Favourite (Beauty) Discoveries of 2015

I've been sooo lazy the past week or so. I've been on holiday vacation from work and using the time to begin my transformation into a sloth catch up on manga, watch anime, play video games, and generally goof off after a stressful late November/early December with studying and work.

But! I definitely couldn't end the year without one last post, sharing my favourite beauty product discoveries from this year. (Some of these I've posted about, and some (most) still have reviews in the works.)

Becca Lowlight Sculpting Perfector - this is the contour product against which I compare all other contour shades against. I swatched it here and here, but haven't gotten around to a review for the product itself. The cool-toned taupe brown blends like a dream to instantly gives me crazy sculpted cheekbones without that brown stripe look.

Revlon Colorstay Skinny Liquid Liner in Electric Blue (review) - stunningly bright blue colour with a great formula and application. I have very little visible lid space, but this definitely makes my eyes pop.

Klorane Oat Milk Dry Shampoo - this is one of those products everybody says is great, and they're right. Although it runs out way faster than LUSH No Drought, Klorane seems to keep my hair looking refreshed longer--not to mention it's easier and less messy to apply. Too bad it's a bit pricy at ~$16 (!!!) a can.

Clinique Pretty Easy Liquid Eyelining Pen - is it cheating that I have two eyeliners in this post? It edges out the black Revlon Skinny Liquid Liner because the pen format is more convenient, and it applies just as well as the Revlon, if not better.

Clinique Pretty Easy Brow Palette - another recent-ish release from Clinique that I need to post about. This trio includes brow powder, highlighter, and tinted wax which gives me awesome brow game. There is only one colourway at the moment: the cool tone of the brow powder makes it a great match for most Asians.

Dior Nude Air Serum foundation - stunning, effortless, very natural-looking. My new favourite foundation, and doesn't irritate my skin despite the alcohol content.

LUSH The Kiss Lip Scrub (review) - although I don't love the sprinkles and hearts (they get in the way), this one deserves a mention because it convinced me that lip scrubs are legit. Way better than scrubbing at dead lip flakes with my finger or a cloth, thanks to buffing salt/sugar crystals and hydrating oils. I have chronically dry lips and a good lip scrubbing has been a life-saver right now with the cold weather.

NeoStrata Glycolic Renewal Smoothing Lotion 10% (review) - this is a big one for me. My skin is smoother, more even, and dare I say a little glowy, thanks to the regular use of this AHA lotion. Typically around this time of year, my skin would be a lot more dull and flaky but I have zero flaky patches and haven't in a very long time.

AmorePacific Treatment Enzyme Peel (not pictured, I finished the sample!) - I got a small sample jar of this when Sephora started carrying AmorePacific earlier this year. When I looked up the ingredients, I was skeptical of how effective they would be in a rinse-off scrub. But seriously, it works so well and I still don't get how haha! When I use it, I feel like my skin is brighter and smoother, even though the fine powder-like product doesn't feel like it's doing anything. I love it but I'm still having a hard time justifying $72 for it.


So those are the products I tried and loved in 2015! What did you discover this year that you loved? See you in 2016!

Empties #1

Although I've been reading "empties posts" for a while through empties pros like Liz, I've been putting off one of my own for typical procrastination-related reasons. As someone that's always testing out new things, the fact that I can completely use a product up is a legit achievement; there's a weird sense of accomplishment and pride. Of course, not everything in this post is technically empty.. some were just duds and I needed to let go. My designated empties bag, a small David's Tea bag, became so overly full that I finally had to get around to this post just so I could actually toss out/recycle the containers @__@ I'm a bit embarrassed to say that some of these products have been sitting around in my drawers for years, unused and un-tossed, until I did a recent purge of my stash.

Physician's Formula Powder Palette Multi-Colored Highlighter (2) - I used these palettes for years in my earlier blogging days; I'm sure I went through at least four of them. I swirled a fluffy powder brush into the mix of beige, pink, green, white, yellow, and purple shades and applied all over the face as a quick and lazy way to even and brighten up my complexion when I didn't have time to put on proper foundation. It comes with a mirror and very crappy brush in a hidden compartment for touch-ups, but I've always wished they just made refill pans because tossing the compact felt wasteful considering I used up palettes so quickly.

Jack Black Intense Therapy Lip Balm in Natural Mint - Jack Black lip balms were at one time an HG product for me (it was one of my first reviewed products, see it here) but after my eczema, my lips became very sensitive to minty products, so I wasn't able to finish this. I still have two sealed non-mint versions of this balm in my stash.

Clinique Acne Solutions Spot Treatment Gel - I bought this on recommendation from an older cousin a million years ago and this tiny tube lasted me so long that the label has mostly worn off. If I applied it to a blemish in its early stages before it could really rear its ugly head, it usually went down before it got worse. I had to finally give up on this tube when the dispensing part became super clogged: I squeezed hard to get product out and the tip popped off violently, sending it and most of the contents flying across the room.

Wet n Wild Mega Liner Liquid Liner in 864 and 862 - Because I was so impressed by the Turquoise version of this liquid liner (review here), I went and bought two more in an eggplant purple and cornflower blue. They both lacked the smooth application and opacity of Turquoise, so they were promptly forgotten about.

GOSH X-Ceptional Wear Foundation in 14 Sand - My go-to foundation for a while, this is a long-wearing formula from a little-known Danish brand. I used it up faithfully and ventured out to explore other foundations rather than buying another one.

CoverGirl NatureLuxe Foundation in 315 Bamboo - I remember buying this foundation on a cross-border shopping trip to Washington state, but must've felt "meh" about it because I set it aside and forgot about it. It's been a few years so it needed to be tossed.

Revlon Colorstay Brow Enhancer in Light Brown/Champagne - I loved this dual-ended brow crayon and highlighter combo and used both until there was absolutely nothing left. I brought this into a MAC store to have an SA match the colour exactly in an eyeshadow and have been filling my brows with powder since then.

Maybelline Age Rewind Double Face Perfector - A creamy liquid concealer/highlighter combination. I liked it but decided to try other concealers after this was used up.

Garnier Skin Renew Anti-Dark-Circle Roller - Convenient and the metal roller felt nice on my skin, but again decided to try other products afterwards.

Menard One Touch Lip Treatment - An aunt gave me this since I was struggling a lot with my eczema at the time. I used it on my lips and all over the surrounding atopic area, but had to re-apply often (or maybe it was just the dry Edmonton climate.) I found out later a tube of this stuff is pretty frigging expensive, like $30-40, so I felt a bit bad that I used it up so quickly.

Yes To Carrots C Me Smile Lip Butter in Berry - A lip balm I actually finished! Appropriately emollient and the berry scent was mild.

Carmex Cherry Lip Ointment - I hated the round applicator which made no sense and hated the offensive, medicinal cherry scent even more. Used it probably once or twice before it got tossed to the back of the drawer.

Arg what a long post! I actually have more empties to share but will have to split this into two posts now. If you read all of this, thanks for hanging in there! Now it's your turn to tell me what you've used up or tossed lately :>

The Amazing Daiso Sponge Cleaner

If you have a BeautyBlender (or like me, one of its many rip-offs), you know what a complete pain it is to get it squeaky clean again. For months I cleaned my London Drugs-brand sponge with a spray brush cleanser; while it couldn't remove all the foundation pigment from the sponge, I still desperately hoped it at least sanitized the poor thing. Then I found out one of my favourite places ever, Daiso, carried a magical liquid detergent that could cleanse your sponge of all your makeup sins. Sold!

Here's my sad, dirty sponge. It looks gross but it's for science, okay? My sponge is my favourite way to apply foundation/BB cream, so it gets dirty pretty quickly. There is some fresh foundation that needs to be removed, plus some very set-in pigment that wouldn't budge no matter how much cleanser I sprayed on or how hard I squeezed.

Labeled as a detergent for makeup puffs and sponges ("power sponge"), this pale pink bottle is found in the cosmetics section, where you would find makeup cottons and facial cleanser. The liquid detergent is very similar in texture to dishwashing liquid and is odorless.

Although 80ml/2.8oz seems small, I only put a few drops on both ends of my wet sponge and squished away. After tons of brownish water came out of the sponge, I rinsed it and repeated the process until I was satisfied with the look of the sponge and the water ran clear. Soon enough, even the set-in pigments were out!

It's practically sparkling

Result: happy, squeaky clean sponge! It hasn't been this clean since before it met its first drop of foundation. I'm very pleased with how easily it removed the foundation, and for $2  it is five times cheaper per ounce than the Beauty Blender cleanser.

There are a lot of posts out there mentioning use for makeup brush cleaning. Some say don't, some say it's okay if you follow up with conditioning. I do want to point out that nowhere on the packaging does it indicate use on a brush, just "puff and sponge". I haven't tested it on brushes myself, but I'm leaning towards okay on synthetic brushes with some conditioning, and very hesitant on natural brushes. I feel like the same ingredients that make it such a great sponge cleaner might be too harsh on natural brushes. Right now I'm satisfied with my current brush cleanser and use the detergent strictly for my sponge.

Ingredients: 34% polyoxyethylene alkyl ether, fatty acid alkanolamide, alkyl betaine, water softener (alkaline chemicals)

Do you use a makeup sponge for foundation? How do you get it squeaky clean?

A Series of Unfortunate Events

Alternate titles: A Sort-of Review of Guerlain Lingerie de Peau; The One That Got Away

Last month, I decided to make my foray into ~fancy makeup~ and buy my first high-end foundation (yes, really.) After doing a lot of blog lurking research, I was determined to snag Guerlain's Lingerie de Peau, loved the web-over for its weightless feel and my-skin-but-way-better finish (it was even given an A+ by Temptalia!) So I asked the Guerlain rep at Murale to help me find a shade match for Lingerie de Peau. And here's where my first-ever bad-makeup-rep experience starts (not because I've always had great makeup counter experiences, but because I rarely visit them.) Recap:

• rep puts on super-hydrating serums to prep my face but does not wait for it to sink in, and applies foundation on immediately after, causing the foundation to look cakey, "unsettled", and rather unflattering
• repeats this process several times with the same results; am starting to worry that the repeated makeup removal will irritate my skin
• I realize none of the foundations she has been putting on me are Lingerie de Peau
• when I ask for it, she picks up a bottle which again is not Lingerie de Peau; I have to get off my chair and find the bottle for her
• finally, she applies Lingerie de Peau and it actually looks great on me
• I ask her to finish my makeup with Meteorites in Teint Beige since I was thinking of buying them as well; she applies Perles du Dragon
• insists on completing my look with a lip colour and before I can even protest, applies a lipstick straight from the tube to my lips

I guess it should speak to how impressed I was by Lingerie de Peau that I bought it even after the whole ordeal, or maybe it was some kind of initiation ceremony for the right to hold that lovely glass bottle in my hands. Either way, I nursed an irritated lip/mouth area from hurriedly removing the lipstick for a few days before I finally opened my new purchase.

Ahhh just look at that beautiful glass bottle. It has some weight to it, which feels good in the hand and lends to the luxurious experience of using it. Underneath the black plastic cap is a pump that was easy to control. I applied it with the #56 foundation brush from Sephora's Advanced Airbrush set, and wow, my skin looked so naturally amazing and even better than when I had tried it in Murale. It truly applied and felt light-as-air on my face. For reference, I'm roughly NC20 in MAC and Lingerie de Peau in Beige Clair 02 was a perfect match.