Japanese Bath Salt Review #1

Hi everyone!

If you love taking baths, then this post will be of great interest.  I love taking baths too, but most bubble baths dry me out, skin-wise.  Don't get me wrong, they smell good, I love the bubbles, but when I get out I feel drier than a bucket of sand.  I heard from a penpal of mine in Japan that they have many different types of bath salts, from anti-aging to those meant to replicate an experience at a particular hot spring.  This sounded interesting to me, so I went to my local Japanese market and lo and behold, they also had a bunch of different salts to choose from!  I bought two kinds (hence the #1 in the title) and tried them both out.

#1 Bathclin Pureskin Bath Salts

These salts also have Hyaluronic Acid and Aloe, both of which moisturize the skin. In fact, we have Hyaluronic Acid in our skins already but this decreases as we age.  The salts are a dark green, and make the bath water a milky green color but they do not stain the bathtub or anything else.   It has a nice clean scent, I think it could be suitable for unisex use, the scent does stay on your skin pretty strongly, but not sickeningly strong. 

When I get out of the bath after using this stuff, I'm not nearly as dry-skinned as I normally would be coming out of a regular bubble bath.

This is also more cost-effective than bubble bath (I go through a bottle every two weeks or less because I take a bath after my showers almost nightly).  This 660 gram package has enough to give over 30 baths (the directions say 20 grams per bath, which is about half of the cap that is on the package.) and costs between 9.99-12.99 depending on where you get it from. 

You can order it online, or it could be carried at an Asian market in the health/beauty section.


I highly recommend this stuff, will review the next salt, Bathclin Cherry Blossom, in an upcoming post!

My favorite perfumes...

Hello~~~






I'm finally done studying for a while.  I have reviewed a bunch of other stuff, but not perfumes yet!  So, I want to share with you my two favorite perfumes, the ones that seem to smell the best on me.




#1 (My evening/special occasion scent) Coco Mademoiselle

It smells very nice, a bit spicy and floral, but it is quite strong, which is why I wear it out at night or to somewhere special.  I have the Eau de Parfum, the bath bubbles, and the dry oil spray.  All together, the smell really lasts.  <3

#2 My every day scent- Chance Eau Fraiche

This is one of the newer scents by Chanel, I found one of those scented sample pages in a magazine, took a sniff, and I knew I HAD to have it.  It is an Eau de Toilette spray, meaning it is a bit cheaper than the Eau de Parfum, and is lighter, more suitable for the office/school/etc.  It smells like the original Chance fragrance but with a fresh "clean" smell to it.  Highly recommended!

Unfortunately on me, Chanel No. 5 smells great in the bottle, but awful with my body chemistry... :(   These smells smell good on me, maybe not for others.  The key with perfume is to find one that works well with your natural body chemistry.

Perfume wearing tips! aka how I put perfume on!

1. Spray two short bursts on the side of your neck before dressing, then let it dry before putting on your shirt.  Why?  It gives the scent a chance to dry into your skin, and not stain your clothes.  Perfume DOES stain after a while and sometimes it is very difficult to get the old scent out of cloth.

2. If the scent is very strong, and you're unsure about it, spritz some in the air and walk under the falling mist.  Then your hair and shoulders will be lightly scented.

3. If you wear silk-strung pearls- to extend the life of the pearls (they DO absorb scents if they are real!) put the perfume on FIRST, and pearls always go on last, and are taken off first. 

4. Don't wear too much... PLEASE.

5. Unless you are going to be somewhere where you don't wash your hands often, don't bother putting perfume on your wrists.  You'll just wash it off and there goes wasted perfume. 

6: Try to get real samples before you buy a big bottle for yourself! Then you get to see how your body works with them, then choose the best one and buy that!!! 

Well, that's it for tonight! I hope you all had a nice Valentine's Day and Lunar New Year!

My Arsenal, and a Tutorial on Brush Care

Hello~!


Before I begin my tutorials, I would like to take a moment and show the different makeup and brushes I will be using. I will be referencing these items a lot throughout, so I thought to show you what I'm packin'~ heehee

Eyes:

Clockwise from upper left: Coastal Scents 88 color palette, 88 color warm palette, and 88 color ultra shimmer pallette, Chanel Les Quatre Ombres Quadra Eye Shadow in Variations, Urban Decay Skyscraper Multibenefit Mascara, MAC Plush Lash Mascara in Plushblack, Urban Decay Eyeshadow Primer Potion, MAC Liquidlast Liner in Point Black, MAC Fluidline Liner in Blacktrack, The Face Shop false lashes, MAC Technakohl Liner in Smoothblue, MAC Eye Kohl in Smolder and Fascinating, The Face Shop Greatist Liquid Liner in Black, Shiseido Eye Pencil in Black, Urban Decay Glide-on 24/7 eye pencil in Zero, Shiseido Lash Curler, MAC shadow in Carbon, MAC Mineralize Shadow Duo in Sea and Sky, MAC shadows in Pen N Pink and Charcoal Brown, MAC Hello Kitty Shadow Quad in Too Dolly, and MAC Shadows in Beautiful Iris and Typographic.




Lips:
Starting from top, then going left: MAC Lipliner Pencils in Subculture and Brick, MAC Hello Kitty Collection Lipstick in Fashion Mews, MAC Lipsticks in Creme Cup, Black Knight, Snob, and Russian Red, Another Fashion Mews (I bought two, it sold out fast!) Shiseido Perfecting Lipstick in Brown Red, MAC Glimmerglass in Blackware, MAC Lustreglass in Luminary, 2 MAC Lipglass in Prrr, Urban Decay Pocket Rocket Lip Gloss in Timothy, Urban Decay Lipstick in Midnight Cowboy (the little purple one) and Too Faced Sparkler Glamour Gloss in Pink Bling.



Face:

Rows from Left - Right: MAC Studio Sculpt concealer in NW20, MAC Studio Fix in NC25, The Face Shop Hydro Splash BB Cream, MAC Prep + Prime Face Protect SPF 50, MAC Sheertone Blush in Tenderling, and MAC Glimmershimmer in Etiquette.


That's all of the makeup... Next come the brushes!




13 of these babies... Here goes~! From left: MAC 129, 187, 195, 208, 214, 217, 219, 224, 227, 239, 242, 266, and 318 brushes.

Yes. MAC brushes are expensive. Especially if you only plan on using them once or twice and that's it. However, if you are a frequent makeup user, the quality of these outweighs the price. My 129 and 217 brushes are almost 2 years old and still look and perform like new (aside from the numbers on the sides coming off) and I do take very good care of them. I do wash them after almost every use (especially after using black eyeshadow because it STAINS if you leave it too long!) with MAC's brush cleaner. Face brushes (foundation/concealer/blush) I sometimes wash every 3-4 uses, since the colors of the products I use on them does not change or harden up on the bristles.

How I clean my babies up~ Use WARM, NOT HOT water and have the fibers facing downwards at all times! We don't want too much water seeping up into the handle. It will eventually warp the wood, rot the base of the fibers, and ruin your investment.

1. Rinse excess makeup out of the hair and squeeze out the excess water, leaving them more damp than wet. Be careful, unless it is a concealer brush or lip brush, it's probably made of natural hair and we don't want to damage this.

2. Squeeze a little bit of the brush cleaner into your palm, and one at a time (unless you have a few shadow pencils) swirl the fibers in the soap like you are brushing on your hand. Soon the soap will start to lather and you'll see the makeup just suck right out of the brush and into the soap. You do NOT need a lot!

3. Usually once should do it, but if your brush is REALLY dirty, go another round. You do not need to use any conditioners or disinfectants, the cleaner has antibacterial/moisturizing properties in it already and is fragrance free.

4. Rinse, rinse, RINSE!

5. Squeeze out the excess, but also take the time to make sure the hairs are reshaped back to their original form. Again, like the hair on your head, the natural fiber brushes will dry into whatever shape you leave them in.

6. Lay flat on their sides, a key point being to make sure the fibers and about 3/4 - 1 inch of the handle thereafter are over the edge of the table/desk/whatever you're drying them on. This reduces dry time, and makes sure no water remains in the base of the hairs. (Remember all that stuff I said about rotting/warping? That can happen from improperly drying them too.)

They usually do not take too long to dry. For the bigger brushes, sometimes they dry tightened up as I reshaped them. When they are dry, give them a quick brush against your arm, or your clean un-made up face. They will spring back into original position, ready to help you out again!


As I add more tools and products, I will update accordingly, worry not~!

Review of Urban Decay Eyeshadow Primer Potion

Hello~


Over the weekend, I bought a bottle of the legendary Urban Decay Primer Potion (for eye makeup). Today, I decided to give it a test drive. I knew I was going to be out and about all day, in humid/rainy weather, etc.

So I did my makeup after putting this on, and I must say it really DOES help the shadow stick better and keep a more intense color, hence using less shadow than normal! I used the Coastal Scents 88 color palette for the colors (without the primer, I have to use a lot of some of the lighter colors to get anything close to the look I want. With the primer, I used surprisingly little!) and MAC fluidline gel eyeliner. My eyes looked great, and I was ready to go.


After going out and braving the humidity and wind, I went home to discover that my eyeshadow looked pretty much exactly the same as it did when I first put it on!! No creasing, nothing rubbed off. ^_^


It also goes on very nicely too, and dries to a clear/nude finish. Urban Decay also makes this product in a color called Sin, which is a champagne gold color. I haven't tried this yet but it sounds interesting to have a pale gold undertone to makeup.

More reviews and looks coming soon! Check back regularly!

Removed the acrylic nails...

Hi everyone~



I removed my acrylic nails by myself (took the entire length of the movie Interview With the Vampire) with 100% acetone, and didn't end up wrecking my real nails all too bad, but they are still thin. So what did I do?








I got this- Sally Hansen Miracle Nail Thickener


http://www.sallyhansen.com/product.cfm?product=381 (Pictured)



You can't really "fix" nails that have already come out, but you can protect them from breaking, tearing and being a general nuisance. Like overprocessed hair, ravaged nails from fakes need to be grown out. This stuff does a good job of protecting my poor little nails. I type all day for a living and have yet to suffer any further damage. Also the biotin I am taking is helping them grow back in pretty fast! YAY! I will be putting up some Halloween looks soon! Keep an eye out! Also, videos are coming soon to my YouTube channel, ObeyBeauty!

First Post

Hello everyone~


Welcome to ObeyBeauty, where I will post blogs and reviews about makeup, fashion, and other random things too!


I also appear on YouTube. My channel name is ObeyBeauty.

I am 24, live in the United States and have a passion for makeup. I like to try new things, and I have interest in the styles and trends of Japan and Korea as well.

Thanks for stopping by, and keep checking in for more!