Collection Cosmetics Swatches and Review: Collection Arrives in Singapore!

Collection Cosmetics, a UK-based drugstore brand (you'll find them most commonly in Superdrug) has now come to Singapore! I recall this brand quite fondly from my days as a student in the UK, back when the brand was still called Collection 2000, and I guess life has a way of coming full circle, because now the brand is coming to Singapore!


Collection Cosmetics is now coming to Singapore!
Collection Cosmetics is one of the top 3 UK drugstore brands with their young, fashionable image, and they have steadily been expanding into Asia (you will also find the brand in Hong Kong and Philippines). The line is cheap, with prices running from S$9.90 and up - this isn't as cheap as in the UK, but is still drugstore pricing. As always, I've done some swatches of some of my personal favourites from the line, and if you want to check out the brand, these would be, in my humble opinion, the items to start off with!

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!

Activated Charcoal and Charcoal in Skincare: Does It Work to Purify Your Skin?

Recently I've been seeing lots of charcoal-based skincare products around, along with claims that would make anyone sit up. The main argument is that applying charcoal to your skin will help to purify your skin. Thus, marketers tend to stress charcoal as pore-clearing, acne-reducing, skin-detoxing wonders. There are so many products out there, all with the same marketing talking points. Some products even stress that they have activated charcoal, no less (all it really means is that the charcoal is more porous and thus allowing a larger surface area for adsorption, but by and large its chemical properties will be the same). Just take a look at the graphic I've helped you guys put together, and you'll know what I mean:

Lookit all those charcoal-laden products! If such products work, why don't we all have awesomely detoxed skins?

So there is a lot of charcoal-laden skincare out there. But is there any truth to all the claims these products make? That's a question that's worth answering.

Cirque Epoch Review and Swatch: Deep, dark duochrome nail polish!

As I might have mentioned in a previous NOTD (nail of the day) post, yes I am absolutely into indie nail polish right now! One of the brands I've been trying out is Cirque (and if you've seen some of my Instagram posts you'll see some of those bottle shots and NOTDS already), and the polish I wanted to show you today is Cirque Epoch! I bought these online from Luxola when they were having a sale (although I rarely buy from them now - they're kind of overpriced compared to alternatives such as Mei Mei Signatures).

Cirque Epoch: Here it looks forest green, but the duochrome becomes more apparent in different lights and angles.

Cirque Epoch is a forest green glass-fleck-ish polish, mostly, but it does have very lovely duochrome in the right lights. I get blue and purple from it. It's this flash of other colours that made me swoon for this polish. I had to work pretty darn hard to capture the duochrome, because the lighting and my camera just weren't cooperating with me. I have no idea how those other nail bloggers do it, but darn they are good.

Juju Aquamoist Moisture Lotion Review and Ingredients Analysis

Lotion products have been really popular over the past few years, and new to me is another one - Juju Aquamoist's Moisture Lotion. Juju is actually a Japan-based brand of drugstore products featuring hyaluronic acid. Over time, Juju has expanded to include not just the moisturizing range, but also a whitening range, as well as a range geared towards natural product customers.

Juju Aquamoist Moisture Lotion: One of the key products from Juju's range.

Despite these new developments, the Juju Aquamoist Moisture Lotion still remains one of the hero products in the Juju Aquamoist range, and so I thought I'd take a look at it, and also take the opportunity to delve into the ingredients!

John Frieda Luxurious Volume Review: Shampoo, Conditioner, Mousse, Hairspray

John Frieda, the well-established UK haircare brand known for its innovative solutions for all hair types, has officially launched in Singapore! And I am totally getting a sense of déjà vu just writing about John Freida again!

You see, back when my blog was still relatively new and when I was still a student in the UK getting my Masters degree, I had done a review on John Frieda's haircare products, namely the Luxurious Volume range, and I really liked it. Well guess what, it looks like this range is coming to Singapore now, and reviewing this range (or rather, re-reviewing this range) feels like seeing an old friend again!

John Frieda Luxuriuos Volume Range: Four awesome products for full hair!

The best part? This time, I don't just have the shampoo and conditioner only - instead I can bring you a bigger, better review with two more products! This time, I have the Touchably Full Shampoo, Touchably Full Conditioner, Building Mousse and All-Day Hold Hairspray. So if you want to know how they hold up to my fond memories of the product, do read on!

Benefit Rockateur Review, Swatches, and FOTD

Benefit launched its Rockateur powder, which is a blush and highlighting powder in one! Rockateur is supposed to be a blush-cum-highlighter, much like their other boxed powders. I've always been fond of Benefit's boxed powders (they're one of my favourite items from the line), so I had to write about this and give you guys a review!

Benefit Rockateur: Rose gold blush and highlighter

One of the things I really love about Benefit is their excellent ability to find a colour that is universally flattering, while still being interesting (think Bella Bamba and Hervana as particularly good case studies), and I do think this is part of the reason why there is such a following behind their boxed powders.


Benefit Rockateur: Even the box is fancy with a textured lid! Love the lace print.
Pretty box, check. Nice scented product, check. Enclosed brush? Check. Talk about stunning presentation - this has definitely upped the ante on their boxed powders! Now let's open the box and take a further peek!

Black Cat Lacquer Just Like Honey NOTD: Indie Polishes

As you guys may know from my "OMG I bought nail polish AGAIN" posts on Instagram, I've recently been into indie polishes. I know I'm pretty slow to catch onto the trend, but man, all those darn nail blogs out there just keep making me want to buy myself a few indies so bad! And so finally I did.

Black Cat Lacquer Just Like Honey

For this post, I'm showing you Black Cat Lacquer Just Like Honey. Black Cat Lacquer, as you might guess, is an indie brand of nail polish, and like most indies is only available online. One of the things I really like about indie polishes is that they have the most interesting glitter combinations in bases that are just the right level of opacity/translucence, as well as pretty holos. I bought mine from Mei Mei Signatures, which ships internationally.


Black Cat Lacquer Just Like Honey: A sweet-like-candy colour

Laura Mercier Foundation Primer + Smooth Finish Foundation Powder Review and FOTD

Laura Mercier has recently released not one, but two new products, the Smooth Finish Foundation Powder, and the Foundation Primer - Protect with Broad Spectrum SPF 30/PA+++. Both have been getting all sorts of raves recently, so I thought I should get you guys a review on this! As you probably know, Laura Mercier is known for her "Flawless Face" concept, so her foundations, concealers, and primers tend to be excellent. The Secret Camouflage is always one of my favourite concealers ever for heavy duty work!

Laura Mercier Foundation Primer - Protedt and Smooth Finish Foundation Powder

For my test, I paired both the Laura Mercier Smooth Finish Foundation Powder and the Foundation Primer - Protect with Broad Spectrum SPF 30/PA+++ together, since both are supposed to work optimally together. And while I know that Laura Mercier's primers tend to be a either love-it-or-hate-it affair because of the diversity of skintypes out there, I thought I'd just put forth my two cent's worth of opinions. And I'm glad to say, I think this worked pretty well for me! And as usual, if you want to start off with an analysis, where better than the ingredients list? In particular, let's look at the sun protection offered by the Laura Mercier Foundation Primer - Protect.