Skincare Empties! Serums, Essences, Moisturizers, and All That!

Another few months have passed, and with that more empties! Yes I have been trying to use up my products instead of just accumulating them (because truth be told as a beauty junkie you do accumulate a LOT after a short period of time). Anyway over the past few months, I (with a little help from some of my family members) have managed to accumulate quite the literal pile of products. Behold! My empties!

As usual, I wait for months until my empties pile up to the high heavens before it occurs to me to do an empties post, LOL

Since these are a lot to get through, they're going to be split into two parts - skincare, and makeup. We'll start with the skincare first. Basically every face product you can think of - lotions, essences, creams, masks, eye creams, are all in this post. Except sunscreens, because they're grouped with makeup this time round (mostly just to prevent this post from getting too long).

Alright, let's get to it!

Empties: Out With the Old, In With the New! Part 1

Happy new year everyone! First post of 2018 and it's an empties post! What better way to start out than by showing you my last set of empties that I've managed to use up in 2017? I figure all these empties officially give me a clear pass to keep hauling and procuring more makeup, skincare and beauty items in 2018! :P

Last batch of empties from 2017!

Anyway, like the previous empties post, this round of empties also consists mostly of skincare. I do realize that I tend to use up certain skincare items (lotions, sunscreen, serums, cleansers) much faster than makeup, particularly colour makeup. I guess there's only so much blush a girl can apply before looking like a clown, but you can slather lotion on your face until your skin is basically dripping in liquid, oops. (Not that I haven't done that at all, oh no, not me, I mean, that would be so weird, who does that... *looks away and whistles*)


Last round of empties from 2017: Mostly skincare, especially cleansers
So, without further ado, let's start on part 1 of this round of empties. Today, we'll be looking at the various cleanser and makeup remover products - I figure cleansers (what with washing old skin and makeup away to reveal the new skin underneath) are tangentially related to the new year and thus a suitable way to kick off the empties post!

Shu Uemura Eyeshadow Swatches, First Impressions: New Shades Part 2

Shu Uemura has launched over 40 new eyeshadow shades, and I've finally swatched all these new shades at last! If you've seen my a previous Shu uemura eyeshadow swatch post,, then you've seen part 1 of the swatches, and today we'll be finishing up with part 2! In part 1, we swatched mostly colours, so now we're moving onto the neutral shades. So, if you liked browns, beiges, and greys, the swatches for those shades are all here!

Shu Uemura Eyeshadows: New shades from the Colour Atelier launch

For those who aren't familiar with the shade names, the shade finishes are denoted by their names - M stands for Matte, ME for Metallic, IR for Iridescent, P for Pearl, and S for Satin. Generally ME shades have the most shimmery finish, followed by P shades and IR shades, followed by S shades (which are pretty close to matte, in my opinion), and lastly, with no shimmer at all, the M shades.

Shu Uemura Eyeshadows: Over 40 new shades now launched!

Anyway without further ado, let's move on to the swatches!

Shu Uemura Eyeshadow Swatches, First Impressions: New Shades! Part 1

Shu Uemura is launching 41 new eyeshadow shades as part of their "Colour Atelier" campaign in July. Yes, you heard it right, 41! This will give a total of almost 100 shades of eyeshadow for you to choose from, depending on your location - I believe Singapore gets 41 out of 43 new shades, to give a total of just under 100, but other countries may get the full 100 shades. Of course, Shu Uemura's eyeshadows are something of a makeup cult product, so this is pretty exciting news. Even back when I first got into beauty, they were already touted as one of the brands of eyeshadow that were a must-try for their great pigmentation, multiple finishes, and smooth textures. So, with that in mind, I knew I absolutely had to swatch the new shades being launched!

So, being the obsessive swatcher I am, I basically spent two hours swatching all the 41 shades that were launching here in Singapore, both for myself, as well as for you guys! (You might have seen some of this on my snapchat - I'm musicalhouses there too.) I'm told the eyeshadows are reformulated as well, although to be honest during the swatching session, I couldn't really tell that much of a difference. Which is just as well, because the old textures were already great as they were.

I'm swatching the first 3 rows of the shades laid out above, and the last 3 rows will be in part 2. So, if you're into bright shades, these are all swatched in this post! I swatched these in indoor lighting, and I've done my best to get them as colour-accurate as can be, and I do think the swatches turned out decently! Anyway, without further ado, let's get down to swatching!

Shu Uemura Anti/Oxi+ Cleansing Oil Review and Ingredients Analysis

Shu Uemura's Anti/Oxi Cleansing Oil is the latest oil cleanser from Shu Uemura, and was launched in Singapore today. It's advertised as being a cleansing oil with anti-oxidant benefits (hence the Anti/Oxi name), as well as an efficient yet gentle makeup remover. It's even safe for lash extensions - I'm told this can remove all eye makeup without disturbing any extensions you might have. Lash extensions have been getting more popular here over the past few years (or at least, among my immediate circle of friends and acquaintances), so I'm not surprised to see makeup removers accommodating them.

Shu Uemura Anti/Oxi Cleansing Oil: An oil cleanser with anti-oxidant benefits

Of course, unless you've been living under a rock, you'll know that Shu Uemura's cleansing oils are something of cult products. They're routinely found in "best-of" lists, and there is a huge fanbase behind them. I'm told that Shu Uemura is the #1 cleansing oil brand on the market, with 1 bottle of cleansing oil sold ever 7 seconds! So of course, I wanted to check out the hype for myself, and see whether it really lived up to expectations.


Shu Uemura Anti/Oxi Cleansing Oil: A lightweight, but efficient oil cleanser
Fortunately, this is indeed a very nice cleansing oil (although I didn't get to tet it on lash extensions as I don't have them), so I wasn't let down. And there are some before-and-after photos that show this, but of course, let's start our review by looking at the ingredients list first!