I was never a big fan of M.A.C. but I didn’t mind their products. It offers a vast range of colors and shades which is a big plus if you are really into makeup, or if you are a makeup artist; and for everybody else, the mid-range prices are attractive too. Previously, I was disappointed with their base makeup (Studio Finish powder which oxidized and turned orange on me). Now that I don’t use foundation anymore, I wasn’t too picky when it comes to cheek makeup as long as the color is right.

I have been using this for almost a year now, though not everyday. I bought it as part of a value set which includes a full size version of this, a travel size, 30ml plus a 10ml trial size of the Foundation Primer, which I just reviewed separately.

I have read so many good things about Laura Mercier’s “Flawless Face”, even though I am not even in need of foundation, I ended up buying a set that comes with two Tinted Moisturizers and a bonus trial size Foundation Primer. I generally find that though many products call themselves ‘primers’, few really extend the wear of your base makeup; some felt no different from a regular moisturizer or worse, didn’t do anything for me at all (e.g. DHC’s Q10 base).

I love all in one palettes! I don’t know if it’s because you get everything in one compact, or because my love for compacts. Anyway, I received this two months ago as a birthday present.

After all the rave reviews I have read everywhere, I splurged and gave this a try. It wasn’t crazy expensive, but when you see how little there is in the product, then it is kind of expensive!

I bought this long before I found out about Shiseido’s animal testing. The one thing I loved Shiseido is their brow pencil colors; oftentimes, the dark brown is too red, but this one (BR602 – Deep Brown) is completely neutral and complements my hair color.

I have very pale skin that looks sickly so luminizers are some of my favourite makeup items to use, and one of the few base makeup that I use on a daily basis.

I used this only in the summer time when my skin was a little shinier. I normally have dry and dehydrated skin, so a mattifying product isn’t something I would use on a regular basis.

I have had these for a long time but had forgotten to review them. I had one of these in Lemon Sugar before, which was a golden ivory shade that I find very good as a cream highlighter; I think I had reviewed that one separately a long time ago. The reason why I am reviewing these is because for some reason, the texture of Rose Tulle is very strange compared to the Lemon Sugar and Clover Dew shades.

I have heard many great things about Kevyn Aucoin’s Sensual Skin Enhancer used as a concealer, and I decided to give it a try. I bought this at ebeauty.ca (for US customers, this can be purchased at dermstore.com) for CAD$49.00.

Believe it or not, a true blue-based red lipstick is very hard to find. It’s either too bright that makes you look garish, or too dark and vampy. I don’t always wear a true red lipstick; I have a vast array of neutrals and I am kind of bored of looking the same old, same old. Plus, a blue-based red lipstick can make your teeth appear whiter, all the more reason to find a nice true red shade!

A good, translucent, non drying loose powder that doesn’t make you look chalky is very hard to find. Over the years I had tried many – from Cornsilk to Shiseido – and while many of them claim to not dry your skin out, they do. When I saw Koh Gen Do at Sephora.com, I knew this had potential.

Anna Sui is my go-to brand whenever I can’t afford the more expensive Japanese brands, and since Shoppers Drug Mart sells it and it’s right across the street, I ended up using quite a few of their products over the years. It’s not a cheap brand, but being an Albion brand, you get the assurance of good quality, and so far, the few Anna Sui products (mascara, lip gloss and eye shadow) are pretty good.

I had great expectations of this product – I generally like Laneige’s makeup, and this one is cheap compared to Laura Mercier’s or Bobbi Brown’s. Bobbi Brown’s concealer pact comes with a setting powder and has good reviews, but it is twice as expensive as Laneige’s. I want to see whether this is a great buy for the money, since it’s only CAD$20.00.

All I wanted was a sheer, hydrating product with an SPF. But somehow, it became a neverending quest.

Summer revenue from the blog took such a nosedive, I had to tighten my belt and cut back on my spending. That means more drug store goodies! Well, I am partial to Maybelline since its liners and mascaras are long wearing and comparable to department store equivalents. This time, I want to do a side-by-side comparison between Maybelline and Dior just to show you that the extra bucks sometimes don’t really mean a thing when it comes to mascaras.

Hoping not to spend more than $30 on a loose powder to blot out the summer shine, I found this at one of my favourite ebay sellers, alphabeautyuk, for US$20.95. I wanted a translucent (no color), non-drying powder just to prevent shine from my sunscreens, and had originally wanted the Loose Powder from Shiseido The Makeup (CAD$42.00), but because I hardly really use base makeup, and had splurged way too much on skincare of late, I had to continue cutting my makeup budget.

Fusion Beauty hasn’t been around very long – it was only established in 2005 – but some of its products had become quite cult hits in the western market. As of late, Fusion Beauty has become the official manufacturer of Jabot Cosmetics, an originally fictional beauty brand from the CBS soap The Young and the Restless, which I had faithfully watched since my university days and only stopped watching recently.

As you could probably imagine, my addiction to good skincare products means that I have to cut corners elsewhere – and that usually means makeup. I don’t normally wear foundation or powders; but lately, the lack of sleep had caught up to me, and I needed something with coverage to hide the dark circles under my eyes. The Skinfood Salmon Dark Circle Powder still works great, if you are wondering; it’s just that to even out the bright yellow powder so it doesn’t look like two white streaks under my eyes, I needed to use a pigmented powder to do a full-over. All for those darned dark circles!

As referred to under my Skinfood Salmon Dark Circle Powder, I had been using this cheap roller (my first eye roller experience!) for the past few weeks. I was always curious about these rollers, and at this price, what I can say except an affordable way to try a new gadget?

This is my very first SkinFood product! I had read enough great reviews about this Salmon Dark Circle line, which consists of the dark circle powder, concealer cream, eye cream, serum, massage serum and eye patch. I was particularly surprised to know that in the beginning, someone was selling this for more than US$60 on eBay, and one reviewer actually bought it at that price! (There is still one seller selling this on eBay for an arm and a leg from the US!)

Brow makeup is as essential to me as breakfast; without it, I look sick and pale, being cursed with naturally faint eyebrows without defined ends. Oftentimes though, I find that an accidental pullover of my shirt or sweater over my face and head can rub off part of my brows (especially the ends). I am also wary of swimming and sweating, afraid of ‘losing’ my brow makeup. When I discovered that B&C Lab (Japan) has a product to seal the eyebrow makeup at such a reasonable price (US$11.99), I didn’t hesitate to snatch up on one.

As you all know I am partial to Japanese makeup and the late and great Shu Uemura is one of my inspirations, and while I generally don’t review accessories very often, I felt compelled to review this one.

At first, I thought it was more like a sheer lipstick just because of the word ‘tint’ in the name, but this isn’t the case. It was meant to describe the weight of the lipstick. While it is richly pigmented, I must say it did feel heavy on my lips. It’s not too bad though, because it is highly hydrating, but I would say that Shiseido The Makeup Perfect Rouge is much lighter and a lot more hydrating than this one.

My pot of this cream eyeliner was very dry, and hard to apply, blend or smooth on my lids. It went on very dry and cakey, and unfortunately, also smeared and smudged. It was disappointing because I had wanted to like this, because of my fondness for Kevyn Aucoin and his legacy, but somehow this didn’t live up to my expectation. The Maybelline gel eyeliner I just bought outperforms this by far, and is also more than 50% cheaper.