Review: Lancome Bi-Facil - the much-loved eye makeup remover

(Purchased product)

For a very long time, I have been partial to oil-based makeup removers. Oil-based makeup removers take off my makeup easily, including my mascara and eyeliner. The brands which I use rinse clean, and do not leave an oily residue. Considering how many people swear by the Lancome Bi-Facil, I have been interested to try it - but not willing to pay the high cost for a product which I might not like. As with other high-end skin care items, I bought a sample at a Hong Kong drugstore to try it out.

What it does: (from the Sephora website)
Double-phase, fresh-as-water liquid eye makeup remover. Activates when shaken to gently whisk away even waterproof eye makeup, while conditioning and refreshing the skin. Ideal for sensitive skin and contact lens wearers. Leaves eyes feeling cool and relaxed, with no oily residue. Ophthalmologist tested.

Where to purchase:
This product is available at Lancome counters, as well as Sephora and Sephora online.

Price: $28 for 4.2 oz (approx 120 ml)

Pros:

• This product did a good job of removing my eye makeup

Cons:

• This product stings my eyes and also leaves them feeling oily
• Expensive

Would I repurchase? No.  

OK, really... I don't get why people love this product. Bioderma did a better job of removing my eye makeup, and it doesn't leave an oily residue nor does it sting my eyes.  It also did a better job of removing my eyeliner and mascara. Oil-based cleansers (like the Shiseido TISS) take off my waterproof makeup easily, and don't sting. I'm so glad that I bought a small sample to try first before committing to a full sized bottle. I've been using the sample for 2 weeks, and I still have more than half of the bottle left!

Are there any products which are loved in the beauty blogger world, that don't work for you?

Hope you enjoyed this review!

xoxo, K

Weekly Reads #113: June 9, 2013

My life is about to become insane. I have 4 business trips planned in the next 2 months. When am I going to be able to pack? When am I going to be able to do laundry?? Life is going to be pretty insane.

I have 2 iPhones, an iPhone 4 that I have been using since I moved to China 3 years ago, and an iPhone 5 that I bought about 6 months ago. In Japan, cell phones are SIM locked, and unlocking services are really rare. Since I bought both of my iPhones in Hong Kong, they are both unlocked - a rarity in Japan.

Unfortunately, my iPhone 4 seems to have started to die down. I can no longer hear anything, which makes it useless as a phone. I planned to go to the Apple Store when I'm in Japan. But what if they can only replace it with a Japanese (meaning a locked) iPhone?????  Agghhhhhhh... I even thought about asking my friend to go to the Apple Store in Singapore while she is there.

This is where googling really came in handy. I googled the situation, and no surprise, I'm not the only person in Japan that this has happened to. Apparently if you tell the Apple Store that your phone is an unlocked phone from abroad, they will replace it with an unlocked phone.  Interesting!  Hopefully I'll be able to blog about my experiences at the Japan Apple Store.

On to my Weekly Reads!

What were your favorite posts this week? 

• Don't fall for faulty logic, via The Beauty Brains. This reminds me of the Dihydrogen Monoxide hoax. 
• The Asian obsession with skin whitening, via Beautyholics Anonymous. Yes, I would much rather look pale.
• 2 weeks of clothes in a carry-on, via Wardrobe Oxygen. Amazing if you can do it!
• 11 things you can do right now to prevent wrinkles, via Skin Scrubs. A reminder that if it's good for you, it is probably good for your skin as well.
• Hacks for your tiny closet and for your tiny bathroom, via Buzzfeed. A reminder that I need to purge my closet before I go back to Japan.
• Tamagoyaki, via cookingwithdog (Youtube). This may not look like a traditional Japanese dish, but it is a staple that every Japanese person learns to make when they learn to cook. The dashi stock makes it taste very Japanese.

Connect with me! I love chatting and connecting with people, and sharing interesting stuff around the web!

• Follow @cosmeddicted on Twitter & Instagram
• Like Cosmeddicted on Facebook
• Follow Cosmeddicted on Pinterest

You can also subscribe to Cosmeddicted through the feed, email, or Bloglovin!

xoxo, K

Review: Canmake Gokubuto Mascara - the "Ultra Fat" mascara

(purchased product)

When I started blogging, I was surprised to find out that Canmake was very popular in the beauty blogger world. Canmake is a beauty brand in Japan, which has a lower price than most other drugstore brands. I consider the brand to be hit or miss, but many of their products have been extremely popular online. For example, the Canmake Melty Nudy Lip swatch post was the most popular post on my blog for nearly 2 years!

When I went back to Japan last time, I desperately needed to buy a new mascara. Considering how popular it was in the beauty blog community, I decided to pick up the Canmake Gokubuto mascara.  According to the Canmake website, it is their 2nd most popular product.

What it does: (from the Canmake website)
Apply in layers for ultra-thick lashes! Achieve fluttery lashes! The super-volumizing and curling mascara is here! Film-type formulation that washes off with warm water☆
note: "Gokubuto" means "ultra fat", referring to the volumizing effect of the mascara

Price: 630 JPY (around $6)  The website says 600 JPY, but all products in Japan will be charged a 5% tax. Most products in Japan are required to show the price inclusive of tax.

Where to purchase: this and other Canmake products are available in most drugstores in Japan, as well as supermarkets and other discount stores

Pros:

• Cheap
• The brush is thin, making it easy to use

Cons:

• This mascara smudged easily.  The claim says it comes off with warm water.  It also came off with sweat!
• I do not consider this to be a film-type formula. "Film" mascaras, such as the Dejavu mascaras, typically slide off of my lashes in clumps when I apply makeup remover. This mascara felt the same as "normal" mascaras
• This was an extremely wet mascara, sticking my lashes together until I felt like I had only 6 lashes left!

Would I repurchase?  No.  

I really did not understand the hype with this mascara. Many beauty bloggers swear by this mascara, but this was just a wet mascara that did  not thicken my lashes. Canmake has several other mascaras in their line, so hopefully I may find a mascara that works for me!

Hope you enjoyed this review!

xoxo, K

Up and Down #34: June, 2013

This past month was... rushed. Guess what I'm fighting with now? My landlord is not giving me my utility bills!  In what world do I need to ask to get billed for my utilities?  I am a little scared that my utilities are going to be cut off!

On to my Ups and Downs!

Ups:

Bath & Body Works Aromatherapy Energy Orange Ginger Lotion & Shower Gel 

I am absolutely in love with this scent!  It is not so sweet, with a citrus scent that is not sharp. I am looking forward to buying some more when I go to the US.

A review is coming up. Until then, please take a look at my review of some products from the same line.

Martha Tilaar Caring Colours Everlast BB Cream

(link goes to the review)

I am loving BB creams for the hot, humid weather we have in Jakarta. This is a local product that I reviewed recently. 

green smoothies

I usually have a green smoothie each morning for breakfast, and even sometimes for dinner. I am taking full advantage of living in a tropical country with abundant fruit! (picture from my instagram account)

Downs:

OMG I am sooooo busy.

I know I'm often busy... I work long hours regularly. But now, I am busy in a different way. Since I don't have a successor for my work in Jakarta, my boss is trying to get me to finish some things. I think he knows that unless I finish them, no one is going to.  At the same time, I have emails from my new job as well!  I need a break!!

How has your May been?

xoxo, K

Weekly Reads #112: June 1, 2013

I have been extremely tired this past week... Although I usually sleep on my 2-hr-each-way commute, it has been hard for me to wake up.

A funny thing which happened this week on our commute:
On the company bus to work, I usually sit next to an American guy, who I'll call Bill. One day as we were going home, I fell asleep just as we left work. I woke up part way home, to find that Bill had completely disappeared from the seat.  His bag and his laptop were still there, but I couldn't see him next to me or anywhere else on the bus.  I got really confused... Had he jumped from the bus? Was I just not seeing the 6-foot tall guy?  Finally, I turned around and asked some colleagues what happened to Bill.  They laughed and told me Bill was asleep, lying down on the back seat of the bus.  No wonder I hadn't seen him!

And as they told me later, "K, it was so funny how you were looking around for Bill looking confused!"

On to my Weekly Reads!

What were your favorite posts this week? 

• What does "dermatologist tested" mean?, via Beautiful with Brains. Brands love to use words like these on their products, but...
• Why your dinner doesn't taste as good as it looked online, via Buzzfeed. Or, why some food bloggers are more focused on pictures than on testing their recipes. Fortunately, I've tested multiple recipes from the food blogs I follow, and they are yummy.
• Hot dogs with Sriracha and Asian slaw, via Simply Recipes. I love mayo-free slaws like this one in the summer.
• Lemon basil fusilli with tomatoes, via Makeup and Beauty Blog. Pasta makes an easy, yummy meal.
• Lady Gaga's Telephone covered by Japanese traditional instruments, via shaku8kozan (Youtube)  Stay tuned until around 2:30.

Connect with me! I love chatting and connecting with people, and sharing interesting stuff around the web!

• Follow @cosmeddicted on Twitter & Instagram
• Like Cosmeddicted on Facebook
• Follow Cosmeddicted on Pinterest

You can also subscribe to Cosmeddicted through the feed, email, or Bloglovin!

xoxo, K

Review: Martha Tilaar Caring Colours Everlast BB Cream - an Indonesian local BB cream

(Purchased product)

Since I moved to Indonesia, I've kept an eye on several Indonesian beauty blogs to learn of some good beauty products. One of the products I have been interested to try is the Caring Colours Everlast BB Cream.

Caring Colours is a brand which is part of the Martha Tilaar group. Martha Tilaar has several beauty brands in its group. The Martha Tilaar counter had quite a few makeup and skin care items, and was quite affordable.

Price:  Around 60,000 IDR? I remember it was less than $10 USD.

Where to purchase: I bought mine at a Martha Tilaar shop in Grand Indonesia, one of the biggest shopping centers in Central Jakarta.  I also found it at the Lotte Mart in Gandaria City Mall.

A swatch of the BB cream. It is slightly too pink for my skin, but blended in well enough.

Pros:

• This product gave me a semi-matte finish.This works well with the hot climate in Jakarta
• Initially, I thought that this product didn't give me enough coverage. After using it for a while, I realized that it did a good job in covering discolorations in my skin, but still looked pretty natural.
• I don't believe that any BB cream is "everlasting", but it lasted well enough.
• This product works well for the price.

Cons:

• This packaging is misleading. It is more than half empty. The packaging says that it contains 1.23oz, but the bottle is similar in size as products which contain nearly 3 times as much. I suppose it does actually contain as much product as is written on the packaging... but it is quite frustrating to open a new product and find it more than half empty!
• As far as I could tell, this product comes in only 1 color. Quite strange, since Indonesians have various skin tones!
• This product separates slightly, similar to how Too Faced Shadow Insurance tends to separate.

Would I repurchase? Maybe. I like how affordable and easily available this product is. This is not my favorite BB cream, but it is not bad!

The fact that the package was over half empty made me really annoyed! Even if the correct amount is on the tube, I felt that it is misleading and wasteful to have a product which contains so little product.  Still, it is a nice product, and I hope you have a chance to try it if you come to Indonesia.

Hope you enjoyed this review!

xoxo, K

Weekly Reads #111: May 26, 2013

Last week, while attending a meeting in Manila, I kept hearing my colleagues refer to some problem as happening because "of the summer".  In Jakarta, the upcoming season is in fact the summer (at least to me), because the weather gets hotter. However, from what I know of the Philippines, the hottest part of the year has already passed. I kept getting confused on whether my colleagues meant "summer = hottest time of the year" or "summer = the time of the year that Americans refer to as summer".  Apparently, it is "the time of the year that Americans refer to as summer", because this time of the year is the "summer term" in schools.  Ah, the perils of living in a tropical climate!

I have also mentioned previously on the difference between when summer is in the US and in Japan. September is back to school and therefore autumn in the US. In Japan, the weather is the hottest in mid-late August, and September is still very hot... and so I keep referring to it as summer.  Mid June to mid July, on the other hand, is tsuyu in Japan and not as hot as August.

When is summer for you?

On to my Weekly Reads!

What were your favorite posts this week? 

• How to prevent eye wrinkles, via The Plastic Diaries. For some reason, I can't find an eye cream I love. What do you use?
• Hot weather BB creams, via Worship at the House of Blues. I'm loving BB creams more and more in the hot weather we have in Jakarta!
• 5 secrets for lasting friendships, via Future Derm. Unfortunately, I'm not very good at this.
• 27 better ways to eat ramen, via Buzzfeed. Because, um, Indomie (a local brand) is delicious.

Connect with me! I love chatting and connecting with people, and sharing interesting stuff around the web!

• Follow @cosmeddicted on Twitter & Instagram
• Like Cosmeddicted on Facebook
• Follow Cosmeddicted on Pinterest

You can also subscribe to Cosmeddicted through the feed, email, or Bloglovin!

xoxo, K