Taiwan Photolog #1

Time seemed to slow down when I was taking a stroll in Lavender Cottage - I have never felt so calm and peaceful.
Traces of lavender can be found in my room, particularly a little sack of lavender beside my pillows, and a postcard sent from my lovely friend.
Fond memories that are filled with friends and laughter will be cherished forever.

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.)

What's in my Travel Makeup Bag

1. Sigma F10 Powder/Blush Brush
2. e.l.f. Studio Powder Brush
3. e.l.f. Studio Angled Blush Brush
4. Sephora Pro Brow Brush #20
5. e.l.f. Studio Contouring Blush & Bronzing Powder in St. Lucia
6. Etude House Perfect Brow Kit
7. Daiso Eye Brow Coat
8. Innisfree Long Wear Cushion SPF50/PA+++
9. Kanebo Kate Eyebrow Colour N in LB-1
10. L'oreal True Match Touche Magique Anti-Fatigue and Illuminating Concealer - Smoothing Effect in Ivory Beige
11. Innisfree Shadow Pencil in #5 Soft Milk Tea
12. Nars Radiant Creamy Concealer in Medium Ginger
13. Eyeko Skinny Brush Mascara
14. Soap & Glory One Heck of a Blot Super-Translucent Mattifying Powder
15. Benefit Cosmetics the POREfessional
16. Urban Decay All Nighter Makeup Setting Spray

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.

Great minds think alike

Bro, "There's ice cream in the fridge. Baskin Robbin." (Sis-in-law bought them.)

Me, "Yassss. Flavour?" Thinking, please don't be mint, please don't be mint.

Bro, "It's chocolate... And mint."

Me, "Yuck. It's like eating toothpaste!"

Bro, " *nod* I have no idea why would people buy that flavour."

Me, "I. Know."

Old vs. New: Sunprise Cotton Touch Powder Cream vs. Sunprise Natural Corrector

People often neglect it but sunscreen is the most important product in one's daily skincare routine - I can't stress that enough. It is why I seldom step out of the house without slapping on some sunscreen. Not because I am a vampire, even though I am a nocturnal creature.

Sunprise Cotton Touch Powder Cream is my HG sunscreen. It is cream-based and comes in lilac colour (to balance out yellow undertones), and it gives a powdery finish when it is applied on face. What I love about this product is that it compliments my combination skin type - it doesn't break me out nor makes my T-zone oily unlike other sun protection products. I also used it as a primer before putting on my Bourjois Healthy Mix foundation. It also doesn't leave a sticky feeling on my face, which is one of my major pet peeves in terms of sunscreen.

Imagine how I felt when I found out that it was discontinued. (It is still available on Etude House's website but it is somehow not on retail. Why?)

So in the end I got Sunprise Natural Corrector instead.
It comes with the same SPF 50+/PA+++ and the prices are almost similar (I believe, don't quote me on that though as I got both of them on discounts).

Sadly, the similarities end here.

Unlike Cotton Touch Powder Cream, Sunprise Natural Corrector is liquid based and comes in a light apricot colour. The watery texture leaves an unnoticeable white cast if blending is not done properly. And due to the fact that it's liquid based, I often have to set my face with powder afterwards to avoid oily T-zone and also because of that sticky feeling that I can't seem to tolerate, urgh. It can also be used as a makeup base even though I normally opt for Benefit Porefessional for that part instead.

So is the new one as good as the old one? A million times no.
Please bring back Sunprise Cotton Touch Powder Cream, Etude House, I beg of you.