January 2015 Favorites

Hi guys!

Hope you're all doing well =) man am I on a roll with blogging or what? =D This is like the first time I'm ever on time for a favorites... I le proud XD I'm pretty excited about this month's products, so let's go =D

1. Albion Skin Conditioner

This is a brand new bottle, but I have several sample bottles/packets that I've been using since last November/December. Already talked about this in my last post, but long story short, most hydrating toner I've ever used! My skin feels soooo comfortable every single time after applying this. My skin just drinks it right up :D it smells medicinal, which might not be the most appealing to some, but I simply LOVE it.  Highly highly recommend if you can get your hands on this!


2. Hourglass Ambient Lighting Blush Palette

From left to right: Mood Exposure, Incandescent Electra, Luminous Flush

When I first got this palette, I surprised myself by favoring Luminous Flush the most :P it's one of those shades that just look so right in the winter. I was obsessed with that color for like a month or something. Then when I went to Japan, I became obsessed with Mood Exposure XD Mood Exposure gives the most gorgeous I-just-got-in-from-the-cold kind of flush... so pretty. Whenever I wore this blush and check myself in the mirror, my face be like this → （　￣ー￣） *insert very self-satisfied smile*  and my mind went like this→ THAT, is the look （￣￢￣） *insert self dialogue*

 Currently still in the Mood Exposure phase XD  Hmmm Incandescent has received the least amount of love from me... I don't know... it's such a gorgeous color but I just don't like peachy shades on me that much T_T


Swatches

I actually may have mixed up the names/swatches of the blushes... cuz I saw on Sephora that Mood Exposure is the dark and plummy shade. So maybe the Ambient Lightning Blush Palette is just labeled weird. So it might have been top to bottom: Mood Exposure, Incandescent Electra, Luminous Flush




Luminous Flush (?)

Luminous Flush is a darker pink than I typically go for, but I found this winter I'm really liking the deeper pinks!! Goes really well with the cold weather =D oh the flushhhh  (err... that sounds like flushing the toilet)


Incandescent Electra


Mood Exposure (?)










Heavier swatches.




... It should be bottom to top: Luminous Flush, Incandescent Electra, Mood Exposure







Lol excessive swatches much? The sun light wasn't that great that day so I was taking multiple pics.


3. Maybelline Fashion Brow Duo

I'm in love with this brow duo! As you can see on the packaging, one end has a spongy applicator that dispenses powder, and the other end is your regular twist up pen. The powder is great when I'm in a hurry, or just to fill out the front part of the brows for a softer look. The formula for the pen is perfect in my books! So easy to use. The product goes on easier than the Za Ever Brows. So quick and so convenient. Really recommend you guys to check this out =D


4. Pupa Vamp! Wet & Dry Eye Shadow in Ombretto Cotto

I'm not recommending this particular eye shadow per se, any super sparkly eye shadow or pigment will do =P

I was obsessed with wearing sparkly gold eye shadow throughout the entire months of November and December =P  Basically for the entire two months until I bought my Lunasol and Jill Stuart Palettes LOL.


I actually really dislike the packaging of this eye shadow. Keep feeling like one day I'm just gonna drop and shatter the whole thing.




I'd just use my ring finger to dab a little bit of the eye shadow and smear it over my eyelid XD nothing too crazy, just a very thin layer so it's quite subtle. Actually there is nothing subtle about it, because when the light hits you'll be able to see the sparkles on my eyelids =P  what I meant was I don't apply so much that you can tell I'm wearing gold eye shadow, but just enough to see sparkles when I blink or when the light hits =P  I also like to apply a little on the center of my lower eyelid. Don't like to apply eye shadow to my inner corners these days because I feel that actually closes up my eyes for some reason...


5. THREE Blushes in #24 Into the Aether and #22 Sweet Thing

Left: #22 Sweet Thing
Right: #24 Into the Aether 


Those blushes are pretty sheer so it was very hard to swatch on the back of my hand. Finger swatches it is XD
Top: #24 Into the Aether 
Bottom: #22 Sweet Thing

Personally liking #24 a little more at the moment... still digging the deeper shades for the cold weather :P but both shades are so nice. I personally really like how sheer these blushes are because it's completely fool proof-- in the morning I can just buff it into my skin and not have to worry about if I use too much of a heavy hand XD




... I just noticed I've been really into pink, haven't I? Hahaha.


6. Jill Stuart Eye Shadow Palette in 08 Amalia Tutu

May I just say again.... the floral smell!!!! (♡_♡) *whiff whiff*


I feel like it was very hard to get true to color swatches... those are quite close to real life but the second shade is a bit pinker in person.


Gorgeous shades. The first shade looks like a matte eye shadow in the pan but it's actually more of a satin. The same goes to the fourth shade. The second and third shade as you can see, are satin with very fine glitters. They're nowhere as sparkly as the Pupa eye shadow I showed above.


My favorite favorite FAVORITE shade from this palette is the third shade though!!! It's sooo pretty. I feel like I haven't seen anything quite like it. I am rubbish at describing colors..... I just know I love this shade. Hahaha.


Not that big of a fan of the pink shade though... I do notice if I apply the pink shade all over my lids, then my eyes look swollen. So I usually just use it very lightly on the first half of my eyelids.










7. SK-II Cellumination Essence-In Foundation

See my review here. As I mentioned in my Best of 2014 post, I fell in love with this foundation because of my Dior sunscreen. This foundation wouldn't have made it to my favorites if it wasn't for my Dior sunscreen to be honest XD  I liked it a lot but never loved it. But with my Dior sunscreen, now I do love it :P


It's dried out, but that doesn't affect the product lol. My favorite way to apply this foundation now is just using my fingers. Great coverage, stays on well, wears gracefully throughout the day. I really really REALLY wanted to get another one when I was at duty-free.... Seriously, I was THIS close to getting it *insert imaginary thumb and finger*. But I didn't cuz I have sooo many foundations already =(( I figured I should at least use this up first then go from there. Aiiii. But anyway, reached for this A LOT when I'm not using my YSL TE... if I wasn't trying to use up my YSL TE, this would prob be the only foundation I'm reaching for at the moment XD 


8. Lunasol  Eye Shadow Palette in Biege Biege

I already talked about how much I like this palette in my last post. So please just feel free to check that one out for my thoughts on it. Just wanted to provide good swatches here for you :P


Made a dent in the brown shade because I've been using it to line my eyes.


Swatches. Doesn't it look like the most unremarkable shades? XD But they do layer so well with each other!




I LOVE THAT BROWN SHADE OH MY GAHHHH.


The highlight shade really is very sparkly... this last pic shows it better.


These days I've really been reaching for the Lunasol and Jill Stuart eye shadow palettes ^_^ Kind of exciting for me cuz it's been a while since I've been into eye shadows (or since I've been using eye shadows over my eyelids, period). I do like the Lunasol one more than Jill Stuart though, because the Jill Stuart shadows aren't as "adhering" I feel...

That's all I've got for January! Basically everything I got from Japan was a hit XD  So happy that I'm loving most of these products. A few years ago I was really into Japanese makeup, now I feel like I'm entering that phase again XD  Just wish these are more easily accessible =(

Next up I have some lip products I want to show you guys... as well as a New Year's beauty resolutions post... after that I think I will probably enter a blogging hiatus... been spending wayyy too much time blogging. LOL.

Hope you guys have a great start to February ^_^


<3 Frances

Haul Attack! Sephora, Innisfree, & Taiwan

Hi guys!

Happy 2015! Hope y'all have a wonderful New Year :) Can you believe we are already more than half way through January?! Time is FLYING by and I'm getting really excited. Nervous, but excited. I feel like I've been waiting for 2015 for a really long time. Why? BECAUSE IT'S THE YEAR THAT I AM GOING TO GRADUATE!!!!!! O.M.G.  After 3.5 years of grueling pharmacy education, if I may say, I am finally gonna move forward to another phase of my life. Granted, the life of employment isn't fun, but I feel very ready for it. I'm SO ready to move, find a job, get a pet :D and just start saving money.

Anyway, enough of the wordy intro. I am finally back in the US. If some of you are wondering how I am able to be away for so long at this time of the year since I'm still in school, it's because in the fourth year of pharmacy education (at least at my school), we do rotations/internships throughout the whole year. So it's basically working full time. And I decided to combine my vacation block (which is 5 weeks-- I know, kind of insane) with my winter break. Hence the super long vacation in Taiwan :P

To ease myself into blogging again, I decided to go for something easy to write XD It's gonna be a brief one as well, sorry :( have sooo much stuff that I need to do that I really shouldn't be blogging at all -_-"  This is basically a collection of the hauls that I wanted to, but never showed here. The Sephora VIB sale, some purchases I made on innisfreeworld.com, and the stuff I got from Taiwan. If you follow me on Instagram you will also see that I went crazy while I was in Japan, but I will dedicate another post to that haul :D


First, the stuff that I got from Sephora VIB sale


1. Chloe perfume

I think this is the first time I've ever repurchased a perfume. On the left is my current bottle (duh LOL)  When I took this pic I was only 1/3 through the bottle, now I'm half way through the bottle. Still in love with this perfume :D it's rare that I have such a long-going affair with a perfume lol. I think the only other perfume that I've kind of made my way through is Dot by Marc Jacobs-- that one I used up about 1/3. I still like that one but so far I have no intention to touch other perfumes XP


2. Diorsnow sunscreen

IN LOVE. Been using it since last summer? Still can't get enough!

3. Dior Addict Fluid Stick in 575 Wonderland





Lovely color, great formula. Wanted this forever and so glad to finally have it. Another color that I want to collect from this line will be 373 Rieuse. :D

4. Too Faced Cocoa Powder Foundation in Golden Light






To be quite honest, now I have been using this for a couple of months... I kind of regret buying it :/ it's just decent. What I don't like about this product is that the staying powder really isn't good... it tends to break down and get patchy as I get oily. This only happens when I use this as a powder foundation all over my face aka when I use more of this product. When I use this for setting powder, since I only use a light dusting, I don't really have the patching up problem. Honestly, I do not recommend this powder. If I could return it, I would have lol.  Definitely only a novelty product for the chocolate smell.


5. Makeup Forever Aqua Cream in 15





Really liked this taupe color. Got it to create a more subtle eyeliner look/smudge out my eyeliner. But I ended up returning it cuz it smudged within an hour :( Dry products are the way to go when coupled with liquid eyeliner. And notice the product was already kind of dried out when I received it in the mail. 

6. Tarte Amazonian Butter Lipstick in Pink Peony



I love the name of this lip product =P


Can we take a moment to appreciate how cut the packaging is?!


It's a very nice, soft, natural pink.

Went to return the MUFF aqua cream (cuz it smudges within an hour 😓) and pick up the Clinique smart custom repair serum and came out with this 🙈🙈🙈 was gonna pick up the 1.7 fl oz one but there's actually a value set so I got this instead (1 oz serum, 0.5 oz uplifting firming cream, and 0.17 oz laser focus wrinkle correcting eye cream 😄), and spotted that Hourglass has an Ambient lighting blush palette 😱😱😱😱 I reasoned that after 20% off each blush is $16... So... 🙈 and didn't get to redeem my gift during my bday month so also did that today! Heard many good things abt this MUFF smokey extravagant mascara so I'm excited to try it 😊 I know I went a little too crazy for this sale... 😳 #sephora #vibsale #clinique #hourglass #ambientlightingblush #ambientlightingblushpalette #makeupforever #muff #skincare #makeup #beautyblogger #nomakeuporskincareformeforalonglongtime

A photo posted by Frances (@bbudgie) on Nov 9, 2014 at 7:03pm PST

Items 7 and 8 would be the Clinique Smart Custom Repair Serum and the Hourglass Ambient Lighting Blush Palette. While The Hourglass Ambient lighting powders absolutely do not work with my combination skin (makes me extra oily... not just look oily, but makes my skin produce more oil), I have NO regrets with those blushes :D 


Now onto my Innisfree purchases. I basically went on a Innisfree spree after the Long Wear cushion. But I'm kind of over Innisfree now hahahahaha.

So many samples!


The main reason why I made that purchase is because I wanted this. I absolutely LOVE the volcanic pore clay mask so I really really wanted to try the toner to see if it would do anything to control my blackheads. 

I bought two of them because I was gonna give one to a friend as a gift... but I ended up having a reaction to the toner... and my friend has even more sensitive skin than me so I don't feel safe giving this to her :( so I just ended up keeping it for myself.  Kind of sucks cuz now I'm stuck with two of the toners that I have no idea what I'm gonna do with. 


Haven't tried the cleansing foam but I hope it's good. I feel very optimistic that I won't get a reaction from the cleanser though :P


Here are some of my review posts from my Instagram for the Innisfree products. I figured it's too redundant to type up a review again when I've already done them lol.

Review: innisfree green tea seed serum did not work for me 😞 It is extremely fragranced, I was quite taken aback by how perfume-y this thing smells. I was expecting something that smells natural or at least smells like green tea. I like the consistency-- it's very light/watery and fast to absorb and hydrating. Not sticky at all. Not sure if it was the fragrance in this thing that broke me out... I have not heard a single negative review on this so I really didn't expect my skin to react to it, but it did break me out pretty badly (red bumps all over my face) #innisfree #greenteaseedserum #greenteaseed #serum #skincare #korean #koreanskincare #review #beautyblogger

A photo posted by Frances (@bbudgie) on Nov 9, 2014 at 6:18pm PST

By the way, got the green tea seed serum bcuz my roommate got it for me when she went home to Korea lol. Not part of the haul.

Review: Innisfree Jeju volcanic pore toner also did not work for me 😔 used it twice (only used it on my nose since that's where I'm more oily and have bigger pores) and both times my skin got incredibly itchy where I applied the toner 😳 my skin also started peeling a few days after but I'm not sure if it was directly related to this. The toner itself contains some jeju volcanic powder in the bottom so you want to shake it well before you use it. It's not drying at all which surprised me because I thought it'd be somewhat drying for oil control (can't remember if oil control is one of the claims at all though). The smell is pleasant but not organic at all lol (your typical skincare fragrance). Really surprised this didn't work for me because I use the volcanic pore clay mask from the same line and got incredible pore tightening results from it, and no reaction! Sad 😞 #innisfree #jejuvolcanicporetoner #volcanicpore toner #toner #skincare #koreanskincare #review #beautyblogger

A photo posted by Frances (@bbudgie) on Nov 9, 2014 at 6:27pm PST

Also got a cleansing oil to try. Hope it's good!



I really wanted to try the soybean line but now I'm too scared to try :/ sad....


The volcanic mask sample will be good for travel. But all these samples... I have no intention to use them cuz my skin has been quite sensitive these days. Just gonna give them to friends or give them out as free samples on my next blog sale. 


Since I liked the Skinny Microcara, I wanted more of them since they are quite affordable. I had the waterproof version and that one does not hold curls, so I wanted to try the none-waterproof version just so I can spend less time massaging my eyes when I try to remove my makeup XD I'm currently using one now, but for some reason... I think the none-waterproof version is even harder to remove than the waterproof version O____o||| Maybe because it's hydrophilic and I use cleansing oil which is hydrophobic? Haha... -_-"  


Got one in brown :D

By the way, Innisfreeworld.com sometimes have free shipping events... so I would recommend signing up for the newsletter and just wait to purchase from there when there's an event ^_^ I purchased all my products during the free shipping event.


Now onto the products I bought in Taiwan...

Got the Clinique smart custom-repair serum duo while I was at duty-free. Don't think I have talked about the serum here on my blog O_o 

I have no idea what's in this stuff... But it's AMAZING 😳 Currently having a lot of flakey/peeling skin going on on my nose because I squeezed my blackheads 🙈 but when I smoothed this over... It literally smoothed EVERYTHING DOWN. Like you can't even see the slightest flaking 😳 how does it do that???!?!??? Usually I have to use a stickier moisturizer to pat down the flaky skin but the texture of this serum isn't even runny or sticky. The finish is matte, which is completely mind boggling LOL. Tried it again this morning (only used it twice so far) and got the same results!! 🙌🙌🙌 granted the flakey skin is still there, but just no longer visible. Makes makeup application 100x easier 🎉🎉🎉 I NEED to pick this up while the VIB sale lasts!! So glad I got a sample of this ❤️❤️❤️ #clinique #cliniquesmart #customrepairserum #serum #amazing #skincare #beautyblogger #sephora

A photo posted by Frances (@bbudgie) on Nov 8, 2014 at 11:27am PST

I hope it's not annoying that I just keep reposting stuff from my Instagram XD but it's just so much easier for me. Easier for you guys too I hope for those who've already read them so you don't have to re-read the same information. Anyway, the serum already obtained holy grail status in such a short amount of time... lol. I do have a holy grail post in the works... :)

And yes, I am fully aware of how crazy it is that I bought SO many mascaras and mascara primers. Since I will be entering the work force soon, don't think I will be able to go home in the next few years :'(  so I went crazy stocking them up lol. Mascaras I can do without, but I CANNOT LIVE WITHOUT THOSE MASCARA PRIMERS. As long as I have those babies, I can pretty much make any none-Asian mascaras work (as long as they don't migrate down my eyelid haha). While others may be known as the crazy cat lady, I am totally happy being known as the crazy mascara lady lol.

The stand-out products in that pile for me will be the Aritaum Honey Melting Tints-- now I understand why the rage over the Internet. They're awesome! Also the Maybelline Fashion Brow Duo... my new fav brow product :)  (yes, more than my Anastasia brow powder duo). The other brands that I have not talked about before on my blog here will be Bevy C., 3CE and VDL, Clio and Pupa. That pink mascara on the lower right corner is a Thai brand called Mistine, which I purchased while I was in Bangkok :) heard good things about it. The pink thing below the Clinique serums is an eyebag highlighter (it's by Pmel). I think I've seen something similar on Bubzbeauty so I picked it up (but she uses it as a highlighter). To be honest, I should've picked up the champagne one (there was pink and champagne and white I think??) because pink just does not suit me around the eyes.  

That L'oreal lip tint in the middle I didn't get from Taiwan lol. Bought it yesterday. But figured would include it in the pile anyway. The color is 202 Coral Encore and it's gorgeous. Like the formula too. The only thing I don't like is the super strong fragrance... kind of like the Clio Lipnicure if you have tried that before. 



Thought it'd be fun to show you guys the things I have back-ups for :D Got an extra Dior sunscreen with my VIB $20 coupon.


The last thing I got from Taiwan will be the Shu Uemura cleansing oil... also from the duty-free. My luggage were so heavy that I could NOT bring a makeup remover with me =_=" so I had to buy one at the airport lol.

Dear Shu Uemura cleansing oil, why did I ever stop using you 😍 actually I know why, because Shu freaking pulled their counters out of the US LOL. I do prefer Shu over MAC and Bobbi Brown, but in all honestly they all get the job done. Shu is a thicker/richer texture and I feel like makes the job comparatively easier ✌️ #shuuemura #japaneseskincare #skincare #cleansingoil #review #beautyblogger #makeupremover #skinpurifier

A photo posted by Frances (@bbudgie) on Nov 13, 2014 at 8:26am PST

Now as an ending to this post... here's a sneak peek for my Japan haul: 

[JAPAN] Damage 😱 PS. Didn't buy anything for myself from Laduree, it was a favor lol. Kind of disappointed after seeing the rose petal blushes in person... Not as delicate as I thought 😕 #japan #japanese #makeup #japanesemakeup #haul #taxfreeshopping #laduree #lesmerveilleuses #jillstuart #lunasol #three #suqqu #albion

A photo posted by Frances (@bbudgie) on Dec 17, 2014 at 4:47am PST

Alrighty guys. Hope you guys don't mind this semi-lazy post >_< Feel free to let me know if there's anything you would like me to talk about first. Otherwise, I will see you guys in my best of 2014 products post :D

Hope you guys have a fantastic week!



<3 Frances