Some ELF purchases.






Contouring Blush & Bronzing Powder






I really love this! I've been using this almost everyday.
The contour shade works nicely on my skin tone and I feel like buying another one! Don't wana run out of it. :D
The blush is so-so. Easily dupeable I feel. Oh and I don't think the blush looks good when used together with the bronzer.


Peachy Keen, Tickled Pink and Coy










Sadly, I'm disappointed with both the ELF Studio Blushes. They are hardly pigmented and you have to apply like 87347862 times before the colour shows up. Annoyed with myself for not reading up on reviews before buying. Craps.

Coy is quite a dark colour. Looks quite different from the online swatches. A little purplish and I don't have any blush like this. But almost 2 months after receiving it, I haven't even used it on my face yet. Haha.


Golden Bronzer






This gives me a nice sheen.
It's alright. Quite value for money I guess.


Feather Proof Moisturizing Lip Liner





Upper lip is without any product.
As you can see, Bark is quite my natural lip colour.
Natural Blush is this nice light pink shade
Both are great for use with most lipsticks I own.
Got Bitter for the day when I decide to wear some crazy bright colour.
Frankly haven't used them out before so don't know how good it works in preventing feathering.


Eyeliner Brush & Eye Shadow Brush




I have gotten both these before couple of years before and I guess they were okay.. Until BOTH OF THEM came apart after a few days of use. I mean, the metal part disconnected from the handle. Sucks right.
I thought I'll just give them another chance. Hmm.. Haven't broken after 2 months so I'm hoping they have better quality now?
I use the eyeliner brush for my brows and I quite like it. Brows are more defined and have this really straight clean line on the outsides.
The eye shadow brush is not bad. The shape is just right for packing on colour and the bristles are pretty soft. But it sheds a lot. I wonder how long it'll last me.


All the above came up to slightly less than SG$30 (inclusive of shipping and local postage).
I'm pretty broke now but such buys gets me just as excited!

:D

Review on 4 other coastalscents brushes.
(Mel.. this is for you hor.. see how much I love you)




Pink Kabuki Brush

Ugh. I gave this more chances than it truly deserved.. just because it's in a pretty pink. I washed it so many times just to hopefully soften its bristles. I even used my hairmask on it a couple of times. I gave up on it. It's prickly, rough and just lousy lah. Pretty but useless.


Pink Blush Angled Brush

I just realized that it is no longer on the coastalscents webby! I really like this though and have been thinking of getting another one. Oh no, now how! I use this both for contour and blush and while it's not super soft (not that rough either), I'm not really complaining. The size is just nice and picks up colour alright. It bleeds during wash though.. yes it still bleeds after so long.


Pink Duo Fibre Powder Stippler

This works fine with my everydayminerals highly pigmented blushes but that's all I really use it for. I find it too soft and not dense enough. Also, I hate to use it in my powder blushes cos it tends to loosen the pressed blush and creates a mess when the powder spills everywhere. It's an alright brush imo.


Flat Mineral Bronzer Buffer Large

I started using this for my everydayminerals foundation and it's really soft and pretty dense. But ever since I tried out the everydayminerals kabuki and flat-top brushes, I don't think I've ever touched it. I don't see how you can use it as a bronzer cos it's pretty big. Haha. But it does work quite well for buffing. It gave me quite good coverage, but not as good as everydayminerals brushes.


I agree with you Mel that I probably don't have to wash my brushes so often but I'm so terribly paranoid. :( I'm so lazy to DIY brush cleanser.
I spend quite a lot of time washing my brushes that's why I find it such a chore. I usually will rinse through once, then I'll keep working the brush into my palm with the water running over the bristles and keep doing that until I see no more soapy residue. I take very long to do one face/cheek brush.


My brushes/sponges routine.

-I probably wash my face brushes twice a week.
I have my EDM foundation in a container which I usually mix on Sunday for the next entire week so I think once a week is reasonable.

-Brushes for eyes/lips/concealer/cheek I wash every two days.
I can't stand these brushes being dirty. In fact, I get quite disgusted if I'm touching my palettes/lip stuff/blushes with the dirty brushes.

-I'll usually wash a sponge or two together with the brushes but since I hardly use my pressed foundations nowadays, I probably only wash them once a week (only if I used any).

On top of these, I mostly clean my brushes with wet wipes after each use. And I don't think they are clean at all after wet wipes! Bleah.

So time consuming.


**Let me know if you want to order cos I intend to get some stuff too! We can share shipping. :D

I thought I'd do a review on my Coastal Scents brushes (here).


Pink Angle Taklon Liner Brush & Black Taklon Angle Liner

I've used these for filling in my brows and drawing eyeliner.
In my opinion, both work pretty the same and the thickness or angled-ness(?) don't make any difference. With these, my eyeliner is not as thin as I would like but I guess it's okay.
They're a little too small though.


White Angled Liner Brush & Synthetic Fine Liner Brush

These are good! I'm so glad I bought them. The White Angled Liner Brush is great for getting in between the lashes and makes gel eyeliners super easy. It's awesome! I highly recommend this.


Italian Badger Round Crease Brush & Pink Round Crease Eye Brush

Not much difference between these two. Both are great for getting in the crease edges. But I like the concept of the brush shape. So these are not bad.


Tapered Crease Eye Brush & Italian Badger Blender

Frankly, I can't really distinguish Tapered Crease Eye Brush from the above two round crease brushes. When I'm in a hurry, they are work the same and look pretty much the same too.
Italian Badger Blender is amazing. It blends like nobody's business and I love love love this. I'm considering getting another one the next time I order from coastalscents.


Chisel Detail Mini Brush & Pink Oval Taklon Lip Brush

I don't remember using the Chisel Detail Mini Brush at all.. Oops. But it's really too small and I don't do such great detailing. Maybe next time.
I use the lip brush everyday. I use it to apply my lipbalm pots, my lipsticks (sometimes). I only have 3 lip brushes to alternate and even though I wipe them down after every use, I still get disgusted that I'm touching a germified brush with the pot/jar/tubs/lipsticks. Ugh. I might need more?


Chisel Angle Fluff Shadow Brush, Chisel Fluff Shadow Brush & Black Deluxe Shadow

Chisel Angle Fluff Shadow Brush doesn't pack colours on so well. It doesn't blend either. I'm not liking this.
Like I mentioned, Chisel Fluff Shadow Brush is quite good and I think the size is just nice for like overall colour or highlighting.
I didn't think I would use the Black Deluxe Shadow, but I have been using it for highlighting these days and it works good.

** update on Chisel Angle Fluff Shadow Brush:
I've used it a couple of times to pack on dark colours at the outer v. Since it's usually a tiny bit of colour, it works okay. Then I'll use another brush to blend it out.

Pink Blending Fluff Brush, Black Blending Brush & Pink Oval Synthetic Concealer Brush

The blending brushes don't really cut it for me..but I only tried them once or twice. Probably will give them a second chance. However, probably since last week, I've been using them for contour! And I like it cos they are big enough but not too big.
I've been using the concealer brush every single day for my concealers and sometimes I use it with my Indelible Creme Eyeshadows. I need to get more synthetic brushes like this cos I can't bring myself to use any other brushes in my concealer or Indelible Creme Eyeshadows pots. Bleah. Plus it's easier to clean too.

** update on the blending brushes:
I'm starting to use them for blending and I guess they're quite okay. I only wish they were a tad smaller to fit better into my small lids. Lol.


Talking about cleaning, I'm considering getting the MAC Brush Cleaner for daily wipe-downs. I currently wipe off my brushes after every use with either a tissue or wet wipes. And I do separate my dirty brushes from my clean ones for fear of contamination. Lol. Unfortunately for myself, I'm quite the cleanliness freak and I can't stand dirty brushes (whether they look clean or not). Nowadays I clean my brushes in batches 2-3 times a week and that it really time consuming - cleaning and drying.

Should I just get the MAC Brush Cleaner?

My two packages!



-------

Monistat Chafing Gel.



I got this at sgd$10.50, off a nice cotter who decided to give me a discount since the tube will be expiring in April 2010. No harm getting it cheaper even though it will be expiring in a year cos I wasn't even sure if I'd like it.

I've used it for a few days now and to tell the truth, I'm not going ga-ga over the product.

While it applies smoothly and becomes powdery upon contact with skin, I thought it was a little hard to make sure that my whole face was covered. It just becomes like my 2nd skin! That said, I might have missed out spots or applied double/triple layers of it on certain areas.

Oil control is not that fantastic.
Since everyone says it is a dream with oil control, I tried it under my EDM in semi-matte formula (which tends to make me oil more) around the house. After 3 hours, my face was pretty shiny and oily already. And that was just around the house, not outside.
I tried it again with my ettusais liquid foundation and while my face ended up less oily, I am not sure if the MCG helped at all.

I still haven't found a product that helps keep my skin matte the whole day. Regular commercial foundations are great with oil control, but as I'm moving into MMU, the oil just shines through all the time. Plus like I've mentioned in a previous entry, MMU does cause more oil due to the ingredients they use.

I'll probably still use it now and then but I guess I won't be repurchasing it. :S

-------
Coastalscents

I'm so impressed that this package took exactly one week to arrive. It's the fastest USPS package I've ever received! Yay for Coastalscents and USPS! :D





See I told you, got freebie one. I wish they had given me a blush sample though. Oh well.




Some comparison pics.

Pink Angle Taklon Liner Brush & Black Taklon Angle Liner


I'm not sure if you can tell.. But the pink one is slightly wider than the black one and the black one is stiffer also. So black better for eye liner.


White Angled Liner Brush & Synthetic Fine Liner Brush

Both seem quite similar so I'm happy. Will consider getting the other super fine one to try.
I like my eye liner thin and not obvious.


Italian Badger Round Crease Brush & Pink Round Crease Eye Brush

Again, these are quite similar and I can't tell much of a difference except the texture of the bristles. Will probably update once I've tried them out.


Tapered Crease Eye Brush & Italian Badger Blender



Chisel Detail Mini Brush & Pink Oval Taklon Lip Brush

The mini brush is really mini! Haha. And the lip brush seems promising.


Chisel Angle Fluff Shadow Brush, Chisel Fluff Shadow Brush & Black Deluxe Shadow

Only used the middle one so far and I like it. It packs on colours really well and can even use it to blend. Black Deluxe Shadow one is huge.. not sure if I'd ever touch it.


Pink Blending Fluff Brush, Black Blending Brush & Pink Oval Synthetic Concealer Brush

Nothing much to say about them cos I don't even know why I bought those. I guess I didn't expect them to be so big. :x The fluff brushes are similar and don't really blend imo. The concealer brush I might use though..


To the wash!
This is what I use to wash the brushes. The cheap and good Daiso Sponge Cleanser!
I have at least 2-3 spare bottles of it at any one time cos I love it! :D



My latest addition to brush collection! Yay!

You know how I get really stressed during exams and panic like crazy but can't really sit down and study for hours straight?
Yes, it is happening this time again. And once again, I've been shopping.

I tell you, shopping really takes my mind off things. Cos I have to consider if I should get this over that or should I also add this into my cart or not.. will adding this cause my shipping to go up too high.. do I need this.. oh I think I need that. Lol. It takes me forever to finalize on my cart and that's why I prefer to make purchases on my own rather than joining sprees cos who knows you might even get a freebie!

I am going to be broke for the rest of the month so thank God, it keeps me indoors and maybe I'll get down to studying!

After my MAC Hello Kitty haul, I've been feeling really upset cos there are some stuff that I want to get but like I've said in my previous entry, it is too troublesome to go out to town and costs so much to get just those few stuff. Hence, I've decided to put my money to better use and buy some stuff that I had wanted to get but never really made up my mind on.

Coastalscents.
I ordered a number of eye brushes and this is one of those companies which will give freebies with an order. With a spree, you will never even see it or smell it or hear of it. Haha. So yay! It has already been shipped so I can't wait to get it. Initially I thought I would wait for a good sale or something, but it's hard to make sure all the brushes I want stay in stock. Even after this order, there are brushes I want that aren't available. I know that crownbrush is cheaper but they don't ship internationally. Besides, I'm not sure if after vpost or cgw, it will still be cheaper than coastalscents.

Palettes.
This is through a LJ spree, getting from ebay. I've decided to get the 88 original palette, like finally. Also getting the 28 neutral palette, since Hans prefers me with neutral, lighter colours and I'm going to start practicing my makeup skills again! The 3rd palette I'm getting is an empty 28 pan palette which I'm going to use to press all my mineral blushes and eye shadows for convenience. :) I hope the spree org closes it soon and orders. It takes 20days to arrive leh. By the time it reaches me, it'll probably be a month or more. -.-"
I'm forgoing my Lucky Tom palette and I'm pretty sure all the 3 items will cost about the same as one Lucky Tom palette.. maybe only slightly more expensive.

mscuppycakes.
Being unable to get my MAC HK wants (5 lip products in all which will add up to $140), I'm getting 19 NYX Round Lipsticks which will come up to USD$27.25 inclusive of shipping. Isn't it worth it? Haha. I actually wanted to try their brow set too but it ups my shipping from USD$3.50 to USD$6.50 and even though I tried to take off some lipsticks, the shipping remained. So byebye to brow set!
You might ask why I need to buy 19 lippies. Lol. I HAD to buy 19 cos 19 is the max number I can buy with US$3.50 shipping. Like might as well make full use of my shipping right! Haha.

In this way I'm still spending, but I'm saving!

Err.. I think I will need more storage drawers and space. Should I get the Toyogo one?



Going to study NOW! Bye!

MAC Hello Kitty Haul
(Image heavy)


So finally it is here in Singapore! I had so many lemmings and so many things are already oos at Tangs Vivo and Tangs Orchard. :(

I signed up for a $80 makeover, fully redeemable on products and bought stuff.

So the makeover first. :)

I had my appointment made at 3pm and arrived there slightly past 3pm. My MA, Lisa was still busy with the makeover before mine so I decided to walk around the event hall area.

This pretty model had like swarms around her snapping away. Both guys and girls alike. She's darn cute and sweet. Totally a "Kitty Mild". Super dolly, I like!
Hunks with big kitty heads, like the one on her left, were all over and I really wanted to take a picture with one of them! But.... I didn't. Cos I was alone. Blame Hans for coming so late!





The other one, "Kitty Wild", is really sexy and slinky in that leathery patent outfit. And she's so skinny! She's a little shy too but will pose when people come to take pictures with her.





I wish I could steal one of these home!



So later it was my turn for the makeover! I didn't get any pictures in between but I got Lisa to pose with me after it was all done.

I can't remember everything she used but what she used from HK collection..
Eyes - mainly eye kohl and Stately Black, Too Dolly along waterline
Cheeks - Tippy (which I got her to tone down cos it was too strong for my liking)
Lips - Strayin' Lipstick and She Loves Candy Lipglass



2 hours after the makeover.
By the time these photos were taken, my eyeshadow creasing begun. :(
Obviously, prep+prime eye doesn't work on me. Tsk.











The models and hunks left at around 4pm so there were none left for me to snap snap photos anymore. So sad.
The event area after crowds dispersed.









Temporary tattoos. LOL.
I love this little bow. I now secretly wish to permanently tattoo it like that!



On my arm. This is too big la seriously. But a nice MA asked me if I wanted a tattoo and I just said okay, not knowing that she was holding on to this huge tattoo. Sigh. Oh well.
There were many other cute little ones, but I decided that two is enough.



Hans already thinks I'm ahlian with the tattoos and the heavily-lined eyes and dark eyeshadow. He says he prefers the way I normally put makeup. Look more innocent and sweet. LOL.

Probably 9 hours after the makeover.




My haul.
Though I had highlighted my wants/needs from this collection (here), I'm proud to say that after seeing the products in real life, there are fewer wants/needs. Haha.

I didn't get any BPs.
I don't think I'd want the Tippy BP blush just cos it's too strong for me even though Lisa had a really light hand with it.
I didn't get any liquid eyeliners. I don't think I'd use them and the swatches irl aren't that pretty.
I decided not to get Fashion Mews cos it doesn't look nice on me.
No accessories for me either. I persuaded myself that I don't need them and they are a waste of money.

So my haul ahead!

My stuff and the HK bag that comes with $120 purchase.
I should have paid separately and get two right? :(



My number1 must-have: The Brush Set
I adore the brush holder! And it's short enough for my EDM brushes. Yay!
After washing:
109 didn't shed but bled a lot
187 shed a little and bled a lot
239 didn't shed and didn't bleed







I got Mimmy! But She Loves Candy is oos. I'm hoping I can get it at dfs or something. :(





I got Big Bow Lipstick.
Now I need to get my hands on Cute Ster and Strayin' (both oos at Tangs Vivo).







BP blush in Fun & Games.
I love this blush! It's now my favourite one. It shows up really nicely on my skin and is just so natural! It makes me look slightly flushed and I can also use it to do slight contouring.
I love you Fun & Games. <3





I got the Too Dolly Palette. But I might go back for the Lucky Tom too. See if I have enough moo-lah. Hehs.







And I wasn't expecting myself to be interested in the Tinted Lip Conditioners - Popster and Pink Fish. But reviews are so good that I can't resist it anymore! I think I NEED them!
Pray that they are still available at dfs or the other MAC stores which will be launching them on 13march.

Summary for myself what else I am lacking:
She Loves Candy lipglass
Nice Kitty lipglass
Cute Ster lipstick
Most Popular lipstick
Strayin' lipstick
Lucky Tom palette (?)
TLCs in Pink Fish and Popster.


Phew. That was a long entry.