February 26, 2014

FOTD: BFF's Birthday Dinner


I had one of my best friend's birthday dinner at Sushia Izakaya & Bar (125 St George's Terrace, Perth, WA) last night and I decided to go with a warm brown smokey eyes. I loveeeee doing smokey eyes because not only is it easy to do, it looks like you've put SO much effort into your makeup!

If you would like to see a list of products I used, you know the drill, just scroll down. 


Face:
  • Sunday Riley Liquid Light - #110W
  • Amazing Concealer - Golden Light
  • Laura Mercier Loose Powder - Transparent 
  • MAC Blush - Warm Soul 
  • theBalm - Mary LouManizer 
  • Too Faced Leopard Bunny Bronzer

Eyes:
  • Urban Decay Primer Potion - Eden
  • Inglot Eyeshadow - Matte #329, Matte #360, Matte #355
  • MAC Eyeshadow - Swiss Chocolate
  • Inglot Gel Liner - #77
  • Maybelline The Falsies Waterproof Mascara

Brows:
  • MAC Eyeshadow - Mystery & Brun
  • Benefit Gimme Brow - Medium

Lips:
  • Soap & Glory - Sexy Mother Pucker XL

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Happy birthday baby!!!! I hope you had fun at dinner and enjoy your presents! Swagimanta loves Yolocheng long time! <3

February 23, 2014

Keune Hair Care Line Review


I purchased these products last week and have absolutely fallen in love with them. I'm lucky enough to be able to shop at Hairmart (Only people who do hair and makeup are able to shop here because of their discounted price and products that aren't so readily available to the general public) and since I've finished up my Joico K-Pak, I decided to try something new. I have heard so many great things about Keune from my hairstyling friends, I definitely had to give it a go. 

Let's give a little background about Keune shall we... (Extracted from the Keune Australia & New Zealand website)

Since Keune was founded in Holland in 1922, the company has been dedicated to providing hairdressers with high-quality products and excellent service.

Keune has a strong focus on professional hair colour, styling and care. All products are developed in one of Europe’s most advanced hair cosmetic laboratories, where the highest quality, most sophisticated ingredients and the use of innovative hair technology is combined together to create products which provide reliable & consistent solutions to people's hair needs, wants and desires.   

Keune Australia & New Zealand was established 1995 and is commited to distributing according to the salon only principle and continue to operate with the same high standards, morals and ethics in which Keune Holland have always stood by because... "YOUR FUTURE IS OUR FUTURE"  

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The products that I got start with Keune Crystal Ice Shampoo.


Now, if you're adverse to strong scents, this shampoo is definitely not for you! It smells very very strongly of peppermint because of the Menthol and Peppermint essential oils that are in it. I remember going to a salon and they used a shampoo that was really cooling on my scalped and ever since then, I've been on the hunt for the same shampoo. I don't think that this is actually the one but this came pretty darn close. It wasn't as cooling as I'd like when I used it but I loved this shampoo. 

It gives your hair a really clean feeling but at the same time, it doesn't strip your hair of the moisture, which is super important for me 

Pros:
  • Cooling sensation on the scalp
  • Nice pepperminty scent (if you like quite strong scents - to be honest, the scent doesn't linger anyway)
  • Not drying at all 
  • Very affordable
  • Cleans hair very well 
  • I can use this everyday
  • Comes in a larger 1L bottle
Cons:
  • Strong scent (although this doesn't offend me, I know some people are very adverse to it)
  • Not readily available at the drugstore/chemist
Product Rating: 4.5/5

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Yes, I am a little crazy, I use a deep masque every time I wash my hair. I'm sure most hairstylist wouldn't recommend this but it works for my own hair so why fix what ain't broken!

The other conditioner I liked was the Macadamia Oil Deep Repair Masque which smells absolutely divine, and I was so close to getting this again but I thought I'd get the matching conditioner brand to my shampoo. 

Pros:
  • SMELLS DIVINE - It's sweet smelling with a touch of fruitiness, I love it!
  • Thick consistency - I like this because it grabs and stays on my hair better
  • Very moisturizing 
  • Noticeable difference even after 1 use 
  • Affordable 
  • Comes in 500mL which will last you forever!
Cons:
  • None that I can think of!
Product Rating: 5/5
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I am still unsure how to use this product to be honest, I have used it on damp hair before and it gave me a bit more volume than usual. To be honest, I got this because it smells so delicious! 

From my understanding, this is meant to be create definition and hold your style and because I don't really style my hair that often, I usually leave it to air dry, I haven't played around with this long enough to know if it works for my hair. All I know is that when I use this, I sniff my hair ALL day long. 

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Have any of you guys tried any Keune products before?

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February 19, 2014

My Skincare Routine


Firstly, I'll start off by saying that I have dry/combination skin with crazy, painful, ridiculous breakouts of deep, cystic pimples when it comes to that time of the month. My skin doesn't have any particular ingredients that it is sensitive or allergic to, except for one Laneige Skincare Line, which was the White Plus Renew (Blog post on my old blog can be found here). 

I've tried every skincare under the sun and the only one that I always come back to is my old faithful of Mario Badescu. It took me SO long to find something that suits my skin perfectly and to top it all off, it is super affordable! I'm not going to say that I have found perfect skincare routine but the base and the steps that I take, cleanses my skin perfectly. 

Cleansing:

My theory on cleansing is that you need to double cleanse, maybe even triple cleanse on days that I wear a tonne of makeup. 

Step 1:
Oil cleanse

I use an oil cleanser as my makeup remover and I'm not particularly picky about which oil cleanser I use, as long as it is oil based. I even used sweet almond oil for a god few months because I was just too lazy to go out and buy a proper oil cleanser. 

For those of you who aren't familiar with oil cleansing, you just pump out roughly 3 pumps into your hand and massage it well, all over the face. I mostly concentrate on my eye makeup and that's part of the reason why I love using oil cleanser, because nothing but oil cleanser can get rid of my Inglot Gel Liner. You then add a little bit of water to emulsify the oil and it turns into a milky texture which you massage in a bit more and then rinse off. At this point, if I can still see any residue on my eyes, I'll do another pump and just do my eye area again. I'll keep repeating this step until I know for sure that there is not a scrap of makeup left of my face.

Step 2:
Foaming/Normal Cleanser

Even though you can solely use the Shu Uemura Cleansing Oil as a cleanser, I find that I need something else to actually cleanse my actual skin, to get deep down into the pores and get all the gunk out and frankly, I don't feel clean until I use a foaming face cleanser. I think that this step is just as important as taking off your makeup just because your face really does need that deep down cleansing or your pores will still be clogged.

This Aesop one that I'm using at the moment is pretty fabulous and totally reminds me of a spa session but my absolute favourite cleanser to use after I do my oil cleanse is the Mario Badescu Seaweed Cleansing Soap. I must've repurchased that one 4-5 times which is totally unheard of for me!

Toner:


I know many people who skip this step and it was such a difficult step for me to keep in my routine because usually by the end of the night, I want to just get into bed and pass out but I really do enjoy it now. This particular toner is my favourite one because it has exfoliating properties in it by using Glycolic Acid and by using this everyday, I have found my skin to be softer and also less clogged. I'm pretty sure I haven't used another toner for a good 3 years because I adore this one so much!

Moisturizing:


Ahhh, my favourite step of all skincare, where would I be without you! I have tried all sorts of moisturizers, from drugstore up to very high end and I swear to you, nothing works as good as this one. If I stop using it even for a few days, my skin goes beserk and then I'll have to go back to this to calm it down. To be quite honest, any of the Mario Badescu moisturizers are amazing. I use this Seaweed Night Cream one at the moment because during spring, my skin got SO dry and SO flaky that nothing else soothed it. I do also use the Kera Moisturizer (when my skin is acting up and needs something to soothe it really well), Buttermilk Moisturizer (when my skin is relatively normal and doesn't need too much moisture) and my other favourite, the Hyaluronic Day Cream.

Eye Care:


At the moment I am using the Shu Uemura red:juvenus Instant Eye Fatigue Corrector and to be honest, I don't love it, but I do need to put in something for my eye care. 

Sometimes I mix my own eye "cream", more like a mixture of oil, which I find to be amazing but I've just been a bit too lazy to make up a batch lately. Isn't it funny that sometimes it's the simplest, cheapest thing that works the best? Who knew that a homemade eye cream could be amazing!

Extras:

These are things that I don't do everyday but more so every other day or whenever I feel like my skin needs it. These extras rarely change, the brands might, but I will always do a regular face mask (once a week), regular exfoliating (once a week) and regular pore strips (once a week).


I am seriously in love with this face masque. Just like the Aesop Fabulous Face Cleanser, it just smells really botanical and natural and it really does the job of deep cleansing. I use it once a week or sometimes more often, depending on how I'm feeling and how clogged my skin feels but it makes your face baby's bottom soft and really does pull out all the nasty gunk that's sitting in your pores. 


I have very very stubborn pigmentation from my pimples/acne which I totally hate but Mario Badescu can do me no wrong, I swear. No whitening products has ever worked on me except for this one. I have found this mask to have made a significant difference to the pigmentation on my skin and I haven't even finished my first tub! May I also say this thing smells DIVINE, it smells like... grapes!


 Since I do use the Mario Badescu Glycolic Acid Toner, I haven't felt the need to exfoliate as much as I use to but whenever I have the urge or I feel like I can feel the dead skin just sitting there, chillin', on my face, this is what I turn to to get my face back into tip top shape. The only thing that I don't like about this is the scent, it smells like the alcohol in hand sanitizer and that's all you smell as you stand there exfoliating.


I used to use the Biore Charcoal Strips and I honestly though that was the shizz until I tried this bad boy out. I've even gotten my husband onto using this and what comes out is absolutely amazing. I am one of those freaks who LOVE seeing what comes out of my pores and I get ridiculously happy when I see lots of little bumps on the strip but this baby will get the most stubborn black heads out. Just a warning though, this is not for the faint of heart or possibly people with sensitive skin because it is quite strong. 

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I hope you all enjoyed reading about my skincare!

What's your favourite step in your skincare routine?

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February 16, 2014

Move It Fashion Editorial Photo Shoot

I had the opportunity and pleasure of working with the awesome Alpha Models & Shift Creative with this editorial piece and I am so happy with how the photos turned out. The girls looked beautiful and I loved the simple eye makeup with glowy skin look. This editorial was featured by Ellements Magazine in their January 2014 - vi issue.

Stylist: Sarah Chesher
MUA & Hair: Phoebe Limanta 
Location: Active Gymnastics, O’Conner


Obviously, as with any editorial photoshoot, there are some photos that are not used by the magazine and these are just some of the photos that I LOVED but unfortunately not featured. 

February 11, 2014

Valentine's Day Look #2 - Makeup Geek Eyeshadows


Today's look features my favourite Makeup Geek Eyeshadows! They're the softest, most pigmented eyeshadows, for the most awesome price point ($7.99 for the compact and $5.99 for the pan).

If you guys haven't tried these eyeshadows, I suggest you get yourself a few... RIGHT NOW!

As per usual, for a full list of all the products I used, scroll to the bottom of this post. 

I'm still so sorry for still using my phone camera to take the photos. Unfortunately, the battery charger STILL has not arrived yet. I've already emailed the company I bought it from to see where the heck it is! I promise, the quality of the photos will improve in the next few posts, swear!



Face:
Eyes:
Brows:

February 9, 2014

Valentine's Day Look #1 - Urban Decay Naked 3 Palette


Back to normal postings today! Y'all know that the Urban Decay Naked 3 Palette looks like and there are tons of reviews on this palette so I'm not going to do a full on review about because there are so many great reviews out there on YouTube and other blogs too. 

What I will say, is that, I didn't love this palette at first and it took me quite a few goes before I fell in love with the palette, just because I'm not used to wearing pink tones on my eyes. I do adore it now though and I find myself using it more and more in my professional life. 

 

So this is the look that I came up with. It's something quite soft but still quite smokey and I think that it will be really flattering on everyone because I didn't use the true pink colours. I'm going to try do a darker look in a few days, and I'll make sure to post it before Valentine's day so you guys can have inspiration for a light look and a darker, more vampy look. 

For a full list of products I used, scroll to the bottom of this post! 

 
Face:

Eyes:
Brows:
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I hope you guys like the look and please stay tuned for the darker look coming up in a few days!