#aboutface

I have always admired Korean's beautiful, dewy skin. I think with dewy skin, you can hide a lot of skin flaws and imperfections and make it appear as if you have beautiful skin when you actually don't. I was in one of my Watson's shopping sprees spending my GCs that I have acquired from events when I discovered Holika Holika's Aqua Petit Jelly Starter.

Holika Holika Aqua Petit Jelly Starter, PhP 725

This makeup base actually had several steps to achieve the "wet-skin" glowing look, but I was told by their SA that getting the starter alone is ok to achieve the look. I was actually quite disappointed when I got home and tried it out.
This is the look I was hoping to achieve. Maybe not as "oily" looking, but I was hoping to achieve a certain dewy-look glow just like how it is when I apply MAC Mineralize Skinfinish Perfect Topping on top of my liquid foundation or, Physicians Formula's Mineral Glow Pearls in Translucent, but unfortunately, it did not achieve that though.

I'll get to that later.
Although it did not achieve the look I was hoping for, this product does have it's merits. I do love the packaging first of all, and they did not scrimp on the size to begin with. This product also comes with a cylindrical angled sponge if that makes any sense.
Housed in a frosted, jelly-like scalloped bottle, I love how it isn't plastic. I always love packaging that come in glass bottles. You have to be careful though because this glass breaks easily, or so I was told by other beauty bloggers.
It's quite portable too so it's not a hassle to fit it into your toiletry bag when travelling, but the problem would be that this glass is not unbreakable. It might make a whole lot of mess in your toiletry bag if the glass does break. So I recommend transferring some product to a travel plastic cream pot that you can usually get in cosmetics department stores.
It comes with a built-in spatula so you can be sure that you won't be double dipping into the pot, and you can use it to mix the product too when it gets too jelly-like.
And as I have mentioned earlier, it comes with a pretty good makeup sponge too! I don't use sponges to apply makeup though because it absorbs more than you are applying on your face so you end up wasting so much product, so I still prefer synthetic makeup brushes, or even my hands.
You can see how beautiful and dewy this product is when swatched on your hand. I actually swatched this at Watson's and that's why I fell in love with it in the first place. I wanted to get the other steps that came with this product but the SA told me that this was a good enough base that would work with any liquid base.
Here is my skin with the Aqua Petit Jelly Starter (APJS) on my face. You can hardly see it on my skin, and it's not only because of the camera. In person, you can hardly see it on there too. I applied two layers of this product but it did not prevail.
I guess you can see a little sheen on the forehead and maybe on some of the higher points of my face like the tip of my nose or the cheekbones, but other than that, you can hardly see it.

Holika Holika Aqua Petit Jelly Starter under liquid foundation

The effect on my face seems flat. It did not give my skin life because I'm just too matte. I don't think the APJS would work well as a base.

Holika Holika Aqua Petit Jelly Starter under liquid foundation and setting powder

If you have this product and quite disappointed on it yourself, I have found another use for this product and it's effective. Are you a highlighter lover, or should I say, a Benefit High Beam lover? Then this can double up as a replacement for that and it's just half the price and in a much bigger bottle too!

Now below is a photo of me using the APJS (Aqua Petit Jelly Starter) as a highlighter. I dabbed some product on with a sponge (the one that came with it) and it's actually more effective to use it for strobing. It almost has the same effect as Benefit's Girl Meets Pearl. I just love dewy looking skin.
Benefit Girl Meets Pearl Highlighter costs PhP 1,600 or Benefit High Beam Face Highlighter costs PhP 1,400 for 13ml, and APJS costs only PhP 725 for 40ml! That's a freakin' steal! It gives the same effect and it blends really well even on top of powder so you don't end up with a whole lot of pasty mess.
And yes, it pretty much performs, if not similar, identical to Benefit's High Beam! If anything, it provides even more of a luminous, radiant finish on skin rather than it looking like you have too much oil on your skin. Apparently this is created with 80% Aqua Mint Water.

You have to admit that the larger size and the way cheaper price tag when you’re putting it up against Benefit’s High Beam makes you want to rush to the nearest Holika Holika store! If you’re an avid user of Benefit's High Beam, Watt's Up or Girl Meets Pearl I’d HIGHLY recommend and suggest checking out Holika Holika APJS!