Lipstick -MAC - Lustre in Jubilee
kohan836 1/26/2008 8:05:00 PM
I've been a MAC fan for years and I can't believe I only just discovered this. It's a beautiful warm peachy nude that just looks lovely on me (Asian/European, NC35). Looks great with smokey eyes.
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Palettes -Bobbi Brown - best of chocolate
kohan836 1/18/2008 11:33:00 PM
I have a real thing about palettes, and since I will soon be travelling in Europe, I decided this would be an excuse to add another travel-sized palette to my collection! Of the four lip glosses, the two medium-toned glosses are really lovely on me (Asian, NC35). The MA told me the light pink gloss is supposed to be a highlighter, and for that purpose it works quite well (as an all over gloss it's way too light and frosty). The dark colour is a bit dark for my taste, but if you like dark lips it's a lovely colour. The eyeshadows are a little more disappointing - Cacao shimmer wash is very sheer, although a very nice colour. Chocolate is a bit too light for me to use as a liner (I prefer Espresso for this). SoI usually end up doing a smokey eye with Chocolate blended in the crease, and use Espresso or a black gel liner to line the eyes. Overall it's a nice palette (though the two-layer thing could be improved) and will be good to travel with, I just wish the glosses were a bit deeper and the eyeshadows more pigmented.
2 out of 2 people found this review helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No
Blush -Bobbi Brown - Ski Slopes
kohan836 11/26/2007 1:23:00 AM
This is a lovely blush - very neutral looking and office appropriate. However, it's a dead ringer for MAC Blushbaby, and I have to say that I prefer the latter (because it's cheaper, and also because I prefer MAC's flip top packaging). It's definitely a staple, but I wouldn't purchase it again just because I'd rather buy Blushbaby.
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Blush -Bobbi Brown - Powder Blush - Peony
kohan836 11/26/2007 1:21:00 AM
This is a bright blue-toned pink - not a colour that I normally would have picked for myself, but it looks really lovely on my NC35 skin. It's very pigmented so I only need to use a little. I'm very impressed with Bobbi's blushes - this and Clementine are currently my summer favourites. Only wish this weren't so expensive - here in NZ the prices are very inflated.
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Eye Shadow -MAC - Royal Assets: 6 Smokey Eyes
kohan836 11/16/2007 4:46:00 PM
This palette contains six neutral shades: Maid of Honour (Satin) - a sheer, not-too-shimmery light peach. Vaguely reminds me of Grain (permanent shade). Rondelle (Frost) - light grey, very smooth, feels more like a veluxe pearl. This is very frosty, almost metallic on me (NC35) Palatial (Satin) - light greyish brown, cool toned, less plummy and frosty than Satin Taupe. Courtly Grey (Matte) -soft light grey, has more brown tones than Knight Majestic (Lustre) - brown with warm reddish tones and silver microglitter. Very unnatural looking on me and definitely my least favourite MAC shadow I have come across Knight (Veluxe Pearl) - shimmery neutral grey I have a couple of gripes to begin with. Firstly, I think a darker liner shade would have been nice - it seems odd to have a smokey eye palette without a dark shade. I could do a better smokey eye with the Warm eyes palette (which I also bought)! Also, I don't really think these shades work too well together. For example. for the grey shades, Knight and Rondelle are both cool-toned, but the third grey shade, Courtly Grey, is slightly more warm-toned. In the brown shades, Majestic is much warmer and redder than Palatial. So I don't think I'll be using this palette much on its own, since there's only limited ways I can think of to combine these shades. So, for me this palette will be used more just to supplement the neutral shades in my wider collection. If you are in need of more neutrals, buy this, but otherwise I'd go for one of the other palettes this year.
6 out of 6 people found this review helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No
Palettes -MAC - Royal Assets: 6 Warm Eyes
kohan836 11/16/2007 4:10:00 PM
This is my absolute favourite MAC palette so far - I love every shade, and they all work so well together. First of all, I love Star Violet and Club - I have these in my 15-pan palettes too and they get a lot of use. Club looks greenish in the pan but actually goes on as quite a natural brownish colour. Star Violet is shimmery pinky violet - unusual, but not too OTT - I wear this to the office all the time and always get compliments. Retrospeck is more like a frost than a lustre (i hate lustres usually!) - and is the perfect shimmery gold for my skintone (NC35). I can see myself wearing this by itself with bright coral lips over summer. Now for the LE shades - Sunday Best is a lovely peach-toned shade perfect for highlighting - not too shimmery for a frost either. Nobility is a pale brownish pink, and works perfectly as a base for Star Violet, or in the crease for a softer eye. I wish it were a permanent shade! Showstopper is a rich brown shade - perfect for lining, or creating a smokey eye. Overall, I think the colours in this palette work really well together (unlike this year's smokey eye palette). You can do anything from a neutral, natural daytime eye, to a neutral smokey eye, to a lovely shimmery pinky/purple/gold eye. There are just so many combinations! This is definitely the must have holiday item for any warm-toned girls out there.
5 out of 5 people found this review helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No
Palettes -Smashbox - Beauty A-Go-Go
kohan836 11/15/2007 3:36:00 AM
As other reviewers have stated, the palette itself is small, but given that you also get a separate beauty case and two high quality brushes (one lip, one shadow), I actually think that this was reasonably priced. The shadows are, overall pretty good. I found the pale pink a bit chalky on my medium-toned skin, but the lighter neutral colours are lovely, especially Champagne and Mink. I also like that there are two shades included that are dark enough to use as a liner. The colour selection is good - you can create anything from a natural look to an office-appropriate face to a smokey evening look. The lipglosses are sheer and natural-looking, although I do wish they were longer lasting. I bought this palette to take on my trip to Europe and I can see that it will cover most of the basics for me - I can throw a cream blush and a mascara into the bag and I'll have everything I need.
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Cleansers -L'Oreal - De-maq Expert Milk to Toner 2 in 1 Make-up Remover
kohan836 10/14/2007 1:36:00 AM
Errrrgghh! This was THE WORST cleanser I have ever used! I never would have thought it possible for a cleanser to be both greasy as well as drying at the same time. Despite the (quasi-)scientific claims in the ads for this product, this is basically just a rather runny cream cleanser with alcohol in it. I could feel the alcohol drying up my skin! It didn't remove makeup well at all, it stung my eye area (due to the alcohol content), and left a nasty greasy residue. Please, if you're looking for a good cream cleanser, try Neutrogena Extra Gentle. You'll save money and your skin will thank you for it. Edit: I got given two full tubes of this free, so thought I'd be kind and try it again, but it was just as awful as it was the first time... this stuff if going into the trash.
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Lip Gloss -MAC - Bare Truth
kohan836 10/9/2007 4:22:00 AM
NC35. As others noted this is a beautiful caramel shade, one of my favourite lipglasses so far (along with Lychee Luxe and La La Libertine). This was released in New Zealand in spring, so I haven't worn it much yet but I can see it will be a staple with smokey eyes next autumn/winter.
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Lipstick -MAC - Barely Lit
kohan836 9/14/2007 11:25:00 PM
This is a lovely nude pink on me (NC30) - I wouldn't say the colour itself is unique, but the texture is excellent - sheer, a little shimmery, slightly glossy. It'll look great paired with subtle smokey eyes for work.
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Blush -Stila - Blush
kohan836 7/24/2007 4:41:00 AM
NC30, Asian-European, dark hair. On me this is a very natural blush. It's a natural matte coral-peach shade and one of my summer staples. This isn't really a unique colour but I like the small size as it fits easily into my makeup bag if I have to take it with me.
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Lipstick -MAC - Profusion [DISCONTINUED]
kohan836 6/23/2007 5:54:00 AM
I asked the MA at the MAC counter to help me break my boring lipstick habits (I have a lot of neutrals and nothing exciting!). He asked me to pick out a colour I that looked like something I would never wear. Thinking this was so he could avoid picking anything I wouldn't like, I pointed to this. To my surprise, he said, "okay then that's the one you're trying on!". And even more surprisingly, I love it! It's very bright on me (black hair, brown eyes, NC30), but I think my features are dark enough for me to pull it off. And I love the amplified cream texture - i'll definitely be buying more of these.
1 out of 1 people found this review helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No
Lip Gloss -Chanel - Pagoda Glossimer
kohan836 5/26/2007 10:53:00 AM
I tried this on after reading the great reviews here. Texture is great (moisturising, long-wearing, lightweight and non-sticky). On me, the colour itself was a dead ringer for Clinique's Impossibly Glossy in Cream Soda, another favourite of mine (thought perhaps slightly brighter than the latter and about twice the price). But overall, very flattering on me (NC35-40). A very good product, but I couldn't justify buying it when there's a cheaper alternative.
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Eye Shadow -MAC - Grain
kohan836 4/21/2007 7:51:00 AM
I asked the Mac S.A. for a nice no-fuss neutral I could wear to work and she paired this with Brun. I'm very happy with it - as others have said, it's slightly shimmery but not overly so (and definitely not sparkly). It works very well with my NC30-NC40 skintone.
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Misc Beauty Tools -The Body Shop - Facial Blotting Tissues 
kohan836 3/12/2007 1:02:00 AM
These do the job, but nowhere nearly as good as the Johnson & Johnsons Clean and Clear oil blotting sheets! Would only purchase these in the event that I can't get the Clean and Clear ones.
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