Etude House Ice-cream Nail Polish – Mint Chocochip

This is a swatch of the etude icecream polishes in mint chocochip. My teenager got this for me as a Mothers Day present! Isn’t that the sweetest thing? Speckled nail polishes are a real trend this season between the i’mperfection nail polishes like illamasqua and the Deborah Lippmann speckled polish. This polish has a combination of small pink square, copper and pale green hexagonal glitters and smaller black circular glitters against a blue-green creme background. This is three coats.

Anyway, the etude house icecream polish is not a dupe for the Illamasqua or Lippmann polishes. The colour sits between the blue of Fragile/Rockin’ Robin and the green of Mottle. The Illamasqua polishes seem to have all black hexagonal/small circle glitter and the Deborah Lippmann polishes have small back circles only. However it’s a really pretty take on the trend and a good way to try the trend for a lower price tag. (Also the packaging, in the icecream cone bottle is utterly adorable.)

On the negative side – the wear time is not excellent, I already have a little tip wear after 12 hours. The formula is a bit painful – thin but heavy with glitter so you need some dabbling to get the glitter in place and it’s very easy to get messy cuticles. I also can’t find any evidence that this is a 3-free nail polish, so that may be an issue as well.

Princesses Rule – by OPI

Don’t you hate it when you put on a fun glitter bomb nail polish then remember you have a serious meeting and can’t wear anything so eyecatching. Last night I had a meeting and suddenly looked at my nail and realised by earlier manicure wasn’t going to cut. I grabbed a mini of Princesses Rule I had hanging around, which seemed like it might be a good option as light pink polish.

It’s a very sheer, very sparkly polish. This is two coats and I don’t think it would ever become opaque. The pink is not very noticable, but the shimmer/sparkle is very noticable so it actually isn’t that work appropriate unfortunately. This is why it still hasn’t gotten used up I think… it’s best as an accent/layering.

Jo’mina + Prism by Illamasqua

After a week of Jo’Mina by itself I got a little bored, so I gave it a top coat of Prism. It turns the vibrant periwinkle-purple into a pretty lilac shimmer with a pale blue shift which was a lovely change.

Jo’Mina by Illamasqua+ Celia Birtwell x Uniqlo

This is a swatch of Jo’Mina. It’s an Illamasqua colour, a gorgeous vibrant pastel purple (is that a thing? a vibrant pastel). It’s shiny and has a dream formula, almost applies itself and looks like new 3 days into my manicure.

Anyway I chose it to go with my shirt from Uniqlo x Celia Birtwell. It’s a super soft and comfy T with a great bright floral pattern – kind of punky florals but appropriate for the school run.  freaking love uniqlo. I wish they had a store near me, or indeed an online store that would ship to me but I know it would just suck all of the money right out of my wallet.

Fast fashion like Uniqlo is a delicate topic right now. I see a lot of really polarising arguments on topics like fabric and textile manufacture in the 3rd world. I like Uniqlo as they make great quality clothing, but only work with suppliers with a proven labour record.

I don’t know a lot about Bangladesh society on a personal level, but I know a little about the Grameen Bank which is one of the earliest forms of microcredit (which is now more commonly seen through the more public online entities like Kiva). Anyway, life in Bangladesh is not good for women. The reason the bank targeted women to increase overall wellbeing for families (money earned/given to women tends to be used to directly support the household, the same is not true for funds given to men). The Bangladeshi public school system is ambitious, but flawed because of endemic issues like teacher truancy. There are many illiterate women employed in textiles and the ability to earn directly increases their agency in their families. They need the textile industry, and earning allows the women to feed their children and where needed send them to better private schools. Boycotting Bangladeshi made clothing is shortsighted.

The issue is that we need better textiles manufacture. It needs to involve the women who work there and it needs to be grounded in appropriate OHS laws and regulation locally as well as oversight from the purchasers. And if we want something to at home, something as easy as “checking out clothing labels” try buying the Grameen Uniqlo app which supports local high quality, ethical Bangladeshi clothes manufacture for the Bangladeshi market. Or if you are a bit more financial these women in Lahore Pakistan are looking for some funds to help in the family clothes dyeing business so they can improve their housing. Supporting ethical manufacturing will always be better for the local economies than a boycott of good and unemployment.

Fusion Neon by Sinful Colors

This is a retina burning shade of pink. I don’t think any camera can capture this correctly, mine definitely cannot. This isn’t a nail polish I bought, it seemed to get donated to me by someone who knew I like polish. Nice gesture at least. The colour isn’t really my bag, I think neons look nice on a tanned skin but my skin is not tanned in the least. (Also I’m old, and neon just makes me think of my youthful and terrible fashion choices. Which didn’t suit my skin tone at all even when I had lovely 17 year old skin and definitely not now I’m twice as old.)

Anyway, the color is a great example of a neon but the formula is a b@#$tard to work with. This picture is with 3 coats and a glossy top coat. The pink is patchy, streaky and super runny/inclined to flood the cuticles. It dried matte and was so hard to clean up. It also chips quickly.  I don’t think I’ll be wearing this colour again but might be a ingredient in a future franken-creation!

Gold Glitter ombre nails

This is a super simple mani I did for a performance recently. It’s China Glaze Gold Digger with Illamasqua Faithful as a base (I told you I use Gold Digger a lot, its a deceptively useful glitter because it’s ‘plain’ gold glitter polish).

Anyway, Faithful was a borrowed nail polish so I haven’t swatched it before. This is Faithful, a warm latte toned brown with champagne shimmer. I did a photo with (index to pinky) two coats, one coat, two coats, one coat to show that’s it’s opaque in one coat but gains a lot of depth on the second (this is the kind of important info I like to get before I buy polishes haha hopefully someone is like me).

I’d actually describe the colour as a deeper warmer version of Butter London Yummy Mummy, which I described as being like the ‘nude’ colour on stockings. This one is a bit more like the ‘tan’ colour and probably would be a good alternative for mannequin hands for girls with a mid-dark, warm skintone.

Face off – Maybelline BB cream SPF50+/PA+++ vs Loreal BB cream UV Perfect Max SPF 50+/PA+++

The previous face off posts seem to be popular so this seemed like it might be worth doing.

The maybelline cream is initially a touch more yellow than the L’oreal and a touch thicker.

I picked this one up in Singapore where the bb creams are both available for ~$SG17 ($AU14) although I had the L’Oreal one from Indonesia where the exact product was about $10/10,000Rp. As a slight aside Maybelline in Singapore has the most adorable mascot, Mabel in the City that I haven’t seen anywhere else. Isn’t that weird? Why wouldn’t they use her everywhere…

Blended after 5 mins

Blended after 10 mins

The Maybelline is a touch more smoothing and more matte than the l’oreal which is more dewy and illuminating (the maybelline ‘sets’ whilst the L’Oreal product stays a bit more fluid and moist on the skin). I prefer the more matte effect as I have large-ish pores, but it’s worth noting the ingredients include silicones like dimethicone which can be clogging. I found that the Maybelline was a better product for my skin texture wise and the smoothing effect was relatively long lived on my oil-y slightly sallow skin, but preferred the pigmentation/coloring of the L’Oreal cream which manages to come pretty close to my skin in the end whilst the Maybelline maintained a yellow-er tone.

Face off – Etude House Precious Mineral BB cream SPF30/PA++ vs Za Cosmetics 12-in-1 Total Hydration BB cream SPF 43/PA+++

The previous face off posts seemed to be popular so this seemed like it might be worth doing. Za cosmetics is not known as widely as some of the other brands. It is the drugstore end of the Shisedo brand and had only really been offered in China and Indonesia traditionally but is now spreading through the rest of SE Asia. It’s a great drugstore brand and I wish I could get it more easily in Australia, the cleansing oil is fab.

The etude house cream is initially a touch more beige than the za which is good and the texture is thicker.

The RRP of the za bb cream is about $SG16.50/20ml in singapore. The etude house cream looks like it retails for around $SG39.90. Both have one shade which may be an issue for darker skin tones. The Za cream claims 12-in-1 benefits but I ca

The etude cream also has a slightly blue undertone which knocks out some of the yellower under tones that asian skin can have but is more likely to give the grey-ish tinge pinker toned caucasian skins sometimes see when they use bb creams.

Blended, after 5 mins

The Etude is a touch more glowing/dewy and much more smoothing on the pores and fine lines  than the Za which is lighter coverage and matte. The Za is a more yellow toned cream than many of the bb creams I have tried so might be relatively good for more sallow/yellow-ish skin tones. Overall the Za cream is one of the most pleasant to use on my combination skins in terms of texture, it’s a nice blend of oil control and moisturising and is my pick from these two products.

Face off – Etude House Precious Mineral BB cream SPF30/PA++ vs Maybelline BB cream Pure Mineral SPF 50/PA+++

The previous face off posts seemed to be popular so this seemed like it might be worth doing. I’d fill you in on the 8-1 benefits claims the Maybelline makes, but I can’t read them hahahaha… so please fill me in if you can.

The RRP of the Maybelline cream is about $SG16.90/30ml in singapore. The etude house cream looks like it retails for around $SG39.90. the etude house cream comes in 4 shades whilst the Maybelline has one colour which is quite neutral.

The etude house cream is initially a touch more beige than the Maybelline which is good and the texture is thicker. The etude cream also has a slightly blue undertone which knocks out some of the yellower under tones that asian skin can have but is more likely to give the grey-ish tinge pinker toned caucasian skins sometimes see when they use bb creams.

Blended, after 5 mins

The Etude is a touch more glowing/dewy than the Maybelline which is more matte.  Both are and quite smoothing on the pores and fine lines, although the Maybelline is probably the more matte and gives a slightly lighter coverage. I look for a smoothing effect as I have large-ish pores, but it’s worth noting the ingredients include silicones like dimethicone which can be clogging. For me the Maybelline is a more natural ‘my skin but better’ and etude is slightly heavier coverage and better for when you want a more made up look.

Face off – Etude House Precious Mineral BB cream SPF30/PA++ vs L’Oreal BB cream “UV Perfect” SPF 50+/PA+++

The previous face off post seemed to be popular so this seemed like it might be worth doing. The etude house cream is initially a touch more beige than the L’oreal which is good and the texture is thicker.

The RRP of the L’Oreal cream is about $SG17.50/30ml in singapore (although I purchased mine in Indonesia so paid about 70% of that). The etude house cream looks like it retails for around $SG39.90. the etude house cream comes in 4 shades whilst the L’oreal has one colour ‘whitening’ which I can do on my skin tone and just look a touch paler but I suspect might not work as much on darker toned skins.

The etude cream also has a slightly blue undertone which knocks out some of the yellower under tones that asian skin can have but is more likely to give the grey-ish tinge pinker toned caucasian skins sometimes see when they use bb creams.

Immediately after application

Full blended and left for 5 mins

The Etude is a touch more glowing/dewy and much more smoothing on the pores and fine lines  than the L’oreal which is more fluid and illuminating. I prefer the more smoothing effect as I have large-ish pores, but it’s worth noting the ingredients include silicones like dimethicone which can be clogging. I found that the etude was a better product for my skin and the smoothing effect was relatively long lived on my oil-y slightly sallow skin. The biggest downside is the higher price tag and lower sun protection.  More mature skins would probably prefer the L’Oreal, as would anyone with a pink undertone in their skin.