Two women who were particularly passionate about beauty were not satisfied with affordable brands that contained many irritants or toxic ingredients that could in the long-run harm or irritate skin. If there are organic cosmetic alternatives the payoff or textures more often than not can tend to disappoint. Shucks, who wants to look lackluster for safety’s sake? We’re women, we want happy skin AND exquisite color payoff, and we want our money’s worth AND pretty packaging as the cherry on top…to sum it up in four words, we want it all. Say hello to Happy Skin Cosmetics PH, one of the few brands that excites you with thoughtful packaging & quirky names but delights you even more with the products they contain. Just to show you how much they cared, the base products are Made in Japan, but even though the products are manufactured in multiple countries quality made to impress is consistent so we were pretty much blown away and all over the testers.
Prettily packaged Happy Skin Cosmetics has arrived, the indie cosmetic brainchild of Jacqueline Yuengtian-Gutierrez (former personal care leader at Unilever) and Rissa Mananquil-Trillo (former professional model). Like all the other bloggers at the launch, I just can’t contain myself. For now they’re currently consigned at 5 Plains & Prints outlets: Alabang Town Center, Glorietta, Megamall, Shangrila Mall & Trinoma…but in the next few weeks they’ll expand.
Next, I am making mention of some (not all) of the products that caught our attention…including the all too familiar lip crayon dupes we just couldn’t stop playing with during the launch because of how unbelievable good they are for the price. Read more to get to the full post and my first feature on the Shut Up & Kiss Me moisturizing lip crayons that I try on for myself.
I recently gasped when I found out my favorite Shiseido Perfect Refining foundation was phased out locally. Do not underestimate the transforming potions contained within these bottles of cuteness, the shades of Happy Skin’s Hydrating Liquid Foundation have just the right dash of a yellow undertone for light, fair, and medium tan complexions…3 shades to choose from. To give you an idea 02 Natural Beige suits me (I’m MAC NC30) perfectly and 03 Deep Beige suits Martha aka The Beauty Junkee and Kumi of Loving Sunshine. We were keenly interested to check out the other base product, the SS Second Skin Creme which is a silicone-free sheerer matte fresh formula, but stocks are still arriving. I’ll do a separate review for the Hydrating Foundation, have a look for now. Did I mention this bottle also has a nozzle applicator like my fave Perfect Refining Foundation by Shiseido? I love people who really think about what they’re doing.
“Don’t Get Mad Get Even” Hydrating Liquid Foundation SPF 20 (Made in Japan), contains Japanese tea extract & hyaluronic acid. (Semi-radiant finish w/o shimmer)
PRICE: Php1000.00, Three SHADES: 01 Soft Beige, 02 Natural Beige, 03 Deep Beige
NEXT, what we all went ballistic for at the event…
TOP to BOTTOM: “Girls Night Out” (A deep berry), “Summer Fling” (A peachy nude), “Crushing on You” (A mauve beige), Our First Time (a deep red), Just Married (a cool pastel pink), First Kiss (a bright fuschia) PRICE: Php499.00
Now, we bloggers were like ants all over these “sweet” things…the Shut Up & Kiss Me Moisturizing lippies. While they may look increasingly familiar, like another major lip crayon we know, and the world has spat out hundreds of versions…these shade selections by Happy Skin are spot on. They’re as intense as the other “intense” lip crayons you’ve heard about and provide a balmy, not greasy finish, that will last for about 2-3 hours before a retouch. My ultimo favorite is “Summer Fling” which reminds me of the much raved about Bourjois crayon “Peach on the Beach” gauging from what I’ve seen. The thing is…okay it looks like that other lip crayon BUT for awesome shades and texture you can get it for Php499.00, nuff said! I don’t have to say much, I just need to show you some photos of me wearing the ones I have. I own the two MLBB (My Lips But Better) shades to start with which are the most neutral “Crushing on You” and “Summer Fling” but you can bet I’m getting a couple more of the brights when I can.
If there’s anything you should try from the range now it’s THESE Moisturizing Lippie crayons…Php499 each isn’t exactly highway robbery and yes, like the other ones we know you don’t have to sharpen them. No catch, just good stuff currently available at the Plains & Prints branches I mentioned at the top of this blog post.
From Left: Myself, Liz aka Project Vanity, Martha aka The Beauty Junkee, Rowena aka Animetric, Sophie aka Beautynomics/BeautyAndMinerals, Phoebe aka Phoebeann.me , Jacqui (Happy Skin co-founder), and Shen aka Shen’s Addiction, Angela of Lush Angel was there as well, and so was Kumi of Loving Sunshine.
Congratulations to the Happy Skin team! We can’t wait for all your stuff to be more readily available in the coming weeks! Bloggeritas to close…here I am with the blogging posse. I get so excited whenever I’m scheduled to meet up with these top beauty bloggin’ babes at beauty events, we’ve all agreed we feel inexplicably connected by beauty and act like sisters when we hang out together. I’m so proud of Happy Skin launching itself as a Filipina brand and I’m glad the products were formulated from scratch and tested every step of the way. Check out the range it is sooo worth your time if you’ve got a beauty gap to fill. You can follow Happy Skin via Instagram as @happyskin_ph and also follow them on their Facebook page at Facebook.com/happyskincosmetics ! If you run in for a Happy Skin purchase tweet or ‘gram your stuff or experience with the hashtag #happyskinbeauty !