Hi my lovelies, are you looking forward to the weekend? I’m loving my time in Singapore with family and friends and if you have Instagram, you can follow my adventures if you add me – my handle is luiyuming. I’ll love to look at your photos, too!
Today’s post is pretty simple and straightforward as it’s a show-and-tell of some Chanel products I hauled over a month ago in Tokyo when I had some vouchers to use up. I did consider other brands like SUQQU and SKII but my heart lies with Chanel when it comes to luxury makeup.
I’ve mentioned the Chanel No.19 Poudre Eau De Parfum here so I won’t go into much detail but I LOVE this. I’d actually planned most of my purchases from Chanel but I got this on impulse because it smelled so amazing.
The overriding theme in my choices this time was I wanted to get only wearable colours for daily use. I have learned from past experience that if I get an unusual shade from a luxury brand, I would simple use it once or twice a year on a special occasion. But I decided that is just a shame (and waste) so I was extremely conservative and no guesses that I would willingly wear these anytime…
The Jous Contraste Powder Blush 99 Rose Petale (bottom right hand corner) is a classic warm pink shade that gives a pretty flush to the cheeks. It instantly gives a lovely glow and the brush is surprisingly quite good for a compact one. I’ve tried using a synthetic fluffy blush brush and it doesn’t pick up much colour at all so you need a smaller rougher brush for quickier and heavier application. I love carrying this around to touch up my blush on the go because the compact looks so chic.
On the bottom left hand corner is the Ombre Essentialle Soft Touch Eyeshadow 45 Safari which is a gorgeous taupe great on its own or easily paired with another neutral colour. I like to prime my eyes with the champagne pink Illusion D’Ombre 82 Emerveille (top right hand corner) as a base and then sweep Safari over my lid – it looks like a subtle look suitable for casual outings or for work.
I actually brought all these products on my previous NYC trip where I did have to get ready in a hurry quite a lot of the time and these Chanel staples were great for a fresh, effortless look.
It’s no secret that I love Chanel for the packaging as much as its contents, if not more, because of the sheer luxury it oozes.
What’s your go-to luxury brand that makes you feel like a princess no matter what?
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Hi my lovelies, how are you today? I don’t know about you but I can’t wait for this week to be over. I’m really looking forward to be travelling again come Saturday morning (NYC -> Frankfurt -> Hamburg -> Sydney -> Singapore). I’ll be away from Tokyo for a month this time and I’m in a frenzy preparing for my departure. That usually means prepping scheduled blog posts, cleaning the house (don’t want my part-timer to work in filth), packing my luggage, paying bills etc. I have a couple of catchups with friends because I haven’t seen them all year and if I don’t this time, it would mean I wouldn’t see them till May. Time is just screaming past for me this year but it feels exciting.
What’s even more thrilling is that I’ll be attending IMATS New York on April 14th Saturday — SQUEEEEEEAAAAL! If you are also attending the show, don’t hesitate to drop me a line if you want to meet up.
So let’s move onto today’s Fragrance Love post. I’ve to say this perfume seriously “had me at hello” simply because my mother used to wear the original Chanel No.19 perfume way back in the 70s and 80s. It is filled with nostalgia for me because I think my mum’s perfume collection might have ignited the fragrance fiend that I have become.
I must have been barely six or seven and I’d love watching my mother get ready for a wedding dinner or attend a work function with my father. She would spray Chanel No.19 on her wrists and I never tired of her telling me that it was her favourite perfume. In fact, it was the first perfume my father ever bought for her on a business trip. My dad had always travelled frequently for work and would bring back gifts occasionally. But I think Chanel No.19 was their little tradition for years…
I would inhale the crisp green notes deeply and sigh at the romance of my father toting back a bottle of elegant perfume for my mother. It looked so expensive and precious and my mother would warn me not to drop it when I insisted I wanted to hold the bottle. She then developed a taste for Chanel No.5 and showed me the few tiny bottles she bought for herself or asked my father to get at duty-free. I never got sick of smelling and re-smelling these two perfumes so I think that’s why these two Chanel fragrances would forever be etched in my memory because of this ritual I shared with my mother.
So when I walked past the Chanel counter at Mitsukoshi, I had to have a sniff. I decided that the updated Poudre version was more suitable for me because it’s less strong but still retains most of the original character of Chanel No.19.
I think the powdery iris note makes this more wearable than the first one which can be an acquired taste for some because of its dazzling angular notes. It’s been often said that Chanel No.19 is the conservative “outdoorsy” sister of the glamorous Chanel No.5 but the Poudre is definitely a comforting and feminine version so it’s no wonder that this perfume can be worn as a daily scent. The notes include mandarin, neroli, iris, jasmine, galbanum, vetiver, musk and tonka bean. I just love it!
Do you remember what perfume your mother loves? And do you remember special moments through fragrance?
This is my first-ever FOTD and my skin has cleared up quite a bit since my last breakout fiasco. I figured that it’s not that often I have okay-looking skin and I’ve “re-discovered” an old foundation that was unloved by me for the last year, so I thought, “Let’s do an FOTD!”
I bought Estee Lauder’s Double Wear Light Foundation Stay-in-Place Makeup SPF 10/PA++ (Intensity 2.0) in January as a “gentle” base during my horrible breakout phase last winter. I looked up Makeup Alley and found that those with acne-prone skin liked this particular foundie because it was light-weight, non-clogging, non-oily, and had decent coverage.
To be honest, I liked it at first and then I didn’t like it because it didn’t give me enough coverage and looked patchy on me. Furthermore, the brand Estee Lauder is not something I usually reach for as I prefer girlier brands, e.g. Jill Stuart and Paul & Joe, but I realized I’m actually smack in the demographic that Estee Lauder markets at – LOL!
But on hindsight, my skin really was a mess and I think I didn’t put enough of it on as I used to have a very light hand with liquid foundation. I just felt it didn’t give me that ultra-smooth complexion that some BB creams can (like the Nanoce one but it’s too rich for non-winter weather). And because it is very light-weight, I think it wasn’t moisturizing enough for the freezing temperatures in Feb and Mar in Tokyo. My skin was flaky at that point in time but I wouldn’t blame it on this foundation because I think I wasn’t moisturizing my skin enough and was using an arsenal of drying acne products.
BUT, in this warm-ish fall weather when it is over 20 degrees C in the day and 16-18 degrees C at night, somehow my skin has been LOVING this foundation. I do use it generously but it doesn’t cake. The only complaint I have is that it is a wee bit too light for me shade-wise but Intensity 3.0 is way too dark for me.
It gives a dewy look if you don’t powder your face after and it gives surprisingly good coverage to redness and freckles.
Other items used in this FOTD:
Lunasol Modeling Eyes 01 Beige Beige
Dollywink Eye Pencil in Brown
Lancome L’Extreme Mascara
Meow Cosmetics Brow Beater in Dark Brown to line brows
Esprique Precious Gradation Layer Cheek 01 Coral Red as blusher and face highlighter
MAC Mineralize Skinfinish Medium Dark as bronzer
Revlon ColorStay Pressed Powder 104 Medium
Jurlique Love Lip Balm
Chanel Rouge Coco Cambon 31
Lancome Juicy Tubes mini (sparkly nude)
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Hello my lovelies, I can’t wait for the weekend and I bet you can’t, too. Hope you enjoyed my last post on the “ice jelly sponge” — it’s so cool to discover new beauty tools that are inexpensive and effective.
Today, I’m kicking off a new series on the blog called “Travel Must-Haves”. Travelling is such a big part of my life and it definitely shapes some of my purchasing decisions beauty-wise. I used to have the mindset of travelling with items that I didn’t care about much in case I would lose or damage them, especially eye shadow and blush palettes. But I found that I was always feeling dissatisfied with said items because they performed poorly or I didn’t have enough variety. I remember I would bring one “green” and one “purple” palette — I laugh at the thought of only having two looks to play with.
In recent years, “quality” definitely wins in my book. I whittle down my selection to one warm palette and one cool palette for eyeshadows for even month-long trips. The warm eye shadow palette I love toting around with me out of Japan is the Chanel Les 4 Ombres 74 Nymphea.
For one, I love the fact that it is so hardy because I think it is the “baked” version as it is an international Chanel version which is made with a baking method as opposed to US-made ones that are silkier in texture — not sure if it is due to being “non-baked” but it seems the two are distinctly different (read more here by Suelynn).
Secondly, I could do multiple looks with this palette — I could do a warm nude with the brown, pink and beige; or highlight the green and forgo the pink; or just use the pink and brown for a smokier nude look; or blend the pink, green, and brown altogether, smoking out with the brown. I don’t get bored of this palette!
My only complaint is that the brushes are pure crap as they don’t transfer much colour at all to my eyelids — does anyone feel the same about Chanel brushes? I’ve had a travel palette before and the black brushes they provided were lovely, but for this palette, I think they are pretty awful. But I generally do not use palette brushes anymore unless my makeup brushes are terribly dirty and I don’t have time to clean them.
Thought of just popping in this really short video at the end of this post — I wanted to test my Youtube channel as I was having many problems uploading a full-length video but it seems a short video done in .mov on my iPhone in HD seemed to upload fine.
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Ever the practical gal, I’ve shied away from “high-end” cosmetics for a long time, but in recent years, I’ve had an increase in moolah in my pocket, and a yearning curiosity for luxury cosmetics. And for me Chanel epitomizes all that is elegant and timeless*.
Whenever a waft of Chanel perfume comes my way, I would breathe it in and think, “I would love to wear this some day…” I never got one because I generally don’t wear citrus scents (they smell “sweaty” on me and I’m an absolute fusspot when it comes to fragrances) like Coco Mademoiselle and Chance nor do I fancy some of their heavier, more “mature” concoctions such as Chanel No. 5 and Coco Chanel — but I still love smelling them.
So with that out of my reach, I thought a lipstick would be more democratic and it is. It’s a bit of that Chanel elegance in a tube (for USD30 a pop) that you can tuck away in your purse…or slide over your lips for that boost of self-confidence. You can watch Vanessa Paradis in the Chanel Coco Rouge commercial here and if you are curious to see her 1992 Coco Chanel perfume ad, it’s here, too.
….But one day, I accidently smooshed the top of my Chanel lipstick with the cover and the sophistication it had was gone – poof! How easily this “elegance” disappeared from my mind. Now, I feel a pang every time I take it out… “It’s so ugly now,” I think to myself and I’m even thinking of getting yet another one to forget about this mess.
In fact, some beauty bloggers out there don’t actually fancy Chanel lipsticks at all because they are quite drying or just kind of ordinary. I haven’t found that to be true in my case but it seems some people think Chanel is all smoke and mirrors…
Why am I going on about a squashed Chanel lippie? I just thought I would jot down my contemplations on a blog post — I admit it, I buy certain brands because they make me feel good, not really because they are so magical (they are not awful either!). Did I mention, they make me feel like a “real woman”?
Do you feel that way too? What brands give you that amazing confidence in the morning?
PS: Yes, yes, I know real confidence comes from within – I agree, but you know what I mean, right? Why do cosmetic brands pour all their dollars into branding and marketing if it didn’t make a difference?
*This is not a sponsored post!
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