T.Leclerc Loose Powder in Abricot

The T.Leclerc Loose powder comes in an aluminum tin with a lift-off cap. The classy yet simple tin contains 35g of rice starch in the color Abricot and has a pleasant baby powder-ish scent. 

I was expecting a lot out of this product as it retails at the higher end, but was disappointed. First of all, it is supposed to be finely milled but feels coarse on the skin. Even Crabtree and Evelyn's talc-free body powder made from corn starch feels so much smoother. Secondly, the cap does not fit tightly. In fact, it is so loose that there is a chance the bottom half of the tin might drop should you lift it up by the cover. Thirdly, you can see the mess it makes in the picture below. The cardboard sifter is not fixed into place and this causes it to move about and the powder to spill above it and out of the tin when opened. Unless of course, the tin remains perfectly horizontal all the time. Fourthly, the powder somehow feels a little damp and cakey. 

And no, it does not impart a goddess like sheen to my face. It goes on pure matte.

Lunasol Control Makeup Base #03 (Clear)

The Lunasol Control Makeup Base #03 (Clear) comes in a 25ml rectangular glass bottle with a pump dispenser. I like that it contains spf21++, which helps to boost the spf that is already in my foundation or loose powder.

At first glance, I thought that the bright yellowish fluid would not be a match for my skin tone. However, the scentless fluid blends miraculously into my skin without tinting it yellow, yet evens out imperfections ever so slightly. On casual days I just dust some loose powder over it and am on my way. It would have been better if it had some oil control properties though.

It retails for Y3,500 in Japan. I don't think they carry #03 anymore but I would repurchase if they do. Here's the ingredients' list if you can read Japanese.

Etude House Wannabe Style Nails #2 So Cute Love

The limited edition Etude House Wannabe Style Nails #2 So Cute Love was 30% off retail, and mesmerised by the grey shade, I purchased it for about $8.

It includes two 7g botlles of nail polish, a grey shade and a pink one, and a sheet of cute nail stickers :D

I love the fact that the #1 Cute Grey has a bluish tint to it. It dries rather quickly, and staying power is moderate. No photos of #2 Milky Pink though, as it is so diluted I couldn't get an even opaque coat even after three layers.

Jill Stuart Fairy Garden Collection from the boy

The Jill Stuart Fairy Garden Collection was one of the presents I received from the boy on Christmas day. I had in fact anticipated that it was this set that he bought.

The salmon-colored barrel pouch with a zip top and tulle flowers down the front, is only 13cm across, smaller than I had expected.

Included are two Jill Stuart-perfumed mini pillows for drawers, in pink and salmon.

The eyeshadow quad is the Jewel Crystal Eyes #104 Fragile Opal. I love how beautiful the case is, with flowers printed in the color theme of pink-white-salmon.

The case opens push-button style, with a mirror under the cover and a double-ended sponge tip applicator. The eyeshadows contain sweet almond oil, vitamin E, and rose canina fruit extract.

The Loose Powder N in #101 Twinkle Dust, comes in a plastic container with a screw-top cap and a puff applicator. It contains 5g of fragranced, light purplish powder, with the same three beneficial ingredients as the eyeshadow. It also contains nylon-12 to keep the shine at bay.

The Jelly Lip Gloss in #103 Crystal Kiss contains 9g of pink-colored gloss, enriched with sweet almond and rosa canina fruit oils.

The full ingredients list for the Jill Stuart Fairy Garden Collection.

So  it looks like my boy was the Christmas fairy, and there were three days of happy moments when we exchanged our presents of love :)

Happy Girl! @ the Luxasia Warehouse Sale 2011

Happy because I missed the sale in 2010 as I was in Phuket.

The warehouse sale is at Tai Seng this year, a couple of bus stops away from my place. I reached the warehouse about 9:40am, and the queue was already super long. About a hundred men and ladies in front of me. As usual, an auntie in her 50s, who arrived after me tried to cut my queue. Somehow I have this 'easy to bully' kind of look.

The warehouse space was huge and kind of empty if it wasn't for the crowd. With the rush, you are going to get some items you want, and forfeit others in the process. I got myself a Perricone starter set (expiry date is in a few months time), a Ren Rose Otto Bodycare set (consisting of a scrub and bath oil boxed in beautiful de Gournay wallpaper print), Guerlain limited edition 6-color eyeshadow palette in Rue De Rivoili, Guerlain Or Imperial Face and Body Powder (super cute), Decleor Night Balm in Iris, and a 75ml Chloe EDT. All of the items I got were sold out within the hour!

I did not see any Jurlique products. No Annick Goutal skincare either, just fragrances. Bummer. Decleor balms ($19) and oils ($27) ran out pretty quickly. There were a couple of REN facecare starter kits, but these sold out by the time I was done with Perricone and Chloe, which took me less than 10 minutes.

I wanted to get a couple of Bvlgari perfumes for the boy but they only had aftershave lotion and emulsion.

Any mishaps? Besides the usual shoving and pushing and elbowing (which wasn't that much luckily), I got sprayed on the neck and chest by a lady who did not see the need to aim the nozzle of the perfume bottle properly before spraying. Thank God the perfume did not stink.

The crowd at the Guerlain counter was horrid, with 3-4 rows of people pushing up on each other just to catch a glimpse of what's on the table. Kisskiss lipsticks and lipgloss were going for $15. Lipgloss essence was $20. No meteorites unfortunately. I think they also had the precious eyeshadow palettes in #29 and #2, but all were snapped up very quickly. These palettes weren't cheap at $50 each.

There was a promotion for DBS/POSB card members. Those who spent at least $200 got a free CK body moisturizer, which was fully redeemed by 11am, that's how crazy the sale was.

Cosmetics and Skincare Promotions in Taipei

While planning our trip to Taipei, I expected to haul mainly Taiwanese cosmetics and skincare like Dr Wu, My Beloved One, Naruko, Shills, Majiami etc. Surprisingly, what attracted me most were major departmental store brand like Jill Stuart, Anna Sui, Bobbi Brown, SkII and Darphin.

The second half of October and first half of November seems like a really good time to do some major hauling in Taipei as there are sales going on in almost all major departmental stores.

Here is the Jill Stuart promotion going on at the A8 Shinkong Mitsukoshi departmental store in the Xinyi district.

Every purchase of a perfume set (full sized perfume + travel sized spray) entitles you to a fabric covered jewellery box. I thought the box was ceramic or porcelain, in which case, I would have gotten myself a set.


Quad blush, lip gloss duo compact and travel perfume spray set.
Hand cream, lip scrub, lipgloss, mini eye cream set.
Quad eyeshadow, eyeliner, eye jelly and travel-seized mist set.


Loose powder, foundation, mini base set with a fabric evening pouch.
Pressed powder compact, day care essence, mini base set with a fabric evening pouch.


I got myself one of the Jill Stuart promotional sets consisting of the face wash, berry scrub and a travel sized mist, a loose powder blush, quad blush, and loose powder in #03 shimmer, just because it was pink in color! These 4 sets below can only be gotten at A8 Shinkong Mitsukoshi.


The GWP that came with spending at least NT5000 was an acrylic container for cotton puffs (huge!), and either a travel-sized shower gel (85ml) or body cream (50g). Considering that Jill Stuart isn't available in Singapore, and tourists get a 5% tax rebate in addition to an NT500 Shinkong Mitsukoshi voucher for spending at least NT5000 in a day, it was a pretty good deal.


Anna Sui is cheaper in Taiwan than in Singapore.




I got myself the promotional set of a loose powder and cheek color for NT1400. I choose #200 for the loose powder just because it was purple in color. I know. The promotional set also comes with a purple Anna Sui tote bag with ice cream prints.


I got myself another loose powder, this time in #700, at the airport. Partly because we were trying to rid ourselves of our remaining Taiwan dollars after a yummy dinner of beef noodle soup. It cost only NT1070 (S$46), which is still cheaper than what you'd pay in departmental stores here when they have a 20% discount. I also got a bottle of rather expensive nail polish remover for NT370, but with the heart-shaped bottle that's purple and made of glass, I just couldn't resist.

I was intending to get something from Darphin too, but decided that it's still too expensive. The picture below shows the promotions they were having.

As for SKII, they were having a really good deal with 2 essence-in foundations and a 30ml bottle of essence going for about S$130 or so . Unfortunately, the limited number of sets sold out before I could get my hands on one of them. Not surprising, considering that it was a fantastic deal.

As for departmental store brands, I got myself a couple of items from Naruko and Integrate. Here's part of my mini haul.





TAIWAN HOLIDAY LINKS

Getting from the Airport to the Town Centre
Airport Bus

Accommodation
A review of the reasonably priced City Inn Hotel

Food
Great Yakiniku Dinner Wine and Dine
Best Fruit Smoothie at Agnes B Cafe
Dining Cute @ Hello Kitty Cafe
Best Breakfast @ New York Bagels
Best Spaghetti and Fruits Tea @ Afternoon Tea Cafe
Ice Cream Toast @ Dazzling Cafe, opened by a socialite
Best Mala Hotpot Supper @ Ximending

Night Markets
Shida Night Market
Shilin Night Market
Raohe Night Market
Jianguo Flower and Jade Market

Shopping Malls & Bookstores
Eslite, Shinkong Mitsukoshi

Main Attractions - Places that you can't miss
Danshuei Old Street: Eat while you walk
Jiufen: Traditional Alley
Shifen: Lighting A Wish Lantern
Beitou Hot Springs: Soak your troubles away
Yehliu Geopark: Amazing Rock Formations by the Sea

Stila Light Up The World Palette Eye Shadow

The Stila Light Up The World Eye Shadow Palette comes in a sleek black rectangular plastic case with a flip top. There is no mirror but a double-sided brush is provided. You get a palette of 10 colors, mostly purples and bronzes, making a total of 13.5g. Mine unfortunately, got a little smashed in transit.




I find the colors rather pigmented and staying power moderate to good. From left to right, you have sugar, light, peaceful, bronze, dawn, precious, demure, delicate, sangria and truffle.


Included in the box is a little booklet with an inspirational quote by owner, Lynn Tilton, and a guide on how to achieve four different looks with the palette.


Here's look number 1, using the colors light, bronze and truffle.

Shills Cherry Blossoms BB Mineral Powder

I was contemplating getting the Anna Sui Loose Powder, but noticed that it tends to get messy during use. It was around then I came across the Shills Cherry Blossoms BB Mineral Powder. The black shiny container it comes in is reminiscent of Anna Sui's packaging, and the dark pink contrasting puff made it stand out. What was even better was that it had an spf of 30PA++!

The container holds 20g of powder in a darker shade of brown compared to most loose powders, and although it claims to be satin-like, I found it more matte than silky.


The puff, though rather thick, wasn't as well-made as I had thought. Not in the it's-going-to-fall-apart sense of the word, but the workmanship was a little shoddy. The powder has very fine shimmer bits which are so sparse, they hardly show up on the skin. I like the fact that is smells faintly like rose syrup :)


The spf comes from the titanium dioxide. It also contains several moisturising and soothing ingredients such as sodium hyaluronate, shea butter, avocado oil and rose oil.

The FaceShop Herb Day Cleansing Wipes

Upon reaching home each night, I use cleansing wipes to remove non-waterproof makeup, or even just dust and dirt accumulated on my skin during the day. It has become a convenient alternative to washing my face properly, which I only do in the shower before I go to bed.

I passed by The Face Shop and decided to get myself a huge packet of their Herb Day Cleansing Wipes 70's (currently 20% off storewide) as I liked the green leafy design on the packet and I do go through packets of cleansing wipes quite fast anyway.


Each stretchable sheet measures approximately 16cm x 18cm and has enough moisture to thoroughly cleanse the face. Although the wipes contain alcohol, they are actually rather moisturising. The liquid does feel a little sticky going on, but the feeling goes away as it evaporates from the skin. The artificial fragrance has a herbal/ green note to it which I'm not liking very much. One thing that annoys me, is the way the sheets are packed just like box tissues, which means that you would have to stuff the next sheet back into the packet each time you pull one out to use. Not very hygienic, in my opinion.


The wipes contain soapwort extract to cleanse the skin, horse chestnut extract to aid circulation, lady's mantle and sage and rosemary to purify and tone the skin. They do contain alcohol and parabens though.


The wipes are also available in a smaller packet of 30's but the larger packet is slightly cheaper per wipe.

Sasatinnie Mini Nail Polish in Pink Shimmer & Purple

I was attracted to the cute heart-shaped bottles, and the fact that each bottle only contained 5.5ml of polish.


Drying speed was okay. See the nick on the second nail tip after an hour?
Lasting power is pretty good.
It took two coats of purple and three coats of pink to get the results below.
I'm loving the matte purple but not at all the shimmery pink which is too sheer.