Sally Hansen Hard as Nails in Peach Daiquiri

So I REALLY suck at photographing nail polish and need lessons from Nikki and PrettyB. So sorry about that.

I'm rushing this review out because well, I think Sally Hansen is pulling out of Malaysia. It's not in Watsons, Guardian or Shins anymore. I found this one in Caring Pharmacy at 101 Mall Puchong. Yep. Puchong.

After discovering how much I loved Strawberry Icing, I really wanted to try other colours, especially a sparkly red. But of all the shades available Peach Daiquiri was the only one that truly appealed. Partly because of the pretty holographic sparklies, partly because it's named after a delicious alcholic cocktail. Mmm...

I prefer two thin layers of this to one. It's almost straight up peachy orange, but the holographic sparklies have pink and silver in them giving it this opalescent glow. So pretty! It's sheerness also gives it a "jelly" look which I weirdly love.

And perhaps I kid myself, but I think the nudish shade makes my fingers look longer. It also does seem slightly less juvenile than sparkly pink.

Grab it where you can before it's gone and we have to smuggle the things in from Singapore. They're RM17.90 - RM19.90 a bottle. Depending on luck.

Monday's Beauty Bits: August 2010 Roundup!

One more day before Hari Merdeka (that's Independence Day for our English readers), and I'm sure we're all looking forward to having the day off, no?

So just before we're all done with August, let's see what the girls have been up to:

• Can't figure out how to find your foundation shade? Let Yani from Redlusciouslips give you her Foundation 101.
  
• Need loose powder? Read Lipglosseating Jenn's raves about the MAC Prep + Prime here.
  
• Connie of Skindeco gives her take on this black-head busting product.
  
• Xin of Pretty Beautiful makes me wanna run out and get another bag organiser. In neon green too!
  
• Can't get enough of bags? Well, neither can Beetrice of Beetrice's Reviews. *tee hee*
  
• Nikki of Askmewhats is all excited about carbon. From Pond's, that is.
  
• Can't get enough of blush but not sure which brush to use? Paris from My Women Stuff might give you and idea or two.

Now to share with you what's made me a very happy girl over the weekend!

I got bored with straight hair, so...

I got curls!


This is the third time in my life that I've gotten my hair permed. The last time was about three years ago, I think.

And as I've been very happy with my previous curly-hair experience, and I've been letting my hair grow out pretty long, why not?

More piccies after the jump!

Review: Mentholatum Lip Ice in Lemon

Oh this tube brings back so many memories of highschool and the early days of uni. Back then I totally dug the tingly lemony taste of this, but one day I read a bunch of reviews that said menthol irritated lips and that the balm wasn't moisturising enough. Swayed by the negative reviews I stopped using it.

But now I am a confident woman and to hell with the reviews I LOVE this stuff. I was completely craving that icy menthol tingle and I seem to have developed a mild allergy to Burts Bees, all the other minty balms weren't tingly enough. While staring at the shelves of Lip Balm I saw this oldie and thought "What the hell".

Balm for A Broken Heart: Stage Moisturising Lipstick in Kirsten

After my newly acquired Chanel Rouge Coco went and broke on me (more on that next week), I was heartbroken. It felt like the end of a love affair.

Like the end of all love affairs, I swore off lipsticks for the next few days. Then, like the beginning of all love affairs, when I was walking listlessly around the place, a new lipstick caught my eye.

I am in the mood for sheer nude shades so when I swatched Kirsten, I stopped short. Then I turned to the MUA and asked if I could try it on.

While I was checking myself out in the mirror, the MUA added, “By the way, Stage is having a 50% promotion for August and if you buy 3 of the same products, you get 1 free.”

“With an offer like that,” my best friend murmured behind me, “it would be a sin NOT to get anything.”

She got a Wondergloss in Gaia by the way. Absolutely adores it.

Review + Rave: Sunsilk Hair Fall Solution Shampoo & Conditioner

Sunsilk is really starting to grow on me.

Big time.

After my fruity indulgence, I turned my attention to their Hair Fall range instead, and I'm definitely loving it!

Monday's Beauty Bit

I didn't get much sleep Saturday night and Sunday's been incredibly busy, so I'm afraid today's post is going to be a wee bit on the lazy side. Meet my lucky score from the Estee Lauder Staff Sale - The Antigua Face Palette by Bobbi Brown. Acquired thanks to a dear friend who picked it up for me at half price (RM90).

I have an upcoming work trip to Osaka and plan to test this baby out as my travel palette! Will review it after the trip. ;)

What's your favourite travel palette?

Review: Dermaveen Soap Free Wash pH5.5

With words like "soap free", "relieves dry itchy skin" and "oatmeal" that greet you even as you just give it a once over, this product screams Eczema-fighter from the get go.


I had been snooping around in one of those small stand-alone drugstores when I chanced upon it. I'd never seen it before, so naturally I was curious. It rather reminded me of Cetaphil, my Holy Grail of cleansers (and I had just only picked up yet another two HUGE bottles because the price in that store was unbeatable). So did I need to pick up another bottle of Dermaveen as well (which happens to be huger than Cetaphil)?

What do you think? Of course I did. *grin*

Budget Beauty: Daiso "Italy Towel" Scrubby Glove

For an RM5 item, this bath glove is truly multinational. It's bought in a Japanese franchise shop in Malaysia, claims to be Korean Beauty and resembles the Italy Towel. I'd been curious about the Italy Towel since Eli's review and when I saw the pattern on this glove and the "Korean Beauty" claim, I snapped it up. I believe, even though I've never handled an Italy Towel that it is much the same thing.

Now, I know you girls, Syen in particular, love your luxuriously creamy, grainy and gorgeously scented body scrubs. But I gotta tell you that Eli's right. This unglamorous glove beats them ALL for silky smooth exfoliated skin.

Stuff I am Missing: Natures Organics Sorbolene Moisturiser

Some of you would have probably thought that I made a punctuation error and accidentally left out some apostrophes in "Natures Organics". But that is how the brand name is spelled and I have to figure out if it was done on purpose or by accident.

Incidentally, the first time my boyfriend saw it, he asked if I was sure that the brand is Australian and not Chinese.

Anyhow, this was my staple moisturiser throughout my uni days and now that I am back in Malaysia, boy oh boy, do I miss it. Cheap as chips and it really does a great job.

Review: Kiehl's Midnight Recovery Concentrate

Before I start this review I'd like to point out that I haven't really used this product as thoroughly as I usually would before a review. I've had it for over a month, courtesy of Kiehl's, but for several reasons have been using it very sparingly, only about once a week and in minute amounts.

I'm still on the fence about this serum. As someone with oily, acne prone skin its benefits on me aren't as dramatic as that of drier skinned ladies like ParisB and Connie. Also it contains Jojoba oil which causes me to breakout a little. However, when I switched to Benzac my skin did grow flaky and dry in parts, so I thought I'd risk it and use this product very lightly.

Monday's Beauty Sharing: NARS Haul!!!

Hellooo!

So how was the weekend? Mine was pretty alright, and Saturday saw me bringing out one of my summer dresses, which has been left sleeping in the cupboard for a while now. So I'm rather happy. *grin*

But anyway, we're not talking about dresses here (we'll leave that to Kahani). We're here to talk about makeup.


Makeup that came in with the mail sometime last week. Hello NARS!!!

Fun Fridays: Going Rogue?

Hellooo lovelies!

Man. I don't know about you, but it's been a hot hot week here with temperatures averaging about over 30°C in the last couple of days.

Eugh.

Anyway, I thought I'd keep today's post light and just pick your brains a little bit. Read on to find out what about. And why I've got a picture of Anna Paquin as Rogue (from the X-Men) on.

At Last: Rouge Coco in Legende

I've wanted a Chanel lipstick for some time now. To me lipsticks are icons of feminine mystique and no one gets effortless feminine elegance like Chanel. So when the Rouge Coco range was launched it seemed like the perfect time to buy my first Chanel lippy.

My choice of shade surprised me though. I'd thought I wanted a classi chanel red. Gabrielle or Rue de Cambon perhaps. Or why not the famous chameleon nude shade Mademoiselle that looks different on all who use it? But in the end, with Beetrice's help, I bought a perfect shade of pink. The pink I love wearing most days and so will really USE. Creamy, but not frosty, cool but not quite berry, I opted for Legende.

Organic Skincare: Botani Olive Skin Serum

When my eye first lit on the Botani range, a warm glow came over me. Y’ see, I have a thing for organic skincare and for serums containing vitamin C. I have been using TBS Vitamin C Skin Boost on and off for the past few years and while it works, I have always been on the lookout for something affordable with less dimethicone.

You can imagine my reaction when I finally found something which was organic and had vitamin C. I had to get my grubby paws on it!

My Favourite Things: Soap & Glory The Righteous Butter (Mini)

It would appear that I have found a new travel companion. Whether it's a short balik kampung (back to the hometown) trip, or one out of the country, I now have a new friend I tote along for these occasions.


Because it's just perfect for it. Ladies and gentlemen, meet Soap & Glory The Righteous Butter (Mini), now a firm favourite of mine.

How much do I love it? Read on to find out.

Monday's Beauty Bits

Now you can get Carmex lipbalm in Malaysia via the Supermodel Secrets Blogshop. I've bought from them before and find the seller to be efficient, friendly and fast. They're flying it in from the US and so are selling the tubes at RM16 each plus Pos Ekspres.

Hehehe! FitFlop is fully aware that their shoes require great pedicures, and looking at my Red Hot Tamale toes I agree! So they've even come up with their own bottle of hot red nailpolish for GBP5. I gotta say though anything from Marcia Kilgore (founder of FitFlop, Bliss and Soap & Glory) has GOT to be good. Wants! (more Red Hot Tamale shots here, sorry I REALLY like this colour)

On purpose? Or a mistake? What do you think they were thinking when they made a lip stick shaped like a well.... penis?

Autumn Love (& Lust) ~

Hello lovelies,

Another Friday. Another week gone by. Amazing isn't it? That autumn is just around the corner?

And boy am I excited. Why? Because the autumn/fall collections are already out in full force and some of them look absolutely love and lust-worthy. This time, the taupes, greys and the blues seem to be taking centre-stage.

I'm not usually big on blues, but the taupes and greys are really calling out to me. BIG TIME.

So have a look at some of the items I seem to find myself lusting after, starting with this one right here.

GRAPEFRUIT!: Sephora Spray in Grapefruit Tangerine

The hunt for that perfect grapefruit fragrance continues and I'm quite happy I happened along this little cutie in Sephora Singapore. SG$10 gets you 10ml of pure GRRRAAAAPPEEFRUUIIIIITTT...... and then poof it disappears. 

If I spray it on my hair it lasts oh 20 mins longer than the 5 mins it does on my skin. Alas. Because I love this scent. It's a glorious citrus cocktail - like you'd squeezed real grapefruit on yourself - with a side of tangerine to sweeten. 

Another Reason to Hit the Gym!

"How often do you exercise?" my doctor asked, peering over the rim of his glasses.

"Err.. about once a week? But I go trekking a lot because of my work."

"Hmm.. not enough. Your percentage of body fat is surprisingly high and your metabolism is really slow."

You could have knocked me down with a feather. I wasn't surprised by my low metabolism rate (I am quite sloth-like half of the time) but I was surprised by the body fat percentage reading. I know I carry most of my weight around my hips but...

Blast my father's genes.

"If you aren't careful," Pa told me solemnly later, "you are going to look like your aunts after you give birth."

With images of my aunts floating in front of my eyes, I have been going to the gym every 2 days or so just to hit the treadmill or walker and work up a sweat. While I haven't lost any weight, I have noticed a surprising side effect after 2 weeks:

Most of my pimples have disappeared.

For the past 2 months, my skin has been crazy congested and threatening to break out into cystic acne. I didn't even dare to use makeup for a while and have been changing my moisturisers, cleansers etc in the hope of finding a cure.

As it turns out, sweating everything out was the cure. It was just that simple.

I now have another reason to hit the gym!

Maybelline Unstoppable Curly Extension Mascara

At first, I really didn't like this mascara very much. The thick formula seemed to take forever to dry leading to smudges and on top of it it didn't do much for lashes. You'd sit there, slapping the stuff on and then suddenly BOOM - all your lashes were stuck together. Argh!

But like most Maybelline formulas, this one seems to get better with age as the formula dries down and thickened it only takes a few strokes of the wand to get the required definition. Now a month in to using it daily I'm starting to like the formula. It does give bold black longer lashes - slightly more than my old favourite - but nothing that will knock your socks off. I think that it does indeed help retain curl, but the heavier formula weighs lashes down a bit so it's a give-some-take-some situation. 

Monday's Beauty Roundup: July 2010

Sigh. Time. It's just not going to slow down, is it?

Guess not. So let's see what the girls have been up to in July.

• I actually walked away from MAC MSF in Petticoat. But ParisB of My Women Stuff just killed my willpower with this post.
  
• And speaking of MAC, their latest collection called In The Groove is really worth checking out. And Lipglosseater Jenn has some pretty awesome swatches.
  
• Connie of Skindeco gives her take on these Revlon lipsticks which are looking mighty mighty tempting!
  
• There are moments in life when you just don't wanna be flashin those bra-straps around, and Nikki of Askmewhats might just have the solution to that problem.
  
• Want a makeupbag that can double as a bag organiser? Xin of Prettybeautiful has got a really pretty one!
  
• And finally, if you're as fussy about your brows as Yani of Redlusciouslips is, you might wanna make a pit-stop at Benefit. Her brows are sure looking good!

Now read on to see what arrived with my mail recently!