Haul from Shiseido/Nars Fall Warehouse Sale 2013

In dire need of damage control~ I went into this sale without a 'to-get' list and it turned out much more detrimental for the health of my wallet. 

As you can see from the picture, I picked up more than enough Shiseido products as well as some Nars and Joico. My hauling didn't end there since I've also picked up some Clé de Peau products... But being the smrty pants that I am, this was the only picture I took of the CdP products...

At least I know the prices... I was surprised to that the Palette de Voyage actually retailed at $180USD at Neiman Marcus when it was launched... Even though this is part of last year's holiday collection, I thought the deal was too amazing to pass.

I've been to different warehouse sales and I find that one great thing about the Shiseido / Nars sale, is that the price for products is almost the same every year. Off the top of my head I only remember that lippies go for $10, single shadows for $8 and quads for $10. Shiseido cotton pads are $8, Shiseido skincare ranges from 30ish unless it's the more expensive line, those you pick up while waiting in line to pay.

Overall, the sale had been amazing, but the lineups (to get in and to pay) had gotten a lot more crazy, including the rest of the shoppers. I was talking to the CdP rep about a product, she went to grab it and by the time she returned I was shuffled all the way to the end of the line... I had to yell to get her attention and give the okay. *sigh* Makeup drives a woman out of her mind! Next year, I will learn to ground myself better. :)

Week 4: Concealing dark circles

I am one of the many people who suffers from dark eye circles (although not hereditary) but depending on the quality of sleep I get, it can be a light brownish purple or worst a deep blue-purple. Therefore, hunting down a great concealer for me is important. Here are a few concealers I have that was purchased for this purpose and in most cases did excellent, except for the one factor, it doesn't tend to last.

from left to right: first two swatches are form the Nars duo one is Vanilla and the other is Honey. then it's Kat Von D in Light 18, K-palette in 03 Orange Beige, YSL in 2 Nude Beige and Benefit's Boi-ing in Light.

Monday: Nars Concealer duo in Vanilla and Honey

• The packaging for this is the typical Nars sleek, textured compact with a big mirror on the inside which is great for application and convenient to bring around. I love the fact that there is two colours in one compact, vanilla is the perfect shade for brightening and honey is a more orangey shade that is great at correcting/neutralizing problem areas (ie dark circles.) In most cases, my skintone is in between shades, so purchasing a single product that contains a lighter and darker shade is awesome. Overall, the formula is lightweight and works well when the area is moisturized and primed (this is true for any concealer I use). I found that it does migrate over time. This product is however discontinued and even though I enjoyed it, I'm not sure it would be worth it at full price. 

Tuesday: Kat Von D Lock-it Tattoo concealer in Light 18

• I like tubed products in general because I find them more hygienic than the pot pan ones, which was the reason why I picked this. This product provides full coverage, is creamy and applies well with a brush, however, because of my oily skin it does not last very long and shifting begins as early as 2-3 hours. When I set it with a powder, this product looks cakey. Overall not too impressed with this product and I should probably have returned it to Sephora had I not been so determined to make it work. 

Wednesday: K-palette Zero Kuma Cover Control Concealer in 03 Orange Beige

• Long name for a concealer that does not last very long... it started to disappear on me a few hours after application even with primer. I had read quite a few reviews that raved about this product and thought I should give it a try. Honestly, I am not a big fan of this product, I don't think I enjoy using this liquid concealer because I feel I have a lot less control. 

Thursday: YSL Anti-Cernes Multi-action concealer in 2 Nude Beige

• This is the most expensive concealer I've purchased to date and luckily, not one I regretted. I love this silky, creamy concealer stick. It glides smoothly over my undereye and with two swipes completely conceals the dark circle. The product blends out nicely however, if not careful, can be completely swiped away. I find that the easiest way to blend out this product is just to lightly pat it. One of the reasons why I enjoy this so much, is also the fact that it matches my current skintone perfectly. :) My only complaint about this concealer is.... its beautiful packaging attracts way too much fingerprints! 

Friday: Benefit Cosmetic Boi-ing in 01 Light (which is actually for fair skin tone)

• I actually got this concealer in a shade too light for my skintone. It looks okay as long as I wear glasses on top, however without them, it's too obvious that I have concealer on. As far as concealing, this provides a full coverage, the formula is a bit drying and if not applied properly can look cakey. I find that warming up the product can help with application, but it is hard to work with on morning that you are in a rush. Definitely not a on the go!

A few things I want to note with regards to using concealers. I find that people with oily eyelids such as myself have a pretty hard time keeping concealers in their place. With that being said, putting on a primer under the concealer as well as setting it with a powder is crucial to longer lasting concealing. 

Next week, eyeliners :)

Random samples: first impressions

Here's my 2 cents of product samples I've used in the past few months.

Caudalie eye and lip cream - This cream feels so nice and light weight, and does a great job at moisturizing. I've only used it for a week and noticed very slight difference in my dark eye circles. However, I'm not sure if I am willing to splurge $49 on it...

Nars Radiant Tinted Moisturizer in Alaska - I wanted to love this because I've heard so much rave about it, however I can't. Within 3 hours of using this TM I start getting oily on my T-zone and cheeks. This has not happened with my theBalm TM... I like the higher SPF, but I find that it made my skin look more dull despite the oil pool later on.

Dior Hydra Life BB creme - This BB cream broke me out :( I really wanted to like this product, because I wanted to get it when I was in the US, but the results were disappointing. I'm just so glad I got to try a sample of it before purchasing the full size (a whooping $56USD!)

Phyto Phytopolleine Universal Elixir Scalp stimulant - I got this in one of my monthly subscriptions and I really love it. I have troubled skin and my scalp was not spared (please excuse me) but my scalp flakes like crazy! After my first use of this I was extremely happy that it worked so well. I will be purchasing purchased the full size of this product. It has a very strong but not unpleasant smell of eucalyptus and work quite well to maintain a healthy scalp.

Suisse Programme Gigawhite Fresh UV Shield Moisturizer SPF15 - I had a 2ml sample that lasted me 3 applications. This product smells awesome and has a little bit of SPF which I like, however I was surprised to find that it wasn't quite moisturizing enough for me... Certain areas on my face dried up throughout the day. At a whooping 83$ on Sasa, I will not be purchasing~

Neutrogena Ultra Sheer Dry-Touch Sunscreen Lotion SPF55 - This is a nice sunscreen with high SPF and covers both UVA and UVB. It dries non-sticky and smells okay for a sunscreen. I would so purchase this product if I wasn't already overstocked with them :) This is something to keep in mind next summer as it is both waterproof and sweatproof (tested from all the swimming and tubing down while on vacation.)

Apologies for not having any pictures for this post as they are mostly samples, perhaps I should take a pictures of samples before I try them out next time :)

NOTD: Brown + Gold

Quick post of my nail colour combo~ I'm really loving brown and gold as of lates and it is shown on my nails :) Here I'm wearing Essie's Good as Gold and Nars' Bad Influence... what do you think about this combo? What are you wearing on your nails for fall?

Eyeshadow fanatic

I went to the Shiseido Warehouse sale this year... and my haul consist mainly of eyeshadows... for most of them $10 was too good a deal to pass... now... with the big hole in my wallet I wonder if it was such a good idea... and to top it all off the only thing I've used out of this bunch was the blush...

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. :)

Seduced by NARS~

Nope... no self-control what-so-ever. Got the VIB gift from Nars email and I instantly knew I will be making a trip to Sephora... Death trap... seriously... 

To get the Nars goodies... you had to make a purchase of at least $35... So I got the Tarte Amazonian Clay 12-hour blush in Exposed and a Sephora trio eyeshadow/highlighter.

Here's the pretty bag...

... with a neat little intro card...

and the Nars goodies!

Inside the cute pouch was a mini Nars bronzing powder in Laguna, liquid illuminator in Orgasm and a smudge proof eyeshadow base. I wanted to try the bronzer but I didn't want to get the full size because I am still learning to contour properly... I also figured that if I give up on contouring I can use it as an e/s ;)

FOTD: January 26, 2012 + mini mascara comparison

It's been a while since I did a FOTD~ It's a lazy day for me since my face is completely naked (hence all the blemishes~) I did however apply a blush to add some colour to my cheeks. What do you think?

I went crazy! My lips are misbehaving again, so I was ecstatic when the picture turned out ok.. haha..

Products used:
Smashbox eye shadow palette in Monarch
Smashbox limitless liquid liner pen in dark brown
Tarte Amazonian clay 12-hour blush in Blissful <-- currently my fave blush!
Revlon ColorBurst Lip Butter in Tutti Fruitti
Nars Larger than life volumizing mascara in black(on right lash) and MAC Plush Lash in Brownette (on left lash)... I wanted to do a quick comparison and here are my findings:

• The color of the two mascara looked virtually identical. 
• Lashes with Nars mascara is softer than those with the MAC mascara, although the MAC ones were not that hard. 
• Formula for MAC mascara was more volumizing than that of Nars which actually felt more like a lenghtening mascara. The lashes with MAC mascara looked fuller and more dense, whereas lashes with Nars were longer and more spidery
•  Lastly, not my finding, but ze man-friend told me that the Nars actually held the curls better than MAC did... how can I miss that?

Would like to apologize for no close up pictures, the ones that I took did not turn out well... I blame both camera and my short Asian lashes! 

Hope you enjoy my randomness~ Until next time!

Haul: Shiseido + Nars 2011

Here's some pictures of the stuff I got this past weekend.

Here's a mini haul from Sasa. I purchased the 'Shiseido Sun Protection Stick Foundation in Beige' at regular price because I did not find it at the warehouse sale. Or if it was there it was soldout before we got there =( However, on a brighter note, Shiseido had a gift with purchase and I got this travel size 'White Lucent' set for free. :)

Got these at Sasa in Market Village

Now, onto the haul from the Shiseido warehouse sale :)

L'Oreal + Shiseido warehouse sale 2011

Yesterday we went to both the L'Oreal warehouse sale as well as the Shiseido one and it was insane!!! There was a lot of people there and the lineups were crazy long! We waited only an hour to get into each sale however to get into the Shiseido sale could take up to 3 hours in the morning, on top of that there was a huge lineup just to pay!! This was a day full of standing, walking and being shoved around with some very aggressive shoppers at both sale who went coucou over everything!


Inside the L'Oreal warehouse sale



crazy line up to go into the Shiseido warehouse sale



Inside the Shiseido warehouse

the shopping crew!

From the top of my head I remember only buying some eyeshadows, mascara, sunscreens, and hair products from the L'Oreal sale and for the Shiseido sale it was mainly eyeshadows(again), eyeliners, blushes, nail polishes and I got one moisturizer. Both sales had great deals however I feel that the sale at Shiseido was better as there were more options for skincare and they were continuously restocking items throughout. Will post pictures up when I finally get to it :)

Notes for when you go to these sales:
- wear comfortable shoes (you will be standing a lot!)
- wear t-shirt (it gets very hot and stuffy inside)
- bring water (keep yourself hydrated, they have washrooms if you need to take a break)
- bring snacks (especially if you decide to go to two sales on the same day)
- set a limit (you don't want to max out your credit cards, however please note that at the L'Oreal sale they do have a $600 limit per ticket)
- and finally, learn kung fu. I kid you not, you will be fending people off you and your stuff!!! Haha!!

Oh yeah. And after all this madness I still ended up going to Pacific Mall and Market Village to pick up my Shiseido stick foundation (it was not at the sale) and my Skin79 BB cream. I am prepped for summer :)