Bourjois Healthy Mix Foundation

Thumbs up for sleepy no-makeup face! Not to mention the ungroomed brows pardon me people.

... Back to the main topic.I hope you know how I feel - Seeing bloggers/Youtubers raving about certain cosmetics line but oh wait! It isn't available in Malaysia (cue: Rimmel London, e.l.f., Sleek etc.) but thankfully Bourjois has been here since June - the first store being in Sunway Pyramid which is conveniently close to where I stay. What did I do? I picked up the famous foundation immediately without hesitant!

Priced at RM 59.90 (it was on sales when I got it though), the foundation smells like fruits in a pleasant way - obviously since it is claimed that the product is enriched with fruit therapy formula. The shade I got is #51 (Vanille claire/light vanilla), which I find a little bit lighter than my skin tone, even though the sales assistant told me that the foundation will oxidised and hence a lighter shade would be a better choice. Not. It didn't oxidise on me (good news?) so I have to bronze my face up after putting on the foundation. Meh. Lesson of the day: Trust your first instinct, people.

I find that the coverage is positively medium and buildable, as some redness and blemishes on my face are visibly reduced and surprisingly even my dark circles (although I have slapped on some concealer on the picture taken above)! I first dotted the product with my fingers on my face before buffing it using my Zoeva brush.

Texture wise, the product is watery and it sinks pretty well into my skin after applying. And thankfully, no sticky after-feeling (one of my major pet peeves!). I did not set it with powder after wearing it but it managed to last quite a long time - perhaps not as long as Bourjois claimed (16 hours - ain't nobody got time for that!). However it turned a little flaky especially around my chin and under my eyes after 8 hours which is kind of unfortunate. And weird. It has never happened on me before. Perhaps my face is simply dehydrated thanks to my nocturnal schedule.

Overall, I really like the product - Very easy to blend, light weight but able to provide good coverage nonetheless, long lasting, and I secretly love the fruity scent. And oh! The foundation is packaged inside a glass bottle (oh so fancy!) so you might wanna be careful, especially clumsy people like me!

Fun fact: Do you know that Bourjois is a sister brand of Chanel (cosmetic line)?

Short getaway!

Sup guys. Just came back from a one week trip to Melaka & Singapore with my course mates. It was a short va-cay before our internship start. Hello working life aka goodbye freedom. Boo.

Anyway, besides all the historic sites like The Red House or the Jonker Street, Melaka is also famous for their foods such as cendol, laksa, nyonya cuisine etc which we had eaten during our short stay there. We had also tried out Veggie Planet, a vegan/vegetarian restaurant at Melaka Raya. The veggie rolls, lei cha (擂茶), fried tempeh, organic soy milk etc are superb! We also went to De Reve Salon/Cafe for the desserts. Chocolate lava cake is yums. I actually feel so hungry right now after looking through the photos.

After a 4-days stay, we then went to Singapore from Melaka by bus. The one-way trip only costs around RM22 (so freaking cheap) and the ticket can be purchased at Melaka Central. We stayed at a backpacker hostel at Little India and we went to a few tourist spots during our stay there; SEA aquarium, Gardens by the Bay, Marina Bay Sands, casinos... You name it. I had also tried out the famous ice cream waffle/bread (like finally) and I finally understood why everyone recommended it to me. It. Tastes. So. Goooooooood. Seriously, you must try it too if you haven't. I recommend having one at Bugis Street. It only costs SGD 1 (cheapest we encountered) and the uncle was so generous on the ice cream.

I have also gotten a few stuff in Singapore - First off, Bioderma Sensible H2O Micelle Solution. I know I know. It's just became available in Malaysia but how can I say no to 600mL of product at only SGD 39.90? Definitely cheaper than buying them here after converting. I have also bought a few Elf brushes, particularly powder brush (SGD 9.90) and eyeshadow brush (SGD 4.90). Trying not to think of how much it would cost if we were at the States (USD 3 only - FYI). The last and the most exciting item I got - Elf Contouring Blush & Bronzing Powder in St. Lucia (SGD 9.90) - which is a well known dupe for Nars Orgasm/Laguna duo. It only costs 3 dollars at the States but SGD 9.90 for a duo? Closest I can get so I'm not complaining. Anyway, can't wait to try it out! Review coming soon!

New love: Zoeva 104 Buffer & 227 Soft Definer

One can never have enough brushes. Especially good quality brushes. But sadly good quality items usually shout 'I'm extremely expensive!'. But fortunately not Zoeva.

We all know the pioneers of brushes - Mac, Sigma Beauty, Real Techniques etc in which the prices are... Pretty stiff. Zoeva, a German brand, is quite new in any place on Earth except perhaps Germany (and the UK as well all thanks to the hypes by British bloggers and/or Youtubers community). Try to Google the brushes and you can only find a few reviews. I must admit I was a little sceptical when I ordered it online through Luxola. However I was not disappointed by the actual products.

The first brush I purchased is Zoeva 104 Buffer. It is priced at RM57.50 and came with a zipper brush bag as well. The soft bristles are pretty dense as you can see from the image above. It picks up my liquid foundation pretty well and able to give me the 'airbrush' effect once I buffed the foundation into my skin. Needless to say I'm in love with this buffer brush.

The second brush I got is Zoeva 227 Soft Definer which is an eyeshadow brush that I normally use to blend the outer corner of my eyes. The dome-shaped brush is similar with those that you can get at Mac or Sigma. But this only costs me RM29. Yup. RM-freaking-29. Which is like, what? More than half the price of Mac 217? And the quality is good nonetheless. I had been searching for a blending brush for a long while before getting this and I'm so glad that I got this brush without spending a bomb.

Overall I highly recommend Zoeva to everyone especially beginners. The brushes are affordable, come in good quality and most importantly they do not sting or hurt my face. Lastly Aunt Jessie would like to stress a very important point - Don't forget to wash your brushes y'all! Pimples are not glorious yo!

Rimmel London Natural Bronzer in 021 Sun Light

EXCUSE THE GIANT PLANET ON MY CHEEK.

Anyway, hi guys. You might remember that I have mentioned purchasing a bronzer on my parcel haul blog post, all thanks to the fact that Rimmel is not available in Malaysia anymore. Anyway let's cut to the chase.

Although light when swatched, the powder wasable to be picked up by my angled blush brush from Elf I got from iHerb, surprisingly. The formula of the bronzer is very buttery (not chalky) and it glides on my cheek pretty well. The packaging is flimsy but expected as it looks exactly like its 'Stay Matte Pressed Powder' but hey, I'm not complaining especially given the fact that it only costs me £5. The shade I got is 021 Sun Light which sadly turned out to be too light for my medium skin tone. Luckily the colour is buildable.

For a product that does not contain too much shimmery (which is what I'm looking for), it manages to give me a healthy glow. And also considering the price as well, it definitely worth a try - Given that it's available locally. Which sadly, is not. :(

100th post - Hiatus no more!

Sup guys.

I know I've been gone for awhile, but with good reason - My undergraduate dissertation and thesis presentation - Done and done! Boy am glad that's over! Phew!

If you really wanna know how I lived in the past 3 weeks... It's not glorious. Instant noodles. Bed. Laptop. Shit. Soft drinks. I kid you not. Didn't even leave the house. And constantly inhaling something sweet (soft drinks, what are you thinking?) whenever my brain needed more glucose.

I spent days and nights in front of my laptop, writing a dissertation that contained at least 16,000 words. It wasn't easy at all. The words came out from my mind into my Word document like constipation - As described by my classmate. Which is a very accurate way to describe this painful process. I felt like my brain was squeezed dry at the end of the day.

I'd gone crazy if I had to be like that for another 3 weeks. However when my dissertation came into life (or... came into prints to be exact), I felt like I just went through labour. (Metaphorically speaking of course, giving birth is much much much more painful.) So I guess it's all worth it. But let's hope the grade will be good too. Bah! That's behind me now! So glad that I am finally able to flip through this chapter of my life. 

So since I have submitted my dissertation, I reckon I'll let you know what I've been researching for the past 14 weeks. My partner and I were developing a vegan soy ice cream and we studied the characteristics yadda yadda, you see the pattern, boring product development stuff.

This research project has been tough, as anything, I repeat - Anything, can go unexpectedly wrong even when you have everything perfectly planned 1 week prior. Equipment broke down or under maintenance, ran out of chemicals, apparatus were taken up by the other researchers... But you just have to improvise with what you get and be flexible, you know what I mean? And positivity is what that matters as your mood will definitely affect your productivity and efficiency. I guess this can be applied on our daily lives as well as you'll never know what is going to happen next. And you need to keep swimming (Finding Nemo's reference, eh? Eh?) eventually even when shit hits the fan.

So what have I done for the past few days after clearing off every deadline and task? Nothing, absolutely nothing. Except lying on my bed like a sloth and watch The Mindy Project, which is awesome! It is my favourite comedy right now and I feel that Mindy basically represents my life. Except that she gets more laid than me. And all her exes are hot. Tommy Dewey, BJ Novak, Glenn Howerton... And so many eye candies around her! James Franco, seriously? I know it's just a drama, but hey a girl can always dream, all thanks to Mindy.

Other than that I have also been watching romance film as influenced by Mindy. Currently watching Pretty Woman. I have to admit, shamefully, that I'm more familiar of the song than the film. But the movie is actually pretty good even though I'm not a big fan of neither Julia Roberts nor Richard Gere (no offense but he's like a father figure to me so it's kinda weird to watch him making love to Julia Roberts). And also I've been playing Pokemon. I was bored, okay?

Anyway back to the main point. So now that I'm free I will be following the regular pre-hiatus schedule which is every Monday, Wednesday and Friday even though I'll be on a short trip next week. But we'll see. I'll try my best.

1 more paper in the end of July and I'll be done with my 5th semester... And then it's time for my internship programme. Dum dum dum. So not looking forward to it. D: