Missha -Easy styling make up kit in retro scarlet

Missha -Easy styling make up kit in retro scarlet 

Price :15000won($14.99) on sale 8000($8)
I hate pre-assembled make-up kits with cream/gloss and powder products.
The only way an eye and lip palette works is if the products are all creamy, with no powders.
And to make things worse, now there are eyeshadow palettes with creams and powders!!!
It doesn’t work! The powder crumbles, or creates dust, even if you are super careful!!!!
So why in the Hell did I buy a kit containing lipstick and powder eyeshadow?????
Well….. My Korean is not very good.
In the Missha store this is this whole little counter with single eyshadows in disposable packaging. They are meant to be inserted into an empty palette.
Right next to they eyeshadows, there are the empty palettes, two types, a big one and a small one.
And oddly, right mixed in was the Makeup kit….
Huh?
There is nothing else on the counter but these eyeshadows and empty palettes.
Quite honestly I had no idea.
So I got home, and was perplexed. This is the sort of thing I would never buy, in colors they I am not inclined to use… But considering I was expecting it to be an empty palette, I can’t complain too much.

The easy styling makeup kit contains two lipsticks, one in red and one in orange.

There is a cream eyes shadow in a sparkly mauve, and two powders in a light purple hued blue and a dark purple.

To me it seems like a weird combination.
The red lipstick is a nice retro color. But the bright bright orange? And to put the two together?
Then the pale blue eyeshadow along with the mauve cream?
I mean I get some of the colors together.
But wouldn’t a black cream liner have been a better choice? Or something that goes with orange???
I mean picture the blue eyeshadow with the orange lips….

Also included in the kit are two brushes. A dual eyeshadow/cream eyeshadow applicator and a lip brush.
The lip brush is a good addition because the lip colors are lipstick, not lip gloss, not even lip creams.

With a gloss you can get away with applying it with your fingers (although that’s another reason I hate combo kits). If you attempted to apply these lip colors with your fingers you would make a serious mess.
With all that said the composition of the lipsticks is really nice. They are quite dry, and very matt.
This works for the retro look in my opinion. The red color is actually an excellent red. The tone is a bit cool, although neutral enough that my warmer tones can wear it attractively.
The orange possibly might have been included to warm up the red…. Maybe? When mixed though the red is pretty fluorescent.

Because the lipsticks are so matt the wear time is amazing. They lasted through eating and being out for a few hours, without reapplying.
The cream eyeshadow also fared very well in the wear-ability. It lasts for much much longer than cream shadows usually do.
It is also a very dry cream. It’s also quite translucent.
I find this odd, I assumed it would act like an eye liner.
But maybe it’s meant as an eyeshadow base.
The color in the pan is really pretty, but when applied it kind of looks like a sparkly bruise.
This is mostly due to the transparency. With a couple of layers the color does show true.
The powder shadows are silky smooth and really beautiful . When applied to the lids and shaded together they are really really beautiful.
They do not last as the rest of the make up in this kit.
So oddly you have to reapply the powder eyeshadow before the lipstick…
I think this is mostly because they are so silky and soft.

Conclusion: Though this kit is not something I meant to buy, and the colors are a bit odd, I liked the actual components so much I bought the kit as a gift , in a different set of colors!

Missha single eyeshadows and palettes

Missha - Single Eyeshadows and empty Multi shadow case

Small shadow -3500won, ($3) On sale $1
Large shadow - 4200won ($4) On sale $2
Small Palette- 9000won ($8.5) 0n sale $3
Large Palette- 1500won ($14)  On Sale $5

I adore pre-made eyeshadow palettes. I think my eye for colors is pretty good, but with most pre-made palettes they are quick easy and create beautiful results. Well, when you get them from good Makeup brands.

The make your own eye shadow palette thing is not something I’m really into… There are a few colors I use a lot, but then I just buy a couple of singles.

The Missha single eyeshadows and empty palettes were on sale, for 50% off.

That’s sooo cheap. Plus the brand’s few pre-made sets looked…. Ugly.

So I bought two empty palettes, a small and a large, and an assortment of colors. I bought a couple that I use all the time, and some random colors just to mix things up.

The palettes themselves are really nice.

The large one is a pale(almost white)sparkly pink on top, with the usual Missha mirror finish on back.

The palette is sturdy plastic. Inside the mirror takes up the whole of the cover. Large enough to actually do ones make up.

The case fits 4 large eyeshadows and four small. The liner that holds the shadows in place is a stiff sponge, making them stable but relatively easy to switch out.

Also included is the standard eyeshadow applicator.

The smaller case is done completely in the mirror finish. Which of course picks up finger prints like crazy.

But when it’s polished it looks so sleek….

The inside is hard plastic, unlike the larger palette. But the back has small holes to depot the eyeshadows. I prefer this personally, even though use eye shadows tend to make a mess when tipped upside down. Still it’s better than the sponge, because I tend to be clumsy, and more than a few times have I accidentally gouged a chunk out of an eyeshadow.

The mirror and applicator are also included in this size.

Both were on sale. I paid $5 for the large and $3 for the small. Completely different from the original price.

I purchased 11 eyeshadows in total.

Small -VL207 (dark purple with small blue sparkles)

- BR204 (Bronze with gold sparkles)

- GL202 (Acid green with white sparkles)

-WH301 (white with white sparkles)

-KH201 (looks wine in the pan but applies as a dark slightly metallic brown)

- Unknown number (dark slate grey)

Large- No. 10 (grey/ midnight)

-GL02( warm shimmer gold with some white sparkles)

-BE01 (Shimmer bronze with no sparkles)

-08 (Dark shimmer bronze and light shimmer pink)

The main difference between the small shades and the larger, is the fact the small ones contain sparkle. The only larger shade I bought with sparkle, the gold, has barely any.

And I realize I bought two nearly identical colors, but bronze is the color I wear most. So it only makes sense!

The shadows are smooth and silky. They apply beautifully. They are a tiny bit powdery. Though this varies by color. The two liner colors are of a different composition and apply almost like a cream. They are not at all powdery.

The most sparkly are also the most powdery, the small green, bronze and white.

The shadows in general have very good color pay off. The bronze and white being the least. As for lasting power, they are pretty average. The last the whole day for me, fading somewhat but still looking lovely.

Though I really like my new shades, and the palettes to put them in, they aren’t special enough to pay full price for. If they ever go on sale again, I will definitely pick up more shades.

Missha dual tip eyes

Missha - Dual tip eyes

Price: 6000won/$5.99 
On Sale: 3000won/ $3!!!!!!!! 
Colors: pink CR01 and brown BE01  
The dual tip eye, a liner and cream eyeshadow combo is not normally the sort of thing I would waste my money on.

They are super slim compact pencils, with a whole eye look in one tiny compact package. With my Christmas Vacation approaching, and the dual tip eye being 50% off, they seemed perfect. Since on Vacation I was traveling to Japan and China, where I would have to carry all my luggage on the train and suitcase, I was attempting to pack light.

The liner is a dial up pencil type liner. It's very creamy and smooth.

Cr01 is a deep metallic bronze liner BE01 is a soft cool tone bronze, much much paler than CR01

As liners they are very nice colors. The cream shadows are Cr01 Pinkish peach ( slightly metallic)

BE01 super pale bronze

.Both make for very complete, very subtle and very lovely eye looks.

The problem… They don’t last. At all. Like an hour or two tops…Sometimes cream shadows have good staying powder. Occasionally… with a good brand…
The dual tip eyes… *sigh* I love the idea. I really do. They are just something of a flop. I am going to test them with a good primer underneath. If that works out, I will update…. Conclusion : Very pretty, but not enough staying power to be worth buying!

Conclusion : Very pretty, but not enough staying power to be worth buying!

Update: I wore the Dual eye tip out to the grocery store today, with my favorite eye primer underneath. I was gone an hour- hour and a half tops. The cream shadow creased like mad, and the liner is now invisible.

missha glam look gloss

Missha the style - Glam look gloss

Price: On sale 3500 won ($3.50), Usually 8000won ($8)
Color: Wn01

The Style is a super elite looking line by makeup brand Missha.

As you can see by the packaging, and the lipgloss itself it looks way more expensive that it actually is.

It comes in a plastic tube with shiny cap.

The applicator is the usual Korean angled doe foot applicator ( I really like the angled version better than the old straight type.)

It's a dark rose with gold sparkles. When on the sparkle is very subtle. Subtle enough to be work acceptable. The glitter is also very finely milled, there is no  sense of it on the lips (no rough or grainy bits)

The gloss is nicely pigmented, but not so much that it doesn’t apply evenly. This means you can apply it reasonably safely without a mirror. Although the cap is actually shiny enough to use as a little mirror :) .

The gloss is also beautifully smooth.  It’s  shiny, but not high gloss, and the sticky factor is minimal.

The gloss is scented, with a candy grape scent. It’s not overpowering, and dissipates once you’ve closed the tube.

I love this gloss. It looks beautiful, it lasts pretty nice for a gloss, and the tube itself looks super elite.

I am definitely going to buy other colors, but best of all I got it on sale!!!! :D

Missha - Shimmering Oven Blusher

Color:  No. 11 Shimmer Blossom

Price: 17800won ($17) But it was on sale for $8!!

The author of the Lotus Palace Blog seems to adore baked shadows and blushes.  Since she is so often right about  these things I’ve been itching to try some myself. But since Oven baked products are usually twice as expensive as regular blushes and eyeshadows, and since I rarely use blush…. I haven’t been buying.

But then of course, Missha was having a sale, and their beautiful Shimmering Oven Blusher was 50% off!!!
I couldn’t possibly resist.

The packaging is beautiful. The blush comes in a surprisingly large shiny purple compact. The top is decorated with raised circular bumps and a clear crystal in the center. Pretty, but not frilly.
I am perplexed by the physical size of it. It’s nearly an inch and a half thick, and the blush is less than half that size. It’s nearly double the width of other baked blushers….
Weird.

As soon as you open the compact, the scent of the product wafts up. It’s far more scented than most powders I’ve used here in Korea. Which is saying something because Korean products generally do have some scent.
That being said the scent is not unpleasant, a very fresh rose scent (different than they cloying rose scent commonly thought of in North America).
And when wearing the product the scent is not noticeable.

Inside the compact is the rounded brush you get in just about every blush of this style.The brush is of surprisingly cheap quality, and too rough for me.

Below the brush is a cheap, throw away plastic separator. Keeping the brush from the product.
This is bizarre for a Korean blush, since generally compacts come with a solid plastic shelf to keep the brush on.  A flimsy throw away one is not what I’d expect from a nice brand like Missha.

The product itself is 4 colors, dark pink, very light pink, yellow tan and white.
There is some sparkle evident , but it appears to be minimal and finely milled.

When swatched, the product is not a blush at all!!!!!!
*sigh* it’s a highlighter.  I thought it was a blush. So in that respect I’m disappointed.
As a highlighter, it’s super pale, and very very low impact. It takes a lot of the product to show up at all.
Like it takes 3 or four heavy swipes to even create a super subtle effect.
If I drag my finger along the top, I can barely tell there is product there!!!

Can you see the swatch in this image? No? It's not the photo believe me.

3 photos, in decent lighting, but nothing. In real life, it looks the same. And all the pictures had like 4 or 5 heavy heavy layers.

Once it’s applied heavily enough to be visible, the product is let down by  the density of sparkles…
They are very finely milled, and for sparkles they are quite subtle, but by the time there is enough product on the face to be visible, you end up with a good layer of sparkle.

As it is, this is more like a baked body sparkle dust than a highlighter or a blush.
It’s quite disappointing.

Conclusion : Even on sale this was not worth it! It’s going to sit in my make up collection, un-used, collecting dust.

Missha Show powder blusher

Missha Show - powder blusher

Price: 8000won/ $8 (On sale 3500won/$3.50!!!!)

Color: Tyra 

Beauty bloggers out there seem to have an consensus on stamp style blushes, they suck.

Here in Korea, Stamp blushes are everywhere.  

I have tired them personally, with not very good results.

But when I saw this blush by Missha, it was so pretty and the blusher color so perfect, and the price, unbelievable, I had to snap it up.

With stamp blushes I usually just remove the stamp sponge (most screw off) and use the blush like a loose powder. Not an ideal solution, but better than having two stamped circles on each cheek.

The Missha blush is encased in shiny silver and clear plastic. Making the packaging gorgeous, though a smudge magnet.

Inside is the basic sponge top.

The blush itself is a pinkish peach with gold sparkles.

In the store I fully expected this to be an occasional use blush. Big gold sparkles are too much for me to wear to work.

To my delight, when applied the sparkles are surprisingly subtle.

The sponge applicator is also better than other brands I’ve tried. It deposits only a small amount of color with each pass, making it easy to create a natural look, and preventing two circles of color.

The blush is also sheer to light. Making it build-able.

In all honesty this is the first time a stamp blusher has worked in such a way as to be useable!

Plus the color is gorgeous.  Its pink enough to go with my Caucasian skin tone, and peach enough to be warm and super flattering with green eyes.

I really really like this blush. Enough that when I run out I will probably go out and buy it at regular price!

Missha - Brand Introduction

Missha is a Korean Skin care and Makeup brand, that like Etude house, Tony Moly, and many others has it’s own stores here.

Which means Missha has a massive amount of products. There are a number of different skin care lines, including a very sleek men’s line. 

As a brand Missha is characterized by sleek modern packaging and more subtle work appropriate looks.

The prices are also more expensive than most of the brands with independent stores, but of course cheaper than department store brands.

For example  a stamp blush is about 8000won ($8), a baked blusher is ($17).

At etude house those prices would be about $5 and $12, and a a low end department store brand $15 and $25 respectively. 

Because their packaging looks super Elite I immediately fell in love.

And since they do not test on animals, I am super excited to try out their stuff!!!!!

The Missha stores aren’t very common where I’m living, so I’ve recently just discovered it, and the first time I went in to a store, they were having a 50% Holiday sale!!!

So I admit I bought a fair number of things…