Review: KORRES Wild Rose + Vitamin C Advanced Brightening Sleeping Facial

I have been trying for a long time to write a review for KORRES Wild Rose + Vitamin C Advanced Brightening Sleeping Facial, but I am too lazy to write about skin care products. But here I am today, going to talk about this skin care item. If you want to know more about it then keep reading.

This is my first high end brand skin care product I bought with GREAT interest. I bought this product last year during the holiday season and it came with the Wild Rose Daily Brightening & Refining Buff Cleanser (review here) and I had to pay the price for the Sleeping Facial only, which is USD 48. Pretty good deal, eh? Oh I got it from Sephora. It comes in a glass jar with a plastic lid and there's another plastic thin layer to keep the product even more air tight.

About Korres: it's a Greek beauty company founded by Greek's oldest Homeopathy pharmacy. Korres is famous for making products that are natural and certified organic. 

This particular product is one of the best sellers of Sephora and I bought it without doing much research or anything, but yes, I was damn excited to try it out as soon as the packet arrived. It's a facial in a jar, that comes with wild rose oil, an ingredient famous for giving a natural healthy glow to the skin. I heard many talking about it's overwhelming fragrance but it NEVER bothered me much as I am a fragrance freak and personally I found the smell of roses really really relaxing! The wild rose extract is also a source of Vitamin C which soothes the skin, so as a result I never felt any irritation either. It contains 15% rose water for soothing skin and vitamin E, soybean oil, rosemary leaf extract, rose hip oil and jojoba for moisture as well.

This product is supposed to help even out skin tone and repair the look of fine lines. I don't know about fine lines as I didn't have any at least when I started using it, but I also, didn't see any spectacular change in the unevenness of my skin tone in 14 days (as claimed by the product) which is my primary concern always. But yes, when I continued using this product without any break, my skin texture improved dramatically, and the unevenness of my skin tone was less visible. The disappointment is that, once I stopped using this for a while the unevenness came back withing a couple of days. 

The texture of this cream isn't too heavy or too runny, it's just a medium thick cream that absorbs in the skin like magic. It's really really non greasy and non oily and non sticky. Absorbs in the skin super fast leaving no unpleasant greasy feeling behind. I have used it in the scorching summer of my country and never felt any extra oil added to my skin by it. The following pictures demonstrates it.

The way I used it: at night, 30 minutes before I hug my bed, I put a layer of this product on my face and wait for couple of minutes for the product to sink into my skin. The reason I applied it 30 minutes prior to sleeping is that I wanted this product to stay put on my skin, not transfer on my pillow. It's a leave on facial, you don't have to rinse it off.

Whenever I used this product, no matter how bad my skin condition was that time, I always woke up with a radiant glowing skin next morning, a plumped up skin that I frequently kept touching. I remember being too much stressed and depressed at that particular time and my skin was freaking out, but this product took care of my skin like a mother. My skin never felt deprived of the utmost care it needs and never left my skin looking stressed out or unloved ;)

2-3 times in a week I used to pair it with the exfoliator I received with the kit, and the skin felt amazing the next morning!

The shelf life of this product is 6 months only :( but I am glad that I depleted the product within 5 months :D

Though it didn't do anything remarkably good for the unevenness of my skin tone specially when I stopped using it, but still it's an absolute repurchase for me!

Did you use Korres wild rose sleeping facial? let me know how you find it.

Love and regards,
Eeshita.

MAC Lipstick: Rebel, swatch and review!

I know I am late in reviewing this legendary lipstick but better late than never. And I also know that there are thousands of reviews out there but I think, my verdict on this lipstick also counts ^_^ so here I go!

Bought from MAC, priced at USD 15 (excluding tax), Rebel comes in MAC's  "that-pretty-black-case" packaging of their permanent line's lipsticks. It belongs to the Satin Category and carries the same signature vanilla scent.

The color of this lipstick as MAC describes is Midtonal Cream plum. For me, Rebel is a deep berry shade and has a slight sheen to it. The undertone of this lipstick is different in different lights, and on different skin tones and on different lips. On my skin tone and on my lips,under different lighting  sometimes it shows a fuchsia undertone, sometimes a bit purple, and of course red at times. But I find it is more berry than the Guerlain Orgueil (swatch and review here), which has a more red tone to it. I have seen people describing it as different colors, so I believe Rebel is a multi-dimensional color ;) The color that shows in the tube is very vampy, but when you put it on, it's a very wearable one. 

As it's a Satin finish lipstick, it's softer and silkier in application than the matte finish ones. It glides on effortlessly on lips and is opaque at one pass, which is a blessing for pigmented lips like mine. But due to it's creamier consistency, it might bleed a bit, so I would suggest to pair it with a lip liner or wear a lip primer before you put this lipstick.

The color stays put for around 5 hours (without my bad habit of biting lips) and leaves a lovely stain behind.

The swatches of this lipstick are given below:

I use Rebel in two ways:
1. just dab the bullet on my lips to get a hint of color and it looks really natural and beautiful!
2. To get a sultry vampy look, I wear it full on and it's an aaahh-mazing shade to express boldness!

meeee wearing Rebel :D

Pair it with a smokey eye or classic pin up eyes, it goes with everything, suits almost every kind of skin tone and flatters anyone who wears it. Rebel immediately brightens my face when I wear it, no matter how dull my face is on that particular time.

An absolute repurchase for me.

Let me know what you feel for Rebel in comments.

Love and regards,
Eeshita.

Review: Make Up For Ever Duo Mat Powder Foundation

I am currently on a spree of trying out different foundations. No, nothing is wrong with my NARS Sheer Glow Foundation, I just thought to give some other foundations a try and moreover, I am hunting a good powder foundation so that I can apply it whenever I want (yes i do find applying liquid foundation can be a bit too much time consuming when I am feeling extra ordinarily lazy, that is most of the times). Make Up For Ever Duo Mat Powder Foundation is so highly raved that I wanted this particular one to be the first powder foundation I should try (after MAC Studio Fix, I gave up using it as it broke me out, weird!).

It is USD 34 and I got mine from Sephora, and Sephora is the exclusive beauty retailer for this product.

How  Sephora describes this powder as:
What it is:
A long-lasting, oil-free mattifying powder foundation for normal to combination skin types.

What it is formulated to do:
Provides a shine-free finish that covers blemishes and other imperfections and perfectly evens out the skintone.

-A testing panel composed of twenty-two adults (via 24 patch test) showed this product to be non-irritating. 

As you know residing in a hot humid country and having a super oily skin isn't a very great background for make up. Specially when it comes to foundation, nothing can hold my oil mines from producing gallons of oil! So I am always on a hunt of getting my hands on some products that will keep my oil away, but haven't come across anything yet.

The shade I use is 205 which is Medium Beige. For reference, I am in between Barcelona and Syracuse in NARS Sheer Glow Foundation, and in between NC 35 to 40 in MAC Studio Fix Powder, NC35/NC37 in MAC Mineralize Cream Foundation, C4 in MAC Face and Body Foundation, Medium 54 in Kat Von D Lock It Tattoo Foundation.

The packaging of this powder is very slick and classy, and reminds me of MAC Studio Fix and Mineralize Cream Foundation. But unlike MAC's above mentioned foundations, it comes with a half mirror, which I find is a bit weird. It comes with a sponge and has a separate compartment for it.

The shade is a bit lighter than my skin tone and isn't too yellow based, but has rather a beige undertone to it. The pigmentation of this powder is awesome and looks really natural right after I apply it.

I apply this powder with a big powder brush, or a blush brush for a light to medium coverage. If I want a bit more than medium coverage I apply it with Sigma F80 (review here). It applies ok when used with the sponge it comes with, I just have to be very careful while applying with the sponge as the sponge can leave streaks behind. I also apply it wet, I dampen the sponge with water and dab it on the foundation and apply it. This way I get the maximum coverage from this foundation, but I have to be REALLY careful about the blending as sponges leave cakey strokes of application behind. The following two photos are from my before and after application of MUFE Duo Mat Powder Foundation.

The raved reviews of MUFE Duo Mat Foundation grabbed my interest as many claimed it to be really matte and having oil control power. I invested with a great hope and if you want to know my verdict, keep reading!

The powder foundation itself does NOTHING to control oil! yes, it's the word NOTHING! When applied alone, without any primer, my oil starts showing around 1 hour, that too while I am staying at indoors (no air condition), and around 2-3 hours it starts oxidizing terribly and the trace of foundation is almost gone! The following photos will describe it better. The first one was taken right after I completed my whole make up, second one was taken around an hour after I applied my make up (still indoor) and the third one was taken after I went out for a couple of hours and returned home.

I tried it with a primer. I applied Smashbox Photo Finish Oil Free primer and then applied this. The wear of this foundation prolonged for like half an hour more, but started wearing off and oxidizing right after that!

This foundation stays really put for a longer time when applied wet with the sponge. I had a wear of around 4 hours (without any primer and staying indoors only) before it started oxidizing and wearing off. But whenever I hit outdoor, it started melting and oxidizing around 3 hours (applied on primer as well).

I still have to try it during the colder and drier weather. I have to give it a try and see if it works then. So in spite of being a crazy summer loving person, I am eagerly waiting for winter this year! I hope I will have a better update then. So there will be an updated review on this around the month of December hopefully!!

Did you use MUFE Duo Mat Powder Foundation? How do you find it? Let me know in comments!

Love and regards,
Eeshita.