Hello!

Hope that everyone had a great Lunar New Year thus far with visitings, eating and catching up with relatives! For those who don't celebrate it, hopefully the few days of rest was a good recharge!

With past years' New Year celebrations, I would embrace doling up by rummaging my wardrobe for dresses to wear, coupled with heels and all that fun stuff. Followed by enthusiastically bugging the boy to snap my outfits. After all, this is the season to don new or fancy attire and fit right in!

Though this year I had to slack on the whole prepping and go for outfits that are, while new and presentable, practical for baby-carrying and all sorts of baby mess too.

Aside from the attire, I had to be lightning quick with my makeup routine as well, else it would be so far into the day by the time we head out for visitings!

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Thus, I thought I would share my go-to products this festive season for a very quick and polished look that lasts well through the day and into the night!

The look that I put together with the above aren't dramatic or overly fancy. In fact, it's such a quick look that some may classify it as an 'everyday look', as opposed to one for an occasion.

But hey, it works for me and my time constraints now so I'm happy with it either ways!

THE FACE ––

For the face, I have been loving Benefit's Porefessional as a base because it smooths out my currently dry skin, giving me the appearance of a flawless complexion.

I have also revived my love for BB creams through this Elisha Coy Nuddy BB 24 BB Cream. I love it so much that I am on the hunt to get the full size for this (the one I have is from a set of 3). Does anyone know where we can get Elisha Coy locally?

After correcting and concealing (0kuma Under Eye Concealer & Laura Mercier Secret Camouflage) , I set it all with my usual LUV Carat Loose Powder along with a dusting of MAC's Mineralized Skinfinish in Medium for some glow. I can't use the MSF alone as its a touch too light and with a heavier hand, it shows.

THE EYES ––

For the eyes, I'll skip the ramble since it is simple and straight-forward but after priming with NARS Smudge Proof Eyeshadow Base, I use MUFE's Aqua Shadow in 28E for a lovely shine on the lids. Adding some glitz, I dab the sparkly shadow from Dior's 3 Couleur in Nude Glow and finish off with a light crease definition from MAC's Mineralized eyeshadow in Earthly.

Everything else is the usual eyeliner with CLIO Professional Brush Liner and MAC's Powerpoint Liner in Engraved.

Here's a 'step-by-step' visual, for the fun of, though the addition of some glitz with Dior's Nude Glow isn't that visible in pictures.

THE REST  ––

The pop of color I included is done through MAC'S mineralized blush in Merrily and Clinique's Almost Lipstick in Luscious Honey. A quick throwback but I was also using and loving that same lipstick last Lunar New Year!

And an unmentioned yet important thing would be brows, done with K-Palette's Liquid Brow Liner and Maquillage's Brow Wax in 77.

THE LOOK!  ––

So, here's the finished look!

And a blurred eye shot just to showcase the glittery bits from Dior's Nude Glow, which is more visible in person and not translating well in pictures.

Pardon my very blah and un-maintained flat hair. I need to do something about it but I haven't figured out what to do about it or find time to get it fixed too.

Again, the look isn't much but it is good enough to hide my sleep-deprived eyes while looking somewhat fresh for the new year!

After all, I am hardly the spotlight this year. Not that I mind but my cousin humorously commented that even if I showed up in sweats, people would hardly notice since the baby is all they see. Haha!

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A random inclusion but if you have noticed, I have been wearing my glasses a lot of late. In fact, I haven't worn contacts since October last year!

The reason these days is because my contacts are monthlies and festivities aside, I have no reason (and time) to doll up much the rest of the month. Though I really do miss the whole full scale makeup look with coats of mascara and all!

But oh well, I'll get to do that sometime in future... When I get more time (and sleep! Cause I hate wearing contacts with tired eyes).

Or does anyone have recommendations on opticians that have dailies for astigmatism? My optician, sadly, doesn't carry those.

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Either ways, hope everyone has a great CNY and thanks for reading!

If you wish to see more frequent updates from me, do follow me on instagram or twitter!

What was your makeup secret for making your look last during CNY?

Oops, excuse the long title but here's another installment from the series of Poh Heng x Minnie Mouse Limited Edition. Though don't steer away if you have seen enough of that mention in the past 2 entries because here comes the fun part...

After being thorough with the official press information and quick feature of the Poh Heng x Minnie Mouse Limited Edition Collection, I thought I would take a break from all that and do what this blog was created to go on and on about – makeup!

Just to clarify, it isn't that the pendants are not fun but rather the 'fun' in this is just for my sake. Where I get to harness a wee bit of makeup creativity, which I haven't done in forever, and pull some looks together based on what I have gathered from these pendants. It's somewhat like college projects all over again with a little thinking and some 'hands-on' involved.

Taking a rather predictable route, since I had a 22K Yellow Gold pendant and a 18K White Gold pendant (partially referred to as silver in this entry because of color but the pendant isn't made of silver), I figured why not do makeup looks with these 2 shades!

I could do the runway-rage version which is sweep a gold / silver eyeshadow all over my lid with either zero brows or super dark brows (think Chanel S/S 2013 Runway Makeup?) but I don't think my features suit editorial / high fashion looks without looking queer. Plus, I wanted to play around and brush up on bolder looks, hence this!

While they are on the drama or 'heavier' side of looks, I wouldn't say they are completely unwearable either! Especially with festive parties coming right up, these could be fun to wear for a dressed up and glammed up occasion!

Because I want to keep this faintly artistic, I am doing all the rambling right now and the following will (as much as possible) be pictorials!

I shall let the pictures, and some words, do the talking!

(for all images - click to enlarge!)

I had a plan to mimic the different finishes on the pendant – the matte finish along with the sparkly diamonds. While the silvers swatched with obviously different finishes above, sadly, on the eyes the difference in texture and sparkle wasn't that discernible.

Thus, for the look while I wanted to keep it silver-focussed, I injected a bit of blue (on the very outer edge) just to give it a little something.

Without further ado, here's the silver / white gold look.

Since there is so much silver-bling going on on the eyes, I kept the rest of the face matte and shine-free with Diorskin's Nude Liquid Foundation though I did dab on a slight sheen with MAC's Mineralized Blush in Ring of Saturn for a lightly flushed look.

Since silver eyes are quite a 'light look', I went with a red tone on the lips using Dior Addict's Ultra Gloss in 774 Ceremony Red. It's a lovely hint of red without being too bold and intense.

Here's the full look along with the Minnie Stellar Petite pendant!

Incase you are interested, on my eyes:
Urban Decay Primer Potion, Make Up For Ever Aqua Shadow in 32E, MAC Mineralized Eyeshadow in Bright Moon (for the 'matte silver'), Shu Uemura Eyeshadow in G Silver (for the 'bling-silver'), Majolica Majorca Palette in BR742, Shu Uemura Eyeshadow in ME Medium Blue 686, Sleek Palette in Storm, Clio Professional Brush Liner in Black, Giorgio Armani Waterproof Smooth Silk Eye Pencil in Black, Helena Rubenstein Lash Feline Waterproof, Random Falsies.

And that is the Silver / White Gold look down! Moving on, I have a Yellow Gold pendant to showcase and yes, you guessed it right, this calls for a Gold look!

This look is a whole lot more straight forward and I figured for such a classic thing like Minnie Mouse and a Rose, why not go for the classic Black and Gold combination!

If you follow my looks, you would know I don't exactly fancy working with a huge amount of black or dark eyeshadows because they tend to be messy and leave me prone to making a smokey mess. Though with this, I really tried to keep the lines clean and the look well blended.

Overall, I am glad with how it turned out and though it looks simpler than the Silver / White Gold look, it actually look me longer to do!

The eyelook made me feel so festive I decided to go with a glowy complexion using Make Up For Ever's HD Liquid Foundation along with a light dusting of ELF's Healthy Glow Bronzing Powder in Luminance. To stick with the golden luminance, I used Sleek's Powder Blush in Rose Gold.

For the lips, since the eyes are so bold, I kept it neutral (yet not dead nude) with Diorific Lipstick in Diorling. A complete coincidence but I realized that in both looks I used items from Dior's Grand Bal Holiday 2012 collection.

And here's the finished look with the Rose pendant!

And for this look, on my eyes:
Urban Decay Primer Potion, Burberry Eye Definer in Midnight Back (outer-edge outline), Majolica Majorca Frozen Splash Eyes in GD821, Maybelline Eye Studio Quad in Venice Carnival, Everyday Minerals Loose Eyeshadow in Gold medal, Rhomlon Eyeshadow in Black, Sleek Palette in Storm, Clio Professional Pen Liner in Black, Giorgio Armani Waterproof Smooth Silk Eye Pencil in Black, Helena Rubenstein Lash Feline Waterproof, Random False Lashes, Dollywink No. 4 Feminine Style False Lashes

Since there was so much black going on, I had to layer my falsies to better frame my eyes and chose to stick on Dollywink's No. 4 Feminie Style for added length and wispiness.

On the left you see the 'Random Lash' and Dollywink No 4 separately and on the right, how it looks when layered.

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Alrightey, so those are the 2 looks – a silver for 18K White Gold and a gold for 22K Yellow Gold!

Since I mentioned that these pendants are versatile and can be worn as a necklace or double up as a bracelet charm, here's a random shot featuring both the pendants (Minnie Stellar Petitie and Rose) worn as bracelet charms!

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And if you aren't already sick of my face through this long post, you can hop over to Poh Heng's Minnie Mouse Limited Edition page and catch me there too!

Clickity Click!

While you're there, why not do a personality quiz and find out which Minnie Mouse Limited Edition pendant you are most suited for?

You may just be the daily winner of the Limited Edition Minnie Tote Bag or be super lucky and even walk away with the pendant you are matched to!

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So.... phew! What a long entry this has been!

It was certainly one I was quite excited about because of the fun I had while doing up these looks. From thinking what sort of dramatic looks to pull, to putting it together and chosing pictures after! I am certainly no professional in makeup and my slew of neutral looks have left me slightly rusty so I hope these don't look too bad!

And most of all I hope you had as much fun scrolling through this entry as I had putting it together!

Thanks so much for reading and looking!

Previous Poh Heng x Minnie Mouse Limited Edition entries:
• Introducing Poh Heng x Minnie Mouse Limited Edition
• A touch of Glitz in my outfit!

Disclosure:
Products were loaned to me for review consideration.
I am not affiliated to them and all opinions expressed are my own.

This weekend involved a little bit of running around, driving around and being busy from place to place so I figured that it would be a perfect time to use Make Up For Ever's Aqua Rouge.

I didn't want to look too made up just to run errands so I reached for the very much loved Nude Beige shade and took this opportunity to also snap some pictures and post my thoughts about the Aqua Rouge.

The Aqua Rouge applies in a matte and almost dry-like finish on the lips and while I am not certain about the reds, you most certainly do not want to leave the nudes in this state.

1 Nude Beige is pretty close to my natural lip color except perhaps with a little more beige / brown tones to it. It appears quite light at first and without a gloss, it honestly does seem a wee bit nasty... like dry-ish lips.

Yet after slathering some clear gloss over, the color takes a complete turn and actually looks like a proper nude-ish gloss!

I did apply this a little haphaardly before dashing out of the house (thank goodness its a nude) hence the closeups are a little messy. My apologies about that!

I love how the Aqua Rouge seems to wrap around the lips and if in terms of wear, these really do impress me.

Up close they may not seem the most perfect because the color portion is a dryer formula, this tends to cling to the lips instead of plumping it up and ridding lip lines. When viewed from a 'normal distance', you can't quite pick up on the lines so much and it does look a lot better.

However if you have dryer lips or battle some flaking then maybe these are not a good thing to reach for in those times. Some lip exfoliation beforehand would be good for those who require it.

But otherwise, these wear through a whole day of errands or work (about 10 hours), even after food – think breakfast, lunch, snacks! Of course the gloss part has to be touched up to ensure the color continues to look good but any clear gloss would work and due to that, you would not even need a mirror to do touch ups! I do notice some parts fading a little after the 8 hour mark but overall the lip color still seems to be in good shape.

In terms of how it wears, it is not a heavy formula yet you can still feel this on your lips especially when you press them together. Without a gloss, the rouge itself is like having glue dabbed on the lips, okay not that extreme... it takes on a sticky yet thin consistency so that urges you to layer gloss over to transform the color back to its glorious state.

Here's the gloss from 'afar'!

The brownish tone to it does help this shade (1 Nude Beige) from looking too zombie or corpse like. It's a good enough nude to wear for a casual look yet not too nude that it makes you look sickly or can only be paired with a smokey look.

What I have on the rest of my face is boring boring same old stuff so I will skip mentioning those. And yes, my mascaras still haven't been getting much love from me but oh well, soon!

I am somewhat enjoying the easier makeup removal process with the lack of mascara but I do miss how that really 'opens up my eyes'. ha! Didn't mean to use that cliche statement.

Anyhoo, I hope everyone had a great Mid-Autumn Festival celebration be it through feasting or just spending some quality family time!

I got to head home yesterday to have a pre-celebration with my parents and spent today chowing down a mooncake platter with the boy's fam. Overall, very accomplished weekend! ha.

Thanks for reading!

I had a bit of a crap Monday today and I think maybe the world twitter-verse may have found out because I couldn't help but rant on there. My bad and ranting is really just polluting others with the negativity but I just... had to vent or else I may have put a hole through a wall! So thank you to those who tolerated my little vent.

That aside, I'm all better now and perhaps you could say revisiting a recent haul had helped, somewhat, to center myself and calm my nerves.

Pshh, who needs a therapist when you have retail therapy, yes?

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This haul was done slightly before my 'MIA busy period' but I just didn't have the time to share it till now; it's a simple haul from a casual stroll into Sephora.

That place is starting to become Watsons #2, you can never walk out empty handed.

The two colorful little blobs you see near the top of the picture would be one of those things you conveniently drop into your basket because it's cheap, cute and near the cashier.

Though earlier in the day I did chance upon a blog entry from Muse about these Sephora One-Use Shower capsules being new to the US.

The idea is cute and perfect for travel and while I am not traveling anytime soon (though I am dying for a holiday), these would be great for fickle shower gel-users or those who want to sample a scent before indulging.

These little capsules are S$2 each I believe and after sniffing the testers, I picked up Peony (which smells sooo lovely) and Orange Blossom (which has a hint of Jasmine?).

Random basket addition aside, I would disclaim the other 2 items I hauled were stuff I have been meaning to check out.

I think I have swatched this Laura Mercier Secret Camouflage about 3 times before finally succumbing to the purchase.

I am a shade SC-3, if you are interested to know.

This concealer 'palette' comes with one main skintone shade and another that leans slightly peachy, depending on the skintone shade you pick up. The peachy shade would work great for undereye concealing.

I have used it a couple of times and am really liking the coverage of it which is somewhat a medium-full (or maybe even full) coverage.

I use my fingers with this and don't particularly find it drying for blemishes though this is coming from someone who likes MAC's Studio Finish Concealer (black plastic pot one). Though the peachy shade, meant for the undereyes, may seem drying if you don't use an eyecream underneath.

Here's a quick comparison of the palette size alongside a shower capsule.

And here's a really unnecessary swatch shot of the concealer. I say unnecessary because you can hardly see it since it blends into my skintone but you can somewhat make out the texture, if you were wondering about it.

The Laura Mercier Secret Camouflage palette is about S$40 something, the price escapes me now. Heh

The last purchase was slightly random yet I couldn't have been more pleased with it.

I've heard lots of good things about the Make Up For Ever Aqua Rouge and true to what they say, these do swatch nicely and at the same time wear really well through the day. What's more, if I remember right, they are only S$39 each! That's not too bad at all.

I seldom see long wearing lip colors in a nudish tone so after a swatching session, I ended up with 2 shades – 1 and 9.

1 (Nude Beige) is a beige brown tone that is almost a nude yet has strong underlying brown tones to it that prevents the lips from 'disappearing'. 9 (Burgundy) is a deeper brown-red shade, the sort of bolder reds that I typically go for.

Of course 1 has been receiving a lot more love from me, especially for the last week where I was running about for work and had no time to fuss with lip color touch ups.

A little confession would be that till now, I haven't managed to swatch 9 so I can't comment on how well the bold color works but I absolutely loveeee the nude shade.

The lip color side dries to a matte-ish tacky sort of formula and you need to use some gloss over to bring the beauty of the color out and to prevent your lips from looking borderly dry.

The Aqua Rouge does come with a clear gloss on the reverse side of the tube but any clear gloss will work.

During that whole 'running around' period, I touched up the lip color with C.O Bigelow's tube balm since it is glossy and you really don't need a mirror to slap on some clear balm.

I don't have a lip swatch for you right now but I will post up Look Features for this to show you how they look on!

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I know I've been promising you guys loads of Look Features to showcase a zillion items but I sadly have been extremely unproductive with my makeup of late.

The early (and tiring) mornings leave me throwing on the same-ole-same-ole combinations that I already have laid out on my desk but I hope this weekend I can at least get some pictures sorted out!

Work is still iffy and I hope I can return to you all with full force soon as I do have loads to share but thank you for sticking around regardless!

Do share some new beauty finds you have hauled recently be it after much thought or a quick retail therapy haul!

Hello everyone!

It seems I may have disappeared from the online realm for awhile. I could actually count the number of tweets I made over the past 3 days, which is typically quite impossible given my usual twitter spam.

Right now, I've managed to take a breather from life and draft up this quick review (haven't done reviews in awhile too)!

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I received a travel sized bottle (30ml) of Make Up For Ever Sens'Eyes, which is essentially an eye makeup remover.

Instead of the liquid-like formulas that I am used to when it comes to eye makeup removers, this dispenses like a gel and functions somewhat like a cleanser.

This mineral-oil free product says it is gentle enough on the eyes such that it doesn't irritate sensitive skin yet still potent enough to crack down waterproof makeup.

If anything, I find this aqua blue blob really adorable.

That is about the amount I used for one eye with this demonstration but you can squeeze out a little more if you wish.

So how this works is that you rub the gel over your eye (dry hands, dry face) and watch as it breaks down your eyeshadow, eyeliner and also your waterproof mascara.

To properly remove my eyeliner I had to rub this very close to my waterline and lashline which resulted in a small bit of it getting into my eye. Though I didn't notice any stinging, any discomfort or even blurry vision (which sometimes occurs with my oil cleansers).

The end result isn't very pretty but as you rub, the gel seems to get 'absorbed' and 'dries up' which means you have a time frame to work with the removal process but generally it's good enough.

Alternatively, the bigger the dollop, the slower it takes to 'dry up'! It doesn't end up feeling greasy or oily on the skin nor does it feel stripping.

As you can see below, it does properly remove my mascara and also my liner. I happened to be using a Majolica Majorca mascara at this time and we all know how much of a pain that can be to remove.

All that's left to do after using this on both eyes is to give your face a good wash. Hence the whole black smear around the eye area doesn't bother me since I normally wash my face with a cleansing oil after removing my eye makeup.

Here's the end product after cleansing the face:

There isnt any leftover mascara on my lashes nor are there any smudges from the liner. I didn't cheat with using the cleansing oil to get at those areas either.

Conclusion
In all, I really like this for how it works and the fact that it does work! It's quick and easy to carry around incase you are traveling and don't want to fuss with bringing cotton pads. For those who use their cleansing oils to remove eye makeup, perhaps this could be an additional step to you. Though personally, I like using a separate eye makeup remover since most cleansing oils end up giving me that blurry eye effect too.

I would recommend this for those looking for a gentle yet effective eye makeup remover - especially so for resilient waterproof mascara lovers!

According to makeupforever.com, this retails in 2 different sizes - 30ml (as I have here) and 100ml.

I haven't been to a Sephora of late to check out the price of this but I will update this post once I find out!

What are some of your favorite eye makeup removers?

Disclosure:
Products were provided to me for review consideration.
I am not affiliated to them and all opinions expressed are my own.

It's all about lips, lips and lips!

While eyes can be the glitz and glamour of a look, it seems that lips are slowly taking centre-stage in the makeup realm with brands launching lipstick-focussed collections be it with re-promotes or spanking new shades.

< think I can almost hear lipstick fiends rejoicing or perhaps groaning at knowing where their moolah will fly to.

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But keeping on the topic of this post, Make Up For Ever had taken the success of Rouge Artist Intense to another level and decided to launch a little sister collection. Well put it this way, if Rouge Artist Intense is night, the new collection, Rouge Artist Natural is day!

While Rouge Artist Intense brings B to the bold and harnesses pigmentation like no other, Rouge Artist Natural is a very friendly opposite.

Rouge Artist Natural

Inspired by a very natural and fresh look, the Rouge Artist Natural range dresses lips in a crystal-clear shine while still injecting a very natural color coverage. Described to have a melt-away texture and 'fresh lip' effect, this aims glide on and deliver 8-hour hydration to the lips.

How balmy sounding!

The lipstick is encased in a newly revamped bullet with the brand name printed on all four sides of the cap.

The shade I have on hand is N5 Nude Beige, which is one of the 50 shades available! While having Natural' as part of its name, this lipstick sure doesn't hold back in terms of color.

The Rouge Artist Natural range has you covered from pinks to reds to corals and even burgundy. It's certainly a little something for everyone.

Texture-wise, I find these do glide across the surface of the lips like butter with a soft melty texture. Yet at the same time we aren't talking about a vulnerable lipstick prone to squishing itself. It has a balm-like texture that makes it very comfortable to wear yet delivers good pigmentation like that of a lipstick.

The secret to this is a savvy-mix of film-forming polymers, intense pigments and precious pearly particles for the shade along with Candelilla plant wax and beeswax for better color adhesion despite it's light balmy texture. The moisture facter is also well taken off by a cocktail of genetal castor oil and Cupuaçu Butter for that silky feel all day.

Well, that chunk of ingredient and behind-the-scenes listing aside, all I can say is:

Hydration + Color, MUFE is doing it right!

Rouge Artist Intense

Just for comparisons sake and also to re-introduce the earlier successor, Rouge Artist Intense, here is the shade I had received - Moulin Rouge.

If I am not wrong, Moulin Rouge is the only shade in the Rouge Artist Intense collection to have it's own special casing. The rest look just like the above (minus the top design), except with a silver base. That is if I'm not wrong.

Inside, the Moulin Rouge lipstick has another little extra touch.

For someone who wasn't too familiar with the Rouge Artist Intense prior I think I gaped a little at the beautifully intense shade of red (orange-based). That gaping also continued after I did a quick swatch of Moulin Rouge on the back of my hand.

The Rouge Artist Intense lipsticks carry a whole different offering with intense pigmentation, supreme coverage and extreme color results. According to a KarlaSugar swatch post, they carry various finishes from satin to pearly but one thing is for sure - they are all packed with color!

Here's a back of the hand swatch of the above 2 lippies.

I did one swipe of Rouge Artist Intense and 2 of Rouge Artist Natural

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Of course I can't wrap this post up without some lipswatches so first up, a more day appropriate look featuring the Rouge Artist Natural, the new range.

I had done a half lip swatch but forgot to snap a full lip swatch though I guess there really isn't a need for it.

This shade swatches to be very similar to my actual lip color, perhaps with a little more beige. If I wanted a nude 'My Lips But Better' shade, this would be a perfect find.

The shade looks glossy and creamy on the lips, which is certainly how it feels in person too. I never got to test the wear time and 8 hour hydration theory just yet though.

I think I am going to give Nude Beige a whole lot of love in time to come.

Moving from a soft day look to something a whole lot more 'night'.

Make Up For Ever really were not playing around when they dropped the term 'Intense' into Rouge Artist Intense!

For better precision and control of the lipstick I would actually recommend applying it with a lipbrush, which was what I had done with the Intense swatch.

Now, I'm not very accustomed to seeing this bold and bright a lipstick on myself so pardon me if I look like a deer in headlights or something.

This lipstick has a drier satin finish (though not necessarily drying) and feels like it could last forever but I never did wear it about for a test. After attempting to wipe it off, it did leave a stain on my lips which kept it a nice red shade still. That leaves me to think this lipstick could fare very well in longevity.

It's also slightly amusing how a simple change in lip color can switch up an entire makeup look.

I would definitely recommend checking out the Rouge Artist Natural if you are seeking a hydrating and comfortable lipstick that offers decent glossy pigmentation. And let's not forget that full range of 50 shades out there to choose from.

If you haven't given the Rouge Artist Intense a look, you may want to do that too if you feel you have a need for a pow-wow lip shade that will last and last through parties!

These lipsticks are available for S$35. Select shades are stocked at Sephora stores while the entire assortment is available at the Make Up For Ever Academy and Pro Loft.

Thanks for reading!

Are you a lipstick fiend?

Disclosure:
Products were provided to me for review consideration.
I am not affiliated to them and all opinions expressed are my own.

Here is a look I had done up prior to the 2 latest ones on my blog. I had given this a mention in the Valentines one and somewhere along the way this was pushed back and almost forgotten.

Regardless, I did this look with a mind to test out the greens in the Make Up For Ever La Bohème Palette. Much like how they swatched, the shades do apply with a pearly feel and unlike the Valentines Day one where I applied it wet, this was patted on dry.

The shadows do have that soft-focus and pearly characteristics when patted on dry. With it's soft nature, it didn't entirely disappoint in terms of pigmentation, though you have to know you are hearing this from a neutral fanatic.

The pearly sheen comes through best in bright light (aka camera flash) or glistens when the sun hits it.

Products Used:

BROW/FACE
K-palette Liquid Liner in 01
Maquillage Brow Wax in 77
Leaders Clinic Medieu Sun Cream
Elizabeth Arden Good Morning Skin Serum
Shu Uemura Smooth Fit Fluid Foundation
LUV Carat Long Last Face Powder in Natural Beige

EYES
Make Up For Ever Eye Primer
Make Up For Ever La Boheme Palette (greens)
Wet N Wild palette in Comfort (crease green)
CLIO Professional Brush Liner in Black
MAC Powerpoint Liner in Engraved
Dollywink Mascara in Volume

CHEEKS
MAC Mineralized Skinfinish in Redhead

LIPS
MAC Lipstick in Shy Girl
Majolica Majorca Gloss in OR317

Highlighted products were provided by companies/distributors,
I was not obliged to use/feature them in LOTDs.

From a rationale point of view I will go ahead and say the shadows in this palette aren't terribly unique. The greens, purples and plums are beautiful colors and paired very well in this palette but color-wise it's nothing that will make you stop mid-track; though perhaps the packaging itself might be responsible for that.

Nonetheless, these shadows are still pretty in their own way and concept - which as mentioned is something very rustic, feminine and soft. I think in makeup the ultimate point is if you will use what you purchase and I am categorizing this palette as something good for everyday use but not necessary to hustle out the door for.

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Random but I wanted to mention how much of a love-hate relationship I am having with my hair right now. Aside from the gold tones hinting at a return amidst it's current auburn condition, it's grown out to this floppy mop which really needs a cut.

What's more, I don't have time to do something about it now, so these days I find myself just throwing my hair into a ponytail-bun.

It also helps to combat the crazy heat that drops by almost every afternoon. The downside is that I honestly hate tying my hair because everytime I let it down I feel I need to massage the tension out of my scalp yet I don't tie my hair very tightly either (and use a scrunchie).

Anyone have any quick hair tips or hairdos on keeping hair up or pulled back comfortably?

Thanks for reading!

Hello!

Before I hit the sack I wanted to quickly churn this out because I might, might, be disappearing from here for the next few days. Usual stuff, work, nothing much to elaborate on so... moving on!

This was the look I wore out today, to work and then a quiet dinner with the boyfriend to celebrate Valentines Day. I would like to think that we are quite chill about the whole Valentines thing. We don't doll up to extremities and head to over-priced venues but yet we still bother with some parts of it like flowers and little gifts. While I agree you should show love all year round, perhaps we're still in the phase where Valentines should be celebrated, no matter how low-key.

I am predicting if we hit our 10 year mark, it will be home-cooked dinner and movie time at home, ha! If that is true, we're about halfway there!

❧

So moving on, Valentines aside, I wanted to try a wet application method with the baked shadows from the La Bohème palette, to see if there is an improvement in terms of pigmentation.

Since I can't avoid the 14th february notion, I went for a light purple-brown combination and used the light purple shade wet.

The verdict?

The purple does pick up a little more and the shade seems more 'packed together' compared to swatches which seemed more like a faint soft touch. I would say there is an improvement albeit fairly minor but it's better than none!

I'm really liking how the little itty bits of shimmer shows up (minutely) on the eye. While it's not so clear in person, as this is a close-up, it adds a soft hint of glimmer.

Products Used:

BROW/FACE
K-Palette Brow Liquid in 01
Maquillage Brow Wax in 77
Leaders Clinic Medieu Sun Cream
Elizabeth Arden Good Morning Serum (primer)
Shu Uemura Smooth Fit Fluid Foundation
LUV Carat Long-Lasting Powder (to set)
ELF Bronzer in Warm

EYES
Urban Decay Primer Potion
Make Up For Ever La Bohème Palette
Majolica Majorca palette in BR742 (dark brown, outer-v)
Hour Glass Liquid Liner in Black
MAC Powerpoint Liner in Engraved
Dollywink Mascara in Volume

CHEEKS
MAC Mineralized Blush in Happy Together
(used for blush and highlight)

LIPS
Make Up For Ever Rouge Artist Natural in Folk

Highlighted products were provided by companies/distributors,
I was not obliged to use/feature them in LOTDs.

Here's a breakdown of what shades I used from the La Bohème palette and where.

• Bottom left purple (used wet) over the entire lid
• Bottom centre brown (used dry) over the outer half
• Bottom right peach-tone (used dry) to blend the edges
• Top right champagne shade (used dry) as highlight.

I didn't touch the teal and green with this look but prior to this I had done a quick look with it that I will feature soon. I figured to put this up first since it was 'in tune' with the festivities.

❧

Quick mentions on the outfit. I donned something I would like to think of as dressy casual. I didn't want to go too cliche with a little cocktail dress or anything because, like I said, I think we're quite chill about it. I think.

No proper shots so I'l just have to turn to quick mirror shots!

Though you can't tell, dress is the subtlely leopard printed one from here, and the outer-shirt is from over here. I paired it with some black stockings so the dress doesn't appear that short and simple black pumps from Rubi.

I brought that snake ring out for some sun too and I really like how it seemed to go well with my (not so Valentines) nail color.

China Glaze's It's Alive.

Ending it off with pictures I had instagrammed, to best sum up my Valentines this year.

Lovely tulips from the boyfriend and my attempt at making Strawberry Cheese Cupcake!

How did you spend your Valentines Day? With your partner, family, friends or some precious me-time?

Thank you for reading!

Photos of the latest Make Up For Ever La Boheme collection are aplenty online but... no harm with more, yes?

In Spring 2012, Make Up For Ever veered away from their usual of statement, intense and pigmented items to present a more Spring-themed collection. With a touch of bohemian flair, the La Bohème collection interprets as gentle, light and airy, though I am mainly basing this conclusion off the centre-piece of collection, the eyeshadow palette.

This has been on shelves at Sephora for a while and I chanced upon it before receiving the collection's inspiration and thought it was a little queer and unlike Make Up For Ever. I had to step back and glance at the shelves once more to make sure I was at Make Up For Ever.

I still stand by that thought but tossing the vibrant and intense image of MUFE aside, it's a collection with some very lovely colors and items if light, natural and organic is your thing!

Starting the product run-through is the award-winning La Bohème Aqua Eyes.

La Bohème Aqua Eyes (S$33)

This comes in a rich and creamy wood-inspired tone, a matte dark brown. Like the rest of their Aqua Eyes, this sits firmly on the skin when swatched and doesn't succumb to rubbing though Sophia mentioned they tend to smudge a little with wear.

La Bohème Rouge Artist Natural (S$35)

2 shades were launched with this collection, Folk and Bohème. Folk is described to be a warm red coral while Bohème is a peachy beige shade.

The shade I received is Folk and while it pulls towards the warm of reds when applied, it has some very beautiful cool-toned purple sparkles within and hints at a purple-ish tint when it hits the light. Though sadly that same tint does not translate once on the lips, the shimmers do though.

This lipstick sits in the center of a glaze and somewhat a satin. It confuses me because while it's not a full-out creamy opaque shade, the glazed glossiness doesn't take away from color delivery either.

Here's a massive swatch close-up because the shimmer bits are pretty.

But clearly noone is going to stare at your lips that close-up so here are some proper lip swatches to compensate.

With my hand-swatch it looks kind of sheer but I'm surprised to see that on the lips, the color does show up. Especially in the above half-lip swatch, the purple shimmers are slightly evident.

The lipstick itself has a scent and slight taste which isn't all bad but thought I would point it out since it might not be everyone's cup of tea.

This may very well be my new favorite red-toned lip color. I liked Clinique's Almost Lipstick but now that my hair has washed off to an auburn, the pink-red tone of it doesn't sit too well in contrast to my hair.

La Bohème Eyeshadow Palette (S$55)

Made in Italy, this palette is constructed with recycled cardboard and dressed in a stitch of gorgeous patchwork designs. The designs definitely embody the Boho fashion with their prints, style and colors.

It is definitely a lovely palette design to admire and while being cardboard, it feels relatively sturdy. I wouldn't go to the point of recommending you to throw in your bag and have it play pinball in there but, you could try?

The 6 shadows encased within are paraben free and baked with 50% pearly particles to give you that ethereal pearlescent look.

While the dome shapes look adorable, I'm not a huge fan of it because this means your brush tends to 'flick' some shadow on the palette while you are picking up color. With the palette being cardboard (and black), immediate cleaning is a must or the palette portion will eventually be crowded with glitter bits and lose part of it's beauty.

The colors in this palette do have some pigmentation to them but I would not say it's close to being described as "intense". With baked shadows, you can typically use them both wet and dry. Perhaps with the wet method you can get more pigmentation out of it but in the dry approach, it's a very light feathery shade (save for the brown).

Admit it, that irridescent glimmer is quite a looker!

While Make Up For Ever has branched out from their norm, or what we know of as a norm, they have certainly done the light and airy right. I suppose while it's nice to be able to classify a brand under a certain genre or label for all of it's eternity, some change and new little characteristics are a fun mix as well.

Aside from the above, I was also provided the Make Up For Ever Eye Primer.

I'm not too sure the price of this but I will mention that when I post my thoughts about how this primer wears. I wasted no time in trying it out because I'm always looking for something to rival my love for Urban Decay Primer Potion. Thus far only Etude House's has shook that a little bit I still go back to my Urban Decay, God knows why!

That would be all for my Make Up For Ever mention on the La Bohème collection. You can find this on the shelves at all Sephoras and the MUFE boutique and OUB Centre #04-16.

What do you think about soft, glimmery eyeshadow shades?
Love them or prefer the *bam* pigmented?

Thanks for reading!

Disclosure:
Products were provided to me for review consideration.
I am not affiliated to them and all opinions expressed are my own.

At long last here is my review for the Make Up Forever HD Foundation.

I have this in the Shade 125 and I am about a MAC NC25-30.

The reason why I took this long to actually review this foundation was because I had gone through a love/hate relationship with it. I will explain more about that in the video attached below!

This product costs 75SGD for 30ml, and truthfully that's not all that cheap. However I still went ahead and purchased it, but not without doing sufficient research beforehand. So while many people have raved about it, I managed to weed out those who mentioned it's downsides and so was a little mentally prepared when I got it. Which then made me understand why some have been slightly disappointed upon getting it after reading pure raves.

As of right now I do love it, but instead of just trusting my current love for it and my feature of it in my July Favorites, I suggest you check out the review for a detailed breakdown of why I had not quite liked it before.

Click to view video review:

Review: Make Up For Ever HD Foundation

Overall Rating: Fail / Pass / Merit / Distinction / High Distinction

Coverage: 2/5
Oil Control: 3.5/5
Lasting Power: 4/5
Packaging: 4/5 - packaging is cute, but that slight difficulty in dispensing small amounts...

Would I re-purchase this? Crazy enough, I just might. I think it's a nice foundation to have in the stash, but I'm just not certain if I will really run out and get it the minute it's out. Probably when I have dispensable cash.