Today is supposedly the end of my first work week, however it also marks the first Sunday I have to work, so….. yeah. Not that I am complaining, being the ‘lowest life-form’ in the office, you should be happy that your boss thinks you’re competent enough to not disgrace the company at the event later right?  By hook or by crook, I gotta suit up my game. If only we are talking about killing zombies here.

To make this beauty related, is anyone hauling the MAC Lightscapade? I’m putting in an order for three: one’s a gift, one’s for me to play with, while the last one is my back-up. I love highlighters, and Lightscapade has been on my hunt list now. Also in love with the NARS Fall collection, I see myself ordering sight unseen. My parcel with all the Fall goodies arrived, and the Gallion polish is gorgeous – just that it turned gloopy after I took it out to use last night. I ended up making a mess of my nails and running out of nail remover. Which means I have shitty nail color now.

Have a great week ahead everyone, I know I’ll be holding out hope ~.~ Stay healthy!

I received extremely good news this morning, news that would make one’s heart skip a beat and put a spring to the feet. This means I’d most likely not be able to blog (unless anyone is interested in reading wordy ‘things’ posts) until next weekend. I’ll try but since it seems that I would be under a copious amount of alcohol influence come Saturday night, so I’d most likely skip the verbal coherence.

And my makeup addiction knows no bounds. Even my Chanel SA agrees. Thanks to lovely friends abroad who really go out of the way to help accommodate the most ridiculous requests – like ‘do you think you could help me get a backup of XXX’ or ‘please please please pop by the drugstore and get me XX’ or ‘I would die happy if you got XXXXXXX for me’. Go figure

Happy Thursday everyone, have a great day!

And to reward you for sticking through my usual thoughts-of-the-day entry, here’s Brompton Road in all its Chanel glory with the interlocking CCs.

*Image credits to British Beauty Blogger. Her thoughts on the collection can be found here.

They are so beautiful, and part of my #undeclaredhaul purchase of lipsticks. I have more to feature, but right now let’s look at how gorgeous the YSL ones are.

From left: #1 Nude Beige (Neutrals) / #26 Tender Peach (Oranges) / #29 Opera Rose (Pinks) / #30 Faubourg Peach (Oranges)

The color of the metal overlay reflects the color of the lipstick inside, very handy when one has too many lipsticks to paw through in the mornings.

The YSL Rouge Volupte lipsticks are definitely heavier than most – but I appreciate and associate the weight of it with designer cosmetic items. It’s one lipstick that I wouldn’t mind lugging around for sure! So pretty to look at. If Chanel lipsticks are an understated class, then the YSL ones are visible opulence.

I dare not say I have a review for you, but here’s a swatch of #1 Nude Beige on the back of my hand. It felt so smooth and creamy! Even though the lipstick glides on the skin, it does not lose its color to gloss.

I hesitated for quite a bit as to where better to swatch the lipstick. Actually it was a tussle between me and my obsession for brand new cosmetic items. I have a tendency to leave them in my drawers for awhile, lol. But I’m wearing #1 Nude Beige on my lips now. Initially I was afraid that the color would be too milky for me, but I’m happy to report that it looks great with what I have on now – foundation (Nars Sheer Glow) and filled-in eyebrows (Giorgio Armani). I’m a NC15 and #1 Nude Beige did not overwhelm me with minimal makeup.

I have more to say on the formula, but I shall leave that for a proper review in my next entry. I’m ecstatic to step out of my comfort zone by purchasing a pale pink that I wouldn’t normally even think about, and #1 Nude Beige being so wearable for me is a double bonus. For more looks, check out popblush who’s also having a mini give-away on her site. She regularly features the YSL Rouge Volupte lipsticks in her looks and thanks to her encouragement that I can always tone the milkyness down with gloss, I’m a happy camper with my lipsticks.

Have a great week ahead everyone, thanks for sticking around!

And I have Jules by Zoya on my fingers now. But I’m not liking it very much.

Here’s what I bought yesterday on an impromptu trip to see Steve Madden shoes (sucky SA) which later turned out to be a full-blown shopping expedition, *glups*. But anyhow, I got another pair of the Ardell 120 lashes, as well as a box of five which are touted to be knock-offs of the same design. Hopefully they wear comfortably.

Cheers to tipsy but cute pick-up lines, a great sunny Sunday, lots of exciting news in the beauty scene (Tom Ford I love you but not your prices) and impromptu sightseeing. If you are looking for an alternative to the usual movie-dinner routine, I highly recommend the National Museum of Singapore this weekend. The installations were spectacular, particularly this gallery of a war photographer who shoots in black & white film. His quotes are definitely thought-provoking as he explores the conflicting issues of values defined by religion and yet violated by violence. I know I’d be back later in the week to see the installations more closely for myself. And in more comfortable clothes of course, haha.

So what exactly caught my fancy? It was the one-swipe-gone bronzer in Siren that was irresistible at £13.00 (S$26). Siren was retailing at £21.00 (S$42) previously.

I was surprised at how big the face powder was. My only other cheek product (the blush duo in #11)  by Paul & Joe mysteriously smashed into pieces without me even knowing about it. This happens quite a fair bit in my home sadly.

Keeping in line with the Blue Horizon theme, Paul & Joe did away with their usual pink packaging that exudes femininity and picked a blue. I have trouble describing the shade, a pearly light-plastic-blue? *wry grins*

Once I opened the compact, I was greeted by the Paul & Joe’s signature orange scent. Even the brush bristles, which are very soft yet suitably dense, had a whiff to them. I actually like the scent so am not bothered by it.

You get a good sturdy plastic cover that separates the brush from the pan as well. Siren is most definitely a one-swipe-gone and it’s really too early (I’m typing this on Monday night XD) to see it ‘violated’.

Close-up of this beautiful Siren that is sadly sold out on ASOS already. They had a 10% code off Clearance and I guess most people snapped it all up.

I deliberately adjusted the color of the picture below to show that the end half of Siren is a peach that definitely comes with a sheen/shimmer and great to double up as a blush. Or you can swirl both portions (and try not to make a mess of it!) to get a gentle contour that looks amazingly natural for a blush.

And with this, Happy Tuesday everyone! I hope I don’t incite accidental lemmings, hohoho!

Going on with the swap, it all happened when I saw her tweets about the Urban Decay Book of Shadows 3 which she’d missed out on. I have that very box which lay unused in my collection (shamefaced) except for the bare swatches that I used it for. So we started emailing back and forth, me being a lousy correspondent *glups*, and viola, I received Lyn’s package last Friday ~_~

So on her end, I picked the Guerlain Tsarina Eyeshadow Palette that was Limited Edition and had this beautiful overspray. I think I test my self-restraint really, why the heck am I picking things left-right-center that has one-swipe-gone overspray which would irrevocably end up as a museum piece in my collection?!

Sidenote:// I really enjoy reading every handwritten letter I receive. So much so that I have a gigantic box in my room that I use to keep all the tags, letters, notes and cards that I’ve received over the years. Each one never fail to make me smile. It’s just a different feeling altogether to see someone else’s handwriting in real life when all you have mostly been doing is texting, emailing and writing with the computer.

I uh, stupidly pulled out the whole string from the drawstring pouch *facepalm*. Lyn was extremely generous with me because the pouch came with an unexpected extra:

A Paul & Joe Eye Gloss N in 04 Halo! How pretty is that? I wore it as a single wash on my lid today, and it gives the most beautiful pearlescent shimmer on my eyes. I was initially afraid it would make my eyes look puffy cos it’s a mauve-pink shade, and I definitely do not need any more swollen lids. But the Eye Gloss perked up my eye area and brightened it subtly with an elegant sparkle. Now I’m more interested to check out more of their eye products. I love to introduce different textures in my stash so that my makeup routine is never boring.

Here’s the Tsarina and Halo together ^_^

Close-up of the beautiful quad.

If you thought that was all, nuuuuoooo! Lyn also included several other goodies in her package, and they were right up my alley XD

She threw in the Heroine Make BB Cream, a Hello Kitty lipbalm, a Nivea Watermelon lipbalm that made my package smell awesome (of watermelons!), several Paul & Joe sample packs and a mask. I’m most excited to try the BB cream as well as the Hello Kitty lipbalm, because I’m a fan of BB Creams and the one by Heroine Make seems to be a good one. I’ve tested it numerous times in Watsons and the color doesnt have the typical grey cast of most other BB Creams.

So there you have it! My swap with Lyn of the beauty cabinet. Thank you Lyn for being so generous with my package, and I hope you’d enjoy yours as much as I did mine XD My package is en route to her, the BOS3 is bulkier than I thought x_x Reviews of the Paul & Joe Eye Gloss will come soon, have a good week ahead everyone!

Take care everyone, and remember to spend more time with your grandparents. They are the ones who are the most neglected and forgotten. I would have given up anything to give my grandpa a few more years to live, now that I’m finally in a position to bring them out and spend time and money on them. But I guess that is mote now.

In case you think I’m crazy to have three Chanel Topkapi quads in my stash, two of them are CPs for Georgina and Sue Lynn. The minute Georgina told me she wanted a Topkapi in a comment here, I called my lovely SA and she managed to reserve the last two Topkapi quads in Singapore for me. The quad is a Limited Edition and retails for S$95. My own Topkapi was an early birthday gift from my gf HT, thank you dear!

And yes, I succumbed to the Ombres Tissees in Beiges as well, but the story on that will come later. The Beiges is also a Limited Edition, retails for S$95 and is exclusive to the Chanel Ion Makeup Studio. Since Twitpic is being an idiot now (it doesn’t load on my desktop T_T), I could only upload proof of purchase here on the blog. And here we go!

I am terribly ashamed but er, not repentant at all. *glups*

My babies! *cuddles*

So how did the whole Beiges happen? I took a little time off today for some me-time after visiting the hospital. I realized I have a little of a home-body in me; it’s been more than a week since I can just vegetate at home without heading off anywhere. So after missing my hairstylist at the salon, I went off to have my eyebrows done at Wheelock. Thankfully it wasn’t a painful experience and I’m now sporting slightly-thinner-than-I-would-have-liked brows. Then it was off to Isetan Scotts to pick up the two Topkapi quads, and then shoe-shopping at Zara. I realized that with all four items, I could have bought the two pairs of heels I was lusting after. *facepalm* But no regrets! And since the two quads were a CP, technically I no come out money right? *stares at Paypal fund balance*

In my current state, I can do naught but ramble. Apologies.

Over at the Chanel Ion Makeup Studio, my SA had also reserved a Beiges for me since I was afraid it would sell-out in the time it took me to decide whether the palette was worth keeping. I fell prey to the whole ‘Chanel regret is extremely expensive‘ theory and since I love highlighters, why the hell not?

Speaking of which, I wasn’t aware that Chanel SAs are not allowed to wear Limited Edition items for their makeup. Since they can’t disappoint customers who may inquire about the products they wear, should the customers like the colors. Bummer :S

It was a pleasure shopping at the Ion Makeup Studio. My SA was extremely attentive and nice and I spent more than an hour chatting with her about everything. Even things like the Illusion D’Ombres versus the Eyes To Kill (I had #15 in my makeup pouch and showed it to her), and what Chanel is planning to introduce for their next collection. Best of all, she wasn’t pushy at all, and kept emphasizing the concept of the store being a Makeup Studio, where customers are encouraged to test Chanel’s products for themselves.

And Beiges looked exceptionally beautiful when she applied it below the arches of my brows and as a highlighter on my cheeks. The Vitalumiere Aqua foundation wears really good as well, I’m very impressed by the way she dabbed and pressed the foundation on with a brush to conceal the redness and scars on my cheeks. So much so that I can’t see any imperfections when I stood two steps away from the mirror.

To reward you at the end of this lengthy entry, here’s Beiges. Note that the surface sparkles in the light and I was really amazed by the crystalline appearance. Gorgeous. And totally worth the S$95. I’ll be sad to swatch it gone.