The Face Shop Dessert Lip Balm in #03 Honey Review

The Face Shop has done it again, with another line of small and adorable products! This time it's the Lovely ME EX Dessert Lip Balms, which come in fragrant flavors of #01 Strawberry, #02 Orange and #03 Honey. Here I'll review the honey flavor.

I absolutely love the design of this packaging! The top half is a lid that screws off. It has honey and pale yellow stripes with a bit of "honey" seeping over the edge, adding to the honeycomb-like design. The bottom half is a transparent container that shows the honey-like balm inside. The very top dark brown lid also has an adorable asymmetrical curved front, which makes the packaging that much cuter. As the lip balm is only 6 grams, you can also see just how small, and therefore adorable, the size of this is compared to my hand.

And here are the labels. The label on the back of the container has the product's name. While difficult to see, the label at the bottom has the instructions and ingredients listed in English (because I got this at one of the New York branches). The instructions say to use on dry and chapped lips for intense moisturization.

The top half looks like just dead space, but really, by opening the top lid, it reveals a seriously cute, little translucent honeycomb dipper with little indentations at the ball of the stick to grab just the right amount of honey. This top lid is also very sturdy: it can stay in place at any angle.

Here is the balm after unscrewing the top half. Also, every time you screw back on the lid, the lid always properly aligns so you would open the top lid from the front.

Here you can see that the balm is very solid and doesn't budge. This is also a very small amount, as all lip balms typically are. This angle also shows how translucent this balm is, like real honey. The smell is also intense, like real honey from the farmer's market.

And here is the honeycomb dipper in action. I scooped just a bit of product with the applicator, which shows the jelly-like solid texture of the balm. The amount on the applicator is a perfect amount for my lips. This balm leaves a clear sheen on my lips and it feels very smooth, like honey, without being overly sticky. My always dry lips really do feel smooth and moistened.

The Pros

• This packaging is so cute!
• If you love honey, this is perfect for you: the scent, the texture, the hue...
• Despite being like honey, there's no sticky mess.
• The cute applicator works well and avoids unsanitary germ transfer and keeps my fingers from getting sticky.
• The balm has a very smooth consistency and leaves only a little bit of stickiness on lips (like other balms).
• My lips are left feeling smooth and moist.
• It leaves me with a clear sheen for healthy-looking (and feeling!) lips.

The Cons

• Absolutely nothing to complain about!

Overall, I really do like this product. I tried it once at the store and thought it was really sticky, but I'm trying it again now, a few months later, and I don't sense that originally intense, sticky feeling now. The packaging is to die for, and the product does moisten my chapped lips, which is all I could ask for!

Tony Moly Peach and Cherry Mini Lip Balm Reviews

Tony Moly is known for their cute packaging, especially their fruit-shaped products.  Despite having so many other lip balms, I couldn't pass up getting yet another lip balm in peach and cherry containers!  The peach has no color while the cherry, like the blueberry, does have a punch of color.  Here are my thoughts on these two products.

Peach Mini Lip Balm
This lip balm comes in a matte, almost spherical container that has a pink to beige ombre effect.  The packaging mimics the Asian peach so well, just like the matching peach hand cream.  This peach balm also smells like the peach hand cream, a strong artificial peach scent like those sugary peach gummy rings.

You can get an idea on the size of this balm compared to my hand.  The balm has a subtle peachy, nude hue to it but once on the lips, it gives off a transparent sheen meant purely for moisturizing, not for color.  The peach balm focuses on using peach extract to moisten and plump lips while soften dead skin cells. Like the blueberry balm, this peach balm is very solid and you need the warmth of your finger to melt the product.  Each swipe of the fingertip also gets a very thin layer of balm, so you need several swipes before getting a decent amount.

Pros

• This balm is so moisturizing!  For all of my other products, I've always needed unchapped, healthy lips before using them.  But for this balm, it actually heals my chapped and dry lips with just one use.
• The packaging is so adorable.
• The size is great for travel.

Cons

• The solidness of this product is a hassle if you're in a hurry because you need to apply the balm several times before using it thoroughly.
• Some people are against dipping their fingers in balm due to it being unsanitary, but that's the price you must pay for such cute packaging!

Cherry Mini Lip Balm

This cherry balm is shaped like a very ripe red, glossy cherry.  It's so realistic that it is even a darker shade at the top and has a dark green rubber stem sprouting from the top.  This cherry flavor has a subtle citrus scent.

This balm is surprisingly softer than the peach balm.  It melts much easier and with one swipe, more product comes out.  This balm does have color; it is a soft, reddish orange shade.

However once out of its packaging, the color becomes a translucent pinkish orange.  On my skin (top right photo), the orange pigment is still noticeable.  Once blended in (bottom right photo), the pigment fades and produces a very faint, translucent orange.  This shade of orange on naturally pink lips is rather unnoticeable, so it takes quite a few layers before the orange is visible on the lips.  Yet this orange is very natural looking and flattering, despite it being an uncommon lip color.

Pros

• You need many layers before seeing any color.  This may seem like a con, but I see it as a pro because you can choose the shade and intensity of orange.
• The packaging is so realistic and adorable.  I'm definitely displaying it on my bathroom counter.

Cons

• The packaging is adorable, however the rubber stem seems fragile and therefore I wouldn't want to bring it with me while I'm out and about.
• This balm is purely for the shade, not for moisture.  You need to have unchapped, hydrated lips before using this balm.

Both balms are similar in size and shape and fit nicely in the palm of my hand.  The small size, yet abundant balm, is convenient to bring around for the day in a purse.  The packaging comes with a small sticker with Korean characters.  Annoyingly the peach balm has a date printed on its side, tampering with its naturalistic quality.  The lid takes up half of the packaging, and you turn it to remove the lid.  Inside is a thin plastic slip to protect the balm.

Overall the packaging is enough to win me over.  I love looking at them on my counter, along with my other Tony Moly products.  Also the peach balm is surprisingly super moisturizing, so I can use it as a first layer before applying other lip products, like the cherry balm.

Update: Tony Moly Mini Blueberry Lip Balm

It's been awhile since I used my Tony Moly blueberry, so I wanted to do a quick update on the gorgeous product.  Here's the link to my review and full description of the blueberry.  Since I last used my blueberry a few months ago, the weather has been getting much hotter, affecting the product.  My lip balm has been cooped up in my small, stuffy room while the temperature has been in the high 70s and mid 80s (Fahrenheit).  Before my room was probably 20 to 30 degrees colder, and my blueberry lip balm was very solid to the point where I had to use my finger to push and scoop some product out.

Now, when I opened my product this morning, there were condensation droplets on the surface of the balm.  The balm was very easy to scoop up this time, with product easily sliding out due to its newly slick and smooth consistency.  It reminds me a lot like butter that has been nuked in the microwave.  Due to the weather, my lip balm has been melting to the perfect consistency.  However, I'm afraid if it will get hotter, the product will be too liquidy!  In this first photo, you can see the condensation and the smoothness of where I had used the balm.

In this photo, you can't really see the droplets but I wanted to show the balm in the light so you can see  its true color.  I didn't want to mislead anyone to think that the color had changed!

So this blog is to let you know that the weather does affect beauty products and to store your products in a suitable, room temperature area.  I'm sure many consider this as a common sense fact, but I'm a beauty beginner and I'm slowly learning...

Holika Holika Real Lip Butter Review

Holika Holika is a Korean beauty brand that has an enchantingly magical theme.  I decided to purchase one of their lip products that doesn't fall into its main concept but is still fun and refreshing.  I bought Holika's Real Butter Lip Balm for $11.50 (Canadian currency) at Pacific Mall in Markham, Canada.

Holika's lip butter comes in three flavors: milk, strawberry and butter. I'm also drawn to the unique flavors, but butter was a bit too extreme as a beauty product.  I had originally purchased the milk flavor to give to my friend, but loved the scent so much that I decided to keep that and buy the strawberry flavor for her.  This 6 gram lip balm comes in a flat tin with a perforated plastic wrap.  The bottom of the packaging doesn't offer much.

With this image, you can see just how big this balm is relative to my fingers.  You can also see the opening/closing mechanism, which I explain below in the 'Pros' section.  The texture is smooth and the consistency is very thick and hard.  I had to put a lot of pressure while swiping my finger tip on the product to get a thin layer.  Because with several swipes I barely got any product on my finger, and because the color is transparent, it wasn't worth a swatch photo.

Pros

•  I absolutely love the milk flavor!  The scent reminds me of sweet Asian milk candy, which is so unique and definitely not a flavor found in western products.
• It is very easy to open this tin with just one hand: simply put pressure on the lid and slide it open.  Despite opening it with such ease, it still has a very sturdy closure so you can't easily slide the entire lid off (though you can if you want to turn the lid 180 degrees).  You can see this with the third image.
• This tin is very small and flat, so it can easily fit anywhere, including tight jean pockets, without looking bulky. 
• My lips are left feeling smoother and healthier than before.
• Because this is the type of balm where you scoop the product yourself, you can choose the amount to put on.

Cons

•  The balm is very hard to pick up out of the tin.  It's like using the heat from your finger to melt a frozen chocolate bar.

Overall, my favorite part about this product is the scent.  I love just flicking the lid open and smelling it.  This balm is meant for already healthy, unchapped lips so I wouldn't suggest this product to severally chapped lips.  Because it is kind of hard to scoop out the product, I wouldn't purchase this product again, but I'm not disregarding this product either! 

Tony Moly Blueberry Mini Lip Balm Review

It has finally arrived, the one item I have been longing to get since my initial attraction to Tony Moly five months ago: the Blueberry Mini Lip Balm!  I always love this brand's innovative and adorable packaging, especially all of their fruit products.  To me, the Blueberry is the iconic Tony Moly product.  My friend gave me this product just this week despite it being a Christmas present, so I have been anticipating it for quite some time!  Now here are my thoughts:

This blueberry is huge!  Thinking about the size of real blueberries and the fact that this is a mini lip balm, I honestly thought that this would be the size of a real blueberry.  But really, it is about as big as when I form my index and thumb into a circle.

The blueberry has a glossy satin finish, meaning there are glittery flakes to make the exterior sparkle. The top has ripples where the stem would have been attached to, with the very top being a rubber filling.

To open, simply screw off the top half of the berry.  This reveals a flimsy inner lid, which is understandable considering how small and thin this lid must be to fit into a container so small.  Removing the lid reveals the actual lip balm, which is a tinted, vibrant pink.

The first time applying the product, you have to put pressure on the balm and dig a bit to get the balm onto your finger.  It's easiest to get a decent chunk of it, not just a light swipe on your finger.  It is pretty solid, and it took about the scoops of the product to fully cover my lips (one scoop equals the right picture).  The bottom photo shows a thin layer of the product.  It is more like a clear balm, but you can probably layer it to the shade of your liking.  The scent is very mild and lightly sweet, but you really have to take a deep whiff to really smell it.

The Pros

• It's a blueberry; how cute is that!
• The mini lip balm size is perfect to take out with you.
• The balm itself is very moisturizing and provides even coverage to make my lips match.
• It looks very natural on my lips.
• As a balm, it'd be great as a step before applying other, more heavily colored lip products.

The Cons

• What isn't there to love about this product?  Definitely no cons for me!

Overall, the packaging has won me over once again.  But besides the adorable blueberry container, the actual lip balm is moisturizing and creates smooth, even coverage-everything a balm should do! Tony Moly is known for their lip products, and this classic is no exception.

Tony Moly Magic Tint Review

As a late holiday present, my friend gave me the best (materialistic) gift of all: Tony Moly products! My friend, who is quite knowlegable in the Korean beauty brands department, says that Tony Moly is most famously known for their lip products. That said, she gave me the Cat Chu Wink Lip Tint and the Magic Tint in Grape. I have been a fanatic about lip tints: they're natural and light, unlike glosses and lipsticks, yet a step up from balms.  Here's my review on the Magic Tint (Cat Chu Wink Lip Tint review is on the way).

Magic Tint in Grape
This tint has a fruity punch to it, smell-wise and color-wise. This is grape flavor, and its scent is lightly coated with sweet purple grapes. The color is a deep purple-red wine hue. This tint consists of a very conformed, solid jelly consistency, which is good because when you use your finger to get the product, you can easily control how much product to get.

This Magic Tint is named just that because supposedly once the product is taken out of its container, the tint transforms from its deep purple hue to a softer pink tone.  The product also comes in Green Apple and Strawberry flavors, so if you really want to see this amazing color change, I suggest you try the Green Apple flavor. This blooming concept of transforming colors in lip products is a new trend, and I'm glad Tony Moly has made a product to follow it!

I took a set of three swatches within 30 minutes on my hand, and you can see the color transforming within this time. I swiped the tint several times and only gave me a barely transparent, clear pink coat. Within several minutes, the color became slightly more pink. Alas, about 25 minutes since I first put the tint on my hand, the color became a more flirty, vibrant purple.

The Pros

• This grape flavor offers a sophisticated berry hue
  
• The color is natural, yet vibrant
  
• There is a pleasant, subtle grape scent
  
• A little goes a long way, so this tint will last quite awhile
  
• The solid jelly form makes it easy to get the right amount (which wouldn't be a problem if there were an applicator)
  
• The color stays on well (I used a paper towel to rub off the tint roughly from my lips but it still stayed on).

The Cons
Note: these cons are only for makeup novices like myself (as you can see, all my beauty reviews are for skincare, not makeup).

• You must have smooth, unchapped lips first, so layer your lips with a moisturizing balm beforehand.
• The color stays on too well and there is no applicator provided.  It's hard to control this product with my finger, and I accidentally put some tint above my lip...so stay in control, or else you will have tinted skin!
• This tint gives off a sticky feeling, even two hours after initial application

Overall, this product is very colorful and the color transformation is interesting to watch.  But because it takes awhile for the color to appear, make sure you see how the end result looks on your lips after the complete color transformation!