February Favourites 2013

This month had been quite exciting with all the Chinese New Year celebrations. It was also quite exciting that I have discovered that they sold Collection (formerly collection 2000) in Hong Kong (slowpoke me)! I bought several of their products and the quality is quite astonishing! I don't think I have ever came across such good quality with products it's price.

Collection Illuminating Touch brightening concealer in 02 Natural HKD$39 (OMG, can you believe the price???)
When I first got to the Collection counter, I actually wanted to pick up the famous lasting perfection concealer(in a doe foot applicator packaging). But apparently they only carry the illuminating concealer, I was a little disappointed but I gave this a shot anyway. At first, on the back of my hand, the color look way too pink toned, but it worked quite well with the color of my face (My face has probably the worst coloring ever,I am always between shades, and everything is either too orange or too pale for me). It is very easy to blend without rubbing off in the process of blending (with fingers). The best thing about this is that it works on both my under-eye area AND the rest of my face. (usually whats good for my acne scarring is horrible for my dark circles and what is good for my dark circles are usually too orange for my face). Downside is their crap packaging, although I only had this for like a week, the words on the packaging are already rubbing off, and every time I hold it the printing transfer on to my hand. If I put it in my makeup bag, the printing is going onto the lining. So this is on house arrest until all the printing has been rubbed off from the packaging.

Collection Primed and Ready smoothing make up primer (HKD$79)
This is probably the most expensive thing at the collection considering you only get 18ml of products (I think the common practice for primers are to give you at least 30ml of product). Despite the small amount you are getting, a little goes a long way, since too much will make your face feel overly slippery. A little bit of this will mattify your skin and create an incredibly smooth surface for your make up to glide on. It also provides a good 2-3 hrs of oil control without using powder to set your makeup. I usually use this in conjunction with my Vitalumiere Aqua.

Chanel Vitalumiere Aqua Skin perfecting makeup in B20 Tendre (HKD$410)
This is still in this month's favorite, although I said that it kind of oxidizes. Now I think it's not really oxidizing that much, but rather the shade is not right. It's a bit too pink for my skin tone, and of course stupid me did not double check all the colors available at the counter. Turns out Hong Kong chanel has a BO21, a more yellow version of the B20 Tendre I have. If I ever finish this bottle and repurchases, I'll go get the BO21. 

Chanel Stylo Yeux Waterproof in Espresso (HKD$205)
oooooooh, this is another pricey splurge (*guilty gulp*). I wouldn't say this eyeliner is overly amazing, but it's creamy enough to be applied between the lashes without it smudging all over the place like NARS larger than life eyeliner does. But it's still waterproof without being pokey as hell (like some of the japanese waterproof eyeliners). The dark brown color is also internse enough so it darkens my lashline and creates the perfect no makeup makeup look.

Bourjois Healthy Mix serum in 52 vanille(HKD$168, I have no idea why this is cheaper than other bourjois foundation)
52 is more neutral in shade than 53 (more yellow), but it serves to brighten up my skin tone, which is very handy when meeting the relatives during Chinese New Year. I definitely think that the serum foundation runs a bit lighter than the regular healthy mix foundation. This foundation has the same fragrant scent of the healthy mix foundations, but is more watery and lighter than the regular healthy mix in both coverage and consistency. This is a much more dewy foundation, perfect for colder weather. Although it's promoted as a gel foundation, I think its even lighter than a gel, it definitely has a very unique consistency, but i'd say more like a very light moisturizer (akin to the shiseido mattifying moisturizer) than a gel. But it's feels great on the skin, makes you feel like you drank an energy boost drink through your skin.

Covergirl Lashblast length mascara in black (USD$7, i think...)
Go read my comparison on the lashblast length and it's max factor equivalent here. I have raved enough about it.

Nars Larger than Life eyeliner in Via Veneto

Right: Heavily swatched  Left: Swatched once

  I've heard youtubers missglamorazzi and FleurDeForce rave about the Nars Larger Than Life eyeliners. And luckily, I received it in Via Veneto as a birthday gift from my dear friend Vanessa! Via Veneto is just a plain very pigmented black. I was surprised by how creamy this liner was, it was nothing that I have ever experienced with eyeliners before (mostly just drugstore liners). It glides on extremely creamy and "dries" to a waterproof finish. But the creaminess also made it unfit for tight-lining (filling in the spaces between the lashes), since it's so soft, a lot of it caught on my lashes and made a mess when i blink.


  I have worn this to my sweaty jazz class (normal lining, no tight-lining) and really surprisingly nothing budge on my left eye (where the fold of my eye does not overlap with my lash line) despite using no primer. But as usual, my right side was not so lucky (fold overlaps with lash line), liner turned into a complete mess.


  It is a twist up pencil (I have vowed never to buy any kind of pencil that needs sharpening) with a sharpener at the end for you to sharpen the "lead" when it goes blunt, which is quite useful considering the "lead" is quite thick (very similar to what you get in a non-twist up pencil).


  Over all, I quite like this pencil, it's is creamy enough to be smudged for a smoky effect, but waterproof enough to endure my oily eyelids. It does make me want to purchase the liner in Rue Bonaparte (a skin tone peach color) for my lower waterline

January Favorites 2013

This month has really whirl past FAST!

Chanel Vitalumiere Aqua in B20 

This is amazing, feels incredibly luxurious on your skin. Downside is that you need a thick layer of primer underneath to stop it from oxidizing.

Maquillage Pore Perfect Cover

For use with Vitalumiere Aqua. Again a downside is that too thick a layer will give foundation a cakey look. 

Covergirl Lashblast Length

oooooh, my frd studying in America helped me got this, now I can enjoy long separated eyelashes without having to pay a heavier price tag for the max factor one!!! It is simply too marvelous for words.

Reve de Miel Lip Balm

It is incredibly buttery without being all greasy and shiny, great for layering on top of the just bitten lipbalms that could be a bit drying (without smudging the color or causing it to move around like other lipbalms do). Since its matte, it's great for priming the lips before lipstick too.

Revlon Lip Butter in Pink Tutu

The best pink color for colder seasons. It's not as bright as the revlon lip balm stain in honey, but still provides that warmth to your lips. Saved me from looking like a zombie this entire month.

Crabtree and Evelyn Evelyn Rose Eau de Toilette

The is basically my all time favorite but I forgot to include fragrance in my 2012 favorites post. It's a light rose scent that is very refreshing and feminine. It's too bad the company had changed the scent with the upgrade of the packaging. The new Evelyn Rose no longer smells like the Old ones. Any suggestion for a new fragrance?

Mac Steamy, Club, Blue Brown, Show Girl, Constructivist

Mac Mac Mac, How can I resist you? Last week I went and purchased a few Mac shadows and paint pots. Here they are!  

Steamy, a Satin finished blue green eyeshadow. It has a iridescent, sheen type of finish. It doesn't fully covers your eyelids, it still shows a little bit of your skin/base colour.
It is very similar to the forever 21 colour I reviewed last time, except the forever 21 colour is even more creamer, easier to apply. Both amazing colours. 

Club, The legendary duo-chrome colour. It instantly became one of my favorite colour from Mac. Beautiful, fine, green shimmers on top of a deep slightly redish brown colour. Perfect colour to spark up your smoky looks, this colour is good enough to wear on it's own with a little black eyeliner smudged on the top and bottom of eyelids.

The packaging of the Marilyn Monroe eyeshadow. I'm so surprised that they still have it in stock! 

3.0g of product worth, retails for HKD$140, totally worth my money.

I love blues and greens but it's so hard for Asians to wear them. This blue is a dream come true, works so beautifully on the skin, super natural yet gives you enough shine to become the spotlight of the night. Works well during days or evenings.  

It was love at first sight. Amazing product! Love paint pots. This colour is packed with very fine shimmers. It's a chocolate brown colour. This colour is very pigmented, "a little goes a long way". But its very easy to be blend into a softer shade of brown. It works perfect as a base for many looks, from day to evening. Even if you only have 5 mins to do your make up. This could be worn on its own and still look effortless. 

Blue Brown is perfect for a punk rock look, This colour is very similar to Club except this has even more fine glitter and a more redish tone of brown. Red has always been my favorite colour yet it's also a pretty hard colour to wear. With the awesome addition of green shimmer, it really balances out the colour. It made red an easier colour to wear. AMAZING! 

From left to right: Constructivist, Club, Steamy, Blue Brown.
Top: on its own
Bottom: With foundation underneath

Covergirl Lashblast length and Max Factor Lash extension Effect Mascara Comparison and review

I have always wanted to try Covergirl's famous mascaras but never really got the chance to, until I stumbled upon one in a drugstore in Japan and I thought, I should give it a shot. Once I actually tried it, it was instant love. It gives a very natural finish (does not clump), the formula is not wet and it's water resistant (won't smudge as easily as normal washable but still removable with just water). But when it dried out after a couple of months, I was devastated because you just can't get the same mascara in HK, and then I remembered Max Factor's False Lash effects (I'm guessing its an equivalent of the original Lash blasts) and a replacement was found. Sad thing is Max Factor mascaras are twice the price of Covergirl products. The two products are so similar they could almost pass as identical. So I decided to do a comparison

Packaging

Lash Extension Effect (LEE)comes in a more environmentally friendly wrapping just just a simple piece of plastic, whereas Lashblast Length comes in a package that allows you to see what the wand is like. They look almost identical in the shape of the product.

Brush

upper: Lash extension effect
Lower: lash blast length

Although the brushes look the tiniest bit different, they are basically the same. Thy are both rubber brushes that are amazing in separating and coating the lashes.

Bare Lashes

Lashblast length

Lash Extension effect

Lash Extension effect retails in HK for HKD$128 whereas I got Covergirl through a friend studying in the US for US$7 (about HKD$56). There are miniscule differences between the two, but I definitely prefer Covergirl simply because it offers the almost identical product with a far lighter price tag.

POUDRE SIGNÉE DE CHANEL ILLUMINATING POWDER Review

I was never the type to really appreciate luminizers/highlighters, but was tempted to try the new Poudre Signee de chanel illuminating powder simply because of it's wonderful design. This is from Chanel's Spring 2013 Spring Limited Edition collection and retails for HKD$540. It is very expensive considering I'd probably get very few use out of it, but I decided to make it my birthday treat.

The compact comes with a velvet pouch

Inside there is a small covering to protect actual powder, probably also protects the mirror from the powder too. 

Complimentary Application Sponge can be put in to a slot in the pouch. 

Unused

Moonlight colored in different lighting

The camera did not really capture the true color, it is actually slightly peachy/rosy/beige. 

Very fine iridescence

Embossing is very easily smudged

Sorry for the extremely washed out picture, but as you can see it gives a nice iridescent sheen on the tops of my cheekbones. 

  First impression: I thought the packaging would be heavier.

  I was actually slightly disappointed that the packaging felt quite plasticky on my hand, but it definitely looks more expensive than the packaging feels like but I guess this is a pro, at least it will be travel-friendly.The powder is embossed with lipsticks, flowers and the iconic chanel double C. It is so beautiful that it took me a lot of courage to finally swatch it. The only sad thing is that I hope the embossing is a bit deeper so that it won't be as easily smudged off.

 The illuminating powder is like a dream, it is an incredibly beautiful champagne color that does not come off as too yellow, like some of the other highlighters I've seen. It is not glittery or overly shimmery, it provides a real discreet glow to the face and the shimmery-ness is not detectable unless the other person is standing incredibly close to you. Although it may seem that it is not very "pigmented", only a very small amount is needed to do the job, one swipe and you are instantly granted with a heavenly glow.

  The applicator is very soft and moussey and feels very expensive, but may not be a good idea for application. I find it a bit awkward and too heavy handed, I think a brush is better for this job. Since this highlighter is so fine, I think it can work on a wide range of different skin tones. Also because of its peachiness, I don't think it will come off as ashy when used on darker skin tones.

Forever 21 eyeshadows review

They are affordable, creamy and very pigmented! An absolute dream to work with. What else can I say. They are definitely creamier and more pigmented than the maybelline shadows that I own. Texture-wise they are comparable to some of the mac or even make up for ever ones. Maybe even creamer! They have 2.75g of products for the champagne colour and 2.83g for the green and the brown.  

They are $24.90 HKD each.

This colour is perfect for brow highlight, inner corner highlight, cheekbones highlight. I believe every girl should  have this colour at home! It works on many looks.

This warm tone brown is very pigmented, not Nars type of pigmented but definitely more pigmented than Mac.  

This is the creamiest of all, absolute dream! These works great for a smoky look. Just a bit of black at the outer corner can instantly make it into a smoky eyes. 

Here are the swatches.
Top: without any base
Bottom: with a cream foundation

Here are two looks that I've created using these 3 eyeshadows, with the brown and the champagne colour it can never go wrong for a nice and soft day-time make up. Well the green is not for everyone, but I do like this look a lot, especially this particular colour, it is hard to find.