Majolica Majorca Cream de Cheek

Majolica Majorca is not a brand that I would normally reach for.
If anything, the opposite is true. Usually, I tend to avoid it.

With its cutesy packagings and vibrant colors it almost looks like it could be Etude House's poor Japanese cousin.

Majolica Majorca is a low end Shiseido brand that can be found at any drugstore (and most supermarkets) in Japan. It's a makeup staple beloved by high school girls and starving university students countrywide.

And yet here I am, way past my high school days, writing about Majolica Majorca Cream de Cheek blushers.

And no, these are not press samples, or things I got for free. I channeled my inner school girl and bought these products myself. Yes, I am OK, thank you for your concern.

So how did it happen?

While I am not a high school girl, my friend's daughter is.
And, according to her, it's a hard life being a high school girl in Japan.

There are uniform checks to make sure your skirt is the proper length and not rolled up at the waist to make it look shorter.
There are hair color checks to make sure that your hair is the color it should be. I'm purposely writing "should be", because while 99% of Japanese high school girls have black hair, there is this unlucky 1% with naturally brown hair. Unlucky, because, well... if your hair should be black but it's dark brown, then according to your school handbook it clearly means you colored it. My friend's daughter finally gave up trying to convince her school's hair color commando that she is indeed a natural brunette and dyed it. Black. Problem solved.
There are also nail polish checks and makeup checks. And that hurts the most. Because, c'mon, which high school girl doesn't love makeup?

And that brings us to today's contestants - Majolica Majorca Cream de Cheek.

If you thought these were nail polish bottles, don't worry, you're not the only one.
They had me fooled too when I first saw them.

But my friend's daughter (who clearly enjoyed educating this ahem, ahem... older lady) very helpfully explained the basic facts of Majolica Majorca Cream de Cheek:

• - No! It's not nail polish. 
• - It's creamy blush!
• - Look! So cute!
• - This bottle is so small! You can take it with you anywhere!
• - Much more convenient than a pressed blush compact, or a cushion.
• - You can apply it with nearly surgical precision, because it has a tiny brush.
• - Look! All you need is a tiny dot.
• - Now, just blend it with your fingers.
• - See? You don't even need a mirror - any reflective surface will do!
• - And, and, and... it looks so natural! Just like my own cheeks, only sexier (but don't tell my mom, please)
• - Some girls use it on their lips as well! 
• - And it's so cheap!
• - So of course, as soon as we leave the school grounds, we put on our makeup and then we go downtown. 
• - And it stays on the whole afternoon! And all day on weekends!
• - And this blush is so easy to use!
• - And it looks so natural! So even if we run into any of our teachers, they can't tell we are wearing makeup (Nope, dear girl, we can tell you are wearing makeup, we just pretend we can't and everyone's happy).

image source: Majolica Majorca Hong Kong


After such a heartfelt endorsement, I had no choice.
I went to Trial (which is like a ghetto version of Walmart, with cracked walls and missing flooring, but it's open 24 hours 7 days a week) and bought me some Majolica Majorca Cream de Cheek. And because I was overcome with decision fatigue, I bought them all. All four of them.

The available Majolica Majorca Cream de Cheek colors are:

• - RD 310 Coral Cream
• - PK 312 Shell Pink Cream
• - OR 313 Custard Cream
• - RD 411 Kiichigo (Raspberry) Cream

The bottles definitely look like nail polish:

 RD310 Coral Cream

And because they're made of that extremely annoying milky glass, they are also very hard to photograph.

RD310 Coral Cream

Look, they even have little brushes, just like nail polish.

 PK312 Shell Pink Cream

And here it is again in a different light:

PK312 Shell Pink Cream

PK 312 Shell Pink Cream and RD 310 Coral Cream are my favorite colors.

The girl didn't lie. They are indeed very natural looking, and totally dumb-proof.
Impossible to find a blusher that is easier to apply than this thing.

These two colors below I gave away and made two high school girls very happy in the process.

OR313 Custard Cream

It wasn't my color.

OR313 Custard Cream

And neither was this bright red:

RD411 Kiichigo (Raspberry) Cream

Just about the brightest, in your face, red you can think of:

 RD411 Kiichigo (Raspberry) Cream

Here are the colors as presented by Shiseido Japan:

And here are the swatches according to me:

I never thought I'd live to see the day when I can say that I honestly love a Majolica Majorca product.

There is literally nothing I can complain about here.
This is a great, affordable blush that is ridiculously easy to use.

Not sure who would be interested in ingredients, but I plugged them into cosDNA anyway. Because I'm awesome like that.

Majolica Majorca Cream de Cheek PK 312 ingredients are here.
Majolica Majorca Cream de Cheek RD 411 ingredients are here.

So, to sum it up - it's a good buy.

And I'm glad there are only 4 colors available. Because if there were more, I'd buy them too.
Price? I think it was 850 yen plus tax.

Iope Air Cushion Blusher

In recent weeks I have been accused of writing positive reviews in exchange for monetary compensation, of writing negative reviews in exchange for monetary compensation (yes, I can't quite figure out how that was supposed to work, but hey, my readers are fearless in coming up with totally insane beauty blogging conspiracy theories), and I have been contacted by companies asking me to write positive reviews of their products in exchange for monetary compensation.

Well, sorry darlings, I hate to disappoint you. While I appreciate your interest in my humble blog, things don't work quite like that here.
The opinions presented on my blog are mine and are not for sale. Unless you are offering me a Lamborghini. Then we can talk.

I had to update my "contact" page to make these things perfectly clear.


W ciagu ostatnich tygodni zostalam oskarzona o pisanie pozytywnych recenzji za kase, o pisanie negatywnych recenzji za kase (nie jestem pewna jak taki uklad mialby dzialac, ale widze, ze takie fantastyczne teorie spiskowe to pikus dla moich czytelniczek), i zostalam poproszona przez pewne firmy o napisanie pozytywnych recenzji za kase.

Niestety, bardzo przykro mi Panstwa rozczarowac. Jest mi niezmiernie milo, ze zainteresowali sie Panstwo moim blogaskiem, ale tutaj rzadze ja. Moj blog to monarchia absolutna, i opinie tu przedstawione sa moje i wylacznie moje. I nie sa na sprzedaz. No chyba, ze oferuja mi Panstwo Lamborgini. Wtedy mozemy negocjowac.

Musialam uaktualnic moja strone "Contact", zeby nie bylo nieporozumien.

~~~

Disclaimer:
This product was provided to me for review purposes, however the opinions presented here are mine, and mine only.

Ten kosmetyk otrzymalam do zrecenzowania, ale fakt ten nie wplynal na przedstawiona tutaj opinie, ktora jest tylko i wylacznie moja.

Now, that we have that out of the way, we can move on to my favorite topic. Cushions!!! Yay!!!
Yes, I am that shallow. Cushion makeup is what I love. I collect cushion makeup the way some women collect lipsticks or eye shadow palettes.

No a skoro sprawy organizacyjne mamy z glowy, to teraz mozemy przejsc do mojego ulubionego tematu. Poduszki!!! Yay!!!
Tak, jestem taka plytka i powierzchowna. Kocham podklady w formie poduszki. Kolekcjonuje te poduszki, tak jak inne kobiety kolekcjonuja szminki czy paletki do oczu.

Today's cushion is a little special. It's a blusher. And it came to me courtesy of Jolse, who very kindly sent it to me for review purposes. Now, that's one brave internet retailer, so go over there and give them some of your hard earned money. And no, I am not an affiliate.

I have been procrastinating with this review for a looooong time. Why? I've been trying to find something about this product that I absolutely (or even moderately) hate and thus can complain about. So far, however, no luck. And how was I supposed to write a review with no major complaints? Impossible!!!

OK, so you all know that I love cushions. Click on the "cushion foundations" tab in the top menu to find out more.
Iope Air Cushion (Iope is one of the bazillion different brands belonging to Amore Pacific) is the granddaddy of them cushion foundations. It's the cushion that rules them all. The one that allegedly started the whole cushion makeup craze.

Dzisiejsza podusia jest specjalna. Bo to roz. Roz w formie poduszki. Przybyla do mnie od Jolse, ktory to sklep bardzo uprzejmie dostarczyl mi egzemplarz do recenzji. I znajac moje pyskate opinie, trzeba im przyznac, ze to bardzo odwazny krok z ich strony. I nie, nie jestem w ich programie partnerskim.

Dlugo zwlekalam za ta recenzja. Dlaczego? Bo choc szukalam uporczywie i namietnie, to nie znalazlam w tej poduszce niczego, do czego moglabym sie przyczepic. A jak ja mam napisac recenzje bez narzekania? Niemozliwe to!

OK, wiec juz wszyscy wiedza, ze kocham poduszki. Prosze kliknac na zakladke "cushion foundations" w gornym menu, aby dowiedziec sie wiecej.
Iope Air Cushion (Iope to jedna z marek koncernu Amore Pacific) to pra-matka tej poduszkowej generacji. I niekwestionowana poduszkowa krolowa. To ta poduszka rozpetala poduszkowy szal, i w Korei i na swiecie.

I also love blushers. Ever since I realized that using a bronzer as a blusher is a dumb idea (yet, surprisingly, embraced by an astonishing number of women worldwide), blushers have become an essential part of my daily makeup routine.

Kocham tez i roze. Odkad zorientowalam sie, ze uzywanie brazera (bronzera?) jako rozu to nietrafiony pomysl (ale wiernie praktykowany przez rzesze kobiet na calym swiecie), roze staly sie nieodlacznym elementem mojego codzinnego makijazu.

A touch of blush and voila! I look vaguely alive, as opposed to something that should be waiting for an autopsy on an episode of CSI.

And today I present you the Iope Air Cushion Blusher.

Myzniecie pedzlem i gotowe! Wygladam na osobe w miare zywa, a nie jak cos co czeka na sekcje w odcinku CSI.

I dzis mam przyjemnosc przedstawic wam Iope Air Cushion Blusher, czyli Iope roz w poduszce.

This blusher comes in two shades: 01 - Rose Pink and 02 - Peach Pink.
I have it in Peach Pink, and though I am naturally very pinkish, this delicate peachy color works just fine.

Roz ten jest dostepny w dwoch odcieniach: 01 - Rose Pink i 02 - Peach Pink, czyli bardziej rozowy i bardziej brzoskwiniowy.
Ja dostalam brzoskwiniowy, i pomimo tego, ze jestem naturalnie rozowo-rozowa, to ta brzoskwinka, o dziwo, jakos nawet calkiem calkiem pasuje.

So, what do we have here?
It's a cushion, alright.

It comes in a compact, which is smaller and a bit daintier than the eponymous Air Cushion XP.

Wiec, co my tu mamy?
Zdecydowanie poduszke.
Kompakt jest nieco mniejszy i lzejszy niz kompakt z podkladem Air Cushion XP.

Left - blusher, right - cushion foundation.
Po lewej - roz, po prawej - podklad.

I am not sure why, but it boasts SPF30/PA++.

We have the usual stuff on the box:

Nie wiem po co, ale dali mu SPF30/PA++.
Na pudelku, to co zawsze:

It's sold without a refill, and we get 9 grams of product. But fear not, refills are easy to find and almost all reputable internet retailers carry them. As always, it pays to shop around, because the prices do vary widely (and wildly).

Inside the box we have a leaflet (nothing interesting) and a compact:

Sprzedawane jest to w pudelku bez wymiennego wkladu. Dostajemy 9 gramow produktu. Ale bez paniki, wklady wymienne sa do kupienia w niemal kazdym sklepie internetowym sprzedajacym koreanskie kosmetyki. I jak zawsze warto sprawdzac ceny, bo te potrafia sie roznic. I to znacznie.

W pudelku mamy ulotke (nic interesujacego) i kompakt.

Inside the compact, there's the usual cushion stuff:

W srodku kompaktu, to co zawsze przy poduszkach:

And just like its cushion foundation big sister, the blusher also features the signature Amore Pacific Rubycell applicator:

I tak samo jak przy podkladzie Iope Air Cushion, ten roz jest wyposazony w typowa dla Amore Pacific gabeczke (typu Rubycell) do nakladania:

One of my favorite bloggers - Of Faces and Fingers, pointed out something that had bothered me as well. But as I am too technologically challenged to attempt a screenshot extraction from a video, I finally decided to borrow an image from her. (Thank you!)

Look at how Lisa Eldridge is holding the cushion puff (source):

Jedna z moich ulubionych blogerek Of Faces and Fingers wspomniala u siebie na blogu o czyms, co mnie rowniez niezle zdziwilo. Ale ja jestem luddystka i nie potrafie sama zrobic screenshota z filmiku na youtube, wiec pozyczylam zdjecie od niej (dziekuje!)

Zdziwilo mnie to, jak Lisa Eldridge trzyma aplikator z poduszkowego kompaktu i jak nim naklada tenze podklad:

That is a major no-no and I am very surprised that when she visited Korea nobody told her how to do it properly.
When I was buying my very first cushion, the lovely Hera sales lady demonstrated how to hold and use a cushion applicator correctly. She specifically stressed that we should not bend it in half as it will damage the structure of the puff.

So how should we hold the puff?
In this way:

Lis byla w Korei, kupowala poduszki i dziwie sie, ze nikt jej nie pokazal jak to sie poprawnie robi.
Kiedy kupowalam moja pierwsza poduszke, pani ze stoiska Hery bardzo cierpliwie demonstrowala jak trzymac gabeczke i jak nakladac nia podklad. Przestrzegala mnie przed zginaniem, skladaniem i rolowaniem gabeczki, bo to zniszczy jej strukture i zakonczy jej zywot bardzo przedwczesnie.

Wiec jak powinno sie to ustrojstwo trzymac?
Ano tak:

And the product should be applied in a patting (or stamping) motion to achieve the best results.

I had to find out for myself and sure enough after a month or so, the surface of my first Hera applicator literally tore in half.

As you can see in the picture above, Iope shows you that the blusher works seamlessly with the foundation cushion. Step 1 - Iope Air Cushion foundation, Step 2 - Iope Air Cushion Blusher, Step 3 - all done.

Simple? Very!

Produkty poduszkowe powinno nakladac sie wklepywaniem, aby otrzymac najlepsze rezultaty.
Musialam oczywiscie przetestowac to wlasnorecznie i fakt, po okolo miesiacu gabeczka z kompaktu Hery po prostu rozpadla sie.

Jak widac na zdjeciu powyzej, ten roz ma wspolpracowac idealnie z poduszkowym podkladem Iope.
Krok numer 1 - podklad Iope Air Cushion, krok numer 2 - roz Iope Air Cushion. Krok numer 3 - gotowe!

Proste jak obsluga cepa.

As always with cushions from Amore Pacific, the cushion surface is protected by a sticker.
Under the sticker we have a cushion saturated with a very gentle peachy pinky color:

Jak zawsze przy poduszkach Amore Pacific, powierzchnia poduszki zabezpieczona jest naklejka.
Pod naklejka mamy gabke (poduszke) nasaczona delikatnym brzoskwiniowo-rozowym kolorem:

It looks very dark inside the cushion, but once it's out you can see how delicate it is in real life.

The color is almost too gentle and I had to take out a lot to show you what it looks like.

Wyglada na ciemny w tej gabce, ale jak juz go wydobedziemy, to okazuje sie bardzo delikatny.
Musialam niezle sie napackac tutaj, aby go pokazac:

I will add a side by side swatch of Rose Pink once when I get it.
When it's blended out, it looks, well... how to put it? It looks perfectly natural. The way most Asian blushes look.
Your cheeks, only better.


More or less like that:

Kiedy jest roztarty i wklepany to wyglada... hmmm... naturalnie. Tak jak prawie wszystkie inne azjatyckie roze.
Jak nasze wlasne policzki, tylko lepiej.

Mniej wiecej tak:

Some reviews said that the lasting power of this blush is minimal. On my skin, when applied on top of one of my cushion foundations in the morning, it was still visible at 4pm after a full day of work. About the same result as my favorite Jill Stuart blusher.

Fans of Western cheek colors might be disappointed though, and I'm sure will complain that it's not visible enough, that it's too subtle, or not pigmented enough.
Subtle and natural are the two main blush demands of the Asian market, and I think Iope offers an excellent product here.

Niektore recenzje twierdza, ze trwalosc jest minimalna. Na mojej skorze, kiedy nalozony na jeden z moich poduszkowych podkladow rano, nadal byl widoczny o 4 po poludniu, po calym dniu pracy. Czyli tak samo jak moj "zwykly" roz od Jill Stuart.

Fanki zachodnich rozy moga byc jednak zawiedzione, i beda narzekac, ze roz Iope nie jest bardziej wyrazisty, ze jest slabo napigmentowany, ze jest za deliktany, malo widoczny, za bardzo naturalny.
Delikatnosc i naturalnosc rozu to dwa najwazniejsze wymagania Azjatek. I ja uwazam, ze tutaj Iope trafilo w dziesiatke.

I'm very happy with it. In fact, I'm so happy that I ordered the other shade available - Rose Pink. And not just for me, but also for my friend.

Update: 01 Rose Pink just arrived!

Ja tam jestem zadowolona. Tak bardzo zadowolona, ze zamowilam drugi dostepny kolor - 01 Rose Pink. I to nie tylko dla mnie, ale rowniez i dla przyjaciolki.

My only complaint?
What Iope, only two colors? C'mon now!!! I want more!!!


I okazalo sie, ze mam na co narzekac.
No jak to Iope???? Tylko dwa kolory? Bez zartow prosze!!! Kiedy mozemy oczekiwac wiecej?

I was properly chastised for not including a shot of the leaflet.
So, by popular demand, here it is:

Dostalo mi sie po czapie, za to, ze nie zalaczylam zdjecia ulotki. Wiec tutaj jest:

No ingredients today, because c'mon, give me a break. It's a freaking blusher we're talking about here.

Skladu nie bedzie, bo na litosc, to tylko roz :-)