December's nail polish haul!

School has started and I've actually quite a lot of things on my to-do list right now (in addition to my readings). But... I'm just not in the right mood to be doing academic readings right now. So, here's a quick update on the nail polishes that I acquired in the month of December! Heh heh.

Actually, I haven't been buying nail polish for a while (even though I used to be some kind of nail polish addict) because school has been getting increasingly crazy with each semester. And as a result, I HAVE NO TIME TO PAINT MY NAILS. No time to paint nails --> Zero use of nail polish --> Why even bother buying nail polish? BUT, during the December break, I actually found some time to paint my nails hahaha. Which resulted in this collective haul! It's not massive, but it made me really happy so I thought I'd just blog about it. :D

This is it!

(From L-R)

1. OPI Designer... de Better!

2. OPI Rainbow Connection

3. OPI Divine Swine

4. OPI Yoga-ta get this Blue!

5. China Glaze Skyscraper

6. China Glaze Ruby Pumps

7. Nicole by OPI Step 2 the Beat of My ♥
8. Seche Ridge Filling Base Coat

Here's a group shot of the OPIs. The first 3 are actually from the Miss Muppets collection! (LOVE THE GLITTER) The last one, I got because I did a manicure with this while Baobei was in Singapore and loved this medium-dark shade of blue. It's in between the two OPI blues I already own (OPI Blue My Mind is more of an electric, medium blue while OPI Russian Navy is, as the name suggests, a navy that sometimes looks almost black.), and was sort of like the perfect blue that I'd been looking for. :)

Look at all the glitter pieces in the bottle! I had Rainbow Connection on my toes in December... Did about 3-4 coats saturated with glitter in order to achieve full opacity. Saying that it was a b*tch to remove is an understatement. That being said, it was gorgeous on my nails.

The China Glazes! Skyscraper is relatively new, I think? I have a thing for glitters and blues... Can you tell? I've been wanting Ruby Pumps for sometime now, but just never got around to acquiring it. I believe it's one of China Glaze's signature shades!

This Nicole by OPI polish has a bit of a story behind it. I first saw it at Watson's when Baobei picked it up to show me. Immediately fell in love with it, but I'd been spending quite a lot in December so I resisted the urge to buy it. (After purchasing OPIs for like $10-12 a bottle, $17+ a pop for this seemed kind of expensive!) Unfortunately, a couple of days later, this was still on my mind, so I decided to just buy it anyway! We went to Watson's and Baobei wasn't planning on buying this, but it was the LAST TWO BOTTLES LEFT so she bought it too hahahaha. Anyway, aren't the heart glitter pieces oh so gorgeous? I'm gonna use this for my next manicure! I saw a similar polish by Nicole today at Watson's... It has pink heart glitters only though. But I think the purple + pink gives the glitter more dimension so I definitely prefer this still. :)

Well, that's it from me today! Have a good weekend darlings!

x

Beauty Favourites Part II: Skincare (Body) & Haircare

A continuation from my last Beauty Favourites post, this will be a shorter post on skincare for the body and haircare! When it comes to skincare for the body, I'm not exactly the most diligent person around, so I don't have that many favourites because I don't even use them often enough to justify buying new ones all the time! I'm also slightly lazy when it comes to haircare, it really depends on my mood and whether I have the time for all this... But anyhow, here's a mini post of a handful of my favourites! Oh and please pardon the poor pictures this post. :( I shot them at a rather weird time of the day so the lighting came out a bit funky. :(

1. L'Occitane Shea Butter Dry Skin Hand Cream

The Shea Butter range is my absolute favouriteeee from L'Occitane. (Unfortunately, it never goes on sale! BOO.) I don't know how to describe the scent, but it's a very comforting scent (to me, at least). The first time I smelled this, I thought it reminded me of Johnson and Johnson lotion! But after further research, I realised they smell quite different lah haha. And this scent holds some sentimental value for me because at one point in time while I was on exchange in London, I used to slather the body cream all over myself on a daily basis, so the scent kinda reminds me of London. :) But back to the main point, I like this hand cream because of the scent and also because it's a good moisturizer in that it doesn't leave your hands feeling excessively sticky after application!

2. Crabtree & Evelyn Lily Body Lotion

(Oh and spot my current nails! :D)
The Lily scent is my favourite of all the Crabtree & Evelyn scents! It's very light and yet refreshing. :) I went through something like two bottles of lotion and a tub of Lily of the Valley cream while I was in London! :D This range actually used to be known as Lily of the Valley, which Crabtree has since somewhat discontinued and renamed as just Lily. The scent seems to be pretty much the same though, so I'm just glad that they didn't entirely discontinue Lily of the Valley!

3. Crabtree & Evelyn Antibacterial Moisturising Hand Gel (Citron)

I love the idea of hand sanitizers that aren't just your regular boring Dettol ones! Plus this is moisturising too! (I think the Dettol ones do get a little drying if you use them frequently enough..) And I love that this product comes in a variety of scents for you to choose from. :) At S$10 for a bottle of 50ml though, I wouldn't really say it's a worthy purchase. I got mine cheaper cos someone brought it back from London for me though, so I was pretty happy to buy it at something like £3 for a bottle. Bath & Body Works also has a lovely hand sanitizer range that's moisturising for your hands as well. My sister has a tube so I've tested it out before, but those aren't as easy to get hold of in Singapore. :(

4. Kérastase Elixir Ultime

The ultimate hair serum that I've ever used! I highly recommend this. I used to use L'Oreal Professionel's Lumi Oil which wasn't a bad product, but I hated how oily it left my hands after application and left my hair ends looking like they were never fully dry. Plus the bottles it comes in are so small, with daily usage I finish something like 1 bottle a month. :( Anyway, the Kérastase Elixir is superrrr awesome because a little bit of product goes a long way and this leaves your hair ends super soft and smooth! Plus it doesn't leave my hands ridiculously oily the way Lumi Oil used to. In fact, if you're able to transfer almost all of the product from your hands to your hair, I think you won't even feel any oily residue left on your hands! The bad thing about this product is that it doesn't come cheap, but I think it's worth the money!

Based on the products I've recommended, you'll notice that I'm a sucker for scents when it comes to things that I apply on my body. It might be because I don't have exceptionally dry skin so I tend to buy lotions/creams without taking their moisturizing properties into much consideration. Given that, if you have very dry skin which requires loads of moisture, the products mentioned above may not necessarily suit you. So my advice is just to read everything with a pinch of salt. :)

x

Beauty Favourites Part I: Skincare (Face)

Gonna try and schedule a post for the first time! :D
I've been thinking about doing a beauty post for a while now because I have quite a few of my favourite products that I'd like to share with you! And I think most, if not all girls concern themselves with beauty in some way or another... So here's my 2 cents worth. ;) My skin definitely isn't as ideal as I'd like it to be (in fact, it's in a rather deplorable state now sigh), but these are some products which I find help me to keep my skin in a better condition than it would be otherwise. So without further ado, here are some of my favourite beauty products (in no particular order)!

I've got 8 products to cover, so this is gonna be a pretty lengthy post! Skip this entirely if you're not into skincare, otherwise, bear with me. :)

1. Dior UV Shield in Translucent
How I stumbled onto this awesome sunscreen was by pure accident. My mum does buy quite a lot of Christian Dior products, but I've always viewed CD as some sort of an older ladies' brand... So one day while I was shopping with her and waiting for her to pick her CD products, a semi-bored me started playing with sunscreen testers and decided to ask for some samples since the SAs are usually quite generous when giving my mum samples hehe.
The UV Shield comes in 3 different types - the BB Cream, Translucent, and Pearly White. I tried the BB Cream and liked how it made my skin look dewy and radiant, but it was a little too emollient for my skin. As for the Pearly White, I felt that it leaves a bit of a white cast on my face, but my sister and mother both use the Pearly White one so maybe I'm just weird. :/ The Translucent sunscreen has a pretty thick texture, but just make sure you blend it out well and all will be fine! The finish is somewhat matte-ish and I like how it doesn't feel very sticky or oily like some other sunscreens do. Plus point: If you're anal about hygiene, you will love the pump dispenser! The only downside of this product is its price, which costs something like $79 for a mere 30ml tube. (But it'll last pretty long because a little goes a long way!)

2. Dior Lip Glow Color Reviver Balm
My lips tend to be quite dry, so trust me when I say this lip balm is aweeeesome! Initially, I didn't quite like it because it has a slightly wet texture, but after using this more, you'll find that that is precisely the beauty of this product because it helps to keep your lips super moisturized! The only issue that I have with this is that even though it looks like a clear balm, it actually leaves your lips with a pinkish tint which has resulted in me neglecting my lipsticks. :( But I'd take hydrated lips over flaky lips with nice lipstick anytime! Again, with Dior products, they do tend to be a little pricey. :( (I think this was about $40ish for a standard lipstick size.) But otherwise, I highly recommend this!

3. Biore Cleansing Oil-in-Cotton Sheets
There's been a lot of blog advertorials being done for this product, so the million dollar question is, IS IT REALLY GOOD? And since I'm not being paid to blog, I can give you a truthful answer heh. ;p Well I'm onto my 3rd refill already (if you count the original that came with the box), so you can probably guess what the answer is! I like cleansing sheets because they're just so convenient for lazy pigs like myself, but I like the Biore ones most because they remove make-up well, even around the eye area! And very importantly, it does NOT sting my eye! I must highlight though, that even though this is sort of a drugstore product, it's not exactly a cheap solution to removing make-up because every refill contains 48 sheets which will last you approximately 1.5 months if you wear make-up everyday. Considering that the refill costs ~$15, a normal drugstore remover that costs the same price will probably last you twice the length of what this will.

4. Cure Natural Aqua Gel
This product is a great way to exfoliate the face and other parts of the body! It's not harsh on the skin, and leaves my skin feeling nice and soft after exfoliation. However, the new Amethystory Mineral Aqua Gel seems to be a dupe of this, and costs almost half the price at $20+. (Although, to be fair, I think you get a little less product in the bottle.) I've seen the Amethystory one go on sale at Guardian before for $19.90 though, while Cure NEVER goes on sale. So yeah, if you want to get either one of these, just go for Amethystory!

5. Clinique All About Eyes Serum
I'm not a fan of Clinique products in general, but they do have a select few products which work well for me. This is one of them - it's not a great product, but it does what it claims to do. It keeps the puffiness under the eyes at bay! And I like these eye roller thingamajigs because they feel nice and cooling on my skin. :D Note that this, however, does not help to get rid of dark eye circles even though it is an eye product!

6. Clinique Anti-Blemish Solutions Spot Treatment Gel
This is something that I've been using for a few years now, so it's definitely tried and tested! The gel contains both witch hazel and salicylic acid which are the ingredients that I think help to fight blemishes. I like this because this product is pretty strong, i.e. it WILL STING when you put it on a pimple (especially a raw and inflamed one). If your threshold of pain is really low, then I'd advise you not to try this. If, however, you are open to suffering from short bouts of pain for the sake of beauty, then this will be right up your alley. I love how it helps to accelerate the drying process of pimples! (Y)

7. My Beauty Diary Sheet Masks
Even though MBD masks come in a huge array of flavours to suit different needs, I honestly can't tell the difference in their effectiveness when using them. I just like them because all the masks generally give me softer and more hydrated skin the day after using them! Do stock up on these when in Taiwan/Hong Kong though, because they're cheaper there! They're cheapest in Taiwan and it seems only the mixed flavour box is available in Taiwan, but Hong Kong is still cheaper than getting it locally.

8. Etude House Sleeping Facial Pack (Pore Tightening)
Honestly, I don't find that this product tightens my pores, but it does work like the MBD sheet masks in leaving my skin soft and hydrated! I like this because it's easy to slap on before you sleep, and you don't have to take it off after xxx amount of time. As with all other Korean skincare/make-up, GET THIS IN KOREA! It's easily 40-50% cheaper than what it is in the local stores. :)

So that's it for the first installment of my Beauty Favourites! I hope you enjoyed this despite how much rambling I've done, and I hope it was useful! x