Primark Again!

Just went out to do Weekend shopping yesterday, went into Primark, and bought stuff again! @.@ But this time I have only spent £2.50 for these 3!

Randomly, I went thought my stuff and see how much cosmetic I bought from Primark, and quite surprised that I bought a few...

By looking at this photo, I just realise I spent roughly £14 on these... actually for cosmetic, they are really cheap, from only £0.50 (when it is on sale) - £2.50. 

There have been a mix view on Primark cosmetic stuff and lots of people wonder whether these are poisonous or not. But I used some of the items for than 10 times, but I don't even have an allergic reaction to any of these.

Of course some of them are good and some of them are rubbish, same as other company. Sometimes it just really depends on the user, I suppose.

But from all the reviews I read, the 2 COLOUR EYE SHADOW is TOTALLY A NO-NO! While apparently 4 quads are okay.

Second thing that I think it's a no-no is that GEL EYE LINER... it is even worst than my kohl pencil and I rather use the kohl pencil, at least i can create a smokey eye @.@ So really STAY AWAY FROM IT!

The mascara is good, but only downfall is that it is not waterproof and does not last long.

There's a mix view on the gel eye shadow, but I quite like it though... its like putting lipgloss on the eye lid.

The eyebrow kit is my favourite out of the brunch. The mini brushes (which are not shown here) are really soft  and perfect size of the job. The powder is so-so, but the gel is good.

The rest are so-so... consider the price, I think it is still a steal... kaka...  anyway.. I will give a more detail view on individual item each time... off to my essay 1st.... see you~

kyanvi.

p.s. they have even face primer in stock, if anyone have bought it, please let me know how's it!

Sleek Face Contour Kit

At the moment, this is very popular among the blogs and forums. When this was on special promotion last week, it sold out quickly, so glad that I managed to pick the last one up from Westfield Superdrugs.

So this is the palette. Brown for shading and pale pink for highlight.

And how? Where to apply?

There's even instruction for contouring. I actually think they should put 1 more method as well along the jaw line for anyone who want to reduce the size of the jaw line to a more pointy shape.

Compare with another similar duo, Maybelline Mineral Duo that I have. I like this one more. There are 2 reason for this. Firstly, Sleek packaging looks more professional and the fact that it comes with a mirror. Although this does not come with a brush, it really doesn't matter. (as the brush that come with Maybelline is in a very bad quality. Also, for similar price, Sleek £3.99 and Maybelline for £1.95, I got more powder from Sleek than Maybelline.

Compare the colours, Sleek is much better than Maybelline, as it is much easier to get the colour onto my skin. Sometimes it is good that the colour isn't shown that easily as correction can be made easier. But even though Sleek is easy to get the colour onto the skin, it doesn't give a hard colour anyway.

Conclusion

I think I see why this is popular as a drugstore brand at the moment, as it is cheap and easy to access. Also, maybe this is one of the few product that I may consider to repurchase again. This is because even though sometimes I think a certain product is wonderful, I always want to try other things, but for contour, I seriously need a product that really can do the job, as I got a rather large and flat face.

Score

80/100

Neal's Yard Rosemary & Cedarwood Hair Treatment

I bought this book a while ago, and found a recipe that helps out my bf's hair loss problem. Since I just made a refill today, so I may just share this to you. Apparently, this has received glowing praise in the past for helping hair to grow and the treatment will keep for up to 30 months.

You need:

10 drops Cedarwood essential oil

20 drops Rosemary essential oil

100g cocount oil

A glass jar 

2 bowl/ mixing dish

Hot water

Method

1. Melt the coconut oil by standing a bowl/ dish in a bowl of hot water

2. When the coconut oil melts, add the essential oils

3. Pour into the container for storage

To use

Warm some oil by rubbing it in the palm of your hand and work it through your hair and scalp.

Then wait for 30mins.

Remove the oil by applying shampoo before adding water.

Hope this make sense. For more reference, please refer to 'Recipes for Natural Beauty' by Romy Fraser  (ISBN: 978-1-905339-29-7) and for the ingredients, all of them can be found on Neal's Yard stores or their website @ Neal's Yard Remedies.

Kyanvi.

(Please note that I quote this recipe from the book Recipes for Natural Beauty and please do a skin test before you start using the product)

Lacura Aqua Complete

I have been using this for around 6months and it is quite good. 

I bought this from Aldi for £1.99 / 50ml. I thought for £1.99, I shouldn't expect much, but compare with Garnier Essentials Day Cream which is around £3 something. Lacura packaging is even better as it comes in a glass(!) jar instead of a plastic one like Garnier. Also it comes in a tiny foil lid too. (see the photo below)

It claims on the box that

"The aqua complex provides long lasting mositure and leaves the skin feeling moisturised and nourished.

the care complex with provitamin B5 and vitamin E leaves the skin soft and supple"

Well, I am not a chemist, not sure whether the vitamins that it claims to have are there or not. But this cream does its main purpose: moisturise. I enjoy using this cream as it is easy to apply on and quick dissolve. The only downfall is that it is not powerful enough for the driest day when the heater is fully on. But in general, it leaves my skin in a good condition after the night.

Conclusion

For £2, this is really a bargin as it does its job.  For my (partially) sensitive skin, it smooths and freshes my skin. So think this is a good buy even if you use it as a day cream rather than a night cream.

Score

85/100

Kyanvi.

First Light Cosmetics

Well, I just received the samples today. So I haven't tried them yet. But the reason is that I wrote this post is that I just found out a strange thing.

I ordered 2 £1.50 foundation sample which should be 2g each. When they arrived in my place, I just realise that the amount of the content in the 2 bags are totally different.

The one of the LHS obviously much less than the one of the RHS. Well, I have already emailed the company for the reason, but just also curious what you, my fellow bloggers think of it. Or just me that assumes all the foundation from the same company has the same volume when they are in the same weight. (@.@ I think I have back to the cheistry mode that I used to have in A-level....)

K.

p.s. UPDATE!
I just received a reply from the company that they will send me another sample foundation that is low in volume.

Final Update
I have received another sample from the company on Saturday! I was expecting they will send me a full size sample (please forgive my greediness @.@), but instead they send me 1/2 of a full size sample, so now I have a 2g of the product in total!

Another shopping day!

Another shopping day!! Seriously, I need to ban myself from any shops or website... as this is seriously getting nowhere.

from half price perfumes

from first light cosmetics

once again, Superdrugs.

Since I kept bump into Gosh clearance stock, I cannot resist the idea of taking them back home... sigh... so I did it again. but glad that I got friends who willing to take some of them home for me..kaka

Kyanvi

NYC Mod Quad

Just looking at my picasa, wondering what shall I write today.... Then I thought of this. So here we are.

I bought this on Fragrance Direct for £1.50, I think, as I forgot the exact amount. The good thing is that it is cheap and the shadows are highly pigmented, as it is not difficult for me to do the swatches. 

However, when I tried to use it few days ago, I just realise the creme liner is totally useless. This is because I cannot apply it on my eye with a eyeliner brush. I tried a few times, but every single time the colour is just too light. It is even much easier to use the brown colour eyeshadow powder instead.

Anyway, here's the swatches.

In this swatches, you can see the creme liner very clearly on the right. But I seriously have no idea what happened when I tried to apply it with my brush. It will be great if anyone can give me suggestion on that. ;-P

Conclusion

The packaging is good in a firm plastic case. The applicator is just a typical sponge head and it is in good quarlity. For one pound something, I really shouldn't ask for more, should I?

Score

65/100

So what do you think of it?

Kyanvi.

Primark Mineral Powder Eyeshadow

Even though it was raining today, still bight enough to take some photos. So there we are.

The packaging looks a bit like Urban Decay Style, especially with the grey and the pink. Also, the handle looks really like UD too. The applicator is just a normal smudge sponge head and nothing special about it. The powder itself is very fine. This is because when I put the applicator back in, the fume of dust will just 'burst' out. 

And the colours,

It is very easy to apply. I only brush 2 layer of the powder and the colours shown very clearly. The only downfall is that without the aid of any eye primer, it did not stay for long. After I took the photos and tidy my shelves a bit, all the shadow are already 'washed' off only some shimmer left.

Conclusion

For 50p each, this is really a bargin and lots of products to play around. Once again, I found lovely items in Primark. Even for the original price of £2, I still think this is good to buy. Compare with other powder eyeshadow, I like this packaging more than the ones come in a jar with a sieve.

Score

80/100

Kyanvi

Sunday Shopping

Saw a few bargins on a post at forums.moneysavingexpert.com, so ran down to the Superdrugs at Lewisham at 2... and bought all these for £27 (according to the receipt, I managed to save £23!!!)

The 1st time ever I have Dove shower gel as it always costs £2 and 1st time ever, it is down to 89p. An other bargin is the vitamin E oil. It was 50% at the mo, for £1.22, and I got a 25% off voucher, so makes it even cheaper. I have not used this before, but I read a post regarding this somewhere and just bought one 2days ago and have a try, and it was okay, which i hope to write a review later on.. So stock up. ;-P

Walked into Primark and got my bf a black cardigan for £6 and 3 mineral eyeshadow powder for £1.50. Great!

Will have a swatch if the weather is sunny someday... since I only have a Sony C903 mobile @.@

and... forgot to mention...

another shopping this week

Neutrogena Wave for £4.99 at Superdrugs!! Already tried it yesterday... update a review later on after I tested it for a few more times....

Kyanvi.

NYX Mosaic Powder

Thank god that it has been sunny for 2 days in a row, so I am more out of the blues...

I have tried most of the NYX stuff already, so I can talk though them one by one.

Actually, I already have a few highlighter at home and I don't need more. But since the colour is very interesting on this piece, I decided may as well put in this the order! ;-P

I haven't tried the colours individually. But when I mixed the colours with a brush, it forms a sheer white on my cheeks.

The effect is much more obvious in real live, sad that I cannot really capture its real essence. But still, I can tell that the skin with highlighter ( 'that stripe') is much brighter and lighter than the rest of my skin.

The only down fall for this is that, it may be too white for warmer or darker skin especially when I started to brush from the white area. Also, the powder isn't compressed enough, there's always powder loosen out.

Conclusion

It worth more than USD$6, so not bad for this small price tag. However, I don't think I would buy it again, as getting things aboard is not always my best option as I am kind of annoyed by the postage (for some compay) and the maximum price to go without inport tax (apparently it is £18, before custom charge for import tax, please correct me if I am wrong)

Score

65/100

Kyanvi

NYX Round Lipsticks

These are the 10 that arrived at my place yesterday. They are arranged in the code on the label. Apparently, the bottom colour is that colour of the lipsticks. But I don' think they are matched at all, especially for Gem and Indian Pink. The colour for Indian Pink is more an orange base rather than just pink that shown at the bottom. The bottom colour understimate the redness of Gem, as it is much redder.

Anyway, as I only kept 5 of them, here's the swatches for them.

These lipsticks are highly pigment, as it is very easy for me to capture the colours and it was very difficult for me to remove the colours from my arm afterwards @.@ ( i actually have to use makeup remover twice to remove them all totally)

I heard that some bloggers claimed that the lipsticks they bought have horrible smells, but I didn't find any smell in this case, so I assume it is a personal opinion or new/old version or QC problem?? I am not quite sure which....

Conclusion:

For USD$3 + postage, I don't think I will even border as there's always other alternative outside like Natural Collection, Collection 2000, etc. But for USD$1.4 + postage, I think they are really good value, as they are highly pigment and a huge range of colours available. 

Score

75/100

Kyanvi.

Cherry Culture

Finally...

I got time to take photos and edit and upload them...

Received the parcel from Cherry Culture yesterday, and it was quite a suprise for me as I only made the order around 10days ago, wasn't quite expect it will come this fast.

I was quite shock when I picked it up at the local delivery office as the label said 'Art supplies' and only USD$6... as I have no memory of getting any art equipment from the States @.@

Anyway, back to the products themselves.

I  bought 1 Jumbo Eyeshadow pencil, 2 Powder Eyeshadow and a Mosaic Powder as well as 10 lipsticks. Sadly, I only keep 5 of them as the others are for my friends. The colours are very nice to the fact that I almost want to keep them all... kakak...

From L-R:

Narcissus

Thalia

Indian Pink

Almost Black

Orange Soda

Strawberry Milk

Vitamin

Tea Rose

Pumpkin Pie

Gem

I will update the 5 swatch that I made tomorrow as I am already quite tiring after shopping at Westfield.

Good Night!

K.

p.s. Netrogena Wave is on sale at Superdrugs for £4.99 at the mo, and Superdrugs Vitamin E line is 1/2 pirce at the mo too!

It is difficult to organise a dinner party

Hopefully a update tomorrow

as I am still recover from the hot port dinner party on sunday...

it is very difficult to organise a hot pot dinner party for 11 of us 

when we even have not have enough chair/ stools for the guest...

sigh....

kyanvi

Chinese New Year + Valentin'e Day

Gosh...
On Sunday, it is both Valentine's Day & Chinese New Year.

So Happy both to you all.

Sadly, I don't think I have much time to write another review as I need to make up my chocolates for my friends and arrange a hot port gathering at my place for sunday. So busy shopping for food and chair and stuff like that.

See you soon.

Kyanvi.

p.s. just been to a 1 michellin star pub in London, the food was awesome.

Hmm....Ebay troubles

Sad...

As a partial ebay seller myself, I was quite disappointed by my eBay bidding this week, as I have bum into a few bits & bobs. I have no idea whether I should point my fingers at the seller, but I have bad experiences and it is kind annoying when I was expecting more stuff to play with, while I have to claims for refunds...

Only glad that the sellers are very kind and accept my complains and refund quickly.

Which 2 problems I have?

Bought Benefit powderazzi, the x'mas set from a relatively new seller. When it arrived, one of the blush is used while she claims it was a xmas present that she hasn't touch....

Bought a MAC 168 brush. The hairs of the brush is so good and the smell of the sheep is so strong to the fact that I almost accept that it is a authentic 2nd class product while the seller just claim that he/she bought it from the state. I mean well cant you be honest and said it is a defect one instead claiming that it is authentic?

 Second reason for me to have it refund is that the hairs of the brush is pointing towards right while the official picture that I saw online is pointing to the left.... sigh....

by the way, went to sk:n clinic today for an open day session. but left early as it is kind of shameful for me to have any skin treatment when the ladies sat next to me are 30+ or even there are few age around 60 ladies... I shouldn't complain so much as at least I have rather youthful skin compare to them. Thanks ladies.

Shopping Haul

Finally... I have waited this for almost a month... I bought this over Brandalley in Jan as there's a special sale on Stila. This site does different brand sales in a given period and you have to wait for at least 1-2 weeks before the products are dispatched to you. From my understanding is that this website is act as an agent for the brand to clear out the old stocks. That's explain why the discount rate is so high. It was up to 70% off for Stila.

As you can see from the photo above, that's the thing i bought and only costs me £4x.  As the delivery cost is £4.95, therefore it is better to google a voucher code for that ;-P

Sadly some of the stuff won't able to stay with me and go to my friends. Therefore, I will write a review afterwards when i got time to start using the ones I have.

Kyanvi.

p.s. I bought a 2nd round from ASOS, since this website is really as good as other said.

Love the fingerness gloves most as it keeps me warm while typing as my house is so cold... and of cause the belt too, as it is so cool.. but haven't got time to try the cosmetics yet...

p.s.s. just in case I don't update that often.

Happy Chinese New Year & Valentine's Day everyone!

e.l.f. Cool Bronzer

Haha... 2 e.l.f. review in a row... but then, how can i resist to write positive reviews when I like them so much? This is one of the products that I use almost everyday. ;-P I took the photo above at night, so it was slightly paler with a blue tone due to the flash light. But I took the one below under sunlight, so the colours are sharper. 

Here's the swatches. I don't just blend them and brush it onto my face. Instead of a bronzer, I use it as a shape & sculpt palette.  The white to highlight the cheekbone, bridge or the nose & eyebrows. The pink is for the apples of the cheek. The reddish brown (the top right corner) for the shading just right below the cheek & the deep brown for the jaw bone or around the edge of the face (near the hair line)( i will put a drawing up later if i can fix my photoshop 1st...)

Conclusion

I think I will buy this again as I like the packaging (similar to nars ;-P) and the colours. The only down fall is that the white is not that visible, need to apply a few layers while the others are perfect. Consider the price of £3.50, I think it will be my stable piece unless the palette from Sleek can beat it.

Score

85/100

What do you think of that?

Kyanvi.

e.l.f. Mineral Booster - Sheer

Just felt that like or dislike is really a matter of timing... I said that because I was thinking of writing a quite negative review for a product, while I was typing the thing, I just had a thought of give it a go. So I left my pc to my room then try it again... Then... I actually like it more than before. I was amazed that I just changed my mine in split second... confused.... anyway, I won't name the thing now...

I also had lots of incident with this e.l.f. Mineral Booster too... I bought this because of the description as I do believe in powder skin care as Za True White Vitamin Powder is the 1st one that I use & love. When it arrived to me, I was quite disappointed with the QC of e.l.f., as the seal was broken... But glad that the customer service team is very kind & just refund for me after they saw the photo. I was thinking of just throw it away since it may be containmined. But my bf said maybe I should give it ago as probably just a defect, not a second hand (returned) product. And I am glad that I did so

Descritption of this product

Achieve the ultimate, translucent "photo finishing touch" to your makeup, our Mineral Booster melts into your skin, infusing it with key vitamins A, B and E to promote healthier skin that’s noticeably silkier and smoother. Completely sheer and ideal for all skin tones, Mineral Booster gently absorbs oil and minimizes the appearance of wrinkles, fine lines and pores for a beautiful even finish. Wear alone or buff over our Mineral Concealer and Foundation to lend extra staying power and to achieve a professional and stunning porcelain matte look that will last all day.

Well, it does promote silkier & smoother skin and absorbs oil which gives my skin a sheer look. Also, as it is more in a pink undertone, it gives my skin (cool - yellow undertone) more radiance & healthy pinkish looking. Now I use it almost everyday as a lose powder to set my foundation as it adjust my skin tone well.

Conclusion

I actually will buy this again as I really like the pinkish tone it gives and the powder is very fine. For £5, you can actually get a lot of product ( 17.8g), which is really a bargin.

Score

80/100

Kyanvi.