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?

After what had been an incredibly long weekend (I was on leave on Monday too!), I definitely feel more rejuvenated now but... I must admit, it did take a bit of feet dragging to get myself to work.

Too much of a good thing can be a bad thing?

Either ways, I welcomed this break and even found some time to put on a wee bit more makeup than I usually do, which resulted in this LOTD! One reason for ditching the no-makeup look is because the boy's dad's birthday happened during the weekend so there were some dinners, celebrations and... a surprise staycation!

But anyway, here's what I had on my face:

I took this chance to rummage through some of my older palettes and rediscovered MAC's Idol Eyes which is a beautiful icy silver purple tone that isn't over the top yet has a pretty sparkle.

Okay, enough of me spamming eye shots to get across my point of how beautiful the color is.

For blush I revisited MAC's Hang Loose, a pale cool pink mineralized blush. This imparts a soft glow to my complexion but due to it being rather light in tone, it doesn't put down a whole lot of color, which is perfect for what I want.

Random side-note, I have been getting the hang of wearing a necklace again by bringing Poh Heng's Minnie Stellar Petite pendant out and about. Though more of that in another entry.

Products Used:

BROW / FACE
Biore UV Aqua Rich SPF 50 PA +++
Benefit Porefessional
Dior Diorskin Nude liquid foundation
LUV Carat loose face powder (to set)

EYES
Urban Decay Primer Potion
Kate real create eyes in GN-1 (sticky base)
MAC eyeshadow in Idol Eyes
Majolica Majorca palette in BR741 (taupe and dark brown)
CLIO Professional pen liquid liner in black
MAC Powerpoint Liner in Engraved
Helena Rubenstein Lash Feline Waterproof (light coat)

CHEEKS
MAC Mineralized Blush in Hang Loose

LIPS
Estee Lauder lipstick in Bali Rose

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

So that wraps up the look!

Incase anyone is interested, here's ending the entry off with some shots of the hotel and weekend happenings, as seen from my instagram!

Hope everyone had a nice break over the past couple of days!

I had a little fun getting somewhat creative with makeup over my long break (nope, not talking about this entry), though I don't mean body painting and all that high-level stuff. Just... as creative as it gets opposed to my usual brows and foundation routine (which doesn't take much creativity!).

I can't wait to share but all will be revealed in due time! I don't want to do that whole mysterious thing but I'm pretty stoked about it, hence dropping a mention ;)

Thanks for reading!

As the title goes, this entry is part gift and part tiny (literally in terms of size) haul. Both items are from the same person so after wrecking my brains about how to best mention it, I figured I'll just clump it together!

Before Eliza's introduction, I had no clue about the existence of Bioderma's makeup remover. Well, maybe I have seen the bottle around... but I never took note of it, muchless knew about the positive reviews of it online.

When Eliza brought up the fact that she was spree-ing it and asked if I wanted in, I did some quick research and the reviews seemed mostly positive.

With that, I thought 'oh well, let's give it a shot' and opted for the teeny-weenie 100ml bottle (travel size, this little thing).

I got the Bioderma Crealine H2O Micelle Solution, which I believe is the Sensitive skin one. From what I read online, the name of it has since been changed from Crealine to Sensibio.

I switched to using this because I got tired fussing with the jammed pump on my Shu cleanser (no clue what happened!) and I ended up really liking it! Bioderma, I mean.

In terms of use, it reminds me of the Mandom Cleansing Express except with a stronger western following. Though as a plus, I felt this cleansed my skin better than Mandom did and it did not sting my eyes when it came to removing eyeliner.

While I was initially skeptical about this doing a thorough job removing my makeup, I tried it with both powder and liquid foundation and my skin was left spic-and-span after. I swabbed it with a toner to find zero residue and it even manages to completely remove my eyeliner (again, without stinging my eyes).

I did spare this bugger from the waterproof mascara test, only because I instinctively reach for Bi-Facil for that. Maybe I will give it a try one day...

What was a haul mention turned out to be quite the review but for effective makeup removal and no greasy residual after, I can see why this has garnered that many positive remarks.

While in the 'searching up more about it' phase, I chanced upon a mention of this in Lisa Eldridge's video of her Favorite Skincare products. She had also featured it in her makeup-removal video which was what prompted me to go ahead with this, to be honest...

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So anyway, that's ramble #1.

The gift part would be this lovely surprise Eliza had for me. She knew I had been eyeing Porefessional for the longest time but not refusing to indulge in yet another primer so she got this for me as a birthday present.

Thank you Eliza!

I have been using this recently and am really liking it. I passed on it for the longest time because I didnt have major pore issues but I have realized that this does more than just smoothing out pores!

From my own encounter with it, I love how my powder foundation glides on effortlessly after using this. It also has the usual primer effect of prolonging the need to blot and helping my makeup last a tad bit longer.

To prevent this from turning into another rambly review, I'll stop here but here's the last mention: I love the scent of Porefessional too!

Anyway that is it for this quick update, thanks for reading!

Today felt like a Friday and I'm not even sure if that's a good thing or not. Either ways, I'm looking forward to the long(ish) weekend ahead!

Have you tried Bioderma? Do you like it?

p.s. Incase you are wondering, Eliza does hold sprees for Bioderma every now and then. It's significantly cheaper than purchasing from Guardian so do go by her blog and bug her about her next spree :p I think I might want to pick up a bigger bottle the next time!

I think I may be the last person to write about this and I am extremely late on spreading the word but I had taken the pictures and am bent on putting up an entry no matter how late! Heh

Another reason for this insistence is because I do like April's Bellabox. I think I am starting to feel the gamble aspect of beauty subscription boxes as I liked the earlier Bellaboxes but I wasn't super thrilled. This time though, I am actually loving it because of a few product inclusions.

In April, Bellabox's focus is on flawless beauty be it through nurturing your skin or faking that flawlessness with the right products!

I shan't ramble too much since you may have all seen the low-down but here's a brief mention anyway!

The product inclusions:

Benefit Cosmetics Hello Flawless Oxygen Wow Liquid Foundation

I have heard so much about the Benefit Hello Flawless foundation and anything with a phrase like oxygen for the skin pretty much has my attention. I didn't splurge on the real deal when it came out since I hardly reach for my liquid foundies these days but a sample (especially a cute one like such) is great to try!

I received the shade Honey "I'm so Money" which looks to be right in shade but maybe not tone. It seems a little pinkish? But I'll try it out and see.

Enavose H2Osis Black Tea Quench Mask

I've not heard of the brand prior but with a name like Black Tea Quench Mask, I feel I almost need to plop this on straight away to hydrate the skin. Can't wait to try this sample out and perhaps do a Masking Up feature for it.

Maison Francis Kurdjian EDP

With notes like Orange Flower, Cedar wood and Ylang-Ylang Flower, this EDP invokes a very old powder room sort of mood in me. I'm not sure if I'm the only one but it's musky and powdery, quite a nice scent to smell but not for myself. I handed it over to my mom, who seemed to develop a liking for it.

Lemongrass House Shower Gel (left)

Okay, before anything, the inclusion is the Shower Gel on the left, the Room Spray is something I had from before.

This one pretty much had me (and my mom) all excited. I had received this Shower Gel before as part of Lemongrass's Mothers' Day promo last year and gave the set to my mom, keeping only the room fragrance for myself. I'm a fan of all things rose scented and loved the room scent, so to have a travel bottle in a lovely rose scented Shower Gel (which my mom loved), this is perfecto.

Kinohimitsu Collagen Drink

Kinohimitsu Collagen Drink is a beauty supplement meant to plump up your skin in just 6 days. I am personally wary when it comes to collagen drinks because anything with Marine Collagen can cause my eczema to go crazy so the brother actually went " I WANT!" when I 'put this up for auction' in the house.

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So... I didn't manage to keep this very short.

I guess I really can't help myself from rambling but in general, I really liked the variety with April's Bellabox and it got me all sparked up again with the beauty subscription service. If you are interested in subscribing for Bellabox, you may hop on over to their website. Subscriptions are at S$15 a month or slightly lesser depending on the subscription you pick.

One thing about Bellabox though is I realized that you can only susbcribe per month or annually. It would be nice if they opened up a 3 month or 6 month slot too.

For those who had gotten their hands on the April bellabox, did you love the contents?

p.s. I know I still owe you guys that rummage through the Make Up Store goodie bag. Coming up next! ;)

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

Lookie here!
I found photos of this Look of the Day that I somehow never managed to post. This was from quite awhile back (pre-auburn hair), I do like the look so belated or not I'll just post it up anyway!

I was in my neutral phase (since when I was ever out of it, right?) but I wanted to spruce up the look as well so I decided to throw in a pop of lime green.

Pardon the brows, looks like I didn't have time to fuss much with them during my final projects period.

Products Used:

FACE/BROW
Maquillage Lasting Stick Foundation UV
Lumiere Invisi-veil Powder (to set)
K-palette Brow Liner in 02

EYES
Etude House Proof 10 Primer
Benefit Creaseless shadow in Skinny Jeans
ELF Studio Eyeshadow in Mystic Moss
Revlon 12-Hour Colorstay Quad in Nude Elements
Rhomlon Eyeshadow in Black (tiny bit in outer corner)
28 Color Palette (highlight)
Silky Girl Funky Eyelights in Lime Green
MAC Powerpoint Liner in Engraved
Majolica Majorca Lash Enamel Glamour Neo Mascara

CHEEKS
I Nuovi Blush in Dolly

LIPS
MAC Lipstick in Shy Girl
Elizabeth Arden High Shine Lipgloss in Tropicoral

Highlighted products had been provided to me by companies/distributors.

With this post I do want to mention that I have been loving the Elizabeth Arden High Shine Lipgloss in Tropicoral. It's this one right here, from the goodie bag that Elizabeth Arden had given to me.

I find it really comparable to the MAC Dazzleglasses in terms of the way it looks on, the shimmer and glitter but it's not as thick and not as sticky. Though my dilemma about this is that I think this color is a limited edition release?

I had wanted to blog about it and do a comparison on this to MAC's Smile Dazzleglass, but figured if it was limited edition it might be a little evil to do that? Let me know if you guys want that comparison or if you know if this shade is in stock etc.

I have browsed the other Elizabeth Arden High Shine Glosses and it seems the finish is different with different colors. Some are cream, some have shimmer, it seems to vary.

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Another mention, seems like Benefit's Creaseless Shadow in Skinny Jeans is getting a lot of love. See Chantana (everbluec) and Kim (ladeekim)'s recent LOTDs featuring this product.

Chantana - LOTF: Skinny Gazette
KIm - LOTD: Skinny Jeans

I do love that shade, it's great to slap it on alone or use it as a base color. I particulaly like using it under ELF's Mystic Moss eyeshadow since they are almost the same shade. Skinny Jeans tends to give Mystic Moss a stronger base and make it smokier-looking.

Thank you for reading!

This entry is titled mini review as I will be doing a review of this product based on a sample I have received. A sample doesn't change the way a product works, I know, but it's not quite the full experience at the same time? Take for example watching a movie in your normal (no surround sound) living room versus a movie theatre. It's the same movie, but not exactly the same experience... if that makes sense.

The product sample I am reviewing is Benefit's Erase Paste. I was given this sample by the lovely Sophia (retailtherapy) back when she sent me some Benefit goodies from her major Benefit haul (3 links in one sentence, go me! Lol). I have since been asked to do a review on this, so here is what I think about it thus far.

The sample itself comes in a cute, but honestly not very practical packaging.

The shade I have is in Shade 02. In all, there are three shades available, a lighter one and a darker one.

Why I say the packaging is not practical is because it is quite difficult to squeeze the concealer out without getting too much out, and it just feels that wastage is bound to happen. So what I did was I dissected the whole thing and transfered the product into a jar.

Though I'm sure the highlight of this isn't to see how I best used my sample, so let's move on to what Benefit describes the product as:

• "This concentrated, creamy concealer brightens and camouflages in one easy step! Targets dark circles, discoloration and imperfections.
  Three shades with brightening melon undertones to suit every complexion.
  Comes complete with a fully illustrated, step-by-step lesson and mini-spatula for easy application."
  - taken from Benefit Cosmetics

I have used this concealer about 4-5 times and I would say it is not quite an all over face concealer. It has rather strong pink undertones (as you can see from the photo above) so unless you have more of a pink-ish undertone on your skin, I would not suggest using this as a blemish concealer. I have browsed around other sites and checked out their other shades and it seems those too have a slight pink tinge to them.

I suggest using this product as an undereye corrector since it is pink based, and does sort of remind me of Bobbi Brown's Corrector in BIsque (the more pink-ish one). I can't say for sure because I don't own Bisque, but correctors that are pink-based are said to help neutralise greenish undertones. So if you have dark circles that are more green-based then blue-based, this product could work for you.

I personally do love it as an undereye corrector and alternate between this one and my Bobbi Brown corrector in Light Peach.

Now I'll just break this entry down in point form so it's not so lengthy.

• I do love the coverage. I would say it's pretty good and would classify it under medium to maybe full coverage
• The texture is creamy and quite thick, not runny. Almost like what it is called, a paste.
• It's not drying at all and instead feels a little moist. It does have enough 'stick' to adhere to your skin
• Since it's creamy I can imagine that it would settle into fine lines, but it's not stubborn to the point it wouldn't budge. Just lightly running your fingers over it when it settles will smooth it back out.
• You definitely have to take a bit of time to blend this one out since it is quite thick. I recommend using your fingers instead of a brush.
• When used on the undereye, I feel that it does somewhat lightly brighten the area a little (read: no you wouldn't get that '2 shades lighter concealer' undereye look)

Here are some pictorial comparisons/experiments:

The first is the coverage test.

Before. It's quite appropriate to be using this since it has a bit of a greenish undertone to it.

After! Look at that coverage! And can you spot that slight brightening effect?

And here's showing you how pink-based it is compared to my skintone:

Now comparing it to my MAC NW concealer. (MAC's NW range is said to be the pink-toned range while the NC range is more yellow-toned)

Benefit Erase Paste vs MAC NW25
As you can see Erase Paste is slightly more pink then the NW concealer, and putting them side-by-side like this almost makes the NW concealer look beige rather then have pink-undertones.

Thus far I personally do like Erase Paste, and might even consider re-purchasing it sometime in future for the purpose of an undeye concealer/brightener though I'm not sure of the price tag it comes with... I might just buy it online when I need to since Benefit is rather marked up here.

I would not recommend it to anyone who is looking for a multi-purpose all over face/eye concealer unless as I've said you have a rather strong pink undertone to your skin. I have tried it as a blemish concealer and I guess with proper blending and all you could get away with it, but there is always a fear of getting pnk patches if say your foundation wears out first.

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

Coverage: 5/5
Texture: 4/5
Blendability: 3.5/5 (just cause it's a little thick and takes awhile to work in sometimes)

Would I purchase the full size? I probably might.

Got home from class today to find that I had a package waiting for me. This package is from the lovely Sophia (retailtherapy)!  It is super sweet and genorous of Sophia to have sent these, prior to this I didn't own any Benefit items at all, so I am absolutely thrilled that I do now.

A major Thank You to Sophia for these! (:

I didn't know what to censor so I just censored everything. haha.

She had sent me a Creaseless Cream Shadow/Liner along with a couple of samples.

Sample of Erase Paste. I've been wanting to try this product for such a long time after having heard raves about it, but for some reason I never did venture out to get tested for the shade and all. I'm really happy I have a sample of this to play around with now!

Do it Daily sample. I can't enough of how cute Benefit's packaging is, even for their samples.

And the star of the show....

The Creaseless Cream Shadow/Liner in the shade Skinny Jeans.

This product had also received quite a number of mentions and is another one of the items that I had wanted to try sometime in my lifetime.
Naturally I was mad excited to have received this. I should improve my vocab but when I am excited and happy, these are the only words that come to mind.

Here's a slightly sheer swatch of Skinny Jeans

The texture of the cream shadow/liner is quite creamy and soft, yet it is not as creamy to the point that it 'blobs' on. If that even makes sense.
I can't wait to try this out with an eyeshadow look (:

So this marks my first step into the brand of Benefit, with much much thanks to Sophia!
I am taking interest in a couple more of their products because of Sophia's recent musing with them. Though I haven't made up my mind on anything (darn benefit for being this pricey!) Who knows, I might just snag myself a Benefit item, if I dare to ever approach their overly pink and intimidating counters.