Loose Button Luxe Box: March 2012

Our monthly description card, plus a dollar Shopper's coupon for R.J. Watkins lotion and an interesting 'seed' card that I'm not sure if I'd want to plant...

My March boxes were pretty mediocre. In my luxe box I received 4 deluxe samples, none of which I was excited about. They are as follow:
Kérastase Masque Age Recharge

Hair mask that I would prolly finish in one or two use... smell is clean and fresh

OPI top coat

I don't wear nail polish much anymore... but we'll see :)

DDF Advanced Firming Cream

J.R.Watkins - Hand and Body Lotion

Overwhelmed with lavender scent~ It's not bad... but was too much... texture of this lotion was nice tho~

*insert big sigh* I had registered for the Cargo e/s, but the system was so laggy that day, I guess I didn't get it~ meh~ TBH I think that the concept of 'First in Line' is really interesting, but I don't think that their network can support that many people at the same time. I feel that it is so unfair... bleh~

These monthly subscriptions don't really have the wow factor anymore... maybe I need to try out something new? hmm~~ what do you think? what did you get?

March Haul: Drug store, Lush and Lancome

This month has been stressful~ So I resorted to shop therapy... and this is what I ended up with... (so far)

These were purchased on Thursday... I was out for pho with fiancé and auntie and afterwards we stopped by Shoppers... all of these items were on sale so I decided to try them out :) Maybelline baby lips in Pink Punch was $3.99, L'Oreal infallible eye shadow in eternal black was $9.99 and the Maybelline Color Tattoo in Bad to the Bronze and Pomegranate Punk for $6.99 each~ Steal right?(at least that's what I'm telling myself...) Anyways, I've only swatched the lip balm, but if you want the swatches of the e/s just let me know :)

Maybelline baby lips in pink punch: 1st picture with flash, second without~ It feels more like a lipstick than a lipbalm as it is not very moisturizing, but is extremely pigmented... If you are shy of bright lips (like me) you'd have to use a light hand with this to get a lovely bright pink (gotta find the lip picture or take a new one and post sometime in the near future ^_^)

On Saturday, after some particularly annoying conversations with Wind mobile's call centre I went to Lush... and Sina (amazing CSR) gave me my first quick facial... I decided to buy everything plus a lip tint... however I gave the Imperialis moisturizer to Mom (not in picture) because I found that it was way too oily for me, but would be perfect for her! I got the Breath of Fresh Air Toner and decided to try the Angels on Bare Skin face cleanser. I'm liking both products so far, but will test it out a bit more to see if my skin likes it as well. As for the lip tint, see pictures below!

I'm loving the natural healthy colour! I debated between It started with a kiss and A million kisses, so Sina convinced me, It started with a kiss is more spring :) Glad he was honest, so glad I listened~ It is a lovely tint that I do not regret adding to my collection, but I have to admit the smell is a bit off-putting and the container can be difficult to open.

I then proceed to Sephora... and got only 1 lipstick but lots of free products~~ I got the email about the free BareMinerals Finishing touches set and that was my cue... I love trying new products!

As you can see.. I also picked up my Nars primer as well as a sample of Nars foundation. I got curious about how well it would do on my skin type and the Sephora CSR matched me with Fiji and gave me a very generous sample :)

Products out of box but not out of bag -__-

Now... Onto the lipstick! I cave into the Lancome, Rouge in Love in 353M Rose Pitimini :)

This was another lovely lipstick with beautiful colour. It applies nicely and smells like Rocket Pop, I'm tempted to bite my lips because it smells so sweet. I find that this lipstick is not as moisturizing as advertise, but this problem can be easily fixed by applying a lip balm before, or after... :) 

Let me end off this post with this picture of a withered tulip... I find it beautiful despite of its state. :)

FOTD: March 18, 2012

Hiya! Here's a FOTD using some of the samples I had. Enjoy!

Face:
Benefit Porefessional
Benefit Bo-ing in Light 01
Nars Foundation in Fiji
Eyes:
Dior Show brow styler
Anastasia brow gel
Smashbox eyelid primer
Maybelline Color Tattoo Bad to the Bronze
Koji Dolly Wink eyeliner in Deep Black
Almay one coat nourishing mascara
Lip:
Lancome Rouge in Love 353 Rose Pitimini

Anna Sui Dolly Girl Lip Stick

Over the past year, I've grown quite fond of lip products... and then I found out I might be allergic to beeswax which is in the majority of lipsticks available in the market. Thankfully, there are products out there that does not contain it, such as these two Anna Sui lipstick [I also ordered the blue one from UO but it never came :( ]

If I do fall in love with these lipsticks it will be hard to find them later as these are from Anna Sui's 2011 Spring/Summer limited edition. 

The first thing about these that I noticed and loved is the packaging. The boxes are beautifully coloured and so were the tubes! They look like Russian Dolls and there is a face on the lipstick. Secondly, the lipstick smells divine. It smells like fresh roses, which was a lovely surprise during these gloomy days.

I got the lipstick in 001 and 003. Since I'm not 100% if I am allergic to this lipstick I decided to try out shade 003 first... Here's a swatch of it on my arm as well as on my lips.

#1 with flash

#2 without flash

#3 with flash

#4 with flash

#5 without flash

I'm not quite sure why the colour looks different in all of the pictures.. but picture #3 is most true to colour. When applied, this lipstick is sheer and IMO is a great tinted lip moisturizer as it gives just a hint of colour and is not drying.

Really quite surprised with this and kind of sad that it is a limited edition. Perhaps I will try out other Anna Sui lipsticks :)

Glymm box: March 2012

My last Glymm box and I'm not too sad it's all over... Why? well aside from the fact that nothing much interested me from this month's box, I received a duplicated item that I still have not used... Anyways, onto the pictures!

TBH, I am quite surprised at how quickly I got my March Glymm box~

This was the only thing that got me a bit excited, bluish turquoise feather hair extensions  :)

Coup d'Eclat Instant facial energizer, this reminds me of the Lise Watier Flash lift radiance vial 

Vasanti BrightenUp! ( I received my first one in my Jan Glymm box)

Ocean Nail Polish, this nail polish brand is sold USA and European salons... or you can buy it in bulk online

M. Asam Perfect Teint

So yep... Buh-bye Glymm!

More even complexion~

I do not normally bother with bb cream/foundation nor do I usually cover my dark eye circles, but the reason for this is not because my skin is perfect. I am simply too lazy.

This weekend changed everything (for now...)

I was home alone and bored, so in an attempt to find 'the' angle, I decided to take multiple pictures of myself (so vain!)... when I noticed these...

Ugly, semi dark circles that were purple... The colour in this picture is slightly washed out ... but its existence was clear and they are hideous... I HAD to hide them...

And so... before the bridal show I went to Shoppers with Roni (plus her fiancé) and picked these up...

Let's start off with the BB cream...

 Garnier's BB cream

It feels like every company is coming out with their own version of BB cream... and after reading some reviews, it really made me want to grab Marcelle's new BB cream to try out. But we found the Garnier BB cream on sale for $9, so I decided to try it out instead (at the incredibly reasonable price). Here is the swatch on NW 20 skin~

I got it in light/medium and it looks like the perfect match for me... It blended out nicely and unlike asian BB cream, does not have the greyish undertone at the beginning. So far I've only used it for 3 days, therefore I haven't really tested it out fully... but I like it, it does not seem to break me out. The only drawback is that after 2 to 3 hours my face becomes an oil pool on my cheeks and T zone... Today I tried applying a translucent powder and it seems to improve the situation, but will have to see how it does later on :)

Benefit Cosmetics boi-ing in Light 01

As for the concealer... I picked up Benefit's boi-ing in Light 01... it felt/looked like the right shade but now I'm starting to think that on its own it is too light for me, but the medium is too dark... I will mix it up with my erase paste (in medium) and see if it's a better match... will experiment and report :)

so far it's...

Bu-bye dark circles! Hello even complexion :)

No makeup, just BB cream and concealer :)

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So I think I know why the Garnier BB cream I got is on sale... look in....

 The first ad is the BB cream... but WITH SPF15!

It looked just like the one I had... so I put it on the page to cover it ^_^