Back from Malaysia

I'm back from visiting my family in KL, Malaysia. My sis also came by from Australia, so it was a nice little reunion! My sis and I also stopped by Kuching, Sarawak to visit our grandpa and relatives. We soon realised we spent more time eating than not eating, and as a result I now need to go on a diet.

I didn't really take any pictures of my trip, as I was mainly spending time with my family. However, I did do alot of shopping. I wanted to buy things I couldn't get in the UK. I also bought quite a few cute little dresses in preparation for summer, aswell as some shift dresses for work. Below are a pair of earrings I found at the numerous gold jewellers dotted around the waterfront in Kuching, followed by some pics of my beauty haul.

Make up for ever HD invisible cover foundation #117
I've heard lots of good things about this foundation. It's designed to provide medium to full coverage while remaining invisible on-screen and real life.

Canmake Powder Cheeks PW20
An inexpensive Japanese brand blush that gives a pretty baby pink glow to cheeks

Vichy Bi-White reveal lightening deep cleansing foam & double corrective whitening emulsion
I've always liked Vichy products and couldn't resist trying their whitening range. Especially since my skin's been looking a little dull lately.

Silk Whitea Organic Peach Water-Binding Mask & Organic Strawberry Whitening Mask
My sis and I have tried this a few times and love their fruity scents and the nice glow they provide.

Laniege Water Sleeping Pack

A hydrating mask which works while you sleep. I got this to help rehydrate my skin after the drying effects of 6 flights in 2 weeks. I loved how easy it was to use (i.e. apply onto face, then go to sleep). My face felt more hydrated the next day, but so far I haven't seen a vast improvement in my skin.

Laneige Sunblock Triple SPF40

A 3 in 1 product combining suncare, relievement of photo aging, and correction of skin tone. I'm not sure what i think of this product. It illuminated my skin, but gave me a very slight white-cast. It also contains silicone which I've heard is not great for the skin.

Near my grandma's house a loads of shops selling everything you would never want, all in one roof. However, I managed to find a new nice things and bought them in the spirit of Chinese New Year. I got these cherry blossom sprigs to give our home a more oriental feel.

And these pigs as both my husband and I were born in the year of the pig (and also because they are quite cute!)
A quick, and random NOTD to finish off. This is my current favourite nail colour: Chanel, Ming #471. I like it so much that I've pretty much worn it exclusively all winter.

My new love: REN skincare

I've been trying out some REN and Paul & Joe skincare items, and have been loving the results so far!

The REN products, I've tried:

• the no.1 Purity Cleansing Balm
• Omega 3 Overnight Lipid Renewal Serum
• Osmotic Infusion Ultra Moisture Day Cream

REN's philosophy is to use skin-friendly ingredients, and do not contain potential irritants such as parabens, synthetic colours and fragrances (ideal for my senstive skin!)

The no.1 Purity Cleansing Balm

This is the first cleanser in balm form that I've tried, but I've got to say, I've truly fallen in love with it! It truly makes my skin glow, and it's abit sad but I now find cleansing my skin such a pleasant experience as I look forward to using this product everyday.

The texture is a thick, rich balm:

It has a beautiful rose scent, and it's ingredients include exotic sounding things like Pink Violet Leaf extract and Roman Camomile Oil. The balm is used by massaging it into a dry face and neck for 1-2mins. Water is then added to emulsify the product into a milk which is then rinsed off.

After using the cleansing balm, my skin felt perfectly cleansed I noticed that it gave my skin a pretty glow:

post cleansed, pre-toned skin

This glow, however, could be attributed to the 2 minute facial massage when applying the balm.
Pros:

• throroughly cleansed my skin, and removed makeup well
• smells amazing (I love rose scented products!)
• gave my skin a beautiful glow

Cons:

• rather time consuming to use (with the 1-2min massage and all)
• more difficult to wash off than gel and cream cleansers

I love this product and give it a rating of 5/5

Omega 3 Overnight Lipid Renewal Serum

A serum that claims to restore and enhance the skin's lipid structure to stimulate renewal and regeneration. In addition it is said to boost moisture and soothe skin sensitivity.

A blend of natural oils, the texture of this serum is that of an extremely light oil

The scent of the serum has been described disturbingly lickable, though some have described it to smell like fish oils. I found the scent to be somewhere in between these two descriptions. Not amazing smelling, but not unpleasant either.

Pros:

• It melts onto the skin easily, and I found great to use for soothing dry winter skin. After using it, I would wake up the next day with smooth, comforted skin

Cons:

• Might be too rich for oily skin

Rating 4/5

Osmotic Infusion Ultra-Moisture Day Cream

This is a creamy day moisturizer specially suited for dry, dehydrated skin. Contains ceramide, phospholipids and omega 6 which claim to boost skin's repair function to restore softness and elasticity.
Like the cleansing balm, this cream had a nice rose scent. I like to mix it with the omega 3 serum in the mornings for perfectly soothed and smooth skin. I found this a great winter moisturizer, and is gentle enough for sensitive skin.

Pros:

• soothing and moisturising, great for winter
• nice scent

Cons:

• could be too rich for oily/combination skin
• good basic moisturizer, but not spectacular

Rating 3.5/5

Mini Guerlain haul & cute iphone protectors

The Guerlain Spring 2010 collection is out! My sweet husband got the Cherry Blossom blush eclat and the jewel lipstick compact in Berry

So pretty to look at! However, the patterns soon dissapeared with the first usage of this blush. how sad.
The blush turned out to be a very light pinkish peach, a much lighter colour than I originally expected. However, I still found it pretty and fresh looking. The colour was so subtle that extra heavy handed application was required The lipstick I bought came in their jewel bullet-like packaging with built in mirror:
I got an orange-pink colour (B20 Berry)

the lipstick went on smoothly and has a slight glossy finish
On a completely unrelated topic, my sis in law informed me about these cute iphone protectors that you can order from http://www.gelaskins.com/. They're protective stickers you stick on the back of iphones and come in a variety of artwork. These pics are from their website, I found them really pretty and dreamy:

I bought these twoThey are slgihtly darker in real life, than on the website. I'm currently using the 'Leave the hair' design, and love it! It makes me excited to use my iphone again.

Free wallpapers can be downloaded at their website, or you can add the Gelaskins wallpaper application to your iphone.

Guerlain 2010 Cherry Blossom Collection

I'm just too excited for words. I came across pics of Guerlain's Cherry Blossom Spring 2010 Collection and could barely breathe...the collection is beautiful. I'm especially loving the look of the peachy-pink blush, almost too pretty to use!

I love the lip colour the model is wearing:

Blush Eclat -07 Cherry Blossom

Ombre Eclat 4 Couleurs - 408 Jeu d'Ombrelles
Meteorites voyage Exceptional Pressed Powder - 01 Mythic
It's been said that the collection will be out mid January. Am glad that's soon, as I don't think I can wait any longer.

Speaking of beautiful blushers, I'm also excited about Dior's Boudoir Look Collection Spring 2010 (also available mid Jan).

Poudrier Dentelle

Just looking at these pictures brightens up this frosty winter for me.

Gift from husband

My sweet husband bought me a gift for passing my viva.

The viva examination is a grueling exam PhD students have to go through to get their doctorate. Two examiners (one internal, one external) and the student go into a meeting room, and the examiners fires questions at the student for hours to see how much they know about and around their field of research. In the science field, the viva can last up to 7 hours straight. It's one of the most stressful experience a student can go through, and I have been dreading my viva for years.

Hearing horror stories of how people in my department had a 7 hour viva and still not passed, I panicked on the day of my viva. But thankfully mine wasn't an unpleasant experience. It lasted only 2 hours (to me it felt like so much more) and I passed, yay!

Anyway, onto my gift. My husband got me a beautiful Tiffany pen. He wanted to get me something I could keep for a long time, and something related to acedemics (hence the pen).

I love it!! I reminds me of the Tiffany pen my dad got me when I was a teen. Sadly, I lost it! (Yes, am very dissapointed for losing it). Don't worry, I've learnt from my mistakes and won't be losing this one.

On an unrelatied note, it's freezing cold here in Manchester. The big canal outside out apartment has frozen over. It's not normally this cold in the UK.. my husband and I really need to find out how to turn on the heating in here, before we freeze!

Package from Hong Kong

My order from BoBoDave arrived yesterday!! As you can see, I bought quite a few things..

These include:

-L'egere Ice Toner and Whitening Eye Roller

-BeautyMaker Light Primer

-Paul and Joe Eye Primer and Face Colour

-and last but not least the famous L'egere BB cream. (I'll discuss the BB cream in my future posts of BB cream comparisons)

I was also given a free gift of L'egere Sill Essence plus Gold serum. Looks quite fun!

The colours I got fromPaul and Joe are: eye primer in 01, and face colour in 11:

I am in love with Paul and Joe face colours, I find both the packaging and the colours so pretty. Swatch of the face colour on my hand. A nice rosy pink colour. Beautymaker is a Taiwanese brand developed by the makeup artsit Kevin (I don't know his last name). I bought the Light Primer SPF30+ in pink. With its tiny light reflecting particles, I hope to use this product on its own, for a natural but radiant look.
Next up is the L'egere Pure Aqua Ice Toner. It's meant to be sprayed onto a cotton pad which you then apply to the face. It really does feel like ice. I put some on my husband, he found it uncomfortably cold and made his face sting. I myself, quite liked the coldness and didn't find it stinging my face. I didn't like the alcohol content, however. And did not like the smell... it smelt a TINY bit of hairspray..

Lastly, this really cute L'egere eye roller:

As I've mentioned in my previous post, I sometimes suffer from insomnia, and have dark undereye circles as a result. I'm on a constant quest to find an eye cream which helps to diminish these circles. This eye roller claims to reduce dark circles and bags in 28 days. I'll do a post in 28 days time with the results of this eye cream on my dark circles.

Foundation alternative I: Bobbi brown TM review

I'm on a quest to find the perfect foundation alternative for days when I want abit of coverage on my bare skin. I've been looking heavily into tinted moisturizer and BB creams. I'll do a post and reviews about BB creams in the future, but today's post will focus on Bobbi Brown's Extra SPF25 tinted moisturizing balm.

I love anything with 'balm' in its name. Sounds comforting and almost..healing. This balm is great for dry, dehydrated skin, and I think it's especially great for winter.
thick, creamy texture
partly blended on hand

Here's a pic of my bare skin, with my dark undereye circles in its full glory (I suffer from insomnia from time to time): I find I have larger than average pores around the nose areas, which I'm trying to minimise. I also want a nice and even overall complexion.
What I look for in a foundation alternative is something which makes skin look flawless, yet feels good for the skin. Alot to ask for, I know. This TM had a thick consistency, but felt really light on the skin. I don't know how to describe the smell...maybe...herby..? It's quite a pleasant smell anyway.
On the skin, it looks super dewy. I love the moist, glow it gives my skin. However, it was almost too dewy and made my skin look shiny in areas, so I'll need apply some loose powder on my T-zone. I found the coverage extremely really sheer. Perfect for those wanting a really natural look.

All in all, I quite like it. It soothes my winter parched skin, and it's great for days when I want to look like I'm not wearing any makeup but feel my skin still needs a little coverage.