June 11, 2012

TONYMOLY – discovery

This is a Korean cosmetics and skincare brand which I’ve recently discovered in a Morning Glory store in the Sydney CBD.

What I fell in love with was :

1. The packaging – everything is in a unique/cute/pretty packaging. Whether its a fruit shaped lip gloss box or a styled tint, it just looks incredibly appealing.

7 Fruit Princess Gloss

Cutie lip gloss that gives a clear glow to the lips

2. The colours and the range – The number of different products they have will have you struggling to buy just one thing at a time. I know I wanted to buy the entire range when I saw it on the shelves. Had to restrain myself to just 1 lip tint but am definitely going back for more!

Backstage Oh! My Lip

3. The quality – From what I’ve read so far, the makeup and skincare products are great. I can’t speak for every product in the range, but from what I’ve tried and read reviews on TonyMoly products don’t often disappoint.

Read a review on a TonyMoly Face primer from becoming-beautiful here

4. The fragrances – Everything smells fantastic! I know that most of the times fragrances are bad but I am not a big fan of fragrance-free make up as it’s not aesthetically pleasing. Give me a cherry flavoured lippy anytime!

Prestige Crystal Lipstick/SPF13
Clear cased lipstick with UV blocking functions

5. The price – Really awesome fact – TonyMoly cosmetics are more than affordable. My lip tint was $12 when I just paid $40 for a Benetint the other day. The quality of TonyMoly is the same, if not better.

The brand concept is Chic, Urban, Stylish & Modern – and that’s exactly what the products reflect.

To have a look at the brand and the range of products go to their website here http://eng.tonymoly.com/ (this is the international site)

Nail Lacquer Glitter

This is the product I bought:

TONYMOLY Backstage Sure Tint in Peach

There is an easy applicator brush

Pink/Peach colour with a bit of sparkle

This is the colour on – the tint lasts for at least 4 hours and is quite bright so I try and layer a lighter finish lipgloss over the top. Its so nice not to have lipstick on coffee cups in the morning!

Would love to hear from you if you’ve tried TonyMoly before and have a product you recommend!

May 20, 2012

The Benefits of Benefit

Benefit is famous for products such as Benetint and BADgirl mascara and eyeliner.

I am fairly new to this brand and only made my first Benefit purchase yesterday. Although we had a short encounter, I believe our love affair has begun and I went back to the Benefit counter at Myer Pitt St for a free make up lesson.

The girl at the counter was very friendly and was the same Benefit cosmetician who served me last night. She told me it was her 2nd day on the job and for day 2 she was doing pretty well. I naturally asked a lot of questions about the different products and tested a couple of things. I am impressed by this brand and the variety of colours and the unique approach to beauty. However, this is an indulgence I will take at slower steps as Benefit products are a bit more pricey here in Australia versus San Francisco for example (which it seems is the city that all the online Benefit stores lead to).

My buys were influenced by needing lipstick and eyeshadow.

1. Lips: My problem is that I somehow manage to get lipstick on my teeth, no matter what I do. So I opted for a lip tint. After all Benefit is famous for their Benetints – I decided to give it a go. The product pictured below is a benetint + gloss pen. I thought it would be easier to carry around in my bag rather than getting a full benetint product. Although if I get to a ‘can’t live without’ stage with the tint I might purchase the full size version. (Picture 2)

Picture 1 – Benetint + Gloss pen RRP $39.00 (AUD)

Picture 2. Benetint: Rose tinted lip + cheek stain

Picture 3: Out of the pack

Picture 4: Brush

Picture 5: Colour test

Picture 6: On the lips with the gloss

2. Eyeshadow: I have a pretty standard eye make up routine. Highlighter on the brow bone, base shadow and smoky effect + liner. I can usually find a pretty good eyeshadow (Current favourite Picture 1 below), but its really hard to find a matt/shimmer finish brow highlight shade. Some of them are too shimmery or too white or purple. I needed to find the perfect combination of matt/shimmer + pink shade that can be worn everyday.

Picture 1. Borjois Smoky Eye Trio Shadows. I use the darkest shade – Gris Dandy.

Benefit eye and brow makeover kit was able to cover my needs for all three shades and also a brow styling kit extra.

Picture 2: Benefit smokin’ eyes… (sexy eye & brow makeover kit) RRP $68 (AUD)

Picture 3: The kit with instructions/descriptions and a mirror

Picture 4: The below two colour pods are 1. brow gel 2. eye bright cream to brighten the eyes (similar to applying congealer around the eyes to make shadow last longer, but also brightening)