Week in summary

The good:
- New shiny fings (from Yasumi & Audrie)
- Sephora order arrived
- More stuff (swaps, sales) arrived
- Finding that Lavanila deo works pretty awesome considering its aluminium free
- Super comfy organic cotton tees from H&M and only $7 on sale, score!
- Going to a nice restaurant for dinner tomorrow
- Discovering how addictive Plants vs Zombies (PC game) can be

The bad:
- Work stress & work politics
- Finding a crack on my sunglasses :( Granted they're Guess, not a designer brand but still, Guess shades aren't cheap.
- Nagging (being nagged at) from asian parents
- My discount card still didn't arrive, which could've saved me 10-15% off a whole bunch of things.

I have a busy weekend ahead too: Saturday I have a birthday lunch to attend, dinner (as mentioned above) after downtown; Sunday will be a day out biking with friends and possibly celebrating another's birthday. I hope the weather holds out! How was your week?

Pandamonium + greetings from Dublin

No unfortunately I'm not heading on a trip....though I wish I was! I finally cracked open my MAC Pandamonium quad to do a look with it.




You can see how well the Lorac Visual Effects mascara lengthens here. The brush has an odd shape and takes some getting used to though.




The MAC quad colours are nice, but the violet-pink colour in the quad requires quite a bit of packing on to show up.




(using the Dariya hair velcro in black here, it comes in handy!)


Products used:



Face:
Skinfood Gingko BB cream
Cargo blu_ray powder 01
MAC Emote
Joe Fresh blush in Pink (not pictured)

Eyes:
Benefit cream shadow in Bunny Hop as base
MAC Pandamonium quad (off-white to highlight browbone, violet-pink all over lid, blue on outer corner, and grey to darken the outer corner of the liner slightly)
Kate Super Sharp liner in Black
Lorac Visual Effects mascara

Lips:
Benefit lipstick in Lady's Choice


I received a lovely package the other day all the way from Dublin! Liz had an anniversary contest/giveaway for her blog, and I was one of the winners :) She knew I was interested in the Barry M dazzle dusts so she got some for me, along with a Dublin postcard :D




The dazzle dusts come in small open glass jars, the colours from left to right are:
Kingfisher, Aqua Gold and Midnight




The colours look amazing, especially Midnight and Aqua Gold which look perfect for summer! They are very finely milled, the texture reminds me of NYX pigments or Annabelle pigments, but I much prefer Barry M's colour selection AND packaging format. The NYX pigments were particularly bad because the tiny bottles would dispense too much or leak sometimes, but these Barry M ones are a lot more practical!

Swatches:




Thank you Liz! Will be posting a look with these colours in the near future :)

Weekend hauls

I changed my template! I think I've been sick of the current layout for ages, but couldn't find a satisfactory replacement until now. I think I'll keep it simple for now.

I am super excited about this weekend's purchases so I had to post them now :D It ended up being rather wordy at the beginning, so if you get bored just skip to the pretty pictures :)

First on Friday I stopped by the MAC counter after work because the bf had to pick up a present so of course I made a side trip :D I couldn't get my Graphic Garden products though because I had done the pre-order at a different counter...will have to make the trip there next week. I must say I'm surprised they are releasing Graphic Garden earlier than in the US...that doesn' happen often!

However I did check out the Colour Craft collection. I wasn't interested in the eyeshadows or glosses at all so I barely even glanced at them. I just don't think it looks attractive having the pan split into 4 quarters of colour like that. In my opinion the most they should ever have is a split pan of 2 colours. Also I ignored the glosses because I really am trying not to buy any MAC glosses as they tend to be too sheer and sticky for me. The lipsticks are nice though, I like the look of Colour Crafted, a light pink lipstick, but I doubt it would show up the same colour on me so I passed.

The blushes were really pretty in the pan. The marbling was a lot nicer than last year's Sonic Chic release as it made them look more like MSFs than blushes. However they were also a lot more shimmery than last years with less pigment. My wallet was quite happy seeing that, because in the end none of the colours were calling out to me.

I completely ignored the tri-colour MSFs because honestly I hate they way they look. I love MSFs for the marbling/veining, and these split pan MSFs look so blah as they have zero veining, just strips of solid colour.

The 3 regular MSFs had all my attention. Sunny by Nature was a really unique MSF as the finish was almost matte, maybe a slight pearl finish. I was sorely tempted to buy it but the colour was a dark bronze with a slight orange tones, so I decided against it in the end. Cheeky Bronze was the most typical example of what a mediocre MSF usually is - some colour but lots of shimmer. It reminded me of Light Flush MSF which I already have, so I passed.

So here's what I got...

• Porcelain Pink MSF
• 226 brush

Porcelain Pink was just as lovely in real life as described by fellow make-up addicts, a pale pink + gold veining so I had to get it. It swatches very pale pink though, so if using a brush especially those duo fibre ones it will be a highlighter not a blush.



I also got the 226 because I had been lemming another blending brush for ages, and since everyone was raving about this on MUA I figured I might as well try it. It has a tapered tip that looks good for depositing colour onto the outer corner.



I may go back later for the 131 duo fibre brush but thats about it. I'm still debating the 131 because I do already have the 187 and 188...but judging by the shape and size of the brush head I think the 131 is going to work best for blush because its larger than the 188, which is a bit too small for blush, and its smaller than the 187, which is too big for blush. Man if it wasn't LE I wouldn't even think about it but the fact that this is limited makes me think twice.


Saturday I went to The Bay because they had a promotion going on, if you brought in your old mascara they would give you a $10 coupon for mascara. I have way too much mascara than I need though (working on 2 mascaras right now, and another 3 brand new to work though). So I asked them if I could use it on a mascara base instead, and sinec they said yes, decided to try the Shiseido mascara base. I've always heard raves for it but have never tried it.



If you missed it try going as soon as you can anyway. I passed by The Bay again today and it looks like they were still giving away the vouchers. Also the vouchers were merely photocopied pieces of paper (lol) and are valid until July 24...


Anyway after that I went to the newly opened Shu Uemura counter at Holt Renfrew, where they had a promotion going on over the weekend. From Jul 9-12, every purchase over $45 will get you a free pair of Luxe Brown lashes. Also if you subscribe to the Holts e-newsletter they sent out an email that you could print and bring in for a free travel size kit.

I also had a makeover done on the spur of the moment (I wasn't going to go at all until I decided last minute to call and see if they had makeover spaces still available). The lady did a good job with the makeover but I did have some complaints - she removed my tinted moisturizer using cleansing oil + cotten, then removed the oil with damp cotton. But of course that wasn't enough to remove all the cleansing oil so my face felt a bit greasy....I don't get why she had to use cleansing oil like that! She didn't use any face or eye primers either, so my face looked like an oil slick after 3 hrs in the humidity, and the liner smudged BADLY (by badly I mean it went on the crease of my eye so I had a funky line going across my eyelid that probably showed every time I blinked.

On the plus side though, she did a great job with the foundation application and blending. She used the Face Architect Smoothing Fluid Foundation in 564 and a natural taupe + colour for the eyes. I specifically requested though that she use the Glow On blush in Peach 47 because I had seen Glow and Jamilla recommend this. Funny thing is she loved how the blush looked on me so much that she bought one herself :D For lips I requested a medium pink colour, so she brought out a few for me to choose from, and I picked the OR 585

So here's what I went home with - no surprises really.

• Glow On blush in Peach 47
• Rouge Unlimited in OR 585
• Luxe Brown lashes
• travel kit (samples of Fresh and Antioxidant cleansing oils, skincare gel cream)

The free Luxe Brown lashes


Glow On Peach 47


Rouge Unlimited OR 585


You can see the blush colour here, but my face is super shiny because of the humidity.

Phytojoba shampoo & hair mask

Finally writing a review of this after putting it off for many months :D

Phyto's Phytojoba range is supposedly targeted towards dry hair. Since my hair was feeling quite dry with 'sticky' ends that tangled constantly, I decided to give them a try even though they cost a lot more than I would normally pay for haircare.

The shampoo comes in a cool metal bottle, while the conditioner comes in a huge plastic jar.




Phytojoba shampoo

The smell of the shampoo is quite pleasant, like coconut with a hint of marshmallow. One thing I hated about the shampoo bottle design is the opening. It is basically an open neck bottle, while the shampoo itself is much more fluid than other normal shampoos. Everytime I wanted to dispense some onto my hand, no matter how careful I was, I always ended up pouring a bit too much or too little.

As for how the shampoo worked, it foamed easily which I like, most shampoos that promise not to strip hair of moisture usually don't foam well (eg. Burt's Bees). I found that my hair definitely felt less stripped or rough once the shampoo was rinsed off. Usually my hair would feel a bit tangly and not smooth after shampoo before conditioner but this one felt gentle on the hair.

However I still did not like the shampoo, because I noticed it didn't seem to clean my roots enough. After each wash I noticed my hair still looked a bit clumpy at the roots as if there was still oil around the root and scalp area. I think this problem could perhaps be solved if you rub your scalp vigorously enough to remove the oil, but since my hair is quite fine and thin I prefer to avoid touching and tugging at the scalp at all.

Since this was already in winter, when my hair doesn't even get that oily I know this won't even do in summer. Thus I won't be repurchasing this.

Ingredients:




Phytojoba hair mask

The tub that the hair mask comes in is quite convenient for scooping out whatever amount you need. It has a light citrusy scent, completely different from the shampoo.

The mask is quite thick so a small grape size amount was sufficient for my long hair (and less if you have shorter hair). I used it as a conditioner since my ends are always tangled and dry, and its been working wonderfully. It is quite expensive but since the container is so large and easy to ration the quantity you want, it lasts for a good while. I started using mine December last year and I still have about 1/6 left (and I do wash my hair 5 to 7 days a week).

Currently I am testing the Phytocyane shampoo for thinning / fine hair and the Phytojoba mask still works quite well with it.

Ingredients:




Overall, I would definitely recommend the Phytojoba hair mask for dry ends. As for the shampoo, I would say to only try it if you have really dry scalp and roots, otherwise it would only look like you hadn't washed your hair at all :P

P.S. Rasilla asked where I got this from - I purchased them from Sephora. There are other online sites that sell these but I figured with Sephora there was their return policy to fall back on if I didn't like it.

By the way Asos.com seems to have added more things to their sale (or maybe I missed them the first time). The Paul & Joe lipstick kit (with the kitty pouch) is on sale, and some of their Summer collection items as well. Go here.

Too Faced also has their Lockdown cream shadow in Prisoner of Love for half price & some glitter liners.

Makeup Collection: Powder eyeshadows

My eyeshadow collection as of May. The majority of my eyeshadows are palettes or have been depotted into palettes, so thats mostly what you'll see here.

Almost all my eyeshadows:


(clickable)


Lets divide them up into Japanese brand palettes:



and western brand palettes:



I am actually missing 3 palettes from this post - the So Smurfy palette, and 2 Hello Kitty eyeshadow palettes. But doesn't matter, if you're into makeup (and you probably are to be reading this) you probably know how those 3 look like anyway.


First the minority - the eyeshadow singles I have:



RMK Shiny Mix Eyes in Green
Majolica Majorca eyeshadow - an olive-y light green
MAC Aquavert (in special packaging from the Lure collection)
MAC Silverthorn (Rose Romance collection)
MAC Cosmic (Moonbathe collection)



ELF, NYX, Annabelle depotted / pan form eyeshadows


Drugstore palettes - US:



ELF quads - various
Almay Play up the Brown palette
Maybelline Limited Edition Amber Adventure quad (if I recall the name correctly)
Maybelline Seashore Frosts quad (I keep this around despite crappy payoff because it was one of my first eyeshadows ever)


Drugstore palettes - Japanese:



Lavshuca Eye Select palettes
Majolica Majorca Trick On LE palette
Majolica Majorca palette (might sell this)
Kate Line Spicy palette (which I sold recently)


(clickable)


Mid-range brands - US:

Also not pictured up close but in the overall pic is the Best of Becca palette, Nars Jolie Poupee duo, a Lancome GWP quad, Gosh quad, and Coastal Scents 88 shimmer palette.

Stila



Blanc and Noire palettes - picked these up mostly because of the design
Precious Pearl palette LE Spring 2009

Lorac



Greatest Hits CD palette (my first Sephora purchase!)
Showstopper palette (LE)
Pink Python palette (LE), bottom left
Snake Charmer palette (LE), bottom right



MAC


(clickable)

Eyeshadows depotted / pro pans
Pandamonium quad (Balloonacy collection)
Holiday '06 Intense Eyes palette
Holiday '07 Cool Eyes palette


Mid-range to higher end brands - Japanese:



Lunasol Sheer Contrast Eyes - purple
Lunasol Lighting for Eyes - pink/brown
T'estimo Frame Impact Eyes in Green, Purple
T'estimo Grande Shine Eyes in Pink/Grey
Coffret d'Or 3D Lighting eyes in Blue-green
Sofina Aube Jewelry Shower Eyes in purple
Maquillage Clean Contrast Eyes in silver


(clickable)


If you compare this to my previous collection post over a year ago my eyeshadow collection has changed a bit - I used to have 3 palettes worth of eyeshadow pans, but I got rid of most of them and starting collecting more palettes instead. Also this post only covers powder shadows, not including the Shiseido Hydro-powder shadows and Benefit cream shadows that I have. I should try to sell some but its hard to part with them though.

News in brief + nailpolish

Asos is having their summer clearance at the moment. Anyone that wants to try Korres Guava lipsticks - Asos has certain shades for $11 down from $22. I'd recommend the Natural Pink shade out of the ones on sale, it looks the most wearable from the swatching I've done in the store. Unfortunately I don't have swatches of mine yet (because I'm away for the Canada Day holiday) but you can see swatches and a very in depth review from Jojoba here.

Adam Beauty's sale section has some interesting items (to me at least), i.e. the T'estimo Grande Shine lipsticks and the Coffret d'Or Full Styling Rouge lippies are slightly reduced as well.

I got the T'estimo Grande Shine lippie in RS-237 on my last Adam Beauty order. Its definitely a nice lipstick at a decent price (Its almost half price at $16 since the original retail price is 3500 yen)

The packaging is simple but elegant.



RS-237 is a rose shade that is slightly cool in the tube, but when swatched the colour is still warm enough for warm skin tones to wear it. It has some microfine shimmers as well that are very subtle.



Texture-wise it goes on smooth and sheer, similar to Dior's High Shine lipsticks. Don't expect a lot of pigmentation, but more a hint of colour to enhance your natural lip shade.



If you're planning an Adam Beauty haul they're definitely a good deal at the current price!


Tiko left me a question on my last post on how to pre-order from the Graphic Garden collection in Canada. The collection will be released July 9 in Canada. Just go now to your nearest MAC counter at The Bay department stores and tell the MAs you want to preorder from the collection. They should either have the displayers out already for people to swatch, or at least a list of products available for you to look at. Once you decide which items you want they'll put the amount of what you want on a giftcard and you'd basically pay for the giftcard then, and pick up the items after the release date. The MA also said you could just book the items you want under your name and you'd have to pick them up and pay when they are released. I just pre-paid though since I wanted to use up a $10 off $50 coupon that I had for the Bay.

Here's a look at the Graphic Garden flyer:




I'm working on my palette collection post partly because the pics I took are going to be outdated soon with some new palettes I ordered recently...so stay tuned :) For now here's some nail swatches of polishes I received recently:

Sinful Colors pink polish from Mayaari: a hot girly pink perfect for summer. It has a amazingly glossy finish, picture shown is with 3 coats.




Gosh Purple Passion nailpolish from Chyi's contest prize: magenta purple, looks different depending on what angle you look at it. I was pleasantly surprised by how pigmented this polish was, I got the same colour in the container on my nails with just the first (slightly thick) coat. However you'll still need another coat to even out the polish a little. You could also do 2 thin coats to get the same effect.


Excuse the application, I did clean them up after pictures :D



Overall I'm quite impressed by Gosh so far, would definitely repurchase more colours when they go on sale :)

An update

I am totally in love with these Parasuco jeans:


(click to view full size)


The studs are just perfect, I'm not usually even into studs but the design is just done so well!


(click to view full size)


Unfortunately I couldn't find this pair in the store, it was just the picture of the model that I saw in the store. The salesperson didn't seem to know much about it. First I asked her if they had this pair in the store and she said it was going to be in the Fall collection. However when I searched Parasuco's website, the image shows up on their S/S '09 collection lookbook, meaning it should be out now right? Maybe I'll call their other location to see if they have it.


***

Here's a sneak peek at some things I swapped for with Cris @ Diamond Enigma. I'll be reviewing the Korres lipsticks once I get the chance to try them out, and the Bourjois stuff too. She was super sweet and included two samples of her HK pigments which I had requested, and not only that also included Milani Luminous, a longtime lemming of mine. Thank you Cris! :D





***

MAC's new Euristocrats collection is out already in MAC stores (not counters). I picked up Costa Chic, a super bright frosty coral. My camera ran out of batteries though so I'll have to take pictures another time. Then again I'm sure most of you have already seen Temptalia's swatches :D

I've also pre-ordered the things I want from the upcoming Graphic Garden collection, apparently it is coming out July 9th @ The Bay in Canada. I chose the cool palette (Graphic Garden), because the colour payoff is much better than the warm one. The cool palette contains veluxe pearl and frost finishes mostly, while the warm palette has a couple of lustres (which have crappy payoff). Also ordered the Sweet Tease Look in a Box because it contains Shell Pearl Beauty Powder, a limited edition item repromote. I can't wait! July will make me broke as MAC Color Craft is coming out on 9th as well, and I already want 2 MSFs and 3 mineralized blushes that are coming out. Originally I had $30+ store credit that I was going to use, but I seem to have lost/misplaced it...:/