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20 Days of Lipstick: Week 3 Recap Delay

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Hello! This post is to informally inform you that week 3 of my beauty dare (to wear 20 different lipsticks for 20 days in June) is delayed. The reason being… I didn’t really wear a lot of lipsticks the last week. The reason being… I was up in the mountains! And was pretty stinking sick for a good part of it. But I was up in the mountains nonetheless.

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I tried to wear makeup but I just didn’t have the energy to take it off at the end of the day, so I did without it altogether. I even did away with SPF, which is truly lazy and irresponsible, but I just couldn’t bring myself to put any on. I know, bad bad bad!

Ahem. Here’s what I wore on Monday, though, when I was still in Manila:
Hourglass Ambient Lighting Blush - Diffused Heat - Face
DAY ELEVEN feat. Chifure Lipstick in 240

This is a rando Japanese drugstore purchase; I hadn’t even heard of Chifure prior to curiously swatching away. I really like this lip, it’s a demi-matte deep mauve that I’d describe as pretty wearable.

Real Week 3 Recap will resume next Sunday. Have a great weekend!

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DAYCELL Dr. VITA Vitamin C Cream*

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The DAYCELL Dr. VITA Vitamin C Cream* is a “Vitamin Brightening Gel.” It’s part of a range of Vitamin gels by Dr. Vita that target a specific problem. The Vitamin C Cream is a Whitening Cream made to target “dark & cheerless skin,” an abundance of freckles and blemishes, and rough and inelastic skin texture. It has Pure Vitamin C 10%, no parabens or pigments, and provides melanin control, skin whitening and anti-aging.

Dr. Vita - Vita C Vitamin Brightening Gel

You all know how I feel about whitening products in general—I don’t like them—but if something promises to make my “cheerless” skin (read: dull) better, then I’m going to try it. The Vitamin C Cream also has Kiwi Cell Extract, which apparently contains more vitamin C than apples or oranges, and Aloe Vera Leaf Juice to soothe irritated skin and neutralize dry skin. DAYCELL claims that their product has high concentration vitamin and a patented “nano-coating capsule containing vitamin core ingredient.” OOOH, SCIENCE!

Since this is a Korean product, I was surprised to see several eBay UK listings at the top of the Google results page. It turns out that DAYCELL Dr. VITA Vitamin C Cream is used by Kim Ji-won, a Korean actress that’s on a T.V. show called The Heirs (see here).

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Koreans are pretty known for having good skin, but I think that the personal endorsement of familiar (beautiful!) faces helps the case of the product even a little. The basic focus of this particular cream is complexion control—that means improving skin tone and clearing out blemishes, controlling melanin pigmentation, and brightening the overall appearance of the skin.

Dr. Vita - Vita C Vitamin Brightening Gel - Hand Swatch

The gel actually looks more like a cream, and it is quite thick. It’s thick, though easy to spread around and is light on the face. However, I noticed that it felt really warm when it came in contact with my skin. I found my answer when I was looking for more info online. It turns out that the temperature rise is an “active reaction” of the pure vitamin C. More on that here. Read More

Thank you, some news + a quick review of 3 Concept Eyes x Pink I’m Good Mascara*

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Hey everyone!

First of all, I just wanted to thank all of you who read one of my latest posts, called All the Things: On Beauty, Buying & Blogging. The response and discussion have been amazing, and I just feel really good that the people who read this blog are super smart and wonderful. 🙂 I’m still a little confused and conflicted about this space, in that I’m not sure how to shape it, but I like that questions are being asked and points are being raised and so on.

For the next bit of news… I’ve been holding off announcing this bit of news for a while, but I applied to be part of the next round of the BNT Girls Network and I got in! 🙂 I’m actually joined by two members of the previous batch of which I was also part, namely, Kine and Joanne, as well as two new girls, Doris and Bella.

If you’re not familiar, BNT Girls is a Global Beauty Editors Group set up by BNT News, an online news outlet that specializes in Korean news and trends. They have offices in Korea, China, Japan, France, America, Spain, Vietnam, Philippines, Thailand, and the UK. You can check the BNT Girls Facebook group if you want to keep updated with our reviews, or you can also follow this blog if you haven’t!

For the next few weeks, I’ll be posting reviews of items I’m testing out as part of BNT Girls. The first item I’ll be reviewing this month is from 3 Concept Eyes or 3CE. 3CE is a cosmetics company under retail brand StyleNanda, and it is one of my favorite Korean brands to date. The style is edgy and fun, quite different from the typically girly style of Korean cosmetics.

3CE I'm Good Mascara - Tube

The 3CE x Pink I’m Good Mascara* comes in a fat bright pink tube that reminds me a little of the Fairy Drops packaging, without all the crazy illustrations. It has a skinny wand. I love the packaging, though I think that pink on black would have been such a great look for this mascara! Just saying.

Product Description: “Complete doll-eyes Makeup with a single stroke of mascara. Perfect dolly lash mascara for long lashes, curled lashes, and controls smudging from oil and moisture.

Minimum C-Curl Brush: smooth lashes all the way down from the roots with the minimum c-curl brush that sticks tight to the lashes for fuller doll-eyelashes.

All-Proof Lash Makeup: Triple coated polymer that works against oil and moisture that completes this all-proof mascara for perfect, curled long-lasting lashes.

Real Black Long Lash: Lucid, clear well-defined eyes with black liquid naturally extending the eyelashes are still maintained even after re-application without any bundling effect.

3CE I'm Good Mascara - Wand

Like I said, it has a pretty skinny wand with natural (i.e. not plastic) bristles. From my experience, wands like this tend to give a more natural, lengthening look to the eye, as opposed to volumizing the lashes. I have fairly short, stick-straight lashes, so I have a lot of needs from mascara, but I don’t really expect most of them to wow me.

The formula of the 3CE I’m Good Mascara is not dry and not too wet, and it doesn’t have a strong or chemically scent. It’s actually a pretty pleasant, very faint scent… nothing I would have noticed if I didn’t actually smell it.

According to the product description, we should be on the lookout for “dolly lashes,” long girly eyelashes that hold a curl. The formula is also “all-proof,” which means it’s water-proof, sweat-proof, oil-proof, and it should be buildable and non-clumpy. The shade, Black, should also be… well, black!

3CE I'm Good Mascara - Face

My lashes are very stubborn, and as you can see, this mascara is perfect for daily wear, aka not dramatic looks. My lashes are well-defined and lengthened. I like how it holds the curl on my left eye (your right), but it doesn’t do much for my right eye’s lashes. The formula doesn’t clump much, but the brush doesn’t seem to separate the lashes well either, so I would hold off on extreme layering. Thankfully, I didn’t experience smudging or flaking—some of the worst qualities of a mascara, IMO.

3CE I'm Good Mascara - Eyes

I love the wand because it really grips the lashes well and the skinniness makes it easier to reach the lower lashes neatly. My lashes didn’t feel goopy or crunchy, and though not very dramatic, they defined my lashes really well. Though this didn’t give me “WOW!” lashes, I appreciate the subtle definition and ease of use.

3CE I'm Good Mascara - Seal
An extra photo for no reason—all of these, like most Korean products, come sealed!

Have you tried this mascara from 3CE? Any CF suggestions for me to try out? 🙂

Say hello to the bntgirls official badge! * PR Sample. Product was sampled and reviewed as part of the terms outlined for the BNT Girls.

Other BNT Girls: Joanne, Kine, Doris, Bella.

I have no information regarding 3CE’s animal testing policy.

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Hourglass Ambient Lighting Blush in Diffused Heat

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My best friend Isa went to the States for a month so I asked her if she could get me a couple of things, one of which was the Hourglass Ambient Lighting Blush in Diffused Heat. The other being Diptyque Vetyverio, which you can get here but for a higher cost.

I wasn’t really that excited about this range when the first couple of reviews went out. The idea of a blush and Ambient Lighting Powder (of which I am a HUGE fan) was really exciting to me, but the promo pictures didn’t do them justice, in my opinion.

Hourglass Ambient Lighting Blush - Diffused Heat - Packaging

I was so stunned at how small this turned out to be, compared to the powders. I know that that has been a common comment when it comes to these blushes, but even knowing that, I wasn’t prepared for the smallness of it. Read More

All the Things: On Beauty, Buying, and Blogging

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Softly Sometimes has been alive for a fraction of the time that most websites (and beauty blogs) have been up, and frankly, I feel a little bit bored with it.

I haven’t really grown tired of “beauty” or “blogging,” but I have grown tired of buying. Or at least, some aspects of it. I’ve been on a low-buy since April and I haven’t really bought a lot of beauty things since then. However, when I resubscribed to the Le Métier de Beauté Beauty Vault VIP 2014 round, it made me think about my relationship with “beauty,” or rather, beauty products… and why I often feel the need to have and to own.

To be fair to myself (heh), my case of the grabby hands has toned down quite a bit since freefalling into the world of beauty, as we have all come to know it. Whenever I asked a person unfamiliar with the world of beauty blogging the “What’s your beauty philosophy?” question for Nosy Beauty, I feel kind of weird because I don’t want them to think that this frilliness is what beauty—actual beauty—means to me. That’s another story, but I do still wonder what kind of person blogging about beauty has made me.

TL;DR VERSION:
My perspective on both Softly Sometimes and beauty blogging in general has been shifting fairly often recently. The direction I’m headed towards is nothing groundbreaking or radically in opposition to my current perspective; just a clearer view of the “bigger picture.”

PLUS, an important question:
What do you want to see more of on Softly Sometimes?

Read More

Unboxing: BDJ June 2014 Box*

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Happy Monday everyone! Here’s a quick unboxing post, courtesy of the awesome surprise the ladies at BDJ Box left for me on Saturday. The June 2014 BDJ Box is another brand exclusive by Benefit. I’ve had great experiences with Benefit as a brand—in fact, one of my first base products was their tinted moisturizer, You Rebel Lite—but when I decided to focus on cruelty-free beauty brands, Benefit fell by the wayside, which was a tiny bit frustrating for me, as they have been releasing quite a few products that have been in development for a long time.

One thing that Benefit does well is minis. I know that sounds really dumb, but when they want you to try their products, they really go all the way. Each sample in this box, for example, come as a mini version of their regular packaging, with some card packaging to mimic the boxes that full-size items may come in.

BDJ Box - June 2014 - Sample Packaging

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20 Days of Lipstick: Week 2 Recap

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Yay, here’s Week 2 of my Beauty Dare to wear 20 different lipsticks in a month, in an effort to stay away from the neutrals and MLBBs I always reach for and to keep my lipsticks in a healthy rotation. If you missed the Week 1 Recap, it’s here.

20 Days of Lipstick - MAC Ravishing
DAY SIX feat. MAC Creamsheen Lipstick in Ravishing

I love this color, but I hate this formula, which is probably why I don’t wear this shade that often. It’s just heavy and icky, but the color is just fantastic, I think. Read More