Sigma Synthetic Kabuki Brush Kit

The main purpose we started Laucuz was to bring the wonderful Sigma brushes to you. Can’t believe we haven’t blogged about it yet! Lets first talk about the synthetic brush sets. Each brush’s bristle is really soft and small - when applying foundation, cream blush etc. it feels very smooth and thin. I think that foundation brushes are like toothbrushes, the smaller the bristles the easier it is to get in the cracks. Applying the same principle, if the foundation brush’s bristles are small, the density will be higher. This will help make pores look smaller. It doesn’t require too much skill either, just apply using circular motions. The first time I used the F82 round kabuki, my boyfriend asked me if I have changed foundation because my make up looked really great. (to him there are only days of “your make up looks nice today!” and “your make up looks a bit heavy!”, so when he says it looks great it really means something.)

On that day I used my cell phone to take the picture so the resolution is not that great. (I know I have dark eye circles!)

Honestly I think that the brushes are worth every penny. The only thing that’s not good is that it is quite hard to clean. I have to spend a bit of time to clean it properly. Let’s now talk about the brushes in the kit. F80 is a flat head kabuki brush. I like to use this brush to apply blush because my face has a large surface area. The flat head fits perfectly to my face.

My favourite in the kit is the F82 brush. It is the best for foundation! Because of the round head design, it can reach a lot of places that are hard to reach (like the nose), and also achieve a smooth natural look.

F84 is the angled kabuki, I usually use it for my cheekbones for contouring/blush. You can also use it for highlighting, but because I am part of the oily skin group I dont’t highlight my cheekbones.

Lastly is the F86, the tapered brush. I don’t use this brush as often but Sigma recommends it for highlighting. I don’t find it useful so Laucuz is not selling this brush at the moment.

I hope you enjoyed the introduction to the kabuki brushes, if you want to purchase you can contact us at laucuz@gmail.com.

Sigma Synthetic Kabuki Kit 化妝掃

Laucuz主要就是在賣sigma的化妝掃，想不到我們還在此沒寫寫這些掃的評論哩！

先總括來說說這個synthetic系列，每一支掃的毛都很軟、很細，上濕粉和胭脂膏等等的化妝品都十分透薄貼服。個人覺得粉底掃就像牙刷，刷毛纖細才可以深入牙縫，同樣道理，掃毛纖細、密度高有助把毛孔填平。而且也不太需要技巧，十直打圈上就可以了。第一次用F82的圓頭kabuki時，我男友還問我是不是換了粉底，妝化得很漂亮。（對他來說，只有「今天的妝不錯喔！」和「今天的妝好像有點厚！」的分別，所以他能說出很漂亮，大概就是很漂亮。）

當天只用了手機拍照，所以像素不太高。（黑眼圈是很深啦～我知道～！）

老實說，我覺得這個價錢實在是物有所值。唯一不太好的地方便是，清洗比較困難，要花上好一點時間才能把掃洗得乾乾淨淨。

接著逐一來說說系列中的化妝掃吧！

F80的這款平頭kabuki掃。現在的我比較喜歡用它來上胭脂，因為我的面比較大，平平的掃就剛好在大大、平平的面頰派上用場了。

至於F82，就是我在系列當中的最愛 ♥♥♥♥～！用來上濕粉一流～！因為圓頭形的設計，就算面上不平坦的地方（如鼻子），也可以輕鬆上粉～而且絕對不會厚～

至於F84的斜角kabuki，我平常多數是用來上頰骨位的陰影／胭脂，視乎當天化的妝而定。如果喜歡在面頰位置打光影，相信也非常合適，但由於我是油光一族，所以就比較少打光影。

最後的F86，則是我覺得比較沒有用的掃，sigma的官方介紹說可以用來上光影, 不過暫時於我的作用不太，也正因如此，laucuz沒有賣這款掃。

希望大家喜歡這裡的介紹，如果想購買上述的化妝掃，可到電郵到laucuz@gmail.com聯系我們。

Wendy

Squalene vs. Squalane :: Botani and MUJI squalene oil

The latest beauty trend is to use squalene oil. I have used Botani’s olive squalene oil for over a year now and I think that it is hydrating, but it did not meet my expectations of reducing my pore size. However, the moisturizing property is worth my continuation in using it. Why is squalene oil so good? Our skin cells have around 11-12% squalene - during our teens and early 20s our skin produces this amount. When we reach the age of 25 however, the levels of squalene in our skin cells start to drop. When we reach 50 we only have around 5% left. So supplementing with squalene oil is really good for us! Apart from improving and preventing wrinkles, squalene can stop blemishes from appearing. If your skin appears to be peeling/flakey (basically really dry) you can also try using squalene to correct it. The Japanese have added squalene to their cosmetics for many years. Back then, squalene was sourced from sharks, but we don't even eat shark fin now because of ethical reasons. Therefore the cosmetic industry is now sourcing squalene from plants. As you can tell from what I have said, squalene is a really good product. The price matches its qualities! I bought a bottle of Botani squalene for around HK $26X. It contains squalene, vitamin C, vitamin E and lecithin (part of cell membrane). The bottle contains 15ml of oil - recommended use is one or two drops morning and night. This bottle usually lasts me one to two months. We all love a bargain, I found Muji was also selling squalane oil and it was only 120HKD (it was 100 before but they increased the price). I looked at the ingredients and it was pure squalane, no vitamin C, vitamin E or lecithin. So I thought it doesn’t sound to bad, and to give it a go since its so much cheaper.

Looking at the picture it shows that the two products look different (this is why I did not discover that Muji was selling this before). The Botani oil is yellow and the Muji one is colour less. The yellow in the Botani one is due to the lecithin.

Botani uses a pipette which I find a bit annoying - when there is a little bit of oil left it doesn’t pick it up but instead I have to unscrew it and pour it out.

I have found the Muji packaging even more annoying. It is hard to control the amount that pours out and it gets all over my hands. Although its cheap its not good to waste the oil. The lid also gets all greasy.

After using both I find the texture of the oils are similar. I have friends that worry whether applying this will give the greasy shiny face look, but since we use a little it gets absorbed quickly and won’t be greasy.

I think that Muji’s oil takes longer to be absorbed (not very noticeable but not sure if its just me). Apart from that I think the result from it is pretty much the same as Botani. Lastly, you have to be aware that the Muji’s ingredient list says is squalane oil and Botani’s is squalene oil. Basically they are the same except squalene’s molecular structure is double bond, simply said it is a more stable molecule. (Weird thing is in the Muji catalogue it says squalene oil instead of squalane, so I am not even sure which one they are using!)

Note: Someone commented saying that squalane's effect is much worse than squalene based on the assumption that "if the oil can't even remain the integrity of its structure, how could it work its magic on your skin?" That I do agree. What I blog here is according to my best knowledge and the last passage is based on the assumption that if both oil have intact structure (well, unstable doesn't mean ruined?), that I would not have sufficient knowledge to judge which one would work better. Hope this clears this air.

By Wendy

Squalene vs. Squalane：Botani及MUJI角鯊烯精華油

潮流流行角鯊烯精華油(squalene oil)，我用了Bontani的olive squalene oil一年多，一直覺得它有保濕的功能，雖然沒有如我所願地縮小我的毛孔，但滋潤度不錯，所以一直繼續使用。

Squalene oil到底有什麼好呢？據說皮膚細胞含有有11-12% squalene，在我們「十八廿二」的年代，皮膚裡的squalene含量一直增加至這個水平，但一但到達25歲這個女人痛恨的關卡，皮膚裡的Squalene就會開始流失，到50歲時，含量會跌至5%左右。所以塗squalene是護膚的好方法。

除了改善＆預防皺紋外，squalene亦可以防止斑斑的出現。如果皮膚出現龜裂的情況（個人認為基本上就是你的皮膚十分乾燥的意思啦），也可以試用角鯊烯來改善。

日本人多年前已經在化妝品裡加入squalene，當時主要以從鯊魚裡得到squalene，既然我們連魚翅也不吃了，化妝品也因為人道理由，開始改從植物裡提煉squalene。

說到這，大家大概也覺得squalene不錯～對的，真的是不錯～不過價錢也很不錯。

我買botani的squalene一瓶大概是HK$26x，裡面的成份除了squalene，還有維他命C、維他命E和卵磷脂(細胞membrane的成份)。質感嘛，基本上就是油的質地。雖然一瓶只有15ml，但只是早晚使用一至兩滴在臉上，所以一瓶大概可以用一至兩個月。

可是，人就是會貪便宜。最近才突然發現muji也有squalane賣，50ml才賣$120（加價了，本來好像是一百元的，不過還是比botani便宜）。看了看成份，它是全squalane，沒有維他命C、維他命E和卵磷脂，想了想，應該差別不大的吧！價錢差這麼多，我說什麼都要買一瓶試試。

如圖所見，2種產品外表很不同（所以我才沒發現原來MUJI有squalane賣嘛…）。Botani的是黃色的，而Muji的則是透明的，這大概是因為卵磷脂是褐黃色，所以出來的精華油才變成黃色。

Botani的是用泵（平時其實我叫佢「吱吱」，不知道大家是不是叫它「泵」）。以前我常覺得很麻煩，因為快將用完時常常會泵不到最底部的精華油，最後要倒出來用。

但是，現在發現用Muji這種滴滴裝更麻煩！因為現在每次倒出來都會弄得一手都是，份量也較難控制好…囧rz
雖說比較便宜，但浪費始終不是好習慣！而且也較容易弄得瓶蓋油油的！＝‥＝

 兩者在使用時，質感差不多。我有些朋友會擔心用完之後「油光滿面」，但如我所言，其實每次用的份量很少，皮膚吸收後，你的面應該是不會反光的啦…

我認為Muji的squalane吸收得比較慢（差別不是很明顯，不知道是不是我的錯覺），但除此之外，效果大致和botani的差不多。

最後，不曉得大家有沒有留意，Muji的產品上寫著squalane oil，而botani則是squalene oil。事實上兩者是差不多的東西，不過squalene的結構裡是double bonding而已，簡單來說，就是squalene的結構比較穩定。（不過啦，雖然產品上面寫的是squalane, Muji的產品目錄寫的卻是squalene……所以我到最後都不知道它到底是哪一個???）

補充：之前有朋友留言說squalane由於比較不隱定，所以效果也一定比較差，我不是化學方面的專家，所以博客裡的意見也只是基於我知道的，個人認為，若果結構被破壞，那產品當然不會發揮到本來的效果，但是若果兩者皆是結構完整（不隱定不代表不完整），我就沒有相關的資料或數據去評論兩者的果效是否有差別。純粹個人意見。

By Wendy