Packages with love and make up brush cleaning

Ella dropped off this bag of goodies for me last night, she’s so nice!!!

She said that she had too much and wanted to pass them onto me, but… my gawd.. so much, and all of them were coincidentally things I’ve been wanting to try!

Serums, Skin food Omija Whitening set, sleeping masks, face masks, eye masks, eye cream, and even two pair of CK jeans that were too big for her.  Surprisingly they fit me.. and were actually a little loose too… I feel good XD AHAHAHA

Anyways thank you so much ^^ Going to cherish all of these!

I’ve been inspired by all these make up tool cleaning videos I’ve been seeing on youtube and I went on a make up tool cleaning spree at like.. 12am one night, and spent 2-3 hours on it… seriously late night lol

I am really lazy, and I just sit them on top of my box if I am just quick cleaning them.

Don’t do that if you are washing your brushes people…

Something different was a video by BeautyQQ.

She is so unique and creative, her ideas are always different.  This inspired me to clean even my sponge tip applicators – something I’ve been wanting to do for a long time but was worried they wouldn’t survive the cleaning process.

Couldn’t get all the colour out but they are pretty clean

I am reluctant to put these under the tap though, because I think it would really ruin the applicators.

Example of ruined sponge tip applicator.  This is an old Kate one.

From this cleaning experience, I really got to learn more about the different sponge tip applicators offered by various brands.

I found that the poorer quality sponge tips didn’t survive the cleaning process.

What I have found is that each brand rarely alternates sponge tip applicators and each brand has its own unique perks.

The best applicators I found were by Esprique, Lunasol, Coffret D’or and Visee.  The sponge part was dense, did not move around a lot on the plastic bit when wiping them, and were easiest to clean.

My experience is that, the best applicators must pass two tests.

1. When you bend the sponge part, it shouldn’t feel like the sponge is moving too differently on the plastic bit inside.
2. When you squeeze the sponge, it shouldn’t depress a lot.  It should feel quite springy.  Jill Stuart and some of Visee’s newer applicators were too squishy.

My favourite of them all is the one in the new Visee Glam Shade eyes.  I love how the bigger end is pointy as well!

I was worried that Lunasol’s applicators would crumble because I saw a few extra holes show up when cleaning it but it turned out alright.

Kate’s sponge tip applicators apply well, but also crumbled the most!! I don’t know why this is the case because they feel similar to Visee’s forming eyes ones.

At the top is Visee’s Glam Nude x Royal Party e/s, and below is from Blossom Eyes.

These were the poorer quality ones by Visee when they were trying to be innovative and putting a brush on one end.  I’m so glad they stopped doing that because it was horrible!

As you can see, the seams split apart because the sponge tip was too floppy and moved around the plastic when I was wiping it.

I used Bare Escentual’s quick change brush cleaner to do all my cleaning.

I was too lazy to wash them with water.  Shall do it next time ahaha

This quick change brush cleaner has a purpose of doing a quick clean for your brushes so that you can use many colours with the same brush.

Pros

• Really does do a quick clean, it can clean waterproof eyeliner off the brush too
• Relatively cheap, $17AUD from Strawberrynet
• generous size – 110mL
• hygienic bottle
• I choose this to clean my sponge tip applicators

Cons

• Very strong scent
• Have to spray at least 4 sprays onto cloth before you can start cleaning your brushes
• Can actually use up a lot of product by the end of all that cleaning
• Does leave some residue, so still need to actually wash the brushes after a few quick cleans
• Not really that quick drying

At the end of the day, I don’t know if I would repurchase.  I wouldn’t say I definitely won’t but I would need to try other products first.

And to end my super long post,

I bought all this lace from a craft shop at Greenslopes.  So many pretty laces – I need to put my mind in creative mode again and turn this into jewellery.

This could take a while… lol…

Drugstore goodies

I hope people won’t feel offended by my continuation of make up posts in the wake of all these natural disasters.  I thought about posting or not posting, but in the end, everyone needs a bit of normal right?  Must continue with our own lives or else the world will stop.

I had a couple of good finds at Priceline recently as I wanted to make use of my vouchers

Rapidlash had a promotion for a mini hair straightener as GWP

I love how it’s pearl white, and it’s very compact.

Being only 1/2″ wide, it’s small enough to pack into a hand bag.

Works a treat when I need a quick straighten after work or something.

Grown Vitamin & Watermelon lip balm

Grown skin care products is a newly emerging brand that boasts all organic ingredients.

Though I didn’t think this smelled anything like watermelon.

Not entirely fond with this type of packaging but I can live with it.

The consistency of this lip balm is slightly like… pear sorbet? Slightly lumpy but smooths out into a glossy finish.

I was expecting to get a matte finish sort of as a base for lipsticks (that I never wear) however this is very glossy, verging on oily.

I think men can stay clear from this product.   That said, it’s a great moisturizing lip balm that keep my lips feeling soft.  If you want a lip gloss that keeps your lips moisturized this is a good option.

And finally, after a million years this finally hits the shelves of Australia.

I chose 956 eggplant since I have black and brown gel liners already.

The brown looked too light for my liking as well.

And a line up of the gel liners I own.  My favourite is still Kate’s old formula gel liner.

That said Kate’s newer formula brown liner is crap.

Pros:

• Quite smudge proof and waterproof
• Brush included is awesome!
• Good sturdy packaging
• cheap – ~$16AUD RRP, on sale I got it for $14
• Quite smooth to glide on

Cons:

• Takes longer to dry.  I swiped a swatch after 3 minutes and it smudged real bad, then I tried again and waited around 5-7 minutes and it didn’t budge.
• Some fading throughout the day
• The formula is crumbly, but still glides on really well, unlike Kate’s newer formula brown gel liner which crumbles AND doesn’t glide on nicely.

Also after a million years L’oreal’s Elnett hairspray also finally hit the Australia shelves!

Disappointed though.  Definitely not as good as John Freida or Samy’s volume hairsprays.  It does brush out with no flaking though

 

On a separate note, I got these at some random cosmetic store that sells genuine cosmetics for very cheap XD

I only got the mascara because of the eyeliner, the price is great even for the eye liner alone  I had already quit using this liner because it costs too much to keep using so I was happy.

L’oreal Colour Riche in 845 Tawny and 425 Perfect Coral

Man these lipsticks smell!!  I should have taken this into account when I bought them.  It’s not even just these ones, I went to Priceline and sniffed ALL of L’oreal’s lipsticks and they all stank like cheap cosmetics omg…

However the colours will be enough to forgive the smell.. a little.

My favourite is perfect coral, such a fresh colour! Tawny is like a “my lips but better” sort of colour.  Never buying L’oreal lipsticks ever again though.

 

Some new additions to my make up/skin care collection (picture heavy)

Ever since I started my new job, I have for some reason become more stressed, and more depressed… and as a result… shopping cravings have increased!  So I decided – STUFF IT! I’m just going to buy all the stuff I’ve been iffy about buying for the past year (except for a Lunasol or Jill Stuart eye palette… I’m still iffy-ing about those).

On top of that, I am feeling extra bored and also sick so here comes a long post to keep me busy tonight.

First I’d like to share a new eye palette my friend Ella so kindly gave me when we met up for a catch up dinner… awwwwwwww Can’t say how thankful I am ^^

Kate in BK-1.

It’s SO much better than the one I have in BR-1. The texture seems a little different and a lot more shimmery.  I’m beginning to appreciate the diamond glitter part too
The look is sort of like the Visee Blackish Forming in B3, except maybe lighter? Anyhow, LOVE!

Givenchy Phenomen’Eyes in Waterproof

Oh how long I waited to buy this mascara.  The spikey ball attracted me so much, just the price drove me away at $49 AUD.  Alas, I bought it.  I was rather disappointed when I used it first as it flopped my eyelashes big time.  Definitely not something my sister would be too impressed about.  However, the second time I used it -

Actually my eyelashes didn’t turn out too bad I think I used probably 3-4 coats (I used my new Kate eyeshadow too ^^ I’ve been cursed with inward folding eyelids.. sorry for polluting your eyes I just wanted to give a picture of what the mascara does T.T)  I actually quite like this mascara and it actually can keep a curl.  Whether I would recommend to someone like my sister who will literally scream if her mascara flopped her eyelashes the tiniest bit?  I would have to think twice about that…

I also took the plunge and bought TFSI.  I am still rather… uncertain about this base.  Maybe because it is silicone based.  My E/S stayed put but colour pay off didn’t make me wow or anything.  It was crap with keeping my problem left lower lid smudge-free, my MAC paint pot was better at that.  However, there is definitely better colour pay off on the upper lids than MAC though.  So I guess I shall use TFSI on upper lids, and MAC on the bottom.. ahha.. that works. Was also using TFSI on my eye pic above.

I also moved my make up into another box recently… I think I still need to find better storage options….

Thought long and hard about buying the full sized tube because my face stung quite a lot when using the sample packet, even though results were pretty good and the sting went away once the mask dried.  The full sized tube had no such problem I love this mask, my face feels so clean afterwards ^^

I really love the packaging of Formula 10.0.6.  I got this overnight spot minimizing patch and the box it comes in looks exactly like the sachets and it’s all blue inside the box!  Comes in 4 of those sachets, 21 patches each.  They were $5 sth AUD on sale.  I probably won’t get through all of these since I don’t really have pimple prone skin, however they are always very handy in an emergency!!

Thought these would be handy too.  I don’t really like it though.  Have to wait so long for them to dry, and sometimes they don’t dry properly =.= I really want to try the asian branded ones- namely the one that is black in colour that comes in a tube, and you just smooth it over your nose and peel it off once it dries.  Pity I don’t remember the exact name of the brand

Lastly, I recently abandoned my Loreal Waterproof make up remover and changed to this one.  I kind of got sick of Loreal’s one because I had to soak two cotton pads and still have residue remaining, while Garnier seems to get my make up off easier with only one cotton pad.  I have pretty sensitive eyes, eg they went bright red when I tried Lancome’s one.  But at the same time my sister is fine with Lancome’s one but the Garnier one instead irritates her! HAHAHA  I think I’ll be sticking with this one though.

Nice, it’s nearly 9:30 now.  Time to sleep! ^^

Oo two more things before I go:

My new favourite daily facial cleanser ^^ So cheap as well.  I love the tiny beads.

Stay away from this shit!  St Ives is not a bad brand, use anything BUT this Olive scrub.  It does crap all, and the beads are horrible to wash off even though they don’t do any scrubbing at all!! It literally feels like oily cream when you apply it, but luckily it does wash off completely despite the fact it is fails as a scrub, and annoys me every time I use it.  I have to use this in the shower because of how fail the beads are at washing off.  FAIL

Ok, nite

 

Shopaholic much? (picture heavy)

Just received my parcel from facial-shop the other day!  So exciting Delivery was very prompt, and the owner (?) Vivian was very nice and helpful when answering my questions.  Only thing is it is not the cheapest but you don’t have to pay shipping fee

I got free Orbis E/S samples and an extra Aube blush for $6USD

Jill Stuart Jelly Eye Colour in 10 Vintage Decor

It’s sooooo shimmery and bling I love it so much!! Consistency is literally like jelly and has the typical Jill Stuart floral smell.  I think I have grown accustomed to it hehe

Colour away from the light reflection.  It’s more of a taupey brown on the eyes.  Lasts a whole day! love love love!! Going to get some other colours later ^^

Visee Blackish Forming Eyes B2

Was choosing between Brilliance Forming in A3 and this, but got swayed by my sis to get this instead XD Ended up getting one each

A nice orangey brown palette.  I was worried the highlighter shade would turn out too silver but it’s great.  The palette overall is more shimmery than B1 too ^^

Comparison

Thought I would do a quick colour comparison between B1 and B2.
All the colours have a  pretty obvious difference apart from the darker shades (bottom right in each palette).
B2 is slightly lighter and is a more obvious brown as opposed B1 which is more blackish brown with shimmers.
Both give a very different look, so I’m happy to have both ^^
What I LOVE about Visee palettes is that they co-ordinate the shimmers perfectly with the colour.  It’s so elegant and wearable hehehe then again most jap brands do that anyway

Esprique Precious Dress On Shiny Eyes C2

I really wanted a pinky red palette as this is what I have least of, and really liked the look fuzkittie made on her blog ^^

Nice pigmentation and exactly what I wanted ^^  The cream colour is very greasy with fine shimmer but I would be very reluctant to use it anywhere apart from the brow bone.

Kate Gel Liner BR-1

Was a bit disappointed when I got this because it looked like customs opened it, and may not have closed to lid straight away so it felt a bit dry.  However, after I got rid of the top layer it was nice and soft ^^

Shimmery brown, lasts the whole day, good for day time when you don’t want to have too harsh a dark line, but still want good definition

“Gift” for extra $6USD for purchase over $100USD:  Aube Chiffon Touch Cheek in RS803

Looks dark, but it actually shows up light and gives the cheek a nice little tint.  Exactly what I wanted!

Bit hard to see but you can’t see a little bit of the pinky tint on the left side of my hand as opposed to the right.  Highlighter is in the middle

Comes with some instructions completely in Japanese so can’t really understand it lol Luckily it’s got pictures ahaha

Orbis E/S samples

Vivian was very nice to add this in as well as I wanted to see whether these were any good.  Loose eyeshadow- 3 colour gradation vertically: blue, green, purple, pink and brown

Decided to press the eyeshadow because it would last longer and more convenient to use
Pressed it with Isocol, and the pigments where not compromised, although pressing with Isocol does not work with all types of loose E/S on the market

Swatches are pretty random.  First darkest colour is not from the sample.  I think the top colours are from the bottom row.  Nevertheless, the shadows are not very pigmented and slightly shimmery.

Happy ^^