Review: Kevin Aucoin The Sensual Skin Enhancer

I can’t believe that I have not talked about this before, especially since there was a time that this was so hyped up on youtube and the blogosphere. Every other youtube video mentioned this, and whenever there was a foundation post this was bound to pop up in a mention or two. I first heard about it from Wayne Goss on Gossmakeupartist, and then overnight it became the most highly sought after skin base product. That was almost 2 years ago, and it was so hard to find it in Singapore then! I searched high and low and finally found it on a vacation in the US, and cost about USD45 for the 18g pot.

Review: Kiss & Belle Deluxe Lipsurgence Lip Set

Hi everyone! Today I have a review on the Tarte Kiss & Belle Lipsurgence Lip Set – one of several limited edition sets launched in the Tarte Holiday 2014 Collection. It seems like every year Tarte has a set of mini Lipsurgence! I missed out on last year’s so when I saw this set with 6 mini size Lipsurgences and 2 lip glosses looking so cute with their teeny tiny size and pretty gold and purple holiday design, I had to bring it home! Let’s take a look!

Review: NYX Pure Decadence Butter Gloss Set

I don’t know what took me so long to find these but these NYX butter glosses are fantastic! I recently got this NYX Pure Decadence Butter Gloss Set from Sephora for S$20; I checked around online and found this set to be selling at about USD10 in the U.S., so considering shipping and exchange rate of USD1 for SGD1.30, the markup isn’t that bad. Plus, there are 3 full size glosses in this set, so each gloss comes up to only S$6.67, still a really reasonable price for a gloss.

As a set, I think the shades included are great with a good mix of variety. All of them have some sort of bakery theme in their name! Red Velvet is a cherry/raspberry red. Tiramisu is a nude shade, leaning towards the pink side; this is a my-lips-but-better shade. Devil’s Food Cake is a deep, berry shade; I think it looks quite vampy on me. All three glosses have a pretty strong sweet or vanilla scent, in line with the bakery-theme, so if you’re sensitive to scented lip products, you might want to avoid these.

These glosses comes with a doe-foot applicator, which I think comes in handy with the darker shades where more control is needed. For Red Velvet and Devil’s Food Cake, I find the pigmentation really good so one swipe leaves behind at least medium coverage – they can be built up to their full colour but I’m more comfortable with less coverage as shown in the lip swatches below. I think they look slightly streaky if I just applied it once; the best way to use these is to kind of work it into the lips by painting it back and forth on the lips to get it all evened out. All three leaves a lot of shine!

The texture is very smooth and buttery, just like its name! On first contact it’s quite a thick formula but I actually think it feels really comfortable on, not sticky or tacky, and quite moisturising without being heavy. However, given the comfort factor and non-sticky texture, the staying power is quite low – the lighter shade lasts about 1 hour on my lips, while the darker shades leave behind a slight stain that stays on for about 2 to 3hours even after the shine wears off in the first hour.

In all, I really like these glosses! I’m usually not a gloss fan – because they can be sticky and I’m highly sensitive to sticky glosses, but these are really comfortable to wear with really good colour payoff! They’re very reasonably priced, and the high shine is really pretty! If you’re looking for stocking stuffers this holiday season, then these will come in handy as well. Or if you’re a relatively new lip gloss user, these will be great to start with! Now my only problem is that I want to pick up the rest of the shades…

Rating: 4/5

Review: Tarte Magical Moments Deluxe Discovery Set

Picked up this Tarte Magical Moments Deluxe Discovery Set in a recent haul, which I wrote about, for S$24! This set comes with their famous Amazonian Clay 12-hour Blush in the shade Magic, a LipSurgence lip gloss in the shade Magic, and a Lights, Camera, Lashes 4-in-1 Mascara.

Review: Fresh Sugar Stash

I’ve been wanting to try something from Fresh for a while now – they just look so sweet and girly! But somehow I just never got round to it… but I finally did during my last haul. I saw this really cute Fresh Sugar Set and decided that it’s time that I brought them home with me.

I tried to find more details for this set, but weirdly it’s not listed on the Fresh website nor the Sephora website. So I don’t have any official information on this set, but it’s still available in Sephora Singapore stores at S$52. This contains 6 minis: 3x3ml of Tinted Lip Treatment and 3×2.2g of Lip Treatment.

Midweek Peek #17: Powders I’ve hit Pan!

I was looking through my makeup drawers for a pressed powder to carry along in my purse when I suddenly saw a common theme – major pan! I’m very bad with sticking to one powder (or any other makeup item for that matter); I tend to open new powders and rotate them around, and before I know it, I have 3 pressed powders with major pan showing. If I had stuck to one I would have finished at least one full powder, but no, I don’t do that so now I have 3 that is almost but not quite finished.

From Left to Right: Maybelline Dream Matte Powder – a very nice light powder that I use when I don’t need too much coverage, just to keep things in place. MAC Mineralize Skinfinish Natural – I’ve used up tons of these and I will always go back to this whenever I need to powder my face yet look incredibly natural and photographs beautifully. Rimmel Stay Matte Long Lasting Pressed Powder – another really light powder that doesn’t add much coverage but is useful for setting makeup for really hot days.

My target in the next 2 months is to finish these 3 up before opening up any new pressed powders to use. A major problem though – I have a few new ones sitting in my drawers that I’m dying to start using! Can I do it? Can I at least finish up one of them before I crack the new ones open?

Haul & Review: MAC Fluidline Eye-liner Gel in Dark Majesty

Another item that I picked up from the MAC Heirloom Mix collection is the MAC Fluidline Eye-liner Gel in Dark Majesty. This costs SGD33 for 3g of product. Like the rest of the collection, this comes in limited edition packaging with a smooth glossy coat and silver shimmers, but otherwise regular shaped pot.

From MAC website:
A gel formula that provides the precision of a liquid liner with a silkier, softer finish. Goes on “foolproof” with a brush in an easy dip-and-stroke action. Long-wearing. Smudge-proof. Lines up in a rich array of colours and finishes. Brush sold separately. Decadently encased in limited-edition refined black packaging collaged with silver sparkles.

Haul & Review: MAC Pressed Pigment in Modern Majesty

It’s been awhile since I bought any MAC products – probably because of my Korean beauty kick. But I saw this new collection – the Heirloom Mix collection – in stores and somehow I was blinded by the shimmery limited edition packaging and caved. There are 8 new limited edition shades of MAC Pressed Pigment in the collection and I chose the one in Modern Majesty.

Review: Shara Shara Petit Friend Lovely Tint in Sexy Red

I picked up this lip tint on my recent trip to Korea – mainly because I was literally pulled into the shop by the sales assistant, and also because they held out a ‘free goodie’ to lure me in. But look at how adorable it is! I think Shara Shara’s target clients are of a younger age group – most of the products are very cutely packaged, as well as very colorful. The shade range is also very “on trend”, so it’s probably not a brand that you will want to go for neutral makeup. Today I’m reviewing the Shara Shara Petit Friend Lovely Tint in the shade Sexy Red.

Review: Ettusais BB+ Plus Mineral Powder

I can’t remember if I have ever done a review on face powder – come to think of it, that’s weird since I use some sort of powder every single day and I have a huge arsenal of face powders, so finally here’s a review for one! I actually bought this Ettusais BB+ Plus Mineral Powder in Japan on vacation last year, so I got it for less than S$20. I believe it’s sold with a big markup here in Singapore, at about S$38 for 9g of products, which is actually still really affordable for such a large tub of powder.