Happy Chinese New Year!

Wishing you all a very Happy Year of the Horse! 新年快乐! I don't have any exciting posts for today, so it's just me wishing you all the best! 恭喜发财, 万事如意, and 心想事成!

Happy Chinese New Year! 新年快乐!

In case you're curious what products are in this post (I just randomly assembled a bunch of red nail polishes and lipsticks), the names are after the jump :)

Dupes or Not: Bobbi Brown Galaxy vs Prescriptives Smoking Gun

Ahh, discontinued and limited edition products. Aren't they the bane of every makeup fanatic's existence (other than overpriced shipping)? Just when you think you've fallen in love with something, you inevitably find it's been discontinued, or limited edition, or both, and unavailable. And then you have to scour Ebay for it and pay exorbitant prices. I don't know about you, but it happens to me pretty often. Darn Murphy's Law.

So in honour of "Nyah-here's-a-taupe-you-can't-have" day (okay, I just made that up), here's a comparison of two discontinued taupe cream eyeshadows. They pretty much appear to be dupes.

The two taupes in question are Bobbi Brown Long Wear Cream Shadow in Galaxy, which was a hot favourite when it first came out, and Prescriptives Colorscope Eyeshadow in Smoking Gun, which was discontinued because Prescriptives shut down. And Prescriptives just shut down just as I was getting into its line of concealers and foundations. Murphy's Law, I tell ya.



L-R: Prescriptives Colorscope Eyeshadow in Smoking Gun, Bobbi Brown Long Lasting Cream Shadow in Galaxy

From my swatches, you can see they're obviously dupes, colour-wise. They both are gorgeous. They have the same steel grey base infused with brown, and then overlaid with dense gold shimmer to form the most beautiful, shade-shifting, duochrome taupe the world ever saw. Oh yes, you know I love this baby.

But other than the colour, the pigmentation is what separates the two. Galaxy is a lot sheerer than Smoking Gun. I did a couple of swipes for each swatch, and you can see that while Smoking Gun is opaque in two swipes or so, Galaxy is still rather wimpy on my skin. I definitely prefer Prescriptives when it comes to pigmentation, although I'm sure some others will prefer Bobbi Brown's more muted version.

In terms of staying power, both are excellent. Neither the Prescriptives nor the Bobbi Brown cream eyeshadows budge. They pretty much stay on the entire day for me, without smudging or fading. Both also have the same texture, although I think Galaxy had a slightly more slippery, emollient feel, probably due to the addition of silicones.

So if you're a discontinued taupe-hunter, and you only want one, which one should you get? I guess since staying power and colour are the same, the only determining factor would be pigmentation level. While I'd personally prefer Smoking Gun, if you're one of those people who prefer sheerer shadows, Galaxy might work better for you.

Sleek Ink Pot Swatches, and a Dupe for Bobbi Brown Violet Gel Liner!

Sleek Ink Pots are their gel eyeliners, in a small pot form, not unlike the packaging of Bobbi Brown Gel Eyeliners, or the MAC Fluidlines. The big differences is that these are packaged in a plastic pot, and are a lot cheaper. The range of colours is small, since they only have 5 colours, but nevertheless, there are some beauties in the bunch.

The first thing I noticed about these was that they always seem to be sold out at my nearest Superdrug. Sometimes entire racks of colours are empty. I've no idea why though. They do seem pretty popular. With the exception of one or two bright colours, the colour range is also incredibly subtle, making them perfect colours for work.

Here are swatches, as always:



L - R: Bobbi Brown Indigo Gel Eyeliner, Sleek Ink Pot in Denim 495, Sleek Ink Pot in Espresso 496, Sleek Ink Pot in Purple Rain 497, Sleek Ink Pot in Zest 501, Sleek Ink Pot in Dominatrix 498, Bobbi Brown Violet Gel Eyeliner

Denim 495 is a beautiful cobalt blue. At first I thought this might be close to Bobbi Brown Indigo Gel Eyeliner, so I swatched my pot of Indigo next to the Sleek colour, but no dice. I like Denim, though, it's a very beautiful glowy blue that's not too bright, and not too muted.

Espresso 496 is your basic matte dark brown. This one is a cool-toned brown, so no orange here. It's also so dark it's almost black, but when swatched next to Dominatrix 498, you can tell they're not close. This one might be good for girls who want an alternative to black eyeliner.

Purple Rain 497 is one of those colours that make people drool over Sleek. You know me, you know I love purples (for nail polish, eyeliners, eyeshadows and accessories), and you know Sleek's Purple Rain is just going to be up my alley! But seriously. This colour is gorgeous. It's a lovely jewel-toned violet that is still subtle enough for the office. I love it! It's glowy, and beautiful, and the colour is just to die for.

Zest 501 is a bright happy matte primary yellow. For some reason the texture of the tester in this one wasn't as good as the others. I'm not sure if it's just been abused more by people sampling it, or if it's the actual formulation of the eyeliner.

Dominatrix 498 is your basic matte black. Nothing much to be said - it's a flat out black.

And if you didn't already notice, I swatched Bobbi Brown's Violet Gel Eyeliner next to the Sleek Ink Pot Swatches because I thought they looked really similar - and lo and behold! We have a dupe! Well not a 100% dupe, but this is as close as dupes ever get! They're almost identical! When I swatched the Sleek Ink Pots, I was all over Purple Rain, and no wonder - I already have something like it! They're both jewel-toned purply violets with a certain muted-ness that makes them work-appropriate, and they both have that lovely glowy shimmer I love so much. In fact, I do think the Sleek is slightly more glowy than the Bobbi Brown, but I'm splitting hairs here - honestly if you wore Sleek Purple Rain on one eye and Bobbi Brown Violet on the other, I don't think I'd see a difference.

Now I'm sure you're wondering how these compare quality-wise to the Bobbi Brown Gel Eyeliners. Well first of all, let me state that Bobbi Brown Gel Eyeliners are my ABSOLUTE favourite, and it's hard to top that. So when I did my comparison swatches, I left them on my hand for awhile (so yes I was in fact going about my business in central London with eyeliner swatches on my hand - the things I do in the name of beauty! The great thing about London is that there are so many weird people I hardly stand out :P ). And after that, when I got home, I attempted to test the staying power of the eyeliners by smudging them around with my fingers, and then by washing them off with water. When it comes to smudging, the Bobbi Brown obviously won out, but I have to give kudos to Sleek for trying. Both Indigo and Violet barely smudged, while the Sleek Ink Pots smudged somewhat. Not a lot, but definitely more than Bobbi Brown. Given how cheap these are, and given that Sleek is a drugstore line, I'm actually really impressed. And then I subjected the entire batch of swatches to running tap water, with a bit of rubbing. Oops. The Sleek colours washed off almost entirely, while the Bobbi Browns stayed on for much longer. So while I'm really impressed with how the Sleek Ink Pots seem to be pretty smudge-resistant, I don't think they're actually waterproof, so if you're planning on going swimming with these on....please don't. But if you're not entering the water, I think these are actually pretty good for day-to-day usage, since they hold up well to smudging.

Another comparison I want to make between the Bobbi Brown Gel Liners and the Sleek Ink Pots is the level of pigmentation and texture. As you might expect, the Bobbi Brown Gel Eyeliners were a lot more pigmented than the Sleek Ink Pots. I only needed 1-2 swipes for the Violet Gel Eyeliner swatch, and 1 swipe for the Indigo swatch, but each of the Ink Pot swatches took about 3 swipes or so. Some Ink Pots are more pigmented than others though. I found Zest, the bright yellow, to have the least pigmentation, while other colours were generally decently good. Also, the texture of the Bobbi Brown Gel Eyeliners is much better than that of the Sleek Ink Pots. In general they were much smoother and softer, although I might add that since I was using testers for the Sleek Ink Pot swatches, they could have just dried up due to being tested multiple times a day. So I'm not really in a position to comment on that.

I pretty much like these Ink Pots, given the price. They're decently pigmented, are pretty smudge-resistant (on my hand at least), and value-for-money. And if I ever run out of my Bobbi Brown Violet Gel Eyeliner and happen to be on a budget, I'd give Sleek Purple Rain a shot!

L'oreal Hip Electrified Duo vs Bobbi Brown Heather Mauve: Dupes or Not?

I never need more taupe eyeshadow. But I can't help it, I'm just drawn to taupes..Everytime I see one, I just HAVE to have it. So of course, I end up with dupes, or near-dupes of my various taupes. The good thing, of course, is that dupes save you money! And as is the case for today's post, the cheaper dupe is actually superior to the more expensive pretender! That happens, but not that often, so everytime it happens, it's a huge WOW for me.

So what mystery product is this? And what is it a dupe for? I'm talking about the L'oreal Hip Metallic Shadow Duo in Electrified. I bought it all the way back in June last year, when I was still in the US. I saw it at Walgreens, and my first reaction was, "OMG TAUPE TAUPE TAUPE TAUPE!" And then my next reaction was, "But I have a gazillion taupes!" So "TAUPE TAUPE TAUPE" and "But I have a gazillion" battled in my head for a grand total of 15mins (it doesn't sound like a lot, but if you actually stood in front of a display looking deep in thought for 15 mins, you're going to look like a weirdo!), and in the end "I have a gazillion" won, so I went home empty handed.

And then, as I always do, I went on MUA. And lo and behold, EVERYONE was talking about Electrified. And how it was gorgeous. Beautifully pigmented. Awesome in colour. And then my brain started screaming "TAUPE TAUPE TAUPE" again, and I headed back to Walgreens to get it.

I know. I'm such a loser with no taupe self-control.

Anyway, did the L'oreal Hip Electrified duo really live up to it's reputation? You bet it did. The duo itself is a pairing of two colours, a shimmery metallic light-to-medium taupe colour (TAUPE TAUPE TAUPE) and a more boring deep matte purple-brown. The metallic taupe in particular is beautiful, and a cut above other taupes. It's taupe, sure, but it's a complex taupe. It has hints of brown, tan, silver (thanks to the frost) but at the same time it has just the slightest bit of purple. And it's a straight up neutral, neither too warm or too cool - well, maybe leaning just ever so slightly to the cool side, but this looks neutral enough to me, as far as taupes go. And it has this lovely metallic finish, almost frosty, that makes it look silvery in some lights, and gold in others. I think this is because the 'base' color for the taupe in Electrified is brownish, but the frost gives it a slivery tone, thus producing a color that transcends the cool-warm divide. (Am I getting off my rockers here?) The brown side is a lovely brown with purple thrown into the mix, and is a good cool-leaning-neutral basic type of color. Nothing too exciting, but certainly a basic well done, and a great complement to the taupe shade, bringing out it's complexity with the purple tinge of the brown.

I wore the duo out for one entire day, and I found both colours to be awesomely pigmented, have no creasing problems, and stay vibrant all day. No fallout from both shade either, so the texture is divine. The only thing is that my eyes got a little irritated by the dark purply-brown colour...At the end of the day, the skin on my eyes started itching where I had put the dark purple-brown colour. Although in all fairness it could have been a mix of my own pesperation that interacted with the colour and caused this reaction, because it was a really hot and sweaty day. (And yes, I have uber sensitive skin.) But other people seem to have used the duo with no problems whatsoever, so it could just be me. Strangely enough though, the beautiful metallic taupe didn't have any reaction on my eyelids.

But because this is a dupe post, and not a full-out review post, I will now tell you what the beauteous metallic taupe is a near-dupe for. And I know you're not going to believe me, so I have pictures! It's a dupe for Bobbi Brown's Heather Mauve eyeshadow!

I have a small tiny version of Heather Mauve (awww, it's a baby!) that came as a sample for spending too much money on Bobbi Brown stuff, so here is a photo of both them in their pans:



Okay, they look similar enough. Now for swatches. These are indoors, in natural light, as always.



Bobbi Brown Heather Mauve is on top, while the L'Oreal Electrified HIP Duo taupe is on the bottom.

Now it's evident the colours are really very similar, but they're not 100% dupes. Of course not. L'Oreal Electrified has just totally kicked Bobbi Brown's little rear! Sorry Bobbi, but I really do prefer Electrified to Heather Mauve. First of all, the taupe from Electrified is so much more pigmented - it took a few swipes to get the taupe from Electrified to show up, but as you can see, even with extensive built-up swatching over and over, Heather Mauve still looks kind of sheer and wimpy in the swatches. Secondly, the L'oreal taupe is a lot more frosty than the Bobbi Brown version. I know some girls will prefer the Bobbi Brown version because of that, and if you're a sheer eyeshadow girl who hates frost, you might just like Heather Mauve better, but I really like Electrified better. I also think that the taupe in L'oreal Electrified just looks more frosty simply because it's better pigmented, so the frost and the colour show up more.

Other than the big differences in pigmentation and frostiness, I do believe that the colours are very, very similar, if not near-identical. For one, the base colours are the same. They both have a taupey-brown base, silver shimmer, and a hint of purple. But I somehow feel that L'Oreal Electrified is a little more complex, because it als has hints of gold from certain angles, which you don't get with Heather Mauve - I feel like Heather Mauve is a little more 'flat' and not as multi-dimensional as Electrified.

So which one should you get? Well, Bobbi Brown's Heather Mauve is more than double the price of L'Oreal's HIP Electrified duo. If you're cheap like me, it's enough to make up your mind. But if you really want a sheer eyeshadow with no frost, you might try Heather Mauve over Electrified. I do believe there are girls out there who would prefer Heather Mauve. But for the rest of us, and for girls who want a more complex colour with better pigmentation, I think the L'Oreal Electrified duo is a better choice.

Gel Eyeliner Swatches and Review! Bobbi Brown, MAC, Stila, Etude House

Today's swatches are also featuring my stash! Yay! Some time ago I did a post on my stash pics (which you can read about here), and it had a measly number of gel eyeliners. Well, since then, I've acquired a couple more, and now I can show them all off!

Unfortunately, I'm not much of a bright colours person when it comes to eyeliner (or for that matter, makeup in general), but I swear, although they're almost all neutrals, they're all different!

Most of these that I've shown here are pretty awesome - as everyone knows, Bobbi Brown is pretty much the queen of gel eyeliners, and MAC is her little more tempremental daughter, and Stila is the court jester who spouts out golden gems in between bit of rubbish. That's my opinion of it, anyway. But I do love them so, and all of these are pretty good, although some are better than others, and I'll go into more detail when I discuss each individual colour. In general though, the Bobbi Brown ones have the best texture, consistency and pigmentation, although the rest are pretty good too. That being said, there's a difference between the different types of Bobbi Brown gel liners too - some are better than others, and rumour has it that the "newer ones" in the clear glass jar aren't as nice as the "older" ones in the frosted glas jar, although whether the eyeliners were reformulated or merely repackaged is still a mystery. Still, there aren't any duds in this stash, because, you know, its MY stash. Duh. :P

Also, most of you would probably already know this, but it's always a great idea to store your gel eyeliners upside down. This allows you to not only see the labels on the bottom of the pots (and thus save yourself the trouble of looking through your stash to find that one pot), but it also prevent the gel eyeliners from drying up so fast. I'm not sure how exactly, but it does seem to work for me.

Anyway, here are swatches to start off:



L - R: MAC Ostentatious, Bobbi Brown Black Mauve, Etude House Orgel Light Gel Eyeliner 04, Bobbi Brown Violet, Bobbi Brown Indigo, Stila Jade Smudgepot

MAC Ostentatious is a neutral taupey brown that's not too cool-toned for warm-toned people. I actually expected this to be more grey, but it's more brown than anything else. It's not a brassy, bronzed, orangey brown though, it's a greyed out brown, the kind that I love. This one is really very work safe, and it doesn't have a hint of shimmer at all. I didn't like this as much as I should have - the pigmentation is not as good as the Bobbi Browns or the Stila, so with this particular colour you do have to go over the line a couple of times. It does last for awhile, but it does tend to get a little smudgy towards the end of the day - just a bit.

Bobbi Brown Black Mauve is a purply-grey-brown, another one of those colours that I could have a million of and still love. It has just a hint of shimmer that disappears once on your skin. I was disappointed by the case of the disappearing shimmer though, it was the shimmer that really got me excited. This one looks less interesting on skin than in the pot, unfortunately. The texture is also great, but the one I have is the "newer" repackaged gel eyeliners, in the clear glass jars rather than in the frosted glass jars, and it doesn't seem as nice as the other Bobbi Browns I have. It does have good staying power though - I've no problems with this.

Etude House Orgel Light Gel Eyeliner 04 (what is it with Asian brands giving their products ridiculously long names!?) is a beautiful, captivating colour - the kind you look at and just HAVE to have. It's a cross between a purple and a grey, with a really cool pink flash/duochrome to it. I LOVE THIS. It's neutral but interesting, and it's really glowly. Unfortunately, the texture of this is the driest out of all the gel eyeliners I have, and I attribute this to the terrible lousy packaging of Etude House. When I first got thi gel eyeliner, it was a little harder than my Bobbi Browns and MAC, but after a couple of uses it just slowly hardened. Now whenever I use it I have to dig my brush into it. Although the packaging doesn't keep the gel eyeliners moist, it does look really cute. I've included a few photos further down in this post, just so, you know, we can ooh and aah over the innate ability of Asian brands to be kawaii :P LOL OK I'm kidding, but the packaging is really very pretty, which is always a plus. Also the pigmentation on this is a little bit skippy, so you do have to go over your work again to really build up the colour. The good thing about it though, is that it stays forever on your skin. This colour is the most unique neutral I've ever seen in awhile, so I feel sad that it just had to be ruined by quality problems. I think it was also possibly limited edition, although I'm not certain.

Bobbi Brown Violet is very very pretty, it's a muted deep purple violet with shimmer, and it doesn't lose any of it's oomph even when it's on your skin. And it' incredibly pigmented, and glides on like butter. It also stays on for a really long time without smudging. The one I have is in the older packaging though, and I'm not sure if that makes a difference.

Bobbi Brown Indigo is blue, but it's not a screaming neon blue. It's a beautiful matte deep blue, more navy than indigo actually, since indigo implies that there is some purple to the colour, but this one has no purple at all. I'd have called it Navy instead, but I'm not Bobbi. Anyway, This one is also awesomely pigmented - you really only need to touch your brush to the surface - and also very smooth, and also really long lasting.

Last, but not least, Stila Jade Smudgepot. Now the Smudgepots are a bit of a hit-and-miss affair - some are really awesome, and some not so much. Fortunately, Jade is one of their better colours - very creamy, very pigmented, and really long lasting. I really like this a lot. It's also got gold shimmer in it which really amps up the colour. Beautiful. They call it Jade, but Jade to me conjures up images of minty green colours, no thanks to the ongoing Chanel Jade craze. Still, true Jade is indeed not really mint green but a bit deeper than that. I'd say this one is sort of a jade green with some emerald in it, because it really has that vibrancy of colour.

Anyway, that was a really lengthly review, wasn't it? But I'm not done yet! I said I would show you the cute Etude House packaging right?





Is that cute or what?! Cute pink plastic top (and they even put shimmer in the pink plastic! Talk about attention to detail!) with nice girly swirls and design...Unfortunately the pretty packaging doesn't do much to prevent drying up of the eyeliners - and I stored them upside down too! I'm so disappointed.

Anyway, here's an EOTD I did awhile back with the Etude House eyeliner. Unfortunately the lighting wasn't very good, and the pink flash seems to have disappeared, but here you go:



Wow, my eyes are really small and hooded, aren't they :X

And, that concludes this real looong post for today, finally! :)

Bobbi Brown Pot Rouge Swatches, Reviews and FOTDs!

Today's swatches are from my own personal stash, instead of me lurking around makeup counters. Finally, something from my own stash! As some of you might know, I'm not a Bobbi Brown fan, but I LOVE her Pot Rouges and her Gel Liners, and over time I've amassed quite the collection of these. These are what I have now - I ued to have more, but I pared down because I just wasn't using some of them so much.

Anyway, Bobbi Brown Pot Rouges are, along with her gel liners, one of the few things in her line that are not overpriced and actually worth the prices they command. These cream blushes are definitely one of the best. Out of my many cream blushes, I've pared down to just three brands which are my personal favourites - Stila, Becca, and Bobbi Brown, and out of the three brands, I have the most Bobbi Brown. I always like to say that Stila, Becca and Bobbi Brown form the triumvirate of cream blushes. LOL.

So what do I like so much about the Bobbi Brown Pot Rouges? First of all, the colours are all lovely and wearable, and most of them could suit most skin tones. Secondly, they last forever - and by saying that, I mean the staying power of the blushes is really really awesome, and also that the pot of rouge that you get is so huge that it will literally last forever. Lastly, I like the texture of the pot rouges - most people don't like Bobbi's Pot Rouges as much as Becca, because they find the Becca softer. And I do concur - out of my triumvirate of cream blushes, Becca definitely has the softest, most blendable texture, but somehow I just personally don't really like this...It just kinda feels 'mushy' to me. I don't know why, either, I'm weird like that. Anyway, to each his own, I guess.

There's just one caveat though - although the product is sold by Bobbi Brown as being useful for cheeks and lips, I've only ever used it on my cheeks, and I don't recommend this on the lips, unless your lips are impervious to dryness. The Pot Rouges are really drying, and the few times I've tried them on my lips, it just looked bleh - matte, drying, and just unappealing. On the cheeks they're great though.

Without further ado then, here are swatches:



L - R: Flushed Pink, Powder Pink, Blushed Rose, Summer Pink, Summer Tan

I used to have Pink Raspberry, and Pale Pink, and possibly a couple of others, but I got rid of these two.

Flushed Pink is, as the name says, a flushed pink, and the most intense of all the colours I own. It's pink, with a hint of coral, and is a pretty and unique colour. I like this one.

Powder Pink is a light, fair, serene warm pink. This is really unusual for Bobbi Brown - a warm-toned colour! LOL, kidding. Anyway, this is a great neutral-to-warm colour. It is on the warm side, but I'm olive with cool undertones and it looks great on me too. I also like this because it's easy to apply and go - it's the lightest of the colours, so it's the easiest to put on and just go if I'm in a rush, because no matter what I do it doesn't look garish.

Blushed Rose. Ahhhh, this is one of my treasures, and Bobbi Brown's discontinued it. *Moment of silence* It was, I believe, one of the better selling colours from her line, so I've no idea why it was discontinued, but who knows. Anyway, this is a very universal neutral muted pink with a hint of brown. If you had to close your eyes and pick one blush blind, this would probably be it, because it's the most universal.

Summer Pink is my favourite out of all the colours, and this is my HOLY GRAIL CREAM BLUSH! WOOHOO! Now if only they had this in powder form...Anyway, this is the most perfect neutral pink. A lot of people have said this is almost identical to Blushed Rose, and I beg to differ. It's similar, but not identical. It's less brown than Blushed Rose, so that makes it a better colour for me overall, because it's less muddy, especially if you use it on the lips (although I don't recommend you to). This is my perfect pink - unfortunately, it just HAD to be Limited Edition. No fair!

Lastly, Summer Tan. This is similar to Blushed Rose, but a bit browner and darker. It isn't totally brown though, and when sheered out it gives a 'nude blush' kind of colour - there's still a bit of pink in it, but it's more nude than anything else. Also another limited edition colour. Stop discontinuing all your best colours already, Bobbi!

And because I love you guys, I looked through my computer to see if any of my previous FOTDs had these products, so I could put them up here for illustration purposes. Unfortunately, I only found two, but here they are!

The first one is an FOTD with Bobbi Brown's Blushed Rose Pot Rouge. Forgive the pimples in this one.



The second one is using Bobbi Brown's Pot Rouge in Summer Pink. And yes this was at my college graduation! (Ahh, college, those were the days.) It's my HG so I saved it for that special event! Unfortunately I obviously forgot to pluck my brows :X

I'm on the right, by the way. The left is my beautiful dorm mate! (And yes, she's of college-going age, but she looks really young.)