eat . sleep . kiss

It’s Friday now, so it also marks the time for another eye shadow palette review 😉 Today, I have something other than Beauty Creations, but it’s still a brand that sells super cute dupe palettes with tons of shimmer & metallic shadows inside: Prolux Cosmetics! To be honest, I never heard of this brand before but when I saw it on Iva Beaute’s Shopee Timeline I was like “OKAY BUY NOW WHY SO CUTE!”. I mean, how could you resist this beautiful, semi-holographic packaging right…

So, without further ado, let’s get into my in-depth review!

PRODUCT INFO

Prolux Cosmetics Inspire Palette

Brand: Prolux

Origin: USA (Made in China)

Price: Rp 98.000,-

Where to buy: @ivabeaute.id (Indonesia),

So far as I browsed through the internet, currently Prolux Cosmetics doesn’t have its official website/e-commerce so you have to shop their products on the spot at the offline store located in Vernon, California. Prolux only use social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram to promote the brand, but new customers may need an official site that contains loads of information of Prolux’s products to browse through before buying, right? I was also pretty sceptical when I found no official site on Google, but thank God I braved out and bought the product anyway – because I’m pretty impressed by them!

First, I’m not going to talk much about the packaging because it’s what got me into buying this product – and few others, ahem – in the first place. The Inspire Palette that I got here is a part of their “Holographic Palette Series” (anyway I made this name up because they have no information about this line, so yeah…). This palette comes in slim, sturdy cardboard packaging with pretty good magnetic closure. By the way, I took these photos in natural lighting, that’s why the holographic effect didn’t show up beautifully.

Nothing to complain, everything about the packaging is absolutely extra. Now, let’s get into the shadows. This palette is housing 15 eye shadows with different finishes: matte, shimmer, metallic…even the foiled one! I’m totally in love with pink-berry shadows here as I never have berry-themed palette before.

When we talk about pigmentation and color payoff, most of them are bomb upon swatching – except for the two darker matte shades. However, when it comes to texture, these shadows are quite gritty. Especially for the shimmer & metallic shades, they would clump a little bit when picked with brush. When you use finger to apply them on the lid, apparently the color would come out more vibrant and easier to be packed on, but eventually the surface of the eye shadow on the pan would turn a little bit hard and “crusty” ☹ So, even though it’s harder to pick and pack the color using brush, I’ll still use brush anyway.

To be honest, I do find some colors that are quite hard to blend as well, especially Sweet. Yes, they’re pigmented and the color payoff is amazing with or without eye primer/concealer, but they also require a lot more effort to be seamlessly blended into another shade. Earlier I complained about the mattes being not really good when swatched, but the mattes in this palette are actually amazing to blend and work with on the lid! By the way, these shadows also have subtle powdery cosmetic smell to it.

Here come the swatches, and let’s talk about each shade:

Buddy – a matte cream. Perfect color to highlight the browbone or to set the concealer if I’m making a cut-crease look.

Level – a shimmery, medium pink-brown. Lovely color, one of my favorite shade in this palette!

K – a matte dark brown. Blotchy and uneven upon swatching but works really well on the lid. Pigmentation is not that good, but definitely buildable.

Bistro – a satin medium warm brown. Easy to blend, has lovely soft texture.

Forever – a frosty medium pink. Great pigmentation!

Sweet – a satin hot pink. Super cute color, sadly it’s really hard to work with and almost impossible to blend this baby. This shade will also look patchy on the lid even when you gently tap and build the color, so you need to practice and play with this shade a lot before actually using it in your look. Doable, but not for beginners! ☹

Blessed – a highly pigmented, shimmery dark brick red. Sadly, this color is also a little hard to work with as it takes quite awhile to build the color on the lid. Blessed is one of the shadows with kinda wet and gritty texture that I mentioned earlier. If you use brush to apply, some part of it will ball up into pigmented powder chunks which are quite hard to be evenly blended using brush.

Just – a shimmery wine red. The characteristic of this shade is pretty much the same with Blessed. One of my fave shades in this palette.

Fuego – a foiled orange red. SUPER . GORGEOUS . Fuego definitely is my most favorite shade in this palette! This shade even has less glitter fallout than the foiled shadow in my favorite Beauty Creations palette. Thumbs up!

Bare – an icy cream shade with a tinge of pink. Another lovely shimmer to work with.

Missy – a frosty pink shade. Super gorgeous color, despite how it looks boring on pan! (I’m not a pink person when it comes to eye makeup, but seriously this shade is lovely.) I found that this shade is best applied with finger.

Baby Girl – a shimmery baby pink shade. Just a tinge cooler and pinker than Bare. It’s cute as an inner corner highlight 😉

Cray – a shimmery, medium warm pink. Great pigmentation, lovely texture and easy to blend.

Temper – a shimmery brick red, just a tad warmer than Blessed. A tad easier to work with as well!

Macaroon – a matte magenta. Patchy upon swatching, but it’s super easy to work with on the lid. Super soft texture, super blendable. Minimum fallout.

Next, here’s some looks that I’ve created using this palette:

I create an easy brown-pink look here, using Level, Sweet, and a touch of Bare in the center of the lid.

Second, I create a Barbie-inspired pink eye makeup using Missy, Cray, and Sweet. I played with Sweet like almost everytime I create a look using this Inspire palette to get used to its texture and formula – because dang, it’s such a pretty color rite? Sad that it’s quite hard and takes a long time to blend!

Last but not least, I created a glam cut-crease look using Buddy, Macaroon, and Blessed. I’m currently obsessed with shimmery outer V lately and Blessed is really doing a great job there!

Score

Last Words?

To be honest, I really love the shadows in this Inspire palette by Prolux. Would I recommend it? Yes, if you’re so into eye shadow palettes and wanting to have lots of awesome shimmery, glittery shadows in your collection – plus you don’t mind to spend a little more time blending and packing the color on the lid. The shimmer & metallics are awesome in terms of pigmentation and staying power, but blending the shades are gonna be such a hassle. I prefer tapping method to apply these shadows, after that I’d blend a little bit before start adding the color again. With the mattes, yup they look not really promising at first but when it comes to blending, they’re really lovely to work with. Using eye primer underneath helps a lot in terms of making the mattes appear more vibrant on the lid.

***

I got this palette only from @ivabeaute.id, the only Indonesian seller that sells Prolux products! Not only Prolux, Iva Beaute also sells other interesting, drugstore products from indie brands so if you’re curious and love trying new products, definitely check their page now:

Website: www.ivabeaute.com

Instagram: @ivabeaute.id

Shopee: beautycallindo

That’s my in-depth review for this palette, if you have any questions, comments, or tutorial requests please don’t hesitate to let me know by commenting down below! I will do my best to do it for you 😊

No kisses

Hello, Angels!

Have you been overworking yourself? Taking tasks home with you, or maybe struggling with getting good rest because of the heat? Maybe you’ve got children who don’t conform to your sleep patterns.

These are just a few examples of why you could be feeling tired and lacking in sleep. The downside to not getting enough sleep is that you run the risk of not feeling fresh or feeling radiant after a bad night's sleep.

A green tea or a strong black coffee do all they can to boost your energy, but that’s not the answer to overcoming that look and feeling associated with a shortcoming of sleeping time, which can make you look like you’re ageing faster than you are!

Studies have found that people are observed by others as ‘not as healthy’ and ‘not as attractive’ when they aren’t banking enough time in the Land of Nod. If you are worried that this is you, then worry no longer, because here we have some wonderful tips that you can hang on to that can be used as a lovely, handy go-to whenever you feel the previous night’s sleep just didn’t cut it!

We hope this helps!

Get some exercise in

This sounds like the last thing that you want to be doing when you’re tired or looking like you’ve just got in from a big night out when you wake up, but hold on a second, because exercise is a super way to reverse the signs of tiredness.

You don’t have to go running a marathon or anything; you can indulge in a brisk walk or jog with friends, do some Pilates, bodyweight exercises, or even some stretching. Allow yourself around half an hour if you possibly can, as this is the daily recommended amount for an adult to exercise.

It’s definitely not the easiest thing to do in the world when you’ve slept poorly the night before, but it will certainly help, and once those endorphins have been released, along with the blood pumping around your body, you’ll have glowing, radiant skin and a smile big enough to mask the lack of sleep you had. No one will ever know!

Keep yourself constantly hydrated

This one goes hand-in-hand with the point about exercise, but even if you can’t manage some physical activity, there’s no excuse for not keeping yourself hydrated.

Begin your day with a large glass of water at the very least. You can sip this from the comfort of your bed. The 'Sleep Advisor' team talk about this all the time, and once you’re up, a freshly-made smoothie is also a nice option, if you can, although water will suffice.

Throughout the day, drink water with either lemon or peppermint leaves in it (or both), and this will help to keep you refreshed, as well as helping to make your skin look revitalised.

What’s more, your levels of energy will increase, and the antioxidants lingering around your body will be flushed out with every sip you take.

Stimulate a dull-looking face

You’re probably being hard on yourself, but if you think you look like the bride of Frankenstein, why not try simply splashing cold water on your neck and face to help the complexion become refreshed?

Doing this will help you appear more awake than you possibly feel, and while this point may seem like a basic tip, it does, in fact, assist in improving blood flow, which will result in your skin feeling fresh and smooth.

Let your diet help you to look good

Junk food and lack of sleep are not a good combination whatsoever. The sodium and fats found in fast food cause fluid retention, which in turn leads to a puffy-looking face. Instead, feed yourselfup on vegetables, fruit, some nice, healthy whole grains.

Remember to just think fresh here. If you eat fresh, you’ll feel fresh. Don’t take the tempting route and pass by a drive-thru on your way to work or you’ll just feel worse for it and your skin won’t be any better either, so it’s a lose-lose situation you can easily avoid.

Shower yourself fresh

As soon as you’re awake in the morning and able to function, go and enjoy a shower. Once you’re in, alternate between hot and cold temperatures, as the cold will improve circulation and also invigorate your body, while the hot water will loosen you up and relax the muscles.

Use moisturiser to support nourished skin

Post-shower, massage your skin using a light moisturising cream. Don’t use anything too heavy or your face will appear greasy.

Try leaving your moisturiser in the fridge for half an hour before you apply it, as this will assist with reducing swelling and the constriction of your blood vessels too.

*** Written by Sarah Cumming from Sleep Advisor ***

No kisses

Happy Monday, everyone!

Today I want to review the latest skincare line from Clinelle which contains “black gold”. Relax, I just heard about this black gold thing too! Apparently, this black gold is also included in the top 5 of the most expensive food in the world and coveted by Ancient Greeks and Romans. You probably guessed it right: the black gold is CAVIAR!

Last month, I was invited by Clinelle to their 7 Secrets of Youthful Skin Gathering, which was a part of the new Caviar Gold product launching roadshow in several cities in Indonesia. We were given this card and had mini consultation with beauty experts from Clinelle, to talk about our skin’s main problem and concern then find the right Clinelle products to take care of them. Previously, I had tried and reviewed Clinelle Pureswiss Hydra Calm products. Now, I’m trying their newest line, the Caviar Gold, hoping that this line would suit me better than the Hydra Calm one. The beauty expert said that this line focuses more on boosting skin’s firmness, hydration, and nutrition and its anti-aging properties. While sounds promising, I had a feeling deep inside that this line will be more suitable for my normal-combination, sensitive skin!

This review is going to be all about Clinelle Caviar Gold products, from cleanser to mask sheet, so this post’s gonna be quite long but please read it to the end – I promise it’s gonna be worth it spending around 5 minutes here, especially if you have skin like mine that needs quick rescue from the harsh environment and reality 😉

*** Quick disclaimer: this post is sponsored, yep, but as always my review's gonna be 100% clear and honest. Read more about my sponsored post policies here.***

So why Caviar is a black gold ? It’s apparently because this ingredient is super expensive, the price may reach up to $5,000 per kilogram! Caviar is used in this line because it mainly has cell structure that’s similar to human’s skin structure, making it easier to penetrate deep into every layer of the skin and deliver all the nutrients it carries to even cellular level! Waw doesn’t that sound cool!!

Next ingredients that I have my eyes on are Lavender Oil, Grapefruit and Bergamot Peel Oil. Lavender Oil is well-known for its antibacterial and anti-inflammatory properties. It’s also rich in antioxidants that helps to protect your skin from damaging free radicals – the main cause of fine lines and wrinkles. Grapefruit and Bergamot Peel Oil has pretty similar properties to Lavender Oil, but they also have great cleansing properties. Bergamot Peel Oil also is capable to balance your skin’s sebum production and help to unclog pores!

Okay, after a quick glimpse into what’s inside these babies, now let’s jump into my in-depth review!

Clinelle Caviar Gold Firming Cleanser

Origin: South Korea

Price: Rp 99.000,-

Netto weight: 100 g

Where to Buy: Guardian

I’m gonna start with the cleanser. Caviar Gold Firming Cleanser is a gel-type foaming cleanser. The gel’s quite runny in consistency, easy to lather, and it has gold shimmers in it – fancy, rite! It claims to remove impurities, brighten up dull skin, soothe and firm skin. I can use it either with foaming net or simply just pour some water and lather it up – both just feels as soft and gentle on skin! This cleanser does its job very well, removing dirt without stripping my skin’s natural oil. Instead, my face would feel a little bit plumped and hydrated after using this! Having a super sensitive skin, I know the struggle of finding the perfect second cleanser that won’t trigger the skin but is also capable and powerful enough to remove impurities and whatever makeup traces left. I really recommend this cleanser, especially if you have normal to dry, combination skin that needs an effective but super gentle foaming cleanser!

Clinelle Caviar Gold Firming Lotion

Origin: South Korea

Price: Rp 229.000,-

Netto weight: 180 ml

Where to Buy: Guardian

Next, is the lotion. The Caviar Gold Firming Lotion is a hydrating lotion, which claims to soften skin texture, firm and tone your skin, making it supple, soft, and more elastic. This lotion is meant to be applied with no cotton pad, because the consistency is more of a thick, gel-like liquid full of gold shimmers.

Use your palms to gently pat the goodness of caviar onto your skin and neck. At first, I’m kinda afraid that this lotion would be too rich for my skin. The Hydra Calm one was not this thick, it also gets absorbed quicker on skin and leaves no sticky feeling at all, but apparently my skin didn’t accept it and got angry instead. But luckily, my skin happily loves this one – despite its thicker consistency and a slight sticky feeling after the product pat on! I see that my skin’s getting more plumped and hydrated, bouncier after around 10 days of religiously wearing this baby along with the serum. Total loveee ~~

Clinelle Caviar Gold Firming Eye Serum

Origin: South Korea

Price: Rp 339.000,-

Netto weight: 15 ml

Where to Buy: Guardian

The third product that I’m going to talk about is the star product of this line: Caviar Gold Firming Eye Serum! This serum claims to firm and lift eyelid, reduce fine lines and wrinkles, plus it would banish ugly dark circles and puffiness of your eyebags. A lot of claims, eh? But seriously, this eye serum lives up to most of them! Clinelle kindly gave us eye ruler as well, to see and measure how much this product could do the lifting of skin around eyes but sadly I lost it ☹ but here’s my before-after photos hopefully they’re all quite clear to show the differences:

top: before - bottom: after

I don’t really have issues with dark circles, but puffy eyebags have always been my biggest problem! Somehow, there are also 2-3 fine lines underneath my left eye. I dunno how I got them tho, but as long as I remember they’ve been there for quite a long time already, perhaps since I’m 17 ☹ after regularly using this eye serum, I can see that those lines start to get smoothened and they’re less visible now! My puffy eyebags also start to get away if I use this product daily. The only thing that quite bothers me is the stickiness of this product. Other than that, this product definitely is a must have!

Clinelle Caviar Gold Firming Serum

Origin: South Korea

Price: Rp 339.000,-

Netto weight: 30 ml

Where to Buy: Guardian

For the face, Clinelle Caviar Gold also have this Firming Serum. The packaging is very similar to the Eye Serum, but this one is a bit taller. Claims of this product also say that it can promote cell growth, firm the skin, shape V-contour, and boost collagen production. Since my cheeks are super chubby, seeing V line on my face is almost impossible LOL especially that I don’t have sagging skin problem. For the other claims, however, I can safely say that this product successfully lives up to them.

so runny, lightweight, has nice lavender scent!

This serum is also one of my favorite product from this line, because it really hydrates my skin and makes it appear more plumped, brighter, and uplifted! Well perhaps you’re tired of me saying that my skin gets more plumped after using almost every product from this line, but it really does! I’d totally recommend this Clinelle Caviar Gold line, especially the lotion and this firming face serum – they both are deadly combo on my skin, giving almost immediate and visible results!

Clinelle Caviar Gold Firming Cream

Origin: South Korea

Price: Rp 329.000,-

Netto weight: 50 g

Where to Buy: Guardian

Next, to moisturize your skin even more, Clinelle Caviar Gold has this luxurious Firming Cream. I’m a big fan of the packaging because it looks hella expensive and super extra!

the Ingredients of the Firming Cream

This cream claims to firm and tighten skin, repair and revitalize it while reducing the annoying fine lines. It has a pleasant lightweight texture that’s easy to get absorbed and leaves no oily or sticky feeling afterward. Unfortunately, even though I love the texture of this cream so badly, my skin doesn’t seem to like it as much as I do. This cream is a little bit too rich and moisturizing to be worn together with other products from Caviar Gold line, so I tried to wear it separately on days where I wear less moisturizing products. But sadly, it’s still too rich for my skin ☹ I will give this product to my Mom or Grandma who has drier skin than mine, let’s see if they’re gonna like it.

here's the texture of Firming Cream. really nice, airy and lightweight!

Clinelle Caviar Gold Firming Facial Mask

Origin: South Korea

Price: Rp 45.000,-

Netto weight: 1 x 20 ml

Where to Buy: Guardian

Last, is the Caviar Gold Firming Facial Mask. This product also has the pleasant and luxurious lavender scent to it. The mask sheet is made of Tencel, which is a pure and natural cellulose that has superior moisture retention power to hold the essence and enhances serum penetration into the skin! It feels super soft and nice, feeling like a second skin. You could actually forget that you’re wearing a mask sheet because it’s that comfortable to have this mask on!!

Of course, the plumping, firming, and brightening effect of this mask sheet is crazy! What do you expect people, I could simply see plumper and healthier skin even with just the Caviar Gold Firming Lotion… What’s the use of a mask sheet if it doesn’t give even more incredible results ah!! Wish I could afford to buy this mask in a bulk and use it 2-3 times a week, for a super plumped healthy skin 😉

***

Okay, that’s all for today’s post! Phew, a long but worth-reading one eh? This Clinelle Caviar Gold line has successfully won my heart and gained my skin’s trust. If you have skin condition and type that’s similar to mine – again, the sensitive and annoying one, dry cheeks but normal T-zone – I would totally recommend for you to get the Cleanser, Lotion, Serum and Eye Serum. If you have dry skin, you might want to get the Firming Cream as well.

Share your thoughts or question below, and I’ll reply them as soon as I can!
See you on my next post, XOXO ❤👀