The Face Shop: Post-Acne Brightening Serum

I share a love/hate relationship with this product. In fact, till date I really don't know what went wrong in the early days of our relationship.

I bought this product with the main aim of reducing my post acne scars - I have itchy fingers that seems to pluck pimples subconsciously, even when I'm asleep :( Initially this product didn't really do much. So I chucked it aside. But when the pimples subsided, and I tried to apply this over the dead scars, I realised that it does lighten scars! A little by little of course. But the amazing thing is that... 

IT ACTUALLY HELPS TO PREVENT MORE PIMPLES FROM FORMING!

I apply this after toning my face. And after it has been absorbed, I then apply my moisturiser and sunblock. I used this everyday and night and yes, it works :) It's a lightweight translucent pinkish liquid serum that has a pleasant smell to it.

I guess this is going to be my back-up for my post acne times. It's about to finish and I'm gonna try other products first, and might eventually head back to this. Good stuff.

Review: The Face Shop Face it - All About Eyeliner

I used up the last bit of my favourite eyeliner - Stage's Liquid Liner in Woodstock. Sadly, I can't seem to locate Stage anywhere right now, so I had to make do with whatever I could get at my mall. Afterall, all I need is longlasting and smudgeproof liquid liners for my daily use. Randomly, I decided to pop in The Face Shop and take a look at their eyeliners and I'm pretty impressed with what I found.

Face It All About Eyeliner comes in a purple tube that trims down at the bottom. It's rather sleek and I foresee it being in my makeup pouch for the first week of heading out - just in case touch ups are looming around the corner since it has been raining crazily. It contains 4.5g of product, but doesn't feel much of a weight.

It seems to come in only 1 color - which is Black 01. I don't think Korean brands carry much of brown eyeliners. Most of the eyeliners I see in Korean cosmetics are black, maybe because Korean Make up looks are known for its crisp, and clean look? 

And it comes with a fine brush applicator that seems to provide a decent amount of control. I'm still not too used to the winging out of my eyeliner with this brush because it can be a little too soft. But I'm sure I'll be able to overcome that with daily practice!

These are the possible lines of different thickness that I randomly drew on the back of my hand, to show that it has a good amount of control. Face It All About Eyeliner is highly pigmented and dries to a matte finish - which I prefer over the shiny finish. (and yes, I've been swatching like crazy for an upcoming review on the different colors of Silkygirl's Funky Eyelights)

Price: $13.90~ thereabouts.

It survived through day 1 of testing without any base or primer- where I had to brace the drizzle on my way home. There were no obvious smearing, but very very minimal smudging was noted when I looked really closely in the mirror at the end of 9 hours of wearing - very decent I'd say, since I got caught in the drizzle! It came off easily with warm water and facial cleanser - no raccoon eyes! Yay! 

In a nutshell: It's travel-friendly, has a decent brush applicator and dries to a matte finish. It also survived through a drizzle session that lasted for about a good 5 minutes and as well as 9 hours of exposure to minimal sun and slight rain.

I really like this product and I'm sure after a week or two of wearing, this is definitely become my go-to eyeliner!

FPOTM: June 2011

Hi everybody!

Because I have simply too much stuff (I find, that is), I have decided to come up with this Finished-Products-In-A-Month Challenge. Which is simply to post up pictures and reviews of the items that I have completed in that particular month. The objective is pretty simple, that is to use items on a regular basis (read: religiously) to complete them. And also to generate some posts for this blog. Oh, of course, to curb my boredom before school starts!

To start of the end of a mid year: Finished Products for June 2011!

I knowww, only 4 products. But I only thought of this challenge thingy around midweek. So I hope I have more stuff in July !

1. Mandom Cleansing Express - Brighten & Moist.
This is somewhat like a toner that claims to brighten(blue)/moist(white) your skin as you apply them throughout the days. I got them in sample size and I practically took forever to use them up. I brought them to Taiwan last year, but the moisturising properties weren't enough for the sudden change in climate I believe. My face still flaked and I came back to Singapore with a very crispy nose. Hahahah. I think they're pretty alright. Nothing fanciful or outta the world but does it job's just good. Oh, it's really great for lazy people (ie: Me), especially when you're all dead tired from a long hectic day. Just slather the white bottle (moist) product on your face and you're good to concuss. And when you're awake, after your cleansing, just slather on the blue bottle (brighten). I usually do that ;)


2. The Face Shop - Quick & Clean Sebum Control Toner.
I like this alot! But it's pretty expensive at a price of $24.90 - especially so when I used this up within 2 & half months or so? I use this twice a day and I really like how well it picks up dirt and all that excess dead skin on the surface of my face. It's lemongrass scented (naturally) and I really like how refreshing it feels on my skin. I initially thought that it's probably just another Toner, but it has proved otherwise with my skin reacting positively towards it. My mini pimples have definitely gotten smaller and less inflamed - thus healing faster. I guess that's where the sebum control part work! :)

3. Beauty Formulas - Cucumber & Avocado Facial Scrub (Refreshing)
I got this because the local watson's ran out of my other staple facial scrub. It wasn't a bad substitute. It's mild cleansing properties allowed me to use it daily without scrubbing my entire face off. I love the whipped cream texture of this scrub & it's my daily exfoliator. As compared to certain brands, the microbeads aren't too many - I prefer more of those microbeads because they're like equivalent to how much scrubbing your face is gonna get. It's like a psychological thing I believe. Hahhaa. This entire tube costs less than $8 and it lasted me for a good year.

That's all for June! Busy month, and I think July is gonna be worst - I foresee some shopping for school (excuses)

PS: Cynthia you should do this too! You have too many!

My Basic Makeup Review.

Hello!

As promised, some updates! But I kinda did it at the wrong time or something because the lighting in the photos are a little bad as they were taken during the wee hours of the night, so there wasn't any natural lighting at all, just fluorescent room lighting. So. Gotta. Improve. On. That.

In anycase, today I'm just gonna do a review of the basic cosmetics that I usually reach out to, when I'm heading out. Nothing fancy, really minimalistic and yet it gets the job done - mainly just to make myself look less tired and more put-together. Probably have to improve on this point as well. (I'm such a terrible person..) I don't have the prices/ingredients of the products (you could ask, still!) as they were bought quite awhile back before Cynthia and I decided that we need to resurrect this blog.

BACK-TO-BASICS!

Group shot! (:

1. The Face Shop - Dual Lip Care Kit - Tinted Lipbalm + Exfoliator

I really like this and I can never seem to finish this! This lip scrub and balm comes in a 2-tiered screw-on container. The brown product you guys see above, is the lipscrub! I think it contains shea butter and some ground nuts/coconut shell - which makes it a very natural exfoliator. It makes your lips smooth, and at the same time, it moisturises without the shine as you gotta wash it off after scrubbing, heh. However, if you want the slight shine, just slap on the tinted lip balm, which seems to be clear in the pot, but goes on as a slight pink tint to your lips! Really natural looking and nothing overboard. (:

This is one of my basic staples that I use pretty much daily, even if I'm gonna apply a lip color on, I'll just minus the balm. It aids in the application of the lip color, allowing it to last a little longer, making your lips smooth and soft!

2. STAGE Mono eyeshadow in Irish Cream

This is a champagne colored eyeshadow that goes pretty much all over my face. STAGE is a Malaysian cosmetic brand that has a wide range of make up and many are highly raved! I have this on the centre of my lids and the inner corners for some perk-me-up as I look (and feel) really sleepy in the morning, even when I'm just out from a hot bath. If you enlarge the above, you can see that it has a subtle shimmer to it, and comes off pretty much the same as my skin color, so I can be really lazy in blending, hehe. Sometimes, when I'm in a rush, I use this as my face highlighter as well. I apply it on the top of my cheekbones and a little on the bridge of flat nose for some definition and dewy effect!

3. STAGE - Liquid Eyeliner in 02 Woodstock
This is a dark brown liquid eyeliner that has a pretty amazing staying power on my lids - which makes it easy for school days because I really can't be bothered to touch up during the day. The makeup you apply in the morning should stay on throughout the day! So this does its' job well. I intend to get some backups soon, so I guess you guys could expect a post on that! (: This eyeliner goes on smooth, and it's dark brown color makes it less harsh compared to black. I was an avid black liner girl, until I lost my tan, and dark brown seems to look better on fairer skin! I usually use this on my outer upper lid for some wing and definition.

4. STAGE Picture Perfect Pencil Camouflage in 02 Tiramisu
I'm loving the names STAGE use for their cosmetics! They make me crave for dessert all the time :( Anyway, I carry this baby along for emergencies. Singapore's weather is pretty insane so it kind of cultivates my pimples to be a little insane as well. So I pop this baby in my bag, just incase one of the red nasty pimples decides to give me a visit. It's lasting power is decent, but I'm not too sure if its drying on my skin because I use a small amount each time. I don't use this to cover my insane eye circles, because I'd be wasting the product, the surface area of my eye circles is too much for this kid to handle. haha. I read online that this has been quite often compared to Stila's Kajal Eyeliner in Topaz - which is an amazing skintone eye pencil that many use it to line their waterline instead of using white eyeliners.

5. The Body Shop Baked-to-Last Cheek Color in 02 Coral

This coral shade of blush is more pink then coral-coral. It comes off as a really nice natural pink glow on your face! It contains subtle shimmers to it which enhances the dewy effect that I kinda go for. Haha. However the highlight shade is just a tad chalky when used alone. No big issues since I use both of them together as a whole. Anyway, just a side note, TBS Baked to Last range is indeed very lasting because I've been using this for about 8-9 months on ALMOST a daily basis, and nope, no significant dents on the product itself! I 'd even swatch if for fun when I just wanna compare all my blush shades!

6. The Face Shop - FACEit Designing Cake Eyebrow in Shade 01
Lastly, just some brow definition. Cynthia once told me that it's pretty crucial to define our brows. At that point, I couldn't be bothered with the grooming of my eyebrows that was only maintained like once a month when my Mom drags me for facials. But now, I kinda tweeze of stray hairs whenever I see them in the mirror. Haha. So I got this brow set from TFS, because they were having some sort of a sale then, or something like that. I usually use the lighter shade for the filling of the front part of the brows, and the darker shade for the ends of the brows as they are supposedly to look defined. So far, it's been alright, though I feel that it doesn't last long enough.

Okay! So that's about it, for now. Most of the items are still instore at the moment, except TFS Dual Lip Care, I think. But I believe you should be able to make your own lip scrub! Its everywhere on youtube.com. So go check it out!

PS: I just chopped off a pair of high waist thrifted jeans into a high waist shorts, AND IM LOVIN' IT. I love DIYs. (:

Till then!
lynetteee

DIY: nails cuticle treatment

It took me forever to try to get these photos organised! :( (I am really bad with computers etc)

Anyways, like the tittle, yes! This is about the ugly nail cuticles. When we go for a classic manicure the manicurist will remove it for us. But! imagine the amount of money and time we will save by doing it ourselves!

Many might not notice their nail cuticles, but it is really important to get rid of them so that we can have beautiful nails. Some might have painstakingly painted their nails to perfection, however, should they leave their cuticles unattended, the colour will not have a nice 'U' shape. Ok I might have lost you here, so here's some photos!

(I trim my cuticles often, hence the U shape is quite alright. Are yours ok too?)

To remove our nails cuticles, we need several things. I bought all my stuff from faceshop.

1. Nail balm: to soften our cuticles. So that when we remove them later, we will not tear out extra skin or bleed. Apply a little amount on our cuticles.

2. Cuticle remover: to remove our cuticles, DUH! hahaha! how to? after the application of nail balm to all 10 fingers, start removing the cuticles in the same order. Because by the time we got around to the 10th finger, the 1st finger's cuticle would have soften already! One by one, by the time we remove the cuticles one by one, the 10th finger's cuticle would have been soften.

we hold the cuticle remover in our hands, and rest the V on the cuticle. apply a little pressure and push it downwards. like the second finger, we start from the middle of the nail. to the left and downwards, to the right and downwards. We MUST NEVER push it upwards as it might tear our skin and result in BLEEDING or SEVER PAIN!

TA-DA! It's real easy! I circled the cuticles as I find it hard to spot them on the tissue! OMG! that's really alot right!

WHEEE! my cuticle free fingers! hahaha! for people who hasn't done this before, look at the U. the little white stuff has vanished and the U is smoother (less jagged).

Is this it???? NOOOOOOO! we still have to take care of our nails, by applying these~

Apple this on the nails to keep them healthy and smooth!

Cuticle Care: apply this on the cuticles so as to keep them moisturized.

Guess what? all of the stuff that I've used here is around 20-30? SO CHEAP AND I CAN USE IT FOR SOOOOO LONG!!!!!

are your fingers cuticle free too?

Eyelash and Eyebrow nutrition liquid

Review: The faceshop- eyelash and eyebrow nutrition liquid

PROS: It works wonders!!!!! my lashes grew DAMN LONG and THICK... hardly need any mascara...(I saw results after applying 2x a day for 2 weeks)

CONS: appyling day and night makes you feel rather irritated and lazy after some time... hahaha

PRICE: $13.90

OVERALL: its a MUST HAVE for fab lashes!!!!

RATE: 5/5

PICTURES:

Pure Spa Water Cleansing Foam

Review: The Face Shop- Pure Spa Water Cleansing Foam

PROS: Skin feels light after washing... Also, it feels really clean and fresh after washing... hehehe... Furthermore, it's oil free, so it will not cause oil pores on my

face. Plus, it's a really big bottle and you can use it for monthsssss... real value for money!!! (have been using it for 8 months and it's STILL not finishing)

CONS: It does not help with blackhead problems.

OVERALL: It's a must try!

RATE: 4.5/5

PICTURES: