Suqqu 102 Yuufujiiro

This is apparently a Japan Isetan exclusive palette that somehow made its way to Taiwan as well. I did a quick text to my lovely makeup comrade in Taiwan to help me grab one. 

Look at that lilac shade. Omg I live for that. Although it’s a fine line between a nice lilac and one that makes me look tired, I took the plunge. Hey, it’s Suqqu and LE! I’m such a sucker for it. 

Ermagerdddd the middle two shades are just gorgeous. It looks like an innoculous beige highlight shade in the pan but swatches like peach, beige and taupe had a baby. The lilac shade is very brightening on the eyes! Love it! I thought the darkest shade would be a slight burgundy but it ended up as a true brown. 

Suqqu indeed brings surprises and this is no exception. Unfortunately this is probably a unicorn to try get… so this goes down the list of swatches for references rather than to enable others to buy (*hangs head in apology*) 

Suqqu 104 Natsusango

Suqqu hardly fails to excite me. With its UK exclusive launches, I find myself jumping through many hoops just to get my little hands on them. 

When the opportunity came to snatch one, I did so without hesitation. 

Presenting Suqqu 104 Natsusango! 

Look at it! So pwetty!! Love the terracotta shade though not a fan of the black shade. 

The quality never disappoints and its a well pigmented palette. I always have my reservations on black shades in the eyeshadow palette as its the least used shade for me. 

However for this one, it serves to mix with the terracotta shade to give a lovely burnt orange-burgundy kinda shade (sorry I didn’t take a picture of the mixed shade). It is a tad dry to mix though so I had to be hardworking and blend like my life depended on it. 

I enjoy how each Suqqu eyeshadow palette is an art adventure in mixing and fiddling proportions. The other two shades in this palette are highlight shades for me and they complement the terracotta shade well. Clearly I think the terracotta is the star of this palette! 

Did you pick up any items from the Suqqu UK Summer exclusive collection? Let me know! 

Tom Ford Summer 2017 – Paradise Lust

Hmmm ~ Summer is here! One of the best Summer collection is from Tom Ford. Their collection is always on point 👌🏻

I only picked up Paradise Lust because I love the formula of Bicoastal from last year. 

Paradise Lust on the left and Bicoastal on the right. Love love the formula, blends so well and easy to use. It’s not powdery so each dab of the brush onto the blush yields just enough colour and I do not have to worry about overdoing it. 

I’ve done comparison swatches between Bicoastal and Paradise lust. I find Paradise Lust to be more warm. The blush shade is a reddened coral and the highlight shade is a golden yellow. This is in contrast to Bicoastal which is more cool in toned. 

Both are lovely enough to justify having two of them! Did you pick up anything from Tom Ford Summer 2017? 

ZA Eyeshadow in RD 47 & Visee Avant 018 Neo Antique

With the help of a lovely friend, I managed to get the ZA eyeshadow quad in RD47. It seems to be always sold out at Watsons 😭 With ZA being less aggressive in marketing, there’s not much info on these new quads.

It is a red/burgundy quad that’s all the rage right now. 

The top left shade (left most swatch) is marketed as a brightening/correcting shade. It makes a good base as well. The peachy pink shade next is pretty lovely and helps to balance the shades together. 

The star of the palette would be the bright red and burgundy. Both shades are well pigmented and swatch well. They blend easily together as well. Love how these shades are matte and only the peach-pink is shimmery. 

This is an underrated palette that’s wallet friendly (should be less than SGD20) and perfect for those who want to try out red shades. 
Next up, the Visee Avant eyeshadow single! Unfortunately this brand can only be found in Japan or Taiwan and did not hit SG shores. 

In the pan, it looks like a shimmery burgundy shade. Lol yes I am on a burgundy kick that started with Dior’s Trafalgar and there’s no end in sight. 

I swatched it after the ZA palette to compare how it is next to the burgundy shade in the ZA palette. Surprisingly, it is a dark brown shade! It has pink shimmers in it and I guess that’s how I mistook it for being burgundy 😂

It’s also well pigmented and I can’t wait to use it. 

Should start to swatch my Suqqu palettes! And I’m excited! 

Dior Summer 2017 – #867 Attract

I am trying my darnest best not to pick up entire collections nowadays and only get 1-2 items I really like. No point keeping all the makeup if you aint gonna use it! That said, I do have a precious stash of untouchables that I will not bear to use as they are limited editions from outside of Singapore. 

Presenting to you, Dior Quint in #867, Attract. What attracted me (pun intended) to this was the middle pink shade. The rest of the palette looks pretty standard brown-burgundy types.

It was only upon swatching did I realise that this is a really gorgeous quint overall. The darkest shade is a pretty burgundy that’s a touch lighter than usual. It has pink-copper shimmers, lending it a rather unique hue in the sunlight. 

The brown beside it has golden shimmers and is a lovely neutral. The peach shade has pink shimmers, making it look duochrome. The highlight shade also has pink shimmers. Surprisingly, the centre bright pink shade was cooler than I expected. I thought it would be more warm and in line with the overall tones. However, it is precisely its coolness that balanced the palette really nicely. It goes well with the pink shimmers in the other shades to create a beautiful eye look. 

I’ve not had so much love for eyeshadow palette for awhile. If you only want to buy 1 eyeshadow palette this summer, this it THE ONE. 

KBeauty – Huxley Grab Water & Oil like Essence Review

I discovered Huxley through Instagram. Who wouldn’t be captured by their clean lines, simplistic packaging and promise of glowing skin? It is a relatively new Korean brand that incorporates ingredients such as prickly seed pear oil into their skincare items.

Performing a simple google search, prickly seed pear oil is high in fatty acids, Vitamins A and E, all beneficial for the skin. It touts the items as good for skin that is suffering from harmful elements and stress in urban areas. Being a relatively new brand, there’s not much information online and their site in English is basic.

I purchased the Grab Water and Oil-Like Essence to try. (There’s a promo now on Qoo10 SG for buy 1 get 1. I picked these up for $64-ish for both).

The items came nicely packed in a dove greyish – blue box and had a sticker seal.  Both felt like glass bottles with dropper dispensers.

Grab Water

The Grab Water did not come in a box but the Oil-Essence did. I have started trying both of them and happy to be adding them into my routine.

According to the Huxley website, it is a hydrating essence that locks in moisture. It contains prickly pear seed oil and has a natural cooling effect of peppermint. Prickly pear seed oil is found in the Sahara Desert and has a greater moisturizing effect than argan oil due to its high content of linoleic acid.

The Grab Water has a slight blue tinge (most likely colouring) and a pine fragrance. I read online that many did not like the pine fragrance. To me, it’s fine as it disappears quickly upon application. The Grab Water does not sting the dry side of my nose and absorbs very quickly. My face looks visibly plumped up after using it.

This is how the Grab Water looks like. Almost transparent but hint of blue.

Oil Like Essence

It is housed in a frosty bottle with a dropper. I’ve read complaints about the dropper and I find that it is difficult to fully ‘suck’ up the product into the dropper. However, as my bottle is new and full, it does not really seem to be a deal breaker.

Looking at Huxley’s website again, this is an optimal formulation of oil and essence that makes the skin feel fresh and smooth but not greasy. It also contains prickly pear seed oil

The Oil Like Essence is slightly cloudy and also has the pine fragrance. I find that this takes longer to absorb and slightly sits on top of my skin. I use this at night as I sleep in air-con and need the extra moisture. I also notice my skin becoming more moisturized after applying this. 

Overall, I feel that both are pretty good products that perform decently. At the promo price, it makes for a good buy that does not break the bank. I definitely will repurchase the Grab Water!

Excited to be trying more skincare items! More K Beauty items to come!

Givenchy Teint Couture Cushion

Here in Sunny Singapore, we are very privileged to be the country that first releases the Givenchy Teint Couture Cushion. I had the honour of attending the launch party at Sephora Ion and got to bring home a cushion in my shade – No. 4 Fresh Beige.

We have all been bombarded by numerous korean and western brands coming up with cushion pacts that I feel a little overwhelmed. I was happy to see that this is something different from the norm – a metal cushion! A light press of the metal top dispenses just the right amount of product. How chic is the logo on the metal top? There is a puff included and you can use it to dab and buff the product into your skin. For me,  I use a flat top kabuki to apply the product.

After using the cushion for about a week or so, I find that it gives light to medium coverage. As I grow older, I start to appreciate foundations that do not give a flat matte appearance and I like having a slight glow on my face. This cushion fits perfectly into what I am looking for. This would suit normal and combi skin types well. It does not oxidise on me and after a hot lunch in the humid weather, I find that I do need to do a light touch up. Its ease of portability makes it great to put in my bag to touch up on the go!

Do go check it out if you are looking for a new foundation, this definitely would not disappoint!

 

Item was provided for my review. My opinions expressed are honest and of my own. 

Suqqu Holiday 2015 – Set A.

This year’s Suqqu Holiday sets features a trio instead of a quad. I purchased only Set A because I got my hands on Ex-27 Hanashion as well and I did not want another purple toned palette in such quick succession. I  ate my words on that after seeing the swatches in sunlight as the purple trio in Set B are gorgeous and vibrant.

The set comes with an eye makeup remover (50ml), a gel eyeliner pencil (0.13g) and eye color palette in Ex-03 Aosaori, housed in a tweed patterned pouch. I see myself using the pouch as lunchtime wristlet and it is a rather pretty one at that. Unfortunately, I didn’t have much sunlight when I took pictures of the swatches. I loved how the swirls of the colours made it interesting and the tweed embossing is gorgeous. The top colour is a glittery pale gold that is meant to be a highlighting shade. The middle colour is a beautiful brown taupe with shimmer. The bottom colour is blacken blue with shimmer. I find that it is a simple yet elegant trio. The middle shade is absolutely stunning as a simple wash of colour or to add definition. I don’t have any blue palettes in my stash and addition of black and shimmer to a dark navy makes this blue a lot more wearable for me. Here I have compared Aosaori to Suqqu’s Summer trio in Ex-02 Yosaizora. Aosaori is slightly cooler in tones and the highlight shade is more sparkly than Yosaizora. I was slightly surprised that the bottom shade in Aosaori pulls more blue while the bottom shade in Yosaizora pulls more indigo.

I’m clearly pleased to have purchased this set and can’t wait to try out the eye makeup remover as I’ve heard raves about it.

Philosophy – The Microdelivery Overnight anti-aging peel.

One of Philosophy’s latest offering is the Overnight Anti-Aging Peel. It comes in a 2 step approach where step 1 is the peel and step 2 is the overnight mask.

It combines immediate micro-exfoliation of a peel with an overnight sleeping mask to eliminate the potential for irritation. The peel solution is an alpha/beta hydroxy acid leave on peel solution while the sleeping mask enhances the skin’s ability to resist visible signs of aging.

Step 1: The Peel.

It is a very liquid solution and looks just like water. This is the best part I like about this 2 step skincare treatment. I will use the dropper to dispense the peel onto a cotton pad (the kit contains good quality cotton pads) and gently wipe it over my face. So far I have no encountered any breakout and I really like to gentleness of the peel. It does not make my face itch (the stronger ones do) and I do not have dry or red patches popping up after using it. I use this about 2-3 times a week, depending on my skin condition. I feel that chemical exfoliation helps with preventing blackheads better than physical exfoliation and it aids in reducing the bumps on my skin too. I stop at step 1 if I want a more intensive peel experience. Step 2 is a gel-cream texture product that helps to moisture your skin after the peel treatment. It is meant to be a sleeping mask as well and can be used independently of the peel. I’ve slightly tilted it in the picture to show to ‘boing-boing’ texture of the product and how viscous it is. The gel feels light and refreshing to the touch. I tried it a couple of times over the peel but I find that it does not absorb well into my skin. Not sure if it is the way my skin + peel reacts to it but I didn’t really like this. I gave it a second chance and tried it on its own but also felt likewise. It sat on top of my skin like a second layer without absorbing well.

Overall I find that this is a pretty good kit for trying out a chemical peel for the first time. It is quite gentle and you’re definitely not going to ‘burn’ your face away. You might wanna head to the counter and try out step 2 before you buy though.

This set (peel, night gel and cotton pads) retails for SGD 129 at Sephora SG and at Philosophy counters.

 

This set was provided to me by Philosophy for my review. The opinions expressed are my own. 

Chanel Holiday 2015

I picked up another 2 items from the Chanel Holiday 2015 collection – Chanel Signe Particulier (4 Eyeshadow) and the Joues Contraste Lumiere in Coups De Minuit. I had them wrapped in the festive packaging and kept it that way for awhile, well because I didn’t feel like ruining the pretty wrapping. This year’s packaging features a red wrapper with the Chanel logo in gold on the inside and a red ribbon with gold trimmings. I always look forward to Chanel’s Holiday packaging 🙂 

There’s probably plenty of blogs out there that have swatches of the eyeshadow quad and highlighter but I’m still going to post my swatches so you can see how it shows up on someone who is very distinctly yellow toned.

I resisted the previous few renditions of the quads in the similar embossing but I was unable to let this go as I love burgundy/dark plum shades. I was very well aware that the quad did not swatch well and did not perform up to the standards of the previous quads but I still got it anyway. I do wish that the pigmentation was better and it felt a little frustrating to swatch the product. I needed to be more brutal when using it to get the colours to show up better but yet I am reluctant to destroy the pretty embossing. The taupe-grey shade was a let down for me as I thought it would be a very good crease shade. It wasn’t the easiest to blend and I had to pack on the product for it to show up better. The quad on the whole fares averagely for me but if given the chance again, I would still buy it.

I didn’t set out to buy the highlighter but since I had time, I played around with it and swatched it while at the counter. Was pleasantly surprised that it was smooth and easy to apply. It swatches as a soft pink with just a hint of sheen and refined glitter. It is a very natural highlighter and I thought it filled in the gap of my highlighters. I have many beige-toned highlighters but so far nothing pink.Being a good girl, I thought over it for awhile before I handed my credit card to the BA at the counter haha.. no regrets!

November has been a busy month for me and I hope December will be kinder 🙂