:*:･｡☆ Shimmers ☆ ｡･:*: : January 2013

DHC Deep Cleansing Oil

A few days ago my new makeup remover arrived, yay!

DHC is a worldwide bestselling brand from Japan, and their most famous product is their Deep Cleansing Oil. I got eager to try it, and I bought mine at Yukiumi! I browsed around and from what I've seen, I think Yukiumi's prices are the most reasonable. Even DHC itself sells it for noteably more! Check it out here!

If you're like me and have no sense of volume, here are dimensions (height doesn't include spout):

I was so excited to see what the reknowned DHC Deep Oil Cleanser is like!

For starters, I cannot emphasize enough: when they say oil, they MEAN oil! (I was somewhat shocked, thinking it would be more watery). It smells lightly of olive oil, but has very similar viscosity:

Aw what a cute jiggly little bottle~

It's not super viscous:

But it's definitely an oil!:

So to put this makeup remover to the test, I have put on extra makeup today!

On my face are massive amounts of the following:

It's hard to tell on camera, but believe me, I piled on LOTS of eyeshadow, mascara, bbcream, and foundation. Layers and layers! What choice do I have? You know how cameras and bright lighting eat through makeup...and hey, this will really put the cleanser to the test, right? ;)

A quick note about some of the aforementioned products: In my experience, the Koji Eyetalk Eyelid Glue (I use it as eyelash glue), Shiseido Liquid Eyeliner, waterproof mascara, and all the foundation can be troublesome to remove.

Ok, let's Start!

As directed, I massaged two pumps worth of oil onto my dry face. The cleanser smells a lot like olive oil--but nothing too offensive--yet, the texture felt slightly more gooey. Now I'm not one to enjoy rubbing delicate eye area repeatedly (it makes your skin saggy!!

) but it glides around very smoothly, so it is very gentle nonetheless!

I also tried dabbing a cottonball/paper towel and just holding it in place to dissolve the eye makeup. Doesn't work nearly as well as olive oil itself for some reason! :(

I was very impressed with how well it removed the many layers of bbcream/ foundation! Previous makeup removers merely smeared parts of it off, but this one really melted everything from my face!

But...not as impressive was the eye area. I had to rub quite a bit to remove the lashes. Yet while the rest of my face was already clean, pieces of my eyeliner, mascara, and stringy remains of eyelid glue remained:

So it wasn't exactly as easy as they had advertised...!

It then took another 3 mini-pumps worth of oil and persistent rubbing to get it mostly clean:

Very minor bits of mascara remain, but by then I gave up!

So while it didn't SUPER easily remove all my eyeliner and mascara, it does actually do a much better job than other removers I've tried (including the greasy ones!). Here it only leaves remnants of eyeliner, but the latter left sizeable chunks! In retrospect, applying more of the oil onto my fingers would have done the trick.

After you wash off the cleanser you are left with a freshly washed feeling and no oily after-feel! Word of caution though: since you're doing this eyes-closed and over the sink, make sure you remove any loose false lashes off your face so they don't get washed down the drain like mine did...

One last note....The website implies that this is a makeup remover, but it doesn't explicitly state whether it can double as a facial cleanser as well, or if a secondary facial cleanser is necessary. I asked three of the salesmen and while one said that it depends on personal preference, the rest stated:

"DHC does recommend you use a cleanser afterwards."
"The Deep Cleansing Oil just Step 1."
"It would be the makeup remover."

Oh salespeople...it was a yes or no question, just be straightforward about it!!!

TLDR? 'Tis a oil makeup remover. Very effective yet gentle. Melts off eyeshadow, bbcream, and foundation easily! For troublesome areas, just use liberally. Me likey.

LuView Lemon Bubble Cleanser Review

I was inspired to buy this cleanser after SparkleApple's review, and for only $4.56, how could I resist?!

As the bottle states, it is a:

"Hypoallergic cleanser ~~that~~ with micro bubbles that clean deeply even inside of the pore"

(Well, I've paraphrased it, but I think it's more grammatically correct this time >.< ! Someone correct me?)

Scent: It smells nothing like lemon actually! I really can't describe it, except that it's a very light and unique herbal scent which took me a bit of getting used to.

Texture: You can see in this closeup pic that the formula is quite light and fluffy:

Cleansing Ability:

It's a very mild but effective cleanser that rinses off extremely easily with water! I don't experience that drying squeaky clean feeling afterwards. Sometimes my T-zone greases up if my cleanser is too harsh, but not with this one! I've been using it for a week now, and my skin feels very soft, with the perfect balance of natural oils. It's amazing!

But as gentle as it is, it still does a very impressive job of removing base makeup, which is kind of like dirt right?

If you like using facial nets:(if you don't, skip this section!)
The last thing I want to mention is not so much a shortcoming of this cleanser--because I really do like it--rather, just a misfit between what I want in a cleanser and what it offers. I like using a facial net to foam-up my cleansers. I just looovvvee washing my face with all that dense marshmallow foam~~

It's so fun, and not to mention, gentle to your skin! (If you have no idea what I'm talking about, click here.)

But I've found that because this cleanser is already so fluffy, it doesn't foam-up as well as others. For comparison, this is how LuView foams with a net. A closeup shows lots of little bubbles, making this cleanser true to its name!

On the other hand though, a random charcoal cleanser from Daiso creates a much thicker and denser foam, and much more of it:

More foam, more fun!
(And yes, you should actually remove lenses and eye makeup before you wash.)

The other thing about the LuView foam is that once you start washing your face, the bubbles start popping. You can actually feel it, I swear! While it's kind of fun, eventually the bubbly foam disintegrates, and you're left with very much less washing medium than you started with...and I just hate rubbing my face directly with my fingers because gives you premature wrinkles!!!

All this is no big deal if you use more, but I'm frugal and I love my foam...Otherwise, I think it's a really great cleanser!

TLDR: LuView's Lemon Balm Bubble Cleansing Foam is a gentle, mild, and effective cleanser. True to its name, it is indeed bubbly!

Thank you for reading!

Bonding over Nails

Aw, today Oppa and I spent some quality time together! ♥

It was so fun! Guess what we were doing? Making nails!

Halloween is approaching, and I wanted something festively different for my sausage fingertips. But alas, Yukiumi no longer carries Halloween nails! I was left no choice but to make my own. >.<

Who would have thought that Oppa would voluntarily sit down next to me and patiently help me mold and paint for the next few hours! (Yes, it took me several hours! Total newb, that's why.) I never thought I'd have a boyfriend who would be so into making nails with me! ^^

I think the nails turned out pretty OK for two amateurs! You can tell it's homemade though...

Oh well! Here's a small picture so you can't laugh at the details:

I take no credit for the design (at least I'm honest....) I improvised off a few magazine designs. While we were making the nails, Oppa noticed that one of the magazine models had big front teeth.
He then proceeded to explain to me that "the Japanese trademark is their rabbit teeth. Here, you know what Koreans think of Japanese? We draw Japanese people like this:

Rabbit teeth, and those big shoes, you know?"

HAHAHA!

So funnyyyy, what the heck is that?!?! I don't even know what to say. In return, I drew him this picture of Korean people:

"Actually, that does look like Korean!" he said. Damn right it does!

Oppa also made clay figurines of us two:

Aww, it's so cuteeee~~! I love his little fat feet and his pointy acorn head~! I also like how he couldn't figure out how to do my hair, so he gave me a heart to compensate my baldness. Overall very cute right? :)

He said, "You see your hands? They were actually meant to be boobs...But since they look like hands...mm, I think I'll just leave it."

That sick pervert....Maybe this is his way of telling me his ideal girl has big square-ish G-cup boobs, humongo lips, and a nice round butt. =.=

All in all though, I had a good evening! Halloween nails, laughs, giggles, and sweet cheek kisses. Teeheehee.

Nighty night!

Missha Crystal Shine Rouge Lipstick

To kick off my batch of Korean cosmetic reviews for 2012, I shall introduce to you my very first Missha lipstick! Fresh from the streets of Myeongdong, oh snap!

Quick facts:
Name: The Style Crystal Shine Rouge
Brand:
Color: PK04
Tube Height: 3inches
Cost : 7,800KRW

Without further ado, I’ll let the pictures do the talking:

(applied with lip brush)

Color (on me): Rosy! The exact shade depends on the lighting and how much you apply. At it's sheerest, it appears as a light rose pink

. Pile it on and you get a darker rose, much like the color of the stick.

Pigment: Sheer to medium; buildable. (When I took the pictures I used a brush, so I had a difficult time building up. It's much easier using the stick directly.)

Is it moisturizing? Yes, it feels like a lip balm! See how my chapped lips turned plump/juicy after just one coat? No caking or settling in cracks here! Little flecks of skin (like mine on the right) will still be visible though.

Is it sparkly? Subtly so. If you look closely you’ll see little specks of glitter, but for the most part it’s just enough to make the lipstick not look matte. The tube itself is not that sparkly in real life either.

Smells good? Indeed! It smells like berry-flavored hard candy, reminiscent of this:

Yummmaaayyyy~

Personally, I really like this lipstick! It's a soft/tame shade of coral/red, and the sheerness gives you versatility among several shades. I would almost treat it as a very tinted lip balm. :) To end, here is my only selca for the day. I've got clear gloss over the lipstick but of course, the bright lighting washes out the colors quite a bit:

Compliments to beautiful Ageha model Rin for covering my failed clumpy mascara, haha! Hmmm, I wonder if this would be a convenient way to try out different makeup styles~ Feeling lazy? No problem, just C&P!

Thanks for reading!

Okie friendsies, a question for you! Do you prefer sheer or matte lipsticks and why?

Boots, Wigs, and Maids

SQUEE SQUEEE, SQUEEEE!!!

My poor neighbors must have thought we had a piglet in our house; but nope, that was just me opening my huge package of goodies from my latest shopping spree.

This package was particularly special because inside were my first-ever cosplay (maids count as cosplay right?) and wig purchases! I can’t explain my sudden interest in maid outfits, except that they are undeniably cute. >.< If only I knew of a place/event I could wear them to without being completely out of character—or should I say, in character?

I tried something different with this post, hoping that it would make all the "picspam" a little more personal and lively; otherwise, I personally find picture after picture of things to get pretty impersonal and dry, if you know what I mean...(personal opinion). Now I’m no designer, but I hope you can appreciate my efforts! It takes a bit of scrolling, but please enjoy!