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

A thousand apologies for being MIA for so long, lovely people! I've been busy visiting places, eating, shopping, then getting from New York to Canada and finally settling down for school here in Montreal.

I've been away from home for.. hmm, almost a month now. Things are awesome here, Montreal is a lovely place to be in! Of course I found the time to upload loads of pictures onto my FaceBook, but I guess only the onsugarettes who are on my friend list can vew them. I'll try posting the FB link on a separate post later.

Without further ado, let's show you all what I bought while I was in the Big Apple for 1 week!

Yeah, that's all the stuff and I crammed it all in that Sephora carrier. It may not look a lot, but it burnt a big hole in my wallet!

First up, mascaras!

I bought all the mascaras that I've heard so much hype about and isn't available in SG. From left to right, that's the Maybelline One By One, The Falsies Flared and 2 Covergirl Lashblast. The mascaras averaged about US$7-8 each, which isn't expensive considering how much mascaras cost in SG.

Then I got some Milani stuff!

Actually I wanted to get way more, but I either couldn't find the items I wanted or the lack of money in my wallet prevented me from doing so. I got 3 of their baked blushes (Luminoso, Rose D'oro and Bellissimo Bronze) and 1 Liquif'eye liner in "Black" (ha ha, how predictable!).

My Wet N Wild purchases more than made up for my inadequate loot on Milani. I went crazy on the brand!

Aside from that single gel eyeliner, which I've heard SOOO many good things about, the rest are their eyeshadows.

I got 3 trios, which only differ by a bit given the fact that they belong to the same colour family; it is practical for me to buy these though, since these are the colours I will reach out for more frequently.

And I managed to fulfill my aim of getting a "Comfort Zone" back-up! Together with the "Blue Had Me At Hello" and the two famous 6-pan palettes, "Vanity" and "Lust". I'm still aiming to get the "Petal Pusher" palette though, maybe when I return to New York in December...

Then along came my Sephora haul. Seriously, I spent money like I drink water when I'm in the Sephora's in USA, seeing how I don't purchase much from our local branches.

Another mission accomplished, and that it getting my Naked palette (like finally)! I was at Times Square's Sephora on the day they launched the Urban Decay Book of Shadows IV, and I was this close to getting it...but after seeing how much I had left in my wallet, I decided to be practical (come on, the colours weren't that fantastic; the packaging the shadows were in were another story though).

I bought the sample set of liquid tints from Benefit, a travel size tube of Laura Mercier's tinted moisturizer and a makeup set from LORAC, which came like this (but I threw the packaging away):

The set includes a baked eyeshadow trio which I love using (the quality and pigmentation is simply amazing), a mascara (3D lashes or something), a marker type liquid eyeliner which I also adore (it's even better than the Japanese one that I own, quality is fantastic), a blush (beautiful matte mauve shade) and a lipgloss. All for US$39, super reasonable can?

Aside from that, I got my first MAC fluidline from New York too. It's in the shade "Avenue" from the MAC Me Over collection that recently launched.

I was still in NYC when it launched so I popped by a MAC boutique and swatched all the goodies from the collection. I was really tempted to get one of the lipsticks and the much-hyped-about "Stunner" blush... but nah! Budget budget!!! This gel liner was US$16~ after taxes btw, which is so much cheaper than the price in SG.

I got some necessities too, nothing much to say about these items. There's the teeth bleaching gel, Mario Badescu's silver powder (freaking cheap here in the states), a bottle of Seche Vite and a small tube of Queen Helene's Mint Julep mask to try.

Last but not least, how can I not try Lush when there are so many Lush shops here?

So I got me some "Big" shampoo and some "Porridge" bar soap. The friendly sales girl threw in a sample of the "Veganese" hair conditioner for me to try out with the shampoo, good customer service I must say!

So that's my haul from New York. Don't fret, I bought even more cosmetics here in Canada! I'll be sharing them with you guys soon. Also, I'll be tryin out the FB photobook links, not sure if they will work here. It's better to view them via FB cos there's so many pictures, it's impossible for me to upload them onto Onsugar, ha ha!

Anyway, thanks for reading, you guys take care in SG! I'll write again soon~

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!

-- CONTEST CLOSED after ImmaPink's entry --

I came home after an onslaught of exams to this lovely and comforting sight.

Q__Q How I love the pink hearts banner around this parcel, so sweet. Sorry for the messy erasing of my address.

This was sent by Yippy (gosh, I still haven't asked for her real name) to review some of the cosmetics that she's currently selling on her newly opened blogshop, Under-Twenty20. A few weeks back, she contacted me and asked for my opinion on some of the hotter-selling products in Sephora as well as some advice for her up-and-coming blogshop. For the short time that I've worked at Sephora, I kinda knew what was good and what wasn't so hot, so I just shared with her accordingly, and surprise! She asked me for some product reviewing a week back, and here's the lovely package she sent.

It was a BIG relief to an exam-mangled me and I proceeded excitedly to open the package. All the items, carefully bubble-wrapped in the box!

And here's what I got:

Left to right:

1) Maybelline Dream Matte Powder in "Ivory"

2) L'oreal HIP Jelly Balm in "Savory" (salty lip balm?? o_O)

3) Milani Sunset Duos Blush and Bronzer in "Sunset City"

4) Urban Decay Lipstick in "Vinyl"

5) Milani Lip Mixer in 'Lip Party"

6) Rimmel Volume Booster Lip Colour in "Seduce"

Close-ups of the face products:

I believe Maybelline's Dream Matte powder has always been an highly-raved product and it's not sold here in SG (WTH right?). And the bronzer blush duo from Milani looks inviting~

Close-ups of lip products:

I'm freaking excited to try the lip products as you guys probably can tell by now I'm a huge eye and lip product fan (all ye' eyeshadows and lip glosses, come to mama!!!). Damn, Yippy is accurate at aiming for my cosmetics soft spot~

As promised, I will be opening the products and reviewing them. If you pop over to her blog, you'll see that she's selling a lot of highly-raved products at very affordable prices (Urban Decay at S$15, OMG!) and there's some concern with the authenticity. I'll be testing and scrutinizing the items so I'll be writing up on how I feel about them and the authenticity on my part. Soon, after my exams I mean. Right now, I'm still swarmed by 3 more papers so there's simply no time for me to play with these new babies yet. But, I'll be uploading the swatches in the next post soon.

PLUS!

Stay on for this, cos I'm holding a small giveaway now~ Yippy has shared so many products with me (bless her generous little soul) that I want to spread the love and christmas cheer with all my lovely followers!

So what will you be getting?

Yes, you'll be receiving the Maybelline Dream Matte Powder and Rimmel Volume Booster Lip Colour! If you search online for reviews of the two products, I believe you'll come across a lot of good feedback.

How to join?

Step 1: Go to Yippy's blogshop (click here) and browse around.

Step 2: Leave a comment here (under this post) telling me which products interest you the most, or what you'd like to see her selling in the future.

Step 3: Leave your email and name behind too, so that I can contact you if you win. :)

Step 4: Oh gosh, can't believe I forgot this. Leave your blog post add behind if you've shared this on your blog alright? :D

It's as simple as that!

What are the rules?

1) Must be a follower of my blog

2) Comment only once please.

3) If you share this on your blog, you'll get an additional entry.

4) Winners will be selected by random lot drawing. I think I'll get my 9 year old sister to help me out with this! :)

5) Opened to readers in Singapore only.

6) Prizes will be distributed by normal mail.

What is the dateline?

Giveaway ends on the 30th of December, at 11:59 p.m.

That's all for now. Please note that I'm not paid to advertise for these products or Yippy's blogshop and even though I received the items for free, my review remains neutral. It's also my personal choice to share these lovely gifts with you. I really hope you guys enter so that I can spread the christmas cheer that Yippy has given me~ All the best and take care, people!

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!