Nichido lipstick in Tender Lips

Yet another GIRLTalk find. I swear, that forum increases my respect and support for local cosmetics each time I visit. <3

Does the sleek, anodized aluminum-like casing seem familiar? It should be.

Same height, same lipstick amount... are you wondering why?

That's because they're actually made by the same company! (Sorry if the font's still too small, the macro lens on my camera wouldn't go any closer.)

Both Penshoppe and Nichido lipsticks are manufactured by Jemica Cosmetics Corp., which is based in Quezon City. Nichido's lipsticks smell better, though. To me, they smell like Play Doh, which is actually a rather pleasing scent.

Anyway, Tender Lips is a sheer peachy orange perfect for everyday wear. It glides on smoothly and isn't drying. (The shea butter ingredient is working! Yay!)

Here's what it looks like in different lighting situations:

I'm definitely wearing this to school once it starts back up on Monday.

Nichido Multiple Stick in Sunset Glow, South Beach, and Cinnamon Glaze

I first heard about these sticks from the lovely ladies at GIRLTalk. I got curious because it was a local brand, and my only other exposure to multi-purpose eye shadow/blush/lip color make up was e.l.f.'s all-over color sticks. (Mostly I just use mine for blush, and I've never tried them as eye shadow or lipstick.)

At P188.00, these sticks are slightly more expensive than e.l.f.'s, but come in colors more suited to the Filipino skintone. From left we have South Beach, a shimmery peachy pink that many GIRLTalkers have been raving about, Sunset Glow, a light pink with just a touch of peach, and my personal favorite, the toasty Cinnamon Glaze.

Sunset Glow and Cinnamon Glaze are very opaque while unblended, while South Beach is translucent. I like my blush subtle, so I always use a foundation sponge to blend them into my skin until they're barely there. (Take note that this may account for my color preferences in the actual face swatches below.)

Sunset Glow was too pink for my tastes - it was easily noticeable that I was wearing blush, and I didn't want that. Still, the shade didn't look too bad on my skintone, although I think this would be better suited for fairer complexions.

I was disappointed with South Beach, because I assumed it would work as perfectly for me as it had for my fellow GIRLTalkers. It was a nice peachy shade, but the shimmers and the color were nothing new to me. I believe it's a great color for all skintones, though.

Being a fan of the barely-there look, Cinnamon Glaze instantly became my favorite out of the trio because of how close it was to my skin tone. I loved how it gave my face definition without being too conspicuous and how it made me look "toasted-just-right".

All in all, I think these are great products and are worthy alternates to my trusty Pink Lemonade.

Penshoppe Pop Beauty lipstick in Russian Doll vs herbench/ paint box lipstick in Orchid Pop

I'm really fond of trying out make up from local companies that don't just sell make up. Take clothing brands bench/ and Penshoppe, for example. The products I've tried from them so far are actually of decent quality, sometimes even better than Pinoy brands that focus only on make up.

Russian Doll is a slightly purple-ey red, and is one of four lipstick colors that Penshoppe offers. (I've only ever seen 4 at the branches I go to; do let me know if they have more~) Their lipstick's packaging is fun to hold because it's so smooth and metallic. Kinda reminds me of the anodized aluminum Apple uses to make iPod Nanos, really.

Russian Doll looked somewhat familiar when I swatched it, so I went digging into my lipstick drawer to verify this. True enough, its color was VERY near rival brand bench/'s paint box Orchid Pop lipstick! (Russian Doll to the left, Orchid Pop to the right.)

I wouldn't call them dupes, because Russian Doll is more sheer than Orchid Pop. The difference is barely noticeable on the lips, though. Here's how RD looks like:

And here's Orchid Pop:

Visually, all Orchid Pop has over Russian Doll is the "creamy" finish, and that's pretty much it. However, if smell were a factor, bench/ definitely trumps Penshoppe. The former's sugary dessert scent easily defeats the latter's icky waxy smell. It's super effective! (Props if you get the geek reference. 8B)

What of bench/'s packaging, you ask? Well, it's certainly very pretty to look at,

but I still think Penshoppe's is more fun to hold.

Penshoppe Pop Beauty 9 in 1 Lip Palettes in Toffee and Berry

I've wanted to check these out for myself ever since I heard of them on the TeenTalk forums. I mean, 9 lip glosses in 1 package for only P129.75 is a very good deal, right? And if you get both variants, you get 18 different glosses total, all for the cheap sum of P259.50.

Can you guess which palette is which? The colors pretty much tell you what they're named after. I like that they included a tiny mirror. Very convenient.

Now, I did a little bit of googling to see if anyone else had done reviews on these products, and someone had! The review was done last year, back when Penshoppe's makeup line was still called Face It.

It isn't 2008 anymore though, and I find that my opinion differs from hers.

Aside from the name change to Pop Beauty, Penshoppe seems to have reworked its gloss formula, as everything in my palettes did not feel sticky as the previous review reported.

The included lip brushes were of decent quality too. Not one brush hair fell out as I swatched and applied the glosses consecutively.

All the colors were sheer, but they're glosses anyway so they're supposed to be like that. Besides, what's nice about their sheerness is that you can layer different colors together.

The only thing I don't like about the palettes is their scent, which smells too waxy.

herbench/ paint box lip gloss in Orange Fizz

Got this along with the in2it lipstick from the other day. I really love how bench packages its lip products in glass/ice-like containers. Their lipsticks and glosses come in this nice, sugary dessert-like scent too.

Pigmentation was good, but staying power wasn't.

4u2 GLITZ 2-color eye shadow #03

If you're looking for affordable, good quality eye shadows, Thai brand 4u2 is a must-try!

This is what palette #03 of their eye shadow duos looks like closed:

Cute, huh? The other palettes feature different colored stripes and outfits too - a nice little bonus for the collector types among us!

Look at that ADORABLE applicator! It's so tiny! (LOL guess what model my camera is. It's fairly old but I love it anyway!)

These shadows are super PIGMENTED. Lovely gold and silver, yes?


At just around P250 for a duo palette, and P424 for a quad, you can't go wrong with these. I'm eyeing their purple palette next! <3