Benefit Benetint Review

I have just discovered the joy of lip tints! For someone who does not seem to enjoy wearing lipstick because of the funny taste and texture they usually have, lip tint is the answer. Basically I think everyone already knows what a lip tint does. Lip tints slightly stains bare lips giving them a sheer colour that stays on even through eating and drinking. Sometimes they are also known as lip stains. They can also be used on the cheeks. Lip tints are especially great for those wanting a bit of colour and look fresh.

What got me interested in lip tints is Benefit's Benetint. I had read oodles of raving reviews about the product on the internet and it got me wanting to try it out. I didn't want to get the full size since it is quote costly so I scouted shopping blogs and forums to get my hands on a sample sized Benetint. My search was fruitful and I finally got my hands on a teeny bottle of Benetint in sample size from a forumner in Lowyat Forum.

 Full sized Benefit's Benetint (Picture taken from Benefit's official website).

Benetint is an original rose-tinted stain from Benefit. It is a see-through colour for lips and cheeks and it is kiss-proof. They claim it to be the sexiest flush you can get from a bottle. It is naturally sheer and sexy for all complexions, innocent yet provocative. The rosy glow lasts for hours. It has won lots of awards for best cheek and lip stain from top beauty magazines. To use the Benetint, you only have to apply three dots to the apples of your cheeks and blend quickly with fingertips. Add a few more dots for deeper colour.

The Benetint sample that I bought came packaged in a cardboard box. The product itself came in a small translucent 2.5 ml (0.08 fl oz) plastic bottle with a black screw-type cap. A bottle of full sized Benetint  weighs 12.5 ml (0.40 fl oz) and could last me a long time (the lifespan is 12 months after opened).The applicator is a nail-polish type brush and is attached to the cap.  

Benefit's Benetint in sample size.

The nail-polish like applicator.

The list of ingredients is printed on the back of the cardboard package.

Ingredients: Water (Aqua), Polysorbate 20, Phenoxyethanol, Sodium Hydroxide, Carmine (CI75470), Methyparaben, Fragrance (Parfum), Tetrasodium EDTA, Geraniol, Linalool, Hexyl Cinnamal, Citronellol, Maltodextrin, Benzyl Salicylate, BHT.

Benetint comes in liquid form and has a runny texture. From the bottle, the liquid  looked intimidatingly bloody red. When applied, the liquid tint needs to be blended immediately to avoid the tint from setting and leaving a streak of deep red line across your lips or cheeks where the brush applicator had been swiped. When blended, the deep dark red tint turns into a nice sheer red tint on my lips giving them a healthy flushed look.

 Left: Benetint swiped. Right: Benetint blended.

You can see the watery liquid of Benetint seeping into the cracks in my skin in the above picture. On the right side, the Benetint gives a nice sheer just blushed tint when blended. It has a subtle scent of rose which is surprisingly quite pleasant. I usually stay away from rose scented products because they tend to be too pungent and over powering but Benetint's scent did not smell that way.

Verdict: I really like the sheer colour it left on my lips. The only downside is that the finger that I used to spread the tint would also be tinted red = the Benetint finger of shame. I found a trick to avoid getting my finger red by drenching a swab cotton with water and use the wet cotton swab to spread the Benetint all over my lips. Would I repurchase this again? Yup, I would definitely would.

You can check out information on Benetint at their official website.

You can purchase Benefit's Benetint in full size at Benefit's counters at Parkson (I am not sure about the price but I think it's around RM129).

Mentholatum Mogitate Kajitsu Lip Balm Review

Mentholatum had launch a new product under their lip care line which is the Mogitate Kajitsu Lip Balm. Mogitate Kajitsu actually means fresh fruits. It has a variety of five flavours to choose from which are:

- Strawberry
- Orange & Mango
- Lemon & Lime
- Grape & Berry
- White Peach

I had read some raving reviews from beauty buffs who were sent with these lip balms to sample and as a balmholic, I really wanted to try them. At the time I discovered these lip balms, they were not sold in Malaysia and were just launched in Singapore's Watsons stores. So I waited a little while longer and in late October, I stumbled upon these lippies neatly arranged on the lip balm section's shelf! I could hear a distant sound of an opera song being sang in crescendo in the background while I was picking a tube up! Heheh.. 

Since there are five different flavours and as indecisive as I was, I steeled my heart to just get two tubes which were the Orange & Mango and the Strawberry flavours.

The Mogitate Kajitsu Lip Balms are made with natural fruit juice, honey and beeswax to deep moisturize and smoothen lips. They are also enhanced with Vitamin A, C & E which helps to prevent skin damage and early sign of ageing skin. The vitamins also helps to soften, condition and protect lips. The lips balms are great for day wear since they contain SPF for protection against harmful UV rays.

The list of ingredients and product information are printed on the back of the blister packaging.

List of ingredients for Mogitate Orange & Mango: cetyl ethylexanoate, ceresin, petrolatum, beeswax, caprylic/capric/myristic/stearic triglyceride, ethylexyl methoxycinnamate, citrus aurantium dulcis (orange) juice, mangifera indica (mango) fruit extract, honey, retinyl palmitate, zea mays (corn) oil, squalene, vitis vinifera (grape) seed oil, tocopheryl acetate, polyglyceryl-2 diisotearate, glycerin, polyglyceryl-10 decaoleate, ascorbyl teraisopalmitate, menthol, phytosteryl/octyldodecyl lauroyl glutamate, butylene glycol, water, fragrance.

List of ingredients for Mogitate Strawberry: cetyl ethylexanoate, ceresin, petrolatum, beeswax, caprylic/capric/myristic/stearic triglyceride, ethylexyl methoxycinnamate, fragaria vesca (strawberry) juice, honey, retinyl palmitate, zea mays (corn) oil, squalene, vitis vinifera (grape) seed oil, tocopheryl acetate, water, menthol, glycerin, polyglyceryl-2 diisotearate, polyglyceryl-10 decaoleate, ascorbyl teraisopalmitate, phytosteryl/octyldodecyl lauroyl glutamate, fragrance.

The lip balms comes in plastic tubes with a thicker twister mechanism at the bottom and slightly longer cap sif compared to other standard tubes of lip balms. The body of the tube is printed with coordinated colours according to the flavours (orange for Orange & Mango and pink for Strawberry). There is also cute fruits illustrations suggesting the flavours inside the tubes. The back of the tubes were printed with some Japanese words which I presume are the company's address.

Cute illustrations with coordinated colours according to the lip balm's flavours.

Can anyone translate these for me?

There is no safety seal since the balms were packed inside the plastic of the blister packaging. 

Twisting the balm out is a breeze since the twister is thicker than any standard tubes of lip balms. The balms have a thick texture and does not smush easily. They have a whitish transparent colour bordering to being opaque white. The balms' tube did get stuck and had to be pushed back in when twisted out too far out of the tube.

Twisting the balm out.

Fruit juices from a tube anyone?

Translucent and almost opaque white sticks of balms.

The Mogitate lip balms glide over my lips very smoothly and goes on clear and matte without any high shine or gloss. They did not leave any sticky or waxy feeling on my lips. The lip balms did indeed moisturize my lips and there is also a tingling cooling effect of menthol felt which I like very much. The cool feeling lasted for quite some time making me enjoy this lip balm even more. The Mogitate Orange & Mango lip balm smelled more like sweet orange and I didn't really detect any mango scent. The Mogitate Strawberry smelled sweet out of the tube but it kind of smelled like sour strawberry candy while applying it on my lips. Both lip balms are tasteless.

Here's how the balm looked like swatched on the back of my hand:

My verdict: I like the minty feeling the balms had on my lips and the fact that they are indeed moisturizing. I would've like them even more if they were sweetened to compliment the juicy fruity scent. I might repurchase these again after they are finished and also some other flavours just to try them out.

You can get Mentholatum's Mogitate Kajitsu Lip Balms at any Watsons stores for RM11.90.

Yves Rocher Lavande Essentielle 12hr Deodorant Foot Cream Review

Yves Rocher Lavande Essentielle 12hr Deodorant Foot Cream is the last tube of the foot-pampering-trio I got from Yves Rocher. So far I like the skin smoothing foot scrub and I really love the super-comfort foot cream. I don't have a problem with smelly feet but since the trio comes with a foot deodorant, I just simply felt that I have to try it.

The 12hr Deodorant Foot Cream is a unique cream that turns from a cooling cream into a powder-soft and springfresh talc formula. It is made with essential oil of organic lavender and botanically-derived active deodorizer to help keep your feet dry and odor-free all day. When applied, the cream is transformed, with a talc effect on the feet, its efficacy is guaranteed to last for 12 hours.

The 12hr Deodorant Foot Cream comes in a light purple plastic tube with a standard flip tab. The body of the tube is opaque so I could not see how much cream is left inside. Just like the other Lavande Essentielle's line of product, the logo of Lavande Essentielle and product's name is printed on the front of the tube. while the list of ingredients and product information is printed on the back. Out of all three tubes from the feet-pampering-trio, I liked the choice of colours on the 12hr Deodorant Foot Cream the best because the lettering are printed in dark purple making them very profound against light purple coloured tube. I just find the colour combination very sweet indeed.

The list of ingredients: Alcohol Denat, Aqua, Tapioca Starch, Lavandula Angustifolia Water, Glycerin, Oleth-20, Ammonium Acryloyldimethyltaurate/VP, Coplymer, Polyglyceryl-3 Caprylate, PEG-75, Oleth-10, Menthol, Parfum, Mentha Piperita Oil, Linalool, Xanthan Gum, Tetrasodium Edta, Lavandula Angustifolia Oil, Allantoin, Acrylates/C10-30 Alkyl Acrylate Crosspolymer, Limonene, Coumarin.

The back of the tube printed with list of ingredients and product info.

Just like the foot scrub and the super moisturizing foot cream, this foot deodorant also opens with a flip tab.

The 12hr Deodorant Foot Cream has a very soft runny lotion-like texture and is opaque white in colour. It has a definite cooling effect when applied on my feet. The cream spreads easily and turns into a powdery texture (hence, the talc effect) when it is fully absorbed and dried. I can actually see the powdered texture on my skin. The cooling effect subsides as the cream is absorbed and turns into the protecting powdery talcum but it subtly lingers on long after the lotion had dried. I did felt that my feet stayed dry and fresh all day long even when I am wearing a thick sock to keep my toes warm during cold office hours. I do have to wash off my hands after applying this cream as it leaves a white powdery film on my fingers.

A small dollop of foot deodorant on the back of my hand.

The foot deodorant partially massaged and absorbed into my skin.

The creamy lotion turned into a powdery talcum that keeps feet dry.

The leftover lotion on my fingers also turned into powdery talcum.

The deodorant foot cream has a peppermint scent fused with lavender. I liked the scent of this deodorant foot cream the best if compared to the foot scrub and the foot cream. The minty smell is very obvious and it gives a soothing effect when combined with the lavender scent which gives a relaxing feeling.

My verdict: I love this 12hr Deodorant Foot Cream. I think I just love all the three foot-pampering-trio that I bought from Yves Rocher and it will become a staple in my foot care regime. I am definitely going to repurchase this again.

You can find more information on the deodorant foot cream at Yves Rocher's official website.

You can purchase a tube for RM45 if bought individually or RM70 if bought in the trio set.