Stuff I've Used Up: Lots of Empties and Pans!

It's been a few months since my last empties post, so here's a check in on what I've been using! I'm happy to add, I have a lot of empties to show you! I don't know about you, but since I'm a beauty hoarder (one of the problems of being a beauty addict, I suppose!), I have way more product than I can ever use up in my entire life (that might not, by the way, be an exaggeration), so I get overly excited whenever I do actually use up something!

Empties! So many empties, including skincare and makeup items of all sorts!

This time round, I have a lot more empties than normal because I decided to consciously use up some of the products that were starting to run low, especially for colour makeup, which I don't always do. I actually set a blush that looked like I could hit pan on it to be my "everyday" blush until it actually got used up, and I couldn't be prouder of myself, haha.


All my empties! Look at how much stuff I actually use up!
Anyway, let's start taking a look at these empties! Empties this time include both makeup (eyeshadow, blush, foundation, lipstick, and more), and skincare (moisturizers, pimple products, eye cream, sunscreen), so there is a lot to cover! Most of these are products I like, probably because I wouldn't even use up products I hate. So I think that the fact that I used all these products up says something!

Stuff I Actually Used Up: Skincare and Makeup Empties!

Yes, I did it! I have pan porn and empties to show you guys! And because my last empties post was sometime back in September last year, and because I've been diligently consistently using products until they were all gone, I do have a good amount of finished products to show you this time, and I'm so excited about it! It's been six months, and I've accumulated all this pan!

So proud of my many empties!

Look at all that! Look at all that makeup and skincare that I managed to pan! While it might seem odd to non-beauty junkies, the sheer amount of makeup I have means that using up something is always an acheivement - I take it to mean that 1) I'm not as much of a hoarder as I think I am, and 2) Why yes, I could indeed buy another lipstick to replace the one I just used up! (Nevermind the fact that I already have many other lipsticks...*ahem* incriminating Instagram evidence here.) But I guess if you just have a lot of makeup, it's always a good feeling to actually use something up!

So, without further ado, let's take a closer look at what I've managed to use up in the past half year!

Samsung's Fashion Steps Out: Orchard Fashion Runway

Last weekend saw one of the highlights of Samsung's Fashion Steps Out, the Orchard Fashion Runway. During this event, Orchard Road is shut down and transformed into a fashion runway. This year, 173 models, each wearing one outfit, strut down the 600 meters along Orchard Road. It's an impressive affair, and I was able to capture a few shots, both backstage and on the runway, for you!

Balloons...who doesn't love balloons?
Having Orchard Road as the runway emphasizes the show's accessibility - almost all the clothes seen during the show can be bought immediately after the show, too, in stores. That's something that's a little different from most runway shows.

Shiseido Spring Pink and Blue Eye On the Cheap!

Shiseido's Spring 2012 Collection has such a gorgeous promo picture. I especially loved the eye makeup - it was just so purdy, and it was blue and pink! I never thought blue and pink would work together, but Shiseido had just used only blue and pink, and it looked great!

Source

I found myself wondering if it was possible for me to produce the same eye look, and so I did. Here are the results.

For this eye look, I used Sleek Makeup's Curacao Palette, which was launched last summer. I've reviewed the Curacao Palette before, but for this eye look, I used Singapore Sling, a shimmery pink, and Blue Lagoon, the matte blue, together. And I blended the two together. That's it.



I'm actually quite surprised by how quick this was to do, and how stunning the end result was. Although I have to admit, it doesn't exactly look like the promo picture (and I don't exactly look like the model - darn!), but I think it's because the Sleek colours are a bit brighter than the colours in the advertisement. Perhaps I should have chosen more muted colours to match the colours more exactly...but...the bright colours were just so pretty!



So there you go, my attempt at duping the Shiseido Spring 2012 eye look. I don't know how I'm feeling about it on a personal level yet (blue and pink somehow look beter in the promo picture than in real life), but it was worth a try. Would you wear pink and blue together?

Hello Kitty Lipbalms Haul: Never too Old for Cute!

As some of you may know, I travelled to Japan recently for work. Unfortunately, since it was for work, there wasn't much time or desire to haul (so unlike the last time I went to Japan, I don't have any funny photos to show you), but when I was at the airport, I had some extra Yen coins to get rid of, so on impulse I bought these two adorable Hello Kitty Lipbalms!

The first one is a Hello Kitty Rosette Treatment Lip, which is basically just a plain uncoloured lipbalm/lipgloss. Awww, you just gotta love the packaging! The apple drawiwng on the packaging is meant to indicate the smell (it's touted as having a sweet apple scent).



The Hello Kitty Rosette Treatment Lip is just like plain ol' lipgloss to me. It doesn't treat lips as much as it claims to do, but it's decent - perhaps not too much different from Vaseline, only that it feels a lot less sticky on. But obviously when I bought this, I wasn't thinking of how effective it was. I just wanted the Kitty!



The Hello Kitty Rosette lipbalm does have a very strong sweet apple smell, although the smell dissipates very very fast upon application. I find that a pity - although I know the scent is artificial, I really like it, because it reminds me of those Yupi Burger candies I used to eat. Anyone ever tried those?

(Image source)

If Yupi Burger isn't your thing, the other thing I thought it also smelled a lot like was those Haribou sweets. Yup, here's another excuse for me to shamelessly put up another photo of childhood candy!

(Image source)

The other thing I bought was a Shiseido Water in Lip Lipbalm, which is basically a drugstore range of lipbalms Shiseido put out. Nothing special, except that this one has Limited Edition Hello Kitty Packaging! (Yes that's what it says on the packaging, anyway). So I just had to get it. The lipbalms come in a few flavours. The one I have is raspberry. I haven't tried it yet, so I can't comment on what it is like, unfortunately.



I gotta admit it - I really bought these just because they were so cute! (Don't look at me like that - I'm pretty sure I'm not alone!) Fortunately, lipbalm is one of those things that you can never have enough of, so I'm pretty glad I bought these.

Shiseido Aqualabel White Liquid Foundation Swatches

Shiseido Aqualabel is the drugstore version to its more upmarket parent brand, Shiseido, much like Majolica Majorca. However, while Majolica Majorca, ZA, and a bunch of other brands tend to focus on cosmetic products, Shiseido Aqualabel actually focuses more on skincare - in fact, it has very few makeup items, and the best-sellerss in the Aqualabel are the lotions and essences. Thanks to its association with Shiseido, Aqualabel has also been very popular here, as it is often considered to be similar to Shiseido in quality, but at a drugstore price.

Today I'm bringing you some quick swatches of one of the rare makeup items in Shiseido Aqualabel's line - the White Liquid Foundation SPF 23 PA ++ range. Wow, that's quite a mouthful for a foundation name, isn't it? But it's perfectly in keeping with Japanese product naming conventions - somehow, an eyeshadow just isn't an eyeshadow unless it's named "Girly Make Luminous Pearl Wet Eye Jelly" or something like that. You know, just like how Western brands like to sex up their product names (I'm looking at you, NARS), Asian brands lovingly give their products grandiosely long and uselessly descriptive names. (Just to clarify some comments I've seen on the post, this entire paragraph is meant to be taken with a sense of humour - because you know, the propensity of brands to give products ridiculous names to acheive sales targets happens in both Asian and Western brands. I just comment more on Asian brands because, well, I happen to live in Asia, so I see a lot more of this stuff here. Perhaps some of the humour may have gotten lost in translation when it went from my brain to the blog. It's not intended to offend.)

Anyway, the Shiseido Aqualabel White Liquid Foundation comes in a slim, blue tube with a nozzle at the end. To use the foundation, you have to gently squeeze the foundation out of the tube - I say gently, because squeeze too hard and you get a big squirt of foundation. But enough of my blather. Here are swatches:



L - R: BO10, OC10, PO10, OC20, OC30

Maybe at this point it might be good for me to briefly mention Asian foundation shade naming conventions. Generally, BO would stand for Beige, PO would stand for Pink, and OC would stand for Ochre - so you know, BO and OC would lean yellow, and PO would usually be a bunch of pink-based shades. And following the colour prefix (BO, OC, PO, etc), there will be a number (10, 20, 30 etc), and the higher the number, the darker the shade. When you know that, breaking down those confusing shade names makes a lot more sense!

BO10, as the name suggests, is a fair beige that leans a little yellow. It's the best match for me, and I'm about NC20 in MAC.

OC10 is a fair yellow beige as well. The difference between OC10 and BO10 is that one is more yellow than the other, although it's kinda hard to make out the difference, even though they're swatched thickly side by side on my arm. I think OC10 is a hair yellower, but I could be wrong.

PO10 is a very pink-toned beige. I can't even imagine why a shade like that is in the Asian market, because in my entire life I've never come across any Asian girl with this skintone. This is so pink it's really more of what I'd call a "Caucasian pink beige" kind of shade, as opposed to an "Asian pink beige".

OC20 is one step up from OC10 in terms of shade depth. I'm thinking this may be MAC's NC25 - NC30 in shade, but that's just pure guesstimation on my part.

OC30 is one step darker than OC20, and just as yellow-toned. I'm going to guesstimate that this may be rougly a MAC NC35, possibly a NC40?

The Aqualabel White Liquid Foundations have a very fluid, watery texture, making them a little harder to control. Pigmentation on these is pretty decent, giving you light-to-medium coverage. The White Liquid Foundation also doesn't have any shimmer or glitter in it. This would probably appeal to girls who are looking for a foundation with a light texture and pigmentation.