Faces of last week and today: Alice Through the Looking Glass

Last Friday, I had an audit at Pioneer first thing in the morning, so I decided to keep my eyeshadows matte and go with my full-strength KVD Lock-It foundation.

I used the purples from Viseart Dark Mattes, because they've never not worked for me. And I didn't want to have a high-maintenance lip, so I used my KVD ELL in Lolita II with NYX Butter Gloss in Tiramisu on top. (After lunch I just slathered the Tiramisu all over, I ain't got time to bother on Fridays.)

On Saturday, we had a dance class (Argentine Tango!), but instead of wanting to go with sweatproof, matte eyes, I somehow worked a lot of Time from the Urban Decay Alice Through the Looking Glass into my outer corner. I also brought out my Dose of Colors in Brick, just because I missed a dark red lip.

Yeah, I ended up looking way vampier than I'd planned, but it was fun, anyway. I adore Brick, by the way. It lasts pretty well through meals - I mean, it wears off in the middle, but not noticeably, I guess it's that pigmented? I don't know, but I love it. I only reapplied once after lunch, but even after supper and a rainy ride home, my lipstick was intact. So. Great.

Anyway, I felt that I've been underutilising my Alice palette, just because it's so bulky. Which is a waste, because the colours are so bright and beautiful, and that was the whole reason I bought it in the first place. In fact, I actually bought it because of Salazen Grum - the copper-red shimmer. So I decided to do a one-shadow look with Salazen Grum today!

I paired it with NYX IBLG in Toasted Marshmallow, because my lips were acting up again and needed some moisture. I thought it would look crazy, but I liked the bright eyes and sorta-dark lips, overall. The eye colour also looks really nice behind glasses, so remind me not to neglect Salazen Grum again. 

I got to thinking that there are a lot of shades in the Alice palette that I haven't really given a chance, so for the rest of this week, I'll make sure to focus on the Alice palette for my looks. Yay!

JB Haul!

We went for a JB day trip last Saturday, and I bought.. way too many things. The above photo sorta shows what I got, off S$150! (Plus 30 ringgit borrowed from Cutes.)

Clothes

Flow, at Metrojaya department store
We were walking around the department store, just for kicks, when we stumbled on this plus-size label. By the way, the department store is so posh, it's almost snooty. There were maybe 15 customers on the entire floor, and the security guards would tell you to refrain from eating or drinking. It was just an odd experience for me, because I'm used to more bustling department stores, even our Robinsons or whatever other atas stores.

Anyway, I ended up getting three kinda-luxe tops - a datiny batwingish black one, a sopan navy blue crepe, and a heavy green one with a beaded neckline and a tie back (which I initially thought was a tie-front, ha!).

I just did some checking and it appears that Flow is a Malaysian brand which caters to sizes US10 to US18. Isn't that amazing? I can't name a single Singapore-based plus-size brand, which is mildly upsetting. But whatever. I definitely plan to check out Flow again next time I head over there.


H&M
Now, we have a H&M here too, obviously, but what we don't have is H&M+. It's crazy, unbelievable and annoying how JB has a plus-size line and we don't. I would think that since females do less manual labour here, we have a greater chance of being fat, and therefore needing plus-size clothes. So I always end up grabbing at least one piece when I'm in the City Square H&M.

Unfortunately, by this time, I'd already spent most of my money, so I had to borrow RM30 from Cutes so I could get that adorable denim skirt.

Also, how and when did denim miniskirts die out? This is the first time I was able to buy one in a shop since 7 years ago, in Perth. I hope this means they're coming back. :D


FOS or inB4 or whatever it's called
Cutes likes to shop here because stuff is really cheap, at an average of RM25 apiece. I normally don't bother, because the ladies' pickings is always pretty slim. But this time, I managed to find a nice cotton top and a cotton dress for baju rumah. Heh. What, it was like S$10 in the end, don't judge.


Makeup/Skincare

Sasa Selectiv
I found quite an extensive range of Peripera there, including the Powerpuff Girls range! Unfortunately, the stuff with Bubbles on it was either sold out or not the right shade for me. So I skipped that and got a Peri's Ink Moist in #5. I also found an entire range of Wet n Wild omggg. Why don't we have it in Singapore?! So I got a Liquid Catsuit (liquid lipstick), because I've heard good things about them.

I've actually tried both those items, and the Peri's Ink Moist is truly moist! I had a Zinger for lunch that day, and all I did was blot the colour off before biting into my burger. And voila, no chin transfer! It reapplies pretty nicely too. And I had to reapply, because it was looking kinda blotchy after my burger. Heh.

The Liquid Catsuit in Nice to Fuschia performs almost exactly like the KVD liquid lipsticks. It dries down nice and thinly. The downside, and difference, is that it pills up a little in the centre of my lips, and transfers if I rub or even touch my lips with my finger. Or maybe it's just this colour, I don't know. I don't plan to repurchase - I'm happier with my J* or KVD.


Chamelon
This is just loosely related to skincare because I use them for my PM skincare routine. Heh. I bought two fluffy hairbands for about RM10 each. They're so cute, and so far I've tried the blue one with the eyes, which works a little better than the Etude House Etti Cat Ears, which is pretty wow.


So that's what I got! Really happy with all my purchases, and I'm looking forward to hitting up these shops again on my next JB trip.

FOTW: JB trip

This past week has been really busy for me. The only day I managed to go home straight from work was on Friday, by which time I was smashed from 4 consecutive nights out. 

This weekend, Cutes and I went into Johor Bahru for our usual food and shopping. And today, I had a Fanababain meetup, so I was conking out majorly in the bus(es) home just now. 

So, on Friday:

I used mainly my Viseart Dark Mattes on my eyes. I put the two orangey shades in my crease and outer corner, and laid the blush shade from theBalm Driving License on my lid. The browbone highlight is from theBalm mini-palette, too.

Face was just my usual L'oreal Infallible with MAC Prom Princess as my blush. And for lips, I went with Bite Beauty Amuse Bouche in Maple (love this) with Essence XXXL Shine Lip Gloss in.. Fabulous Fuschia, I think it is? I like the gloss - it gives everything a purply-pink sheen, the shine is blinding, and it smells really yummy in a fruity way. I just wish the packaging was a little more convenient because right now, I have to kinda jam the wand back into the tube, as if it didn't fit properly or something.

I thought this look wore well, especially the lips, because I had pasta for lunch and I was slurping it up crazily, but I only had to touch up the centre of my lips when I was done, so yay!


Saturday:

There was a thunderstorm in the morning around subuh, but by the time I fully woke up at 10am, the sun was out in full force. So I decided I'd go with a light base - my usual Laneige Pore Control BB Cushion, over my NARS Soft Matte Concealer.

Eyes are still Viseart Dark Mattes - this time I used the greens, with the crease colour from theBalm mini-palette on my lids.

I skipped blush, and for my lips I used Urban Decay Vice in Epigram, with CO Bigelow Mentha Lip Shine over the top. I think the lip shine really helped my lips not dry out as much.

At the end of the pretty sweaty night, my eye makeup was still pretty much intact, but the parts of my face where I'd put concealer were looking really sad and red, because the concealer had broken up. So I guess no concealer is a match for the persistence of my sweat. :(

I was planning to also write about my JB haul, but I think I'll just put it in a separate post. Goodnight!

End - Summer Lovin' Goals

Sorry, I missed the end date of the Summer Lovin' Goals by just over a week, but I wanted to wait for payday so I could get the last $350 savings into my MKK fund. Here we go!

First post for reference here.

Goal #1: Winnow through my closet

I've done about 3 rounds of this so far, so I think I've done pretty well. It also went along with a major clean-out of my room, so that was amazing. That led to making room for my little makeshift vanity space, so it's been great.


Goal #2: Finish up one foundation

I'm sorry to report that I haven't finished up any yet. I'm still satisfied with my current status, though, because I'm using foundation twice a week for work and once a week for dates, so that's pretty consistent.

• KVD Lock-It in 62 (45% to 30% left)
• Hourglass Vanish Stick in Golden Tan (60% to 55%) - I still love the finish on this, but doesn't wear too well after one morning at the office. It sort of settles into my pores. Sad!
• Tarte Amazonian Clay Mineral Powder (no idea, you can't see through the container!) - tossed! 
• Maybelline Fit Me stick (98%) - haven't touched this. I guess I don't like it after all. 
• Nude by Nature BB Cream (90% to 80%) - I've mentioned in earlier posts that this has started to pill up on me, ugh. I left it at the office for "emergencies". Possibly, I'll toss it in a couple of weeks or months. 
• L'oreal Infallible 24-HR Matte (80% to maybe 60%) - I love this most out of all my foundations. I've been reaching for it like, 9 out of 10 times when I'm wearing foundation. It just goes on so evenly and quickly with a brush, and it kind of stays on all day, even through excessive sweating. I'll be sad to finish this because they still don't have it in Singapore, but I'll make sure to pick up some more during my December holiday in Perth. 
• L'oreal Mineral Powder (75%?) - tossed! Woohoo!

Also I got a Laneige Pore Control BB Cushion because I'd been wanting it for forever, and I'd basically given up on the Nude by Nature BB cream. I'm happy with it! I love the colour, application is a breeze, my skin doesn't seem to hate it, and it smells amazing. No regrets!


Goal #3: Low buy

Well, it's pretty obvious that I haven't really kept to the restricted list of items to buy, in the last few months. Among the other prohibited stuff I bought are:

• Mizon snail line (AIO, Gel Cream, Ampoule) - Got mini sizes of these in a bundle because my skin was feeling really itchy and overheated at the time, and I was hoping this line would calm it down. So far, I've only used the AIO, which hasn't worked. My skin has since calmed down, so I'm just gonna phase in the rest when I've finished my current serum (TO "Buffet"). 
• NYX Butter Gloss and IBLG - No regrets! These have really saved my chapped lips from looking sad and boring. 
• NYX pencil sharpener - Super useful, I used this for my MUFE lipliner, yay! 
• NYX eyeshadow single in some shimmer bronze shade - This is a real workhorse and perfect for a single shadow look for the office. I think it was ten bucks, but it's fine with me because I'll use this quite frequently. Yes, I'm really starting to become a NYX fangirl. 
• A couple of Zoeva brushes - I find that they're cheaper than the Sephora pro ones, so even though they've shedded a little on me, I'm gonna stick to these. I may get a face set soon. 
• And of course, I had a little ASOS spree to the tune of $120 or thereabouts. But I'm quite happy with the stuff I got, so yay! 

Goal #4: Ride out once a week

It was really hard to stick to this. Once, I left Ferb alone for three weeks. Nasib baik nothing happened. So I've reduced the stipulated frequency to twice a week, I hope it's workable!

Goal 5: Fun lip colour once a fortnight

This is really easy to do, especially since my lips have gotten better in the last month or so. That said, I do wanna try and work in KVD Echo someday soon. 

Goal 6: One blog post a week

I think I dropped the ball in the first month, but I've been posting FOTWs every Sunday/Monday, so I've mainly stuck to the schedule. It's been a challenge, but it's fun to be writing again. I'll try and work on my camera skills now, because I'm still dissatisfied with the quality of my FOTD photos. 

Goal #7: $1k to MKK fund

This has been amazing. I've managed to put aside $350 from each paycheck to go into my MKK fund for the last four paychecks, so yes, I've hit this target! I plan to continue this $350-each-month practice until the real day, insya Allah, because it hasn't been a hardship to ikat perut and we need all the money we can get. 

So this was a really fun challenge to work on! I'm going to continue most of them anyway, so it's definitely been helpful in making me rethink my consumerist choices. 

Till the next post!

FOTW: Malay events

I had a really nice weekend which started with me waking up at 5.00am on Friday to do a full-beat face so I could check out the Fenty Beauty launch confidently. 

Friday:

I was inspired by Kaushal Beauty's video on a grungy fall look where she used the browns and black in the UD Naked Basics (?) palette on her eyes with a dark lip. So I recreated this with my Viseart Neutral Mattes! I used the darkest peach, the black and the dark brown shades, plus the glittery black liner shade from theBalm Driving License.

Lips are Huda Beauty in Famous. I love the dark vampy shade, but it doesn't really wear well through food and drink. Also, I fell asleep on my hand in the bus and schmeared it quite madly. Heh.


Saturday:

I had to do my makeup in 10 minutes because my dad was rushing me to get to Syafiqah's wedding. So I just buffed out my favourite L'oreal Infallible foundation, used all the colours in my trusty theBalm Driving Licence on my eyes, and popped on the NYX IBLG in Toasted Marshmallow on my lips. Blush was MAC Prom Princess.

I can't overstate how much I love Toasted Marshmallow. If I could keep just one lipstick out of my collection of.. 20? It would definitely be this.

Anyway, I was at the wedding for like an hour, then I came back home and just put on mascara before I went out for my date.

Yeah, my glasses basically cover up all of my eye makeup, so I should definitely try to go crazier next time.

We had fun, as always. 9 Rangkaian Tarian Melayu was so, so much fun and truly educational, and also a welcome trip down memory lane for me. Afterwards, we walked to the Waterboat House, which is beautiful, and then we walked back. Pretty chill day, but we're also quite sick of the Civic District, so we can't wait to get away after the end of this month.

FOTW: Lazy Day in Tampines, + Watsons Haul

So yesterday was one of our rare no-plan dates, and it was a really hot and sunny day, and we were planning to ride out, so.. I ignored all of that and decided to attempt a halo eye anyway. 

Eyes: All Nubian II palette. My trusty Madagascar as a transition/crease (I usually don't define my transition or crease separately, because double eyelids.), Kenya as the inner and outer corners, and Zuri as the halo. Later, when I was dabbing Becca Shimmering Skin Perfector Liquid in Opal on my cheekbones, I also popped the remaining on my browbone. Then I dunno what got into me, but I used the NYX Jumbo Eye Pencil in Milk in my waterline and went in with a bit of Kenya on my lashline, after mascara HAHA. 

Face: L'oreal Infallible 24Hr Matte, MAC Veronica blush, aforementioned Becca SSP Liquid. I actually don't really like this Opal because I don't think it shows up well on my face, but I just wanna get it finished ASAP since it was a Sephora points perk. 

Lips are UD Vice in Venom, which is truly one of my favourites and never dries out my lips. 

So, as I said, it was a really hot day, but somehow my eye makeup did not run away and my halo look was still the same with my eyes open. Of course, with my eyes closed, you could see that the shimmer had transferred upwards, but that's nothing new or tragic, so I'm good. 

Watsons was having a 20% off members-only sale, so I bought backups of my DHC Deep Cleansing Oil and my Hada Labo HA Lotion, which are both on their last 5% or so. Gosh, I never realised how expensive the DHC was! It's like $40 for 200ml like whutttt. I got this at like $25ish in the sale but like, why did I pay $40 for it that first time? Now I'm hooked and I'm gonna have to splash out 40 every two months. Syabas, Ain.

I know I said I wanted to try the Hada Labo premium, but I thought hey, the normal one is working fine for me, so why mess with a good thing, right?

And finally, this Marc Anthony shampoo I got to replace my current 2 litres of shampoo I'd bought in a common idiotic moment like, two years ago. Or maybe a year ago, entah. I wanted to try something sulfate-free and see if that improves my hair and scalp in any way. So, I will keep you updated!