Cosmopolitan Hong Kong x Anna Sui

The November issue of Cosmopolitan (Hong Kong) comes with an Anna Sui clear plastic pouch and polyester drawstring pouch. The magazine is retailing at S$13.91 and just arrived at Kinokuniya today. There were about 10 copies when I was at the Ngee Ann City store this morning.

It's quite a whopper of an issue that comes with a separate 312-page Beauty & Health supplement and a 40-page Anti-aging War supplement.

The plastic pouch is quite well made with Anna Sui's signature butterfly and rose icons.

The drawstring pouch material feels thin but it can hold a number of small makeup items.

I like transparent pouches as you can see the products inside clearly without having to waste time rummaging through the pouch.



The Beauty & Health supplement comes with Suisse Programme Recovery Eye Gel Cream (2ml) and a Methode Swiss Thermal Oxygen Soothing Concentrate (2ml).

Earlier at Kino this week, I was also pleasantly surprised when a Kino staff approached me while I was flipping through a magazine and asked if I was Haru and then she passed me the Lux haircare samples that were missing from my earlier copy of With magazine. Many thanks to Kino for the excellent customer service!

Borders Preferred Card and Tokidoki Calendar

As most of you would know, I'm a loyal customer of Kinokuniya. In fact, I just renewed my membership card for another two years. Nevertheless, when I saw that Borders (Wheelock Place) was offering a one-year membership at the special price of just S$13, down from the usual fee of S$20+, I didn't hesitate to sign up. After all, that works out to just slightly over S$1 per month. Plus, my husband is a book junkie who will definitely make use of the card. With the card, you enjoy a 10% discount on all merchandise except for multimedia (i.e. CDs and DVDs). Borders also has special promotions for members quite frequently.

The $13 membership fee offer is only until tomorrow, Sunday 31 October, so do hurry down to Borders if you want to take advantage of it. With my new card, I got a S$3 discount off this S$30 Tokidoki 2011 wall calendar.

This will be brightening up my office in the coming year! Borders also stocks the smaller 2011 Engagement Calendar.

Sweet delights!

Stopped by the Starbucks in Ion today with Kas to savour the new holiday menu.

I got my favourite Dark Cherry Mocha frappucino (so sinfully delicious!) while Kas had the Toffee Nut frappucino. We also shared the Raspberry Old Fashioned Donut, which was pretty yummy although the pink icing got a bit too sweet for my liking after awhile.

While in Tangs, we also received this cute little cupcake at the Benefit counter but it wasn't really that tasty though.

Maquillage and Cle de Peau Spring 2011

Maquillage will release its Spring 2011 makeup collection on 21 January in Japan. It includes:

1. Lighting Eyes Creator: gradational eyeshadow palettes in 4 variations (3675yen)

2. Perfect Fine Liner WP: waterproof, fast-drying, non-smudging jet black eyeliner (3150yen; 945yen for cartridge)

3. Rouge Enamel Glamour: 6 new shades (2625yen)

Cle de Peau will also release its spring makeup collection on the same date.

1. Ombre Couleurs Quadri: 2 variations (5250yen for refill)

2. Rouge à lèvres: 4 shades (6300yen)

3. Rouge Subtil: 3 shades (5250yen)

FANCL Mild Cleansing Oil and Facial Washing Powder

When FANCL first debuted in Singapore several years ago, it quickly became well-known for its groundbreaking preservative-free skincare. FANCL is best known for its Facial Washing Powder and Mild Cleansing Oil (popularly known as "maru kure" in Japanese). Currently, you can find the limited edition "Ballet Dance" MCO in the FANCL stores in Singapore. The illustration is by Japanese fashion illustrator, Licaco. FANCL recently sent me the Dance series for me to review.

The MCO (in the pink pump bottles) is formulated with meadow foam oil which helps to dissolve keratin plugs and absorbs the dirt in pores, green tea catechin oil to fight free radicals, and rosehip oil for countering skin inflammation and stress. It retails at S$33 for 120ml. It is recommended that you use 2 pumps each time. (The pic below shows 1 pump's worth.) Simply massage it all over dry skin, emulsify with a bit of water at a time and then rinse off.

As its name suggests, the MCO feels quite mild and yet effectively removes all traces of makeup, including all of my mascara and eyeshadow. The oil is not overly watery but it's also not so viscous that it takes forever to rinse off. After emulsifying, it rinses off easily with just a few splashes and leaves my skin feeling clean. There was no need for me to use a separate eye makeup remover as the MCO took off everything. Some overly rich cleansing oils leave a film on my skin but MCO did not. It also did not sting my eyes. I've been a regular user of cleansing oils for many years now as they are the most effective and efficient at melting off all traces of makeup without tugging at the skin.

For ladies who would like to try out the line without committing to the full size, there is the Perfect Washing Set (S$28) which includes a MCO (60ml), Facial Washing Powder (25g) and a foaming ball.

After rinsing off the MCO, I followed it with the Facial Washing Powder. The Washing Powder has a polyamino acid formulation that helps to remove dirt and sebum while helping skin to retain moisture.

To foam it up, simply wet the ball, pour half to one teaspoon of powder onto the small indent and then squeeze the ball repeatedly while cupping it in both hands. Using both hands helps to catch all the foam and prevent it from dripping down.

Et voila! Then just transfer the foam onto wet skin, massage it in and then rinse off. The foam is creamy and dense, so it doesn't drip all over the place. It rinses off very easily and left my skin clean and supple without any dry patches. The Washing Powder retails at S$26 for a 50g bottle. Or you can save a few dollars by buying two bottles at S$48.50. The limited edition "Samba Dance" Facial Washing Powder (in the regular and "light" versions) with the yellow packaging will be available in local stores from 26 November.

Alternatively, you can also use the Facial Puff R to foam up the Washing Powder and then massage it onto the skin.

It is recommended that you do the massaging motion from the centre of the face in an outward direction for one to two minutes (step 5 in the diagram below). This helps to improve blood circulation and revitalize the skin.

Here are the ingredients lists for the MCO and Facial Washing Powder (click to view in full size). Both the MCO and Facial Washing Powder are good for one year after the manufacturing date BUT after the bottles have been opened, the MCO should be used up within 120 days while the Washing Powder should be used up within 60 days.

To help you keep track of the expiry date, each bottle comes with a small sticker for noting the opening date and the expiry date.

You can view FANCL Singapore's website here.

Metro 20% Sale

Metro's 20% storewide sale is back again next week! On Thursday 4 November, cardmembers will get exclusive access from 6pm to 10pm. The public can enjoy the sale from 10am-11pm on 5 and 6 November, and from 10am-10pm on Sunday 7 November. The brands that usually offer a direct 20% discount include Clarins, Elizabeth Arden, Kenzo and OPI while for the other brands, you will receive the rebate in the form of vouchers. For some brands like Shu Uemura and Ettusais, the limited edition collections and promotional sets are not eligible for the 20% rebate.

Happy shopping!

Ettusais Snow Fairy Coffret

For this holiday season, Ettusais will release a Snow Fairy Coffret (4035yen) on 4 November in Japan. It includes their popular Bitaba Volume mascara, eyelash essence, an eye color (of one's choice) and a pouch.

And for warding off chapped lips in the dry winter season, there will be a limited edition Lip Essence Deep Moist SPF18 PA++ (1260yen, 8g).

Pics from Biteki and Cosme.net.

Clinelle Facebook Contest

There are just two more days left for you to enter the Clinelle Facebook contest to win over $100 worth of products.

There are just two simple steps:

1. Visit Clinelle's Facebook page and click the "Like" button at the top of the page. Only users who are located in Singapore can view the page.

2. Visit the contest page to view the various blog posts and click "like" on the blog that you would like to support.

The blogger whose write up receives the most ‘likes’ will win a $200 Clinelle product hamper. Those who "like" the winner will be entered into a draw to win over $100 worth of Clinelle products. The voting period is until 31 October.

Good luck, everyone!

Shu Uemura Miracle Cherry Blush Tint

I picked up the Shu Uemura Blush Tint in Miracle Cherry from the Robinsons Centrepoint counter earlier today. It was out of stock when I purchased the other pieces from the Abracadabra Collection on Tuesday but the SA said that I could pay for it first and collect it after they re-stock it.

It took me probably all of two seconds to decide to get this as the illustration is my favourite character in the whole collection. I was also won over by the light gel texture. At S$35, it doesn't break the bank.


Here's the ingredients list. Unlike the palettes, the blush tint is made in Japan. The shelf life of 24 months gives you plenty of time to use it up.

The tint is similar to a limited edition one that MAC released some years ago. It is very lightweight and non-greasy. Due to the dimethicone, it feels very smooth when applied and has no stickiness at all.

It is very easy to apply and blend with one's fingertips. It applies sheer and can be layered for the desired intensity.

Blended out some more for a more natural flush.

My Abracadabra Fantasy collection :-)

Shu Uemura Reindeer Kiss xxxx Palette

A reader asked me earlier if I would have purchased Shu Uemura's Reindeer Kiss xxxx Palette (from the "Abracadabra Fantasy" holiday collection) if it came in a plain packaging. My answer is probably not because for me, the attractiveness of the palette lies almost entirely in the whimsical illustrations. I've also found in my experience with this type of all-in-one palettes by Shu Uemura, that the cream shades are not that fantastic.

For S$125, you get three powder eyeshadows (2.1g and 2x0.9g), a cream color (1g), a cream highlighter (1g) and a Glow On Blush (4.5g), plus two applicators. The mint shade has blue and pink micro-sparkles while the blue shade also has a sparse sprinkling of sparkles. But once applied, both the mint and blue shades have more of a velvety matte finish. The blush is your typical baby pink blush. It applies quite sheer and tends to throw up a bit of loose powder when you touch the surface with a brush.

The pale mint, blue and metallic silver combination looks more suitable for spring. I was worried that the blue and mint shades would apply either too pale or chalky but thankfully, they turned out to be quite well pigmented, especially when used over a good primer. Similar to last holiday's Tsumori Chisato for Shu Uemura palettes, the cream liner shade is the poorest of the lot. It applies smoothly with a creamy consistency but just doesn't last well and is prone to creasing and fading.

The light yellow gold cream shade can be used as a highlighter over the browbone area, or as a base for the powder eyeshadows. However, when used as a base, the powder eyeshadows ended up creasing quite a bit at the inner corners after a few hours. I had much better results when using Urban Decay Primer Potion as the base, which helped the powder eyeshadows to stay true without creasing even after several hours of wear.

The applicators are functional and easy to use. The brush is too small for using as a blush brush but it will suffice in a pinch when you have no other brushes at hand. I like to use the sponge applicators to pack on the colour and then go over it with an eyeshadow brush to blend out the edges.

I applied the light yellow cream shade all over the lid with my fingertip and then use the sponge applicator to apply the mint shade from the lashline to the crease and at the outer half of the lower lashline. Next, I applied the blue shade at the outer corners and the silver shade blended very lightly into the crease, at the inner corners and along the lower lashline.

I liked the shade combination as it brightens up the face without being too over-the-top. Ladies who are more conservative would prefer the other palette in this collection, Bowwow! Magic Queen, which is brown/gold themed. For this look, I also used Guerlain Prarure Pearly White Fluid Foundation 01 topped with Jill Stuart Loose Powder 01 Natural, K-Palette Real Lasting Eyebrow 02, Clinique Superbalm Moisturizing Gloss 09 Currant and Visee Wide Impact (Curl Long) Mascara.

Here's the ingredients list. The palette was made in Korea in June 2010 and has a 24-month shelf life.


On the special website for this collection, you can play a Magi-game as well as upload and decorate your own pictures, including your Twitter profile picture, with sixteen icons in the Abracadabra Icon Maker section. Do check it out!