Skin Deco Christmas Giveaway Winners!

I'll be leaving you for New Year with the results to the Skin Deco Christmas Giveaway!

There are THREE winners which means there are THREE beauty packs, each with TEN items.

*drumroll....*

Winner of Beauty Pack A: lipglosseater

Winner of Beauty Pack B: foongjin

Winner of Beauty Pack C: addy_chicka

Congratulations to all the winners!

Happy 2009 Everyone!

Read on to see what you've won. Please e-mail me your mailing address so that I can send you your prizes. If you live near me, you can collect it personally from me as well :D






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Part Three: He's Gonna Find Out Who's Naughty or Nice

Christmas day was unplanned, cheapest and the most entertaining! The boy and I were at the police... museum. I know it sounds lame but I assure you, it's not. It's definitely a lot more fun than hours of looking for parking in an insanely packed shopping mall, looking at the same things and spending 12-hour pay on random and unimportant stuff. We went to the planetarium first but that was really boring because they had this dude's face plastered all over the place. I was kinda groaning and moaning about going to the police museum (of course it's not MY idea) but quite unexpectedly, it was rather interesting. At least it was 10 times better than the National Museum. So, you may not have children running over your feet with Heeleys, but since the entrance is FREE (love that word, doncha?) and so is the parking (you need barely 2 minutes to find parking there), why not check it out? Here's the map.

Read on for more pictures of my last Christmas post.

Lookie! Space toilet! The planetarium was made for kids. From the free parking lot, you'd have to walk really really far up steep flights of stairs. Please avoid.

Yay! Fun! Vrooooommm.....

Let's see... we have a slot machine, some opium, headless chicken in a jar and a mix-and-match

The best part of the entire museum. All the weapons and some of the freakiest that I've ever seen. I feel painful just looking at some of them. We spent the longest time here. Stick with nails? Handmade guns? Motocycle chains? Ouch... and #10, that's a stingray barb.

Communist stuff... includes face powder, condoms, undergarments, medical supplies... and yeap! Darlie toothpaste used to be called Darkie.

This was hilarious. If you can't see the words, click on the image for a bigger view.

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Part Two: 'Twas the Night Before Christmas

This was when I started to spend all those unnecessary cash. The holidays sure know how to make a girl broke. We decided to dive into the sea of people at The Curve for the Christmas countdown. If you're a Malaysian, you countdown for everything -- New Year, Chinese New Year, Merdeka, Deepavali, Hari Raya, Christmas... We're such festive people, aren't we? :D And another funny thing, many people enjoy going clubbing and drinking on Christmas Eve... So much for Christmas being a religious holiday. Usually, I spend Christmas at family dinners but this year I thought I'd celebrate with my friends. We booked for The Apartment but went to TGIF instead and waited 2 hours for our table. We paid twice the amount for limited choices off the Christmas menu and got half the regular portion with a dash of horrible service. :D 'tis the season to be jolly, ain't it? We left the shindig drenched in chemical snow and headed to the lookout point in Cheras at 2a.m., munching on Rota. What a night! I'm definitely not doing this again next Christmas.

Click on for more pictures. Boo.

Excitedly not knowing what to expect...

I wouldn't have mind the tiny portions and mediocre taste if the service wasn't so lousy

Midnight.. people squealing... well, some people

Couples night out!

Yeah. Come up with this idea AFTER I paid 80 bucks for a crappy meal

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The Battle of the Priceys: Dior Vs RMK

Would you pay over RM100 for a tube of mascara? If you're going to, you ought to be 99.9% sure that it's gonna make your lashes look unbelievable. Spending so much on a product that should be discarded after 3 months of usage is still something that I can't justify especially when there are so many drugstore alternatives that work just as well or even better. So, having access to Diorshow Iconic and RMK Separate Curl, I thought, why not do a review with some comparison pictures?
Spoiler: I do like one of them but not enough to make me wanna buy it.

Read on for the reviews and comparison pictures.

Diorshow Iconic Mascara

"...extra lash-curling effect... precisely coat each lash... long, separated fan of lashes... lift, curl, and separate every lash..."

All very promising words. Hmm... Let's start from the brush. It's bulky and stiff, which makes applying mascara on teeny asian lashes painstakingly difficult and messy. I couldn't even get the bottom lashes. The mascara builds up a lot on the base but doesn't extend well to the top making only the roots of the lashes look thick but not the rest of the lashes. The brush bristles separates the lashes well but what's the point in having separated lashes if they're not looking any longer, thicker *winks* and curled? I even tried saving my left set of lashes with a better mascara but the Diorshow Iconic was too stubborn to be improved. The predecessors of the Diorshow mascara range were much better compared to this one especially the original waterproof Diorshow.

The verdict: even if I have the money to waste on such an expensive yet lousy mascara, I wouldn't.


RMK Separate Curl Mascara

"Ultimate Curl... waterproof mascara... combs every single lash... perfectly separated..."

Now I can finally cool down a little with this mascara. It does what it says. Isn't that nice? Keep in mind that I did not curl my lashes prior to applying the mascaras so this one really does lift and curls the lashes! Cool huh? Quite obviously, you can see that the lashes are lengthened and volumized (is that a word?). The brush may look big but it's actually quite easy to work with and I can successfully coat my bottom lashes with it as well. My gripe with this mascara, though, is that it clumps when you do too many coats and the tube dries up pretty quickly. I don't go by the 3-month rule so, having RM125 of a mascara gone in such a short period would be a big bummer.

The verdict: If I had the money I wouldn't mind getting this mascara since it works but it's definitely not something that I'd starve for! Besides, I still prefer my trusty Rimmel Glam' Eyes over this.




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Part One: Good Tidings for Christmas

The past week has been quite hectic for me! At least to the point of pulling me away from my beloved lappie. We started our Christmas celebrations with a class party on Christmas Eve as proposed by Mr. Goh. We did a little potluck and I brought my specialty -- pasta with white cream sauce. It's just too bad that half of the class didn't participate and missed out on the yummy food. The tutorial was as usual but we were barely paying attention since the tutor was wearing a Santa hat and the cheese tarts that he brought were distracting us. Although the party only lasted for an hour and a half, we managed to finish up all the food, get some decent pictures and score some *coughs*... Oh! and my packages from sprees as well as my prize from Paris' giveaway arrived!

For my Christmas Eve look, I curled my hair and went for a green and purple look with golden shimmers. The golden shimmers are from my Kate Gel Liner in GD-1, used as a base before applying eyeshadow over it. It's a pretty cool trick to add subtle shimmers to your look so do try it if you have this liner! If you don't have it, I highly recommend it. They have it in silver as well which works the same.

Read on for description of items used and more pictures.

Items Used:

Majolica Majorca Skin Lingerie
e.l.f. Tone Correcting Concealer
RMK Liquid Foundation in #104
Chacott Loose Powder
e.l.f. Healthy Glow Powder in Luminance
The Body Shop Mineral Blush in Warm Copper
L'Oreal De Crease
Kate Gel Liner in GD-1
Sweetscents Pigments in Shamrock (lid), Orchids & Diamonds (crease), Vixen (outer-V), Emerald & Diamonds (lower lash line)
MAC Eyeshadow in Ricepaper (highlight)
MAC Fluidline in Blacktrack
Rimmel Glam' Eyes Mascara
Prescriptives Eyebrow Powder
Origins Once Upon a Shine in Sheer Fig







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Shu Uemura Balancing Cleansing Oil Fresh

Cleansing oils are almost always associated with Shu Uemura even though there are like so many other options out there -- that's a pretty big deal. However, being the cheapo that I am, I won't pay so much for a cleansing oil because there's always a cheaper alternative and mine would be from Missha.

Recently I've been using a sample bottle of the Shu Uemura High Performance Balancing Cleansing Oil Fresh (That's a pretty long name!) and I still haven't gotten through the whole 5ml bottle yet! I also have the Classic one which I'm yet to use once I run out of the Fresh one.

Read on for the review

The fact that I still have about 1/4 of a bottle left shows that only a little more than a 20 cents coin size is sufficient for the whole face. So, even though this cleansing oil is a little pricey, a bottle should be able to last you for quite some time.

I've been using several brands of cleansing oils and I must say that this is definitely one of the better one that I've used. The oil is quite light in texture and gives a slight tingling sensation to the skin (but not as minty as RMK's cleansing oil). When it emulsifies, it gets all the foundation out quite effectively without much residue left which means it does cleanse very well. The product claims to lightly exfoliate the skin with Cherry Extract for smoother, brighter and more refined skin. I agree with "smoother" but not so much "brighter" if compared with La Mer's Cleansing Fluid, which is still my favorite as far as pricey cleansing oils go.

This cleansing oil is ideal for those who have oily and acne-prone skin so I won't be complaining that it doesn't feel as moisturizing as I'd like it. However, it doesn't cause the skin to feel taut either. Perhaps the Classic one would work better for my skin type. As for the Sakura fragrance... I haven't really noticed it so I guess it's not really distinct.

Overall, I do think that this is a very good product and if you can afford it, I'd say go for it. Personally, I'd prefer to try a few types of the cleansing oil first (they have six types) before I settle on a specific one and pay RM99 (150ml) for it. It's also available in 450ml for RM260.


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Boxing Day Update!

It's already Boxing Day and just a few more days to the New Year! I'll miss you 2008, you've been great to me.

This is just a post Christmas update since I'm not comfortably at home with my lappie so no pictures and reviews for today. In the next two days, after I've compiled my pictures and all then I'll bring my stuff over to the cyber cafe to update. So, bear with me!

I've just gone through all the giveaway entries and there will be THREE lucky winners! I'll need to compile the gift packs first before I reveal the winners so keep your fingers crossed for now!

Here's a heads up on a few product reviews that I'll try to manage over the weekend.:
- Shu Uemura Balancing Cleansing Oil
- RMK Separate Curl Mascara
- Diorshow Iconic Mascara
- The Body Shop Nature's Minerals Foundation Brush

That's all I have with me this weekend. My review pile is mounting up! Loads to review and not enough time *sighs*

Of course, I'll be posting up my Christmas FOTD, which apparently was something totally different from the recommendations that I posted, as well as some celebration pictures.

What did you do on Christmas Day? Got any interesting presents?


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Happy Christmas Everyone!

I won't be online on Christmas Day so here's a slightly early Christmas wish for all of you. I hope you'll have a swell Christmas this year! Just remember that Christmas is not always about the presents (honestly, if it wasn't for the contests, I wouldn't have gotten much for Christmas) but spending time with the people that you care about. And most important of all, Christmas is about the FOOD! Seriously. Even if you don't celebrate Christmas, it's a pretty solid excuse to chow down on some Christmas grub.

Today will also be the last day for you to enter the Skin Deco Christmas Giveaway so be sure to do that for a chance to win some beauty goodies.


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Christmas Eve Makeup Recommendations

This is definitely very last minute but better late than never right?

I've done two looks that you can wear for your Christmas Eve night out and I promise that it's gonna be very simple to do! And quick too so for those of you who are going straight from work, you can get glammed up in no time.

The first smokey eyes look is for all you ladies who will be going clubbing and the second will be a glittery eyes look for those who will be dining out with friends or family. I'll most probably be wearing the second tomorrow night as I'll be at The Apartment in The Curve :)

What will you be doing on Christmas Eve?

Read on for the quickie tutorial.

Smokey Eyes for Clubbing

After applying an eye primer (L'Oreal De Crease), fill up the lid and lower lashline with black eyeliner pencil to create a base. Using a sponge tip applicator, smoothen the edges. With an eyeshadow brush, sweep some light satin brown eyeshadow (MAC's Era) over the black base and blend. To smoke out even more, add some black eyeshadow to the outer corner of the eyes and blend into the crease. Apply highlight (MAC's Ricepaper) and finish off with a black eyeliner (Blacktrack Fluidline) and mascara or false lashes.

Glittery Eyes for Dining

Prep the lids (L'Oreal De Crease) as usual then apply a black base as above. Using an eyeshadow brush, pat on dark red glitter (MAC's Reflects Blackened Red) over the black base. Right above the crease and on the lower lash line, apply a lighter eyeshadow of the same shade (NYX Ultra Mania in Penny). Blend well. Add some golden glitter (KATE Gel Liner in GD-1) to upper lash line and also the inner corner of the eyes. Define the eyes with a thin line of black eyeliner (Blacktrack Fluidline) and apply it to the lower waterline as well. Finish off with mascara.

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Tomboys & Angels Fashion Show

Last Saturday was slightly more eventful than usual. Kahani from So Loverly asked if anyone wanted to help out with the makeup for a fashion show and *shoots hand up* I volunteered, although I was still rather clueless.

"The Annexe Gallery presents TOMBOYS & ANGELS, a fashion show that celebrates gender diversity and outrageous individual expressions of style." -- MalaysiaKini.Tv

I dragged invited Carmen to come along to help out as well which was great 'cause she did awesome and kept me company while having to wait for the actual work to start for 2 1/2 hours *coughs*. Aih... and I woke up so early. It was my first time doing makeup for a fashion show so it was pretty exciting but I sorta cringe at some of my worser works. 3 hours really isn't enough for me to work with so many people! Makeup is an art and you cannot rush art. That would be an excuse for me totally sucking at quick makeup :D By the way, for this fashion show, they girls are made to look more manly and the boys, more girly.



Anyway... The models comprised of "some of Klang Valley's most interesting everyday people" including Joyce Kristen Wong (style blogger), Pang Khee Teik (photographer), Hazri Haili (biologist), Fahmi Fadzli (actor), Myra Mahyuddin (photographer), Michelle Gunaselan (activist), Sarah Ze (pop star), Mien Ly (filmmaker), Janet Lee (chanteusse), Sharon Bakar (literary queen), Davina Goh (actor), Lim Chung Wei (arts manager), Ayam Fared (writer) and a few others that I didn't catch their names.

Read on for pictures!

Mien Ly sporting a mustache with makeup by carmen

Hazri as Marie Antoinette/Pikachu (I kid!)

Sharon was supposed to be David Bowie but her makeup melted off! Dang it!

Very random. Hmmm...

Carmen made Joyce and Davina look manly

Fahmi looks like a beautiful fairy princess and was such a good sport with the false lashes ;)

My makeup!! I lost a brush :(

A quick briefing before the show

The following are shots from the fashion show. The video should pretty much explain everything.

(I dunno his name) and Mein Ly

Sarah Ze and Janet Lee

Sharon Bakar and Joyce Kristen Wong

Pang Khee Teik and Lim Chung Wei

Ayam Fared and Myra Mahyuddin

Fahmi Fadzli. He was brilliant!

Emily (Kahani), Carmen and I

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