Deep Purple EOTD with a Cheap Palette!

Ah, purple - one of my favourite colours both on the nails, as well as on the eyes. This gorgeous deep purple eye look is courtesy of my awesome 26 Colour Eyeshadow and Blush Palette, which I got from KKCenterHK. This time, I decided to go for placing the darker colour on the lid, instead of in the contour area, and I think it worked!



Here are the two colours that I used. The purple is was used on the lid, and the shimmery brown was used on the contour area.



The colours were pretty good, pigmentation-wise. The purple, having a more matte finish, had less pigmentation than the brown, but can still be built up for a more intense eye look.



And here's a look of the eye from a weird angle, just so you can see the blending of the eyeshadows. For some reason, although the purple is a bit more matte, it looks shimmery in the photo due to the blending, and the shimmer from the brown shadow got into the purple colour.



I like this look a lot, I think it's dark enough to be smokey, but not dark enough to look like you have a black eye, so it's quite versatile that way. I'm starting to like that 26 Colour Palette, as it can be used to produce quite a variety of looks.

(Product was sent for review. Review is my complete and honest opinion. I am not affiliated with/compensated by the company.)

Sudocrem Skin Care Cream: Powerful Moisturization in a Tube

Sudocrem is up to now, a brand that has been most famous for its nappy rash cream - yup, the stuff mothers put on babies. Now, Sudocream has branched out beyond skincare for babies, and the brand has launched a moisturizing skin care cream.

The cream comes in a small, handy tube of 30ml. It's not a very large size, and is a small tube size that would be perfect for throwing into your handbag for use on the go. Convenient indeed!



The cream itself is a thick, opaque white cream, that sinks into the skin after some rubbing in. It's very thick and moisturizing, and I imagine that this would be particularly useful for cold, dry weather, or severely dry skin. Unlike the nappy rash cream, the Skin Care Cream doesn't have any antiseptic properties, and just functions purely as a moisturizer.



I really like this cream, and I think it would be great for really dry skin in Winter, or cold, harsh weather. I think it would be perfect as a skin rescuer on the go. I'm keeping one in my purse for dry skin emergencies!

(Product was sent for review. Review is my complete and honest opinion. I am not affiliated with/compensated by the company.)

Sunset Orange and Red EOTD: Budget Beauty

OMG, I'm wearing bright eyeshadow! This is so atypical, but I thought, why not? In my last post, I swatched the cheap and cheery 26 Eyeshadow and blush colour palette from KKCenterHK, and I thought I'd show you guys an eye look I did with it. Since the palette has a bunch of "sunset" colours, like rusts, oranges, reds, and bronzes, I thought I'd go along those lines, and do something vaguely sunset inspired.



For this look, I used just two colours. Unless I want to do something outrageous or complicated, I rarely ever use more than two or three colours. The two colours I used were shown below. The burnt orange colour was applied on the lid, while the bright russet red-brown was applied on the contour area. I also used MAC Dazzlelight on the browbone area as a highlight, but that was just to balance out the look a little bit.



Here's a shot of the eye look with the eye closed. As you can see, the shimmer shades in the palette have a pretty good pigmentation, especially with a base underneath, and can be blended out to acheive a gradiation.



The texture of the shades also wasn't too bad. Fallout wasn't as nightmarish as I thought it would be - there was some, but actually not much more than usual.



While this is perhaps not exactly one of my usual looks, I thought it would be cool to do a more dramatiic look out of a mostly neutral palette, as it shows how versatile the palette is. I also love how bright and shimmery the look is, it's just like a sunset on my eyes!

(Product was sent for review. Review is my complete and honest opinion. I am not affiliated with/compensated by the company.)

26 Colour Eyeshadow and Blush Palette: Swatches

One of the items that has been gaining popularity in recent years has been makeup palettes containing large number of colours, like the 88 colour eyeshadow palettes that have been popular in various forms. The reason why these are so popular is that they are cheap, and have a large variety of colours. I couldn't help but end up with one myself - the ES 26 Colour Eyeshadow and Blush Palette, from this page on the KKCenterHK site.

As you may know, KKCenterHK has been gaining popularity with some makeup fanatics for its wide array of cheap and cheerful makeup items. The 26 Colour Palette cost US$15, which works out to less than a buck per colour. Not bad at all, price-wise. But I was curious as to the quality of the palette, so I thought I'd provide some swatches for a start.



The palette itself comes in a plastic case, that, while not luxe-looking, certainly doesn't seem cheap and flimsy. The palette is also of quite a substantial size - sometimes, with these palettes with humongous numbers of colours, each individual colour can be the size of a dime or something like that. But each individual eyeshadow pan size is only slightly smaller than that of a MAC eyeshadow, which is pretty decent. Here's a photo for comparison. The MAC eyeshadow, Dazzlelight, is placed in between two eyeshadows on the palette. The two larger pans below it are blush colours.



Altogether, there are 21 eyeshadow colours, and 5 blush colours, making that 26. As you can see from the photo below, the colours are mainly warm neutrals, with some bright "sunset" colours (e.g. rust orange, gold) thrown in. Some of the blush colours look a little similar to eyeshadow colours, and a few of the eyeshadow colours are quite close to each other. Generally, though, I'd say the palette colour range is quite decent if you like these types of colours.



Here are swatches of the palette, row by row. The first row is below:



Row 1, L-R: bright orange with shimmer, light tangerine orange with shimmer, warm brown with slight shimmer, matte light pink, bronzey brown with shimmer, brown with a tinge of red with shimmer (think along the lines of Stila's Barefoot Contessa), medium brown with shimmer, which I really like - it could almost be a taupe!



Row 2, L-R: pinky-peach with shimmer (sort of like NARS Orgasm blush in eyeshadow form), burnt orange brown with shimmer, muted neutral brown with no shimmer, rust-red-brown with shimmer (it isn't as red as it looks in the photo, but it is quite rusty in colour), medium warm matte brown, deep matte brown, shimmery brown-gold.



Row 3: Warm orange-pink, shimmery burnt-orange brown, muted matte brown, deep purple with the slightest hint of shimmer, muted neutral brown, slightly darker and less warm-leaning than the previous brown in this row, midtone purple-magenta, and a gorgeous taupey brown shimmer, my favourite eyeshadow colour in the entire palette.

Lastly, here are the blushes.



Row 4: Light peach, pale baby pink-beige, medium pink, deep purple (sort of like the second-last purple in Row 3 of the eyeshadow range), and russet red-brown (similar to the middle colour in Row 2 of the eyeshadows).

Pigmentation and texture of the eyeshadows was actually very decent. In general I didn't have too many problems with pigmentation, and texture was pretty decent. As with some of these palettes, the shimmer colours for some reason were of better quality than the mattes, being softer in texture and better in pigmentation Still, the palette in general was of better quality than expected.

Over the next few days, I'll be showcasing a few EOTDs (Eye of the Days) using this palette, and we'll see what looks I can come up with! In the meantime, if you're looking for a palette of decent quality at a cheap price, and if you like warm colours and neutrals, this palette would definitely be worth checking out.

(Product was sent for review. Review is my complete and honest opinion. I am not affiliated with/compensated by the company.)

Nails Inc Paddington + Nail Art Pearl Rhinestone = Classy But Fun NOTD

I don't always get to do nail art, so whenever I bling up my nails, I get all excited! So please humour me while I start off this post with a photo of my awesome blinged up nails.



The nail polish in question is Nails Inc Paddington, a gorgeous glossy deep red I bought in my craze to own as many Nails Inc colours as I possibly could before leaving the UK. It's distinct from Nails Inc's other famous colour, Victoria, in that Victoria is a jelly (sort of), while Paddington is a creme, and Victoria has a tinge more purple to it, whereas Paddington is more maroon.

Anyway, I first applied Paddington, which applies like a dream, as with most of my Nails Inc polishes. I loved how absolutely classic it looked. So I decided that if I wanted to bling it up, I would have to use something equally classy - and lo and behold, I took out this little baby.



This humble-looking set of nail art pearls is available from Born Pretty Store, which has been quite popular among nail bloggers lately for their vast array of nail art products. The store simply has everything, from shatter polish to nail art tools, and of course, nail art decorations like this set of pearls. This set of pearls is the 3 sizes nail baby pearl rhinestone decoration wheel, available for a very reasonable price.

The pearls come in three sizes, so you can pick and choose to form various designs, or to suit very large or small fingers. I've taken the liberty of photographing a pearl of each size against a ruler, so you can guesstimate how large these are. The smallest pearl is really quite tiny, while the largest pearl is pretty big.



For this look, I used just the medium-sized pearl. For round items like nail art pearls or rhinestones, I find it best to pick and place them on the nail by using a damp toothpick, a tip I learned from some other nail bloggers. Basically, you dampen the end of a toothpick, and touch the surface of a pearl or rhinestone. The pearl or rhinestone will then "stick" to the toothpick due to the surface tension of the water, thus allowing you to move the pearl and hover it over the nail until you are fully satisfied with its position. Then, you can lower the pearl or rhinestone on to the surface of the nail, and the wet nail polish will have a stronger surface tension than the water on the toothpick, so the rhinestone will stick to the nail even after you lift your toothpick. Nifty, right? Sometimes I also use a pair of tweezers, when I can't find a toothpick lying around.



Another tip I've found handy when working with nail art is that topcoat is needed over the pearls and rhinestones, otherwise they will fall off within a couple of days. I typically use two coat of topcoat over the nail art. I first use a slow-drying topcoat, and then apply a second coat of fast-drying topcoat, like Seche Vite, over it. That way, the pearls and rhinestones stay firmly in place for as long as possible, without me having to wait for hours for my manicure to dry. With this method of slow topcoat and fast-dry topcoat, my manicure is typically ready to go after half an hour. Meanwhile, in the interim half-hour, I can use my hands, but carefully.



Lasting power of the manicure was very good. If you've been a longtime reader of my blog, you'll know I'm an absolute hoor for all Nails Inc polishes, since they work very well on me. Nails Inc's Paddington applied smoothly, and stayed on for 3-4 days before chipping, which is about usual for me. I only wish that Nails Inc was cheaper, and available outside the UK! In my humble opinion, the Nails Inc formula is the best there is in nail polish - outstripping even - dare I say it - RBL. I personally find the consistency smoother in Nails Inc polishes, and the application less streaky. Okay, now I'd better run before the RBL fans stone me.



I don't know about you, but I am absolutely loving my nail art, although it was a little more time-consuming than your average manicure. I love the combination of deep red together with white pearls, and I love how it looks classy with the deep red colour, but still a little fun with the pearls! I'm not going to lie - I simply couldn't stop looking at my nails when I had this manicure on.

(Nail art product was sent for review. Review is my complete and honest opinion. I am not affiliated with/compensated by the company.)

Bioessence Inchloss Body Cream: Does it Really Work?

Do creams that claim to give you a slimmer figure really work? While these creams seem to be duds, their popularity seems to indicate that at some leve, consumers believe (or want to believe) that there must be something out there that helps to tone that flab. You know I've always been skeptical of such creams, so I decided to finally put the creams to the test.

For the uninitiated, Bioessence is a local brand whose range of products consists mostly of skincare and bodycare. One of the most popular product lines is its Inchloss line, which has recently added the Inchloss Body Cream Extra Strength to its lineup. I previously blogged about the Bioessence Inchloss line, so I won't go into further detail. Instead, I'm sure you're dying to know if it worked on me.



The two products I used were the Bioessence Inchloss Body Scrub, which is meant to be used in the shower, and the Bioessence Inchloss Body Cream Extra Strength, which is meant to be applied as a body cream after your shower.

The Inchloss Shower Scrub is a clear pink gel, with rather large buffing grains suspended in the gel. The scrub claims to also have some ingredients that help to promote circulation and have a slimming effect. I used it for a week, and while I felt it was inconclusive terms of slimming, it was pretty effective as a body scrub in the shower. The producct has a sweet, fruity scent which is quite pleasant.



The Inchloss Body Cream extra strength is a thick white cream that also has the similar sweet, fruity smell, although I wouldn't advise you smelling at very close range, since it has capsicum inside, which made me sneeze when I inhaled too deeply. However, the cream absorbs well, and also functions as a very light moisturizer.

One of the things I noticed about the cream is that it gives off a burning sensation, and makes the areas which the cream was applied to feel hot. This is supposed to be a sign that the cream is working. Because of the stinging sensation, I strongly recommend that after application of the cream, you wash your hands before you rub your eyes or touch your face, otherwise the cream could get onto the more sensitive parts of your face or eyes and cause a lot of discomfort. Don't say I didn't tell you! :P



I tried out both the Body Scrub and the Body Cream Extra strength for one week, and various measurements from my flabby body parts were taken before and after the week. So did the products work? The results are below. And OMG yes, I just posted all my bodily statistics on my blog. Great, now everyone can figure out how many inches I have round my tubby tummy. *Groan*



Anyway, as you can see from the details, over five parts of my flabby body (both arms, tummy, and both thighs), the total sum of centimeters lost was 1.9 (or 0.75in), which was a bit disappointing. So sadly, the cream didn't really work for me. To be fair though, one week is a rather short period of time for a trial, and during the one week, I didn't significantly change my eating or excercising patterns, as requested by the company.

However, the other bloggers who were there reported much larger losses than I did. The blogger who lost the most lost 15cm (5.9in), and there were quite a few people who had losses of near 10cm. So I was one of the people who lost very little. However, that said, even the girls who lost a lot of inches didn't look any different - everyone looked the same in appearance. To be fair, though, the products claim to make you appear slimmer through toning, so I wouldn't expect any major changes in body size, especially after just one week.

So do these products really work? As with all things, I believe that there's no shortcut to health or weight loss. You do need to watch your diet, eat healthy, and exercise, and these should be the cornerstone of any attempt to keep healthy. So the creams will just be a supplement to the routine. I'm sad to say that for me, any effect was minimal, although perhaps a longer trial period would be needed. However, given that others seem to have acheived better results with this product, I wouldn't write the product off totally - it just didn't work for me.

(Product was sent for review. Review is my complete and honest opinion. I am not affiliated with/compensated by the company.)

La Prairie Radiance Collection: Cellular Radiance Emulsion

Perhaps the thing La Prairie is most famous for is that it has really expensive products. However, the brand is also known for its anti-aging products, and its commitment to premium, exotic ingredients, and past products have included precious metals, like platinum and diamonds. So while the price is a deterrent, there is a lot to back up the prices.

One of La Prairie's ranges, the Radiance Collection, has a focus on using gold as an ingredient in the skincare range. The gold is primarily meant to brighten and add radiance to the skin. The latest product to be added to this collection is the Cellular Radiance Emulsion, a moisturizer, while the star product of this range is the Cellular Radiance Concentrate, a serum.



The Cellular Radiance Concentrate is a serum that is literally infused with gold, which is pretty cool to me. Imainge actually applying bling to your skin! The product comes in a luxe-looking gold bottle with a dropper, and even inside the dropper, you can see the serum glistening with suspended gold particles.



The serum even glistens and blings on your skin!



Once rubbed in, you can really see the gold flakes glistening on your skin as well. The gold bits function similarly to gold glitter on the skin, and are very light-reflective, as you can see in the photo below. I'm not too sure if everyone would be fond of this effect, especially if you are planning on wearing makeup over it during the day, but given that this is a skincare serum, I guess it is probably meant for use at night.



The Cellular Radiance Emulsion is a light moisturizer that is meant to be used in tandem with the Cellular Radiance Complex serum. This product comes in a shiny silver tube, with a very sensible pump top. Very neat, and very hygenic.



The Emulsion itself is a light white cream, and has a very lightweight texture. This would probably be perfect for hotter weather, or for people who have oily skins and feel that intense moisturization is not needed.



Here is the Emulsion blended in. The product blends in well, and doesn't feel sticky or oily once its been rubbed in well. I think it would be quite wearable under makeup.



Some of the other products in La Prairie's Radiance Collection include the Cellular Radiance Cream, which is a heavier moisturizer, meant for skins that are drier and would like an alternative to the Emulsion. Like the Emulsion, the Radiance Cream is meant to be used in tandem with the Radiance Concentrate.



The product is a white cream, with a thicker texture. It does take awhile to skin in, so I imagine this would be good for cold weather as well.



The Radiance Collection also comes with an eye cream, called the Cellular Radiance Eye Cream. This comes in a cute little jar.



The product is a white cream, also with a thicker texture. Once again, it takes a while to skin into the skin fully, but unlike some other eye creams, it doesn't feel overly rich or too much. I think this does strike a nice balance, and is neither too heavy nor too light.



Here's a shot of some of the products in the Radiance Collection.



While I personally believe that you don't necessarily need expensive skincare to have good skin, if you fancy a little pampering, these are unique and good quality products that would be worth looking into.

To end off, here's a shot of myself together with some of the other bloggers and staff at the event.

Ginvera Nude Cover Green Tea BB Cream and Aqua Whitening Cream: Review/Swatch

Ginvera is a Singapore-based brand mostly known for its whitening range of skincare products, often infused with green tea-based ingredients designed to appeal to the Asian market. Their most popular products include, up to this point, include the Green Tea Marvel Gel, which is an exfoliator in gel form, as well as the Green Tea Spot Corrector. In keeping with the whitening, green tea-infused theme, Ginvera has released two new products to their whitening line.



One is a moisturizer, the Aqua Whitening Cream, while the other is a BB cream, that ever popular Asian foundation substitute. Both products come in plastic tubes and are housed in plastic boxes. The products are all green in colour, in keeping with the rest of the colour scheme for the whitening products.



The Aqua Whitening Cream is billed as a moisturizer with oil control benefits, and is thus marketed towards girls with normal/combination skin. It is supposed to moisturize your skin while preventing it from getting too oily. I rather liked this product, as it blended in easily and worked well under makeup. It did feel a little thick for a moisturizer, though - this is definitely a moisturizer with a creamier texture, as opposed to a more watery, gel-like feel.



The Nude Cover Green Tea BB Cream is a BB cream, and also claims to have skin-healing benefits in addition to being a cosmetic product. It also has SPF30 for sun protection. Initially, I thought this looked rather dark in the bottle, but it blended out to be fairer than it appeared at first.



Here are swatche of both products. As you can see, both products blended nicely into the skin. The moisturizer sinks into the skin nicely and doesn't leave any residue. And the BB cream also blends in well. I really appreciate that it doesn't have any glitter, so you don't have to fear the dreaded discoball effect with this BB cream!



One of the other things I really liked about the BB cream was that for possibly the first time ever in my life, I actually found a match in a BB cream! Most BB creams tend to run really pink (like the CU Skin BB cream I tried before), making it hard for me to find a match, so I was pretty excited to find a BB cream that would work for me. And I also like the finish on this one - it isn't as oily-looking or overly-shiny as some other BB creams are, and although it is also on the shiny side, it doesn't make my face look like an oil slick.

Here's an FOTD of the BB cream, just so you can see that it's actually a match for me (NC20 in MAC). Coverage of the BB cream is also decent, and I'd call it medium. It won't cover any very major spots, and as you can see it didn't cover all the blemishes on my skin, but if you have decent skin to start off with, it will cover minor imperfections.



If you are looking for a decent moisturizer or a BB cream, this would be worth checking out. If you've had previous issues with BB creams being too pink on your skin, the Ginvera BB cream may just work for you. Both products retail for S$16.90, so even girls on a budget would be able to appreciate these items. Right now, Ginvera is having a promotion on their Facebook, so you can head over there to redeem your FREE NEW AQUA WHITENING CREAM (with Oil Control) & NUDE COVER BB CREAM SPF30/PA++ samples, at https://www.facebook.com/ginvera.sg?sk=app_213564948660624 or http://www.facebook.com/ginvera.sg.

(Product was sent for review. Review is my complete and honest opinion. I am not affiliated with/compensated by the company.)

Murad Hybrids Skin Perfecting Primer and Eye Lift: Swatches and Launch

Murad, the brand most famed for its wide, all-encompassing range of skincare products, including everything from acne to anti-aging, has now branched out into makeup! The brand's maiden offerings are still small, consisting of tinted face primers, the Skin Perfecting Primers, and eye concealers and brighteners, the Eye Lift products. Murad's selling point is that these are a hybrid of makeup and skincare, and have have accordingly named the entire range Hybrids. The Hybrids range is supposed to not only cover your imperfections in the short run, but also contain ingredients that improve the skin with long-run usage.



The Murad Hybrids website lists three Skin Perfecting Primers (Dewy, Matte, Acne), but in Singapore we only seem to have the Dewy and Matte. The main difference between the two is that the Dewy Finish primer is meant for dry skin, and gives a more glowy finish, while the Matte Finish primer is more for oily skin, and is meant to mattify the skin.



Both the Skin Perfecting Primers come packaged in sleek, black, packaging. The one thing I liked about this range from the outset is the very practical, no-mess, no-fuss, hygenic packaging - it's something a doctor would have come up with, as opposed to a sales and marketing person. The primers all come in pump bottles, which are much more hygenic than jars. The pumps have a fine opening, so you can be sure that you only pump out as much or as little as you need, without wastage.



Murad claims that all of the Skin Perfecting Primers are the same colour, and that the primers will adjust to any skin tone. When I heard this, I was really skeptical about the claim - I mean, since when did colour pigments magically change properties upon contact with skin? So I decided to put the products to the test, by swatching them on the spot. The photo below shows both the Dewy Finish and the Matte Finish primers swatched.



When I first swatched them, it appeared that both shades were too dark for my skin (around NC20 in MAC). Also, although both shades were supposed to be the same colour, it appeared to my eye that the Dewy Finish Primer was a hair darker than the Matte Finish Primer. But of course, I had to blend them in to be sure.

Upon blending, I had to admit I was mistaken. Both primers blended into my skin, and they didn't seem too dark at all. It seems like the primers are quite sheer in terms of coverage, thus the natural skin colour beneath shows through, which is pretty cool if you ask me! I'll definitely be trying out the primers a bit more to see how they actually fare on my face!



As you can see from the swatches, both primers - even the Matte Finish one - actually have tiny specks of shimmer in them, but the shimmer fortunately is quite muted in appearance. I don't foresee any problems looking like a discoball with these on. Also, the Dewy Finish primer is slightly thinner and more watery in texture than the Matte Finish primer, but both of them blend and apply in a similar manner, and provide similar coverage. These, as primers, are meant to be used under the skin, but since they provide a small amount of coverage, I can imagine that these could be used alone if you have reasonably good skin.

The other stars of Murad's Hybrids line are the Eye Lift products, consisting of the Eye Lift Illuminator, and the Eye Lift Perfector. These also come packaged in slim, black tubes.



As with the packaging of the Skin Perfecting Primers, Murad chose a very hygenic, practical packaging for the Eye Lift products. These are dispensed in click-pen form, but instead of the more commonly-used brush at the end of the pen, the product actually is dispensed by a slanted plastic tube. I know a plastic tube looks odd, but I much prefer it to the brush - in my experience, brushes tend to get all gunky and gooey and clumped up with product after a while, which makes them very gross. Plastic applicators are so much cleaner.



The Eye Lift Illuminator is meant as a under eye brightener, and contains a purple-violet sheen to brighten undereye discolouration. The Eye Lift Perfector functions more like a concealer, with a yellow-beige shade.

As you can see in the swatches below, although both have some form of shimmer, the Eye Lift Illuminator has larger, denser shimmer, as well as the violet sheen, while the Eye Lift Perfector has shimmer that is smaller, and more similar to the shimmer found in the Skin Perfecting Primers. Both have a light, watery texture that blends in easily and is quite pleasant to apply.



I'm pretty excited everytime a skincare brand launches makeup products, as my experience tends to be that the brand pays more attention to the formulation and ingredients used in the products. I'm hoping that these products fare well on my uber-sensitive skin. I'll be trying out the Skin Perfecting Primer, and will be reporting back on how it fares on my skin!



And to end off, that's a photo of myself and some of the other bloggers at the event, including my friend Lynn (whose brother used to be my classmate in University, way back when), and fellow beauty blogger LunaLunaFace. I don't know why I put that photo up when we're all squished in a corner, you barely see half my body, and the lighting was so bad that noone in the photo looks good (including myself). But hey, we all love photos, don't we?