Loose Powder

My friend Saffron is currently working in South Korea and for Christmas she sent me quite a stash of cosmetic goods from overseas. One of the first things I tried was the Vivid Bar by Nature Republic.

I couldn’t find very much information about this South Korean cosmetics company or this product.

The lip tint is yellow, but once applied, your body heat changes the color to a cherry or rose, depending on body temperature. It’s a really lovely color with a slightly sweet flavor. The tube indicates that the lip tint also has an SPF 15.

The lip tint is moisturizing and I find that it lasts a couple hours before it needs reapplication. I’ve been using on top of lip stains as well to give the stain and extra boost of  color.

I wish I had some more details on this product as I’m a big fan of the color changing tint! I’ve been using it often and I’ve already requested that my friend buy another tube for me before she leaves Korea.

Korres is a Greek cosmetics company that develops natural skincare, color, and body products using natural ingredients.

I’ve been using the cherry gloss for years (and I should probably review them), but I recently decided to try their lip butters, which are available at Sephora for $10.

I use a brush to apply the lip butter and it gives a nice color to my lips. Without eating or drinking, the lip butter keeps  my lips moisturized for a few hours. Due to the pot design, it’s kind of inconvenient to carry in my purse, so I tend to just use it before I leave for a night out.

Korres Lip Butter is free of parabens, sulfates, synthetic fragrances, synthetics dyes, petrochemicals, and GMOs.

Ingredients:

Polybutene, Trimethylolpropane Triisostearate, Hydrogenated Polydecene, Hydroxystearic Acid, Polyethylene, Stearalkonium Hectorite, Propylene Carbonate, Dicalcium Phosphate, Polyglyceryl-3 Diisostearate, Sucrose Tetrastearate Triacetate, Tocopherol, Aroma (Flavor), Carthamus Tinctorius (Safflower) Seed Oil, Ascorbyl Palmitate, Rosa Canina Flower Extract, Oryza Sativa Cera (Oryza Sativa (Rice) Bran Wax), Butyrospermum Parkii (Shea Butter) Extract, Geraniol, CI 15850 ( Red 7 Lake ), CI 15985 (Yellow 6 Lake), CI 42090 (Blue 1 Lake).

I would probably buy this product again, but I might try the Lip Butter Glaze as well since that seems to be similar to this product but in a squeeze tube applicator.

I’m always in search of a good lip balm. Unfortunately, a lot of them end up being duds because they either don’t actually moisturize or work for a little while then make my lips peel. Awful!

When I read some reviews of Covergirl’s new NatureLuxe gloss balms, I decided to try them out. The new NatureLuxe line boasts natural ingredients and the SPF 15 gloss balms are, “fortified with mango and shea butter, this feel-good formula leaves your lips feeling decadent and delicious.”

The two colors I picked up first are Hibiscus (215) and Anemone (225). Both of these glosses are rather sheer, but still tinted enough to leave a subtle wash of color. I’ve been using them for about two weeks and they haven’t dried out my lips. I do have to reapply more often than some of my other glosses, but it isn’t too much of a bother.

Photos and swatch of  Hibiscus:

Photos and swatch of Anemone:

Covergirl NatureLuxe gloss balms can be purchased anywhere you can find Covergirl products (drug stores, Target, Walmart, etc) and average $7each.

I wasn’t sure what product I should chose to make as my first review on Loose Powder, but my question was answered when I stuck my hand into my gym bag and pulled out my ChapStick: True Shimmer.

Lately the weather has been unkind to my lips, and I’ve been using a lot of lip balm. When I ran out of my Classic Strawberry flavored ChapStick, I decided to give the True Shimmer version a try. I figure a little shimmer added to my lip balm would be nice without the stickiness of lip gloss.

There are four flavors for the True Shimmer line of ChapStick: Botanical Berry, Tropical Peppermint Rush, and Blended Fruit Sherbet.

I opted for Botanical Berry, since I figure that would have the closest flavor to the Strawberry. Botanical Berry smells like berries with a little tangy scent in it, while the Classic Strawberry has a sweeter smell, and there is always that slight hint of the petroleum jelly scent, but that scent doesn’t bother me unless I’m inhaling my ChapStick, and lip balm goes on my lips, not in my nose. So that isn’t a problem.

The color of the True Shimmer is a lot darker compared to the bright pink Strawberry stick. It is a bit hard to see the color differences in the pictures, but you can see there are quite a bit of speckles of glitter mixed in the True Shimmer stick, which makes the color look almost metallic, but not quite. Though it might just be the trick of the light.

Out of curiosity, I took both sticks and rubbed them over a piece of white paper. The Strawberry stick has a pink hue, while the True Shimmer has an orange tint to it. Since the colors are so light the slightly different tint in colors do not make much of a difference.

When I applied both onto my lips, half Strawberry and the other half True Shimmer, I couldn’t really tell the difference when I stood at a normal distance from the mirror. I only noticed the “Shimmer” when I was literally two inches from the mirror.

Also the glitter speckles on the True Shimmer stick made the color of the ChapStick seem lighter when applied. I like my lip balm to give my lips a light hue since I don’t use lipstick much, and Classical Strawberry had just the right tint for me.

I have to say that I am a bit disappointed by the True Shimmer Chapstick. For $2.99 I was hoping for the color to be like the Classic Strawberry with a little Shimmer, but it was not. If I wanted color on my lips and prevent it from chapping, I would stick to my Classic Strawberry, but the True Shimmer: Botanical Berry is still a fun ChapStick to have because of the shimmer, and it has the sweet taste that makes me love ChapStick brand lip balm.