Winter Face of the Day: Take 2

Hi everyone, hope you had a great first month to the New Year and to those who celebrate Chinese New Year (and actually also to those who don't!) - I hope you had a wonderful New Year with joyful festivities.

To those who remember my previously failed Winter FOTD, here is a second attempt at showing you the Nars Multiple in G-Spot on my cheeks. This is a better representation of its true shade on my cheeks.

I decided to wear my winter hat (usually reserved for skiing/ mountain hiking activities) to make this look a little more appropriate for winter!

Products Used:

Face: Nars Multiple in G-Spot

Eyes: Castle dew Shot Eyes in GD240

Laura Mercier Cake Liner in Black Ebony

Lips: YSL Rouge Pur Couture Golden Lustre in 111

The Castledew eyeshadow palette was given to me by the lovely Riya. I used the 1st and 3rd shades on my lids.

I must apologise for my baggy eyes and weird lashes. I haven't been able to sleep properly for ages and it's been getting worse this past week so my eyes look really puffy at the moment. The weird lashes are from sleeping with an eye mask, causing me to have lashes that point straight up. The plus point is that at least they look curly!

My Lazy 2 product FOTD

Hi everyone, hope you're having a great week. As Christmas draws nearer, things have been pretty hectic but I'm trying my best to keep my promise to you all and post regularly.

Here's a super lazy FOTD in which I've only used 2 products. It's a quick look that will only take a minute to reproduce and I've chosen shades that instantly brighten up the face.

Products Used:

Peripera Smile Fit Blusher in 03 Pink rose

YSL Glossy Stain in 12 Corail Fauve

The Peripera blush is a new purchase, which I'll feature in future posts. It's such a pretty, easy to wear shade of light pink.

I've mentioned the YSL Rouge Couture Glossy Stain in a previous post (click here for post). They're so pretty that they can be used on it's own on a 'naked' face and would brighten up the complexion nicely.

Hope you all have a wonderful week ahead of you, and to those living in cold countries - wrap up warm!

New: YSL Rouge Pur Couture Glossy Stain

I absolutely love the idea of lip stains, but in reality I find them extremely drying on my lips. Application is usually a chore as I just can't seem to get them to apply evenly. All my lip stain problems were solved when I came across YSL's new Rouge Pur Couture Glossy Stain.

Currently exclusive to Selfridges, they retail at £22.50.They come in around 20 shades, so choosing one was extremely difficult.

I also had the embarrassing case of knocking over the display. It started with me knocking over just one lip gloss, but in trying to save it dropping to the ground, I knocked over another, which in turn knocked over a whole row with a domino effect. Anyway, luckily I managed to salvage the situation somewhat with only one dropping onto the floor.

I ended up selecting 2 shades:

9 Rouge Laque

12 Corail Fauve

I really like the packaging of these lip stains. They are fairly chunky and cuboid with a small window to see the colour of the satin.

These lip stains are extremely pigmented. The texture is lovely, creamy and rich. Unlike conventional lip stains they do not feel dry on the lips at all, in fact they feel fairly moisturising.

Swatches of (L-R): 12 Corail Fauve, 09 Rouge Laque

I'll start with the one on the right, 09 Rouge Laque.

Rouge Laque on the lips:

Rouge Laque is a vibrant red with orange undertone. It can also be stained very lightly with fingers for more subtle cherry red lips which can be more easily worn during the day.

Corail Fauve is less pigmented, and is an easier to wear shade.

It's a beautiful coral-peach shade.

Corail Fauve on the lips:

The applicator for these lip stains is a heart shaped for precision application. This is necessary as I personally find this lip stain difficult to apply. Rouge Laque is especially difficult, due to its intense shade. Careful application is needed or else I'd end up looking like a clown with red lipstick outside the edges of my lips.

The finish of the lip stains are super glossy. They have good lasting power, slowly fading after an hour to a more subtle stain.

March Haul; New Chanel Rouge Coco Shine, Urban Decay 24/7 Glide on Shadow etc

My resolution to not spend too much on products has completely fallen flat again this month. The good news is that I have finally found a skincare routine that suits me perfectly, so I'm no longer shopping for skincare items (apart from the hunt for the perfect anti-ageing serum).

Which brings us onto my March Beauty Haul. First up are the new Chanel Rouge Coco Shine lipsticks. I bought two shades in; Boy and Rivage.

I've been searching for lightly pigmented, glossy, natural looking lipsticks and have found them in the Rouge Coco Shine range. These lipsticks are all of the above. They feel really moisturising on the lips, like lip balm.

Here are some swatches of the two shades. Boy (left) is a light pinkish rose, and Rivage is a fresh peach.

Boy on the lips. This is my favourite of the two:

Rivage:

I usually focus on blush, but this time month I've gone lip crazy and also bought a lipstick from YSL's Bohemian Chic Spring Collection; Rouge Pur Couture 23 Corail Poetique.

It's not a colour I would usually go for, and it's unlike and lipstick I've ever owned. I decided to try out a peached toned lipstick to see if it would suit me.

The shade is a light peachy-coral and the texture is nice and creamy. Below are swatches on my lips in 2 different lighting:

I really love this shade. It's so pretty, yet a subtle colour. I have been wearing it loads eversince I purchased it.

I'm a huge fan of the Diorskin Nude Natural Glow Fresh Powder Makeup, especially for the great dewy glow it gives my skin. I was on the hunt for something similar, but with little to no coverage - something to blot excess shine in the summer while making my skin look radiant.

I was therefore really tempted to try their Capture Totale High Definition Radiance Loose Powder, said to give an even higher amount of radiance to the skin.

This powder comes with both a powder puff and a flat brush, so you apply the powder in two different ways.

It only comes in one shade; Bright Light (a pale beige):

I also bought a couple of the Urban Decay 24/7 Glide on Shadow, and a smudge brush to help apply them.

These are waterproof shadow pencils, and I bought them in Wasteland and Rehab.

Wasteland is a cool dark brown shade, and Rehab is a beautiful taupe. These shadow pencils are super easy to apply (but difficult to blend as they become quite stubborn to shift 10 seconds after application).

The brush is excellent for smudging eye shadow, and especially great for these shadow pencils as well as cream shadows.

Well, that's my haul for March! Here's hoping that I show some sort of self control in April.

*Don't forget to enter my first Giveaway here!*

Happy Chinese New Year & Quick CNY Inspired FOTD

Happy Chinese New Year Everyone!! Hope you all have a very wonderful and auspicous year ahead!

This year, it's the year of the Rabbit. In Asia (or Chinatown), you can see lots of cute little rabbit decorations for sale. Not to mention adorable Chinese New Year cards with little bunnies, like this one my husband's grandma sent us.




In the spirit of Chinese New Year, I have decorated Ollivander, our little Olive tree with little chinese lanterns.

My family (but not me!) will be in Sarawak, Malaysia for Chinese New Year this year as there will be a huge reunion on my father's side. I'm not attending as I just came back from there. Somehow, I didn't find out about the reunion until a few weeks ago... I feel a bit left out of the loop!

Anyway, my family will be in my hometown of Miri to celebrate CNY with my Dad's side of the family, then Kuching to celebrate with my mum's family. I haven't been back to Miri in about 5 years, so it'll be nice to see what it's like nowadays. It was a quiet little beach town ~20 years ago when I used to live there, but it was a bustling city the last time I went!

I've done a quick FOTD to go with this post. I used my YSL Pur Couture red lipstick stained on my lips using my fingers, to create a more subtle cherry colour.

One of my New Year's Resolutions was to completely forego foundation this year (not sure how long this will last). Foundation tends to irritate my skin a lot and I feel I'm more suited to tinted moisturisers or light BB creams. Better yet is to not wear any base as then my skin will be irritant free. My previous FOTD was made before the New Year, so I've not quite violated my resolution yet!

For this FOTD, I'm using Shu Uemura's Instant Glow Skin Perfecting Cream instead of foundation. It gives skin a nice radiant look, however, I found it did irritate my skin a little bit.

Products Used:

Face
Shu Uemura Stage Performer Instant Glow Immediate Radiance Skin Perfecting Cream
MAC Blush in Peaches

Eyes
Dior Earth Reflection
Bobbi Brown Gel Liner in Black
Max Factor False Lash Effect Mascara

Lips
YSL rouge Pur Couture in 01

Please excuse my very messy hair. Sadly it was kind of deliberate. I was trying a messy, just got out of bed look, but realised it did not go well with my type of fringe. So I ended up looking like a deranged witch.

One of my favourite blushers is Mac Peaches. It gives skin a nice peachy colour, while imparting a subtle glow. It makes me a little healthier looking. I'll be reaching for this blush more in the Summer.

It's tradition to wear red on CNY. I'm just wearing a simple red T-shirt in this FOTD as I realised I don't own many red clothes. I could have worn a cheongsam for the pics, but they are in very un-CNY colours of either white, blue or black.

Anticipation of Spring 2011 Collections

Hi everyone, here are some photos to get you excited for upcoming Spring 2011 beauty collections, while it's cold and dreary outside for most of us. Sorry for the lack of info, I just wanted to do a quick round-up on things which have caught my eye. Spring collections have always been my favourite as they are so vibrant and pretty.

Paul and Joe:

Parasol Spring 2011 Collection

image curtesy of Kiss and Makeup

YSL :

The colours look so pretty and fresh! The range includes a highlighting powder called Pink Celebration, and 8 new Rouge Pur Couture Lipsticks.

One of my favourite brands, Guerlain:

I like the look of: Ecrin 6 Couleurs Eyeshadow Palette Rue de Rivoli

and Blush G de Guerlain

Givenchy:

The star product of this collection will be the Photo Perfection Light Evanescent Fluid Foundation SPF10 with foam applicator and radiance formula

This Blush Gelee caught my attention as I love blushes in its many forms

Lancome:

Ultra Lavande Collection by Aaron De May.

I'm not fond of lavander coloured makeup, but this collection has some beautiful looking pieces, including this La Rose butterfly Blush

Ballerine Color Fever Gloss Natural Origin, Lancome Le Vernis and LA Base Dewy Glow Smoothing Radiance Enhancer (which I am VERY interested in the sound of).

Shu Uemura:

Inspired by butterfly's wings and tropical jungle sunsets.

Morphollium Blue Palette, Sunset Gold Palette, Shine Mystic Eye Colors, and Peacock Partial Eyelash

From all the the above collections, I'll be interested in investigating the; YSL Pink Celebration Highlighter, Givenchy foundation and Lancome LA Base Dewy Glow. How about you?