Coastal scents and Hakuhodo Hauls

When Coastal Scents had a 20% back to school discount, i hauled some items that i wanted to try badly, namely a flat top buffer brush (i was using minerals foundations for a while and the short handled kabukis that i was using were a little too hard to hold) and a pointy pencil es brush. i also got the african black soap that was receiving excellent reviews, not just on the coastal scents site (i do my research eh heh heh heh).

the delux buffer brush(BR216) is very soft and feels luxurious. it's made with animal hair so there is a smell(and so do the Hakuhodos). what i don't like about it is that it's not densely packed and the hairs with spray outwards. not useful for when you want to buff foundation. so what i did was to hold the hairs with elastic bands so i get a smaller but dense brush head. it works well this way.i'm using the Bourjois Mineral Matte mousse foundation with this brush.



i also did a litle investment in the Hakuhodo brushes that Misschievious raved about a long time back. i've always found brushes prickly and sometimes scratchy on my sensitive skin so hopefully these will be soft as clouds.



here's a comparative pic of the pencil brush from Coastal scents(top) and Hakuhodo(bottom)

the hakuhodo brush is clearly better made, the bristles are soft with the natural tip intact and it's also firm but soft. the Coastal scents brush has a scraggly top and does not feel as dense. i have not tried it yet but i have used the Hakuhodo pencil brush for my inner eye corners (will poke) but works well on the outer corners for contouring



the big pointed blush brush is also dense but soft. i love the fact that it's pointed so i can blush near my nose to produce that sunburnt look or some simple contouring. it's does feel scratchy sometimes but i think that's because i'm super sensitive or that i'm going againt the direction of the hair.

the other Hakuhodo e/s brushes i got are smaller and thinner and are good for packing e/s but not for blending (i still like my Elf e/s brush for that). what i like about them is that after picking up the e/s and placing them on my lids, i don't discern any pigment left on the brushes, so there isn't any wastage of pigments.



here's a pretty picture of the brushes amongst my collection of cones from various vacation trips.

so that's my mini review on the brushes that i got. the shipping at Hakuhodo is farly reasonble so if i ever feel like another splurge i'd defintely get my brushes from them again.

Vacation hauls

the DH and i went to france and italy for our summer vacation. it was so cold and then it was so hot! we actually didn't buy a lot of things this time since we had to lug and change hotels often but we did get some goodies.

cookies and chocolates.



souvenirs and some haulage for friends.



L'occitane's shampoo for his colleague and a prada wallet for another friend.
we also bought a new pair of wedding bands from Tiffany.

i got myself some scents.



he bought a few belts from the outlets in florence.



and i got myself some local goodies. LOL!!! some were on sale from the Florence outlets(aka TheMALL and SPACE).

Transdesign haul

i collected my haul from the spree'r yesterday and i am very excited about this lot. they arrived in the good old sg when i was still in Paris.

i chose these colors when i was in the mood for nudes and classic reds and pink, but since my vacay, i have been in the mood for corals and bright peaches and greens! luckily there are some oranges in there.



i feel another hual coming on.

MAC haul: to the beach

So like any other MAC adoring public, i fell into the hype for the Marine Life Highlight. or whatever it's called. i'm not even a MAC fan. i just read Temptalia all the time. :P

right, the reason i wanted Marine Life Highlight, besides the pretty seahorse design (check out the pygmy seahorse), is the color. it's a pretty corally pink, and i do not have that range of blush in my stash. a lemming is born.

it launch last friday, i was on leave, i reached the counter at maybe 1.30pm. it was sold out, "everywhere" said the MA. i also checked out the isetan counter, and even DFS. -ve. it launch at 12pm.

yesterday i was feeling emo and what i needed was some pretty bright corals. LOL! tried tangs vivocity. nil. i went back to cityhall and got Hipness instead. a similar but not so orange and more pink. happy!

i also bought crosswires lipstick. it looks so different on me. more dark red. now i want a Korres Mango butter with SPF, which will do nicely on my European/Meditarranean vacation.

i'm on a new juice diet, consisting of one potato(small), 1 celery stalk and half a green apple, maybe half a carrot. and some lemon juice to prevent oxidation. it's suppose to expel my body's accumulation of uric acid etc so i will get less aches and pains. it seems to be working. plus it stopped my gastric reflux somewhat. potato juice is not bad LOL.

my loot from korea

the DH was in Korea for work and came back last wed. he brought back some goodies!
actually, only half the number of bags belonged to me, the Coach bag contains my pressie. a pretty lilac wallet.

he also helped some of my friends to bring goodies back. he is really wonderful for offering to help shop for us.


these were for Kat.


these were for a couple of colleagues. see the freebies that were thrown in!


these are mine. eh heh heh heh!


the polishes are part of my haul, for making frankens and art. the Salmon Eye Patch is for the DH as part of his battle with dark eye circles. he even picked up some nail files.


korean strawberries for the both of us. YUMMY!

Shopping alone will empty your pocket

blah blah blah.. so i ended up going to DFS. LO! BEHOLD! they have the MAC Liberty of London Collection there! common knowledge was that it's only available at Tangs Orchard and Vivocity.

so i hurried over and waved the sample at the SA. They have it! BLISS!!! my life is now complete. i've been trying to find dupes everywhere. in fact, i've joined a spree to get Up the Amp to satisfy that violet craving.



there's something addictve about MAC's lipsticks. it makes me want to buy more. it smell so yummy of vanilla but it's also very light. i just want to bite into it!



i also got a Henry Cats pouchette. it took me a long time to decide between just 2 of them. i finally settled for Julie, at least that's what i think she's called.

tonight i plan to make some false nail tips. thinking of doing a pink and lace design. i'm thinking of selling them. would anybody be interested at all?!

haul for the month

as usual we were in town today, and all i intended to get today were



to orgarnize my polishes, and these, to replace some basics that i've overgrown.



something i saw a few weeks ago and it's been bugging me.



but i had to pass by Tangs to get to the Guardian at the Paragon and noticed the big posters advertising the official launch of MAC's Liberty of London collection, plus some cute dresses on display. so we went in. these resulted...



a pretty dress not made out of chiffon. the lining is cotton and not those polyester things that get really warm.

i also bought myself my first pair of sunglasses at the The Spectacle hut(Taka watson's) at a 20% discount.

i got them in anticipation of a great big summer vacation. these are the only one of the few that fit me well without my lashes brushing on the lens or the frame sitting on my cheeks.

check out the cute butterfly details.





I also made the DH pay for my first MAC item ever. mwa ha ha!! i'm going to pay him back, i just want to utilise his card to clock points for TANGS.



one of the reasons i checked out the Liberty range was because of the packaging. i love flowery botanical prints. i tried Peachstock and Blooming Lovely and i loved them both. unfortunately for me they ran out of BL. Vivocity still had 9 pieces left but i'm not that obsessed with makeup to actually drag the DH down for it. however, if anyone of you out there who has Blooming Lovely and doesn't like it can sell it to me :)))

body shop, lunasol, magazine hauls

the Bodyshop warehouse sale was held at the same time as the IT show so the DH and I popped by suntec city. i bought a 500G HD as well as some bodywash.



i seems i don't have to get any shower gel for a long while. i'm not in the habit of hauling necessities but i do stock and and will use them all up before my next purchase. no problem with "hitting pan" on these.



i also got me some cute earrings at Bugis Street. these were 3 pairs for 5$. its a steal! the quality's not bad.



took the opportunity at the Kino members sale and bought 3 more nail magazines. Spring and weddings. everythings so pretty. i want to try out so many ideas.



i have not tried out the Lunasol Spring Palette #2 nature green. i only recall liking all the colors when i swatched it at the counter.

some close ups. with flash.


overcast light.




of all the lovely designs in the nail mags, this one particularly stood out. must attempt this one day.

christmas hauls

Merry Christmas to all!!!

my DH, bless his soul is still asleep. lol. i tried to irritate him by poking his painful pimple but it didn't work. imma show off some christmas goodies to you guys.

the DH was in Beijing over the weekend and he brought me some more nail art goodies. he's really good at picking out the sweet stuff with the minimal instructions i give him.



there are a box of glitters and a box of mini bullions beads. dried flowers, fimo flowers and lace stickers. a wheel of rhinestones and some acrylic molds. these are "imitation" molds and i'll see if i get sick from using them. lol.

i recently cleared out my jewellery box so now i have a fancy place to store these beauties.



i'm offering free nail art services to my cousins! lol.. just bring me something good to eat, i'm available on most weeknights and then maybe the weekends too.

DH's colleague also helped to hual me back some polishes on his trip to korea.



i gave him a list of 44 (oops) and he managed to get about 12 of them. many thanks!

the DH was afraid that i'd be disappointed and he promised to get me the rest on his next trip to korea. ;)

i also picked up my package at the post office yesterday. w00t! my acrylics arrived.



the monomer liquid leaked and there's about 4/5 left in the bottle. OMG the smell of organics will knock you out. i'm almost afraid to try to use it as it might burn my lungs and throat. i also ordered a set of colored acrylic powder and i can't wait for them to arrive.

did everyone get good stuff for the holidays?

4.. FOUR huals.. ah ha ha ha (count dracula style)

this was my shopping from the Changi Airport DFS from way back (lol) when i left for Beijing. since i travelled alone, i had ample time to source out the things i wanted. namely, a pink gloss, any gloss or lippie that's of purple or violet tones and some other stuff as pressies.



my Fyrinnae purchases arrived while we were still in BJ so i had a nice package waiting in the mailbox. these are "Fall" colors that i've picked.





i wore Fools gold with Lust bunnies(orange) and i love the look. very edgy and definately eye catching especially during the morning OL transit on the train.

these are what i got last sunday, when Evie and i visited the Kitty Lab.



i bought this golden gray parka thingy and it's in a scratchy wooly material but i love the color and the cut. a colleague said that i was wearing a gunny sack. lol. pish posh! i still love it although it made me itch.



found some cool nail colors by Elianto and also got a YSL rouge at the RObinson expo sale. (it's not very clear in the pic. me use camera phone)

and these were from yesterday's shopping outing with an olde olde friend (since primary school). she made appointments for us to have makeovers at the kanebo counter with the cute japanese makeup artist. he spoke very good mandarin (swoons). so i got a face wash since it was on half price offer, and also a palette from the older collections. my makeover was from the new fall collection but in the end i decided against it since i plan to buy somemore blues from Fyrinnae.



i was given the Impress I skincare set as well as a puff blush from Coffret'Dor. Kino was having a 20% members off so i borrowed my friend's card and got a mag. exchanged my Taka Points and got the Dior's Smoky Crystal. w00t!



off to dinner with mummy!

Jill Stuart hual - Fall 2009

my friend was kind enough to send over my JS hual tonight. it was CP'ed by Kyotobaby. <3<3<3

it's my first JS hual and hopefully not my last. tomorrow i'm gonna try em out.





i did a simple swatch of the e/s and they are more purples then dark blue. the gray is gray with sparkles and the silver is just silver sparklies. i guess peeps who are familier with JS e/s knows what i'm talking about.
on a side note, i got a Dior flyer yesterday and there's a peak of the Xmas 2009 look. more purples it seems.



since i am on a purple smoky phase this is just my cup 'o tea but i will restrain myself until christmas...