Broken City Movie Make Up By Michelle Phan

Michelle Phan has always been a favourite beauty guru on YouTube for me, she is the one that really got me started being interested in skincare and cosmetics. I once even went to a focus group set up by herself and her collegues, sadly she was not there but I had a really great time.

Having followed her for a long time now, I have seen the way she has changed, from being just somebody wishing to share her knowledge in her room to this millionnaire she is now! From that I have seen the way her videos change too, the period I enjoyed the most was when she was sitting in front of her TV which had picture on so she could use this as her backdrop, such as her NaNa tutorial and her Theme Park make up. This was when she was also apart of IQQU and she was working to make her own skincare products and this was what got me interested in skincare too. 

Although she went through of phase of just being all Lancome, Lancome, Lancome and now, Ipsy, Ipsy, Ipsy (currently not open to international customers) in this particular video which she has called 'Broken City Movie Make Up' I feel like this video has definately captured what she used to be and my favourite part of this video is that she is using only using her fingers to apply her eyeshadow, not only how to put on but to blend as well. I have loads of brushes that I just keep buying a buying and in all honesty, this takes me back, your fingers are your best tools for definite. 

Please take a look at her video!

***Mikami Salon***

Hello everyone!!!! I just want to start off by wishing you all a happy new year and all the best for 2013!!! Have you got a new years resolution yet? Mine is to work hard and acheive my goal of moving to Hong Kong like I have always wanted, I think it may take me a couple of years still but it is finally a work in progress. It has always been a dream of mine to move to Hong Kong, I love going there and I think life out there suits me more, I have always felt that I was too young and not confident enough to do it and I was in uni so busy with that but now I don't feel like I have anything stopping me and I am not losing anything or leaving anything behind so now is the perfect time to begin this adventure! Good luck with all your endeavours and I wish you all the bset of luck for completing your resolutions for 2013!!

Back to the main purpose of this post, I finally got a chance to go to Mikami Salon!!! I have wanted to go for many years but since it is half way round the other side of the world in Hong Kong, I don't really get many chances! Really excited to share this because before I went I couldn't see much about it on the internet besides on their facebook page so I hope this helps anyone who is looking to go there!

I've just come back from Hong Kong so I am very excited to share everything that I got up to! The salon has been around for quite a few years now, the owner is a lovely girl and brilliant amazing photographer called Mikocokiki, I haven't had a chance to meet her yet but I caught her on the way out of the salon whilst I was walking in. I tried to read some reviews on the internet before I went but didn't find much...

The salon is conveniently located in the middle of Causeway Bay in Hong Kong. Mikocokiki also owns a clothes shop (SP Fashion - which is also on the top floor of this building) and a nail salon (Mini Nail - This was below SP Fashion but it has just moved.) It was very easy to find even though it is not on the ground floor of the building.

What makes this salon stand out for me? Well for many years the spokesperson for the company have been 2 very popular HK models, Janice Man and Angelababy, they are both very gorgeous girls who have very long beautiful hair, they are both very good friends with Mikocokiki and combined with her photography skills, they look stunning as ever! The salon in my opinion is very good and aimed at those who are young and wish to have hair like themselves, very girly and young adult. I don't tend to like going to hairdressers and cut my own hair because no hairdresser has really ever given me what I wanted even though I show them pictures of exactly how I want it, it always seems to come out completely different!

This is how long my hair was before I got it cut and digitally permed.

So first of all, when I walked in I ws greeted by staff and they asked me to sit down and wait a bit whilst the stylist got things ready. I had 2 lovely boys work on my hair, one was Kin who cut my hair and there was another guy who I don't know the name of...sorry!! But he was the one that did all the perming. They were both extra nice and friendly and I would not hesitate to recommend them to anyone! Kin trimmed it slightly first and then proceeded to wash my hair. The price on the poster for a digital perm is $398HKD and then there is an added price dependant on which perm solution you went for. I ended up choosing the Matrix perm soution because I usually use Matrix hair dye so I have had quite good experience with it, this was at a price of $420HKD.

This is what you look like with the crazy heating machine which gives you perfect curls! What's so great about digital perms is that each section of hair that is attached to this machine is that the temperature of the rollers are all at the same temperature thoughout so it creates a nicer curl.

After all this, Kin came back and chopped all my hair off )=. It was definitely for the best though, with my hair being so long, it meant that it was harder to look after and I never cut it... so it was super damaged to begin with and the perming process made it worse!

So this is the final look!  Straight out the salon! My hair has aways been dead straight and curling it would be quite a chore because it would never stay in unless I basically used a whole can of hairspray! Now, it is nice and effortlessly curly! I would definitely recommend Mikami Salon to anyone, the whole experience was great from start to finish, the whole process for me only took 3 hours so not long at all. To find more information please go onto their Facebook Page, its mainly in chinese though so if you have any questions at all, please feel free to leave me a comment below!

One last note: HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Couple more clearer pictures of how it is now after about 4/5 days here and I had washed it inbetween too.

 

[Reupload] Skin Food BB Cream

BB Cream is something that I have wanted to try in a very long time now, the only thing that stopped me was the fact that there is so much information you need to know before you go ahead and start using it. BB cream is Blemish Balm cream, it is extremely popular in East Asia and currently not available in the UK, it is simply like a foundation but with skin care properties that can help for example, fade marks and even out skin tone. The concept of BB Cream originates from Germany, it was used by patients who has laser skin surgery to help them regenerate the skin. Soon after, Korean celebrities adopted the idea of using it normally and the craze began!

There are hundreds of different brands to chose from such as Missha, Etude House, Skin Food, BRTC and many many more, all special in their own way. Since I have never tried BB Cream before, I thought it would be wise to stick to something simple. After researching into some of the creams that are available to me, I decided to try the Skin Food Aloe Sun BB Cream with SPF 20 PA+. It comes in a green squeezy tube and is 50g and it comes in 2 colours... No. 1 which is bright and No. 2 which is natural. I got the No. 2 since I have quite dark skin and its not bright so I thought it would be a good idea. I bought mine off of Ebay for around £6.99 from a seller called Skinfood2you and they, I believe are based in Korea. They even threw in a sample of Missha's Perfect Cover BB Cream which I have yet to try, although I am extremely happy about it as Missha was the other brand I wanted to try!

On initial try, I found that it is thick, as thick as a normal foundation. To my demise, the colour is way to bright for me! but it did what it promised, my skin looked smooth but not completely flawless but it felt smooth. I've tried to take a picture of the BB Cream to show you the difference of the colour but none of the pictures have come out showing the true colour but to give you an idea of the difference, when I use foundation, I normally buy it in a natural beige colour and that seems to match my skin well so if you are any darker than that, I wouldn't recommend this one for you. The smell of it is great though, it smells like Aloe Vera and you can smell it all day long! Otherwise on a daily basis I use Shiseido's tinted moisturizer and although it smells nice, its one of those smells that smells funny after a while whereas the BB Cream it smells pleasant all day long! I did use a base under it, I use the Shiseido Maquillage Styling Keep Base that I have reviewed before.

Some problems that some people have come across using BB Creams is it makes them break out. I didn't have that problem but when using BB Cream its best to double cleanse. What I do normally anyway, is use a make up wipe and then wash my face with a cleanser ( I tend to switch between Boots Botanics Scrub and Laneige Sensitive Mild Cleanser) to make sure all traces of make up is gone before I sleep.

I honestly, wouldn't buy this particular BB Cream again just because of the colour, everything else I think is great. With BB Creams it is very much a trial and error if you are really believe in the cream. I would like to try others in the future, I wouldn't say that this current one is a waste but purely for its skincare properties, I will use it for days when I am at home since I look extremely pale when I do wear it, people thought I was ill!

Hope you find this helpful (= Let me know your thoughts! Please leave a comment and subscribe!

Kary xx

[Reupload] Egyptian Magic Cream

Egyptian Magic... Heard of it? Its an all purpose cream that can be used for dry skin, burn skin, scars amongst many other things. CLICK HERE to go to their official website, I mainly bought it for the scar reduction ability and maybe sometimes for the dry skin. I bought mine off of eBay for around £27, the tub is 4oz/118 ml and its made in the USA.

It is made from only 6 natural ingredients, Olive oil, Beeswax, Honey, Pollen, Royal Jelly and Propolis Extract (Propolis is a resinous mixture that honey bees collect from tree buds, sap flows, or other botanical sources.).

How to use it is to get a small amount onto your hands and the best way to use it is to rub your hands together until it gets oily like, what it feels like is, imagine you have some olive oil and it ends up being so cold that it goes into a solid, that's exactly how the Egyptian Magic feels. Sometimes after rubbing your hands together you might still find some small lumps that haven't melted but what I usually do is just breathe over your fingers with some cream in to warm up the cream before rubbing your hands together and that usually does the trick in making it all melty! Then it is best to massage in circular motions to rub it in. This is what it looks like and how much I have used already!

I have used it for about 1 month now I think, an truthfully, it hasn't done anything for me yet - however, whilst I was ill I didn't use it for a week because I didn't really have the energy to do anything! But as I said I am using it for the scar reducing ability and I have loads of old eczema scars well, everywhere really. I am going to carry on using and maybe when I see a difference I will let you know. FYI, I have also tried using Bio Oil, again for scar reducing and that was note very good at all, with Bio Oil it just feels like your dousing oil all over yourself! But I won't slam it too much, it does absorb after about 15 - 20 minutes but I usually did it after a shower so I would be rubbing it whilst sitting on my bed and I was always really scared to put my legs down incase it made my bed sheets all oily. I still have that feeling with the Egyptian Magic but its not as a big deal because its more like a petroleum cream as opposed to really wet oil.

I started using on my face hoping that it would help my complexion, fade marks and evening out my skin tone. I did it for about a week and initially it feels really horrible and sticky because the cream is thick and it takes quite a while to absorb too and after using for a week, I didn't really see a vast improvement in softness or anything so I decided to stop doing it since it feels quite uncomfortable. I have tried using on my lips as well, it works okay but still no where near as quickly effective as Vaseline but I must admit that sometimes Vaseline can irritate my lips and I end up scratching my lips quite a lot and this did not happen with the Egyptian Magic so I now carry around a small pot of it in my bag to use.

I think with a product like this, it takes time around like 3 months to see gradual improvements and it doesn't really work with old scars. You must be really determined to see the visible results and and put it on at least once a day but out of this cream and Bio-Oil,I definitely prefer this one as you can still use it whilst wounds are still open whereas with the Bio-Oil you must wait until the wound is fully healed before you can start the scar healing process and also the Egyptian Magic is almost like an all purpose cream so you can use it for eczema and even if you burn yourself, I burnt myself with my hair curlers, it was only small on my thumb but I put the Egyptian Magic on it a few times a day and there seems to be nothing there now (=.

As for buying it again or not... I'd probably say yes to use for dry skin rather than for scar reduction.

Hope everyone had a lovely Christmas and New Year! Have you kept to your resolutions? Mine is to work hard and graduate this year so let's hope I do stick to mine!

[Reupload] IQQU

NOTE: IQQU is no longer associated with Michelle Phan, I believe she sold the company so she could have more time with her projects such as her Lancome work. This product has also discontinued )= Shame.. I really liked it!

Hi Everyone!!

I've been so busy lately! End of semesters always mean loads and loads of deadlines so I haven't had the time to write )= I'm still working on some work now but I'm taking a break to talk to you about IQQU Skin Rejuvenator that I bought when it was the black friday sale a while back.

For those who don't know, IQQU is the brand by Michelle Phan aka RiceBunny, she is basically the original beauty guru of YouTube! If you haven't come across any of her video's then you should search for her! I have wanted to try her products for quite a while because not only did she formulate the products herself with scientists but she uses them on a daily basis and her skin is soooo perfect! There are RAVING reviews of her Acne Serum, with that I'd love to try it but I don't have acne so it would not be a great use to me!

As she was having a black friday sale it meant that most products went from being $33 to $25! but shipping is quite expensive which is why I didn't try it straight away. For me it costed $8 so it meant the equivalent of buying the product normally with free shipping but still, it was cheaper so I bought it! I got it quite quickly in the post but since there were probably a million orders that Michelle was dealing with, she had abit of a delay with some orders as she was packing I think all the US orders herself and something also went wrong so she needed to manually email everyone that ordered and ask them again poor girl! I got confused at the time as I replied and heard nothing back and I was unable to sign into my account too to check the progress of my order so I filled out the 'Contact Us' form on her website http://www.iqqubeauty.com/int/index.php and she replied after about a day and explained the situation to me but after less than a week after ordering, I got my package with the skin rejuvenator in!

This is what the skin rejuvenator can do for you...

This product is for you if...

You want to hydrate your skin without your skin feeling oily.
You want to even out your skin tone.
You want your skin to retain moisture.
You want an extra lift and stimulate collagen production.
You want to renew your skin without irritation.
You want to give your skin natural antioxidant and sunscreen.

I wanted everything that this product can offer! When I received the package I literally just ripped it out the box and wanted to use it! I have used it for a bit now and it is quite moisturizing. This is not the best time for me to be testing it though since every year around this time I have really bad skin problems because of the weather, it started snowing in London not long ago! so temperatures have been dropping below 0 and usually when going to University, I commute for 2 hours with constant changes on different trains so usually going from in to out and out to in with the heat from the inside and the cold outside, it has damaging effects on me that I haven't had since I started going to University (Luckily this is the last year!) It's currently on the mend at the moment though since its thankfully the holidays!

I digress though... back to the product, It has no fragrance to it and it is a cloudy white colour. The cream itself is like a gel, thin and light weight as advertised, it absorbs well with little effort and immediately leaves your skin feeling soft but not if you have very dry skin even with eczema or psoriasis, I have some patches at the moment and they don't immediately disappear but remember, this isn't a miracle cream!

This is what the cream itself looks like... That little blob of cream is about half a pump and you can see that its slightly starting to trickle down my hand, I had it there for about 30 seconds to take the picture and I don't know if you can see the faint line on top of my hand I've rubbed some in and its already starting to absorb!

I am using it by itself and not using the revitalizer as suggested as this was the first time trying this brand at all and if I had any problems with it then I wouldn't feel like I've wasted any money on stuff that I can't use and really want to! Out of this and the Laneige Emulsion that I use, I prefer the Laneige it has been developed for sensitive skin whereas the IQQU is designed for everyone and not one product, I believe, can suit everyone. Also, considering that I can't buy either of a products in a shop, they were both around £20 for me and the IQQU is 30ml and the Laneige is 100ml so money wise the Laneige is currently still winning.

All in all, I love the product and If I could, I would buy everything from IQQU and use it, Michelle uses it and look how perfect her skin is! But, long term wise, for a student, it is quite costly for what you are buying and there are some design flaws with the bottle that I have noticed, its in a standard regular pump bottle but sometimes some cream can get stuck under the nozzle so its not very hygienic and after each pump, there is still some that comes out - quite similar with what happens to hair mousse so if you just pump once and then replace the lid, you'll find that its leaked abit which is not great either with it being wasteful, I can't say for sure though whether it is a design flaw or something happened during the posting but to me it looks all normal which is why I am calling it a design flaw.

Again, Sorry for the lack of updates and not even one for over a month but I have been busy and just had no time to even sleep! I hope you have all have a lovely holiday and keep warm! (If your in a cold place of course, if your not, I'm very jealous of you!). Take care of yourselves!

[Reupload] Lips Part 2

Hello again! So... I've been ill so sorry for no updates, I always get ill this time of the year and everyone calls it fresher's flu but I'm not a fresher! Nor do I party like one! But here I am, feeling alot better after going to the doctors and getting some antibiotics! So if its cold, wrap up warm! (= If not, lucky you!
Finally though, here is the second part of my lip post. This particular post is looking at those drug store brands that I have used before aside because not everyone can always get access or afford the real expensive ones, I know I certainly can't!

First up - Vaseline

I'm sure this is the most popular one that everyone knows about and can easily get access to! I'm not going to go too much into detail about this one because its been around for years, its very popular and I'm sure at some point you have used it before. This one is definitely a must have! I don't use it on a daily basis as I find it very oily but sometimes when you use expensive things, it takes a toll and you can't afford to keep using it so I always have a Vaseline handy so that maybe when I'm just at home for the day I would use it to keep my lips moisturized without using expensive things! I have used the lip one and the one that comes in a tub and I would favour the one designed for lips but both work just as well (=



Soft Lips - I used this many years ago, I think I used a vanilla one but they have pretty much changed since I used it but I didn't like it very much at the time. I felt like I was using every 5 seconds and it didn't feel very comfortable, once again the barrier type feeling that I don't like. The packaging is nice though however, its very slim and small so good for people like me who carry loads of stuff in their bags! and its not too expensive.



Nivea - I like this, it does what a lip balm should do. Not thick or oily, feels moisturized for a long time and and you know when you get that feeling of when you lips feel very soft and you also feel like you have nothing on, thats what I like about it so much. However, after a while of using it, I felt like my lips had got used to the lip balm and it wasn't working the same anymore so if you are looking for something long term - I don't think this is it. The Johnsons & Johnsons range have a lip balm that is very similar to this too. I also prefer that its in a lipstick stick style because it saves you from using your hands because they may be dirty because for example, your on public transport and touched a handrail that could not be clean!

I'm sorry this is a short one, I'm a bit busy with Uni work at the moment, I am in my final year now and I have to make a documentary! With the help of my lovely girls, I am Producer for this documentary so lots of paperwork for me to do! But I can let you know that I will doing a post on a new curling iron that I bought and I m also running low on some make up so I will be buying more very shortly and of course I will not forget to tell you how I feel about them!

[Reupload] Lips Part 1

At the moment, I thought I would share with everyone my insight into lip salves/creams/moisturizers. I have the most awfullest lips that anyone can ask for, they have been like that since I was born and no cream or medicine has been able to cure it (not even yucky Chinese herbal medicine!), however, I do try to prevent them from being as bad as they are on a daily basis but every now and again when the weather changes drastically they turn drastically too. Be prepared! Haha, its going to be a long one, my lips have always been something that have been troublesome for me so I try everything! Even when I go to make-up counters they will always look at my lips and recommend and let me try their lip products! even if I am looking at something completely different!

Over the years I have tried numerous lip creams from very expensive to drug store cheap. Vaseline is the main one I'm sure you guys all know of, I have used it for many years but do not as much anymore. I find it very oily and thin, I don't use it often but it is still a good one to always have on you for occasional use.

Recently, I have been trying other things that have come to my attention... as you can see from my previous post, I love Laneige! My favourite lip blam is definately the Laniege Lip Treatment.

This seems to do wonders for me, the edges of my lips can get really dry and crack like hell to the extent that opening your mouth is sooooo painful! This lip balm soothes it a lot for me and after a few minutes of putting it on it feels like they have suddenly gone smooth like how lovely lips should be and I can open my mouth again! I unfortunately can't tell you what is in it since all the ingredients are in Korean but the sales lady who convinced me to buy this told me that it is all natural, the fragrance of the lip balm is lovely, its like a honey-ish time smell and this is just from the stuff that has been added to make the lip balm (so I've been told). It is a traditional lipstick style twisty up kind of thing so no hands are needed to apply this! It has also been said that it can be used as a lip base but honestly, when my lips are really bad, I don't wear lipstick/gloss because it doesn't feel good, feels like your making it worse so just this lip balm is good for me. Definately my HG (Holy Grail) of lip balms, but at $150HKD, its pretty expensive and it lasts me about 2 weeks with continuous use so I use it very sparingly as I cannot even purchase it without having my cousin buying it for me and posting it to me!

Another lip balm that I have found to be quite good is Kiehl's Lip Balm #1, it retails at £8.31-ish, it depends where you get it from! It can be purchased in Kiehl's shops (there is one in Covent Garden and you can also buy them in Space NK, the difference isn't too much though, its like around 10p less or more in different shops). My cousin actually recommended this to me, she lives in China so she has to buy it online but luckily its accessible for me. I really like this one as well because it isn't oily, thick and it absorbs in well. It is a squeezy tube so you have to use your hands to rub it in but remember that your hands are your best tools! It doesn't really smell of anything, if it did smell bad I wouldn't use it since your mouth is directly underneath your nose so you'll be able to smell it all the time! I think a good way of describing this lip balm would be like vaseline - the consistency is the same but it is a lot less oily an much more absorbing but at a slower rate but after a few applications your lips begin to look and feel a lot nicer. If I am bad I would normally put it on about 6/7 times a day whereas if I'm alright/good I will put it on about 2/3 times a day. This is 15ml and with constant use, it can last me up to about a month/month and half.

I don't know if you can see well in the picture but you can see that my lips weren't great on that day, it was on an average day because the skin around my mouth wasn't doing great then either but what I usually would do is put it around my lips as well at night time before bed and next morning it would feel better and not so tight, itchy and peeling.

If you do have cracked sore peeling horribly annoying lips like mine, a good way to moisturize them is to put it on at night and in the morning they won't so bad. A good little exfoliant is the olive oil and sugar trick. Sooo simple and extremely affective, literally how it sounds, mix some extra virgin olive oil with some normal white granulated sugar and smooth over lips and leave for a couple of minutes and rinse off. Whats great is that the sugar acts like a scrub and the oil softens things, its also great because if you accidentally eat it, its not a problem at all! At one point when my lips were really bad I was doing this about 3/4 times a day, its always a good idea to put something back on your lips after you finished eating, just like lipstick it needs a touch up.

There are other things that I have tried in the past, not used long term so these are based on first impressions.

Shiseido Benefiance Full Correction Lip Treatment - Retails around £28.50 for 15ml, for such a price I really do not think that it is that great considering Shiseido is one of my favourite brands and the Benefiance line is produced for mature and dry skin. It was very thick and sticky which is what I do not look for in a good lip balm, it felt like I had a layer or barrier over my lips and it also felt like I couldn't do anything for ages like eat/drink, even if it was windy and hair blew into it, it would feel really horrible and would stick really badly to it.

Shiseido The Skincare Protective Lip Conditioner - I got this when my auntie actually gave this to me a long time ago. I would compare this to the Nivea lip balms that you can get in drugstores but a little bit nicer. Retailing at around £21, I would only buy this if I had bit of extra cash and I felt like treating myself. An added bonus is that it has an SPF of 10, it is 4g in size so again doesn't last me too long with continuous use.

Biotherm Aquasource Moisturizing Balm Protective Lip Care - Thought about trying this after becoming interested in Biotherm, I haven't ever used any of the products but my cousin does which is why I became interested in it, again my lips are my biggest concern so immediately went to look at the lip stuff. I actually went to a counter to try it out before I bought it because it retails at around £12 so didn't want to waste it since Biotherm isn't a brand that I know I can trust at the moment. I didn't like this one either, thick and gloopy like a barrier again, very close to the Shiseido Benefiance one but cheaper.

*Phew* that was a lot. These are mainly the high end ones that I have use(d). Next time we will be talking cheap drugstore brands like Nivea, Vaseline and Johnsons.