of Faces and Fingers: Asian beauty

Everywhere I go, I'm always discovering new beauty products and tips. And thanks to friends who travel and are nice enough to buy stuff back for me, from time to time, I get to lay my hands on some of makeup tips, tricks and hot items from other countries!

My friend, Lynn, recently went to Thailand, and bought back these two Asian face powders for me, the Ponds Magic Powder, as well as the Thailand-based brand's Bhaesaj Teen Powder, both of which are extremely popular in Thailand, and have garnered a following in Asia as well.

These face powders look like body powders, but they're actually used as face powders in Asia. Pretty neat, eh? I've actually reviewed the Johnson's Face Powder previously, so these powders are in the same vein as the one.

Here's a photo of my face powders, including the Johnson's one previously reviewed.

I'm so excited to have hauled this, even if in proxy through a friend, LOL! I can't wait to start using and reviewing these!

Chinese New Year is upon us soon, and in the spirit of celebrating the lunar new year, I thought I'd dress up my nails for the occasion! I went with the predominant colours of Chinese New Year - red and gold. And in the spirit of festivities, the brighter and gaudier the colours are, the better they are! LOL! So, I hunted around in my stash for the brightest, blingiest red and gold nail polishes I could find.

And lo and behold: I found these shades of red and gold glitter, perfect for the New Year!

color club enchanted holiday wish list red

But wait! Aren't those from Color Club's last Christmas collection? If that was your reaction, you're sharp - those are indeed the latest Christmas polishes from Color Club's Enchanted Holiday seasonal collection. Specifically, that gorgeous red is Wish List Red, and the gold is Enchanted Holiday. But whatdayaknow, those Christmassy shades of red and gold just also happen to be just right for Chinese New Year! Who says you can't do bling on both occasions?

So, since I had done the Christmas bling on my nails, I decided to do some Chinese New Year bling too. But since I had to wear this to work, the bling had to be a lot more toned down than I would have liked - I couldn't risk blinding my clients!

Here's the watered-down bling for the year of the rabbit. In the end I settled on a gradient manicure, using Wish List Red as a base, and layering Enchanted Holiday on the top:

Isn't that awesome? It makes me feel all in the mood for firecrackers, red packets and dumplings! And the best part is - you can actually replicate a look like that for Christmas, because you're using the same colours! Talk about killing two birds with one stone!

Color Club Wish List Red is a gorgeous jelly-like red base with dense amounts of red glitter. I really like this one, it kind of reminds me a little bit of China Glaze's Ruby Slippers. Very pretty, and very eye-catching. Enchanted Holiday consists of gold glitter, but more sparsely distributed in a clear base. I also liked this one, and I think it'll be perfect for layering over other polishes.

Both polishes were a litte bit on the thick side, which is not my usual experience with Color Club. It could just be that the base formulation was made thicker to ensure even dispersal of glitter in the polish. Still, they applied well, and dried fast. As with most glitters, you may wish to use two coats of topcoat instead of one if you want a finish that's smooth to the touch. I made do with just one, though.

I'm so psyched about my nails, and I think they're a great way to celebrate the lunar new year! If you've been looking for nail colours for Chinese New Year, but can't seem to find any, Color Club's Wish List Red and Enchanted Holiday would be perfect. If, on the other hand, you don't celebrate Chinese New Year, but still wish it was Christmas, now you have the perfect excuse to continue wearing Christmas colours!

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