Empties #19: March 2015 – Part 2

After a very small Part 1 empties blog post earlier, here’s a much bigger Part 2! Most of these are smaller items or mini/travel sizes of skincare, plus a good number of sachets. I also managed to use up a number of makeup items and that makes me really happy – I always finish up skincare but it’s much harder to use up makeup as I love switching them up!

Empties #18: February 2015 – Part 2

I love making lists. Especially when it’s lists of empties! Here’s a ginormous list for Part 2 of February’s empties… it’s going to be a really long list, so I hope everyone enjoys reading these lists too! There’s tons of sachets, skincare, and a lot more makeup this month so let’s get to it!

Empties #13: September 2014 – Part 1

When an empties post become an EPIC post. This month I had a really good clear out of some of my sample size products, as well as some old products. I also bought a lot of Memeboxes lately, so I wanted to clean out some of the older stuff I have to make space for the new. I suspect the next few months’ posts will be littered with sample size products as I try to wind them down.

1. Nalthin Body Fit Patch x7sheets
I’ve been trying out a few slimming body patches – out of sheer curiosity and desperation to lose some weight… and now I have to report back that nothing but exercise and diet really works. It does heat up and make the area that it’s applied to really hot, but besides giving me a rash I don’t think it really did anything. I still have another 2 weeks worth that I will continue to use up.

Empties #12: August 2014 – Part 2

Because using up 12 items in a month is not enough, here are another 16 more! I’m thinking I seriously need to start again on a makeup budget plan because I’ve really been overspending on beauty lately and collecting too much too fast ever since the last one ended! Anyway, here are the rest of what I have finished in the month of August!

Empties #11: July 2014 – Part 2

Now for part 2 of July’s empties! Continuing on the theme of ‘stash clean up’ from my first July’s empties post, I’ve also been doing the same clean out to my makeup stash – there’s a number of old makeup that are not actually ’empty’ but I just don’t think that I will ever use them again. Let’s take a look at what the rest of my July’s empties are!

Midweek Peek #9: Smelling Good

I like to be prepared for all emergencies and sometimes the “emergencies” include having to smell good – it could have been a long day and the bf suddenly calls to meet for dinner; can’t be smelling foul or stale can I? So I often keep a few vials of perfume on me – luckily I don’t sweat much, so deodorant is not really something that I have to bother with.

A couple of perfume vials that I have currently on me – Dior Addict Eau Delice, Roses de Chloe and a decanted The Body Shop Japanese Cherry Blossom Body Mist. I’m not really very picky about what scents I carry on the go, unless they smell really horrid (duh!) as I really only use them as a quick smell-refresher but I do have a preference for floral and fruity scents.

Do you bring along perfume with you on the go as well?

5 Friday Favourites #2

It’s been a really long while since I did a Friday Favourites post – the last was in December last year! I noticed that I have been consistently using some items lately, and thought it would be great to do an update!

// Bourjois Healthy Mix Foundation makes my skin looks better than it is, is affordable, and has really good staying power. // MAC LoveCloud Satin Powder Blush has been my go-to blush for perking up my face and taking the years off. // Burberry Sheer Eye Shadow in Pale Barley is a repeat favourite; I’m still really loving it as a transition shade – it’s irreplaceable! // The Kiko Water Eyeshadow in 206 is gorgeous; great pigmentation and can be foiled to make it really shimmer. // The Dior Addict Lipstick in 553 Princess was an impulse buy that I did not regret; it’s sheer but gives a nice soft glossy pink tint to the lips and feels really comfortable. //

That’s all for my 5 Friday Favourites! What are you loving lately?

Empties #7: March 2014

This month I tried to clear out a lot of the sample/travel size items that I have been accumulating – whilst I love having them available for holidays, I don’t actually go on that many holidays so I definitely had to downsize a bit!

1. Simple Cleansing Facial Wipes
2. Biore Cleansing Oil Cotton Facial Sheets
Cleansing facial wipes are a gym essential – I cant bring myself to exercise with makeup on! The Simple wipes are very nice; they are a good size wipe with no sting, and removes makeup easily. I used to love the Biore ones because of how wet and effective they are, even with waterproof mascara, but now I’m a little frustrated with its small sheet size; it takes a few sheets to wipe my whole face so it’s quite wasteful and expensive that way.

3. Dermal Bee Venom Collagen Essence Mask
4. My Beauty Diary Bulgarian White Rose Mask
These are by no means the only facial sheet masks I’ve used this month; somehow I remembered to keep the wrapping for these. I love sheet masks and am not too fussy about what brand or type as I don’t find them to be so different in terms of efficacy, so these worked well.

5. Dior Diorskin Nude Compact in 030 Medium Beige
Got this sample from the Dior counter and have been using it on the go in my small Z-palette – I do like this; the powder is very smooth, feels light on the skin, but does not look powdery. Would consider purchasing.

6. Cosmetika Compact Powder in 302
A powder I received from a subscription beauty box that I didn’t use much; the texture is quite hard and dry, plus it got ‘bumpy’ after a couple of uses. Throwing it out because I won’t be using it any more.

7. Elizabeth Arden Ceramide Plump Perfect Ultra Lift & Firm
8. Astalift Whitening Cream
The Elizabeth Arden cream is meant to be an all night repair for face and throat; for nights that my skin feels extra dry this came in very handy – slap on a good amount of this cream before bed and wake up to very well hydrated skin. The Astalift cream paled in comparison – it’s not bad, just nothing outstanding except for its orange tint.

9. Murad Essential C Day Moisture SPF 30 in 3 Hydrate/Protect
Quite like this; this has a faint citrus scent, and absorbs very quickly into the skin. I find that it worked very well under makeup even on a hot day!

10. Shiseido White Lucent Brightening Cleansing Foam
11. Sulwhasoo Snowise EX Whitening Water
12. Dior Addict Eau Delice
A few items that I’ve been using at the gym; not too many thoughts on them because all I want is get clean, smell good and go home/out quickly.

13. IOPE Super Vital Extra Moist Softener
14. IOPE Super Vital Extra Moist Serum
Mentioned these in a post recently. Bought a trial set of IOPE items to try; unfortunately the scent was too overwhelming for me so I didn’t really like most of them. The serum was not bad though. Won’t purchase.

15. Sensodyne Pronamel Daily Toothpaste
16. Watsons Nail Polish Remover
A couple of mundane but must have items. Sensodyne is my favourite toothpaste brand; they don’t taste too strongly of mint like most other brands, so that’s a big plus for me, and my sensitive teeth feels good with them. I’ve finished so many bottles of the Watson’s nail polish removers – mainly because they’re so cheap and does the job fine.

So that’s it for my empties this month! So I cheated a little bit with the facial sheet masks and all the mini/travel size bottles, but I have a few bigger bottles that I am almost done with and I can’t wait for them to be on next month’s post! Have you used up any items this month?

EOTD #2: Neutral Eye with a Green/Blue Pop of Color

A quick EOTD for the day. I woke up late and my hands automatically reached out the usual neutral shades, and before I knew it I was half way through a neutral eye. But I decided to jazz things up a bit, so I added a little green and blue – I think it makes a nice contrast without too much extra effort. That said, I should have spent that extra 2 minutes blending out my eyeshadow as I can see some harsh lines, but I really couldn’t be bothered since noone can tell when my eyes are open…

Products used:

1. Too Faced Shadow Insurance; all over lid, crease and browbone
2. Chanel Les 4 Ombres Quadra Eyeshadow in 35 Rives; the beige shade all over lids, white shade to highlight browbone, the darkest brown shade to run along the lashes
3. Dior 5 Couleurs Eyeshadow Palette in 654 Aurora; the brown shade on outer third of lids
4. Burberry Pale Barley, in the crease as transition shade
5. Rimmel Scandaleyes 014 Bright Blue, to line outerhalf of undereye
6. Make Up Store Metallic Crazy Lazy, to line innerhalf of undereye
7. Essence Liquid Eyeliner, to line along upper lash line

The colours are appearing a bit more dull than in real life; it was a cloudy and rainy day when I took the picture. Hopefully after the monsoon season and the sun comes back I can get some good pictures with better lighting!

Midweek Peek #2: What’s in my small Z-palette?

Because of my working schedule, as well as the bf’s, I often carry around a full face worth of makeup, just in case I have to fix my makeup during the day, or if I have to stay overnight at the bf’s house at the last minute. I’ve been loving the small Z-palette lately, because it cuts down on the amount of packaging I have to lug around with me.

What do I have inside? I have a powder foundation – a small sample of the Diorskin Nude Compact in 030 Medium Beige which I use as setting powder, a mini Benefit blush in Sugarbomb, and some depotted eyeshadows from various palettes by Urban Decay – in Bordello, Rockstar, MIA, Smog, Virgin, Flow, Naked and Buck.

I love that I can easily switch up the colours, and still be able to carry a good variety around. I don’t actually use Sugarbomb as a blush but more as a highlight; as there is no mirror in the z-palette, I normally bring along a blush with a good size mirror. I also do carry a good variety of lip products, some concealers and tinted moisturizers, and a small set of makeup brushes.

So what’s in your Z-palette? Do you carry it around as well?