REVIEW: Stila's Convertible Color (Orchid)

Besides being a mascara fanatic, I'm also a lip/ cheek stain maniac. *guilty smile* I have Benefit's Benetint, Benefit's Benetint Lip Balm, M.A.C's Just A Pinch Gel Blush, The Body Shop's Lip & Cheek Stain, was an ex-owner of Etude House's Fresh Cherry Lip Tint... And yours truly has only 2 cheeks. *GLOOM* Anyway, as I was saying, Stila has my heart where lip/ cheek stains are concerned (Yay Stila!). (:



Stila's Convertible Color can be used on both the lips and cheeks (Yay for multi-tasking products!). They have 9 shades altogether, which can be viewed here. The one that I have is in Orchid and as far as I know, has been discontinued (Why is it that all good stuff always bites the dust?!? Makeup brands, hello?!? ): ). It wasn't available in their regular line up but came with the Stila's Step Out and Shine Color Collection and Handbag Gift Set for Stila's Holiday Collection 2008.



The Convertible Color comes in a pretty metallic dull pink casing. It comes with a handy dandy mirror. Packaging wise, it's alright. I mean no one likes dipping their fingers into products, especially one that is a stain because it stays on your finger all day (YES! This product's staying power is a-a-amazing! More on that later!). But I can't think of any other packaging that it can be in... Tube?!? That will be weird, alright.



The colour looks crazy deep, dark, intense, scary blah blah blah... but I swear to you that it isn't! (Sorry that the product doesn't look very good above! Have been using it for a while now.)





When blended out on the cheeks, it gives you a really nice, natural rosy hue. It's like the oh!-I-just-came-back-from-my-jog kind of girlish look. Which is a look that I think all girls should sport because it's so healthy! And girlish! Haha. Okay, that's what I think anyway.

When I have school, after moisturizer and sunscreen, I will usually apply mascara and then dab two spots of the convertible colour on my cheeks and blend, blend, blend (Yes, I don't use foundation, concealer and all that jazz because I seriously think that Singapore's weather will just melt them all away into one big gooey mess. I know it's not true but I still think this way. Haha. Okay, irrational much. Ahhh... Foundation just makes my skin feel so suffocated. ): ).

I put this on at 6am in the morning and when I come home at around 8pm, it's still there!!! (: It doesn't make my cheeks itch (Unlike Benetint! I wanted so much to like it but just as well. It's so hellishly expensive!). It's waterproof (Cry as much as you want and you still have pretty rosy cheeks! Even though if you're crying, your face will be very red already and I shouldn't sound so happy about having pretty cheeks when one is CRYING... Haha. Okay, you get the picture. It only comes off with makeup remover.). It doesn't come off if you happen to rub your cheeks (Unlike M.A.C's Just A Pinch Gel Blush.). And seriously, just 2 dabs are all that you need and so, the product is gonna last you a very, very long time.

I haven't tried it on my lips yet because I think all stains, no matter what the brand says, are very drying on (lips) so I can't say much for the lip usage.

Even though this particular shade has been discontinued (I got mine from a livejournal seller), it is available in the Step out and Shine Color Collection on beautycrunch.com. (:

P.S.: Do note to apply this first before putting on your foundation!

REVIEW: Bourjois Paris' Liner Effect Waterproof Mascara (Noir)

I have never thought of buying Bourjois' stuff because... Well, just because. They have this mini series which are really cute and I'm very tempted to own them all but as we all know packaging lies. Anyway, while doing my usual round of aimless surfing, I changed upon Beauty On The Way and there's this amazing entry on mascaras. After reading it, I was like "I HAVE to purchase the Bourjois' one!" (Yes, I'm still very much on my mascara craze.).



I got myself the waterproof one and in black, of course. Haha. They have it in blue and brown as well but those aren't waterproof.



There are 2 sides to the brush; one with short bristles and the other with long ones. According to Bourjois' website, you are supposed to

Step 1: Use long bristles to stretch the mascara formula from root to tip. Intensely lengthens lashes without clumping.
Step 2: Use short bristles to deposit formula at the base of the lashes, emphasising roots for a liner effect. It will look as though you have used a pencil khol in the inside rim of your lashes, without the hassle!
And guess what?!?

It is exactly as it says it is!!! *am on cloud 9* What I do is that I use the long bristles, the short ones and then, the long ones again. Some people have issues with the long bristles because they find them far too long for comfort and too spiky. I completely agree with them because the bristles ain't soft, oh no. You have to be extra careful when using it. But I find that it is the long bristles that makes certain that lashes do not clump together. Of all my mascaras, this is the one that separates lashes BEST!

The long bristles also make application for the lower lashes easier. As they are long, you can actually pinpoint the brush exactly where the lower lashes are at. With my other mascaras, I hardly ever use them on my lower lashes because they always get onto the skin and it's a pain to clean them off. Also, with other mascaras, I have to ensure that the brushes don't have too much mascara on them (before applying to my lower lashes) because they cause the (lower) lashes to clump horribly together and everything becomes this huge mess (Okay, not a HUGE mess per se. But you know what I mean, if you have your foundation, concealer etc. on and you get mascara on your undereye... You have to do the whole touching up business after you clean it off). But for the Liner Effect, I don't really have to take care of that because the bristles are so long. Clumping is almost (I say 'almost' because nothing is perfect.) history!

Anyway, after trying the mascara out for the first time, I decided to test its waterproof ability and so I ran the second episode of 'Ghost Whisperer'. As like the first one, I bawled my eyes out. The mascara did stay on BUT I found little flakes of it on my undereye. This didn't happen with my Majolica Majorca's one. Since I don't cry or swim or let my eyes come into contact with water often, this little flaw doesn't take many, in fact any, brownie points away from it. (:

I got mine from BHG, which is currently having a 20% discount, at $19.20. The usual price of the Bourjois' Liner Effect is $24.

P.S.: Crazy sorry for such a lengthy review but I really, really do LOVE this mascara! *regrets buying backups of MM's mascaras*

EDIT// I have noticed a little bit of flaking and smudging at the end of the day. But these aren't enough to make me throw it out yet because it really is the most fabulous mascara that I have at lengthening, volumizing and separating the eyelashes.

REVIEW: Skinfood's Carrot Toner and Carrot Emulsion

Of all the Korean brands that are available in Singapore, I have always been interested in Skinfood and not so much the rest. Somehow, I have this weird idea that Skinfood's the best (out of all the Korean brands in Singapore). Mum and Jules spent a week in Korea somewhere in March so I, of course, asked them to pick up some stuff for me. *grins* They came back with (almost) everything that was on my list plus a TON of samples (SIGH. Why don't we see this in Singapore?!?). According to Jules, competition among the beauty brands are so fierce that they give out lots of samples to customers.

The Carrot Gift Set was one of the samples that I received. It contains the Carrot Toner and Carrot Emulsion. I have been using them for 3 days now and decided to do a mini review (so as to revive this blog. Lol.). I tried to search for the benefits of this skincare line but all that I found was this:

'A toner/ an emulsion that is formulated without the 7 ingredients for the health of your skin and contains the nutrient-enriched extract of organic carrots grown in pure water from Jeju Island.'

Right. Not exactly helpful. At all. So I can't do a proper review of it since I don't even know what's it's supposed to do. But I will just write about how I find it so far.

Both products smell of carrots. Obviously (Well, there are products that don't smell like what they say they will smell.). It's a very pleasant scent. Nothing too overpowering. The toner's transparent. It doesn't feel like there's any alcohol in it so that's good because alcohol dries your skin, no matter what people say about how effective it is in drying up zits. In the long run (if you use it as part of your daily regime), it's gonna backfire because fact is alcohol is drying. Very. The emulsion is a white cream. It isn't of thick consistency. Kinda watery, in my opinion but my skin absorbs it real easily. When I wake up in the morning, my skin feels moisturized. (:

Still, I can't say if I will buy this again since I have no idea at all as to what it's supposed to be doing to my skin. Will update this spot if I do find more information.

Note: This skincare line cannot be found on Singapore's Skinfood website. Hmmm... New, you think?