Wednesday, August 8, 2012

REVIEW: Shiseido Water in Lip

I purchased the Shiseido Water in Lip lip balm on a whim after reading good reviews about it online, and after having some good experiences with other Shiseido products.  There are actually several flavors available, but I went with menthol (the mint green tube), since I like my lip balms to have a minty flavor.

Purchased from: BonjourHK (Hong Kong site; lip balm doesn't currently appear to be available)



Pros:
* Nice packaging
* Hydrates lips
* Doesn't cause my lips to flake (!!!)
* Has a nice light menthol feeling

Cons:
* Harder to find outside of Asia
* On the pricier side (don't remember how much I purchased mine for, but I see it going for about $7 - $10 USD, which is not trivial for a regular tube of balm)
* Doesn't hydrate lips long - my lips start feeling a little dry again after about an hour

I would say that this is a decent lip balm - my main complaint (and it's an important one) is that the moisturizing effects do not last long.  Even then, I would still recommend it for people to try out.  It is great if you don't mind applying the lip balm quite often, and don't mind the higher cost.  I personally would still be interested in trying the lip balm in other flavors, just to see if there is any noticeable difference in performance.    Will probably wait until there is a good deal for it, though.  I am particularly impressed that it doesn't cause my lips to flake, as that is a common problem for me for all lip products (including lipsticks and liners).

Friday, August 3, 2012

One Fish Two Fish

Growing up, I had my share of goldfish - they were so cheap (some were won at school carnivals - those were the days!), and low maintenance.  Most of the work besides the regular feeding seemed to be keeping the tank clean.  Now that I'm older, my interest in pet fish has waned, but every so often, things like this cause me to want to have a fish again, if only because it would look so cool in the house:

The Aruliden Fishscape Fish Bowl - $140 of fish-bowl-awesomeness.  Biggest things going against it: price, and... how difficult would it be to keep this clean?  Any pile-up of fish poop or algae on the side would totally ruin the beauty of the tank.  Despite this, how cool would this be with a tetra fish?  And colored pebbles or glass rocks/marbles on the bottom?  A girl can dream...

This totally inspired me to look into other fish tanks available - here are a few that stood out to me - they look interesting/unique, and don't take up much space.  What do you think?

Umbra FishHotel Aquarium - they can be stacked!


Planter and fish tank in one!

biOrb Aquarium Kit with Light Fixture -- $69.99 (Amazon)

A self-filtering aquarium

Thursday, August 2, 2012

Lip Balm

I'll be the first to admit that I kind of have an obsession with lip balm.  The better half would even go so far as to say that I'm addicted to them.  What can I say?  I love how they make my lips feel!  To give you an idea of what I mean, here's a sample of lip balms I currently have (have more not pictured, but they're pretty much the same lip balms in different flavors):

My preciousss(es)


In alphabetical order:
  • Burt's Bees
  • Chapstick
  • Dermstore Lip Quench
  • EOS (evolution of smooth) lip balm
  • Fresh Sugar Lip Treatment
  • Jack Black Lip Balm (Natural Mint)
  • Kiehl's Lip Balm #1
  • Korres Lip Butter (Guava)
  • L'Occitane lip balm
  • Perfumeria Gal (Peche/Peach)
  • Perfumeria Gal - Agatha Ruiz de la Prada lip tin (Tropical)
  • Shiseido Water in Lip cool lipbalm (menthol)
  • Smith's Rosebud Salve

I'm the type of person that has to put lip balm on at least once a day, or else my lips will feel dry.  The trouble is, it's hard to find many that I truly love.

Some other lip balms I've used in the past:
  • Figs & Rouge 100% natural balm in Sweet Geranium
Love the tin!
  • Natural Ice
  • Neutrogena Naturals Lip Balm 
  • Nivea Lip Care Star Fruit in Pink Grapefruit
  • Softlips
  • Vaseline
I'm sure there are more, but it's hard to think of them now.  Should also mention that I used some of these lip balms so long ago that my opinion of them may change by now.  I found this to be particularly true for Burt's Bees - when I first tried it over a decade ago (gosh, has it really been that long?!), I didn't really find it was all that noteworthy.  I decided to try it out again a few years ago, and just couldn't believe what I had been missing out on all of those years - it felt much nicer than I remembered!  

I've found over the years that I have the following requirements for a lip balm:
  1. Moisturizes my lips for at least 2 hours 
  2. Not too expensive (definitely less than $10 each)
  3. Feels smooth on my lips
Bonus points: I really enjoy minty/menthol flavors, nice packaging, and if the product didn't look totally gross by the time I finish it up (unless it's really really bad, I try to use everything up).  Extra plus if the ingredients are good for you!

But anyway, these are the lip balms I'm currently using:
Shiseido Water in Lip (Menthol)
Jack Black Lip Balm (Natural Mint)
Smith's Rosebud Salve (original)
I'll go into more detail of my thoughts of each of these lip balms in the next few days/weeks.  Are there any lip balms you would recommend I try?  

The Journey Begins

I love trying out and discovering new things - there's just such a variety of options out there!  It's even better when I'm able to share great finds with other people, though, so I'm using this blog to reach out to anyone out there in the world who happens upon this humble space on the web.  I hope you'll join me on my journey discovering new and wonderful things!