September 2011 Favorites

It's the end of the month, so it's time for monthly favorite! 


I've been traveling a lot for the past two months, so most of these are things that i carry around with me. 


Here it goes:

Skin Food - Black Sugar Mask

I use this mostly as face scrub. It makes my skin feel super smooth (I'll do a review on this soon).

Etude House - Essence Mask (Collagen)

I always feel like my skin dries out every time i have long hour flight. This mask helps moisturize and tighten the skin. I'm totally addicted to this mask. I know Etude house has a lot of different kind of masks. I've personally tried most of them, but this is my favorite. I always have at least 20 packs of this in my house. 

Chanel Vitalumiere Aqua

This is my current favorite foundation. I will definitely do a separate review for this. 

L-R: Bare Minerals - matte foundation and Bare Minerals - mineral veil

These are what I use when I'm feeling lazy or when I don't have much time to do my makeup. I'll also do a separate review for these. 

Laura Mercier - Secret Camouflage Concealer

Best concealer I've ever tried. Amazingly light consistency, but gives a lot of coverage. 

Garnier - light BB eye roll on

This is an easy fix to brighten your face. I use this mainly as my under eye concealer. Easy to use and very good consistency. It doesn't settle on fine lines and doesn't crease throughout the day. 

Dior - Amber Diamond highlighting powder

I haven't been wearing any highlighter during the month of August, but once i tried this on, I use this on a daily basis. I've heard a lot of rave upon this product, but I always shake my head and think "How can this be any different with any MAC MSFs?! How much better can this be!". But now, I'm proven wrong. This is so much better than MSFs. The shimmer is so fine that it almost looks like a sheen. And this is actually the product that JLo's makeup artist use on her, to achieve those gorgeous glow on her skin.

Chanel - Pink explosion blush

I've had this for quite a while, but never really use it. So, on my trip to South Africa, I decided to bring this just so i can use it up. I ended up falling in love with this blush. It creates the most gorgeous pinky flush on your skin. The shimmer is just so beautiful. 

L-R: Bare Minerals - hypershine (Glisten) and Bare Minerals - vanilla sugar eyeshadow

I've been very lazy lately, so I use this two for my everyday look. All I do is, I spread glisten all over my lid, and use vanilla sugar to blend the edges. I also use vanilla sugar at the inner corner to make me look more awake. (my mom always say that i am a bat. I mostly sleep during day time and awake at night. So i really need a boost of inner corner highlight)

Revlon - Brow Fantasy in light brown

Again, a very lazy brow fix product. I didn't even use the pencil, i only use the brow gel. I have a very dark hair, but I choose light brown because the dark brown colour is just way too dark. This shade works okay on me. 

Dolly Wink liquid liner

Love Love Love this eyeliner. This is the "marker" style liner. It has a very fine felt tip so it's perfect for a precise thin line. I even love this more than my Lancome artliner. 

Maybelline volum' express one by one 

I did a separate review on these. Please check it out if you want to know more about these mascaras. Click Here

L-R: MAC 2N lipglass, Bourjois Effect 3D Max in no 66, Jack Black Lip Balm in Natural Mint

MAC 2N Lipglass is my all time favorite lipgloss. I probably have a few application left. I need to open my back up soon ^^

This Bourjois lipglass is something that i've just discover. It's super smooth, nice finish, and not sticky at all. It also has a very unique applicator. 

Jack Black lip balm is probably the best lip balm ever. I used to swore by carmex, but this one blow carmex out of the line. I find this lip balm is not greasy at all. It's very moisturizing and it stays on for very long. It also has SPF of 25, which a lot of people neglect to care, but, your lips, like your skin, also needs protection.

Bath and Body Works body spray in sweet pea and warm vanilla sugar

A very small range of bath and body works are now available in Changi airport DFS. I was beyond excited to find these. Warm vanilla sugar is definitely my favorite BBW scent. It always makes me happy to smell that. On the contrary I really hate sweet pea when I tried it as a candle, but I think as body spray, it kinda works. I spray both of these EVERY WHERE. literally every where. On my body (Duh!), in my room, on my clothes, on my soft toys, on my bed. I probably shouldn't spray these on my bed, but, oh well i don't care. 

The Original beauty blender sponge 

Beauty blender is finally available in singapore. I found this at Bugis BHG. It retails for 29.95 SGD (if i remember correctly). Kinda expensive don't you think? But for what it's worth, I think this is an egg sent from heaven for all makeup junkies (I'm being hyperbolic). Anyway, this little egg has replaced all of my foundation brushes. This gives the most flawless foundation finish. The only down side is that it's kinda hard to clean. 

That's all for my favorites this month.. *Pheeewwww* What a long post. 

I hope you guys have a great weekend. (I hope I do too ^^ )

Love,

Couture MACqueen

10 Steps to - Smokey Brown Eyes

This is a very simple look. I was just experimenting with my dad's compact camera (Canon IXUS 310HS). I usually use my DSLR to take pictures for this blog. The quality of DSLR pics are no doubt amazing, but I have problems taking picture of myself. That's why I never do tutorial. It's just impossible to take pictures of my own face without the help of another person. 

Anyway, here it is. I hope the pics are good enough. 

I use NARS smudgeproof eye primer. This will prevent your eyeshadow from creasing. 

You can skip this step if you want, but I just like to even out my eye lid and I find using cream shadow help bring out the eyeshadow colour you are gonna use. Just use something that is close to your skin tone and matte. 

The lid colour that I use in here is MAC modelette eyeshadow. It's a limited edition eyeshadow, but you can just use anything that is one shade darker than your skin tone. I apply this all over my lid with a flat shader brush (In the picture, I'm using MAC 239).

I darken up the middle and outer corner of the lid with MAC soba eyeshadow (just use anything that is two shade darker than your skin tone and matte). In here, i use the back side of the brush I use to apply modelette. 

I apply MAC espresso on my crease (not going towards the outer V corner). Just use any matte dark brown eyeshadow if you don't have espresso. In here I use a very tiny brush (MAC 214) because i want a precise application on the crease. 

Blend the crease colour until there is no harsh line. I use sigma tapered blending brush (E40), but any blending brush will do. 

Next, I use MAC soft brown to give more dimension to the eyes. I apply this on top of espresso as a transition colour. MAC soft brown is just a matte warm tone brown. I use the same E40 to do this. 

Highlight your inner corner and brow bone. In here I use MAC shroom, it has a really nice sheen. Any highlight colour will do. You can even use a matte eyeshadow. 

Do a very thin line on the upper lash line using your favorite eyeliner. I use Dolly Wink liquid eyeliner because it has a very thin felt tip applicator. 

Lastly put on your mascara and false lashes. 

In the end i decided to line my lower lash line as well. I use Urban Decay 24/7 pencil liner. You can totally skip this step if you want. 

Anyway, that's my 10 step to smokey brown eyes. 

Have a great weekend everyone ^^

Love,

Couture MACqueen

Maybelline Volum' Express One by One

This is one of my favorite mascara right now, so I thought, why not do a post about it. 

Two months ago when i was at Changi airport, I saw the volum' express one by one mascara (the non waterproof one). It was at the duty free shop. No tax = cheap. haha.. I bought this at 15 singapore dollars. I tried this at home and totally fell in love with the mascara. 

Here is how the wand looks like:

As you can see the formula is quite wet and it has the rubber wand (which I love). 

Here is my eyelashes with one coat of this mascara 

It gives more volume, but it doesn't separate the lashes as good as the waterproof one and as usual, non waterproof mascara doesn't really hold the curl that well. 

Never the less I like this mascara because it gives more volume to my lashes and it is totally great for layering. It doesn't clump up easily. 

I love layering this mascara with Lancome Hypnose waterproof mascara. It gives more drama and the waxy formula from hypnose holds the curl pretty well. This combination gives me a pretty good smudge-proof mascara and non flaky. 

Anyway, on my way to South Africa, I have to transit in Singapore for 8 hours during friday night peak hour (not the best time to travel from the airport to city). So I decided to stay in Changi airport. And there in the duty free shop i saw the waterproof formula. 

So, here it is:

As you can see, it has a dryer formula. It actually has the same wand with the non waterproof one, but because it's dryer, the mascara isn't clumping in the wand and it looks spikier. 

So the waterproof formula gives more length and separation. It also holds the curl pretty well. 

Because the formula is dryer, I find that it's easier to apply on my short lashes. There is not much mascara on the end of the spikes, so when you accidentally touch your eyelid with the wand, there won't be mascara smudging on the lids. It's super easy to apply on the bottom lashes as well. 

So, in conclusion, I think both mascara is great for layering. It's kinda hard to make your eyelashes clumpy with these mascaras. I love the waterproof one for everyday use (when i'm too lazy to layer my mascaras), while the non waterproof one, i love layered with lancome hypnose mascara (this combo gives more volume). 

Hope this is helpful ^^

Love,

Couture MACqueen

South Africa Trip

Wow.. It's been 2 months since my last blog post. Live has  been quite crazy. 

After my last blog post, I spent 2 weeks trying to apply for South African Visa (It took so long cause there was some technical problem). Then, I went to South Africa for 11 days and came back to Singapore for 2 weeks. During those 2 weeks in Singapore, I was sick most of the time, and when I wasn't sick, I was busy packing all of my stuff to be sent to Indonesia. Now, I'm back in Indonesia, in my comfy room and messy studio. Sigh.. My health condition has been up and down for the past week, but today, I'm feeling pretty good. 

Anyway, I was gonna do a haul for all of the stuff that i got from South Africa and Singapore, but it's just gonna be a very loooooooong haul, cause i did splurge quite a bit (I will not be going back to Sg in a long time and my brother, who stays in Singapore, is not gonna be so happy if I ask him to buy makeup for me). 

This is not gonna be a makeup related post, but since this blog is about 'All Things Beautiful', I'm gonna show you some of the pictures i took in South Africa. 

The Palace Hotel 

The Palace Hotel 

 The Palace Hotel

 The Palace Hotel

Entabeni Lodge

The view from my window at Entabeni  Lodge

Game Drive

Game Drive 

Game Drive 

Knysna 

Cheetah cubs (6 weeks old) 

Not very sure where this is, but i think Cape Town

Cape Town

South Africa is one of the most beautiful place I've ever been. This is definitely one of the place that i want to revisit (aside from paris, scandinavia, Las Vegas, LA, Santorini, etc). 

If you guys plan to go there, make sure you visit knysna. It's a super beautiful town that kinda remind me of Santorini, Greece. 

And also, Entabeni, this is where i did the game drive (I went on an open jeep and drive around the savanna to see the animals in their natural habitat). 

Ohh...! Don't forget to go to Cape Town as well. visit the cape of good hope. it's the place where the Atlantic and Indian Ocean meet. It's super beautiful!!

Oh Gosh! so many beautiful places. If you are thinking of having a holiday, you must definitely consider South Africa as your destination. 

I have so much more pictures that i wanna share, but it literally took me an hour to upload these. The internet connection in Indo is always slow. 

I hope you guys are enjoying yourself too.. 

Have a great day ^^

Love,

Couture MACqueen