Ah, Summer… everything is green, birds are singing, days are long enough to not go out and come home in pitch darkness… All jokes aside, I’ve been moaning about the cold in every post, so being able to go out without 5 layers of clothing is actually pretty great. Plus vacation is right around the corner and boy am I happy. Maybe the hot weather will also melt away my writes block (heh heh).
With all the color outside and my general improved mood induced by the positive temperatures, longer days and sunlight, I’m starting to tap into my much brighter (for me at least) summer wardrobe. I’m also noticing the return of my willingness to do a bit more makeup than the usual powder- blush-mascara combo that has been the staple of the past months. That being said, my lazy morning mantra continues to be: the fastest and easiest way to incorporate some color in your makeup and look chic & put together is to throw in a bright colored lipstick. My other morning mantra is: do not get up before the third snooze, but that’s another topic… Over the years my lipstick collection has grown beyond the reasonable size and, given that lipsticks generally expire pretty fast, lately I’ve been trying (besides reducing the amount of makeup I’m purchasing) to buy smaller sizes. One of my favorite finds on that front has been the mini lipstick vault I am reviewing today – the Etude House Rose Kiss Edition Lipstick Vault.

The Etude House Rose Kiss Edition Vault is still available on eBay for between 42 and 52$. It contains 12 mini-lipsticks each with around 1.4g of product. I wasn’t exactly able to figure out if the shades were part of the brands permanent My Blooming Lips range, but I think all of these are exclusive to this set. Six of the shades have a matte chiffon finish and the other six are cremes. The set packaging is a cardboard box with slots for every lipstick. The lipstick bullet itself is single-colored rectangle matching the lipstick shade inside. It closes nicely and looks quite elegant. The only tiny little thing I don’t like is the fact that the lipstick name is not printed on the bullet and instead there is a sticker with the number at the bottom. Not that I ever plan to throw away the cardboard box, because it’s gorgeous, but still… Etude House Cosmetics is not a cruelty free brand.
I’ve always loved Asian makeup and cosmetics. I even included some products in my first ever haul post (now deleted, cause I’m getting embarrassed just thinking about it). To me, most of the innovation in terms of makeup and skincare happens in Asia, which is not that surprising given that taking care of ones appearance has a much bigger impact from a social standpoint in Asian culture. Just consider that every second person in South Korea (male or female) has had some cosmetic surgery done. With that in mind the cosmetic industry there is at least 10 years ahead of the rest of the world. With the huge amount of brands out there, the market is a battleground resulting in better products in terms of innovation, ingredients and packaging, which at the end of the day benefits the consumers. The market does have its downsides & quirks – finding dark shades for face products is notoriously impossible (although there is change in that direction now that more and more Korean brands are finding their way to the shelves of Sephora), eyeshadows tend to be way less pigmented as generally Asian makeup is geared more towards the natural makeup look, most of the brands are not cruelty free, because they are also sold in China and so on… but if you read a little bit and try to make an informed decision you end up with really high quality products which for me is the case with the Rose Kiss Edition Set by Etude House.

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