Cosmetic Clean-Up

no, this is not a hual. but rather a picture of the products that i have to throw away :(( i didn't even realize they had expired already :(( huge thanks to frances for her post!! i didn't really know about the PAO symbol. it tells you how many months u can use the product after opening it for the first time.

after reading it, i literally went thru all my makeup and skincare products. it's a good thing i've kept a list of my expenses through the past years (since 2006), so i was still able to backtrack when i bought what. now i've labeled everything.


with a heavy heart, i'm going to put all those other products in the trash. even if most of them still have 50 - 75% left :( yes, it really is a shame. but better that than for me to develop skin allergies or rashes. if anything, this experience has taught me

• not to haul makeup/skin care products anymore (yes! i shall turn over a new leaf :P)
  
• to be more aware of a product's expiration date (admittedly i've been really, really naive about this)
  

for products that don't have PAO symbols, i've compiled a list of their lifespan, based on what i've researched on the internet:

• mascara: 3 - 6 months
• liquid liner: 6 months
  
• liquids and creams (i.e foundation): 12 - 18 months
• lipstick/lipgloss: 1- 2 years
• mail polish: 1-2 years
  
• powders (i.e eye shadows/blushes): 2 - 3 years
• pencils (i.e lip liner/eye liner): 2-3 years
  
• perfume: 2-3 years
  

Color Bar

i wanted a handy dandy palette that i could bring when traveling (i didn't exactly want to lug my CS palette around). i was looking for the ff. characteristics:

• one that contained both blush/es and eyeshadows (lip colors were optional)
• a good mix of eye colors
  
• small and compact (that one's pretty obvious)
• not expensive (of course! haha)

since i wasn't really looking for a high-end brand, i decided to take a look at Watsons. Ever Bilena had a couple of palettes, but the colors didn't really appeal to me. i felt they were either too dark, or they didn't offer much variety as the colors were all from the same family. i browsed through the other counters and i decided to purchase the Color Bar from Fashion 21. it's got 2 blushes and 12 eye shadows. and at P150, i'd say that's a steal ;)


i immediately tried it out when i got home. i did a day look with colors 4, 8, and 1, and a night look with 6, 9, and 12. i think it's great that this tiny palette is enough to carry u from day to night.


so i'm quite psyched with this find :D i really like the range of colors that it offers. from the pretty pastels to the shimmery ones. i can totally imagine me wearing a different look each day on out of town trips, haha! and that was basically the whole point of me wanting a travel palette :P


p.s i didn't use eye primer here (i didn't want to waste my UDPP haha). i just put concealer on my lids. and no foundation too haha i just wanted to test the blush

My M.A.C Haul

i received an email from my friend ina, who works at Bobbi Brown, about a private sale at mandarin oriental. different makeup brands such as Bobbi Brown, M.A.C, and Clinique were being sold at 50% off! i immediately told kath, and we decided we had to go!!! ;)

we even researched the M.A.C. eye brushes we wanted to get, teehee. but turns out they weren't selling individual brushes, dang! they did have a SE (special edition) brush set which included the 217 (blending brush). this was highly recommended by marlena of makeupgeek, and according to her, if you're getting just 1 brush, get this 1. so how could we pass up this opportunity? :P got it for P1625. it included the 209 (eyeliner brush), 212 (flat definer brush), 252 (large shader brush), and 275 (medium angled shading brush). it came with this nice clutch :)

another thing we were aiming to buy was a Paint Pot! but they only had 1 color left, waaaah! and the worst thing is that they just ran out that morning :(( sighhhhh. but we still bought one, ahihihi. it was a steal at P330 (70% off, woot!) the shade was Greenstroke, silverish-greenish. man, if they had more colors available, i bet we would have gone mad over them :))

i also bought an eyeliner, because i didn't have one in black (how could i have one in brown, and white, but not in black?). i got the Dual Edge Eye Pencil Phone Me/Text Me: charcoal grey (ok, apparently it's grey, but good enough for me!)/metallic silver with silver glitter. got it for P500. good find, eh?

and finally, i bought a face brush set, haha! consisting of the 187 (duo fibre brush), 168 (large angled contour brush), 190 (foundation brush), and 194 (concealer brush). i already have a foundation brush, but what the heck! couldn't resist the stippling brush anymore, teehee. plus i realized i wanted to get an angled brush and a concealer brush :P i got it for P1900.

i'm really psyched about my purchases, wheeee :) :) yeah, yeah, i went a lil crazy (um yeah, just a little! :P), but hey, it's not everyday you get such good deals! ;)

thanks for the tip ina! :D

Personal Essential Brush Set

i already owned a blush brush, an eyeshadow brush, a kabuki brush, and a mini brush kit, all from Body Shop. but since i wanted to learn more about makeup, it was time to upgrade my brush collection ;)

i got the 10pc set from Suesh. i felt overwhelmed by the 16pc set and thought i might not really need all those brushes anyway (but then i ended up buying more brushes from M.A.C, haha, more on that later). the set is priced at P1800, but they slash off P700 from the price if u attend their makeup workshop. the entire package costs P3000. i used my Belle de Jour coupon, and i was able to get a 10% discount, yey!

the set contains a powder brush, blush brush, foundation brush, large eyeshadow brush, small eyeshadow brush, smudge brush, eyeliner brush, brow brush, mascara brush and lip brush.

these brushes are really soft, nice nice nice! :)

My First Palette

my friend kath and i signed-up for a make-up workshop, and she asked me whether i had a palette already. to tell u d truth, it didn't occur to me that i needed one :P

i did a search for palettes, and i came across a Coastal Scents 88 Eye Shadow Palette that was being sold in eBay. omg, we just fell in love with it right away! :)) did a couple more searches, and we actually saw quite a lot of make-up gurus in YouTube using it. we just had to have it!!! :)) i wanted to get the matte palette, while kath wanted to get the shimmer one. took quite some time for us to make up our minds, haha, but we finally decided on getting the 78 Piece Palette instead, which consisted of both matte and shimmer eyeshadow shades (a perfect compromise, eh), as well as blush shades.

looked for palettes in multiply and eBay, and we were finally able to buy them from cRazY c0rn3r. i got myself the version1, while kath got the version2. we got a pretty good deal for it, priced at P950 each, plus shipping (P80).

loooove it! :) the colors are sooo yummy :)

i've only used it a couple of times, and so far i'm really pleased with it. though i do need to buy a good eye primer so that the colors will really pop and stay on. i can tell i'll definitely have a lot of fun with this palette :D