Spoiled by Moose

Did I ever tell you how lucky I am to have Moose as a friend? She knows I'm on a no-buy (or should be) but she got me some wonderful things from SDM when she saw the sales... I joined her and splurged a little to return the favor~~ So here's the love package and part of the haulage :)

My top 12 products of 2012

Just thought I'd share my top 12 products of the past year. These are not listed in the order of favourites, but more in the order in which I use them throughout the day. With my shopping addiction, I was surprised that I consistently liked a few products, and today I will reveal which ones they are :D

11 of the 12 products, I thought that the sheet masks would take up too much space

The first fave product is actually one that I use first thing in the morning, that is my Hello Kitty Cleansing paste. Although I am not particularly fond of the scent I can overlook it because it makes my face feels so clean and soft afterwards. I like using this so much I already have a back up of it... I actually have a mini review of this here if you are interested in reading more about it.

One of my rare finds of 2012 was the H2O Face Oasis shine-neutralizing gel. I stumbled on this because I had purchased the wrong moisturizer for my friend, so instead I decided to keep it for myself. Boy am I glad for this mistake. This oil-free gel is an amazing moisturizer that not only keeps my face matte, but hydrated all day long.

Vaseline lip therapy lip balm Cocao butter - 2012 was a year that I dedicated to finding awesome lip treatments for my super dry lips. On my hunt, I found this cute little tub that was pretty good at keeping them happy. This product is good at retaining moisture in the lips but does not really add hydration to it and it worked a lot better after my lips are healed. It is great at 'sealing' the lips so that I may occasionally wear a lip products that contain beeswax.

Kose Suncut Essence in UV Protect Milk SPF50 PA+++ Waterproof is a very lovely dupe of the Shiseido Sunscreen that I adore for half the price. This product was especially awesome during the summer time, a sunscreen with decent SPF and none of the oily feeling. 

YSL anti-cernes multi-action concealer in Nude Beige - Love this creamy concealer, can't believe I spent so much money on something so little... but it is great at concealing dark circles, and it can last at least 4 hours on if I don't set it with a powder and almost twice that when I do. It has very minimal creasing and it has been my most successful concealer so far.

TheBalm Balm Shelter Tinted moisturizer - At the beginning of 2012, my skin was not at it's happiest, lots of breakout, redness and scarring so this was not enough coverage for me. However, with continuous use, my face slowly cleared up and by mid to end of 2012 my face required very minimal coverage. Between the H2O moisturizer and this TM, my skin's been feeling happy and not overloaded. I've reviewed this product here.

Shiseido eyeshadow quad in Desert Winds - I was surprised by this, but I reached for this palette more often than not. The colour in this palette is very wearable on a daily basis, the shadow last all day even without a primer. I was suprised at its pigmentation, lasting ability and its lovely texture. This palette wowed me and I dread the day I finish any of the shadows on this perfect palette!

d.j.v. Beautenizer mascara - I enjoyed this mascara more than any other fiberwig I've tried so far. When I'm finished the stash of mascara I've hoarded over the last while I will definitely consider repurchasing this. I love the fact that it does not clump when I apply it, nor does it smudge on me throughout the day although I wish that it was a darker black, since my Asian lashes are barely visible regularly. 

Too Faced Lip Crème in Naughty Nude - I'm usually a coral kind of girl, but since I found this lipstick, I've really start digging nude lips. It might also be because I've been wearing more smokey looks and this lipstick just goes so well with them without making me look like a zombie~ Swatches and my little obsessive post can be found here, just in case you want to read more ;) I actually really enjoy the rest of my Lip Crèmes which includes; Spice Spice Baby, Nude Beach, I Want Candy and Coral Fire. :)

This is the only tool in my list of products, the Clarisonic Mia. I had started using it late 2011, but results didn't show until early-mid 2012. This tool is golden! I use it in combination with several different cleanser and it does the job of removing guck and makeup off my face very well. You can see the foundation or cheek colour on the brush (which looks nasty) but makes me glad to have proof of how much was on my face. After using it my skin is clean and ready for moisturizers and face masks... which leads to my next fave...

My Beauty Diary masks - I like their entire range of masks. My skin feels pampered, moisturized and satisfied every time. I'm not sure about any lasting effect, but my skin feels and look awesome the next morning. These masks also have a very lovely scent to them. My only gripe with this? I feel like so much product is wasted as there is always a lot left in the package!

Laura Mercier Lip Silk - When my lips were super dry and everything irritated it, this was my savior. My lips are much better now, but I still use this at night when my lips needs a little pampering. Although expensive, this tube has lasted me quite a while. So for extremely dry lips (that is allergic to beeswax) do consider this awesome lip balm for supple and happy lips. :)

Is text enough or do people prefer pictures? :) Let me know if it matters :D

Sephora Favourites: Give me some lip 2012

I purchased this lip sampler set a while back and finally got around to trying them all out.

Laura Mercier Lip Glacé in Baby Doll - pretty decent wear, it lasted 3+ hours after some tea and coffee. I thought this was pretty impressive for a lipgloss. I am surprised that this product has a light sweet scent that is barely noticeable. This is awesome since it doesn't clash with other lip products I use under it :) I also like the colour of the gloss as it has just a hint of pink with some shimmer. Subtle, but very cute. The product is very thick and I think its applicator is perfect for it simply because I prefer dotting some products on and let my lips do the rest. I don't like 'brushing' on lipglosses because I feel like I have less control on how much product I use and I don't like wiping the products on the edge of the tube, it's too messy looking. Hmm... I know I sound like I'm praising this product, but I just don't have a bad things to say about it yet... I might find something... but for now, I'm loving this :)

Tarte LipSurgence Natural Matte Lip Tint in Hope - I really wanted to try this product out, but I saw beeswax as an ingredient for the Tarte Lip Tint and hesitated... So I was glad that when I checked this specific colour and I found out that it did not contain beeswax :) Happy! The colour is very lovely and natural. It is a matte warm pink that is great for work and is beautiful under the LM lip glacé. It has a minty scent which I am not crazy about, but it goes away after some time. On its own the product is very drying, so I need to apply a balm before using it. This product lasts a very long time and does stain your lips.

Fresh Sugar Lip Treatment in Sugar Rosé - Love the colour, love the fresh citrus scent. Even though this had beeswax, it did not cause my lips to peel, then again, I do apply either a layer of Vaseline or LM lip silk under it. I wonder if it might have cause a barrier to prevent a reaction? In any case, I've used it a few times and I like the lovely flushed looking lips I saw. It's nice that Sephora gave this out as a birthday present last year and that I managed to grab a set.

Hourglass Extreme Sheen High Shine Lip Gloss in Child - This is a sheer gloss, with little to no pigmentation. I've applied this gloss over nude lipsticks and it didn't really make a difference. However, when applied over a matte lipstick or lip stain, this product gives the lip a very lovely slight gloss finish and I want to say makes the colour look a lot more 3D. This product is scented, reminding me of Garden cookies (from HK.) I like the non-sticky feeling of this gloss, as well as the application of the product. The applicator is also something that I quite enjoy, it is a flat brush with a flexible/bendable tip/sponge. I enjoy using this product more now that I use it on top of a more dry matte lipstick that is not nude.

Sephora Collection Glossy Gloss in Precious Pink - I won't be reviewing this product, since I am giving it away. This is described as a very sheer pink with an iridescent shimmer. I have used the Sephora gloss before and thought they were ok. This colour looks pretty enough in the packaging.

Bite Beauty Lip Shine in Vintage - I'm on the fence about trying this one. I haven't been too curious about this brand since its products contain beeswax, and I don't really want to fall in love with products that I know I shouldn't. It is described as a sheer mauve. Please let me know if you've tried this product and if it's worth me risking the lip issue. Thanks!

Swatches:

With Flash from left to right: Laura Mercier Lip Glacé in Baby Doll, Tarte LipSurgence Natural Matte Lip Tint in Hope, Fresh Sugar Lip Treatment in Sugar Rosé, Hourglass Extreme Sheen High Shine Lip Gloss in Child and Bite Beauty Lip Shine in Vintage.

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Makeup Collection + Storage Update 2013

After watching countless Youtube videos on Makeup storage over the weekend I was inspired to clean up my own, take pictures and post it on my blog. No one requested, I just wanted to share this, hopefully you'd get some joy out of it or get some ideas on how to store your own MU collection. There is a lot of pictures, so if you aren't into pictures then you can skip this post. Otherwise, enjoy~ :)

Basic setup, I also use the drawers attached to this computer desk that isn't in the picture.

Box 1: Eyeshadows galore! Here you'd find my Rock and Republic singles, MAC shadows, Nars duo, Unii palettes with some Stila singles, Bare Minerals and a gazillion palettes...

Box 2: Eyeshadow saga continues plus falsies and eyeliners... This box contains cream shadows, Lancome and various singles, old Urban Decay single shadows and discontinued UD cream shadows and a tray of MUFE eye liners, and finally, more eyeshadow palettes... The clear tray was from One's Better Living.

 Box 3: Lippies and face colour: Glosses, high end lipstick, lip balms, blushes, bronzers and highlighters...

 Box 4: Face: Makeup samples, skincare samples, concealers and gel eye liners, foundations, face powders and sunscreen. As you can see in all 4 boxes I have parts of a Glossybox in them, these are such awesome sized box that is durable and pretty.

On top of the drawers I have a bunch of cute stuff... but in the back there is a tray (One's Better Living) that holds a few important MU stuff such as brush cleanser, hand creams (one can never have too many), foot cream and some setting spray.

I placed this anti-slip thingy that I purchased (a roll) from the dollar store to keep things from shifting (I also placed them in some of the drawers.) I reused some Ferrero Rocher boxes in various size to hold my makeup. I use a big one on top to hold makeup that I use on a daily basis, it is seperated with different reused container, ie. I use an old maple syrup candy tin to hold my eyebrow pencils and mascaras, two clear plastic cover that I use to hold my liquid eyeliner and lip liners. Underneath this I have a smaller Ferrero Rocher box that holds eye liner pencils that I use very infrequently. I so surprised no one use these contains since the chocolate is delish and the clear container are quite sturdy, win-win! I recently dug out my iCat speaker from years ago as well as my nano and placed it there so that I can listen to music when I am doing makeup...

On the side I have a mirror from Costco, as well as a hand sanitizer. It never used to be there until I noticed that every other person had them. I usually just go wash my hands but I guess this way I won't have to get up? Moving along, there is another reused container that I got from Wal-Mart, this use to hold some kind of float bath stuff that I used up, and now I put my sponges and q-tips. In very front is my mini Purin container that I had since high school, now it holds medicines and mint.

My brushes are stored inside a drawer, I put them in plastic contains from the dollar store and put mini origami stars that I made in them to hold the brushes in place. The other containers are mini vases from Wal Mart, as well as MAC liner containers. I also reused Ferrero Rocher box lid plus towels to hold my brushes when they are drying. I also put some bigger ELF palettes here as well as some of my daily vitamin pills...

This is a misc drawer... I have a tin container from Tokidoki that contained palettes that I took out and now it stores various samples. A dollar store clear container that holds hair stuff ie. hair clips, elastics and the Velcro hair thingies. I re-purposed a box that contained small perfume collectibles to hold various samples. The two MAC tins hold mini 1 oz perfume samples as well as something I can't quite remember now...

Lastly... these are underneath my desk... I have a dollar store garbage can I put my empties in, a tall clear container with products I bought for other people and a big green bin that was only $2.50 from Staples full of misc makeup stuff. (cough, hoarder, cough)

Are you exhausted yet? I know I am... This was entertaining, but I would not want to do this again unless I have made huge changes. I like this set up so far, but we will see how well it works. Anyways, have a great day and thank you so much for reading this far :) Please leave me a comment below if you have any questions or comments.

Week 1: Lippies

I looked at my makeup collection one day and realized that a large majority of my collection remained unloved, so, as a reminder to myself I will post on a weekly basis, 5 different products from one category that I use between Monday to Friday and see how long I can keep this up.

For the first week, I chose to start off with lipsticks. Here are the products that I used:

Left to right with flash: Tarte's Hope and Laura Mercier's Baby Doll, YSL Sweet Fig, Dior Beige Casual, Dior Red Carpet, Lancome Rose Pitimini

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Monday - Tarte LipSurgence Natural Matte Lip Tint in Hope and Laura Mercier Lip Glacé in Baby Doll

• It's always a merp day Monday, so I decide to put a little bit more effort on my lips and used a lip tint and gloss combo. I find Tarte's Matte lip tint too drying so I added the Laura Mercier gloss on top to give it a bit more shine. I'm not a big fan of the minty scent of the lip tint but it eventually goes away~ 

Tuesday - YSL Volupté Sheer Candy #7 Sweet Fig

• Love the smell of this lipstick as well as the neutral colour. I would never have guessed that the colour of this lipstick would be so sheer. 

Wednesday - Dior Addict Lipstick #222 Beige Casual

• I decided to wear darker eye makeup, so this nude colour was perfect for the eyes :) 

Thursday - Dior Addict Lipstick #963 Red Carpet

• Love this bold blue-red, too bad the bright colour does not last long, as I had to reapply frequently to get the vivid colour. I do want to mention I drank lots of liquid this week because of a stubborn cold that just won't go away. I do want to mention that this lipstick does stain so even though it fades quickly, there is always a hint of the violet red on your lips.

Friday - Lancome Rouge in Love #353M Rose Pitimini

• This colour lasted me a good 4 hours before reapplication is needed. The formula is a bit drying but it's nothing a lip balm base can't fix. I still love the rockets popsicle smell of this lippy.

yay! 6 different products used this week~ I guess this is more like a rotation of the week post. :) Let hope I can keep this up. Next week... Eyeshadows!

So, quick question, do you want to see swatches of these products on the lip? If so, please let me know :)