Back in bristol

Last weekend I was in nottingham to celebrate my brother's 21st bday. It was held at 'Red Hot' which is a continental buffet restaurant. The food was really very mediocre but the place was nice. Because my brother just received a Canon DSLR camera all of the pictures were taken with his camera. Still waiting for him to put them up on facebook before I can nick it to put them on my blog. I only took one picture there which is the one below. =) As you can see from the pictures below i am a lousy photographer (as what my brother calls me). Seems like my hopes of becoming a professional photographer ala Francois Nars (photographer turned makeup mogul) seems to be going down the drain.

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Today I took my cam and snapped pictures of all the new clothing (dresses for summer!) that I have acquired in the past few weeks. I have not been clothes shopping in awhile so I am pretty happy with my purchases (and gifts from mum :) thanks mum!)

Dress from GUESS. I actually forgot to turn off the flash hence my dirty mirror is exposed to the world.

I love these shoes so much. They are from TOPSHOP. :)

Diane von furstenberg floral dress. I love her designs and this dress has the most romantic colors.

Layla Rose dress from Tokyo. (gift from mum) I will go crazy and spend thousands of dollars shopping for clothes when I am in Japan. The fashion there is just so much better than KL or UK.

Lux dress by Urban outfitters

Another Layla Rose dress from mum.

Not sure if you can tell from the pictures but I coloured my hair myself yesterday and although I hope it would be lighter i still quite like it. I am really thinking of experimenting more with DIY hair dyes. Its so much cheaper than having it done in a salon. All in all i only spent 10pounds for the color!

Have a great week ahead everybody!

I did it again :P. (dyed my hair myself that is)

I was getting sick of my ugly regrowth and fading color and since was having a 2 for 10pounds offer on their Loreal colors, I couldnt resist.

However, I have to say that this time I love the color and that I am so pleased with myself. :P Its a light color (obviously) and didnt come out black like last time. I could only pray the whole time (when i was sitting on the toilet bowl to wait for the dye to 'spill') that it turned out right!

I will of course show you how it looks like soon. :P

Benefit play sticks review

When I was first introduced to this by the SA at the Benefit counter at Boots I was not impressed. It was probably because he already tried on another foundation (Hello Flawlesswhich is their latest powder foundation) on my face before rubbing it off and then applying this one on top. Also, he probably color matched me to the wrong shade. Eventhough I am very fair skinned, I seem to think that the lightest shade #Jax is abit too pale for me so when the SA at the House of Fraser tried on #Spin the bottle on me, which is the second lightest shade I really loved it. Hence, I purchased it. =)

I really love the lightweight texture of this foundation. Its light coverage (but buildable) and feels very comfortable on the skin. So far I have not noticed any allergic reaction to my skin (Yes Bare Minerals I am talking to you!) and I love how flawless my skin looks after a single application. Also, I don't have to powder my face after applying this foundation because apparently this foundation is a 'cream to powder' formulation. Travel friendly. =)

Today I have on:

Benefit play sticks #spin the bottle
Benetint on lip and cheek (still obsessed)
Nothing on the brows
Bobbi brown sparkle e/s Ballet
Stila major lash mascara (not very good but trying to use it up!)
Peppermint patty nail lacquer (which I had on for the past 3 days and no chipping in sight!)

And here are just some pictures to show you how smug I am. =P

p/s~ my skin is slowly clearing up hence the many smiley faces.

Have a great week!

Curious

I'm quite curious as to who reads my blog. To begin with I don't think I have that many readers except for my close friends but the next time you visit my page please leave a comment on the tagboard at the side with your name/blog url(if you have one). =)

MUA Swap and weekend shopping

I have been looking for the MAC Power khol Raven and MAC MSF Northern Light for the longest time and finally i managed to swap it on MUA with another member so im really happy about that. =) I'm still waiting for my NARS Crazed and Blade Runner to come in the post from a MUA member from Aus so I will post pictures of them later on. Because my complexion is not good these days (bit patches of red rashes and a really big acne which is a shocker because my skin is usually quite clear)I will only do a FOTD when it gets better. Damn you mineral makeup (which clogged my pores)! =( I'm suspecting that I may be allergic to Bismuth (which is part of the ingredients in mineral makeup). It is improving slightly since I have been applying Elizabeth Arden's 8hr skin protectant every night.

MAC Raven and Northern Light.

MAC Northern Light

Look at how purdy it is. I love the raspberry veining of it.

MAC Raven khol (Black khol with red pearl). Looks great with a smoky eye.

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Last Friday I went to town with my friend and ended up with these because House of Fraser was having a 10% off beauty products.

Benefit Play sticks foundation and cream e/s.

Play sticks #spin the bottle (light beige) and R.S.V.P (champagne color which is very pretty).
Apparently the SA at benefit told me that the girls from Girls Aloud uses the play sticks foundation especially in their music videos. I do admit that I am not a massive fan of their music but I do like their style from their hair to their makeup to their dressing. Nicola Roberts is my fav. =)

The cutest gift. A 'born to shop' keychain/handphone accessory from my friend Mei mei.
She is so thoughtful.

More FOTDs coming up as soon as my skin clears up again so stay tuned!

In and Outs

A change of weather warrants a change of makeup! The warm weather also means that some of my makeup that fall into the 'autumn/winter colours' do not appeal as much to me right now. Also, I don't feel like masking my skin with thick gloppy foundations that I will reserve for the colder winter days when I feel that I need more coverage to look more polished.

So I have listed down the Yays and Nays as of right now. =P

The Yays

1) I find myself whipping out my Bare Minerals so often these days just because it feels so light and as if I'm not wearing anything at all. Most importantly, I don't feel as if I am masking myself; it just covers enough to even out my skintone so yay for bare minerals for making me feel good. :)

2) Benefit Benetint and Posietint for stained lips and cheeks. The quintessential lip and cheek stain that I have just acquired recently and have been attached to like superglue for the past week. So yes I went through a week just wearing these babies and I love them very much. I can see myself running low of it very soon at the rate I am using them. :P

3) NARS Orgasm the multiple. Health in a stick. The best and fool proof cream to powder blush I have ever used. Perfect for my summer holiday where I can just throw it into my bag.

4) My Havainna flipflops and summer cotton dresses. =P I can finally wear them now.

The Nays

1) Thick heavy foundations are flying out of my drawers and replaced with mineral makeup.

2) Lipstick colors that are too close to your skintone. I have given up on Barry M lip paint 101 which gives me concealer looking lips.

3) Waterproof mascaras. Too hard to remove and I'm not game to risk my lashes sadly.

4) Bronzers. I think that pale skin is more beautiful and timeless than a faux tan.

5) Boots and uggs. Goodbye my friends you will not be missed!

FOTD of a lazy sunday

What better way to spend a Sunday than doing an FOTD. :) I have finally found my cam which went missing for a few months and so yesterday I thought I would take a few pictures to show you what I used for my FOTD. Yes it was a Sunday and I'm supposed to do the 'lazy look' but really on most weekends I will just slap on some tinted moisturiser and laze around at home. But yesterday was our 2nd year anniversary and we went out for japanese so I thought I would amp up the look! Its just a very simple day look though. :) Its hard not to look /feel silly when you feel as if you have taken a gazillion pictures. =P

Take 1. Erm not quite there.

Take 2. We're gettin there.

Take 3: Finally a full view of the palette.

Products I used:

NARS palette 9945 (big palette). From this palette I used #Nepal all over the lid.
NARS palette 9944 (smaller palette) From this palette I used #Bali to fill in my brows.
Bobbi brown gel eyeliner #Black
Yves Saint Laurent fauxcils mascara #Black

La Prairie skin caviar foundation # porcelain blush
La Prairie loose powder #translucent 1
Benefit Benetint on the apples of cheek and on lips as lipcolor.
Benefit clear gloss on lips for added shine.

Et voila.

I actually really love the Benetint and I was so surprised that I overlooked this product each time I peruse the shelves of the Benefit counter. I think it makes a great lipcolor as its really smudge proof and most importantly it doesnt stain my cup when I drink. Yay for benetint.

Going Bare

I should start by saying that yes I have broke my project 10 pan rule but then again a certain someone already warned me that it is not going to happen and he was right!

Moving on to the more interesting part of the post. About a few weeks ago I discovered the beauty of Bare Minerals e/s when I was in Manchester. So I bought one to try and since then I was in love.

So a few days ago when I was out shopping I made a trip to the Bare Minerals counter. I saw it, I loved it, I bought it. What I have with me today is a starter kit for their mineral makeup.

Basically the idea behind mineral makeup is that it is free from preservatives, parabens, oils, waxes, chemicals and anything else that irritates our delicate skin. Its supposed to be so pure that you can even sleep with it. I was very attracted to their stance on makeup. Considering the number of hours we wear our makeup in a day this is a fresh take from conventional makeup! What I noticed about their makeup is that it doesnt ever feel heavy no matter how many layers I buff onto my skin. This is a good take from the normal conventional foundations and powders out in the market.

p/s I have finally found my camera which had gone MIA for the past few months so I promise I will take pictures of them and put them up here.

Lately there are many brands out there offering mineral makeup although I have yet to sample them. Among the ones that I know of are Everyday Minerals, Afterglow cosmetics and Pur Minerals. Bare Minerals being the first brand to create makeup from minerals remains the no 1 brand for mineral makeup in the states.

Its makeup so pure you can even sleep in it! :p

They even won the award for Best of Sephora. We don't get that everyday do we?? =)

The lovely starter kit which costs 45 quids in the UK.

The starter kit that I got is the Light kit and basically it consists of a primer, 3 brushes, 2 shades of mineral foundation (Fairly Light and Light. I was matched to Fair Light), a mineral viel and a warmth bronzer. I also purchased a mineral blush and some e/s which I will put up here very soon!

Before my encounter with Bare Escentuals, I did order some mineral makeup from Everyday Minerals and I must say that I do quite like it. Unlike Bare Minerals, they have a few finishes for you to choose from. The sheerest being 'Original Glo' (which is my favourite), semi-matte and intensive depending on how much coverage you need. However, I do find that the texture o the minerals in Everyday Minerals is not as fine as the ones in Bare Minerals and hence the significant difference in price as well. Unlike Everyday Minerals who offers free samples to their customers, Bare Minerals does not need to do that because they have already established themselves as the number one mineral makeup brand in the US.

Having said that I highly recommend Bare Minerals so if you do have access to them do try them out and I guarantee you that you will not be disappointed.

Bare Minerals is available at many leading department stores in the UK such as House of Fraser, Debenhams and Selfridges. For more info pls visit www.bareescentuals.co.uk

If you are living in Bristol I highly recommend you to look for the makeup artist Joseph at House of Fraser Cabot Circus. Hes fab and very friendly. =)