Ho Ho Ho! A CANMAKE Christmas Set!

It's the lovely time of the year again! I love christmas period because of the cool (albeit rainy) weather, the beautiful christmas decorations around the country and the festive sale. Watson's, one of my favourite places to wander into, has created little goodie bags of joy in recent years.

I chanced upon the CANMAKE christmas set while in a Watson's just recently.

A closer look!

A zip-lock bag stuffed with goodies for just SGD10! Heh! I wanted to get this for basically one reason – the Shimmer Jelly Eyes. The liquid eyeshadow is just a brilliant product! I have swatched it once or twice before and was pretty sure it was a good product, but the price tag was not so friendly. It was about SGD15 and way too expensive (for me) for a single eye colour. And so when I chanced upon this set for just ten bucks, I seized it!!

Here's a peek of what came along in the bag.

Canmake christmas set!

• CANMAKE catalogue. Beautifully designed catalogue with a glimpse of everything they sell. The whole thing is in Japanese except for the products' English names, so...
• ShimmerJelly Eyes in 05! Woohoo!
• Colorful Nails in no. 26. A festive glitter polish with an orange base
• Perfect Serum BB cream (2 sachets). Pretty packaging, yet to try it out
• Glossy Holic Lip in 03, an orange-based clear lipgloss. Claims to have UV protection and Lip balm all in one!
• Nail Art stickers (not a product of CANMAKE I'm sure). I have no love for frilly nail art so I won't be touching any of this sadly

Here's a swatch of the ShimmerJelly Eyes, the Glossy Holic Lip gloss and the nail colour!

Glitter polish on top of a bright red 

Swatched!

The eyeshadow swatched and then blended out. It is incredibly smooth to blend out, means that there wont be patches, and sets to a budge-proof state. LOVE. The lipgloss feel smooth on the lips, not sticky. 

Be sure to keep your eyes peeled for any sets still available in Watson's! :D

Till next time,

HL

And so... I went on a cruise. Holiday makeup kit!

The Star Virgo... a trip to nowhere with my parents and my boyfriend. The whole 3D2N trip was generally uninteresting with few highlights. Well, the trip was sort of paid for, and I got to spend time with my loved ones, that was great. The 'Greek-themed' cruise was kinda awkward as everything stayed the way it was since the past 15 years I'm sure.

I was pretty excited before the cruise, to show you guys what I brought along to the cruise, makeup-wise.

This is what I brought to the trip, quite minimalistic huh. For me, I try to bring as few items as I can on as I don't tend to put on a lot on a holiday. Also, it is pretty heavy to carry loads of products. So these are the products that are on my 'essentials' list.

A reliable foundation (Healthy Mix)
A cream eye shadow (Maybelline Color Tattoo – Bad to the Bronze)
My trusty Missha undereye concealer, 
Favourite blush (Sleek – Suede)
Good old MAC Soft and Gentle MSF
Trusty liners (Urban Decay 24/7 & Essence liquid liner)
Standard matte dark brown eyeshadow by Revlon
Mascara of the moment – Essence I <3 EXTREME
My new eyeshadow primer from Essence. 

Hope you enjoyed the post!

Cheers,
HL

An ESSENCE cosmetics review/haul

Essence is a very affordable (aka cheap) European brand of cosmetics that is not only great for people new to makeup, it also causes less concerns on the wallet. The first 'counter' that I had come across in Singapore was in Ngee Ann city's Watson's. Most, if not all the items are under SGD10, and some even far below SGD5!!

For the price, you can't expect everything to be fabulous. But Essence carries a few worthy products to rave about and some not so outstanding ones.

One of my favourite products will be the I LOVE EXTREME mascara!

It has a really thick brush and a semi-dry consistency that coats your lashes effectively. Its formula is very black and intense and really gives the drama. It is not waterproof, but does not smudge if you don't rub your eyes or anything along those lines. I do, however, notice that it comes off a little from my lower lashes throughout the day. I have since switched to the Dolly Wink for lower lashes.

Retails at Watson's (Ngee Ann City) for SGD6.10. 

Next up, stuff I bought from the Essence warehouse sale last weekend.

From top to bottom: Colour & Shine lipstick pencil, Liquid eyeliner, Eyeshadow primer, Lip Stain

I spent a total of SGD8 on these four products. It was rather disappointing as the sale did not include most of their staples. However, I really like the liquid liner (SGD1)! It has the usual brush tip, but the formula dries matte. Unlike most liquid liners which dries shiny, this gives a gel liner sort of effect. It's not waterproof/budgeproof, handle with care!

Next to the liner swatch would be the eyeshadow primer. I have been wanting to try using an eyeshadow primer. This actually works quite well. My eyeshadows, when swatched above this, appeared more pigmented and stayed on longer.

Now to the not so awesome products.

The lipstain works really well, the colour's great, but it reallllllyyy stains... However, I can't bring myself to love the taste of it. It just tastes bad! Let's just give it another go, maybe I'll like the product enough to ditch my distaste for the smell.

The lipstick pencil is kinda poor as well. The pencil itself is really soft it breaks everytime I use it, and a clump of product gets stuck inside the pencil when I sharpen it. Boo. Smells like cherry.

Overall I do think Essence is a great brand, especially with other great products like their lip liners, and stayon eye liners. I guess the warehouse sale was just to clear unsold and unpopular products!

Until next time!

Cheers,
HL

FOTD: Simple eyes, cheeks and popping lips!

Face of the day

Base

Shiseido AQUALABEL white foundation

mix with

RIMMEL match perfection foundation

Eyes

Bourjois Ombre a paupieres eyeshadow (05 Brun Irreel)

Essence I LOVE EXTREME volume mascara

Cheeks

MAC MSF (Soft and Gentle)

Lips

NYX Soft Matte lip cream (San Paulo)

 

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cheers!

HL