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

TOPSHOP Lipstick Rio Rio

My first Topshop lipstick (Rio Rio) was bought because of Zoella (http://schoee.blogspot.sg/) and her bright lips! Loved that it looked so pow-wow yet it doesn't look too over the top. It's a real dilemma, wearing red lipstick in a humid country because its quite troublesome. I sweat on most days outside and sweating makes you want to touch your face! With a bright lip colour on, that is just a no-no (imagine the mess)!

Nonetheless, the lipstick looks too gorgeous on her to give up. So I went and bought Rio Rio.

Satin matte finish lipstick to smooth, hydrate and nourish lips. Apply for fabulous colour and moisturised, matte finish, wear alone or with gloss for a shiny finish. (Topshop.com)

Rio Rio is a bright red lipstick that runs quite warm and a little orange-y. It is rather pigmented, one coat would give you colour but to get the colour true to the tube, a couple of coats would be enough. It does give a satin matte finish (I would rather a full matte) and perhaps that is the reason it's not extremely drying.

If you're looking for a true red lipstick, Rio Rio may not be for you.

For a country that's not too hot on bright lips, Rio Rio could be considered as a daring attempt. How I wish Singapore was more into red lips! ><

A normal TOPSHOP lipstick costs SG$19, a little more than 8 pounds converted.

Here is Rio Rio compared to two other 'redder' lipsticks:

Really Red is, well, really red. It is a classic red lipstick that adds that glamourous pop to your makeup! It is a Revlon Matte lipstick. Stiletto is not far off being the 'bluer' counterpart. It has the most matte finish but is creamy when applied, not dry!

Overall, Rio is a great summer colour that wakes up the face and make you feel young again (no kidding), but its important to pay attention not to wipe your face subconsciously. Joker anyone? 

YOU MUST BE KIDDING ME!!

A couple of days ago, I went on a short, lovely trip to Genting Highlands, land of cool air and gamblers. I enjoyed my trip very much. A day after returning from the well-deserved trip, I FOUND OUT THAT I LEFT MY MAKE UP BAG IN THE HOTEL ROOM.
How stupid is that?
Apparently, I had placed it in one of the inconspicuous drawers underneath the TV. I kept it there, out of sight, so that we could put our room on service. And I totally forgot about it, until I couldn't find it back at home. Boo.
Got the BF to call Resort Hotel Genting. It was there! BUT they don't do mail services whatsoever. So... how am I gonna get it back? The makeup bag with all of my favourite items is left, I'm sure, in a dark dark corner on a high mountain top, unable to come back to me. I can't plan another trip up again?! What's more, they are only gonna keep it there for three months and they'll chuck it. :(
I love my makeup and especially the pouch! I had great memories with it. The bag is sort of a sachet with a drawstring and in a nice cream colour. I got it from Topshop in UK for free! It came with three items in it: bobby pins, makeup removing wipes, liquid eyeliner. They had a promotion whereby if you get three or more items, they'll give the bag to you for free! How lovely.
It had followed me through my trip across Europe and I'm pretty much busted to find it gone, together with my many favourite items.

So, so, sad.

Some encouragement though, new makeup

Revlon Matte Lipstick in Really Red, TOPSHOP All about me matte lipstick and DOLLY WINK Liquid eyeliner