November 2011

Wow…what can I say about the Bobbi Brown Extra Balm Rinse Cleanser, other than I am totally in love with this. I’ve used up quite a few tubs of the Eve Lom Cleanser in a row so I felt a little bored and I had the urge to try something different. As you all know Eve Lom is my all time favorite cleanser, so finding something as good was a difficult mission. I spotted this cleanser while shopping for other Bobbi Brown skincare stuff,  and it was flagged as “Bobbi Brown’s award winning cleanser”. Naturally I wanted to find out what’s so special about this cleanser, and the minute I opened the jar it was instant gratification so I had to bring it home with me.

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I use this cleanser every night to remove my makeup – it does a wonderful job.  I have previously used some cheap Japanese cleansers that also removes my makeup perfectly, for only $10. So I question myself why do I prefer to use such an expensive cleanser? The answer is it’s all about the experience and the sensation I am getting out of a product. What matters to me the most is the way the cleanser makes me feel. After a day of stressful work, removing makeup every night can be a chore. The Bobbi Brown Balm Rinse ticks every single box to wind down a day of stress and makes me feel relaxed and pampered. I love the look of this elegant glass jar sitting on my vanity, I love the bright yellow texture of the cleanser (yellow is a happy color!), and I love the fresh citrus scent. It is extremely soothing, refreshing and smells expensive. You just know it is made of premium essential oil, and this smell reminds me of all the expensive day spas I have visited in the past. If money wasn’t an object I would go for a spa treatment every week, right now I am really happy that the Bobbi Brown is reminiscent of the day spa.

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Very similar to the Eve Lom , it has a balmy consistency but thicker. It also has a warming sensation when it is first applied to the face, which helps to open up the pores for a deep cleansing. I massage it onto dry skin for about 5 minutes before rinsing it off. My skin feels very calm, clean (but not squeaky clean), soft and fresh after washing without a single trace of oily residue. It felt so gentle to my skin I was worried that my makeup might not be removed completely, so I wiped my face with the Bioderma as a test and it passed with flying colors! Because it is made of essential oils I won’t use it to remove my eye makeup – I did it once and it stings a little.

It contains orange oil to leave the skin feeling immediately refreshed, and olive oil for a smooth, cushiony finish.

Full Ingredient List:

The Bobbi Brown Extra Balm Rinse is quite expensive for a cleanser, as it retails for USD$55 + tax (also available here in Australia for AUD$90) but it comes in such a huge tub and I think it will last me more than 6 months.

Bottom Line: A little luxurious spa quality-like cleanser for women who like to spoil themselves 🙂

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I spotted the new Nars Larger Than Life Lip gloss at Sephora . It is probably one the most interesting new collections by Nars for me lately, as for some reason both the fall collection and the holiday collection just didn’t intrigue me as much as before. At the moment the new lip glosses are only exclusive to Sephora..hopefully they will soon be available at other stores,  so if your country doesn’t have Sephora (I mean Australia!) it’s just going to be a matter of time.

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I bought the shade Pirée. There are also a few other interesting shades but I am trying to be more selective, so I only picked one shade which looked the best on me upon testing . Pirée is a gorgeous “your-lips-but-much-much-better” shade, as it is almost the same color as my lips but slightly nudish.  The color is not as intense as the rest of the shades in the collection – it goes on semi-sheer with a wet glossy finish, and has no shimmers. The formulation is lovely as well – smooth, lightweight and non sticky. Compared to the old Nars gloss I would say the new gloss offers a richer color and a higher impact shine.

As you can see, the new Larger Than Life Lip gloss comes with a tiny brush applicator for precise application. To be honest I am not very fond of this new design, as I have full lips and it just takes more effort to apply lip gloss with this extra small brush.

Pirée Swatch:

nars-larger-than-life-lipgloss-piree-swatchnars-larger-than-life-lipgloss-piree-swatch-1Paired with neutral eye makeup:

nars-larger-than-life-lipgloss-piree-fotdPirée is also very similar to Nars Lipgloss in Chihuahua

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Bottom Line: A lovely new line of lip glosses delivered by Nars. If you are into new makeup, definitely worth to have them checked out.

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Christmas is just around the corner, which means the party season is truly upon us! Are you all excited? I am, because the many “non-neutral-makeup” that I bought for special occasions are finally on high rotation of use. I attended a few parties after work last week, and I needed makeup that can transform my look from day to night within minutes. I thought I’ll give the Giorgio Armani Eyes To Kill Eye shadow 04 a try – I wanted this one so much until I got the Chanel Illusoire but I bought it anyway at SAKS to qualify for the gifts with purchase.

I love Giorgio Armani Eyes To Kill Eye shadows in general, and I have already reviewed the other shades in my previous post, so I am not going to review the quality of these eye shadows again. The shade 04 is a gorgeous taupe shade in the pan, but I am little disappointed that the color doesn’t show up on me quite the same as it appears in the pan. It pulls a little too gray with a gunmetal metallic sheen – such color can look too harsh against my complexion and I don’t feel comfortable wearing it alone. I personally prefer taupe with a brown tinge to it and that’s what this shade is missing.

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Compared to Chanel Illusoire:

giorgio-armani-eyes-to-kill-04-swatchMy Giorgio Armani ETK Eyeshadows Collection as of today:

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Bottom Line: Giorgio Armani Eyes To Kill 04 is a stunning color but I think it takes the right complexion to pull it off. It allows you to create a multi dimensional smoky eyes within minutes, and also serves as a good base for an even more intense and dramatic eyes. I like it but not love it. I think there are better GA ETK shades to invest in, and if I have to choose between ETK 04 and Chanel Illusoire, I would go for the Chanel.

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A day at Tory Burch

November 27, 2011

Tory Burch had my heart racing! I had seen Tory Burch on many online retailers, but strangely it had never caught my attention until the day I stepped into the Tory Burch Boutique on Robertson Blvd. Can I just say the pictures on many websites do not do their justice, because everything just looked so much better in real life. Their clothes are beautifully made with premium fabrics, and immaculately tailored with intricate details. Their accessories and jewelery all have a unique design (rather than following the mainstream styles) and they look and feel expensive. After an hour of indecisive pondering…I decided to splurge.

The Tweed Jacket

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The leather cuff

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Keyhole Belt – totally in love with this belt! tory-burch-leather-belt-1tory-burch-leather-belt-2

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Tanda Zap Review

November 26, 2011

My skin started to break out when I was in the States, mainly due to lack of proper skin care as I only brought some random samples with me, as well as daily french fries indulgence… I freaked out when I noticed I had six blemishes on my face and I knew I had to do something about it. So I went “high tech” this time and bought the Tanda Zap. It seems it is just as popular as the Clarisonic as I can see them at every beauty store I go to.

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If you are into skincare, you would know that there has a been a trend in the use of red infrared light to combat aging, and the use of blue infrared light to combat acne. It is a common treatment that is carried out at most advanced beauty salons, and I have seen more and more home versions of these tools being released – the difference would be the home version generates a lesser wavelength infrared light than the professional machines.

What is Tanda Zap:

Tanda Zap is clinically proven to clear or fade blemishes within 24 hours. Tanda Zap is the triple threat for pimples: it uses powerful blue light to destroy acne-causing bacteria while gentle vibration and warming help to open pores so bacteria has nowhere to hide.

It retails for USD$49, at a price that is affordable to anyone who is desperate to get rid of their acne. I was highly skeptical about it but I thought I could always return it if it didn’t work. I followed the instructions and used it on both inflamed and un-inflamed blemishes at least 4 times a day. After 24 hours, I saw absolutely no changes to my blemishes – nothing was diminished nor shrunk. After one week of use, I can confirm it had done nothing to improve clearing up the blemishes . Some reviews said it only worked for un-inflamed acne, unfortunately it didn’t work me either. It has some anti bacteria effect to it so my un-inflamed blemishes did not grow into a bigger size, but they didn’t fade either and just stayed on my skin for as long as I was using it.

It takes about 2 minutes to treat each blemish, I had about 6 blemishes on my face and treating all of them for 4 times a day is utterly boring. By day 3 the batteries will be semi flat and I could feel that the vibration was not as strong.

You might wonder why didn’t I return it? Well, the hotel housekeeping threw the packaging away!

Bottom Line: A waste of money.

Have you used any of the blue and red light tools to take care of your skin? Which brands do you use and do you like them?

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What’s in my beauty luggage

November 23, 2011

Hi everyone, I am back, with two big luggages full of goodies. I am still jet lagging so this is going to be a quick post. First of all I wanted to thank my dear readers who gave me suggestions as to what to do/eat/shop in USA. Thank you so much, I didn’t get a chance to reply so I just wanted to let you know how much I appreciate your lovely ideas. I had very limited internet access so there are still a lot of pending comments and emails that I haven’t replied. Please excuse for the delay and I will try to get back to you asap!

As usual I shopped more than what I had planned for…when you are on a shopping trip with your two best friends Amex and Visa,  it guarantees a shocking bill at the end of the trip! And here they are..my beauty haul.

The breakdown

Giorgio Armani:

Bobbi Brown makeup

NARS

Le Metier De Beaute

Edward Bess

Chanel

Tarte

Laura Mercier

Miscellaneous

Replenished some skincare products from two of my all time favorite brands – La Mer and Bobbi Brown

Sunday Riley

This has to be the highlight of haul!  I love to explore new brands and I am really glad I found Sunday Riley. They have an amazing skincare and makeup line that is only avaialbe at Barneys. As a newibe to their brand I bought some of their star products. I just started using the samples given to me, they are amazing. I highly recommend to you check out this line at Barneys if you can.

Stay tuned for my fashion haul 🙂

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On Vacation

November 8, 2011

Hello everyone, apologies for the lack of posts lately! Guess where I am? Yes I am in LA now and I am having a blast! Love the shopping on Rodeo Drive and Melrose Ave (yes I was mostly there for the past three days :P) and I am star struck as I have bumped into some A List celebrities at my hotel. Highlight of the trip so far has to be that I was only 3 steps away from Robert Pattinson!  Oh and Kristen was right next to him as well..

Okay that’s my update so far. I hope you all having a great time. I will be back in 2 weeks time and I will have lots and lots of things to show you 😛

Cheers

Rei

 

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If people asked me “what was my holy grail lipsticks’ before I had my Suqqu Creamy Glow Lipsticks, I seriously wouldn’t have a clue considering I have a lot of them! I love lipsticks, and I share my love for them equally, they all have their own pros and cons. However after I have tried the Suqqu, I can confirm that they are the perfect lipsticks for me. Just like when you have met the one, at this moment my heart doesn’t have any spare space for other brands! So I got my friend to get me a few more shades from London which I haven’t received yet, but because I am going on holiday very soon I thought I will swatch the ones I have with me for you.

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Suqqu Creamy Glow Lipstick has a soft and extremely silky texture – it reminds me of YSL Rouge Volupte which I adore for its buttery texture, but the difference is Suqqu applies smoothly, almost melts into my lips without a single streak,whereas YSL goes on streaky and can enhance lip lines. It feels moist and lightweight, completely camouflage the dryness of my lips and provides a subtle satiny glow. The coverage is medium, and what you see from the tube transforms accurately on to the lips.

I bought three shades from my first purchase, except for the red shade KARAKURENAI that I reviewed here, the rest are the best selling and most wearable shades from what I have heard prior to purchase.

Suqqu Creamy Glow Lipstick in 10 URUMISHU潤朱 is a persimmon coral and contains no shimmers. It’s one of those colors that is flattering on any complexion and looks appropriate for any occasion.

suqqu-creamy-glow-lipstick-10-urumishu-swatchsuqqu-creamy-glow-lipstick-10-urumishu-swatch-1Overall Look:

suqqu-creamy-glow-lipstick-10-urumishu-swatch-fotd-1Suqqu Creamy Glow Lipstick in 01 SAEBANA冴華 is a neutral angelic pink. Still looking for a soft barbie pink? This is your answer! SAEBANA is also regarded as the must-buy shade by many Suqqu fans.

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suqqu-creamy-glow-lipstick-1-saebana-swatchOverall Look: suqqu-creamy-glow-lipstick-1-saebana-swatch-1I am also wearing the Sleek blush in Rose Gold on my cheeks, isn’t it gorgeous?!

Bottom Line: If you love lipsticks, I urge you to try out the Suqqu Creamy Glow Lipsticks, you will not be disappointed! I can’t wait for more Suqqu that I have ordered recently 🙂

 

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