{Vanessa Van Huynh} The ultimate dewy skin’s weapon [Etude House Nymph Aura Volumer]

Dear my lovely readers,

Have you ever wondered why Korean Idols have sooooo shinny dewy flawless skin just like plastic?

Today I am going to reveal to you guys the most effective way to achieve this year’s beauty trend: The “non-makeup” makeup look with healthy glowy natural skin.

First of all, I have to say that Korean actresses did it so well, we can’t help but wondering what kind of trick did they do to have that transparent glowing dewy skin.

Glowing skin gives us a healthy hydrated look that like our skin has just drunk lots and lots of water. However, dewy and oily looking skin are two very different thing so, remember to be extra careful, my beautiful girls (and guys).

Okay! Recently I has discovered this ultimate dewy skin weapon when watching a marketing CF campaign from Etude House which endorsed by Dara (2NE1) _ My favourite beauty singer. I was so impressed by her glowy dewy skin which brought her a healthy transparent makeup look.

I guess if you are a fan of dewy skin or you just want to achieve a flawless beautiful skin without looking too matte or cakey, this is a product for you.

Introducing: Etude House Nymph Aura Volumer #3 Transparent

Actually, there are a lot of products launched under the name of Nymph Aura from Etude House (which regards to dewy glowy look). For example: facial mist, volumer, bb cream, face primer …

I haven’t got my hands on them yet but I will try my best to review them in the future.

Back to our main character today: The Nymph Aura Volumer #3 Transparent

I totally adore that packaging. Etude House is keeping their mojo :”Wanna be sweet? Play Etude!”. Oh yeah, I know which products I’m reaching for when I want to achieve a sweet playful look.

Description: It claims to be a multi-functional cream that creates skin radiance and glow with pumped up moisture.

The bottle has an airless pump with no nozzle, so don’t be surprised if you can’t find it.

There are 3 kinds of Nyph Aura Volumers:

#1: Honey Aura: the most sticky, and dewy (almost oily) volumer out of the three.

#2: Pearl Aura: the most pinkish shimmery, the same texture with Skin food Lime Secret Shine Base  (Read my review about it here)

# 3: Water Aura: If you don’t like number 1 because it’s too oily, number 2 because it too pink. Then number 3 is definitely for you.

Testing time!

I got two sample of Etude House BB Precious BB cream therefore I decided to use it in this review so it matches my Volumer. I mixed the bb cream with nymph aura volumer with the ratio 3:1.

Do you see how glossy my BB cream became?

Result: I absolutely love how it looks on my skin. It creates a dewy glowing finish that natural looking, just like Korean idols.

  

TIPS:

1. Apply Nymph Aura Volumer #3 on your face (dry spots) when you sleep at night for moisturising effect.
2. If you dont want to mix the product with bb cream because it might make your bb cream have less coverage. Apply bb cream like usual, then use your middle finger to dab Nymph Aura Volumer on the highest point of your cheek bones, forehead, nose bridge, cupid bow and chin.

I’ve shared with you my beauty secret for dewy skin. Will you try this look out for Sring? Tell me in the comment below 

Good luck XOXOXO

{Vanessa Van Huynh} Skinfood Lime Secret Shine Base review

Hello my lovely readers, 

Today, I will review one of my favourite highlighter/ illuminator or base/primer , whatever usage you could think of for it. Although in my opinion, it's more of a highlighter than a base. 

If you are a fan of Benefit High beam, you absolutely gonna love this one since I do, too. Wanna know why? Keep reading to find out :3

Information:

Skinfood is a famous Korean cosmetics brand which embraces the image of healthy/natural ingredients. Their products always have cutesy yet freshly-looked packaging. Sometimes I just want to buy their goodies for the packaging only. 

Skinfood Lime Secret Shine Base: claimes to leave the skin naturally luminous which helps you achieve the glowy/dewy skin like Korean actresses.

The product comes in 3 shades : 

No 65: is a white pearly base. Suitable for fair skin tones. 

No 75: is a bronzy base. Suitable for tanned/ darker skin tones.

No 85: is a pinkish base. Suitable for pale skin tones. Personally, I think it's suitable for almost all skin type. I found no 65 is too white and no 75 is too dark for me.

Yep, I'm gonna review the no 85 : pinkish shine base.

It reminds me a lot about the Benefit High Beam. The texture is almost identical, although High Beam is a little bit pinker, while Skinfood shine base is more on the beige side. 

The base comes in a glass jar which is quite heavy and not travel - friendly, but you got a lot of product (30ml) for £10. This is quite a great bargain. Remember the Benefit High Beam costs you £18 for only 13ml. You can "scoop out" the product by a provided spatula. I'm not keen on the spatula so much because sometimes you might accidentally take out too much product. 

The open hole on the jar is quite big so you should be very careful or else you might spill the whole jar (we don't want that to happen >w<)

Swatch:

The product feel liquidy and won't clog your pores or turn your face into a frying pan. It has a silky pearly texture with really small shimmer and create a pinky finish. 

Swatch on my hand under natural light.

How to use: 

There are two ways you could use this shine base.

1. Mix with your bb cream or foundation with the ratio 1:3 (personally, I like my skin to be more luminous so I usually use a little bit more of the product, about 1:1). But if you apply this way, it might make your bb cream/foundation have less coverage. I don't find it a big problem since I prefer light coverage bb cream. 
2. Apply the product directly on to desired part of your face that you want to achieve dewy shine. This should be the hight point of your cheek bone, forehead, nose bridge, cupid bow and chin. If you choose to apply this way, you should only use a tiny amount of product to avoid a shiny shimmering pinkish face. Believe me, that doesn't look pretty at all. And we want a natural shine just like your skin is glowing. 

The product lasts all day and you can easily see the effect both indoor and outdoor. 

Have you ever try any bb cream enhancer or highlighter that you want to share with me? :)

Comment below to let me know if you would like to give this product a try. 

Good luck! XOXOXO

{Vanessa Van Huynh} MUA UNDRESS ME TOO Eye Palette review and swatches

Hi my lovely readers, 

I came across the idea of trying MUA products when I was looking for more information about Urban Decay Naked 2 Eye Palette - number 1 on my wish list - on the Internet. Claiming to be a low-cost dupe of the Naked 2, MUA has gave me some incredible impressions about their new palette the MUA UNDRESS ME TOO. 
Now let's talk about my new favourite cosmetic brand, shall we?

MUA Makeup Academy Profile:

Makeup Academy is a UK-based cosmetics company that promises to bring surprising quality, colour, fun and innovation to each and every product it delivers. Bringing guilt free makeup to every ladies makeup bag!

Their product ranges are all low-cost from £1 to £7 for all kind of makeup that you would need for a daily basic: face primer, foundation, bb cream, concealer, highlighter, eye primer, powder, eye shadow, lip stick, lip gloss, lip stain, blush, brown kit .... 

If you are living in the UK, congrats! You can easily get MUA products at every local Superdrug stores across the UK. 
If not .... don't worry, MUA does ship internationally as long as you are willing to pay shipping cost.

You can find their website right here: http://www.muastore.co.uk/store

MUA UNDRESS ME TOO EYE PALETTE:

Before I actually have my hand on it, I heard that this palette has received a lot of positive reviews, therefore I got a high expectation for it.

 To be honest, it's really a best seller of MUA since they were sold out at my local Superdrug which made me have to go to Piccadilly Superdrug to hunt it. My effort finally paid off: their original retail price was £4 but you can have it now for £3 because they are having special offer on various new-release products. Some of the product are web exclusive, so I order a few more from their website. I promise to give you guys more reviews about them when they arrived :)


The waiting is over. There is our beauty! 

Non-flash under natural light

With flash

To be honest, the palette is smaller than I thought, but I don't mind since it's only £3. I quite like their new white packaging since I find it looks cleaner compared to the black plastic palette of their Undress Me Eye Palette _ its older sister.

Yes, MUA named their eye shadow this time. No more shade number 1, number 2 .... It's easier to remember and share your opinion as well as making makeup tutorials without going back and forth searching for the number.

The shade from left to right, from top to bottom:

Naked, Devotion, Shy, Tranquil, Exposed, Reveal  (No flash)

 With flash

The shade from left to right, from top to bottom:

Fiery, Lavish, Dreamy, Wink, Obsessed, Corrupt (No flash)

 With flash

Now it's time for swatches:

From left to right: 

Naked, Devotion, Shy, Fiery, Lavish, Dreamy,  Tranquil, Exposed, Reveal , Wink, Obsessed, Corrupt

Non-flash

With flash

Detail swatches:

The top line: 

• NAKED: It's a matte beige shadow with yellow-undertone. It's kind of chalky, and the colour is less pigmented compared to other shadows in this palette. I had to reapply 3-4 layers to get the right colour shown.

• DEVOTION: A golden-bronze with gold shimmer. It has a frosty finish on the sheer side. 

• SHY: a peach-tinted white-beige with a frosted finish. 

• FIERY: an Orange-toned brown with coppery shimmer. My favourite one when you need a pop of colour in the centre of you lids. 

• LAVISH: the perfect crease base matte taupe-brown with purple-undertone. I find it quite creamy and easy to apply. 

• DREAMY: a dark bronze with dirty golden shimmer.

Non-flash

With flash

The bottom line: 

• TRANQUIL: a medium champagne brown with frosted metallic sheer.

• EXPOSED: a dirty grey colour with silver frosted finish.

• REVEAL: a pale grey with a hint of pink. It has a frosty finish which I think perfect for highlighting the brow bone and inner corners of the eyes. 

• WINK: a warm coppery pink-toned medium brown with frosty finish. My most-favourite shadow out of the 12. 

• OBSESSED: a deep brown with purple-undertone. It has less shimmer and have a very creamy texture. Perfect for contour your crease and the eye socket.

• CORRUPT: a deep dark black with a matte finish. It quite similar to BLACK OUT of the Naked 2 palette. I was very impressed with MUA since CORRUPT is very pigmented and the colour pay off nicely without rubbing my brush on the pan for more product. Consider the gap between Naked 2 and Undress Me Too, with £3, I think MUA has done an amazing job on creating this beautiful palette.

MUA Undress Me Too shadows on my eyes with Lavish for the base, Obsessed on the outer corners, Wink in the centre of the eye lids, Reveal to brighten-up the inner corners and Naked on the brown bones.

Over all:

Packaging: 7/10

Pigmentation: 8/10

Texture: 7/10

Longevity: 8/10

Application: 7/10