Clean&Clear Morning Burst Facial Cleanser Review

Ok, this facial cleanser is an interesting one.

Contained in a practical and hygienic transparent squeeze bottle, Clean&Clear's Morning Burst Facial Cleanser is a foaming cleanser 'fomulated with Bursting Beads with vitamin C and ginseng to provide nourishment for the skin', recommended for normal, oily and combination skin types.

Doesn't the product inside the bottle look amazing? When I first saw it, I imagined the product to be somewhat 'scrubby' like an exfoliater, considering all the pretty beads and knowing that the range targets younger teens (in most cases, have acne-prone skin from unhealthy diet and screwed up sleeping patterns).

It's not though. It's just your regular gel cleanser with cute and colourful, floating beads that immediately 'bursts' as you press against them. It may look like there's lotsa beads, but most of them stick to the inside of the bottle, so I'd only get about 4-5 beads per use.

For reference, my skin lacks [a whole lot of] moisture and hydration in texture, but can be shiny in appearance, with fewer pimples here and there at random times. My main concerns are the drier patchy areas though, so I'd usually ditch foaming cleansers altogether (since they can be quite abrasive).

To my surprise, this cleanser is impressively gentle on the skin whilst still maintaining a great job at cleansing the morning skin's impurities, although in cooler seasons, it can be a tad drying. Frankly, I didn't notice any improvements in tone, texture or appearance, although my sister (of oily and acne-prone skin) says she sees little improvements with her small, bumpy pimples.

One last thing I personally love is the fresh and fruity citrus scent in this cleanser which essentially is the main deal of the overall product. It is described to help waken up the morning's skin and senses. Not sure about you, but I generally don't really work my sense of smell during cleansing routines to avoid cleanser up my nose, but when I do, I do find it to be quite nice and refreshing for the morning.

Overall

An oil-free and hypoallergenic gel-based cleanser formulated with tiny cute [Bursting] Beads (proclaims to contain vitamins) that breaks upon use. Doesn't strip off the skin's natural oils and doesn't leave that 'tight' feeling, but also doesn't provide any additional moisture. Contains a refreshing fruity citrus scent which is great for the early mornings to help freshen up both the skin and sense of smell. Product is contained in a perfect transparent squeeze bottle which is not only travel-friendly, but also allows you to see how much product is left. Most likely not the best choice for drier skin types since it does have the potential to leave the skin feeling tight and dry, especially in the cooler seasons. However, very suitable for normal, oily, combination skin and acne-prone skin.

Have you tried this cleanser or any other products by Clean&Clear?

I've tried their Essential Moisturiser which is also great for normal, oily and combo skin!

Clean&Clear Morning Burst Facial Cleanser retails for $10.99 (240mL) at Priceline, leading supermarkets, variety stores and pharmacies.

Disclaimer: Product was provided for consideration. All opinions and comments are 100% honest and unbiased. Please refer to this site's disclosure policy.

NP Set Red Carpet Set Palette Photos, Review & Swatches

Never told ya this, but I'm actually biased booger about NP Set's products.. Never stopped by their stands to see what's up, just because their Double Pen duo (which was my very first NP Set product) didn't work out for me, but hey! You know you do that too!

Avoiding a brand just because one their products didn't work for you is in every student-on-a-budget's genes.

Anyway, today's review features the Red Carpet Set which was sent to me two (maybe three?) months back by a PR, so if you'd like to know how it performs.. read on!

The palette contains four eyeshadows, two blushers and four lip glosses with a click-on lid.

The Eyeshadows

We all know that I don't use eyeshadows (bad blogger!), but I have been playing around with them, so I can surely tell you a bit about them except for how long it lasts, the matter of how much or if it creases and blendability. Err.. so pretty much nothing? LOL I kidz.

Champagne, Gold, Blue, Violet (as described by NP Set) with primer

Champagne is a pale yellow-toned beige with a frosty finish. Great for highlighting the brow bone and inner corners. This shade is decently pigmented with a smooth and buttery texture.

Gold is medium warm-toned gold with a frosty finish. The most pigmented of the four with a smooth and buttery texture. Lovely shade!

Blue is a cool-toned darker sky blue with a satin finish and is the sheerest of the bunch.

Violet, in palette looks like any regular dark-violet, but swatches to a gorgeous and super confusing violet. Seems to have a pink-toned violet base with a satin sheen of blue-toned purple. Confused yet? Anyways, what you see in the swatch is what you get. Has a satin finish and is the second-least pigmented out of the four. Gorgeous shade though!

Applied on eyes without primer

The pigmentation of these eyeshads' are nothing extraordinary, although the shades are gorgeous, especially Gold and Violet. Eyeshadow primers are a must as half of these are a tad sheer. With the pigmentation of these on their own, the most you can do is a neutral, natural or soft smokey eye make-up.

The Blushers

When I saw these blushers, I was like "Oh my God, I'm so in love! I found you finally, you make me wanna say..." K. That's enough. Not sure about you, but these blushers are nothing like the ones in my collection (not that I own a very big collection anyways).

Watermelon and Coral (as described by NP Set)

Watermelon is a bright cool-toned pink with hints of coral tones.

Coral is a bright peachy coral which reminds me a lot of my Sportsgirl's Pout About It Lipstick in Fruity Tingle. The swatch photo is actually misleading, because the shade is brighter and less orange, but unfortunately, that's the best my camera can do.

Both blushers are my favourites of the palette. They are both matte and super pigmented! Blends well and lasts all day. If you ever pass this palette at the stores, these blushers look almost neon, but applies extremely natural.

The Lip Glosses

The palette comes with four different 'lip glosses' which have different pigmentations and finishes.

Silver is just a clear base packed with reflective silver glitters. Pretty scary on the lips, I must admit since the glitters are very noticeable.

Magenta is a bright pink-toned purple. It is the most pigmented out of the four and applies well with a glossy finish.

Tomato Red is a wearable, warm-toned orangey-red which is just a tad sheerer than Magenta, but should be flattering on all skin tones.

Mauve, in the palette, looks like a deep warm-brown, but applies on the lips clear with fine, reflective green and blue shimmers.

Tomato Red and Magenta

I'm not a fan of lip colours in a palette, but all shades have a great and easy-to-work-with balmy texture. Obviously, Magenta and Tomato Red are the most wearable out of the four since Silver and Mauve are just clear bases with different coloured glitters. No idea why such shades were included.

One last note, I notice that the palette has a great mix of different tones and shades, which may be a great diverse, but in my opinion, it can possibly look horrendous if not properly applied and shade matched. I mean... neutral eyes, coral blush and bright magenta lips? Err... you know what I mean.

Overall

This palette contains four eyeshadows, two blushers and four lipglosses which is described by NP Set to be perfect for creating a day or night look. The four eyeshadows consists of two frosty neutrals which are decently pigmented and two cooler shades of a satin finish. Eyeshadow primers are highly recommended for these, especially for the cooler shades as they are quite sheer. The two blushers are just breath-taking -- bright neon shades which will brighten up any tone's complexion without over-doing it. As for the lipglosses, they are nothing extraordinary, although they have a great balmy texture and lasts for quite a while. Oddly, it includes two glittery lip glosses which can be quite intimidating for most users.

Have you tried anything by NP Set?

I've heard their lipsticks are of great value!

NP Set Red Carpet Set retails for $29 at Napoleon Perdis Concept Stores, Target, Big W and selected independent stockists.

Disclaimer: Product was provided by PR for consideration. All opinions and comments expressed are 100% truthful and honest. Please refer to this site's disclosure policy.

Saturday/Sunday Steals #19

Woooooo!! Nineteenth post of what I've purchased at the markets! Thank you everyone for still being with me!

So on my Facebook Page, I said that this post will be up after studies yesterday. I lied. I came home with a massive headache and Mumma was using my laptop, so I wasn't able to edit photos at all!

Anyways, I've finally caught up to the market hauls! This is my most recent haul at the Sunday markets (finally able to go again after yonks!), I didn't pick up many items at all, but I thought that the $15 was well spent.

At home-time, I had $5 spare so I decided to go back to purchase this Maybelline Instant Age Rewind Make-Up Primer! Retails for $15.95!

The following items were 2 for $5 or $3 each, so I decided to purchase four items. The lovely lady had about 6 shades of B Collection By Bloom nail polishes, but I chose Santorini, Memphis and London. Others were just the usual black and regular shades. These retail for $15 a pop, so $2.50 each is... oh my god! I now own 8 B Collection polishes which are all hauled home from the markets! Yay!

In this photo, London looks like your regular black polish with glitter, but it's truly not. It's a beautiful colour and I'm hoping to show you a swatch of it soon!

The other item I chose was Max Factor's Colour Elixir Lipstick in Ruby Tuesday. Not really a red-lipstick person, but the other Max Factor lipstick I own had a great formula, so I thought I'd try this out..... sometime. Heh! It's new by the way, so don't freak out!

$15 for 3 nail polishes, a lipstick and a primer.. I'm not even joking when I say you will be seeing me featured on Hoarders!

Anyhows, thanks so much for reading!

Happy Easter everyone! Hope you all a safe and wonderful Easter!

Face Of Australia Liquid Eyeliner (in Black) Photos & Review

Towards the end of last year, I've decided to give liquid liners a go (very rarely do I use liquid eyeliners as most of them seem to always have an unattractive satin finish. Looking at reviews all over at Beauty Heaven and other beauty blogs, I was sold by the amount of rave reviews of Face Of Australia's Liquid Eyeliner.

So after trying the liner for quite a while, here's what I've came up with..

Average packaging, but I like that it can actually stand up on its flat bottom since I have a habit of applying eyeliner slowly. I hate tubed products (like mascaras, but you can't really fault them) so I like how I won't have to worry about this rolling around on the table.

Comparison to Maybelline's Baby Lips

The brush is made of quality bristles (which I've never experienced any separating or splitting with) and shaped with an extremely fine tip. Initially, I found the brush applicator to be a tad too lengthy for my personal preference, so this liquid liner was quite hard to use at first. But after practise and practise, creating extremely thin lines with this applicator is not at all impossible.

These days, what I do is just lean the brush applicator above my upper lashline and slowly slide it across. Not sure if you know what I mean, but close your eyes and use your imagination k? After that, I'll just touch up on the inner corners, wing it out (if I want), leave it for 5-10 seconds to dry and then off to my mascara routine!


As for the contained product, it is highly pigmented and water-resistant (no, not waterproof!) and I'm glad that it doesn't have a satin or one of those yucky 'semi-shiny' finish. Just a deep matte black... Me like.

The liner does last all day, doesn't budge, smudge or fade only if you leave it alone. No, it's not glue, so if you do forget and rub your eyes aggressively, don't expect this liner to stay put. But on the brighter side, if that does happen, the liner will just flake off instead of leaving your eyelids in a mess. Isn't that great? No joke.


Overall

An affordable and pigmented black liquid eyeliner which doesn't smudge, budge or fade. Water-resistant formula with a matte finish. The brush applicator has an extremely fine tip which allows you to create both precise thin lines and dramatic thick lines. However, the brush is a tad lengthy in my opinion so if you are new to liquid lining, you may struggle at first, but after practises, who knows? This may be your holy grail.

Face Of Australia Liquid Eyeliners retails for $8.95 (8mL) at Priceline, Big W, K-Mart and selected pharmacies in Australia. For international purchases, check out Fashion Addict.

Disclaimer: Product was provided as part of FOA's Masterclass at ABBW. Please refer to this site's disclosure policy.

April's 30 Days Of Beauty Instagram Challenge

Have you heard?

Inspired by Chantelle's photoaday challenge, Jaime of MissChew.com will be hosting an Instagram challenge for next month, but will be ALL about BEAUTY!

Yay!!

Image from MissChew

To be honest, I didn't know what the #photoaday challenge on Twitter was about. Was wondering why everyone was posting a daily photo of themselves (lol). It's not too late though!

Glad I found out about this Beauty Instagram Challenge! Perfect excuse for me to snap a few self-shots!

Looking forward to see everyone else's photos a day!

Will you be participating?

See you all on Twitter!

By the way, I'll just be TwitPic-ing!

Glossybox Australia: March's Edition

So I paid for this month's Glossybox after purchasing a box from them last month when there was a 50% off sale on GroupOn. I really couldn't afford $14.95 a month on box subscriptions so it wasn't my intention to become a subscriber.

I didn't know that if I'd purchase a GroupOn box, that means I'd be a subscriber until I want to cancel! I thought it was a one-time thing.. I personally thought it was pretty unclear.

On the brighter side, I get to show you what's in this month's box!

I love these sturdy boxes they arrive in!

First of all, there are 18 products for this month, but your box will only contain 5 of the randomly chosen. I personally find this to be unfair for subscribers as some will get a box with higher value or products that another subscriber will find more useful and helpful. I personally think that if there's a list of different products, then subscribers should be allowed to choose OR the products should be carefully picked to cater to the subscribers' individual needs such as their skin types or conditions.

I've reviewed last month's box which was also very similar. I saw that some subbies received a total different box, so the trend probably start last month.

Anyways, for this month's box, I received:

SILK Oil Of Morocco Hair and Skin Treatment Serum

Not sure how I feel about this 'dry oil' on hair and skin. The thought of using a hair product for skin and a skin product for hair kinda irks me. Oh the goosebumps.

Kosmea Hydrating Rosewater Mist

Yay for a rosewater spritz! Rosewater as a toner is great for dry skin, so that's a yay!

Avene Gentle Milk Cleanser

Milk cleansers are generally great for all skin types so I'm actually looking forward to try out this milk cleanser. I've never tried any products from this brand (that I've heard lots about!).

Absolutely Gorgeous Macadamia Face Cream

A 'cream' product, yay! Another product for dry skin types..

SheerCover Lipgloss

I've heard bad reviews about this when it came in a MyGlam bag, so I'm not sure.

Glossybox Balance Bracelet

Errr... not useful to me and I don't believe in this stuff, so nop!

Vouchers for Absolutely Gorgeous ($10 off), Kosmea (GWP) and Zanui ($10 gift card for purchase over $50), that I will most likely not use..

Overall

Not sure about the value of products in this month's box, because there were no retail prices on the card. The skincare products are suitable for my dry skin, so that's awesome. The lip gloss is okay, let's not be so biased on the brand. The bracelet is useless for me, not going to be using it!

Lastly, one thing I've mentioned earlier in this post.. I don't like how everyone's boxes are different although it could be exciting for some.

Your thoughts?

Glossybox subscriptions are $14.95 per month with a box, visit their official site for more information.

Disclaimer: Product was purchased by me.

Bellabox Australia: March's Edition

Bellabox is a well-known beauty box subscription service amongst many other companies.

This month's Bellabox is themed 'Bare Faced Beauty' which I had imagine to be packed of natural skincare products and toned down make-up, which I was initially excited for.

Received a despatch notice and the box arrived three days later on my doorstep.

Anyways, this month's Bellabox arrived in your usual blue cardboard box packaging with the products contained in a mini library bag (usually a sturdy cardboard gift-box).

Don't you fret though, the products were safely bubble wrapped and arranged in Tetris style. As neat as a pin.

Yes To Carrots Lip Tint | $9.95

I received this lip tint in full size and was pretty excited for this since I didn't know they had lip tints! I've only recently been introduced to this brand, so yes! It's a dark red in tube, but goes on sheer.

Pure Fiji Coconut Hydrating Body Lotion | $29.95/354mL

Received this in an unknown size as it's not stated on packaging. Looks like a 30mL which will probably last me 10 applications. The body lotion itself is very average, but the scent is amazing. It has a coconut and vanilla scent. After half a day to a day of wearing it, the coconut scent fades to bring out the vanilla scent. Smells amazing!!

Planet Eye Daily Face Moisturiser | $59/50mL

I have this in a 10mLs sample, so $12 right there. This face moisturiser was pretty average for me. I think it's best for normal to oily skin types. My dry skin prefers a much more creamier and hydrating moisturiser.

U Little Beauty Natural Repair Hair Mask | $19.95/100mL

Full size. A hair product which has a consistency of a gel moisturiser. Pretty weird. I prefer to stick to L'Oreal Mythic Oil or Macadamia Oil better since it would instantly tame down my frizz a bit.. Better than nothing!

Bellamer Eye Balm | $40/15g

Pretty priceY! Received a sample of this thing and the texture is like the Egyptian Magic Cream or a thicker version of Vaseline. Will last me yonks.

Carman's Muesli Biscuit

Ok.. I don't mind food or drinks that comes with beauty boxes as long as it doesn't count as a product. In this case, it was an extra which came with the five products and tasted quite yummy!!

This month's Bellabox is pretty fair since you get one haircare, skincare, anti-aging, lipcare and body care product. The theme 'Bare Faced Beauty' does relate in a way as the products included are mostly of natural, organic and/or eco-friendly companies. This month mainly focused on skincare and haircare, rather than cosmetics. You can see that the theme and box matches quite well. However, the products of this month didn't cater to my personal needs although it may surpass $14.95 in value. As for shipping, shipping updates with time and date were sent as soon as the parcel was on board and another was sent as soon as it was delivered. Pretty impressed with the tracking and shipping!

How are your beauty boxes going this month everyone?

Any hits or misses?

Bellabox subscriptions are $14.95 per month, available to register at their official website.

Disclaimer: Product was sent by PR for consideration. Please refer to this site's disclosure policy.