Everyday Make-up Routine + Jazzing it up a lil!

I have been asked quite a lot on the everyday makeup products that I use. So here's a post to answer all the queries that I have on that topic! 

I used to buy makeup products just for the sake of buying, but nowadays I keep repurchasing things that I like, and I hesitate a little more when it comes to experimenting with new brands. The reason is simple - I don't want to risk my skin from breaking out. As I get older, my skin gets more and more sensitive to the chemicals used in such products and so usually I take the easy way out and just stick with the products that I know will work fine on my skin. 

The first section is just for face alone. Not everything is used on my face at one go; I rotate between products or just simply apply what I feel like applying. 

ZA Two-way Foundation - has been a favourite of mine since secondary school days. I strayed in the past, but always come back to this powder because it's fantastic! 

Rimmel Stay Matte Liquid Foundation - Not kidding about the "Stay Matte" claim. This liquid foundation also has no SPF in it, so it's good for days when you know there's a lot of flash photography involved. 

Maybelline Pure Eraser Mineral Liquid Foundation - My current favourite liquid foundation. Amazing product! 

Heroine Beauty Perfect Sunscreen - My default primer. Makes my skin so smooth and high SPF content too! 

L.A. Girl Pro.conceal - I used to hate this product but ever since my skin became the shipwreck that it was, I realised this was the only concealer that covers well but will not break me out. So I have officially jumped ship.

MISSHA Under Eye Brightener - I only use this for my dark under-eye areas. Works like magic.

everydayminerals blush in Viki's Radiant Creation - I use this blush when I feel like I need a more orange or coral cheek look. The fine sparkles are pretty too!

M.A.C Beauty Powder in Pretty Baby - On days in which I like pink cheeks, I will turn to this beauty powder. Extremely buildable and the colour is not too ra-ra!

elf Healthy Glow Bronzing Powder in SunKissed - I always turn to this product whenever I need to look more alive. I don't use this for contouring though because it's quite sparkly. Usually what I do is I apply after my blush to make my cheeks more radiant!

Go-to eye products! I always use them!

NYX Eyeshadow Base - This product deserves more love from the beauty community. I tried both the UD Primer and the Too Faced Primer. This one works as brilliantly. So why pay more? :)

Clinique Colour Surge Eyeshadow Trio in 12 Lotus Flower - I mainly use this for the nude colour. I will apply it all over my eyelid area and that will be all my eyeshadow work.

I like to layer my mascaras so here are my current two favourites - Tony Moly Cats Wink Mascara and M.A.C Zoom Fast Black Lash.

Urban Decay 24/7 Glide-On Eye Pencil in Perversion - The blackest of black eyeliner with an amazing amazing AMAZING formula and staying power. I'm just sad I'm using it so much. I need to get a new one soon!

Heroine Make Liquid Felt-tip Eyeliner - I always use this to do my cat-eye or winged eyeliner. Of course years of practice help when in comes to the perfect winged eyeliner but this is a good product to start with!

Urban Decay 24/7 Glide-On Eye Pencil in Midnight Cowboy - I like to apply this on my inner undereye area because it creates the illusion of larger and more awake eyes!

When I see the need to jazz it up a little, or when I have a little bit more time, I turn to these products the most! More time equals to more products and more colours!

• Urban Decay Naked Palette
• Sleek Pout Polish in Electro Peach
• Too Faced bronzer
• Fresh lipbalm 
• elf Blush in Candid Coral

Yay! Hope this answers the queries! Have a good week ahead! :) I'm going to Bangkok in another 12 hours' time! Shopping galore!!! :D

Review: Tony Moly Cats Wink Mascara in Volume & Longlash

Finally I'm back on the blogging track! I still have one more paper to go but that's 9 days later, so I think I can afford for a good 5 days or so. :D 

Everyone knows my obsession with mascaras. I even still keep my mascaras from way way before just for the sake of collecting them. Of course I don't use them anymore, but looking at my growing collection of mascaras makes me happy. 

Here is another Korean brand mascara that I purchased off Qoo10 (where else? haha). I think I bought it during a Timed Sale and so it was S$5 with free shipping. It now retails for S$7.50 with free shipping! Still rather reasonable I'd say! 

You can get yours here: http://list.qoo10.sg/gmkt.inc/Goods/Goods.aspx?goodscode=407208353

The Tony Moly Cats Wink Mascara is available in 2 variations - the Curling & Longlash and the Volume & Longlash. I just went straight for Volume & Longlash! 

Packaging: This packaging is too cute!!! Very much like their lipsticks, the Tony Moly Cats Wink products all have this cat design on their packaging. Too adorable! Also, I like how this mascara is just so sleek. Sleek with a pop of cuteness. Loving this Cats Wink line a lot! 

Brush: To be honest I was quite disappointed with the brush. Although it was the sturdy type, and not those filmsy rubber bendable ones, I didn't expect the brushes to be so sparse. I don't think the brush design helped the mascara to be applied in a more volumising way, which kind of defeats the purpose because it is a volumising mascara. 

Application: I like to layer my mascaras and so I will very much prefer my mascara to dry quite quickly after the first application, so that my second application will have a significant effect. Mascaras with a wet formula tend to make the second application brush away the first application, and so the volumising effect is just extremely minimal. That is my problem with this mascara. I don't know if it's too new or what, but the formula is very wet, which once again defeats the purpose of it being a volumising mascara. Perhaps I need to give it some time, let the product thicken a little or something. :S

Volumising: As seen from the two paragraphs above, the volumising effect of the Tony Moly Cats Wink Mascara is almost negligible. It just looks like I have mascara on, but I don't look like I have full lashes. 

Longevity: I was highly impressed by the longevity and how well it withstood the terrible humid weather. This is not a waterproof mascara but even after 12 hours under the hot sun, it didn't flake, it didn't smudge and I don't even have the slightest black marks under my eyes. Great staying power!

Will I buy it again? Nope I don't think so. The packaging is definitely very very precious, but since I already have one to add into my mascara tubes collection, I don't think I need another one. Moreover, this mascara doesn't really do what it promises. 

Review: Tony Moly CatChu Wink Lipstick in 04 Coral Pop

A regular blog reader will know that I'm not a lipstick person. I focus more on my eyes than my lips and I like the feeling when I have nothing on my lips! Lipsticks are great products but I really can't be bothered to touch-up throughout the day. For example, you would have to re-apply after eating or drinking, and for me it's too much of a hassle. 

But lately, I'm itching to explore another side of makeup - "bare eyes and bold lips" look. "Bare eyes" meaning ugly dark areas concealed and just bedazzled with two coats of mascara. "Bold lips" of course literally just means bold lips - red lipsticks, wine lipsticks, vampire purple lipsticks, coral orange lipsticks. NO nude lipsticks please. 

I have a lot of lipsticks in my collection, but they are mostly for free-lance purposes, so I myself don't use them. So I needed a personal bright-coloured lipstick. 

Of course, I had to turn to qoo10. Where else would I go? 

Link: http://list.qoo10.sg/gmkt.inc/Goods/Goods.aspx?goodscode=406993448#none

I bought the Tony Moly CatChu Wink Lipstick in 04 Coral Pop for S$6.40 during a sale. I believe it is now on sale for S$7! I'm certainly not regretting this purchase. Even my sister loves the colour! She wanted me to use this lipstick on her for her prom!

Packaging: What a unique and cute packaging. I mean, COME ON! How can you not like a lipstick that's packaged like a cat?! And yet, it's still so chic because of the black lacquered outlook. Just perfect. Ultimate sense of pride when you whip this out at the toilet, laugh at all the other ugly normal lipsticks!!!!! (just kidding, but you know what I mean)

Colour: 04 Coral Pop is not really a coral orange colour. It's more of a blend between neon orange and subdued pink. It looks bright, but it applies more subtly. Good for those who are still exploring the unknown realms of bright lipsticks. 

Swatch with no camera flash, and no sunlight. It was just really cloudy. haha. 

Swatch with camera flash

Pigmentation: No complaints about the pigmentation at all. I do not need to use much force while applying because the colour just glides on perfectly. It does not apply heavily too, so if you think you need a heavier look, just layer on one more time!

04 Coral Pop on my not-taken-care-of lips. OOPS. 

Moisturising factor: It has a good moisturising balance. It will not dry your lips, for sure. Also, it is not dripping with gloss till your hair sticks to it whenever you try to turn your head. Just the right balance and just perfect for our weather too!

Longevity: This is not a long-wearing lipstick so I didn't expect the colour to last beyond 2 hours on my lips. To my surprise, with no eating and drinking, the colour lasted on lips for a good 4 hours. Quite decent eh?

Will I buy it again? Of course! I'm now contemplating on whether I should buy other colours like 05 Red Cat and 06 Orange Pop. So tempted but my bank account is sobbing so hard! :(

Hope this has been helpful and have a great weekend! :)

Qoo10 Haul: Skull Bracelets, Tony Moly CatChu Wink Lipstick and Tony Moly Cats Wink Mascara

I tried to put Qoo10 on a banned website list for my laptop. It didn't work because I ended up using the desktop at home to browse through the myriad of amazing things sold in that magical site. 

My logic works like this - if the items are way below their retail prices, then why not? 

This logic killed my savings, but it really did make me feel happy. So, I guess I have to choose between rich and sad, and poor and happy? What a joke, but hehe you get the point. 

I finally bought some skull bracelets for myself! Saw them on so many fashion blogs and many online sites sold them for exorbitant prices like US$20 each, or something absurd like that. Are you fucking kidding me?! I saw them on taobao.com for 1% of that price and from that moment on, I knew Qoo10 would have them sooner or later. THE WAIT PAID OFF. 

I bought the 3 skull bracelets for a total of S$7.50 (excluding shipping) from this store: http://list.qoo10.sg/gmkt.inc/Goods/Goods.aspx?goodscode=405363559

To continue my obsession with Korean cosmetics, I also bought some Tony Moly items (they will be reviewed soon! YAY!).

Tony Moly CatChu Wink Lipstick for S$6.50 at http://list.qoo10.sg/gmkt.inc/Goods/Goods.aspx?goodscode=406993448

and Tony Moly Cats Wink Mascara for S$5 at http://list.qoo10.sg/gmkt.inc/Goods/Goods.aspx?goodscode=407208353

I have tried the lipstick and I really love the colour! Time to review it very very soon!! :)

The mascara review will also be coming up!

OH QOO10 I LOVE YOU!! :D Give me a lifetime membership already! :D

Review: Tony Moly Crystal Stick Eye Shadow

I have a love-hate relationship with cream eyeshadows. On one hand, it really makes whatever powder eyeshadow you apply afterwards pop, on another hand, it creases like crazy! I tried M.A.C paintpots before and I was grossly disgusted by how much it creased on my oily lids. I can't blame the product though since I do have extremely oily eyelids. 

I saw this Tony Moly Crystal Stick Eye Shadow on qoo10 and yup, I could not resist cheap, Korean cosmetic on qoo10. 

Here's the link: http://list.qoo10.sg/gmkt.inc/Goods/Goods.aspx?goodscode=405342139 

It was less than S$6 each! I bought it in 04 Velvet Bronze because when in doubt, get neutrals! 

Packaging: As with Tony Moly products, this eyeshadow is clothed in a sleek black exterior. I kind of like the fat-yet-not-so-fat packaging. I know I'm using confusing lingo, but it's the right size for slipping into any make-up bag and yet you still think that you are getting quite a lot of product. I hate those tiny  cream eyeshadows - so not worth the money!

Colour: I don't think this is a "bronze" colour. I'm being strict though. It's more of a metallic taupe? In my mind, bronze should be a richer, darker concoction.

Swatch with camera flash

Swatch under yellow lighting

Pigmentation: I'm quite pleased with how much product applied, even when I slid the product gently. Quite a surprise! Also, this eye shadow is a discoball-in-making. SO SHINY AND BLING BLING. I almost got blinded when I checked my photos after I took my swatches with camera flash.

Longevity: I wouldn't advise anyone to apply this eye shadow on their eyelids solely, whether or not you have oily eyelids. It's not rub-proof or waterproof. The photo above was taken after I did a slight wipe over my swatch. Aiyah, so disappointing.

However, this Tony Moly Crystal Stick Eye Shadow is still redeemable and not all that terrible. I find it a gem to use under powder eye shadows! Of course I applied a powder eye shadow that was of the same colour family. The colour pops out more! I guess this product makes a good base then!

Will I buy it again? It's a relief I bought this in a neutral colour. If I had bought it in blue/purple, I would have tossed it aside already. I wouldn't buy this anymore, but it's quite good as an eyeshadow base, so in conclusion I'm on the fence.

[HG Product] Review: Tony Moly Berry Berry Magic Lip Tint

I'm not a fan of lip products because of how troublesome they are. You apply, you eat/drink, you re-apply - it's a cycle that I really hate to administer. Thankfully, my natural lip colour is quite pinkish red to begin with, so I can make do with lipsticks. However, they get really dry sometimes and so I love looking out for lip balms or lip tints! 

I recently purchased this Tony Moly Berry Berry Magic Lip Tint off Qoo10 out of curiosity and also just simply because the price was too hard to beat - S$5.50 including shipping from Korea! 

Here's the link in case you're interested in purchasing too: http://list.qoo10.sg/gmkt.inc/Goods/Goods.aspx?goodscode=405158871

This lip tint has officially achieved Holy Grail status in my beauty book. 

• Extremely reasonable price-tag
• Highly moisturising
• Pigmented without being too in-your-face
• Smells like heaven (I bought the grape flavoured one!! I WANNA EAT MY LIPS SERIOUSLY)
• Not sticky - I hate it when I go out with pretty lips, and then the wind blows and I have hair stuck to my lips. UNGLAM. 
• Cute and compact packaging

NO QUALMS WHATSOEVER. This product is freaking amazing!! 

Currently, the seller has the lip tint in 3 flavours: strawberry, green apple and grape. Grape is too good and now I'm tempted to get the other 2. Just like Pokemon, gotta catch'em all!!! 

Packaging: Compact and quite easy to put inside any make-up bag. I like how Tony Moly's products are designed to look professional. Makes you feel like you are getting more than you should be. Haha.

Texture: This lip tint has a gel texture that I quite adore. Some lip balms are so horribly sticky that I used them not on my lips, but on my blistered feet (YAY TIP OF THE DAY! That's right! You can use your lip balm on any blistered areas, works like magic!!). This, however, is not incredibly sticky. It moisturises without being greasy.

Colour: The product itself has a purple tint. However, according to the website, all three flavours will come out as the same pinkish colour after application. I actually love how subtle this lip tint is. It does give colour to dead lips but you don't look like you need major attention on your lips. You just look healthy and cheery!

Here's how the colour looks like on a piece of cotton cloth! It looks damn pink, but trust me, it's realy subtle on your lips!

Longevity: Of course you can't expect this to last more than 5 hours right? It's a lip tint, not a lip lacquer. I think this lasts a maximum of 2 hours on your lips, maybe more if you are not drinking at all. I don't find it troublesome to reapply though because of how nice smelling the lip tint is!!

Will I buy it again? DEFINITELY. I hope the seller keeps restocking this product. I need it for every single day of my life!!