up until giving birth to my son, i was never had problem with my eyes. i admitted, i had dark circles under my eyes, but that mostly because of my allergy. but now, it sticked no matter what. and now since i was jobless, sometimes on my not-so-busy days, i was sooo boreeedd.. that's why i browsed and found out and wanted to try eye cream. i had two right now, but i still didn't see the improvement. probably because i didn't take before and after. hmmm..

#1. it was l'oreal hydrafresh eye gel. i just bought it since it was small, so i thought i could finish it quickly. what they said about it:

Organic Aloe - renowned for its incredible soothing, hydrating and moisturising properties

i didn't like to use sunscreen. because most of them made my face more oily. but since i was easily burnt, i had to use them or i would end up like a crab. twice before this one i used loreal sunscreen for even complexion, but i found out it was discontinued. probably due to the launch of L'oreal BB cream which already included it. the problem with l'oreal sunscreen was it made my skin oily after a few hours, but i forgot if i ever combined l'oreal hydrafresh icy gel + sunscreen.

right now, i'm using erha clinic sunscreen for oily skin. it protected you from UVA and UVB. the packaging was like a toothpaste. and the sunscreen also like toothpaste. it was a white cream, just like toothpaste. it had no scent or whatsoever.. just a plain white cream. since i used it with my l'oreal hydrafresh, only my nose got shine after 3-4 hours.

there was no advantages or disadvantages from this product, so i haven't decided whether i would repurchase or not.

i have oily skin, which was suck. i have tried all kind of moisturizer, and most of them failed to keep my nose from shine. after 2-3 hours, my nose would shine. i always bought oil-free moisturizer. but lately, my sister told me that even oil free moisturizer could make your face greasy if it was oil-based, not water-based. she said that korean products usually water-based and american products usually oil-based. i didn't know if it were true, but i didn't like korean products so far. it smell weird sometimes, but more important, it was pricey! i forgot what was my first moisturizer, but before this, i used netrogena oil free moisturizer. the package was a white bottle with pump on top, so it was hygienic to use. but, it had no SPF so i had to use sunscreen separately, and it didn't help much with my problems. i tossed it before it was empty. then i switched back to l'oreal hydrafresh icy gel. it was said for shiny skin. i tried this one before, but i forgot why i switched to another product before netrogena. hahaa.. i was forgetful. now i remember.

l'oreal hydrafresh was a gel moisturizer in a pot, and it had cooling sensation when you put it on your skin. feels like mint. i didn't recognize any particular smell, but it did have some smell, but i couldn't name it. it had no SPF like neutrogena, so i had to use my sunscreen separately. the best thing was it really helped! but then i remembered why i switched to another product. it was so mattifying, sometimes it made the skin around my nose cracked due to dryness. thankfully, when i switched back to l'oreal, i started to use night cream, which was very moisturizing and regenerating, so it kinda worked well together.

what they said about it: l'oreal hydrafresh anti shine durably hydrating and mattifying ice gel was to help neutralize shininess and intensely quench your skin.

actions: supplies skin with long-lasting moisture. this icy gel contains deep marine source water enriched in minerals known to help prevent water loss and to improve skin moisture.

purifies and regulates sebum excess for an anti-shine action : enriched in zinc, known for its powerful sebum-regulating properties, this icy gel helps bring shine control. the formula also contains micro-sponges that help to absorb the excess of sebum for an immediate and long-term matte appearance.

result: imeediately = skin is cooled down, durably mattified and quenched. day after day = icy gel prevents skin from "greasing" and pores are clear and tightened. skin is smooth and evened out. full of moisture, it is "water-bouncey" and looke healthier like "water-transparent".

Texture: this skin cooling texture is ultralight and feels like a splash of ocean freshness to your skin. non-oily, non-sticky, it is instantly absorbed and helps skin feel cooled down.

pro: it did help with my shiny nose. my nose would shine a little bit at midday, which was quite a record. it didn't smell weird.

cons : no SPF. in a pot, which was not very hygienic. the pot was heavy since it was made from glass (or glass-alike material). a little bit drying my skin around my nose.

i would keep repurchase this moisturizer until i could find another one which had SPF, control my shine well without drying my skin, in a bottle with a pump.

I decided to give bodyshop and face shop a try. I tried the faceshop rice water bright facial foam/wash? (I forgot the name). I wanted a face wash that can also clean my makeup. So i asked my sister to find out the face shop product that could do that and she bought it for me online. It was pretty unique because the instruction was : "use only with dry hands". I usually wash my face with water first, then pour the facial wash to my hands and lather it and apply it to my face. Now with this product, i have to fight the urge to splash my face with water. It didn't have any specific fragrance (or perhaps it was just my nose..) but if it had, it was very subtle. Which was good since i couldn't stand strong fragrance. And i was looking facial wash that could help with my oily skin . And it works! After using it, my face felt so soft and shine free. Since i was using it in the afternoon after work, i couldn't say how long the anti-shine worked. But i would repurchase it if i found out that the price was reasonable.

And about the bodyshop. I bought the seaweed series in travel package. Why? Because i wanted to give it a try without having to pay a lot of money. It was worth 180 thousands rp for facial wash, day and night cream and a toner, all in travel size. They had the same fragrance, like seaweed. And i felt a little bit icy after i washed my face and used the toner. All of them were promoted as products that suitable for oily/combination skin. I had tried the facial foam and moisturizer with spf, but they failed me. So i was curious if i used all the line, would it work? So far i didn't see any significant change yet, but the toner and the night cream really mattified my skin. I will try them and then decided whether or not to repurchase. Because the regular size ain't cheap :(

i have to admit, i was not compliance about my own trial, so the result may be compromised. i have tried the body shop seaweed series, and my conclusion was it was not working for me. the face wash and day moisturizer did nothing to my face. it was still shiny only after 2 hours. fyi, i also used sunblock, twc, some blush on and on my not lazy day, a bit of concealer. but the toner and the night gel was a bit working. so if i wanted to repurchase, i would only purchase the night gel, since i already in love with loreal gentle cleanser and toner. so in the end, i decided to use the loreal hydrafresh anti shine icy gel again :)

I have love hate relationship with foundation. Since i have fair skin, i have trouble finding my skin match here. Usually makeup company launched limited product here, and foundation included. They only launched products that they thought the shade cover the people in that region. I have tried revlon colorstay for oily/combination skin, loreal mineral foundation and even all for face from bodyshop. I bought the bodyshop when i was in singapore. I remembered when i asked her what shade i'm suitable to, she answered "obviously the fairest one. " duengg.. Even in singapore i'm still classified as fair. She said that shade was a little darker, and i should add lighter powder to correct it. But i didn't like it. It was okay, but it did nothing to my face. When i damped the sponge, i didn't feel any added benefit.

After many failure in finding the right foundation, i found revlon photoready. It had 2 forms, liquid and two way cake. I picked the two way cake because i could use the dry sponge for everyday use and the damped sponge for special occasion. And it sure did miracle to my face. My skin looked flawless.. Even people around me asked me about my skin care routine because it looked flawless.. Ha! But it didn't help much to my oily skin. After 2-3 hours,especially on hot days, my nose area started to shine. My shade was the fairest one, of course.. But it was okay. But the price was a little expensive for a drugstore product.. But i would repurchase if i couldn't find another cheaper foundation that could work miracle like photoready. Right now i'm finishing it and i will try new complexion two way cake. Will tell you later which one is better.

2 years ago i decided to gave myself a lip palette from nyx. Too bad my sister gave me a similar present. They gave me a lipgloss set from smashbox. Hahha.. Let me review them

Nyx lip palette: i thought i bought the everday lip one, not sure, gonna check when i'm home. It was a palette consisted with 5 lip color. Like the title, it was suitable for daily use. The left one was the brightest color from all and the boldest one. The second one was a reddish-orangey combo, but not that vibrant. The middle one was a pink-bluish one. When i wore it more than one swipe, i looked blue. Like icy cold. Haha.. The fourth and fifth one didn't differ much on my lips. And both were very subtle so i used it a lot. They were not drying my lips, but not as moisturizing as revlon lip butter. No scent at all. So, i kinda love it-not. Sometimes i loved it for its natural color and more color to choose. But i also disliked it because it had no specialties for me. The brush was okay, but the mirror was too small. You could only see your lip. Will i buy it again? I don't know.. But lately i'm more attracted to revlon lip butter and colorburst lipstick, so we will see..

Smashbox lipgloss: it was a holiday package. It consisted with 2 regular size lipglosses and 4 mini lipglosses. The regular were the transparent gloss and pink-gold gloss. The minis were baby pink, plum, gold, and berry glosses. They had names, but since i was not at home, so i would see the names later when i got home. The bold color were pop, pretty amazing for gloss. But the rest were like ordinary gloss. It was not too sticky, but it had such a weird smell.. Like chinese medicine or something. And that's my let-down. If they had nice smell, i would thought for re-purchase them.

Swatches and pictures would be updated as soon as i got home.

Okay.. I know i will sound like not myself when u read this blog, but actually, i have done this since i'm in high school. I have to admit though that i'm more addicted to cosmetics since being married but perhaps it's all because that my skin's improving and i don't breakout as often as my high school days, so i can wear makeup more..

Like many other women, i start my day with a clean face. I still use my acne facial wash from erha, but i intend to change it once i found one that's suitable for me. After washing my face, i apply moisturizer and sunblock. Right now i'm using neutrogena moisturizer and erha sunblock, but i don't like them both. I like my icy gel moisturizer and sunblock from l'oreal so i plan to finish them and change back to l'oreal. But i still want to compare it to body shop's regime for oily skin.. I will check the price and then decide.. Any suggestion?

After work, i cleanse my makeup with loreal gentle cleansing milk and toner. I love these combo since it's really gentle to my skin. Plus, i like the smell. I can't stand strong fragrance but i can stand the smell from this product. For me, cleaning my face after a tiring day is a comforting ritual. And the product that i can't live without is lip balm. I don't like lip balm in a pot because i have to clean my hand after using it. So i stick with lip balm stick. I usually use the pink one, the lip balm with vit e from body shop. But few months ago i couldn't find it, so i change to the brown one, the cocoa lip balm. I don't like it. It just smell like cocoa, but doesn't taste like one. But it was a good substitute. I guess that's my daily beauty regime..

Haha., i'm talking about buying makeup. I was excusing myself for buying extra 2 revlon colorburst lipstick when i bought the new complexion twc. I bought blush and petal. I was looking for soft nude but it wasn't available. And the SA said that blush was the next best option. I didn't think before buying, i just swatches it on my back of hand, and gave it a go. When i got home and tried it, i was a little dissapointed when i found out that both were quite similar. Oh well, my sisters are coming soon, and i could gave some to them, haha.. The first few pictures were swatches for blush. The package was nice, you could guess the color from top. But the shape of the bullet was unusual, and i had difficulties applying it. It was not drying like the superlustrous, but i still used my lip balm before using it. On my lips, blush was a little bit darker than my natural lip color. So it didn't change my appearance much. I won't repurchase this shade, but i would like to try another shade, peach perhaps. The following pictures were petal. I swatched it in comparison to blush. The left one was blush, the right one was petal. Petal was more pinkish color and it was lighter than my natural lip color. It was perfect fot everyday use, but it didn't give any difference much either..the last picture was petal on my lips

i had boring days lately, so i guess i just gonna wrote about what's in my makeup bag right now. i've told you that i tried a new foundation, still revlon's one. the old one was photoready, which i was impressed with, but i tried a cheaper one. revlon claimed that it was for oily skin like mine, so i tried it. it was the new complexion. since i was quite fair, i thought that it oxidized and got darker. but it was okay. since i also changed my moisturizer, this TWC stayed longer than the photoready. though my nose would still be shiny after 3-4 hours. but, i got breakout more easily than photoready. so i guess i would try photoready again after i finished this one up.

i still used the revlon powder, but i was eager to finish this one up and bought something else. i hated this powder. it made my face cakey, and it smell like an old lady's powder. i was eyeing for some blotting powder. mac was a dream, so i browsed and probably would get elf one.

about the blush. i had a revlon powder blush in pink (i didn't remember the exact name). at first, i didn't like it since it was more like rose pink. but lately, a woman appreciated my healthy pinky rosy cheek, she said it looked natural. and then i realized she was right. it looked natural. it just looked like i was blushing. i would snap some pictures later on, but mind the blank in the middle of the pan. i had used half of it. though it was okay, but looking at elf website made me drooling for a new one. probably i would get twinkle pink and candid coral. but i had to wait till i had used at least half of my sephora.

ah.. i forgot about the concealer. i still had a photoready concealer. and the laura mercier undercover pot. i still haven't decided yet which one is better. but laura mercier was pricey. i loved the concealer. having a baby meant less sleep and it changed my eyes to be puffier and darker. and the concealer worked wonder. but the camouflage didn't work well. probably it was me who couldn't use it right. the photoready could cover my baggy eyes, but it couldn't cover my blemishes.

lipstick.. lipsticks to be exact. i had a bunch of revlon colorburst lip butter and i loved them, but i wanted to try their lip balm stain. too bad i still had a bunch of them. i bought berry smoothie, peach parfait, tutti fruti, cherry tart and sweet tart. i finished up peach parfait pretty quick since i loved it. it was my "lips but better" type, and i wanted to buy similar color again. i almost finished my berry smoothie, it was a nice berry shade. everyday color. but i was nowhere finishing the other three. i also had the revlon colorburst lipstick in blush and soft nude. blush was also a perfect everyday color. but soft nude was another story. i could only use it at the parties.  okay.. i think that's all ..

As you can see, you could draw thin and thick line with liquid eyeliner, but this one dried slow.. And when i tried to smufge it, this one came off very easily.

The nyx one didn't smudge and really waterproof..