Valerie Ng

Its Alive!!

2012-01-29T02:09:00.000+08:00

Seldom catch me in specs?

Not dead yet! I'm back to hound you with more narcissistic photographs of myself and tutorials to boot! Today isn't the day unfortunately due to the photo overload. Ha! Love myself too much yar! Spanking crazy Lunar New Year for my 2012. Been visiting every single day from Monday. Craaaazy! I even was unfortunate enough to get roped into an arranged matchmaking session, gaaah! The horror! Not even reaching the big 30 yet and my parents have gone koo koo on getting me hitched. Twentieth century and still stuck with such forms of matrimony boo! I shall leave you wanting with a preview post of some of the looks (including the above) I'll be regurgitating over the next couple of days. And don't think I forgot about my toner post! Gotta have some bait to dangle first before we get down to the main course yes? Tata! And Happy Chinese New Year folks! It isn't over yet you know, nine more days to go!

Gotta act demure when visiting the relatives!

Attempting to look nerdy and unkempt for my horrid matchmaking arrangement

My Chu1 look! Used eyelid tape for that doe-eyed appearance

Keep watching this spot for the upcoming tutorials! Byeeee!

Hiatus!

2012-01-22T01:19:00.000+08:00

Apologies peeps, I'll be taking a short break over the approaching Lunar New Year. Been wanting to post this at an earlier period but the spring cleaning madness has gotten the better (or worse) of me. Apparently three and a half hours a day for an entire week does nothing to improve my mini Hurricane Katrina. Bummer! So stay tuned for a face toner post I'll be pushing out probably next week and of course, loads of new year pictures which I will definitely be taking by the millions since I have to doll up everyday over the holidays. Can't let all that effort go to waste ya! Happy Chinese New Year everyone!

Shopaholics Annonymous

2012-01-14T01:52:00.000+08:00

I'm considering checking myself in for some help on my insane spending habits!!! Can't stop it, particularly when I'm idle. It's a lot like shaking my legs... I used to do it too many times back in my schooling days. I still do it till today zzz... Kill me please!!!

Here's a backlog of my recent damage.

I've been shopping for new furniture to neaten up my room. Apparently my war zone has become too much for her to take. I don't live there no more and yet I have the power to remotely ransack things even from afar. Crazy yes? Anyways, I spotted this really retro looking cabinet over at Lim's at Kallang Leisure Park. Waaaaaaay cool! A true blue refurbished medicine cabinet. Initially I was thinking OH MUH GAWD the monstrosity! It's taller than me you see, a real heavy duty monster. Then it got me all excited on the huge amount of things I could store in it. Most likely my equally monstrous makeup/skincare collection. Thirty freaking drawers! Can't go wrong with that!

The price is pretty daunting though. I'm contemplating getting something else but I'm so excited about the possibilities this baby can deliver! One of a kind piece so don't be mean and steal it off my hands before I make my purchase!

I met Shiella for shopping (bad idea!) this week for a quick catch up session before the Lunar New Year and she got me Soap & Glory's Bubble Take as a post Christmas gift. Been meaning to meet her earlier but her bf has been much too bogged down by the end year workload to pay us a visit. Sobs!

I'm not sure if you can still get this gift pack from Sephora. I'm assuming she got it there because the bag was a Sephora bag and I think that's where most Soap & Glory's are sold in Singapore. I get my fix whenever I fly to Thailand but that's a different story altogether.

Cute and convenient bag! I use it to keep my spare emergency skincare now haha!

Full of yummy bath and body goodness!

I thought the body mist was the most interesting as I don't normally use that. And being a scent lover, what better to appease my insatiable lust for new lovely smells! Can't quote you the price for this item. Otherwise I'd know how much my gift costs and get guilty over what she's been spending on me so go find out for yourself alright!

Annnnnnnnnnd what's a shopping trip without loot to show off!? Whahaha! I visited Etude house at Orchard MRT whilse waiting for Shiella to get off work. I didn't plan to buy THAT much but the salesgirl was one very persuasive little lady. Banging on my guilt no? Naughty naughty!

They were having a 10% (a bit pathetic leh!) storewide discount so I didn't feel the full pinch of it all. I spend about SGD$130 after discounts all the same.They were nice enough to give me the black compact mirror shown on the extreme left for spending over a hundred at their store.

Nymph Aura Volumer

I haven't gotten any Etude House cosmetics before due to most of their items coming across as too mild and not pigmented enough for me. Naturally, what I like may differ from other people. And I seem to have had a change of tastes so I got myself some items to try this time around. Don't get me wrong, I love Etude House's skincare ranges. Wonderful stuff that delivers! What I can say about their makeup is that they seem to focus more on getting that "natural beauty" sort of image. Eyeshadows are shimmery and sometimes glittery but not bright to the point they make your eyes pop. The same goes for most of their blushers and highlighters. I'd say they're great for office ladies or those who prefer a more subtle day to day look. They'd be my first pick for a first date. Gotta fake that girl-next-door appearance muahahaha!

Their Nymph Aura Volumer was really interesting. It's basically a highlighter which unlike most in the market, gives more of a mildly oily glow rather than a glittery or pearlescent one. Again, they seem to want their makeup to come across as more natural rather than made up. Being a highlighter fan, I didn't pass the chance to get the last bottle off their racks! Worth a try. Mix with your foundation for an overal glow or use alone over foundation for more targeted highlighting.

Another unique last-piece buy I managed to grab in time was their cream blusher from their Tangerine range in... PURPLE!!

Looks pinker but I have a crappy camera that's dying to be smashed to bits by me!!!!

Looks real scary when squeezed out but blending leave a very light pinkish blue shade almost similar to typical purple colour correctors only maybe slightly pinker. Soooo sweeet!

Those were just the special buys. I'll cover a review of the acne range items which I bought that day in my next post. For now though, you've got to live with my other buys. Hehe!

All time favourite hard-to-find masks!

I finally found a seller that still sells the old Cosline gel-type masks which I used to buy back as a student for my pimple woes! Pink Beauty ring a bell? My ultimate favourite masks. Costs a dollar a piece, or 2 for SGD$1.90 and does wonders!! You;re supposed to leave it on for ten to fifteen minutes like what most other masks out there prescribe but I leave it for a minimum of an hour and the effects are fantabulous!!!! I found it out by mistake a long time back in fact when waiting in bed to go out and fell asleep! Woke up to luminous acne free skin. Best mistake ever! By the way, the powder in the picture is an addon the staff at Pink Beauty forced me to get to make my purchase over $10 otherwise they wouldn't accept my NETS payment bah! But very vintage yes? Haven't seen this brand of powder since my grandma's era haha!

To end off, please please please go out to Sephora and get their Glossy Gloss! Shiella introduced it to me and I am truly amazed by the amount of glitter they pack into their glosses! The swatch below is pure silver glitter! Pack it thick for an ultra silvery look and spread and blend for the sheerest of sheens. Both pretty and versatile! Love max! Retails at $18 if I recall. Worth every penny!

A Slimey Situation

2012-01-10T02:39:00.001+08:00

mynameismindy.blogspot.com

Snail slime, scientifically known as Helix Aspersa Müller Glycoconjugates, although probably of no concern to many people reading this right now (haha!), is what our garden friends churn out in times of disaster. Most of the time, that comes from injury, or sheer terror from being washed before getting baked or fried, whichever your preference. Painted a terrible picture for you yet? Scary details aside, on less dangerous situations, mucin, an ingredient found in snail slime functions as a protective layer for the host. This gooey concoction also consists of some very interesting contents like hyaluronic acid, antioxidants,zinc and iron. Don't ring a bell? Well, it's stuff like this that has in recent times caused our icky friend to be a real spotlight favourite.

hope-inablog.com

A beauty breakthrough? Yes for some, "eeeeew!" for others, and maybe plain BS to quite a number as well. The Korean market seems to be all crazy about it for starters. They've been advertising brands more brands over the internet and likely, within their country I'm sure about this miracle product. Wikipedia sums it up in two sentences

"stimulate the formation of collagen, elastin and dermal components that repair the signs of photoaging and, second, is claimed to minimize the damage generated by free radicals that are responsible for premature skin aging"

Got you clamoring for the nearest bottle yet?

Convinced me enough to let go of some dollar for a small tub

I got the above 60ml worth of cream off those little bins Watsons (again!!) normally puts up near their cashier counters. Naturally, it wasn't the only thing I left the shop with. Sigh...

Total damage didn't go past SGD$100 but close enough!

Sales are evil. They make you spend more than you intend to because it gives the illusion you're saving in the long run! Maybe just for me though, but I don't see any savings being done in my bank account! Yes, I understand I have completely no control of my expenses but you stand to benefit so why complain? FOR THE GREATER GOOOOOOD!!!! YEA! I'll do a review for the rest of my buys another day so hold that thought for the rest of my goodies.

So coming back to this cream. I will begin with a small review on this brand in particular, but you're basically on your own if you decide to try other brands. Different breeds of snails, in different locations and other factors, do affect to a large extent how effective your slime is going to turn out. Of course concentration, together with other chemicals added to the mix play another role too.

Is "Caracol" mexican or something? Only know it refers to the snails since a lot of tubs have the word

This tub according to the box, is made in Korea. Yay! Quality control thank you very much! I haven't seen this brand online, so correct me if I'm wrong, but I assume only Watson's is selling this in Singapore right now. Maybe eBay may have it. I don't know. Retails at SGD$19.90.

Unfortunately, I couldn't get the ingredient list and application directions off the box since everything was in Korean. Boo! So I simply used it in replacement of my moisturiser at night. I did sneak it in this morning before I went to work underneath my mattifying sunblock so that I could get the benefits and banish away oil at the same time. Greedy yes?

Has a texture that's a cross between a gel and cream but with a more liquidy feel. Reminds me most of the white glue in a tub kids use in kindergarten or primary school. Has a mild baby powder smell so definitely not 100% pure slime but not many brands are so no qualms there.

The downsides? It comes in a tub, unhygienic. Need I say more? Secondly, it does not layer very well when used with other products like serums and toner. You'd probably have to experiment with what works best with this brand of slime. I initially topped this over my tea tree oil which I was using for my acne. Made the cream coagulate like nobody's business! The same thing happened by I applied it on top of Metholatum's Acnes Lotion.

I reckon you could play around with what works well with it, because I managed to find a few combinations of serums that are more cream based that didn't go all freaky on me. Another way would be to simply use nothing else! For the restorative properties its supposed to have, I suppose if you're actually going for that effect in the first place, you skin would most likely be pretty beaten up anyhow so using simpler, and less skincare on your face would be a good option anyhow.

Here's a list of neat benefits our "house on wheels" is providing us:

1. Calming Effect - great for redness reduction for acne and individuals with rosacea. I am very impressed with this on and can vouch for this aspect! Works wonders on angry pimples and mosquito bites, or anything else that gets your skin all red and angry. I felt an instant cooling sensation, not minty mind you (can't stand the stuff in high doses) from the moment I dipped my fingers in the cream. Apparently it's the same for most products that have snail slime in them.

2. Moisturising - Similar to aloe vera, I quite like the absorption rate and it leaves my skin feeling well... lightly moisturised. Great as a night cream but not my thing for day time use as I'd prefer my face matte throughout the day. Granted I don't get all greasy the next morning after night use, but as a precaution, I think I'll be sticking to my mattifying day creams would be a safer alternative for work. I'm so oily I can sell lighter fluid on a daily basis!

3. Regenerative properties - The main star benefit from snail cream is what it can do to erase whatever wrinkles and blemishes no your skin. Scars are touted to be lightened and improved from long term usage and wrinkles lessened. Pores have been noted to shrink too for some die-hard fans. Really? Miracles do happen but I think once again like aloe vera, you'd probably need time no your hands for dramatic results.

Final Verdict: I would say snail slime is the perfect cousin to aloe vera. Their ingredients may differ like Venus and Mars, but the benefits are somewhat almost identical. The only difference I can tell after trying out both is that aloe vera would likely be more suitable for oilier skinned people while snail slime would be more effective for drier complexions. I'm not stopping you could from trying it all the same. I myself am still using my tub since I already spent money going out to buy it. I absolutely have to finish it right? It stays as strictly a night cream for me till I find some new product on the block to replace it.

Mermaid Quickie

2012-01-06T03:03:00.000+08:00

Been wanting to try out this mermaid look done by Sephora a long time ago for one of their adverts. Since the New Year is yet another reason to party the night away, I took the opportunity to try a hand at recreating the look to match my glaring bright outfit for the night. Truth be told I only had half an hour to doll up and do my hair because I overslept the day before and had spent the afternoon snoozing till evening. Ops! So this is my half-past-six version of the above image. Well, at least I got most of the colours right so I'm not too far away. Haha! Trying my utmost best to console my failed attempt. I might do it again but definitely not too soon least you hate me for being unimaginative or *gasp!*, anal about getting things all perfect.

My weapons of choice: eyeshadow from Stila and PIXI also coincidentally their mermaid collection for the latter


What you should be getting if you follow instructions right hehe!

Alright so I modified the look as well simply because I couldn't have too many overwhelming colours that night. You see, I was donned in lime green so not covering my lids completely in garish colours was supposed to tone me down a notch. I'd like to use this for light flirty dates or when bright makeup is a tad too unsuitable for the function. You can still wear colours without looking out of place!

Don't be a prude, neutrals on a daily basis is plain boring

Tutorial as below:

Step 1.
-Urban Decay Primer Potion in Sin (for extra shimmer)
-Stila eyeshadow in Poppy (light blue)

Prime your lids, which I recommend for long nights out although not very necessary since the shades used for this look are light and don't need to stand out too much. And apply light blue shadow over upper eyelids, a little above your crease. If you have none, just bring it up till slightly over midway from your socket.

Step 2.
-Stila eyeshadow in Key (light purple)

March that purple right up to your socket. Ensure that the highest most parts are parallel to your blue shadow. Keep in mind not to go over hat line unless you're thinking of making your eyes center stage. I didn't since my dress had already signed up for the part.

Step 3.
-PIXI eyeshadow in light shimmery white

Highlight the area below your brows for definition. It would be preferable to use a mildly shimmery colour here if you can help it. Too much glitter and your eyes will be stealing the attention again. Too matte and you're going to look like a really flat faced mermaid. Defeats the purpose of contouring!

Step 4.
-PIXI eyeshadow in dark shimmery green

Use the green to emphasise the outer third of your eyes. This will give your eyes subtle definition and intensify your double eyelids (or create fake double eyelids for that matter).

Step 5.
-Stila eyeshadow in Poppy (light blue)
-Majorca Majolica eyeliner in BLK999
-Generic pencil eyeliner in grey

Last but not least, use the same light blue to line the entirelower eye area, followed by lining your upper eyes with liquid liner with a mini cat eye effect if you like. The lower outer third portion of your eyes are then shaded with the grey pencil liner for a milder look. Eyeliner is not supposed to be in the limelight this time around despite the fact that I heart liners for their pop giving factor. So keep those lines a fine as possible, or what you can stand if you're so used to thinker lines like me. We're supposed to be looking demure here! Not Lady Gaga styled COME LOOK AT MEEEEE!

A straight up frontal view of my handiwork

So there you have it ladies and gentlemen. A modified mermaid version of what Sephora has done in light touches of spring colours for the new year. Eyelashes took a rain check on the long lengthy sort used by Sephora for the same reasons I mentioned earlier on abstaining from too bright makeup. Given more time, I would have played with the idea of having glitter flecks glued to the side of my face but I think that would be too much, and too time consuming for half an hour!

All good things have to come to an end. Now that I've revealed the secrets to achieving my face of the week, I have to stick with tradition and bombard you with my usual self portrait shots. Otherwise I might get withdrawal symptoms whahahaha! Brace youself!

If I'm going to talk so much about having to match my clothes, it would only be appropriate to show you what I wore that day yes? My vocabulary isn't so extensive to the point it replaces pictures so scroll down for the answer to your burning questions. I'm presuming them to be what on earth was I wearing to force such a coy, unassuming look out of my makeup haha!

My never used before gold mesh Italia top I didn't have a use for before this

Thought the tank dress and top were too boxy in shape so I decided to modify the top to give me some resemblance of a figure!

Ahh... love lime green

The whole package when put together

Can I say how I love my arms even though it sounds so narcissitic!? Truth be told they weren't this thin before. I'll fill you guys in on my secret one of these days to getting slim quick. Who says targeted slimming is impossible can kiss my A$$!!!!! Money making gimmicks to make you sign long packages at the gym or salon!

New Year, New Update

2012-01-03T23:37:00.002+08:00

I forgot to include a few pics (gaah! getting old!) from my last post regarding the special or darn right funny gifts I got for Christmas, along with other knick knacks from part of my Christmas shopping trips. Fret not, this post is not entirely about my life, if that bores you so, I also included some tips I grabbed off Taiwan makeup artist, Kevin's book. Hey, I'm no guru so I need to get some sources off places right?

Tried out Come Buy's (what a name for bubble tea!) ice cream milk tea

Sweet greeting with an equally diabetic causing drink

A T-shirt for a present. Probably my most appreciated for the year, you'll know why once you see the back

Nice huh! And big enough to wear as PJs! Cheap humor haha!

Feeling overwhelmed by the Christmas shopping, I had to do some shopping of my own to keep the spirits up

I loaded myself with some new products from Watsons in addition to grabbing some treats to curb my itchy mouth syndrome. Did I mention I have a thing for gummies? Yummy thangs! I heart Haribo's Roulette gummies the most but I didn't catch them today so I settled for their Happy Cola.

I'm still plagued by super unclear skin these days. I think I can start an acne farm soon and harvest them for some money if people would be nice enough to buy them off me. So this prompted me to let go of some hard earned cash on La Roche-Posay's Effaclar Duo. Whatever that means. Does it seriously matter? Give me the results and I'll take note of all that fancy shmacy! If you can't tell from the photo, its retailing for SGD$38.90 for a cleanser, serum, mattifying moisturizer and SPF 50 lotion. All came in sample sizes apart from the serum which is supposed to be their star product. A week's use hasn't given me any results. Coming from a generation that's exposed to products with words like "instant" and "fast results" thrown in everyday like your morning paper, there's a whole lot of expectations to be met before I can say something's good enough to recommend. I think this stuff is probably something I might finish up and never buy again really. I'd use my aloe vera any day with faster results than what this box load can deliver. Go look see my post on it HERE if you're in the dark about what I'm spurting out.

Maybelline Diamonds Eyeshadow SGD$19.90

Christmas also meant all things glittery and pretty like winter snow for makeup to me. Although Singapore is way off ever getting any snow in the next few hundred years, I could always dream all the same. On second thought, the freezing cold is not my thing either. I think I'll move to Hong Kong and live my life in lovely air conditioned temperature all year round. Whatever it is, the end of the year prompted me to pull out all my glittery makeup to play with. Lo and behold to my dismay, I couldn't find my collection!!!! Nooooooooooo! Must have misplaced them while moving house. So off I went to buy me a temporary replacement while I mourned the loss of my buried treasure. I decided on Maybelline's diamond eyeshadow in the blue shade since I intended to go for a smokey yet not entirely jet black look.

Dirty looking glitter - without flash

With flash

My buy turned out to be a waste of money just like the LA Roche-Posay. Bah! Colour swatching shows how crummy the eyeshadows are. I was expecting at the least, sheer shades if Maybelline could not give me the intensity I wanted. I didn't think I'd get sparse haphazard bits everywhere. The swatches had to be repeatedly coated about three to four times to get what you see in those pictures and I wasn't satisfied with the end result either. I'm not "niao", I'm just feeling cheated once again. Sigh... I guess that was why I swore off most things Maybelline and L'oreal apart from their mascaras. Nothing else delivers despite the non-stop advertising they splash all over the place.

laneige.com

The Eucerin item I got was their Dermo Purifyer Active Night Care. It normally retails at SGD$25.90 but I bought mine at $20.90 due to it being a sale product. I presume they wanted to jump on the overnight care bandwagon after brands like Laneige have earn big dollar from cult favourite Water Sleeping Pack. Works pretty fine, got me feeling a little tingly for the first half an hour or so before the effect went away. Absorption took about the same amount of time to go in unfortunately so I was left with a really sticky face that prevented me from turning on my side to sleep. I'm not a fan of sleeping facing the ceiling. Makes me think crazy thoughts. Had mildly clearer complexion the morning after. I suppose, like what the makers claim, actually like almost ever other decent product in the market, repeated use for a reasonable length of time will give better results. Altogether an OK buy, but not a to-die-for product in my books.

That's about all for reviews, so below's some tips from a book I got from Popular book store about some makeup tips from one of Taiwan's more famous makeup artists.

Create a narrower chin by highlighting with concealer

Keep those peepers big and bright to distract!

Know your face shape, be realistic about it, then start creating the magic!

I'm signing off with a preview of my upcoming Face of the Week which is holding up due to the massive number of shots I have to sieve through. I went crazy on the cam whoring during new year's eve and suffering the consequences now. Sobs! Stay tuned for that one!

Beating the System

2011-12-29T01:34:00.001+08:00

I'm going to talk about another website that I like getting my beauty supplies from time to time. Its a pretty well known site to beauty lovers but I'd like to talk about it all the same for those who have yet to discover this sweet place on the world wide web. Strawberrynet.com's the name, selling perfumes, skincare and makeup's their game. Alright don't shoot me for such a lame starter. Couldn't help myself whahaha!

In brief, I often spend my free time in office (ops!) browsing this site whenever I'm in the mood to try out new products in the market. They've got a decently wide range although not everything is consistently in stock. I've been waiting for a Dr Brandt Redness Relief lotion for about three months and still nothing since the last time I caught it online. Most major brands in the market are available here, enough to satisfy the typical online shopper who knows exactly what they would like to buy. A pity they aren't too fast in bringing in newer items sooner once they are released. Give it a few months and it will (hopefully) be sold there.

Price wise, I would categorize it under mid range. While certain products can be found here for dirt cheap, others are too ridiculously high for my liking. Even after super special discounts thrown in your face like 70% off, etc., I can still find the same product in places like Ebay.com for cheaper. Wtf right.... Then again, the cheap can be so low sometimes I end up smacking myself for getting the same deal at the brick and mortar stores for almost double the price! I swear with my pinky finger! Both fingers if that makes you happy.

I'll skip past the wordy examples of which brands are cheaper and which to avoid. I'm sure you guys can sneak in a peek at the monitor at work or school for a second or two haha! Evil ain't I? The fun in online shopping is all in the browsing, honest! What I CAN do for you in this post is making your dollar go further with this online store. So, today, I give you my "beat the system" cheat sheet to saving that money! Actually, after reviewing my handiwork, I reckon you can apply the same to most other websites which have the same offers as Strawberrynet.The thing that makes this site uber special is the good variety they carry and well, the exceptional number of stackable discounts which most other sites may only have one or two such specials to offer you.

Money Saving Tip#1.
This site offer free shipping for all items sold there. You can always pay more for quicker and safer shipping but I don't think it necessary as so far, my items have reached me real fast! Great thing about the free shipping is that whatever price you see online is all that you need to pay. No hidden costs to shock the bejeezus out of you!

Money Saving Tip#2
Bulk purchasing is to your advantage here with their Super Volume Discounts. the more you buy the more you save. I'm a little upset about the new discount system for this though. It used to be "buy 3 items, get 5% off". They probably weren't earning too much back then or it was a scheme to rope in more customers in the past. The volume discount is still attractive so long as you're not the sort to buy just one product from them. I don't recommend doing so either, too much burn on the pocket!

Money Saving Tip#3
Cash in on periodic discounts they have to offer. Refusal to comply will, without a doubt, cost you much more than you bargained for!!! I seldom get items from this company if they are not on discount because chances are, they are extremely overpriced. I don't wish to mention such a negative aspect as honestly speaking, if you take the time to scrutinize and buy discounted products as advised by your truly, the savings are right smack there to see.

Money Saving Tip#4
Loyalty discount is something you MUST MUST MUST sign up for. I'll get to the best part later but for starters, they have what you call an accumulative discount awarded to you each time you make a return purchase. Worth it when you need an avenue to restock your beauty supplies and have a week of waiting to spare.

Money Saving Tip#5
Don't forget to sign up for their bi-monthly newsletter. I'm not sure if they do state it in their webby about the bi-monthly bit so I'm saying it here. They hound you twice a month, which in my opinion isn't too scary considering I have daily updates from voucher sites like Groupon that's starting to get on my nerves LOL! The newsletter is where the discounts are highest especially when you're just starting out to buy stuff from them and the loyalty discounts are low. Every once in a while they'll send a "we miss you" mail with a discount that can be added on to the above existing discounts you're enjoying. Great huh! The discounts are, like most companies, offered for a limited time so don't be such a snail when picking your choices! They don't have a permanent wish list so I resort to bookmarking to resolve that.

So don't forget to utilize all discounts at a go for maximum savings. Strawberrynet may not be cheap, but ensuring all the discounts are used at the same time will reduce the prices to a decent amount that most other sites can't compete with except on special occasions like Black Friday or Christmas sales. This site is a staple for the days you don't feel like waiting too long for those seasonal sales to come your way. Happy emptying those pockets!

Christmas Aftermath

2011-12-28T04:10:00.001+08:00

Some of my Christmas gifts this year

Hope your Christmas was better than mine. I had the usual at home with family, nothing new, same old same old. Not a bad thing except that it grows grow after twenty five years yes? Quality time with the bf was better for the long weekend though. Glad to have the extra time for some R&R after the hectic schedule. Here's a recap on some of my exploits of the weekend.

Caught up on my endless binge sessions starting with Christmas eve and ending (hopefully) with Japanese dinner today

Since Watson's was just a stone's throw away, I couldn't resist spending even more than I intended

Beautymate's Anti-blemish repairing essence was a must try due to my current skin outbreak

Was a tad disappointed with the packaging though, talk about unhygienic having to slather the same tube on my face all the time?

I got the Beautymate Serum for SGD$29.90. It was hiding in this obscure corner of the store, so out of the way, I swear some of the bottles were collecting dust on top I kid you not! Being the ever curious me, I had to try something new so I bought it anyways to test. Upon first use, I'd say it does give of this tingly feeling as if they added menthol or tea tree inside. Nothing of the sort was in the ingredients list so I have no idea where its coming from so for those with sensitive skins, best to steer clear. No immediate differences as of yet, will update if there's any chance it defaces me in future!

On the bright side, I do like the fact that it touts itself as anti-aging, repairing and moisturising in addition to the acne fighting factor. More is better! Greedy greedy! Most acne purifying skincare ignore older customers like myself who are not quite the sweet young things we used to be anymore. We don't have youth on our side and yet have to battle acne all the same. So it's nice to see that there are some products out there that tackles the aging and acne bit at the same time. Love the hyaluronic acid included as an ingredient too!

Also took the time to test the Estee Lauder Idealist Cooling Eye Illuminator

Comes in two shades, light-medium and medium-dark if I recall correctly

I finally got down to using my Estee Lauder Idealist Cooling Eye Illuminator (whoo! That's a hellova mouthful!) I bought this during one of my online sprees from AllCosmeticsWholesale. The lowdown HERE. I used to see this mass advertised all over town as being THE THING for dark eye circles. Unfortunately, I always have at any given time, three eye creams being used up. One for day, most likely with an SPF, and two others for night, one piled over the other just because it makes me sleep better at night haha! I couldn't possibly add on yet another one to my stockpile could I? So now, after using five other brands, this was next on the list.

The Good: It really means it when it labels itself as "cooling". The applicator's real soothing on the eyes and I do see a slight visible difference when using this on my circles. Regular use does show some signs of lightening albeit slight as it is. I reckon repeated long term use might be of some help.

The Not so Good: The fact that its tinted makes me feel like I'm wearing makeup. Which while I enjoy wearing on night's out, is something I prefer not to don during the weekdays at work. I like to give my face a rest from all the pulverizing sessions I throw at it you see. Also, I wasn't too keen on wearing a tinted eye cream to bed. I fear stained pillows and again, the makeup issue. I can't live with myself if I had to go to bed with makeup on. complete makeup boo boo of the day, or night for that matter lol!

You could follow in my example and swap it with another eye cream for night if you like. It works real nice anyhow so don't make the makeup issue stop you from using it altogether. Definitely rocks different people's boat yes? Oh and, while it does give a tint to your eyes, it can't cover that much unless you really want to layer on that much money on your eyelids for a few hours so don't throw away your concealer just yet.

Rest well peeps, if not, there's still another long weekend coming out way, woo hoo! 4am is beginning to be my new bedtime and I'm dreading the morning after having to drag myself out of bed. Bad habits as always bleh! Goodnight everyone!

It's a Cover Up!

2011-12-26T03:26:00.001+08:00

Extreme stress has prompted the outburst of a nasty bout of pimple horror for myself so I decided to skip a makeup tutorial. Wouldn't want to scare any animals or little children happening to glance at your monitor while you viewed this post. Hungry ghost festival has long come and gone this year. So, in consolation, I'm blogging some ramble about concealing blemishes. Now, who likes their facial (or body) flaws to be revealed to the whole wide world? Being unashamed and proud of them are one thing, I'm all for getting comfortable with your own physical flaws and all as long as that makes you happy but what about those who aren't too keen on revealing everything? I'm not talking about everything per se alright! The dirty-minded be gone!

What if you could effectively remove those insecurities by hiding them? Come on! It's kind of retarded to desire to look worse (are you insane???) or not try to look better if the opportunity exists and is within obtainable reach right!?

Pretty enough for you? Can't help you if your forehead has blemishes too though! Grow a fringe!

Welcome to the world of makeup! One of the quickest and cheapest alternatives to hiding blemishes! The next best thing that does not cost an arm or a leg would be walking around wearing a surgical mask. Half your face will be covered and people are probably going to avoid you like the plague anyhow, thinking you're a carrier of some infectious disease. Ever heard of the saying "nice from far, far from nice"? Haha! Can't go wrong being seen at a distance!

Now to the nuts and bolts of it all. How should we go about our masquerade? Start by using the right products that's what!

CRCmakeup.com

Airbrushing is the ultimate best option for both hygiene and coverage. You don't have to further aggravate those pimples, scars or other blemishes by having to touch them. Like women, they don't like to get felt up the wrong places haha! The layering effect can easily be done this way as well without looking so much as having a block of dried (sometimes cracked!) concrete stuck on your face. Conventional foundations aren't quite the same for me once I made the switch six months ago.

I used to support Dinar initially since it's the first airbrush makeup brand I purchased. My airbrushing system is also from them. After trying out a few brands, now I'm leaning towards a blend of Kett Cosmetics Hydro foundation and CRC Makeup's own house brand. KettCosmetics.com does not sell its airbrush foundation in individual bottles so I got both brands from CRCmakeup.com. You can see the details of my haul HERE. If you're interested, I mixed the proportions in the ratio 4:2 drops, enough for my whole face. I'm using Kett in the shade Y02, and CRC in no.25.

Thick, cream-based concealers for the tools of choice for most areas. For the under eye area, choose light liquid formulas so that it can easily be smoothed over the delicate portion without drying up the area too much. Sometimes I still pat cream ones on fine lines after the liquid so that it wouldn't be so obvious should it seep into the lines if I'm wearing makeup for a long period of time. Apply with a light hand, best with your ring finger.

I am using Kett Cosmetics Fixx Creme presently for my entire face due to the amazing coverage it delivers, along with the fact that it's waterproof! Love! No fears of looking like a nuclear meltdown when it rains in hot and humid Singapore.

There are of course many other good brands in the market for the picking. I like Eve Pearl for their salmon concealers which are perfect for the lower eye area. Unfortunately price may be an issue for some as they go for about USD$50 a pan give or take. Given the choice, going for MAC or Makeup Forever (both just as good) would be better valued options. I normally turn to these two as my default choices for whatever new type of makeup item the industry comes up with. Can't go wrong with reputable brands. They'd get killed for churning out rubbish!

I'm curious about Dermablend after checking out this video they came up with. Definitely on my "to buy" list. I figure most people would be sold by the end of it. Freaky stuff!

The Application Process

A general rule of thumb I stick to whenever I have no time or airbrushing equipment at hand would be to go with layering, and patting. Whether with finger or brushes, rubbing/swiping around all that makeup is just going to make your layers thicker at the wrong areas. Patting keeps the stuff that's not supposed to see the light, covered. Keep these two in mind with the rest of your usual makeup process the same would be sufficient for hiding well-kept secrets.

For more detailed instructions on applying your foundation,check out the below video by DiamondsandHeels14 which I caught by chance on Youtube. A very brave belle who unlike me, made the decision to reveal her acne-prone face to anyone whose interested i.e. has the guts to see her un-madeup face, pimples and all. The scare-fest is all worth it ultimately as you get a real good before-after view of what makeup can do for your confidence. Very heart wrenching when she gets all depressed about it, and yet I couldn't help but feel happy for her for what she has achieved with her life regardless of challenges she faces with her appearance.

The video shows how to get crazy coverage though I personally am not for such extreme levels of coverage. I am paranoid about looking like a powdered abominable snowman. Sneeze and you get mini haze in Singapore! Layering is important but do keep min mind to brush off excess powder once you're done. Set with fixing spray to reduce the powdery look and keep your makeup intact too!

Other Tips and Tricks:

The art of distraction - pulling attention away from your face with makeup and clothing or accessories you own. Make other parts of your body the center of attention. Like that spanking new bracelet you spent your entire month's salary/ parent's allowance on. Or that pair of jeans so tight it makes your dad blush seeing you wear it. If you really want your face to be in the spotlight, opt for the eyes or the lips to be your stars of the night. Cheeks are not cut out for it otherwise you're going to have many pairs of eyes staring at the wrong highlighted places wondering why your sunspots/eyebags/pimples/whatever else are looking unusually ginormous.

Finally, to elaborate more on the "highlighting of the wrong thing" issue, the best thing would be NOT TELLING ANYONE ABOUT IT. If you intentionally arrow your flaws to people like "oh I have a pimple and it hurts!" or "don't look at my pimple", it's gonna be reverse psychology at its best. Not everyone has eagle eyes waiting to spot the next eruption on your forehead. Keeping mum about it in worst case scenarios when you're sporting the mother of all bad-skin-days, sometimes, would prove to be the best option. Quick thinking would be fantastic when having to change the subject in circumstances where you have to handle those awkward moments of silence when your friends are too polite to say anything nasty.

"Hey is that a spot on your face man?"
"What? Noooo you've got pork in your basement? Lemme at em!~Hey what's for dinner tonight? You treating this time around?"
*wink wink!*

Diffuse da bomb my friend!!! Happy scamming your way to a flawless face!

Please note that I'm not supporting an unhealthy lifestyle laden with bad diet habits, lack of sleep and other unhealthy practices that cause bad skin. Blemishes do show up on our faces ever so often, this post serves to educate those who want an alternative to hiding at home from the rest of the world. If there's a way to get out and stand proud, what's stopping you? Makeup FTW(for the win)!

Holiday Preparations

2011-12-23T22:59:00.001+08:00

No tutorials as of yet. I blame it on the holiday blues! Being busy is one thing, stressing over what presents to buy and getting things done in hope of enjoying delayed gratification from lesser work to face after the long Christmas weekend is another brain wrecking issue altogether! I might throw out a Face of the Day in the afternoon some time tomorrow if I manage to squeeze in a blogging session before the eve's dinner. For now though, here's some tips to look good this season.

Lazy Beauty Tip:

If you can't spare the time to put the good stuff on your face before bedtime after a crazy night out, make sure to at least clean up that makeup and throw on a mask when you need to hit the sack. Your skin will thank you millions for not skipping a day of extra TLC.

SexyLook masks even cater for your neck! Great value!

I like to use those 3D masks with some form of attachment included like ear hooks. This way, I know the mask is not going to fall,drop or get rubbed off when I use the computer or roll around in my sleep. I know they say leaving on paper masks for too long would lead to a reversal of effects, i.e., it will suck back out all the moisture you've worked so hard to push into your skin. So, being a light sleeper, I normally would be able to wake up in the middle of the night to remove it. For those who are able to sleep through an earthquake, set an alarm to remind you to yank off your mask before trouble strikes.

Getting the Glow:

For smooth as silk complexion, do a full body buff and exfoliate your face the night before any event. Getting rid of dead skin a day in advance ensures all the redness from scrubbing away has time to ease off and you still get the benefits of a brighter, healthier looking complexion. Do try to mask up with moisturizing emulsions and body creams thereafter to counter the dryness that comes along with all that scrubbing as well for added silkiness!

Skin Maintenance:

Holiday partying goes hand in hand with alcohol, late nights, food binges and an overload of salt and sugars from all those titbits and finger foods. Be sure to down lots of fluids, more specifically, loads of water during the festive period to cleanse away some of the damage you're eventually going to be guilty about after the new year. Water acts as a purging system to reduce the mass dehydration you get from the alcohol, dilutes the sugars and salts, as well as keeps you bloated enough to eat less during those sinful dinners your friends and family throw for you. Don't come crying to me, watch that diet OR ELSE!

Season's greetings everyone!

Phone Cover Titbits

2011-12-21T21:05:00.000+08:00

This isn't a beauty related post but a headsup for those living near Toa Payoh Central area or anyone intending to go there within these few days. They're having a "pasar malam" near the library so head down there for last minute cheap Christmas buys or just to soak up the atmosphere.

I noticed the night market after walking home from my cardio class. Smelly as hell, I waltzed right into one of those pirated handphone cover stores wanting to change my screen protector straight away. Shop keeper must be holding his breath to control his fainting spells when I was conversing with him!

I've been suffering with a flapping protection sticker for the past few weeks and it was driving me craaaaaaazzzy! What better timing to do it there and then. Of course since I knew such materials can be bought online and dirt cheap prices, I insisted my over-priced $18 front and back matte screen be pasted on by the shop owner, OR ELSE! Whahaha! Desperate situations call for desperate measures. I was by then pretty sick to care much about the cost really.

I suspect the seller intentionally took his time or was stressed out at my insistence so I had too much time to burn, leading to even more spending due to my browsing the rest of his store. Can't expect me to walk too far off, what if he steals my iPhone?!!?!? Gawd!

Overall I'm really happy with my buys regardless of the cut throat prices. I'm allowing myself the mini spurge as a reward from not spending any money for an entire week haha! Defeats the original purpose of saving yes?

I love the cover already assembled on my phone in the photo best. So cute, so simple! Locks at the side with all-round coverage. And it keeps my screen protector from flapping open again! Ahhh.. simple pleasures ain't it!

Can't beat pasar malam prices when it comes to cheap phone covers. The next best thing would be getting them online which takes time, and I don't have THAT sort of luxury during the festive season. Busy busy bee!

Beauty Diary

2011-12-17T21:35:00.000+08:00

I haven't had the time to shoot a new look I'm intending to sport so for now, I'll let you settle for my logbook of beauty finds and mishaps as of late.

For starters, I received two new shopping packages, one of which was from All Cosmetics Wholesale or ACW for short. Nice cheap beauty products at discounted prices and pretty fair shipping. I like! And I made my purchases during the Cyber Monday sale so I enjoyed an additional 15% off which pretty much offset my entire shipping. I like even more!

Opening up my loot!

They carry much loved brands like MAC, Estee Lauder and Too Faced to name a few. Indie brands like OCC Lip Tars are also sold here!

Below's a few mentionables I got.

I went overboard didn't I? Lolx!

Stila Lovely Eye Palette

Comes with a cute holographic cover with an eye that opens and closes, cute!

In super sweet, girl-next-door shades

Urban Decay's Big Buddha Brush. Enormous synthetic brush I spotted online meant for face and body

Lola Luminous Glow $9.99 on sale!

Fell in love with the shimmer powder. Will show you guys a swatch once I get down to shooting haha!

My Smashbox buy was a disappointment though, I didn't think that cheap also meant ultra tiny!!!

A few uses and this eyebrow/eyeliner palette would go kaput!

Visit http://www.allcosmeticswholesale.com/ if you're interested! Ships internationally! Wee!

Shopping aside, I paid a visit to Touche Elite over at Orchard Shopping Arcade to redeem an online voucher I got from Reebonz. $45 for a full body massage, facial and body scrub. Great value, for a one-time offer that is. I'm getting so aunty!!

Facilities were pleasantly good with lockers, disposable shower caps and underwear provided too!

Not too keen on their displaying equipment at the corridor though

I blew them off the moment I was told to purchase their $4500 facial package (for ten sessions). I could do plastic surgery with that kind of dough! Worth a go if you're into the facilities with the added price tag but not for me. I wasn't too into the travelling bit. The place although located in Orchard Road, is a bit of a walk from the MRT station. Driving there that day was hell for me because of both the rain and the immense jam so whether you intend to take public transport or use your car, its quite a hassle.Not a good idea for folks like me who like to be at my appointments on the dot. I get frustrated whenever I run late. Kan cheong spider la! Haha!

---------------

As for beauty products I've tried to dip my hands into, I ordered my first tub of DMAE. You can google the benefits of it or take my word for it that it's supposed to have anti-aging properties. I can never have enough skincare to experiment with so I figured anti-aging might be something I should invest in now that I've reached my mid twenties. Oh gawd did I just mention my age!? Noooo! Lolx!

Make me beautiful!

Full tub! How generous for once!

DermaE sells their version of DMAE in a full tub. The cream is almost scentless and did not cause crazy breakouts on my ultra sensitive skin. I'm having hypersensitivity these days due to my recent Retin-A experience. Apparently the formula was too strong for me and what I was left with was a really thin-skinned face.

Safe to say, I presume most skins would react positively like mine considering the circumstances ha! Left my face soft with visibly smaller pores. Unless the placebo effect is making me imagine things whahaha! But nah, I think it's good stuff for older skins. You probably won't need it if you have yet to suffer from open pores and fatigued skin from lack of sleep. Don't be kiasu and use it unnecessarily! too much of anything is no good, beauty products included!

Have a Merry Christmas everyone! I'll shoot out my posts on holiday makeup for the season ASAP. I shall leave you with mouth-watering Garett's Popcorn hehe! I couldn't help myself so I bought a large bag of Chicago Special, or Chicago something. Basically a mix. Go figure! A hungry female goes senseless in the presence of yummy nom nom! There aren't that many flavours so you can't go wrong just saying Chicago anyways. The Caramel Crisp is divine by the way!

The Art of Massage

2011-12-14T01:53:00.000+08:00

Lazy Beauty Tip:

Invest in battery operated or any other electronic massagers if you can't spare the time and effort to do your own kneading. Your face will thank you for the money well spent.

Regular massage aids in promoting blood circulation and adding firmness to your face, hence reducing the signs of puffiness and mild surface aging around your cheeks and eyes. The use of specific creams additionally help in keeping your face soft and supple. Of course, if oily skin is your worst enemy, using products suitable for unclogging those pores would be necessary unless you want overstimulated oil glands from the rubbing and thicker consistencies of typical massage bases. You could try Tony Moly's Appletox massage pack for starters. The added peeling action does double duty in clearing those pores.

via ebay.com

For those who are unable to spare the time, are not familiar with facial massaging techniques, or are plain lazy *raises hand*, getting an electronic massager is the next best thing.

My tools of the trade

My eye massager was purchased from Mustafa Shopping Centre at only $12~$13. You need not invest in expensive gear right from the start. My massage stick is used for wrinkle prone areas and getting at corners of my eyes where my main eye massager is unable to reach. It was bought during my Genting trip a month plus ago at about $4. I did see similar models in Singapore but I think you'd have to resort to hunting it on your own as I can't recall at the moment where. I do intend to purchase this ionic cleaner cum massager from Clariancy in future when cash is not that tight. Christmas shopping has left me without a penny to spare these days. Sobz!

Battery operated convenience!

What I do to cut down time when it comes to massage: do it when you're relaxing by the television (the massager has holes to see), by your computer monitor, or like what I do, when I need to force myself awake in the morning. I set my phone to snooze for ten minutes before putting this on and going back to sleep. The shaking action wakes me up and greatly improves my eye bags in the morning so I wouldn't look too scary by the time I reach work.

Happy massaging!

What Tomorrow was Meant to Be

2011-12-11T00:35:00.001+08:00

When I said I'd be uploading my Face of the Week "tomorrow", I never expected it to mean Disney's "Tomorrowland" sort of meaning, a.k.a. an indefinite eventual future post whahaha! Apologies on that one.

I experimented with my new Sugarpill palette bought from CRCMakeup. Wouldn't it be such a waste if I left it there to collect dust yes? Buy liao don't use then buy for what!?

I took the liberty to dig into me underutilized Naked palette as well

The colours are extremely pigmented so I took a real long time to select which ones to use for fear of the clown look. I decided on the pink, blue and white for starters. Can't be greedy!

Dollipop, Afterparty and Tako from the Sweetheart palette

For those interested, I tried out my new curler got from LookFantastic.

BabylissPro Conical Wand 32-19mm

Customised heat based on how you twist the dial

I forgot about the numbers when I actually got down to doing my hair, I used it on 11

For the record, while the finger shields were effective, they aren't very friendly for maneuvering so I did without them

I cheated big hair with my Head Jog too!

So on to the eyeshadow nitty gritty:

Step1.
Layer your base with Tako(white) for an eyeopening effect. Make sure to bring this colour up to the point where it can obviously be seen even if you open your eyes. For people with double eyelids, it should be about 3-5mm past your double eyelid line.

Step2.
Above the white, go over with Dollipop (hot pink). By now, it should lead towards looking very drag queenish but be patient, shading comes later.

Step3.
Using Afterparty (blue), colour in a thin intense line in between the pink and white starting from the outercorner, and ending one third from the inner corner. Once done, use a blending brush or fingers to blend upward to fade the blue. Then line the outer portion of the green and bring it down to the base of your eye to look like a seven. If you're lost now, just check out the pictures for reference. I'm not THAT literary inclined haha!

Step4.
Follow up with the same blue through your whole lower lashline.

Step5.
On the outer third of your upper eyelid, use a pencil liner (liquid will appear too harsh) to darken the line between the blue and white to intensify your double eyelid, or create an artificial double eyelid for those with monolids. I then patted some Creep (Naked Palette / any other shimmery black) to soften the line. Otherwise known as the makeshift cut-crease haha!

By now, your eyes should look something like this.

Don't mind the powdered white lashes, fallout can be removed with mascara later on

Step6.
Now for eyeliner, line a mild wing for a cat eye effect, gel or liquid liner preferred. Due to the brightness of the eyeshadow, black may be a better choice for this instance. For the lower lashline, paint the entire length of the bottom and add on three mini strips of black for a cat-like appearance.

Make sure its not so thick to the point the blue can still be seen

Miao!

Step7.
Add falsies to the top and bottom making sure the bottom ones are only long enough to cover a third to half the lower portion of your eyes.

Cheeks take a back seat this time around due to the glaring nature of the eyes so skipping it is an option or at the least use something that does not take attention away from the main subject. Lips should be kept nudish as well.

Try this for complete nude lip coverage

I'll leave off with narcissistic photos as always. =) I only just realised I forgot to wear my cat ears for this shoot zzz....

My new profile pic hehe!

Buh Byez!

Preview Post

2011-12-08T01:29:00.002+08:00

I'm completely shacked out today and to top it off, I've got an early meeting tomorrow so I'll leave you guys with a preview of my face of the week which I will flood you with tomorrow muahahaha!

Lookfantastic.Com

2011-12-07T01:29:00.000+08:00

I'm eager to share this website particularly to Singaporeans for reasons I will explain later. For now though. here's a brief introduction to this site.

I stumbled across this shopping site a few months back when I was searching high and low for specific hard-to-find brands. Typically, Amazon.com or Ebay is my first base point since they have practically every imaginable brand worth their salt for sale. Granted I do occasionally try several indie brands for the fun of it (my face is a thrill-seeker), but ultimately I stick to more reputable ones so as to ensure some level of quality control. I only have one face, and it takes forever to heal in the event I try too weird a concoction on it so using more widely used known brands is my idea of protection.

A search on Google brought me here. This is a UK site which got my attention due to the fact that they offer free shipping! Fellow shoppers who like to browse European websites would be all too familiar with the extremely expensive postage. Its either these sellers were out to cheat my hard earned dough, or that Royal Mail truly sucks the money out of the people who have no choice but to use it. That, or the pound/Euro is getting on my exchange rate nerves.

They've got an extensive range of products which until now, I have yet to finish browsing. So I reckon browsing fanatics who like to look and compare real hard before surrendering their plastic (they offer other payment methods too!) would be much pleased with what Look Fantastic has to offer.

This site is far from the absolute cheapest on the web market. Given the vast selection of brands available, I'd say it serves more as a mini Amazon.com for beauty products without the shipping headache. You get to try one or two products without having to be forced to spend a minimum amount to be entitled to shipping discounts. I wasn't used to this idea which ended up in me buying nearly SGD$400 worth of goods (the maximum allowable amount to be brought into Singapore without having to pay 7% GST).

To be clear about how much this site has to offer apart from products, I'd also like to cover their level of shipping and customer service. Look Fantastic is not the most perfect of sites when it comes to these two aspects. My very first maiden order with them ended up with me waiting two and a half months for my purchases to reach me. That length of time is akin to shipping by sea for Christ's sake!!!!

As for customer service, I'm on the fence for this one because correct me if I'm wrong, but I suspect this is a relatively new company. They changed their website layout and message sending format during the course of the two months which I was liaising with them regarding my extremely slow delivery time. Initially, their response to my numerous emails and messages were left unreplied! I had to send a total of four messages, with the last one ending with a threat to charge-back my credit card since I was so angered to the point I thought they were fraudulent sellers. I went so far as to give my credit card company a call regarding this issue. They got back me me real quick with that last message only to disappear again for another two weeks. Terrible terrible terrible!

My problem came to a halt thereafter once I noticed they had revamped their message sending system. My later messages from then on were replied within a day. I'm giving them the benefit of the doubt that they were probably too caught up in giving their website such a major overhaul that they completely ignored the most important factor in their business. Customer service! So, no brownie points for their staff in this area. They did follow up to tell me about how one of my items was out of stock thus causing the delay and sent it a week later once everything was settled. Why couldn't they tell me that from the start!? It seems they like keeping their customers in suspense. If I was not crazily satisfied with the items I bought, I'd say I wouldn't have any qualms about not mentioning this website on my blog post. On the bright side, given that they have improved in this major boo boo, I no longer have much negative comments to spurt out. Hopefully things have gotten better for customers who patronized them after me.

Urband Decay

Negatives aside, I am very wowed by their product line. I think I'm repeating myself a fair bit by dedicating an entire paragraph to this topic again. They've got more popular brands like Urban Decay, Murad, so on and so forth. You can check their brand directory for a complete listing of what they have.

Murad

Their sister site, lookmantastic doesn't forget the men in our lives too! Same shopping cart to boot!

As always, some things are too good to be true. Do note that Dermalogica cannot be shipped to Singapore. I saved myself the hassle of comparing the price the moment I saw their message that they couldn't ship it to my country, I'm not sure about other destinations, but Singaporeans only looking out for Dermalogics can give it a miss if that's what got your attention in the first place.

And now, the most wonderful thing of all to hear for Singaporeans despite the lack of Dermalogica. How can they not sell it to meeeeeeeeeeeee!?!?!?!

The best thing about buying products from Europe is that electronics are of same voltage and plug!!!!

For my side, getting electricals from the US is my biggest headache due to the hassle of purchasing transformers and universal adapters so that I could enjoy the same goodies our American counterparts have been keeping for themselves all these years! I overcame this issue in the past by strictly choosing products that have international compatibility. They're good for traveling, and I don't have to go out of my way to get a transformer.

And the best bit? They sell BabylissPro!!!!!!!!! Ahhhhhhhhhhhh! Not surprising though, I think Babyliss is actually a European brand? But free shipping is all that matters really. They sell it so cheap and local prices, with the same adapter plug and free shipping?!?!?! It's a dream come true!!!! Hair fanatics would agree with me on the exorbitant prices this brand is going for in Singapore. Cheaper than Amazon.com doll!!

My loot sent via Express Mail - the irony!!!

My haul

As proof that I am in no way paid to do this posting, and to flash you in the face my amazing buys, above's what I bought recently.

Naturally I got the BabylissPro. Makes no sense raving about a brand and not buying anything from it. I tried out their conical wand since I don't have one yet apart from a traditional Panasonic curler. Nice stuff! Will tie in a review of it together with the next Face of the Week I'll be uploading for visual effect.

Other noteworthy items were the below:

Redken Extreme strength builder mask - loving it so far after three uses, talk about silky soft tendrils!

Much raved Stila Kajal eyeliner which I have yet to play with

Stila's Kajal eyeliner in Topaz is supposed to be da bomb in lining your waterline (peachy, not glaringly white)

Head Jog big bristle ceramic brush - I love! Great for creating volume on your crown area

Keratase Elixir Ultime - My new hair drugs

They included a cute candle inside too which I haven't used, smells divine!

Big bottle!

I got free samples as well

I do need to highlight a point irregardless of what you think of this website after my huge complaint about it. This is not my idea but something I caught on Facebook the other day posted by a friend. People want three things when shopping whether online or offline. It has to be cheap, good quality (service and items alike), and fast (delivery and service-wise). There's an issue with getting all three as seen below because you only can have a maximum of two of these qualities!

1. To be cheap and good, you have to wait - a good example is ordering online for better deals
2. To be of good quality and fast, it does not come cheap! - express/urgent orders anyone?
3. If you want it cheap and fast, you can wait long long for it to be good arh!!!!

In summary, this site is a straightforward "cheap and good" but uber tortoise slow in my books. You can't have everything all the time although I must concede that two and a half months is the longest freaking time I have ever waited for an online order. Visit the site if you don't mind waiting for things that I find, are worth the while ultimately. Don't get more than two to three items at a time if you're really worried or to try out for yourself.

Fully Blushed

2011-12-05T00:47:00.002+08:00

I'm technically running a little late to post my face of the week inspite of it being a Sunday night. It's past twelve so does it count that I'm taking it as Sunday instead of wallowing in early Monday blues? Haha!

To put the look in context, I wanted to look as natural as possible while at the same time not skimping on the coverage. So I gave the eye makeup a near miss with just a light touch of colour and bet my money on the cheeks for that rosy effect. The rationale for doing so was so as to not look so immensely overdone for the week before's CATS Carnival at Expo. I wasn't one of the pageant girls competing that day so it would be pretty inappropriate if I tried to stand out too much yes? I was there to support my friend who took part in the contest.

I had a good view because I was on a chair unlike most people hehe!

The reigning, and second time winner of the competition

I was gunning for no.10 Shiella!

Who unsurprisingly got in cause I, and everyone else thought she's hot lolx!

Unfortunately, due to time constraints, I couldn't support her the Sunday after that which was to be the grand finals. I had the last of my pole dancing classes that would go to waste considering I missed the lesson before that and they gave me my shoes that day too! Would have been inconvenient if I went all the way down to collect it another time. Shiella understood, because she was attending the same class as me and skipping as many lessons and more whahaha!

I tried my best to look natural, but I couldn't leave out my lashes haha!

Did I mention I was driving and taking these two shots at the same time?

So there you have it, my face of the week. I'll upload a detailed list of the cosmetics I used when I'm done perfecting the look. Everything was all too rushed at that point in time so justify proper photos and makeup so give me the benefit of the doubt and wait for it. Promises will be promises so hold your horses!

Prive Clinic

2011-12-02T02:30:00.000+08:00

Shiella invited me to one of the MyFatPocket's November events, this one being a live demo showcase of the services Prive Clinic had to offer.

The place was located in the heart of Raffles Place so I kind of felt a little off in my dressing but what the heck right? Who has the time to change straight after work anyways. My work place doesn't require too formal an attire so I went as is for the function.

Here I was waiting for Shiella to get changed straight after work, she's da lucky one who works nearby pui!

The big shot lady boss was Dr Karen Soh who did most of the articulation and the demonstration itself on one of MyFatPocket's in-house bloggers, Wendy.

What sort of demo was this about you ask? Why its botox and fillers galore!

The lamb before the slaughter

Curious as to my take on plastic surgery? Well, technically there's no surgery for this instance but there's a fair bit of plastic and other chemicals pumped into your system. I'd say vanity has no limits. We cannot deny the fact that nature can only do so much. Absolute perfection can never be achieved by doing nothing. For individuals who prefer the au naturel way, why so much as to bother with skincare, braces, contacts and all things man-made in that case? There lies some level of the artificial we rely on these days which is especially so in this day and age. It's almost unavoidable! And for some, going plastic is merely taking it to a higher ultimatum.

Whether going through with such invasive methods may be unacceptable for some, in the end, the choice is yours alone to decide. So going with whatever rocks your boat and not living the life of what others tell you to, is most important. I digress though. Onward with the photos!

I feel obliged to entice you with the yum yum so go green with jealousy all you want! Muahahaha!

Cute huh!

My partner in crime

Indubitably, a presentation regarding facial manipulation calls for proof pictures of the before and after. Below is the before and after of the nose job, eye bag removal and jawline slimming shown to the attendees.

Before

dum dee dum dee dum...

La la la... attacking the eyes now, she's looking like "omfg am I really doing this??"

And ta-dah!

Big difference ya! It has to be, really. Lol! You're paying big dollar, so I'd reckon it would be befitting to look dramatically different. Pointless to go plastic and look the same.

Contrary to popular belief though, Dr Karen's charges aren't that scary compared to other clinics I've visited. I haven't done anything to my face... yet... haha! The paranoid freak in me (I fear growing old at times), and ever supportive person I am (self praise!) has followed many a friend to similar clinics to hear all the info about fillers and botox. I suppose because I am so pro-plastic surgery, my friends chose me as a suitable candidate to accompany them for their appointments. Prive Clinic's talk was not new to me and yet, the thing that pleasantly surprised me most was the pricing and longevity of the fillers.

laurengreenbergmd.com

Dr Karen utilises Juvederm as her main tool of the trade which I found out lasts a good year or more. For one of her clients, she had mentioned it went so far as to last a whopping five years! Insane! From what I was told, nose fillers started from SGD$800 up which is inexpensive if you've been as current as me going around checking out prices in Singapore. Me thinks I have incredibly strong powers of persuasion when it comes to convincing friends to go under the knife. Wonder if that's a bad thing?

I doubt it would be appropriate to mention names of the killer clinics so I'm leaving that out. While I have no plans in the near future to get myself filled with chemicals, the whole idea isn't the least intimidating. I will be keeping in mind this place should I have the need for it. Good to know there's a place I can head to if I have some cash to burn and a face to save haha!

I left the place unscathed that evening with a goodie bag to boot! My stash consisted mostly of samples of the products the clinic offers for sale, pamphlets and an aesthetic magazine in Chinese which I had no use for considering my proficiency in the language is next to nothing. I appreciated the opportunity to try out their brands anyhow and was enthralled with their "Is Clinical" line. I'm contemplating adding some of their range to my Christmas wishlist. Hee!

Prive Clinic can be found at One Raffles Place #05-04A
website: http://priveclinic.com/

Continuation - Makeup Workshop Tips

2011-11-30T00:47:00.000+08:00

As a follow up to the last post, these are the rest of what I will be sharing about what I absorbed from the recent workshop I attended. There were definitely more useful information brought up during the lesson which I probably failed to pick up. I felt that although important, some facts laid out were already known to me thus, I spastically took for granted certain points that others might not yet be aware of. You guys could go for yourselves and listen in to this basic workshop if what I'm showcasing is too lacking or you're just greedy for more "con-artist" tips haha!

Makeup Base/Primer

I assume most people, like me skip using this product prior to applying foundation and concealer. For myself, I only make it a point to add this in the event I have to look good for an entire day's function. I had a rough idea of what a makeup base did, which was to extend the lifespan of your makeup. What was unknown to me, was that colour correcting makeup bases made a great deal of a difference to your face.

realbeauty.com

For starters, there are varieties of tinted makeup bases which, like concealers, aid in some form of colour correction to prep your facial canvas.Of course, there are even more amazing primers which offer added benefits like acne control, wrinkle correction, SPF, so on and so forth. I won't dwell into this because the list truly goes on and on. What I can do, is tell you for now before I move on to the colour usages, is what I'm currently using. That would be Fusion Beauty's Acne Control Primer seen above. You can get this at Sephora and other major stores. Don't be lazy and go do a search you couch potato! What I'd like to mention about this product is the nice colour correction together with effective acne control, does what the label says, nice to know some products deliver what they preach for once. Go smuggle out some samples to try if you suffer from consistent outbreaks like me.

http://img.rasset.ie

If you're made up of mostly yellows in your skin tone, the problem is that sometimes, especially for extreme cases, this may make you come across as sallow-skinned and tired looking. Purple tinted bases perform in this case by brightening up your skintone, conversely making you appear bright and perky. The overall effect would turn out as a whitish appearance which is easily bleanded away after topping it up with foundation. The brightening effect also works for users who don't have much yellow skin tones but how much whiter do you really want to be???? I'd say use it if you really need it. Otherwise, go for transparent! Pink does the same thing but works better for lighter toned folks. Both shades work to counter browns and yellows so they're great for moles and birth marks too!

us.boots.com

Blue and green bases are for blemish prone peeps or those with immensely red faces. They counteract with the reds like acne, rashes and freshly CLOSED wounds (you're gonna scream if you try this on open wounds, and why are you even putting makeup on an open wound?) for a more toned down appearance.The former is more suitable for fairer skin tones while the latter for darker. I recommend spot-treating instead of smothering your entire face, unless you really do resemble a roasted lobster.

joseibi.com

Yellows and oranges, or salmon if you prefer, are magic tools for the late nighters. They correct blues and greens on your face so you cna bid dark eye circles goodbye with proper use of these babies. Again, spot-treatment is the preferred method of application except if you somehow got punched real bad in the face.

vivawoman.net

Oh and another thing, I have no clue how to use powdered bases. Won't they get swept away when you apply foundation on them? What's more they lose out in comparison to their liquid and cream counterparts who provide more benefits than colour correction alone. This was not covered during the workshop and I've tried using powders for myself once before with lack luster results so I am not supportive of getting these.

Lastly, as an ending note, when applying makeup, do so with downward strokes. This goes for foundations, bases and primers. Unlike skincare which requires you to massage all the expensive stuff in an upward motion for better absorption and lifting effects, makeup is done in the opposite way simply because the whole idea is to layer your paint over to cover and conceal instead of getting absorbed into your skin. Make sure to keep that in mind so as to not damage your skin further. Going bare faced is indefinitely the best option for your skin but not many can do that without ghastly stares headed their way. War paint is the second best option at the cost of hurting your face somewhat so at the least, try to reduce that level of harm with what is within your control.

Makeup Workshop

2011-11-28T01:35:00.001+08:00

One of my many makeup escapades for the week included attending a workshop I pre-paid for via Groupon, one of those daily deals advertised online. I been hooked on such vouchers as of late which not surprisingly has affect my savings despite the irony that purchasing such discounted deals are supposed to save you money!

I haven't much photographs to post for the the session I went for due to the fact that for one thing, my hands were full trying out the new methods and advice fed to me, for another reason, being a non-blogger event, I felt quite out of place acting the paparazzi whilst the instructor was conducting the lesson. Haha! Forgive me this once! It's very weird being the only one out of the pack snapping away like some tourist on a roll!

I was the first to arrive! Here's the table layout before everything started

My work space

To make my life easier in recalling what I learnt, as well as at the same time feed your with useful information you might not yet be aware of, here's a recap of two of the key points I digested. Rest assured, I will be continuing with the rest of the tips in later posts as these two alone are very wordy on their own. I serve bite-sized information for your learning pleasure!

They used mostly Korean brands throughout the lesson

Figuring Out Your Skin Tone:

I've had this problem for a great many years from the time I learnt about how certain shades of makeup would complement people who have more cool than warm tones in their skin, and vice versa. Knowing about the difference and the accompanying shades to wear may be one thing, but I was plagued with the ordeal of having to figure out for myself which of the two I was. To put a long story short, there are many methods to find out which tone you are (it's all over the internet and most makeup books), but in the end, getting a professional to tell you in the face would still be a better idea. I used to kid myself that I was a cool tone because my favourite colours are those of the sea, blues, greens, and everything in between. I finally got my answer solved when the coordinator confirmed that I was in fact a cool tone as I suspected, and hoped for actually haha! Great excuse to wear the colours I liked more often yipee!

Don't laugh! This was my workshop creation whahaha!

Figuring out your base tone in vital as using the wrong colours on your face would affect how good, or crappy everything is going to look after you're done dolling up. Take for example how I used to avoid neutrals like the plague because most browns are available in warm earthy tones, which made my eyes look more dirty/muddy/UGLY than I'm-freaking'-hot! I sort of naturally made such guesses over time on what colours suited me and what didn't without a definite green light. Although figuring out in dark may be possible, it is always better to at least get some affirmation somewhere so as to not go completely off track if you're one of those totally clueless folks.

In general, if you don't have anyone to tell you, you could gauge for yourself in the following ways.

1. The Sun Test (as mentioned in the workshop) In the situation where you head out into the sun, should you be the sort who easily catches a tan and keeps it for a lengthy amount of time (over 2 weeks), then you fall under the warm tone catergory. The converse would be those who either burn, or can't keep their tan for long are the cool toned individuals.

2. The Vein Test (also briefly talked about in the course) Put your wrist up against a bright WHITE light and check if your veins are green or bluish. Green infers a warm tone, and blue would be cool toned. I had a problem for this one as I had seen such a test before online and couldn't tell for myself what on earth my vein colours were. So get a friend if you're unsure or are as colourblind as me. Lolx!

3. Hands-on Test (my own silly idea which I've used before attending this course) Get two eyeshadows in the same colour group, a.k.a. pink, blue, green or whatever you like, make sure they are as close in colour as possible in terms of how light or dark they are. AND, make sure one of them has more blues in them, and the other with more yellows. An example would be a light hot pink (bluish pink) versus a light peach pink (orangey yellow). Swipe a think amount of each on either side of your face for comparison. Put it on your face or lids, whichever is easier to see the difference. The one that looks better on you would be the tonal group your skin belongs to. For this case, ensure that you're picking the colour not based on your preferred shade but the one that appears more suited to your skin. Its hard I know! But I found the sun test and vein test to be just as ambiguous!!! Getting a professional opinion is most preferred amongst all choices but these are what I felt to be the easiest alternatives.

There are many other similar tests that help in determining your base which you could try out as an affirmation to the above tests. Try at your own risk though as I think a few are too complicated or plain unorthodox!

Live demo in progress!

Finding Your Perfect Foundation
Choosing a formula:
Creams and mousses offer the most coverage and moisture for drier skins. Opt for 2-way cakes and other powdered foundations if you're plagued with an oily face. The powder is great for soaking up all the goo and setting concealers. Liquid foundation and tintest moisturisers offer the lightest coverage which is great for those who hate the thick cakey feel or people with little to no blemishes to hide. BB creams are the newer kids on the block which offer light to medium coverage. They are wonderful for younger skins that need some extra tender loving care for their pimples and scars since most of such creams treat and cover at the same time. Pimple-prone princesses would swear by these.

OCCmakeup.com

I'd additionally like to rattle on about airbrush foundation. This was not covered by the workshop but I'm going through it because I myself use it. Airbrushing gives the absolute best coverage and finish at the cost of a higher price tag. Not only are you required to invest in foundations that most of the time cannot be used without an airbrush system, the compressor and brush cost a bomb. It is also a steep learning curve when it comes to getting the hang of spraying your foundation on. Scared the bejeesus out of you yet? Horror stories aside, when you eventually become an expert in spraying your face, the end result is beeeeeeeeeeeautiful! When done properly, you'd look so good, people WILL mistake you for not wearing any makeup at all and wonder what kind expensive concoction you've been piling on your face at night for perfect skin.

I would encourage people to choose this if cash is not an issue. You have to set aside at least SGD$300 for the most basic of sets. Best for normal to oily skins. Drier complexions could still consider this on condition you either pile on moisturisers beforehand, or use special moisturising add-ons like Dinair's Moist & Dewy.

spoiledpretty.blogspot.com

Picking a shade:
Every brand has their own range of shades which vary from each other. Having to test foundations every so often is a pain in the a$$, I know! On a positive note, it's a great thing for people with very unique skin colours. Keep searching till you find that magic skin-matching formula! An "olive beige" in one brand may be far lighter, and yellowish compared to another brand sharing the same foundation name. Actual hands-on testing for yourself is most recommended. Many makeup stores utilise warm yellow lights at their counters so testing foundations at their stores may end up in you purchasing the wrong colour since everything is going to turn out looking fine on your skin. Optimally, if you can help it, doing a swatch test in bright white light would be best. Swipe the colours along your jawline mildy to completely unblended as they are for comparison. The one that disappears the most into your skin would be the shade you're hauling out of that store.

crcmakeup.com

In the case for online buys, purchasing a sample size would be the second best option without having to break the bank if you make a mistake. If you're caught in that nasty situation, mixing your foundation with existing shades in your arsenal would be your hail-Mary pass. Overlaying the foundation with a lighter or darker loose powder is another option depending on how far off a shade you bought.

http://icell-harvest.com/

For the sake of those who wish to attend a similar workshop, or any advanced course on makeup. You can make a booking either via email or by giving them a call. Fees aren't too expensive, I was offered a $25 fee if I was interested in going for the advance lesson consisting on application of smokey eyes, glitter, and other higher level makeup techniques. I'd reckon the price is worth it for a skill you could be using for at least the next ten years or more. What's $25 spread over that length of time!?

Purchase Haul!

2011-11-24T01:59:00.000+08:00

I'm launching my online and some offline buys of the last few days. My shopping never ceases to end! I'm still thinking about heading down to Watson's (again!?!?) for their 20% member's sale tomorrow. There actually was an earlier sale before that which I missed for some reason I can't figure out at present but who cares right? Sale's over, no use thinking back on something you've got no use for what hor!

Technically a buy but one that ended up in my stomach! $15 from Swiss Culture at Suntec City

I stopped by Guardian yesterday to top up on my hair dye, this time I got Liese's Bubble hair dye in Milk Tea Brown. The red hair's too much of a distraction these days and I tire of the stares whenever I leave the house. Also decided to take the plunge in adding to my endless collection of scrubs the My Beauty Diary Vanilla Souffle Face Scrub. The mousse acted like those Ginvera chemical peels what sloth off your dead skin without the abrasive feeling.

Thick stuff if you ask me, but sadly, no vanilla smell as promised =(

Oh and the little blue bottle on the extreme left is the new Maybelline Pure B.B Mousse. I bought it since its a new product and I was always curious about using mousse foundations. There was one and only one colour available in 01. Correct me if I'm wrong though, I searched high and low and found nothing else. Surprisingly, it matched my skin perfect! And it looked so natural all day! Decent coverage too. I didn't have to use concealer except on my dark circles which are visible with airbrush foundation sometimes as well, so I reckon most people would be satisfied with the coverage it gives. Worth the buy although I have too many in the first place to complete zzzz....

I'd like to take this time to introduce you a website which I bought some of my loot this time around.
In future I will post more of such online treasure troves for you to join me in losing our money to the internet!!!!! Whahaha! Again, please keep your wallets in check if you know what's good for you. I am in no way liable for make you break the bank! Unless of course you're cleaning up your account to spend on your truly. Then clear away!

Camera Ready Cosmetics

You can visit this website here at:

http://www.camerareadycosmetics.com

Why this baby is da bomb:

They have an insane variety of high-grade makeup found all localized in one website!
"Kiasu'ism" at its best!!!!

Brands like Kett Cosmetics have they own website which you can order direct. But seriously, as a makeup fanatic, how can buying one brand be sufficient??? Factor in the waiting time for your order to be packed and shipping to your doorstep and that would be like throwing a hand grenade in your pocket. Not a cent left to be found! And you're reduced to spending serious dough on your bulk purchase (to save on shipping) on one single brand alone. That may not be an issue for some people who swear by using solely one brand for their entire face but not so for me. Trying out new products is my forte, at the risk of destroying my face, but there's a risk to going overboard for anything really.

So there you go, its the Amazon.com for mid to higher end makeup used by professionals! What's not to like?

You can't get any MAC or Makeup Forever on this site. Rather, this website caters to more indie brands used by makeup professionals who want the quality without having to pay large amounts of cash for them. And in any case, why would you need to buy MAC when you can get it.... EVERYWHERE? Just step out of the house for an hour or two and you can easily purchase mainstream brands. CRCmakeup is more for makeup lovers who want to try out good quality brands which are not as easily available as what you see in departmental or drugstores. Below are some of the interesting finds I liked:

Obsessive Compulsive Cosmetics

The infamous Z-Palette

Sugarpill!!!!!!!!!!! A must try!

And better yet, sign up with a pro-makeup artist account and get even better discounts available to you!

Dammit I should be asking for advertising fees for this haha!

But I genuinely am all bonkers for this website. I intend to make another purchase during the coming Black Friday sale despite the fact that my last purchase with them was last week!

Oh and another wonderful thing to note is that their shipping is so cheap, I bought about ten items which cost less than USD$15 to ship. The price was so dirt low I decided to upgrade my shipping by another eight odd dollars to one with tracking included. My parcel came so fast I wasn't even expecting it when it arrived. I thought I would have to lookout for the mailman a week or two later for it! Seven days tops! Madness coming from a US website shipping to sunny Singapore.

Need more proof of how much I love this webby? Here was my last online haul:

USD$23 for tracking and postage

All nicely wrapped up!

Clockwise from left: Z-Palette, Kett Cosmetics airbrush makeup in 01 & 02 and Kett Fixx Creme Palette, OCC Skin airbrush makeup, CRCmakeup airbrush samples, Sugarpill Sweetheart Palette and Mehron ProColor Ring Neutralizer

My grand total for this was slightly less than USD$300. Shipping was $23.99 via USPS Priority Mail with tracking. Cheap no?

Still not convinced?

I'm in the mood so let's give a breakdown of a similar purchase from one of these brands.

For example, take Sugarpill as the website we'd like to buy from.

Beautiful, cute place to browse and super intense makeup!

Unfortunately, being a new store, their colours are limited and left me wanting for more. Don't get me wrong, I am strong for buying Sugarpill cosmetics because of the huge colour payoff. What you see is what you get. But I want MORE!!!!!!!!!

And the shipping? The same single 4-colour palette I got from Camera Ready Cosmetics would set me back USD$8 over here for the same mode of shipping as what CRC would charge me for their cheapest form of shipping. That costing USD$14+ for ten odd items? Mind you, the palette price is the same on both websites.

So get those credit cards ready, they accept Paypal too if you prefer. Great lobang, don't miss it!

Tangy Tangerine

2011-11-23T00:49:00.000+08:00

thebeijinger.com

Interested in wearing brights on your lids but afraid of shrinking your peepers in the process? Try playing with your eyeliner more for that colour block effect. The intense black also helps in defining where your eyes start and end instead of disappearing into nothingness by your flashy eyeshadow. The below look is one of my attempts at countering this "tiny-eye-syndrome" which I suffer from whenever I apply very light, nude or neon eyeshadow. Read on for the 101!

First, the lowdown on my weapons of choice:

Kryolan's UV Dayglow Aquacolors

I used UV Yellow and UV Orange as my eyelid bases to bring out the pop factor. You can most easily get these off Ebay either in palette form or individual shades whichever your liking.

Coastal Cents 88 Palette

Normally I don't recommend eyeshadows in general as I feel that we should stick to our budgets and use the available colours we have in our own stash at hand. I think this issue applies to me more than anyone else really due to my retarded spending habits. Buy at your own risk, you can get dupes of these on Ebay or most other places or the Coastal Cents website, but it is not a must to do so. The reason why I got this palette despite the fact that I already own three odd other similar sets in addition to my every growing mountain of eye shadow is that I'm forever paranoid about not having a particular colour and having to make do with another shade that's hopefully close to it. Avoid following in my footsteps if you value your purse!

But to get on with my tutorial drawl, I used the shimmery light yellow (top level, second from the left), a bright orange (third level, third from the right), and an ashy brown (forth level, extreme right).

Model 21 Lashes in No.35

My false eyelashes are for reference, use your own, but I would advise to pick longer and more dramatic styles for this makeup to match the strong overall look.

Additional equipment:
Your usual foundation, eyelash curler, brushes and whatnots. Oh and do pair this bright look with toned down blusher and preferably nude lipstick unless the attention-seeker in you in screaming for more bang. *wink!*

Makeup Application 101:

Step1.

Apply UV yellow base on upper lids, up till the socket (no higher!)

Step2.

Go over the same area with the light yellow and bright up the colour about 1-2mm higher than the base (shown in green here)

Your eyes should resemble this:

Bare anot!?!? Not used to seeing little makeup on me ya! Haha!

Step3.

Apply UV Orange base on lower lids, no need to be too thin, about 2-3mm thick

It should look scarily like this by now.

It's alright if you're messy for this step, the cleaning up comes later

If in the event you do not have a very bright neon base, you could go budget and substitute the same steps with your usual eyelid primers. It would be necessary though to overlay your lids with a very striking eyeshadow to compensate for the lack of a bright base.

The lower lids are freaking you out yes? Muahahaha! Halloween's never over in my case haha!

Aye... sense of humor lah!

Step4.

Overlay the base with the orange shadow followed by lining the brown below it, stop at the 3/4 mark of your inner eyes

Right now, I have made my eyes look like I haven't slept in ten days. And I know you're getting more and more freaked out by the minute at how things are going with the shadows but be patient! I have to confess, while trying this out, I was going "sh!t!!!!" by the time I reached this stage. The whole ordeal was part of my experimentation and it led to this mess. That said, after continuing on with the next two steps, I never regretted making this mistake which proved eventually to be accidental eureka! Lolx!

Step5.

Go over the lower lid with the orange UV base again for greater intensity (skip if you don't have a coloured base)

Step 6.

The magic begins!

Get out that eyeliner! Draw the shape as shown above but not so thick, I got lazy and didn't bother reducing my brush size!

Nice???

Tadah! So you see, the brown below won't make your lower eyelids so stark from the black eyeliner! Smart right! Haha! Listen to me some times lar... I'm already your guinea pig by slapping all this gunk on my face, nothing to lose in heeding my advice right?

Step7.

Va va voom lashes to finish

And you're done!

Of course do the rest of your face makeup lah! I only cleared the eyes for you!

For your diligence in reading through my entire picturesque entry, I shall award another bout of torturous narcissism for the masochist in you. Leave now if you're done with my lesson young padawan! Yoda had a ball of a time cam whoring after completing the weekend's Jedi training in makeup tryouts.

For those who bothered to scroll down, here's the secret cheat-sheet to looking like you have long hair

There's gotta be a reward for looking through the rest of my photos even if you didn't want to right?

The trick is to tie only half your hair up. Bring a small section at a time high up to the crown area on opposite side of your head. Meaning right to left or vice versa. Pin each part at the same spot. It should look like you tied a side ponytail from the front. Cover the whole lot with a giant clip to conceal your workmanship. This way, your hair will appear fuller, and longer from both the front and back. No one will ever know! Except me and other people reading this la! Haha!

Hugs, kisses and lots of love!

Preview

2011-11-21T03:35:00.001+08:00

Once again, my weekend was jam packed enough to license a break from blogging for the weekend. I won't be stingy so here's a preview of a new look I experimented with on my Saturday night out. Lookout for the tutorial soon! ^^

Product Updates

2011-11-17T01:29:00.000+08:00

I'm posting some products I received of late. Truth be told, I bought an insane amount of makeup and other blah in the last week. The ones physically with me now to be shown tonight are crazily enough, nearly none of them. Those for show today are gifts and little bitsy pieces of my massive spending spree. Majority of my buys have been done online. My wallet is weeping in the background as I type this and me thinks I'd likely have to eat air or grass for the time being before I go on another shopping binge. To make matters worse, I have half the mind to attend Shiseido's annual sale tomorrow which is a definite spending spree. Did I mention the last thing I did before blogging was shopping at Bugis today? Help meeeeeeeee!

The only lifesaver of the day, gifts from Shiella

I dropped by my friend's place last Saturday for her roommate's birthday and she passed me these babies. I've trial run the top right eyeshadow so far. Nice cool tones in a compact small enough to throw in my bag for emergencies. I don't wear makeup everyday so this comes in handy when I have to meet people all of a sudden for that day. The earthy shades are my wear-everywhere neutrals lately. To be honest with you. when you're lazy, whatever can be found in your bag becomes the wear-everywhere shade. This is the exception for me though, its really is a wear-everywhere compact and so happens to be in my bag all the time so I'm not wrong in saying this statement both ways for once haha!

I nabbed some eye cream from Fairprice after pole dancing class when Shiella needed to top up her makeup remover within short notice. I couldn't just stand there and see shelves and shelves of products calling out to me can I????? Don't judge me! Try controlling a rabbit when a carrot's dangling above its head!?!?

The cream cost me about $19.90? I forget but the price can't be very off from that.

On a side note, I finished up a bottle of Nuteen's sleeping mask which I got for about $15.90 a month or two ago. Neat stuff, which unfortunately had to be alternated with other skincare from time to time as I found despite its effectiveness, my skin tolerance to it built up way faster than expected. A week on it and I was forced to switch sleeping masks. I still managed to scrap off everything in the tub so that says a lot about this little gem. Pop by Watsons if you want a piece of this.

That's 'nuff said for one night. I have to catch up on my precious beauty sleep so that I have the strength to fight my way through hoards of aunties and too-rich teenage girls for my Shiseido fix tomorrow morning. See ya there if you manage to squeeze through the crowd!

Red, Red and More Red!

2011-11-16T02:36:00.004+08:00

I sported my red hair together with pastels and shimmery blues and greens last weekend. And this time, I've made it easier on your eyes by adding more pictorial details on getting the same front as what you see in my shots!

I realised a little too late how difficult it is to match red hair with clothing, shoes, makeup and anything other things a girl has to don before heading out to town. The hair is already distracting enough, adding to that is complete overkill. Then again, going all pale with colours makes my fair skin appear even whiter than it currently is, and my hair all the more insanely glaring on the eyes. Going goth does match to a certain extent at the cost of scaring passing children and friends labelling you an "ah lian". Probably my mistake on that part, I did a pretty fail gothic look the last time around. At least this time I came across as decent to most apart from the hair shocker haha! Be prepared for lots of cam whoring shots ahead!

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I know I'm sadistic to force you to see my face before I do my mini-tutorial but nothing comes free ya-know? Lolx! Skip the pictures if you want to know just the nitty gritty about getting the same look I'm wearing.

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I'm nuts over the lip colour

I got bored figuring out new poses after a while =p

I liked this one best, ethereal =)

Accidental candid shot whilst I was adjusting

My current Facebook profile pic

How I managed the look:

Foundation: Dinair Airbrush Makeup in Olive Beige and Vanilla blended in the ratio 4:2

Blush: Dinair Airbrush Makeup in Cloudy Pink

Contour & Highlight: Dinair Airbrush Makeup in Olive Beige and Vanilla used alone respectively

Lips: Stila Palette in Trendsetting in Tokyo (link to my previous post with this product HERE)

Brows: I forget the name, but its nothing that great so just use your usual favourite eyebrow pencil

Nails: Rubi Shoess, don't know the colour, but see the below picture for reference (the bottle's at my bf's)

Hair: Not keeping track of how I got the colour? Find it HERE

Light creamy nude shade

Eyes: I used three colours from one of Sephora's multi-shade palettes. No point in me recommending it since it was limited edition. They churn out a new one every year during Christmas and mine was last year's (2010) Use your own for this case.

Step 1 - matte blue swept over entire lid

Step 2 - Darker green on out half of crease (pat and blend only in this limited space)

Step 3 - Light Shimmery Blue (I'm not colourblind, purple is for you to see clearly) patted, little blending in circle shape in middle of eyelid

I basically got a matte blue to cover the entirety of my lids, before using a blending eyeshadow brush (get those from Sigma.com) to pat the outer half of my eye crease with a shimmery green darker than the matte blue for depth. I finally overlaid the middle of my eyes (a thumb's thickness) with a shimmery white or light blue to brighten up the whole package. Line your bottom lid with the shimmery blue and green with the former on the inner portion of the eyes, and the latter on the outer corners.

Follow up everything with brown eyeliner (upper and lower) for a subtler finish. Black is nice on most occasions, but like what I said earlier about my hair, too many clashing colours threaten to blind the folks around me so I'm abstaining from such for the time being. Of course, pile on the lashes if time and patience permit. What's a night out without the va-va-voom? Have fun playing with the look!

The finished look in detail

Ice Facials

2011-11-15T00:30:00.001+08:00

Wallah! That's what I've got today. I'm not saying I'm the first to create ice facials, rather, I'm introducing the concept, together with more supplementary information to you people to try out. My attempts at searching for this sort of facial online turned out with very meager results so I figured this would be a topic that would be of some use to the general public.

For basics, ice facials are facials that make use of well, ice! This can be done in two ways.

1. Making ice cubes pre-added with juicy goodness that's rubbed on your face once frozen - I'll be showing you how to do this one

2. Using an ice pack / frozen lollipop container pre-frozen with water or any cooling liquid inside and rub it on whatever mask you've applied to your face

Both methods have their good and bad points. The former, is suitable for people who would like to use au naturel ingredients in their facial and customization here is very flexible. The negative aspect about it would be the mess it makes once everything has melted over. You see, not all the goodness from that ice cube you made can be fully absorbed within the short time span that ice cube remains as a cube. There will be a lot of dripping! So prep those towels beforehand!There's a fair amount of product wastage this way too because of the absorbency issue.

As for the ice pack method, there will still be massive condensation after you're done but if you're lazy, ignoring the mess on the floor is an option since its mostly water anyways. Let it all evaporate away if you must! I do it this way, you don't have to be as lazy as me if you don't want to haha! Of course, another option you can consider is just do the whole process in the sink for Christ's sake!

How to Make Ice Cubes:

I think the process is fairly easy to do even without my teaching you guys. There are some pointers to remember so listen in anyways.

Step 1.
Plan your ingredient list.
Several Youtube gurus have tried and tested their own concoctions of ingredients to be added in.
Michelle Phan was raving about using green tea (an antioxidant) and vitamin E (moisturizing)
Another blogger whose name I honestly cannot recall at this point in time used honey (same propeties as the above two ingredients)
The same blogger also quoted a Vogue editor who used pure rose water for her cubes (a more moisturizing toner equivalent to witch hazel suitable for drier skins)

Choosing your ingredients is in the end up to you, but you can always make use of what others have experimented with to reduce the chances of a face meltdown on your side.

For my case, after much research, I felt that ice facials would serve most effective as a booster for your toner. Their main function, being cold, does the opposite of what steaming your face would result. That being to close those open pores. One of the main purposes of toners would be to tighten the same pores. I put two and two together and I thought "Hey! Toner!" Lolx!

Yeaps, so off I went to brewing my very own cubes. Been using them for over a week now and I never turned back. The freezing cold acts like a booster for your toner. Pores get shrunk, and what I'm crazy over in addition to that is the fact that regular use made my eye bags a tad smaller! Woo hoo! Brownie points for that!

If you feel using 100% toner to make your cubes is going to be very expensive and wasteful, mixing this with tea is a recommended option. You have the water to dilute the mixture as a whole and yet the tea will sort of offset this concentration reduction by adding some good properties of its own. Green tea has a small amount of caffeine in it, so I suggest using it for cubes that you intend to use in the morning when you wake up for a circulation boost. I tried chamomile in another batch of cubes for night time use because of the calming properties. Make sure to use good quality teas that have a high percentage of the main ingredients. The smells and effect is has on you makes a difference so its worth the splurge.

What I used for my sleep batch:

I brewed half a cup of chamomile tea and let it sit for a while for the tea to cool before pouring it into my ice tray (buy it from hardware stores, departmental stores or Daiso. Make sure the tray is only 3/4 filled so that you can add in other ingredients.

3/4 Filled

Added my toner. I used cheap witch hazel water because being a trial, I didn't want to waste my expensive toners. In consolation, its more natural! Haha!

Witch Hazel Water (cheapskate toner) from Guardian (about $12)

I took the liberty to add in pimple removing lotions while I was at it.

TIP! You can use any of your own lotions which you have difficulty finishing, works like a charm!

Shiseido AquaLabel White AC Essence from Watsons (pimple removing essence)

Epiclear Acne Control Serum from ForeverYoung on Ebay.com

Step 2.
Add Your Gunk In and Wait 4 Hours
Leave it overnight it you can't stand sitting around. Or throw it in the fridge before you go to school or work and collect your treasure when you get home.

NOT for eating!

Step 3.
Enjoy the Fruits of Your Labour
For long term benefits of minimized pores, better blood circulation and smaller puffy eye bags, I would suggest freezing your face twice a day, once in the morning and night. I know some girls like to stick toothpicks in their cubes so that it won't be so cold to the touch when rubbing your face in ice. Try it if you like, but I'm not in favor of it because the cubes are going to fall off the sticks halfway through the rubbing process all the same so in the end, you're gonna have to get your fingers numb. Holding the cubes partially with a small towel or tissue paper works better to grip and maneuver your cube, just that it might stick to them after a while so again, wasted ingredients. The brave should attempt holding their cubes with fingers alone at least once. For the fun of it lah! I'm kidding. Vanity has its costs. How you want to hold your cubes is entirely up to you. Go figure ya!

Enjoy cubing!

Weekday Update

2011-11-11T02:23:00.000+08:00

Wanted to fill you guys in on my week so far. To summarize in one word... "hectic". I had to appear at the office 2 hours earlier to prepare training content for a new staff's whose recently joined us. Couldn't be leaving her sitting around staring into space so there I was to terrorize the daylights out of her. Sucked the life out of me too. She ain't bad really, I just get tired of having to re-train again and again and again. Granted I've gotten so used to it my cheat-sheet has been extensively revised from a mere 6 pages to an amount I refuse to disclose, the entire chore of repeating myself like a broken record is well, stale. All's well now since its already Friday so 'nuff said about that, woo hoo! Love max!

Apart from work bogging me down lately, I think the stress has gotten to me. I've been binging! Had korean BBQ at East Coast Park yesterday. Full to the brim! Ahh... my guilty pleasures. Good thing I have my ways of not keeping the weight on. I'll clue you in on them in a later post. Can't be leaking out all my secrets too soon can I? Then how will I enslave you? *evil laughter*

Awaiting our yum yum to arrive

In the meantime, I will definitely post something either tomorrow or the day after depending on how rad my weekend turns out to be, on another experiment I've embarked on. This one, unlike my eyeliner mishap, will work for sure except that the extra tweaks I am trying out for your benefit may not. The length of time it takes to conduct this experiment is also a factor that limits me from uploading my findings today. So be patient, it will come! The impatient can start guessing from the picture below if that suits your fancy. These were my materials lolx!

Weird combination? Adds to your guessing suspense haha!

Attended a casting for a charity event on the same evening so I took the liberty to snap some cam whoring shots of myself to fully compensate for the effort in dolling up. Such a waste don't you think? The worst case senarios are those interviews where they see you for 3 minutes or less and then wham, bam, thank you mam, out the door you go! All that for a hour of hair and makeup and did I mention travel time? Sigh... the things I do yes?

My face after 4 hours of casting and eating

I have a cap on because I was gonna remove my makeup straight after shooting

I used my Stila "Trendsetting in Tokyo" palette I got online from 6pm.com some time back. I'm not sure if its available in Singapore. Was going for a song at USD$10!

Additional stuff I used apart from my usual, can't do much in 15min of prep time!

I used the shimmery beige to highlight the inner corners of my eyes after shading my whole lid with Makeup Forever's Aquacream in shade no.05. I then used the pink lip gloss / cream blusher in the same palette for my lips because I am completely in love with this gorgeous shade!

I like to slot in primer just in case, Urban Decay has nice thin samples

Make sure to tune in the next few days for my experiment results!

Becoming A Red Head

2011-11-09T00:53:00.001+08:00

Wanna get flaming red locks like moi?

Yes?

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No?

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Too bad! You're reading this so I'm telling you anyways! Muahahaha!

I'm going to spit out a list of stuff you need, and then talk a little about them so you won't be in the dark.

1. Bleach Bleach Bleach!
This is a must! Whether you like it or not. If you want the same kind of bright as f$ck colour, you absolutely have to take this plunge. Be prepared for hair like straw so don't ever think Jay Chou is going to consider looking at you since he's so into snowy locks. You'll get what I mean if you understand Chinese *wink!* I recommend Palty from your everyday drugstore. Most places stock these. Best hair bleach I've ever used. Not that I've used THAT much but I've had my fair share of terrible bleach jobs in the past.

If you are afraid of doing this alone, or are a first timer, I recommend asking a friend for help with bleaching the back portion of your hair. Also watch this video together from StyleSuzi. Wonderful beauty guru on Youtube with incredibly light hair coloured as well. Good tips for those who intend to dye their hair really light shades. 12min long video alert! You've been warned.

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Alternative No.1
Afraid D.I.Ying such a feat would dissolve your tresses? Turn back now and head to your nearest salon to do the job. Costs vary depending on where you do it. The same goes for level of damage.

Ebay.com

Alternative No.2
Have the cash to spare and fear for the life of your hair? Consider high quality sold-only-in-salons dyes which offer the same level of brightness without the need for pre-lightening. I like MajiContrast in Red. The cheapest I can find on Ebay is from HERE. Irony isn't it? They're supposed to be salon-exclusive and yet I can buy them off Ebay. Pui!

Costs about USD $27 for a tube inclusive of shipping and cheaper with each additional tube with combined shipping. Those with hair lengths past the shoulders have no choice on this one. Scrimp and get semi-coloured uneven contrasts on your head!

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To be honest, I much prefer the second alternative to bleaching. Less damage for a slightly cheaper rate than heading to the salons which have a 90% possibility of forcing you to bleach the sh!t out of your locks before colouring. My problem was that I already ordered my hair dye months back when I purchased them on impulse. Can't have three tubes of colour sitting in my drawer waiting to coagulate right? So I bleached away!

2. Hair Dye

After coming the web for days, I finally settled with Special Effects. Compared to other brands Manic Panic and other archipalang names which I can't recall right now, this turned out the best in terms of reviews from various sites and youtube. I never regretted my purchase.

I got mine off Ebay from THIS seller. Hmm, I should consider getting commission for my recommendations lolx! I digress yet again. If you're interested in the exact shade I used, you can pick out "Nuclear Red" from their selection.The colour shown in the bottle is very very decieving! Looks like a dark vampiric red but wooo weeee did I get my shocker after washing my hair!

If you're not too sure about how the colour is going to turn out for you, consider doing a search online for the brand and the colour. There are numerous sites dedicated to showing you swatches or real life photographs on how these colours look like on real individuals. Worth a look for the not so daring. They're all really bright colour whichever you choose really.

Every product has a bad side. Well, most, and I'm anal that way, so that you get to hear me nag "I told you so!" if you blunder hehe! Special Effects hair dye bleeds like kingdom come! Sexy colour, very un-sexy maintenance. My bathroom resembles a scene from SAW whenever I take a shower. The place looks like a pig slaughter house. The walls, the floor, the sink... everywhere would be covered in red. And not the light watercolour paint sort. I'm talking about blood red! .... Thought just crossed my mind on what people might say if they stepped into a shower straight after a green-haired person was done with it. Swamp Thing! Anyways, to be clear, I did try my best at resolving this problem to no avail. Its better now after 5 days but seirously!? 5 days? I washed my hair every single day and I shampooed 4 times on the first day to make sure I got everything out. I stopped at 4 not because the water turned clear, my arms got tired from the scrubbing. Yea... I'm a water waster. Haha!

bing.com

3. Gloves

Every pair of gloves I've gotten for free with the dye I buy is C.R.A.P. The only exception is the Liese Bubble Hair Colour I used in October HERE. BUY YOUR OWN GLOVES! Thin rubber or pvc gloves are the best for grip (don't buy the ones meant for dishwashing arh!!!) . Plastic ones are just bullsh!t! They are cheap for a reason. Everything you grab will just slip and slide and make a mess of your toilet. I went heavy duty and got myself a 100pair box for about SGD$3? I don't remember the price but it really wasn't that much and the long term convenience is phenomenal. Try comparing a pair of each and I guarantee you'll never go back to using free gloves ever again.

olalaonline.com

hairtools.co.uk

4. A Comb and Hair Clips

Need I explain these? Pick a comb with a sharp pointy stick at the back (those kinds Ah Bengs like to carry around in their pocket) so that it'll be easier to separate your hair. They're going to be all thick and stuck like goo after you're done with them. In the event getting these are a problem for example you ran away from home and need to change your hair colour to remain unnoticeable (watch too much TV), slap the hair dye on your gloved (please be gloved) hands and rub it all over your hair as if you're shampooing in the shower. The outcome won't be as good as using those bubble hair colours, and you will definitely get a whole lot of colour on your scalp. But desperate times call for desperate measures so don't say I didn't give my two cents worth of advice! Make sure you don't forget the comb and clips for convenience purposes. It just makes the process faster and stress-free.

I'm all out of ideas to dish out for getting your hair to look like mine presently. My hair colour is indefinitely going to change in future so the dye recommendation may no longer be useful then, but stick to the same steps and use the other stuff I referred for best results regardless what shade of the rainbow you decide to dunk your hair into. Have fun D.I.Y'ing!

Weekend Rush!

2011-11-08T01:45:00.001+08:00

I love long weekends! Workaholics may beg to differ but who cares about them!? "Sabo" leh!!!

My days were amazingly pretty fulfilling despite fears that I might waste it away sleeping it off. Actually, that doesn't sound the least bit bad either whahaha! I spent a whole lot of time in good company, fun activities and shopping was part of the list too! Whoopee!

Check out my buys:

Nothing too fancy. I was drugstore hopping again at Toa Payoh Central after dinner with my boyfriend before he had to head to work. I first headed to Watsons to get my essentials for the night. I'll tell you why later on.

Palty Bleach on sale $9.90, Rubbing Alcohol $4.70, Tsubaki Damge Care Treatment Mask on sale $19.90

The accessories store not far away from Watson's begged me to go in so I took a peek as well.


Fake Eye Talk Double Eyelid Glue $5.90, Generic Brand Double Eyelid Tape $2.30, Bobby Pins $1.20, Rose Mirror $1.90

The previous double eyelid post got me curious on trying other similar products that could produce the same results without the cost of sagging my eyelids further. I'm glad to say I've found my new Holy Grail for creating double eyelids. Watson's frequenters may be familiar with the pink or green "Eye Talk" double eyelid glue found there. China has its own version also very originally called Eye Talk. I'm not a fan of using made-in-china products as of late due to the numerous reports on defective or even hazardous materials they have been using to scrimp on costs. Vanity has no limits really. I was also partially lured by the pen-like design.

The way this product was designed indeed made a difference in making my double eyelids an easier chore to bear. Unlike other double eyelid glues, having a thicker brush means you don't have to go over the same spot over and over and OVER (phew!) again to get that sufficient amount of glue. Twist the clicker at the back a few times and paint it on! Easy no?

I just following the drawing, my Chinese sux!

The drawback?
1. Instructions are in Chinese. My least favourite language.
2.I can't vouch if your skin is going to peel off with long term usage.

Love the effect too much to care? I hate to burst your lazy bubble but even though the pen design is convenient enough to carry in your purse and it being easier to apply, the cap does nothing in preventing the glue from drying on the brush! So makeup-removing wipes are an absolute must!

My overall rating? A 4/5 if you're hardworking, and a 3/5 if you're too much of a sloth to clean your brush. Nothing's going to come out if you don't put in the effort for this baby. I know... because I tried my luck a few times :)

My two mini-hauls weren't enough to satisfy my shopping craving so I went behind to the neighborhood drugstores for a browse. This was what I picked from Venus Beauty. Eye care! For obvious reasons close friends will well understand.

L'oreal Icy Roll On $16.80, Olay Anti-Ageing Eye Cream $15.90

I've tested both products without much problems so far in terms of skin allergies (I breakout when I use certain Olay products). That said, I can't vouch for their effectiveness just yet. I've been getting mroe sleep lately so my eyes have improved a wee bit. Will test them further during the weekdays when I'm plagued with sleep deprivation haha!

Alrightey then! On to my main reason for posting today. Taking a while yes? I dyed my hair!!!

What's so great about that you say?

Wait for it....................

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Wait for it some more..................

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Ready?

Ta Da!!!! Sorry about wearing no makeup and the red eye zzz...

I have crazy red locks! Haha! Bright or what? Its even brighter in real life. I look this photo as a last minute thing on my way for pole dancing class. Did I mention pole dancing?

Hoo ha!

Sexy dance moves here I come lolx! I joined it with a friend on a whim and our first lesson happened to fall this weekend on Sunday. Both our boyfriends weren't informed till the last minute but they don't mind for reasons I'm sure you can guess on your own. Tsk tsk!

Hair-wise, I will be following up with a post on how I got this mad-bright colour. It was done at home. No joke! Sadly its temporary, so fading is something I will have to come to terms with after about a month or so. I love it so much! Grabs attention haha! People think its a wig because the colour's so shiny hee! ^^ The pic do not do it justice! I'm tempted to re-dye it the same shade once I have to do re-touching.

Mind Cafe with besties and love

The one and only bummer for the weekend was my sore eye. I have no clue as to how on earth I contracted it. Been getting red eyes every single week for the last three. Contacts lens have been ruled out since I got them changed last week. The Sherlock Holmes in me hasn't woken up from a tiring weekend of activities to care less. I suspect its the balance Yin for my Yang. I've been enjoying myself too much as of late so I need some lows to counteract my highs. Lame lame, yes, I know. I've turned to retarded excuses to compensate for my lack of knowledge no the subject. Enlighten me if you have a clue! Hope your weekend was as awesome as mine! Ciao!

Oh and I Zhng'ed my phone. Don't lauygh at my design! I'm so ashamed but I need to post a pic to prove the nonsensical amount of rubbish I've been involved with over the long holidays haha! A very failed attempted compared to my past creations. My creative juices are deterriorating argh!!!

Purple "V" at the side is for Valerie! Lolx! Shameless!

The white rose mirror is from my purchase at the accessories store! So that I can see my beautiful face when I'm cam whoring with a better camera. The front lens for iPhone 4 sucks b@lls.

The Bluez

2011-11-02T20:56:00.001+08:00

Disclaimer: I reckon I look a tad nasty if not wasted in these pics as most of the shots were taken after my night out. My makeup WILL look shoddy. I'm lazy to re-do everything and shoot it all over again so make-do ok!

Remember my night at Azzura?

I wanted to show my makeup for that day since it looks the most different from what I've posted so far which are more lighter and sweet in comparison. I cut down on the eyelash overload this instance being afraid that I wouldn't be able to wear my mask properly that day. The feeling was not very far from wearing typical large sunglasses or aviator shades.

All in all, what it look to re-create this is to use a gradation of the same dark shade. I used blue for this occasion as I was wearing a blue bikini which you obviously cannot see in the photos unless you have super human x-ray eyes. I think its a suitable look strictly for night due to the intense nature of it. Very dark, but without much blacks otherwise its going to look a little too gothic for the beach. I'm already breaking many rules by wearing makeup to Sentosa. Overloaded! Halloween is the only excuse I can give for this case.

Make sure to keep the inner corners of your eyes lighter for a more enlarging effect, plus darker shades towards the ends for contour. I'm sounding like a broken record. I don't typically stick to the same eyeshadow gradation method which I'm been sporting over the last few posts. Coincidence I swear! Regardless, old and boring as it may be, its still one of the most complementing. Does its job so why not ya?

It may appear as if my inner corners are not painted properly but in actualy fact I used quite a bit of sparkly white that is being an arse by not appearing in my photos.I used three shades in total. White, light blue and a darker blue. You can use any other colour of your liking. I happened to pick the blues for reasons which I mentioned earlier on. Darker colours are still best for this smoky look.

You can't tell from the close up pictures of my eyes, but further away though, notice how the inner section of my lids were painted higher and rounder compared to the outer section. The rationale for this is that with darker shades, painting your lids the usual way is going to make your eyes visually smaller. Its okay with lighter colours or if you want that cat-eye effect. My mask that night was shaped in such a way so I chose to shape my eyeshadow in an opposite direction for balance. Even without the mask, shaping your eyeshadow in such a way will ensure it doesn't shrink into nothingness with your dark shadows.

My very failed and best attempted that describing the shape I followed

Don't forget to line your lower eyes as well in any similar shade you used for your upper lids to prevent looking too top heavy . I wish the same applied to my boobs but no. Zzz...

I'm beginning to have a thing for grungy, almost gothic fashion lately so I might post more smoky night looks soon. Stay tuned for them! Settle with this for now ya! Two more days to another long weekend woo hoo!

Lower Lash Love

2011-11-01T01:43:00.001+08:00

This is a "face of the week" to show you again how well lower lashes work. I wore this look on my trip to Universal Studios on Sunday. A very crowded and hot environment outdoors calls for very little war paint and waterproof waterproof, say it with me WATERPROOF makeup. Ignore the calling at the risk of a face meltdown! Halloween night was a killer particularly because it's the final night you can run around screaming like a mad person without people calling you a pu$$y... well, depends on the kind of friends you have haha! Some folks get called one all-year round anyhow whahaha!

I'm jumping about a little on my timeline because I haven't yet uploaded pictures from my final day at Genting and my Saturday night jive but I'll get to that soon. Go slow tiger! I normally post the first few pictures I see in my camera and naturally they're going to be the latest so we'll back track another day. Good things come to those who wait!

Zero upper lashes and no mascara added

Close up shot of my lashes

I was going for a very pale, almost au-naturale look and surprise surprise, I went against my own ruling and used one shade of eyeshadow. Bad mistake.You can't tell much from the photos, but it made my peepers extremely miniscule. They appear fine up close. Stand a metre or more away from me and ALAMAK! You'd really understand why Europeans label Asians as chinks! I was like the stereotypical Korean/Chinese with a straight horizontal line for eyes. I don't mind such eyes really, they come across as very sexy with the right makeup but that night was completely overboard. You couldn't tell whether my eyes were open when I laughed. FML...

The lower lashes did great all the same despite my blooper.

Eyes: Makeup Forever Aqua Cream in 05, Majorca Majolica Perfect automatic Liner in BK999

Foundation: A mix of Laura Mercier Silk Creme Foundation and Rachel Kum Cover Cream in Neutral
And a dusting of Makeup Forever High Definition Powder on my forehead and cheeks for oil control

Lashes : Bo-brand lah! I used those ulu-pandan made-in-china sort I found lost in one of my drawers

Beauty Tip:

Your favourite "conceal-all" foundation making you look like a part of a Halloween vampire movement? BB cream leaving you craving for more coverage? Mix your favourite BB cream with foundation (powdered foundation does not apply!) for the best of both worlds in terms of concealing blemishes and looking natural.

BB creams are wonderful for daily usage if you're the sort who can't bear to leave the house without covering all your blemishes. Most offer coverage similar to tinted moisturisers. This is alright for people with near perfect complexions but not that rad for others. On special occasions, we all like to look extra gorgeous so foundation does a better job. The problem lies in using too much. The worst part is that most of the time, the better the coverage, the thicker the consistency. At the end of the day that's going to end up with 1-inch thick concrete stuck on your poor face.Mixing the two gives an in-between coverage.

The more opaque the finish of your foundation, the smaller you should keep your mixing ratio with BB cream, beginning with 70:30. 70 for very sheer foundations and 30 for the BB cream. Lower it to 50 or 30 for thicker consistencies like mousse or cream foundations. Use a maximum of 5 dots of this concoction on your face. 5 would be the average for most complexions, and 3 would be the sheerest when mixed with your moisturiser and applied with fingers to warm and thin everything out. Using any more than that would be equivalent to just doing away with the BB cream and applying foundation on its own. Defeats the purpose ya!

strawberrynet.com

I'd also like to introduce my Holy Grail for foundation while I'm on the topic of coverage. Apart from my Dinair airbush system, which is da bomb in making my face look utterly perfect, what I used on Sunday, that being the Laura Mercier Silk Creme Foundation is the next best thing. It is extremely light in consistency for the amount of coverage it provides. It would probably be comparable to the average BB cream with more coverage, and minus the SPF and blemish fighting properties (boo!). That's also one of the main reasons why I have to mix it with my BB creams in the day. Of course, if you have moisturiser with an SPF then that could replace the hassle of mixing as well.

I've been signing off with a few photos here and there so I'm not going to stop the trend just yet. Feast your eyes or run like hell!

Bye bye!

Happy Halloween

2011-10-31T01:43:00.000+08:00

Or what's left of it. I'm blogging this at 12.55am so technically its already past Halloween ops! My weekend was interesting to say the least. Visited some new places with some friends and generally had a good time. I say "generally" due to in-between mishaps and boring bits which on the whole didn't affect my days that badly. My lazy bones are acting up once more so I won't be blogging that long a post. Will catch up later hehe! I've kindly (or sinisterly whichever your choosing) left the rest of my post with minimal words and more photos to view. Enjoy!

Like my hat? Its D.I.Y. ^^

Went for a HedKandi event at Azzura on Saturday night

I'm so crazy I brought two "headgear"!

HedKandi at Sentosa

I didn't just party, I went to Universal Studios as well with family. FUN!

Forest Greens

2011-10-29T01:08:00.000+08:00

Above's my day 1 look during my Genting trip. In my hurry, I had to settle once again for another duo eyeshadow look. The same thing I did the day after. Its tough to be inspired at 5am in the morning. Vampires retire at such odd hours. I did a light shimmery green wash over the lids before topping it off with a "7" shaped darker moss green at the outer corners. Gotta make the effort to show that I bothered to doll up and yet cheat by putting as little as possible. Haha!

I skipped the fake eyelashes completely for fear of the dreaded sore-eye effect from sleeping with them during the bus ride. Only a fashion statement during the Halloween period. I know its the season but don't be silly! I coated my lashes with the new ZA mascara I bought and posted a few days back. Good stuff but a dread to remove. Will not for the life of you go away! Boiling your face in hot oil will do a better job removing your skin faster than removing this sh!t. On the bright side, at least you know it won't budge during the day when you want it to stick.

No lipstick, no blush. Only BB cream, or Cover Cream if you would rather I be accurate. I was using the Rachel Kum cover cream again that day since I thought I'd be nuts to bring more than one type of foundation. How many shades do you really want me to be in three days?

Lazy Beauty Tip:

Suck up the courage to do eyebrow embroidery. If you're brave enough, top that off with an eyeliner tattoo.

Helps make you appear less washed out when going out bare faced. Eyebrow embroidery also reduces the time you take to shape your brows because there's already an outline there for you to draw over and easily pluck stray hairs. Well-shaped brows frame your entire face and does wonders to your overall appearance. Saves a whole lot of time for that polished look. The pain is worth it!!!

Yes I know I need to dye my roots, don't nitpick!

I wanted to do a little something with my hair so I prepped them by twirling two "Chun Li" buns the night before. They looked gorgeous after uncurling... for the first hour. Went all limp and wavy (my natural hair shape) thereafter. Bah! Heavily submerging my tresses in hairspray might have helped. The thought of sleeping with that helmet head for seven hours on the bus made me think twice.What if I die from aerosol poisoning!?!?!?

Well, that's all for now. I'm saying goodbye with a handful of my trip shots to entertain you, or not. Tata!

I notice playing the waiting game wasn't that bad with a camwhore buddy. We waited 3 hours for our room!!!

Personal joke, hand signals to symbolize "YOU LAME!"

Wait wait wait. Was happier in this pic because we were about 20 more positions to our turn. Out of 200!!!!

Rustic Neutrals

2011-10-28T01:25:00.003+08:00

I'm skipping the first day of my Genting trip till a later date when I've dragged my backside off the lazy podium and extracted the photos from my phone. You'll have to make do with my second day's look for tonight.

I did a rustic brown look to initially match my light brown shawl. Too bad it got so cold due to the rain that I had to switch up to my emergency pink sweater resulting in my looking a tad too pinky haha! Talk about attention grabbing. Oui! Not my fault lar, cold leh!

I also donned sparkly spade earrings for that casino feel in the event I was feeling lucky. An impulse buy, for a trip that ended up in my not even stepping to the casino at all. I got broke on shopping before I had the chance zzz...

My overly pinkish garb

To tell you the truth, I'm not a fan of pink. I have no clue as to how I ended up in this attire! Like my hair colour, I'm really a lover of neutrals, golds and browns. Safe and boring whahaha! My comfort shades didn't managed to squeeze into my second day. Something different for a change? I guess so.

Stuff I used for the look:

Foundation: Rachel Kum Cosmetics CC Cream in Neutral
Blush: Makeupforever Aquacream in shade 6
Concealer: Lancome Effacernes Long Lasting Concealer in shade 02
Eyeliner: Majolica Majorca Pefect Automatic Eyeliner in black (I think its 00)

The above pictured three can probably be considered my current holy grail products. Back home, I can't live without airbrush makeup but using it overseas is a total headache having to lug the thing around. It may be small and portable but having to lug around the cleaner, foundation bottles, extra cotton wool, so on and so forth adds up to a whole lunch bag amount. I'm saying its a lunch bag because I am literally using a lunch bag to store the whole lot. I'll flash a picture of it another day. Its hilarious! The cover cream and the concealer work fine for my ultra dark eye rings. I can't explain how dark but I think you can imagine how bad it is having to sleep at 3-4am daily. Destroys my face. Arghz!!! Bad habits die hard!

Eyeshadow-wise, I used two shades. Packing light while traveling calls for less variety in my makeup, and that includes eyeshadow. It doesn't mean that you will have to settle for a less polishes look though!

I forgot to take a shot of the shadows themselves and I think you guys won't be using the exact brands and colours I used (are you THAT hardworking?) so I'll not be posting them up. Just get a reddish brown shadow and cover your entire lid with it, bringing it up and over the crease in a gradient. Lightest on top, darkest near the lashline. Then use a lighter caramel brown shadow to sweep the outer corners of your eye in a "7" shape for definition. I recommend using a minimum of two colours (they can be from the same shade group or not) for most Asian faces as we don't have the sunken eye look. Using only one colour is most likely going to give you smaller looking eyes and a bulging upperlid. This is especially so when you use lighter eyeshadow. Bee-stung anyone?

Using neutral earthy tones one too many times may be boring in the long run. I know because like what I said earlier, I'm covered in earthy coloured clothing all the time. On the upside, they're good for newbies to makeup who are afraid of experimenting with colours and don't want to make too much of a mistake when applying them. Additionally, neutrals give you a chance to play more with the rest of your face, like adding glitter or ultra bright blusher for a high fashion look, or if you're not that adventurous, experiment with your clothes. I got bored waiting for my turn to use the bathroom back in our hotel room so I grabbed my friend's cap to camwhore. Haha! Looks fine and dandy with the same makeup on and yet the whole package has a different feel to it. From pinky sweet to an edgier feel.

I added this in not for the makeup, I just like to showoff my moves! Ha!


Amy caught me with her cap so she put on her other hat to join the show lolx!

I also snitched her spectacles (accessories whore!) to shoot myself with. Same makeup, three different looks. Don't you just love neutrals? Versatile!

Lazy Beauty Tip:

Consider getting some accessories (but not as much as my friend) to stretch your looks.
Clothes are expensive if you wear them the way I do "BATA" style. Buy and throw away. I have a one-use policy for most of my garbs unless I love them to bits or if they're work wear. Accessorizing means you don't need to keep thinking up new ideas or methods to appear different. Burns your braincells. Like what I did in this post, three accessories, three different looks, same old makeup.

I shall leave you with another photo of my love and his crazy hair haha!

I lied! I shall leave you with feet to boot your bottoms off my blog! Kidding!

P.S. If you're wondering why I didn't mention my lipstick shade it's because I didn't wear any. Completely forgot to wear it out.

I'm Back!!!

2011-10-27T00:18:00.000+08:00

Missed me? I came back yesterday night. Fatigue got the better of me so I'm only telling you guys today after some R&R after my R&R holiday haha! I must have my pre, post and actual holiday break. I managed to snap a fair share of photographs to showcase the looks I sported throughout my three days abroad. Nothing too fancy, after all, I am on holiday. More time to get ready and yet holidays are meant to be lazy so its sort of a tie between the two haha! The way I look while on vacation depends largely on the time I wake up the next day and how vain I feel.

Here are a few snippets of my trip I pulled from my camera. I've got a handful more in my iPhone which I have not yet dug into so you'll have to settled for these in the meantime.

Will do mini tutorials on my makeup over the next few days so you'd get more bite-sized bits of me instead of the entire mother-load of my narcissism to deal with whahaha!

My trip wasn't all lovey dovey coupley, Amy came along too!

My man <3

My promiscuous lesbian partner

Not forgetting my other love, my shopping goodies! These are from Elianto

Double Eyelid Tape

2011-10-21T02:29:00.001+08:00

I found a box of it in my drawer whilst preparing my toiletry bag for my coming holiday trip if you haven't already found out from my blog posts. On that note, I won't be updating my blog over the next few days that regularly since I refuse to pay for overseas data roaming. The prices are ridiculous so bear with my absence for a moment yea!

As for the double eyelid tape, I thought I didn't have any left in my stash really. Too many things for me to keep track for a messy hoarder like myself. I won't go so far as to say "ooh! chocolate!" and bite off an old piece but all other things inedible would have a high possibility of being reused whenever these buried treasures. I used to wear tapes often during a phase when I was all psycho for thick lids. Think Tsubasa or any other random Japanese Gyaru. I gave that up one day when I found all the pulling and tugging caused my eyelids to start drooping. Aaaaaahhhh!!

I look so young! Whahaha! Taken about a year back

My curly hair hay-days

They're back to normal after months and months of intensive lifting massages and expensive eye creams. Nevertheless I think they might spiral out of control again should I return to my sticky roots. I am tempted and yet very paranoid about the consequences. Terrible choices I have to make. I'm born with hooded lids, meaning I do have double eyelids but half (or more for some other people) of it is covered by the upper folds of my lid. Using double eyelid tape opens it for a thicker look. What to do? Greedy ma!

Left : without, right: with eyelid tape

Moving along, seeing the box of tape gave me the idea to elaborate a bit on some advice at achieving the ultra thick double eyelid look I used to sport. The picture above is not pasted that high but you get the picture of how the difference of using and not using tape was like. Remember, going down this slipper slope is of your own doing if you choose to follow in my footsteps. Kiss your existing eyelids goodbye!

Disclaimer! This is not a tutorial! There are millions of them out there on the basics of pasting eyelid tapes. This post is merely the "extra help section" for intermediates who can achieve the basic look and want more bang for their buck.

One of the worst case scenarios when using double eyelid tape is in the event the tape pops out at certain areas when you open and close your lids, and sometimes at the sides after a few hours when the stickiness wears off. The horror! You're secret's revealed!? Neva!!!!!!!

Counter this by ensuring the following:

Only paste the tape ONCE
Make a mistake and you definitely have to get a new piece. Don't scrounge on this, it will look ugly and freaking hell, tape is so cheap! Buy a few boxes for emergencies if you must. Unless you spent a bomb and got the mezaik type which cost about $20++ per box then all the more you should make sure your first try hits the spot! The Mezaik ones (those in a stick where you get a very fine, thin and sticky string hiding inside when you pull the stick apart) are great by the way. Can't deny that point. Problem is that your pocket will be left howling like your neighbour's dog in the long run if you use it frequently.

As a tip for Mezaik users, if it is not strong enough for you, or you absolutely have to use it while swimming, exercising of whatever unfathomable sport of your choosing, then coat those string type eyelid tapes with double eyelid glue after pasting it on for extra adhesion. Eyelash glue in a transparent shade works fine too if you don't mind the massive pain involved with removing them.

Use tweezers, fat fingers don't make the cut for fine work
The oils from your hands will makes the tape less sticky. Alternatively, you can use your nails if you have the skills to maneuver the tape without getting your skin all stuck on it

See the pore-like dots?

To look more natural, invest in tapes that have grooves in them. It makes the surface of your eyelid less smooth for easier makeup application afterwards and more importantly, to look like you're not faking it. We want every other woman in the room to be sucking their thumbs and turning green with envy for no good reason whahaha! Having an ultra smooth shiny eyelid screams old-fashioned eyelid tape like nobody's business.

Lift the entire sheet

When removing the tape from its backing, one method you can try is to lift the entire sticky sheet and push out the individual eyelid tape from the back. This will prevent warping of your eyelid tape if you try to scratch or peel the eyelid tape off the normal way. There are many other easy you can remove the tape which you can search on YouTube or Google it.

Able to see the porous sponge-like nature of this floss? Its an Oral B if you're interested

Cheaper alternative to eyelid tape
They're so cheap as they are, but I can go even cheaper. The best part? It's much more natural than the conventional fat tape. Using this method results in eyelids that resemble those that are done with the Mezaik tape. The idea is not my own, I saw it on YouTube though I cannot recall who the beauty guru was. Use dental floss! I don't know if you've seen the sort, but sponge types are the best for their absorbency and they stick to your skin better. Even with your eyes completely closed when done correctly, are undetectable. Of course the typical ones you can grab at your nearest drugstore or departmental store will work fine. Cut your desired length, spread on eyelid glue, and paste them on. Apply glue to the ends for staying power.

Don't get too crazy mutilating your eyes peeps!

Much Ado About Aloe Vera - The Slow Poke Rodriguez

2011-10-19T00:32:00.001+08:00

My massive 500g jar, HALF A KILO LEH!!!

I never lie when I say I'll blog about something in future.... for now that is haha! I'm making no promises for any of my future endeavors. For now at least, I'll be following through with my post on Aloe Vera.

alex-bell.co.uk

I've taken the liberty to categorize this post under "Slow Poke Rodriguez".
To refresh your memory, he's a Looney Toons character and the cousin of Speedy Gonzales. You know, the fastest mouse in all Mehico? "Ándale! Ándale! Arriba! Arriba!!"

Wikipedia.com

If that doesn't ring a bell then I HATE YOU! Because you were probably much too young or not born yet when they were airing the cartoon series on television. Pui!

So as I was saying, like the title, the effects of aloe vera work the same way as its namesake category. The end results are wonderful and everything, at a price of sucking all the patience out of you. No instant gratification here whatsoever. It is definitely worth it in the long run on condition that you have the time to wait for it to work its magic. Incoming dinner dates and special occasions will have to either take a rain check, or suffer the consequences.

Here's a list of qualities which I have made use of for beauty purposes:

1. Very Absorbent

I Googled this one and some people tout this as a good moisturiser due to it being so absorbent. For me, despite my oily combination skin, the aloe vera alone is insufficient for such a purpose. People with drier complexions would render this as useless. That said, I think being absorbent does help a whole lot when combined with other products. I tried using this on top of all my serums but below my moisturiser at night. It made a difference in keeping all the good stuff in. In the day, I mix it with my SPF laden day creams to mattify them. I notice that by doing this, my face doesn't get as greasy and I use less powder to keep my face from getting shiny due to this.

2. Soothing Properties

The most common use of aloe vera is for after-sun care. When you've absorbed all those UV rays and look like a roasted chicken, this is the juice you turn to. Slather on as much as you like for such situations since it cools your sun-burnt buttocks as well. Additionally, I experimented mixing this with my cooling mask (the Shills one I talked about the other day) for extra oomph! And it did a good job in tackling those inflamed pimples and scars. The redness does ease off a little more than what the original gel mask reduces.

And speaking about scars, that's the next thing I'd like to highlight.

3. Whitening Effect

Yes, aloe vera lightens scars. When your normal whitening products seem like they need a boost, top them up with aloe vera to accelerate the effects. Using it alone works too. I doubt by saying that last sentence that many individuals are going to use it alone except the cheap bitches who aren't going to spend another penny on lightening products. Ha! We all want maximum strength for whatever we use. Gimme the strongest that you have. Find the limit that will kill me, and then step it down a notch. Panadol Extra is my proof!

As I am already super fair, the thought of covering my entire face with it to make my complexion any more whiter has not come up. In retrospect, from my scar turnout, I would say the lightening effects could likely get you closer to white heaven if that floats your boat.

4. Healing Properties

Again, great for murdering pimples. You kill them, you regenerate the affected area, and you whiten up the scar. What's there to hate about using this? Time lor! I alternate using this every few days to promote skin re-growth on days that I do face exfoliation.

5. Anti-Aging?

I can't vouch for this yet. It did pop up in my list of search results so I added it in for reference. Does not work for me, then again, I don't have wrinkles to test them on. Pore-wise, they seem an itsy bitsy teeny weeny bit smaller. Or not. I could be imagining things. Placebo effect lolx! This would indefinitely take more time to show any visible differences which are not yet apparent to me. I only target pimples and old scars. Not my pores alone so I'm not in the position to comment. Try it for yourself for its other positive characteristics and get back to me on this one.

Overall, I'd say it has not reacted badly being combined with other skincare products. It functions more as a booster and absorber for my case. What I'm raving most is the matte effect it leaves on my skin in the day. Less powder used to cover my facial grease means a more refined, dewy and "my-complexion-is-so-hawt-I-don't-need-makeup" look. Major love!

Have fun experimenting!

Shopping, Shopping and Then Some!

2011-10-18T01:01:00.000+08:00

I've gone a little nuts with my wallet as of late. If you've been watching my tweets, my brain has apparently taken a rain check and gone kukoo on me. Shopping around the clock is very detrimental to both my bank account and my guilt trip. I do get a high at the end of the day when I reach home and shred to bits the packages I got during the day. Crazy right?

The night does not spare my purse either. I ended up at Mustafa today after an evening of dining and tour booking at Golden Mile for my short holiday getaway planned for next week. Inspite of the late timing, I had the audacity to visit Little India for more shopping! Arghz!!!! Oh but the lights were pretty this time of the year due to the coming Deepavali celebrations. The traffic jam was the opposite of pretty too. Zzzzz...

Fortunately I didn't do as much damage as the past couple of days. Already blowing some dough on my holiday trip probably affected me in some way or another haha! Here's what I got in two hours.

Hair Comb $3.00, Eyelash Curler $3.90, Alobon Eyeshadow $5.80, the rest are my other junk buys

I bought the hair comb because it was dirt cheap and I thought it might come in handy when blow drying or straightening my crowning glory. My boyfriend was playing with the demo sample using it as barbecue tongs. Retard lol!

The eyelash curler was a squirrel buy. I call it so because I like to have extras. One at home, one at my bf's place, and one for emergencies as and when I need it. So kiasu hor!

What I'm most interested in blabbering about is the Alobon eyeshadow really. Call me a frog in a well but I've never heard of the brand before really. What caught my eye was the crazy colour this pan had. Electric green, orange and pink! Craaaaaazy! Haha! I know I already have tons of makeup in a motherload of varieties. Cream, powder, mineral, liquid airbrush, you name it, I definitely have it. And I don't really care. I'm psycho that way. Hoarder instinct in me. I end up throwing out a lot of crap every few months when I think they're past their due dates. So wasteful! I'm so guilty!!

check out da neon shades!

Badass shimmer with decent colour payoff for a one-swipe swatch

Don't believe me when I say I spend much? Below's the rest of the crap I got over the weekend as well. Just 3 days of shopping excluding my holiday and meals! *huff puff!* Getting high blood pressure just by looking at them.

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Watson's Haul 20+20% discount on ZA products for members

Pang Sai cheap lar! $11 for mascara, siao liao!

I thought the newly introduced mascaras were a fantastic deal since they were going at 40% off from the 20+20% discount. There were other products on sale but I went straight for these as I was eager to test them.

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MakeupForever Haul 30% discount with friend's lobang haha!

Clockwise from left: Aquacream in 05 & 06 - $38. Eye Seal (I forgot the price), Full Cover Concealer- $48

I like my makeup heavy duty style. If its on, it better stay put. Otherwise you might as well not wear it. Wastes all the effort of application. So I support waterproof makeup and Make Up Forever is DA BOMB when it comes to waterproof formulas. F.Y.I. they use these on professional synchronized swimmers. Cannot go wrong larrr! Great for ultra long sweltering days in the heat or swimming trips if you're really that vain.

If money is an issue. Aim for the Aqua Creams. They are all-purpose so you can use them on your face, eyes and lips if you choose a more neutral shade. Waterproof war paint!

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Guardian Haul - No discount but I felt like it anyways

Two magazines $1 and the other was free, Guardian brand makeup remover wipes $2.95, L'oreal Waterproof Makeup Remover $10.95 (on sale), Shills Mositurising and Whitening Gel mask $28.50, Brihans Aloe Vera $19.90

The makeup remover wipes are the most value-for-money when you count cost per sheet. I also love how efficient they are in removing your facial gunk. Chanced by them one fine day when I was in need of a wipe while outside with nothing to clean my face with.

I'll put up a post on the aloe vera soon. The reason being that I want to elaborate more on the benefits of aloe vera in general. Its a wonderful thing to have with multiple uses. Of course you don't have to be as extreme as me by going out and getting a 500g tub. I'm crazy that way, don't follow in my footsteps. You'll slowly go mad too.

Oh and the Shills was a sweet surprise. I'm not a fan of Shills. After reading a great many unsatifactory reviews about their other products, getting this was a real risk. I'm glad I took the plunge. This product could be a likely re-purchase in future for me.

Cute packaging ya!

Remember my post on over exfoliating your skin? This serves as a decent calming mask for over scrubbed faces. The promise of whitening also works to a small extent. You won't get instant albino skin with one use thankfully. Its a gradual lightening process with continued use. Actually, I think most cooling gel masks should do the trick. The aloe vera is another slower but effective alternative for those on a budget.Worth a look-see.

About Exfoliating

2011-10-16T22:34:00.001+08:00

Lazy Beauty Tip:

A great majority of beauty rituals require rigorous effort and time to cultivate a beautiful complexion. Routinely scrubbing your face works miracles on keeping it smooth like a baby's bottom. In this special circumstance though, less is really more. Be lazy for your own good! Never scrub more than twice a week.

fabyoulousity.webs.com

Skin needs some downtime every few days to recover and thicken back up from all the torture we put them through. Over zealous use of scrubs and AHAs make your skin extremely thin and sensitive. In some extreme cases, excessive sand papering sessions create tears and breaks in areas where your skin is not evenly exfoliated. Don't disagree on this with me leh! Your hands not so "zhun" on a micro level ok!!!

Personal experience has taught me a painful lesson in this area. There was a point not long ago where my skin was so thin, my facial beautician got a heart attack at how she could nearly see all my veins underneath. In addition to that, my face was crawling with tiny pimples of about 1mm in diameter but in such abundance you would vomit (an indication of face sensitivity).

Think of it as doing regular maintenance on your castle walls during medieval times. Cleaning and polishing them keep them nice, shiny and very presentable for visiting royalty to gawk at. People admire the amount of time you spend upholding such high standards of castle upkeep. But a lack of time spent in fortifying these walls are only going to make it weaker and susceptible to incoming attacks. What of your castle then? A crappy mess to clean up that's what.

Don't make the same mistakes I did. Once again, BE LAZY FOR YOUR OWN GOOD!

Yoga Day 2

2011-10-14T01:52:00.001+08:00

Reporting in for my second of a one-week yoga trial at Real Yoga. Same 9pm class, different module and another instructor. I'd say "Stretching and Breathing" was a good closure for the week should I decide to take a break over the weekend. I'm still thinking about whether to attend a 10.30am class but I'm intimidated by having to sacrifice my nap time for it. The first lesson on "Hatha Yoga" almost killed me but this second one sort of balanced out yesterday's pain with more relaxation techniques. Initially paranoia got me stressing over whether it was going to be far worse and imprint fearful nightmares about yoga for all eternity whahaha!

No pictures again not because I didn't take any, I'm just still at that stage where I don't want you guys to see my un-made up face. Haha!

I was contemplating over the one-year deal I spoke of in my post the day before. I'm sitting over the fence for that one despite today's lesson. My older bro who tried yoga in the past advised me about how I'd get bored over time because it was too relaxing and so, won't stimulate you on a mental level. I'll think about it more over the next couple of days to see how everything goes. People with a short attention span need to reflect more on such a long term commitment ya!


I recommend Mario Badescu's Healing and Soothing Mask (for all skin types)

Lazy Beauty Tip of the Day:

Place a decent but inexpensive cream or gel-based mask in your shower as a daily reminder to mask-up often. Apply it as the first step in your bath routine and wash it off last before you step out. Your skin will "love you long time" for the regular treat without having to set aside the extra time. The steam from hot showers also aid in opening your pores and absorbing all that goodness from your masks.

Side Notes: Use costly masks at your own risk. The heat from hot showers do shorten the lifespan of your masks so mask-up regularly or your pocket will bleed.

P.S. Paper masks are gonna just drop off, don't be an idiot! Those with hooks aren't going to do much good if they're soaked with water from your shower head either.

Yoga Trials

2011-10-13T02:18:00.001+08:00

I went for my very first yoga lesson earlier in the evening today. And it was Craaaaaaaaazy! Haha!

No pictures for the day though, I was completely engrossed over the booking of the next class and other what-nots that needed to be done before beginning of the lesson. The staff there were nice enough to guide us ( I went together with Shiella), but I think the point that I had to rush from home (not late lar, but not exactly early either) rattled my teeth/brains too much to concentrate much.

I did my class at Real Yoga at Centrepoint


realyoga.com.sg

As usual, the cheap b!tch in me caught a deal off the web for an unlimited one-week pass for $8 so I thought why not?

My verdict?

The beginner class beat the crap out of me! Talk about getting pawned by yourself zzz...

I think it really does things to your back. Mine is aching a wee bit as I'm typing this. And both Shiella and I suffered from "shivering thighs" right after the class haha! Talk about unfit! It was fun though I don't recommend laughing as you're doing the exercises. It hurts real bad! I think I practically went "oh sh!t" a number of times whenever the instructor asked us to do some retarded impossible pose.

Now I'm a reasonably flexible person, I don't get nicknamed "stretch" for nothing during the annual sit-and-reach back in school. Problem is, flexibility is not enough. You also require strength and lots and lots of balance. Ok, maybe I'm one of the few more balance-challenged individuals. I kept falling down ever so often and it was only me, FML....

Anyways, apart from the obvious exercise portion of the classes, I'm pretty impressed by the number of classes and timings they hold them. You see, Shiella works till 8pm, so a great many other gyms don't have classes on a daily basis after 9pm. The best part? Cheap lar! Haha!

I caught this anniversary deal on their website the other day. Don't say I never intro good stuff!

I did my homework this time too! You can NEVER EVER get classes at $10 per lesson in the whole of Singapore alright! My calculation is based on the $450 x 1.07 inclusive of the 7% GST (which most companies won't include to entice you until you pull your credit card out) and that you at least go for a lesson once a week for a year.

F.Y.I. The average is about $18-22 per class for most yoga centres. The cheap ones would be below that price. Cheapest I've researched came out to be $15 per lesson on condition you take a great many classes for that bulk discount. I'm tempted to get the real yoga one should the offer be extended to me. Fingers crossed!

If you're in the mood for torturing yourself in those moments when you guilt binge, do think of this place to make yourself feel better. That's assuming you're actually going to attend the lessons of course. Too much money is it? Gimme lah! I'll help you clean up that filthy bank account of yours. Needs some spring cleaning *wink!*

Wish me luck for tomorrow. I'm hoping not to have broken limbs after their 9pm "Stretching and Breathing" class, oh gawd!

Mini Haul and Failed Eyelash Trial

2011-10-11T01:13:00.000+08:00

I'm sad to say that my little experiment I was talking about in my previous post did not turn out as well as I expected.To recap, I had this idea of using a new product by Kate (Kanebo) Cosmetics for my under eye area as a substitute for using false eyelashes knowing how much of a pain it is to put them on.

I'm referring to the item on the right in the photograph. I also took the liberty to make another purchase since I was having withdrawal symptoms from not making a purchase in a while haha! The left's Bio-essence Bird's Nest Eye Cream with SPF15 (now on offer for $26.20 at Watsons). Again, I'm an SPF whore! My other more legitimate excuse is that I ran out of eye cream ha! Take that!

The Kate eyeliner ($19.00) is in fact meant for tight lining your upper eyelids. Meaning to fill out the empty spaces between your lashes instead of above them for a more polished, less made-up look.

See the three nibs? Makes it easier to get at the space in-between your lashes

My master plan was to use this device to take over the world!!!! Muahahaha!

Nah, kidding. My initial intention was to make use of the three nibs to draw finer, more natural looking lower lashes. Some people use normal felt-tipped or pencil liners to do this job but I didn't quite like the outcome of doing so as I found they looked a tad too thick for my liking. We're supposed to bluff people to thinking we are born with beautiful long lashes, not flash to the world how hard we're trying (and failing at it)!

Unfortunately, today is not the day to conquer the world.... and bluff more people that I have gorgeous lower lashes. I discovered how bad this liner bleeds. It does not dry immediately on contact and thus leaving a thick line resembling a marker pen. It's fine on your upper lids so I can't say it does not do its job, but that's about all it can do. See I'm so greedy, I need all my stuff to serve more than one purpose!

The extent of the bleeding is not as obvious on my hand in this photo. Up close, you'd have a nightmare! Using it on my eyes was far worse. I needed something that gave a finer look. If everything was going to smudge all together then I might as well use whiteboard markers on my eyes.

See how it looks just like a really thick badly drawn line? And no, I didn't use side-sweeping strokes duh! I tried three times to get neat, downward strokes to resemble lower lashes but no, not even close. They all merged together after about two to three seconds after application. By the way, do pardon the lack of makeup, I don't wear any when I go to work. Too much of a hassle. My eyeliner and brows are tattooed on. See! Work around your laziness! Lolx!

Yeap, back to the drawing board. I'll have to find some other method to get by having to paste on false lashes. I'll leave you with a picture of the Bio-essence eye cream after opening. Have not tried it yet. I presume it is of respectable quality considering the amount of advertising they do for their bird's nest range but we'll see. Oh and DON'T BUY THEIR SIGNATURE FACE LIFTING CREAM FROM WATSONS! The regular retail price for a tub is $46.90 if I recall. On sale its $37.90 thereabouts. Elsewhere, its going for $27.90!!!! Scour your neighborhood for shops that sell them. I know "Venus Beauty" sells them. "Tomato" and "Pink Beauty" sell them at a dollar or two more but still a great deal cheaper than $40++. You can find these stores opposite Bugis Junction, some MRT interchanges like Toa Payoh, Pasir Ris, and others. Be a slave to beauty, not your wallet.