Kate Tokyo CC Lip Cream

It's no secret that I'm not a great fan of Kate Tokyo, a.k.a. Tokyo Kate, a.k.a. Kate Kanebo, or whatever else you want to call it.

Their eye products are the pits, and it surprises me to no end that they tend to get high marks amongst the users of @Cosme (a very influential Japanese beauty portal). But that just proves that Japanese women have the worst possible taste when it comes to mascaras, that's all.

When the CC Lip Cream thingie debuted last year I was very careful to avoid it. Yet those damn tubes were everywhere. Literally everywhere. And always featured very prominently.

The fact that there were never any testers available was the first giant giveaway that the entire campaign was pure bullshit. Why? Because the products hint very heavily that they are more than just lowly lip balms. The spinmasters at Kanebo want us to believe that Kate Tokyo CC Lip Cream is a step, or two, or three, above lowly lip balm. That it's "natural makeup".

But, with no testers we either have to believe the promo machine, or embrace our inner skeptical b*tch, like I tend to do. Because what other products don't usually offer testers? Yep, lip balms.

So yeah, we have lip balms with a touch of color. Not even lip glosses. Just your plain, old, garden variety tinted lip balms.

With a fancy name like CC Lip Cream they want to pretend they are new and cool and oh-so-hip and exciting.

Kanebo claims there are two types of Kate Tokyo CC Lip Cream:

• lip stain (01- Beat Red, 04 - Orange Burst), and
• lip color enhancer (05 - Pink Trick, 06 - Mode Pink).

As you can see I have all four, and honestly, I couldn't see any difference in performance between them. It's just a freakin' tinted lip balm, for chrissakes!

It's a decent tinted lip balm, but not without faults. And the biggest of those faults?
When it's freezing outside and your lips are cold this thing turns into a layer of goo that looks OK when your lips are closed. But when you open your mouth? Boy, oh boy...
You end up looking like you're frothing at the mouth. The sticky white demarcation line is clearly visible.

A minor fault would be the incredibly cheap and malfunction-prone tube.

But hey, for less than 400 yen (and these are always on sale), you can't really complain too much.

Here are the swatches of Kate Tokyo CC Lip Creams in all the colors:

See? I told you! Tinted lip balm.

According to the Kate Tokyo (no more rules) website, these CC Lip Creams are 5-in-1 products.
Here, I screenshot it for you (yes, I'm lazy):

The most interesting part is that they are:

• SPF 19 PA++, and 
• can be used as makeup base.

Other lofty claims:

• Moisturizing? Yeah, they are OK. Nothing special. DHC Lip Cream it ain't, that's for sure.
• Long lasting? You gotta be kidding, right?
• Color correction? They do offer a touch of color, but that's about it. I suppose the full effect depends on the natural color of your lips.
• Lip gloss (for shades 01 and 04)? Surely, you can't be serious! 

So yeah, it's a lip balm. A sheer lip balm with a hint of color.
A lip balm enhanced with olive oil, almond oil, jojoba oil and sodium hyaluronate.

An OK lip balm, especially for warmer weather.
On cold days you risk looking like you didn't wipe off your mouth after a vigorous blowjob session. Consider yourself warned.

Jill Stuart Jelly Lip Gloss N in 02, 04, 07, 09 and 10

Point makeup terrifies me. And baffles me. But mostly just terrifies, so for the most part I don't even bother.
While I can hold my own when it comes to base makeup (cushion foundations saved my life, or rather - cushion applicator puffs), the whole liquid eyeliner, eyeshadow, contouring, strobing, sculpting bullshit is not for me.
Trust me, I've tried. Multiple times. And I've failed. Multiple times. I just don't look good with a lot of war paint on. Why? My face is extremely asymmetric and it takes a lot of skill to make sure I don't end up looking like a drunken clown. So much skill that even some so-called "pro" makeup artists gave up on me after a few attempts.
So now, I just don't bother.

Yes, I do own a few eyeshadows, all in fairly neutral colors, that I hardly ever use. Instead I have a staggering collection of color eye pencils, because they're easy and don't require makeup brushes.
I have 2 very neutral liquid highlighters, both non-sparkly, because I realized that shiny balls, while pretty and all that, are not for me.
I have 3 undereye concealers, of which I only use 2 anyway.
I have a stack of blushers, because I'm as white as a freshly painted wall and look sick without a touch of color on my cheeks.
And I have a staggering collection of tinted lip balms and lip glosses. But not one lipstick*.
Why? See above - asymmetric face means crooked lips means lipstick emphasizes that means I look like shit.

I'm not going to tell you how many I have, because it's just embarrassing.

Today I'll show you five of them.

Jill Stuart Jelly Lip Gloss N

And I can only hope I'm not the only person who obsessively saves cosmetic outer packagings, unfolds them and then files them alphabetically in a special folder? Or am I? Help me out here, folks!


If you've ever wondered what a simple sheer lip gloss with a touch of color, in an awesome tube, looks like, now it's your chance.

Jill Stuart knows how to play this game.
Pretty colors? Princess packaging? Shut up and take my money already.

Jill Stuart is a Japanese cosmetic brand that is famous for its... well... packaging. It's over the top girly, it's over the top cute, and it makes your inner princess wet her pants with giddy excitement.

Swarovski elements (whatever they are), tiara shaped tube caps, encrusted blush and powder compacts, Jill Stuart has got you covered.


And the products themselves? They are good. Not outstanding. But solid, decent makeup. Is it worth the money? It all depends on how much you love your princess bling. (Hell yeah, just shut up and buy it already!)

When it comes to lip gloss, or tinted lip balm, with a very few exceptions (yes, Dior, I am looking at you), I prefer Japanese brands.
Why?
The formulas are lighter, the textures are less sticky, they spread easier, adhere better to your lips and last longer. Usually they don't have stupid flavors and annoying fragrances.

And in the case of Jill Stuart, they make your inner princess so very happy.

I mean, just look at this stuff:

"I want MOAR!!!" (shut up princess!)


On the company's website, this is what they say about Jill Stuart Jelly Lip Gloss N:

Colors like fresh fruit and delicious sweets. 

Lustrous gloss in a wide variety of hues.  

Pouch (Embroidery Flower)  

In stores from August 2, 2013  

New product JILL STUART Jelly Lip Gloss N  

11 colors, 1 limited edition color  

2,200 Yen each (not including tax)  

Product features:  

･Lip gloss that transforms your upper lip into a "Cupid’s Bow", bringing you the aspect of an innocent angel.  

･Spreads easily with the lightest touch, providing a full, rich luster and pure sparkle.  

･Provides highly uniform application, for lips that leave a full, plump impression.  

･A cherubic fresh oil formulation, thoroughly moisturizing by sealing in moisture while also placing no burden on your lips, for a lasting sensation with zero stickiness.  

･The diagonally cut tube allows for easy application on the lips, and perfect coverage.  

･A cap design with a sparkling Swarovski, as though topped with a tiara. The entire cap is also scalloped, giving a three-dimensional presence to the finish of the design.  

･Fragrance of Crystal Floral Bouquet.

You heard them. Now this is what I say about Jill Stuart Jelly Lip Gloss N:

• Innocent angel? Hahaha, nice try, Jill.
• Spreads easily, full luster, shine all that - all true.
• Uniform application, plump lip - yep, all true.
• Moisturizing and non-sticky - yes and yes (well, as non-sticky as you can imagine lip gloss to be).
• Slanted tube, easy to get the product out - yes.
• Cute, cute cute - yes, yes, yes.
• Fragrance - very slight, delicate smell which goes away super fast.

Let's look at them one by one, shall we?


Jill Stuart Jelly Lip Gloss N in 02 - Light Lavender:

My favorite of the bunch. Goes on nearly clear with just a hint of sparkle. Looks pink in the tube, looks clear on my lips. Perfect everyday all-purpose gloss. Reminds me of Lavshuca BB Lip Essence in pink.


Jill Stuart Jelly Lip Gloss N in 04 - Honey Lemon:

Looks yellow in the tube, goes clear on your lips. A nice all-purpose moisturizing gloss for everyday use.


Jill Stuart Jelly Lip Gloss N in 07 - Cherry Flame:

Looks very fierce in the tube, but goes nearly sheer on the lip with just a hint of color. Perfect for the summer. Reminds me of Lavshuca BB Lip Essence in red.


Jill Stuart Jelly Lip Gloss N in 09 - Apple Cinnamon:

Apple cinnamon? Seriously? It's a nice pinkish all-purpose gloss.


Jill Stuart Jelly Lip Gloss N in 10 - Treacle Pudding:

Beautiful pink beige, very subtle and dare I say, sophisticated?



On the company website the colors of Jill Stuart Jelly Lip Gloss N look like that:

source: http://www.jillstuart-beauty.com/


This is what my colors look like in real life:

In natural light, no filters applied.

As you can see, they are all very sheer and not as sparkly as they appear in the tube.

In natural light, when the sun hits them, they are very, very subtle, sweet and extremely delicate.
Light Lavender has the most shimmer. Honey Lemon appears completely clear.

Each tube hold 16ml (15g) of product:

If you buy your gloss outside of Japan, you won't have that ugly sticker on your tube.
Nothing exciting under it anyway:

And here's the applicator tip:

All very standard, nothing earth shattering. Just cute. Very cute.

I don't have full ingredients for you, but if you're not ok with Rosemary extract or Lavender oil, Jill Stuart Jelly Lip Gloss N is not for you:

And that's about it for these cute, little guys.

You like?
You want more Jill Stuart on the blog?

There's plenty more where these came from!



Disclosure: Products purchased by me from a local shopping mall.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

* The sole liquid lipstick I got from a fellow blogger turned out too drying for my lips, so I mixed it with a clear Verite lip shiner and voila - a new lip gloss, yay!

Canmake Can't

As Asian cosmetics are growing in popularity overseas, many people in their blind adoration of anything labeled "made in Japan" or "made in Korea" tend to forget that Japan and Korea are just normal countries. With normal drugstores. Full of normal products.

And just like anywhere else in the world, some of these products are worse than others. And some are really tragic. But most fall somewhere between "meh" and "that'll do" for local women. Nothing extraordinary. Nothing magical. And certainly nothing special.

Some of these products are very cheap and pretty much useless, but have cute packaging. Some of these products are very cheap and pretty much useless and are sold in local equivalent of dollar stores. Yet you'd be surprised to see how many of these 100 yen (now it's 108 yen) "cosmetic" products are reviewed on foreign blogs with a sense of pride, because "hey, look at me, I have a Japanese eyeshadow".

Does that mean that all cheap brands are nothing but junk? Of course not. But they certainly won't be found at Daiso (Daiso is a popular 100 yen store chain).

Azjatyckie kosmetyki staja sie coraz popularniejsze na swiecie, ale bardzo wiele osob zaslepionych slowami "made in Japan" lub "made in Korea" zachwyca sie wszystkim jak leci, zapominajac przy tym, ze Japonia i Korea to kraje jak kazdy inny. Z drogeriami. Pelnymi zwyklych drogeryjnych kosmetykow.

I tak jak wszedzie indziej na swiecie, te kosmetyki moga byc gorsze lub lepsze. Niektore sa po prostu tragiczne. Ale wiekszosc wypada gdzies pomiedzy "ble" i "moze byc" dla tubylcznych kobiet.Nic szczegolnego. Nic magicznego. I nic specjalnego.

Niektore z tych kosmetykow sa niesamowicie tanie i bezuzyteczne. Ale moga miec slitasne opakowania. Niektore z tych kosmetykow sa niesamowicie tanie i mozna je nabyc w tutejszych odpowiednikach funciakow. Ale czasem dziwi mnie, jak wiele tych dyskontowych "kosmetykow" jest recenzowanych na zagranicznych blogach z pelna powaga i niemal duma "pacz ty no na mnie, mam japonski cien."

Czy znaczy to, ze wszystkie tanie marki to smiecie? Oczywiscie, ze nie. Ale nie beda one w sprzedazy w Daiso (najpopularniejsza sieciowka sklepow z rzeczami za 100 jenow).

The level of tolerable junkiness varies from person to person. What is acceptable to one may be utter garbage to another.
And one brand that elicits such a wide and extreme range of cosmetic emotions is Canmake. Or rather - Canmake Tokyo made by Ida Laboratories.

As you can see on its website, Canmake Tokyo offers a crazy wide range of products, from nail polish to well... anything really. If you can put it on your face, chances are they have it. In several varieties, no less.

The packaging is usually very cute, the products (with a few exceptions) mediocre (to put it nicely) and its main selling point? The stuff is cheap. Canmake prices can't be beat. It's as low as you can go and still stay a "respectable" drugstore brand.

Kazdy ma inne granice tolerancji. Co dla niektorych moze byc smieciem, dla innych jest wspanialym kosmetykiem.
I jedna marka, ktora wywoluje takie skrajne opinie to Canmake. Albo wlasciwie - Canmake Tokyo produkowanych przez Ida Laboratories.

Jak widac na ich stronie internetowej, Canmake Tokyo oferuje niesamowita roznorodnosc kosmetykow. Wszystko od lakierow do paznokci po... no wszystko. Jesli da sie tym pomazac po twarzy, oczach lub ustach, to Canmake bedzie to mial w swojej ofercie. I na pewno w kilku roznych odmianach.

Opakowania sa z reguly slodziutkie, kosmetyki - przecietne. A ich najwieksza zaleta? Cena. Tu Canmake kroluje. Idzie tak nisko jak tylko sie da pchajac granice przyzwoitosci cenowej w rejony niemal funciakowe.

Canmake tempts with colorful displays and rock bottom prices. If a more mid-price but still lower end brand releases a new cheek color, Canmake will do the same. Only cheaper.

I have a few Canmake products. They are very hit or miss.

Canmake kusi nas kolorami i cenami. Jesli inna marka cenowo o pare setek jenow drozsza wypusci nowy roz do policzkow ze slodziutkim tloczeniem, to Canmake zrobi to samo. Tylko taniej.

Mam kilka Canmake'owskich kosmetykow. Sa wsrod nich i hity i kity.

The nail polishes are, for the most part, pretty OK. Can't vouch for all the colors, but these ones here are what they are - no frills basic nail colors that don't cost a fortune.
I like them.

And maybe I would have left it at that but in last year's Cosme (a very influential Japanese beauty portal) ranking a couple of Canmake products got top honors.

Needless to say, I was curious.

Canmake Eyeshadow Base, Marshmallow Finish Powder, Quick Lash Curler mascara, Cream Cheek blush gel, Stay-On Balm Rouge lipstick, Candy Wrap Lip lipgloss were all voted in the top three in their respective categories.

So went shopping, and this is what I got:

Lakiery sa w porzadku. Nie wiem jak w przypadku wszystkich kolorow, ale te ktore mam nie sprawiaja problemow. Nie mam im nic do zarzucenia.

I pewnia na lakierach by sie skonczylo, gdyby nie to, ze w rankingu kosmetycznym organizowanych przez portal Cosme, w zeszlym roku widnialo cale stado Canmake'ow. W roznych kategoriach.
Ciekawosc zwyciezyla.

Canmake Eyeshadow Base baza pod cienie , Marshmallow Finish Powder, Quick Lash Curler tusz, Cream Cheek zelowy roz, Stay-On Balm Rouge pomadka, Candy Wrap Lip blyszczyk znalazly sie w owym zestawieniu najlepszych kosmetykow na rok 2013.

Wiec poszlam na zakupy. I to co kupilam tutaj:

I also had the Lasting Multi Eye Base WP, but it was so tragic, it ended its life in the garbage. it made my eyelids look like two pieces of very wrinkled foreskin.

The Stay-On Balm surprised me. In a good way. The lip gloss is OK, considering the price. The eyeshadow set is a joke. So is the highly rated Eyeshadow Base. The color stick for the face is quite dreadful, too.

I am happy with these guys:

Mialam rowniez inna baze pod cienie - Lasting Multi Eye Base WP, ale wyladowala ona w koszu na smieci. Nie wiem, moze sprawdza sie na japonskich powiekach. U mnie byla tragedia.

Pomadka Stay-On Balm zaskoczyla mnie bardzo pozytywnie. Nie to balsam, ni to pomadka. Nie wysusza, nie zbiera sie w zalamaniach, trwalosc niska, ale nie oszukujmy sie, za taka cene nie ma na co  narzekac. Blyszczyk jest rowniez w porzadku.
Cienie to jakis dowcip. Rowniez ta inna wesja bazy pod cienie.
To cus do twarzy, ni to korektor, ni to rozswietlacz ni to patyk do konturowania nie nadaje sie do zadnej z tych rzeczy. To wlasniego jego zaczela uzywac jako bazy pod cienie i tam w koncu sie sprawdza.

Z kosmetykow ponizej jestem bardzo zadowolona:

They do what they're supposed to, but it's hard to believe they placed in the top three in their respective category in the yearly sum up. Truly? This is the best that Japan had to offer?

While they were OK products, I will not purchase any more Canmake items in the future.
I simply don't think it's worth it.
Why?

Robia to co powinny, ale az nie chce mi sie wierzyc, ze wdrapaly sie do top 3 najlepszych kosmetykow w swoich kategoriach. Smiac sie chce, ze ktos moglby na serio pomyslec, ze to najlepsze co Japonia ma do zaoferowania.

O ile z tych mazidel do ust jestem zadowolona, to nie kupie juz zadnych kosmetykow Canmake z przyszlosc. Uwazam, ze ogolnie, to strata czasu i tych paru jenow.

Dlaczego?

Extremely poor quality packaging, that's why.

The lids on the base and the eyeshadow broke off almost immediately. This is the only Japanese brand where it has happened to me. The lipstick mechanism broke almost immediately too.

I understand this is a low cost brand. I shouldn't expect high quality packaging. Yet there are other budget brands in Japanese drugstores that can make a bit more sturdy products. But Canmake can't.
Sad.

It's very disappointing. I gave Canmake an honest try, and while the cosmetics themselves were hit or miss, the poor quality packaging was definitely a miss. A very big miss. A miss big enough to keep me away from Canmake for the time being.

Niesamowicie niskiej jakosci opakowania.
Przykrywki na bazie i na cieniach odlamaly sie niemal natychmiast. To jedyna japonska firma, gdzie tak sie dzieje z opakowaniami. Krecidelko w pomadce tez padlo i juz jej nie wysuwa.
Ja rozumiem, ze to tania marka. I moze nie powinnam oczekiwac bardziej trwalych opakowan. Ale sa inne tanie marki japonskie, gdzie opakowania sie nie rozpadaja, pomimo codziennego uzywania.
Jakos moga to zrobic. Canmake nie moze. No coz.

To bardzo rozczarowujace. Dalam Canmake szanse, i o ile zawartosci opakowan byly zroznicowane, to niska jakosc samych opakowan skutecznie mnie odpycha. Odpycha dosyc daleko, do tego.

Wiec na chwile obecna to koniec mojej przygody z Canmake Tokyo.