All The Things I Can't Live Without...

So I've been playing with my newly purchased MAC "Warmth of Coral" blush the past few days, and this is how it looks like:

Now, I'm not too proud of this LOTD as the eye makeup did not come out the way I wanted, hence I felt that the colour of the blush wasn't contrasted properly.

My eye makeup looked too bland and silvery...

..when I was trying to aim for something like this:

But anyway, I tried a second LOTD with the blush and this came out a lot better!

I especially do prefer this eye makeup, as the brown and the gold warmed up the blush and complimented it more. Plus, who doesn't like gold glitter? *pfft*

Threw on my orange-coloured specs to matchy matchy the LOTD!

So, what do I have to say about the blush? Well, it does take a bit of layering for "Warmth of Coral" to be seen on me, though I am already quite fair. For normal day use, it's an easy enough blush to apply. You don't need to worry about having pikachu cheeks or the nedd to blend crazily to sheer the blush out. I had trouble getting it to show up in Sephora though, cos the lighting there is horrible and it makes makeup vanish almost completely.

But I'm still glad I got the blush, as it's an unique product in my collection and I love orange/coral blushes!

Thanks for reading, guys!

Okay, I admit it's not a huge haul, but there weren't many items that caught my attention for this collection. I told myself to pick up something from it as I had a $50 MAC voucher to use.

So I got the mineralized blush in "Warmth of Coral" and the lustre lipstick in "Gem of Roses".

"Warmth of Coral" has this really nice marbling of pink and brown with an orangey base. Plus, the blush is so finely milled and silky to the touch. It's nicely pigmented too, not powdery at all.

And "Gem of Roses" looks oddly familiar no?

Why? Tell you in a minute, here are swatches of the two products first. "WoC" on the left and "GoR" on the right.

Here's a comparison to the other coral-orange blushes I own, and to a total "GoR" dupe!

Yes! "GoR" is soooo similar to MAC's "Fanfare" lipstick!!! Oh mai gawd!

Just that with "Fanfare" being a cremesheen, it's more opaque and stickier, whereas "GoR" is just slightly sheerer and thinner in consistancy. If you look closely, 'Fanfare" is also a tiny bit more pink, while "GoR" is more reddish. But seriously, both of them look the same on my lips. -___-

The only good thing about getting "GoR"  was that I liked how it went on sheerer on my lips, with it being a lustre. I'm still hesitant about  wearing "Fanfare" out sometimes, as I find it's too bright. But with "GoR", it's definitely more wearable for me! Plus, I've had a more than a few people complimenting on the lip colour when I wore it during work, so I can be sure it's a good colour for me. Doesn't hurt to have two tubes of the similar colour then, I guess.

But I'm really satisfied with "WoC", cos I own nothing like that in my small collection of cosmetics. Both "Peachy Keen" and "Stereo Rose" look quite different from "WoC". Also, I absolutely love its bright pure orange colour and it having a matte finish!

See the difference in the sheen? "Stereo Rose" is the most shimmery, "WoC" is matte while "Peachy Keen" is in the middle.

You're probably surprised at why I didn't pick up any MSF despite declaring my undying love and devotion to them. I really wanted to pick up the MSF in "Pearl", but somehow the MAC counters didn't bring them into SG! ARGH! I checked the MAC outlets at Tangs, Ion Orchard and Ngee Ann City and "Pearl" was sadly MIA. The other MSFs I felt were too glittery and the colours were just meh.

Anyway, thanks for viewing this 'haul' post, I'll be posting up some LOTDs in which I wore "WoC". I'm really looking forward to MAC's "MAC Me Over" collection in late August - September though; I'm currently eyeing a few of the lipstick, paint pots and gel liners. I may get my grubby hands on them if I'm still in New York! Stay tuned!!

And it's all thanks to a fellow onsugarette, crazy4mac!

She updated her sales post on her blog not too long ago and I pounced onto the chance to get MAC's cremesheen lipstick in "Crosswire". At that point of time, it was unfortunate for me that the lipstick has already been sold, and I was going to let the thought of it go when she offered to B2M a lipstick of my choice at the price of S$10. How wonderful and sweet of her to do that!

So I went swatchy-swatch crazy online and in the MAC store to pick out a shade. Here are some of the swatches I returned with, compared to my recently-bought Stage lippies.

Oh yah, and there's my Korres Lip Butter in "Mango" at the bottom. Colour payoff for that lip balm is really not bad. :)

Aside from "Crosswire", I had wanted "Ravishing" initially cos it looked awesome in online swatches, but it was a totally different story when I swatched it in the MAC store. Luckily I went down to see it for myself first, lesson learnt!

In the end, I picked "Fanfare" and I was beside myself with excitement when I received it in my mailbox a few days back.

"Fanfare" is described as a mid-tone yellow pink on MAC's website.

Here is a better swatch comparing my Stage lipsticks to "Fanfare". They are quite different.

You can see that "Fanfare" is pinker and slightly darker than the other bright orange shades of my Stage lipsticks. On me, it appears as a very warm, coral-ly kind of pink; somewhat similar to my natural my lip colour, but pinker and brighter.

And here are my lip swatches:

I love the texture of this lipstick! It's creamy and easy to apply, but unlike NYX lipsticks, this doesn't have much slip, so it lasts so much longer. I like that it dries down to a tacky finish but it doesn't dry out my lips. I know my NYX lippies go on very smoothly and creamily, but they make my lips so dry after settling down.

Full-face pics with the lippie:

And I dig this pic of me with my green cupboard as the background, ha ha!

Thanks for viewing this entry, I'm buried deep deep in the midst of exams preparations now! Take care everyone~

I initially wanted to do this tag a few weeks back, after I saw Jen's (one of the YouTube makeup gurus that I subscribe to) "Naughty & Nice" list. Basically, it's just telling people which 5 products worked for you (nice) and which 5 didn't (naughty) for the Year 2010 and I thought it would be a nice end to the year. Anyway, everyone was coming up with their "My Favourites For 2010" lists so I'm doing this version of it. :)

Naughty List

[Credits to Zaleha/aizutto for the LUS makeup wipes picture]

1. LUS Makeup Remover Wipes

Yeah, I couldn't wait to throw away the thing after I was finally through with it, hence the "khoping" of Zaleha's picture. To me, it was the smelliest thing that I've ever placed on my face and I'm not even particular about smells at all (I still smother myself in my stinky baby pillow every night). Couple that with a mediocre cleansing ability and its relative small size, and you get item 1 on my naughty list.

2.  Dejavu Lash Knockout Mascara

I was trying to sell it away and am still trying to sell it away, cos it simply doesn't work for me. I know a lot of people raved about this product and the wonderful volume it gives to their lashes but this, for me, it's just clumps galore! Plus, I don't really appreciate the gigantic bristle brush; it threatens to poke me in the eye.

3.  Maybelline Gel Liner

Smudges like nobody's business. That's enough for me to blacklist it. (Read the full review here)

4. L'oreal Elnett Hair Spray

Ha ha, its weird cos almost everyone out there is raving about this product but I just don't get its hype. For me, it doesn't hold at all (a light breeze and my fringe is flopping all over the place) and granted it combs out easily, the other hairsprays that I've tried all comb out easily! Really annoyed with its non-present hold.

5. L'oreal Hair Spa For Dry and Damaged Hair

Once again, it was something that was recommended on the flowerpod forums so I bought a tub to try...and it didn't nothing for my hair. Except smell really nice and coconutty (I think that's the only part I liked about this product). It didn't moisturize and smoothen out my hair, and it weighed my hair down and made it slightly oily after 1/2 a day; it was just a big no-no. I still have 1/2 a tub left and I've got no idea what to do with it.

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Nice List

Ha ha, it seems that I've blacklisted a lot of L'oreal products but it gets better with the nice list. :]

1. Smashbox Long Wear Lip Gloss in "Boundless"

That's that beautiful coral colour you see in the picture. I was using this lip gloss to death when I was working in Sephora cos it's that amazing! And apparently everyone loved how it looked too, cos after I started wearing it, people started buying it and in 3-4 days it was sold out. :) It is very thick and sometimes clumps at the corners of the lips since it's a long-wear lip gloss, but I didn't mind that (just put a thin layer) and it lasted at least 4 hours on me. Still super glossy, the colour still as vibrant, plus it's got SPF15. Too bad it's so freaking expensive.

2. Lo'real 24 Hour Gel Liner

Ha ha, I don't hate all L'oreal products; in fact, I think a lot of their products are actually pretty good! This gel liner for instance. It was everything the Maybelline one wasn't - it didn't smudge, it lasted for more than 18 hours, it's really black and it's all spongey and creamy. And cheap too, if you can get it at S$10 at the L'oreal sale. :)

3. Kerastase Nectar thermique Leave-in Conditioner

I'm addicted to this stuff. One, it smells heavenly! Two, it has this amazing ability to straighten my hair and curl it in so that it doesn't dry all flipping out with cow licks. Three, it makes my hair so glossy and gives me that mush sought-after halo on the crown of my head. Four, it's got heat protective properties. Enough said.

4. MAC Mineralized Skin Finish in "By Candlelight"

Yay, at least 1 MAC item made it to my list and it's the MSF that I've been religiously using every day! Not because I wanna hit-pan on it or something, but I just love the sheer glow of colour it gives to my cheeks. And it's an awesome highlighter! This follows me everywhere I go, from east to west of Sg to Malaysia when I went over for a holiday 2 days back.

5. Tresemme Hair Products

Ok, this is technically not an item (cheating..?) but I love everything from this hair care brand. I'm digging their shampoos, their conditioners are awesome and I love the heat protectant spray. It really makes a difference when I style my hair with my straightening iron, and I think it's this spray, plus my Kerastase leave-in, that still keeps my hair healthy and smooth with my daily straightening/curling.

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So that's my list for 2010, which will be ending in 12 hours time. If you haven't done your favourites list or if you're interested in doing this tag, go ahead and share what worked for you and what didn't! Leave a comment behind on the link so that I can read it ok, cos I'm super kay poh and super interested in your items too!

Happy New Year everyone!

Just wondering if anyone will be going for the mega flea market which is on this weekend at the Expo?

I'll be going straight after class, early in the morning, just because of Smoochiezzz's booth there (click on the link for more preview pics!). Look at the stuff she'll be bringing there!

e.l.f cosmetics, both studio and the $1 line~

OPI polishes are going at $8.

Marc Jacobs Braclets~

Nyx stuff!!! *squeals*

And heard she's bringing MAC cosmetics and brushes, and selling them at very discounted prices too! There's also clothes and shoes from Forever21 and Gmarket that people didn't claim. :)

I'm not advertising her flea sale cos I'm her fan/supporter or what; I just feel that the things she sells are authentic, cheap and really good. Since it's such a good bargain, why not spread the word right? And not forgetting there'll be other booths around, selling equally nice stuff I should think.

Anyway, anyone wants me to CP anything? Do leave a comment, with your handphone number, quick alright? I'll be checking once before I leave school tomorrow, and I'll sms you to confirm the stuff you want. Please note that I'll be happy to get the stuff for you guys, but payment should be done through internet bank transfers and promptly after I have confirmed your stuff. We can meet up to pass you the stuff, or through mail if meet ups aren't convenient (given that I'm still having school).

The flea market will be on from tomorrow (Fri) till Sunday though, so no hurry. You guys can always go down when you have the time. :) Hope to see some familiar faces then, cheers!

Yeap, necessity is the mother of all inventions. And I need a black lipgloss badly! I can't stop thinking about black lip glosses - I think about them when I trawl through the net for swatches, I think of them as I lie in bed and slowly falling into dream land, I dream of them, I wake up in the morning with my head full of "black-lip-gloss" thoughts, yada yada.

The want need stemmed from looking at this 1.5 weeks back:

[Credits go to Temptalia~ See her beautiful face? :D]

Gahh, the loveliness of MAC's "Wrong Spell" lip gloss! Yeah, I know it's a deep DEEP burgundy with plum/bronzy undertones, but a black lip gloss would be cooler no? Actually I was looking for a dupe of this lip gloss before I digressed into black ones. *shrugs* Either way, I want something like this.

I do think NYX has a couple of Megashine lip glosses which are pretty close dupes, like "Deep Bronze", "Vixen" and "Black". Somehow, "Black" seems to be discontinued while I'm impatiently waiting for Cherryculture to have another 20% discount sale.

So I decided to do some experimenting on my own~

And here's what I ended up with:

It's a lot darker/goth-ier in real life, the camera just washes out all the colour in the strong afternoon sun.

Full face pics, without a single ounce of makeup on! Eyebags, dayum~

And my favourite pic outta' the whole lot!

So what did I do???

Basically, I just dabbed a bit of MAC's "Beauty Marked" e/s over my lip balm, then top it off with a lip gloss. Yes, that's how desperate I was to get dark lips!!! It never really occurred to me that e/s can be applied on the lips, and I a little hesitant - what if the e/s felt awful and all gritty on my lips? What if it tasted bad?? What if it dried my tongue out???

Well, none of that happened. In fact, I would say that if you really want to put e/s on your lips, use good quality ones like those from MAC. I hardly felt anything with it on - no gritty-ness, no powdery-ness, no taste. And a little bit of "Beauty Marked" goes a long way! I dabbed on too much at first and looked like I got punched in the lip and it was rotting away.

Ohh, forgot to add in, this is the comparison pic with and without the black lip colour. Left without, right with. :)

If you dig a deeper lip colour, you can always dab on more e/s but I was fine with this amount. Don't wanna appear goth! Anyway, this is just a cheapo, temporary solution to my black lip colour want, until I get my hands on something (thinking of Lancome's Juicy Tube in "Icon of Stage").

And to prove that it works, I actually wore it out to my friend's solemnization! That will be the next post though, a LOTD with dark lips. Stay tuned!

Here's my 2nd time using Beauty Marked for a smokey eye do - wore it for a dinner with a friend who was celebrating his birthday.

Pardon if my face looks greasy; by the time I took these pics was nearing midnight and I had this on since 8 a.m. That's after half a day in school and in the science laboratory, another quarter of a day at my friend's house baking cookies (the heat!!!) and the rest of the night having spicy Korean food in a crowded restaurant (once again, the heat!) and then MORE walking.

It's amazing my makeup managed to hold up till then.

And you can probably tell how tired I am from my eyebags - school sucks big time.

Nah, can't be bothered to cover it with concealer. Shall show the world how haggard NTU science school makes us, rawr!!! Anyway, I know my friend took some pics of the korean food we had, the restaurant as well as a few group pictures but I'm not sure if he's gonna upload it anytime soon. If he does, I shall include them in this post!

Till then, thanks for looking at this LOTD (and my eyebags) and take care! :)

Remember I was talking about MAC destiny the other day? (well, in the previous post to be exact)

This is destiny working at its best!

My very first MAC haul!!!

And I managed to get the greatly-raved Stereo Rose. That, and Petticoat MSF. Ha ha, I knew my very first MAc products are going to be MSFs, cos I love them so much!

A little story on my MAC destiny - I actually arrived at Tampines Mall's Mac booth at 11 a.m. and the first thing I asked to see were the items from "In The Groove". So the BA showed me the items which were still on the counter and not yet up on display, and I spotted Stereo Rose immediately. I asked for a piece, she said it was sold out even before they opened! Apparently, the MSF was so popular that there was a queue of people outside the shop at 10 a.m., waiting to go in and purchase it. So I was 1 hr late and I resigned to disappointment. I mean, those people deserved it cos they blardy queued up at 10 a.m. for it!

Nevermind, I started swatching the other items and a few minutes later, the BA informed me that there was 1 more Stereo Rose left! That thing was playing hide and seek with me! I felt really euphoric for a moment, until she came back and said it was reserved for a lady who was coming back to exchange another MSf for it. Lol, my euphoria vanished, like, in a split second! Seriously, mood roller coaster ride for me.

Nevermind, resign to disappointment for the 2nd time, went back to my swatch fest. The lady came, tried out her Stereo Rose, exchanged something and left. Then the BA came back to serve me...and in her hand was a piece of Stereo Rose. I blinked at her.

"Didn't the lady just come back to exchange...?"

"Ohh, she exchanged her Stereo Rose for another Stereo Rose." *flat look on the BA's face*

"Oh. Ohhh, ha ha, alright, I'll take that! LOL!"

And that's how I got my Stereo Rose, the last piece in the store!

Alright, story-telling session done, let's get on with the swatches!

First up, the gorgeous Petticoat!

Veinings! I asked to choose the one with more veinings for darker colour payoff. See the gorgeous gold and raspberry swirls? *swoons*

The 1st finger was swiped on an area with no veinings while the 2nd finger was swiped over the vein-rich area. You can see the obvious colour difference, which makes this MSF very versatile.

Left strip is the swatch from the vein-rich area, the right strip is from the area with no veins.

Next up, pic spam of Stereo Rose (my naughty little MSF)!

Veinings...not much though. But still a beautiful coral colour!

Here's the swatch of Stereo Rose, which is the strip on the most right. You can probably see it has much more orangey-coral colour as compared to Petticoat.

However, my MAC virginity didn't go to these 2 MSFs - it actually went to "By Candlelight" which I purchased 2nd hand from naphula!

She bought it as a highlighter but the colour didn't show up on her darker skin tone and she didn't like the sparkles, so I bought it from her since I'm fairer.

Swatch comparisons of the MSFs, with "By Candlelight" at the far left. The colour is really a faint gold-pink unless you buff on more.

Me cam-whoring with all  the swatches, and I happen to be wearing "By Candlelight" on my cheeks then. It does show up on me as a very light and natural flush, just that I have to buff in more.

Hope you guys enjoyed this destiny-pic spam entry, cheers!

Ohh. Mah. Gawd!!!

MAC's In The Groove collection is launching this Friday, 9th July!

[Pic credited to Temptalia~]

Signs that MAC destiny awaits me:

1) I'm off work on Friday itself.

2) Tampines has a branch, which is just 20 mins away.

3) And most importantly, I just got my pay!!!

Woo hoo!!!

Now it's up to destiny if I can own that (in)famous Stereo Rose.

.... ... But omg, all those mineralized e/s and blushes!!! I will go swatch-crazy that day.

Hope you guys are looking forward to it as well. Shall update if I manage to haul anything! Toodles~