Essence Nail Polish - 33 Just In Case

I was at Ulta the other day and saw a new display from Essence. It's an European drug store brand and surprisingly, their products are inexpensive. They have a bunch of colorful nail polish, so I picked this golden bronze color in 33 - Just in Case. Their nail polish is 5ml; about 1/3 of a regular size nail polish. The price is $0.99 and best of all, it's Made in France. So, why not give it a try.

The color looks a bit lighter than the bottle. I had two coats of nail polish and I like the consistency. The brush is quite good for the price you pay. And I added some flower nail art stickers, so I needed to put 2 coats of top coat to secure them. The color is very nice and this lasted for a week. If I didn't do dishes or chores, this nail polish probably would have lasted longer.

My Current Lip Balms

I think every woman should wear lip balm no matter whether she wears makeup or not. It's a basic necessity. Your lips probably are one of the first things people would look at; as you talk, laugh, or smile. You don't want your lips to be chapped. Don't even wait until it cracks and bleeds...... \(><)/

I like trying different lip balms because my lips tend to be dry and I like to have it on all day. I have a lot of lip balms and they go very fast. Usually can finish one in 2-3 months. My ideal lip balm would be something in a tube, not in a tin because I don't like using my fingers to touch all over the lip balm and put on my lips. It would be nice if it's organic or with natural ingredients because it's very likely they all go to my stomach... Tried to search for an answer on the web about how much we consume lipsticks and women consume 4 to 6 lbs of lipsticks in their lifetime. I guess I am on the higher range or perhaps more...lol

Above are the ones I currently have:

1. Weleda Lip Balm (0.17oz. Got it at Whole Food. Around $5. Ain't cheap though.)
2. Nivea - A Kiss of Moisture (0.17oz; Got it from Rite Aid for $0.99 @ clearance)
3. H&M Fresh Vanilla Lip Balm - with organic jojoba & bees wax (0.5 fl.oz; Got it @ H&M for $4.95)

Out of the 3, I like Nivea the best. Partially is because I got it for $0.99 but normally this would cost around $2.49. It's very moisturizing because of beewax and shea butter and has a hint of sweetness. Normally I don't like lipstick with a taste to it but this one is tolerable.

The best value out of the three probably would be the H&M lip balm. Even though it says Fresh Vanilla, you can't really taste it but you can smell it. I like this better than the Kiehl's one because it comes out thicker than the Kiehl's and not as oily. Let me show you the back for the ingredients:

It's organic certified by ECOCERT. and Made in Sweden. 99.3% of the total ingredients are from natural origin. 14.1% of the total ingredients are from organic farming. This lip balm is quite moisturizing and doesn't need to reapply it all the time like some do.

Weleda lip balm is not really my love. It's scented with rose oil and I don't like the smell. But because I spent about $5, I just keep putting it on. It doesn't glide on well and I have apply a few times to make my lips feel moisturized. Oh well, almost finish it. Probably won't repurchase again.

Something Sweet

Hello everyone. Long time no see. So sorry for those who stopped by here once in awhile but didn't see anything new. :( I have lots to share but didn't have the time to write... I will write more frequent as time permits. Here's something I would like to share. China Glaze's Something Sweet is a very pretty pastel pink nail polish. Good for the Spring and Summer time. I like China Glaze because it's very long lasting, doesn't chip as much as the other brands and it's very good for my fragile nails.

On my nails, I have OPI base coat, 2 coats of China Glaze Something Sweet, nail stickers from Skin Food (Rose Bay 03), and 2 coats of Seche Vite dry fast top coat. 

That's all for now. Have a good week!!

Brown Eye Makeup

I always like brown, neutral eyeshadows. They are versatile and you can do smoky eyes for a more dramatic look or just go with a natural look. I watched a video on youtube and decided to try doing my eyes slightly different.

Didn't use much eyeshadows. Only used Kate Trick Eyes GD-1, Kanebo Lunasol 05 Close of Night, a black eyeliner pencil from MAC. Inner corner and outer corner of the eyes were blended upwards with darker brown eye shadow. And in the middle, I use lighter shade, so it add dimensions. Also, I used Kate Eyebrow pencil, false eyelashes to make the eyes look bigger.

Christmas Gift from miles away

I've been waiting for this special package from Hong Kong for almost 3 weeks. Finally USPS delivered them to me. I guess with the airlines reducing the number of flights, it's been difficult to mail things out from overseas.

Anyways, I'm so happy to see this package. My friend didn't tell me what it was. And I'm so surprised that Hello Kitty has such a nice gift package. THANK YOU SOOO  MUCH!!!

From the left: a body lotion, a fragrance (light fruity scent), and a lip gloss key chain. The kitty has sparkles on her skirt, so she's pretty cute. And actually some of my other fragrance have similar scent as this (i.e. Marc Jacobs Daisy and Burberry Brit Sheer), so I can use it as well.

Here's the lip gloss:

I'm not sure if I will use the lip gloss but the key chain is very made, so I probably will use it. :D

Playing with Eye Makeup 1

I don't know about you. But when I'm kinda bored, I like to play with makeup at home. Here's what I used:

Eye Shadows I used: Mac Blue Flame, Kate Trick Eyes BU-1 & GD-1

Jill Stuart Eye Jelly 08

Mascaras: Maybelline Colossal Volum' Express & XXL Extensions


Why I used two?? Each one serves different purposes. I always use XXL's primer as a base and its mascara together. This mascara instantly lengthens all my lashes but it may smudge. The Colossal one is a gift from a friend, so I just use on the top to lengthen my lashes further and it doesn't smudge.

MAC PearlGlide Eye liner in Rave. It's a deep purple with purple shimmers on it. Pretty cool.

Kate Eye Pencil - BR-2. This pencil is very fine but I kinda like it because it gradually builds up the color and doesn't create harsh lines.It's retractable, too. 

Steps I did with my eyelid:

1) GD-1 base color all over my eyelid

2) I put the color from the bottom left of GD-1 on my brow bone area.

3) Eye Jelly is placed on the bottom 1/3 of my eye lid. Just spread it evenly.

4) Mac Blue Frame is placed on top of the eye jelly. This color is cool but it doesn't tend to stay if you don't use something cream based to hold it.

5) Bottom lash line: I mixed the two colors from Kate Trick Eyes BU-1.

6)Eye line: I used MAC Rave to fill in between my lashes. I didn't line my eyes above the lashes... kinda lazy to do that but the false eyelashes I used would make my eyes look like I have eyeliner on.

7) Put on false eyelashes; then mascaras.

8) Fill my brows.

Final look... looks alright, right?

Urban Decay Cream Shadow: Midnight Rodeo & Delinquent

I received a sample of the Urban Decay Cream Shadow from one of my Sephora purchases. It's kinda nice once in awhile that they have samples for makeup. The actual product comes in a tube with a wand and contains 0.2oz.

Midnight rodeo is a pink champagne color with silver and iridescent glitter.And deliquent is a metallic deep purple color. Here's how it looks like under natural light:

And here's a swatch:

Midnight rodeo is nice to use as a base. And delinquent is a very rich purple color and good for smoky eye. This cream shadow is easy to blend but you've got to blend it fast because it dries quite fast. Maybe because I spent a bit more time playing with it. I forgot to put the Too Faced primer on but surprisingly it didn't smudge a bit and lasted most of the day. My cousin saw me last night and said my eyes looked sparkly. Now, should I spend another $17 for a tube of cream eye shadow??? They have so many colors to choose from. But I'm still planning on getting one of the Jill Stuart eye jellies when I go back to HK...