Maybelline The Falsies Volum’ Express Waterproof Mascara

So, right after I tried out The Rocket mascara and realised that it didn’t work well for me, I decided to play safe and go back to an old favourite of mine: The Falsies from Maybelline.

My very first tube of The Falsies was bought in Taiwan and I’ve long since finished two tubes. This is my third. ^_^

The mascara wand has a curved, fanned-out brush that helps to keep the lashes curled.

The mascara formula has fibres in it to lengthen and thicken the lashes. It can be build up to exaggerating volume and length that gives credit to its name. I’ve gotten compliments and people asking me where I bought my falsies. It’s not falsies, it’s The Falsies. ^_^

A fibre based mascara also means that it washes off easily with water and comes out in tubes. I highly recommend this to people who wears light makeup as you won’t need an eye makeup remover to remove it.

However, because it has fibre, when the tube of mascara is slightly dried up, the fibres will flake off so I’d say it’s not a mascara that’ll last you ages. Anyways, mascara shouldn’t be kept for more than three months (but I try to keep them for as long as they can last =p). Also, do note that it smudges slightly at the end of the day.

This is my second favourite mascara from Maybelline. My absolute favourite is Lashionista as it has a tip that is a tiny bit smaller than The Falsies.

But the Lashionista mascara is longer so it can be a bit tricky to use for makeup beginners or people with shakey hands.

Anyways, I like The Falsies a lot and it is approximately S$2 more expensive than the other Maybelline mascaras but it’s definitely worth it.

That’s all for this post. ^_^

Maybelline The Rocket Volum’ Express Mascara

I’ve been trying out new makeup but work has been hectic lately and I haven’t had much time to write a proper review.

Now that I’ve woken up early, I found time to write two reviews. Both the posts today and tomorrow will be on mascaras.

The Rocket from Maybelline

It’s an okay mascara as it creates volume on the lashes and I’ve gotten compliments after using it.

However, it’s not clump free and you will get spidery lashes if you apply several coats. It does not lengthen your lashes. If you’ve oily skin like me, then it’s not completely smudge-proof.

And the mascara wand which they claimed to be revolutionary, is in fact, very annoying.

If you zoom in on the photo above, you’ll see that the mascara wand is spikey and fat. It irritates my water line and is not precise enough for lower lashes.

I wish I’d googled it first before buying. >_< Anyways, I gave up on it after three uses and bought another mascara which will be in the review tomorrow.

This is not a mascara for people with sensitive eyes and/or oily skin. People who likes to gradually build up their mascara will also dislike it.

In a nutshell, I don't like it but I can see why it appeals to others.

Benefit Erase Paste

I’m so so so glad that I decided to give Erase Paste a chance after Boing let me down so terribly. I’ve used this product several times and I’ve to say, it is by far, the best dark eye circle concealer I’ve ever used. This is holy grail worthy and I can no longer imagine putting on makeup without it.

My naughty BunBun chewed a little on the corner of the box.

The concealer comes in 3 different shades of salmony colour. I chose No. 2 Medium and it matches me perfectly.

It came with instructions and a spatula.

I just use my ring finger to dip and apply for this concealer so I’d be saving the spatula for my other cream products. Waste not want not right? ^_^

It has a creamy texture that won’t put emphasis on the lines underneath the eyes. Once applied, I dust on some loose powder to set it so that it won’t settle into the fine lines when I laugh or blink.

This small tub cost me $43 from Sephora Singapore.

It may seem expensive, but as you can see, I’ve hardly made a dent despite using it for almost a week so one tub can last me for a very long time. A definite thumbs up from me and I’d definitely recommend this to anyone who has dark eye circles and wants a good under eye concealer.

And I’ve to thank Emilynoel83 for her review on the Erase Paste which was very detailed and played a huge part on my decision to get the Erase Paste. If you’re interested, you can watch her review here. She gives very honest reviews and that’s something I respect a lot. That’s why I subscribed to her YouTube channel and if you like watching makeup reviews, I’d definitely recommend her channel. ^_^v

Etude House Dear Girls Cute Eyes Maker to create an Aegyol Sal

The Cute Eyes Maker is used to create aegyol sal or 卧蚕 which gives an illusion of smiling eyes.

My hastily drawn picture of an eye.

Most of us have a natural line below our eyes when we smile and that’s our aegyol sal. The Cute Eyes Maker has two ends and the light shimmer powder on one end should be applied on the lower eye like this.

And the darker brown on the line to create illusion of puffy under eyes. In a nutshell, it’s contouring for the eyes.

-_-

And also swatches of the two colours.

I like both the colours. The shimmer is just right, not too glittery and highlights subtlety. The brown is natural and I feel that it’ll make for a good eyebrow powder colour. However, I’m not too sure I like the applicator.

It is too damn big.

Having a “That’s what she said” moment now. =_=

As I was saying, the applicator is just not the right size. From the testers of other brands that I saw, their applicators were smaller and had a tapered end for easy application.

I see a lot of girls with huge aegyol sal that runs parallel to their lower eyelids and honestly, I don’t think it is flattering because it looks so unnatural. If you observe the photos of Korean celebrities, their aegyol sal has a “U” shape.

For me, I just apply the middle part with the shimmery colour and with a light hand, use a smaller brush to apply the brown to contour, as illustrated by the dotted line.

Contouring can go both ways. It can make you look slimmer, or leave you with ridiculous lines when not blended properly. The same goes for creating your aegyol sal. You don’t want a brown line straight underneath your eyes that only looks good on photos but weird in real life.

This product is fun to use and I’d recommend people to try it out, but if you already have a good highlighter that is not chunky, you can simply use that and some contouring powder to create the same effect.

How I spot clean my makeup brushes

As I start getting into wearing eyeshadows more frequently, I realised that the same few makeup brushes for the eyes are used and I didn’t want to clean them after applying a new eyeshadow colour. Initially, I went to Watsons and Guardian to find makeup brush cleaner but the people there told me that they no longer carry any makeup brush cleaner at their stores. Say what?! I didn’t want to go all the way to Sephora just to pick up a bottle of brush cleaner.

One day, I blinked just right after applying mascara and it transferred to my lower lids, and as I put a bit of Bioderma on a cotton bud to clean them off, it occurred to me that I could use it as a brush cleanser. It has no oil and soap, so there is no need to rinse the brush off. Plus, there is also no alcohol in Bioderma so both the skin around the eyes and brush bristles are not going to dry out.

All you need is a bottle of Bioderma and a spray bottle. My spray bottle is from Daiso.

I simply add a bit of my Bioderma Créaline into the spray bottle and used it to spray my used brushes, then swirl them on a piece of clean tissue. It has worked well for me so far and with the spray bottle, I find myself using less of the Bioderma as compared to pouring it which dispenses a lot.

I’m sure I’m not the first person to think of this, but I just wanted to share it here with more people on how I spot clean my eye makeup brushes and hopefully it’ll make spot cleaning brushes be more convenient for everyone too. ^_^

Urban Decay Naked 3 Palette (Part 2)

Today is the 2nd day of 2014 and everybody in my part of the work is starting work. Be less grumpy, complain less and let the first working day of 2014 start with cheer!! Maybe your boss will feel more cheerful too and promote you. Lol.

Anyways, I felt that my previous review was not detailed enough so I included closeups of the colours, my thoughts on each colour and how I use them in this post.

With 12 colours in the palette, I definitely have my favourites so I’m going to review them by their order in the palette.

1st 3 colours are Strange, Dust and Burnout.

Strange is a cream colour that looks almost white on my skin. In a lot of YouTube tutorials, they use this colour on their brow bones and inner corner of the eyes. I’ve warm skin tone so it looks too pale on my brow bones. I like my highlights to be subtle so this colour is not working for me. I don’t think it’ll work well for darker skin tones either, unless you use it in the middle of the lids for a pop of bright colour?

Dust is a pink glittery eyeshadow. It does not really have a solid colour, just pink glitter. I love to apply it on the center of the lids. It is a “Bling when I blink”. As you can see, it creates fall outs that gets all over the edge. For this colour, I use a patting motion to apply.

Burnout is also a pink colour. It’s more shimmery than glittery. I apply it below Dust for a rosy colour that sparkles. Also one of my favourites in the palette.

Next 3 colours are Limit, Buzz and Trick.

I like to use Limit as an all over colour on the lids. It’s a very light taupe colour. I detect a slight purplish tinge to it but it’s mostly light brown.

Buzz is a darker and rosier Burnout. I use either, not both. Also a very pretty colour.

Trick is metallic bronzy colour but the bronze does not show up well even with an eye primer. Casey Holmes, a YouTuber, mentioned in her video that she scrapped the top off in order to get a nice colour. It looks nice on her but I’m just going to use it as a “Bling when I blink” colour until the top part is used up. Cannot bear to scrap anything off. >_<

Next 3 colours are Nooner, Liar and Factory.

The photo does not do them justice. Out of the entire palette, they get used more often.

Nooner is a matt dark taupe colour. I use it on my crease and outer corner of my eyes.

Lair, again, looks like slight coral version of Buzz but you can’t really tell the difference unless they are swatched side by side. So I think Lair, Buzz and Burnout are close and I really only need one of them.

Factory is a dark chocolate shimmery colour. I use it on my outer corner of my eyes and lower lash line.

Last 3 colours are Mugshot, Darkside and Blackheart.

Again, Mugshot is similar to Factory. It is just slightly more shimmery. It’s either one or the other, I very well could just do with one in the palette.

Darkside is a matt version of Factory. I like it but seldom use it.

Have not found a use for Blackheart yet. It looks pretty but I find it overkill when used in day makeup.

And that’s it for my detailed review of my Urban Decay Naked 3 palette. I feel that it’s great as a gift to someone else and also great for me to receive it as a present ^_^, but I wouldn’t splurge on one for myself as many of the colours are interchangeable.

In my honest opinion, rarely would people care if your eyeshadow is a taupe with purple undertone or pink undertone. Brown is brown is brown. Unless you apply until you look like a panda and everyone notices in a bad way, it’s just eyeshadow and nobody would know that it’s Urban Decay or any other brand.

However, if you like to have a good quality eyeshadow that are highly pigmented so that you don’t have to keep piling on more (which also muddies the eyeshadow look, and creases more easily during the day) then paying more for convenience and personal comfort obviously makes more sense. They last longer too and most of the colours create less fall outs. It’s really up to you though.

Hope I didn’t bore you with my ramblings and helped you to decide if you should get one.

Etude House Aloha V-Line Slim Maker

Happy New Year, everyone!! May 2014 be a wonderful year! As mentioned in the post yesterday, here’s another review of a bronzer.

Etude House Aloha V-Line Slim Maker

It comes in a box with a free brush but there is no compartment in the compact to hold the brush. They could have just made it cheaper by not including the brush. Just saying.

Actually the Etude House Aloha V-Line Slim Maker is a contour and highlighter compact, but I use the contour colour as a bronzer.

The one on the right side.

As you can see, I’ve used up quite a bit of the contour so the prints are barely discernible.

I bought No. 2 which has Cherry Wood (contour) and Sun Pink (highlighter). Again, I only vaguely remember the price because it was bought months ago. If my memory serves me right, it should be around $24. It was an impulsive buy, to be honest, that’s why I was willing to shell out $24 for an Etude House product. Not to say that they are not good, but I’d feel like a sucker after knowing the actual retail price in Korea.

When I was choosing between No. 1 and No. 2, I had a very hard time trying to decide because they paired the warmer contour with the cooler tone highlighter, and the cooler contour with a warmer highlighter. Does that make sense to you?

No. 1 has Wood Brown (contour) which is lighter than No. 2’s Cherry Wood (contour) so No. 2 suited my skin better. However, No. 1 has Sun Gold (highlighter) which is a subtle gold and great for warm skin tones but No. 2 has Sun Pink (highlighter) which really looks like pearly white that I’ve no use for.

In the end, I chose No. 2 for the contour because I needed a bronzer badly and I already have a lot of gold champagne highlighter.

Swatches of Cherry Wood (contour) and Sun Pink (highlighter)

I am mighty pleased with the contour. It has no shimmer in it, very warm and looks natural. It works really well and I would recommend it to everyone if it were not for the highlighter beside it.

The highlighter looked too much like a beam on my cheekbones. Not quite the subtle natural makeup look I’d envisioned.

Worse of all, it’s just next to the contour so I can’t use a big brush without picking up some of the highlighter.

I wish they had just the contour colour in a compact. Will not repurchase unless they change the highlighter colour.

The Body Shop Honey Bronze Bronzing Powder

The review today and tomorrow will be about two of the bronzers that I’m currently using. I originally intended to do a comparison and review them together but they both have their pros and cons, and I want to elaborate more, hence the two different entries.

This is what I’m going to review today, The Body Shop Honey Bronze Bronzing Powder.

The compact cover is gorgeous. It is tessellated with hexagons. Tilting the cover slightly to show them better.

I am truly in love with the design of the whole compact, including the powder which is also imprinted with hexagons to mimic the shape of honeycombs.

It’s a pity really, that the colour is kinda shitty.

Truly, I was shocked when I first tried it on my face. It was too orangey and does not last for the whole day. It sort of “floats” on top of the skin by midday. I honestly have nothing good to say about this bronzer.

Swatched on my hand.

Just for comparison’s sake, I swatched my other bronzer below.

As you can see, the colour is a lot more orangey than the other bronzer. I wanted to look slightly more sunkissed, not turn into an Oompa Loompa.

Before I bought it, I did my homework and researched online. Makeupalley.com gave it a 4.2 out of 5. =_= And just to be sure that I won’t get the wrong shade, I went up to the sales person to get my colour matched and she recommended me shade no. 03.

Maybe she made a mistake, I don’t know because just based on how non-lasting the powder is, I’m not going to buy another one to try.

It cost me $19.90 and I bought it at a The Body Shop warehouse sale. I’m sure it is a lot cheaper in other countries considering how much of a ripoff The Body Shop Singapore is. Mind-boggling how this can still cost $19.90 in a warehouse sale. Sigh. Don’t buy it if you don’t like orange based bronzers. If you’ve dry skin and likes the colour of an orange, by all means, go for it.

Etude House Line Nuance Duo

I’ve been having loads of fun, especially since Christmas Eve, spending time with my family and friends. It’s December, my favourite month of the year, and it is always full of cheer and love and joy. Hopefully it’s the same for everyone as well!!

Without further ado, here’s another review of a makeup product. Two actually, but they are both the same thing in different colours.

Line Nuance Duo from Etude House

I bought them in a sale a few months back and have used them quite a few times. They were slightly over $4 during the 50% sale, if I remember correctly but my friend thinks that it was $12. I wouldn’t buy two if they were over $10 each. Anyways, I bought a light champagne colour for highlighting and a dark metallic bronzy brown for smokey look.

This is in the colour no. 1, the champagne gold eyeshadow with pearly white eyeliner.

Swatches of no. 1

As you can see, the colours are very pigmented. I’m very pleased with the eyeshadow as the powder is very fine and shimmers without chunky glitters. However, I don’t like the eyeliner as it is a pearly white colour. It would have been more useable if it were in beige or just plain white. Pearly white is a little too shiny to be used on the lower waterline but it’s just a personal preference. I’m sure there’ll be people who like pearly white.

This is in the colour no. 4, the metallic bronzy brown eyeshadow with dark metallic olive green eyeliner.

Swatches of no. 4

Again, very pleased with the colour payoff. Rich pigmentation in both eyeshadow and eyeliner. The eyeliner does not last for people with oily skin, like me =\ but the texture is great for smoking out the edges for a soft liner look. I prime my eyelids with Urban Decay Primer Potion before using the liner and it stays on well. Just doesn’t work that well on the waterline though.

All in all, they are only worth it during a sale, considering how jacked up the prices are in the Etude House stores in Singapore. If they sell only the eyeshadows in individual pots, I’ll definitely buy them, but in this case, because they are duo headed, I find it a waste that I only have use for the eyeshadows and less for the eyeliners so I won’t be repurchasing again.

Urban Decay Naked 3 Palette

A few days ago, I instagrammed a photo of my new Urban Decay Naked 3 eyeshadow palette and since that day, I’ve used the palette quite a few times, enough times to do a short review here before Christmas. I’ll probably write more about it when I have time to be adventurous with the colours.

I’m sure any girl who is into makeup will be ecstatic to receive a Naked 3 as a gift. In fact, my Naked 3 is a birthday gift from my friends and I love it.

Here’s a photo of mine though googling will definitely lead you to larger, clearer photos of the palette.

There is a great mixture of lighter shades for everyday look and darker shades for the sultry smokey eye look. Even for someone like me that seldom put on eyeshadow, I still find the light shades very wearable.

Some of the colours I normally use would be: Strange for a base colour. Nooner or Factory for crease colour and Dust or Trick for the middle of the lids.

I have yet to try Darkside or Blackheart, the two darkest colour. Any suggestions on how to use them? I’m not a fan of the smokey eye.

This is perfect for a gift, but I’m not sure I’ll repurchase as I’m sure that there are many other palettes out there to try and this one will probably last me for a long time. It cost $83 at Sephora Singapore.