DIY Nails

I was resting at home all day yesterday and read Ting's blog. Her nails look so pretty,  so I had an urge to do a similar look on my nails. She did a step by step demo, you can try it as well.

Here are the products I used:

• Seche Clear base coat
• Butter London top coat
• OPI Otherwise Engaged
• OPI Over the Taupe
• Essie Lady Like
• OPI Skull & Gloss Bones
• Canmake Nail Glitter 02

Shu Uemura Creamy Dome Blusher - Sunlight Peach

Hello Everyone! Sorry for not posting lately. Thanks to those who occasionally stopped by my blog. My laptop was out of commission for awhile and took me sometime to ship it back to the manufacturer for repair. I got quite busy lately with work and my blog pics have been accumulating, so I hope to write some when I get a chance.

Starting this year, my goal is to limit myself on makeup purchase. If I buy something new, they need to be things I don't have. I have 2 Urban Decay Naked Palettes and their 15th anniversary one, plus my other Japanese palettes, so probably cannot spend on any other neutral palettes unless they are unique. 

Let me share the new Shu Uemura creamy dome blush with you. This blush is part of their Spring 2012 Celestial Garden collection and comes in 2 colors; one in pink and one in coral. I got the one in sunlight peach (coral) and purchased from the Shu Uemura's website directly. They are no longer available for retail in the US. I got it when the site was having free shipping, so I only paid $25 for this but I noticed a foreign transaction fee was charged to my credit card, so... 

Here's the description from the bottom:

The packaging is small and made of plastic. Doesn't feel flimsy. The cap is closed tight to avoid the cream blush from drying out, so it's not very easy to open it. The product has a 24 month expiration date and will last forever. It is made in Korea.

The size of the blush is good for application. Not difficult to hold it and apply on to my cheeks. If the cream blush is running low, all I need to do is to turn the container to the right and more products will come up. It will be awhile before I need to do that though. I can always use a brush or finger or sponge to apply if need be.

The bottom swatch was applied once and the top one was applied twice. This cream blush is highly pigmented, so I wouldn't want to apply a lot on my cheeks. The blush feels quite solid, not soft or creamy but glides on smoothly. It looks quite natural when I blend it out. A little goes a long way.

2011 Favorite Products

Hello Everyone! Hope you had a wonderful Christmas! I sure ate a lot... As I look into putting together my favorites this year, there are a few things I keep in mind as I pick the items. They need to be something I have no hesitation in selecting them and things I use frequently.

My Favorite Base Products:

• Missha Perfect Cover BB Cream #21- I use this only for my nose to control oil. This is my 2nd bottle and cannot live without this.
• Lancome Teint Miracle Foundation - I've been searching for a new foundation this year but cannot find anything like this. Really hydrating and has nice coverage that lasts for hours.

My Favorite Eye Makeup Products:

• NARS Pro-Prime Smudge Proof EyeShadow Base - I use this everytime I wear eye makeup. My HG eye shadow primer.
• Lunasol Sheer Gold Beige Brown EX01 - This is a limited edition from Kanebo Lunasol's Christmas Coffret 2010. It's just very versatile, neutral palette. I use this the most out of the 5 Lunasol palettes I own. 
• Urban Decay Naked Palette - I know some people keep seeing this UD Naked Palette on many people's favorite lists. The colors I use all the time are Naked, Sidecar, Smog, Darkhorse, Toasted, and Hustle. 
• Urban Decay Naked 2 - Wait a minute. Some of you may wonder this just came out. How can this possibly be on my 2011 list?? This palette compliments the Naked Palette a lot because it has lighter, neutral shades. I've been using this with the Naked Palette. I use pretty much all the colors except Half Baked and Blackout. 

My Favorite Lip Products:

• Dior Addict Ultra-Gloss Reflect 127 - This shade is no longer available for purchase. What a bummer. I've enjoyed using this in the past year and put on top of a lip stick. It's very moisturizing.
• Mac - Hug Me - I've finished the entire tube before getting a new one. This is in Lustre finish and in flesh pink color. Can't go wrong with this shade.

My Favorite Blush:

• Lunasol EX01 Sheer Gold Beige Pink - This is also from the 2010 Christmas Coffret. It just gives a sheer glow to my face. Love it!

My Favorite Body Lotion:

• Korres Body Butter in Vanilla Guava - I love Korres Body Butter and got one next to my bed. It's very moisturizing and I use this every night before I go to bed. 

My Favorite Hair Styling Product:

• Lucido-L Designing Aqua Hair Curl Lotion - I use this before curling my hair and this is my 3rd or 4th bottle. It helps to protect my hair from the heat and helps my curls to stay.

My Favorite Nail Polishes:
If you are my regular reader, probably won't be too hard to guess what I like.

• Butter London - Toff
• OPI - Planks a Lot
• OPI - Steady as She Rose
• Spa Ritual - Native Rock
• Essie - Lady Like

Hope you enjoy reading this long list. Let me know what you like too!

Le Métier de Beauté 'Rock 'n' Romance' Mini Nail Lacquer Set

Merry Christmas!! Wish you enjoy a good time with friends and family!


I got this Le Métier de Beauté 'Rock 'n' Romance' mini nail polish set from Nordstrom for $25. It's probably the most expensive nail polish set I've spent based on the amount of product I get. Regular price for a mini polish is $10 and so $25 for 4 nail polish is considered a deal and this set is exclusive to Nordstrom.

Here's the description taken from Nordstrom's website:

• Heat of the Night: a passionate black cherry
• Midnight Rendezvous: a shimmery, steely midnight blue
• Chrome Passion: a chocolate charcoal with sultry shimmer
• True Romance: a delicate pale rose with a subtle metallic nude finish

Depending on the lighting, the colors may vary.

Heat of the Night can look as dark as black but it has some hints of red and shimmers. It looks more red in the bottle but when you apply, it's an intense dark red color. Midnight Rendezvous is gorgeous and I don't own a blue like this and like it. And Chrome Passion is a charcoal grey color with holographic effects.

True Romance is pretty much a light gold color and it's not anything special. The color may vary depending on the lighting. But the other three are unique in their own way. The consistency is rather thick compared to OPI or Butter London. Drying time takes longer than my other nail polishes but they are much more opaque. I would still apply 2 coats to achieve the best result. And here's a pic of me wearing Chrome Passion:

Holiday Nails

Christmas is near and it's a great time to gather with friends and family. Thought to paint my nails with glitter nail polish to make it more festive. I am in a love hate relationship with glittery nail polishes. They look so nice on nails but such a pain to remove. My nails end up peeling if I rub them too much with nail polish remover. Oh well... I found this new Revlon Nail polish in Sparkling (261) and it consists of both fine and small pink glitters. I tried them on and had removed them once and they don't take as much effort to remove compared to the other glitter nail polishes I own. Probably because the glitters are much smaller.

Here's what I used with this nail polish:

• Seche Vite Base Coat
• OPI - Steady As She Rose
• Revlon Sparkling
• Butter London - HardwearP.D Quick Topcoat

I just went with a lighter shade and used as a base. You can try a darker color like plum or burgundy or dark blue. That will make them stand out even more.

Review: Revlon Lip Butters

I've watched a number of videos and swatches about the new Revlon Colorburst Lip Butters. From what I've read, people are very excited about them and bought a ton of them. There are 20 colors and incredibly difficult to find. I don't see them at Rite Aid and Target. For the ones I found at the stores, some people just opened and swatched or tried them on. Doesn't that bother you when people just open brand new drugstore products and try them on?? And when they find them not working for them, they just leave them there. They are not testers and are meant for purchase, you know.


Revlon's website have online shopping feature and would take you to drugstore.com for a purchase but they are not in stock when I write this entry. They will eventually be in stock at the stores or online I suppose.


Let me show you what I bought after carefully browsed through them.

I just happened to see them at Walgreens for $7.49 each. Accidentially found them in a small plastic bin and surprisingly they have all the colors I was looking for. This was really a treasure hunt. hahaha From left to right:

• 050 Berry Smoothie
• 090 Sweet Tart
• 025 Peach Parfait

They are called lip butters for a reason and remind me of Giorgio Armani sheer lip stick. This is nowhere close to a regular lip stick. Revlon calls this "sheer to medium color with buttery shine". I don't know how many times some people had applied these lip butters on their lips to get the pigmentation but for me, apply it once only gives a sheer finish. I like this sheer finish though. It's good for some who just want a pop of color on their lips without having to wear a ton of makeup. Another plus is they don't taste or smell.


Here are the swatches after applied it once:

I find them to be moisturizing but am not estastic about it. There are many other more moisturizing lip sticks. All these lip butters contain mango, shea, and coconut butters to give you that hydration if you just wear it alone. If your lips are dry and chapped like mine, you may find them not moisturized enough after 2 hours or so. It shows more fine lines on my lips than my other lip sticks. I would apply a lip balm beforehand to avoid chapped lips and minimize fine lines.


Out of the 3 I got, I like Sweet Tart at first but the more I wear Berry Smoothie, the more I like it because it matches my skin tone pretty well. Would I repurchase? Probably just one or two after I'm done and when there's a sale. Definitely not gonna haul a bunch of them.

Swatches: Givenchy Gloss Interdit

I own 3 Givenchy Gloss Interdit now. 2 of which I got from Costco awhile back. Only used one of them and the other remains in the box. And just the other day, a friend of mine gave me another one as a gift. So, I thought to put them together for a swatch review. :)

These are scented lip gloss; highly pigmented and super glossy. It's not a sheer lip gloss like some of the Dior ones and I really like them. The scent is not too strong and smells sort of sweet, so it's tolerable. It's composed of top notes of bergamot, litchi, and red fruit; middle notes of rose, jasmine, and lily of the valley; and base notes of sandalwood, vanilla, amber, and musk. Each product contains 0.21g and is at retail for $26.50.

From left to right:

03 Coral Frenzy (soft coral)

02 Impertinent Nude (light neutral pink)

01 Capricious Pink (vibrant pink)

The colors are opague and make my lips look pretty smooth. They have a hint of shimmers. The lip gloss has some ingredients that make your lips pumped. I don't care about the pumping effect though. Here are the swatches (03, 02 and 01 starting from left to right):