Kath X Happy Skin: The 411 on Happy Skin's new under P500 line - is it good?
Kathryn Bernardo, to me, is the epitome of gandang polbo and lip tint. While I have not followed her body of work as an actress, I am a huge fan of her face and have admired her beauty journey through the years. In many past interviews, both she and her go-to celebrity makeup artist, Denise Go-Ochoa, would emphasize how little makeup Kathryn actually wears. She prefers to wear little to no foundation and would often stress the importance of good skin. Her signature makeup look consists of dewy skin, straight brows, defined lashes, flushed cheeks, and just a hint of lip color.
When Kathryn was tapped by Happy Skin to be the face of their newest makeup line, the A-lister said yes to #KathXHappySkin right away. She had been a fan of Happy Skin Cosmetics since Denise introduced the brand to her through the Glam Squad collection. Her “yes” spurred the creation of Generation Happy Skin, which caters to the Filipina who believes that good skin is a priority and simple makeup is the way to go. From the products, the formula, packaging, shades, and even to the shade names – the inaugural collection in Happy Skin's new sub-brand all stays true to Kathryn’s personal take on beauty.
Kathryn Bernardo with Happy Skin owners, Jacqe Yuengtian-Gutierrez and Rissa Mananquil-Trillo
The collection consists of a pressed powder, powder blushes, mascara, brow pen, lip tints, and matte lippies. Consistent with the core vision of Happy Skin, all products are formulated with skin-loving ingredients that care for the skin while they beautify. This particular line is infused with Sunflower Seed Oil and Green Tea Extract, which soothe and replenish the skin. Every single item from the line is under 500 pesos, which makes the line more accessible to her younger fan base. But how do the products fare?
Instant Glow Longwear Powder Blush in Love (P399 for 2.9g)
True to its name, I find the Generation Happy Skin blush to be long-wearing with a glowy finish. The shade Love is a beautiful warm pink with a natural satin finish and just the slightest hint of shimmer. On my light-medium complexion, I find that it’s the perfect shade to do the trendy drunk blush technique. It helps that the formula sinks right into my skin. It’s richly pigmented (so apply with caution), buildable, and blends beautifully as mentioned. On a normal office day, it stays on my oily skin for around eight to ten hours.
Let me say this though: if you’re a stick-to-one kind of blush person, paying P399 for less than 3g of product kinda sucks. For reference, the Pink Sugar Sweet Cheeks HD blushes are P299 for 6g of product and the Wet n’ Wild Color Icon Blushers are P299 for 4g. If like me, however, you rotate through your kit and take forever to empty blushes, then the Instant Glow Longwear Powder Blush is a great buy formula-wise. This also comes in another peachy shade called Freedom which Kathryn wears in most of the posters.
Extra Drama Volumizing Mascara (P499 for 7g)
Kathryn mentioned during the launch party that she swears by mascaras and hates wearing falsies. Indeed if you follow her on Instagram, you’ll see that the girl has lashes for days that look well-defined but still wispy and natural. The Extra Drama Volumizing Mascara is hardly extra, dramatic, nor volumizing if you ask me. It’s the kind of mascara you’ll wear if you want to fake waking up like this and just look naturally #blessed with great lashes.
Rather than volumize, this mascara defines, separates, and slightly lengthens. There are days when I prefer the vavavoom drama of something like the Marc Jacobs Velvet Noir Major Volume Mascara or the Majolica Majorca Lash King, but I’d prefer the Generation Happy Skin Mascara for everyday looks, to be completely honest. What’s most impressive is its ability to hold a curl and how it stays on my lashes with zero smudging. I wore it to the gym once and it flaked just the *tiniest* bit! I’d prefer flaking over smudging any day though, because flakes I can wipe off clean without the panda eyes that I’d get from smudging.
I was initially bummed to find out that the mascara was priced at P499 but it’s truly a fair price, all considering. It applies similarly to my current HG (the Heroine Make Volume and Curl Super Waterproof Mascara) and comes as the ONLY close contender when it comes to longevity. Everything else I have tried, and I truly mean everything including even the MJ and Majolica, smudges on my oily lids and loses the curl after some time. The Heroine Make retails for around P600 to P700 with online resellers and I even pay extra for the mascara remover. The Generation Happy Skin Extra Drama Volumizing Mascara isn’t waterproof so it comes off easily, with or without double cleansing.
Perfect Brows Long-Lasting Liquid Pen in Brown (P399 for 1.3ml)
At first, it didn’t make sense to me that #KathXHappySkin would include a brow pen. A brow pen, at least to me, isn’t exactly everyday makeup. I would normally prefer a pencil or even a standalone tinted brow mascara for quick and easy makeup days. Actually trying the product out quickly proved me wrong, and the brow pen finally made sense with the rest of the collection. The Perfect Brows Long-Lasting Liquid Pen applies in a sheer brown color that looks natural and never overdrawn. The soft, long brush allows for nice strokes that can easily mimic the look of eyebrow hairs.
I’m going to answer right away what most of you are probably wondering. Yes, this brow pen is even better than the cult favorite K-Palette Eyebrow Liner Pen! They are both long-wearing and smudge-proof but the Generation Happy Skin brow pen edges the K-Palette when it comes to look and application. Whereas K-Palette has a flat brush that’s wide on one side and thin on another, the Perfect Brows Long-Lasting Liquid Pen has a circular base with a pointed tip so the thickness of the strokes are consistent each time. The brush end is longer and has a lot more give, and the ink itself provides a sheerer yet buildable finish. It lets you draw thinner, more hair-like strokes plus you get to control how natural or defined you want your brows to look. It’s cheaper too at P399 a tube compared to P795 but I do need to confirm the amount of product in K-Palette! Both Generation Happy Skin and K-Palette Brow Pens are long-wearing and smudge-proof, but are neither sweat nor waterproof
The brow pen is a strong winner in my book, and I already see myself repurchasing this product. While the natural brown shade is a pretty safe bet, I’m still crossing my fingers that Happy Skin would consider making this in other shades as it’s a serious disadvantage to K-Palette’s four-shade range.
Kiss & Bloom Lip & Cheek Tint in Serene and Prim (P299 for 6.5ml)
From the four products that I’ve tried from the collection, I’d say I’m least thrilled about the Kiss & Bloom Lip & Cheek Tints. On unpowdered skin, they apply easily with zero streaking and you don’t have to speed-blend just to get it looking nice and even. They take a while to dry as you’ll see in the swatches but they set to a natural finish with just a tad of tackiness. If you’re not into that, the stickiness should go away when you top with powder.
I can do without retouching for the cheeks for up to six hours but I can’t say the same for the lips. While they apply easily because of the watery formula, the tints are almost completely gone after the 3-hour mark and fade away unevenly. It also has a tendency to cling to dry areas. Word of warning: these tints are very watery so you have to be careful about opening the tube! I’ve already ruined two tops from the stain of these tints. (sad face)
Side note: it took me a long time to figure out what the tints smelled like but I finally put my finger to it the other day. They smell like the strawberry filling from Dunkin Donuts so I guess that’s a plus for munchkin lovers!
To summarize:
The Generation Happy Skin line is a well-thought out collection that’s great for everyday wear with the cutest packaging and Filipina-friendly shades.
Every item is under P500 and worth their price tag, mostly.
The standout winners for me are the Extra Drama Volumizing Mascara and Perfect Brows Long-Lasting Liquid Pen, which can hold their own against Holy Grail products.
The Instant Glow Longwear Powder Blush is a nice find if you’re looking for a satin, glowy blush that will last for hours. However, the cost per gram is on the more expensive end of the drugstore.
Feel free to skip the Kiss & Bloom Lip & Cheek Tints as there are cheaper, nicer tints in the market.
With the addition of a concealer in the product line up, this collection could be truly all the average Filipina would need for everyday!
Have you tried anything from the Generation Happy Skin line yet? Were there any hits or misses for you? Let us know your thoughts in the comment below!
Instant Glow Longwear Powder Blush ingredients: Talc, Mica, Nylon-12, Magnesium Stearate, FD&C Red No. 40 Lake CI 16035, Titanium Dioxide CI 77891, FD&C Red No. 7 CA Lake CI 15850, FD&C Yellow No. 6 AL Lake CI 15985, Iron Oxide CI 77499, Ethylexyl Palmitate, Isoamyl Laureate, Bis-Diglyceryl Polyacyladipate-2, Caprylic/Capric Triglycerides, Dimethicone, Phenoxyethanol, Caprylyl Glycol & Ethylhexylglycerin, Tocopheryl Acetate, Helianthus Annuus (Sunflower) Seed Oil Unsaponifiables
Extra Drama Volumizing Mascara ingredients: Water, Acrylates Copolymer, Iron Oxides (CI 77499), Copernicia Cerifera (Carnauba) Wax, PVP, 1-2 Hexanediol, Palmitic Acid, Glycerin, Methyl Methacrylate Crosspolymer, VP/Hexadecene Copolymer, Beeswax, Polybutene, Stearic Acid, Cetearyl Alcohol, Tetrahydroxypropyl Ethylenediamine, Dimethicone, Lanolin, Sorbitan Sesquioleate, Hydroxyethylcellulose, Magnesium Aluminum Silicate, Glyceryl Stearate SE, Isostearic Acid, Polyvinyl Alcohol, Polysorbate 20, Ethyl Hexanediol, Glyceryl Caprylate, Disodium EDTA, Helianthus Annuus (Sunflower) Seed Oil
Perfect Brows Long-Lasting Liquid Pen ingredients: Polyethylene, Ozokerite, Cera Microcristallina, Dimethicone Caprylic/Capric Triglycerides, Octyldodecanol, Tridecyl, Trimellitate, Nylon-12, (Di- A-) Tocopherly Acetate, Butyrospermum Parkii (Shea) Butter, Phenoxyethanol, Helianthus Annuus (Sunflower) Seed Oil Unsaponifiables. May Contain D&C Red No. 27 Al Lake CI 45410, Iron Oxide CI 77491, FD&C Blue N. 1 Al Lake CI 42090, Titanium Dioxide CI 77891, Iron Oxides CI 77491/2/9, Iron Oxide CI 77492, D&C Red No.7 CA Lake CI 15850, FD&C Red No. 40 Lake CI 16035, Iron Oxide CI 77491/2/9
Kiss & Bloom Water Lip & Cheek Tint ingredients: Aqua, Peg-7 Glyceryl Cocoate, Hyaluronic Acid, Trehalose, Nicotinamide, 1.3 Butylene Glycol, Phenoxyethanol, Flavor, Camellia Sinensis Leaf Extract, Humulus Lupulus Extract, Saccharomyces Lysate. May contain: D&C Red No. 7, D&C Red No.6 Ba Lake, Black Iron Oxide, Red Iron Oxide, Yellow Iron Oxide
