Monday 31 October 2011

Haul: Naruko & ampm skincare + skinfast

I know that I'm on a 10 pan project for skincare BUT I made an order right before I started, and it came into the mail a few days ago.

Oh lookie here, a package for me :D

(L-R, ampm off hours express makeup removing water, Naruko Majoram and Lavender lotion dew, ampm skin ecological defense bb cream, ampm skin ecological indoor defense cream)

I ordered them because naruko.sg was having a 50% sale off some of their products and this meant that they cost a comparable amount to their orginal cost in taiwan. Now I have to stop myself from emploring my friends heading to taiwan to CP for me! Need to convince myself that buying something without using it does violate project 10 pan. So now they will sit prettily under my bathroom sink under I finish what I'm supposed to finish :D

Since I'm trying to do reviews for skincare, I'm going on a skincare fast of just cleanser and moisturizer at night, and cleanser and sunblock in the day for 2 weeks. It is hard to determine exactly how effective a product is without knowing what is the status quo of my skin but I refuse to live without moisturizer or sunblock (especially the latter). I suppose my makeup remover will affect to some degree as well, but these are issues that just has to be internalized. How can one live without sunblock or moisturizer?!

Sunday 30 October 2011

Rant: why are Korean bb creams so pink toned?!!

I really need to get this off my chest: why are Korean bb creams so pink toned?! Pink neutralizes yellow and makes you look fairer supposedly. Pink is not a flattering tone on Asian skin that is yellow toned, speaking from experience. I would rather clear luminating yellow toned or tanned skin. I have only seen two truly pale Asians, ones that are so white they can give Snow White a run for her money. Guess what, they are both from the northern region of china, and are in a constant battle with hyperpigmentation and freckles. So be careful for what you wish for...

What usually happens with pink toned bb creams is that you get the mask effect. The colour of your face and neck/chest area are totally different and there is a clear distinct boundary.  The last time I took a trip to Korea, I saw quite a few white mask ladies stewardesss, on the journey to and fro. It is not a flattering look.

While googling about how one should deal with a bb cream that is too light for you, I found a few blogs about how bb creams 'brighten' their face with a picture attached, and then I'll look at their neck. Perhaps there's silica in the bb cream giving a white cast when photographed but seriously, no. Get foundation instead. Even the shade 2 of bb creams that are supposed to match nc25-30, the range that I fall in, are pink toned and give me a ghostly unnatural look.

I'm just ranting because I have more than 10 bb creams that I bought in my bb cream craze but most of them are too light/too pink despite what the sales assistant claimed, oh the money that I wasted while trying to figure out which shades matches me. Thankfully the new generation of western and Japanese bb creams seem a bit more yellow toned, so I can't wait to explore them!

(Edited because as with most rants, I sounded like a foaming maniac with a staunch hate of the aspect in Korean culture that prefers pink toned fair skin. I simply find that it's not suitable for my undertone or skintone and having invested so much money into BB creams of various brands, it is a disappointment that I can't find one that matches my skintone well. It was an expensive learning experience in makeup, that pink toned bases really don't suit me, which enbittered me. Some girls can carry off the fair pink toned looked, but I have found very few of this rare breed in sunny singapore, without looking like they caked on makeup that is the wrong shade for them. I am trying out ways to use up the bb creams that I have, but who knows, maybe I might find one that will suit me, though I'm still struggling to use up certain ones (looking at you BRTC Jasmine water bb cream). I'll write more about bb creams on another day

Saturday 29 October 2011

Depotting most of my eyeshadows at 1am

So last night in the spirit of adventure and restlessness, I decided to depot all my small eyeshadow palettes and put them into the same container. This saves time and allows you to see shadows from palettes that you don't usually use. Seeing = higher chance of using that shadow. For me it was a chance to destroy and poke palettes that I don't really like :P

There are a few ways to depot shadows, one is by cutting the plastic around it and pry it out, another is the heat method by either melting the glue with a flat iron or a microwave. I didn't want to risk the chance of cutting/burning myself so I decided to use the alcohol method to dissolve the glue, courtesy of watching Jen's video The idea is to drop rubbing alcohol onto the sides of the pan to dissolve the glue around it. I bought my alcohol from Guardian a while back, so I started cracking them out!


Literally. Good thing most bloggers recommend starting out with a shadow that is your least favourite. I really don't like this silvery blue, way too frosty on my warm toned skin.

And it's out! Look at all the pretty light blue dusts and holes gouged in *whistles*


One of my first 2 palettes that was given to me. Way too frosty on my eyes. Turned me away from blue shimmery eyeshadow for a long long time. Even till now, I have quite an aversion for light blue eyeshadow and it didn't help that my eyeshadow application skill was non-existent at the time!


The other palette that I received along with the Cyber Shine eyes. The missing palette is the pink shadow, I forgot that I have not taken a photo till after I was done! Through Google, I finally figured out that my palette is the Michelle Yeoh palette. Just by looking at the photo, you can already tell what my problem with this palette is. She looks like she has an eye infection on her top lid for goodness sake. 

The back. Manufactured in 2007?!

The shadows are placed really tightly with into their slots, so I really had to dig to get them out.

Finally, after trying out on various eyeshadows, I lifted my chin up and decided to depot my NYX shadows, which were my favourite singles out of them all

Nude is the same colour as my lid and Brown when used with a damp brush is a little darker than my natural eye contour colour

They were really easy to depot though, lots of loose spaces in the corners :D

So pretty. So bulky.

I think this shade is in the theBalm shady lady volume 3?

So much product, how will I ever finish this. It's also a red tinted brown and knowing how I feel about red eyeshadows... I guess its time for me to experience applying eyeshadow as lipstick

My other small and pretty palettes! Should I? Why shouldn't I?! (spot the odd palette out, no prizes for guessing right)

I was in the midst of trying to depot this Kate palette when I realised that the cream eyeshadow on the extreme right cannot be removed :O So my kate palettes get to stay in one piece thanks to the cream eyeshadow

This palette popped out without any alcohol at all! Bought this from another person's stash. Honestly, I haven't even tried it yet

RD?! Another red palette?! This one looks a bit closer to pink tones though


You can tell how cheap makeup is when the metal container bends so easily



Honestly, these are pretty colours but they are so sparkly and not in a nice way


Fruits of my labour


My Unii palette is holding my La Femme blushes so I found an old abacus container from when I was 8 (!) and organized them there. Hopefully now that I can see most of them, they can be used more often.

Project 10 pan update: I walked into Watsons today and walked out without buying anything even though there was a sale on Silkygirl's lipgloss. So proud of myself. So this is day 3 without buying any makeup

Project 10 Pan Skincare edition

A short introduction to project 10 pan: a scheme for hoarders of makeup/skincare like myself to use up the products on our list before we can buy new ones. A skincare/makeup diet of sorts. In its original form, it only applies to makeup, but it can be adapted for skincare as well. The goal is to save money, explore your stash and play around with makeup by limiting choices (how ironic). Most of my money is drained by makeup but I do have occasional skincare crazes so I decided to do use up some of them before I invest into even more skincare!  I'm not including sunscreen or makeup removers since these are essentials but I need to slim down my skincare collection from those crazy moments where I believed the marketing schtick of slimming/clear skin/whitening/wrinkle free.

I was supposed to update a few days ago but my laptop died and I forgot to bring my charger from home. So here's the overdue skincare 10 pan!

                              (sorry for the messy table and poor Iphone 3G pics, trying to get a camera soon!)

(L-R, Burt's Bees Honey Lipbalm, Silk Naturals Fire- Cinnamon Lip Balm, L'oreal Youth Code Eye cream, Clarins Advanced Extra-Firming Eye contour serum)

My lips and eyes products! The Silk Naturals lipbalm is finishing soon, but I have a long long way to go for the Burt's Bees Lipbalm. I can't really comment on the Clarins or Lóreal eye cream since I don't have fine lines near my eyes, but this could be due to age or my use of differin. Either way, the cream are more for preventive care, so reviews will probably focus on whether they are too thick and give milia or pimples around the area.



(L-R, Silk Naturals Green Tea & Aloe serum, Physiogel Cream, St. Ives Collagen Elastin Facial Moisturizer, Missha Cool Fitting Body Gel, Clarins Hand and Nail Treatment Cream and Missha Time Revolution White Cure Dark Control Cream)

I bought the Silk Naturals serum when I was trying to combat my oily skin, and the Physiogel when my skin was peeling! My skin crazy, I know. The St Ives Facial moisturizer is a hard one for me, I bought it because of all the reviews on Amazon.com but I was a little freaked out by the high mineral oil content in the jar. So instead I'm using this moisturizer as a part time makeup remover, I'll double cleanse with it, followed by my cleanser in the shower. Since mineral oil is used for makeup removal and moisturizers are meant to be used and left on the face, it can't be too bad right?

The Missha items were bought in South Korea when I was shopping at Incheon airport. It was before the duty free section, outside the departure gate that I saw Etude House and Missha having a 50% sale! Barely saw any tourists or locals there but spotted many air stewardess in their airline's trademark uniforms :D Most of the items were gone, especially from the White Cure line so I grabbed what was left. Some people buy 'holiday clothes', clothes that you think are nice overseas, but when you go back to your native country, you can't figure out when or where to wear them. I buy 'holiday skincare', I'm really not into whitening (I'm yellowish tone by nature) and I find most slimming products to be a bit of a hoax. The Clarins handcream was a gift but my (fussy/picky) mom loves this product. All of them are definitely interesting items that I'll be reviewing in the future! Thinking about it 4 of the above items are 'holiday skincare' and 2 others are online buys. Oh the ways that I've been spending my money...

Total cost of this project 10 pan = ~SGD$200? Can't remember most of the prices since I bought them a long time ago and I need to finish up before they expire!

Tomorrow is my makeup 10 pan post! (or is it?)

Wednesday 26 October 2011

Project 10 Pan! Will I succeed before I go bonkers?

So new blog and new resolution, to do a project 10 pan skincare and makeup! My obsession with skincare and makeup have caused me to accumulate and buy far Far more than I will ever need. Thankfully the skincare phase passed last year, but with February, my new makeup addiction started in full force. As the old adage adage goes, I have too many products but only 1 face!

So this will be my journey of trying to slim down my makeup collection, to the bare essentials (right now that seems like a far off dream) and saving some money. I suppose along the way I'll do some reviews so that I can remember what I like/dislike and why! So I'll make my 10 pan skincare post soon!