Cover me up

So if you know me, I'm all about the lazy girl makeup routine. I can go without blusher and foundation but I cannot live without concealer. So here's some that I've tried.
Revlon PhotoReady, ZA Concealer Perfection, Revlon Age Defying, Benefit boi-ing. 

You might be wondering why I have more than one of the same concealer, and the reason is this - it's near impossible to find the perfect shade so I've taken to mixing them to get it right (I do this with my foundation too).

So what's the difference? Let me break it down for you.

If you don't know about the Revlon Photoready range, the products are supposed to have photochromatic pigments that reflect and diffuse light ideal for... photo-taking! If you look in a mirror under a light, you'll see tiny tiny reflective shimmer. It's a cream concealer that comes in a stick form, glides on smooth and provides full coverage.

I bought the ZA concealers when there was an offer for it at Watsons. Also a cream concealer that comes in a tube, I find it a little too 'sticky' but it's relatively good for covering my dark circles because of its consistency. I first bought this in 3 which is a little orangey then went and got 2 the next day which is a little too light for me, but mixing the two gets the right color.

The Revlon Age Defying concealer I got some time back (I don't even know what convinced me to get this). It's nice because it has a twist applicator that releases product onto the soft brush. I find the coverage this provides a little sheer and the color is a little light on me, so I use this as a highlighting tool just down my nose.

I'm more of a drugstore shopper than department store, so this boi-ing was courtesy of Chelly who I think found the color too dark on her fair skin. I generally don't use this like I do other concealers on targeted areas like dark circles or the dreaded pimple. I use this on days when I want coverage on larger areas - if I feel like my cheeks have some redness but don't want to use foundation all over. My gripe about this would be the fact that it comes in a pot, it's so unhygienic using fingers to pick up the product or even a brush. I don't understand why cosmetic companies still produce things in pots. I really don't. 

Dream a little dream of me- DreamCatcher Nails!

Had nightmares as a kid and found that these dream catchers didn't work? Yeah. Me too. 

But they sure as hell are pretty to look at though!

I was surfing around and saw so many nail tutorials that taught you how to pain your own dreamcatchers on your nails! So pretty! Must try!

Although it may look a little complicated, it really is rather easy. The top part is quite intricate so i decided to try them only on my thumbs.

Base color is ChinaGlaze "Hopeful" and for the accent finger I dipped my nail in a glitter pot and flattened everything out. (Confession: I was planning to go for a disco ball thing but I gave up halfway).
For the black lines, I used a striper brush dipped in black polish and gently pulled the brush across the nail. I used a dotting tool for all the other details.

Note: Because of the space you need for the details, medium to long nails only.

Try them out!

Love,
Chelly

Mac Prep Primer

Okay! So the other day I was watching
"Get it beauty self" this Korean make up thing. They basically teach girls how to work wonders with colours! It's insane! Like one of those Taipei mei after and before eyelash and eyeliner thing? But Korean style..so it involves alot of shading and contouring, damn power la..and as usual, me being a sucker for this kind of thing, went to buy one if their featured product, the mac prep primer!!!

Okay so I usually use Chanel's Le Blanc light revealing primer and I love it! It's light, smells nice and illuminates the skin! So you might ask why change? Because..they feature it Leh! And the girls look so good! So?I must try! Who knows? This one might be better! Hahah girls.. never contended. Plus Mac is a cosmetic brand, covered on some Asian show, so our skins should more or less match. No?

Okay enough said! Lets get down to business!

So Mac Prep Primer promises to even out skin tone like an enhancer to prep ur skin for foundations and also helping it to last through the day, adding radiance and glow! And it has SPF 35, so it's not too bad, though 50 would be ideal..but let's not be greedy.

me without makeup.

And now! After applying the primer.. Does my skin tone look any better?

 me with liquid foundation, it doesn't feel heavy, oily or sticky!
I manage to apply it smoothly!

Ok my camera isn't of the best quality, I will change it but anyway i personally I feel it that the primer instantly lightens my dark circles and gives this slight dewy look, whether not it would last through the day, we have yet to find out. But comparing to Chanel, this one doesn't make my face as white as Chanel does. So I think I might prefer this for now unless it starts melting in Singapore weather!

So for now it's 4 stars!!

Love,
Charm

make a wish and blow them out

For a few months I've been going crazy over Lush Lacquer's Birthday Cake. It was love at first sight.

It's so pretty and it reminds me of melted ice cream cake. It has an off white base with bits and pieces of  tiny glitter inside. Not too much glitter that it looks heavy , but just nice. Check out the reviews here and here. 

Being in Singapore, buying from Etsy is just too troublesome for me and I vowed to find a dupe, or try my hand at franken polish.

Until I found a pretty good dupe at Etude House!

Introducing Etude House Dear My Party Nails PBL 601 (only SGD $6.90 !)

The texture was alright and the base seems to be slightly lighter and perhaps more sheer than Birthday Cake. It dried quick and looked really pretty!

This is with only 1 coat

I left it at only 1 coat because I really liked how sheer it was and it really made the glitter seem more vibrant than Birthday Cake. However, I imagine it'd look alot more like Birthday Cake with a few more coats.

Definitely one of my favourite polish for a simple mani!

Removing glitter polish.. THE FOIL METHOD

I have avoided glitter polish for precisely this reason. I had SUCH a love-hate relationship with my glitter- I LOVE how pretty it is but HATE how hard it is to remove it!

Although the white glue method is really good, I still didn't like how the mani never lasted whenever I used a glue base.

But everything changed.

Introducing the foil method!

It started off because I wanted to remove this:

I started reading all about it on Instagram and nail blogs (like this), about wrapping polish remover around your nails will bits of foil. Honestly, the idea isn't new. Its how most nail places remove your Gelish or Acrylic nails, but to use it for normal glitter polish? Thats new. (to me at least).

I started by preparing all the stuff I would need. I cut up each cotton pad into quarters and tore pieces of aluminum foil as well.

After soaking each mini piece of cotton pad, I placed it on the nail and pressed it a little to really allow all the "juices" to reach all parts of the glitter polish.

And then it occurred to me that I forgot to check how long I was supposed to leave it on for. But I figured 3-5 mins should probably be enough?

Well I was wrong.

After 1 min, my fingers started to feel warm. The heat increased and I decided that I was most likely time to remove the foil pieces. I couldn't believe how fast it took!

As I removed the foil, I pressed down onto the nail and pulled the "bundle" out.

I wasn't expected anything too amazing, after all, it was only a minute!




However.....

oh wow, the entire glitter manicure came off.
I forgot to take a picture but you can see how nice and clean my thumb is! When I opened the foil bundle up, you can actually see the entire shape of my nail inside, coated in green glitter. Amazing. If you are stingy (which I obviously am), you can re-use the cotton inside to wipe off any spots that the bundle might have missed. Super easy, super quick and super AWESOME.

I no longer have to curse myself silly whenever I buy yet another bottle of glitter that i'll seldom use because removal is no longer such a pain in the butt.

I feel like Im looking at all my glitter polish with new eyes.

Color Wheel

I was surfing around YouTube last night before going to bed and was clicking here and there and found this interesting video about the color wheel explained thoroughly with makeup. I've talked about this with some friends before and people interested in make up will know this but that's not everyone. Anyway, it's a good to know. Enjoy!

This is how love looks like!

How pretty is this??

As the holiday season is approaching, Estee Lauder is launching this limited edition powder compact! It comes in a lovely glided case and comes in the 12 different zodiac signs. It comes with a Swarovski on the clasp and contains the highly raved Lucidity Translucent Pressed Powder inside. 

Personally, I haven't tried the powder but with a name like that, I can already imagine its pretty sheer and can probably only be used to blot and set make up. 

All that for SGD 180

My brain tells me, thats WAYYYYY too much to pay for powder that you can't even see but look at that case!!!!