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

I was really into greens last week, not a colour you see me often spotting on my lids, but here's 2 LOTDs featuring it!

LOTD #1) Smokey green with Wet 'N' Wild's Comfort Zone palette

Close-ups of the eye makeup:

Though this is a green smokey eye, I love how there's this overall hint of gold through out all the colours I used. Definitely complimentary with our warm asian skin tones!

This picture of my eye is just to let you see my very visible lower lashes, all thanks to Clinique's Bottom Lash mascara! The wand is SO tiny, but it coats and thickens each and every lower lash very well! The down side would probably be that it takes much longer to put on mascara that way, but I'm still digging the product!

And... a smile for you~

LOTD #2) CHEAP Aqua-gold look

Why do I say that? Because that beautiful teal shade is actually Daiso's S$2 pigment. Which is the price for 1 big bottle and I only used a smidgen here. All it needs is a good base, which will make the colour really pop. The gold shade is from my very first eyeshadow palette, which is the copper L'oreal Open Eyes palette that has been with me since Nov 2009.

Close-ups of the eye makeup:

Well okay, maybe it's not that cheap, cos I forgot to mention the sky blue eyeliner, which is Urban Decay's 24/7 eye pencil in "Deviant". But I got that for free, so it's still considered 'cheap'!

Pouty face~

Ha ha, but I really like this look a lot. It's very summery and ocean-y! And who doesn't like it when cheap products give you as good a result as high end products? xD

Once again, thanks for looking at this post, people!

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!

Warning: Image heavy!

Alright, a quick post before I go back to mugging my ass off! Here are the swatches of the products that Ng Li (Yippy's real name, now I can stop "Yippy-ing" her) sent me. They are the Milani Sunset Blusher and Bronzer Duo, the Milani Lip Mixer Gloss, the Urban Decay Lipstick in "Vinyl" and the L'oreal HIP Jelly balm.

1) Milani's Sunset Blusher and Bronzer Duo in "Sunset City"

Contouring my face with it:

With the bronzer

Without the bronzer

Full-face picture

Onto the lip products~ From top to bottom: L'oreal's HIP Jelly Balm in "Savory", Milani's Lip Mixer gloss in "Lip Party" and Urban Decay's Lipstick in "Vinyl"

This is how my normal lip looks like without anything on (lip moustache :D):

2) L'oreal HIp Jelly Balm

In natural lighting

With flash

3) Milani's Lip Mixer

In natural lighting

With flash

4) Urban Decay Lipstick

Using it as a stain

Using it in its full pow-wow colour!

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I spot a duochrome thingy with the lipstick~ Anyway, reviews will be up in a while's time as I chiong to finish up with my exams. If you haven't joined my mini giveaway, do take part cos I think the prizes are pretty good! Thanks for viewing, take care people. :)

Heh, I'm kinda suffering from insomnia now so I decided to just post up this look that I tried earlier on today. *grin*

Ahh, who am I kidding?! Blame that cup of coffee I had at 1 a.m. in the morning just now.. =__=

But anyway, getting back to the topic! I was surfing around YouTube, looking for inspiration, when I chanced upon MissChievious' makeup vid featuring glossy eye makeup. Oh gosh, it looks so chic and classy and I knew I had to try it out!

She used this phased-out MAC gel-like product, which I obviously do not have, but I still decided to try it out with an alternative: lip gloss. People were suggesting to use either this or Vaseline, or some limited edition Chanel eye gloss (which I also dismally lack).

And here's the outcome:

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Well first, I had to do a smokey eye, so I whipped out my MUFE Aqua Cream #1 and my L'oreal 24 Hour Gel Liner. These two products make a wicked smokey eye in 5 minutes flat, with fingers for application. :) Just blend and smudge like crazy! Here's the un-glossed version:

I decided a glossy eye would go very well with a fully matte face, so I put on more loose powder than usual, did a bit of contouring (normally I won't bother with this and just reach out for my MSF to highlight) and applied a very pale pink matte blush. Which was actually an eyeshadow from my 88 palette, cos I sadly do not own any matte pink blush. But it still worked out fine; I love multi-tasking a product anyway.

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After which comes version 2, the glossfied eye. I just dabbed on some clear lip gloss here.

(Ha ha, yep, I'm fully aware that my smokey eye is unequal on both eyes and I have more on the right eye. It's always been a flaw of mine, which means more practice is needed!)

But you can't really see much of that here isn't it? And juicy-looking eyelids, whoo~ :D

And this was my aim, which I thought it turned out pretty well...aside from the uneveness of my eyeshadow. It's definitely a look I would try wearing out for evening events, but do note that it will crease. I don't really mind, cos I think creasing fits this grungy look and I don't really have double eyelids so there won't be much creasing on me anyway. Finally, benefita of having monolids and little lid space!

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But before I wiped everything off, I took it a step further and added some glitter~

(without flash)

(with flash)

I used the Etude House Tear Drop Liner on the middle of the lid, at the inner corner and swiped a bit of my curled lashes. You'll probably notice it amps up the glossiness even more, especially in the photo taken with flash.

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So here's the final, most glittery look taken with flash...

...and taken in natural lighting.

1 makeup look, 3 different sides to it! Multi-tasking, tsk, it rocks my socks~

And speaking of which, do you know that gloss helps to wipe eye makeup off very easily?!? I mean, we're talking about the non-smudgeable MUFE Aqua Cream and the L'oreal gel liner which is suppose to last for 24 hours.

And they all came off easily in 1 swipe of a tissue paper. Without any makeup remover on.

And you'll end up with a very abstract, very messy but very interesting kind of "look"! Ha ha, how fun is that? :D Anyway, do try it out if it amuses you. I think it's something unusual and fun to do this holiday season~ So till then, thanks for looking and take care~ *goes to bed*

I'm not sure if you've notice, but every time exams come around and it's my study week, I end up using most of the time playing with my makeup and doing LOTDs instead. Ha ha, what a waste, I know and I think my results reflect it too. But it really helps to de-stress!

Anyway, I was reading Jerlaine's blog and saw this awesome corally-bronzey LOTD by JulieG713. She named it the "Hot and Sultry, Summer Party Look". I thought it looked more romantic sunset-ish. So I just meshed up the names and got my lame LOTD title. o__o

Jerlaine did her take on it, and I thought it worked wonderfully on her monolids (so pretty~) so I'm trying it out too! Plus, I absolutely love the colour combi, don't you too?!?!

Zehh eyeeesss...

Sparklies sparklies, at the inner corners of my eyes, I love it!!! It's the Etude House Tear Drop Eye Liner that sweet miwitch bestowed on me, and I absolutely adore its glittery effect~ And the lashes, gosh. L'oreal Shocking Volume mascara primer + M. Majorca's Frame Plus = lashes to the high heavens! (Now if only the mascara wasn't sooo blardy difficult to get off.)

Products used: All eyeshadows were from my 88 original palette (how I miss using it!), NYX Jumbo Eye Pencil in "Milk" as a base, UDPP, MUFE Aqua Cream in "5", Loreal 24 Hour Gel Liner, Etude House Tear Drop Liner, Loreal Shocking Volume Mascara, M. Majorca Frame Plus, Silkygirl Eyebrow Pencil, MAC MSF in "By Candlelight", random lip liner from Malaysia and last but not least, the Carslan lipgloss miwitch gave me.

A few more selcas~

I feel that this look definitely needs a full pair of eyebrows to frame the eyes and face, hence the fully-coloured in brows. :]

Listening to my iPod while messing around with makeup = ultimate de-stress!

Oh, and remember I was saying that I'm currently recovering from a flu too? Well, I'm 80% fine now, but I'm still having the whiffles. So here's a few un-glam candids of me stemming the leaky nose.

Ha ha ha, how I love cam-whoring! *cough* Anyway, thanks for looking at the pic spam, take care dearies~

Amy (amyrleex) is kinda psychic. Because she sort of predicted that I would be featuring my newly bought L'oreal quad for this post. Ha ha, I was grinning at the 'mere coincidence'! But anyway, as always, I can't resist opening and experimenting with new eye eyeshadows, so here's my look for the quad. :)

It's green, in spirit of Hari Raya Haji that just passed.

I tried following the application method behind the quad but failed miserably. How is it possible to do a green-over-the-lid and brown-in-the-crease look on a monolidder like me? For one, we don't have enough lid space as it is; two, we don't have double eyelids to hide the green and exploit the brown for a full smokey effect; three, maybe my skills isn't there yet. Whatever it was, it just looked really weird and "ahjumma-ish", so I switched over to this more Asian-eye-friendly way.

Oh btw, I'm digging the white highlighter shade from the quad! L'oreal quads always have the best highlighter shades IMO. They tend to be shimmery/glittery though, so you'll have to look somewhere else if you want a matte highlighter.

And since I got the L'oreal Shocking Volume Mascara along with the quad, might as well use it! It's those two-sided kind with a white/grey base and a comb-applicator black mascara. Look at the ridiculous amount of eyelashes it gave me! :D The mascara tends to be clumpy though, hence the false-eyelashes illusion.

Since I had used all L'oreal products for my eyes, might as well go with the flow and put on a L'oreal blusher. It's the Blush Delice in "True Rose", my very first blush. I'm desperately trying to hit-pan with it and I think I'm halfway there!. This was going for 4 for S$20 at the L'oreal sale, Diana video blogged about it. The blush is very pigmented and the smell is.. *swoons* I can sniff it all day!

Anyway, you probably can't see my blusher here cos I tend to be very light-handed with them.

That's all for now, thanks for reading people~

Ha ha, yes, I went to the L'oreal sale again. Something about these two words, "L'oreal" and "Sale" put together makes it irresistible! Even if I've gone a hundred times, I would still go - it is that compelling! But actually, anything with "sale" would make me wanna go..but that's another story for another day.

First up, I'll like to share with you the freebies I've received from Regina (littlefrozengirl)! She had a little impromptu contest sometime ago, on guessing what e/s she had on in a particular EOTD, and I guessed correctly. :) Ta da, the lovely envelope, which I lovingly ripped apart!

(Regina, hope you don't mind me sharing the note. It's so sweet!)

And the goodies, dayum~

Omg, Coca cola flavoured lipsmackers! I wasn't expecting that at all cos we only entered for the e/s palette. What a nice surprise, ha ha! Of course needless to say, I tore open the packaging and took a whiff of the lip balm.

*drools*

Smells exactly like the stuff, maybe just a bit "lao hong" (flat on the gas)! Anyway, I'm not planning to use it yet, cos I'm still going through my Korres Lip Butter. But I'm excited!

And the BeautyShe Mini palette! Ha ha, it's so cute and exactly like the Ruby Rose one that I bought earlier this year. I gave that one to my sis to play with though, but I'm definitely keeping this one!

Onto the L'oreal sale, this is all that I got. Heh! *smirks at self-control*

The gold wrapping paper and Re-nutrition shampoo are freebies that I got. And I only spent S$20, like WTH right?

On these two items. They were going for 2 for S$20, so cheap! Plus the freebies, the S$20 was well-spent I must say. I'm LOL-ing at my self-control now, cos I went to the L'oreal sale with the mentality of a man going shopping. I went, made a round, grabbed the items I wanted, made another round to make sure I didn't miss out anything good, then promptly went to the cashier and paid up! Ho ho, it all happened in a mere 45 minutes! I swear if I ever got round to writing a book on how to save, this will be one of the tips inside.

Anyway, thanks for reading! Do share if any of you went to the L'oreal sale this time alright? I know Diana (adorebeauty) did!

P.S. Mya, they didn't have the L'oreal 24 Hour Gel Liner this time! Drats! ]:

Battle of the top (and cheap) gel liners!!!

A while back, I decided to switch from pencil liners to gel liners as it's easier to do a wing, and it's less flaky and harsh-looking than my liquid eyeliner. So what's a girl got to do when she wants to try something affordable yet good? I turned to the 2 most common drugstore brand, Maybelline and L'oreal. I did consider on getting MAC's fluidline, Bobbi Brown's or Clinique's gel liners but they were a bit out of my budget, and I wanted to try something low end first.

After using these 2 liners each for a few weeks, I have a clear winner!

Let's go through the routine first though. I started off with Maybelline Studio's Gel Liner.

Pigmentation: A solid black

Texture: I wasn't sure if it's just my tub, but mine was more on the drier, more solid side. It's still creamy, but not like MAC's, which I heard you can stab your brush into. You'll have to run your brush along the surface instead of jabbing into it to get product on. And since it's drier, the product can't be applied on the whole lash line in 1 stroke. You'll have to dip the brush back and get more product.

That being said, it has minimal smudging after application. Good for people with double eyelids and who tend to blink a lot after applying eyeliner.

Hours of Wear: Not too bad, it lasted on me for quite long. But the next problem definitely cut down on the longevity of this eyeliner on me!

Smudge-ability: Omg, it smudged on me like hell!!! It really came as a surprise, cos the first 2-3 times I wore it, it didn't smudge on me at all. I was really happy with the product..until it smudged really badly on me one fine day. And after that ever since, it ran and smudged like crazy!

I was really confused; I thought it was my makeup base since I changed to a more moisturizing (aka oilier) one, so I tried switching back to the mattifying one. It stopped smudging on me once, than the rest of the time is panda eyes galore! Till now, I still don't know what's wrong. Lasted 5-6 hours on me before smudging.

Works on Waterline: Don't know, never tried since it already smudged so badly on me when I use it on my lash line. I didn't want to go to school looking like a drug addict.

Pet Peeve: I really disliked the metal screw cap of the tub. Made the product seem so industrial and crude. Can't Maybelline come up with a nicer packaging?

Cost: S$19.90

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After trying the Maybelline liner for so many times and getting disappointed with each try, I decided to use another brand's - the opportunity came when I got the L'oreal 24 Hour Gel Liner for only S$10 at the recent L'oreal sale. I have to admit, at that time I was skeptical. Isn't L'oreal the same as Maybelline, and won't their gel liner turn out the same?? I mean, their packaged brush is 99.9% identical! Am I making another mistake again?

Well, apparently not, cos the L'oreal gel liner works fantastically on me!!!

[Credits to peanutbutterjellytime~]

Pigmentation: A solid black. I think the pigmentation is on par, if not, slightly better than Maybelline's.

Texture: Oh gosh, I love the texture of this liner! I think this is what Stila's Smudge Pot feels like (according to my friend too) - it's just soft and creamy enough that your brush can jab in a few mm, but not all the way through (aka MAC's Fluidline). And it's definitely not as dry as Maybelline's. While I had to scrape the top of the Maybelline liner, I could actually poke my brush into the L'oreal's and scoop some out. The liner also goes on more smoothly, due to its spongey-er consistency, and you could line the whole lash line with one stroke.

Hours of Wear: I dare say 24 hours, true to its namesake. Well, I wore it for about 15 hours and it was still fine - no fading.

Smudge-ability: Hell no, none at all! Ha ha, I'm so happy with this product!!! Wore it for 15 hours and more, no fading, no smudging whatsoever.

Works on Waterline: A big YES!!! I've got pictures to prove this, and you guys have probably seen my recent eyeliner looks. My waterline in all those pictures is lined with this amazing liner. And the best thing? It doesn't come off the waterline, even after 12 hours! Even Urban Decay 24/7 Eyeliner can't beat that.

Pet Peeve: Since this liner is more jelly in nature, it takes slightly longer than the Maybelline's to dry, thus it does crease if you blink after application. You can see a faded strip, then a darkened strip because some of the liner that has not dried yet has transfered a little. It doesn't smudge, just creases a bit. Simple solution - wait and don't blink for a while more to let the liner dry thoroughly, or do what I do and go over the faded strip another time with a healthy dose of gel liner!

Cost: S$21.90

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I put it to the test by wearing it on both my tightline and waterline to a Bukit Timah excursion last week, lol! My school made us go there to observe plants, and as expected, I sweated buckets while climbing the hill!

Me cam-whoring when I had the chance to! You can see my rosy cheeks and my fringe sticking to my forehead, cause the weather was friggin' hot!

And pictures of my makeup I took that night after the trip.

Please don't mistake the outer smokey outline to be smudges. That's actually the waterproof MUFE Aqua Cream that I used to create the smokey effect. The gel liner is the solid black line closer to my lash line. You can see the liner didn't smudge at all, and it's even still on my waterline after all the sweating, running, climbing and blinking on Bukit Timah.

I must say, my makeup lasted pretty well! And I am totally happy, and thoroughly satisfied with my L'oreal 24 Hour Gel Liner. :)

It's a pity really, since I've heard so many good things about the Maybelline one, and it didn't work on me. I was wondering if it's my eyes or if the product is just not for me, but I'm glad I tried the L'oreal one. If you're considering between these 2 brands, I'll definitely say go for the L'oreal one!

After enduring a whole tiring week of school, I'd always release stress by popping by Watsons or Guardian to see what new stuff there is. And these are what I spotted this afternoon!

(sorry for the lousy quality pics, I took them hastily with my LG handphone)

New L'oreal Eyeshadow quads??? I'm blur as always, so I'm not sure if they're newly released or something, but I haven't seen them around before. A quick search online told me that there's no one in SG that have discussed about these quads yet. So far, I've only seen a few posts on some German beauty blogs (so maybe it was released earlier in Europe or something). Waiting for the sales people to open the testers so that I can swatch them! :D

And I spy with my little eye...

... a new L'oreal foundation case! Ha ha, they're always coming out with really cute designs but unfortunately, I don't use foundation so, nope, they don't apply for me. :)

...and it seems like the Watsons Beauty Buffet thing is back! There were so many Silkygirl items on sale, like 3 for S$20 and stuff. I had a quick look-around Watsons and there were other stuff going for 3 for S$10/S$20/$30 too, but nothing interested me so far. Except these, they're super affordable now! Do check out the promotion if you're thinking of getting some Silkygirl products.

I'm satisfied with my self-control.

Well, kinda. I don't exactly have a lot of money at the end of the month, but I did well within my budget! I only overshot by 5 bucks, ah ha ha ha! xD Anyway, the sales were crazy, I tell 'ya! I got evidence to show you!

My loot from the (chaotic) L'oreal sale.

The hair mask was going for 2 for S$15 so my and my friend shared the deal. The Maybelline Hydra Boost moisturizer was S$6 and the L'oreal Gel Liner S$10.

And the crowd? Judge for yourself, ha ha!

Apparently, there was this "hot deals hour" and everyone was rushing to get the dirt cheap cosmetics - my friend and I were stunned when the crowd started closing in on us, so we just pulled out, stood aside and watched. It's really madness, people can get killed there! We both weren't prepared to risk our lives for cosmetics yet.

On Saturday, we met up again and went for another squeeze at Smoochiezz's flea at The Homeclub. Luckily we got there early and managed to grab some MAC stuff - the crowd got alarmingly large as time passed.

My loot! Here's immense self-control at its best~

The e.l.f Eye Transformer was S$5 (I couldn't get it during the 50% Studio sale), and the 2 MAC e/s were S$15 each. What a steal, seriously.I wanted to get more MAC e/s (my Nylon baby T3T) and e.l.f brushes, but CONTROL!

My very first MAC e/s!

Amazing pigmentation of Beauty Marked (black base with red shimmer) and Black Tied (matte black with silver glitter). Can't wait ti use these babies~

Ahh, that's all for now. I've still been hauling online (Pris aka teaplayground, you know what I'm talking about) so my finances are dwindling, even as my school work piles up high! Anyway, hope you enjoyed this entry, have you gone for any of the sales? Tell me your experience if you had alright? Tootles~