I don't often switch up the contents in my makeup pouch because everything in there is essentially what I would need already.

On occasions I may throw in an extra lip gloss, lip stick or maybe facial mist though if I don't need them anymore, I usually remember to take them out.

If anything, the one category that 'builds up' the most within my makeup pouch would be lip stuff, for varying reasons. Sometimes I simply forget to take them back out and other times I would deliberately bring them along in an effort to give them more love and (hopefully) use them up.

Nonetheless, here are the items I lug about:

A rundown of items in here (somewhat left to right):

• Anna Sui Oil Blotter
• Gatsby Powdered Oil Blotter
• Elizabeth Arden Eight Hour Cream (travel size)
• Revlon Eyeliner Pencil (which I should throw out...)
• Maquillage Glossy Perfect Rouge in RD306
• Maybelline Moisture Extreme in Natural Nude
• Revlon Colorburst Lipstick in Soft Nude
• Lip Smackers x Paul Frank lipbalm
• Bvlgari Perfume (small sample / travel vial)

I have a couple of items which I photographed separately and listed in this entry but those are mainly a powder compact, spft protection, 1 more lip item and liner / brow stuff.

I know the first question I may get is... why do you carry around two oil blotters?!

Well, because the Gatsby powdered oil blotter is the ultimate oil blotter by ridding the icky oil feel and setting the skin, making it feel smooth and fresh again. The Anna Sui oil blotter is non-powdered and reserved for situations where I get nit-picky and feel like my skin is oiling up a little and feeling blah yet it's not oily enough to justify using the Gatsby blotter.

I know... it's strange but does anyone else get what I mean?

As for the lip stuff, I find carry neutral tones would be the easiest so if I am heading out with a bold lip, I would bring that along for touch ups. Otherwise, I would solely rely on what I have in here though of late, the most popular thing I slap on when I need to touch up my lip color is the Maquillage Glossy Perfect Rouge; I am almost out of it!

Everything else is really in there... just cause.

A perfume incase I run out without perfume or my perfume fades away by mid-day, a handcream incase my palms get dry and liners incase I want to intensify my eyelook after a day out.

So do share, what do you carry around in your makeup bag? Do you prefer to be prepared or travel light?

Thanks for reading!

Attempting to cover grounds with my lipstick adventure, I dug into my stash and fished out this old and forgotten color. I remember picking this up way back because I was utterly blown away with the coral-redness of it yet I never had the guts to wear it out.

Why did I pick it up then? Well, like a typical makeup junkie's mentality, I might have use for it one day.

And I surely am thankful to my younger self for doing so because I am loving this shade!

While it's been sitting in my stash for awhile, it's relatively clean and new because aside from a hand swatch, I've hardly touched it otherwise. No funkyness going on and such, phew.

Not rightfully an LOTD entry, again, but rather sharing this new (yet old) lip color love.

I know you don't need 1001 pictures of myself to prove one point (that this is the lip color I currently love) but I like how it sits on the fence between a coral and a red. At one glance it comes off as a vibrant red yet with a lingering look, you can see the coral tones.

Something a little more vibrant than what I'm used to and I've never worn full out orange/coral colors so this is a good way to ease into new grounds.

(I have NARS Powder Blush in Orgasm on my cheeks.)

The masterminds behind this lip look:

• Revlon Super Lustrous Lipstick in Kiss Me Coral
• Majolica Majorca Lipgloss in OR317

The Revlon lipstick is the lead character here and I have had this lipstick for so long that I thought it was not availabe in stores anymore! Just to be sure, I dropped by both Watsons and Guardian to find it still there.

Watsons is also having a promotion for the Revlon Super Lustrous range right now.

While it isn't the creamiest lipstick I have tried, it sure is pigmented. The staying power was something that amazed me. It's not of lipstain prowress but I wore this out for perhaps 5 hours with dinner included and it still had a hint of color on my lips at the end of the day.

It looks a lot more even than pictured but flash can be so unforgiving at times...

The lasting power could also be due to my habit of mainly wiping the corners of my mouth and very lightly dabbing my lips after meals, instead of a full out go at it with serviettes.

All that aside, I'm not wearing mascara in the above look, incase you noticed that something is a little 'off'. I almost always wear mascara when I am heading out without my glasses but.... more on that soon.

In the meantime, I could be getting into the swing of summer, though the season isn't for another few months. Though you would agree that the heat in Singapore justifies parading around in summery vibrancy so...

What coral-red or straight out coral lip colors do you have/love or would recommend me to check out?

Thanks for reading!

As I have (discretely?) mentioned on twitter, I am no longer a tamarin monkey! Incase you're wondering what a tamarin monkey is, click here.

I have finally fixed that hairdye job gone wrong but not without much deliberation. I could cut to the chase but that wouldn't be fun and as you know I like rambling so I feel I need to share my internal conflict.

I was torn between finding a way to keep the lightness and go ash or go over that entire color with something else, namely red. The best choice would be going to a salon and telling them what I wanted but the inflated rates and the fact that the salons I frequent were booked out left me with no other choice but another round of home DIY-ing.

I researched loads on how to go ash with off-the-shelf hairdye without ending up with a funky color but in the end, I figured it's too dangerous to experiment again so.... red it is!

I went back to a brand that I have used and trust, Revlon. Though I've not tried their Luminista range so this was a first. Instead of doing a Bright Auburn color, like I had before, I opted to go Red.

Since I had some gold undertones in my hair, I was afraid that the Bright Auburn might end up emphasizing that.

So here's the end result:

Another thing when I was lightening my hair the previous time is that not all the strands ended up being the same lightened shade. Hence, I seem to have various shades of red across my hair, which I kind of like because... it's interesting?

The 'front' and top part of my hair remains a uniformed red while the bottom parts lean towards a more auburn shade with some strands looking like highlights.

The above shots were taken under the muted sunlight we had earlier today.

Indoors, the red kind of tends to look a little brown-ish at times and a little more deep-ruby at others.

(iphone camera)

It's been awhile since I had used a red dye so I totally forgot how scary it looks washed off. The entire toilet floor looked a deep crimson red and some even got on the walls. It sort of reminded me of my college project but thankfully it all rinsed off and nothing stained (except my towel).

In all, I still like Revlon's dye even though it's a major pain to rinse off but they give sufficient product (enough for me and some for my boyfriend!) and their conditioner smells and feels amazing on.

I'm also glad my hair isn't as dry as hay after all this though it's still best in indulge in some hair masks after the CNY madness has blown over. Speaking of which, I was telling my mom about how I need not wear red for visitings, I'll just let my hair do the talking!

Thanks for reading!

During that scary short period when my previous macbook pro had given out on me, I managed to make use of that time away from the computer to do some constructive things to my makeup stash!

By constructive all I really mean is spring clean, get rid of things that needed to be thrown out which ended up not being too successful. Though in the process, I discovered some items that I was really fond of before yet had now chucked to the back of the drawers.

They weren't chucked because they are bad or anything but rather due to rotating and trying new things, I might have forgotten about the old. It was nice to take them out once more and place them on the counter top in plain sight. With that, lately I have been reaching for and using these items for my everyday work look!

Here's a little swatch palette of the above products.

By everyday work look I mean if I were just going to the office and back, simple stuff without meeting or events.

My double eyelids always go through weird phases and in the above you can kinda see how wonky they get sometimes. Super annoying if you ask me!

I actually used a brown liquid liner on the lids but I set it with black eyeshadow to give it that brown-black softened look instead of a harsh black. I also skipped out on using mascara because... well lets just say I've gotten to a fairly lazy stage of daily makeup.

I completely skip out wearing my contacts and trot around in my glasses on a daily basis. It's so much more casual and gives me a couple more snooze minutes too!

It can be quite a chore to wrestle contacts in everyday especially with tired or weary eyes so I've just reached a point where my daily routine and going out routine is starting to differ quite a bit!

I can't imagine how I used to do the full works when I had to be up at 6 plus in the morning with my previous job.

All that aside, I really do like the Revlon Copper Spice quad because it gives the right amount of color and definition while keeping it subtle, it's such a pretty quad with lovely shades! I had done a tutorial about it before so you can check it out here; It's not entirely the same look but it's close.

Products Used:

BROWS/FACE
K-Palette Liquid Brow Liner in 01
Maquillage Brow Wax in 77
Baviphat Fresh sunscreen
Cezanne Powder Foundation

EYES
Urban Decay Primer Potion
Revlon Quad in Copper Spice
K-Palette Liquid Liner in Brown
MAC Powerpoint Liner in Engraved

CHEEKS
LA Girl Powder Blush in Spice

LIPS
NYX Lipgloss in Smoky Look

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

To further emphasize how casual I've taken my daily routine these days I'm actually switching over to either a powder foundation alone or at times coupled with a bb cream instead of my usual liquid foundation.I realized that I have a few bb creams just sitting around while I indulge solely in my liquid foundations so it was time to switch that up.

I received a twitter mention to talk about my current makeup routine so I'm thinking to talk about that because I'm currently loving the Cezanne Powder Foundation, even more so then the ZA 2 Way Foundation or at least what I remember of it. Though more of that soon!

I hope you guys don't mind me rambling more in my recent entries. It's like all of a sudden I feel it's more fun to 'talk' through entries though I know it ends up being wordy which makes me miss making videos but hey I'm not going to get all nostalgic and word vomit here!

Have you rediscovered anything new from your stash of late?

Thanks for reading!

Not much of a haul to shout about. I dropped by Watsons the other day and repurchased a couple of much loved and very used beauty-related items.

It's quite a shocker that I had managed to finish an entire bottle of liquid foundation, something I have never done before. Though seeing as I put on makeup almost every single day, for work on weekdays and outings on weekends, it's really no wonder.

The meagre few items I hauled would be:

I got the Revlon foundation on 20% off, so it was around S$27. I believe the Gatsby blotter is about S$3.60 or so. I'm so bad with numbers.

Revlon Colorstay Liquid Foundation.
My shade for this would be Sand Beige (MAC NC 25/30). I've raved about this countless times be it on youtube or my blog. I love how this provides coverage, wears well for a full work day and even has a decent amount of oil control. On certain 'good skin days' I find that I don't have to blot my face until after work is over, but this is granted that I work in an air-conditioned environment.

Gatsy Powdered Oil Blotter.
I was a die-hard Clean & Clear oil blotter user, especially the Pink Grapefruit one, but I guess things have changed. I had tried the Gatsy brand blotter when I was in my mid-teens and I wasn't too impressed, taking to Clean & Clear instead but after reading Anonymous Bosch's very well written review of this I thought to give it a second chance and now I'm a convert - this is my second pack of it!. Aside from it being more economical compared to Clean & Clear - cheaper in price, the blotter  bigger in size and with more pieces I think - I find the powder factor in this one works better then Clean & Clear's powdered blotter. The powder on Clean & Clear's seem to matte the face before the blotter even has a chance to soak up the oil, hence it doesn't work for me.

Long story short, I do recommend checking out Anonymous Bosch's review (HERE!) on this.

Since these are some of my favorite products and probably ones I would repurchase, I thought a mini write up of each was appropriate. I'll probably be making another trip to Watsons as my Neutrogena Makeup Remover (another fav) is running low.

Thanks for reading!

In a blink of an eye the long Chinese New Year weekend is over and it's back to work.

I can't begin to explain how difficult it was to drag myself out of bed this morning. Through the long CNY weekend, I managed to stock up on a good amount of sleep though I wouldn't say this period was entirely relaxing. Afterall, as mentioned on twitter, CNY is like Amazing Race: Singapore, zooming from destination to destination.

For those that don't celebrate Chinese New Year, the tradition is to visit people (mainly relative)'s houses, or have them visit yours, and basically wish them a Happy Chinese New Year with good fortune, health etc. Each visiting is bound to bring you some red packets (or take from you, if you're married) and is usually associated with a 'Help Yourself' concept when it comes to food and tidbits. Very sinful snacking.

As expected, during CNY I wore the 'Neutrals with a Dash of Color' (tutorial here) look as I didn't have much time to fuss with my makeup in the morning. Like I said, Amazing Race. The routine goes something like this: Wake up, wash up, breakfast, get ready, get changed, hit the road, all that within an hour and a half because I want to sleep a little more.

But long story short, here's a shot from Day 1

Photos were taken with my iPhone camera because, again, there was time to take self-shots at home.

For the first day I chose to be festive and wore a reddish copper as my 'dash of color'.

The reddish copper shade is from this L'oreal Infinite Wear eyeshadow in Brazillion Duo

As far as clothes go, I didn't have much time to shop for Chinese New Year clothes (it's a tradition to buy new clothes for the new year) and I realized the few things I did end up getting weren't all CNY appropriate hence I wore some older yet fairly new clothes. Basically as long as a good number of my relatives haven't seen it, it's good (lol, isn't that how it goes?).

For Day 1, I wore this dress as featured in this post.

Now on to Day 2!

Day 2 is way simpler and not as long-winded because I wore the blue combo featured in my Neutrals with a Dash of Color tutorial.

I didn't have any proper shots of my eye makeup as it was featured before and taken with a way better camera but here's a self-shot with the boyfriend. I guess this is what spawns out of boredom while visiting. The adults were busy conversing so the attention wasn't on our cam-whoring.

This was the outfit I wore on Day 2, as seen in the Metro Ladies Night post.

Of course the new clothes that I did get will have their chance to appear during the CNY period. As the first couple of days in CNY feel more formal with family greetings and all, I am reserving these casual newbies for more chill and slack visitings this Saturday.

The products used with the eye look would be the same as mentioned in the tutorial but here's what I used for the rest of my face on both days:

Products Used:

FACE/BROW
K-palette Eyebrow Liner in 01
Canmake Coloring Eyebrow in 05
Revlon Colorstay Liquid Foundation in Sand Beige
Revlon Translucent Powder (to set)

CHEEKS
Za Blush in B1

LIPS
Revlon Colorburst in Soft Nude

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

❧

As my new year post doesn't have much in terms of look or outfit, I thought I'd share at least one thing new I used this Chinese New Year - my bag!

I normally don't bring a bag out when travelling with parents but during CNY a bag is essential. One reason would be to store red packets (:p) and another would be for some makeup touchup items since we will be out for the entire day and it is important to still look fresh when visiting a new house.

The bag I used is the New Look one I acquired not too long ago and haven't used until now.

It's pretty small in size (as compared to my phone) yet is able to house the necessities.

It has two main compartments and a side pocket. I keep the makeup items in the front, phone in the side pocket and other things like tissue, keys and red packets in the back. Some red packets tend to be longer so they might not fit in the front but it's perfect in the back.

The key items I bring out with me for touching up would be:

• Gatsy Powdered Oil Blotter (love this!)
• Revlon Pressed Powder
• Revlon Colorburst Lipstick in Soft Nude
• Revlon Colorstay Eyeliner in Black

(just realized all makeup items are Revlon, lol)

So that wraps up a quick summary of my first few days of Chinese New Year. I can't wait for Wednesday (lo hei) and more visitings over the coming weekend. In the meantime, it doesn't matter if you celebrate CNY or not, I wish you all a...

Happy and Prosperous Year of the Rabbit! May the year bring about great joys, wealth and luck for everyone - and since this is a beauty blog, more lemmings, more additions to your stash and newly discovered Holy Grail products!

HAPPY CHINESE NEW YEAR!

As mentioned I was eager to try out the Rescue Beauty Lounge polishes once I had gotten my haul in. Among the two shades I picked up, I preferred to start out with trying Stormy.

Rescue Beauty Lounge - Stormy

Basically, it's a grey color though it leans a little blue-ish. I know - grey is just grey, but grey can be a pretty color. It's not as dark and bold as black but just as versatile to me.

For the swatch above I used two coats, the first one being thinner and the second slightly thicker, just like how I would with my China Glaze. The polishes are well pigmented and easy to apply. At first it seemed a little 'runny' compared to the consistency I'm used to from polishes like CG and OPI, but it swatches perfectly, not too thin or streaky.

❧

That night I had some spare time, was bored, and decided to add-on to my polish. I love the simplicity of the grey polish but adding on a little extra wouldn't hurt. For that, I whipped out two products I haven't used in ages...

Left - Right: Revlon Nail Polish in Pearl, Etude House NailArt pen in Black

I did not do anything extensive since I wasn't going for the 'full manicure' idea. I didn't even bother being overly precise with it.

I was going to use gold for the tips but figured that silver would probably be a better match for grey. That little 'blobs' you see are actually heart shapes. So cliche, I know, but I had no idea what else to draw and before I knew it I had subconciously drawn that.

Anyhow, I will swatch No More War soon, as I am curious as to how that color would work on me. In the meantime, Sophia (retailtherapy) had swatched all the Rescue Beauty Lounge polishes she hauled, so check out her swatches here!

Thank you for reading!

Hello again!

So there was quite a buzz when the new range of Revlon lipsticks (Revlon Colorburst) first hit our shores. It wasn't a significant buzz, I don't think at least, it was merely talk of there being a new face as far as drugstore nude lipsticks go.

I went by to check it out in person and strange enough there weren't any testers for that particular shade (Soft Nude), but I trusted the mentions and picked it up anyway - along with a random cheapy looking polish.

I'll start with the lipstick.

Revlon Colorburst Lipstick in Soft Nude

I was relieved when I twisted the lipstick up (seeing I only trusted what I saw online). It's a nice neutral shade, not a drop-dead brown-nude or anything. It's almost a cross between a peachy and slightly pinkish nude - very pretty. Though the colors would not be very apparent, here's how this lipstick looks next to a couple other nudes I own.

When placed between Blankety (MAC) and Circe (NYX) you can tell that it's not quite a pink, but not quite a dead nude either. It's not entirely peachy and the pink tones show up more in this photo. Instead of trying to describe, here's how it swatches:

Here's a photo my bare lips to compare:

It definitely lends color, is not one of those lipgloss-esque lipsticks that only provide a glaze. It glides on really nice too. I can't speak for it's moisturizing qualities since the only time I had it on was for this swatch photo (that goes to show how 'often' I have been wearing makeup lately).

I love the color and might actually start relying on it as my HG lip color since it's another one of those 'throw-on-and-go' lipsticks with a shade that would match most looks. Very much like my current HG, the Maybelline Moisture Extreme in Natural Nude.

And lastly, that cheapy nail polish.

I don't know the brand and have never seen this around before, but it was located in one of those 'offer' baskets in Watsons. It was going for $3.95.

Nail Art Professional Nail Enamel in 26

I picked this up without expecting much, I liked how the color looked but I was doubtful on how it would apply. Turns out though the polish appeared to be a little 'thick' and the applicator picks up more polish then you need, it goes on fine and isn't sheer. Here is how it looks with 2 coats.

The 'thick' texture isn't the same as the gloopiness that occurs when polishes are drying up and getting stringy. It's just a thicker consistency but applies quite smoothly. Just be sure to wipe the excess off the applicator well before applying. And this polish doesn't finish in a high-shine. It's almost a satin-shine, much like the effect with my foundation nail experiment.

So that is all! A little dose of haulage in a while, I have a couple entries planned such as the LOTD that I had promised to upload earlier. I should get around to doing that but I feel like throwing some swatch photos in, so once I get those taken I'll post that entry. Though with graduation only 2 weeks away I might have to hold back on some posts till I'm done with this hurdle.

Super rambly for a 2 item haul. I have no idea why I ramble on so much.. I should really restrain myself.

But thanks for reading my rambles and I hope I can come back and ramble more in due time! (:

Okay, last post for the day. I feel that I haven't been posting much so whenever I find time between work I spam my blog.

I still have a couple more posts I wish to get up, like the Go-To Products Tag (which I was tagged to do by the lovely Maddy), but I'll get to photographing the products and all that the next time. Or during the next break between school work. My breaks are self-assigned, if you are wondering. If I find that I have conquered a milestone, I take a little break before going headfirst into work again. I just submitted a project today (woo~) hence the little break. I have another submission this Thursday so... yeah.

But anyway, I haven't posted a Look of the Day in superbly long, so here's one!
I have been trying to get into using Pink colored blush and lip products just because I feel I shouldn't clam myself up with one color spectrum (bronze and peaches).

Here is ode to a pink blush and lip combo, something I haven't worn in very long time (if not ever).

First off let me explain that I absolutely do not remember what I had on my eyes (eye shadow). As you can probably tell, this LOTD was taken just before I had my extensions removed, but yet it is still my most recent LOTD. Goes to show how little I wear makeup in finals week.

Here is what I have on my cheeks and lips, since that is point of this LOTD.

Products Used:
CHEEKS
MAC Mineralized Skin Finish in Smooth Merge

LIPS
Revlon Pink in the Afternoon
Body Shop's Born Lippy Lip Balm in Cool Mint.

I should probably hide while I say this but this is the second time I am using Smooth Merge ever since I got it back in mid '09 (in this haul entry).

And incase anyone needs a memory boost, this is Smooth Merge from the Color Craft collection.

(check out that old school watermarking, this photo is old!)

Sad to say it's limited edition but I do see it floating around on some second hand sale threads (sg_beauty). I don't know of one right now but I'm pretty sure this is not completely void just yet - just darn rare. Merrily is what I call completely void but still so sought after.

But that is it - a little step into the world of pink. Can't say it has changed much and I still don't reach for pink as my default but we all have to start somewhere.
I still love my nude shades, bronzes and peaches of course, it is just fun to switch things up every now and then.

❧

And real quick, I want to pop in a teaser or a what's coming up sort of a thing.

More about this soon! When I am allowed to reveal more (which is probably tomorrow..)
Somehow I find this teaser more appropriate in the hair 'clip' entry since it does feature the hair clip *points to the pink thing on my head* but oh well...

Thanks for reading!

If you have ace memory, you would realize that I don't have a past LOTD
that was titled Purple-Hued Navy.
So why is this a past LOTD? Well it's because I renamed it to best suit the tutorial outcome.

The LOTD entry is titled Royal Blues, but I figured that the end result does not resemble a Royal Blue so much, hence the decision to name it something more appropriate. I had also taken better photos since in the LOTD entry I took photos using my Mac's Photobooth.

Click here to see Original LOTD

Products Used:
EYES
- Urban Decay Primer Potion
- Silky Girl Blockbuster Quad in Smokey Charm
- Revlon 12 Hour Colorstay in Sultry Smoke
- Revlon 12 Hour Colorstay in Nude Elements
- 28 Color Palette
- MAC Powerpoint Liner in Engraved
- Lancome Fatale Mascara

CHEEKS
MAC Blush in Eversun
ELF Healthy Glow Bronzing Powder in Luminance

LIPS
NYX Round Lipstick in Circe
Revlon Super Lustrous Lipgloss in Raisin Glaze

Click the link below to watch the tutorial:

YOUTUBE// Tutorial: Purple-Hued Navy (LOTD)

Thanks for reading (: