Makeup Empties: Eyeshadow, Eyeliner, Lipstick, Liptint, Powder

In addition to the skincare empties that I blogged about, I've also actually emptied some makeup! I'm particularly happy about my makeup empties, because it typically takes me longer to use up a makeup item than a skincare item. Anyway,

Makeup empties accumulated over the past few months!

This time round I've got some staples - like my Coastal Scents loose powders - as well as some new appearances! Most of these are products I love and would totally use again, and as we go through each of these items, I'll explain why.


Makeup empties: Lipstick, liptint, eyeshadow, eyeliner, and powder!
Without further ado, let's get started!

Albion Elegance Powder Review, Swatches, Ingredients Analysis

Albion's Elegance Face Powder A Poudre Haute Naunce launched a couple of months back, and I was pretty excited about this, because it's just so pretty, and also because this is officially my first Albion makeup product! Albion is a luxe Japanese brand, better known for its skincare, in particular its lotions, but it also has a line of makeup products.

Albion Elegance Face Powder: A pressed face powder from luxury line Albion

The Albion Elegance Face Powder is basically a pressed face powder with different coloured sections, much like the Guerlain Pressed Meteorites. The Elegance Powder claims to help brigthen the skin, cover pores, and also last on the skin. are three shades of Elegance Powders here: No. 1 (Elegance), No. 4 (Clear), No. 5 (Gorgeous), and No. 6 (Airy). The shade I have is No. 1. All the powders are pretty sheer, however, quite sheer (as we shall see in my swatches), so for the most part, there isn't too much of a great difference between shades to the untrained eye.


Albion Elegance Face Powder: Several different shades of powder combine to form one shade of finishing powder
So without further ado, I'll be reviewing my Albion Elegance Face Powder in shade No. 1, and of course, with most reviews I'll start with the ingredients list!

Stuff I've Used Up! Super Mega Empties Post: Skincare and Makeup

This is a pretty major empties post, because the last time I blogged about my empties was half a year ago in December last year (it was also a pretty large post, that I split into two parts, part 1 and part 2). This time around, I have even more stuff!

The nice thing about empties is that, for me, using a product up comes with a sense of accomplishment (as in, hey, I actually stuck to something long enough to use it up!) and also a sense of permission (as in, hey, I've used up a lipstick, now I can buy another lipstick)! So for a beauty junkie like me, it's both gratifying and enabling!



Obviously, there's a lot to go through, so without further ado, let's jump right in!

Etude House Dreaming Swan Swatches and First Impressions

Etude House's Dreaming Swan collection just launched here in Singapore, and like most Etude House makeup collections, it's as cute as can be, with a very girly ballerina theme, too! I saw it, and I knew I just had to swatch it for you guys. After all, you can't look at a limited edition collection (yes, it is limited edition) without swatching a few things!

Etude House Dreaming Swan Eye and Cheek duo blush and eyeshadow

The collection is not a large one - there are 5 shades of Dreaming Swan Dear My Wish Lips Talk Lipstick, 5 shades of Dreaming Swan Eye and Cheek, which are products that double both as a blush and eyeshadow, and 1 shade of Dreaming Swan Veiling Pact, which is basically compact powder. There are also 5 limited edition Any Cushion cases, which are cases for the Etude House Any Cushion range of BB cushions. The cases are empty, and you pop a refill for their BB cushion into the case. The collection is also seriously pretty, packaging-wise. I mean, look at the Dreaming Swan Eye and Cheek Blush/Shadow and the Dear My Wish Lips Talk Lipsticks!


Etude House Dreaming Swan Dear My Wish Lips Talk Lipsticks
Anyway, enough of me blabbering about the packaging. Let's move on to swatches! These were taken indoors at Etude House's new store at Vivocity, which has the collection, so the lighting isn't that great, but I think it's good enough to get a sense of the individual shades.

The Body Shop MoistureWhite Bright Compact Foundation SPF25 PA+++ Review and Ingredients Analysis

The Body Shop's latest compact foundation and part of its MoistureWhite range, is the MoistureWhite Bright Compact Foundation SPF25 PA+++. I guess that's a pretty self-explanatory product name: it's a powder foundtion, it's in a compact form, it has brightening properties, and there is sun protection in the product. With such a comprehensive product name, what more is there to say? The Body Shop essentially succintly summarized what the product does in less than 10 words! Let's end the review here and you guys can just scroll down and look at photos! Yay!

Just kidding. (Aside: I don't know if that joke was funny or not. At least I tried!) I still do have lots more to say, because that's just the kind of verbose makeup geek I am. The MoistureWhite Bright Compact Foundation actually has two different colours in the compact. The main colour, which takes up most of the space in the compact, is the foundation colour. But there is also a little pink, shimmering strip inside, that is meant to act as a highlighter of sorts to brighten your complexion. The Body Shop claims on their website that the product is "infused with light-diffusing fine mica pearls" and that "the illuminating part of the compact is designed to bring multi-dimensional light...so your complexion looks radiant from every angle". Whitening, brightening, and illuminating properties in base makeup (primers, foundations, BB creams and so on) are always popular in Asia, so this is definitely the kind of marketing that people would be curious about.



Right, you say. So the MoistureWhite Bright Compact Foundation has brightening properties. But how does it work? Which ingredients give it these awesome illuminating properties? And speaking of brightening, does this product actually contain anything that will brighten my skin over the long term, like a skincare product? (See, this is why I have more to say!) And to answer such questions, we'll start off at the ingredients list of the products, and take a look there.

Coastal Scents Haul: Silica Powder Spheres, Hot Pots Eyeshadows (Taupe!), Loose Powders

Coastal Scents had a 40% off storewide sale after Christmas (don't worry if you missed it, they typically have a 50% off Black Friday sale as well as the end-of-year sale, and other various discounts throughout the year), and I just had to haul this time, even though shipping was a killer, because I was in desperate need of my staple, the silica powder spheres! I'm nearly running out of my big bag of silica powder spheres, so I thought this was a good opportunity to replenish! And being the beauty junkie I am, I couldn't just stop there, so I ended up getting some of the Coastal Scents Hot Pots Eyeshadow Pans as well, since I've been hearing good things about them!

Coastal Scents haul: Silica powder spheres, eyeshadows, and other loose powders

So yes, this is my complete haul! I'll admit that I just got what I wanted, so the volume of stuff I got is a lot, but the variety is small - I really just stuck to my loose powder staples and eyeshadows! But hopefully next time I haul, I'll buy a bigger variety of stuff! Although shipping was around US$27 or US$28 or so, I have to say that I didn't mind, giving the weight of the powders I was ordering (2.5lbs, or 1.25-ish kg). I used Fedex (at those package rates it was the cheapest option), and my order arrived in 5 days, less than a week! It definitely arrived faster than I thought it would!

Coastal Scents haul: Shipping was not cheap, but my haul arrived in 5 days

Anyway, enough of my ramblings, I'm sure you're more keen in taking a closer look at what I actually bought. So let's dive right in, and start with my favourite item of my entire haul!

Stuff I Actually Use Up! More Empties of Skincare, Makeup, and Nail Products!

Ooh, what do we have here? More empties! And boy, am I excited to show you these - since my last empties post some months back, I've been a good beauty blogger and have actually used up stuff in my stash! And of course this means I have to tell you guys all about it, and do a quick summary of how the products have worked for me! As you might be able to guess, though, chances are, if I used it up, it probably did a pretty good job. So here's what I've used up!

Look ma, so many empties! These include skincare, makeup, and nail products. Yay!

Yes, look at that - it's a whole bunch of products covering makeup, skincare, and nails! Without further ado, let's dive straight into them, shall we?

L'Oreal Mat Magique Matte Transforming Powder Review and Swatches

L'Oreal's Mat Magique Matte Transforming Powder is an upcoming addition to L'Oreal's Magique line (you might have seen the Nude Magique and Lumi Magique products), and as the name suggests, it is a matte powder foundation that is touted to keep you shine-free for up to 12 hours! It also has SPF34 PA+++, so it has some UV protection too. One of the marquee ingredients in the product is Perlite, which L'Oreal advertises as a volcanic rock-based ingredient that contributes greatly to the oil control properties.

L'Oreal Mat Magique Matte Transforming Powder claims to provide up to 12hrs of oil control.

The product is shine resistant, and a matte finish, and it is touted as being good for girls who engage in a lot of outdoor activity or spend time outdoors, since it has both mattifying properties as well as UV protection. This is also a Southeast-Asia only release, geared towards ladies in the region who have to deal with the heat and humidity. And although it's not going to be launched elsewhere yet, I think that it's probably also great for summers worldwide.


L'Oreal Mat Magique Matte Transforming Powder: Great for those who spend time outdoors.

MUFE Pro Finish Powder Foundation Review and FOTD

MUFE recently launched their Pro Finish Multi-Use Powder Foundation, and I had the chance to give this a try! Again, I'm a little slow to post, but this one is definitely worth waiting for. Remember how in a previous post I mentioned that if you wanted to know what foundation I was wearing, I would blog about it soon? Well, now you know!

MUFE Pro Finish Powder Foundation: MUFE's latest foundation, and an excellent product.

The MUFE Pro Finish Powder Foundation provides high coverage with a non-cakey, smooth finish, and a great formula that is right on, as with most of MUFE's products. You can really tell when a brand spends the time and effort to perfect its products before launching, rather than just jumping onto every trend-based product bandwagon every three months, or slavishly copying its nearest competitor, and from the looks of it, MUFE's Pro Finish Foundation has definitely been formulated with care. Ever the perfectionist, MUFE founder Dany Sanz spent six years (yes, six!) developing the foundation, in order to arrive at the best possible formula that would work on all skin types.

Perhaps, as a result of the fact that this foundation took six years to perfect, I have to say, I have absolutely no complaints at all. From the colour match, to the formula, to the coverage, to the finish - while I can sometimes be pretty critical, right now I only have good things to say!

Benefit Porefessional Zero Shine Powder Preview and Ingredients Analysis

I got to take a sneak peek at the soon-to-launch Benefit Porefessional Zero Shine Pro Powder, and I can't wait to share my thoughts on it with you guys! The Zero Shine Powder will only be launched next year in February, but hey, it's never too early to take a first look, right?

Benefit Porefessional Zero Shine Pro Powder: A sneak peek before it's launched!

So what is this Porefessional Zero Shine Pro-Powder? Initially I was a little confused, especially since Benefit already has a Porefessional product that is a primer. Turns out, this new addition to the Porefessional family of products is totally different. The new Porefessional Zero Shine Powder, as the name suggests, is first of all not a primer, but a finishing powder. So unlike the existing Porefessional, which you use before applying makeup, this is used after makeup, for shine and oil control. It promises to banish the shiny, oil-slick look from your face all day long.


Benefit Porefessional Zero Shine Powder: Oil and shine control all day long.
If you don't have the patience to wait until 2014 for this too look, and want a closer look at the Porefessional Powder right now, you're in luck! I've managed to try out this powder, and I do think this is worth checking out.

Enavose Swiss Glacial Loose Powder SPF 15 in Nude Glow Review and Swatch

Enavose, the Swiss-based skincare line, has officially launched a line of makeup items, too, and I'm pretty excited! The previous skincare products I've tried were pretty good, so I had good expectations for their makeup line, too. The product I tried was the Swiss Glacial Loose Powder with SPF15, which the company touts as a face powder perfect for setting your makeup, or for touch ups on hot summer days - perfect for the summer season. Enavose claims that the product has "encapsulated Swiss Glacial Water" that "releases hydration gradually into skin to provide up to 24 hours of hydration". Sounds great, right?

Enavose Swiss Glacial Loose Powder with SPF15 - look at the cool container!

Asian Face Powders Haul: Ponds Magic Powder and Bhaesaj Teen Powder

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!

FOTD/Review Using an Asian Makeup Tip: Johnson's Powder Pure Essentials All Day Pink

One of the things I've noticed in my travels and experiences living abroad is that beauty tips are highly idiosyncratic, and I never fail to pick up beauty tips everywhere. I found out about using Monistat Anti-Chafing Gel as a primer from my awesome USA girls (although I was too chicken to try that out), and I learnt about the awesomeness of Sleek and Barry M from the lovely UK bloggers. And now that I'm in Asia, I've learnt another little tip that I thought I'd share with you.

I've been seeing a lot of Asian girls using a Johnson's body powder for their face. The full (and very long) name of this product is Johnson's Powder Pure Essentials All Day Pink. I don't know what it is with Asian products, but it seems like the longer the product name, the better. You know, like an eyeshadow isn't just an eyeshadow over here; it has to be XXX Brand Luminous Shiny Eyes Ultra Light Eye Powder With Pearl Reflector or something like that in order to sell :P



I get my bottle imported for awesomely cheap from Thailand, hence the Thai wording on the bottle. The lady who sold it to me swore that it was TEH AWESOMEZ as a face powder, even if it wasn't made as such. I was very dubious about it's qualities as a face powder, until I googled it and it seemed like she wasn't the only one using that Pure Essentials powder on her face.

The powder itself seemed adaptable for use as a face powder. The ingredients are simple and few - there are, in fact, a grand total of five ingredients (Talc, Dimethicone, Titanium Dioxide, Perfume, Iron Oxide) and all of them are found quite commonly in makeup items anyway, and nothing in the ingredients list seemed pore-clogging or irritating.



The powder itself is also pretty decent. It's finely-milled, and had a good texture. Maybe not as smooth as it could have been, but it wasn't a major issue with me. The only thing I was worried about was the colour. It was a shade of light pink, which could look potentially quite odd on my skin. However, the good thing about this is that because it's not actually meant as a face powder, the pink tinge in the powder doesn't really show up.

Here's a swatch of the powder on my skin. You can see that you need to really apply a lot before you get any major pink showing up. I do feel like this could still look ashy on more tanned girls, however. But for relatively fair girls (NC/NW20 and lighter, perhaps?), I think this would be fine.



And of course, the review wouldn't be complete without an FOTD showing how the powder looks on my face, so here's a shot of my face with the powder. Here, I mixed the Johnson's Pure Essential Powder with some of my own silica powder to give the powder better mattifying and oil-controlling properties, since the Johnson's All Day Pink Powder wasn't very mattifying on its own.



This is just concealer and powder on my face. Here's the breakdown for anyone interested:
MAC Select Cover Up Concealer (spot applied on face)
MAC Studio Finish Concealer (spot applied on undereye area)
Johnson's Pure Essential All Day Pink mixed with Coastal Scents Silica Powder

I actually thought it looked pretty decent. Firstly, I was worried about the pink tinge in the powder, but when it was mixed with another transparent powder (the silica powder, in my case), it didn't leave a pink cast. I suspect that even if I had used it alone, it wouldn't have left a pink tinge either, since it was quite sheer colour-wise. Which brings me to my second point - don't expect this powder to provide any coverage or any skin-transforming properties. It's good as a basic powder, and that's it. I think this will be good for setting makeup or for people who don't need too much coverage.

So, if you're looking for a cheap, cheery basic powder that doesn't offer too much coverage, this is worth a go. If you're worried about the pink tinge, mixing with a clear powder, as well as a light hand, will help prevent the powder from appearing ashy on your face.

theBalm Blushes, Bronzer and Face Powder Swatches!

Today is another swatch post, and this time we're swatching more theBalm products! I'm starting to quite like this brand, as they have some pretty good quality stuff. Last time we talked about theBalm, we saw swatches of their pencil eyeliners (cutely named Pick Up Liners) and their lipsticks (which I thought had a nice decent range of colours). Today, we're looking at the blushes and other powder products in their range, which are the stars of their line.

These have been getting a lot of raves, and I can see why. They come in some very beautiful colours - in fact, some of them are near-dupes for some famous colours in more expensive brands. They're also nicely pigmented, yet not too pigmented, and have a very nice texture and application - these are some of the nicest ones I've seen. And they come in the cutest packaging, too, with pictures of pin-up girls adorning the cover of each blush. Unfortunately, it's also made of paper, so you wouldn't want to be too rough with it.

Here are swatches:



L - R: Down Boy, Cabana Boy, Hot Mama, Bahama Mama, Sexy Mama

Down Boy is a very pretty neutral pink. I know usually I get really bored by neutral pinks, but this isn't your typical pastey pastel neutral pink. There's something about it that makes it more than the sum of it's parts. It's very pretty, and pretty much as universal as a blush can get. It's beautiful. I know the swatches make it look grainy and powdery, but it's not. It's got a good application. I've noticed that my swatches tend to make things look really grainy and powdery, because I pile the product on and don't bother to dust off the excess. Oops.

Cabana Boy reminds me of NARS Sin, and is my favourite of the bunch. This one caused a big hoo-ha when it first came out, because it was apparently hard to find (the commotion has since died down and it's easily available now). It's a beautiful pinky-plummy colour, and unlike NARS Sin, it's not shimmery. I'm so tempted by this. I think I need it. Like NEEEEEED it (Oh, who am I kidding. I don't need anymore makeup...But still...)

Hot Mama is an orgasm lookalike, and although I'm not sure if it's a 100% dupe, because it's been awhile since I last had it, it certainly does look similar. This one also has a shimmery finish, like Nars Orgasm, although it doesn't have glitter bits that are as big. I may be wrong, of course, but I do believe the finish on this one is finer as the glitter bits are smaller...It's more like fine shimmer than big glitter. I do think that it could potentially get a little frosty if layered though, but it's still one lovely colour.

Bahama Mama is a bronzer, and although I don't use bronzers or contouring powders, I think this is one of the best I've seen so far. Most bronzers make the mistake of being either too shimmery, or too orange, so that you either look like Data from Star Trek got a tan, or an Oompa Loompa, or both.

You know, think a cross between this shininess:

Image from Wikipedia

and this orange-ness:

Image from notsuchayummymummy.wordpress.com

Anyway, the good thing about Bahama Mama is that it's NOT orange based, and it's NOT shiny. Which means cool-toned people can use, and people who wish to contour with it (as opposed to putting it on the high points of their face) can use it. I personally think it's great, even if I'm inflicted with the "must-be-fair" Asian skin preference.

Lastly, Sexy Mama is a transluscent powder. It's not 100% transluscent though, so I wouldn't recommend it for anyone too dark. It does show up a little if built up, but you'd have to use a lot (like I did when swatching heavily). But for most people, I think this would definitely get the job done.

I really like these, so if you're lemming any of them, just get them already!