November 2012 Bella Box

So I have heard of all these beauty box subscription like Bella Box and Lust Have It but I didn't want to get it at first since I might not like the products in it... but after reading some blogs and watching videos of Bella Box and Lust Have It I decided to sign up to Bella Box.

I just got my first Bella Box last week. And here are the products inside it:

Products:

• Small sample of Bioderma Crealine H2O Cleansing water
• 4me Nail Polish Remover pads (30 pads)
• Swisse Hand cream with vitamin D and pomegranate 30ml
• Palmolive Strawberry Smoother Body Butter body wash 50ml
• Bloom Glitter Liquid Eyeliner in Star Gazer 4g
• John Plunkett Essentials Multi Vitamin Moisturiser 20ml
• Sample of Skinmiso Pore Beauty Nose pack

My first thoughts: I guess these items are not too bad. I already have the full size (250ml) of the Bioderma Crealine which I bought while I was in Singapore. It's a really nice cleansing water and it hydrates my dry skin! I just thought that there would be a few more full sized products and a makeup bag of some sort.  I won't be stopping my subscription yet though since this is just my first Bella Box. I'll give it a go for another 2 - 3 months at least and then maybe I will stop the subscription. It's good though that there is not only just make up but a mix of different types of products.

I tried out the Skinmiso pore beauty nose pack. It's suppose to cleanse blackheads and whiteheads from around your nose area. Although my skin did not have much blackheads and no whiteheads at all I decided to try it out. There are 2 masks. The first mask is for extraction of the blackheads and whiteheads which you put on for 10 minutes and then you use the cotton swab provided to exfoliate the blackheads further. Then there is a second mask to help calm the skin and moisturise the skin which you leave on for a further 10 min. The first mask was ok to use but when I put on the second mask my skin was stinging and burning immediately after I put it on. I thought it might go away but the burning sensation didn't go away so I took it off. After my skin had calmed down from the stinging I checked the blackheads and it did remove a bit of it but not all. I think this would be better for those who has more oily skin and non-sensitive skin. I don't think I will try this product again since it was just too much for my sensitive skin.

So there it is! My first Bella Box. I'm looking forward to receive next month's one. I hope there will be more exciting items next month!

IMATS 2012 haul - Brushes

So I know it's a bit late since IMATS Sydney 2012 was on 29th-30th September but I wanted to post my brushes haul on that weekend. I was actually happy that I didn't spend too much.

Most of my purchase were brushes. I bought a few brushes from Royal & Langnickel (R&L). I also got to meet the amazing Emmy Award winning makeup artist Kevin James Bennett (KJB) and I bought one of the R&L Revolution brushes that was created through his collaboration with R&L. I bought the BX-30 Kabuki blush brush for $18. I kinda regret I didn't buy anymore brushes from this line but I already had so much brushes.

The other brushes I bought was a small stippling brush ($6), a small crease brush ($4) and a finishing fan brush ($4).

R& L Revolution BX-30 Blush Brush

BX-30 Blush Brush (From side)

R&L SILK Pro Small Stippling C255

R&L SILK Pro Crease Brush C420

R&L Finishing Fan Brush BE05

Out of all these brushes my favourites would be the crease brush and the BX-30 brush. The crease brush is really good at picking up product and placing it on the crease and blending. It's not too big but yet not too small either. The BX-30 Blush brush is really good not only for blushes but also for contouring. It picks up a lot of products and blends it really well too. I love it! When I bought it, I asked KJB for a contouring brush and this was the one that he recommended. Although this brush is synthetic it amazingly picks up powdered products really well. And it's nice and soft too and not scratchy.  On the other side I did find the Fan brush a bit scratchy and not that soft. 

And even though I already did have tons of brushes I was so tempted and ended up buying one of Rae Morris's brush, the mini Kabuki brush.

The mini kabuki brush is very cute! It was $19.60 but I got a 10% discount at IMATS. I wanted to buy the deluxe kabuki but it was all sold out. This brush can be used to apply bronzer, blushes or highlighter. You can also use it for contouring as well. It's really nice and soft. I really want to buy a lot more of the Rae Morris brush collections but some of them are quite pricey!

So I think that was all the brushes that I bought! Let me know what you think of these brushes if you've tried them.

Giorgio Armani Eyes to Kill eyeshadow - Aqua collection

So sorry I have been on hiatus. I'm now back from holiday and started a new job so hopefully I will be able to start blogging regularly again.

Anyway while I was overseas I bought a Giorgio Armani Eyes to Kill eyeshadows from the Aqua collection in number 27. I also wanted to buy the Eyes to Kill mascara but unfortunately it was all sold out, so I got a MAC Haute & Naughty mascara instead (I'll post a review to this in a separate post).

Swatches without flash

Swatches with flash

The Giorgio Armani Eyes to Kill eyeshadows are supposed to be a hybrid of cream and powder shadows. They are supposed to last 24 hours and are waterproof and can be applied dry or wet.

The shadow comes in a heavy glass pot and it has got a stopper inside to press down on the pigments.

The eyeshadow are so intensely pigmented. You do not need much at all to apply all over your lid. The shade #27 is so beautiful. It's a bit hard to explain but in the pot you can see shades of muted pink/plum mixed with silvery taupe colour. And when applied on the lid it mixes beautifully. The shadow doesn't crease and last all day. I don't know if it does last for 24 hours but it lasts me more than 9 hours without creasing. 

Unfortunately these eyeshadows are not yet available in Australia. I bought it when I was in Singapore for SG$41 which is around AU$33. It was more expensive than some eyeshadows that I purchased but it was worth it. I kinda regretted only buying 1 shade but I do have tons of eyeshadows already. 

Next time I go overseas I will definitely purchase other shades.