Winter Empties 2013

Finally, I used up enough products to make an empties post. To be honest, it got almost gross to keep hoarding these empty containers, considering how relatively slowly I use up products, but I powered through this season, even using up products I wasn't a big fan of, but couldn't really justify throwing away quite yet because there was still use.

Sadly, only one skincare product, I was sure there was more, but I'm guessing I absent mindedly threw away the empty packaging to reduce clutter in my product filled bathroom. Three makeup products, though, so I think that's quite a good effort; and four hair products, boy do I ever use up hair products.

Biore Deep Cleansing Pore Strips

Well, who doesn't know about these pore strips? Wet your face, peel back the plastic strip and place firmly onto your nose. Wait until it dries completely, like papier mache, and, bam, when you peel off the strip, along comes all the gunk in your nose. Addictive and effective, will definitely be purchasing this one again, as I've done so many a time before. 

Maybelline Fit Me Shine-Free Foundation Stick
I've mentioned this product previously and it also appeared in my last favourites post, and I've finally used this up from using this practically everyday. I started off being wary of this foundation, then I started really liking it... and then I just wanted the damn thing to be finished. The coverage is just okay, and it wears off during the day. It sometimes sits on top of your skin and gets all over your hands. But I suppose on the plus side, it is very easy to apply and reapply. Overall though, while I do love the concept of a stick foundation, I won't be repurchasing this one, maybe opting for the Bobbi Brown one next time.

Revlon Grow Luscious Mascara
This product was actually a repurchase already. It works adequately for nice, even. natural lashes, and I really do think that it helps my lashes to grow. I grew fond of the ridiculously huge brush, but, like a lot of (especially) drugstore mascaras, this one wore off and smudged a bit too. I don't think I'll be purchasing this one again, I did quite like it, but I've got some other mascaras to use up and I think work a bit better considering the price. 

Benefit Bad Gal Lash Mascara
This one isn't technically an empty, but I'm culling it from my collection. I got this in one of those cute Benefit giftsets for Christmas one year, a generous full size mascara. It has a similar brush to Grow Luscious, and the effect is pretty similar with natural, separated lashes, but maybe a tad more glossy. The reason why I'm culling this product, though, is that it just smudges like crazy on my lower lid. The effect is really not worth it to have panda eyes every single time I've used this. 

L'Oreal Elvive Extraodinary Oil

Love this, already repurchased. Really decent price, works wonderfully, not too heavy. I really am loving hair oils and this one seems to work better for my hair than the serums I usually tend to reach for. It makes your hair nice and shiny too, and I think a bit healthier. I use this practically everyday, and there are a couple uses for it, including before shampooing for a deep conditioning, on the ends for protection and all over for shine before styling.

John Frieda Frizz-Ease in Extra Strength Formula

This is also a repurchase, but I'm not sure if I'm going to repurchase it again. It used to be my go-to hair serum, it really made it feel healthy, especially when the ends were burnt and dried to all hell. But I think my hair maybe might have started to get use to it, because it doesn't seem as effective in taming frizz, and is starting to just make my hair feel weighted rather than nourished. 

Edward Beale Hi-Lite Brite Shampoo

This is a purple shampoo that eliminates brassy tones from blonde hair. Well, I don't have blonde hair anymore, but even after I went back to brunette, my boyfriend used the rest of this one up, as he does have naturally dirty blonde hair. This is a really budget purple shampoo, and it's not super effective, but it does alright. I think it works better on naturally blonde hair rather than bleached blonde, but it was cheap and I am a poor student. 

L'oreal Ever Creme Deep Nourishing Masque

I was quite impressed with this hair mask. I usually use the L'oreal Professionel hair range for my treatments, but I saw this new one, and it was on sale in Woolworths, so I thought, hey, might as well. And dang, it smells good, makes my hair feel healthy and soft, I just wish there was more of it. I will probably repurchase this one, once I use up the other Davines hair mask I'm still on.

And those are my empties for the month. Not a whole lot, but I like to think I powered through some of them. Hopefully this should help in cleaning up my collection a bit, here's hoping that I should be able to use up some more makeup products... and therefore have room for more.

Supreme Coral

Anyone else intrigued by MAC's So Supreme collection? I so wanted to collect every single item, but I just asked my parents to maybe pick me up a couple pretty ones (considering they are in the States and all, so much cheaper there). But as I was in David Jones the other day, picking up a couple items as a present for my sister-in-law's upcoming 21st, I couldn't get the Sheen Supreme lipstick in Gotta Dash out of my mind. And so I was a bit cheeky, and picked it up as a pick me up.

Look at that gorgeous packaging. The sheen supremes come in a sturdy metallic tube that's perfectly cylindrical. The cap is certain to not slip off, it really locks in and feels so luxurious and weighty. You'll notice, too, that the shape of the bullet itself is flat rather than their usual slanted edge bullet. Although I do like the shape aesthetically, it is a bitch in usefulness. Because the formula is so dang creamy, you need some (read, a lot of) accuracy to apply this neatly. Another issue is that, although it is buildable, it really does settle into the lines of your lips and highlight any flakiness, so you will need to exfoliate and prep properly beforehand.

left to right, without flash: heavily swatched (basically once), blended swatch

With Flash

Natural Sunlight

MAC describes Gotta Dash as pale clean coral and that's pretty much how I see it. In some lighting it appears a bit more peachy, but it is pale and it is clean and, if applied with care, it looks really nice, not quite neutral but not too bright either. It has a slight glossy sheen to it (ah, that's why they call it that), but, as I said before, it's buildable and can be fully opaque. 

I'm actually glad I limited myself to only one of the Sheen Supreme lipsticks (I asked my parents for a couple of the glosses instead). This lipstick really is difficult for me to apply, what with the extra exfoliating and care before hand, and the care to apply the lipstick where it should be. Funny that this is called Gotta Dash, but it won't be easy to apply in a rush. The colour is absolutely lovely though, perfect for everyday work or class, and it suits really nicely with Spring and Summer coming up. Just only if it wasn't so creamy.

Sasa Haul

God, don't you just love it when a package you ordered arrives when you're in the midst of a big spending/haul ban? Well, not necessarily a ban per sé, more like I don't really have the allocation of funds for a self-absorbed hauling. I originally went browsing on Sasa searching for raved about mascaras as I thought it was a bit pricey to splurge on the YSL Baby Doll Mascara in this moment of college-student-poorness (pre-spending and -haul ban, mind), and what caught my eye was the KOJI Lash Specialist Volume mascara. And, of course, I went through the "clearance" section and "new" section like I usually do whereby I spotted another interesting mascara by FITS called Megaholic Wax Curl Keeper WP and the cute Suki Moisturize CC Cream. 

It had been a while since my last Sasa purchase, so I had a couple items still waiting in my favourites until I gave in and put them in my cart such as the Tony Moly Broccoli Sprout Cleansing Cream and also waiting until a previous favourite came back in stock like the Skin Food Peach Sake Toner. Well I guess the stars aligned, because this "casual browsing" was turning more and more into "confirm payment".

Tony Moly Broccoli Sprout Cleansing Cream

Does Tony Moly not have the cutest packaging ever? Mind you, it's also pretty ridiculously large and sometimes inconvenient... or misleading like their Egg Pore series which, considering the size of the packaging, is mostly empty. This product, however, is pretty damn weighty at 200ml and packed to the brim. I purchased this as, well, a cleansing cream as the name implies, to remove the makeup off my face before I do a full cleanse. 

Skin Food Peach Sake Toner

I love their entire Peach Sake line. It smells wonderful and works wonderfully too. This was my favourite toner, and when I sadly finished it, I went back to Sasa to repurchase and it was no longer available, neither on other sites - so hard to find! Luck was on my side, however, what timing I would check Sasa after such a long period and it be back on the site. 

Suki Moisturize CC Cream in Shade 01

I've never actually heard of the brand Suki and searching around the interwebs for the review of this product were not too helpful. Simply because there weren't many at all! It wasn't all that expensive, and I'm very much in love with the idea of a CC cream and I really quite liked the shape of the bottle... So here's hoping that my faith was not misplaced in this mildly adventurous product.

FITS Megaholic Wax Curl Keeper WP mascara

Good god, can you say ridiculous packaging? Do you see in the picture where the mascara is? And next to it? That's a big flipping piece of plastic packaging attached. But it's cute, and thin, so maybe forgiveable. Honestly, what grabbed my attention was not really the goofy cute illustration of the woman with bazongas and ridiculous mutant eyelashes, but that it's a wax mascara. I mean, I know mascaras have wax in them, so it made me curious why the wax in this one was so important. Oh and the "WP" in the name is for waterproof.

KOJI Lash Specialist Volume mascara

KOJI has never let me down, despite not having a heap of products by them. So this mascara intrigued me what with the numbers (apparently a 4.3mm is the size of the brush?) and the unusual square brush. So what the hey, might as well test another mascara out, nevermind the other mascaras I have that I still need to try. But again, look at the ridiculous packaging. And the brush wand itself is like, two thirds of the entire mascara. That's not what I mind so much, just something to keep in mind. Expectations of what you'll get and what not.

I've ordered from Sasa a buttload of times (to use the medical term). My packages have always arrived in a timely manner and each product well handled (comes in a box with packing peanuts and products are wrapped in bubblewrap). I've even made it to VIP status, giving me a discount on each purchase I make (as well as VIP-only specials). And yeah. I guess Sasa is a nice starting point for those interested in (mostly) Asian skincare and makeup, everything ships nicely and in a timely manner and, in my experience, I've never had anything go wrong or any issues. So here's hoping the products themselves are just as good.

August Favourites 2013: The Convenience Month

Good lord, this year is going by so quick, how the hell is it already September? But I'm sort of glad for it, I just want to be done with uni for the year and then settle slowly into Christmas celebrations already. This month really has not been all that kind, what with my studies finally coming in full swing, losing a job, having to baby sit a very needy cat (and he's still here) and dance exams. So maybe it's good, we're finally shooting off into the final third of the year. 

I didn't have a huge range of favourites this month, everything seems so busy. So most of the products were really for convenience, a helping to look polished really easily. I only included one skin care product this month, and I used it when I could, just for an extra helping for my skin so it doesn't get too out of whack.

Maybelline Fit Me Shine-Free Foundation Stick in Natural Beige (220)
I mentioned this product in a previous post, and I'm not too sure that this can be counted as a favourite. I more used this just for convenience, but considering I basically used it every single day since I purchased it, I thought I could put it into my favourites. It's very easy to apply, just strategically place a couple war stripes on your face and blend with your fingers. Kind of true of all Maybelline foundations I've tried though, it seems to just not quite blend and more sit on top of your skin. The lasting power isn't too great either, but it provides enough coverage and you can carry it with you for a touch up during the day.

Shiro Cosmetics Fatality Finishing Powder
I am quite impressed with this setting powder. It is so finely milled, has a very faint but pleasant scent to it, and really does it's job. It sets your face without making it too matte, but will keep the oilies at bay and just makes your skin feel nice. No bad words about this one, Shiro the Indie cosmetics company did a great job formulating this bad boy and at such a great price too.

Maybelline Color Tattoo by Eyestudio 24hr eyeshadow in Tough as Taupe (35)
This was the first color tattoo I ever got, and it was purchased by my lovely brother for my birthday. I never really wore it much though, as it looked a bit dull on my eyes by itself, and not generally the shade of eyeshadow base I would reach for. But I saw posts online saying that Tough as Taupe worked brilliantly for filling in your brows, and I figured, hey, that makes sense, it is matte and quite ashy... So  I tried it out and good god why did it take me so long. I've never had brows better or more polished. The only thing is, is that it is a tad bit too grey for my colouring and my hair colour too. To combat this, I just top off my brows with Anastasia Beverly Hills Coloured Brow Gel in Graphite and there we have it. Perfect, sculpted brows all day.

Private affair palette first four shades

Lorac Private Affair Palette, shades 1, 2, 3, 4

This is what has really been helping me look quite altogether. Just a quick brush of any one of the extremely buttery shades helps perk up my eyes and make me a tad bit prettier. I usually just go for the third shade in the palette, but any of the first four can work well on my skin tone. I didn't really reach for the last two darker colours, just because they're a bit more "nighttime" than my everyday look, but any combination of the shades in the palette work well together. My favourite being shade 3 all over the lid, shade four in the inner corner and a tad bit of shade 5 in the outer v.

Maybelline Illegal Length  mascara in Blackest Black

Well, isn't Maybelline getting a lot of love this month? I've always been a tad bit curious about this mascara ever since they released it, as I do love fiber mascaras, and so I finally picked it up when Priceline had 50% off all Maybelline products. And really, this is a pretty decent mascara. Separates and the fibers really help to lengthen. It gives a really cute dolly look. There is not a whole heap of volume though and I've noticed that it can wear off a bit during the day, but I can always touch up and there isn't any flaking or that much smudging. 

Mario Badescu Whitening Mask

I'm quite the fan of Mario Badescu products, I think their Acne Facial Cleanser is what really helped turn my skin around. This face mask is said to "brighten up uneven or dull skin" and I really do think it helps, I can see changes straight after using it. It is smooth and creamy, smells really, really nice (almost like grape) and drys on your face like a clay mask. Keep it on for ten minutes and wash it off with warm water, there you have brighter, more even skintone.

So that's it! That's all I have for this month. Really, a month of mostly drugstore and convenience products that have just really help me to pull it all together in a timely manner.