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All jewellery lovers in the city should already be very well acquainted with The9thMuse, our fave one-stop accessory shop in HK… But their newest additions should have make-up mavens flocking to their door too! In addition to their cute Lollia and TokyoMilk hand creams and perfumes, the 9thMuse girls now stock a great range of colour cosmetics too, including fab NailEZEE nail polishes and Ilia make-up – and of course, Sassy was first in line to try them out!
If you love organic and natural cosmetics, you should definitely check out Ilia’s line of lipsticks, lip conditioners and multi-sticks (which can be used on both lips and cheeks); they’re made from up to 85% certified organic bio-active botanicals, which nourish and rejuvenate the skin. Their colours all have awesome and fun names (my fave was Nobody’s Baby) and I picked out two tinted lip conditioners to test out – Arabian Knights and Blossom Lady.
Left to right: Ilia lip conditions in Arabian Knights, Femme Fatale, Cheek To Cheek & Nobody’s Baby
Arabian Knights was a berry shade with deep tones of violet and burgundy (very in this season, by the way!). I was a little scared of the colour when I took my first look at it; however, it came out as a beautiful berry shade that wasn’t overwhelming in the slightest – perfect to carry you from day to night! The second lip conditioner I tried was Blossom Lady, a muted shade of pink that works well as a gentle and feminine daytime lip colour.
For someone who doesn’t usually wear a lot of lip colour, I found all the Ilia shades to be super wearable and semi-sheer for easy application on the go. With the weather now cooler and drier (not that I’m complaining – thank goodness we’ve said goodbye to our 98% humidity-filled summers!), a lip conditioner is definitely handy to offer that extra bit of moisture for the lips and the great pigmentation is a definite bonus!
Sabrina wearing Ilia Neon Angel lipstick and Polkadots & Moonbeams Illuminator
Meanwhile, we got Sabrina (no stranger to a bright lip!) to test out the bright magenta Neon Angel lipstick – which lasted several hours and would be the perfect hue to jazz up a little black dress for the holiday season and beyond! She also tried Ilia’s Polkadots & Moonbeams stick highlighter, which was super easy to apply. Try using this on the tops of your cheekbones and as a highlighter on your brow bone, where it does a beautiful job of making your skin glow.
Meanwhile, the new NailEZEE line is formaldehyde-free (in English, that means a common skin irritant often found in some nail products like nail hardeners) and is infused with biotin and keratin to add natural moisture back to your nails! Rach, Sabrina and I tried a range of colours from pretty pastels (purple Miami’s New Vice and mint Key Lime Pie) to sparkly glitters (bronze Lucky Penny and multi-coloured Circus Circus) and shimmery metallics (champagne Chantilly Lace and emerald Loosey Goosey).
Top to bottom: Circus Circus & Chantilly Lace NailEZEE polishes
I tried Chantilly Lace, a gorgeous metallic champagne. If you ask my friends, they will tell you that I’m the girl who has zero patience to wait for anything! But surprisingly with this NailEZEE colour, I found that one coat was more than enough to add some sparkle to my nails, and it took merely a few moments for it to completely dry through; this was mirrored in all the polishes we tried, even the glitters – these normally take several coats to become opaque, but with NailEZEE, it was a much easier one or two! Rach (resident nail polish addict) found the formulas to be a little thicker and more gluey than normal but the polishes themselves lasted for around six days with no chips.
Ilia’s lip products are about $220, while NAILEZEE polishes are $110 – so more Lane Crawford than Sasa in terms of price, but in the much cooler and calmer shopping environment of The9thMuse! It’s always fun to see some new brands enter the fray in HK, so if you’re looking for some new beauty products to pair with your fabulous fall fashions, come check them out – and you might find yourself pocketing a new bracelet or scarf whilst you’re there too!
The9thMuse, Unit 1204, 12/F, 1 Lyndhurst Terrace, Central, Hong Kong, 2537 7598
