3 My Make Up Storage

I used to keep my collection in traincase, but as it expanded, one traincase was no longer enough to store all my cosmetics. My mum, had this make up table specially custom made for me - the no of drawers and depth of all the drawers were specially designed to fit my make up in just nice - not too deep and not too shallow. Hmmm, although it's pretty big, but I am out of space again in my make up cabinet. I guess this means I should stop buying make up. But i can't. MAC keeps releasing LE collections each month and being a MAC junkie, I will spend on MAC every month...sighs. I need a bigger space for my make up :x

Click to Enlarge. There are basically 4 larger but shallower drawers on the top 2 layers - 2 dedicated to eyeshadows, one for lipstuff and one for blushers. As for the 4 drawers below, one is dedicated to eyeshadow  bases, one for blushers (Yes..I am a BLUSH whore... I have 2 drawers for my blushers :x), one for base make up and one for brushes. The two deeper drawers right at the bottom are used to store miscellanous make up items which I have no space to put into the other drawers and fake lashes. And yep, sorry for the messy table top, I keep some of my foundations and skincare on the table.

Click to enlarge. Drawer no 1: Contains my MAC 15 pan e/s palettes, quads, singles and pigments. 

Click to enlarge. Drawer no 2: Contains some miscellaneous MAC mineralized e/s, MAC holiday palettes and other non MAC eye make up and non MAC e/s palettes. The ones in the  brown packaging are e/s palettes from a Japanese brand called Lunasol. Currently have about 26 of their palettes..

Click to enlarge. Drawer no 3: Contains both MAC and non MAC lipsticks and lipglosses... plus 2 chanel blushers which I have ran out of space of to put in my blusher drawers

Click to enlarge. Drawer no 4: Contains both MAC and non MAC blushers and face color powders - highlighting powders plus msfs (Msfs are stored in the bottom layer hence hidden in the picture)

Click to enlarge. Drawer no 5: MAC blushers only drawers............... I LOVE MAC Blushers...

 Click to enlarge. Drawer no 6: Eyeliners, Eyeshadow bases, Cream eye shadows, Mascaras and other miscellaneous eye stuff from MAC and other various brands

Click to enlarge. Drawer no 7: Base make up - Foundations, loose powders, concealers, cream foundations, mineral make up.....

 Click to enlarge. Drawer no 8: Full size brushers and travel size brushers (in the smaller pouch). Brushes which i use more frequently are stored in brush holders on my make up table

 Click to enlarge: Drawer no 9: Other miscellaneous make up items and skincare which i have no space to put in the other drawers - UD's Book of shadows 3, Black palette, Summer of love palette, Benefit's posietint and benetint, 2 Shu uemura eye palettes and 2 chanel blushers and some sheet makes plus contact lenses...

 Click to enlarge. Drawer no 10: False lashes drawer and other stuff drawer

Last but not least....I have a clear display cabinet in my room which displays some of my other make up which i have no room for in my make up cabinet....It makes me happy just to look at my make up. I know most people think i'm crazy, but if u are a make up junkie like me, you will understand my obsession with collecting make up. =)

Click to enlarge. This clear display cabinet contains some of my other MAC holiday palettes, some random mac pigments, MAC msfs, MAC hello kitty items and some shu uemura cosmetics.

So yep, this kinda wraps up the post for my make up storage for now.......thanks for taking time off to read ya

1 Urban Decay Black palette

Finally got my hands on the long awaited UD's black palette. I don't consider myself to be a fan of Urban Decay, but I do feel that their eye palettes are value for money and of pretty good quality. However, I don't exactly like their singles. Have swatched their singles @ the UD counter in my local Sephora and am not impressed with the single e/s. But so far, I am loving all the palettes which I have bought from UD - BOS III, Alice in Wonderland and Summer of Love e/s Palette. I jus feel that the e/s in the palettes are not as glittery and chalky as the single e/s.

Anyway, back to UD's black palette. If you are a fan of smokey eyes, this is the IT palette for you. As the name of the palette shows, this palette is consists of all dark and smokey eye colors. And the e/s are very smooth, blendable and pigmented. There is some shimmer in some of the colors, but the shimmers are pretty subtle and not chunky. 

Black dog is the winner in this palette. It's a TRUE BLACK and it comes out  VERY pigmented with just one swipe Unlike MAC's carbon which is FREAKING chalky and hard to blend out.... If u are looking for a true black e/s which is blendable, Black Dog's the one for you. However, unfortunately, Black Dog is a Limited edition shade which is only available in this palette. . . . But I do feel this palette is very worth buying.

Without further ado, here's the pic of the palette and swatches of the e/s in the UD's black palette

Click for enlarged pic of swatch- No base used

0 My Holy Grail beauty products

This may seem like a random post, but i really do want to share with others what are my holy grail products and what i love about them... Unfortunately though, some of my HG products are limited edition :( 

BASE PRODUCTS

Make up base: MAC Prep plus prime skin base visage

I swear by this. I have been using this for many many years and I always come back to this. I love the texture of this on my skin and it really helps in allowing the foundation to glide on more easily.

Liquid Foundation: Giorgo Armani face fabric liquid foundation

LOVE LOVE LOVE this texture.... SUPER Smooth

Loose powder: MUFE HD translucent powder

Love this as well, but will be switching over to MAC's prep plus prime translucent finishing powder after this as it's comparatively cheaper and they are Almost the same, given that both are silica powders.

Powder foundation: Have yet to find one. I hate using powder foundations in general, they are too powdery for my liking

Cream foundation: MAC mineralized cream foundation

Very moisturising and glides on to the face very easily. VERY Blendable. Does not cake up at all.

Concealer: MAC studio sculpt concealer

I have very bad undereye circles, this is about the only concealer that does a pretty decent job of covering them without caking if i DON'T apply too much

EYE PRODUCTS

Eyeliner: MAC Blacktrack fluidline

Nuff said about this liner. It's easy to use, smudge proof and glides on very easily. It doesn't crease or smudge on my hidden double eyelids

Eyeshadows:

Neutral: MAC All that glitters (All time favourite. Must BUY!!!), MAC Patina e/s, MAC Satin Taupe & MAC Brule e/s

I love many of MAC e/s but if i really really had to chooose 3 neutral e/s from MAC, it has to be the above 3

Blue: MAC freshwater e/s  - Love love love this vibrant rich shade of blue....

Purple: MAC Beautiful iris e/s - It's the only MAC e/s which i have ever hit pan on

Yellows: MAC gorgeous gold & MAC going bananas

Greens: MAC juxt e/s and swimming e/s

Turqoise: MAC aquadisiac e/s

Oooops....I just realized that all my HG e/s are from MAC. I LOVE LOVE LOVE MAC e/s, they have such a variety of colors and of different textures.

Eye make up base: hmmm None. I use a couple of eye make up base such as MAC paint pots in bare study and rubnesque and Too faced shadow insurance depending on my mood. I have pretty dry lids so I don't really need a base unless i wanna intensify the color

CHEEK / FACE PRODUCTS

Highlighting powder: MAC lightscapade msf ( A DEFINITE MUST HAVE..but this is LE :( )

Blushers: All my MAC blushers.

Bronzer: No..I love to look fair. I don't use bronzing powder...AT ALL.

LIP PRODUCTS

Nude lipsticks: MAC creme d nude, Mac Hue, MAC high tea, MAC Shy shine, MAC Hug Me, MAC honeylove, MAC shy girl

Red lipsticks: NONE. I Dun like wearing red lipsticks in general

Orange/coral lipsticks: MAC see sheer, MAC vegas volt, MAC Morange

Fuschia pink lipsticks: MAC Lickable, MAC madly magenta ccb, MAC show orchid

Lipglosses: MAC Cremesheen glass in Fashion whim ( I find myself reaching for this VERY VERY OFTEN that i have promoted it to Holy grail status, I LOVE MAC's cremesheen glasses in general though.)

TOOLS:

Eye brushes: MAC 239, 242, 275, 209 and 217

239: Packs on eye colors nicely on the lid and can double up as a blending brush as well as its bristles are so soft

242: I find this effective for packing on pigments rather than the 239 as the brush is for stiff and this is good for cream based products such as paintpots as well

275: This is an angled fluffy brush for blending or contour eyeshadow colors on the eyes. If i cannot find my 217, this is usually what i use for blending out e/s as well

209: A must have for applying my blacktrack fluidline

217: It's either between this or the 275 brush for me. I can survive with either one but not without both

Face brushes: MAC 129, MUFE Kabuki brush

Lip brush: Nil

0 MAC Stylishly Yours Cream color bases

Being a hard core blush/face color, I bought all four of the cream color bases from Stylishly yours even though 3 out of the four are really bright ones. But once blended out, the colors are pretty wearable and they last the whole day on the face even without any powder blushers over them.

From top to bottom (left to right): Madly magenta, Virgin Isle, Tickle me Pink & Movie star red

From left to red: Tickle me Pink, Madly magenta, Virgin Isle & Movie star red

Although it's not advisable to use these colors on the lips, I went ahead and tested it on my lips anyway as all the colors are so bright n vibrant that I think they would make good lip colors as well. Textures are very smooth and blendable

Tickle me Pink: Gives a very sweet dolly flush on the cheeks. I like to use this as a base for my pink based blushers to help them last longer. I would also wear this alone by itself and it lasts the whole day on me

 

Madly Magenta: I love love love Madly magenta on my lips - It's kind of a hot fuschia purplish pink on my lips and although it does stain my lips a little, I don't mind it cause I love how it turns out on my lips, plus it's not drying. It makes a nice blush as well...but pls use it with a very very light hand as this is so heavily pigmented that it is so easy to over do it

Virgin Isle: May look VERY orangy in the pan, but once sheered out on the cheeks it actually gives a nice peachy coral flush.

Movie Star Red: This is kinda tricky color to use on the cheeks especially on fairer skin people. However, this would make a nice red lip color.

2 MAC Cham Pale haul and review

Hi guys, sorry for the long long delay in updating my blog as I was really caught up with work and was too tired to update. Sorry to keep you guys waiting and would like to wish all of you a Happy New year as well.

This is my first haul for the new year of 2011. 5 items from MAC's cham pale collection.

Mainly i bought the following -  Chez chez Lame & Rose Ole Special reserve highlighting powders (I am a sucker for face products, so whatever face products mac releases i would buy them unless they are really too dark to work on me), Chilled on ice & Dangerous Cuvee Paintpots and Bubble Lounge Lipgelee

I really like the look of how the 2 special reserve highlighting powders look in the pan - just like crumpled tissues. And yes, as the names go, these are highlighting powders and are too Light to be used as blushers. The texture of these 2 highlighting powders are buttery smooth and contain no glitters except some subtle pearly sheen. And they are definitely not as frosty as some of the MAC msfs I own

As for the paintpots, I initially had no intention to buy any paintpot at all. But when i swatched Chilled on Ice, I instantly fell in love with it. It's somewhat of a cross between Bare study paintpot and Rubenesque paintpot and has a pronounced goldish sheen to it. Nowhere as white as bare study but no where as peachy gold as Rubenesque. As for Dangerous Cuvee, I bought it cause I thought the color was pretty unique for a cream e/s and I don't currently own any similar colors.

As for the lipgelee, I bought only Bubble Lounge. It's a pretty nice color, but as with all the lipgelees in this collection, it contains LOTS of shimmers / glitters. So if you are not a fan of shimmers/glitters, I doubt it if u would like them. And you only NEED a bit of product on the lips, if you over apply it, it would look like your lips are just FULL of shimmers and glitters. I would advise to use a lip brush for this or fingers to even out the product.

0 Giorgo Armani liquid foundation in face fabric

Heard many rave reviews on Giorgo Armani's foundation and got a friend to CP (custom purchase) this for me from Hong Kong as it is not available in Singapore. And after using this for several times, I have to say that I love this foundation.

Pros:

1. It contains silica so it really goes on very smooth on the face. Makes me feel like keep wanting to touch my face again and again cause it feels oh so smooth on the face.

2. Softens and diminuishes any imperfections on the face e.g. large pores (mainly due to the presence of silica which helps to fill in the fine lines and holes)

3. Easy to blend and lightweight

4. Mattifying, oil control is pretty decent as compared to non silica based foundations

5. Non-drying (both combi and dry skin people can use this)

6. Provides medium coverage

Cons:

1. Expensive (Again, Price is not much of an issue for me as long as the product works for me)

Would re purchase this again IF i ever finish this which i doubt so as I have quite a number of foundations to rotate and finish. I suspect the color i bought is jus slightly darker for me. But I corrected it by using a purple loose powder over it to brighten my face, so no issues with the color shade

2 MAC Dazzleglasses

As with the name, MAC dazzleglasses contain the most shimmers amongst MAC lipglosses. They actually contain the reflect glitters inside to give the glosses  multi dimensional shimmery color. They are not my favourite amongst MAC glosses (My favourite is still the cremesheen range) although I do like a few colors... Some like baby sparks n bare necessity are a tad too sheer to be worn on their own and are best to be worn over other lipcolors like a lipliner or lipstick to enhance the color. My favourite out of the lot that I own has to be Hi-faultin and glamour OD. Both of these colors appear very nicely on the lips by themselves.

Here are the colors which i have...

Click to enlarge. From left to right: Bare necessity, Steppin out, Smile, Baby sparks, Fabulous Fun, Glamour OD, Utterly posh, Miss  Fizz,  Love Alert, Funtabulous,  Miss Dynamite

Click to enlarge: Swatch of dazzleglasses

Er this looks kinda blah on my lips alone... I think bare necessity is best worn over other lippies

A little on the sheer side, but definitely has more color than bare necessity and gives my lips a nice pinky color.

A very sheer color, best worn over other lip colors. 

One of my favourite Dazzleglasses. Glamour OD leaves such a nice watermelon red color on the lips that helps to brighten the face but yet not overpowering at the same time

Looks VERY similar to Glamour OD dazzleglass. I almost cannot tell the difference btw both of this. Loving this color as well.

Love love love this color. It's a peachy pink gloss. It's somewhat of a cross between Smile dazzleglass and babysparks dazzleglass.

Hate the glitters in this dazzleglass. The glitters in this dazzleglass looks more chunky as compared to the other dazzleglass. Makes me look like a glitterbomb when i'm wearing this color :X

0 MAC regular mineralized blushers

Currently, MAC has 6 mineralized blushers in its permanent range - Dainty, Gentle, Love thing, Gleeful, Warm soul and Love Joy. Out of the 6 blushers, I own have 5. I first bought these from the Sonic Chic collection. They were first released as limited edition items (together with 3 other mineralized blushers in Pleasantry, Nuance and Merrily which were excellent but alas MAC didn't decide to make those permanent)but later made regular due to the popularity and increasing demand for mineral make up.

Although MAC has since released many other mineralized blushers, I still find that the original colors MAC released has the best texture and color payoff. Some of the LE mineralized blushers which were in duos or in swired texture were kinda glittery.. (Think glittery and Not shimmery...) for everyday wear. Although the regular MBs may look kinda shimmery when swatched on the hand, but the shimmers are actually very subtle when applied on the face and no where as shimmery when swatched on the hands.

Click to enlarge picture

Dainty - Peachy pink in pan and when swatched. This is my all time favourite mineralized blush. It works for many skintones from fair to medium-tanned skins, though on tanned skins it may take more work for it to show out.

Gentle - A muavy pink blush that looks similar to Coygirl blush in the regular collection but minus the shimmers. Works on all skintones. Pale skin ladies have to be light handed with this one as it's pretty pigmented

Love Thing - Has a lot of Red undertones to it. More recommended for people with darker complexions.

Gleeful - Looks beautiful on darker skinned ladies, But fair skinned ladies can still wear this abeit with a very very light hand. Has some tone of reddish brown to it. Not as dark as Love Thing

Warm Soul - A beautiful neutral toned blush. Good for nude make up. Shows up more on fair skined ladies. Medium to darker skin tones can use this as a highlighting powder on the face

2 MAC Cremesheen glasses

I am not a lip addict or a lip color person, but I have to admit that I am totally in love with MAC's cremesheen glasses. I swear by the texture.

Pros

 They are very creamy and moisturizing for the lips. (Highly recommended for people who have dry lips). And best of all, they are non-sticky. Ya don't have to worry your hair getting stuck onto the lips. Color pay off is sheer to medium coverage. You can either wear them alone as a sheer wash of color on the lips or layer them up on lipsticks to enhance the color. And yes, the cremesheen glasses are very glossy....Which I love. It makes the lips look so juicy and oh so kissable. Love love love this range. I hope MAC will NEVER discontinue this range. It's one of my favourite range of products from MAC. And for people who dislike shimmers in their lipgloss or lipproducts, this is one range that you will like as there is totally NO SHIMMERS in this range of glosses.

Cons

Although they come in a longer tube than the lipglass or lustreglasses, the amount in the tube is actually less than that of the lipglass & lustreglasses (2.7g for the cremesheen glasses as opposed to 4.8g for the lipglasses and lustureglasses). So we are actually paying more for less. And because it's non-sticky, more touch ups are required for this range of glosses as compared to the lipglasses and lustreglass which last relatively longer. And for people who like their glosses to be very pigmented, I would recommend you to go for MAC lipglasses instead, cause the cremesheens are pretty sheer by themselves.

Would i repurchase?? YES. I love the texture and glossiness of this gloss and it doesn't dry my lips up and doesn't enhance the dryness of my lips

Favourite colors? Hmm.....I love all the colors that I buy. They are all so wearable with or without make up.  Without further ado, the below are pictures of the colors of the cremesheen glasses which i currently own.

Click pic to enlarge. Left to right: Right image, Delight, Just superb, On the Scene, Richer lusher, Melt in your mouth, Partial to Pink & Boy bait

                                    Click to enlarge for bigger swatch picture

P/S Might be a bit slow in updating my blog as I have only one off day a week ... so pls bear with the kinda slow updates ya? Thanks!

0 Chanel ROUGE ALLURE EXTRAIT DE GLOSS in #54 Liberte

One of my friends who is a fan of lip products had been raving to me about Chanel's lip products for a long long time, but I didn't care for lip products so I didn't get it any only recently. So what made me buy it? Hmm. I would say this is more of an impulse buy ya, but when i did like the color of it in the tube and when i tested it on my hand.

It seems like as with other brands, Chanel has a few range of glosses too. The one that I bought belongs to the Rouge Allure Extrait De Gloss range (Pure Shine Intense Color Long Wear Lip Gloss). On Chanel's website, this range is described as

- offer the shine of a gloss and the colour intensity of a lipstick.

- presence of very finely ground mother-of-pearl helps intensify colour and light reflection with no pearly effect.

-  Shea butter and a canola oil derivative provide a sensation of well-being, while a Vitamin E derivative protects the lips.

My Review of #54 Liberte (Sorry I don't know french so i can't translate the name into English :X)

Pros:

- Love the lightweight and moisturising texture of this gloss

- Gives a very nice glossy peachy pink finish to the lips (It's the perfect natural peachy pink on me)

- Non sticky

- I love the applicator that comes with it. Very soft and deposits the right amount of product onto the lips
- Generous amount of product = 10.8g to be exact

Cons:

- Er as with most glosses, it has to be touched up now and then. Well, this is to be expected of all glosses anway, If you do not want to touch up often, go for lipstick

- Not very pigmented (Not much of an issue for me - I can either go sheer or pigmented for lipcolors)

- Opaque packaging - I HATE the opaque packaging. I CANNOT see how much is left in the tube. I wish they made the tube transparent

- Pricey (not much of an issue for me as long as the quality is there)

Conclusion? Would repurchase this again, as it's really moisturizing on my lips and deposits just the right amount of color on my lips. It's the kinda product that i would wear on both my "no make up days" and "make up days".

0 Urban Decay Alice In Wonderland palette

I know I'm very late in reviewing this eye palette, But since I was reviewing UD's BOS III in my last post, I might as well add this one on.

Comparatively, UD's Alice in Wonderland palette has a couple more neutral e/s than BOS III - good for people who are into neutrals but still want to try a couple of colors outside of neutrals.

As with the BOS III, I find all of the shadows to be pigmented, smooth and easy to blend. No issues with glitter fallout with the e/s in this palette. Love the cute pop out on this particular BOS - A popout of Alice walking through the Mushroom forest.

I'm not complaining but, maybe UD should add a couple of matte e/s in their palettes? I just noticed that most of their e/s are either of the metallic frosty, glittery or satiny finish, but hardly any mattes. I am not a fan of matte e/s but there are many out there who would appreciate a couple of mattes in the palettes ya?

As with the other BOS, this is also Limited edition. Also comes with their famous UDPP and 2 of their 24/7 liners.

Click for enlarged swatch pic

Click for enlarged swatch pic

Click for enlarged swatch pic