Hunger Games Catching Fire

The Hunger Games Catching Fire (book 2 for those of you who loved the trilogy) trailer is out!

Catch the trailer here on youtube.

I read Book 1 otherwise known as The Hunger Games after I saw the marketing campaign for China Glaze's line of nail polishes for the movie (It used to be you read the book, then catch the movie. Then it was you saw the movie and went to read the book. Welcome to the new age of seeing the product, reading the book and catching the movie in that order). 

I was frankly intrigued by what I read from the press description of The Hunger Games and decided to read the books. I had watched Battle Royale a few years back (the Japanese movie where the media were comparing The Hunger Games to Battle Royale) and the concept wasn't brand new to me. 

Philip Seymour Hoffman plays Plutarch Heavensbee, a character of note in the 2nd and 3rd book of The Hunger Games trilogy. I first caught him in Capote and was impressed by his acting chops. His subsequent roles as morally ambigous characters or plain right evil men continued to impress beyond any pretty boy looks. 

As a reader, I felt the characters in the trilogy were well fleshed out and the books were compelling. As a parent, I felt slightly disturbed that these books were deemed suitable for young reading with its tales of violence, manipulations, rape etc. But then I remembered reading far worse books in my teenage years (V.C. Andrews for one) and I turned out alright. 

Peripera Peri's Tint Jelly

Spotted the Peripera lip series while online surfing and decided to order a Peripera Peri's Tint Jelly. I was intrigued by the promise that a blue lip product could produce such a colour.

Apparently, this particular shade is one of the 3 new shades added to Peri's Tint Jelly range in 2013. I had never tried Peripera before but at approximately S$7/-, it was inexpensive to try. Peripera products can be purchased at selected stockists in Singapore, however I have not spotted the Tint Jelly before.  

Actual Tint's Jelly alongside the box

Closeup of Tint Jelly (Shade Sky Stick) and its cover

The packaging is attractive a-la Benefit/various doll style makeup brands. The words on the box states "Like sweet jelly, this tint tenderly melts and color shows by moisture of lips. Argan oil and grape seed oil give vitality to lips."

I would describe the actual product as a teal colour, leaning towards the blue end of the spectrum. The product glides on smoothly, possibly due to its 'argan oil and grape seed oil' extract.

The product actually does appear pink on my lips, although it is more sheer than in the visuals. I applied the Tint Jelly on the entire lower lip and half of my upper lip (no other lip product used before Tint Jelly). The colour is sheer and looks natural.

Blotted lips on tissue

When lips are blotted, purple pigments appear on the tissue rather than any blue hue. When I rubbed the Tint Jelly directly onto a white cup, bluish stains with streaks of purple showed up. I personally don't quite believe without reading more into the ingredients list that this Tint Jelly changes colour with lip/body heat (there are many beauty chemists/scientists blogs debunking such marketing speak) but rather the Tint Jelly utilises pigments to create a visual effect of violet (as advertised by Peripera) lips.  

Rubbed Tint Jelly directly onto white Ikea cup. 

What surprised me when I absentmindedly scrubbed the Tint Jelly off my lips after taking the photos. A stain of the colour remained on my lips inspite of my scrubbing (and I do mean vigorous physical removal with a tissue, no lip makeup remover was used). This colour looked attractive and I did like the look quite a far bit.

Faint stain of colour

Side-note: I am unable to read the ingredient list myself as it is in Korean. The product visuals and descriptions on the box indicate argan oil and grapeseed oil. As I am unable to confirm nor deny the existence of argan oil and grapeseed oil in this product myself, I have indicated these ingredients in italics. I will update the ingredients list in English if possible.  

Good Guy Bad Guy Your Guy?

Korea's beauty brands, not content with targeting women, have turned their sights on men.

G-Dragon from Big Bang (a Korean group) has been chosen to endorse The Saem’s Global Eco collection and this includes a tomato red lipstick. Which he promptly wears. On his lips.

Apparently this lipstick is not meant solely for men, women/fans/aliens etc are welcome to add this to their collection.

Etude House, never far from the trend, has also launched 2 BB creams targeted solely at men. You can have your good guy

or your bad guy.

But something tells me that my guy won’t be trying this out anytime soon.