Review: KATE Gel Eye Shadow in BR-1 and GD-2

After I purchased the Maybelline 24-hour Color Tattoo (Review for that coming up soon! I deleted my photos accidentally!), I have been obsessed with gel/cream eyeshadows! So easy to apply (use fingers can already!), and so so long-lasting. 

So, when Watsons sold the Kate Gel Eye Shadows as a set during the Member's Sale for S$10, I HAD TO GET IT. It was quite a challenge finding two wearable colours though, but I managed to get the set with BR-1 and GD-2 in it! 

Let's see how these work! 

Packaging: It's relatively tiny, but around 1.7g of product is provided, which is good because if KATE cosmetics packed less than 1g of product, I will be a disappointed woman. The Maybelline colour tattoo has 4g of product, and so this is definitely way tinier. That's the thing about gel eyeshadow. Due to its gel consistency, you are more likely to use up a gel eyeshadow much faster than powder eyeshadow! So if you get less than 1g of product, it's technically wasting your money right? You can only use it for a couple of months and it's gone! NOT GOOD. So for gel eyeshadows, be sure to get your money's worth!

Colour: BR-1 is a brown eyeshadow with fine silver shimmers and chunkier gold glitters.

Colour: GD-2 is a champagne-based eyeshadow with generous shimmers and glitters. This is like a glitter bonanza (or what I call a nightmare for sensitive eyes).

Pigmentation: To be frank, KATE Gel Eye Shadow in BR-1 and GD-2 are not as pigmented as the Maybelline Color Tattoo. However, I think their less-than-stellar pigmentations are justifiable because of the copious amounts of glitters and because Japanese eyeshadows usually put emphasis on minimal hues rather than on major colour pay-offs.  I'm a happy camper with the glitters! I guess I will apply the Maybelline Color Tattoo first for that great pigmentation, and then apply the KATE Gel Eye Shadow for the glitters!

Swatches taken with camera flash

Application: The first few applications were quite frustrating because the gel eyeshadows somehow managed to dry up, or maybe just the top layer. After I worked my way through the hardened layer, application was more easy breezy!

Longevity: Ohmy, GREAT GREAT GREAT longevity. Especially for BR-1. Can you imagine, after 10 hours of wear, you still have glitters on the correct areas of your upper eyelids? Minimal glitter-shedding and I didn't end up like I had disco-ball cheeks because the glitters stayed put! Amazing!

For those with sensitive eyes: I wouldn't recommend this product if you have sensitive eyes. BR-1 is still okay, but GD-2 has CRAZY amounts of glitter and occasionally some of the glitters make their way into your eyes, and that's not a good situation to be in. So avoid the hassle, and the pain!

Will I buy it again? Yes, but only if there's another combo pack that's priced reasonably. As an individual product, I will not buy the KATE Gel Eye Shadow again because I think the retail price (I'm not sure how much, but nearing S$20 or slightly above S$20) is too much for 1.7g of product!

Watsons Members Sale Haul (27 March 2013)

When I found out that there was going to be another Members Sale at Watsons on 27 March 2013, I had to plan on what I needed straight away. For one, I had to stock up on some necessities. However, the bigger motivator was the fact that that day was also the day when all the YR4s submitted their Final Year Projects. I felt like I had to reward myself! :D 

So yes, I went with Huiling, my fellow Watsons sale maniac, and we got ourselves some pretty good deals! 

Both of us managed to be the first 100 to spend over S$30 in a single receipt too, so we both received early bird gift packs! 

I  only bought four items, the rest were included in the gift pack! YAY! 

First up, I needed to stock up on my ZA two-way foundation. This has been my go-to foundation since my secondary school days and it is still my holy-grail foundation. The set was going for 2 for S$50, so now I have 4 refills! :)

This set of KATE gel eyeshadows retailed for S$9.90. I'm a sucker for brown/neutral eye shadow colours so I just grabbed this. A review on these will be up soon!

Also had to pick up a couple of the Bio-essence BIO Spring Water. They are amazing for setting your make-up, especially when you don't want to look too cakey and made up! They were S$1.45 each (!!!) because there was an additional discount for cardholders!

My final purchase was the Maybelline Magnum Volum' Express Cat Eyes Mascara. Wanted this previously but it was too pricey. During the sale, the mascara retailed for S$14.90! SCORE! :)

I will review this soon too!

I generally get really excited whenever Watsons holds a Members-exclusive sale. However, I think I will stick to going to the branch at Bukit Panjang Plaza in the future! Less crowded and less messy!

THANK YOU WATSONS! :)

Review: KATE My Colour Pencil in SV-3 and PK-3

The KATE My Colour Pencil set was also included in the KATE Cosmetics Bundle sold during the Watsons Members Sale (the bundle was S$9.90!). 

It's quite a nifty product because KATE sells the casing and the eye pencils separately! So for those of you who love getting the adrenaline rush from DIY products, maybe you will get some from this? :) 

At the moment when I was at Watsons, the package that was sold at Bukit Panjang Plaza's Watsons included only these colours - SV-3 and PK-3. I saw some related haul posts by other bloggers and some of them got the navy one and some the dark brown one! 

Packaging: Quite a fun and reasonably thoughtful product. Fun because you get to "build" your own KATE My Colour Pencil and thoughtful if you have all the pencil colours. So, if today you feel royal-ish, you change the pencil heads to purple and gold and you have your eyeliner/eyeshadow and it's portable for touch-ups! Of course, the point is you have to have more than two pencil heads to be able to enjoy this function, which I don't, so boo. :(

Colour: SV-3 is a gorgeous, almost festive looking silver shimmer. It's an excellent colour to apply on the inner eye corners to make the wearer look more awake and of course give the illusion of larger eyes. I think SV-3 is going to be a staple in my eye makeup routine. PK-3 is a less glittery hot pink, with more shine than SV-3. I don't normally wear pink on the upper eyelid, but I figure this is good for times when I want a pop of colour on my lower lids.

Pigmentation: PK-3 is more pigmented than SV-3 and it's reasonable because SV-3 contains a million times more glitter than PK-3.

Swatches under camera flash

Swatches under camera flash, after smudging

Smudge-proof? Definitely not. As seen from the photo above, I smudged the swatches just slightly and the swatches blended with each other. Hence, my tip is to use a similarly-coloured eyeshadow and apply it after KATE My Colour Pencil's application. This way, it will not be so easily smudge-able.

Water-proof? Nope nope nope. Hence, don't use it on a rainy day or on a day when you know you will feel emotional.

Longevity: This product needs touching up, for sure. Not that I'm complaining about it. I think one application will last around 4 hours? Longer if you apply a similar coloured eyeshadow above it. SV-3 definitely needs more attention in the touching-up department because the colour fades away quite quickly.

Will I buy it again? I'm still thinking about it. I don't fancy the pink colour and if there's a really good taupe/brown/mauve colour available, I might get them! The silver is a great product for my inner eye corners though and a back-up will be needed.

Thank you for reading and have a nice weekend! Hoorah first weekend of 2013! :)

Review: KATE reflect mirror eyes palette in GY-1

I have always wanted to try KATE products ever since they were launched at Watsons, but hesitation always kicked in because of the hefty price tags. I'm a poor undergraduate so splurging on cosmetics is quite a challenge. This is why I love Watsons Members Sales! In their latest Members Sales, they had a KATE product bundle and the bundle was only S$9.90! 

Included in the bundle was the KATE reflect mirror eyes palette in GY-1 and I think it originally retails for close to S$30 or slightly more. 

Just to make sure that everyone is on the same page, Japanese eyeshadows and eyeshadow palettes usually consist of mostly shimmery and glittery colours. It's very rare to find a matte or even a semi-matte eyeshadow colour in a Japanese line. Also, the lighter colours seem to be more glittery than pigmented. The dark colours are usually shimmery and well-pigmented, across all Japanese brands. With this knowledge, you know what you are getting into when buying Japanese-brand eyeshadows! 

Ingredients List

Colours: KATE reflect mirror eyes palette in GY-1 is a very curious palette. I still cannot fathom which colour group it really belongs to. At one glance, the colours look greyish, but after a close inspection, taupes and browns start to appear before your eyes. It is very curious indeed, but I like it! The middle shimmery white is gorgeous, and the gun metal (with a hint of blue under camera flash) is an amazing crease or eyeliner colour. 

Swatches under camera flash

Swatches under normal day lighting

Pigmentation: As warned before, pigmentation is not something that should be highly expected. The thing about Japanese-brand eyeshadows is they are buildable. You can layer as much as you want and not risk looking like a clown, but still can have your glitter fix. The middle shimmery white is a gorgeous shade (as said again and again haha). I can spam this colour on the inner eye area to make myself look more awake, and I think I'm going to overuse it. 

Application: I'm most happy and most pleasantly surprised by the application process. Usuaully with glitter eyeshadows, application's a bitch since the glitters will start transferring everywhere as you apply, and at the end of it all, you like a discoball panda. It's just not nice. With the KATE reflect mirror eyes palette, NONE of those glitters came tumbling downnnn downnnn downnnnn. I'm so impressed I"m going crazy with my words. NONE, ZILCH, NADAH, NOTHING. Even when I was blending the three colours together, I see no fall-outs. MAJOR IMPRESSED, YES I AM. 

Longevity: It's definitely a long-wearing palette. Colours stayed put throughout the night, with no signs of melting or fading. Amazing quality, really. Still majorly impressed with the no-glitter-fallout fact. What an amazing palette! 

Above is a look that I created using the palette. I do apologise for my deeply hooded double eyelid because you can't really see the colours, but I really do love this palette! Definitely going to be a staple! :)

Hope the new year has been great and thanks for reading! :)