Shu Uemura Anti/Oxi Cleansing Oil Review

 My first Shu oil...and I'm hooked! I'm not turning back... My first ever cleansing oil experience was a sample from Josie Maran, which was interesting but didn't hook me. Then I was using Julep's cleansing oil (brief review in my recent empties post), which got me into using oil regularly to cleanse, but it didn't do anything extra for my skin.

Shu Uemura is kinda famous for their cleansing oils, so finally I decided I had to try. I actually bought three different ones and this "skin-refining anti-dullness" gets to be the first to be trialed. I have been using this almost daily to remove my makeup for the past 3 weeks.

As you can see from the ingredients, this is a mineral oil base (think baby oil, though this seems more highly refined). I find it very liquidy, much less viscous than the Josie Maran or Julep. It does an excellent job at breaking down my makeup and then when I add water to emulsify it, it turns milky white and then rinses away clean. Yes clean, no oily residue, just feels like my face is clean. I actually don't need to "double" cleanse with this at all.

 In comparison to Julep, this one rinses away cleaner and when water is added turns much more white.  I also like the pump better. It pumps out more at a time (sometimes a bit too much, and given it's so liquid-y it can spill out of my hand), and I just need 1-2 pumps depending on how much makeup I'm wearing. With Julep I had to pump 6-8 times to wash my face, ugh.

I actually do feel my skin looks brighter and less dull, and some days I only feel the need to use concealer here and there rather than covering my whole face in a base product. However I did also start using the Clarisonic recently (will do a separate post about that soon), and I'm not sure which one is making the difference or if it's the combo. Though who cares which one was the cause as long as my skin is better right?!

 

I can't wait to try the others, but will go one at a time (will empty this one first before going forward).

What do you think of Shu's oils? Do you have another oil cleanser you prefer?

Shu Uemura Sale Haul

November had sooooo many sales everywhere. Shu Uemura had 25% off online orders, so I took the chance to make my first ever direct Shu order.  I use Shu's eyelash curler religiously (as do many of you I imagine), but had not branched out into their other products. Other than the curler, they're probably most known for their cleansing oils and I believe they were the first company to come out with this concept. What I didn't know was there were sooo many oil options! I ended up buying 3.

WhiteEfficient Brightening: This uses a mineral oil base. Advertises to brighten dull skin. Contains prune exract, white algae, and ceramide to do all this, as well as of course remove makeup.

Anti/Oxi Refining Cleansing Oil: Also a mineral oil base, this advertises banish effects of pollution and treat yellow/dull skin. Contains Gingko and green tea extracts which have antioxidant properties and promote circulation.

 

Ultime8 Sublime Cleansing Oil: This is a corn oil base rather than mineral oil ("zea mays" = corn oil), and contains a special set of 8 botanical oils to do skin lotsa good (including jojoba, olive, and shea butter oil). 

 

I'm super excited about trying these. They appear in the bottle thinner than other cleansing oils I have on hand, so not sure how that will go. Will update with more detailed reviews on each once I've adequately tested them out!

Are you a fan of Shu's oils? Let me know which one is your favorite!

Estee Lauder Take It Away Makeup Remover Lotion

After my last bad experience with a well-known lotion makeup remover (reviewed here), I was a bit skeptical about trying another. This product came as a deluxe sample, and since I didn't have to pay for it it's getting a trial!

 

I let waterproof concealer dry and set on my hand. Then put a small glob of Estee Lauder Makeup Remover Lotion next to it. 

After a good mix... I used a tissue as it advised to wipe the whole thing away.

Everything came off! And my skin felt great after. I tried this on my face as well of course, and result was similar and non-drying. Overall, product does what it says. I have not tried to use it on eye makeup and I don't recommend you do. 

(By the way, you can also do this with any other moisturizer...  so I don't think I will repurchase this as it's nothing special. It is however great to put into the work kit to fix minor errors or if removal of a layer of product is needed to rework the look. I won't be using this to take off my whole face makeup nightly though).

Do you use makeup remover lotions? What do you think of them?

Sephora Color-Proof Eyeliner in Matte Brown vs Benefit They're Real Waterproof Eye Makeup Remover

So I was testing out a new liner, and thought, "hey... why not test out that new remover too"!

The liner is a matte dark brown as the name would suggest. The eye swatch is one dip of the liner tip.




As you can see, the line is not great with one dip. With two dips however it makes a nice opaque line.


As with any other Sephora eyeliner, the tip is soft and comes to a nice point that allows you to make a sharp line and wing. See my other Sephora liner review to see a photo of the tip. 

 Now onto the remover 8-9 hrs later... As you can see, it's a thick/cream consistency.





Despite the thick consistency, the directions said to put it on a cotton pad like you would any liquid remover, and go at your eye as per usual. I hadsome concealer and neutral eyeshadow and blue mascara as well for removal.  From previous experience I knew the eyeliner would flake and be the most difficult to get off even with my beloved Lancome Bi-facil.

The result is the cotton pad on the right after one-go. The  process felt odd as the cream remover didn't absorb into the cotton as a liquid would, so it felt strange smearing a cream over my eye. Also not enough came off with the first go... this definitely is not comparable to Lancome's infamous Bi-facil remover, which removes any and all eye makeup in one cotton-pad-shot. Benefit got off maybe 60-70% of the stuff and with more wiping. 

What's worse than needing a second-go, is that it STUNG my eyes like mad and made my vision blurry for a good hour or so. Especially with removing mascara and eyeliner/tightliner, it's inevitable to get some of remover in the eye despite how careful I am. With Bi-facil, there is no stinging and only mild blurriness for a few seconds. The Benefit remover however made me seriously worry about my eyeball!

That said, when I went on to my second eye, I realized the Benefit remover is actually really awesome on a Q-tip, and can remove makeup in a very precise manner (yay for cleaning eyeshadow or eyeliner mistakes!). I was able to clean the eyeliner down to a neat thin line without trouble and no stinging (since I didn't get it in my eye that time). 


Conclusion:
1) the liner is good, color is a non-exciting matte brown which is good for more natural looks, just be aware of flaking when removing which is annoying. It is waterproof and non-smudgeable throughout the day as advertised which is great in the summer.

2) the remover one needs to be careful with... beware and only use it on a Q-tip to remove PRECISE areas. It's really good for this as the thick cream doesn't run like a liquid might off the Q-tip, and therefore won't remove more than you wanted. However, I do NOT recommend using this on a cotton pad for overall removal of the whole eye makeup or suffer the stinging and blurry vision!

Have you tried either of these products? Let me know what you thought of them!

Enkore Pro Ultra Brush Soap Review

Yay I finally got ahold of one of Enkore's brush soaps! There's been much buzz about these, and after trying to find a good way to get them here in Canada, I finally bought one from FTB. I chose the pro ultra version since it has antibacterial ingredients as well ("clean" isn't clean until it's sanitized!). Click the jump to see what I thought ^_^