Reuse!: old liquid liner brush as gel liner brush!

I recently finished using the heroine make liquid eyeliner (faster than dolly wink because the it leaked) and thought of so thing to do with it. The fine yet sturdy brush tip was great in drawing straight lines thick or thin and I thought, why not reuse the brush tip for gel liner?

Gel liners can be quite a fuss to use. The product dries relatively quickly on your brushes and it clumps and get really stiff! You often find yourself running out of brushes to use very quickly even though you did wipe of the access product off it!! A pen brush could add to the number of gel liner brushes you have.

I have tried applying my heavy rotation gel liner with the pen and it works quite well. The next time you finished a liquid liner pen, why not use it for gel?

Cheers,
HL

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

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

Comparison: Skinny Jeans, Bad to the Bronze and Morning Frost

Today's post is rather interesting. It is the comparison between three cream eyeshadows, two of which are popular products in the makeupsphere. The contenders consist of: Benefits – Skinny Jeans, Maybelline – Bad to the Bronze and MAC – Morning Frost.

(L-R): Skinny Jeans (Benefit), Bad to the Bronze (Maybelline), Morning Frost (MAC)

(L-R): Skinny Jeans (Benefit), Bad to the Bronze (Maybelline), Morning Frost (MAC)

Skinny Jeans is a taupe colour with a hint of green. It has a creamy creamy texture and payoff is excellent! It is priced at S$33 and I got it at Tangs Orchard. This cream shadow is good on itself for a wash of colour or can be built up into a smokey eye. One thing that bugs me about this product is the smell. I'm not sure if it smells the same across all other cream shadows from Benefit but boy does it smell wonky.

(L-R): Skinny Jeans (Benefit), Bad to the Bronze (Maybelline), Morning Frost (MAC)

(L-R): Skinny Jeans (Benefit), Bad to the Bronze (Maybelline), Morning Frost (MAC) with flash

Bad to the bronze is from a series of gorgeous cream eyeshadows from Maybelline. Their 24hr Color Tattoo eye colours are really hot everywhere and I can see why. Texture and payoff wise it is creamy and easily buildable. The bronze is not overly bronze (less yellow). I can't say that it will stay for 24hrs but with a good primer, this would work fairly well and not crease.

Morning Frost paintpot from MAC is a pretty colour. It is a soft champagne pink that is great for a wash of colour on the lids, and as a base for your eyeshadows to stick on. However, it was rather difficult for me to get more product out as it was a little bit dry. This was also the case with another popular paintpot, Bare Study. Payoff is much lesser than the other two and has a more noticable sheen, perhaps because of the light colour.

Price wise, the Benefit and MAC ones were close and the Maybelline one was of course much more affordable. For the quality and payoff from the Maybelline Bed to the Bronze, I'm eager to try out many other neutral day to day colours!


Thanks for reading!

:)

Illamasqua Pure Pigment Furore

Featuring the makeup world's fairydust – Illamasqua Pure Pigment in Furore!! Furore is the Italian word for Frenzy, and indeed if you're easily excited by glittery and pretty things, this will certainly make you go nuts!

Illamasqua pure pigment Furore

This pigment is incredibly gorgeous! The glitter is so finely milled so you won't find chunks of them stuck onto your face the whole day. The colour is pretty as well, a champagne neutral colour that is perfect for the inner corners of your eyes or all over the lids for a glamourous party look.

The packaging is sleek, classy and very 'Illamasqua-ish". The product comes out of a circular hole right in the middle of the plastic 'cap' and this prevents excess product to be out of the container. You know how messy glittery pigments can be!

illamasqua pure pigment Furore swatch

Here is a swatch on the back of my hand. Since it's consistency is so fine, you can swipe a little or pack a lot of product onto the skin. Be wary though, as since it is a pigment, you ought to be careful of fallout while applying. But the effect is worth the caution.

illamasqua pure pigment furore swatch blended in

It can be blended easily into the skin. The end result is a shimmery pretty finish that can excel even further with a cream base under it. MAC's paint pot in Bare Study will do the job purrrrfectlyyy.

I love this product and have yet to finish trying out different looks! Come to think of it, it'll be great to wear it out for drinks this coming Friday with my buds ;)

This product was purchased off asos.com. 

 

Eyeshadow: Furore
Liner: tight lined with NARS China Blue eyeshadow
Mascara: Lancome
Foundation: Shiseido Aqualabel White + Banila co. It Shiny highlighter
Lips: balm + TOPSHOP Hazard
Cheeks: Sleek Rose Gold

Thanks for dropping by!

Dolly Wink Liquid Eyeliner vs. Kiss Me Heroine Make Liquid Liner

I have a love/hate relationship with liquid eyeliner. I had never been a user of it until my first one from Kiss Me Heroine Make. The Kiss Me Heroine Make Liquid Liner is the one with the funny crying anime lady on the packaging. Before this venture into liquid liners, I used my pencils and occasionally eye shadows to line my eyes.

Well, the reason for this love/hate relationship was my mediocre skills at applying it. First timers are bound to have some difficulties using liquid liner. They are just too easy to go wrong (and makes you look like crap when they do)! The line was either too crooked or too thick, and it took me some time to find the right look. And I'm kinda glad I did. 

My dear friend Fitrina (http://fitrina-inamorata.blogspot.com) was the one that brought me into the world of liquid liners. I have always been amazed how sleek, dark and pretty her eyeliner looked and so I sought advice :p

Remember the very unfortunate incident of me leaving my makeup pouch at the hotel in Genting Highlands? I thought I had lost it forever so I went ahead and bought the Dolly Wink Eyeliner. I heard great things about it (holy grail liquid liner, the best yet.. yadda) and so I set off to find it. It took me quite a long while before I could get my hands on it! It was out of stock for a lot of Watson's outlets. I finally got my hands on it at the Toa Payoh Watson's.
 
The Comparison

Dolly Wink Liquid liner

Kiss Me Heroine Make liquid liner

Price

Dolly Wink: $24.90 
Heroine Make: $18.90 

Both bought at Watson's. DW was $6 more expensive and I consider that quite a big difference! 

Brush tip

Both brush tips were very similar in terms of texture and thinness. They were capable of making fine lines as well as thick ones. Both liners glide on very smoothly, there is a lot of product in the liners (I've been using them for at least 6 months and they're still very very fluid), and they are very black.
However I noticed, HM removes slightly easier than DW liners. HM was gone with one swipe of a non-oil based makeup remover while DW took at least 2 swipes. 

My sister had mentioned that she felt HM flaked a tiny bit easier than DW. I on the other hand, felt no difference. 

Heroine Make vs Dolly wink, insignificant differences

Overall feelings

I do think that Dolly Wink is that little tinsy bit better than Heroine Make, but the price is also much pricier. For beginners who want to try out liquid liners, go for the Heroine Make one. It is 1) Easier to find (much, much easier) and 2) Almost identical to the Dolly Wink one. 

For those who magically chance upon the Dolly Wink liner, you're quite the lucky person. 

Rating

DW: 4.5/5
HM: 4.3/5

Review: EYEKO Skinny Liquid Eyeliner

Liquid eyeliner by Eyeko. Featuring a long-lasting pigmented formula, the eyeliner has a pen style nib, ensuring for an easy application, allowing you to create thick feline flicks and thin defined lines for a smudge-proof finish.

How much does it retail for: Not too sure, you can buy it from people’s park complex level 3?

How much did I pay it for: 10 pounds from ASOS.com

Where did I get it/where can I get it: ASOS.com, I’m not sure if the EYEKO in Singapore carries the SKINNY liner anymore, I think it is being discontinued and replaced by the Graffitti liner. I could be wrong.

What I feel about it: I first heard of the brand Eyeko from the Youtube beauty gurus from UK and thought, what a unique looking brand. It goes sort of cartoony and the logo looks like a guitar pick. ASOS.com had a discount and so I took the plunge, bought the thing and waited for it to be shipped over (a long 2-weeks wait). I used to think the liquid liner look doesn’t suit me. I’m the all-kohl-all-smudge kinda girl. In fact, it took a while to make my drawn liquid line, straight.

Packaging: It has a silver pen-like packaging with simple words and design.

Scent: Smells like a liquid liner

Texture/Payoff: An intense black liner that is slightly shiny when set. The felt brush makes it easy for amateurs to have better control. After feeling more comfortable with a liquid liner, I wish it was just ever so slightly thinner for a more precise, near the lash-line line.

Finish: The liquid ink dries relatively quickly, leaving no chance for it to smudge onto your upper eyelid when you blink. Upon drying, the liner is budge and smudge-proof. It isn’t waterproof, so don’t depend too much on its resistance to unforeseen circumstances. However, as it is not waterproof, a water-based makeup remover easily removes it.

Rating: 3.7/5

Other thoughts: After using a few times, I noticed dried ink stains on the neck of the liner. Not sure where all those ink came from, but sure is a little waste! I had used the eyeliner on and off for about 3-4 months. It has already dried a little, just like when your marker pens run out of ink. Would have liked it more if it lasts longer and has a more flexible and thinner nib.

Stay tune for my Dolly Wink Liquid Eyeliner review!