Wednesday 9 November 2011

Food Review: Kim's Mini Meals

Love Food, Love Your Health & Body More...

I am a lover for food and drink. If I had the money, I would be dining out every evening in different places of different food! Sadly I am still a poor student, with a piling debt.
If you know me in person, you might know that I actually eat loads even if I scream I should diet. I don't believe in diets to be frank. I eat whatever floats my boat, I eat with no worries....well that might be a lie. What you do is if you think eating all that food is going to make you regret, you'd exercise. There's no easy way about it and I do get very annoyed when girls ask me how to lose weight without exercising! First of all, you won't earn anything in life by being lazy, second of all, liposuction it is for you then! Exercise doesn't have to be painful like a spin class, but you could maybe go outside and take a long stroll, walk your dog if you have one or put some upbeat music on and just dance crazily or flap about in your room (possibly when no one is looking). Of course it will also keep your body healthy with a bit of exercise, after-al, what is the point in being slim if you can't enjoy it for longer? Your health is your own responsibility and yes I do nag at my friends to stop starving themselves because I fear it will damage their health! Dare say I'm not the healthiest though I do try.

There's a hype about anything that is Korean these days. Korean dramas seem to be the thing that lit the candle, then it was Korean music (Big Bang, 2NE1, SNSD, Brown Eyed Girls to name a few....and back then for me it was SG Wannabe and Epik High). People began to obsess with Korean culture; their food, their fashion, their make-up, their brands -we could go on and on!
I admit it, I'm one of them! I'd watch Korean dramas, laugh and cry along with them. I'd listen to the latest "K-pop" and chant along loudly in my car as if I knew how to speak Korean. I would Youtube "Korean-look" tutorials and product reviews. And then all of a sudden, in Edinburgh (my home-town) someone had opened up a Korean restaurant!  For the first year it had opened, it was talk around town and we were all eager to try it! Over the years, I would hear other cities opening a restaurant serving Korean food here and then and in Edinburgh, someone opened a Korean take-away or something, while this year we had a newcomer: Kim's Mini Meals.

Korean grape juice. Yes those are actual white grapes.
When you first enter the restaurant, you'd feel this warp of warmth; the place is small but cosy, rather homey? Don't be startled if you have join somebody else's table because you honestly have to forgive them for the lack of space they have. I went "on my tod", so I was given a little table at the corner, which is just as well!

Mushroom Soup
 The menu was limited, but there are mixed feelings when it comes to how many dishes you should offer; some prefer a small list to keep choice-making easy, others would like to see a whole range. I don't really give a toss as I believe that if you only had one dish to offer and it had satisfied me, I'll still be back. Price wise, was really decent. If you are a student like me and looking for a meal out, this would be perfect. I think my meal (excluding my drink) was around £10? The meal comes in a set with soup of the day, a dish of tasters and your chosen main accompanied with rice (all pictured).

Tasters: courgettes, mushrooms, omelette and something that's like spam? Of course there was kimchi!
I ordered the set that was with beef, but they said they had ran out and it would take quite sometime to wait for it. As to why, I wouldn't have a clue, perhaps they would have to marinate the beef and wait until the beef soaks up the marinate? I was slightly gutted and reluctantly ordered pork even though I'm not a "pork-fan". But I thought chicken would be awkward stir-fried with the Korean spicy sauce - don't ask me how I suspected this!

Stir-fried pork in Korean spicy sauce, with side salad
I wasn't keen on having the sprinkle of  sesame seeds, but I guess it's just one of those things you can't help but would notify them the next time you are in. The pork was lovely, but it's probably not the best if you prefer a blander taste. Asian food normally are strongly flavoured though and I myself grew up with a strong taste bud. The salad is also as tasty as everything else, there is something about that salad sauce but I don't know what it is! I can't even begin to describe it...

Purple rice? 
You must be asking if this purple rice has artificial colouring in it. I don't believe it does. There is a type of rice that is grown to be purple and it is most popularly used in desserts. In Chinese it's called 紫米 (zi mi). This rice will have it's own particular fragrance which makes it unique as well as the colour. My brother told me that you could get free refills of rice, but I think unless you were extremely starving, you won't be needing a refill as the entire meal fills you up pretty quickly. I, unfortunately couldn't finish my meal.


Overall I was rather pleased with my meal. I can't say it's the comfiest of places, but it has this homey-feel and  you will be interested at the little pieces they display on their window sill - very cute indeed. Seats are very limited too and I had seen quite a few people being rejected because of a lack of space. I don't know if this has affected their business. It was also rather surprising that the son of the owner had went to the same high school as me ( he was the year below me and was in the same class as my brother). Coincidence?

Find it at:
5 Buccleuch Street
Edinburgh
EH8 9NJ
Tel: 0131 629 7921 

Opening Hours:
Mon-Sat: Lunch (12-3pm) Dinner (5:30-9pm)
Sunday: Closed (although group booking is available upon advance booking)

Tuesday 8 November 2011

OOTD: Casual Autumn

I had went back home yesterday for my father's birthday dinner that my brother and I had organised for him. I think we did a good job =] It was just a small dinner, my father, two brothers and myself. But my brother and I tried to order the best food we felt that was best from the chosen restaurant. Of course, with my love with lobsters, I had asked my brother to order it (as he was friends with the owner's son).
It was an enjoyable night with papa Chan. Hope he had liked it and hope he has a Happy Birthday on Friday even if he has to work. =]

So this is the outfit I came out with yesterday. I'd say perhaps I should have worn a bit more as the weather was turning frosty again.





Kimono/ extended shoulder cardigan £27.99 [New Look]
Shirt/blouse £24.99 [H&M]
Grey jeans £29.99 [H&M]
Black ankle boots £14.99 [H&M]
All-around-scarf in blue £7.99 [H&M]
Pleated brown belt £3.99 [H&M]

No surprises there that most of my clothing are from H&M... but my belief has always been, it's not where you bought it, it's how you wear it. Do you agree? If not, let me know why. =] 
Ok I do look for quality in clothing so there are some places I don't go.

Monday 7 November 2011

On the face!

I am the type that's easily persuaded by adverts and packaging; some days the products are actually what they say, some days I feel like I've been hustled. But that is the case with most things in life nevertheless.
Three face products I have bought recently and I must admit sometimes I do ask myself, why am I wasting my money over such products?!...

Garnier BB Cream in Light
A bb cream?! In the UK?! Some of us were questioning whether this would work or not, especially within the Asian community as some of us have tested a variety of bb cream brands from Korea, Taiwan and Japan already and would have high expectations of what a bb cream should be. 
I'm appalled at what this product is actually is. It' not a bb cream to me. I think of it as tinted moisturiser instead. I compared this with my L'egere bb cream and you would notice a massive difference between the two. I felt that Garnier hasn't grasped the concept of bb creams just yet.
The coverage is low from this even though when you swatch it, it looks like it will cover very well, once you try to blend it onto your face, it's a very different story. 
It claims to even tones and boost glow, blurs imperfections, smoothes out fine lines. I think all this is complete jibberish, if not, a damn lie. It's disappointing because I'm normally rather fond with Garnier products. The only claim I do believe is 24 hydration. It does seem to be moisturising but other than that... Let's just say if I wanted to moisturise my face I would spend money on a moisturiser.
Garnier needs to realise, that bb creams, are not tinted moisturisers and that they should still hold a good coverage whilst consisting other factors like moisture, SPF, evens tone etc. Perhaps I'm being too harsh on this product, but to be honest, I do ask had they really done any relevant research? 
If you own this product what do you think? I felt robbed since this costed me £9.99... *swears in every language I know*

Rimmel's Stay Matte Foundation in 100 Ivory
Something must have hit me in the head purchasing this. What it reminds me of is one of these cheap quality foundations back in the days when I was a kid. I think I was so impressed with Rimmel's 25hr Foundation, I thought this one could not be that bad. How wrong and naive was I. 
What's this that it claims it has shine control? Are you sure? I put it on and my face looked like I had just dipped it in a grease bowl. No where near the "matte" effect I had expected. The coverage is also rather sheer but not as bad as the above. At £5.99....well with that money I would rather buy another of Rimmel's lipsticks instead as they seem to never fail me. I really don't want to rant on and on about this product; it was a waste of money so I'm not gonna waste too much of my time over it. My advice is, "no". Say "no".

Revlon's Age Defying in 10 Bare Buff 
 I bought this as it was on a special price of £9.99 instead of the original £13.99. It wasn't bad-buy although if I was to compare with their Photo Ready foundation, I would recommend the Photo Ready. This one I felt it takes a bit longer to oxidised once you've applied it on your face. Coverage is medium and it does leave a bit of shine. It's very similar to Rimmel's 25hr foundation although this has more shimmer and it's staying power isn't as good. For example, sometimes I get a bit sweaty because my room at the student halls is always too warm for me, the 25hr foundation would resist it perfectly, but this one would melt. But it's not all that bad, it does contain SPF20 which the 25hr one doesn't have and once it does oxidise, it does give you that smooth skin effect that you will look for in a said "age defying" product.

Swatches of the products
So these are my three recent liquid face products. Have you found a foundation or bb cream that you feel that's worth every penny? Let me know. =]

Friday 4 November 2011

The £36 lipstick - was it worth it?

Two months ago (I know I know I'm really behind with my blog posts, but the new uni life has taken up my life and I'm only just beginning to settle in) I had purchased my very first Tom Ford lipstick. When it first came out, I didn't think much about, and so many times had I walked past the counter forgetting it had even existed! I have heard some good news about the collection though.
So one day I actually gave in and took a look at it. Swatched some of the lipsticks, and felt that I the colours aren't very exciting until I met Ginger Fawn, the beautiful coral-red lipstick! The moment I swatched it I knew I had fallen in love with it. And I did, of course.

Tom Ford lipstick in Ginger Fawn - I got the white packaging, it also comes in a black packaging
It took me a while to actually decide whether or not I should waste my money over it. But as you know, I have an obsession with collecting lipsticks, and quite often nowadays, corals and reds. The photo above probably doesn't give justice to it's true colour, my photography skills aren't the best though I do try.

On the lips...
The product itself contains ingredients like shea butter and seed oil, which ultimately creates a lipstick that is moisturising and you don't even need to read the ingredients to acknowledge how moisturising it is, the texture of it will make you believe (although I do fear that some may not like this type of texture as it may feel too "greasy" for them. Personally I don't mind it).
The girl at the counter had said to me whilst applying the lipstick on me, that it is very long lasting. I think she was just making things up to sell it to me to be precise. It does come off when you are drinking water or eating e.t.c. However it isn't too bad; it isn't "very" long lasting, but it does last for a decent time - a while?
This is extremely pigmented, none of that sheer crap. For this, I loved it! A note on the smell; it smells very like the MAC lipsticks - vanilla? I've always liked the smell from MAC lipsticks anyway, although some may not be keen on it.

Photos taken with Nikon Coolpix S6100

So the question was, was it worth it? It all depends what sort of person you are to be very honest. What I think is, if you are strapped for cash, then don't do it! You may find similar colours through some drug-store ranges i.e. Rimmel's Lasting Finish in 214 Firecracker (yes I own this one too). 
To me, it was worth my every penny because the packaging is excellent, it smells fine, pigmentation is quite obviously what makes it the winner and to top it off, it's moisturising after all those oils they've added to it. Since it was £36, I asked myself, was it luxurious enough for it's price? I gave it a big fat YES! 
This is my obsession with lipsticks, I know some people don't even wear lipsticks, but there you go, everyone has different obsessions, perhaps what I'm hinting is, don't judge me. (har har!)

Photos taken with my iPhone 4 using filters from Instagram app.
That's it! I will try my best to update regularly, but do keep in mind uni work has just taken over my life. I just happened to loaded myself with a cuppa tea by mistake when I'm suppose to be sleeping -caffiene! 

Thursday 4 August 2011

OOTD: Shopping Alone

The other day, I went shopping (which I shouldn't but I guess once a month of splashing won't hurt too much) and decided to make use of a white shirt I bought from H&M featured in a post I wrote back in April (click here to see).


Don't be too surprised as to where I got them shorts; I got them from H&M of course! The belt as well. I normally don't like spending money on belts, I'm not an accessories kinda person, but the belt really brings these shorts to life, so I bought it.
The suspender tights were from New Look, but it is under the brand Pretty Polly, they were cheaper than the House of Holland ones. PP are £7.99 and HoH ones are I think £12.99?
Bag was from French Connection which I bought years ago. I really like this bag because you could use it as a clutch bag is you detatched the chain. Sorry if it is clear of what my bag looks like, but I'm sure it will appear in other future OOTD posts. =]
 

Friday 20 May 2011

OOTD: Heading to class...

If you haven't known, I'm a student at Edinburgh's Telford College studying a BTEC National Diploma Art and Design course. For the biggest part of my life I've been studying art and in the recent years I discovered an area where I found more interested at: Textiles. Although I would hopefuly go on to studying fashion, I prefer the free in textiles. Also, just so we are clear....I have no talent in art, I have to practice and work my ass off.
So now you know (and yes my final major project this year is a textile artifact).=]

I dont really know how to discribe my style. I'm a bit random, some days I like to go casual and laid back (you know, hoodies with leggings or jeans and t-shirt) then some days I like to be lady-like....and some days I like to be a rock chic! =________=" I'm never too glamourous though! haha!
So the weather that day (was this Wednesday) was partly cloudy but the sun was shining through a bit, very windy though! I don't like being too warm nor too cold, so this is what I came out with.......



Pink tank - All Saints
Black t-shirt with zip detail at back (sorry couldn't photo my back) - My own design and self-made
Cardigan - Miso
Jeans - River Island
Heels - New Look
Bag - Bought from HK @ 新之城 long time ago....
Bangles - New Look
Bracelet - Tiffany&co
Necklace - Dior


Now you know a little bit more about me. =]

Tuesday 17 May 2011

Night Time Skincare Layering

Not long ago, Michelle Phan visited China and came back discovering that on average an Asian woman would use 9 skincare products daily. I have never really thought much about this subject until she mentioned. Not to mention, before I had myself obsessed with achieving healthy, radiant skin, I honestly only used face wash, toner and moisturiser. I admit though, I'm a lazy person (which is why I am still procastinating when my project deadline is next Friday), sometimes I just wash my face and dash to bed because I am so tired, sometimes, I don't even take my make-up off at all and pass out (those are nights when I've had a bit too much...ahem....alcohol)!
However, lately I've been trying my hardest to keep the skincare routine going. During the day, I have no problem keeping up since I am awake, it's night time I get lazy at. 
@StrawberryB2uty on Twitter suggested I do a post on night time skincare layering, well my friend, here it is! =]
Before I continue though, I've never had perfect skin; all through my teen years, I was bombard with spots, I had little knowledge then on how to deal with them, so my entire forehead is now covered with marks left by spots. I would also like to mention, that skincare alone won't help, your diet has to change - have a balanced healthy diet. Another matter is that your hormones may have effect on your skin as well, I've suffered for years of spots due to high levels of hormones -my solution was to take the pill (it controls my period pain and hey, I have got to admit spots have appeared less!) I would seek your GP/doctor for professional advice on this though.

So after I've took my make-up off, washed my face I go through the following routine...
Step1: Boots Botanics Rosewater Toner
After washing my face, I always feel that even though I've used eye make-up removers and cleansing milks/oils, then a cleansing gel, not all of my make-up will be removed entirely. Thus, I use this Rosewater toner to clean up any left over. This toner, is gentle to the skin, so I could clean up any make-up on the eyes as well. It leaves my skin supple and soft too. (Smells great also!)

Step2: Vichy Normaderm 3in1 Lotion
This product was made for acne-prone skins (in fact I think the whole of Vichy's Normaderm line was made specifically for acne-prone skin), now although I don't have acne as such, my skin, like I says, is very blemish-prone (spots here and there, it all adds up in the end!)
I pour some of this onto my cotton pad and sweep it over my face, then start patting the product onto my face especially onto areas that I am more prone to spots (in this case, it would be the right-side of my forehead).
This lotion also claims to unclog and tighten pores and gives your face a matte effect. Because of this, bare in mind, it can be a bit drying so you must remember to moisturise after using this!

 From right: Step3 -Garnier Roll-on eyes; Step4-  Boots Botanics Eyes&Lip Serum; Step 5 - Elizabeth Arden Eye Renewal Cream
The skin around our eyes are more delicate from the rest of our face. They require more moisture to keep the skin soft and a healthy blood flow to keep away the bags, puffs and panda eyes. Wrinkles also appear most easiest around the eyes.
I first roll-on the Garnier stick, this acts like a eye message for me; it pushes the blood around my eyes and allow the blood to flow better and helps to de-puff the bags. On stressful times like these lately, it helps. You could also use your eye cream and your fingers you message your eyes with a patting motion. =]
Anyway, then I use the correction serum; this moisturises my eyes, but most importantly I use this to help my lashes to grow faster. I had spoke about this before so let's move on.....?
Ok, so lastly for my eyes, I lately started using Elizabeth Arden's eye cream. This was given to me from a friend who had no use for it along with the moisturisers from this line. To be very honest, I haven't noticed any difference on the effect of this product but I do like how it's a cream based and it promotes more moisture. So far so good for this product.
Step6: L'oreal's Youth Code youth boosting serum
I honestly don't want to go into too much detail about this face serum as I will do a full review later on. Basically I use this to help minimal my pores. I don't have wrinkles as such so I won't be able to tell you if it's good for that - apologies, I'm only 22. =D
Step7: Vichy's Normaderm Anti-Inperfection Hydrant
Another product from Vichy's Normaderm line. This moisturiser has been spoke about around the beauty community. The reviews I get are rather positive. Although this hasn't made any drastic changes to my skin, it instead has prevented my skin from becoming worst; it has prevented any of my spots from getting any larger and after a good sleep, my spots are decreased in size instantly. I don't perhaps find this "hydrant" enough for my skin though, but it does help the conditions of my spots so I keep this in my routine.
Step8: Soap&Glory Dr Spot
So I've been moaning about spots, well meet my spot gel! I don't have a favourite for spot gels, but this one I like so far. It decreases the size of my spots overnight and reduces redness. The only thing I don't like, about this is that if you apply this during the day and when you are trying to apply foundation over it, it gets all flakey and it's just messy and extremely annoying!  So I only use this during the night.
Step9: Elizabeth Arden Night Renewal Cream
  Lastly, and trust me, I dont apply this until I know I am actually going to bed to sleep. Night creams tend to be more heavy as they are meant to be more moisturising (thus I can't apply this on until I am going to sleep because it makes my wonky glasses slip 'n' slid). This was the other product that was given by a friend along with the eye cream above. She told me she did not like the texture of the moisturiser. Now I don't know if she meant both the day and night creams or just the day cream or just the night cream. I haven't used the day cream yet because I have no use for it just now as it doesn't have SPF. 
Anyway, textures of most night creams are normally hard to like. 
I have done some research for this particular night cream and here is a bit of what I found:
"This rich-textured cream claims to be clinically and dermatologist tested to replaces daily moisture loss while you sleep and smoothes the look of fine lines. This cream works well in conjunction with hydroquinone spot treatments, peptide serum, and retinoids because the rich formula has a thick, heavy base which helps drive active ingredients into the skin. It also DOESNT contain alpha hydroxy acids, which when used back-to-back with retinoids can inactivate each other. It is very moisturizing on the skin with out feeling greasy even though it is thick and heavy, but night creams are suppose to be."

I don't know if this person who reviewed the product was a professional dermotologist or not, but I agree with everything this person has claimed this cream will do. 
First of all, my skin is instantly brighter and more radiant in the morning, spots and even spot marks are instantly reduced size or redness/colour. My skin becomes more supple and it's even more noticeable of the difference when I apply foundation and concealer on because I am using a lot less product than before to cover. Pores are decreasing, slowly but if I look closer, I could see a slight difference, I recognise this might be because the cream has helped "drive" the ingrediants from my face serum. 
I definitely love this night cream although the only downside is....the smell. It's not a nasty smell, it's just smells like a strong lavender, that I wish it was a lighter smell. I don't know if this product contains parfum but if it does, thank god my skin hasn't had any bad reactions from it!

So I've just spent my entire Tuesday on this very stressful week onto this post, I hope you all appreciate it! =P
OH! And if the survey was correct about the average asian using 9 skincare products daily, then I must be average - 9 in total for night time (don't worry I use less during the day).

Do you layer your skin products at night? If so has it worked for you or do you feel that it's all gibberish?

Comment below if you like =] Hope you all get some beauty sleep sooner or later (it's almost 11pm here), I won't tonight due to my progressing my project.
But no worries, just cover your stress and mess with a smile =] works better than make-up!

Wednesday 4 May 2011

F.O.T.D: IU inspired

Ok, so I was attempting to create a look inspired by the album cover of IU's Real and Real+.



However, I don't think the result was very good (or perhaps I'm just being fussy). The look is suppose to be a sultry, tired-like look. Very laid back even though it is a smokey eye. Everything is blended together to grasp the soft focus. Top lashes are to be natural (and if you want to complete the look, look for about 3 strands of single lashes to add on top as shown on IU's cover) while the bottom lashes are to be exaggerated, thus you would  need to either cut up bits of lashes or using individual lashes, place about 4 on the bottom lash (depending on how wide your eye is).
Eyeshadow shades are earthy neutral colours, nothing bright but nothing too dark because you want to keep that soft look still.
Her brows are done by using a clear mascara or brow gel and just flick ur brows in a gentle upwards motion. If you have very light or little amount of hair on your brows then you would fill in the brow colour first before flickering them upwards. However, I decided to keep my eye brows the way I normally do them because I wasn't going anywhere after and didn't want to startle my mother (though I did brushed them upwards slightly).




FACE
********************
Rimmel's Long Lasting 25hr Foundation in 100 Ivory
Maybelline's 24hr Super Stay Concealer in 2 Light/Beige 
(totally don't recommend this for dry or asian skin coz it's got a pink undertone)
Garnier's Roll-on concealer in light 
(for concealing underneath my eyes)
Ruby and Millie's loose powder in no. 1
Revlon Bonzer in 02 Sunkissed bronze
(for contouring)
Bobbi Brown's Shimmer Brick Compact in Pink
(for highlighting - avoid the darker pinks)
M.AC's Powder Blush in Style

EYES
********************
Rimmel's Eyebrow Pencil in 001Dark Brown
M.A.C's eye primer in Medium
Urban Decay Naked Palette...
taking: Buck, Darkhorse and Virgin
Urban Decay's 24/7 liner in black to tight line upper line
L'oreal's Super Liner in Carbon Gloss black
(to go over the lower lash line - you may use a pencil/gel liner instead)
Maybelline's Volum' Express Turbo Boost Mascara in black
Eylure's Individual Lashes
(using the short lashes place about 4 on your lower lash line)
Show Time eyelashes from Sasa (HK)
(Place on top lashes)

LIPS
*******************
Vaseline lip balm
Rimmel's Moisture Renew Lipstick in 600 Soft Coral
(you may prefer to use a soft pink colour or a soft pink gloss or a nude shade instead -nothing too vibrant)

I will keep on attempting to perfect this look. Maybe I should get some hair extensions? Hm...we'll see!
By the way, I'm not happy with my hair today. It's extremely dry and brittle, I could see three or four tones of colours and my roots, my fringe was being a bum today as well. It's like having a hay stack on your head!
Nevertheless, I should get back to working on my project. Toodles!

 

Saturday 30 April 2011

M.A.C Paint Pots

A very long while ago (this review was meant to be written so last year), my late gran had generously given me a whopping £100 for me to spend (yes, I'm so spoiled blah blah blah do your granparents who love you so much not do anything just to spoil you? I would spoil my grand kids if I was ever to be a gran -unlikely). How wise of me to splosh it on M.A.C products!
In Edinburgh, the only place you could find a M.A.C counter is in Harvey Nichols, and it is a thing that Harvey Nics keeps "Customer file" on their system. What it is, is that they will have a history of all the things you've have bought from the store. One time, a friend told me he was extremely clueless at the M.A.C counter there because HE was trying to purchase a christmas gift for his sister (how sweet!). So anyway, he asked the assistant to check under my file and asked them to pick out the items I had bought before from them. Clearly my file has helped some! haha
Ok..so moving from my little story that's totally not related to this review.....so I bought some stuff from M.A.C and part of the purchase were the Paint Pots:

[Left] Blackground [Right] Indiawood
Swatches
I picked these two colours because they go with most of the colours I wear regularly ie. from the Urban Decay Naked palette. Blackground is obviously a black but this one comes with some shimmer to it. Indiawood is brown with a hint of gold and shimmer.
Paint pots are really good to use as a base for your lids as well as applying it on it's own. Using it as a base colour then applying eyeshawdow to complete a look means the eyeshadow will stay on longer and it won't crease. So you don't really need to apply eye primer if you don't want to.
Another use for this is, as I have discovered is that you could use it like you would use a gel-liner. Very often I would do my eyeline with my black paint pot because I know it will last so much longer, it doesn't smudge/melt in fact! without eye make-up remover I find this product just won't budge! However, it may fade over the hours, so I always bring it out with me along with a mini liner brush just incase. Certainly a good product if you have oily eyelids like moi! (I have very oily eyelids in fact!) These are also very pigmented.
This product is currently retailed at £13.50 which I think is a good price for a product that could be so versitile in my opinion. If I think about it, it costs the same for the Graphik Technakohl  retractable eye-liner pen (one I normally use but currently ran out of), paint pots will last you for what seem like forever and the eye-liner pen will probably run out within two months for me. I must say though, a pen is more convinient than a jar! However, for a skint student like me, if you could save a little and use that money to buy something else different -then why not? Right?

Friday 29 April 2011

H&M Haul

Other than the MAC blush and eyeshadows I went to H&M in a hunt to buy a few pieces for me to wear in this gradual warming weather. I'll just load the pictures and price to make it short and simple =] Before so, I would like to Congratualate Prince William and his wife Kate Middleton. I watched the wedding live on BBC and the most beautiful thing I opened my eyes to today was the stunning McQueen dress. The simplicity level of the dress surprises me, and I also love how it not only eccentuates Kate's body but her general style. Watching the Royal Wedding makes me proud to be British. =]
Shirt £7.99 Dress £12.99
Better view of the summer dress
Shirt same as above. Tube top £2.99 Harem jersey trousers £7.99

Looks better with the shirt knotted up to be honest =]
More hauls to come later!

Quite Cute

As a birthday gift this year from two of my friends, I recieved £20voucher to spend at Harvey Nichols! It honestly took me a while to think wisely what I should spend on. I thought of the following:
  • Another Laura Mercier silk creme foundation but in a brighter(?) shade
  • Laura Mercier face primer
  • Chanel Vitalumiere Aqua Foundation
  • NARS blushes
I must have considered some other stuff but I'm having a blank moment just now. Anyway, here's what I resulted in purchasing:

M.A.C's Quite Cute collection
Aren't they cute? As soon as I saw the the colours, I had to check it out. I'm not too hyped about with the pencils or nail laquers but everything else just makes me want to grab them all!!! Unfortunely, although I had a £20 voucher, I'm still a poor student with me own car to finance! So I had to make another wise decision on what to get from this collection!
Mineralize Blush in Sakura

swatch
Tell me, how pretty is this?!!! It's a pastel purple with a pink undertone and a small amount of shimmer and  the heart at the middle is just a darker and vibrant shade of the pastel purple, when mixed together it breates this plummy colour on your cheeks. I tried it on, and thought it was a real good colour for a girly innocent look. My suggestion is to definitely apply this on gradually and gently because you don't want to look like you're....drunk?
The only thing I'm not too keen on is the fact that because it's a baked powder, the powder don't tend to stick on as well as say, compare to my MAC blush in Style. However it is still pretty pigmented.
This was priced £18.
MAC's Quite Cute 4x eyeshadow palette in Cute
From Left: Boycrazy, Moshi Moshi, Goody Goody Gum Drop and Azuki Bean
I've been thinking I should move away a little from my Urban Decay Naked palette for the spring/summer
season and add some colour. What better way to do this than to grab some pastel colours? =D The colours on this palette are all wearable to me - I do get annoyed when I purchase a palette and there are colours I don't wear.
I cant' say these are very pigmented though, but I should really try them out on my eyes first beofer I say anything bad about it (although Moshi Moshi is rather chalky! eeekkk)

Moshi Moshi - a lime-yellow colour with white shimmers
Good Good Gum Drop - a pastel pink with only a tiny bit of shimmer
Boycrazy - a pastel purple with again, white shimmers
Azuki Bean - a dark purple with brown undertone and white shimmers

This was priced at £33.
So in total it would have been £51! Got £20 knocked off, and paid £31! (There you go, a little bit of primary maths for you lol!)
When I do a look with these products, I will probably post photos here (I'm still unable to do any videos because I don't have a good camera.......perhaps I should use my phone -just a though..)

I have bought other things seeing as I was out in town, posts about other hauls will be posted on soon!