey Cera Priming Eye Serum and the Etude House Honey Cera Toner and Emulsion.

Etude House Pink Bird

Let’s start off with the products from the Snowy Dessert Collection 2015: This collection is designed to remind you of all these tasty and lovely Christmas desserts, only here you cannot eat them, but instead use them for your next makeup. The collection contains 5 new and limited colors of the Etude House Play 101 Pencils (I reviewed some of their pencils in the past >>here<<), 5 colors of the Snowy Dessert Pudding Tints, the Snowy Dessert Ginger Cookie Blusher and Contour Maker, two different Snowy Dessert Hand Creams and two Snowy Dessert Scented Tablets. You can check out the whole collection on Etude House Online Shopping Mall.

Etude House Pink Bird

I was most excited about the Etude House Snowy Dessert Ginger Cookie Blusher, because it was one of the products I was thinking about to buy, before I knew that I would receive the Pink Box. The packaging of this Blusher is really adorable and fits perfectly to Christmas. The Snowy Dessert Cookie Ginger Blusher comes in a cardboard packaging designed like an oven! This is so cute! I fell in love with this packaging at once!

Etude House Pink Bird

The Snowy Dessert Ginger Cookie Blusher is a two-toned blusher with a bronze color. It has a sweet ginger bread man imprinted and I really hesitated to use my brush on this blusher, because I feared the cute ginger bread man would disappear. So far I’ve used this blush quite often but you still see the ginger bread man luckily!

Etude House Pink Bird

The color of this blusher is very light and swatched on my hand you hardly see anything apart from a glowy, bronze shimmer. Nevertheless, when I applied it on my cheeks the color is more vibrant and visible, resulting in a brownish/ bronze color which is more than lovely for fall and winter season. The Snowy Desser Ginger Cookie Blusher contains 9 g of product and retails for 16.80 US$. It doesn’t come with a puff or a brush. Some pictures below I also will show you how my complete facial makeup looks like and how the color of this blusher turns out on my cheeks.

Etude House Pink Bird

The Etude House Snowy Desser Pudding Tint in Shade 3 called Grapefruit Pudding comes in a cardboard box designed like those cake boxes you will receive at some bakeries. Another super adorable designed product! Once you open the cardboard box you will find the tint in a small jar together with a spoon/spatula.

Etude House Pink Bird

The Snowy Dessert Pudding Tint has a pudding texture, as the name suggests, which also remind me a bit of some mousse or other desserts like that. Kind of a bouncy texture. The spatula has a soft plastic tip. You can use it like a spoon to scoop out the pudding tint. The spreading of the tint is better done with the backside of the spoon, or with a separate lip brush or your fingers. The color of the pudding tint is super vibrant and highly pigmented, but also can be blended in as soft gradient. As for the staying power of this lip tint the stain is visible quite a long time. It may be not as vibrant as when you apply it, but it doesn’t look bad either. If you have dry lips you should exfoliate your lips definitely in advance, otherwise the vibrant pink color will cling to every dry lip flake or wrinkle. The lip tint jar contains 5.5 g and retails for 10.40 US$.

Etude House Pink Bird

The Etude House Snowy Dessert Play 101 Pencils, which I received in shade No.71 and No. 73 are both pencils with a shimmering finish. They come in a plastic box and have a stripe design. No. 71 is a light pink color, whereas No. 73 is a light pearly color.

Etude House Pink Bird

Both shades are super pretty for the under-eye area or the inner corners of your eyes for highlighting. You can twist up the pencils and there is also a tiny sharpener included for sharpening the tip of the pencils. The texture of the product is a creamy type pencil, so it is also useable as eyeshadow for example. I love the shades, because they are really subtle and yet have such a pretty sparkle. Each pencil contains 0.5g and retails for 7.80 US$.

Etude House Pink Bird

In the image below I used all the products I received from the Snowy Dessert Collection to create a makeup look. I used the Ginger Cookie Blusher on my cheeks, the Grapefruit Pudding Tint on my lips and I used the Play 101 Pencil shade No. 71 on my lid and shade No. 73 under my eyes for highlighting. I really like the combination of all the colors for this soft and yet fresh look.  There are some discounted Snowy Dessert Makeup Sets available on Etude House which come with a Snowing in my Hand Snow Pen as gift!

Etude House Pink Bird

Last but not least the Etude House Pink Bird Box November contained the Honey Cera 4-in-1 Kit. The new Etude House Honey Cera line contains honey as key ingredient for nourishing and moisturizing. Furthermore, it contains Royal Jelly and Ceramide. Royal Jelly has nourishing properties like the honey and Ceramide strengthens the skin barrier. Also, you will find extracts of the Helichrysum italicum or also called Italian Immortelle or Curry Plant in the Etude House Honey Cera Line. The purpose of this extract is soothing and moisturizing. Aim of this line is to make the skin plump and nourished and give it the “honey-look”. These ingredients are perfect for winter-time and for dry and rough skin types!

Etude House Pink Bird

I cannot say anything about the long-term effects of this set since it is too few to make any conclusions, but from my first impression I really like this kit. The scent is a nice sweet and flowery scent, but nothing like honey as I imagined before. Unlike most other toners the Honey Cera Toner has a milky color, but the consistency is watery nevertheless. It absorbs quite fast without stickiness. The emulsion is a lightweight lotion, whereas the cream has a thick and nourishing consistency. The cream also leaves the skin a bit tacky afterwards, but definitively  the nourishing and firming aspect is noticeable. The eye serum looks like a balm but is very light and doesn’t feel heavy. It feels nice under and above the eye. Toner and Emulsion contain 15ml each, the eye serum contains 4 ml and the cream contains 10 mg of product. If you order any of the Etude House Honey Cera products in fullsize you will reveive one of this kits with your order! 

Etude House Pink Bird

Finally, I’m at the end of my first Pink Bird Box review. Did you like the content of Etude House Pink Bird Box November? I really like the topic of the Christmas themed products and the winter-proof skincare items to combat dry winter skin. Which are your favourite products? Did you try any of the products already? Tell me about it in the comments below!

Etude House Pink Bird

Just as a short reminder: All products mentioned and reviewed on this blog are of my personal opinions. This product here was sent to me for reviewing purpose by http://www.etudehouse.com/ which doesn’t influence me in providing my honest opinion on the products.
award other

The Jolly Blogger Award

18. December 2014

Christmas is only a couple of days ahead, and, matching to the season I’ve been nominated by KimKine for the Jolly Blogger Award!

The Jolly Blogger Award

Do you open your gifts on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day?

Usually on Christmas Day :) But it changes from year to year.

Favorite Christmas song?

I like the Christmas songs from Frank Sinatra, especially the classic “White Christmas” song of him.

Favorite Holiday movie?

Haha, I’m always getting into Christmas mood if I see “Home Alone” in TV…It may be not my favourite holiday movie, but it is the most Christmas-y…And I love watching “Nightmare before Christmas” when the holidays aproach :)

The Jolly Blogger Award

Favorite Christmas decoration?

Light chains…I love how everything looks so bright with all these lights on Christmas.

Favorite Christmas food?

I’m a huge fan of roast chicken and wild pork! I like to cook by myself, too, and I enjoy it everytime :D

Favorite holiday/winter drink?

Hot Chocolate *_*

The Jolly Blogger Award

Snow or no snow?

I like snow as long as I’m inside my warm home. It is nice to look at and the nights seem less dark. The place in Germany where I live is usually more rainy than snowy, and if we have some snow it will turn into a muddy mess after 1 or two days :/

Do you send out cards or no cards?

I forget it most of the times, but I try to do better this year…luckily this reminded me of sending some..:D

Do you secretly still believe in Santa Claus?

I have to cite KimKine here “Believing in the generosity and love of your friends and family is much better!” That’s definitively how people should think about Christmas time and the purpose of this holiday.

The Jolly Blogger Award

Your favourite winter clothing item?

The most important are definitively skarfs, but I usually don’t leave without wearing a cap or other head piece :D I received a fox beanie from a dear friend and you can see me wearing it above ♥…My nose appears  red in the picture, like Rudolph the red nosed reindeer…~_~

One beauty product you cannot be without this winter?

Most important is hand cream! My hands get so dry, especially if I dont wear gloves.

Best Christmas memory?

I don’t have any specific Christmas memory because it was always kind of special. I love that you get to spend time with your family so it is always a good memory.

I tag:

Chie from The Brown Eyed Fox

Rini from Rini Cesillia

Evelyn from Korean Beauty Dream

Ashley from Obviobsessions

Raimar from Sakuranko

♥ Hope you enjoyed reading ♥