2012 Favourites

I've been reading several beauty blogs and also watching beauty videos and many are doing a post on their 2012 favourites. So I thought I will do the same.

I have gotten a lot of beauty products in 2012, more than the year before and previous to that... but since there are so many products that I liked! Anyway, I finally came up with just a small selection of products that were in my favourites list.

Oh... just a warning - this post is picture heavy and long!!

Skincare products:

MAC Lightful Moisture Creme

MAC Lightful Hydro-charged moisturizer SPF 30

MAC Lightful Hydro-charged moisturizer SPF 30

The first product is MAC Lightful Moisture Creme. I have been using this moisturiser for the past 4 years. However this one pictured above is a new formula, the Marine Bright Formula. This moisturiser has got a gel consistency.  I love this moisturiser. It hydrates my dry skin really well and although it doesn't get rid of my dark spots it does seem to brighten up my skin tone. The downsides of this moisturiser is the price and that it is not available in Australia. It is only available in Asian countries and in the US. However, I have been fortunate to be able to get supplies for it as I go overseas every year and stock up or I order it through friends/family who went overseas to Asia. 

The second product is also in the MAC Lightful range. It is the SPF 30+ moisturiser. This one pictured is the old formula. I really liked this SPF 30 moisturiser because it has the sunscreen protection and it doesn't feel greasy like normal sunscreen. I use this on hot summer days alone or over the lightful moisture creme on winter. The consistency seems to be similar to MAC strobe creme. As pictured above you don't need much at all to apply all over the skin and once applied and blended it leaves your skin with a nice sheen glow.

Origins Vitazing

I love my Origins Vitazing. I use this on days where I don't want to use any foundation. This moisturiser comes out white but when it's blended on to the skin it changes colour to match your skin tone. It also gives my face a nice glow after applying and it's very moisturising.

I love Bioderma Crealine H2O makeup remover (the one above is the Asian version of Bioderma Crealine and it's named differently. It's exactly the same but they call it Sensibio). I found out about this through Lisa Eldridge's video on YouTube. I bought this when I was in Singapore back in October and have been using it everyday since. This is definitely my HG makeup remover. It's a very effective yet gentle makeup remover. It doesn't sting, calms the skin and hydrates my skin. It is quite pricey if you buy this in Australia. I should've bought more when I was in Singapore.

Makeup - Face:

MAC Mineralize Skinfinish (MSF) - Medium Plus

MUA Bronzer - Bronzed Perfection

MAC Peachtwist Blush

YSL Touche Eclat no. 3

MAC Face & Body Foundation

The 5 products above are my favourite face makeup products. I love MAC Face & Body foundation. It's a water based foundation with sheer/light coverage giving a beautiful natural look. It's perfect for my dry skin as it doesn't dry my skin out and it gives my skin a beautiful dewy finish.
MAC MSF is a baked face powder. Prior to using this, I hardly ever used powder foundations since it always makes my skin looked cakey and dry. However with the MSF, this was not the case. It works well with my dry skin and it looks nice and natural. I use it alone or sometimes over my F&B foundation to set it.
I love YSL Touche Eclat Radiance Touch Pen. I think a lot of people has this products because it's a brightening concealer/highlighter. I use it to brighten the area under my eyes, on the cheek bone, bridge of nose and cupid bow.
I've only recently bought MUA Bronzed Perfection bronzer but I fell in love with it straight away. It's a nice matte bronzer and it's not too dark or too orangey. It's nice to add a bit of colour on my face and I also use it to contour.
And last of the face makeup product is MAC Blush in Peachtwist. I love this blush. It's a shimmery peachy bronzey colour. Unfortunately today, when I was carrying all the favourite products to take photos of them, I dropped the blush so it cracked. I did manage to salvage it and half of it was ok but the other half was smashed. I used some alcohol fluid to put it back together in the pan - it just doesn't look as pretty now but at least it's still usable. I would've cried if I could not salvage it. I will do another post on this blush with swatches.

Makeup - Eye:

The original Urban Decay Naked Palette (pictured above) is definitely my most used and favourite eyeshadow palette. I love it so much. It just has the best combination of neutral colours. I think I've nearly hit pan on some colours (Half Baked, Buck, Sin). I use this as my everyday make up look but I can also use it for an intense smokey eye for a going out look. It's such a versatile palette and great for travelling!

Maybelline Color Tattoo is such a great cream eyeshadow! Plus it's so cheap and affordable. I love to use it alone or as a base. You can see my review of this eyeshadow here.

Maybelline One by One Satin Black mascara is my favourite mascara in 2012. I actually won this from Maybelline NY website and didn't really know about it until it was sent to me. At first I wasn't really overly excited by it but after using it several time I started loving it. It gives me beautiful long and thick lashes. 

Well... I think that's it. These are my favourite products in 2012. I think there would be more that I could list but then this post would get too long. 

What do you think of my favourites? What are your favourite beauty products of 2012? 

Non-beauty related: Macarons!

So I love Macarons. I am a sweet person and I love chocolate but my favourite sweets/dessert of all times is French Macarons. They are crunchy on the outside and when you bite into it they are soft and gooey and then you get the beautiful creamy ganache.

I think the best Macarons that I can get in Canberra is from Dream Cuisine. They are really nice and they've got a variety of different and interesting flavours.  But they are $3 per macaron so it will add up if I keep buying Macarons often. Another favourite of mine is Adriano Zumbo macarons but it's only in Sydney so I can only get it when I go up to Sydney.

Recently my best friend told me that Adriano Zumbo has released baking mixes of his macarons. There are 2 and they are the salted caramel macarons and passionfruit macarons. I bought around 5 boxes since I was so excited to try them and it was sold out at my local Woolworths so I had to get it at another store. The packet mix is really easy to make and they all turn out perfectly each time. I have tried making macaron with my sister once but it didn't turn out like a macaron at all.

Anyway, I know this is not beauty related but I was bored today so I decided to try out to make Macarons from scratch again (and I was really proud and happy with the result!!!). I watched several videos on how to make macarons and read different recipes before I made it. The recipe that I finally decided to use was from SortedFood.com. However, I did make one change and that was using Hazelnut meal because that's all I had at home.

After about 1.5 hour of prep, waiting and baking, the macaron turned out really well! I used a caramel filling and added a bit of salt to get that salted caramel taste. The macarons tasted more nutty with the hazelnut meal so next time I might try the original recipe with almond meal.

Here are some photos of the macarons:

EOTD #4 - New Years Eve Party Makeup

So I've been watching a few YouTube videos on New Years Eve Party Makeup and it got me inspired to do one myself. I was particularly inspired by Lisa Eldridge's video on Party makeup.

So here it is:

Products used:

For the eyes:

• Mirenesse Jumbo Black eyeshadow/liner pencil 
• MAC Shimmermoss
• MAC Beauty Marked
• MAC Cross Cultural
• Ben Nye Lumiere Lux Shimmer Powder in Ice
• Rimmel Soft Kohl Kajal Eye Pencil in Royal Blue
• Maybelline Master Precise Liquid Eyeliner
• Maybelline One by One mascara

For the face:

• MAC Studio Fix Fluid Foundation NC30
• Inglot AMC Face Blush (Liquid Blush) in shade 81
• Benefit High Beam

So to do the eye makeup I started by putting on the jumbo black eyeshadow pencil all over the lid as a base. You can use any black kohl eyeliner, black cream eyeshadow or even MAC Blacktrack fluidline. I then use a fluffy brush like MAC 217 to just blend it up a bit towards the crease.

Then I apply MAC Shimmermoss all over the lid. Then on the crease I mixed a bit of MAC Beauty Marked (a black red eyeshadow) and Cross Cultural (a matte dark brown) and apply on the crease blending it in with the turquoise eyeshadow. I also applied Ben Nye Lumiere Luxe Shimmer Powder all over to give it a beautiful shimmery look and then I applied a thin line of liquid eyeliner along the lash line and winged it out a little.

On the bottom lash line I applied Rimmel soft kohl kajal eye pencil in Royal Blue along the lash line and then smudged a black kohl eye pencil on the outer third. I finished off by applying several coats of mascara. If you want, you can use fake lashes to give it a more dramatic look but I didn't have time so I just applied mascara.

And that is it. I think this look is quite easy to achieve and if you don't have the same colours, you can always play around and try using different colour.

And I just want to wish everyone a Happy New Year!! Wishing you all a safe and happy 2013!

December 2012 Bella Box and Savoir Faire Winter Kit Swatches

So I was really excited in getting the December Bella Box since I read on Beautyheaven forums that there was something in it that's worth $110. When I opened it I was happy with the contents.

There was only 1 full size product in the box and that was the Savoir Faire Limited Edition Kit in Winter. The other products that was in the box were samples. There was EmerginC moisturiser and cleanser, Allegra Rhodes Hand and Nail Cream (in Red Lychee), John Frieda Frizz-Ease Secret Weapon Finishing Creme and Compeed blister patch.

So far I have only tried the hand cream and the Savoir Faire Kit. The hand cream is nice and has a beautiful lychee scent.  I'm not sure if I will buy the full size though since I already have plenty of hand creams

Now, the Savoir Faire Winter Kit. The kit contains 6 eyeshadows, a blush, a sheer lip gloss, a black mini pencil eyeliner and a mini mascara.

This is the ingredients list:

The kit also came with 3 day to night face charts but I haven't tried them yet. I have however used the eyeshadows with other eyeshadows. The only item I haven't tried is the mascara.

I have swatched the eyeshadows and blushes and they are pigmented and the colours are beautiful. I think if you want to experiment and play around with colours, this is the palette to go too. The only neutral colour is Devout which is a creamy golden colour.

Eyeshadow swatches with flash: Devout, Spicy, Kinetic, Liberating, Immortal and Vivacious

Eyeshadow swatches without flash: Devout, Spicy, Kinetic, Liberating, Immortal and Vivacious

The blush was a really lovely soft pink colour and it's pigmented too but you can apply it sheerly and build it up as desired. It's got a slight shimmer to it (you can see it in the swatches with flash).

Blush swatch without flash

Blush swatch with flash

So that's December Bella Box. This is my second box I've received since I started subscribing in November. I'm not sure if I  will continue the subscription for long. I think I will cancel it after I receive the January box. Even though I've been happy with what I've received, I think I need to use up all the products that I have before piling up my shelf with more products.

BYS Magnetic Nail Polish Review

So a couple of weeks ago when I had training from work, I went past KMart at lunch time. While I was looking around I found this BYS brand makeup. I have heard of it before but I've never tried it. Since I already have tons of make up I decided not to get anything.... that is until I saw the BYS Magnetic Nail Polish. Plus it was only $4, so I thought why not! I've been meaning to buy a magnetic nail polish since it came in trend in the past few months so this was a good chance to try them out.

The colour I purchase was a purple or violet colour. I love purple and the only other shades that was available was a dark grey silver and a dark green colour.

Even though I had bought this a couple of weeks ago I haven't had the chance to try out the polish. And since my Christmas day was a quiet day I decided to try it out then. I was very happy with how it turned out, although with my first application I accidentally put my nails too close to the magnet and smudged it all over the magnet but I got a hang of it after a couple of applications.

Here is the final result:

BYS Magnetic Nail Polish (without flash)

BYS Magnetic Nail Polish (with flash)

I really liked how it turns out so I might buy some more if I can find nicer shades/colour that I like. I might also try other brands to see if the magnet has different patterns.

Have you tried any magnetic nail polish yet? Do you like them? Let me know what you think or if there are better magnetic nail polish with cooler patterns, please leave a comment.