First Impressions: The Beautyblender

You know the Innovation Adoption Curve? When it comes to the Beautyblender, the Innovation Adoption Curve will categorise me under the "Laggards" section. I'm not exaggerating when I say almost all of the beauty Youtubers I watch love the beautyblender. So many "Get Ready With Me" videos and makeup tutorials featured this jarring pink water-drop shaped sponge. I have been intrigued for a long, long time, but the price tag deterred me from checking out my shopping cart. 

I got mine in a set that included the mini Solid Cleanser. The set costs S$37 on sephora.sg (luxola has officially become sephora.sg, how exciting!!). The beautyblender itself retails for S$30. 

From the beautyblender website:

The world’s first edgeless, non-disposable, high-definition cosmetic sponge applicator. The unique shape and exclusive material available only with beautyblender® ensures impeccable, streak-free application with minimum product waste. Use it with primers, foundations, powders, cream blushes, and any other complexion product.

beautyblender® features an open cell structure that fills with small amounts of water when wet. This allows the sponge to be “full” so that the makeup product sits on top of the sponge rather than being absorbed, allowing you to use less product every time. When wet, beautyblender® doubles in size and becomes even softer, returning to its original size when it air dries.

So... is it as amazing as what most users say?

I'm not incredibly awed, but I don't hate it. Maybe I need more trials using different complexion products.

I used it for first time this morning, and I'm not that impressed with how it blended out my concealer. I now have a habit of applying only concealer, then topping it off with loose powder. No more liquid foundation for everyday wear. I dotted the areas that needed coverage with my concealer, and then used the beautyblender (after soaking it in water and squeezing out excess water) to blend out the concealer. For areas with hyperpigmentation left by acne, the beautyblender seemed to be absorbing the concealer more than blending it out. I had to use 2 layers of concealer to get a decent coverage. If I used my fingers, one layer is more than enough.

Of course, the beautyblender is not without merit. It blended out concealer beautifully under my eyes very quickly. It also blended out my concealer with zero streaks, which was quite tough to achieve when using fingers or brushes. I'll give this another try tomorrow with liquid foundation, then concealer. Hopefully, I'll like it more! I want to, because it's S$30 for a tiny sponge man! I better LOVE it.

I'll update this page again with the outcome of my second trial and sponge cleaning process! :)

Update on 13 February 2016:

• Okay, I finally get the hype. I tried the beautyblender with all my favourite foundations and bb creams and they were all applied and blended out beautifully. So freaking fast too! Boing, boing, boing, boing and one cheek done! It's not great for concealing acne though. This will be the perfect foundation application tool if you have generally smooth and bump-free skin (which I'm slowly but surely achieving with accutane, oh yeah!). 
• The beautyblender solid cleanser worked effectively as well. It definitely removed makeup thoroughly from the beautyblender and it's so easy and fast to clean. Extremely helpful for a lazy person like me - don't need to worry about using unhygienic tools on my face again! :D 
• Overall, I'm a convert. Now I know why this tiny pink sponge is so expensive. 

Tarte Bon Voyage Collector’s Set & Travel Bag

Just one visit to Sephora is enough to make me go into a frenzy. I was handed a basket from the enthusiastic salesperson and my struggle commenced. I had SO many gift sets in my basket - the Urban Decay BLACK MAGIC 24/7 Glide-On Double-Ended Eye Pencil Set, the Urban Decay VICE3 Eyeshadow Palette, many cute Burt's Bees gift sets and finally the Tarte Bon Voyage Collector’s Set & Travel Bag. In the end, after close to 30 minutes of talking to myself, I got the Tarte Bon Voyage Collector’s Set & Travel Bag because it was TOO GOOD A DEAL. 

You get 20 Amazonian clay eye shadows, a deluxe-sized lights, camera, lashes 4-in-1 mascara, a limited-edition deluxe cheek stain in Muse, a LipSurgence lip gloss in Visionary, a LipSurgence lip tint in Romantic, a deluxe-sized maracuja oil, a deluxe-sized smooth operator Amazonian clay finishing powder and a DAMN CHIO limited-edition collector’s travel bag for only S$79. HALO?? Of course buy! 

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How royally gorgeous is this travel bag??!?! I definitely will not be putting this in my luggage when I'm travelling, this will be in my carry-on luggage. Imagine the boost my ego will get every single time I take out this beautiful bag out of my carry-on luggage on the plane. "Yes, my travel bag is chioer than yours, oh yeah" - yes, good buy right? I will try to squeeze my book, wallet, phone, charger, earphone, handcream, toothbrush, toothpaste, aiyah this shall be my only carry-on luggage lah!

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There are so many reviews of this Tarte set online, so I won't be doing an in-depth review for each of the products. Temptalia has an amazing review on this (just like all her other reviews), do click to read her review!

Look at these 20 eyeshadows!! I like how Tarte mixes things up with lots of mattes and satins, instead of just focusing on shimmers. Always good to have shimmers and glitters for the Christmas season, but I want to use this palette after Christmas too! Also, that dark navy colour is FABULOUS.

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Terrific value right!?

Struggling to avoid Sephora now. I actually want to go again today. *cue monkey see no evil emoji*

Quick Review: Sephora Creamy Body Wash

I was given these cute little things as a birthday gift from Eve, Ron and Chay, and I must say I LOVE THEM ALL!!!

I have used Lemon Verbena and Strawberry, and they both smelled fantastic! I shall save the other 2 for travelling purposes (like perhaps the cruise trip that I'm going in December with kengyang's family. yikes so scary :S)!

Definitely highly recommend these body wash! :)

Birthday haul: Thank you dearest friends! :')

Thank you to all my dearest friends who have made my birthday a really awesome one! I couldn't ask for better friends and I'm so glad I know all of you! :) This sounds highly cheesy, but I need to appreciate the good people around me. 

My friends make my world go round (because my family is such in a dire state) and so I really am grateful to every single one of them! 

First up, thanks to eve, ron and gohchaychay for the Soap&Glory Soaper Heroes set + the Sephora mini body cleansers. I'm sure to smell fantastic the coming few weeks. :D 

The next one is full marks for presentation. Konkon, kokky and jeremy (AKA FYP GROUPMATES :D) gave me a paper bag full of goodies and homg look what's on the paper bag!!!!!! Confirm framing this up!

Food to last me a few days. Actually I wiped out everything already by now. HEHEHEHEHE.

Thanks chay for the elephant earrings too!! :)

This is a very cool present. IT'S A LIGHTBULB CARD THAT GLOWS. Lovely for lost-in-the-dark days.

Look at this! So cool! :)

MTV folks gave me an awesome shopping experience at H&M. Thanks lizhen, lirong, javior, june, aaron, ivan, rachel and aloyscious. And haha S$20 ah? Cannot bluff me one. :D

This is a surprise omg-they-didnt present. It's my very own Clarisonic cleansing tool! YAY! :') Thanks lily, mervin, zihao, jialiang, yenhao and shangying! HOMG SERIOUSLYYYY!!! :') Been using this for a few days, and yes lily I agree this breaks me out initially. However, nothing can compare with how clean my skin feels after using this!! I'm expecting great results!! Let's wait another few weeks!

My friends are crazy awesome people. I need to treat them better and stop letting my mood swings affect how I treat them! This past year has been a rough one for me, especially after succumbing to my depression tendencies, but I'm glad I have overcome it and I hope everything will go well in the future. Thanks to my dearest friends who have been there all along! :') YOU GUYS ROCK LAHHHH.

Review: Sephora Colorful Mono Eyeshadow in Choco Express (No. 19)

In my approximately 4 years as a beauty geek, I have never tried Sephora eyeshadows before. I have to honestly say that I was afraid to try them because house brands usually don't manufacture good quality products. Of course the previous statement is highly biased and it's all due to my narrow-mindedness. I was glad that Sephora included their Colorful Mono Eyeshadow in their Summer Set. Finally, I am able to try out a Sephora eyeshadow! 

According to Sephora, their Colorful Mono Eyeshadows are:

• highly pigmented
• long-lasting
• easy-blending

No fancy claims, just the necessary ones. I like! 

The Sephora Colorful Mono Eyeshadows retail for US$12 for a 2g/0.07oz worth of product. Currently, they are having a sale and each eyeshadow now costs US$5 only! Go get them here: http://www.sephora.com/colorful-mono-eyeshadow-P241801 

The shade that was included in the Sephora Summer Set was No. 19 Choco Express. It is described as a "dark chocolate with silver glitter". 

Packaging: Very sleek and I like how the front design is transparent. Somehow the "SEPHORA" logo blends in with the eyeshadow design. Love it!

Colour: They are definitely not kidding about the silver glitters. Those are not shimmers, they are chunky glitters! A rather foolproof combination, I must say. Dark chocolate + silver glitters = major contrast + obvious blingbling. However, I was rather skeptical about the use of glitters at the beginning because many of the glitter eyeshadows I own have the tendency to fallout very badly. I would have a river of glitters on my lower lid areas after I was done blending. Sometimes, some glitter particles would even make their way into my eyes! Ouch!

To my surprise, this was not so bad! (More on this below)

Swatch with camera flash

Swatch with camera flash - LOOK AT THOSE PRETTY GLITTERS :D 

Swatch with normal sunlight 

Pigmentation: This eyeshadow does not go on as smooth as it should be. Hence, for the colour to come out similar to the pan, you will have to build up the colour through numerous applications. Not a hassle for me but if you are in a hurry and you want some major colour on your eyelids, then maybe this can prove to be quite troublesome.

Application: As I stated above, I really detest glittery eyeshadows because of the mess they make, and because of the risk they put on my poor eyeballs. Hence, I usually try to avoid glittery eyeshadows altogether. For this Sephora Colorful Mono Eyeshadow, I was surprised that none of my worries occured. I think the main reason why I had no glitter mishaps was because the glitter didn't come out well. When you swatch it with your finger, the glitters do come out (like the photos above), but when you use your eyeshadow brushes, they don't really pick up the glitters and so the amount of glitter on your lids is almost non-existent. Is that a good or bad thing? Good for me because I don't really like glitters, and I like the colour. So it's a win for me!

Maybe this is not a good eyeshadow for glitter junkies.

Longevity: This product is long-lasting. That I am very sure. I applied it in the morning before I met Yinghui for Lacepipe Warehouse Sale (which was a complete disaster) and it lasted me till 11pm at night!!! Crazy long-lasting! No creasing as well! I used my NYX eyelid primer and the combo worked their magic!

Blending: I'm quite agreeable with the claim that Sephora made on how this is easily blend-able. It was just as it claimed and I had no ugly straight line of eyeshadow on my eyelids. Another yay!

Will I buy it again? Yes! Why not? I'm looking at the other shades right now and kinda into Marie (rosey brown shimmer) and Retro Powderpuff (peach shimmer). Time to make a trip down to Sephora! :D

Thanks for reading and hope this has been helpful! :)