Gorgeous Christmas gifts!

Christmas is around the corner, and I always get excited about all the pretty gift sets that are being sold this season!

I went to Sephora, BHG, Isetan, TANGS, Takashimaya and OG to look at all the pretty gift sets for this year’s Christmas season, and shortlisted 4 of my favourite sets.

These stuff here comes in fabulous packaging, and are totally drool-worthy! I would love to buy ALL of these, but I have to keep reminding myself that I already have more than 1000 eyeshadow colours at home.

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Okay. Long story cut short. Here are the items:

#1. Body Shop Smoke & Sparkle eye palette

No one can hate this awesome winter makeup collection by The Body Shop. Sparkly smokey eye, what’s not to love about this set?

I especially love The Sparkler in Boudoir Pink. This sparkle dust comes out when I gently squeeze the teardrop-shaped atomizer (damn it, I took about 20 minutes trying to recall what that word is).

4-Step Smokey Eye Palette: $39.90
The Sparkler: $39.90 Now $29.90
Lip & Cheek Stain: $22.90
Super Volume Mascara: $22.90
Mini Hi Shine: $8.90

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#2. LANCOME Golden Hat Collection

This newly launched holiday set is damn pretty, and I am taking in gulps of saliva! The Golden Hat collection is created by Kate Winslet, in aid of her own charity, The Golden Hat Foundation.

Illuminating Smooth Powder: $70
L’Absolu Rouge: $44

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#3. Too Faced Sweet Dreams Makeup

I don’t want to look at the colour of the eyeshadow, cause I will stare at the packaging for a very, very long time.

But in case you wanna know what is housed in the beautiful package, it is 15 eyeshadow colours, 1 primer, 2 blushers, 1 bronzer and 1 highlighter.

Palette: $79 from Sephora

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#4. Wong Kar Wai for Shu Uemura

The WKW for Shu Uemura series is pretty delicious looking. Everything is tempting, and OMG I want it now!

By the way, the eyelashes you see in the above picture costs S$125. WHAT? If you really want it, get it from the States for USD$75.

This pair costs S$45. Really gorgeous.

And finally, the 2 beautiful palettes. I was thinking very hard about which out of the two I prefer, then after a while, I decided that I like both equally much.

Eye and Cheek Palette: $115

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There you go, awesome gift ideas for your friends or me.

If you’re feeling really generous and kind this Christmas, do throw these into your gift box:

Dear Santa,

I am a good girl. *puppy eyes*

*yells* NOW GIVE ME ALL OF THOSE!

xx

Mascara – The makeup item that expires really fast.

The number one prevention of eye infections through using makeup is to toss away your expired mascaras. Just like bacon ham, salad and potato chips, makeup are perishable and have expiry dates.

Charming cat mascara - One of my favourite mascaras because it is extremely affordable and I don’t feel the pinch when I have to throw away this SGD4.00 mascara every 3 months. 

But how would we know if our mascaras are expired?

First and foremost, there will be an expiry date on most makeup items. Before excitedly ripping open the brand new packaging of your mascara, do keep a lookout for expiry dates. It is usually a tell-tale sign of excessive clogging.

Say, if a mascara expires 2 years from now but you have opened the tube a month ago. Does the mascara expire 2 years later?

The answer is no.

Mascaras dry up really fast due to the fact that we constantly shove the wand in and out of the tube. Each time we pull the wand out, we’re allowing the substance to interact with bacteria which would be transferred to our eyes.

Can you imagine the micro-organisms camping on your eyelash for an entire day while you speak to your clients or boyfriend? Do yourself a favour and think about the amount of bacteria you have on your face hourly because I am sure that your OCD will kick in soon after.

When we pump the wand back in the tube to grab more fibre and mascara, we are actually shoving air in. This will cause the mascara to dry faster and shorten its life span.

And I know for a fact that girls are doing this because I have seen many of them doing this in public toilets (where so much bacteria are lurking).

The life span of a mascara is approximately 4 months, and using it any longer than the life span would cause an eye infection should the substance make contact with your eye.

After 4 months, the preservatives in the mascara will break down and bacteria will enter the tube. Once mascara is contaminated, any transfer to your lash might cause red eye or infection.

To minimize the amount of bacteria that get onto your lashes, only use the wand on clean eyelashes and do not ever touch the wand with your hands. Also, makeup should not ever be shared with anyone unless you want infection to be spreaded to you.

I hope that some of you would discard old mascaras after reading this entry, because saving money on a product is not worth the time and money spent to cure an eye infection.

My favourite mascara

Everyone has a favourite mascara, and I do have a favourite too.

I have tried many types of mascaras before, for lengthening and volumizing. Brands that I have tried before includes Anna Sui, L’Oreal, Lancome, Estee Lauder, ZA, Clinique, Maybelline, and lots more that I can’t remember.

But my favourite has to be the dejavu fiberwig mascara.

dejavu fiberwig mascara

Introduced by my cousin a few years ago, I am stuck with this mascara.

The reason why I like using this mascara is because it really extends my eyelashes. The fiberwig works better than applying a layer of white fibre for length, followed by a layer of black for volume. However, the extended fibre does not curl upwards when I use it unless my eyelashes are curled beforehand.

Most importantly, I like how natural it looks on my eyelashes. It doesn’t clump or make my eyes look like hairy spiders. It is perfect for my short Asian lashes. At times, people would think that my lashes are naturally long!

Right now, I have 3 tubes of it lying in my room. All because I am a kiasu Singaporean, and I dig good buys. If I didn’t remember wrongly, it is retailing for about $26 in Sasa. I bought mine in Hong Kong last year for only $18 per tube. Don’t we all love buying things overseas?

Using mascara is subjective. Some girls dig the long hairy lashes look, whereas girls like myself prefer not to have spiders on our eyes. If I want to achieve that kind of dramatic effect, I would use falsies and not mascara.

What’s your favourite mascara?