Make Up Academy Gel Eyeliner in Glitzy Ensemble

Another one from Make Up Academy! I am currently exploring this budget Brand and so far, I had fun! This time I’m playing with Gel Eyeliner.

The gel eyeliner is supposed to be super pigmented in a slick packaging. MUA claims the product will not budge once it is applied! I am excited! For my oily lids in humid weather, this might be an alternative to my trusty MAC aqualiners!

One thing for sure, I totally agree that the packaging is super practical. The brush is hidden nicely within the cap of the bottle. This way, I wont be worrying about lost or forgetting bringing my gel liner brush while travelling.

Now the color… it is not exactly pigmented, but it is indeed sparkly. The texture is creamy and glides easily. Piling up color can be a challenge, as the liner is more to the sheer side.

I was rather disappointed with the longevity. Usually gel liner lasts longer, but not this one. It easily glides off my eyelids by lunchtime. Good thing is, the sparkles doesn’t fall on my cheeks in the progress.

Bottomline,

Sparkly pretty color, too bad it doesn’t last long enough on my oily lids. 

Make Up Academy Liquid Eyeliner in 4

I’m always up for a good budgeproof eyeliners! Since MUA promises bright colors and long lasting wear with this one… I definitely will try!

First, the packaging… it is simple and made of light plastic. With the price, I cant complaint for this minor thing. It is the content that is of importance. Just one thing… it doesn’t close properly. As the shape of the tube is square, you can easily see if the corners are not aligned properly.  And that’s what happened… just aesthetics… but I find it a little annoying.

The applicator is made of stiff brush. I find it a little too stiff or my taste. But also, thanks to the stiffness, I can draw super fine line with this one.

(L: MUA gel liner, R: MUA liquid liner in 4)

Moving on to the color… I picked color number 4. Interesting that they don’t give name to shades as most of other brands are doing now… anyway… number 4 is metallic gunmetal that doesn’t disappoint! Super metallic, super sparkly, just how I wanted my gunmetal eyeliners to be!

And yes, it is long lasting too! I swatched it on the back of my hands and then do my usual household chores, which includes lots and lots of washings and cleanings. To my surprise, the color stays put. It does faded a little but it stays put in general. On my oily lids, however, it becomes dry and flaky. With a little rubbing, the color just flakes off. It doesn’t make it past lunch time.

Bottomline,

Pretty color, unfortunately it flakes on my oily lids, and pretty much removed itself before lunchtime…

Make Up Academy The Artiste Collection Palette

When I am trying a new brand, I just have to try their palette. I guess it is just my lazy bones telling me that I need more palettes to carry when I’m travelling. All in one… shadows, blush, highlighter… BUY NOW… hahaa…

Okay… now, the Artiste… just like other products from MUA, it is housed in light, simple plastic casing. It offers eye shadows, blushes, bronzer and highlighter too! sounds like heaven to me…

You can count me disappointed in the first three colors… the pearly mint, pearly ivory and satin sky blue. It is not easy to pick enough pigment to get it to appear on my skin. The rest of the shadows… are different story… the deep purple with hint of shimmer is truly wonderful. The color just pops and it is pigmented! Ditto with the sparkly bronze and satin brown. These three colors make it worth it to purchase in my opinion.

(2 blushes 2nd color in pan then left most color in pan, 6 eye shadows, bronzer & highlighter swatches)

The blushes is another disappointment… their color is certainly pretty… fresh rosy pink and fresh rosy coral. But the pigmentation is just blah. Which is a pity…. The colors are super easy for daily use and totally bring fresh to otherwise muted face.

The bronzer is pigmented too… but may be a little too deep for my skin tone. The highlighter is ivory colored and it is wonderful. I can see myself wearing this a lot.

Bottomline…

It is okay for the price. First three shadows and the blushes are disappointment, but the rest are wonderful. 

Make Up Academy Shimmer Kisses Blusher in Pink Shimmer Kisses

I have heard about Make Up Academy for ages now. Been lurking and contemplating at their products for a while too. I was initially curious about their fluffy effect nail art (which I will review later). But for today, I’m going to share with you the blush.

MUA is a British beauty in a budget brand. But I heard their quality is pretty good! Shimmer kisses is available only in Pink when I placed my order. It is made of 4 squares of colors, meant to be mixed with your brush and applied.  You can also pick the lighter color only and use it as highlighter.

As you can see, the packaging is simple black square with clear cover. slim and functional. it is made of plastic and feels light. 

I was expecting a shimmer bomb when I ordered this, considering the name of the product… “shimmer kisses”. It is far from shimmer bomb I expected it to be… in a good way. In fact, they are more pearlish then shimmery. The top left (darkest color) and bottom right squares are actually matte satin while the other two is subtle pearl.

(all colors mixed, then individual squares starting from top left darkest color)

Pigmentation wise, it is pretty sheer, even the darkest doesn’t really show up when I applied on my cheeks with brush… I don’t think I will use this as blush, but more as highlighter or just to give a hint of fresh colors on my chin and forehead when im feeling particularly pale.

The blush is firm and didn’t get disintegrated easily. The texture is nice and finely milled.

Bottomline,

The color combo appears pretty and natural on pan, but it doesn’t translate to my cheeks much. The pigmentation is lacking. This will be more suitable to be used as highlighter than blush. 

Lush Caca Noir

Usually, I would prefer to use much easier, faster bubble hair dye like Etude House's or Kao Liese. Since my hair condition has gotten worse these days (drier, more brittle), I decided to darken my strands with softer dyes. That's how I met Lush Caca.

These Cacas come in bar, just like chocolate bars. You break it off and mix with hot water until reaching yoghurt consistency, then apply. Wrap with clingwrap for brighter color, but since I want to darken my brownish hair, I am going to let it sit as usual. Lush says leaving it up to 6 hours will give richer colors. Nay, I dont have 6 hours... so I left mine for 3 hours. Lush website says you can leave it as fast as 1 hour. 

In the beginning, I kept on delaying using this. for the fear that it would take ages to prepare. I was wrong. It was easy peasy. My trick was to break the bar off to small pieces, and add hot water soup spoon-ful by soup spoon-ful while continuously mixing and mashing with fork. This way, risk of adding too much water is minimal. For my medium length hair, 2.5 box was just nice to cover all my hair while leaving very little (if any) leftover. 

First off, I love the smell of this Caca. Herby and green and fresh... oh so relaxing (for me). What a departure from chemical fume of bubble hair dyes and straightening chemicals. The texture is a little grainy, even after careful mixing, somehow I cant make smooth paste. at times I leave trail of caca crumbs around where I sit while waiting. 

The application was pretty easy, simply massage in and make sure everything is covered just as usual. Let me remind you again, crumbs will definitely drop here and there while you apply your caca. Best if you apply it in bathroom where you can simply wash off the floor. and wear dark shirt you dont care about anymore. again... the crumbs, people...

Washing the caca out is another story altogether... it was a nightmare for me. I rinsed my hair with water twice, then with shampoo twice then once more with water. that's how hard it was for me to wash the crumbs off my hair. during the washes my hair feels so rough... and it tangled like nobody's business. Big dollop of Ma Cherie hair treatment helped to calm the whole thing down. I proceed with towel drying my hair and applied my usual hair oils and styling products. 

I am so glad that all that stiffness and roughness I experienced when I was washing away the caca doesnt last. after the caca is properly washed, everything came back to normal. my hair does feel a little darker, but not as jet black as my regular bubble hair color result. the good thing is,again, my hair returns to normal as soon as everything is washed off. with bubble hair colors, my hair feels noticeably drier, even though I applied my oils and towel dry as usual. 

Some websites mentioned that henna will neutralize chemical processes you have done to your hair. and to some degree i have to agree with this. my hair didnt turn to its usual frizzy curly messy self, but some part of it did. Stubborn patch of hair which unfortunately frame my face turns way more wavy than before I applied the Caca. but that's all the changes I noticed, I didnt notice other changes. 

Bottomline, 
when you want natural hair color and have the time to wait for the color to develop, LUSH Caca is for you. but dont expect deep jet black color from Caca Noir... you will get darker color, but not jet black. 

(picture from lushusa.com)

Sleek Make Up Pout Paint in 158 Rosette and 162 Milkshake

I have always wanted to try OCC’s famous lip tar... but somehow never managed to get my grubby hands on one. So, the last time I ordered stuff from Sleek, I grabbed their Pout Paints. It does look like OCC’s Lip Tar, don’t you think?

(picture from sleekmakeup.com and sephora.com)

Sleek says Pout Paint is pigmented lip pigment that’s meant to be mixed with other colors. Sleek’s color collection is not as wide as OCC, but Sleek does offer mixer colors like white and blue. I picked up more wearable Rosette and Milkshake.

Rosette is my comfort zone color... creamy cool magenta pink, while Milkshake is milky coral pink.

I don’t know if my Pout Paint is stale or what, but when I first open it I can totally see the pigment and gloss separated. And it happened to both Milkshake and Rosette. By the way, I ordered them in different occasion, and they arrived at different time. Lucky for me, even though appeared separated, the product is easily mixed.

Pout Paint has texture like light gloss, comfortable on the lips and doesn’t feel sticky too. Both Rosette and Milkshake has citrusy fruity scent, but I detected no taste. Not to worry, the fragrance will be gone before you know it – it doesn’t last long.

Lets talk about Milkshake first. Count me disappointed here. I was expecting super pigmented product... but I got a light milky gloss. Pretty color, lovely texture... I would have raved about it if it were marketed as regular gloss- but it was not as pigmented as I wanted it to be. It is rather sheer and tends to pool in my lips texture. Dried prune lips, not fun. As you can see, the color is nearly similar with my natural lip color... so I cant really examine the staining power here.

Rosette is less disappointing than Milkshake. Rosette somehow applies more evenly, but it is still sheer. The color is not staining, and it doenst last very long on me- 3 or 4 hours max.  

Bottomline,

If you want light comfortable sheer gloss, this is for you. But if you want super power pigmented lipcolor, look elsewhere. 

Sleek Dip-It Liquid Eyeliner in 268 Forest Green

Sleek is a British brand famous for its wonderful iDivine palettes. Fallen in love with iDivine and their Blush by 3 palletes, I decided to try their liquid eyeliners.

(picture from sleekmakeup.com)

I have chosen Dip-It in Forest Green. Sleek claims it to be long lasting liquid eyeliner with Felt tip applicator. Dip It comes in various colors… from basic jet black to vibrant sky blue and glistening gold.

(picture from sleekmakeup.com)

As a packaging junkie…lets start with the packaging! All I can say is Meh… Unlike wonderful iDivine and Blush by 3, the material they used here totally look and felt cheap. Light matte plastic, plus its forest green color, reminds me of… this:

(picture from disneystore.com)

The color is lovely… matte camouflage forest green, which pairs nicely with a light wash of my favorite Majolica Majorca BE 826 (similar tone to NARS Orgasm)

Applying it…is another story… I was expecting soft nice felt tip like MUFE’s aqua liner. Nope. It is not as soft as MUFE’s. and somehow the product dries so fast, single dip wont even take enough product to make a thin line on my upper lashline. Ho hum…  it also feels clumpy. Meh (again). All of that combined… I cant make smooth, neat, single swipe line as I usually make with my other liquid liners.

(picture from Sephora.com)

Bottomline…

Pretty color aside, I don’t think I want to deal with clumpy eye liner with uncomfortable applicator. 

Rimmel Lasting Finish Lipstick By Kate Moss in 101

(picture from rimmel.rimmellondon.com)

It was love at first sight with… the packaging of this Rimmel lippie. Yes, it was the regular plastic tube from Rimmel… but something from the Kate Moss collection somehow called me. May be it was Kate’s cute signature on the tube? I don’t know.

For those not familiar, Rimmel is drugstore beauty brand from the UK. Most of its products are available in Singapore’s Watson. This year (or was it last year?) Rimmel launched Kate Moss lipstick collection. There’s regular lipstick and the matte lasting finish lippie, like the one I bought here. Just like other Kate’s collection, the line promises vivid colors and comfortable wear. The Lasting Finish collection offers 5 super wearable color collection.

101, is matte natural pink, very creamy and glides easily on my lips. The color is super wearable, especially for those with paler skin tone. One me, it is a pretty MLBB (my lips but better) pink-nude. The color is super similar to my own lip color, hence it just make my lips tone appear smoother and more even. I find the color and texture smoother than the regular Rimmel matte lipstick. The lipstick is scented with Rimmel’s signature fruity-ish fragrance.

Not surprisingly for mattes, this product is pretty drying on my (already) dry lips. But it doesn’t feel as drying as the regular Rimmel matte lippie. The color is pigmented, single swipe is enough to give you full coverage. The finish is more velvet than matte. My lips doesn’t look dry and it is still creamy enough to give the comfortable feeling when applied. Nice thing is, as it wears out, it doesn’t settle on my lip lines. It fades evenly in 3-4 hours (with my regular tea sipping and almost constant snacking).

Bottomline,

Pretty color for everyday use with perfect pigmentation. It also features comfortable texture for matte lipstick. I will definitely buy more if they offer more colors.

Illamasqua Lip Twin Set in Obey & Plentiful

With the entire cult following stuff, I am very curious about Illamasqua’s products. The brand started as cult British make up line famous for brave colors and crazy pigmented products.

 As a novice to the brand, I decided to try more subtle colors first… so I picked up their lip twin set which contains Intense Lipgloss in Plentiful and Matte Lipstick in Obey.

Nothing fancy in the packaging here… plastic lipgloss tube and simple-but-cool square lippie tube with curved sides. I do love the simplicity and the cool factor of the lipstick tube.

Now the product… I was expecting Plentiful to be one of those milky gloss which settles on my lips. But I was wrong… it somehow manage to stay nice while showing off its pretty color when worn. Plentiful itself is a borderline neon milky pastel peach. Worn alone, it doesn’t show super neon color, but subtle yet noticeable milky peach. The color stays on me for about 3 hours before starting to fade (I sip my tea a lot). It didn’t just disappear, but leaving soft peachy tint by the end of 3 hours. You can easily wipe off the peachy tint with plain tissue if you want to. I didn’t taste anything, but it is lightly fragranced. What can I say… I am loving this color right now…

Obey on the other hand is more difficult to pull off. Mainly because of its matte formula. My lips are naturally dry, and applying lipbalm underneath doesn’t help. In an hour or so, I can see my lips feeling drier.

Obey matches perfectly with Plentiful, hence most of the time, I wear them in layer. Layering gives me pop of color with healthy gloss thrown in. perfect! For colors which are beyond my comfort zone (the neon-ish factor), the duo is surprisingly wearable and lovable for my skin.

Bottomline,

I totally would buy more colors from the lipgloss range. But for the matte lipstick, I don’t think my dry lips agrees with the formula. I am planning to try lipstick from other formula.

The colors are surprisingly wearable. Pigmentation is perfect too.  

Sleek Wonderlast Lipgloss in Purity

Guess who had a twin sister?

Don’t you agree Sleek Wonderlast totally look like dupe of Make Up For Ever Aqua Rouge? The moment I saw it, I know I have to try it!

The lipcolor formula is more liquid than MUFE’s but still creamy. Very easy to manage and spread. The lipcolor has light vanilla fragrance; no taste was detected when I wore this. Just like its twin sister, the lipcolor is super opaque in single swipe. On me, it feels like this baby requires longer time to set properly compared to MUFE’s. It dries down matte and even. Purity is creamy, almost nude-warm pink in color.

After it sets, I applied the supplied gloss. Unlike the lipcolor, the gloss is tasteless and fragranceless. The gloss is light and non sticky. I am loving it.

But… Gotta say I don’t fancy the brush that comes with it. I will prefer sponge applicator like the lipcolor’s. The brush is stiff and basically not helpful. 

This baby is rock solid. It doenst budge at all the whole day... it does fade a little along the way, but then again, it was a rosy nude lip color, which look really similar to my original lip color- therefore i wont notice it as much when it does fade out. The gloss on the other hand, just slip off very easily. May be an hour or two.

Bottomline,
good one if you like rosy nude color. the formula is nice and it does stay all day. I am definitely going to try more colors from this line. 

LUSH R&B Moisturizer

Here in the tropics, as we welcome rain and humidity… I welcome… even frizzier hair. not fabulous at all.

But… with a little welcome from LUSH, my ever-frizzy hair is way more manageable. Beauties and handsomes, please meet my current favorite… R&B Moisturizer!!!

(picture from lushsg.com)

When I first picked this off LUSH online shop, I was amused by the fact that LUSH says it works for African American curly hair. Actually, that makes me grab the tiny 100gr jar instantly. As usual, LUSH always has stories behind the product… which in this case, was 3 store managers with problematic hair.

Well, now the product… LUSH promises: dry no more, vegan and work out for out-of condition hair. all these three, I can say, I totally agree!

This moisturizer is innocent looking pastel yellow cream in LUSH black plastic jar. Don’t be fooled. It looks innocent, but do apply with care… as it is super moisturizing. Even for me, I always pick a little product at a time, massaged in, then pick a little more when needed. Else, you will end up like a wet rat.

Now, I tried both methods of application as LUSH suggested. On semi-dry / towel dried hair, it doesn’t moisturize as much as when I applied it on fully dry hair. I recommend using it only on your dried ends, not too near to your scalp… again, oily scalp aint pretty.

My favorite way of using this is to apply on my hair ends after straight ironing and leave on Vrai Argan Oil. When I do this at night, I wake up with easier to manage and less frizzy hair. lovely.

Ah, yes… the fragrance. I enjoyed the fresh floral scent of R&B. but bear in mind, this is not your watered down fruity floral colognes… this is jasmine. Not as jasmine-y as LUSH Jasmine and Henna Fluff-eaze. When applied over night, I wake up with softly scented hair. pleasant, but not too strong that it competes with my perfume of the day.

Bottomline,

Definitely repurchase for me! Dry hairs, frizzies… this is your heaven-sent moisturizer! Those with fine and normal hair… remember to apply with care on towel dried hair.