Oh, Loreal, why do you suck? ~Confusing Infallible eyeshadow color names~

I have been eyeing on Loreal Infallible eyeshadows, ever since I have seen many people talking about it on YouTube and I tried to get some of the colors but then, I DID NOT SEE ANY COLOR THAT THEY MENTIONED in the store here.

WHAT???!?!?!?!

So I just googled and apparently the color is still available. Then why it is not at the store?

I mean I do see the products but I could not find the color name I was after.

Then I realised that they are pretty much the same products sold by different names. Not only the names are different, even color numbers are different. Very confusing.

Apparently there are American versions and UK(Australian) versions of the names of colors and products. Like Lineur Intense is known here as Super Liner (but I am not sure if they are exactly the same).
There are so many products that is not available in Australia, like Voluminous mascara. The legendary mascara!! SAD FACE!

I was not completely sure if those eyeshadows with different names are really the same products as they might show up slightly different on the skin or some ingredients might be different.. But hey, the packaging and colors looked really similar.
How can I tell if they are the same? Ask the company!

I contacted Loreal Australia about the color names and products names.
I found a table of colors like a cross reference table on Nunu's blog (link is below) and it looked like she tried so hard to find which color is which in what countries...
Does it have to be that hard to figure our the colors from one brand??? I believe not.

So I put the link to the table in the email to Loreal, and I said "Can I obtain the products/color list that has all the products like this table?"
Yes, I asked if they have the similar table on their hand available for consumers.

Their response was very disappointing.

Their response was something like "We carry different products for different countries"  "Unfortunately we cannot provide the full products list via email but you can look that up on our website or in-store."

This is ridiculous. I am not even talking about things that are not available in Australia! And I do not want a full product list. I want a product list that cross-refers all the products sold in different countries. Simply put, I just want to know what color is equivalent to American version of Iced Latte!! (apparently it is Hourglass Beige)

I was very unhappy with this response.
I mean this is not even a small local cosmetic brand, this is a big international brand, we are talking about!!


Most of the international brands, like high-end brands clearly states somewhere on the package if they are similar but not quite the same.
I know that some skin care products have the same packaging in Japan and elsewhere but the ingredients are not the same due to the health-related laws, then they would say "Especially formulated for Japan" or something like that. Or at least the counter person or company would know, right?

So I expect the same for Loreal. Just because they are drugstore brands, it does not mean that they can mislead customers like this.

I would like to thank Nunu for trying to figure out this mess. She and her friends are so cool for doing this.
Link to the table: http://macnunu.blogspot.com.au/2012/05/loreal-color-infallible-eyeshadow.html

However, I am very precise when it comes to colors. Some people say that two eyeshadows from different brands are identical but I always find slightest difference in hue, texture and other things.
So until I see them with my own eyes, side by side, swatched in natural light and fluorescent light, I would not like to say that they are the same. I really would like to do that if I have some cash to blow. I seriously would. But until then, we have to stick to the list that Nunu made.

As I said, it should not be that hard to figure out color names in different countries and stuff.
Damn you, Loreal. This is very sad!

As for my response, I emailed them again and said that I was disappointed with their response, and said to process this as a complaint. I also told them to contact me if they have the solution for this problem.
I hope someone, not a part-time customer service chick, reads it and feels bad enough to make a difference. I really hope so.
Sorry, Loreal. But you sucked big time here.


Yui :(

Boyfriend Makeup Challenge!

Another video is up!!

I thought that this would be fun and I liked other guys struggling with their girlfriends' makeup stuff so I made one with my partner, Chris.

To my surprise, he agreed to film this without hesitation. I thought he would say no and I would have to convince him.
The filming was fun and it actually went quickly and nicely, much faster than when I make videos alone.

The finished look close up photo is at the end and you can see how bad/good it is.
Hope you enjoy and have a great start of the week!

Yui

Rimmel Scandal Eyes Show Off Mascara first impression and review

~EDITED~
This product appears in Sep & Oct Favorite video, 2012. I have a small review on this so check the video if you are interested!

Rimmel Scandal Eyes Show Off mascara

I found this new-looking mascara selling all over the place.

The brush on the package cardboard looks interesting. It reminded me of Benefit's They're Real mascara because it had a spiky ball at the end of the brush.

I do not own the Benefit mascara but the idea is that you get the spiky end on the brush so you can really use your mascara vertically.

I know it does not look like Benefit's mascara but the idea is kinda similar. So I decided to give it a go. Plus I needed a new mascara.

So the point of being able to use your mascara vertically is quite practical.

Holding your mascara wand vertically lets you get more product on hard-to-reach or teeny-tiny eyelashes. I use this technique on my lower lashes and once you get the hang of it, it is much easier to hold the brush horizontally.

This is  the technique that makeup artists use, so you can give it a try if you want to put some mascara on lower lashes or give extra volume on each eyelash.

For this reason, I thought having a spiky ball at the end, as well as the normal brush would be great.

(Loreal and Givenchy have "ball brush" mascara but I don't honestly see it nice and practical because it would take a lot of time to coat all the lashes.)

So here is the look of the brush.

Looks interesting...

This promises to lengthen, volumize and curl your eyelashes, according to the package.

Ooo, it sounds like what I need, although my eyelashes are naturally curled.

But they definitely need lengthening and volumizing!!

Now I tried applying the mascara to my eyelashes and I noticed something...

What is this?!

I found some hairs in my mascara bottle!!!! Just kidding but I seriously thought so when I found this around the tip of my wand.

Apparently this mascara has some fibers in there, which really looks like someone else's eyelashes. I freaked out for a second from this.

It says in the corner of the package that this mascara is fiber enriched.

Okay, it looks creepy but it is fiber enriched....

So this is my bare eyelashes... Looks like I have no eyelashes... :(

My naked eyelashes.

Eye closed.

Picture taken from above.

This is my eyelashes with this mascara (one coat).

Definitely Volumizing.

It looks a bit bushy.

From above.

I notice an instant volume and lengthening. It feels like Maybelline's Colossal mascara. I loved that mascara by the way. Even though it feels a bit too dry formula, it is not too bad.

So I tried a second coat.

It is a bit hard but I noticed the difference in volume in person.

It is a bit dry so it got clumpy, only a little though.

From above.

I would say that the formula is on dry side because after the second application, it was flaking a bit. I was not impressed that it happened on the initial application. I would expect this to happen around a while after I start using mascara.

I don't think that the ball-brush was extra easy to apply mascara on bottom lashes.

It was kinda gimmicky.

The brush was not catching the mascara liquid as much as I would want it to.

So it failed to put some mascara on some of my very small lashes.

Honestly, I think I should stick to the normal (squirrel tail) brush mascara, maybe except for Covergirl Lash Blast.

It is a bit sad that this was my first Rimmel mascara and I did not have much good impression. 

I mean, after all, it is not a baaad mascara, but it just did not impress me.

Volume: 8/10

Length: 6/10

Curl: 5/10 (I can't tell because my lashes are naturally bit curled)

Texture: 4/10

Brush: 4/10

Over all: 6/10

Hope this helped! YouTube video review will be up sometime soon!

Have a good Monday night!

Yui

July and August Favorite Video is up!

Hi, it is Yui. I hope you are all well.

Finally the favorite video is back! Woot!
This time I had a lot of favorites and empties to talk about so I had to cut them down and down and down... Now it is ONLY 23 minutes long! :P
You can skip the first 5 minutes of the video if you want to skip the empties.
Now I look back and I think I could have done a separate video. Possibly next time.

The products mentioned are basically ALL drugstore brands. If you know me from my YouTube channel, you probably can tell that I never buy Dior or Chanel.
I rarely go to department store in general, just because things are pricey and I KNOW I will want all the stuff they have there so I sort of avoid going there.
I am kinda person who sees stuff and can't help buying it, so to prevent being broke all the time and save some money for coming IMATS (woohoo!), I try not to look at stuff. How clever!! Har har!

But I truly think that there are some amazing products from drugstore brands. Of course, the stuff from high end brands are going to feel so good and smell better too. But for me, for now, I don't need all those stuff. I am happy with the prettiness I can afford. Still, my boyfriend thinks I spend too much money on makeup. But hey, this is my passion. This is our passion!!!

I hope you enjoy the favorite and empty video.

See you soon!

Yui

HUGE Regret video

Video time!

This is all about bad products I have got!
As stated in the video, I believe that negative reviews are as beneficial as positive reviews, so here we go.
I usually find some ways to make products work, even though they might not be the best things, so I consider that the products mentioned in this video are SERIOUSLY bad.
This is, after all, my experience and I am aware that not everyone is going to have the same opinion as me. Every time I do the review, I keep that in mind.
But there are some horrible products out there and some people (like me!) would waste money on it, and I hope that this will help you to avoid wasting your precious money!

Hope you enjoy!

Have a good day, everyone!

Yui

Sigma's Dry 'n Shape

I have been using Sigma's Dry 'n Shape now for some time and I think I can give you some opinion about it.

Sigma's Dry 'n Shape

1st, I think it is false advertising that it dries any dense brushes in 4-6 hours.
My brushes are in the Dry 'n Shape, for more than 6 hours now to dry. It is not even close to dry at all. Am I going to get a refund or something because it is "guaranteed" to dry all brushes in 4-6 hours.

2nd, the elastic which holds brushes and is supposed to do the magical job of drying super fast (even though I said that it does not, but this is what they claim to do) came a bit loose after first time of use. It was not completely loose, but some parts of the big elastic became stretched out and it never came in back to shape. I think it does not interfere the function of the elastic of drying (again, even though it does not dry faster) or shaping brushes, but it is still annoying.

All this does is just to keep the brushes in good shape. Which is still good, but I did not pay $26 to  just keep my brushes in good shape! I want it to do what it promises to do!! PLEASE!

I emailed Sigma today to see if was faulty one or all come like this. I have not got the reply yet, but I would be very disappointed if they sell this kind of low quality brush dryer for $26 and say "this will dry brushes super quickly!"

I love their brushes so far though. But for now, I am very upset with this product.

I hope yours work better than mine, if you have one. I will post the Sigma's response here when I get it.

Have a lovely day.

Yui

"A Date with Heartbreak" lip balm review

The first post in a while is the review of this lip balm.

What a catchy name? A date with heartbreak! Love the package too.

I bought this at Priceline ages ago and it was on sale.
The tin can was so retro-looking and very attractive. Also it was SPF 15 so I thought I would definitely love it.
Unfortunately there was no tester for this product so someone must have opened this and it looked like it was touched. I usually do not buy stuff that other people might have touched but this tin can was cool and I thought it would be ok if I scrape off the top layer and spray alcohol.

But this had a very strong fake fruity smell to it and it is quite unpleasant. I mean it is not even fruity scent. It is just a plastic smell which makes me sick. When I sniff it put of the tin, it is not that bad, but when you put it on your lips it is exaggerated and lingers all day long.
What I hated the most is that the smell even interferes my sense of taste. Anything I eat smells/tastes like this lip balm. I would not want that even with most delicious lip balm or lipgloss.

I hate to say it but I do not like this product at all. What I am going to do is to scoop out all the lip balm out of this tin can and wash it and make it my bobby pin storage or little pill case. I still love the package, this slide-open tin can is practical and too cute to chick in the bin. But the lip balm has to go. Sorry.

Negative reviews can be as helpful as positive ones, I hope.

Yui

First Impression on Sigma Brushes and Shape n' Dry

*NOTE* This was supposed to be public and I updated to make it public ages ago, but I realized that it never got published only today. So this is a little bit out of date, but it is still the first impression review, so I hope you can forgive and enjoy this.



I ordered from foundation brushes and famous(?) shape n' dry from Sigma a while ago.

And there is a bit of a history to it so. It was a long story so I put it last.

So when I opened up my package, I was happy to see blue & black sigma boxes. They were individually packaged nicely and they came with instructions. It also had a "free gift" from Sigma because the order was over $30.

I bought F84 and F82.

The one on the top is F82.

Size comparison:
Top: elf complexion brush
Bottom: Shiseido foundation brush

F84 is Angled Top Kabuki and F82 is Round Top Kabuki.

Why I picked these up??

One: Because it was a bundle and cheaper to get these two than getting individually.

Two: I already had synthetic flat kabuki brush (elf black powder brush) and Shiseido foundation brush so I wanted something different.

When I touched the bristles of the brush, I was amazed. It was super dense, yet super soft and had nice thick texture. It was not sparse or too flimsy. I instantly understood why all YouTube beauty gurus swears by these Sigma brushes.

Brush close up.

Now it is about Dry 'n Shape.

When I opened up this box and had this brushroll kinda product in my hand, I thought it was a real leather. It really felt like that. Sigma website does not say what it is made from, but it felt and smelled like real leather.

Anyway the claim is that this dries even most dense brushes in 4-6 hours.

That would be cool if this is really true. So I tried it out. 

Dry 'n Shape would hold 2 extra large brushes, 3 large brushes (like face brush), 3 medium brushes (like contour or blush brush), 2 small and 2 extra small brushes (like eyeshadow brush). 

Magnetic snap button closure.

Rolled out.

Seems like it is making the drying time so much shorter. But I am not quite sure about 4-6 hour drying time that they are "guaranteeing" because some of my biggest brush did not dry completely. But it did dry Sigma foundation brushes that I mentioned earlier in this post was completely dry even though they were both quite dense. So I was half impressed, half disappointed. I will give it a go couple more times and figure out why it did not dry or how to make it better. This product is still good for keeping the brushes in good shape. I notice more of fluffing up and getting kinda scratchy on natural hair brushes if they are not shaped and dried properly. So I still like this Dry 'n Shape but I have to wait and see to find out more about the drying power of this product. It will be reviewed properly hopefully soon.

I wish Sigma makes smaller ones for eye brushes. I know they dry fast anyway but it is nice that you keep the brushes in good shape.I tend to use more natural bristle brushes for eyes than faces and to make your brushes last longer, you need to shape and dry them properly. So it would be nice if they made smaller version of this, hopefully a bit cheaper as well, because they don't really need super-fast drying power for smaller brushes. I just want my brushes to dry properly and keep their original shape. (plus 4-6 hour drying time is not true anyway.)




So here is the history of getting these stuff from Sigma to here in Australia.
This may not be beneficial to some of you, but it might help you have better idea of getting stuff shipped from Sigma (or the U.S.) to your home if you live in Australia.
OK, it took more than a month to get to my house. 
I was very nervous and worried 2 weeks after my order because most of my stuff that I order from U.S. comes within 2 weeks. I emailed Sigma and they said that it can take up to 31 days for normal shipping (aka non-express or no fancy shipping options).
I emailed them again after 31 days in total from the date I placed my order and all they said was just "Please be patient as it is getting to you."
I was very frustrated with this response.

Then I contacted Australian Post just in case. I asked if there was any delay on delivery or clearing customs then. They said no but offered to help me find where my stuff is.
I emailed them again with more details and it happened to be at my local post office, waiting for me to pick up. Apparently they tried to deliver it to my house but no one was home.
Normally, we would get delivery notice but there were a few times that I did not get notice at all, but the package was waiting. This was another case.

I am so sorry, Sigma. You had done nothing wrong.
I emailed them, saying that I got the package. They were nice enough to email me back and said
"Glad to hear that you got your package!"
Seriously, you are good people...



Have a good day, everyone!
Yui

100 YouTube Subscribers Giveaway!

It is a giveaway tiiiime!

I hadn't done this before and I am still new to the whole YouTube Beauty Guru things, but let's celebrate my little mile stone with me!

So, the rules are quite simple.
You need to be my subscriber of ChewyMakeup on YouTube.
Then, please comment on the video page about what beauty tutorials you want to see in the future.

Nothing more.

Please read the description of the video here before the entry, thanks.

The list of the things you are going to win is...(not in any particular order..)

1. Maybelline Instant Age Rewind Primer
2. Covergirl lashblast 24 hr in very black
3. Australis brush on eyeshadow in avant-garde
4. Australis brush on lip & cheek tint in renaissance red
5. BYS Metalic Eyeshadow Palette
6. Sportsgirl Lip Jam in peach
7. Biore gentle make-up removing wipes
8. LUSH Toothy Tabs in ULTRABLAST
(If the winner is an international subscriber)
9. Australian LUSH TIMES (EMOTIONAL BRILLIANCE issue)

It is closing at 0:00 (midnight) on September 8th, 2012. (EST)

Good luck to everyone!!

Winner will be announced here and on YouTube!

Comments posted on the blog post does NOT count towards the giveaway entry, but all the comments are welcome any time. <3

Have a good day!

Yui

Flu and recovery!

I had a horrible cold/flu last week and I was sick in bed for 5 days and I had to stay home to avoid people for 2 more days. So all week I was sick, which was not fun at all.

Now with all the medications and good rest and TLC from my partner, I am well enough to go back to work and get a real life again.

Now I am making a new YouTube video but all the production is not catching up at all!! I have so many video ideas!

But the first video after getting well should be the one about giveaway, because I really want to give back to my loyal subscribers to say THANK YOU!!! Unfortunately this giveaway is not so big, but I hope I will see more to come and will be able to have bigger giveaways some time. :)

Today was the day I got back to work. There was a mistake about my shift, and I was supposed to work tomorrow instead of today, but I found about that only after I came in. My boss was nice enough to let me work anyway. So I worked my normal shift today and I will work again tomorrow as well.
I work only 2 days a week now, so more shifts is better. :) It basically means that I get more spending money, which means I can spend more money on makeup. Who doesn't love that??

There will be a blog post about Sigma brush review because I bought my first sigma brushes and I have something to say about it. Good or bad? You will see. :)

Have a good day/night, everyone!

Yui