Wednesday 1 February 2012

Project Pan Empties 1

Sorry for the lack of updates so far, but here are my first 10 empties of 2012 *excited*


1. Estee Lauder Resilience Lift Face & Cream SPF 15
2. Missha Cool Fitting Body Gel
3. Body Massage Toning Massage Oil
4.Shiseido Nourishing Mascara Base
5. Heroine Make Long & Curl Mascara
6. L'oreal Deep Cleansing Oil Makeup Remover
7. Physiogel Cream
8. Clarins Hand and Nail treatment cream
9. L'oreal White Perfect Peel
10. Nivea Gentle Facial Wipes

Love,
Tabby

Wednesday 11 January 2012

Project X Pan 2012 Part 2 [FINALLY]


So, I finally managed to upload the last and final part of my Project Pan 2012! I had so many problems trying to upload this video, first I deleted the video, then my internet wasn't working, and so on. Now that it's finally up, here are the things that I want to finish for the next 11 months! I was originally going to do a third part that is all about lips, but I simply adore lip products so much that I can't bear just using the same few lippies over and over again when my ENTIRE lippie collection needs more love *hugs my collection* so it's just the eye products for this part.


Eye Primers, Eyebrows and eyelid tape
 24. Urban Decay Primer Potion: A sample size, trying to use it up. I use it everyday when I put on eye makeup because I have oily lids

25. Too Faced Shadow Insurance: My backup when my UDPP is gone.

26. Heroine Make Long and Curl Mascara: A strange mascara. When it doesn't smudge, it can last for 10-12 hours before smudging, but it can easily decide to smudge after 2 hours as well! Using it for eyebrows now, since it's quite dried up.

27. Kate Designing Eyebrow N: An eyebrow powder palette that is specially designed for Asian (and dyed Asian) hair.

28. Heroine Make eyelid tape: This requires some skill that I do not appear to possess.



Eyeliners and Mascara
29. Etude House Code B eyeliner: In a collection replete with eyeliners, this eyeliner stands out for flaking at my eyes and being slightly dried up. Might just throw it away should I find myself unable to tolerate this.

30. Shiseido Nourishing Mascara Base: Quite an expensive mascara base but it does it's job of making the lashes look longer and more spidery. Definitely helped to salvage my Maybelline mascara...

31. Maybelline Pulse Perfection Mascara: I don't feel like the vibrating mascara does anything beyond vibrate, it doesn't seem to help curl the eyelashes in any direction at all! Too wet and smudges badly after 2 hours, so I have to repeatedly wave it in the air and blow on it to dry the mascara and make it usable.

32 & 33. LA Colours 2 in 1 eye colour and Max Factor Lash Extension effect: Two mascaras that have been sitting in my storage for over a year and needs to disappear. Using them after I finish my Maybelline mascara.

34. LA Girl Mark My eyes: A thick marker eyeliner that does not give you a defined line but more of a smudged out one. I hated it until I realized that this is what it's supposed to be!

35. Mac Technakohl in Graphblack: I only have a little more left but the only place this eyeliner stays on is my lower waterline, where I like to use...

36. Silkygirl Funky Eyelights Pencil in 06 Metallic Bronze: A brown which is too metallic and dark for me.

37. Sephora Liner Electro in 08 Copper Electro: Definitely my HG brown eyeliner, will repurchase if I run out.

38. Etude House LuciDarling Fantastic Brush Eyeliner: Doesn't transfer much but it stains the eyelid a bit.




39. & 40. NYX Jumbo Eye Pencil in Yellow and Milk: Eyeshadow bases that I can't be bothered to use usually. It gives a creamy colour that tends to change the eyeshadow on top of it.

41. & 42. Primark Opia unknown: A copper and gunmetal gray shade that I bought from Primark in London 3 years ago when I wasn't even into makeup yet, but I was attracted to how pretty they looked.

43. Lavshuca eyeshadow Palette in GD-1: A shimmery palette that I got from my sister. Quite like it though it is sheer and very shimmery (i.e. your typical Japanese eyeshadow palette) Bought from Hong Kong I believe.

44. Eyeshadow Palette filled with assorted depoted shadows from Majolica Majorca, Amuse, L'oreal, Kanebo, NYX and theBalm. Naturally the quality differs quite a bit, but these are mostly shadows that I want to use up before I start working on my palettes.

44 products in 11 months. That means I need to use my products up at a rate of 4 product/per month, which going by the rate I'm using things now, is going to be a distant dream. Still I just want to get rid of so many of these products since I mostly use neutrals anyway!

Love,
Tabby

Friday 6 January 2012

Pretty in pink, a collection posts on all my pink lipsticks

If you've been reading my blog, you would have realized that I love lip products in general, but especially lipsticks. I had so many that I frightened my aunt who has been wearing lipsticks for 30 years! In order to make the posts more manageable, I have broken up my collection in parts, so first are my pink lipsticks. [Warning: Image heavy post]


First row of pink lipsticks


1. Morgana Cryptoria Lip Balm in Anastasia


2. Silkygirl Moisture Rich lipstick in 02 Bubbly


3. Chanel Rouge Allure Laque in 78 Phoenix



4. Chanel Rouge Allure Laque in 76 Ming



5. NYX Diamond Sparkle in Sparkling Nude



6. NYX Diamond Sparkle in Sparkling Salmon



7. Revlon Super Lustrous Lipstick in 415 Pink in the Afternoon



8. Revlon Super Lustrous Lipstick in 616 Wink for Pink



Swatches of 1-8 from left to right



2nd row of pink lipsticks


9. Sera Alobon Lipstick in 18



10. Maybelline Moisture Xtreme lipstick in A60 Windsor Rose



11. Maybelline Color Sensational in Soft Azallea



12. NYX Lips in Love Angel



13. NYX Lips in Frosted Beige



14. NYX Lips in Baby



15. NYX Round Lipstick in Louisiana



16. NYX Round Lipstick in Paris



17. NYX Round Lipstick in Rose Bud



Swatches of 9-17, Left to Right. (please ignore the leg)


17 Pink lipsticks ranging from pale pink, frosty pink to hot pink

I'll have more of my other lipsticks collection coming up soon so stay tuned!

Love,
Tabby

Thursday 5 January 2012

Project Pan empties: -1

Hi all, I was originally going to continue my project X pan posts but it took me 2 days to upload my second video and when it finally did, I found out the freaking video got cut in half, and this was at 2am! *blood pressure rising* So now I have to redo this video, but I only have the time to do it on the weekend, so there's a change in schedule for my blog posts :)

I actually have a lot of skincare products lying about, so I've been on a no-buy since 20 Dec 2011 and I want to continue it for as long as I can, unless I run out of something like eye-cream. These are the empties that I finished in December so I won't include them in the count for 2012, where my dream is to finish 100 empties! (fat hope of that happening)


Makeup removers
1. L'oreal Gentle Eye Makeup remover: Usual bi-phase eye remover, with the usual problems of removing Japanese mascara.

2. Clarins Cleansing Milk: My mom passed it to me, and it does work to remove makeup, but don't ever use it on your eyes! They stung so badly even after washing them out :(

3. Maybelline Eye Makeup remover: See above.


Moisturizers
4. Complex 15 Therapeutic Moisturizing Face Cream: Bought this because of all the rave reviews on Amazon. Absorbs quickly on your face, so much so that I sometimes wonder if I need to apply more moisturizer. Had a weird smell towards the end though.

5. The Body Shop Tea Tree Skin Clearing Lotion: This was so old that there was dust on it. Hesitated to apply this on my face, so instead I applied to my chest and my back where zits occasionally popped up. Didn't feel any difference really.

6. Unkown moisturizer: Found this when I cleaned my bathroom cabinet. I have totally no idea when or where I bought this moisturizer, so I just used it on my body. Smelled like chemically constructed aloe vera, like what you would think aloe vera should smell like, and it actually felt quite greasy on my skin. Glad that it's gone.

Randoms
7. The Body Shop Olive Body Scrub: The second tub I ever bought, and I quite enjoy it but I have a few body bars that have scrubby bits so I'll just use those for my exfoliating needs.

8. Shokobutsu Green Tea Facial foam: I used this for a short while but then I started on my dermatologist recommended cleanser so I delegated this to body. Lathers up to a nice slip but it's almost too smooth for me *shrugs*
9. DHC Deep Cleansing Oil: Finally finished this after leaving it at home and only using it on the weekends for 8 months! I kept trying to determine if this was breaking me out the entire time I was using it. Up to now I still have not figured it out so I might rebuy this after a while thanks to all the hype online about this.

10. Silk Naturals Fire-Cinnamon Lip Balm: Hated the taste and smell of it, a very spicy taste, not of the chili variety but of herbs. Moreover, it got really soft and gross after a while so when I apply it, I occasionally get a headache from the smell and thick feel of it on my lips. It was used only at night and I jumped for joy when it finally finished!


What I redeemed
Since I used up 10 products, I got to redeem $50 worth of skincare products that I had bought but not used (i.e anything I bought from November 2011 onwards) My chosen products are the Pond's Cleansing Cream, Ecotools retractable brush and the Cleansing express eye makeup remover. Hope to finish another 10 products soon!

Love,
Tabby

Tuesday 3 January 2012

Project X Pan 2012, or what I am bringing to school [Face]


Hi all, I decided that for 2012, I will try something new and I made a video on youtube! Never imagined that I will join the hordes on youtube, but here I am with my Singapore-accented voice. Finally managed to upload it after trying all day yesterday and today.

Now, I accidentally deleted the real first part to this video, so the video starts with the second part, the face portion. I even left out a few things *shift eyes away in guilt* but to make up for it, here are some better quality photos of the things!


Face Primers and BB Creams

1. Missha BB Boomer: Very pink toned primer. I honestly don't have much of an opinion of it now as I have not used enough of it to have any notion of how good or bad it is!

2. Lóreal true match Moist Up Makeup Base: Read that it's a good primer, but I got it on sale and it's for dry skin, which is the furthest thing possible from me.
3. Skinfood Mushroom Multi BB Cream: The best thing about this BB cream is that it smells wonderful, and when I put it on, most unobservant people don't think I have makeup one because it is a) very natural looking (yay!) and b) very low coverage (boo!) Using it as a makeup base since it is so sheer.

4. Missha Perfect Cover M BB Cream: One of the few medium coverage BB creams. If I put foundation over it, the whole thing looks super cakey. Pink toned as usual.



Powder, cream and liquid foundations
5. Za True White Foundation refill in 21: I bought it because it was cheap, but this range actually runs a fair bit lighter than the original range. It's supposed to give a whitening effect but I really can't tell because it is too light for me to wear this foundation at all. Planning to use it as a highlighter or in the centre of my face.

6. Graftobian Hi-Def Glamour Creme in Temptress: This was quite a nice colour match to me a few months ago, so hopefully it still matches me! I love it because it gives a full coverage flawless look when used with a damp sponge, like how Gossmakeupartist recommends it to be used. It does contain Silica and when you use it as much as I do, since my skin is pretty bad so I like a full face that gives a flawless mannequinn look, it does make my face look really white when taking flash photography. The coverage does fade after a few hours and it does get a bit oily after a few hours but I love this foundation and only use it during special occasions.

7. Za Two-Way foundation in 22: My first foundation ever, so this makes it 2 to 3 years old. A tad light for me and I like to apply it with a damp sponge to give it a more natural look. Applying with a sponge tends to emphasis my pores, and it looks the best after 2 hours, when the natural oils of my face break through the powder, to give a more natural finish. Not very good oil control though, and I probably won't repurchase this ever.

8. Franken-foundation consisting of a full bottle of Mac Studio Fix Fluid in NC40 (much too dark for me), a full bottle of Revlon Colourstay in 310 Warm Golden (too dark for me) and 2 half empty tubes of BRTC Jasmine Water BB Cream (fits NW15-20, way too light for me), which ignited my hate for BB creams, and some moisturizer: Still a bit too brown tinged for me, but I have a huge bottle to finish now. Best to sheer it out with a damp sponge.


Loose Powders and Compact Powders
 9. BRTC BB Sun Pact: Meant to go with the Jasmine water BB cream, so way too light for me. Hoping to use it as a mattifying powder since most powders mattify anyway.

10, Missha Art Designing Loose Powder: An emergency loose powder that I bought on holiday and which I stopped using when the holiday was over. No real opinions yet.

11. Elf Studio Translucent Mattifying Powder: Hit Pan already and it does it's job!

12.  MAC Mineralize Skin Finish Natural in Medium Plus: Too dark once again and the cover broke!


Concealers
 13. Everyday Minerals Concealer in Intensive Medium: Looks a bit too brown toned on my yellowish face. My first concealer I believe, which means it needs to be finished soon.

14. NARS Concealer Duo in Vanilla/Honey: Too light for me as I bought it wearing the Jasmine water BB cream, which made me a highly unnatural NC20, when I am NC25-30 by nature. Trying to finish it fast!

15. NYX Concealer in Orange: Seriously. What was I thinking?! An orange concealer?? I was so into salmon based concealers when I bought this from NYX, and then when it came in the mail, "Hold on, I don't even have bad dark circles!".

16. & 17. Maybelline AngelFit Concealer in Light Beige and Natural Beige: Light is too light for me and Natural is too brown


Highlighters, Cream blushes, Powder Blushes and Blotting sheets
 18. Benefit Moon Beam: Bought this because I thought this will fit Asian skintones better than the silvery High Beam... and it's a pink toned highlighter *dies as a truly yellow-skinned gal* It's only here because I barely touch it and it needs to be used up soon.

19. NYX Cream Blush in Natural: Nice natural rosey shade, definitely not too pigmented which I like since I'm pretty heavy handed, so being able to slowly build up colour is a nice luxury. However, it does fade on me after a few hours so I probably need to touch up then. Does it bother me? No, not now when I'm trying to finish it!

20. Canmake Cream Blush in 02 and 06: 02 is a very sheer bright pink that has more sparkle than colour really. I could probably even use it as a highlighter. The intention in buying 06 was to use it as a bronzer *stop laughing, I was a true makeup novince back then! This led to possibly (and hopefully) the worse makeup day in school ever* but though it looks brown in the pan, it actually applies as an orange-brown, which goes splendidly with my skintone. Corals and oranges are definitely the most natural shades for me.

23. Canmake Powder Cheek in PW05: Bought it out of a whim, when I couldn't find the shade that I wanted to buy originally. Turned out to be a surprisingly uncommon colour, as its a coral with very strong yellow tones, and shimmers in it. Planning to use this with my coral lipstick for an awesome retro face!

Wow, 23 products and this is just on the face section alone! I still have lips and eyes to go through, so stay tuned. This is Project X pan week :)

Love,
Tabby

Saturday 31 December 2011

New Year Resolutions on beauty and life

It's finally that time of the year... the last day of the year. The year where we stop and reflect on the past year, and I start to feel guilty about the money and time I've spent on beauty, particularly makeup. Last year I was on a skincare kick, and accumulated a heck load of skincare products, so in that sense I fared no worse this year. The only problem is that skincare will gradually get depleted (in lieu of special circumstances) since you can use it daily but whether I put on makeup depends on how lazy I am and it does have an expiry date so I have to throw it out after a certain time. The miser and aunty in me can't bear to do that to unfinished products, so my new resolutions generally centre around finishing products. Here are my 10 ambitious resolutions for the year 2012 (long post ahead)

1. No more lip products until Sephora Friends and Family Sale 2012

This is a huge, HUGE problem of mine, my addiction to lip products. More than 70 lipsticks (since I last counted)? Check. More than 20 lipglosses (I'm actually not very sure about this!)? Check. More than 10 lipbalms? Check. Lip concealor? Check. Tinted lip conditioners? Check. 6 Lip liners that I never touch? Check. And when did I accumulate them all?

Within this year!

That means I have about 1 year to finish all my lip glosses and about 2 to 3 years for my lipsticks. Chances that I can actually accomplish this? >1%

This is a race. A race to finish my lip product collection. Oh the stress and problems that consumerism gives me! I will stop the no buy at the Sephora sale since it is a steep discount and by then I will probably know what are the colours that suit me best and invest appropriately.

2. No more new makeup till 1 May 2012

This is a 4 month strict no buy. Up till now, I've given myself the leeway of buying products but only opening $50 worth of makeup after finishing every 10 makeup products. I've been too kind to myself, and my 'pound' the place where I consign all my to-be-opened products have been getting bigger and bigger. I really have a lot more than 1 product for each category so there is really no need to buy anymore makeup until then. The only category that I have one of is a mascara base, which is the Shiseido Nourishing Mascara Base. It does work well but because it lengthens your own lashes so much, it gives a fake, I can tell you have mascara one look, which is nice if you want really defined and open lashes but it is the opposite of natural, which I favour. I've realized that I do enjoy the natural look the most, so most of my bright eyeshadows, blushes and lip products are not being utilized. My second favourite look are the smoky eyes though, so I'll try to use up more of my non-neutral eyeshadows, lipsticks and fake eyelashes (I have tons of that) for night outings as well.

My semester ends at the end of April, so I do think that May would be a good time to evaluate my progress and see if I can continue the no-buy for the rest of the year :)

3. No more fast food

Now we start the health related part. As we all know, fast food is really bad for health, but I always choose to eat it because of a) convenience and b) I can't decide to eat anything else. After eating it every time, I always feel guilty and repulsed at myself for consuming such junk. All my hard work exercising goes to waste!

4. Eating at a restaurant at most 2 times a month

Evaluating my finances has shown that not only do I have poor self-control issues (all the makeup buying impulses) but I also like to live the high life and eat at restaurants. Granted these restaurants are not high end ones, they are at most low to mid-tier restaurants, but patronising them so frequently accumulates over time. Spending $20-30 each trip, 1-4 times a week does add up to a lot, especially for someone that is still studying. I should be doing so much more with my money than blowing it all on food and makeup! So now I would rather save the money and learn a viable skill like cooking. Which means I need to get more motivated about cleaning (the biggest pain in the butt about cooking) and more organised especially since some foods like meat needs to be defrosted, and planning meals in advance for weekly grocery shopping. This all sounds so responsible and grown up! :P A healthier way to live and hopefully a healthier body in return would be a great gift in the new year.

5. Reading a book every 2 weeks

I used to be a really avid reader growing up, I could read a 500 page book in a day and I had a wonderful grasp of the English language thanks to that. After entering junior college (or after age 16), I started to get really into comics and forums, where language can be garbled to say the least. Now I find my grasp of english deteroriating year on year and that's bad considering that I'm a native English speaker and my knowledge of the Chinese language needs to be worked on to say the least.

I still love fantasy books, especially ones by Terry Pratchett, but I should read more classics and 'serious' books too. I guess I've just found other people and the Internet to be so much more interesting, but now and then I can still find books that bring me back to that escapist fantasy world that I loved so much.

Good thing public libraries membership never expires in Singapore!

6. Doing something mentally challenging everyday

Now I confess, after entering university 3 years ago, I feel like my brain has rotted. Literally. Everyday I spent my time reading on reviews of skincare/makeup/sunscreen, shopping for clothes, watching youtube videos... things that are generally content intensive and that is handed on a platter to me. Do I need to think when watching youtube reviews? Only to judge whether I already own the shade shown and if the reviewer has some bias towards the product. This acceptance of information is dangerous and I shouldn't be so accepting , especially since I am studying Philosophy, which is a critique of commonly accepted thinking (you can tell what a 'good' student I am). I still love makeup despite all that and I doubt I will ever swear off makeup claiming that it is a tool for subjudication of the common woman according to society's standards or something, (there might be people who do believe this, and it might be true... to a degree) but I just want to feel like I have actually accomplished something each day!

I'm sure this is not a problem for highly motivated successful people, but for anyone that struggles to get out of bed and spends free days lazing about doing nothing, this is a huge challenge. I do want to value-add my life and live it out as much as possible. I am now in a club that makes me quite physically active, which I like and I want to enrich the mental side of it.

For now, the goal is to improve the limited chinese that I know and maybe even learn a new language. The beautiful thing about language is that you don't have to learn a lot at a time, but learning it over an extended period reaps the most benefits.

7. Doing a good/kind deed a day

This is so cliché, but I want to at least try this. After contemplating for a while, I do believe that true kindness and grace is something innate and one that you actively do without thinking "Oh I will look good/kind/nice in front of others if I do this" *confesses to such a shallow and ugly thought*

Thankfully for the non-kind and graceless folks out there, this can be developed into a habit and what is a habit eventually becomes innate (I hope). Being kind to others, holding my tongue when I know the other party might be hurt and taking the extra step to be caring, something that certainly doesn't come naturally to me, so that hopefully when I look back at the end of next year, I can think that at least I've been quite a decent person. And related to that is...

8. Keeping a smile on

I have a really unfriendly and intimidating face when I don't smile, sadly this appears to be a family trait. At every new setting or gathering, I always have to muster up the courage and make the first move to be friendly towards others because otherwise they would never approach me. This is something that is probably something that I have to do for the rest of my life.

The positive thing is that people always say that those who age well are those who think positive, and I hope this is true! I don't cope well with stress and trouble, I tend to ball it up inside of me and/or explode to others (happens very rarely and usually in the solitude of my room), once again this appears to be a family trait (hence the distaste of me exploding in front of others, I've experienced it more times than I care for). Thankfully, during recent stressful times, I have been able to smile at myself and think of the ridiculous worrying that I agonise over the problem. Stress and worry is really something that you give yourself and I'm slowing learning and trying to deal with it and just putting it aside. Being able to smile and laugh at the situation will hopefully make things a bit easier.

9. Buy higher quality clothing that can last longer

I've recently gone to a flea market to sell some clothes and it's heart wrenching to see clothes that I've bought online, that I've never worn, go for as low as $2. Clothes have a really low re-sale value, but I have so many pieces of clothing that I will never wear because it either a) looks terribly different from the online photo (in a terrible way) or b) does not fit me at all. I'm not slim like most Asian girls are, I'm thick with boobs and hips.

Cheap clothes at markets are generally cut too small and tight for me. Clothes that fit me at western brands like Topshop and River Island, have necklines that are too low in clothes that are my size (I wear US size 6 or UK size 10 and I'm only 163cm or 5'4, according to standard clothes sizing, I'm too short for my size :X)

Actually, now I look at the cut and fabric of the pieces most often and it almost seems that most affordable pieces do not fit me well. Looking at my closet, those that look great on me consist of at most 10% of my wardrobe. I'll probably try to sell my clothes at the flea market more often, and maybe end up with a much more compact wardrobe that has the same cost value as what I own now, but is infinitely more wearable and flattering.

10. Blog more often!

I have committed the cardinal sin of blogging, which is disappearing and not blogging when I should. In this new year, I want to blog frequently at 3 times a week, preferably Monday, Wednesday and Fridays. Over the course of the year, my writing style and the look of this blog will hopefully improve!

Right now, I plan to blog about my Christmas haul, my new makeup obsessions, emergency buys and a makeup or maybe even skincare inventory post (this will have to be done in many, many parts). So stay tuned for updates!

Love,
Tabby

Thursday 29 December 2011

What I got for Christmas!

I'm finally back! Been itching to get another post up ever since I came back but Christmas and Cleaning totally got in the way. Yep, I have so much junk in my room that I need to spring clean way before the end of the year and I'm still not done yet! *panics*

Before all that, let me show you what my lovely family got me for Christmas!


A makeup bag (now they know how addicted I am to makeup), a cute coin purse (to save more money) and the crown jewel of them all, the Kat Von D holiday 2011 palette!!



So goth, so nice :)


Love the design at the bottom



Some ramblings about love



At first glance



I love this palette already. The eyeshadows are soft and easy to blend and the colours, just look at them! Half of it are wearable neutrals with the usual sparkly colours and beautiful matte highlights and best friend shades. In the more colourful half, most of them are darker shades that are so much easier to wear than bright BRIGHT shades. I'm in love with the purple shade, the red is surprisingly wearable layered over another shade but the two black seem pretty similar though.

All in all a wonderful palette and one that will certainly feed my makeup urge for the next few months (I hope!)