I bought eopenmarket's lucky box for about $10 and it came with a crapload of samples. I'm never going to go through all of them T^T There's just that many. But anyways, onto the first of many Asian cosmetics/skincare samples!

eopenmarket was kind enough to give 2 of each sample (except for a select few), so I depotted (well, they weren't really in a pot/container, but you know what I mean) some into containers for easier containment. I really dislike samples sometimes, cause you know you'll get more than one use out of them but you can't zip them back up and then they'll just dry out before you finish using them. Anyways! 

This is the Etude House Nymph Aura Volumer. Essentially, it gives your face that dewy/glowy look that Koreans love. 

I actually had no idea how to use it at first, so I referred to the instructions above. What you're supposed to do is take some of the volumer and mix it with your foundation. The image tells you to use your hands, but I used a brush because I am not a clean person...

I use the Armani Maestro foundation, so it's a bit watery/runny hence the trail running down my hand. There's more volumer but it's covered under my foundation. I used a smallish amount, because I wasn't sure how much to use but I guess you could play around with it.

After I mixed it and started putting it on my face, I noticed that it made my face feel more oilier/greasier. My foundation feels pretty matte, but by mixing it with the volumer, it felt stickier going on. Even when I touched my face afterwards, my skin felt pretty oily, but I suppose that's a side-effect from the volumer. 

Left side: with powder on
Right side: no powder

I made the mistake of putting powder on one half of my face, but I guess it just shows the contrast between a usually matte foundation vs a dewy foundation base. I used the flash, and the glowiness was really contrasted. I looked like I had oily skin. I did not like it. 

In essence, the volumer is really good for those of you who want to take part in the Korean trend of "dewy" skin, but in my opinion, "dewy" skin is NOT AT ALL dewy and more like oily. In endorsement photos or celebrity photos, you can see the idols all have this oily shine to their face. That's the volumer/dewy product they put on. 

Imagine living in a humid climate and having all this "dew" on your face. Someone needs to powder down these bitches seriously. This "dewy" skin trend to me looks like you've been sweating throughout the day but couldn't wipe down your face or something. 

But anyways, the verdict of the product. It made my face feel oilier/greasier and that was not a feeling I liked. However, the product works well and there are no faults with it. I would not purchase this product though. I prefer my foundation to be matte. 

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Yesterday, I wore a sample of Sephora's new foundation to go grocery shopping. I had this sitting around in my drawer for quite some time now and I believe I got in as a sample in an online Sephora order. I also wore a couple other samples on my face, but I will talk about the foundation in detail. So onto my first impressions!

First off, the sample they gave me was literally just a dollop of product. It was barely enough to cover my face, even though I didn't use a brush. Secondly, I got this in the shade medium and it was still too dark for my face.  I usually wear Urban Decay's Naked foundation in the shade 3.0 (which is a 5Y05 I believe, in the Sephora foundation system). Thirdly, the coverage for this foundation was very light. I would compare it to a bb cream coverage except bb creams provide reasonably well coverage these days. I suppose one could build up the coverage by using more product, but I only had the sample amount to work with.

I left a tiny bit untouched and you can really see the difference between my skin tone and the foundation shade

Because the coverage was so light, it didn't cover my red spots very well. I layered it on around my red spots, and used it sparingly around my forehead. This provided me with better coverage, but it still wasn't good enough for me.

I wore the foundation for around 9 hours and it held up reasonably well. It only faded/smudged in the area around my nose where my sunglasses were. However, this happens with pretty much everything I wear on my face because I lack the nose bridge to keep glasses on my face properly :(

store lighting

outdoor - shade

Other samples I also wore yesterday included a MUFE HD powder, a NARS eyeliner, Tarte blush in Dollface, YSL babydoll mascara, and a NARS satin lip pencil in Rikugien.

The MUFE HD powder is pretty much the exact same as the ELF HD powder, only it came in a powder format and not a loose powder. This makes it much easier to carry around for touch ups. Don't have anything negative to say about this one...

The Tarte blush in Dollface is nice, wore for about 4 hours before it began fading and by 9 hours it was pretty much gone. It's a universal pink that works for any skintone, I'd say. However, it's difficult to pick up product with this one and I have to swirl my brush in the pan for a bit to pick up enough product. (I have this sample as a travel size blush so I will be giving this one away at the end of the month).

The NARS eyeliner and satin lip pencil I got as part of the NARS 500pts perk from Sephora. I loved the staying power of the eyeliner and would probably repurchase it if I regularly used pencil eyeliners. The only downfall to this product was that it tugs at your eyelids. It did not glide on very well. Comparing it to the MUFE Aqua Liners, I would say that the MUFE ones are much creamier and go on easily but the staying power does not compare to the NARS eyeliner. I have oily lids and the MUFE eyeliner smudges quite fast for me but the NARS one only smudged slightly in the corner of my eyelid by the end of 9 hours.

The NARS satin lip pencil is a MLBB color. It glided on very nicely and felt hydrating. Would definitely purchase a satin lip pencil in other colors. The downside is that you would have to reapply after eating or small pecks on your SO's cheeks. It completely disappeared after I ate dinner and I never bothered to reapply it after that.

no mascara

with mascara

I bought YSL's babydoll mascara in that mascara favorites set from Sephora a while back. It is a holy grail for many beauty gurus. I've been using it for a while now and need to throw it out, but I thought I'd wear it for the last time for reviewing purposes. It does a good job of lengthening my lashes but can't hold a curl - mainly because it isn't waterproof. I wouldn't repurchase this; the price tag is just too high for me to justify for a mascara.



TL;DR:

If you're looking for a thin/light foundation, then the Sephora 10HR foundation is perfect but you could get a drugstore foundation that does the same thing for cheaper. There's nothing special about this foundation so if you're into high-end brand products, skip this and save your money. NARS eyeliners are the bomb, go purchase one if you use pencil eyeliners. If you're in the market for an HD powder, just buy the ELF one. Unless you have something against loose powder, there really isn't a difference between the MUFE one and the ELF one.

Sorry for the gross yellow photos. I don't have good lighting in my house :(