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First Impressions Review: BRTC Bright Eye Vitalizer Cream*

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BRTC Bright Eye Vitalizer Cream

Today’s dose of bntgirls goodness comes in the form of the BRTC Bright Eye Vitalizer Cream. I received the Jasmine Whipping Essence last month, and it was one of my favorite items, so I was fairly excited to have received this eye cream. Like the Jasmine Whipping Essence, the Bright Eye Vitalizer Cream has Blue Phyto ComplexTM, which is a special BRTC ingredient containing ECOCERT-certified lavender water. It alleviates skin stress, prevents skin dryness and itchiness, and softens rough, scaly skin for the health of your skin.

The Bright Eye Vitalizer Cream is the 3rd step of BRTC’s Multi-Vital10 System, which is a skin-brightening program with Vitamin Complex to prevent skin-darkening and to brighten complexion. There are 9 steps all in all, which sounds excessive but the system incorporates everything down to the hand cream.

The Bright Eye Vitalizer Cream is a vitamin eye cream for delicate & wrinkle-prone skin around eyes, with whitening effect. It is also for intensive moisturizing and has “over 10% of 10 kinds of vitamins and plant-driven nourishing, brightening ingredients (hence the name) so that it helps make bright and healthy complexion and provides fresh cool, subtle feeling with xylitol.”

BRTC Bright Eye Vitalizer Cream - Open

This is an odd eye cream, by the way, and comes in a stick form like the packaging for the Benefit 10-Hour Primer, and the Benefit Watt’s Up!, kind of like a glue stick. It even applies like glue stick, too—very smoothly and transparent. 🙂 I like this format because it’s easy to use and easy to travel with!

As for the effects, I haven’t noticed anything major in terms of improvement of wrinkles around my eye area, but that has always been a problem for me. I’ll be using this for the next few weeks to determine its effectiveness. The box does say, however, that it can be applied to freckles, liver spots, and wrinkles around the mouth.

BRTC Bright Eye Vitalizer Cream - Before and After

There is a really pleasant cooling effect, which I hope will help with my puffy under eyes after some time! Currently, it doesn’t really do much. I don’t have super dark under eyes—only when I stay up incredibly late!—so the main culprits are under eye puffies and also fine lines. I also actually quite like the scent, strangely enough. It smells really clean and refreshing, but it goes away upon application and doesn’t linger.

Overall, I quite like it as it helps moisturize my eye area before makeup. I think I need a more hydrating eye cream for night use, though.

The Multi-Vital 10 System is for you, if:
— you have uneven skin tone with dark spots from constant sun exposure
— no brightening skin care products help your dull, lifeless skin
— you want gentle yet effective brightening results
— your skin lacks vitality and nourishment

Don’t forget to visit the other bntgirls: Kine, Joanne, Rini Cesillia, Alene, and our newest member Mariana! 🙂

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* Items provided by BNTNews. All opinions are my own and 100% honest.

Quickie: Le Métier de Beauté Lip Crème in Crème de la Crème

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Le Metier de Beaute - Lip Creme - Creme de la Creme - Product

I finally bit the bullet and got the Le Métier de Beauté Lip Crème in Crème de la Crème. It was what Dustin of LMdB recommended that Xiao of Messy Wands get as a first lip crème, which if you didn’t know is a heavier gloss. An extensive review of the line and the other shades I have (Crème Caramel, Café Crème, and Fraise Crème) can be found here.

LMdB - Creme de la Creme - Face

Crème de la Crème is a pretty basic, milky shade, which is why I didn’t want to get it for a first experience. It looks nude, but it toned down my lips’ natural pigmentation, and it will function the same way over top of darker lip colors. I’ve worn it over Snoe Beauty’s Plum Crazy, a pretty vampy plum, over here:

Doradus, ASoIaF - Face

The white base of Crème de la Crème pays off like a milky gloss, rather than opaquely, which accounts for the “muting” of bolder lip colors. It also has gold microglitter, which adds a nice sheen to the lips without overloading it with gritty glitter.

LMdB - Creme de la Creme - Face2

I think it’s quite nice paired with a smoky eye. 🙂 Lip Crèmes are $36 each, but they are seriously my favorite gloss formula. I am totally not a gloss person, but these by Le Métier de Beauté are just perfection. It’s not that I have an “okay” relationship with gloss now… I actually really enjoy wearing lip gloss now.

Le Métier de Beauté is cruelty-free.

Mizon Returning Starfish Cream*

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Mizon Rejuvenating Starfish Cream

First up for review, I have the Mizon Returning Starfish Cream. It is a “highly functional cream containing starfish extract, the symbol of a strong autogenous power, provides elasticity and moisture to the skin, manages combined skin problems such as the improvement of wrinkles and ligne action, etc. It is a special formula for the shape-memory returning the skin to the optimum condition the skin memorizes.”

Product Description:Mizon Returning Starfish Cream contains 70% starfish extract, which regenerates, reinforces elasticity, and moisturizes aging skin. Not only does it provide great anti-aging benefits but it also brightens, smooths, and locks moisture into skin with hyaluronic acid and argan oil. This cream contains no artificial coloring or parabens, making it suitable for sensitive skin while protecting it from harmful outside factors.

Directions: At the last step of basic skin care, apply all over face. Tap lightly to help absorption. For best results, use at night.

Mizon Starfish Cream - Spatula

The cream comes in a super pretty 60ml tub, and it also comes with a spatula, which is awesome because you don’t have to dip your finger in the pot every time you use it. The spatula is also much easier to clean than the actual tub of product, obviously.

Mizon Rejuvenating Starfish Cream - Lid

The texture of this product is strange. It is more gel than a cream, but it has less “give” than a gel. Did you ever play with cornstarch and water as a kid? The texture of this is similar to that, quite a firm gel, but it is strangely easy to spread across the skin, as the product kind of melts onto the surface. Also, you don’t need much to cover your entire face.

Mizon Rejuvenating Starfish Cream - Face

Me with no makeup! These were taken maybe five minutes after application. Notice how non-greasy this looks, but I should also note that my skin feels perfectly moisturized. Even though it seems a little too moist, it sinks into the skin after a while and is quite a good base under makeup, even though the directions say that it’s better to use at night. I noticed some of the finer lines under my eyes disappeared, too.

My biggest concern here is perhaps the biggest elephant in the room: Where do they get the starfish? I don’t like cosmetics that undergo animal testing, what more cosmetics that include actual animals themselves? Anyway, I have been searching high and low for the answer until I finally gave up and resorted to emailing Mizon’s customer service. I’m awaiting their answer now and will share it with you when I find out.

Certain Mizon items are available on Taste Central now, but your best bet for this is probably eBay.

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* Items provided by BNTNews. All opinions are my own and 100% honest.

Unboxing: bntgirls BeautyBox (November 2013)*

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What do you mean “November?” I’m pretty aware that it’s already December, however this little box was held up at customs (the far, meticulous Pasay branch), so it took me a while to get. In any case, I’ll be doing speed reviews and first for these items over the course of this week, and then I’ll check back in with you all after sustained use.

bntgirls

I’m actually pretty happy with my skin care routine right now, but this box is full of skin care items, so I’ll have to readjust some steps and products so I can report the full effect of my experience with these items in the near future. 🙂 I know it’s a little tricky to review skin care, but I’ll do my best. In any case, here are the contents of the box:

— Verikos Aloe Calming Oil
— Verikos Collagen Tightening Cream
— Mizon Returning Starfish Cream
– BRTC Bright Eye Vitalizer Cream
— Nature Republic Snail Emulsion 70, 80, 90
— Graymelin Seven Tattoo Eyebrow in Dark Brown
— Stylenanda 3 Concept Eyes Lip Color in 604 Vamp

I’ll roll out some of my first impressions later today, so stay tuned for that if something on the list piques your interest. Have a great Monday, everyone!

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* Items provided by BNTNews. All opinions are my own and 100% honest.

The Perfect Palette Tag

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PP Palette - All

Eye shadows—palettes in particular—are my weakness when it comes to makeup. There is just something about a beautiful palette with a beautiful concept behind it that gets my insides all tingly. Anyway, I saw this tag on YouTube (created by iluvfaces1042) and intended to do a video for it for the longest time, but I decided to do a post on it instead! Basically, there’s a round of questions that describes “the perfect palette,” as seen from many different aspects.

There were originally just 8 questions, but the 8th one—Most Used, Most Loved, Desert Island—got split into three instead:

1. Best Packaging
2. Best Color Payoff
3. Most Versatile
4. Best for Traveling
5. Biggest Regret
6. Best Color Names
7. Least Used
8. Most Used
9. Most Loved
10. Desert Island

PP Palette - All 1

Are you ready? Read More

The Weekender No. 2

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Untitled

Like I said, I don’t usually go out all that much, but two exciting things happened this week! I won tickets to see Metric, a Canadian band, while I was on the phone, interviewing Deck d’Arcy, the bassist of French band, Phoenix. Surreal.

I wrote about Metric on my (other) blog, here. Thanks again to Whitefield, which held the contest. 🙂 My interview with Phoenix is out on a broadsheet, but is also online here. It was a pretty fun conversation. Here’s an excerpt:

Did you imagine, from playing in that garage, that you would be here nearly 20 years later, with five celebrated LPs and a Grammy?

Yes. At 15, we were absolutely sure. We would become a big deal. You have no clue when you are a kid. Of course, if we knew what it takes to get here… We were really shitty.

Other than that, the week was pretty low-key. I did finish one of the books I read last week, though. It was pretty funny, but I was not hooked emotionally, which is strange considering the subject matter… But I will write a review on that instead of blathering on here.

And then, last week’s posts, indexed here:
Reviews: Ellana Minerals Makeup Brush Cleaner* / Le Métier de Beauté Hydra-Crème Lipsticks in Signature, Cashmere, Sahara / Le Métier de Beauté True Colour Eye Shadows in Corinthian, Midnight Sky, Noir / Swatchfest: My First Oslo Cosmetics Order / Sample Stash Sunday: Sigma Eyeshadow Sampler

Looks: Super Easy, Fuss-Free Face / FOTD: Golden Brown & Toasted (Using Urban Decay Naked)

Features: Revlon Beauty S.O.S. on Etcetera / Nosy Beauty Vol. 20: Kine

Tutorials: Tegan and Sara on Heartthrob

And stuff to look forward to for the following week:
Doradus, ASoIaF - Face MJB2
Storage Thumb Oslo Cosmetics - Carina Blush - Face 1

Have a great rest of the weekend. 🙂

Sample Stash Sunday: Sigma Eyeshadow Sampler

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Sigma Eyeshadow Sampler

I got this sampler card of eyeshadows when I ordered part of my sister’s Christmas gift from Sigma. “What do you mean eyeshadow card?” Well, I mean this:

Sigma Eyeshadow Sampler - Open

!!!

Sigma sent ten shades in the sampler. Basically, a plastic cover with adhesive acts like a lid, and they pack on a fair amount of eyeshadows in each “pan.” It’s pretty generous. I can get at least three uses out of each shade, I think. These shadows seem to be both available in palettes and singles.

SS Sigma ES Swatches
Top, L-R: Notre Dame, Grasp, Act, Allure, Versailles
Bottom, L-R: Élysées, Hitch, Eiffel, Reveal, Elope

Here are a few looks using the shadows. The first one, I just used Reveal on the outer half, Elope on the inner half, and Eiffel smudged on the outer corner. Because they were the outer colors of the 2nd half.

RBR Colour Burst Lipstic in Whim of Mine - Face

Sigma Eyes 1

On this look, I used the colors Notre Dame, Grasp, and Versailles over MAC Painterly Paint Pot:

Sigma - Grasp, Notre Dame, Versailles - Eyes

I was met with insane fallout.

Sigma Fallout

From my experience with this little booklet, I have to say that Sigma eyeshadows are pigmented when swatched, but that pigmentation doesn’t translate well on the eyes. They are also powdery, and they don’t last on your lids for a long time. I had better luck, generally, with the matte shades. I don’t think I’ll be purchasing these eyeshadows, although some of them are quite lovely colors. If you are looking for a long-wearing eyeshadow formula, like I always am, this may not be the brand for you. However, if you want some fun shades that you are willing to work with a little more, check them out.

Sigma does not test on animals.