Disappointing Products #1

1. Kiehl’s Lip Balm

If you know me, you must be wondering how on Earth a Kiehl’s product managed to get into this list, right? As an avid fan of Kiehl’s, it breaks my heart to do this, but I’m always honest with my review even if it means giving it a bad name. So why does this product disappoint me? It is not the product’s fault actually, it is ME who had high expectation on it from the start.

Let’s see, Kiehl’s Lip Balm claims to provide SPF 4 // Sunscreen // Petrolatum // Skin Protectant. I guess I missed the word  “Petrolatum” while reading the label briefly because I was buying it in a rush. I used to use Vaseline as a lip balm in the past but I stopped using it because it was made out of petroleum jelly. I don’t remember why, but I knew that I didn’t want to put any petroleum-based product on my lips anymore since I started having allergies from certain products. Although I was not allergic to Vaseline, I stopped anyway.

Having used to flavoured/sweet lip balm (i.e NYC Lip Sliders Tinted Lip Balm) ever since, I admit I expected Kiehl’s Lip Balm to taste the same. It was not. It tasted exactly like Vaseline. The texture of it, the scent, the finish, the way it moisturise, it was all the same. There is no need for you to buy Kiehl’s Lip Balm for RM 35.00, which comes with only 17 g of product, when you can have one like it cheaper with twice or thrice the amount of product just from a small tub of Vaseline.

2. Heavy Rotation Maxi Long Mascara

This is one of the reasons why I rarely wear mascara nowadays. I had forgotten the price since I bought this so long ago, but I think it was between RM 45.00 – RM 50.00 at Sasa. Worst RM 50.00 I’ve ever spent. Why? Because this mascara didn’t do ANYTHING!

It claims to lengthen eyelashes but seriously, after two, three coats of application, my eyelashes still looked the same. No lengthening, no curling, no volume. There is no need to do a before and after picture because there isn’t any difference. USELESS MASCARA EVER.

Don’t buy.

3. Tony Moly Cats Wink Mascara

This mascara was a little bit better than the Heavy Rotation. It volumized and lengthened as it claims on the tube. The only problem I had with it was it didn’t hold out the curl. My eyelashes looked fantastic on the first coat, thick and black, but when I applied second coat, BAM! my eyelashes drooped down like they cannot withstand the weight. The formula was too heavy for my eyelashes. I cannot make do with ONE coat of mascara, I need more!

This mascara can only be bought at Tony Moly stores. Once again, I’d forgotten the price but I think it was between RM 35.00 – RM 45.00. I don’t recommend it though because there are better mascaras with cheaper price (i.e. Maybelline The Falsies). The packaging was cute, though.

4. Brow Lash Water Strong Pencil Liner

This eyeliner was the first eyeliner I bought as a substitute for my all-time favourite pencil eyeliner, Silky Girl Long Wearing Eyeliner. The reason I was looking for a substitute was because I wanted a more long-lasting eyeliner with creamy texture, something like Milani eyeliner but we don’t have it here. Long story short, I found this eyeliner before I found my beloved Urban Decay, and was impressed with the tester I tried. It was creamy, it glided on smoothly and not easily budge even when I rubbed it hard. I was sold on the spot.

However, the one that I brought home with me was not the same as the tester at all. It was not creamy and really hard to line my eyes with. The product did not transfer easily on my lash line, making the drawing painful. I'd tried to rub it on the back on my hand first to warm it up but it still remained the same. Not only it wasn’t creamy, it was also brittle. When I drew too hard, it broke. WORST EYELINER EVER.

I bought it at Watsons Pavilion with the price range RM 60.00 – RM 70.00. Not worth it, girls. Don’t buy.

I Have Food On My Face!

Honey Turmeric Mask (HTM) is probably the most raved mask in my street right now. I saw my colleague have been posting about this mask in FB for a few weeks already but I didn’t feel like trying at the time. Then my housemate came home bringing HTM and been wearing it during her free time but I was still not interested to try. Until one day I was left alone at home with nothing to do. I saw HTM in our kitchen (my housemate kept it in the kitchen cupboard), saw a bottle of honey and I was texting her in an instant asking permission to use her mask. She said yes.

I mixed the HTM with honey until it becomes a paste, washed my face with cleanser, applied the paste and let it on for 30 minutes. The mask sat comfortably on my face; my face didn’t feel hot or anything and the mask didn’t drip onto my clothes. When the 30 minutes was off, the mask was slightly dry on skin but it was easy to wash off. When in contact with water (I just use water from the tap) the mask broke off in chunks and because HTM had a slightly gritty texture, it exfoliated my face as I was cleaning it off.

HTM had a very strong herbal scent and even mixed with honey, I could still smell it. It bugged me a bit but I was satisfied with the result. My face felt smooth, clean and moist afterwards. HTM didn’t stain my face just like common turmeric so that was good.

I was sold and I bought the mask a couple of days later. According to my read, turmeric has been used as a beauty treatment for hundreds of years – I didn’t know that. Turmeric has antiseptic, antibacterial and anti-inflammatory properties. As for honey, honey gently cleanses and moisturises the skin, reducing swelling and inflammation and also has antibacterial properties. Used together, honey turmeric mask is especially effective for acne and dry skin.

Seeing my simple HTM recipe was successful, I started to add more ingredients in the mask to maximize the result. I added yogurt and ESP. With these combination of yogurt, ESP, HTM and honey, I found that the mask dried really fast, like in 10 minutes (ratio yogurt to honey was 2:1 so maybe that’s the factor).

ESP + HTM + Yogurt

Plus

A few drops of honey

1) HTM + Honey; 2) HTM + ESP + Honey + Yogurt

Although the result was good, I found that yogurt slightly irritated my skin. The skin around my mouth tightened and cracked so I knew that I was allergic with yogurt, not the other ingredients. I just knew.

So next I just mixed ESP, HTM and honey to make the mask. Doing it for the second time, I found that ESP was able to mask the strong herbal scent of HTM so I was not disturbed by it anymore. Yay! However, the scent came out strongly during washing. But it was a natural scent so it wouldn’t affect anything.

I strongly recommend you to try this all-natural mask!

1 tub of HTM contains 200 g of product; comes with a free bottle of honey

I bought mine from Aimi (01126886562)