It’s spring break guys!! I’m heading to the Gold Coast tomorrow with my friend, Nad, who’s going to be flying in from Singapore! I haven’t seen her since my last trip home so I suspect there will be plenty of bitchery over coffee and late night gelato. My travel beauty kit is always the first to be packed and I realised some of the products I’ve chosen to bring with me haven’t been formally introduced on the blog yet so here it is: my spring break beauty essentials.
Tortoiseshell Sunglasses: These are from Peony Lim but they’re currently sold out. I think you can find a similar pair from Karen Walker, bit pricey though.
Revlon PhotoReady Foundation in 004 Nude: I had no interest in the PhotoReady foundation but when I spotted bottles going for SGD$15 at the Changi Airport, HELLO INTEREST KINDLED. There have been a lot of mixed reviews regarding this line: some think it’s great, others argue that it’s too much of a glitter puff. I think it’s perfect. It’s light, has medium coverage and the shimmer blends right into the skin for me.
Maybelline 24-hour Color Tattoo in Bold Gold: Haven’t tried this out yet but I’m going to be using this as an eyeshadow on days when I need to have my sunnies on 24/7 (stalking surfer boys MEHEHE) or as an eyeshadow base on days when the Gold Coast sun isn’t out to blind me.
Bobbi Brown Day to Night Warm Eye Palette: Previously seen here. I was just gifted Urban Decay’s Naked Palette for my birthday this year but this Bobbi Brown one gets to travel with me because it’s a lot smaller and has a good mix of neutral and dark shades.
Topshop Cream Blush in Pinch: Also artfully reviewed here. It’s always handy to have an item that’s versatile enough for your cheeks and lips when on holiday!
Revlon Lip Butters in Candy Apple and Peach Parfait: These lipsticks certainly live up to their hype, they apply so smoothly and have a great assortment of shades. Candy Apple is my favourite because it’s the first red lippie (albeit a little on the coral side) I have that doesn’t need to be applied with a lip brush. Amen.
Biore UV Perfect Milk SPF 50+ PA+++: After my little skin cancer scare last year, I’ve become such a sunscreen hoarder omg – I buy two bottles at a time whenever my current bottle feels considerably lighter. My biggest beauty fear is running out of sunscreen and having to stay indoors until I get the bottles shipped over to me from Asia since this particular sunscreen isn’t available here. I’ve tried many brands from Neutrogena (gross) to Kose (too expensive) but Biore’s is definitely the best because it’s cheap, doesn’t smell like sunscreen and has a matte finish.
Covergirl Liquiline Blast in Brown Blaze: Easily the best beauty purchase I’ve made in a while. The eyeliner is great but I think the amazing thing about the Liquiline Blast is the smudge brush that comes with it. Line your eyes a little thicker than usual, blur out the edges with the smudge brush, and you’ll have an effortless 2 minute smokey eye. Great stuff.
Maybelline One by One Volum’Express Mascara: It’s similar to my former HG mascara from Majolica Majorca but is a lot easier to remove.
MAC Brow Gel in Beguile: I switch between this shade and Girl Boy depending on my mood and it’s been my favourite for 4-5 years now? I’ve tried eyebrow pencils but I always go back to brow gels – it’s so much easier!
I should probably get back to packing before I forget other important things like my plane tickets, or my passport .__. Thanks for reading and I’ll catch you guys after my holiday!
While I can’t say I’ve tried SK-II’s Facial Essence, I’m halfway through a bottle of the line’s Facial Treatment Clear Lotion and I like it enough as a toner to put it on top of my beauty round-up list for 2010. It’s got SK-II’s secret Pitera shiz and the added benefits of AHAs to help exfoliate the skin! It doesn’t have alcohol on the ingredient list (as far as I can remember, I threw the box away months ago) which makes it really gentle on skin. My face has been a wreck lately for reasons beyond my control. Yes. Hormonal acne is not something to be trifled with because even your peroxide of choice wouldn’t stop it. Grit your teeth, apply massive amounts of concealer and try to be as gentle as possible when treating the affected areas. This toner does its job.
After I ran out of LUSH’s Angel’s on Bare Skin, I wanted something even more gentler because winter was just sucking out all the moisture from my skin. Dermalogica’s Daily Microfoliant is SOOO GOOD. It comes out as a fine powder when you pour it out of the tube (no Kate Moss cocaine jokes please!). It gets activated by a few droplets of water and you end up with this slightly foamy paste. I know it’s a little weird to be scrubbing your face with something that doesn’t feel the slightest bit abrasive but it does work!
The powder’s got some rice-based enzymes in it, as well as salicylic acid which masquerades as over-the-counter acne medication most of the time but it also happens to be a great chemical exfoliator. Don’t be put off by the inclusion of salicylic acid though, the Daily Microfoliant is so gentle you can use it everyday. YouTube reviewer Lollipop26 believes the Daily Microfoliant worked so much better for her than her Clarisonic, check it out 
I’m trying to fade the red spots I get from old zits as well and the Face Shop’s Post-Acne Nighttime Eraser is a nice product for that. I’m not sure if it’s working or not because I’ve only had this for about 1.5 months now and while my marks are still there, the redness has gone down a bit. It smells really soothing too, I would slap it on even if it doesn’t work LOL. I’ll update you guys on this product when I finish the tube…eventually.
My first Bobbi Brown palette from the extremely generous Catherine! She actually bought the same palette and when I expressed my amazement at its colours, she sent me one for Christmas! I had no idea she was sending me something major so I had a “OH MY GOD SHE DID NOTTTTTTT” moment when I tore the wrapping open lol THANK YOU CAT <33333 Totally digging the slick black packaging too, that crest is hot!
Bobbi Brown Day to Night Warm Eye Palette from L to R: Ivory, Oat, Espresso, Burnt Sugar, Velvet Bronze, Black Plum. I’m particularly in love with the Burnt Sugar shade, it’s a beautiful metallic gold-brown! Cat’s written a fantastic review on this palette, complete with swatches so I shan’t go into too much detail – read what she has to say ;D
I noticed I have a lot more natural-looking FOTDs this year than in the past when I used to be more experimental with colours lol, perhaps I really have grown up omg. Sadly, my skin doesn’t want to get out of its awkward teen stage *stabs* Anyway, this dark brown FOTD has flashes of gold in it for instead of layering the colour on a neutral coloured base, I used my Kryolan Aqua Pearlshade in Gold to create a subtle duochrome effect whoo.
Face:
MAC Studio Fix foundation in NC25
MAC Studio Finish Concealer in NC25
Cheeks:
La Femme Glow On Nectar Peach Blush
Eyes:
Kryolan Aqua Pearlshade in Gold as a base
Bobbi Brown eyeshadow in Burnt Sugar
MAC eyeshadow in Amber Lights
MAC eyeshadow in Shroom as highlight
Urban Decay 24/7 eyeliner in Honey
MAC Pearlglide eyeliner in Wolf
MAC Browset in Girl Boy
Majolica Majorca Lash Expander NEO
Lips:
Good old Nivea lipbalm!
I like the eyeliner in this look as well, dark grey and gold make a beautiful pairing ;D
Announcement: tea noir will be on a short break this week, I’ll be heading to Malaysia tomorrow to meet my BFF Aaron for the first time! I hope everything goes well and I’ll be back soon to tell you what happens when two fierce bitches meet LOL I’M PRAYING THE WORLD DOESN’T IMPLODE ON US! x
Also, it’s nearly 3am now I don’t have time to read my entry again so forgive me if I have any typos/grammar issues in this baby! Thanks guys, see you soon.
SUPER IMAGE HEAVY FANTASTICAL MAKE-UP ENTRY AHEAD.
So today I finally packed 90% of my make-up into little bubblewrapped, oddly-shaped bundles but before that, I thought it would be fun to photograph my whole stash to see just how much crap I’ve accumulated over the years and zomg wtf if you thought the shoes post was epic….
This picture in itself is a self-proclaimation that I am a true MAC whore. I have 17 MAC eyeshadows…how. on. earth. did I manage to collect 17 EYESHADOWS?!?! This is crazy lol! I had no idea I had THAT many.
1st row (starting with the dark purple shade) L to R: Nocturnelle, Flashtrack, Carbon
2nd row: Idol Eyes, Smoke & Diamonds, Tilt, Talent Pool
3rd row: Swimming, Mink & Sable, Fiction (omg my first eyeshadow ever! sadly discontinued), Club
4th row: Shroom (this is a really good highlighter!), Woodwinked, Amber Lights, Twinks
My mineral eyeshadows from MAC. L to R: Brightside/Gallery Gal, Ether (such a beautiful pool of blues and teal) and er forgot the name of this one.
My pathetic collection of palettes lol, I don’t know why but palettes don’t appeal to me much as opposed to single eyeshadow pots >_>
L to R: Mac Authentics Face Palette (I got this on sale for $25 and have never used it because I’ve dreamt about bringing this when I travel to some far flung place in Europe with a lover…but that ain’t happening anytime soon so..) and the Majolica Majorca Trick On Palette in GR750.
MAC pigments! As you can see I like my neutrals and greens a lot lol. L to R: Kitschmas, Blonde’s Gold (love love loveeee), Goldstroke, Copperized (gorgeous color, this one- a dirty olive green with a slight brown tone), Antique Green and Teal.
Misc pigments from assorted brands and samples I got from Catherine! Oh and a mini MAC Melon pigment too.
My eyeshadow bases. L to R: MAC paintpot in Delft, MAC paintpot in Rubenesque and Shu Uemura Cream eyeshadow in Suou. I’m no longer a paintpot fan, they’re great in the first month or so and then they just dry up on you -__-
Evidently, I’m really really into lipsticks lol. MAC lipsticks L to R: Myself, Sweetie, O, Lightly Ripe, Mellow Mood (fave to-go lipstick!), Cosmo (awesome dark pink shade <3)
NYX lipsticks, some of them were given to me by Mel. I’ve done a swatch post on some of the old ones I bought, you can read about them here.
1st row L to R: Topaz, Perfect, Doll, Indian Pink
2nd row L to R: Aphrodite, B52, Thalia
And er more lippies lol? My high-end lipsticks with an odd Rimmel one – L to R: Shu Uemura Rouge Unlimited BG942, Rimmel London lipstick (can’t remember the name sorry), YSL Rouge Volupté in Pink Fetish, YSL Rouge Volupté in Tender Peach, Dior Addict High Shine in Beige-a-porter, Dior Addict High Color in Charmed Pink.
My OCC lip tars and my really small collection of lipglosses. I wish I could love lipgloss as much as the next girl but I really like my lips to be kinda creamy-matte as opposed to super shiny. Liptars are supremely awesome though, they’re very creamy – almost like a thickened liquid lipstick.
L to R: OCC liptar in Pageant, OCC liptar in Grandma, OCC liptar in Indashio, MAC lipglass in Liquer, MAC x Hello Kitty lipglass in She Loves Candy, MAC lipglass in Glamour For All, MAC Dazzleglass in Rags to Riches, MAC Dazzleglass in ….I cannot for the life of me remember.
Cheeks! I’m usually too lazy to contour my cheekbones but when I do I like using my MAC mineralize skinfinish in Shooting Star. It is a bronzey, gold veined dream and it deserves a lot more love from me but sry2say I’m just not bothered to contour lol. I mean I usually spend a lot of time on my eyes so by the time I’m done with the eye make-up, I’m running late lol so I can’t afford to slowly buff in a bronzer into the skin, apply blush, highlight etc.
1st row L to R: MAC MSF in Shooting Star, MAC highlight powder in Mellow Rave (I know it says highlight but it’s really more of a bronzer for me, really like this one too – beautiful mid-toned reddish brown), MAC blush in Trace Gold.
2nd row L to R: MAC Grand Duos blush in Moon River (still can’t get over how pretty this is), MAC mineralize blush in Merrily (hate this so much, I cannot remember why I bought it -_-)
Aah you guys can finally see my fave blush of all time – Nectar Peach by La Femme Cosmetics. This is a no frills matte peach shade and honestly it looks kinda meh in the pan but it is just exquisite on my skin.
L to R: La Femme blush in Nectar Peach, NARS Sin (I recommended this pinky-berry shade to Cat and she is loving it so far ;D), NARS Angelika
Everyday Mineral blushes from back when I was totally into mineral make-up.
First row L to R: Once & Again, Time Share
2nd row L to R: Snuggle (I find myself reaching for this one a lot), Theme Park (A damn good NARS Orgasm dupe)
Foundation and concealers. I generally use the same stuff because they work well for me so I don’t hoard foundation etc like some people do (wish I could say the same about eyeshadows and lipsticks rofl)
L to R: MAC Mineralize Satinfinish SPF 15 foundation, Dr Jart Black Detox Healing BB Cream (I like using this one when I’m in a hurry), MAC Studio Fix Powder + Foundation, Bobbi Brown Bobbi Brown Corrector in Peach, MAC Studio Finish SPF 35 concealer, MAC Prep + Prime Face Protect SPF 50 (this primer is awesome!)
Sorry I missed out on a couple of product names, I have no way of checking them since they’re all mostly wrapped up and ready to fly. You guys should have seen me pack my make-up lol, I was just shaking my head in disbelief as I took everything out from the multi-tiered plastic boxes I keep my make-up in. I never imagined it to be THIS epic but well, I know of people who have a ton more than I do! I got to admit though it’s a good sizeable collection that would last me centuries lol. I still have a couple more I didn’t show here, basically some stuff I recently got so I’ll be featuring that in another entry.
Yesterday was tea noir’s first birthday/anniversary! Omg it’s been a crazy year! I wanted to post this entry yesterday actually but er I kinda fell asleep halfway. I’ve just been really, really tired lately – packing is owning my soul this week and I cannot wait to be done with it =_=
A lil shout-out to Sue/jademasquerade: Thank you for the lunch treat yesterday! I wish we could have met sooner but I had so much fun nonetheless. I’m sorry I was a total klutz wtf, what a way to impress someone lol ._. Hope to see you in Melbourne soon! <333
Andddd a little site update: I finally installed the wordpress plugin that allows me to reply directly to comments as tested out in the comments at the bottom here. I always, always reply back to comments but this just makes it prettier to look at haha so check back to read my replies to your comments ;D
Ramadan (a month of abstinence from food and drink at dawn til dusk for muslims) has come and gone, this can only mean that Hari Raya Aidil Fitri (also known as Ramadan Eid, Eid ul-Fitr in other parts of the world) is here once again.
A time of celebration and a terrible time for dieters alike because of the sumptuous feasts we are all subjected to when visiting our relatives. I lost 4.5kg during the past month and with my mother cooking 5 dishes (oven-grilled chicken being one of them!) just for tomorrow….I fear for my calorie intake lol.
Everyone who reads this blog on a regular basis (whoever you are, thank you so much for reading and people who actually take their time to drop a comment, you get extra love and a cookie from me!) probably has seen too much of my garden so here are some shots of my home that I took this morning (AT LONG LAST!). My family has been cleaning, polishing, mopping the house since last week to make sure everything looks *sparkling*
I WENT SHOPPING! HURRAH! I’m going to quickly run through some of my new favourite products of the week and give you guys a quick review on the both of them!
I went to my local Bobbi Brown counter for the first time and got myself a new concealer! Well it’s not really a concealer – it’s a corrector actually, which neutralizes your undereye circles..sort of like a base for your actual concealer. The Bobbi Brown Corrector has gotten some fantastic reviews online so I got one in the shade Peach which is a yellow toned color!
It has a very creamy consistency which I love and applies more fluid than my other favourite – MAC Studio Finish SPF 35 concealer. I know you’re supposed to layer the corrector with another concealer but I think just the corrector alone set with some loose powder under your foundation provides enough coverage.
And before I forget, I am in LOVE with Sephora’s concealer brush! I originally intended to get Bobbi’s concealer brush but there weren’t any stock left so I went to Sephora and got their brush instead. It’s made out of synthetic hair, is pretty soft (yay for the delicate eye area!) but is stiff enough to apply cream concealer/eyeshadows smoothly onto the skin. AND IT’S A LOT CHEAPER, +1 to Sephora.
My BFF went to Hong Kong for a vacation with his family just last week and with all my incessant demands “OMG YOU HAVE GOT TO BUY ME THIS H&M DRESS”, “YOU NEED TO GET ME THIS DVD FROM HMV HK MY LIFE DEPENDS ON IT BB” and “OKAY PLEASE TELL ME YOU’RE GOING TO LUSH”, he certainly did not disappoint and bought me presents including this huge tub of LUSH’s new facial scrub, Dark Angels.
If you’re familiar with LUSH, you would probably have heard of their popular cleanser, Angels on Bare Skin. It’s pretty gentle for the skin, I would even call it heavenly if you like lol.
Dark Angels is the spitting black, demonic ash fallen angel sister to Angels on Bare Skin and it is not to be messed with.
You only need a teeny tiny amount and please make sure you’re not wearing anything expensive because if it gets on your clothes, this bitch is going to stainnn.
This is perfect for people with oily/combination skin. It’s got the good oil combating properties of charcoal, avocado oil and Rhasshoul mud. The scent of the scrub is woodsy, almost earthly and I would really recommend this if you need a scrub with extra oomph (it’s not harsh but it isn’t very delicate either so people with sensitive skin, please stay away!)
That’s all I have for you guys today. I’ll be going on a short hiatus due to the festive season (all that visiting, eating!) but don’t worry I won’t disappear for long. Please follow me on twitter for instant tea noir updates or just follow me because hella I think I’m amusing enough!
I would like to wish all my muslim readers a Happy Eid, have a joyous time with your family and try not to eat too much! A shout-out to my bb girl, Nadz, I LOVE YOU BBCAKES! I hope to see you tomorrow!
Till next time!
