November Haul

Hi everyone, just a quick post to share with you items that I have bought this month. As I'm getting older, I've started thinking about anti-ageing skincare. I wanted to get a serum which contained some form of retinol, as well as peptides and antioxidants (all of which are thought to be good anti ageing properties), so my skin can look young for longer.

Philosophy's Miracle Worker Miraculous Anti-Ageing Concentrate contains all the ingredients. The retinol is in the form of retinyl palmitate, it contains a couple of peptides and multiple antioxidants including vitamins a, c and e to help protect the skin against environmental attack. Here is the ingredients list:

The serum is in the form of a dark yellow gel which smooths over the skin easily. It doesn't feel too greasy. It makes my skin glow when I put it on, but after a few days I've noticed a few tiny breakouts- which is unfortunate as otherwise it's a rather nice serum.

I also purchased the Diorskin Nude Natural Glow Fresh Powder Makeup. I'm in love with it already, and it's everything I'm looking for in a base.

It comes with a small flat top brush.

I bought it in the shade 020 Light beige. This foundation gave me an amazing healthy glow, and I'll definately be doing a review on this later.

Also from Dior, I bought their Skinflash Radiance Booster Pen.

The shade I bought was 002 Candlelight, which was perfect as an undereye concealer as well as a highlighter. I love how it brings instant radiance to the skin.

I bought N.Y.C's Color Wheel Mosaic Face Powder in Pink Cheek Glow.

The colour comes out as a beautiful apricot-pink, and I use this mosaic as a blush.

I bought this Avon SuperShock Eyeliner after reading a glowing review from A Model Recommends.

I've tried all sorts of pencil liners including Urban Decay 24/7 liner and MUFE aqua eyes eyeliner. In my opinion, the Avon eyeliner is alot better then the rest. It's got a longer staying power, and is extremely smudge proof. It's inexpensive too!

This eyeliner is so smudge proof that it's extremely difficult to remove, you need a REALLY good eye makeup remover. I love the price of this liner. It's normally sold for £6, but I got it on offer at £3.

Lastly, I bought these cute bedroom slippers from Accessorize. They are so warm and comfy for winter!

Blogger Award and Tag

Thank you very much pinkstrawberrielove for this award! Please check out the blog of this beautiful blogger who features a lot of cute Asian makeup.

The rules of this award are to pass this along to 7 blogs you've recently discovered and enjoy, aswell as share 7 things about yourself.

Seven things about myself:

1. I never talk makeup with my friends or family, as most of them don't wear any. So no swapping of beauty tips in daily conversation for me :( Annoyingly, eventhough they don't wear any makeup, they are still the most beautiful people i have ever met.

2. I started wearing makeup at 18, and love they way it can be used to enhance everyone's natural beauty.

3. I love reading. My favourite genre of books are historical fiction, psychological thrillers, sci-fi, and ...Harry Potter.

4. I LOVE British comedy, my favourite being the Inbetweeners. The show can be pretty crude and terribly cringe-worthy at times. I watched it with my mum one, what a mistake. Non comedy shows I enjoy are Downton Abbey, and the following U.S. shows; The Vampire Diaries, The Event and Gossip Girl. (My husband enjoys watching the latter 3 with me).


5. Another great thing about Britain are its tea rooms. I love afternoon tea! My favourite tea room is Betty's located in different parts of Yorkshire.

6. I enjoy outdoor activities such as hiking, though the weather is currently too cold to do any of that.

7. My best friend is a gorgeous, super intelligent Iranian girl whom I met 10 years ago in boarding school. She's funny, klutzy, and was my maid-of-honour at my wedding last year.

The 7 blogs who I pass this award onto:

Dottie K

COLOR is my weapon

Fleur de Cendre

Aimei
He call me 'Mara'
OhBeauty
I Heart Cosmetics

Shu Uemura Abracadabra Fantasy Aya Takano mini haul

Shu Uemura's Holiday Collection 2010 has finally reached the UK. It's called Abracadabra Fantasy, and all the products look super cute and pretty! Aya Takano is a Japanese artist who draws inspiration from science fiction and Japanese manga.

The main attractions of this collection are the adorable palettes shown below.

The Shu Uemura website also includes a little guide on how to achieve the makeup looks of the 2 girls featured in their promotional poster.




From this adorable collection, I bought the Reindeer Kiss Palette xxxx as well as the Miracle Cherry Blush Tint.




The packaging of the Reindeer Kiss Palette is gorgeous. The palette is encased in thick, chunky, good quality plastic.

This is the side view of the case. The plastic is pink on the bottom layer, and clear on the top.



What's in the palette:




The palette contains 3 eyeshadows, one eye liner, one highlighter, one blush and two double-ended brushes.




Here are swatches of the eyeshadows. There are two icy blue colours and one silver shimmer.



Below is a swatch of the chocolate brown eyeliner and the cream/gold shimmery highlighter.

I especially love the palette's blush. It's a cool tone bright pink. I like this palette so much, I bought an additional one as a gift for my sister.

I couldn't resist getting this Miracle Cherry Blush Tint. It's inspired by the blush on the cheeks,elbows, and legs of Aya Takano's cute and sexy characters.

The tint is housed in a small pink squeezy tube.

The tint is in the form of a watery gel, and the colour itself is a strong pinky-red.

Once blended out however, the colour becomes a lot more subtle resulting in a pink tint to the cheeks with a tiny hint of peach.

I'll now leave you with a piece of artwork from Aya Takano!

Fresh Soy Face Cleanser Review

Hi everyone, this is just a quick post to share with you my new HG cleanser, Fresh Soy Face Cleanser. I bought it on my recent trip to Toronto. I have sensitive skin which gets even more sensitized during the colder months. I find that quite a lot of cleansers dry out my skin, making it come out in a slight rash. So I'm so glad I came across this cleanser which cleanses so well whilst being gentle on my skin. Sadly I'm on my very last dregs of this product and don't know what to do as they don't sell it where I live!

According to Fresh:
'Ideal for all skin types, this ultra-gentle cleanser contains nourishing amino acids, rich soy proteins, and soothing botanicals to hydrate, calm and tone. Effectively removes every last trace of makeup, even around the delicate eye area.'


My thoughts:
- It's housed in a simple squeezy tube with flip cap. I have taken this product along quite a lot for travelling and it has never leaked or spilled
- the cleanser is a thick gel which is so silky smooth and applies like a dream
- it doesn't lather as much as other gel cleansers, which might give the impression it's almost too gentle on the skin
-I found it cleanses my skin really well, but gently without stripping off too much natural oil from my skin
-It gets rid of face make up, but I would still use a separate eye make up remover to remove eye make up
- after cleansing, my skin felt very supple to the touch
- after a week of use, my skin started to feel very soft and smooth
- the cleanser had a strange organic scent, of maybe soy or cucumber. I got used to the scent after a couple of days, and ended up quite liking it
- It also contains antioxidants. I love this product so much it's now my HG cleanser
- The tube lasts me just over a month

Pros:
- I love how soft and smooth this makes my skin
- cleanses the skin really well and even removes makeup
- it's gentle and does not irritate or dry out my skin
- texture of the cleanser is silky smooth and luxurious
- fragrance free
- contains antioxidants

Cons:
- pricey at $38 (US dollars) for 150ml. I don' know the price in pounds as I have yet to buy it in the UK
- smells a bit strange
- quite difficult to get hold of for those of us in the UK. They have one store in London.

Soft and Sweet FOTD with new Jill Stuart Blush Blossom

I've been using a lot of darker colours this Autumn, so I decided to do something different and do an FOTD with softer, sweeter colours. Today's FOTD makes use of a couple of Jill Stuart products, including the new JS Blossom Blush which I've just purchased and done a post on.

Jill Stuart Blush Blossom im Lady Amaryllis

Products used for this FOTD are shown and listed below.

Face:

Jill Stuart Smooth Silk Powder Foundation

Jill Stuart Blush Blossom, 03 Lady Amaryllis

Eyes:
YSL 5 Colour Harmony, 8

Bobbi Brown Gel Liner, Black
YSL Faux Cils Volume Effect Mascara

Lips:

Bobbi Brown Lip Sheer, Pink Berry
Bare Escentuals Buxom Lip Polish, Katie

This is the eyeshadow palette I used. I chose the light grey and pink shade for today's FOTD

For extra pink glossy lips, I layered a pale pink lipgloss over the Bobbi Brown lip colour

My Haircare Routine

Hi everyone, I thought I'd do a post about my current haircare routine. My hair was pretty dry and damaged before switching to this routine, so I wanted to share it with those who may have similar hair type to mine.

Brief breakdown of my hair type:

I know alot of oriental girls (my sister included) have beautiful, silky straight hair. I'm not one of these girls. My hair is naturally extremely thick (bushy?), wavy and can get quite coarse if I don't look after it properly. Hairdressers in Malaysia would complain about how long it takes them to dry my hair, and my dad would forbid me to buy any hair products with the words 'volumising' on it.

In the past year, I've dyed my hair a few too many time. My hair is quite long (~2 inches above the waist), and was damaged from all the colouring, so I needed changed my haircare routine in order to redeem the look of healthy hair.

Products in my current routine:

Shampoo/conditioner - Liz Earle Botanical Shine Shampoo (for all hair types)
- Liz Earle Botanical Shine Conditioner (for dry and damaged hair)

Occasional use: serum and shine spray - Aveda Brilliant Emolliant Finishing Gloss
- Morrocanoil Glimmer Shine Spray

Liz Earle Botanical Shine Shampoo and Conditioner

I bought these after reading numerous glowing reviews about this from British beauty bloggers.
'High performance, colour safe formulation with innovative, naturally derived cleansers for a rich, creamy lather'. It's SLES (sodium lauryl ether sulfate) free, using naturally derived gentle cleansers. (SLES has been shown to cause skin and eye irritation).

Natural active ingredients includes:
aloe vera, west African shea, sweet orange essential oil, rosemary essential oil, vitamin E and apple fruit extract

I LOVE the shampoo! It has the most heavenly, gorgeous scent that I would describe as sweet and fruity. It doesn't lather as much as traditional shampoos, so it takes a bit to get used too. Only a little amount is needed, so I get more from this 200ml tube of shampoo than other formulas.

The conditioner is really rich and moisturising. Again, only a little conditioner is needed (with other conditioners, I usually have to use a lot of it to achieve smooth hair). After using the shampoo and conditioner, my hair is very shiny, super soft and smooth, and smells delicious!


Aveda Brilliant Emmolliant Finishing Gloss
I use this on clean, towel-dried hair whenever I want my hair to look extra polished an smooth. This gloss smooths ends and imparts a great glossy shine. The gloss is very thick and can be a bit greasy, so only a very small amount is needed.

Morrocanoil Glimmer Shine Spray
I really love this product. It gives my hair an amazing shine. To limit the amount of product I use, I try to use this product as little as possible, so end up only using it on special occasions. The scent is a little overpowering, so am not too keen about that. (I was not using this shine spray in the above pics of my hair, and it makes my hair a whole lot shinier than in the photos).

Jill Stuart Blush Blossom 01 and 03

Hi everyone! I tried my very best to resist the new Jill Stuart Blush Blossoms, but completely caved in and bought two. They just look so pretty and sweet, I couldn't resist!

I bought this blush in the shades 01 Romantic Sweet Pea and 03 Lady Amaryllis from cosmede.com

They were packaged in the usual sweet pale peachy pink Jill Stuart boxes, with instructions on the back on how to use the product.

The blush comes in a beautiful case with a little white goat hair brush that is great for travelling.

According to Jill Stuart:

'Loose cheek powder to layer two colors for customised shimmer and hue. For cheeks that look like they are naturally blushing. Its light and breezy texture blends effortlessly into your skin for a flawless look. Provides long lasting, beautiful finish with clear colors accompanied by a feeling of rich moisture. Contains pure crystal powder and crystal floral bouquet fragrance.'

I've got to say that Jill Stuart is great for very sweet, romantic looking colours.

The case opens to reveal a good sized mirror, and a plastic cover to protect the powder from splling.

The other side of the plastic cover is padded to aid in tapping off excess powder from the blush. The blush itself is housed under elastic netting. Each compact contains two colours; a full colour blush and a lighter shade for highlighting. The powder has a gorgeous scent - a soft floral fragrance.

L-R: 01 Romantic Sweet Pea, 03 Lady Amaryllis

01 Romantic Sweet Pea swatch

..a sweet combination of icy pale pink shimmer highlighter with sheer baby pink blush

03 Lady Amaryllis swatch

...a combination of pale pink highlighter with bright coral-rose

Here is a sneak peek of an FOTD using the Blossom Blush in 03 Lady Amaryllis.

The blush was a little difficult to apply at first (I made a bit of a mess), as the brush picked up lots of powder and extremely light application was required.