Top 5 blushes

Don't you love it how some girls have that beautiful flush of colour on their cheeks, like they've been running for a few minutes? Next to actually having to go for a run, you can achieve this look by applying some blush on the apples of your cheek

In my former blog post I explained how to apply blush. If you haven't read it, check it out here :)

Without further ado, let's get this blush party started!

5. Canmake
When I bought this blush I had no idea how big the brand Canmake was. Turns out it's a very well known brand and is famous for its cute packaged make up items. I have to admit I caved for this blush because of its packaging. It seemed compact and getting 2 colors for one, is something every girl with a budget can appreciate. It has a coral and a pink side. You can use the colors separately, but you can also mix these 2 colors together to get a light pink.

Canmake: 03

4. Physician's Formula
Even you didn't believe me when I said I'm a sucker for packaging, please let this blush be a great example to that theory. Look how freaking amazing this blush looks and you'll want it too, haha! It has different sizes of hearts and it has about 3 colors you can mix. It gives a lovely healthy glow to the cheeks and is just wonderful to have in your collection. This is perfect for those days you don't want a lot of color on you, but you still want to add a radiance to your cheeks too appear awake and happy of course :)

Physician's Formula Happy Booster: Natural

3. MAC
This blush is probably my most expensive blush I own. It's a matte corally blush that has a great pigmentation and will stay for quite some time. Just be careful when applying this because you have to dab in very lightly with your blush brush and you'll have more than enough on your brush. Yes, they're not expensive, but since a little goes a long way I don't see my finishing this blush any time soon. A good investment I'd say!

MAC: Melba

2. Tarte Amazonian Clay Blissful
Tarte is known for its blushes and I just had to get myself one to see what the hype was all about. Next to the pretty blush itself, it gives the lovely subtle sheen I love. I got Blissful and it's a very light coral color, so hence that it seems very light. This blush stayed on me the entire day. I'm withholding myself to get another color, must...finish...this...one...first. (which will never happen!). Another detail worth mentioning: this blush is formulated without mineral oil, parabens, petrolatum, phthalates, sodium lauryl sulfate and synthetic fragrance.

Tarte Amazonian Clay 12-hour blush: Blissful

1. Benefit Coralista
My number 1 blush... This coral color will suit a lot of skintones and just gives the perfect amount of color and sheen to your cheeks. A wonderful blush that has a pleasant fragrance as well. The blush will stay for a very good amount of time. I like this blush because it's a no brainer blush. You don't have to be careful when applying this. Just dab in your blush brush and apply to your cheeks. No matter how many times you go over it with blush, it'll look great!

Benefit: Coralista

Here's a swatch of the blushes I just mentioned above. The swatches are only 1 swipe because I usually go over my cheeks just 1 time:

Left to right: Benefit, Tarte, MAC, Physician's Formula, Canmake

It's obvious that MAC and Physician's Formula are more pigmented, followed by Benefit's Coralista. I like the 2 others because they give that healthy glow to the face.
MAC is a little bit darker and is more pink than the PF's coral blush. Coralista is a coral (duh?) with a sheen to it. Blissful by Tarte is more of a corally, almost golden sheen, while Canmake's blush is the pink version of it.

Anyway, these are my favorite blushes. Mind sharing your favorite blush with me? Maybe I'll turn out to like it as well!

Battle of the eyeliners

Hi blog readers :)

I've had my share of eyeliners, but unfortunately my oily eyelids, my sensitive and water-very-easily eyes don't appreciate eyeliners as much I'd like to.

I have typical Asian eyelashes. You know, stubborn, stick straight pointing down and very scarce in quantity. Yes, those kind of lashes.

Meanwhile I've gotten to know the magical make up tool which calls an eyelash curler. Ever since I've used it, my lashes can become curly. In spite of not having lots of them, I don't like wearing false eyelashes, I've found out that you can fake the look of having more eyelashes than you actually have by putting eyeliner on your upper waterline, mwoehahaha! And here's when the eyeliners swoop in!

I've used pencils, liquid, gel eyeliners. Quick conclusion? I love gel, like liquid and usually hate pencils eyeliners.

Pencils cause my eyes to water and the white in my eyes becomes red. Also, these can smudge quite easy on my eyes.
Liquids are not very easy to work with, and smudge or rub off eventually.
Gels stay on me the longest.

Today, I'll be comparing not 1, not 2, but 15 kind of eyeliners, including my all time favorite, so stay tuned!

Here's an overview of all the eyeliners. I've swatched them accordingly to the separate reviews down below. Just in case, here's the list with all the brand names:

I've swatched all eyeliners on my hand.
On the right picture I've tested these with saliva to test whether they're really as waterproof (=WP) as they claim to be. I swiped over the liners 3 times with my finger. As you can see, there are a bunch of them which did not succeed the water test.

* Mac technakohl

* Déjà vu Lasting fine

* Maybelline Master drama

* Mulensa

* Rimmel Scandaleyes (WP)

* Dolly Wink

* Benefit BAD gal (WP)

* Cover girl perfect point plus

* Cosmagic lock on liner

* Almay

* Maybelline Eyeliner-matic

* L'Oréal Color Riche Le Smoky

* Catrice (WP)

* Prestige (WP)

Those who survived, were put up to round 2: the waterline.

This eyeliner is probably one of my most expensive eye pencil. No offense, but big brands must promise something good, right? I'm afraid this pencil disappointed me so bad. It smudged, it didn't endure the water test (not that it said waterproof, but still) and it's pricey. No, I won't repurchase this. 4/10

Mac technakohl liner eye liner kajal in graphblack

This is an Asian eye pencil, which I bought in Hong Kong. I heard so much about this brand, I thought I'd give the eye liner a shot. Unfortunately I didn't like this. Perhaps it stayed on me for about an hour, but that's it. In spite of putting it on my waterline, I'd like a pencil to stay put longer than 60 minutes, don't you? A poor 2/10

Déjàvu Lasting fine in black

Maybe it's Maybelline. It sure is Maybelline :) I didn't expect much from this pencil to be quite honest. I bought this at the local drugstore and I thought it would smudge on me like no other, as most drugstore eyeliners do, but I have to admit that this has surprised me, in a good way. This stayed on my waterline after a few hours, barely smudged and the price is right. This deserves a proper 8/10

Maybelline Master drama khol liner in charcoal grey

My friend bought me a khol pencil in France. Mulensa. I never heard of it, but gave it a try anyway. I've put this on my waterline a while back and it stayed put, but I don't know why it smudges immediately after testing it for this blog post. It failed badly at the water test, so another flunk: 1/10

Mulensa khol pencil in black

I bought this drugstore eyeliner after hearing that this is the drugstore version of the Urban Decay 24/7 glide on pencils. LIAR!! It's a shame that this isn't able in a solely black pencil. The pencil I have contains little chunks of glitter causing my sensitive eyes to become red and watery. It didn't take long for this eyeliner to smudge and to even cause a little bit of pain. Thanks a lot glitter... 0/10

Rimmel Scandaleyes kohl liner in 002 sparkling black (waterproof)

For the Asian beauty fans out there, who doesn't know Dolly Wink? The liquid eyeliner has reached an incredible fame, but I've never heard anyone talked about the pencil. On the hand, it's ok, but it's not good at all to put on the waterline. You'd think: well, then just put it on your eyelid. I can't. My oily eyelids makes this eye pencil smudge as hell and I'll look like a panda in no time. Too bad, but nice try, I'll stay with the liquid Dolly Wink: 4/10

Dolly Wink liner in black

We've all heard about the Benefit bad gal liner. I like the pigmentation and the lasting power is ... okay. I don't love this liner, but I can put it if I only have to go out for an hour or 2. I told you so, it's not the best liner. Again, you pay a price for the brand. Luckily this performs a little bit better than some others... 6/10

Benefit BAD gal liner in charcoal, comes with smudger (waterproof)

I don't even know why I wanted to buy this eyeliner. I always heard so many good things on the brand Covergirl, so how bad could it be? Well, let me tell you one thing: this pencil eyeliner should be called smudgetown, haha! No, it didn't leave my eyes watery, but dang...I looked straight up like a panda after 15 minutes, for real! Definitely not worth your money people: 1/10

Cover girl perfect point plus in 205 charcoal, comes with smudger

An Asian eyeliner that didn't do the job properly. Smudged on me after a half an hour, although it didn't cause any more sensitivity, hence my 3/10

Cosmagic lock on liner in black, comes with smudger

After reading so many good reviews on this eyeliner, I just had to give this pencil a try. This did stay put on my waterline at first, but unfortunately this did smudge eventually. Ok, but not good enough. 7/10

Almay eyeliner in 205 black, comes with sharpener

After seeing the results on the swatch picture, you'd think this would perform great. Well, I'm here to tell you this is not a great pencil, but it does the job. It doesn't last as long as other good eye pencils on the waterline, since it's not waterproof. But in spite it's not waterproof, it's aight :) 7/10

Maybelline Eyeliner-matic in intense black, comes with sharpener

  

First off: dang, that pencil is sharp! It actually hurt putting this liner onto my waterline. But back to the purpose of this review: no, it did not last on my waterline. Since it says 'Le Smoky' and there's a smudger with it, I can't blame them for not staying put on my waterline. 3/10

L'Oréal Color Riche Le Smoky eyeliner in 201 black velour, comes with smudger

Catrice, a brand which is often neglected for no understandable reasons. I'm not sure whether the States have access to this brand, but I'm pretty sure some countries in Europe do. Anyway, for a drugstore pencil, this is a good eye pencil. It stays on my waterline for quite some time, I like the twistable pencil and I appreciate the sharpener that comes with. Overall, I like this one: 8/10

Catrice longlasting eye pencil in 010 new kids on the black, comes with sharpener (waterproof)

I've always compared Catrice with Prestige (don't ask me why). Now, I've had this pencil longer than I had the Catrice one. Twist up, waterproof, black eyeliner... It has all I need in an eye pencil. But no... It's no good. It doesn't stay put for too long and my eyes become very red after putting this eyeliner, so a 4/10.

Prestige eyeliner in 01 black (waterproof)

And last but not least, ma favorite pencil. No, I didn't swatch this on the overview of pencils, because I wanted to save this one as a surprise :) This is a gel pencil. When putting this on my waterline, this dried immediately so it stayed put on my waterline. Can I just mention that this didn't budge at all! By far, this is the best eyeliner I have ever used! Definitely worth a 9/10. I couldn't give this full points, because it did smudge a bit on my hand after testing with water (look below)

Jealousness in black (waterproof)

Now I've put all eyeliners to the test, I'm glad to announce the top 3:
Here's another swatch picture of my winners. You'll see that the right side is a bit blurry, that's because I, again, put them to the water test.

*drumroll*

Top down: Maybelline Masterdrama - Jealousness - Catrice

 Results:

3. Catrice
2. Maybelline Masterdrama
1. Jealousness




The thing I like the most about all 3 eye liners is that they're all drugstore products. So they're affordable liners with a great staying power. I can't do anything but recommend these babies!

 

After testing these goodies, I'm still on the hunt for good eyeliners (yes, I'm obsessed, but so are you!) But tell me, do you know any good eyeliners that you happen to love? :)

Fav BB cream

Hi everyone!

I'm back with another blog post, and today I want to talk to you beauties about my favorite BB cream!

The problem with BB creams for me is that these are mostly towards quite pale girls. Since I'm more a light-to-medium-kind of girl, I thought this BB cream was right up my alley!

Cantabile BB cream

It's by the Korean brand called Cantabile.
To be honest, I have never heard about this brand before my friend suggested this product to me. She was raving on how good it was and as a beauty blogger I couldn't restrain myself and I just had to get myself one and give this baby a try!


As you can see the packaging is quite ... ridiculous :)
Can you imagine how the meeting must have taken place: "Oh, let's put a BB cream on the market and let's put an Asian guy on the packaging!"
Please note that there's a quote 'It makes your skin sing'.




Anyway, back to the actual product, shall we?

This BB cream's official name is i.myss Cantabile BB Cream Magic Secret. Quite a mouth full huh? :)

It's a 50ml little tube and has SPF 25 PA++.
(Side note: SPF indicates UVB protection and PA+++ indicates UVA protection. Please keep in mind that both are important to keep your skin healthy looking!)

What I love about this product is that it comes out as a nude colors but applies translucent on the skin, yet covers the little blemishes...AWESOME!

I mostly slap on some of my Benefit Porefessional to smooth out the canvas to work on, then I go over with this baby!


The only downside is that this is only available in Korea, not really sure whether this is being sold in HK. You can find this online, and costs you about 15$ without shipping costs. Unless you have awesome friends who can go to Korea and get this for you :)

I've tried the Skin 79 (pink one) and the Missha BB cream, and I must say that I prefer this BB cream over the 2 more famous ones. Skin 79 and Missha were quite pale on me and I like it how the cream adjusts to my skin color. No fussing, just there to slap on your face without thinking about contouring, lovely!

What other BB creams have you given a shot?

Minimize them pores!

I never had too much trouble covering HUGE pores which are staring blankly at you... Luckily no :) But I did find something to cover those little ones.
I found the POREfessional by Benefit.

Benefit - the POREfessional

It's says it's a PRO balm to minimize the appearance of pores.
Claims to be the following:

• oil-free
• lightweight
• translucent
• silky

It's supposed to minimize the appearance of pores and fine lines for smooher-than-smooth skin.

Good thing about this is that you can use this under or over your makeup.


It's a light tinted gel which goes on translucent. It doesn't leave any grease film on your skin.
And something I like on top of this: this doesn't make me oily after wearing it for a couple of hours, yay!

Benefit - 22ml

I've put my moisturizer and then I've applied a dab (the tiniest amount does the job!) of POREfessional. My make has stayed put the entire day and it has really made my skin softer than a baby's butt!
I barely notice the pores on my face and it makes my BB cream go on even smoother!
 
The only downside to this that this is not cheap. This comes down to 23EUR (or 30$). I'm not used to paying so much money for 1 product, but I have to admit ... I will be repurchasing this goodie, in spite of the price...THAT is how much I like this! :)

Now I truly understand why this product is called one of Benefit's best sellers!

Blush away!

Hi everyone!

I don't know about you guys, but during fall and winter time I just love using my blushes!
Recently I bought myself a NYX blush, and I must say: this one's goooorgeous!

I try to do some research on a certain product before I go out and buy it. If there's about 1/3 negative reviews on it, I won't buy it.

I've probably read a ton of reviews and seen youtubers reviewing and raving about this blush over and over again.

And yes, I gave in.

Here's Pinched by NYX:

Great thing about this?
It's affordable and you get 5,2g in a little pot. Hold it! You're probably thinking: 5,2g (0,18 oz)? That's nothing! Believe you me that you only need the smallest amount of blush, because it's very pigmented :)

NYX: Pinched

 

This is a a rosy-corally blush with a pretty sheen to it.

My most used blushes are:

Melba, Pinched and Coralista :)

MAC: Melba - NYX: Pinched

MAC's Melba is a light pink orangy color, which is more of a summer blush for me. Tap it lightly with your brush and that'll be more than enough to put on the (hollow of the) cheeks.

NYX: Pinched - Benefit: Coralista

Benefit's Coralista is like an all year round blush. No matter what season it is, I think this blush looks good.

It's a very light blush that you can easily build up for a more heavily made up look. I prefer to use a light hand on this, so it looks more natural like you just ran out the door.

A side note: it's just one of those colors that would look great on every skin tone.

Here's a swatch of every blush mentioned above:

Benefit - NYX - MAC

From left to right:

Coralista by Benefit: a baby pink with microshimmers (good to know: I've had my Coralista for a few years now, and I haven't hit pan yet! Score!)

Pinched by NYX: a coral shimmery color

Melba by MAC: a mat pink/orange color

I have some other blushes put away in my beauty case, because I just keep on reaching for one of these blushes.

I always wanted to try out Deep Throat by NARS, because NARS is the queen in blushes :) But I've put myself up to the task to use an entire blush before I go out and splurge money on a NARS blush. Beam me up! 

Maybe I'll do a blog post on my entire blush collection :)

Would that be interesting?

And what is your favorite blush by the way?