NARS Multi-Action Hydrating Toner Review

Hi Everyone! Happy Wednesday to those of us who are one day closer to the upcoming long weekend :) Today, I wanted to share with you guys my thoughts on the NARS Skincare's Multi-Action Hydrating Toner which I've used steadily for the past 2+ months.

For whatever magical reason, I've lived the past 28 years blindly without ever applying toner on my face until it was introduced to me by a NARS makeup artist at Saks Fifth Avenue in SF. [I had signed up for a free makeup consultation sponsored by work last December and was sold on the concept of adding "toner" to my daily routine.]

By definition, toners are meant to help restore our skin's pH level after cleansing. It was created back when people were using bar soaps which had the tendency of raising our skin's pH level beyond its natural/preferred stage. Nowadays, due to all the fancy face washes we have, toners are used more for general skin restoration as it contains antioxidants and skin-repairing substances.

That being said - I decided to give NARS toner a try since it was highly recommend during my consultation for my extremely dry skin. This toner claims to "hydrate, soften, and exfoliate" which seemed like a perfect fit where it moisturizes and gently removes all the dead/unwanted dry skin cells on my face.

This toner is priced at US$32 before tax for 6.7oz bottle. As much as I wanted to rave about this, I unfortunately am just not a big fan of this product :( It did an okay job with exfoliation to remove the dead skin cells during application, however, I felt it was too temporary. I continued to have the same flaky skin issue on my forehead after cleansing and have not seen any improvement despite having used this toner consistently for a while now.

Another slightly bothersome fact about this product is their bottle design. The pump tends to leak or drip quite frequently. Although I do wipe it clean with the cotton pad each time, I feel like I'm forced to waste or use up more of the product than I really needed to.

I'm about two-thirds of the way through with this bottle and can't wait to try out something new next :P Perhaps NARS skin care is just not the right fit for my skin but do let me know if you have a different experience or have a suggestion on which toner I should give it a go next!

That's all for now, thanks for stopping by until next time :)

Liquid Eyeliner - Stila vs Dolly Wink

To be perfectly honest, I didn't actually use eyeliners of any sort till maybe ~2.5 years ago. I started off with pencil, then my old college housemate introduced me to liquid liners, and I eventually welcomed gel liners into the collection after sifting through countless numbers of YouTube videos :) [I'll post about the 3 different liner use cases in the near future to hopefully help you understand when and what to use!] That being said - for today, I wanted to share with you guys the most popular liquid eyeliners in the states and in Asia, which I personally have tried as well.

In the states, the makeup artists or beauty consultants that I've encountered usually recommend Stila Stay All Day Waterproof liner. It comes in multiple colors and the one I got was Jet Black. This liner feels like a pencil in hand but comes with a clean felt tip. It costs US$20 and can last up to a year depending on your usage.

PRO :: Jet black is extremely rich in black where one stroke is really all you need to achieve that clean dark line! It's easy to use and lays down fairly precisely. The liquid also doesn't "crack" when dried on your skin. I've seen other brands of liquid liners where the ink would turn into tiny hard flakes and breaks off throughout the day as it completely dries.

CON :: This might be due to the way how my semi-mono lid is folded, but if I were to line my eyes all the way to the inner corners - I'd actually turn into a clown about midway into the day. The liner would smear (despite having primer on) right where my eye folds are and creates two dark spots on my eyelids. I've actually gotten comments from my coworkers asking "what's that on your eye?" :( The workaround is to only line the second half of my eye from the middle of my pupil to the outer corner for the wing.

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In Asia on the other hand, Koji Dolly Wink Liquid Eyeliner is probably the most beloved liner. Unlike Stila, Dolly Wink liner comes in a stiff brush type of tip. It applies cleaner than Stila's felt tip and is more sensitive in reaction to the different pressure and angle of your hand during application. You can purchase this online or in local Japanese stores for anywhere between US$18-$20.

PRO :: The stiff brush tip makes your lines ultra clean. Similar to Stila, the ink doesn't crack and most importantly, it doesn't smear on my lids! So far I haven't been asked about looking like a clown and even on lazy days without eye primer on, Dolly Wink still holds fairly well!

CON :: The black ink is not as rich of a black when compared to Stila. It does require double layering on some parts if you want to achieve that dramatic black line.

Hopefully you've found this post somewhat useful! As always, please feel free to share your feedback and comments below and I look forward in hearing from you!

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