Contrary to popular belief not everything cosmetic in England is expensive. Truly. Honest. The Muse swears it’s true.

All our friends on the other side of the pond suffer from jacked up cosmetic prices and cry in agonizing woe at the deals we in the US are so very fond of and take for granted. Within the US we enjoy fantastic prices on brands like MAC, Urban Decay, Etc..but these prices aren’t customary in the UK and most times what we pay is 30 to 50% higher in the UK (and other countries of course).

But as I was saying you can find a few cheaper cosmetics that are well worth checking out! Budgeting your beauty in England? Why not!

If you’re not feeling Benefit Benetint’s £22.50 price tag or in our case $28 USD you can always head to your local Superdrug and snag some MeMeMe Pussycat Cheek and Lip Tint and call it a day. At £4.99 it’s a steal and a deal or so the Muse thinks.

Benefit might be pretty upset if they got their hands on a bottle of MeMeMe Pussycat Cheek and Lip Tint. The product is virtually an exact dupe of Benefit Benetint right down to the rose scent. Although MeMeMe’s version has many of the same characteristics as Benetint one thing remains very different, the price tag. At £4.99 compared to £22.50 you do the math.

MeMeMe Pussycat Cheek and Lip Tint is quite a nice little stain although some may complain that it’s a bit too red (this compliant is legendary in regards to Benetint as well) but personally I think it gives just the right touch of color to cheeks and lips. It sports the same water like consistency as Benetint and only gives a very subtle glow to cheeks, nothing too dramatic, just a very sheer touch of color to cheeks and lips. The similarity in packaging is quite obvious aside from the fact that MeMeMe’s version has a longer bottle where as Benetint is a chubbier bottle. The packaging sports the same nail polish design with brush applicator as well, just like Benetint.

For the most part I think MeMeMe Pussycat Cheek and Lip Tint is rather a nice little replacement for Benetint. At a great price it gives cheeks just the right amount of a natural flush!

Getting cheeky with the stain on my lips and cheeks!

As you can see above the stain is quite sheer and nothing too loud or outrageous just a very natural flush of color!

Yes, yes don’t worry the Muse hasn’t failed to mention that those of us in the US do not have Superdrug nor do we have access to MeMeMe products but the Muse does suggest cozying up to your favorite Brit and asking nicely if they’d buy one for you and send it on over! Plenty of MUA’ers are very helpful as well so do check around your local makeup forum haunts to see who in England is willing to fulfill your MeMeMe wishes!

I do think even with International shipping costs that MeMeMe Pussycat Cheek and Lip Tint is well worth checking out if you’re looking for a nice, natural flush but you’re not willing to shell out $28 USD for Benetint!

As for my UK’ers you’re lucky enough to wander down to your local Superdrug and nab some for yourself! Happy Hauling!

What about you?

Anyone tried this?

Love it?

What’s your favorite stains?

Tell the Muse!

Add a Comment

I was going through product with my best friend Jai on Friday and I realized that I never truly dove into the ridiculous amount of Asian skincare bits and bobs I stash around my bathroom. As we went through it I suddenly had the idea that I needed to share ridiculous Asian skincare products with the beauty blogging world!

The Muse is a self proclaimed Lush lover for all good things skincare but she’s been known to tempt the hands of faith and indulge it stupid amounts of Asian products that are both useless and items she can’t live without.

Here was an untapped territory for Musings of a Muse readers that I haven’t yet covered aside from a few minor bits and bobs. Hey, who could forget the Sony Black Head Off Stick I reviewed a few months ago right? Imagine the amount of other crazy rubbish I have hanging around from Japan, Korea, and Taiwan!

So the Muse (and kinda sorta Jai) came out with the idea to review all the items I have stashed in my washroom that I use daily or use once a week or maybe kinda used once. Who doesn’t want to hear about more Asian products right? I know I never get tired of ’em! And since my obsession with cosmetics is fully established here why not delve deeper and get into all the good skincare bits you can find that work and mmm sometimes don’t work.

Anyway speaking of blackheads and that weird black head off stick how about I start my review up with L’epoze Esthe Gommage aka L’epoze Blackhead Cleaning Nose Gel which makes big promises to remove dirt, oil, and pesky little black heads from deep inside the pores of my nose.

Whoa.

Hey, like all good things that sounds too good to be true…normally are…and you guessed it…this is WAY too good to be true!

I deem L’epoze Blackhead Cleaning Nose Gel a glorified version of a Biore Nose Strip, granted it doesn’t work nearly as well as a Biore Nose Strip but I do deem it glorified because that sounds important and stuff. The Muse makes this stuff up as she goes along so just deal with it.

So what is it anyway? It’s basically a paste that you apply on your nose (they have a version for your face as well but I’ll tell you about that gem another day) and it dries to a clay like consistency wrapping your nose in a warm cocoon for 10-15 minutes (timing is entirely up to you). As you sit and wait the paste dries to a harder slightly crumbly texture which after a considerable wait you’ll be rubbing off. Yup, no water here folks! Simply rub the mask off and as you rub supposedly dirt, oil, and evil, nasty blackheads all go bye-bye.

Yea well….this Muse looked close and the pesky blackheads on her nose are still there….as for oil and dirt….who knows as my nose wasn’t dirty or oily going into this joint.

In reality the mask kinda sorta works like a Biore Nose Strip once dry however it doesn’t quite have the power that a simple nose strip has. Why that is I’ll never know. Personally I feel like a nose strip really digs in deep and adheres well to all the gunk on my nose and lifts it clear away where as this is simply rubbing off and not really adhering to anything that I can see. I guess if you’d like a gentle version of a nose strip this may work out well especially if you have larger pores or even an oily nose area.

The moral of the story is that you’ll run across many similiar masks in and around Asian drugstores but I haven’t really run across one that works. If you want my two cents I say stick with simple nose strips as they work a treat. Lepoze Blackhead Cleansing Nose Gel retails for around $6-7 USD or so which is what I paid for it however I have seen it retailing for about $10-$12 USD on Evil-bay and other online retailers. Honestly, if you can find it cheap it might be worth taking a look at but personally I think it’s a bit of a waste. This is made my a company called PD-C which also happens to put out a rather awesome brand called Soda Salon…I’ll be bringing you some fab reviews from Soda Salon soon. It’s nice to know that PD-C may have failed miserably with the entire Lepoze range of product but they do excel at a few other brands they have out on the market.

Blackheads on your nose?

The Muse says skip the mask and go straight for the strips! You’ll thank me for it later!

And yes of course you get gratuitous idiot shots of the Muse wearing the mask…would I disappoint you?

I feel like I should be saying “hey dude, surfs up man!” with this mask on my nose! I happen to have great ones of Jai too but sadly he won’t let me share them with anyone but his adoring public aka his boyfriend…le sigh….that just sucks as he looked way better in the mask than the Muse did!

3 Comments

If you know the Muse you know how much she values a good blush or cheek stain that gives her that perfect flush. The flush that you get when you come in from a cold winter’s night, the flush you get from a sweet kiss, the flush you get when someone pinches your cheeks (hey I’m a good deal older now but my aunt still pinches my cheeks!)….all these things give a wonderful burst of cool that lights up my face with a natural pink sheen! Ahhhhh dontcha just love that look? I sure do. I get that look easily when using Benefit Posietint but that doesn’t mean I’m not always wandering around and searching out the next best thing to give me that flushed, cheeky look!

The next best thing today happens to be Pixi Water Blush Cheek Stain however it’s not as delicate or subtle as other tints and it definitely has that pop that the Muse prefers when it comes to color! However, the Muse does debate whether it’s the best at all…..

Up until now the Pixi Target line really hasn’t held much of my attention. I’ve tried a good bit of the products offered and nothing has completely knocked me over as being amazingly great and must have. For the most part, as we’ve been over again and again, the price sways us all as paying counter prices at Target definitely holds little appeal for this Muse. I must say that I did love the Pixi Water Stain Blush however it holds one or two problems in it’s own right.

The blush sports the same style bottle as Benefit Benetint and Benefit Posietint with it’s nail polish style packaging and a brush applicator that resembles your favorite bottle nail color. The color I tried was Rose Stain however I believe there are three other shades to choose from but don’t quote me on that could be more. Although in the bottle and swatches the color is a deep off red shade it actually ends up applying as an almost peach with deep red undertones. Since the product is deeply pigmented it does cause a bit of drama when blending. To apply you simply dot a small amount on cheeks but since it dries down so quickly those “dots” remain even after blended which is rather annoying (you can actually see the problem in my blended swatch below). Aside from the blending problem it does give a super nice pop of color to my cheeks although it’s not natural or subtle in the least so if you’re looking for a soft flush this will not be something you’re wanting to try. I really liked the look however it does look a bit unnatural on but that didn’t sway me from liking how deep a shade it was. The finish is a combination of orange, red, and peach.

Pixi Water Stain Blush is $20 USD which is considerably lower priced when compared with Benetint’s $28 USD price tag however it all comes down, once again, to paying such a high mark up at my local Target.

Dear Target,

We head to your store for steep discounts not for high priced cosmetics!

k, thanks.

xoxo
the Muse

Aside from my ranting about price and blending I did like the product but mmm…probably not enough to repurchase it as I do think there are better stains around.

It’s worth checking out for yourself as you may just fall in love with it! As for me I’ll use this up and be on my way to the next great stain!

1 Comment

I’m quite sad over the fact that for the last year or so I wake up with tired, puffy eyes almost every single day. This could be old age creeping up on me or the lack of sleep. The Muse likes to think it’s lack of sleep rather than admit she’s getting old.

I’ve set out a quest for over a year to locate the perfect product to de-puff my tired eyes and wake them up again. Sadly, I’ve yet to find a single product that works and believe you me and tried ’em all!

For the past few months I’ve been using Garnier Skin Renew Anti-Puff Eye Roller and I was kinda hopeful for a while that this would be my solution to my woes. I mean think about it…an anti-puffing agent at the local drugstore for a nice price…seems to good to be true right?

Well fact is that it is too good to be true because it doesn’t work at all. Period. The end. Sad sigh.

Why the Muse was tricked into believing that Garnier Skin Renew Anti-Puff Eye Roller was the solution to life, the universe, and everything is truly beyond her. I guess the Muse was just feeling hopeful that finally some drugstore brand product was finally released that would wow her but sadly as with all drugstore brands she was in for a sore disappointment.

Garnier Skin Renew Anti-Puff Eye Roller comes in a nifty little roller ball applicator and is a cooling liquid that contains a high dose of caffeine. As you may know, caffeine is supposedly a miracle agent for de-puffing your eyes. Personally the Muse has tried many caffeine laden products and none have worked. The Muse likes to think it’s a nice marketing strategy for making us all frenzied about how caffeine wakes up so it should likely do the same with our eyes…not.

Honestly, I should have known the product wouldn’t work from the get go considering that it not only promises to de-puff but also rid my eyes of dark circles. Anything that makes two big promises like that does make me wonder. I decided to try this for a few months before reviewing it so religiously, daily, I’d apply it prior to applying my eye cream. I applied it once in the AM and once in the PM and I almost had myself tricked that I noticed some difference in my eyes…but nope..truly this was a trick of my imagination because honestly the puffiness was still very there.

The product is absolutely ideal as it applies wonderfully well with the applicator. It’s also nice and cooling and has a nice fresh scent. I think the cooling sensation is much of where I got it into my head that the product was actually working however I honestly see absolutely no results in regards to either puffiness or dark circles.

All in all it’s pretty much well wasted but hey what do you expect from a company who makes haircare products right? I’d say stick with the hair products and leave the skincare to the experts.

This Muse is still trying to locate that perfect product to de-puff her tired eyes and she knows now, after many months of use, Garnier Skin Renew Anti-Puff Eye Roller isn’t it!

Skip it! Total trash as far as this Muse is concerned.

21 Comments

Hey Guys!

Just a heads up that Benefit has updated it’s site and Benefit Coralista is now available for purchase now instead of February as originally planned! Click!

I was feeling kinda stingy and was hoping for Free Shipping with my order but at least I located a coupon code for 10% off which brought my shipping down to around $2.50 USD instead of the $5.48 USD they normally charged. I couldn’t see myself paying nearly $6 bucks to ship a little box of powder!

Anyway the moral of the story is you can snag Benefit Coralista plus 10% Off by using coupon code HEYTHERE

The Muse ordered hers and will bring a review and swatches shortly!

Add a Comment