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

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!

Well, strictly speaking, it isn't a haul since it's only 1 item. But inside that 1 item are many items and I was especially psyched at getting this product, so I consider it a mini haul! Ha ha, this is a Christmas gift to myself this year and it came on time too - arrived at my doorstep on the evening of 22nd Dec.

When I saw this package on my table, I went "WTHOMFGBBQRIHGKDEGWIUUIIII!" and instantly retrieved my trusty letter opener to rip the package open.

And the most gorgeous packaging ever! Even in my short time obsessing about cosmetics, I know nice packaging when I see one alright? Not that noob. :)

And all the innards of the package, fully exposed for you guys to see.

Care card..?

Information pamphlet.

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And introducing to you, the Sigma "Naughty In Black" Travel Brush Kit! Lovely brush roll, and it matches my nails too~

Here's how big it is compared to my arm.

And what you get after opening the brush roll.

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Even though this is a travel kit with supposedly travel-sized brushes, they don't feel mini and travel-ly at all. I would actually consider the face brushes almost full-sized (I know the real full-sized ones are enormous!) and the eye brushes, though smaller than usual, are a good size to "handle" with (no pun intended).

The kit comes with 3 face brushes: Large Powder F30, Large Angled Contour F40 and the Foundation Brush F60.

It also includes 3 eye brushes: the Tapered Blending E40, Eye shading E55 and the Pencil E30 . The last one is the concealer brush F70.

Not sure if you can see from this picture but they're pretty big and sturdy brushes. The wooden handles feel solid (like can whack people with) and the metal ferrels are really firm.

But I didn't only get these 7 brushes, I got 2 goodies thrown in with my order! This kit came with a free Duo Fibre F50 Stippling Brush.

And I totally wasn't expecting this, but I received the Blending E25 Eye brush too! It was suppose to come free with the premium kit (the duo fibre was for the travel kits) but they threw this in for me as well.

I SUPER LOVE this brush can?!?! I've used it for a few times now, and it not only applies e/s like a dream, it blends impeccably well too! It's said to be a dupe of the MAC 217 I think. Omg, I want to marry this brush.

So here are all the brushes I got with just 1 simple travel kit order. Awesome-ness~

And since I'm going to Malaysia soon for a short holiday (aka spree), this will be the set that I'll be toggling along~

Yep, that little seemingly insignificant pocket is actually big enough to stuff my eye liner and e.l.f brushes.

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Last but not least, I'm selling off the Foundation Brush F60 and the Concealer Brush E70. I'm kinda sad to make my Sigma brushes part ways since they're all part of the travel kit family, but I have absolutely no use for the foundation and concealer brush so I thought, might as well sell to to some kind person who will at least put them to good use.

The Foundation Brush is going for S$10.00. The Concealer brush is going for S$8.00.

I am selling it at the discounted prices I got this set for, so I'm not making any profit or loss. Just want to pass these on to someone who will use them well. Prices include normal postage. Do leave a comment if you're interested in getting them alright?

P.S. Thinking of selling the Duo Fibre F50 brush too, but I may want to keep it for myself to use with my MUFE Aqua Cream. If anyone is interested and offers a good enough price, I may just sell it. As again, do leave a comment if intrested!

Anyway, thanks for viewing and apologies for the pic spam! Just that I'm so spazzed about this travel kit, I had to share most of the pictures I took with you guys. Merry Belated Christmas and have a Happy Boxing Day!!!

I went kinda psycho last night. Instead of studying for my last paper (YESSSSS, finally), I spent 2 hours adorning my nails for them to be worthy of the upcoming christmas celebrations!

Ahh, exams, just let Santa Claus screw you.

Presenting my very glittery, very elaborate set of festive nails! Classic too~

Sparkly sparkly holographic awesomeness~~~

The black was actually Manglaze's Matte black polish, but I painted Poshe's top coat over it and it became a nice shimmery black. :) Who says the polish is only for veiny man hands? Mine's such a girly rendition.

The ribbon design (I love how it resembles gift wrappings) was done with my Konad set and China Glaze's "Millennium" Khrome polish. The glittery tips are with Etude House's glitter polish.

Lastly, when you have such gorgeous nails, who wouldn't like hiding your face behind them? I sure don't mind (since they look a whole lot better than my face).

Hope you like the design as much as I do, and thanks for reading this short post! Tootles lovely people!!

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. :)

-- 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!

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*

Hola amigoes~

Just taking a small break from my studying. Gawd, I'm so tired already and the exams haven't even started. I'm convinced I'm gonna die halfway.

(Nah, I always make a lot of noise every time exams come around.)

Anyway, BeadsAndEnds is having a small but really wonderful giveaway. So lemme just share the love with everyone, click here for more details~

That's that for now, will blog when I have more interesting stuff to write about - I'm sure you guys won't be interested in neuronal and photosynthetic regurgitation.

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~

Ha ha, I like my title this time!

Anyway, finally have some time to update - I'm currently slacking at home since school had stopped yesterday. Suppose to complete my last lab report and start revision but I'm nursing a baby flu that's threatening to blow up in my face. Gah, excuses, whatever~ :)

This week, I've decided to use the S$1 nail polish I got during the Sasa sale a while back. It's this pearly-blue, semi-translucent one here.

And voila, on my nails!

First of all, I have no idea why this nail polish should be going for such a cheap price. Because I think it's such a fantastic nail polish! On par with China Glaze and OPI even.

1) The texture. No streaking and no gooping up on you after 5 mins (we know glitter or matte polishes tend to do that). The formula was silky smooth through the whole application.

2) The shine. It's awesome even without a top coat! But I had to slap on some Poshe cos I didn't want it chipping.

3) The effect. It had this crazily cool pearl-esque effect going on. The polish was a medium periwinkle blue, but it flashed pink and orange depending on the lighting. I mean, it's not even duochrome; it's just this mother-of-pearl thing going on. I compared it to Paddle Pop (you guys have surely eaten the ice cream before right?) and the colour combi is pretty much like that.

Granted it looks grey when instead of blue on my fingers...

.. but you can see the flash of pink just at the center of the nails.

4) The longevity. I admit i'm wearing the polish with a coat of Poshe Top Coat over, but it's comparable to those times when I wore my OPIs or China Glazes with Poshe over too. I've had this polish on for a week now, and there is no tip wear at all. The only signs that can hint to you that it's been a week old is the growing border of naked nail at the cuticle/nail base, and the slight decrease in shine. But it still looks good enough to last for another week!

The only con? It's translucent, yeah, so don't expect it to cover your nail fully. I had 3 coats on here, and you can still see my nail tips. But I was expecting that when I bought it.

All in all, I'm so glad I got the polish during the Sasa sale. I was looking for a mother-of-pearl reflux kind of polish, and I grabbed this bottle once I laid eyes on it. And I'm really happy with its quality and pretty effect~ Too bad I can't seem to find this brand of polish anymore. Maybe I shall poke around in Sasa once my exams are over.

Anyway, thanks for reading once again. I'll be holding a giveaway soon, so stay tuned!