2 Urban Decay BOS III

I only own 3 eyeshadow palettes by Urban Decay and they are the Alice in Wonderland palette, Book of Shadows III and the Summer2010 palette (Forgot what's the name :X excuse me) and I love them all. The texture of their e/s in these 3 palettes are all so smooth, silky and blendable and quality is definitely on par with MAC's Veluxe pearl / Satin e/s (with the exception of a few of the glittery e/s...even then I find that the glittery e/s in these palettes are still somewhat a tad more pigmented then some of MAC's lustre e/s like Forgery or Honeylust).

Without further ado, here is the picture of my Book of shadow III

I do understand that some girls dislike the  bulky packagin this particular Book of shadows (due to the special lighting which UD has inserted into it), but I LOVE LOVE LOVE this packagin. I like the popout of the handdrawn New York city skyline which is illuminated by lights once u open it. Yeah, it's not very practical for the lights to be inserted, but that's what makes it special. I'm such a sucker for packaging.

I do not own BOS I or II so i cannot compare BOS III to them, but i do have the Alice in Wonderland palette and as compared to Alice in Wonderland palette (I will review the Alice in wonderland palette in my next post even though it's a LE item and might not be on the shelves anymore), this has more purples and greens than the Alice palette. The Alice palette has more neutral shades of shadows. As with the previous BOS, BOS III also comes with 2 mini size eyeliners and their much raved about eye primer potion. I would definitely agree with most people that UD's BOS are value for money. For SGD$88, you get 16 e/s colors AND 2 eyeliners AND an eye primer. That's cheaper than a drugstore brand e/s and not to mention the quality of e/s is excellent - Pigmented, Smooth and Very blendable

Click to enlarge swatch picture

At first side, Loaded kinda reminded me of MAC's club e/s, but on closer look, it's not similar to MAC's club e/s. MAC's club has more brownish undertones to it whereas Loaded has more green undertones to it. Loaded is excellent for the green smokey look. Minight Cowboy reminds me of MAC's retrospeck e/s - a champagne gold in color and similar in texture, but the glitters in this is definitely larger than MAC's retrospeck. 

 Click to enlarge swatch picture

Nothing but love for most of the colors in UD's BOS III. I especially love Haight, Radium and Kush since i'm a Sucker for blues and green e/s

In short, UD's BOS III is a very versatile and wearable palette which can create many looks from neutral everyday looks to bold and colorful looks and smokey looks. A must buy for any make up addict. Get your hands on it while stocks last as this is Limited edition.

0 Shu Uemura Holiday 2010 palettes (Abracadabra)

Was drawn towards the cute and funky packagin of the eye palettes in the collection. Even the box that came with the palettes were too cute to resist. Not to mention, the gwp promotion was quite attractive as well. (I kinda liked the pouch). With any purchase of at least one 2010 holiday item AND also a minimum purchase of SGD$200, you will get a gwp that consists of a abracadabra toiletry/make up bag plus a travel size of Shu's famous cleanse off oil, whitening lotion and ALSO a generous amount of their purple loose powder. I ended up buying both holiday palettes as I loved both of the packagin and the colors in them.

Each of the palettes consists of 2 mini cream eyeshadow colors and 3 powder shadows (2 minis and 1 full sized) plus a full sized blush. Damage = SGD$125. As tested at the counter, texture and pigmentation of the eyeshadows and blushers are of excellent quality, comparable to their regular ones. The cream e/s are also creamy and smooth to blend. No doubt it's a tad pricey, but I don't mind paying a bit more than usual for the packaging. Plus the colors in these 2 palettes are colors which I would wear.

Oh..and i love the gwp pouch that i got when i bought these 2 palettes. Material is made of satin and feels soft but not of inferior quality. And  there's quite a number of compartment inside for storing cosmetics / toiletries. Excellent for travelling.

2 NARS orgasm, Deep throat VS MAC Peachykeen & Springsheen

Although in the swatches, the 4 swatches of these four blushers look really similar, but they definitely differ on different skintones of people.

Nars orgasm & Deep throat - Would appear more on fair to medium skintones. Ladies with darker skintone might find that they would have to layer more for these to appear

MAC peachykeen - a reddish pink blush with some subtle shimmers that suit ALL skintones from fair to the darkest skin

MAC Springsheen - golden peach pink (leaning more towards peach) for fair to medium tanned skintones.

Most universal flattering shades of these four blushers? Definitely MAC peachykeen imho as it suits all skintones. But my favourite blush of these four for fair skinned ladies would be either Nars Orgasm or MAC mineralized blush in Dainty

 From left to right, top to bottom: Nars orgasm, Nars Deep throat, MAC peachykeen, MAC Springsheen

 From left to right: Nars Orgasm, Nars Deep Throat, MAC peachykeen, MAC springsheen. Click to enlarge

0 Lunasol Nature Summer beige palette

To be honest, I am usually not a fan of brown or neutral e/s. This palette is about the only brown or neutral palette which I will ever wear. If u love shimmers and neutral eye colors, this is the IT palette for you. It was released with Lunasol's summer 2010 collection. The reason which I am only reviewing this Now is because I've been so caught up with MAC's LE collection that i have no time to review this.

Like most japanese e/s, the e/s in this palette is pretty shimmery, so if u are not a fan of shimmery e/s, stay away from this. But unlike most other japanese brands i've tried, the texture in this palette is smooth and silky. The shimmers are very fine and not big chunks of glitter. Color payoff is pretty decent for me - it's the kinda palette that u will never go wrong with as all the shades are all so wearable and easy to apply (not much blending needed. You will never worry about lookin bruised even with the dark brown in this palette). Highly recommended for fans of neutral colors and fans of shimmery e/s.

0 MAC A Tartan tale - Color collection, Lippies

The only 2 lippies that caught my eye from this collection was Full Fuschia and Cut a Caper. Although The Fairy Glen is a nice nude/neutral, I skipped it because I thought it was quite a common color and I have more than enough nude/neutral lipcolors (although i'm nowhere near my friend who has about 400 lippies!!!!)

I currently own only 2 other fuschia lippies from MAC - Lickable and Show orchid. And i don't think they are really similar to Full Fuschia.  Full fuschia has significantly more warm /red undertones to it and Lickable & Show orchid have more blue undertones. In fact, I think Lickable and show orchid are pretty close other than the difference in textures.

Here are my comparison swatch pics for Full  Fuschia, Lickable and Show Orchid

As for Cut a Caper, the first time i set my eyes on it and tried it on my lips, I was instantly in love with it. It looks like a bright coral peach pink on the tube, but on my lips, it turns out to be a warm shade of pink. It's pretty good for both girls with warm or cool undertones imho.

I have nothing that's similar to Cut a Caper, so no comparison swatch from me. But i've heard people commenting that it looks like Ever Hip l/s (LE l/s from MAC from give me liberty of london), but i don't personally own that lipstick so i cannot comment. If u don't have a similar color to Cut a Caper, do grab it asap @ the MAC counter. It's a really lovely shade. While stocks last!!

0 MAC cleanse off oil - clear

I swear by this cleanse off oil. Although it's stated that the transparent one is meant for normal to oily skin and the green one is more for dry and sensitive skin, I've used both, and er honestly, I found no differences. Both are equally just as good in removing make up thoroughly.

Key ingredients: Wheat germ, Evening primrose, Olive, Jojoba oil & Vitamin E

Pros:

1. No mineral oil = no clogged pores :P

2. Removes all stubborn waterproof make up with ease (yes, that include's MAC's liquidlast eyeliner which can be quite a chore to remove)

3. Leaves skin feeling refreshed, clean and smooth,  very gentle on the face

4. Quite reasonably priced

Cons:

1. None. It's my holy grail cleansing oil and i will never change it.

The previous cleansing oil which i used from another brand (a japanese one) broke me out and i suspect it contained mineral oil.

How to use:

Pump 2 or 3 pumps ( I usually pump about 4 pumps to make sure that i have enough oil to remove all traces of make up from my face) onto dry hands and gently massage onto the face in circular motion to remove make up. For stubborn eye make up. pump some of the oil onto a cotton pad and leave it on the face eyes for a few seconds to dissolve the eye make up and gently wipe off.  Rinse off with water. Remember to double cleanse with your normal cleanser.

Although many people rave about shu uemura's cleansing oil, I am very hesitant in using it because it contains mineral oil and i am quite sensitive to mineral oil. Plus Shu's cleansing oil is exorbitantly expensive...even for a big bottle.  I'll stick to my good old MAC cleanse off oil

0 Molton brown warming eucalyptus & ginger body scrub

I've been buying too much make up. So for once I decided to splurge (YES a jar of this scrub is NOT cheap...to be exact..it's about US$48) on one.

So one day, I randomly walked into the Molton brown boutique and I asked the lady to recommend a body scrub that helps to exfoliate my dry and ezecma prone skin. So she recommended me the Warming eucalyptus & ginger body scrub for me. I instantly was sold as i LOVED the smell of the eucalyptus oil in it.

And I am totally in love with the minty cooling after feel of the body scrub on my body and yeah it relaxes my body so much that i feel i can stay in the bath room forever.

Yeah, it is an EXPENSIVE body scrub, but I love the fragrance and how it relaxes my body... and it's quite gentle on my skin as well. Would probably repurchase it once i'm done with it although it'll burn a hole in my pocket. HAHA

0 MAC mineralized cream foundation SPF 15

I'm not a fan of powder foundations as I find that they don't really even out the skintone as well as conventional liquid or cream foundations.

What I like about MAC's mineralized cream foundation is :

1. It comes in a really HANDY compact (especially good for travelling)

2. It is VERY blendable....much more blendable than the Studio tech which kinda feels a bit thicker and also harder to blend

3. Coverage can be built up without looking cakey / thick

4. Gives a very natural, even and nice satiny finish.

Con:

1. I can't say much about oil control, as with ALL foundations that i've ever tried my nose always

turn shiny after a few hrs. But this is not much of an issue as my skin is leaning more towards dry rather than oily.

It's definitely has more coverage than the mineralized satin liquid foundation though. It feels pretty light on the skin and is very good for everyday wear. I would repurchase this foundation if i'm ever done with this foundation as i have quite a number of foundations to finish.

Last but not least, the mineralized cream foundation runs slightly darker than the studio fix powder. So if u are a NC35 in studio fix powder foundation, you would have to get a shade lighter - NC30 in the mineralized cream foundation.

1 MAC A Tartan Tale - Color collection. Blushers

Being a blush whore who collects MAC blushers, I bought both blushers Her Blooming Cheek and My Highland Honey. And yeah, they are kinda similar to other MAC blushers which I own... Sigh. I really do need to go on a blusher ban soon. I've close to almost 200 blushers - both MAC and non MAC.

Her blooming cheek, Azalea (a MAC pro blush color) and Full Fuschia do indeed look pretty similar in the pan, especially Her blooming cheek and Full Fuschia. But after swatched on hand, the differences in the 3  blushers can be seen. Her blooming cheek has more pink-purple undertones, Azalea more of pink undertones and Full Fuschia has the most significant red undertones in it. Then again, once applied on the cheeks, the differences wouldn't be obvious, so if you have one of the three, I would think that you need not buy the other 2. Unless u are a blush collector like i am. Hahah. U definitely need a VERY light hand with this or otherwise, use a stripping blush like the MAC 188 or 131 to apply.

When I first saw Highland honey in the pan, it reminded me of Tippy Beauty powder blush from MAC hello kitty collection, just that it has no shimmers. But when swatched, My highland Honey has a more powdery texture than Tippy BPB, and if you are on the tanned side, you might need several layers and a very dense blush brush like MAC's 129 brush for the color to appear on for your face. In order to get the color for it to appear on my hand in this pic, I had to swatch about 3 or 4 times to get the color to appear. It's a pretty color, but it definitely needs some work for it to appear.

Other than the blushers, I also got myself 2 lipsticks Cut a Caper and Full Fuschia plus a gloss from this collection, which i shall review and post swatches in the next post.