It’s Pumpkin Spice Season!

... Or not, as today is already the last day of November. Yikes.

Doesn’t it scare you though - The way time passed by so quickly that we are officially one month away from 2021? I haven’t even had time to stop and catch a breath from all the heavy-hitting this year has been giving us!

 

Anyway, we all know that October is the season of PSL (pumpkin spice latte, of course) and even though this post is long overdue, I thought I’d share a few lipsticks from my collection that are inspired by my everlasting love for everything autumn.

What is the appropriate number of pumpkin coloured lipstick one can have? Because it seems like I have way too many!

Colourpop Just a Tint Lip Crayon in Z Boy • Cezanne Lasting Lip Color in #504 - Bought it last year around this time in Tokyo... Man, I really wish travelling! • Maybelline Color Sensational Creamy Mattes Lipstick in Chili Nude • Makonde Highlight Lip Tint in No. 9 Number Memory • Maybelline SuperStay Matte Ink in Globetrotter • Dior Ultra Rouge in #436 Ultra Trouble

What do you think? Is this leaning more towards autumn-y pumpkin spice season? Or a little bit closer to chilli summer vibe?

Either way, we only have 1 season in Malaysia so I guess it doesn’t really matter!

However, one thing is definitely and absolutely clear - I should really really refrain myself from buying more lipsticks, of this colour family at least.

Oh well, I guess it’s shop-my-stash from now on!

Unboxing Sleek Makeup i-Divince Vintage Romance Palette

I'm sure you heard of Sleek Makeup. If you don't, I strongly recommend you to try out their eyeshadow palette. The quality is phenomenal for its affordable and reasonable pricing; Good colour payoff, and the texture is buttery and not chalky at all. The eyeshadows are also long lasting (on my dry lids, at least) even without a primer. No to mention that the packaging is sleek and travel friendly.

I really love all the warm neutral shades (surprise surprise!) such as Meet in Madrid, Court in Cannes, and Propose in Prague as well as 3 of the gorgeous purples in the bottom left corner. This palette is versatile and you can simply create literally any look with it. The only con I can think of is perhaps that eyeshadow fallout is prone to happen so I'd suggest putting foundation only after you're done with your eye makeup.

This is the first product from Sleek I own and I am impressed! I will definitely try out the other palettes. More are on the way...

Makeup Revolution Iconic 3 Palette

Rose gold is my Kryptonite.
But the price of Urban Decay Naked 3 is too steep, I just couldn't bring myself to purchase it.
Thank God Makeup Revolution came up with the Iconic 3 palette, which is said to be the exact same dupe of Naked 3.
I can't really comment on the dupe since I do not own Naked 3, but judging from the swatches on other beauty blogs, I gotta admit - they're really really similar.
I am really impressed by the quality of the shadows. The pigmentation is really good -- even the matte shades! Matte eyeshadows that you can find in the drugstores always turn out powdery and chalky but this palette is definitely an exception.
Plus, the texture is so buttery and beyond amazing, even though there can be a slight fallout especially for the shimmer shades. The eyeshadows last a long time on my lids too, but if you're worried about the longevity, it can simply be solved with a good eye shadow primer. (My recommendation - UDPP or Etude House Proof 10 Eye Primer.)
This palette merely costs RM32, which is obviously so much more affordable than Naked 3. I definitely recommend this baby to anyone who is considering a rose gold to neutral eye shadow palette but is under a tight budget.

March Sephora Haul!

You know what? I blame Sephora. They keep shoving us 10% discount vouchers, I feel guilty if I didn't get the chance to use them. So one day I walked into Sephora with a shopping list and a heart full of determination, only to find out that most NYX butter glosses and matte lip creams I wanted were out of stock. What? No!

Well the good news is, Sephora was having a promotion at that time so I ended up getting 15% discount on all purchased items, yay!

First up, I picked up Triple Action Cleansing Water from the Sephora Collection as my friend recommended it to me. I also want to compare it to my HG Bioderma Sensible H2O Micelle Solution as they are actually quite similar except for the price tag. Come on - let's face it, Bioderma is extremely expensive.

I also got a lip product from the Sephora Collection which is their Cream Lip Stain in 04 Endless Purple. It is a wine burgundy red lip cream (sort of like a liquid lipstick) that gives a matte finish and it looks so pretty on my Youtube crush Diana (Easyneon). She used this in one of her tutorials and I know immediately that I had to have this.

Another lippie I picked up is the NYX Butter Gloss in Apple Strudel (BLG08) and I am really loving it so far! It has a lovely peachy-pink tone and it just looks so natural on me. It has definitely become my new favourite MLBB, I'll tell ya that.

Next up, I got my HG Urban Decay All Nighter Long-Lasting Setting Spray as I've used up my travel size one which I got from the previous haul. This setting spray - I kid you not - is the bomb. It not only makes my makeup last whole day but also somehow reduce the cakiness and powdery looking feeling. 

I also picked up a sample size Tarte Maracuja Oil while queueing for payment at the counter. That row of mini/travel size products which is strategically located ithere... It always sucks me in like a black hole 'cuz I want to impulse-buy all of them! 

Anyway, this bottle of wonderfulness comes in 0.5 fl oz while the normal size contains 1.7 fl oz. I have heard so much about this so when I saw this standing beside the aisle with a RM50 price tag, I snatched it immediately. Maracuja oil is actally extracted from passion fruit and it contains a large amount of essential fatty acids and vitamins that will help to recharge and replenish our skin, well, at least according to Tarte.

Every night I put 2 drops of this maracuja oil onto my palms and gently rub them against each other. I then massage them into my cheeks which become rather dry due to the rough weather at Taiwan.  So far it doesn't break me out, it absorbs well and it really moisturises my skin. I highly recommend this to anyone with dry skin!

Lastly I picked up two Tarte Amazonian Clay 12-Hour Blush in Exposed and Blissful. Call me crazy but this is actually my first step in starting my Tarte blushes collection, hee. Well I couldn't resist, they're so pretty and good quality that I am actually thinking of getting either Natural Beauty or Babydoll next. (...Or maybe both?)

Freebies time! Sephora kindly gave me the samples of Fresh Soy Concentrating Eye Makeup Remover, Fresh Rose Hydrating Eye Gel Cream, Boscia Makeup-Breakup Cool Cleansing Oil, Total Age Defy Cream from their house brand..... and a 3-step sample kit from Biotherm Homme.

I mean, I learnt from a video that the whole skincare for men and women are just a common gendered marketing technique but still, seriously? Come on man. Well that aside, definitely looking forward to trying all the samples out! :D

I also received a black and white bedroom slippers for being a black card member. I was initially feeling happy from getting freebies until my mom started shouting at me for accepting shoes during Chinese New Year. Yikes. (Shoes are pronounced the same way as 'evil' in Mandarin and as a part of Chinese culture, it is considered bad luck to accept shoes as gifts during the new year.)
Sorry mom. But thanks anyway, Sephora. 

Current Favourite: Unix Take Out Mini Multi Iron

I first saw this in one of Shu Ann's Tried and Tested episodes where she visited Seoul. I was immediately attracted by the vibrant colours of these curling tools. These travel-friendly mini irons are only as big as my palm and I was very fortunate to be able to track it down at Watson during my trip to Taiwan. And what's more, I paid NT$399 (~RM47) instead of NT$499 (~RM58) all thanks to some anniversary event Watson was having at that time. I opted for the Multi Iron which can be used to straighten and curl hair and it comes with a pouch and a cord holder.

I usually apply Lucido-L Designing Aqua Hair Curl Lotion (a heat protectant spray) and Ma Cherie Decoration Keep Spray before and after curling my hair. I only curl the end of my hair as recently I've been loving an airy and simple look over big bouncy curls.

This is how it looks like after some time even after setting my hair with spray. The curls as you can are not very lasting, I must say.

If I'm not wrong, Unix can only be found in Korea and Taiwan at the moment. But you can also get it online either through Ebay, Amazon, Taobao or Qoo10.

Is this absolutely necessary? Honestly, no. You can recreate what I did here using a straightener or a curling iron. But like I said, I was sold when I saw how tiny and cute and colourful they are. But if you're a frequent traveller, why not? But heads up, this might not be suitable for people with long and thick hair as the wand is fairly tiny and it might take ages to style.

FYI: The little black circle at the bottom left corner in the last picture is the eye of my crocodile plush toy I got from Ikea. Yup. I am 20 something (the exact number is a classified information!) and I still own plush toys. Totally normal. *awkward giggles*

Soap & Glory Mini Haul: It's All About the Powders! - Solar Powder, Glow All Out & One Heck of a Blot!

Solar Powder - £11
Glow All Out - £11
One Heck of a Blot - £12

A few months ago my good friend Kelly was at the UK and I thought I'd take the chance for some guilty purchase. Yup. Soap & Glory. The packagings are simply too hard to resist. I mean, look at them! They're so cute! Anything with vintage theme will always be my soft spot.

I'm going to start off with my least favourite -- although I was really looking forward to trying this as I heard so many good things about it -- The Solar Powder. It consists of 2 tones - 1 lighter and 1 darker but for me it is generally too light even for my skin tone. It barely shows up on my face! *pouts* It is also not as pigmented as I thought; I needa swatch a few times more until it shows a hint of colour on the back of my hand. Boo. So now I will only reach out for this if I simply want to bronze up my face to prevent looking like a pale-faced zombie, which is good in a way that I won't have to worry going too over the top and risk having cheeks and forehead that look as if I just got punched by Mike Tyson.

Glow All Out on the other hand, does its job well. Albeit the shimmery looks pretty intense upon swatching, it looks fairly natural on my cheekbone and emits a beautiful glow, perhaps due to the peachy tone. 

As for the translucent powder... I love my Rimmel Stay Matte Powder. It's cheap, it does what it says so I'm content. But , unlike One Heck of a Blot, it sometimes cake me up and gives me dry patches if I'm not careful enough during the application (light is the key!) even when I only apply it around my oily T-zone. Also, packaging wise, One Heck of a Blot is much sturdier when compared with Rimmel powder's flimsy lid, so it is more travel friendly as it is stored in a round compact. The puff is of no help as it is just a thin sponge so I usually dust the powder either with my e.l.f powder brush or a huge kabuki brush I got from the Body Shop. 

Good job Soap & Glory (ignoring the bronzer though). And thank you Kelly! <3

Inglot Freedom System Shadows

Throughout these few years, I have heard so many good feedbacks about Inglot, especially how buttery and pigmented their eyeshadows are. I've been itching to try them out but I never had the chance to get my hands on them, even though they aren't that hard to get. (Available at Sunway Pyramid, Gurney Plaza, Queensbay Mall... These all are my most frequently visit malls!)

Inglot is also famous for their Freedom System in which you can choose shadows that you like to work around with and pop them into a duo or quads or even into a 10 shadows palette. I even saw 20 and 40 shadows palette on some videos and blogs... That's a huge palette with crazy amount of products I tell ya. I also heard that you can even pop blush, powder and even lip products into the palette. Talk about convenience. 

Anyway, since I already have Stila In the Light palette which consists of a total of 10 eye shadows (6 mattes and 4 shimmer shadows), I roughly have an idea what particular type of shades I am looking for which can't be found in the palette I already owned.

For what I know, Inglot's shadows are made in Poland and their line consists of 5 types of shadows which are Matte, Pearl, Double Sparkle (DS), AMC and AMC Shine. Matte, Pearl and DS are self-explanatory but the AMC ones hella confused me.

Anyway, after crazy amount of swatching at the counter, in the end I opted for a matte beige to act as a base (#330) and a warm, copper bronze-y colour for my outer V (Pearl #606). And trust me, they are as good as people claimed -- The colours are pigmented (at single swatch, crazy!), the texture so buttery it glides on easily, not to mention how affordable they are! Both shadows cost RM32 (2.7g and 2.3g respectively) and the duo palette is RM26 -- Hello, so much cheaper than Mac! (RM49 for 1.5g of product, what? Not to mention the SA at Mac are mostly obnoxious and arrogant... But this is a common known fact so I'll just leave it here.)

Another plus side is the duo palette -- It is sleek and sturdy which I really really like, as I won't need to worry about cracked eye shadows when I put it into my makeup bag and have my suitcase thrown around by the cabin crew during travelling. However it can be quite heavy, perhaps due to the glass but hey, I can bear with that.

Overall, Inglot is so underrated and  I really wish more people will try them out as they are really worth it -- They deserve the attention! Now, only if Makeupgeek provide shipping to Malaysia... My life will be complete. 

(Waiting patiently.)

Innisfree haul!

Innisfree White Tone Up Serum
Innisfree Long Wear Cushion SPF50/PA+++
Innisfree Shadow Pencil in #5 Milk Tea (부드러운 밀크티)
Innisfree Single Mineral Shadow 09

The force is too strong!
The temptation is too huge and I couldn't resist!

The shadow pencil was used in one of Pony's tutorial and it looked so good on her so I thought I ought to try it out. (If you don't know who is Pony... Go to Youtube and search her videos right now -- I insist. You can thank me later. You're welcome in advance.) And boy it did not disappoint me at all! The shimmers might be intimidating upon swatching but it fades into a nice nudish-beige tone with minimal amount of shimmers after blending. I now use it as a base by applying it on my entire lid and blend it out with my ring finger before putting on another shadow.
A gentle warning though -- you gotta blend it fast 'cuz it literally does not budge at all after it settles for only a minute. I'm serious. Like you can't smudge it with your fingers even if you try really hard. Trust me. It's that intense.
I also love love love the mineral shadow. The 09 shade has a burgundy plus copper brown-ish tone and the pigments are absolutely gorgeous. I'm so glad that I picked it up.

I am still trying out the cushion at the moment; perhaps I will blog about it in the future so stay tuned!


Note: Also, look at the crazy amount of samples given by the staff! All the cleanser samples I received are enough to last me for more than a week. Feels like I'm shopping in Korea all over again.