Review: e.l.f. studio Eyebrow Kit in medium

I have been paying attention to my eyebrows lately. It's weird because I used to ignore them and let them grow till they look like caterpillars. Then I trimmed my brows, and I realised how important it is to have nice, proper and neat eyebrows. They really do make your face look more three dimensional (like not so flat lah) and sometimes well-trimmed and properly filled in eyebrows make you look more awake! 

I only have ONE eyebrow product, yes very embarrassing I know. That's why I'm looking out for more eyebrow products! Since I'm still quite new to it, I don't really want to spend a bomb on eyebrow products. Hence, I was quite excited when I saw the e.l.f. studio Eyebrow Kit in medium at the smoochiezz's stand at Tanjong Pagar MRT! I bought it for S$7 and the price is definitely cheaper than drugstore eyebrow kits. I read so many great reviews too so I was stoked!

The e.l.f. studio Eyebrow Kit promises to do the following:

Ingredients list

Packaging: I have always thought of e.l.f studio's packaging as being similar to NARS's packaging. Of course the quality of the e.l.f studio one is not as good, but there's nothing to complain about really. The mirror provided is also quite substantial. A great size for when you want to touch-up your eyebrow look. I will not recommend throwing away the plastic cover though (as seen from the first product photo), because it acts as a shield between the products and the mirror. Getting powder and wax on the mirror is not a pleasant situation, so keeping the plastic cover is a must!

Brush: The brush included is surprisingly of above-average quality. With reference to the photo above, the left side is supposed to be for the powder (for setting the brow wax), and the right side is for applying the brow wax. The left brush is very very soft and it's a good brush for people with thicker and fuller brows. Those with thinner brows will not like it because the brush is quite huge and it covers a bigger area. I still have trouble using the right side brush. It's good for drawing precise lines but the problem is when I use it to dab on the brow wax, the brush head splits into two? Then application gets really troublesome because the line drawn is not uniform! I still don't know what's the problem. BAH! I got so irritated, I started using an eyeliner brush instead. Worked so much better!

Swatch of brow wax, taken with camera flash

Swatch of brow wax + brow powder, taken with camera flash

Separate swatches of brow wax and brow powder, taken with camera flash.

Pigmentation: The pigmentation from the brow wax is stellar. It's so good that I'm scared I will apply way too much on my brows. But everything's good because for some weird reason, the wax applied lightly on my brows and I could build up the colour! Great product! The brow powder doesn't have much pigmentation but that's expected because the brow powder is supposed to set the wax and not to add more colour. So, all is well in the pigmentation world!

Application: I didn't like applying the brow wax with the given brush so I used my eyeliner brush instead and it worked just as well! The wax applies smoothly and it doesn't dry quickly, which means you have time to slowly shape your brows. If you realise from the above photos, the pigmentation is not so strong on the brows right? I personally like it that way. I was so scared I would look like a clown! Thankfully, it applied lightly, and yet it could fill up the holes! YAY to e.l.f. studio Eyebrow Kit!

Longevity: This product lasts a long long long long time, even under the crazy Singapore weather conditions. I'm super impressed at how long-lasting it is! The application didn't smudge or fade away. It stayed put for for an entire day and I didn't have to touch up at all.

Will I buy it again? Yes. Of course I will be getting eyebrow products from other brands as well, but I have a feeling at the end of the day, I will go back to the e.l.f. studio Eyebrow Kit again. It's foolproof (perfect for beginners) and it applies beautifully!

Graduate lo! (Well, almost!)

My last day in WKWSCI was a really eventful one (I don't cout exams lah, so April 22nd is my last day in school haha). It started off with a crazy transportation bonanza where SMRT once again proved to the world how useless it was. =___= But no let's not go there. 

We started the day with immense nerves. Our oral presentation for Final Year Project was at 915am and we were just rehearsing like mad! Of course it went well (I think) and it was all over by 945am! HOORAH! We then had a lot of waiting to do because the buffet lunch was at half past one. A lot of waiting meant a lot of gossiping with people that I haven't seen for a long long time, so that was precious! :') 

Buffet lunch was from Amici and the WKWSCI management still gave us wellness packs! So awesome ah this school. :) 

The night was spent at fabrika and the gathering was like a conclusion to our undergraduate lives and a beginning to many many years of alumni gatherings to come. 

Thank you WKWSCI for the 4 years of great education and for giving me the opportunity to know all my wonderful friends! I LOVE WKWSCI! 

Technically, WKWSCI also gave me my job, so THANK YOU MORE MORE WKWSCI! :) 

PHOTOS TIME!

This was taken right after our FYP oral presentation. HAPPY RESEARCHERS!! :) 

We also took one precious photo with Bo, our amazing FYP supervisor! The statistics genius!! 

Kokky was rehearsing her speech I think. haha. 

YAY WONDERFUL FRIENDS!! Where's Chay!!

HERE'S CHAY! :D 

Anyway, I know I'm not dressed up for presentation lah, but whatever haha, I tried to formalise everything with the black blazer. I was dressing up for fabrika!!

Wellness packs from WKWSCI! <3 td="">

Everyone queueing up because the buffet was ready to be attacked!!

Those mushrooms were just heavenly. They were completely wiped out when I went back for more. Sian.

With Mark, Jasmine and Krsytal! 

Finally caught up with some Paverts at fabrika! :) Been long since I saw them and it was a good gathering!! 

I cannot say enough ah, but THANK YOU WKWSCI! :))

See all of you guys again on July 26th!

Review: O.P.I The Bondettes Collection (Inspired by SKYFALL)

I went into the Smoochiezz stand at Tanjong Pagar not knowing which nailpolish I should get, but I know I will get some nailpolish! And sure enough, I tried hard to only choose one set, and I walked out with the O.P.I The Bondettes Collection (Inspired by SKYFALL) and also some other stuff, which you can read about on my haul post. 

This set is GORGEOUS. I love my reds, dark deep colours and glitters and this set has all of them. Precisely why I got the set in the first place! 

The set costs S$20! I think if you get it online (ASOS for example), it's much more expensive, so yay Smoochiezz! 

The colours didn't look nice when I took the photos using natural lighting! I have no idea why because I'm a noob photographer, but maybe because it's too cloudy?

Colours from left to right:

• GoldenEye 
• The Spy Who Loved Me
• The World Is Not Enough
• Live and Let Die

GoldenEye looks like your basic gold glitter nailpolish but ohnonono, it's a yellow-tinted base nailpolish with gold glitters and gold shimmers in it. The glitters and shimmers are extremely fine and when you apply it, you don't get chunky applications. It's very smooth and your nails look so festive! :D

The Spy Who Loved Me is a warm tone red with fine gold shimmer. It's like trying to go sensual and funky at the same time!

The World Is Not Enough is a sheer metallic grey with fine multi-colour shimmers. I'm quite disappointed with this nailpolish. When I say sheer, it's REALLY sheer. If the colour came true to what I saw from the bottle, then it's a perfect colour! But no, I had to layer 3 coats to get like 75% of the pigmentation. :(

Live and Let Die is what I have on my nails right now. As always, I will turn to the dark colours first! Live and Let Die is a dark navy with fine glitter shimmers. It's really quite gorgeous because when the colour catches the sunlight, it turns into this glorious multi-dimensional colour. LOVE IT.

All 4 swatched on my fingernails. Sorry for this bad photo quality. :(

Anyway, look at The World Is Not Enough (2nd from right), this intensity was only achieved after 3 coats. I'm beyond depressed because the colour is so gorgeous but it's not showing up right!!

Can't wait to change to GoldenEye next week!! :)

Have a great day everyone! For those with exams, MUG ON!!

Visuals: New shoes, more food, new job!

Another eventful week with lots of gathering and eating. Also, the online purchases keep coming in and I really gotta stop. I have no space already!! 

I'm officially a week away from my Japan grad trip! HOORAH! Everything is in order because after grad trip, I have a company to work at and possibly further sharpen my research software skills there. Awesome! :) 

Here are photos from last week! :) 

New shoes that I purchased from taobao. Total for all 3 pairs (+shipping and agent fee) is S$36! STEAL! The sandals are really comfortable, but the other two pairs need some getting used to. 

Wondering if I should bring this to Japan? No idea yet if this will hurt after a full day of walking though...

New Balance 574 that I purchased last week. Great investment. I have a blogpost on it! 

Such a ra-ra book. :P It was good and I read it from page to page once I got home. However, travelling tips were really quite minimal.

The mural behind the building that my company is in! The company is really cosy with few employees and a really open culture. I can't wait to work there! Though I must admit, I'm quite scared of whether or not I will live up to expectation, but well, I'll do my best! 

Looking at this photo makes me sick. KFC, you gotta stop all these unhealthy (more unhealthy?) offerings. Fitrina, you gotta stop eating all these really unhealthy offerings!

ITACHO had a deal at JCube and of course we had to feast on some sushis! I had 15 sushis, and I paid like only S$12. LOL. <3 td="">

Normal affair at the hawker centre near kengyang's house. I need to take a photo of the legendary koka noodles. Everyone comes to this hawker centre in the morning just for the koka noodles!!!

Our study session at Eve's turned out to be a cheese party. HAHA. Expected lah when you are in Eve's house because she's a damn good host! Just kept feeding us with food only. :P Anyway Eve's now enjoying her grad trip and the next time I can see her is in June. BAHHH. 

If I have the heart to make breakfast in the morning, this will be what it looks like.  I gotta thank Wang for the scrambled eggs tips - use milk, then JUST KEEP STIRRING FOR 30 SECONDS and you're done. :) 

Great omu rice at Coco-Ichibanya! 

Kengyang and I always have unhealthy suppers haha. But we will always run it off, so it's okay! Once in a while is fine lah, not like we supper every single day.

MY FAVOURITE MEI CAI. OMG. 

Bro turned 12 on Sunday! He's very confused. He told me when he's 24 years old, I'll be 48 years old. HUH?! I"m 12 years older le, and even though this year I'm double his age, doesn't mean every year will right? My mom then say, "I thought your maths paper got this type of question?" Of which he responded, "oh ya ya, aiyoh so confusing." LOL

My new mini nailpolishes! I have a haul post on these coming up too! :) 

Video: TheStyleDiet's Make Up Story

TheStyleDiet's latest video on her makeup story is really quite stellar! I love how she wasn't afraid of showing the world her acne! I didn't realise she had any acne and always thought she had flawless skin! This video definitely made her more relatable and for sure shows how crazy awesome her makeup skills are!

So, suddenly I thought to myself, "why not share my makeup story with my readers too?"

Here's my makeup story! :)

I started with makeup quite early, around 15 years old. However back then, all I did was brush some two-way foundation on my skin and I'm good to go. My dark eye circles were non-existent then and acne attacks were minimal.

In Junior College, I started to use concealers under my eyes and on the occasional break-outs. A Levels were tough for me and all the stress and sleepless nights deteriorated my skin condition. Moreover, many nights, I would forget about the concealer that I applied in the morning, so I slept with it. NOT GOOD. Towards the end of JC2, I had really bad bumps on my skin and that made my self-esteem plummet.

After A levels, I looked through both my secondary school and JC prom photos and realised how bad the makeup was! So as I was part-timing at a tuition centre while waiting for university admission, I would spend my free time watching Youtube makeup tutorials! I still remember my first ever video was Michelle Phan's video on how to apply eyeliner. I bought more makeup products using my pay and from then on I experimented on myself, and my makeup skills got better.

I realised I liked how I could change my plain looks using makeup and I decided to try my skills on other people. So during the first year of university, I started to do freelance makeup projects. I wasn't paid or anything, but I was happy because I could further build up my experience! However, as I moved on to year 2 of university, I realised I didn't have much time for these freelance projects anymore. I was quite sad about it but this was when I discovered that I could blog about beauty and skincare products! I blogged since secondary school, but I got really serious in beauty blogging only in year 2 of university.

Now, I still occasionally help my friends with their makeup queries, but being a makeup artists no longer is a goal of mine. However, maintaining my beauty blog and garnering more readers are two goals that I would like to achieve for as long as I can blog! :)

So, now the baton's in your hands - what's your makeup story?

Black Box April 2013 - Double Happiness!

Yet another beauty-box related company has emerged! Black Box is different though because you don't need to pay a single cent! OH YEAH. Initially I subscribed once to Black Box (April 2013), but I think my form submission process got wonky and accidentally I submitted more than 3 times. I waited and waited and waited and waited, and finally it came delivered to my doorstep yesterday! 

I was shocked because I received two of the same box! At first, I went "crap, now I have double of samples that I won't use", but no, that thought disappeared quite quickly because I pretty much liked everything inside the box. Even the Vanish stain remover because I can bring it to Japan for my laundry sessions! :D 

Anyway pictures time! 

And yes, for subscribers, you will get emailed links to a certain survey. After you have completed that survey, you will receive another Black Box (of another month) for free! Just completed mine, and I can't wait to receive my June 2013 Black Box! :)

Every box will have a fixed set of items, with an addition of one or two extra surprises!

For the first box, I got the Ettusais sample as the extra surprise!

Seriously, if you give me coffee sachets in your box, there's a very high likelihood that I will love your box. :P So yay, 6 new Nescafe coffee sachets! :)

Also, I thought it was fate that I got the belif samples, and not only random belif things, but they gave a sample of the belif First Aid 360 Eye Care Mask, WHICH I WANTED TO GET FOR THE LONGEST TIME. Even though each sachet was only 3ml, a little bit of product goes a long way. I emptied the product into a small container and the 6ml looks substantial enough to be used for a good 2-3 weeks! OHYEAH!

The L'oreal Revitalift Serum and Cream samples are not small. I think they can be classified under "deluxe samples" already. Problem is should I start using them, or should I give them to my mom? Even though I would love to start on my anti-ageing skincare routine soon, but starting on strong products like these is not good on my skin. Later my skin dependent on it how? :(

The second box had the Bioflora Collabee as a surprise item! I put it in the fridge already and according to the card it taste like pineapple juice?! Can't wait to drink it tonight and be in deep illusion of how my skin is firming up already. :P

The rest of the items are similar to the first box!

Anyway, there were a lot of vouchers included inside the box as well! I can't wait to use my Revive Wellness voucher!

How's that for a FREE beauty box? Actually I shouldn't mention Black Box as a "beauty box" because  they include unisex items and not solely beauty/skincare items! As written on the website, "there's always something for him and for her"!

Do visit this website if you are interested in getting your own Black Box: http://blackbox.sg/ (Don't insert dot-com-dot-sg because that's another website haha).

Subscribe now and enjoy your surprises soon!! Did I mention that the boxes are hand-delivered? I think  I did, so double yay!! :)